A Mile is Not Enough IC

[ChaoticHarmony]

"Air? I've never heard of a pokemon being that type. I would have to say Flying is definitely the closest." The cashier rings up the bot's purchases. "Anything else I can help you with sir?.........oh I'm afraid there aren't any such posting in our little city here. But if you ask around, I'm sure you'll meet a few people who could use some help." He gives NS5 a bright smile before returning to the little boy, who has by this point grown tired of playing with the enjoyable whirlipede.


"You'll help me find my sweet pookiekins? Oh such a sweet young man! Thank you SO much. Here is a picture of my precious little sweetums to help you find her. Please bring my poor Glameow back to me!" Tye very overweight woman gushes all over Takia, so happy someone is taking the time to help her.

Spoiler: Picture

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Menelwith walks down the peaceful path undisturbed. Her keen dragon senses easily pick up the forms of many strange creatures dwelling in the shade of the trees. None if them smell like any of the game she was accustomed to. Her eye catches something coming down the path she is on, too far away to discern what or who it might be.

[BrownDragon]

"No problem, you lost him in the forest right?" After receiving an answer, Takia nods and heads out into the forest, looking for flowers and a purple cat.

[Viirin]

"Thank you for your information and service", it said to the man. "If we go outside I can feed you. Would you like that?" it asked the whirlipede.

It needed badges from the League, and with those badges, it could get better balls to catch pocket monsters, which would fulfill the capture objective. However, the boy only having one monster was not enough to defeat a leader, which was necessary to earn a badge. There was a man fishing outside earlier, and it might be a good idea to ask him if there was anything he knew about that could earn it money. It made a quick stop at the pokécenter to ask Nurse Joy if pokémon could be healed there in addition to itself or humans before doing that, though.

It got to the fisherman and sat down. It took a serving of bug food out of its STORAGE and offered it to the whirlipede. "Do you want some of this?" It seemed excited, so it gave its contents to the monster and STORED the bag.

"Do you think there is anything around here that I could do to make money?" The NS5 asked the fisherman.

Spoiler: OOC

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Learn that pokémon can be healed at the pokécenter from Nurse Joy
sit next to the old man that's fishing, feed pokémon
ask old man questions

[The JoJo]

"Th... thanks," Darius murmured, looking with newfound respect at the oddity who had not only quite possibly saved his son's life, but then paid for more sweets out its own pocket. Certainly, the gods had been smiling upon him when he had dragged NS5 to the safety of the town.

"Is that good?" he asked Alfonso, who was happily stuffing the rest of the sweets into his mouth as fast as he could swallow them. The small boy gave him a grin from ear-to-ear. "Try not to eat anything else until we know what it is."

[ChaoticHarmony]

The fisherman takes a quick glance at the strange man who just took a seat next to him before refocusing in his fishing. Weirdo.....how is a pokemon supposed to answer that? He thinks to himself.


Amora continues on with Takia. "So which does the feline look like? If you give me a moment, I can search it out if it's in the area." A ways down the path, the trees begin to thin out once more.

[BrownDragon]

"It should be pretty obvious, it is a purple cat."

[Viirin]

The fisherman didn't realize the NS5 was talking to him, as it never introduced itself, and then it started talking to its pokémon. The NS5 sat there for a couple minutes, waiting for reply in normal robotic patience before introducing itself and asking again.

"I am an NS5. Do you think there is anything around here to do in order to make money?"

"Oh you were talkin' to me? Sure there is, just ask around town. If'n you have a fishin' pole, you can even make a few Poke helpin' me catch Basculin. Course the fastest an' easiest way to make money is through Pokémon Battles."

"Could you explain how the battles work? Does anyone get hurt or killed?"

"Hurt? Only the Pokemon, but battles are meant to be all in good fun, no one tries to seriously injure each other. An' course good ol' Nurse Joy will fix 'em right up when you bring 'em into a Center."

"Did you make that fishing pole yourself? I didn't see any at the PokéMart when I was there a few minutes ago."

"Nope, my brother in Undella Town made it."

"I would like to get a fishing rod. Do you think he would make one for me if I paid him? I would like to fish for basculin with you, but at this time can not do so."

"He would certainly make a rod but money wouldn't mean nothin' to him. You'd have to impress him with fishin' prowess. A couple of my other brothers are travelin' around, I'm sure they have a rod they can spare if'n you come across them."

With that, the NS5 headed north, back to the forest. There were smaller creatures there that weren't as dangerous, and as long as it stayed out of the tall grass, it would be safe. Only going in a short way would make the creatures come out of hiding, which would help it along with its objectives.

[ChaoticHarmony]

2-D and Bridgette wake up in the middle of a bright field, beautiful flowers poking their heads through the short grass around him. The sky is bright blue, and many thick trees surround them at the outer edge of the circular clearing. A sense of calm and tranquility fill the air in this spot, as though everything is at peace. You catch some movement deep within the trees, something that looks like animals moving around.


Everyone's Bracer starts flashing once again, and once more, the world seems to stop until the message is opened.

[sadatg]

It took a while for Jon to notice the blinking green gem on his bracer.

NEW PLAYER JOINING

As he read the message time resumed and accelerated, like someone hit fast forward to catch back up. The loudness of a conversation compressed into a moment stunned Jon. People blurred and then NS5 streaked out of the pokemart. Jon blinked back the sudden overload of information and stumbled shakily to the counter. Only Darius, his son, the mart owner and the small child remained.

"Um.. Hi.." stammered the off balance old man "I would like to purchase... These for.. Him." Jon placed the poketreats on the counter and then looked at the panpour on his shoulder, the monkey bounced around quite happily, seemingly un-phased by the inconsistent flow of time.

Spoiler

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-250 poke-dollars, 750 remain

Coming to his senses Jon looks at the order sheet noticing the pokeballs.

"The nurse said that pokeballs were humane. What happens to the pokemon in them? Are they happy?" Jon asks, worrying for his new friend.

