[Nexus] Inside 55

[Rebonack]

[Church of Order Rally]

"Ha! I suppose I might count as a true robot myself, though the underlying concept of 'forced laborer' hardly applies," the machine replies in a bemused tone.

His people use robots as well, of course. The only real difference between the two is the fact that a 'human' is a machine that uses a quantum computer capable of simulating and even surpassing an organic brain as their main processor. They have a mind and a self, unlike the 'robots' who tend to rely on traditional computers with highly structured programming to direct their behavior.

A robot can not truly think outside its programming while a 'human' can.

"And I would hate to cause a diplomatic incident in my first few hours here. Thank you for the advice."

The machine gives a polite dip of his head and begins moving into the crowd. Considering his reasonable size and his mirror-sheened body the machine may turn a few heads by presence alone.

[Yumori Zatsuken]

Pokemon Street

Axel reaches out his PokeBall, he has 4 PokeBalls, which he uses his first. He says "Go! Lvl.41 Metapod!" After a long, hard battle, the Nine-tails faint from attacking the Metapod. Axel gets his PokeBall, throws it at the Nine tails, then...........*bink* Axel catched the Lvl.48 NineTails. He then screams Finally! A NINE Tails for my set! Woo!
He hurries to the PokeCenter, saving the Nine-tails life from dying.

[TechnoScrabble]

Pokemon Park

The Seviper continues its chase, but doesn't trust any of the people around it, so it plunges head first into the ground, Digging to escape further notice and try to continue its pursuit.

Red Zone

"Yes, Princess. Sir Sketch is good, real good, mega good. How serve?" Princess tilts her head in confusion.

Sir Sketch immediately switches back to his bright smile.
"Any way! Sir Sketch made for serve!"

"Of course!" Says the thin showman, as a human woman that looks an awful lot like him takes over the primary line. His voice rings like a bell, clear and crisp and artificial. "We're getting ready for Free-Augmentation-Day just after Halloween! This weekend, in fact. But a bleeding brain sounds too serious to wait! Can I make you an appointment?"

"It'd be appreciated. The medicine for it is painful, and growing rather expensive," Garrett's looking past the man as he talks, at all the people getting things like minor scars fixed or entire reconstructions of undamaged areas. It disturbs him a little, that people would want to replace an entirely good body, or get rid of a harmless scar. Scars told stories, taught lessons.

[The Bushranger]

[Below the TV Tower]

The entangled skeleton is caught without any chance of escaping from the crevasse opening under it. But unless the kudzu releases it, it's just going to hang there.

However, the second one manages to leap out of the way, crashing down in a crouch as it glares at the pair of magical girls. With a furious roar, it charges at the two girls!

The kudzu does indeed release it to drop; in fact, it seems to wither and die with unnatural speed as Mikani releases her power over it.

...and looks up as the skeleton charges!

"Your...turn. That takes...a lot out of me!" the Druid Princess gasps!

[Lady Serpentine]

[Tech Bay]

Vesa may note her friend's entrance, the wolf-suited girl slipping quietly into the tech bay, and looking around, giving GLORY a glare behind her helmet (which draws the metal 'lips' back from its fangs when she does) as she spots the Revenant-hating AI.

"I hope he hasn't been giving you too much trouble?", she asks, speaking, as always, on a heavily-encrytep private band.

[GrandDM]

Max visibly watches the diamond gleam in the sunlight. He folds his arms and tilts his hips to one side skeptically, clearly thinking. "You're lucky I have a weakness for diamonds, mister Harald. But I'm afraid our techniques are strictly Elexxion business..." The mask on Max's face folds back, revealing a pale, full smile. "In most cases. A tour wouldn't be out've the question."

"Much appreciated. I wouldn't ask, except I'm interested to see how you do things compared to my own techniques. Flow of information and all that. Also, we may be able to come to a deal. I have some rather interesting bits and pieces lying around that you'd probably like. But first things first - shall we start the tour now, or do you need to make a few arrangements?"

[Beans]

[Tech Bay]

Vesa may note her friend's entrance, the wolf-suited girl slipping quietly into the tech bay, and looking around, giving GLORY a glare behind her helmet (which draws the metal 'lips' back from its fangs when she does) as she spots the Revenant-hating AI.

