I think it's basically a more-respected form of priestess, like there are angels and archangels.
Writing One Last Battle - Chapter 6!
- Thread starter thegrovylekid
- Start date
Hayden walked up to his bed and opened a panel under it. From inside, he pulled out several large binders. "I've been collecting for a while" he said sheepishly. "I don't think Dad knows I have this many cards."
Carson opened up a binder and began to look through it. "You know, we could make you a really good deck out of this. You have pretty much every staple here. I take it you've been watching the matches at the park for a long time?"
Hayden blushed. Then they got to work.
The cleaning operation was nearly done. Angora and Amara were cooking, while Hilda and Ricky were continuing to organize the various shelves, cupboards, and pantries. Mastielle looked around and figured that she wouldn't be needed, so she decided to look through the third floor. On the second landing, she heard the strumming of a guitar coming from an office just to her left. Pushing open the door, she saw Lucy sitting on the desk, strumming her guitar and singing to herself. she was facing the window and appeared to have not noticed Mastielle's entrance.
Lucy was older than she looked at first glance. While Mastielle's original guess for her age would have been 14 or 15, seeing her up close under calm conditions, she realized that Lucy was around 20 years of age. She had blonde hair that came down to the middle of her back with a blue streak through it. Her hair was pushed away from her face, and Mastielle saw that she had a scar that went from under her temple almost to her nose, under her eye. The eye that was usually covered by her hair was sea-green, while her other eye was sky-blue. Though from far away and in chaos she looked average height, Mastielle thought that she would have been within an inch of Hilda's height. She was wearing a light blue t-shirt that matched her eye and blue jean shorts that came down about halfway to her knees. She was barefoot. As the song ended, she seemed to realize she was being watched. She reached up and pulled her bang out from behind her ear to cover her green eye and scar, like an aqua-blue curtain covering her secret, the sea swallowing a precious gem. She turned towards Mastielle. "Hello. Did you like my song?"
"Y-yes, I did." Mastielle regained composure. "It felt familiar."
Lucy smiled. "Maybe some other time? I've been itching to check out the third floor." She picked up her guitar and slung it over her back. Mastielle backed out the door and led the way up the stairs. The third floor was concealed behind a door within the staircase landing. Lucy turned the door open and light filtered in from the window across the landing. The room was actually a hallway with many other rooms leading off of it, behind closed doors. A quick inspection of the doors included rooms with two beds in each room, as well as a small office at the end of the hallway. There was eleven rooms, a twelfth, locked room, and the office. "Looks like a barracks..."
"Strange. Why would this be here? Some dismal guest rooms?" Mastielle mused. "Whatever the purpose, I'm glad he has it. We can sleep here, save two of us. D'you think we should check out the office?"
She looked around, and Lucy was gone. Kiara poked her head in. "Um, dinner's been ready for a few minutes!" Mastielle sighed. She must have been standing there, thinking, for longer than she realized. Walking downstairs, she saw that almost everyone had managed to fit around the relatively small table (Mandy was sitting on a nearby counter and Eliza had taken a chair from the living room, there was an additional, empty chair for her.) Ariel had a magazine spread out beside her plate, Darin had some sort of encyclopedia. Constantine had taken to a fold-out desk with some plans, much to Mandy's scorn. There was a fishing rod in the corner, Miguel's attempts to fish had been unsuccessful. Amara was wearing an apron over her priestess robes, which lent itself to a rather interesting contrast. Taking a seat, she proceeded to dig into her plate.
"Wow, this is really good!" Hayden exclaimed, to general murmurs of agreement. Everyone ate their meal, then went to the living room to talk. Constantine rolled up his blueprints, even. There was a fireplace, which wouldn't be lit in the summer months, though Autumn was nearing fast. The room had a television, a coffe table, and lots of chairs. Kyle thought for a moment as he entered, before reconsidering speaking. Always think before you speak, that was what he was taught. Though he couldn't help but think that Mr. Angora had a disproportionate amount of things for a family of two. Everyone seemed to instinctively veer towards certain seats, so he took the arm of the armchair that his friend Ricky was sitting in. Cynthia and Kiara had taken up another armchair, with Angora in a straight-backed wooden chair, with Carson claiming a bean-bag chair closest to the door. Lucy was sitting in front of the fireplace, guitar in front of her, and everyone else sandwiched in on the couch. This led to some comicality, as the couch did not have arms, so attempts to sit on the overstuffed couch would usually end up with one or two people on the floor. Eventually, Amara went to sit on a rocking chair and Eliza went to grab some chairs from the dining room. Eventually, everyone except Lucy, who was sitting on the mantle, was seated in a chair.
"We've got limited time before we're all busy fighting for our lives." Angora said. "I think it's best if we all get to know eachother."
"Agreed." Amara said. "I am Amara, a Mage Priestess at the chapel of fates, where I pray to the ancient queen Ahrohr in order to use magical chants. I play the deck that people have taken to calling Rainbow Road." Amara looked to be one of the oldest members of the group, at around 45, perhaps older. She was still wearing her orange robes. "My daughter is here, too, and her name is Illana." Illana waved.
"So yeah! I'm Illana, that's my mom over there - " she pointed, rather needlessly, at Amara; "I'm 15, and I play some faaaaaaaaaaaaaaaabulous fairies!!"
"I'm Cynthia, and this is my sister Kiara" Kiara waved. "Kiara is hearing impaired, and from the looks of it, we're out of batteries again, so she might talk in sign language. If that happens, I'll translate for you. Okay? Okay. I use Garchomp, she uses Magnezone."
"I'm Hayden, I'm 11, and my Dad owns the house! I can't help you though, sorry..." Hayden looked disappointed.
"I'm Kyle, this is Ricky. We're friends, and we're pretty average people." Kyle said, as Ricky interjected. "No, you're the average one. I'm spectacular."
"If you're so spectacular, why did you spill your drink down your front during dinner?" Kyle replied, and Ricky had no response to that.
