2024-01-13: Heresy
- Log: Heresy
- Cast: Rixia, Hannah Curie, Magilou, Shalune Amira, Ashiya Khaimova, Ethius Hesiod, Margaret, Nina Chiyome, Ida Everstead-Rey, Avril Vent Fleur
- Where: Emerald Cape
- Date: January 13, 2024
- Summary: Rixia gets in trouble with the Fuzz. Even if the world turns against her...
<Pose Tracker> Rixia has posed.
Rixia's become extremely fond of promontories ever since her transformation into a Hellion. There's just something about perching oneself at the top of one of these, overlooking the coast and the ocean, watching the waves come to and fro...
It's a very nice day, and she looks to be in a good mood. Ontop of that, she's also not alone -- a friend has joined her.
"Psyy..."
A rotund duck of yellow colour is rested up beside her, looking extremely contented. It's a particularly peculiar thing -- typically animals are terrified of her Aura of Stillness...
Which is up, at present -- though with how clear the air is, there's not much caught in it other than a few rustled leaves here and there. Still, the other Pokemon seem to be quite aware of it and have backed away...
So why this little duck find it so comfortable?
Then--
WEEEE WOOO WEEEE WOOO
"Hm?"
In a rush, a gathering of Psynards draped in the colours of the Kanto Police Department arrive! Several Herushes -- large whale-like creatures -- surface from the coast, and a number of robe-clad men and women rise out from underneath its folds. Similarly, more of them dismount from the Psynards, four from each unit. They're not visibly armed, but they do carry clear shields and what look like some kind of tracing device.
A particularly young officer walks to the front and holds up a megaphone. A Loudred, a purple Pokemon with arms and legs and a big mouth and large speaker-like appendages above it, is beside him. His nametag reads:
SGT. MOSTARD KARASHIGAWA
L'Aqua Special Cases Division
He stands behind Loudred and, amplified, his voice echoes across the promontory:
"This is the Kanto Police Department. We have detected that you are in possession of a Class 9 Forbidden Symbological Weapon. Come out with your hands up! Please do not resist so that we can disarm you peacefully!"
Rixia flinches and pulls her hands out of her ears. That was loud... loudred, that is.
There's silence, for two seconds. Mostard gulps a little. This was his big debut! There's never been such a case like this... surely this was an accomplice of the Ten Wise Men! He's going to get praise from his superior--
"Incoming!!"
Rixia has decided to take the initiative and divebombs the cluster of L'Aqua rangers, wings and horns out and her Aura in full flare as she summons her gunblade. She sweeps her blade, and a a shockwave blasts them away from her.
"I'm tired of this happening everywhere I go. If you want to arrest me, then you'll have to work for it," Rixia intones, thrusting her gunblade out menacingly.
"If the world is so eager to make a villain of me, then I'll be its villain."
Sgt. Mostard blinks a few times, away from the centre of action. "Uh-- wait, that is--"
Psyduck looks placid at all this, though now that the Aura of Stillness has moved, something sinister and painful has come back onto its head, which it clutches with both of its hands.
"Psy...."
<Pose Tracker> Hannah Curie has posed.
Hannah should be heading back to Filgaia, but she's just been so busy. There's always something to do, something new to study, a whole new world to explore...
Okay. She's stalling. She can admit it. But while she may be going home to Filgaia, the portal leads to Ignas, which might actually be her place of origin, and that's... rather a lot to confront. She knew she'd have to go back, eventually, if Susanna found the lab, but... this is sooner than she expected.
But it's in a moment of solitude and reflecting that Zephyr, on the prowl for food that he can safely catch, spots Rixia in the distance. He's wary, of course--he knows a Hellion's Domain can be dangerous--but he is still alarmed as the police arrive in force.
And Hannah is alarmed, too. Zephyr stays high overhead as Hannah rushes into the scene. She's darting and dodging past police and Psynard alike. She ignores the shouts and orders to stop, and seems oddly prescient, zig zagging away from anyone reaching for her. She makes it to the front of the group, in front of the officer with the Loudred, facing Rixia...
And then turns to face the assembled officers. "Now wait just a gosh dang minute, here. You all wanna tell us what this is about before makin' demands and swarmin' my friend here?"
Hey, isn't that the girl with the weird, unlicensed magic that helped defend Oak's lab?
<Pose Tracker> Magilou has posed.
"Young lady, you get down from there this instant."
For some reason, Magilou is here, leaning on one of those shields and looking terribly bored.
"And I'm talking about your high horse," she says, waving a hand as she pushes off from the hapless fellow. "Have you no insight at all, Rixia? This is a cultivated world full of domesticated people... to Nedian, we're an invasive species."
She taps her fingers to her chin, gaze veiling. "The only context they have for power is the Ten Wise Men, and that fancy little blade of yours reminds them of those very tyrants. And your first action, on hearing this, is to attack them?"
She spreads a hand, indicating the Herushes of the coastal waters. "This isn't everywhere we go. These people aren't Lunarian or Filgaian. If you're going to make a monster of yourself -- I insist you look at the people you're striking with your eyes open."
A frown crosses her normally-smiling lips.
"These generalisations ill suit you."
<Pose Tracker> Shalune Amira has posed.
Shalune's of about three or four different minds when it comes to Nede. On the one hand, it's really nice to ride around on the Little Dipper when you don't have to deal with sand getting in your face. The calm, placid, climate-controlled wind feels really good, and there's a lot of rolling hills to just let her go as fast as she likes. Great. Plus, of course, there's all manner of technology to poke at, even if much of it is restricted or obfuscated as other bits of the scenery.
And the creatures are cute! Shalune hasn't got any Pokeballs at her hip, but she can appreciate cheerfully round birds and big armadillo-like creatures and the occasional soft bear. With her trademark resilience, she's even managed to pat a few of them at the same time as they try to swipe at her.
But she can't quite get past the nagging feeling that Nede feels too good to be true. Its managed nature is at odds with the happy sort of chaos she's used to. It's not the cold, lifeless feeling of a Spiran temple, but more like an entire people smothered under a blanket of comfort that makes everything else meaningless. She ends up flying around more often than not in part because that just feels more like she's... doing something.
Which is why her entrance to the scene is via the water below the promontory, so low that she's skimming a line of white across the blue. Or she was, until the unnatural stillness was the first sign of a familiar Domain. Then she hits the bottom edge of the sphere, and the world and the scooter slow to an abrupt crawl around her. Flecks of water hang in the air. The Little Dipper is moving through treacle, still somehow maintaining its height as the laws of physics take a nap.
Above her, as if played in fast forward, are a sudden chain of events - there's a furling of four pairs of wings, some garbled dialogue she can't make it when it's happening double speed, a sudden lance of light and the prettiness of a slow-motion shockwave. She can only stare, because any other thought is yet to fully form. And does it count as staring when it's only the precursor to a blink from your perspective? "Ohhhhhh?" she asks eventually, her awareness and voice stretched out into one long interminable string.
Then she breaks through the other side, and squawks as she's left fumbling with the controls and trying to get her brain back into gear, a wave coming up to meet her. Stamping on the back of the Little Dipper pivots it almost directly upwards and in a falling parabola, and leaves her on a curving crash course towards the battle at large. "--uh! Incoming! Sorry!" she manages to yell in the moment as she appears to all intents and purposes to join in divebombing the authorities.
"It's just an innocent crash-landing I-- Rixia?" she blurts before disappearing in a BOMF of dust. Thankfully, she can bounce.
<Pose Tracker> Ashiya Khaimova has posed.
No matter how advanced the society, or how late the age may be, there's always a predator-prey relationship lurking somewhere beneath the surface. That's the hypothesis Ashiya has, anyway, and it's holding true right now as the lanky Fellpool hangs from the talons of a cruel-featured Avian creature, whose steel-hued plumage glimmers menacingly in the sun. "Easy, now..." she mumbles, wondering: how does she keep winding up in these predicaments, anyway?
Unbeknownst to her, however, the dynamic at play here is quite different to what she has in mind. Sure, from her perspective, being snatched out of the woods suddenly by a monstrous bird larger than you are is an alarming experience, but that's only because Ashiya has no idea about the nest of Beedrills she was about to unknowingly stir! She'll look back on this later and laugh. But for now...
The winged behemoth's eyes twitch suddenly, as something on another wavelength stirs. The round, beaked one awakens. Catalysm and migraines draw near. It decides, rather swiftly, that the hapless Humanoid is on its own. And so the talons swiftly loosen, flinging Ashiya to the winds. Her arms windmill and her tail comically darts this way and that as she plummets! The day gets worse. But only for her: her good bird friend is much more comfortable to be travelling free in the other direction, free of cargo. It balances out.