"I hope he hasn't been giving you too much trouble?", she asks, speaking, as always, on a heavily-encrytep private band.

Vesa actually smiles a little, floating over and placing a hand on the helmet.
GLORY is being characteristically disagreeable. Your presence, on the other hand, has been missed to a great extent. How was your time while I was out?

[happyturtle]

Outside the Rubble Zone

Outside the Rubble Zone

Hekta slows down and turns visible once again, giving Elias an odd look. "Why not? There might be more money there." She's still alert of other sounds though, in case the killer would return, or something like that. Corpses did hint of potential danger.

Outside the Rubble Zone

Spoiler: The Death Scene

Show

Outside Rubble Zone

When the pair look over the wall, they'll find quite a sight. It seems that the smell of death is coming from a woman chained into a seated position between two pillars. One is black iron, and the other is plaster. The woman herself appears human with deathly pale skin and fair blond hair. She's clothed in sky blue and white robes. The robe in front of her stomach has been torn open, exposing a II carved into her abdomen. If the two look closely at her, they'll find her neck has been slit open, but the blood doesn't touch most of her clothing, instead only staining the bottom of her robes and forming a pool around her in an oddly smooth puddle. Behind her, on the wall are a series of pomegranates that have been sliced in half and hung up by nails.

On the woman's lap, beneath the carving in her stomach, is an old scroll, pressed into her hands and kept there. Finally, the last object already added to the scene, is a golden crescent moon laying at her feet in the pool of blood.

Of course, that's the last object that's been added. The actual final object, an oddly shaped crown, is being held by the murderer as it's placed on the dead woman's head.

The murderer is wearing a blood red dress, offset by her own deathly pale skin, and has silky brunette hair reaching down to the small of her back. She's barefoot but doesn't seem bothered by it at all despite the risk of broken glass and sharp rocks.

She doesn't seem to notice them for now so she doesn't turn around, but once the crown is placed, she reaches behind her victim to carve another II into the brick with a nail. Finally, unless she's stopped, she pulls a single card from a purse and lays it on her victim's lap.

"Because it's beautiful. I don't want it spoiled," Elias says. He reaches out to carefully lift the card.

[Shadowcaller]

Near Pokemon Park

The popping bubbles injure the Seviper slightly more, though not enough to KO it. It reacts by coiling up and striking at the Staryu with its Poison Fangs.

A Red Zone

Here's an unusual sight for a lousy neighborhood like this: a young centaur, and not a bad-looking one either, although at least his simple shirt and satchel keep him from sticking out or looking like he's worth robbing. The budding cleric is here to find some mathematician who apparently can prove his patron's opinion of his own non-existence, but the somewhat-mad god's directions weren't excellent, and he might well end up running into something else in the meantime...

[Pokemon Canter]

Amethyst? But amethysts are purple! Ardent Heart isn't even a little bit purple! Not that there's anything wrong with being purple. Though to be fair plenty of pokemon get names that have very little to do with what they look like.

Anywho!

Nurse Armstrong pops back into view, now wearing a new shirt. It's stretched tight over his bulging muscles, scarcely able to contain his manly might.

"Indeed they are! Though remember that a pokemon is only as strong as their bond with their trainer! When two have been forged together in the fires of trial and friendship there is no adversity they can not overcome!"

He manages to avoid flexing this time, as that would explode his recently donned shirt.

Meanwhile...

Ardent Heart tries opening her eyes, but they don't seem to be listening to her. Despite the fact that it feels like she can see. She tries to speak and though she can hear her voice within her mind her lips refuse to move. Ardent tries reaching out with her magic, but that too refuses to pay heed. She's trapped in the warm, peaceful silence, drifting and half aware...

She knows she should be afraid. She should be terrified chained as she is in this ethereal prison.

But...

But she just can't seem to work up the will to panic.

It's too quiet...

Too peaceful...

Too hard to... too hard to think... Just relax... everything is well...