"Carson. 15. Don't have a specific deck yet, working on one." Now that he was being put on the spot, Carson didn't seem much for conversation.
"Herbert... age doesn't matter... I've got Pyroar..." Herbert had taken the chair in the shadowy corner of the room. He seemed to have a thing for sucking the energy out of a group.
"You're like, such a downer, man." Mandy said. "I'm like, Mandy, man. I'm playing this groovy card called Meganium, man. It's like, totally gonna stomp the Seismitoads, man."
Ariel coughed. She seemed to disapprove of Mandy's vernacular. She opened her mouth to speak, but was interrupted by Rayanne. "Is that Rouge Crimson Scarlet?" She gestured towards Ariel's magazine. "I love her outfits!"
"Oh my god, yes! Isn't she just fabulous?" Ariel replied. "I just LOVE her latest line of dresses! Which one's your favourite?"
"Red red red again?" Darin rolled his eyes. "The world's ending, sis, and you're looking at a fashion magazine?"
"HALF-sis. And what about you with your... bugs?" Ariel said, her voice rising. "If the world is ending, why are you wasting time on them, huh?!"
"If the world is ending, why are you wasting your time on this argument?" Miguel interjected. His darker, tanned skin and was wearing a beige cap and blue shirt. He was wearing cargo shorts and a vest that matched his hat, and the vest had some fishing lures on it. "I'm Miguel. I like to fish, and I'm 17. I also play Water Toolbox."
"You mean you play Seismitoad?" Emile narrowed his eyes. "We were just attacked by a horde of Seismitoad users."
"You can trust me." Miguel said. "I wasn't attacking you, was I?"
"The name's Terry. Terry Dactyl, son of the famous paleontologist "Tyranno" Ceras Rex. I love fossils, so I play them in my deck!" Terry quipped. "Aerodactyl's my favourite. Found a pretty big fossil of one a few weeks ago!"
"You mean you found the one at the museum? Cool! that one's huge!" Voiced Jesse. "I love the museum. Pokémon are such fascinating creatures. Shame they only exist in card form now."
"Yeah. I'd have loved to own one." Terry continued.
"Oh, definitely." Ingrid continued. "The card game is fun, but imagine the real deal! Though with the Ancient queen's lore, it sounds like it could've been violent at times too."
"I don't think that was her fault, really?" Eliza spoke up for the first time. "I mean, if multiple regions were against you you'd fight back too?"
Hayden, Kiara, Constantine, and Omarro looked throughly confused. "I am not from this land." Omarro spoke up. Constantine nodded. "And nor am I. Vat is this Ar-ore you are talking about?"
"Some 30,000 years ago, Pokémon and people lived in harmony with eachother. The world was split into regions, and each region was governed by a champion. The champion, and a group of advisors called the Elite 4, functioned like a ruling body. Unfortunately, what we know of history is rather... small. We have only uncovered texts of six continents. Kanto, Hoenn, Sinnoh, Unova, Kalos, and Alola. There was an additional, seventh country called Johto that functioned somewhat independently of Kanto but was governed by the same body ultimately. While this system, as far as we know, worked peacefully for millenia, eventually a man called Guza-garou came into power in Unova, and proceeded to attack the others. Guza-Garou looked unstoppable, conquering region after region and executing their champions. After conquering Kalos, Kanto, Hoenn, and Alola, he set his sights on Sinnoh, where the young champion Ahrohr had been preparing for the attack. As Guza-Garou invaded, she moved the people into the champion's tower, out of the way of the assault. When Guza-Garou approached, she fought him personally. The fight lasted long, and eventually only Ahrohr and Guza-Garou remained. To save her people, Ahrohr threw herself and Guza-Garou into a mysterious place known as a "spirit chamber", though we're not sure what that is, and defeated them both. However, it came with a price: Pokémonkind were wiped out. And that is all we know about our history. Everything else is blank." Amara informed them; she knew her history.
"Well, that's depressing." Harrisan said. "More interesting than how my teacher was telling it, but depressing."
"Yeah. Have we all introduced ourself yet?" Mastielle asked. She recalled everyone had said something.
"No, she hasn't yet!" Hayden exclaimed, pointing at Lucy, who hadn't said a thing yet. "Can you tell us about yourself?"
"...Lucy. That is all you need to know." Lucy said, quickly, quietly.
"Really? Nothing about you? I thought you seemed pretty nice, but it looks like you really don't want anything to do with us." Ariel accused her.
"..." Lucy paused. "Lucy. That is all you need to know. Mr. Angora, is there anywhere I can sleep? It's getting late."
"Yes. We should all get some rest." Angora mandated. "Lucy, you said? There's a room on the fourth floor behind the room we were in earlier today, it's got a bed, you can sleep there. Amara, you can have the guest room on the second floor. Everyone else, divide into twos and take a room on the third floor. It's about 11 at night, so everyone to bed."
Lucy left the room first, guitar over her back. She ascended the stairs nimbly and vanished into the fourth floor without so much as a word. Everyone else, chattering, yawning, and lumbering up the stairs to the third floor. Hayden, Angora, and Amara left on the second floor. Cynthia and Kiara took the room closest to the door, Carson and Harrisan took the next, followed by Illana and Mandy, Mastielle and Hilda, Terry and Jesse, Constantine and Darin, Ariel and Rayanne, Ingrid and Eliza, Kyle and Ricky, Omarro and Herbert, and Miguel and Darin.
Quiet descended on the house as the lights went out. It had been a long day, and everyone fell asleep rather quickly.
Carson opened up a binder and began to look through it. "You know, we could make you a really good deck out of this. You have pretty much every staple here. I take it you've been watching the matches at the park for a long time?"
Hayden blushed. Then they got to work.
The cleaning operation was nearly done. Angora and Amara were cooking, while Hilda and Ricky were continuing to organize the various shelves, cupboards, and pantries. Mastielle looked around and figured that she wouldn't be needed, so she decided to look through the third floor. On the second landing, she heard the strumming of a guitar coming from an office just to her left. Pushing open the door, she saw Lucy sitting on the desk, strumming her guitar and singing to herself. she was facing the window and appeared to have not noticed Mastielle's entrance.