"Oh I wouldn't worry about it. The inside of a pokeball is quite comfortable. It would be like you or me staying in a luxury hotel! Nice and safe from the responsibility's of the outside world. Wild pokemon can become quite jealous of pokemon with trainers." A glint shines in the merchants eyes "Although.. If you want the very best for your pokemon we do sell a specially made Luxury ball! The very best in artisan comfort for your special companions for only a modest premium" A wide smile appears on the merchants face as he presents a shiny black ball with red rings on it.

Jon looks at the panpour, whos eyes have somehow grown three times bigger as it "ooo"ed over the ball.

Spoiler

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1000 Points to 15000 pokedollars
500 points remain, 15750 pokedollars remain.
-5000 pokedollars for 5 luxury balls
10750 pokedollars remain.

Jon steps out of the mart and bands a luxury ball to the panpour on his shoulder. "Here you go young one." The monkey took the ball chattering excitedly.

Jon pushed the door back open and called into Darius. "Im going to go observe this "Lenora" character. Would you like to accompany me?"

Panpour happily chants "Pan, pan, pan." whilst beating the ball on Jons shoulder.

[Dragonmage]

Menelwith continued down the path, tail swishing a bit with annoyance. She disliked having to walk when there was little reason. There were plenty of scents of various animals but she didn't see any animals right away. That wasn't an issue; she didn't want to hunt right now. Menelwith felt like it was taking an unreasonably long time to get to the town.

Just as she was debating ignoring manners and taking off again, the green gem on her bracer started flashing and the world seemed to halt in its tracks. Menelwith tapped the gem with a claw and it stopped flashing. The dragon caught sight of something entirely bizarre. A human in armor or what she guessed was a human in armor and a giant bug.

Menelwith rattled her scales and mantled her wings for a moment, forgetting that she was much smaller and less intimidating than usual. When she remembered, Menelwith bolted for the nearest tree.

[Viirin]

The NS5 made it to the tall grass it had encountered so many pokemon in earlier, cautiously attempting to draw another out of hiding, but staying near the path all the same, so only one or two could be encountered instead of an entire swarm like last time.

"Will you take part in battle from now on?" it asked its whirlipede. It spun like a wheel in place, looking like it did before it rushed the NS5 when they first met, but it didn't attack. Maybe that meant 'yes', but it wasn't sure. If it could get that 50,000 pokedollars it could understand more of the creature, but it needed to find more pokemon to battle a gym leader and win, which would get it at least some of that money.

Audino was said to be rare here, but the monkeys might be useful as well. Not knowing what to look for, it just walked back and forth in the tall grass close to the forest exit, waiting for something to come to it on their own.

[ChaoticHarmony]

Amora brushes his Bracer again when it starts to vibrate once more. The gem depresses and the message repeats itself. Paying it no mind, Amora continue forward until he is out of the forest with Takia.

The green monkey, seeing the little boy eating, jumps off of his back and runs around to another aisle, chittering 'PAN PANSAGE' over and over. When Darius and Alfonso go after it, they'll find it dancing and pointing at a green bag marked GRASS among a large collection of other bags.

As Jon begins to leave the store, the cashier has him wait a moment. "Oh are you going to challenge the Gym? You know right where to find it correct?"

[The JoJo]

"You want this, huh?" Darius said with a sigh, picking up a packet of shredded grass. At least Timo the snail hadn't been an expensive pet. Or a loud one, for that matter. The small monkey had already moved on and was now pointing towards one of the red and white balls stocked on the shelves, chattering loudly. Alfonso reached out for the closest one, clutching it to his chest like a stuffed toy.

"That too?" Darius muttered. Might as well be hung for a sheep rather than a lamb, as his father used to say. What would the old bastard say if he could see him now? Probably something smug.

While the other two might be accounted for, Darius was still more than a little peckish, and so he made his way down the food aisle, trying to find something familiar. Eventually he settled on a small pie which was covered in the same strange clear wrapping that the NS5 had shown them how to remove but otherwise could have been baked in his own hometown. He passed on the beverages, not certain what they were or if they were safe to drink.

He walked up to the counter, placing the pie, grass food and pokeball down before him. The assistant gave him a withering look.

"Want a drink with that?"

"What do you recommend?"

"Soda is popular."

Darius took the bottle with some reluctance.

"That'll be 900 pokedollars."

"Do you take these?" he asked, placing a silver coin on the counter. The look on the assistant's face was all the answer he needed. As he hurriedly put his coin purse away, he heard a beeping sound on his bracer.

"Convert 100 points into 1,000 pokedollars?"

Darius wasn't certain where these points had come from, but he was grateful for the cash. He pressed the confirmation button and was greeted by a small pile of shining silver coins with a hole in each of their centres. He handed over the appropriate number to the assistant and then the trio went outside to enjoy their breakfast.

Spoiler: Actions

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Exchange 100 points for 1,000 pokedollars. 1,000 points remaining.

Spend 900 pokedollars on grass food, pie, soda and a pokeball. 100 pokedollars remaining.

[NineOfSpades]

Bridgette didn't much care for getting dropped down in the middle of a forest by mysterious cosmic beings with a gameshow host attitude. Admittedly, it wasn't something she'd ever thought she would have to deal with. So, ya know, time makes fools of us all. Who would have guessed the flintstones hit the nail on the head, sometimes the great gazoo is out there and just looking for someone to screw with.

It was like a terrible reverse lottery, when you get down to it.

Thankfully, she had been paying attention to her little stop-over in the waiting room at the edge of the universe. Looking at the bracelet on her wrist, she'd picked up that it was linked to what was going on, and that there were other players in this game who had similar ones. When she had time to sit down and think about it, she could start poking at the device to see about getting her head around how it worked and maybe even taking it off. For now, it was plenty useful to keep it where it was.

The clearing was mostly grassy, but it didn't take long for the wizard to locate a flat-ish patch of open ground where she could dig her nail into the dirt to scratch out a quick circle. Lacking any sort of compass, it was a bit oblong on one side, and certainly would have gotten her some sideways looks. But all that really mattered was it was a closed continuious loop. As she finished the circle, she breathed a whisper of willpower into it, infusing it with the smallest spark of magic to complete the circut. Her senses felt the ring snap shut, an invisible barrier seperating out the background flow of magical energies from those inside her circle.

