PTA: Heralds of a New Dawn (IC)

[MesiDoomstalker]

Link to World at War thread

As Ennis grabs Sabrina's shirt sleeve, you feel your body getting ripped from the pavement. The sensation of spinning, and stretching fills your senses. At some points it feels like some parts of your body are not attatched but, somewhere far away. Then, it all skitters to a stop. Everyone is expelled onto pavement rolling away.

Miss Sabrina! Are you alright! A man in a sharp suit and bow tie rushes over to Sabrina, who is getting up woozily. You notice there are tall buildings all around and you can still hear the sounds of the scuffle in the Plaza. You are not far away. Nearby is a long limosine with a door opened, the sharp dressed man had been standing next to it until you arrived.

[IrnBruAddict]

Ennis releases her Horsea and holds it as someone would a pistol. 'Is Sabrina okay?' she asks the man as she scans the area. 'Everyone up for making a getaway ASAP?'

[BluesEclipse]

Rolling to his feet, Aidan nods, his weapon still in hand as he scans the area warily. "Yeah, sounds good to me," he replies as he slips the blade back on his belt before moving over towards Sabrina. Turning to the driver, he says, "Come on, give me a hand and let's get her in the car."

[Gaekub]

Dr. Kretznak rolls up on to his knees, and then falls back forwards onto all fours and vomits onto the pavement. His stomach heaves a few times after the initial expulsion, but he manages to hold what's left of his lunch inside. "I hate teleportation," he grumbles, wiping his mouth on the sleeve of his lab coat.

He stumbles back up on to his feet, his coat bearing a stain from either the ground or his bile. "You could have varned me," he tells Sabrina, but does his best to assist Aiden in getting her to the car. "Are you alright? Actually, is everyone alright? If not, I'm a doctor."

[MintyNinja]

Donny lands on his feet, but then lands on his knees as well. He pushes himself back to standing and looks around wildly. He releases his Zubat, Echo, and quickly connects with her. We're in panic mode, girl, go up and see if you can spot anything coming towards us. Echo leaps off his shoulder and replies, If it's food can I eat it? Not yet, we'll see how this turns out. Follow this black car if we start moving, understood? That one has a blue thing, can I eat that? No! The Zubat then continues it's flight in a lazy circle around the Limo, watching for prey danger.

[BluesEclipse]

Glancing over at the doctor, Aidan replies, "Can't speak for everyone else, but I'm fine. We need to get moving though, before that changes - this is probably going to be worse than last time."

[MesiDoomstalker]

Aidan goes over to Sabrina and helps the man. About half way to the limo, Sabrina finally speaks, albeit sluggishly. I... I can take care... I can take care of my self! As she tries to push her self out of Aidan's arms, but the exertion is too much, and she slumps into his arms again. Ugh. I... hate this.

"Miss Sabrina has been having issues as of late manifesting her psychic powers. Anything beyond Telepathy or simple Telekinetic tasks drains all of her strength. It is a miracle she is still conscious."

No food. Big scaries. Big scaries fight other big scaries. No fight us. No like big scaries. Wait! Big scary! BIG SCARY! Echo flutters rapidly towards Donny. There is the sound of metal on concrete coming towards you. Lots of metal on concrete.

"Uh, guys? We should get into the limo." A girl none of you realized joined your teleportation, with long brown hair and deathly pale, is already hopping into the open door.

[MintyNinja]

It's okay Echo, back in the ball where you can't get hurt. Donny returns the Zubat to her ball and calls out to the others, "Something big coming this way, lets get moving!" He hurries into the Limo after the pale girl.

[Gaekub]

"Vas anyone disputing that?" Dr. Kretznak asks the pale girl, giving up on assisting Sabrina and briskly walking to the other side of the car. "Because I managed to avoid the last riot, and I have no plans to be involved in this one." He pulls open the back door on the opposite side, and slides in.

[BluesEclipse]

"I was there," Aidan replies, absently, even as he gets Sabrina into the Limo, climbing in behind her. "Wasn't exactly pretty."