Near Pokemon Park

The Staruy is bitten by the Seviper but neither it goes down in one hit and it responds by rapidly spinning around to free itself from it's fangs and force the Seviper into the hard concrete ground. Meanwhile 'I' is panicking. "Warden, help Illumi out!" She screeches, causing the other water pokemon which were binding her wound to turn to help.

Jynx remains paralyzed this round.

[Pokemon Center]

"Uh yeah, friendship is really great. I do it every day to... keep it fresh." Vallery glances at the computer behind Nurse Armstrong. "By the way, does your computer there tell you anything more about Arden Dawn? I just started bonding with her and I don't have a pokedex..." Ardent Heart.

Outside the Rubble Zone

"No it isn't." Hekta insists. That was just too stupid. "It's valuable. We can't just leave it!" She knew Elias was weird but she didn't expect him to be dumb as well.

The demon walks around the body as Elias is retrieving the card, her eyes set on the crescent moon laying at the woman's feet. It was shiny which meant it was valuable.

[UncleWolf]

Outside Rubble Zone

The card Elias finds is:

Spoiler

Show

The victim has been made into a more gruesome copy of the card, albeit an upright one.

Hokey Little Diner

Miyuu chuckles and gives a slight smile. She knew it was her turn to pay, but also understood that it made Mariya feel better to do so. Pride was such a silly thing, but it was one of the reasons Miyuu loved being around the soldier. "Okay. I'll get it next time." She swears, knowing that it's possible that she's not going ot get a chance to pay that time either.

[Rebonack]

[Pokemon Center]

"Only the basic information recorded by the pokeball, fair trainer," Nurse Armstrong replies. "She is a ponyta beginning her journey to greatness, just as her beautiful companion is!"

He sure is nice!

And he's also resisting flexing too much. Wouldn't want to explode another shirt after replacing the last one. He might have quite the stockpile of them back there, but his supplies are still limited.

"As loath as I am to part your radiant company," Nurse Armstrong continues, draping his massive forearm across his face dramatically. "There are other injured pokemon I must attend."

With that he moves to address another trainer who just arrived.

When Vallery leaves she will likely hear a bellow of 'FOR GENERATIONS!' accompanied by the distinctive sound of a shirt exploding.

[Earl of Purple]

Near Pokemon Park

The Seviper is dislodged by the spinning and looks slightly dazed. Not quite dazed enough to prevent it from whacking at the Buizel with its Poison Tail.

[Shadowcaller]

Near Pokemon Park

Warden the Buizel just barely manages to dodge the poison tail by stepping backwards and responds by lunging at the Seviper, using a water jet to propel itself forward at an amazing speed.

The staryu on the other hand appears to have been poisoned by the opposing pokemon and is now retreating backwards. Jynx is once again paralyzed.

Pokemon Center

Wow, those words causes Vallery to turn bright red and just mumble some incomprehensible in response and she like a zombie stares at at Nurse Armstrong. It takes a sudden phone call to return her to reality.

*RING! RING!*

"Who- whoa!" She stuffs her hands in both her pockets, trying to remember which one she put the wallet in and which one she put the cellphone in, putting the poke ball with Argent Heart in it on the counter for now.

*RING!*

She finally gets a hold on the phone and answer, just managing to see it's her boss. "Va- I mean 'Y' talking?"

"Oh, uh well I was chased away by this pokemon and I thought they would come to the pokémon center as well to regroup." She grabs the pokeball and heads out of the center.

"Sure, I'll meet them up there." Time to join the other scene! She puts off the phone and is about to put back the Ardent Heart pokeball in her belt when something hits her. How was a pokémon named if no one owned it? She wouldn't have been able to catch it otherwise right?

So how exactly did a wild ponyta have a preexisting name? Weird. Maybe she should take a look at it, she never did get a good glimpse of it behind all that tall grass. That in mind she releases Ardent Heart to see what's so special about this pokemon. Perhaps it was shiny or something?

[Earl of Purple]

Near Pokemon Centre

The Seviper is hit! And responds by trying to Crunch the Buizel with its teeth. Not the poisonous ones, though. It's paying no attention to the pokemon that aren't fighting; it wants to kill the trainers, and if the pokemon are standing aside, then they aren't a threat and maybe they'll help after their balls are destroyed.