This is why there's a drawn-out hollering that fades in, as someone plummets from the sky right in the midst of the assembled Kanto constabulatories doing their best Shadow Wizard Money Gang impersonation. "Stretch!" Ashiya commands, moments from impact, and a glyph of cerulean burns itself into being upon the ground beneath her. When she smacks into it at terminal velocity, the very soil stretches downwards like a trampoline mattress under a great deal of pressure, before spitting her back to the surface with a comical 'pbluh' noise.
"Found you!" she rasps, pointing haphazardly at Rixia and Magilou and, hell, maybe both. It's been a real ride getting here. Maybe she should stand up while voicing these thoughts. Maybe. "Are these... the cops? What the hell've you done -now-?"
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.
Ethius isn't too far off from the area to begin with. He's been taking the time to learn the ins and outs of raising and dealing with Energy Nede's wildlife - the Pokemon - in-between trips to keep tabs on what the Drifters are doing here, and has been aware that Rixia's been about the Emerald Cape region.
A gathering of Psynards shoot overhead. He's aware that a Psynard is likely just a traveler, but this is multiple, and they do resemble the colors of law enforcement.
Even if he didn't call his Pokemon back, he's sure his Arcmene would've just given chase to watch what was going on, but this much is not a good sign. (He lets others know before he takes off in that direction, just in case it's a Ten Wise Men-related situation.)
He's not that far behind Ashiya when he arrives, albeit with far less comical near-tragic landings (beyond staggering against the soil stretch that decides to get rubbery underneath his feet).
"Miss Rixia--" Ethius can't speak over any of what's going on, because what's going on is going on and he sees that gunblade drawn. There's been occasional odd looks and comments when weapons are out in the open on Energy Nede, but he's never seen anything warranting this level of response.
"Stand down. Stand down!" It's surprisingly desperate, on Ethius' part, sweeping an arm out as he tries in vain to come in from one side. He lacks the level of presence and gravitas Rixia is putting out with her drawn weapon and her Malevolence-fueled might.
He doesn't know what happened or why, but his back is turned to Rixia.
<Pose Tracker> Margaret has posed.
And near the disapproving and disaffected form of MAGILOU is the taller but not entirely dissimilar form of MARGARET, who has changed into...
It's athletic trainerware (as in, things you wear to go jogging in) which is what she could easily afford. A sword belt with her one remaining Rune-gimmicked blade rests at her hip, which somewhat damages the illusion, but...
She does kind of look local, if toweringly so.
Margaret waits for Magilou to finish speaking. It's a distinctive beat. Stage management. Margaret then raises up her left hand slowly as if to palm her face...
Which is a set-up for a dynamic-fingersplayed look up towards Rixia. "RIXIA!" she declares, sweeping up her right hand, which is faintly curled in its wrist brace. "We've fought together, worked together... even bled together. I'm proud to call you one of my comrades. But THIS!"
A twist and a stamp of the foot as she shifts hands, now pointing with her left hand. "This is foolishness. Never mind that these are agents of law. You'd be right to be skeptical of them!" ("No offense," Margaret asides to Sgt. Moustard.)
"But to seek out a fight with them is meaningless. It's vanity! All you're doing is forcing them to participate in a play of your own writing -- one in which the ending you seek is foreordained, because you keep writing it in! I'm disinclined to sit idly by and watch your suffering -- particularly when you're spreading it outwards. Hold your sword at bay! Breathe! Use your words!"
While remaining in a dramatic poise, which Margaret is hoping combines fierce love with the implicit authority of being both taller *and* older than Rixia, she stage-mutters to Magilou, "To be frank with you this is out of my usual key. If she's about to do anything disastrous I'll try to stop her."
<Pose Tracker> Nina Chiyome has posed.
Nina Chiyome may have been out and about on the run from uh, something. Don't worry about what the masked girl wearing funny old clothes was up to or why her hands have obvious telltale signs of paint on them. See, the trick is you don't tag in the same place you're staying and she wanted to check other things out and..
There's a bunch of police. Her first thought is to stop and put her hands up. The second is to hide. The third is to realize this is wildly out of proportion for vandalism and realizes this is something else.
She checks her bag, fishing around for a minute, wondering if she can help, or sneak in and look or.. what? What's she going to do?
She's going to go get a better look at the aliens. That's what she's going to do. There's some contemplation on whether she should change outfits and use this as cover for why she's here. Too late though really. She's sprinted up to the group of them, even recognizing two of them! She starts to wave, stops and focuses instead on the big scary monster (Kinda) attacking the rangers and.. promptly scrambles back and gets towards some kind of cover. Observe now, act after thinking.
They all seem to know her and she's a bit too wrapped up to keep her head fully down. She'll learn. Also she forgot to turn off the shutter sound on her phone when she started taking pictures. Which promptly means said phone gets fumbled a few times and thrown into her bag.
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
Energy Nede is equal parts ark and garden. As unsettling as Ida finds it, she can't deny it's fascinating. After so much death and chaos and destruction, it's a balm to her soul to simply take a walk along the coast with her new friends. The salt breeze is clean and crisp. The air is cool, but not chilly. A flock of Wingulls soar overhead in a V-formation, communicating to one another with keening cries.
WEEEE WOOOO WEEE WOOO
The Wingulls scatter. Strange, dragon-like creatures tear through the sky ahead, bearing... police officers? Ida freezes, and stares up at them for a moment. Marigold, an Eevee in a bright gold bandana, whimpers, and tucks herself between Ida's legs. Aurora, who is slightly larger and sturdier than her sister, cuddles up next to her, comfortingly.
"Pie?" says Catastrophe Sal, as she peeks out from Ida's backpack. "...Pie...?" The Caterpie... senses something. Ida senses it as well. A familiar stillness, drifting across the cliffs.
"Rixia!"
Ida dashes up to the scattered police cordon, and then /through. This may be especially confusing; she's one of the Visitors, but it's easy to miss at first glance. Aurora and Marigold are tucked into her arms. She's not wearing ARMs or armor--just a lightweight jacket, jeans, and a plain t-sirt.
"Marigold," Ida says, "she needs your help."
"...Voi?" Marigold shivers in Ida's arms, and looks at Rixia, big gold-brown eyes wide... with understanding.
The two Eevees hop out from Ida's grasp, and trot up to Rixia, Aurora putting herself between Marigold and the Hellion. Ida has both their Pokeballs in hand, ready to recall them at a moment's notice. But if Rixia doesn't turn violent, Marigold...
"Eevoi..." Nuzzles against her ankles, comfortingly.
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
Plucking the Pokeball from where it rests still among the grass, Avril holds it close to her chest and closes her eyes. "Now, what shall I call you?"
There's still time before their departure to Filgaia. There is much to yet learn in Nede of their foes and the strange new world with which they've been met, but Avril has her own obligations elsewhere. Still, that doesn't mean she can't take but a few hours more to see what this world has to offer... or that she can't make a few more friends.
But there's a sound nearby. Sirens wail through the air, a scream that carries long across the plains. "Pix," Chloe vocalizes, ears flattening against her head, her gaze fixed on the direction of the cacophany. "One of the Ten Wise Men?" Avril wonders, only for the answer to come to her as if she had been faced with a familiar scent. "No... that cannot be! Chloe, return!" Tucking her Pokemon away, Avril takes off running for the epicentre of current chaos.
"You mustn't do this," Avril says, pushing her way past the police cordon with the air of someone accustomed to forcing her own way. "Rixia... they are not your enemy. None of us are your enemy."
She has in hand no weapon, no sign of any intent but pacifying the young woman-turned-Hellion.
Her gaze lingers on some of the others here a moment -- Margaret, Magilou (if... reluctantly), Ida -- and turns her attention towards the officers.
"She is not with the Ten Wise Men." She offers no evidence for this, instead stating this as if it is fact and she is used to being heard and obeyed.
GS: Rixia has adjusted their boss level for 9 opponents!
<Pose Tracker> Rixia has posed.
"Hey-- wait-- oof--"
Hannah charges onto the scene and demands answers. Sgt. Mostard stares, a little perplexed at this turn of events. He clears his throat.
"The young miss is in possession of a Forbidden Nedian Weapon. This kind of power could destabilise the entirety of Nede, if left unchecked!"
Shalune crashes into the scene. "A-another one?!" Sgt. Mostard looks particularly shocked. Ashiya rushes onto the scene at about this time, and Sgt. Mostard looks to the Fellpool with a look of perplexedness. How'd she get here?
"To be honest, we don't have much information about how such a Weapon came to be. The blueprints should have been lost for more than 20,000 years! It's inconceivable that one could be built and active now."
Uh oh, Ashiya.