[IrnBruAddict]

Ennis jumped in the limo. She'd do it regardless if there was a monster chasing them or not, limos were cool. 'Anything to drink in this car? We could all probably use a nice strong drink.'

[MesiDoomstalker]

As everyone jumps into the car, with Sabrina's ragdoll body getting slumped up against Aidan, the butler rushes around to the front. The engine roars to life as a large steel serpent comes around the corner, before the car zooms off around the corner, out of sight. In a few minutes, the limo had cleared the inner city and was driving further inland.

The outskirts of the city were in worse shape. Buildings in great disrepair, many you suspect have been like that for a long time. Is... is everyone here?

[MintyNinja]

"Six of us and the driver," Donny replied from his seat. "That great metal snake from the conference is following us. He's friendly, right?"

[IrnBruAddict]

'How do we know it's the SAME giant metal snake? I say, floor it and leave the guy alone. If it's an enemy, we get away. If it's that guy from the conference, he still has a steelix to protect him.'

[MesiDoomstalker]

Possibly. It may be...ngh... Byron's. May not. Sabrina rights her self, with great effort. A mechanical click sounds, a mini bar folds out near Ennis, stocked with tiny flasks of high quality spirits.

[MintyNinja]

Donny reaches across and takes a flask of some clear liquid and gulps generously. "We're outpacing it as is. Either way, we seem to be safe for now." He takes a can of a fizzy drink and pours some of the clear spirit into the can. "Maybe you can tell us where we're going, Sabrina?"

[IrnBruAddict]

Ennis grabs a brandy, and pours Sabrina whatever she asks for.

[MesiDoomstalker]

As Ennis tries to pour Sabrina a drink, the bottle slips out of her hand and lazily floats over to Sabrina, who grabs it with renewed vigor. After chugging a few gulps of the Pinot Zekrom, she gasps obviously in a better state than a moment ago. We are going to a private airfield on the outskirts of the city. The more distance between us and that crazy city, the better I say. From there? I'm not at liberty to say quite yet. But I do believe you will be interested in going regardless.

[MintyNinja]

Donny sips his drink, a numbing sensation spreading from the pit of his stomach. He resealed the flask and replaced it, content with his concoction. His nerves were calming down and the panic that had been just under the surface had nearly faded completely. "So, do you happen to know why we five were invited?"

[IrnBruAddict]

'Yeah, what he said.'

[Gaekub]

The doctor looks away as soon as the bar opens, staring out the window at the ruined buildings as they pass. "I believe this is some kind of job interview," he responds to Donny. "Am I wrong Sabrina?"

[BluesEclipse]

"Mind tossing me one of those, Ms... sorry, didn't get your name?" Aidan asks the woman nearest the mini-bar, gesturing to the brandy in her hand, before looking around at the others. "As for why we were invited, I can only guess that the Rebellion saw something from each of us. In my case, it's likely something to do with the fact that I've been making a general nuisance of myself for the Rangers and League almost since I arrived in Unova."

Turning to the psychic present, he says, "Regardless, though, we definitely owe you for that... I really didn't look forward to trying to fight my way out of a riot again. Thanks..."

[MintyNinja]

Donny leans back against the seat, the can perspiring in his hand. "Is that what you and Alpha Ranger Simon were almost yelling about? Somethin' 'bout Snaggers?" Donny says to the guy with blue hair. "I mean, you were arguing with the leader of the Rangers in front of everyone there. I was sitting next to you and I couldn't block out that conversation if I tried."

[BluesEclipse]

Aidan nods, turning his attention to the man. "Yeah... How much do you know about events in Orre?"

[MintyNinja]

"Not a thing. Grew up in Kanto. And I've been... isolated... for the last few months," Donny says as he takes another drink. Now that he thought about it, there were probably a lot of issues around the world that he didn't hear about in Kanto. And it's not like he was able to watch the news lately.