Lucy was older than she looked at first glance. While Mastielle's original guess for her age would have been 14 or 15, seeing her up close under calm conditions, she realized that Lucy was around 20 years of age. She had blonde hair that came down to the middle of her back with a blue streak through it. Her hair was pushed away from her face, and Mastielle saw that she had a scar that went from under her temple almost to her nose, under her eye. The eye that was usually covered by her hair was sea-green, while her other eye was sky-blue. Though from far away and in chaos she looked average height, Mastielle thought that she would have been within an inch of Hilda's height. She was wearing a light blue t-shirt that matched her eye and blue jean shorts that came down about halfway to her knees. She was barefoot. As the song ended, she seemed to realize she was being watched. She reached up and pulled her bang out from behind her ear to cover her green eye and scar, like an aqua-blue curtain covering her secret, the sea swallowing a precious gem. She turned towards Mastielle. "Hello. Did you like my song?"
"Y-yes, I did." Mastielle regained composure. "It felt familiar."
Lucy smiled. "Maybe some other time? I've been itching to check out the third floor." She picked up her guitar and slung it over her back. Mastielle backed out the door and led the way up the stairs. The third floor was concealed behind a door within the staircase landing. Lucy turned the door open and light filtered in from the window across the landing. The room was actually a hallway with many other rooms leading off of it, behind closed doors. A quick inspection of the doors included rooms with two beds in each room, as well as a small office at the end of the hallway. There was eleven rooms, a twelfth, locked room, and the office. "Looks like a barracks..."
"Strange. Why would this be here? Some dismal guest rooms?" Mastielle mused. "Whatever the purpose, I'm glad he has it. We can sleep here, save two of us. D'you think we should check out the office?"
She looked around, and Lucy was gone. Kiara poked her head in. "Um, dinner's been ready for a few minutes!" Mastielle sighed. She must have been standing there, thinking, for longer than she realized. Walking downstairs, she saw that almost everyone had managed to fit around the relatively small table (Mandy was sitting on a nearby counter and Eliza had taken a chair from the living room, there was an additional, empty chair for her.) Ariel had a magazine spread out beside her plate, Darin had some sort of encyclopedia. Constantine had taken to a fold-out desk with some plans, much to Mandy's scorn. There was a fishing rod in the corner, Miguel's attempts to fish had been unsuccessful. Amara was wearing an apron over her priestess robes, which lent itself to a rather interesting contrast. Taking a seat, she proceeded to dig into her plate.
"Wow, this is really good!" Hayden exclaimed, to general murmurs of agreement. Everyone ate their meal, then went to the living room to talk. Constantine rolled up his blueprints, even. There was a fireplace, which wouldn't be lit in the summer months, though Autumn was nearing fast. The room had a television, a coffe table, and lots of chairs. Kyle thought for a moment as he entered, before reconsidering speaking. Always think before you speak, that was what he was taught. Though he couldn't help but think that Mr. Angora had a disproportionate amount of things for a family of two. Everyone seemed to instinctively veer towards certain seats, so he took the arm of the armchair that his friend Ricky was sitting in. Cynthia and Kiara had taken up another armchair, with Angora in a straight-backed wooden chair, with Carson claiming a bean-bag chair closest to the door. Lucy was sitting in front of the fireplace, guitar in front of her, and everyone else sandwiched in on the couch. This led to some comicality, as the couch did not have arms, so attempts to sit on the overstuffed couch would usually end up with one or two people on the floor. Eventually, Amara went to sit on a rocking chair and Eliza went to grab some chairs from the dining room. Eventually, everyone except Lucy, who was sitting on the mantle, was seated in a chair.
"We've got limited time before we're all busy fighting for our lives." Angora said. "I think it's best if we all get to know eachother."
"Agreed." Amara said. "I am Amara, a Mage Priestess at the chapel of fates, where I pray to the ancient queen Ahrohr in order to use magical chants. I play the deck that people have taken to calling Rainbow Road." Amara looked to be one of the oldest members of the group, at around 45, perhaps older. She was still wearing her orange robes. "My daughter is here, too, and her name is Illana." Illana waved.
"So yeah! I'm Illana, that's my mom over there - " she pointed, rather needlessly, at Amara; "I'm 15, and I play some faaaaaaaaaaaaaaaabulous fairies!!"
"I'm Cynthia, and this is my sister Kiara" Kiara waved. "Kiara is hearing impaired, and from the looks of it, we're out of batteries again, so she might talk in sign language. If that happens, I'll translate for you. Okay? Okay. I use Garchomp, she uses Magnezone."
"I'm Hayden, I'm 11, and my Dad owns the house! I can't help you though, sorry..." Hayden looked disappointed.
"I'm Kyle, this is Ricky. We're friends, and we're pretty average people." Kyle said, as Ricky interjected. "No, you're the average one. I'm spectacular."
"If you're so spectacular, why did you spill your drink down your front during dinner?" Kyle replied, and Ricky had no response to that.
"Carson. 15. Don't have a specific deck yet, working on one." Now that he was being put on the spot, Carson didn't seem much for conversation.
"Herbert... age doesn't matter... I've got Pyroar..." Herbert had taken the chair in the shadowy corner of the room. He seemed to have a thing for sucking the energy out of a group.
"You're like, such a downer, man." Mandy said. "I'm like, Mandy, man. I'm playing this groovy card called Meganium, man. It's like, totally gonna stomp the Seismitoads, man."
Ariel coughed. She seemed to disapprove of Mandy's vernacular. She opened her mouth to speak, but was interrupted by Rayanne. "Is that Rouge Crimson Scarlet?" She gestured towards Ariel's magazine. "I love her outfits!"
"Oh my god, yes! Isn't she just fabulous?" Ariel replied. "I just LOVE her latest line of dresses! Which one's your favourite?"