[Rebonack]

[Pokemon Center]

And there's the ponyta! She's the right size. The right color. A nice fiery colored mane with tongues of flame licking through it. Nothing at all out of the ordinary about her. Nothing to suggest why a wild pokemon would have a name upon being caught.

Maybe she used to belong to someone else and they released her?

The tiny horse pokemon blinks heavily as though she had just awoken from a deep slumber and lifts one of her forelegs in a fashion that would suggest she was trying to rub her head with it.

This is, of course, anatomically impossible for a ponyta and she face-plants on the floor with a surprised cry of "Ta!"

~~~~~

Ardent Heart feels...

Well...

It's hard to describe, really. All at once it was as though the dream is peeled away and she's left very much alive and aware of the world around her. At first she's certain everything had been a horrible nightmare since all of her injuries are gone. She's doesn't even feel tired anymore! But her elation is cut short when she realizes that she's still surrounded by those spidery-clawed monsters.

Those... those humans.

She can still feel the magic of anger twisting around inside her, begging to be released. Some part of her is alarmed at this, she knows what dark emotions can do to someone's magic, but a larger part clings to the extra power. She needs her anger. This place is to dangerous to be without it.

One of the humans is watching her expectantly and holding one of those... those evil talismans in her hand. But Ardent Heart can't seem to bring herself to be frightened of it anymore. Or to wrench it away. Or to flee like she should. The thoughts bubble to the surface of her mind like a pot boiling over, but the pressure in her mind prevents her from acting on them.

Something is horribly wrong...

She reaches up with a hoof to touch her numb horn and collapses on her face. "Ta!"

Aaand now she's laying in an ungainly heap on the floor. Why... Why won't her body move right? Why can't she... "Ponyta?"

Speak. Oh no. Oh no oh no oh dear no!

[Deathkeeper]

A Red Zone

Here's an unusual sight for a lousy neighborhood like this: a young centaur, and not a bad-looking one either, although at least his simple shirt and satchel keep him from sticking out or looking like he's worth robbing. The budding cleric is here to find some mathematician who apparently can prove his patron's opinion of his own non-existence, but the somewhat-mad god's directions weren't excellent, and he might well end up running into something else in the meantime...

((addendum: location can be changed for ease, little-to-no combat please))

[Arkhosia]

Red Zone

The centaur may notice, out of the corner of his eye, silhouettes in a couple alleys, following him.

[Deathkeeper]

A Red Zone

Arty is not used to being outside of safe streets, and while he's not naive enough not to check at all, he's not very efficient. He keeps up his trot.

[Arkhosia]

A red zone

A cloaked figure tries to sneak up behind the centaur.

[Deathkeeper]

A Red Zone Street

To most not paying much attention, Arty's hoofbeats are muffled and not too noticeable. But to himself and anyone well aware of his presence, they're as loud as any horse's, and should be sufficient to keep the figure's presence unnoticed. The boy is paying far too much attention to where he's supposed to be going to look behind him.

[Shadowcaller]

[Pokemon Center]

Huh, she could have sworn it looked different before but she must have been imagining things. "Ha! Great! Come on now, let's rejoin the rest of the team. They're going to be so jealous." She orders the ponyta, gesturing for it to follow her as she will join the others in her group.

Near Pokemon Park

Warden is caught in Sevipers fangs, "Bui!" It shouts out in pain. But now it's finally Princess turn to act, as the poison pokemon is crunching Warden she tries the hit the Seviper with a ice punch, hoping to finally knock it out, literary.

Meanwhile "I" is returning the Staruy to it's pokeball for some reason. "Come one, destroy it!" She seem to panicked to even shout real moves any more.

[Arkhosia]

A Red Zone Street

To most not paying much attention, Arty's hoofbeats are muffled and not too noticeable. But to himself and anyone well aware of his presence, they're as loud as any horse's, and should be sufficient to keep the figure's presence unnoticed. The boy is paying far too much attention to where he's supposed to be going to look behind him.