[BluesEclipse]

Shrugging, Aidan replies, "Doesn't surprise me. Anyway, about 12 years ago, a group called CIPHER sprung up out in Orre. Similar to Rocket, Galactic or Plasma, really - bunch of thugs and low-lifes led by a bigger bastard with dreams of world domination. They created Snag tech to steal Pokemon from other trainers, and then would torture those Pokemon, twisting their minds and turning them into emotionless killing machines. They had some powerful Pokemon turned... Entei, Raikou, Suicune... some pretty nasty stuff." Aidan sighs for a moment before continuing, "And since this was in Orre, the League and the Rangers didn't give a damn about what was going on there, despite the threat CIPHER posed to the entire world."

"I did what I could against them even as a kid - keeping an ear to the ground and picking up info. There were a bunch of us there who did that, funnelling info to the guy that took them down. Even after they were brought down the first time, though, they got right back up, stronger than ever - they managed to turn a Lugia. An Arceus judged Lugia, if you can believe that. Twisted into nothing more than a weapon for those bastards. One of their people made their way into the League territories... I still can't believe that guy led me all the way from Orre to Unova, to be honest. In the end, I ran him right into a squad of Rangers who helped take him down, but they insisted on taking in the Snag Machine he was wearing, as evidence. The guy promised me that it would be destroyed... and now Rangers are popping up all over with the damn things."

Aidan closes his eyes, before saying, "Too many people back home suffered too much because of that technology... because of what was done with it. I can't just sit back and wait for it to happen again here. I've been going through every legal channel I can find to try and get something done about it, and had planned on taking advantage of the conference to try and put the question to Cynthia directly. Now..." Aidan shakes his head, scowling. "If things are really spiraling into a war, there's no way Bruno would listen to me on this - from what little I've seen of the guy, he seems like he'd fit in as one of CIPHER's thugs, to be honest. I'm about ready to say muk it all and start taking out anyone I see with a Snag Machine, laws be judged."

[MintyNinja]

Donny stays quiet as the blue haired guy relates a story of League incompetence that reflects the remarks he overheard at the Conference. Lot more issues than I thought, maybe war was inevitable, he thinks to himself as he listens. This guy's been fighting for years and years, no wonder the Rebellion invited him. Maybe they think I'll do something similar to get my shot at Blue? Donny finishes his drink and sets the empty can down. "Y'know, now that we're technically at war, I think that means their laws don't really apply to you anymore," Donny says. "I could be wrong, but it sounds like you're running out of other options. If the Rebellion really is recruiting us, they might agree with your stance on these 'snaggers'."

[IrnBruAddict]

'Pfft!' spits Ennis. 'Cypher? Really? REALLY? You must be kidding me. They couldn't take down a desert where there were no Rangers. They are a threat to no-one. They operate in shadows cos they are scared. Not like back home. I seen Team Aqua and Magma almost destroy the continent with 2 legendaries. Nearly crushed Sootopolis City with the fight. It took THREE champion level battlers to stop them. And a muking sky god.' She downed her brandy and poured another for herself before tossing it to Aiden. 'But I do agree with you on one thing. The Rangers are a Arceus Judged waste of space, nothing but bullies and fools. You need help beating up a Ranger or 2, and I'll throw a few kicks below the crotch for you. Same with the League. Took them long enough to stop those 2. Archie and Maxie were a joke, but no one stood in their way till it was almost too late. Should have just had some gym leader kill them when they first popped up if you ask me.'

[BluesEclipse]

Aidan scowls at the woman's initial words, but nods along at her comments regarding the Rangers and the League. Taking a sip of the brandy, he replies, "CIPHER was more of a threat than you may think. But regardless, ask yourself this - what do you think would've happened if those Magma and Aqua guys had Snag Machines? If they could snatch your Pokemon and turn them against you?"

Sighing, he continues, "Really, if nothing else, it just goes to show that the League and the Rangers either can't do their jobs, or just don't give a damn until their own cozy little world is threatened..."

[MintyNinja]

"No, they give a damn," Donny speaks up. "They work so hard at ignoring these events and not informing the public that they have to give a damn. They care about their own asses, that's why you have cities filled to the brim with Rebellion supporters but held under the thumb of the league." He leans forward in his seat and continues, "If we're being recruited to start tearing down this system, then that means we have a chance to make a real change, don't we? We can cut to the corrupt core of the rangers, burn away the League's oppressive hold on free citizens, and actually set up something new that works."