"Red red red again?" Darin rolled his eyes. "The world's ending, sis, and you're looking at a fashion magazine?"
"HALF-sis. And what about you with your... bugs?" Ariel said, her voice rising. "If the world is ending, why are you wasting time on them, huh?!"
"If the world is ending, why are you wasting your time on this argument?" Miguel interjected. His darker, tanned skin and was wearing a beige cap and blue shirt. He was wearing cargo shorts and a vest that matched his hat, and the vest had some fishing lures on it. "I'm Miguel. I like to fish, and I'm 17. I also play Water Toolbox."
"You mean you play Seismitoad?" Emile narrowed his eyes. "We were just attacked by a horde of Seismitoad users."
"You can trust me." Miguel said. "I wasn't attacking you, was I?"
"The name's Terry. Terry Dactyl, son of the famous paleontologist "Tyranno" Ceras Rex. I love fossils, so I play them in my deck!" Terry quipped. "Aerodactyl's my favourite. Found a pretty big fossil of one a few weeks ago!"
"You mean you found the one at the museum? Cool! that one's huge!" Voiced Jesse. "I love the museum. Pokémon are such fascinating creatures. Shame they only exist in card form now."
"Yeah. I'd have loved to own one." Terry continued.
"Oh, definitely." Ingrid continued. "The card game is fun, but imagine the real deal! Though with the Ancient queen's lore, it sounds like it could've been violent at times too."
"I don't think that was her fault, really?" Eliza spoke up for the first time. "I mean, if multiple regions were against you you'd fight back too?"
Hayden, Kiara, Constantine, and Omarro looked throughly confused. "I am not from this land." Omarro spoke up. Constantine nodded. "And nor am I. Vat is this Ar-ore you are talking about?"
"Some 30,000 years ago, Pokémon and people lived in harmony with eachother. The world was split into regions, and each region was governed by a champion. The champion, and a group of advisors called the Elite 4, functioned like a ruling body. Unfortunately, what we know of history is rather... small. We have only uncovered texts of six continents. Kanto, Hoenn, Sinnoh, Unova, Kalos, and Alola. There was an additional, seventh country called Johto that functioned somewhat independently of Kanto but was governed by the same body ultimately. While this system, as far as we know, worked peacefully for millenia, eventually a man called Guza-garou came into power in Unova, and proceeded to attack the others. Guza-Garou looked unstoppable, conquering region after region and executing their champions. After conquering Kalos, Kanto, Hoenn, and Alola, he set his sights on Sinnoh, where the young champion Ahrohr had been preparing for the attack. As Guza-Garou invaded, she moved the people into the champion's tower, out of the way of the assault. When Guza-Garou approached, she fought him personally. The fight lasted long, and eventually only Ahrohr and Guza-Garou remained. To save her people, Ahrohr threw herself and Guza-Garou into a mysterious place known as a "spirit chamber", though we're not sure what that is, and defeated them both. However, it came with a price: Pokémonkind were wiped out. And that is all we know about our history. Everything else is blank." Amara informed them; she knew her history.
"Well, that's depressing." Harrisan said. "More interesting than how my teacher was telling it, but depressing."
"Yeah. Have we all introduced ourself yet?" Mastielle asked. She recalled everyone had said something.
"No, she hasn't yet!" Hayden exclaimed, pointing at Lucy, who hadn't said a thing yet. "Can you tell us about yourself?"
"...Lucy. That is all you need to know." Lucy said, quickly, quietly.
"Really? Nothing about you? I thought you seemed pretty nice, but it looks like you really don't want anything to do with us." Ariel accused her.
"..." Lucy paused. "Lucy. That is all you need to know. Mr. Angora, is there anywhere I can sleep? It's getting late."
"Yes. We should all get some rest." Angora mandated. "Lucy, you said? There's a room on the fourth floor behind the room we were in earlier today, it's got a bed, you can sleep there. Amara, you can have the guest room on the second floor. Everyone else, divide into twos and take a room on the third floor. It's about 11 at night, so everyone to bed."
Lucy left the room first, guitar over her back. She ascended the stairs nimbly and vanished into the fourth floor without so much as a word. Everyone else, chattering, yawning, and lumbering up the stairs to the third floor. Hayden, Angora, and Amara left on the second floor. Cynthia and Kiara took the room closest to the door, Carson and Harrisan took the next, followed by Illana and Mandy, Mastielle and Hilda, Terry and Jesse, Constantine and Darin, Ariel and Rayanne, Ingrid and Eliza, Kyle and Ricky, Omarro and Herbert, and Miguel and Darin.
Quiet descended on the house as the lights went out. It had been a long day, and everyone fell asleep rather quickly.
Hayden: 11
Kiara: 12
Cynthia: 14
Carson: 15
Illana: 15
Ingrid: 15
Mandy: 16
Miguel: 16
Herrisan: 16
Ariel: 16
Rayanne: 16
Jesse: 16
Darin: 17
Herbert: 17
Kyle: 17
Ricky: 17
Emile: 18
Saylla: 19
Eliza: 20
Lucy: 20
Hilda: 21
Terry: 23
Omarro: 23
Constantine: 23
Amara: 45
Angora: 46
Kiara: 12
Cynthia: 14
Carson: 15
Illana: 15
Ingrid: 15
Mandy: 16
Miguel: 16
Herrisan: 16
Ariel: 16
Rayanne: 16
Jesse: 16
Darin: 17
Herbert: 17
Kyle: 17
Ricky: 17
Emile: 18
Saylla: 19
Eliza: 20
Lucy: 20
Hilda: 21
Terry: 23
Omarro: 23
Constantine: 23
Amara: 45
Angora: 46
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So... this. I originally had no intent of ever coming back to this, but I've been having ideas for this for a while, so I'm going to write and see how this goes.
I'd recommend rereading the first five chapters before starting on this.
Feedback is appreciated. Thanks for reading.