Nina starts to take pictures. Sgt. Mostard looks in her direction to go, "Hey, hey! If word of this gets out it'll be a real mess!" He looks flustered.
Avril insists, much like the others, against violence. She vouches that she isn't with the Ten Wise Men. "E-even if that were the case, why is she in possession of..."
Ethius, the veteran in this situation, calls for people to stand down -- but unfortunately, Sgt. Mostard isn't privy to that information, that this man really is the one that might just be able to defuse the situation. He's also young and inexperienced, clearly out of his depth.
"Hannah... Mister Ethius. Avril... Ashe... Shalune," Rixia looks surprised. A quiet frown, as she starts to reconsider. The police, too, don't seem inclined to initiate, picking up from where they've been bowled over and regrouping.
Then, Ida's Eevees, Marigold and Aurora, trot up and nuzzle against her ankles. Her lips press a bit more taut as she says, "What're you doing here? I'm dangerous. Don't get too close..."
Margaret arrives, and with that familiar fierce love, explains to her that this is foolishness. That she's going to only create self-fulfilling prophecies if she continues. It's certainly part of what's been happening, hasn't it? Yet...
Magilou lectures her on the relationship of power between the Drifters, and Nede. Her eyes narrow at the mention of a 'domesticated people'. She insists that if she strikes, that she strikes with her eyes open.
Rixia is still for a moment, initially deterred. This doesn't sound like the usual Magilou. But then...
A quiet smile creeps onto her lips, as her eyes flare wide open, the glow of Malevolence behind them.
"Moms... you pick this time to start lecturing me on being invasive? And against authority? You, the Wicked Witch that strikes fear into the heart of Lunar, Mazhigigika Miludin do Din Nolurun Dou? And Margaret, the infamous Black Pearl of Neo-Vane, leader of the Hounds of Hell?"
Hey, she remembered!
"I might not match up to Velvet Crowe... I might not be a Lord of Calamity..."
Is there a hint of envy there?
"But I won't allow you two to stop me. Didn't the stories of your infamous deeds follow the same path? If it's just like you said, that this world is domesticated, then I'll become the wolf to frighten them!"
She spreads one hand out, and the Domain of Stillness intensifies further-- the air becomes that much more stifling, and the light appears as if everything is viewed through a low-fidelity sepia filter. There's a kind of nostalgic beauty in it... but also, something sorrowful within. The Rangers begin to retreat from the stifled space, backing away to a safe margin, some of them manifesting their Pokemon out in self defence.
Several ethereal clocks tick away within the background, seemingly defying reality as the sands of time continue to wither from within. Moving within this Domain requires a lot more effort and strain, and yet there's a... quiet comfort from within as well...
"Now..."
She gently urges Marigold and Aurora to come back to Ida, kneeling in front of them.
Then, she looks to the gathered crowd.
"Who wants to cry 'wolf'?"
GS: Rixia has activated Force Action: Fury Shot! GS: Rixia has attacked Avril Vent Fleur with Spell-in-Waiting! GS: Rixia has gained 2 Combo! GS: Rixia has attacked Ida Everstead-Rey with Spell-in-Waiting! GS: Rixia has gained 2 Combo! GS: Rixia has attacked Nina Chiyome with Spell-in-Waiting! GS: Rixia has gained 1 Combo! GS: Rixia has attacked Margaret with Spell-in-Waiting! GS: Rixia has gained 1 Combo! GS: Rixia has attacked Magilou with Spell-in-Waiting! GS: Rixia has gained 1 Combo! GS: Rixia has attacked Ashiya Khaimova with Spell-in-Waiting! GS: Rixia has gained 2 Combo! GS: Rixia has attacked Shalune Amira with Spell-in-Waiting! GS: Rixia has gained 2 Combo! GS: Rixia has attacked Hannah Curie with Spell-in-Waiting! GS: Rixia has gained 1 Combo! GS: Rixia has attacked Ethius Hesiod with Spell-in-Waiting! GS: Rixia has gained 2 Combo! GS: Rixia has completed her action. GS: Magilou takes a glancing hit from Rixia's Spell-in-Waiting for 0 hit points! GS: Margaret takes a glancing hit from Rixia's Spell-in-Waiting for 0 hit points! GS: FP up! Reaction bonus activated! GS: Ashiya Khaimova critically guards Rixia's Spell-in-Waiting for 0 hit points! GS: CRITICAL! Shalune Amira solidly guards Rixia's Spell-in-Waiting for 0 hit points! GS: FP up! Countermeasures activated! GS: Avril Vent Fleur solidly guards Rixia's Spell-in-Waiting for 0 hit points! GS: Ethius Hesiod has activated Force Action: Guard! GS: Ethius Hesiod solidly guards Rixia's Spell-in-Waiting for 0 hit points! GS: FP up! Countermeasures activated! GS: Nina Chiyome partially evades Rixia's Spell-in-Waiting for 0 hit points! GS: Ida Everstead-Rey fully evades Rixia's Spell-in-Waiting for 0 hit points! GS: FP up! Reaction bonus activated! GS: Hannah Curie solidly guards Rixia's Spell-in-Waiting for 0 hit points! GS: FP up! Reaction bonus activated!
<Pose Tracker> Ashiya Khaimova has posed.
Ashiya scrapes herself up to her feet with surprising alacrity, for someone who just took a dive from the apex of the Corviknight Taxi flight path. Just in time to overhear the confusion: the Nedians are -very- perplexed as to why Rixia's horrible symbological weapon is active and around. Uh-oh, indeed. With wide eyes and one finger aloft, she leans into the conversation, uninvited. "Oh, we found those blueprints a few years ago in this big ruin. Working on them was my college project. Sorry, I really needed the scholarship!" she claps both hands together and bows her head.
Less comically, the girl with many blue features squints and takes a reflexive backstep as Rixia's Domain encroaches on the world. In stark contrast to the powerful and confident Magilou, of course, but you're always gonna measure up short against the Queen. She wavers, in the sepia-toned world where the sounds are comfortably muted and muffled, and where the ticking of a faraway clock guides her every movement and thought, but does not entirely falter. Faltering is what she usually does, when it comes to actually confronting Rixia instead of talking around the problem.
"Rixia... do you really want to be a wolf? Do you really want to make these people scared of you?" she asks, incredulous. "I don't think you do. But if you need to get it out of your system first..." she shakes her right hand briefly, then clenches it into a fist. Silvery-green digits very similar to machine code glimmer around both of her wrists, her long jacket buffeted in a slow-motion wind. Gross Federation war crimes RAND corporation-ass symbology. "Then let's dance. Until that damn weapon and you are tired."
<Pose Tracker> Magilou has posed.
"They did," Magilou answers, easily. "And in our path of arson and theft, slaughter and sacrifice, we always looked the people we were destroying in the eyes. Are you, Rixia? Do you know who it is you're fighting -- or are you lashing out at anyone, fitting them all with the same mask?"
She shrugs, broadly, palms to the sky.
"... you're shooting fish in a barrel. Admit you're blowing off steam, and you can kill as many of them as you please. But I won't have you being so self-righteous, kiddo."
But Magilou asides, quietly, to Margaret: "She's destabilising... oh, well." And if the light dims from her eyes, as she shares that worry, well -- it's not like Magilou really cares.
If Rixia makes an enemy of a world foreign to her...
Magilou has never suffered, in Stillness. The death of cultivation is a thing she knows and loathes well; it is etched into her bones. And so she steps forward, and there's nothing in her hands -- until, out of nowhere, she flicks a paper doll from her sleeveless sleeves.
"Spell Absorber," she invokes, as a flash of white emanates from her, all peppered with lilac butterflies.
The erasure of power.
GS: Magilou has attacked Rixia with Spell Absorber! GS: Magilou enters a Counter stance! GS: Magilou has gained 3 Combo! GS: Magilou has completed her action. GS: Rixia suffers a terrible blow from Magilou's Spell Absorber for 0 hit points! GS: Mute applied to Rixia! GS: FP up! Arcane Font and Sufferer activated! GS: Ashiya Khaimova has attacked Rixia with CODE: Hazard! GS: Ashiya Khaimova has completed her action. GS: Rixia solidly guards Ashiya Khaimova's CODE: Hazard for 0 hit points! GS: Misery inflicts a random effect! Break, Hex, and Shieldbreak applied to Rixia! GS: Hyper applied to Ashiya Khaimova! GS: FP up! Arcane Font, Reaction bonus, and Sufferer activated!
<Pose Tracker> Shalune Amira has posed.