The cloaked figure draws a long knife.
This is a stick-up.
The man says in a deep, masculine voice.

[Earl of Purple]

Near Pokemon Park

The Seviper is K.O.'d by the Ice Punch, fainting and collapsing in the alleyway.

[McBish]

[Streets at Night]

The last week has been a bad one for thugs and crooks out at night. Someone has been preying on them. So far no one has been killed, but 4 muggings, 3 pickpockets, 6 purse snatchers, and a serial stalker have all been violently aprehended and left behind for Remnant or anyone else to come and pick up. The few witnesses willing to talk say it was one man doing it all. He comes out of the shadows they say. His face obscured by darkness so no one is sure if he is 20 or 200. Humanoid for sure, but he moves to quickly for anyone to get a good description. Most people he has saved ran from the scene as the shadowy savior seemed as violent, if not more so then their attackers. One person being mugged described only the noise of someone coming in and attacking the muggers. By the time the man had gotten up from the ground all three of his assailants were unconcious on the ground. So far whoever has been doing this hasn't left a calling card or talked to anyone since he started.

[Deathkeeper]

A Red Zone Street

Arty turns his head, smirks, and bolts forward.
Yeah, trying to use a knife to rob a boy with a horse for a butt probably isn't the easiest task when you've only got two legs.

[Rebonack]

[Pokemon Center ==> Pokemon Park]

Ardent Heart rises to her hooves again and follows her trainer.

Her... trainer?

Where had that word come from? Has she been enslaved somehow? Transformed? Stories of the King of Castle Midnight nag at the edges of her thoughts and how the dark lord of that terrible place would twist others in both body and mind to subject them to his will.

But just as quickly those thoughts are pushed away. Her trainer cares for her. Her trainer loves her. She needs to submit and obey.

Submit and obey... just do as she's told... everything will be fine...

[Arkhosia]

A Red Zone Street

Arty turns his head, smirks, and bolts forward.
Yeah, trying to use a knife to rob a boy with a horse for a butt probably isn't the easiest task when you've only got two legs.

You think that's going to work?
The figure throws the knife at Arty with expert skill. It's coated with a tranquilizer.

[Shadowcaller]

Near Pokemon Park

"Thank Dido!" 'I' loudly exclaims when it looks like the Seviper has finally been knocked out. It only took the combined might of three pokemons.

She looks at the poison pokemon, that thing could have been out of her worst nightmares, it just wouldn't give up. Sweat beads have formed on her forehead and her hands are shaking slightly.

Both Princess and T are paralyzed, Warden was badly wounded and Illumi was poisoned, all thanks to one single pokemon.

She slumps down against the wall, completely exhausted, which is the condition Vallery and her new ponyta finds her in. "Holy crap, what happened?" The team member looks around in shock.

"That ****ing Seviper followed us somehow... it needs to be put down." "I" replies with a vague gesture at the fainted poison pokemon. None of the pokemons, or humans for that matter, seem to be in condition to do that though.

"Put... it down?" Vallery hesitates. "Shouldn't we just catch it? The boss said nothing about killing pokemons."

That statement seem to spark something in "I" however. "THAT'S NO FREAKING POKEMON! IT WAS GOING TO KILL US ALL!" She pauses, taking a few breaths as Vallery stares at her in shock. "Just order your fancy new ponyta to crush it's head with it's hooves. That's all you need to do." "I" states with a strange calm after her last outburst.

"Umm..." Vallery mumbles, still hesitating.

"Then I'll do it." 'I' looks at Ardent Heart. "Ponyta, crush the snake pokemons head with your hooves until you break it's skull." She says without any emotion as she gestures at the Seviper. "Your trainer orders you to do it, she isn't protesting after all."

If Ardent Heart looks at Vallery she isn't saying anything, caught in hesitation over what to do.

[Earl of Purple]

Near Pokemon Park

The Seviper is lying there, unresponsive.

Unresponsively, it lies there.

[Deathkeeper]

A Red Zone Street

Arty turns, his hand adopting a soft glow for a moment (the color of which is probably green unless his god has a specific one). The knife is deflected by an invisible barrier protecting his flank.
Arty has pulled off his first Level 1 cleric spell!