I'd recommend rereading the first five chapters before starting on this.
Hilda had always woken up early. Ever since she was a child, come sunrise she'd be awake, rain or shine. So it was no surprise that, despite her room not having a window, she woke up, and when she looked outside the sun had barely started touching the sky. Reflecting on this new reality she had been thrown into, she wondered what her life would be like after. She ran for a living, competing in races and marathons, and usually did decently well. As she couldn't leave the house very much, and would be battling for eight hours at a time, she wondered how she would be able to keep up her training. Upon descending the stairs, she found she wasn't the only one awake.
"Good morning, Hilda." Amara said. She was eating some toasted bread, and wearing her full set of robes. "What brings you awake so early?"
Hilda was quite surprised to see someone awake and talking so casually at this hour, and took a second to respond. "...Oh, old habits. I was hoping I could go for a run, but my usual jogging area isn't an option now, so I guess I'm at a loss. What are you doing awake? And in a full set of priestess robes?"
"I thought that I could run down to the earliest prayer ceremony. Seeing as we're a group of mostly Teenagers, I could probably be back before anyone wakes up." She smiled, and Hilda laughed internally at that. However, she wondered why Amara would willingly spend most of her free time praying.
"Hey Amara, why do you give up all your free time to pray?" Hilda offered, trying to place her words carefully. "Isn't it a little... restrictive?"
"Oh, not at all." Amara dismissed. "Everyone's there because they want to be, and we know what we're getting into. It's a little difficult to raise a family, but they're very accommodating to that. Well, with a few exceptions."
"Hm?"
"One of the Archpriestesses, Saylla, seems to have a burning desire to constantly be out of the chapel and watching or playing the Pokémon TCG. Which we're going to be doing a lot of. She'd probably like it here, but the head priest doesn't seem to like her leaving. I wonder why?"
"Well, that's for you to find out, I guess. Is anyone else up?"
"Yes, Eliza woke up not too long after I did. In fact, here she is now." Amara pointed out. "Good morning, Eliza." Eliza had walked in, carrying a handful of parts, and yawned.
"Oh, this is too early. But I'd rather be awake now and have it done..." Eliza mumbled. She didn't seem to have heard Amara. However, she did notice Hilda. "Oh, Hilda. Good morning. And hello, Amara. Do either of you know where I could find a trans-systemic magnetized power converter? I'm in need of one."
Hilda was stunned. "A what now?" Amara echoed a similar sentiment.
"Oh, no matter. I can probably build one out of some parts I saw yesterday. Of course, then I'd need to go and get them..." grumbling a little, she deposited her armload of parts on the fold-out desk and disappeared into the Pantry.
"Well, she seems to have everything under control." Hilda remarked.
"Indeed. I hope she'll explain to us what it does and how it will protect us, sooner than later." Amara smiled. As a near-direct contrast to the city's general image of a priest and priestess, Amara was very laid-back, open, and not afraid to get dirty if she had to. In fact, Hilda thought she was very approachable. Her daughter was a little frustrating at times, but that couldn't be faulted to Amara.
"Hey Amara, can I ask you something?" Hilda said, almost without thinking. Amara was washing her plate that she had been eating off of, and placed it into a drying rack.
"Sure, what's it about?" Amara responded.
"Oh, I was wondering if... well, if you could tell me why you spend so much time praying. It's not like it does anything." Hilda regretted that last sentence. Growing up in the poor inner city for the first part of her life, Hilda had been taught that the priests and priestesses did nothing in their chapel and took money from the poor for their beautiful building and luxurious robes, completely indifferent to the suffering of others. She had also been inadvertently taught that you needed to be a good runner to have a chance.
"Well, it's not useless, for starters. Essentially, the chapel houses Ahrohr's sacred objects. The Frost Sceptre, the Iron Gloves, and the Stone Tablet. Together, these allow for the use of Prayer spells, which we use to stop evils from entering Lianin. Unfortunately, the Frost Sceptre went missing a few weeks ago, which weakened our magical ability to the point where these invaders were able to stampede their way in." Amara explained. "It also requires a lot of time and focus, due to none of us wearing the objects together but instead allowing the power to dilute through all of us, hence the requirement of most of the day. During this emergency, anyone who was on the front lines is encouraged to come in when possible, but not required to. Does that answer your question?"
"Y-yes. I didn't know it did that much." Hilda stammered. "Well, I need to eat something, and then I'd like to go for a run through the underground before today gets hectic."
"Of course. Rinse off your dishes, and then put them in the drying rack when you're done. I need to take Mr. Angora's car, unfortunately, but that's the only way to get to the Chapel." Amara replied, waved, and walked out the front door.
Hilda, having nothing else to do, ate, washed up, and disappeared into the pantry. As soon as she cleared the stairs, her feet began pounding on the stone, faster, faster, as though her ability to run was the difference between life and death. She didn't usually run this fast except for during races, but she knew she would be needed at the house before long. Her home was a long way away, too. That was where she was running, to get her deck and BattleSim. She had been living in the underground since she was 12, so she had had years of experience navigating through the maze-like structures, created for a reason unknown to her. This was her home, these people were her neighbours, and she wouldn't let them come under siege so easily. These thoughts and more carried her to her small home, carved within the stone. Looking around, she rummaged for her deck - her most prized possession - and her BattleSim - her second-most prized possession - and left, closing the door behind her.
Carson was lying awake in his bed. It wasn't the most comfortable thing he'd slept on, but also not the least. The blankets were moderately thin, but workable, and overall the room served its purpose quite nicely. He had left his binder on the table next to it, alongside his newly constructed deck complete with an attempt at Tyrantrum hate - Illana's Sylveon-EX. It probably wouldn't work all that well, but it was worth a shot. He'd probably relegate fighting Tyrantrums to Illana, anyways, as her deck struggled with Seismitoad. His worries and thoughts were disturbed by a bleary Herrisan.
"Hey Carson, are you awake?" He mumbled.
"I'd rather not be, but yes." Carson replied.