Digging in her pocket, Bridgette pulled out a small clear crystal hanging from a length of silver chain. It wasn't actual crystal, just a bit of glass she'd picked up from a thrift store in the shape of a diamond. Wardens got a decent stipend from the council, but most of that went to living expenses, and she wasn't about to pony up a week's worth of grocery money just so she could have a real gemstone for her dowsing pendulum.

Holding the pendulum in one hand, and raising the wrist braclet up in the other, she began shaping the spell with her thoughts. A lot of magic is about connections, about linking ideas and power together, giving them shape and direction. In this case, she was pouring some energy into the connection between this bracelet and the other ones that other players had been shackled with. Assuming they were all similar in design, or better yet, made of the same material, it'd be enough to get a basic tracking spell going. Granted, tracking spells weren't exactly her specialty. She'd heard about a guy in Chicago who could put together dozens of different ways to find someone, and those were probably a lot more functional than what she was working with. Still, she was confident she could get a beat on where the other folks were, one way or another.

As the energy took shape, guided by her will, Bridget chanted "Iscat, Trek, Nayti". As she spoke, she broke the circle with her foot, completing the spell and letting the energy flow outward into the world, where it darted to and fro, questing for the connection. She felt something link up, and as it did, the pendulum swung upward, hanging suspended at an oblique angle to gravity, pointing somewhere off to her left. "Alright, looks like we hooked something" she smiled, satisfied in her work.

It wasn't a great spell, since it didn't tell her anything about distance, or the best path to take to get where she needed. But it at least was better than wandering in circle and hoping she got lucky. Feeding a small, steady trickle of power to keep the spell going, Bridgette followed the pendulum out of the clearing, and into the forest.

[ChaoticHarmony]

Bridgette feels the pull of magic yank to her right, diverting her off of her path and into the woods itself. As she walks along, strange music seems to fill the air. Suddenly, a burat of strange white goo bursts out towards her. Quickly sidestepping the gunk, she quickly turns her attention to its source, a pair of large caterpillar like creatures that appear to be wearing leaves.

[The JoJo]

Jon pushed the door back open and called to Darius. "I'm going to go observe this "Lenora" character. Would you like to accompany me?"

Panpour happily chanted "Pan, pan, pan," whilst beating the ball on Jon's shoulder.

"Sure," Darius said. He figured staying close to his fellow travellers wasn't a bad idea after what had happened in the PokeMart.

As they walked over to the gym, he unwrapped his pie and took a mouthful, finding it a little sloppy but not unpleasant. He broke off a piece and gave it to Alfonso to nibble on, in case he was still hungry.

The soda was a different experience altogether. Darius had been expecting something akin to beer, but when he took a sip of the drink, he instead found it nauseatingly sweet. Even worse, it fizzled on the tongue with a near burning sensation.

"You try this," he suggested to Alfonso, who took the bottle from him and took a deep gulp. He made an expression as if he had eaten a slice of lemon, before blinking, smiling and taking another gulp.

"Of course you would like it," Darius muttered. The group slowed as they approached a grand building that reminded Darius of some of the smaller imperial households in central Vesper.

"So, who is this Lenora, then?" he asked Jon.

[NineOfSpades]

Bridgette eyed the weird bug...monster...things. Buggers. In the absence of anything else to go on, she mentally dubbed them buggers. The buggers were to large, to 'round' to be some weird species of undiscovered fauna. National geographic would have warned her if those kind of critters were just roaming the earth. So that meant she probably wasn't on Earth. Had the game-show-gods tossed her into Faerie? Generally it wasn't to hard to tell if you'd crossed over into the NeverNever, but nobody was perfect. The pristine forest certainly fealt like summer court turf, which if that was true, was good news for her. "Alright, hold your fire." She cautioned, phrasing it as a command. "I'm a warden of the white council, and as per our treaty, I'm allowed to pass through the summer court in peace. I've offered you no insult, so per the Unseelie accords and in the name of Queen Titania, let me be on my way." To emphasize her point, she pushed a bit of power into her staff, causing the runes etched along its length to glow with an amber witch-fire. She also put together a construct for a lightning spell to have on quick draw, if negotiations turned south.

[ChaoticHarmony]

The two insects look at each other for a moment, then look back towards the white council warden. Both of them, simultaneously, tilt their heads and say 'SEWADDLE?', a loom of clear confusion on their buggy faces.

Bridgette felt a bit deflated as well. With faries, you never new what you were going to get, but she hadn't been expecting that. "Um...no, I think I'm good thanks, no need for a blanket here"

Suddenly, one of the two creatures charges straight at you, moving at the breakneck speed of......1 mile per hour. Its stubby little legs make it hard to tell what it's trying to do. The other one starts moving up one of the nearby trees. You can hear them both constantly say brokenly, 'Sewaddle'. The mysterious, intense music continues to play around you.

Bridgette looked at the buggers, uncertain. Her brain told her to stay on guard, but it was hard to when these little critters seemed to be about as threatening as anklebiter dogs, if that. "Ok then...I'm going to go now" She said, hoping that whatever decisions these strange faerie creatures had come to, that it included letter her go. She resumed walking, following her pendulum, giving the bugs a wide birth, though keeping her senses attuned, just in case this really was some sort of faerie trap.

Out of the corner of her eye, Bridgette sees a flying green projectile slice through the air straight at her. Using her combat training, she deftly dodges the incoming blade by jumping sideways into the air, letting her spin underneath it. Below her, she feels the wind of something heavy flying past her. Seems her dodge saved her from the pain of a second, unseen assailant.

