Prologue to Disaster (PTA) IC

[planswalker]

Leon will follow behind, idly twirling a metal rod in his hands that no one remembers seeing him with before the gym match. He seems rather distracted as he walks.

Leon's attention is diverted to the rod in his hands and trying to shift the charge from one end to the other and back.

[Kantolin]

"We're ready!" Ken glanced at Viktor, and paused. "Although Viktor may be out for a little bit, but I can help defend while they're recovering from their TM use."

He returned Kleid for convienience as Viktor glanced longingly at Leon. It took Ken a moment to figure out why this was. "Oh. No, you can't eat that, it's..."

He paused. What was that? "Hey Leon, what's that?"

[planswalker]

"Not totally sure. I started building up a static charge this afternoon, and I kept zapping people as I brushed by them. Some kids gave me this metal rod to help me focus the charge so I don't accidentally shock people. It's a good thing my dex is shock-resistant already for my pokemon. If not, I'd probably have destroyed it by now."

[Kantolin]

"Not totally sure. I started building up a static charge this afternoon, and I kept zapping people as I brushed by them."

"Oh, I see."

Casual response aside, Ken kept walking for a couple more steps before he flat stopped - it took him a minute for that to finish loading in his head.

"Wait - what?"

He stared at Leon for a moment. "Wait, you 'kept zapping people'? With what?"

[planswalker]

"Well, like this." Leon says, putting down the rod and rubbing his palms together. He then pokes Ken. The contact is punctuated by a sharp crack!

"My hypothesis is that my association with electric pokemon has unlocked a hidden talent within myself similar to an electric pokemon's control over electric fields. Before I got the rod to ground me out and help me focus, I was humming just like Nicolai did when he was newly hatched and hadn't learned yet to control himself." He says as he picks up the rod and continues to shift the charge from one end to the other.

[Kantolin]

"Well, like this." Leon says, putting down the rod and rubbing his palms together. He then pokes Ken. The contact is punctuated by a sharp crack!

"Wha!"

Now, Ken was no stranger to pain, but that was not what he expected even with Leon's hands sparking with electricity. There was a sort of mental disconnect between what humans could and couldn't do.

"My hypothesis is that my association with electric pokemon has unlocked a hidden talent within myself similar to an electric pokemon's control over electric fields. Before I got the rod to ground me out and help me focus, I was humming just like Nicolai did when he was newly hatched and hadn't learned yet to control himself." He says as he picks up the rod and continues to shift the charge from one end to the other.

Ken couldn't begin to imagine. That couldn't be safe! Humans couldn't take electric charges, right? Was he in pain? He didn't look like he was in pain, but Ken tried to avoid looking like he was in pain too.

Was he worried? He seemed pretty calm about it - but... well, Ken couldn't really imagine how he'd react if he suddenly began sparking with electricity.

Okay.

He shook his head to steady himself, going back to walking. They had a job to do, and him freaking out would be antihelpful at best. Okay, so how could he help?

"So... are you okay? It doesn't hurt?" He asked, more than a little hesitant.

[planswalker]

"Nah, not at all. In fact, I didn't even notice at first because I've grown up with humming, zapping, and jolting electric pokemon all my life. Wasn't until I sparked the gym leader when I took my gym badge that I noticed. I'd just assumed the crackle was Nicolai, Thomas, or Volta. I'm used to little buzzes and zips here and there. After a while, it gets to where they're fun. Sorta mini-buzzes of adrenaline. Nicolai's zapped me awake every morning for years."

[Kantolin]

"I didn't even notice at first.

What?

After a while, it gets to where they're fun.[/COLOR]"

What?!

"Sorta mini-buzzes of adrenaline. Nicolai's zapped me awake every morning for years."

What?!

He's been zapped awake every morning?! That's much different than his mother's steels shoving him awake due to being hungry.

What on earth? That sounded crazy - it can't be safe to be electrocuted every morning. Sure, with steel pokemon you had to worry about them eating support beams, but that was different.

...wasn't it? Now that he worded it like that, living with any pokemon probably had its weirdness associated with it.

Still, being so cavalier about being electrocuted was just bizzare. But he apparently wasn't in pain, and apparently didn't mind.

"Aron!"

...and Viktor still wanted to eat it. "Viktor, that's uh... important to him. You can't eat it."

"Aron." Man, just being informed that Leon is crackling with electricity and he's pouting about food. Still, that made Ken the only person worried about it at the moment.

Maybe this was normal.

"Well, uh..." Man, what did you say to that? "I'm glad you're... uh, alright, then."

...Ken was a little leery about getting an electric pokemon now.

"So uh... is it really helping? Where'd you get that - from the pokemon centre?"

[planswalker]

"There's a group of kids in the city who can also do what I can. Got it from them to help me focus my discipline until I can manipulate the fields with just my bare hands, and eventually with mere willpower like a pokemon does. You probably want to keep your 'mon away from it. It's been absorbing all my excess charge for the past few hours. If he bit it, the rod would probably give him a nasty bite in return."

Unless there are further questions, Leon will focus on his exercise, trying his best to make the left end of the rod positively charged and the right end negative and then switch the two.

[Kantolin]

"Oh."

Ken really wasn't sure what else to say. Still, Leon seemed comfortable with things, so it really wasn't Ken's job to be freaked out. It wasn't even happening to him.