"Oh, good. I had this really weird dream that we were attacked by a giant, seismitoad playing Army." Herrisan had sat up and was rubbing his eyes. Unlike Carson, he had slept without a shirt on. Carson thought he must have been cold.
"Well, that wasn't a dream, and this isn't a school trip." Carson replied. "We're inside the house of a somewhat cantankerous older man named Angora and his son Hayden, a house which is weirdly big for just two people, at that, and we're with a group of about twenty other people, some of who are in our class, some of who aren't. And yes, we were attacked by an army and are in a fight for our lives very soon. Why?"
Herrisan yawned. "Well, I'll go ask the teacher when - wait, what?" He seemed more awake now.
"Yup. It's crazy, but true. Let's get something to eat."
The two of them grabbed their binders and went down to the kitchen. Down there, they found Mastielle, Cynthia, Kiara, and Ricky awake. Ricky passed a plate full of toast to them, and they each grabbed a piece and began eating. "This house sure is cool, huh?" said Ricky through a piece of bread.
"Yeah, it's one of the oldest houses here. We're in a pretty old neighbourhood, hence the direct connection to the tunnels." Responded Cynthia. "You know, I'm going to run and get more Batteries. We're on our last ones, and if Kiara's hearing aids run out this could be problematic." She picked up her stuff and disappeared through the pantry.
"She seems awfully businesslike for a 14-year old." Mastielle commented. Eliza returned carrying an armload of parts, and Kiara got up to help her. "I wonder what she's been through?"
"She might just be that way naturally, people are weird." Carson responded. "See, for example, the hippie."
"Or that girl you always hang around. Illana, is it?" Mastielle responded. "She's certainly got her quirks."
"I think she plays them up for attention, but that might just be me." Herrisan pondered. "Should we go wake everyone else up?"
"That won't be needed, someone's doing it for us." Ricky said with a half-smile as the sounds of arguing floated down to their ears. Sure enough, soon Ariel and Darin came down the stairs, bickering. Carson sighed, took the plates, and began to wash.
"Well, it's not my fault you left your deck out!" Ariel yelled, crossing her arms. Darin had apparently left his deck out somewhere, and now couldn't find it. "Just pretend you're looking for one of those awful bugs you love so much!"
"This is different! This is a life-and-death scenario! And I need my deck!" Darin roared back, raising his arms above his head in anger.
"Well, get looking!" Ariel shouted. Their exchange continued for a few more minutes, until Rayanne came down the stairs and Ariel, having had enough, walked over to talk with her. Darin, fuming, stomped back up the stairs to look for his deck. Soon, as Ricky predicted, everyone else had came downstairs in various states of awakedness. Hayden ran down the stairs excitedly, going right over to Carson and asking him to help him finish his deck. Mandy walked in barefoot, yawning, stretching, and bobbing her head up and down. With a quick "Morning, man..." she made her way over to a couch and fell asleep again. Miguel and Constantine descended together, with Miguel eating very quickly and heading into the underground with his fishing rod. It hadn't worked yesterday, but he thought he found a better place. Terry and Illana were having a very animated discussion about how the ancient Pokémon could have attacked, with lots of posing and calling out of various attack names, both real and made up. Herbert, even drearier at the prospect of being awake so early, was being half-carried by kyle until he was deposited into a chair next to Mandy. Omarro gave a jaunty wave to everyone and disappeared into the tunnels, saying he was off to see the Underground. Jesse, Emile, and Angora proceeded and settled down to begin eating. Only Lucy had not surfaced.
"Better than an alarm clock." Ricky noted. "Should we hide his deck every night?"
"Are you crazy? He'll need it." Emile gave Ricky a look of shock. "Did you hide it last night too?"
"No, he knocked it off the table with his bug net."
"Why didn't you tell him this?"
"I did. Last night."
"Well, he clearly didn't hear you."
"Fine. I'll go save him." Ricky stood up with a sigh and walked up the stairs.
"Oh, and while you're at it, tell Lucy to get down here!" Angora yelled after him.
By the time Amara got back, everyone had eaten and was going about testing their decks against other people. Mostly Miguel, since he had Seismitoad of his own, but anyone would do. Eliza and Kiara were modifying everyone's BattleSim to include... something. Probably that Magno-whatchamacallit. There was also what seemed to be a fully built generator a few feet away. Despite what was happening, the air was calm, lighthearted, even. Nothing like the Pokémon Trading Card Game to do that. Despite the crowded room, the lack of Angora's rather large frame and imposing presence stood out to her. She was long past being intimidated by a simple presence, or threats to her, but it did make Angora's absence slightly more notable. Walking over to the kitchen, she looked for something to eat quickly, and let the conversation from just across the room flow in.
"And now, I'll, like, use this totally groovy Giga Drain, man." Mandy said. "It'll, like, do 100 damage to you, man." She placed two dice onto Constantine's Greninja.
"Vat?" Constantine remarked.
"Oh, and I'll like, heal 100 damage from my Meganium. Isn't that groovy, man?"
"Vat!?" Mandy was clearly having a good time. Constantine... not so much.
"I'll attach G Booster and -" Carson responded, before being cut off by Miguel. "Right. Quaking Punch. Why'd I have to start Sylveon?"
"Sorry, that's just the way it is sometimes." Miguel responded. "It's a good thing I have this weakness policy attached."
"I'll just Megalo Cannon." Carson sighed. Illana's fabulous fairies were a liability this time.
"Okay, so if I play Level Ball, I can search my deck for an Eelektrik, right?" Hayden asked Cynthia, who was moderating a game between Hayden and Kiara in a separate room. Amara smiled. Hayden already seemed confident, despite his dad presumably being upstairs.
"Yes. Then, you can evolve and use Dynamotor to attach an energy to your benched Raikou." Cynthia responded.
"Cool! Now I'll retreat and use Thunder Lance!" Hayden collected his two prizes.