Bridgette ducked into a roll, swivling for cover behind the trees. She slammed will into the ring she carried on her left hand, conjuring up a barely visable shimmering field of force, a half-domed shield to help better guard her. Her other hand raised her staff up, lightning crackling along the birchwood. "Oh yeah, real smart" She muttered to herself in frusteration "Turn your back on the strange buggers, that'll work out great. Get your **** together, Bri"

Another projectile slams into her shield, bouncing off harmlessly. Now that she can see it clearly, she confirms that the flying blade of death was nothing but a leaf! What kind of magic are these fey using? From her opposite side, she sees one of the buggers shooting that gross white gunk at her again, a long string of goo blasting right at her staff hand.

Bridgette pointed her staff down the incoming like of goop, throttled up her magic, and shouted "Grom" letting fly a blast of electrical fury to swat the projectile out of the air.

The electrical blast incinerates the goo in an instant, but the bugger has already fired a second shot into the trees, and is climbing the rope like strand much faster than its previous movements had suggested it could. Behind her, another leaf slams into her shield, this time sticking into it as it barely pierces the veil without breaking it.

Bridgette didn't like feeling flanked, and she knew sustaining a fire fight on two fronts wasn't going to go well for her. In the practitioner community, she kind of hard a reputation as something of a powerhouse. Lot of magical muscle, so she wasn't hurting for energy to throw around. But that didn't mean she wanted to turn this into an endurance fight if she didn't need to, and the biggest obstacle was splitting her focus between keeping the tracking spell up, and the shield, and shaping her will to go on the offence. It was a bit like trying to do vector calculus in your head while also playing jeopardy in which every question must be answered in the form of a haiku.

"This is self defense, by the way" She commented, not really speaking to anyone in particular. It was just a matter of getting it on the record so that if one of the summer queens took issue with her, she at least wouldn't be on the hook for wereguild or anything. All the supernatural nations were big on formality and rules, so having some kind of alibi before cutting lose was a safe move. Shifting grip, she held the staff in two hands like a baseball bat, and swung for the fences, bellowing out "GROM BOL SHOY!". A spear crackled outwards, thick around as a fist, lancing towards the leaf-tossing bug, while the air was ripped by a crack of thunder that boomed over the forest.

A loud concussive blast followed by a heavy THUMP can be heard beyond the tree Bridgette was hiding behind. Just as she went to check the results, the second creature drops down in her from above, practically yelling 'SEWADDLE!!!!'. It lands directly on her face, and begins rapidly biting her face. Horrific pain begins bursting across her.......wait a second......the bites barely pinch her face. It doesn't even feel like its breaking the skin.

Bridgette did not scream. That would be rediculous, a trained wizard screaming just because a bug got on their face. Oh sure, to a non-magically inclinded individual, it might have actually looked and sounded like a scream. But it was actually a carefully constructed sonic-defense technique, using vibrational waves as a means of redirection anti-harmonious energies by shifting them to a alterntative micro-band.

But it defintely wasn't a scream. Once Bridgette was finished not screaming, and realized the attack didn't seem to be doing much, she quickly swatted the bugger away from her face.

The music fades as the creature crashes into the ground, its eyes seeming to spiral as it lays there unmoving. It groans out one more 'seWADdle..' Before passing out. The green gem on Bridgette's Bracer starts to flash rapidly, as though it was trying to get her attention.

Spoiler: Bracer

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If Bridgette thinks to try pressing the gem, it will show this message

NEW ACHIEVEMENT: FIRST VICTORY: 500 POINTS

She'll also find numerous options on the screen that look like they can be selected

[BrownDragon]

Takia reaches the end of the forest in his search. "I guess we should try the other side?"

[ChaoticHarmony]

"We can, though I believe I sense several felines in the tall grass in the field over here." Amora points towards the open field. Takia catches a glimpse of purple in the grass, but it is obscured by the tall blades.

[Viirin]

The NS5 notices something, likely something large, rustling in the grass. It can hear the grass being crunched and swaggered through, but the grass is tall enough that it can't see entirely what it is. Then it does see it- it's scaly, colored silver and blue. However, it is deep enough in the grass that the Third Law kept it from venturing further in due to being nearly destroyed earlier from the giant insect swarm. It continued walking back and forth in the 3.5 feet of tall grass closest to the path, so a single step would get it off the grass entirely.

Menelwith turned to face the weird person in armor and watched for a moment before trying to creep closer to the person. Despite her attempts to be careful, the grass crackled underfoot and she knew that she wasn't being as quiet as she would have liked to be. She was definitely out of practice at ground stalking. Once she'd fledged, Menelwith had done most of her hunting on the wing.

The NS5 turned around, and the creature had come closer. Close enough to nearly be face-to-face now. "Do you want to attack that like you first tried to attack me?" It asked its whirlipede. It still didn't know who was waiting around watching from a hidden camera to play the music, but here was a pokémon. Maybe the NS5 should play it on its own, so it did.

The weird human in armor didn't draw a sword or other weapon that Menelwith could see, but weird sounds, not any language she knew, came from the weird human. Menelwith tilted her head momentarily in confusion. It was making the noise, the noise wasn't coming from the human's mouth. The human in armor talked to the giant bug which suddenly rolled at her.

Menelwith didn't really have time to dodge, not out of practice on the ground as she was. The dragon reared up on her hind legs and shoved the rolling bug with her front feet. She knocked the bug off-course, but it wasn't easy. Getting hit by that bug full force would be dangerous, did she have enough room to take off without exposing her comparatively fragile wings to an impact. Menelwith slashed at the bug with her claws, hoping to tear its eyes or legs.

The pokémon being strong enough to deflect the insect just as it had nearly done itself was not expected, but now that it saw more of the creature's forearm, it noticed... it might not be a normal pokémon. It was wearing a bracer that looked just like its own, that had apparently been installed without its awareness after it smashed the computer.
Humans were wearing bracers, but the old man, Nurse Joy, the cashier, and the little boy trying to buy an ultra ball weren't. It asked the pokémon, "Were you given objectives through the bracer as well?" The whirlipede rolled back up to the NS5, waiting at its side to be told to attack again.

Menelwith tilted her head at the weird armored thing.
"I'm not sure. I haven't tried to get it to do much of anything yet."

Zipping straight in front of the dragon and robot, a giant dragonfly emits a strange frequency straight at the whirlipede.