Shalune would probably appreciate Ethius' attempt to stand down the issue were she not one of the ones accidentally instigating it further; as it is she tucks and rolls out of the little dustcloud she's made, and comes up out of it with both hands up open-palmed in front of her. She's kind of expecting to have ARMs pointed at her, because that's usually what happens back on Filgaia, and it's as confusing for her as it is for the guards when they both end up staring at each other in the aftermath of her impact.
Still reeling from the impact, Ashiya's stunt pushes her muddled brain into overdrive. Can Nede just do that? Is it a kid-friendly cliff they're on??
She is both a twenty-year-old and a perpetual teenager somewhere in her heart, and what actually drags her brain back to the present is the combined assault of Magilou and Margaret; she's left blinking, because she barely knows these people and she's still tempted to bite back. She can only imagine how it must be for Rixia, and something tells her that the lecture isn't going to go down that great given that she's reasonably sure her brain connects Margaret variously to 'henchmen' and 'bank robberies'.
Look, she's not judging. But Rixia's call out isn't exactly unexpected.
"She's-- she's definitely not one of the Wise Men," Shalune vouches as she struggles to her feet, still holding her hands up for the guards. It suddenly strikes her that that statement sounds kind of rude without context. "--er, I mean, they've kinda not exactly been big on sightseeing so far, you know? And you can't just call every Drifter a--" why is she comparing herself to a Lord of Calamity "--look! You know how it is when you're just trying to find your place in the world, right--"
The Domain pulses and expands, thick like treacle. Shalune had been expecting it, half hunkered down the moment Rixia had started to talk; maybe the fact that she's just experienced a good dose of its power is what prepares her better to face it - or at least she seems to adjust a little quicker. Her tongue starts off too thick and slow for her words, but it takes less time to find herself.
She can't help but feel sympathetic, and something doesn't make her reach for her staff just yet - but she still finds herself frowning. "We can't insist that people fight, or scare them into fighting. And yeah, it sucks that they just decided to land on you, but--"
Wait-- wait. What the heck is a Class 9 Forbidden Symbological Weapon anyway? "What the heck is a Class 9 Forbidden Symbological Weapon anyway?!" she yelps at the Sergeant, because that seems like a terribly pressing question.
GS: Shalune Amira has attacked Shalune Amira with Flux Form! GS: Shalune Amira has gained 2 Combo! GS: Shalune Amira's stances have changed to Avenger! GS: Shalune Amira gains 10 FP from her Daredevil! GS: Shalune Amira has completed her action. GS: CRITICAL! Shalune Amira accepts Shalune Amira's Flux Form for 0 hit points! GS: Hyper and Quick applied to Shalune Amira! GS: Riposte applied to Shalune Amira!
<Pose Tracker> Hannah Curie has posed.
Hannah is fearlessly staring down the swarm of Psynards and assembled police officers with a fierce, determined gaze... and still she blinks when Magilou, of all people, appears out of nowhere, leaning on someone's shield.
And she's... actually making some really salient points and maybe even trying to deescalate things...???
She is not sure how to feel about this, but she only spares a quick glance up to Zephyr, circling overhead, before looking back to the police.
Ashiya arrives, via a rather impressive save. Ethius and Margaret arrive in turn, both trying to talk Rixia down, but as far as Hannah's concerned, Rixia isn't the problem.
She tries to catch Nina's eye when she stubmles into the scene and give a little shake of her head. There are aliens here, yes, but this might be more than she's equipped for.
Ida arrives, sending the Eevee sisters to comfort Rixia, and Hannah heaves a sigh of relief. "Ida! Help me talk these guys down!" Meaning the police, not everyone else. And Avril also tries to talk the police down. "Thank you, Miss Avril," she says quietly.
Sgt. Mostard does explain, finally--a forbidden Nedian Weapon. That must be the gunblade. "You sure it's a Nedian weapon? She didn't receive it on Nede, she received it on her world, Lunar. And even if it is Nedian, has she committed any crimes or taken any actions showin' she's a risk or a danger to anyone?"
"And don't say she's brandishin' a weapon at you. How would you feel if a buncha people jumped you and started makin' demands outta nowhere?"
Rixia speaks, and initially seems deterred (--Wait, Moms?!--No, questions for later--) but she shivers as those Malevolence-lit eyes open. She's not facing, she can't possibly see (but Zephyr does) and Hannah looks Mostard directly in the eye. "Order them back. Now."
She half-turns back towards Rixia as her Domain expands, raising an arm up as if to guard herself from the effects, but the pressure, this close, is immense. It's a strain, even as her aura seeks to push back, something twisting and almost crackling against that force, though Hannah is straining to keep it in.
"Rixia... ngh... please... I'm tryin' to talk these guys down... None of this is your fault, an' it ain't fair of 'em to assume anythin' of you. I will defend you, but this'll only... this'll only make 'em more scared."
"I know you don't want to hurt anyone." The fizzled spell, while dramatic, is proof enough of that. "Don't provoke 'em. We can still work this out."
GS: Hannah Curie has attacked Rixia with A Heartfelt Plea! GS: Hannah Curie has gained 3 Combo! GS: Hannah Curie's stances have changed to ! GS: Hannah Curie has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Margaret has posed.
Margaret's ears twitch as other people speak. Some people take Rixia's side, which, is understandable, but something inside of her begins to build.
Her nose twitches a little. People are photographing things. Vouching she's not with the Ten Wise Men. Her lips pull back from her teeth a little, just a little, as the Sergeant wonders where the hecc she got such a weapon -- which he recognizes?
But then Rixia calls them hypocrites. Margaret feels crestfallen (so to speak) for a moment... but in the same breath, almost, Rixia moves on to... Velvet, the Lord of Calamity.
Margaret's head tilts downwards. Her jaw tightens. She fiddles with the brace on her right hand for a moment. This is quite clearly manifested as "..." in dialogue.
Margaret, still staring about ten paces in front of her, has her expression change. There is another "..."
The Domain of Stillness rises.
She's destabilizing, Magilou says. Margaret glances at her. Her eyes are soft for a moment even if her tense expression remains. She nods slightly, once - even as she sees that glassiness...
That burbling tension inside of Margaret distills (for, after all, what else does a Still do?) and she raises her head and shoulders upwards. She speaks with an animated and alarming tension. "You'll be their wolf, will you? Well, here's an interesting fact about wolves, my lamb," and here Margaret looks upwards as she begins to glow, faintly. While it is violet, primarily, the luminous nebular aura around her is doubtless familiar to post of those present. "Which is that the lead wolf is typically the oldest and strongest she-wolf in the pack."
Margaret unfastens her sword belt, shakes it loose, and tosses it off into a bush somewhere. She may regret this later. "I don't need THIS to put some sense into you!"
She takes a deep breath. It comes back out. "RIXIA OF SAGHALI!"
Her left hand shoots out to point. "Prepare yourself."
MARGARET OF HOUNDSTOOTH
VS
RIXIA OF SAGHALI
"Get out of here, piggy-pie!" (This is to the Sergeant.) "This is a mission for MAGIC!" Margaret declares before surging forwards, flickering back and forth with several flashes of her magical ring, feinting a kick, and then throwing a left straight right at Rixia's breadbasket.
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.
Ethius also happens to lack a badge in which to flash at a moment's notice. (His line of work... doesn't really issue badges for the kind of fieldwork he does.) For all intents and purposes he's a random Visitor dressed close to a stereotypical hiker attempting to step into Kanto Police Department business and that is a look that can only escalate.
In the attempts to argue past some other officers, he looks up as he catches the conversation Sgt. Mostard has to Ashiya.
'--information about how such a Weapon--' yelling, in Ethius' direction about how he should clear, even as he holds up a hand, and that's on top of everyone else trying to reach out to Rixia, '--prints should have been lost for more than 20,00 years! it's inconceivable that one could--'
Ethius' mouth starts to hang open. It looks like his distant memory of a briefing into the possibility of being assigned to something with symbols matching what Rixia has is - was - beyond his paygrade. Ashiya was a part of something truly dangerous.
"So Nedian technology, in whole or in part, had already been in Federation possession in some form," saying it out loud is bad but that just changed some of the overall calculus of what's going on in broader terms. Ashiya describing it as her college project is chilling and it shows on his face, where it used to not.
"You have to let me through, now." He gives a severe look to the robed Symbologist currently accosting him as Rixia speaks his name. In truth, Ethius probably doesn't have the means to power past them. Things deteriorate.
The Domain of Stillness flares out. Ethius doesn't know in the heat of the moment of what Rixia puts forth is purely her Malevolence or if the Sleeping Lion plays a part. He slurs his syllables and sweeps his arm inward as he steps in front of the L'Aqua Symbologist that might have been five seconds away from a non-lethal takedown against Ethius.