"Well, my turn..." Kiara seemed decidedly less confident. "I'll use Revive to get my Pikachu-EX back, use Fisherman to get my energy back, use Magnetic Circuit to put them back on Pikachu, and use Overspark for a knockout. Right?"
"Now, my precious Durant will devour four cards out of your deck! One for each of my beautiful bugs!" Darin called out. "Oh, did I discard your Old Amber?"
"I didn't need it." Terry replied calmly. "Not when I have Omastar, anyways. Now I'll just search for Aerodactyl, and..."
"My Vileplume's Ability reads..."
"...I can't play half my deck. Got it."
All this and more floated into Amara's ears as she headed back out the door, remembering her deck was at home. Eliza walked into the room, hair tied back, sleeves rolled up, looking quite pleased with herself. "Okay, I've finished modifying everyone's BattleSim!" she triumphed, and everyone looked at her.
"What do they do now?" Questioned Ariel.
"Well, I'm glad you asked." Eliza started. "So, you know how there's a giant army approaching us?"
"Yep." Herrisan ventured. "And despite the fact that we're battling them, couldn't some of them just slip past us?"
Eliza smiled. "Yes, that's why I modified them. They all now contain a trans-systemic magnetized power charge!"
"A who in the what now" Terry questioned.
"English, please?" Rayanne followed.
"Oh. None of you took mechanics?" Eliza paused. "Well, what it does is powers a barrier when it's turned on. That barrier has the same charge as other BattleSims without this charge, repelling them. They're all connected to a trans-systemic magnetized power converter, which runs it. If one of us falls, the others will pick up the slack. If all of us in one group fall, we have about thirty seconds for someone to pick up the pace from the other group before total shutdown."
"So... we don't have to worry?" Ariel questioned.
"No, you do. Worry about your battling skills, because if you lose not only do you run the risk of being captured or killed, but you weaken everyone else." Eliza responded. Seeing realization set in, everyone resumed battling with a more intense air. She then went upstairs to have a shower. On her way up, she bumped into Lucy, who was sitting on the landing. Continuing upstairs, Eliza heard a noise coming from the locked room on the third floor, but thought nothing of it. After Eliza moved past her, Lucy decided to travel downstairs and join. She would need practice, too. Walking downstairs, she found Herbert not playing and convinced him to play her. A dreary battle of Archie's Blastoise versus Pyroar ensued.
"Nothing like those two to suck all the mood out of a room, huh?" Rayanne remarked to Ariel.
"Tell me about it. I don't know what's up with Lucy, but she doesn't want anything to do with this. Why doesn't she just leave?" Ariel responded, dropping her voice to a whisper over her game.
"Well, Mr. Angora did save her and her guitar." Rayanne offered. "Maybe she has a sense of loyalty to him?"
"Well, what if she's secretly a spy, and that's why she doesn't want to tell anyone anything? She also plays water..."
"Ariel, she plays Blastoise. that's completely different from Seismitoad. In fact, it loses to the Seismitoad deck."
"Oh, right. Well, something's up with her!" Ariel exclaimed, a little too loudly, though she thought nobody heard. After finishing a few games with Herbert, Lucy walked out of the room and through the tunnels.
Lunch came, and then dinner. And then night fell, and everyone was asleep quickly. Lucy returned from the underground and crept up to her room. Angora woke up, restless, in the middle of the night. He turned on his radio, keeping a constant vigil, ready to alert everyone in case the army arrived in the dead of night. He caught Lucy on her way up the stairs.
"Lucy?" He said, surprisingly softly.
"Yes, Mr. Angora?" She replied. She wasn't intimidated by him.
"Get to bed." He dismissed her.
"Yessir."
Meanwhile, in an unknown location, an unknown person was sitting calmly in a chair. The attack had went well, they thought, and they had gained considerable ground, including the entire northern section down to river's isle. Soon, domination would be theirs. Lianin was a small nation, consisting of a large island and a few somewhat smaller island, connected to their own nation of origin, Tertora. Tertora was mountainous, snowy, and small. They had been looking to expand for years now, and this was their chance. A light told him that one of their lieutenants was trying to get through to them. Hitting a button, a voice, scrambled and disguised, entered the room.
"Hello?" The unknown person said.
"This is Hale. We are ready for the first wave." Hale said.
"Good. Commence the attack at dawn."
"Good morning, Hilda." Amara said. She was eating some toasted bread, and wearing her full set of robes. "What brings you awake so early?"
Hilda was quite surprised to see someone awake and talking so casually at this hour, and took a second to respond. "...Oh, old habits. I was hoping I could go for a run, but my usual jogging area isn't an option now, so I guess I'm at a loss. What are you doing awake? And in a full set of priestess robes?"
"I thought that I could run down to the earliest prayer ceremony. Seeing as we're a group of mostly Teenagers, I could probably be back before anyone wakes up." She smiled, and Hilda laughed internally at that. However, she wondered why Amara would willingly spend most of her free time praying.
"Hey Amara, why do you give up all your free time to pray?" Hilda offered, trying to place her words carefully. "Isn't it a little... restrictive?"
"Oh, not at all." Amara dismissed. "Everyone's there because they want to be, and we know what we're getting into. It's a little difficult to raise a family, but they're very accommodating to that. Well, with a few exceptions."
"Hm?"
"One of the Archpriestesses, Saylla, seems to have a burning desire to constantly be out of the chapel and watching or playing the Pokémon TCG. Which we're going to be doing a lot of. She'd probably like it here, but the head priest doesn't seem to like her leaving. I wonder why?"
"Well, that's for you to find out, I guess. Is anyone else up?"
"Yes, Eliza woke up not too long after I did. In fact, here she is now." Amara pointed out. "Good morning, Eliza." Eliza had walked in, carrying a handful of parts, and yawned.
"Oh, this is too early. But I'd rather be awake now and have it done..." Eliza mumbled. She didn't seem to have heard Amara. However, she did notice Hilda. "Oh, Hilda. Good morning. And hello, Amara. Do either of you know where I could find a trans-systemic magnetized power converter? I'm in need of one."