"Whirlipede, use that same attack that failed against me and the dragon on whatever that is. Dragon, you should really click the green gem."

Menelwith moved out of the direct path of the giant dragonfly that had attacked the Whirlipede and tapped the green gem on the bracer with a claw.

Meanwhile, the whirlipede didn't attack the dragonfly. Instead, it attacks the NS5 for some reason, though it was able to dodge rather easily. It kept spinning and tried flattening it yet again, to no avail since the NS5 was even more ready and dodged it yet again by a sidestep. Finally, it stopped targeting its companion and went after the giant dragonfly like it was told to do to begin with.

The giant buzzing creature darts around the small open space with ease, music blaring loudly from the world around them. Suddenly, it speeds up, leaving after images in its wake, confusing the poor whirlipede even more. After watching the cocoon pokémon charge after the armored bot, it fires a sonic blast from its wings at the roly poly, which only dodges out of the way. Just when it looked the the Whirlipede was finally coming to its senses, it attacks an after image by mistake.

"Whirlipede, stop. Dragon, I was told that pokémon can be caught in pokéballs, like this one." It STORED its prybar, still covered in muck, and withdrew a pokéball. It didn't know how to do it, but it was told it was a trap, so it simply rubbed the ball on the dragonfly as it lay injured on the forest floor.

Menelwith watched, interested. The objective list hadn't made much sense to her. "But what is a pokémon?"

The dragonfly glowed for a moment, and the pokéball made a clicking sound. Nurse Joy was apparently sane and telling the truth. After ceasing to play the music, it responded to the dragon, "Exactly what a monster is, I do not know. But monsters can be caught in balls like these, and because the balls can fit in human pockets, all monsters are referred to as pocket monsters. The locals shorten that to pokémon." The NS5 had gotten gravely injured from one, and was fully repaired at the pokécenter, so it figured it should bring its new pokémon there for healing itself. It STORED the pokéball, and withdrew a pokéball and premier ball, presenting them to the whirlipede. "Which of these two would you like?" The whirlipede bumped itself gently into the premier ball, and was gone. The NS5 STORED both in their proper places. Just then, it heard a female scream in terror nearby, and the First Law forced the NS5 to act immediately by ignoring whatever else was going on, and rushing directly to the girl's aid.

It was able to get near it calculated the scream had originated, but there was nothing of danger here. There was, however, a woman with a bracer screen open, and a crystal on a string pointing directly at the NS5, though the woman didn't seem like she was paying attention to such an unlikely event. Instead, she only really seemed engrossed in the menu. "Excuse me madam, but did you just scream? I have come to aid you."

[sadatg]

"So, who is this Lenora, then?" Darius asked Jon.

"The child at the counter was complaining about not being able to beat her and obtain the badge needed for better pokeballs. One of the OBJECTIVES is to obtain 4 badges; I suspect we are meant to beat this Lenora and 3 others like her." Jon opens the poketreats bag and starts handing bits of kibble to Panpour, who eases up on the pokebeating.

"Odd though that they would put the "gym" in a library. I do hope its not a contest of strength." Jon opens the door and holds it for Darius and his son, old habits die hard.

"Thanks," Darius said. "She must be an important figure if she lives in a place like this."

"Potentially a village elder or whatever the equivalent here is. A pokeelder maybe." Jon allows himself a brief smirk of amusement at his joke.

Sighting the receptionist Jon approaches and introduces the party, this is obviously a formal setting. "Grettings, I am Jon Dramali, butler to the Vetrue family. This is Darius and his cohort. Weve come to enquire about the nature of this "gym" and its resident Lenora." The introduction is punctuated with a small bow and sweeping gestures.

[ChaoticHarmony]

"Hi! And Welcome to the Nacrene Museum. Explore the wonders of Ancient Unova with our extensive fossil collection. And please, if you have any questions, feel free to ask." A woman in a crisp dress suit immediately starts talking to you as soon as the trio enters the building. She sits behind a simple reception area right at the entrance

"We, uh, three," Darius said, deciding not to count the monkeys, "would like visit the gym. Is that somewhere in here?"

"Why yes! The Gym is located upstairs in our Library, Are you looking to challenge Lenora today?"

Darius looked at Jon and then shook his head. It was never a good idea to challenge someone until you knew what they were capable of.

"Oh ok, let me just quickly see if we have any battles scheduled today." The woman types into a keyboard hidden behind the desk. A screen pops up to her left, showing what looks like various various words and numbers, though it is hard for the group to tell what it says, since it is reversed to them. "What luck! It seems she is about to face a challenger in the next few minutes! Please follow the signs to our observation deck and enjoy yourselves!" With a friendly smile, the woman directs your attentions to a sign on the wall. It indicates that the library can be entered to the right.

Darius nodded and the trio began to follow the signs. Alfonso ran ahead up the staircase, waiting for them eagerly at the bannisters. "Yes, you're taller than me," Darius chuckled as he caught up. Ahead stood the entrance to the library, a modest doorway considering what it contained inside.

Directly ahead of the curious group stood a large collection of books on dozens of shelves, crisscrossing in such a way that it looked like a giant maze. Directly to their left was a second set of stairs with a sign labeled 'Observation Deck' is plain block writing. A sense of mystery and ancient power dances in the air, as closer inspection of the nearby book show that they are all about history and long forgotten myths.