He ends up far more anchored by purpose and clarity of who he is and what he's doing, more than any sort of Symbological countermeasure. He has experience with Domains, even if Rixia's might be the strongest yet he's had to resist.
He runs forward at a sedate pace in resisting the Domain, only having taken note how Ida's Eevee friends have managed to brave that Domain in order to try to see to Rixia's well-being. He doesn't have Magilou's capacity to erase sorcerous power under the strength of the Spell Absorber that very nearly circumvented Demetrioi's abominable terraforming power.
"I will not allow that weapon to make further victims of anyone, Miss Rixia," is his rallying cry as he closes in, flexing fingers and chanting the syllables to the spell he intends. The empty, airy comfort of Stillness threatens to stifle him, and the L'Aqua Symbologists might cock their eyebrows on how he expects to stand a chance with what level of Symbology he has.
Only the desire to never allow the people of underdeveloped societies to never again be victim to the misplacement of technology that does not belong.
"Recurrent... Current!" Ethius just only gets the spell done, hurling an open palm where electricity tries to jump through the space between them to course through to where Rixia stands.
GS: Margaret has attacked Rixia with Nothing Can Beat Margaret's Mystical Powers! GS: Margaret has gained 1 Combo! GS: Margaret has completed her action. GS: Ethius Hesiod has attacked Rixia with Recurrent Current! GS: Ethius Hesiod has gained 1 Combo! GS: Ethius Hesiod has completed his action. GS: Rixia suffers a terrible blow from Hannah Curie's A Heartfelt Plea for 0 hit points! GS: FP up! Sufferer activated! GS: Rixia suffers a terrible blow from Margaret's Nothing Can Beat Margaret's Mystical Powers for 120 hit points! GS: Cripple applied to Rixia! GS: Quick applied to Margaret! GS: FP up! Sufferer activated! GS: Rixia suffers a terrible blow from Ethius Hesiod's Recurrent Current for 138 hit points! GS: Poison blocked! GS: FP up! Arcane Font and Sufferer activated!
<Pose Tracker> Nina Chiyome has posed.
Nina Chiyome is reprimanded by the police. She'd already stashed her phone though! She calls out, "I think you've got bigger problems!" before ducking out of sight properly, trying to scurry along to a better position. Those floating clocks and the words she's hearing though? That doesn't sound so good. She glances at her pokemon belt, but doesn't want to put them at risk. It's one thing when it's a battle. It's another when it's some weird alien right?
"I have no idea what a wolf is." She mutters, watching those ticking clocks count down, completely confused by the thing. The others seem to want to talk the other alien down though. And it doesn't seem to be working. She glances down at her bag, hesitant. She could just cut and run, but..
The wooden tools come out. Shaped like a sickle and chain though made with wood and rope, she tests the weighted side and gives it an experimental twirl. When that stillness washes over her, she about books it again, but much like the first few times she went and got herself into trouble, she realized she'd committed and had already chosen to act!
The bag is slung back over her shoulder and with the wooden hook held before her and the weight over her shoulder she stumbles..
Hannah's warning is probably why she missed that Magilou was suggesting a bunch of death and mayhem. "That's kinda what they do." She replies to Hannah's question about orders being shouted and all. She's had her run-ins. (She's never followed the orders when it was relevant, but hey.) She hasn't fully ran forward to try and bonk the alien in the head yet, partially because that might mean some incriminating evidence would make it's way into police hands and she's not sure how good she could hide from the full thing.
She's well aware this is a terrible idea. The monster, the aliens and the cops isn't a movie she ever wanted to star in. Then again, she was challenged and.. she's waiting for the others to make the first move. Because brash or not, she recognizes attempts to deescalate!
What's a piggy-pie? Well, she's prepared. Sort of. "I can help" She finally says mostly to herself. Better than just being a bystander.
GS: Nina Chiyome has attacked Nina Chiyome with Summer Twilight! GS: Nina Chiyome has gained 4 Combo! GS: Nina Chiyome's stances have changed to Avenger! GS: Nina Chiyome gains 10 FP from her Daredevil! GS: Nina Chiyome has completed her action. GS: CRITICAL! Nina Chiyome accepts Nina Chiyome's Summer Twilight for 0 hit points! GS: Mighty applied to Nina Chiyome!
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
Ida's head cants towards Hannah, and she nods. "What were you planning on doing if she hadn't surrendered," she says, her voice low and angry as she addresses Mostard. "All you've done is escalate this!" And now it's her duty to clean up the mess the cops made.
"...Voi?" Marigold tilts her head, eyes huge and glistening. "Evoi!" She goes to nuzzle Rixia's legs again, but Aurora steps between her and the Hellion, fur bristling. Ida realizes--Aurora's sensing the Domain. It's got her on edge. She holds up both Pokeballs, one in each hand. "Aurora, Marigold, return!" Twin lines of red streak across the field as Aurora nudges her sister away from Rixia. Both Eevees disappear, returned to the safety of their Pokeballs.
Ida stows them on her belt, grimacing as she feels that Domain expand, exert itself upon her. She's trusting Magilou, here; she knows exactly what Spell Absorber does, and it is their best line of defense against this alleged Nedian superweapon. But she's not without her own offense.
"Sal!" Ida shouts. "String Shot!"
Catastrophe Sal pokes out from Ida's pack; the heiress runs forward, keeping herself steady to give the Caterpie the best firing platform possible. Thick, sticky silk sprays from between her mandibles, and it does not stop. Sal goes about this task with all the enthusiasm of a bounty huntress lassoing an escaping target.
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has attacked Rixia with Caterpie - String Shot! GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has gained 1 Combo! GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has completed her action. GS: Rixia suffers a terrible blow from Ida Everstead-Rey's Caterpie - String Shot for 0 hit points! GS: Slow applied to Rixia! GS: FP up! Sufferer activated!
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
Her eyes widen. "That weapon is--"
Avril may be missing a number of her memories, but that is a different situation from being absent of sense (if sometimes absent of common sense). Slowly, she glances back over her shoulder at Rixia. It's Nedian. Somehow, she already knows that this is true, that this is the situation that has transpired. Perhaps even here she can sense the connections between disparate things. So Rixia came into possession of that weapon, which she already had known to possess such strange powers, and then...
"I am asking you to stand back," she says to the officer, her expression a mask of steely calm. "This is a friend of ours. As such, we shall take responsibility for her." She glances, once, Hannah's way if simply to dip her head in a shallow nod.
Then Avril turns to face Rixia.
She turns to face Rixia, and in so doing, faces also the brunt of her Domain, unfurled here of all places.
"...If this is your intent," she says to Rixia, feeling the Domain grind against her soul, "then here I shall stand in your path. I cannot permit you to do this, Rixia. If this is your intent, then first you must pass me.
Her blade is in her hand, its edge glinting in the sun.
"Prepare yourself!"
She flies at Rixia in a lunge with Absolute Zero, her feet scarce seeming to touch the ground. They need to stop this here. This truth most of all Avril holds tight to her heart. It needs to stop here, for the sake of everyone, Rixia most of all.
GS: Avril Vent Fleur has attacked Rixia with Spirit Saber! GS: Avril Vent Fleur has gained 2 Combo! GS: Avril Vent Fleur has completed her action. GS: Rixia suffers a terrible blow from Avril Vent Fleur's Spirit Saber for 133 hit points! GS: Quick applied to Avril Vent Fleur! GS: FP up! Sufferer activated!
<Pose Tracker> Rixia has posed.
Rixia's face scrunches a little as Magilou presses on with the comparison. "Aren't you looking down on them just as much as I am? Treating them as domesticated, like fish in a barrel... that's self-righteous talk too, mom..."
She's being rebellious, but she's definitely pacing those words inside of her. It's not like she can just ignore mom's words...
Still, the flimsiness of that Spell-in-Waiting isn't all that effective against the power of Spell Absorber -- and some of the facade is ripped away for what it is. There's a more twisted grimace from Rixia, as she's forced to back away. "I'll beat that power one day..."
Ashiya answers the question to St. Mostard, who just stares at the Fellpool like what
"Whaaaaat???" he vocalises his expression one moment later, and Loudred beside him also has a 'oh my gaaawd' expression, jazzhanding all the same.
Ashiya questions whether she wants to be a wolf. Does she want these people scared of her? Then, debiliatating magic summoned from Ashiya's machine code buffets her, and she grimaces and takes a step back.
"... it's a stroke of luck your college project came back to where it came from, then, huh," Rixia murmurs. "But fine."
Shalune attempts to reason with the Sergeant of what's happening, and he scratches his head to say, "E-even if she's being rebellious, this is still a very dangerous situation!"
The question of what a Class 9 Forbidden Symbological Weapon goes a bit unanswered, because the Sergeant admits: "... I don't have the clearance for that."