And he wants to be able to do it without any tools at all. Well... mrr. It still seemed so dangerous.

"Well, I can at least say that Viktor won't try to eat it without permission." That much, at least, was true.

Having no more questions, he just went back to walking.

[Major]

Amber finally finished cleaning everything as the two talked. "I'm definitely a fan of the cave. My pokemon won't be much use in the power generator so I'll need to make some new friends." She wasn't too surprised by the electric charge. Sure, she had never seen it before, but she'd seen plenty of people with weird powers working at the daycare. Various psychics would drop off their pokemon and try and show off their powers, others would do circus type tricks by breathing fire.

[CosmicOccurence]

The five of you travel along the road north; it's not paved, but a well worn path takes you towards the tunnel. The sun shines brightly and makes the walk enjoyable.

Two hours go by without much happening. You see the occasional pokemon in the sky or peeking out from behind a tree, but they all were too far away to scan. Slowly, you start to hear a low beating sound. It gets louder as you walk, turning into a crashing that reoccurs every ten or eleven seconds followed by a significantly softer roaring.

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Everyone make Wis checks!

Jonathan; make an int. check

[Asdfth]

"I think I hear something."

(d20)[12]Wis check

[planswalker]

"Are you sure?" Leon asked.

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wis - (d20-3)[6]

[Kantolin]

Ken was in a pleasant mood as they walked - very much enjoying the sun. Partway, Viktor grew tired of being carried - hopping down, he started hopping along cheerfully as well.

"Probably just a starly." Ken noted, but he did listen around.

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Wisdom: (1d20-1)[1]

[Wabbajack]

"That doesn't sound like a starly. And I'm not sure I want to find out what makes that sound."

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Modifiers are already included; Wis: (1d20+2)[21], Int: (1d20+5)[20]

[Major]

Amber tilted her head and listened. She had been around a lot of pokemon, so if she could just hear it right she could probably guess what it was. Unfortunately, the clangs of the cooking pans in her backpack made it hard to hear.

Wis: (1d20+2)[7]

[CosmicOccurence]

Most of you can't tell where the sounds are coming from over the din of Amber's pans. Jonathan however, listens past the clanging and can hear the sounds clearly from a dense cove of trees a bit up the road. It sounds like either a Bouffalant or a Tauros, but you aren't sure. Both pokemon are known for their quick tempers and sharp horns.

Spoiler

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Hey guys, just a small request, could you spoiler your rolls like this in the future.

[Wabbajack]

"Oh no, I think that's a Tauros. Or maybe a Bouffalant. Either way, we should take a different way unless we want to fight a raging pokémon that can skewer us with it's horns."

[planswalker]

"Maybe we can get close enough to at least scan them?" Leon offers hopefully.

[Kantolin]

Ken made sure he was at the front of the group, in case it approached them. He was in front of Viktor.

"Regardless, we are in a hurry - remember, there are people and pokemon at that plant in danger. And it's not like we can just hide and hope it goes away - it has as good odds of finding us as we do of finding it."

[planswalker]

"I don't think stopping for a few moments on a journey of days is going to change much. If you'd like, we'll keep walking five minutes after sunset tonight to "make up" for this time."

[Kantolin]

Ken paused for a moment, then realized where the problem was with his previous explanation.

"I was suggesting we keep going straight - this is the way to the tunnel, after all. We knew it was a more dangerous route in the first place, or we could've taken the boat. Thus, you'll be able to scan them as we head on over."

Both hands went behind his head. "Although, uh... if other people would rather sidetrack off the road a bit to evade them entirely, I'll of course go with the group's idea. Too much haste is bad, after all - I'm just worried."

[planswalker]

"Well, we are pokemon trainers. Catching them is kinda the ultimate test of our ability."To train them is our cause!

[Asdfth]

"Yes but we have to be careful we don't want someone getting injured or worse and the same applies to our Pokemon."

[planswalker]

"I'm not saying rush headlong at them, but if they approach, I won't flee."

[Major]

"I personally prefer breeding more so than catching..." Amber says softly, "But nonetheless, out running bull type pokemon isn't really an option anyways. If we can avoid them, sure. But if they see us then we'll have to fight or chase them away since running will show signs of weakness as well as cause them to chase out of nature."

[Kantolin]

Ken exhales. "Okay, then it sounds like the three to two is to find a detour, so I guess I'm outvoted."

"So does that mean 'stepping away from the path in the direction opposite the sounds', then continuing towards the cave that way? That sounds like it may give us the best odds for avoiding the bull while still having us move forward. Does that work, or should we take a more sharp detour?"

ANd, after a pause, "Er, and to clarify that, I mean we can walk off the path such that any bull pokemon would be out of sight."

[planswalker]

"I'm going to continue on the path. If you want to detour, feel free. I'll meet you when you catch up. Feel free to not follow me if you don't want to."

True to his word, Leon will continue down the road, ignoring the noises that he didn't hear.

[Major]

"I really wasn't amendment against staying on the path, but I'm also not going to be blackmailed by an idiot who is running head long alone into danger. If your goal was to get us to make your choice by making us feel bad it won't work on me, not sure about the others." Amber says remaining in place and looking to Ken, "I think that method works. Avoidance to not enter territory while still going upon on mission. We won't needlessly anger it or waste time."