[Viirin]

Bridgette was slowly, but steadily, working out the different controls on the bracelet. It seemed vaguely like some kind of computer, which wasn't great for her as far as ease-of-use-went. Last time she'd been able to use a computer was middle school, before her talents started developing and she would short all of them out just by looking at one to hard. So working with popup screens and navigating menus wasn't really in her wheelhouse, and it was taking a lot of her attention to get her head around things.
The sound of someone approaching, while registering on a sort of subconscious level, didn't really rise to a point needed to immediately grab her attention. That was actually pretty common among spellcasters. There was a reason they got a reputation for being absent minded. It wasn't a lack of awareness, just the opposite really. But casting spells and working with magic took an insane level of mental discipline, to the point where any wizard capable of throwing around energy was usually able to hone in their concentration to a laser point without even noticing.
Point being, she tended to get pretty engrossed in whatever she was working on, when left to her own devices.
"Huh, what?" She mumbled, as that alert in the back of her head worked its way through to a more proactive awareness that someone was talking to her, while her mouth took over small talk on its own "Screaming? Can't say that I-"
There was a robot talking to her. There was. A Robot. Talking to her.
Robot.
Bridgette had seen a lot of weird things. You would expect after all the werewolves, ghouls, vampires, ghosts, goblins, trolls, implings, demons, and faeries, that you'd sort of build up a 'weirdness' tolerance. If that was true, it must take a century or two to kick in, because Bridgette was so utterly unprepared to encounter a pale white bipedal machine with a big doe-eyed face that she was left utterly flabbergasted, trailing off into a prolonged "Uhhhhhhhh...."

The NS5 stood there motionless, waiting for a response for a few minutes, but since nothing was trying to attack anyone, it had the time. Once it was paid attention to, it restated its question. "I heard a woman scream at this location. Was it you? Do you require assistance?"

"....hhhhhhhhh" Bridgette droned, until the robot up and spoke to her. Politely even. Brainfreeze didn't have much power, not compared to the unstoppable juggernaut that was social norms. Upon being politely offered assistance, Bridgette couldn't help but snap back to something that might even pass for 'reality', if seen from behind. In the dark. "Assistance...um....maybe? I'm sorry, I'm having a...very difficult day. You are a robot, you know that?"

"I am a Non-Structured personal service modular robot, version 5. How may I offer assistance?"

"Um...that is a fair..." Bridgette trailed off, as she felt something tugging her attention. It was a literal tugging in fact, the pull of the pendulum on her hand as the crystal was pointed directly at the robot. Inquisitively, she moved her hand to one side, then the other, watching the pendulum swivel to remain locked on the helpful robot. "Oh....that's good to know." Saying that wheels were turning wasn't fair. Bridgette felt entirely lost. But she at least had one fact to try and connect to. "Quick question: Kind of random" She tapped a finger on her bracelet, motioning with a nod of her head "Any chance you know what this thing is?"

"It's a storage device, and online banking system that utilizes its own currency, like bitcoin. Additionally, it contains information about what we are meant to be doing and gives us leads on how to do it if you ask the right person the right question. Have you placed any items into its storage function yet? You seem to have been looking at it for quite awhile."

Bridgette blinked "That was...comprehensive" Another internal wave of 'what the hell am I doing' hit her as the interrogation with the robot proceeded, along with a twinge of confusion as to why the robot hadn't started sputtering out or malfunctioning. That was another question to get thrown into her rapidly growing heap of unanswered puzzles. "Let me rephrase, do you have one of these things? And if so, where did you get it?"

"I was not manufactured with it. Instead, my owner installed it, but I was unaware of when it occurred." The NS5 raised its left forearm, showing the bracer. The woman was obviously a genius, based on how much she didn't understand. She must be a savant of some kind. It would explain things by showing. "Do you see this green gem? It is a button. If you press it, the menu comes up. I saw earlier that you did that. Do you see the word 'STORAGE'? Touch the word." The NS5 performed the action as it explained it. It touched the icon for whirlipede's premier ball, and it manifested in its hand. "Whirlipede, come out and meet the human."
A three and a half foot tall slate gray, wheel-shaped cocoon-like insect appeared out of no where next to the robot, where a dog would be if it was told to heel. A huge yellow eye was visible in the center of the wheel, looking up at Bridgette.

Bridgette was listening with about 40% of her attention, while the rest was chugging through information just as fast as the robot could get it out. So there were other bracelets out there, though this machine had gotten his not from the Trabek's, but from whoever built it. Assuming it wasn't lying, of course. The NeverNever wasn't actually a hostile place towards electronics, it was only mortal magic that had side effects. It was one of those things that was just how magic worked. So a robot could have ended up on this side of faerie land, but that'd take a heck of a story to explain. It also opened up the possibility that this wasn't in actuality a robot at all, but some very unorthodox faerie, possibility operating under a glamour. The Sight could clear that up, but that was a gamble that Bridgette didn't want to take. You look at the wrong thing with The Sight, and that's game over: Goodbye marbles.
And then mid-explanation, the robot popped open a capsule and out popped a pillbug the size of a kindergartner, prompting the warden to jump back, raising her staff to a defensive position, and say a word she would definitely have avoided using if in the presence of children and/or clergy members.

The NS5 did not know why the woman jumped backwards, so it simply replied to her exclamation. "I have not named it yet, but I will adopt that name for it if you wish."

Bridgette kept her staff pointed at the giant bug, letting the runes start glowing as she prepared to blast the thing. Her free hand slipped the clasp off her holster, and then drew her revolver to level down on the robot. One unexpected giant bugger attack was enough for today, and she was done taking chances and letting monsters get the jump on her.

Menelwith had been poking at the bracer when she heard the scream and the weird human in armor immediately ran off towards the noise. She followed the running person, making sure not to get ahead of them. Two-leggers could be so skittish about her.
Not wanting to startle the person who had screamed too much, Menelwith wasn't trying to be stealthy as she approached. There was a female human looking at the armored person and the whirlipede.

The NS5 looked to Menelwith, and greeted it. "Hello again, dragon. I found a lost human that seems to be experiencing some difficulties, but she does not seem able to explain them to me."

"Hello again to you too. My name is Menelwith, if you were wondering."

"A pleasure to meet you properly. ****, return." The NS5 didn't know how it knew, but it pointed the ball at the whirlipede, and it was gone. It STORED the ball in its STORAGE nonchalantly.