Sgt. Mostard gets chewed out by Hannah, and he gets a bit defensive as he stammers, "We-- we couldn't risk it! Something of this calibre hasn't happened before, so we had to take all due precaution. And yes-- we're certain the design is an ancient Nedian one!"
See also: Ashiya's admission.
Still, Hannah looks stifled by the Domain, even as Rixia attempts to ease the spell down -- she sees the twistedness crackling against it, and if she loses control, it could be worse...
But when Hannah makes her appeal that she'll defend her, something slacks inside of her. "It's not like I don't appreciate it. But if we don't get serious... then..."
But Margaret points out that if she wants to be a wolf, then she'll need to be the most powerful in the pack, and that's-- not--
HER!
Rixia FEELS THE HEAT as she suddenly backs away from Hannah, and misreads the kick as Margaret's intention and then suddenly just takes the left straight right in the oof
Her cheeks puffed up, she stares up at Margaret to say, "You're not... going to let me... I just wanted to..."
She grabs hold of Margaret into a hug. For a moment, it feels really heartfelt, like mom's really gotten through to her. Maybe mom-- older sister --really has--
"You're all wrapped in an adult world by yourselves, but exclude me from it! It's not FAIR!"
--a grain of truth has come out, one that signifies that, yes, maybe Rixia is just blowing off steam, and then she grabs hold of Margaret tightly and WRENCHES her over her shoulder to land aplomb on the other side.
The robed Symbologist seems content enough to let Ethius through after a while, perhaps sensing that this man knows more than he lets on, given his mention of the Federation.
Just as she rolls out of the German Suplex, Recurrent Current manifests and she starts to convulse with the shock of that electricity, growling harder as she stares towards Ethius.
"Everyone's scared of this thing... I didn't even want for it... it was just thrust onto me, like the scapegoat I've always ever been..." Rixia wheezes, body still flinching from the power of the electric spell. "I get why now... Stella Starmann really made a mockery out of me..."
Rixia has managed to miss Nina in the commotion, because she's very agile and stealthy and she's distracted. A piggy-pie, though? Perhaps some sort of Lechonk, maybe.
Rixia's lament has also earned her the ire of CATASTROPHE SAL, the Caterpie, who-- fires string at her! Aaah! It's sticky! Unbelievable! Incroyable! She flails and starts to swing her gunblade in the wake of it but it's incredibly hard once it's already on her--
"Ida this SUCKS. A LOT," she whines.
She's minorly relieved from her stringy problem a moment later because Avril has entered ATTACK MODE and calls on her to prepare herself, and it's only with last-minute timing that she brings the gunblade to clash against Absolute Zero. Oh lord Avril is so STRONG, she thinks, as she's pushed back quite a ways.
Then-- suddenly, something rings in her mind.
"Psy..."
Psyduck is quite far away from the battle, so one might be forgiven for missing the duck suddenly having glowing red eyes. (Its eyes are tiny, you know).
Rixia pauses and looks towards the promontory.
"... are you sure?"
"Psyy."
"You don't have to go down this route..."
"Psy."
"... okay."
Rixia looks towards the gathered field, and then suddenly rises into the air on her powerful, spread wings and flies backwards from the battle!
She lands next to Psyduck and picks it up gingerly into her arms, and then-- points the gunblade at it!
"Psyyy..."
The moment Rixia comes close, Psyduck looks much more content and not in pain. Does it even care that it's now in a...
"This is a holdup! Don't move or the Psyduck gets it!"
Sgt. Mostard looks INCREDIBLY ALARMED at this turn of events and flabbergastedly echoes out with the Loudred:
"A Psyduck's been held HOSTAGE! What are your demands, you fiend? E-er, w-we don't negotiate with criminals! ... do we?"
He's extremely tripping over his own words as he tries to find the right phrases in the playbook in his head.
"Psyyy...."
psyduck looks SO comfortable in the domain right now
GS: Rixia has attacked Margaret with The Suplex of Daughter's Frustrations To Mom-- Older Sister! GS: Rixia has completed her action. GS: Margaret solidly guards Rixia's The Suplex of Daughter's Frustrations To Mom-- Older Sister for 110 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Margaret gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Infect! Debuff durations extended!! GS: Jam blocked! GS: Hyper applied to Rixia!
<Pose Tracker> Shalune Amira has posed.
Shalune's rather addled approach has left her on a different tack to many of the others present.
Alright, so she's not a Symbologist and hasn't quite got the knack of outer space yet, and she's kind of half working off of first principles here, but if Nede knows about something and can identify it, then the balance of probability is that it must be something that Rixia picked up on Nede. And as much as Shalune's still not great at mentally categorizing Malevolence, she at least reasons it can't be that, because she doesn't think that the Sergeant would even recognize it.
And without recognizing the significance of her sword, that leaves the most obvious option as... the duck.
And honestly, she's prepared to believe that the round yellow creature might actually be a source of ultimate destruction. She's seen weirder. She's fought weirder. She'd place the Servbots at Class 7 at least, and the one with the unblinking stare at Class 8. The Sergeant even evades her question, which must mean she's on the right track, and yeah why can't a duck be an ancient Nedian design?
(She has no idea what the Class system is. It's fine. She has gut feel to go off. She is also still maybe a little bit confused from her fall and taking a while to catch up to Ashiya and Ethius's level of dread, though she would surely approve of a potentially apocalyptic college project involving lost technology.)
The seed of doubt starts to grow a little as Rixia complains that it was thrust upon her, because for all of Shalune's certainty, a nervous glance over to the duck does not give her the impression that it is particularly thrust on anyone. It just sort of 'is'. That seed of doubt gets utterly demolished the moment she realizes its EYES HAVE TURNED RED. What other signifier of a harbinger of destruction do you need?!
"Okay, look, I'm still getting caught up on everything, but you don't have to do this!" she yells, mistaking the hostage situation for the priming of an ancient duck-shaped weapon. "I get it! It's frustrating that they're just leaving stuff up to us! And it sucks they just kinda landed on you and kicked you out of watching the waves! But it's okay to put the duck down! You don't have to-- er-- use it!"
She narrows her eyes, and tries to imagine that. ... only now does it start to filter through that she might be on the wrong wavelength.
<Pose Tracker> Ashiya Khaimova has posed.
The police being shocked out of their minds is not lost on Ashiya, especially as Sgt. Mostard bellows in disbelief. But now's not the time to talk about such things with them! The Fellpool's brow furrows. She can worry about being put in forever-jail after the crisis has passed. She is unaware, too, of Ethius's keen hearing. Perhaps such things wouldn't bother her, anyway: the time for keeping secrets is also fairly well passed. She reaches out with one hand, though to do so in the domain is to try and move through treacle. She is far too slow to really effect the proceedings, having already made her surprise attack before.
Have you considered, you fool cat, responsibility for this lies on your shoulders, too? If for no other reason than doing such a poor job putting a lid on the matter. It's symbolic, you see. The inability to cross the domain physically and be close to Rixia is representative of the emotional distance between them because young adults can't make sense of, or talk about their feelings. Folks, it just writes itself.
Anyway, Ashiya turns in somewhat slow motion to the beleaguered police sergeant at about roughly the same time as Shalune hollers her support. "What's the big problem? It's just a duck. She won't hurt it, honest." and she points. "I mean, look. It's comfy." (she does not know, re: psyduck)
There's another slow flick of the girl's wrist, and she tries to summon some symbological trickery to make it feel less like breathing is a struggle to swim uphill in this magical morass of the Domain. Sure, just loudly use all your unlicensed magic, you can't go to court hell any harder, right?
GS: Ashiya Khaimova has attacked Ashiya Khaimova with CODE: REFRESH! GS: Ashiya Khaimova has completed her action. GS: Ashiya Khaimova heals Ashiya Khaimova! She gains 26 temporary hit points! GS: Burst and Regen applied to Ashiya Khaimova! GS: FP up! Gleam activated!
<Pose Tracker> Hannah Curie has posed.
Hannah stares, agape, at Ashiya. "You... you built that?" Is that true, or just a ploy to throw off the police. She'd believe either, at this point.
And a shocked glare to Magilou as she says she will let Rixia kill as many as she wants, if it's just to blow off steam. Those earlier thoughts about her seeming to try and deescalate are quickly retracted. But destabilizing... Hannah is definitely worried.
Hannah shares some of Ethius' horror--for different reasons, to be sure, but there is a panicked glance to him as he utters that some Nedian technology has been in Federation possession already. If he's willing to believe Ashiya's boast...
Hannah will explain wolves later. "Nina, s-stay back." 'That's what the police do.' "Yeah, well, they started this whole mess."