Dragons. Robots. Giant Bugs. This day had started so simply. She'd gotten up, done some check ins on the Paranet, was going to go out for Wendy's before hitting the road to go exorcise some spook a few counties over. Why did everything go so wrong? And things had indeed gone wrong. There were only a handful of dragons in the world, but each one meant business. If this turned into a fight, Bridgette expected to lose, unless a hundred or so other wardens dropped out of the bushes as backup. Which she didn't have much hope for. At this rate, a UFO was probably going to show up looking for a quick scrummage match or something.
Realizing she was still holding her weapon, and that the dragon seemed to be on familiar terms with the robot, Bridgette quickly lowered her arms and tried to appear as non threatening as possible, so as to avoid getting obliterated by draconic fury. Heck, from what she'd heard, an angry dragon just needed to think at you and you'd just die on the spot if not properly braced for it.
She awkwardly bowed, trying to show some respect "Um...sorry, I wasn't expecting to...er...Behold....your...self...ness." She was scrambling, internally, trying to remember if there was some protocol here. "The white council of wizard extends its greeting" she added, trying to name drop that in as soon as possible. Rules of protocol might as well be physical laws, so keeping things in a diplomacy realm was 100% her best strategy for survival

Menelwith openly stared at the human's greeting and pulled her wings a little closer to her body. She hadn't offended Elrond or Mithrandir that she could recall, but why else would the White Council take an interest in her?
"I did not know that the White Council was taking an interest in me."
The dragon dipped her head in a rough equivalent of a bow.
She was so small here. Menelwith felt very vulnerable.

The NS5 had no idea what the human or dragon were talking about, but it did know that it had a new pokémon that needed to be healed. "If you two would like to come with me, I am going to the medical facility. The woman that works there is well-educated and informative."

Bridgette waited to see what this dangerous dragon would do. after a moments pause, Bridgette spotted an opportunity to depart in safety "Actually, I should probably go with...the robot....so I'll just be on my way", and then quickly followed after the mechanical man.

The NS5 escorted Bridgette through the forest, along what path was available, explaining that someone somewhere had a lot of hidden cameras and speakers, and would play music any time a pokémon tried to attack someone. Who was playing the music, it had no idea, but if you stayed off of the knee-or-higher grass, then nothing would bother you.
When they got to town, they went to a building with a red roof that said 'PokéCenter' above the door. It escorted her in, and walked her up to a girl with curly pink hair wearing a nurse uniform. "Nurse Joy, I would like you to meet Bridgette. She seems as though she could use your counselling services." Unless the swordswoman seemed to still need the aid of the robot, it would take its leave.

It started as a nagging voice in the back of her mind. A little inkling of recognition. She tried to brush it aside, putting it off as nothing more than coincidence. But as the road gave way to a town, as the android explained more of what it had observed, as she recalled her experience with the buggers, that nagging voice grew louder and louder and louder still, till it was a roar in her eardrums. It couldn't possibly be true, that was just impossible. But the site of the pink haired nurse, of the familiar red and white orb, and the number of e acutes in the language....well, there river Denial is only so wide. "You've gotta be ****ting me."

Spoiler: Credits

Show

Viirin, as the unnamed NS5 robot from I, Robot (movie version)
Dragonmage, as Menelwith the dragon from Lord of the Rings
Nine of Spades, as Bridgette Mercedes Gates, Wizard of the White Council from Dresden Files

[BrownDragon]

Takia looks in the direction of the cat and simply picks it up with his mind. "I think I got it."

[ChaoticHarmony]

Takia locks onto one of the creatures Amora pointed out, raising it in the air. With a startled screech, a cat like creature struggles to find balance. It swipes at the air, as though it can knock whatever is levitating it out.

Spoiler: Creature

Show

[BrownDragon]

Takia notices that this cat is... oddly heavy he starts to mentally struggle and it floats to the ground. "That is not the right purple cat."

[NineOfSpades]

There were a few possibilities. The first was a phobophage, or a group of phobophages working together. Winter fae, they devoured fear and had some truly impressive shape changing abilities, as well as some limited ability to reshape faerie around them to better hunt. That'd be possible, and indeed, there were some documented cases of phobophages using movies and television as disguises. Only thing was, a phobophage only really went through the trouble of becoming something scary, so unless there was folks running around with a terrifying fear or merchandise-able pets, that wouldn't make sense. Next up was a ghost. An impression in the never-never made by a mortal death, ghosts could also shape their world around them, at least within their demesne, to reflect their mind and parts of their final moments. That'd get the landscaping down, but no ghost that Bridgette had ever heard off had the juice needed to create constructs of people. They also usually weren't so well composed, since ghosts were....not known for being all that stable. The last option she could think off was that this was all an illusion, or more accurately, some sort of psychic whammy. No idea who or what might have tagged her with it, but that'd be enough to make her think anything was real. And it was especially worrisome, since that kind of mind magic usually ended up breaking you down to a vegetable, if given enough time. Only problem was, she also didn't know any way to get out of a mind-trap from the inside, or even confirm it.

Well, there was one option available at least. No matter what else there was going on, The Sight could punch through it and let her see the truth. Any threads from mental mojo, any illusions or disguised spirits, any tricks...all of it would be laid bare, along with the true nature of the world. It was an ace in the hole of sorts, and part of the reason that wizards held an edge over a lot of the sneakier baddies in the supernatural community. Vampire, Spirit, Faerie...didn't matter, The Sight could pull back the curtain and let her see what was really there. Only rule was, The Sight plaid for keeps. Whatever she saw with it, it'd stay with her till the day she died, stamped onto her soul.

It was a gamble, but Bridgette felt it was worth it. Anything that was twisted enough to want to kill her had plenty of opportunity, so she was probably not in danger of seeing anything too mind-breaking, and she'd just have to be quick about surveying the environment. A few seconds, that'd be enough to take it all in and at least get her out of the metaphorical dark.

Closing her physical eyes, she focused her will on the spot centered on her forehead, right between her eyes. Some beliefs called it the crown chakra, or the third eye. She didn't really care to distinguish, they all were circling the same idea. With an effort of Will, she pushed her inner eye open, and let the world flood into her.