There is a grateful nod to both Ida and Avril as they back her up with the police.
Mostard admits he doesn't have the clearance, and Hannah jumps on that. "If you ain't got the clearance, then how do you expect to safely handle retrieval and containment of a Class 9 Forbidden Symbological Weapon, huh?"
She scowls at the officer, even as she's straining against that overwhelming Domain of Stillness. She's angry, and she's angry on behalf of someone she considers a friend, and she's latching onto that to help center her thoughts and priorities. (The worrying ripple and crackle of her aura against the Domain might also be helping, but she's trying to hold that in.) "Y-you ain't dealt with somethin' like this before? Well we have. So pull your people back." Her voice is suddenly quiet, and plaintive. "Please. 'Fore any of 'em get hurt. You ain't got no idea what's goin' on, and we can't explain right now."
She turns her attention back to Rixia, and all of that ferocity she directed at Mostard is just gone when she talks to Rixia again, her voice soft, and caring, and supportive (if a bit stressed.) "I am serious, Rixia. I know... I know we both grew up differently, I ain't denyin' that. But... I feel like we're both alike, in a lotta ways. Neither of us is ready to deal with what we are, but... we can figure it out. Together. Promise."
She stares, in disbelief, as Psyduck seems to suggest something... and Rixia takes it hostage.
Oh for... she looks between the two, examines the Psyduck... and then slowly nods. She mouths a 'Thank you' to the Psyduck. It's a bad move, but... she respects Psyduck trying to help Rixia.
But Mostard is floundering, and Hannah sighs. She looks back to him, keeping her voice just low enough so it won't pick up on the Loudred. "Look. This is gettin' out of hand. Let us help you resolve this peacefully. We want the same thing, right? For nobody to be hurt?"
GS: Hannah Curie has attacked Rixia with Counter-Negotiation! GS: Hannah Curie has completed her action. GS: Rixia suffers a terrible blow from Hannah Curie's Counter-Negotiation for 0 hit points! GS: FP up! Sufferer activated!
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.
Ethius has words to say after Rixia growls and bares her stare at her. It does not cross him that he is at risk of drawing the ire of someone who just might be about to succeed whoever the previous Lord of Calamity was (not including the former *original* one who is now in the picture) in terms of her Malevolence potency. It did not stop him from braving the Furies' Domain in order to remove advanced tools or to try to put a stop to the Mannikins.
Years later with his hard-earned return to clarity on who he is and what he does, he doesn't back down now, but he has to take a step back when the gunblade is swung in response to being String Shot'd, and Avril takes the pacing of the melee from there.
Rixia takes her hostage, just like that - the Psyduck. He knows how much love and concern is in Sgt. Mostard's voice, as the love of Pokemon here is almost universal. There is always the risk Psyduck - as is any other - is an endangered species here in Energy Nede.
"Miss Rixia." He addresses her, without moving his gaze away. Ethius' gaze is never a comforting thing, and that's just a personal demerit he has to live with as Hannah argues in the background about a Class 9 Forbidden-- he can't lose focus. They are in a powerful Domain. There's theoreticals about what something is and does to have complicated feelings about, and there's a clear feeling right here that keeps him moving.
"Miss Rixia," he repeats. "If you do not want it, you can put it down at any time. It is clear that Stella Starman does not think of the victims she leaves behind with her actions."
"Do not be her agent by proxy." He knows Ida, Seer of Fire, is here. Being able to remove the Sleeping Lion and get it cleansed of Malevolence right here and now would be a boon for all involved.
He's glad Hannah is sparing the words in that direction while he focuses on this one.
"You are not powerless here," he finishes, but that stare doesn't relent.
<Pose Tracker> Margaret has posed.
Margaret does not clarify what a piggy-pie is in the slightest. Instead, as she surges inwards, she flicker-jerks back from the blow and she looks at Rixia.
"That's right," she says. "I'm not going to let you destroy your life without a fi"
Can you, Dear Reader, see the point where Margaret got hugged? Her expression is surprised, but perhaps also smug. See? Sometimes you just need a little tough to go with the love, and -
"What?!"
S U P L E X
Margaret smashes into the ground hard enough to leave a crater, which is where Margaret is throughout most of the rest of this. Perhaps she's rethinking her life decisions, or regretting her words and deeds.
"RIXIA!" Margaret says, popping up to a seated posture.
Her left hand swings out to point.
"Let the duck thingy go."
She kips to her feet. "An adult world... what do you mean? The world of regret and worry? You're there already, kid. Do you want to start drinking? Go right ahead - if you're not drinking hard liquor, you could barely manage to hurt yourself for a good long while. If you have a problem with me," Margaret continues, swinging her arm around, "Bring it to me! I'll wrestle you any day of the week. Twice, on Sundays!"
"But," Margaret continues, stepping forwards and aiming to lock eyes with Rixia as she goes. "If you want to get rid of that blade... If that truly is your will... you're closer to your goal than you think. Did you hear that guard? They know about weapons like this here. If you're bound to it somehow, they may know more. No matter how much it may hurt - these people were strangers to you a month ago. Why make them into your enemies...?"
GS: Margaret enters CONDITION GREEN!! GS: Margaret has attacked Rixia with Step Away From The Psyduck! GS: Margaret has gained 1 Combo! GS: Margaret enters CONDITION GREEN!! GS: Margaret has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Magilou has posed.
Magilou catches the way Margaret's jaw tightens, when the Lord of Calamity comes up. "Jealous?" She drags it all out into the light, with an easy grin, but -- she can't linger on it.
Not with the situation in front of them, which Magilou may or may not be attempting to de-escalate, in her way.
"Hahaha... you're right," Magilou laughs, and it rings hollow. "I look down on these people, because I look at this artificial world, and I think..."
Her lips jag back, more a sneer than a smile.
"... my old man would be comfortable, here."
And -- suplex! Magilou does not get in the way of this family matter. She does absorb the magical powers coming off of Rixia, though, and...
... lets them dissipate inside her. There's no need for Calamity Flare, today.
(It's uncomfortable, internally speaking, but she doesn't say a word.)
"She's right, you know," Magilou points out, gesturing to them. "Working with this new world isn't the worst option available to you, Rixia. Like this --"
She takes an empty Pokeball from the book-belt at her waist, and tosses it, in a gentle arc, over to Rixia.
"That duck seems quite happy beside you. Those things are called Pokeballs, and they're homes for the creatures, as I gather. Toss it at it and capture it, and you'll have a way to interact with Nede on Nede's terms."
Is she suggesting that Rixia exploit Stockholm Syndrome?!
No one said she was a nice person.
GS: Magilou spends 1 Combo on Interrupt! GS: Magilou has attacked Rixia with Pokeball Go?!! GS: Magilou has gained 1 Combo! GS: Magilou has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
There is, for a moment, a touching embrace between Margaret and Rixia. Has tough love gotten through?
Oh. Well, that went about as well as Ida thought it might; she remembers the fights she had with her parents, infrequent as they were.
"Yes, it does suck," Ida says. "But we're not sitting back and watching, either. Do you know what's at the end of the path you're walking, Rixia? All the stress points are still there, and they'll only grow worse as you force everyone away."
Rixia... takes a hostage! Ida's hands snap up; Sal's mouthparts droop, and she raises her stubby little forefeet. A moment passes.
"I can't speak for Velvet, so I won't, but I will speak for me." Ida draws herself up. Sal cranes her head down to look at her.
"I did something that put all of Lunar at risk. An experiment went wrong; I injected Malevolence into the Earthpulse, and it kept spreading, and feeding, and before long, I couldn't control it anymore. It was making demands of me. And I thought there was no way out."
"I was lucky. People came for me, and showed me they cared. It wasn't pretty, but I took what I'd done, and owned it, and when I was Purified, so was the Domain. But it could've so easily been something irreparable. Margaret's right. These people might be able to help. We can help. Please..."
Ida's eyes glimmer with a faint sheen of tears. "I don't want to see you do something you can never take back."
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has attacked Rixia with Pass! GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has gained 1 Combo! GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
Her blade clashes with Rixia's own, and the force of Avril's advance serves to force Rixia back. "This is not yet the end," she tells Rixia, dropping back herself as Rixia suddenly takes flight. "Ah--"
Rixia... has taken a hostage, in the form of a Pokemon. Yet, is it simply that? Something about this situation seems oddly familiar to her.
"Rixia... there is no need for this," Avril says coolly. And yet, the blade she had held still vanishes from her grasp: Avril again bears no arms against the young foxwoman.
Instead, she bears in her arms a simple angular disc, from which there shines a soft but steady light.
"There is still time to change your way," she tells Rixia, holding that disc -- that Medium -- as if it were something precious and fragile.
"Lucadia, we need you," Avril intones, and there rises a gentle wind carrying the salt and spray of the sea.
Avril hopes that this can be resolved peaceably, that those who know Rixia best can reach her and help pull her from the situation that is now unfolding.
But Avril knows -- or more accurately, the impressions she can access from the bright core of the person she was and might again be knows -- that it's rarely that easy. Should it become necessary, then she has prepared the way forward.
GS: Avril Vent Fleur has attacked Margaret with Bottomless Sea! GS: Avril Vent Fleur has attacked Ashiya Khaimova with Bottomless Sea! GS: Avril Vent Fleur has attacked Avril Vent Fleur with Bottomless Sea! GS: Avril Vent Fleur has attacked Ida Everstead-Rey with Bottomless Sea! GS: Avril Vent Fleur has attacked Ethius Hesiod with Bottomless Sea! GS: Avril Vent Fleur has gained 1 Combo! GS: Avril Vent Fleur has completed her action. GS: Avril Vent Fleur accepts Avril Vent Fleur's Bottomless Sea for 0 hit points! GS: Blitz applied to Avril Vent Fleur! GS: Quick applied to Avril Vent Fleur! GS: Gamble: High! Rixia suffers a terrible blow from Margaret's Step Away From The Psyduck for 71 hit points! GS: Cripple applied to Rixia! GS: FP up! Arcane Font and Sufferer activated! GS: Rixia suffers a terrible blow from Magilou's Pokeball Go?! for 0 hit points! GS: Interrupt applied to Rixia! GS: FP up! Sufferer activated! GS: Rixia has lost 2 Combo from Interrupt! GS: CRITICAL! Ethius Hesiod accepts Avril Vent Fleur's Bottomless Sea for 0 hit points! GS: Blitz applied to Ethius Hesiod! GS: Ida Everstead-Rey accepts Avril Vent Fleur's Bottomless Sea for 0 hit points! GS: Blitz applied to Ida Everstead-Rey! GS: Quick applied to Avril Vent Fleur! GS: Ashiya Khaimova accepts Avril Vent Fleur's Bottomless Sea for 0 hit points! GS: Blitz applied to Ashiya Khaimova! GS: FP up! Gleam activated! GS: Margaret accepts Avril Vent Fleur's Bottomless Sea for 0 hit points! GS: Blitz applied to Margaret!
<Pose Tracker> Nina Chiyome has posed.
Nina Chiyome has no idea what's going on at this point and the situation's definitely spiraled beyond what she was expecting. The ninja in trainig pauses. Dropping her arms to her side and giving that kind of confused look you see on anyone watching a mess unfold. That bystander look.
It gets weirder when the psyduck is taken hostage(?) and the two were having a conversation and the aliens are all far, far too weird. She throws her hands up, "What are you doing?" Because she has no filter as often as she really should.
Hannah's warning and comment are met with a shrug, "Whether I agree or not isn't the point! It's try and stop it from getting further out of hand!" She thinks. Maybe? The cops seem just as confused as she is. She glances down at her pokeballs again while hunkering down. Does she send a Froslass out to try and freeze things? Some of them are fighting the girl, some aren't and she has no clue if she should be doing something! Wouldn't it make it worse?
She takes up something of a defensive posture, crouched there, chain (Rope actually) held ready.. She is listening and kinda thinks she knows what's going on. (She really doesn't.) Maybe she's like... nope she's got nothing. Behind the bandana mask she insists is a real ninja mask she grimaces. "It does doesn't it? Getting that string out of your hair?" She latches onto something kinda distracting and relatable. Don't get her started on being swarmed by zubats at night too..
<Pose Tracker> Rixia has posed.
"T-that's right! How horrible... no Pokemon should have to be used like this!" Sgt. Mostard is sweating bullets in chime with Shalune. But is this a horrifying, ancient Duck-shaped superweapon? The powerful Class 9 weapon that they're all terrified of?
Or is this just a round duck with a horrid case of chronic psychic headaches?
Whether or not Ashiya has a part in this isn't really at the forefront of Rixia or the police's minds, because for the former, she wouldn't really blame her anyway, and for the latter... well, they've got more pressing issues in mind.
Ashiya calls her out on her bluff, though.
"I'll really do it! Maybe I'll make... Psyduck confit out of it!"
"Psy..."
"Psyduck confit! The villain!" Sgt. Mostard exclaims. Then stares to Ashiya. "Miss, is that Symbology approved by the bureau...?"
uh oh
Mostard's loose lips has Hannah cornering him, though. Keep on the pursuit! "That's... well, my superior was held up by an urgent matter, but he should be here any moment now...! But-- but look, the hostage is the priority right now!" Nina mentions it to a similar degree. "Yes, what the young miss says!"
Rixia pauses at Hannah's apppeal once more, though, her eyes narrowing. Stop making this so hard, Hannah...! "I know, it's not like I doubt you, but... I'm not just about to submit to whatever they've got lined up for me."
Rixia looks to Nina too. "I don't even think conditioner will take care of this!"
Psyduck has a quiet glance to Hannah. What is written within that placid, vacuous stare? Perhaps simultaneously nothing, and everything. Hannah probably will know. She is good with animals, after all.
Does she not... want it? As Ethius and Margaret both press on with those questions, she struggles. But Ethius' stare, and his words: You are not powerless here. rings in her heart...
Margaret gives reason. These people know this power. They could help. Why make them enemies, when they could help? They could just...
...
... and the contradiction manifests again, the Malevolent aura intensifying.
"I'll be right back to being irrelevant if I lose this... if I lose this power! The only reason I wasn't some dead, frozen rat in the middle of a village no one cares about is because of this power! If I lose it, then what'll I do? I won't let the world do this to me again. No, I need to keep this power! What's what lets me participate in an adult world, Margaret! Because... because otherwise, you just get walked right over."
Ida reveals the depths of her crime, and her eyes widen. She knew she'd been a Hellion before, but not to what extent, or how she risked the world. She was lucky. People came for her, showed that they cared...
But she's too scared. Too scared to believe she won't be powerless.
"But you're powerful... even without Hellionisation, you have so much more... how do you know people won't just forget about you the moment you're not useful to them?"
Avril reasons that there's still time to change her way. That there's no need for this.
"You're all... too strong for me."
Magilou laughs, afterwards, in a way Rixia isn't expecting... though in a sense, Rixia should have expected it. Magilou shares of how her old man would be comfortable in this artificial world...
And Rixia's interpreted enough to know how she feels about her old man, at this point.
"Mom... you..."
The fact that Magilou also, in a way, feels great discomfort with this world but is still willing to stand up for its denizens means a lot to her.
And then Magilou offers her a present, a Pokeball -- which she gingerly catches and stares at. "... I see... Psyduck, do you want to?"
"Psy."
Another police-tabard Psynard lands, and an older-looking Nedian in red robes steps off, patting his ride on the cheek and looking towards Sgt. Mostard.
"My... it looks like my delay has made quite the trouble for everyone. Sergeant, you can stand down now."
Sgt. Mostard flabbergastedly says, "Captain Maiyo!"
The older, moustached and bearded Nedian's nametag reads:
CPT. MAIYO NEZUHIKO
L'Aqua Special Cases Division
"It seems that we have erred in our approach, and for that, I apologise," Maiyo rubs his beard. "All forces, please stand down, but stay safe."
The Rangers and Police force all do so; some of them still have Pokemon on standby, but the Herushes have pulled back a little.
Rixia looks at this unusual development, but takes this time to rise into the air, dismissing the gunblade as she takes one last look towards her friends. She hasn't let go of the Psyduck, who she's still ferrying in her arms with care. Ashiya had her number all along.
And, with the Pokeball Magilou offers to her, she lightly tosses it onto the Psyduck's head-- boing--
--and in goes the Pokemon.
(fervent mashing noises of Down+B)
GS: Congratulations! PSYDUCK was caught!
"... I'm... taking my leave now," Rixia announces, as she flees at high speeds towards the oceans, having so much to ruminate on.
"Don't pursue her," the Captain declares. He looks tired; not physically, but perhaps, on a different level. "I must apologise to you all, Visitors, young miss," that last part addressed to Nina. "You have been entangled in a difficult matter because of our past sins. Rest assured, if we see the young miss again, we will exercise the utmost discretion, and also contact you, as you have a personal connection to entreat with her."
He glances to the skies.
"Until then... I can only hope her companion can be a bit of a balm to her."
Within the Pokeball, resting against the comfortable bed-like portion, Psyduck closes its eyes and relaxes in the Stillness that staves off the aggravating headache that it so frequently suffers from...
"Psy..."
What pleasant dreams will Psyduck dream of, tonight, within the Stillness?