Despite the name, the sight wasn't just visual. It was every one of her senses, dialed up to an extreme. Colors popped, not just the viable ones, but incandescent threads of energy that wove into shimmering clouds, the raw magical energy of creation flowing through the world in swirling eddies
the poke-center popped into a new dimension, a sort of intangible overlay upon reality. It was like sitting in a warm, fluffy cloud. The pink haired nurse behind the counter radiated light with a truly, literally heavenly aura. It was like looking into the sun on Christmas morning, the sensation of every boo-boo Bridgette had ever had in her life being kissed all at once, of chicken soup on a rainy day, of a thick scratchy blanket to hide under during a thunderstorm, and of a healer put in this world to do no harm.

It made her weep.

===============================================

"I also took your advice and caught another pokemon, and it is injured. Could you heal them for me please?"

Nurse Joy was more than happy to do so, and accepted the pokeball and premier ball as the NS5 removed them from its STORAGE and handed them to her.

She put them in some slots in a strange rectangular machine behind the counter, and after a few seconds of gentle music, she handed the balls back to the robot.

===============================================

Bridgette saw....darkness wasn't the right word. Darkness was something tangible, something which fit. It wasn't darkness, it was a void. An absence of all sensation. She'd heard about black holes, about how they weren't black, just a gaping emptiness, a point of no return. The mass, human shaped that it was, was like looking into that. Contrasted against the divine glow, it stood out starkly. As her eye naturally drifted towards the vacuum, Bridgette pulled back, forcing herself not to look. She didn't know what it was, or wasn't, but nothing that...wrong...could be healthy to look directly at. Her head was spinning, still reeling from the warmth she'd been able to witness from the nurse, and it was hard to concentrate. Getting her head to do what she wanted it to was like swimming through pudding, but she managed to wrest enough concentration together to shut The Sight, letting normal sensation take over. It left her in a cold sweat, as the mundane reality reasserted itself. She wanted to go back to those Elysian fields her senses had been opened to, even as the memory of it left her feeling simultaneously drained and reinvigorated. As she blinked her eyes back into focus, the humanoid event horizon resolved itself.

Into the shape of the robot.

===============================================

"You look dizzy." It turned to look back at Nurse Joy. "Could you please help her?"

===============================================

Nurse Joy looked concerned at Bridgette "Well, I'm more of a specialist in Pokemon than people, but I can certainly give her a once over." Stepping out from behind the counter, nurse joy walked over to Bridgette, who almost instinctively moved to stand between the nurse and the robot, who she now stared at with laser focus, even as she needed to lean on her staff to catch her breath. The nurses Audino quirked its head to one side, confused, as it carried along nurse joys tools. When the nurse attempted to take Bridgette pulse, she pulled away a bit, mumbling "Its fine, just...tired" and attempting to brush of their aid. She knew full well it was safe, at least the nurse and her...weird...pet thing. But there were just to many thoughts colliding in her head right now to also deal with a medical examination. She needed a quiet place to sit and think.

================================================

In Nurse Joy's tender ministrations, the NS5 left Bridgette. It had objectives given to it by its bracer, probably owner, and like any computer, it had to do as it was told. It left the PokeCenter. Instead of heading towards the forest again, it decided to go a different direction. The path, or road at this point, must lead somewhere else. Every time the robot entered the forest it was hampered in some manner, and it preferred to be capable of progression.

================================================

Bridgette was recovering in a bed. It was soft, warm, and tempted her to just go to bed and hope this whole...mess...would just blow over without her. But as much as she wanted to do that, and it truly was an effort to force herself not to just doze off, her brain wouldn't let her. There was to much, far to much, that needed to be digested. Pretty much since she'd dropped into the woods, it'd been a nonstop crazy train, one thing after another. Much as she tried to put it together into a bigger picture, not five minutes would go by before something crazy would happen, dumping an entirely new puzzle on her to try and solve. The Trebeks, the buggers (or rather...Pokemon), the robot, the dragon, and the world. It was all a mishmash of facts and guesses that crawled around in her skull like ants. Fire ants. "God I feel a headache coming on"

Laying there, she started to structure her thoughts, forming them into little boxes where she could sort information, making something manageable about the mess. There were lots of things she didn't know, or couldn't be certain off. So it meant she needed to start with what she did know. About the only thing she was certain off was The Sight. That was one thing that was incapable of lying. It had showed her something beautiful, and she'd treasure that memory, but it showed her a lot of things that weren't there. No glamours, or illusions, or disguises. None of the misty hazy that permeated the Never Never. Whatever this place was, wherever it was...it was solid all the way through.

And that was troubling, because she'd apparently ended up inside the worlds most famous collectible monster video game.
So, as impossible as that was to start from, she didn't have any way of disproving it. She was in the world of pokemon. That was fact 1. Fact 2 was that all of this had started with the Trabek's. Since they weren't around anymore, she needed to figure out more about what she did have access to, and that was the braclet. Tapping on the button that the robot (if it was a robot...that void was another worriesome puzzle) had indicated, she brought up the menu. Unlike before, she started systematically searching through it, trying to fully get her head around what the game-show-gods had wanted from her.

After poking and proding, she found her way to a tab called 'objectives' Clicking (Selecting? Accessing? All she really did was poke it with her finger, but 'poking' both didn't feel like the correct term). The menu shifted and displayed a readout list.

COLLECT/CAPTURE 4 CREATURES THAT REPRESENT THE ANCIENT ELEMENTS

OBTAIN 3 OFFICIAL 'POKEMON LEAGUE' BADGES

DEFEAT A REGIONAL LEADER IN A COMPETITION OF THEIR CHOOSING

"Oh...well that's useful to know"

Spoiler: Credits

Show

Viirin, as the unnamed NS5 robot from I, Robot (movie version)
Dragonmage, as Menelwith the dragon from Lord of the Rings
Nine of Spades, as Bridgette Mercedes Gates, Wizard of the White Council from Dresden Files

[ChaoticHarmony]

The mysterious intense music begins to play again after Takia drops the feline. With an angry hiss, the cat charges at the telekinetic, claws outstretched and ready to rake.

[BrownDragon]

'A cat attacking me? this is annoying' Takia simply kicks the cat away.