Hilda was stunned. "A what now?" Amara echoed a similar sentiment.
"Oh, no matter. I can probably build one out of some parts I saw yesterday. Of course, then I'd need to go and get them..." grumbling a little, she deposited her armload of parts on the fold-out desk and disappeared into the Pantry.
"Well, she seems to have everything under control." Hilda remarked.
"Indeed. I hope she'll explain to us what it does and how it will protect us, sooner than later." Amara smiled. As a near-direct contrast to the city's general image of a priest and priestess, Amara was very laid-back, open, and not afraid to get dirty if she had to. In fact, Hilda thought she was very approachable. Her daughter was a little frustrating at times, but that couldn't be faulted to Amara.
"Hey Amara, can I ask you something?" Hilda said, almost without thinking. Amara was washing her plate that she had been eating off of, and placed it into a drying rack.
"Sure, what's it about?" Amara responded.
"Oh, I was wondering if... well, if you could tell me why you spend so much time praying. It's not like it does anything." Hilda regretted that last sentence. Growing up in the poor inner city for the first part of her life, Hilda had been taught that the priests and priestesses did nothing in their chapel and took money from the poor for their beautiful building and luxurious robes, completely indifferent to the suffering of others. She had also been inadvertently taught that you needed to be a good runner to have a chance.
"Well, it's not useless, for starters. Essentially, the chapel houses Ahrohr's sacred objects. The Frost Sceptre, the Iron Gloves, and the Stone Tablet. Together, these allow for the use of Prayer spells, which we use to stop evils from entering Lianin. Unfortunately, the Frost Sceptre went missing a few weeks ago, which weakened our magical ability to the point where these invaders were able to stampede their way in." Amara explained. "It also requires a lot of time and focus, due to none of us wearing the objects together but instead allowing the power to dilute through all of us, hence the requirement of most of the day. During this emergency, anyone who was on the front lines is encouraged to come in when possible, but not required to. Does that answer your question?"
"Y-yes. I didn't know it did that much." Hilda stammered. "Well, I need to eat something, and then I'd like to go for a run through the underground before today gets hectic."
"Of course. Rinse off your dishes, and then put them in the drying rack when you're done. I need to take Mr. Angora's car, unfortunately, but that's the only way to get to the Chapel." Amara replied, waved, and walked out the front door.
Hilda, having nothing else to do, ate, washed up, and disappeared into the pantry. As soon as she cleared the stairs, her feet began pounding on the stone, faster, faster, as though her ability to run was the difference between life and death. She didn't usually run this fast except for during races, but she knew she would be needed at the house before long. Her home was a long way away, too. That was where she was running, to get her deck and BattleSim. She had been living in the underground since she was 12, so she had had years of experience navigating through the maze-like structures, created for a reason unknown to her. This was her home, these people were her neighbours, and she wouldn't let them come under siege so easily. These thoughts and more carried her to her small home, carved within the stone. Looking around, she rummaged for her deck - her most prized possession - and her BattleSim - her second-most prized possession - and left, closing the door behind her.
Carson was lying awake in his bed. It wasn't the most comfortable thing he'd slept on, but also not the least. The blankets were moderately thin, but workable, and overall the room served its purpose quite nicely. He had left his binder on the table next to it, alongside his newly constructed deck complete with an attempt at Tyrantrum hate - Illana's Sylveon-EX. It probably wouldn't work all that well, but it was worth a shot. He'd probably relegate fighting Tyrantrums to Illana, anyways, as her deck struggled with Seismitoad. His worries and thoughts were disturbed by a bleary Herrisan.
"Hey Carson, are you awake?" He mumbled.
"I'd rather not be, but yes." Carson replied.
"Oh, good. I had this really weird dream that we were attacked by a giant, seismitoad playing Army." Herrisan had sat up and was rubbing his eyes. Unlike Carson, he had slept without a shirt on. Carson thought he must have been cold.
"Well, that wasn't a dream, and this isn't a school trip." Carson replied. "We're inside the house of a somewhat cantankerous older man named Angora and his son Hayden, a house which is weirdly big for just two people, at that, and we're with a group of about twenty other people, some of who are in our class, some of who aren't. And yes, we were attacked by an army and are in a fight for our lives very soon. Why?"
Herrisan yawned. "Well, I'll go ask the teacher when - wait, what?" He seemed more awake now.
"Yup. It's crazy, but true. Let's get something to eat."
The two of them grabbed their binders and went down to the kitchen. Down there, they found Mastielle, Cynthia, Kiara, and Ricky awake. Ricky passed a plate full of toast to them, and they each grabbed a piece and began eating. "This house sure is cool, huh?" said Ricky through a piece of bread.
"Yeah, it's one of the oldest houses here. We're in a pretty old neighbourhood, hence the direct connection to the tunnels." Responded Cynthia. "You know, I'm going to run and get more Batteries. We're on our last ones, and if Kiara's hearing aids run out this could be problematic." She picked up her stuff and disappeared through the pantry.
"She seems awfully businesslike for a 14-year old." Mastielle commented. Eliza returned carrying an armload of parts, and Kiara got up to help her. "I wonder what she's been through?"
"She might just be that way naturally, people are weird." Carson responded. "See, for example, the hippie."
"Or that girl you always hang around. Illana, is it?" Mastielle responded. "She's certainly got her quirks."
"I think she plays them up for attention, but that might just be me." Herrisan pondered. "Should we go wake everyone else up?"
"That won't be needed, someone's doing it for us." Ricky said with a half-smile as the sounds of arguing floated down to their ears. Sure enough, soon Ariel and Darin came down the stairs, bickering. Carson sighed, took the plates, and began to wash.
"Well, it's not my fault you left your deck out!" Ariel yelled, crossing her arms. Darin had apparently left his deck out somewhere, and now couldn't find it. "Just pretend you're looking for one of those awful bugs you love so much!"
"This is different! This is a life-and-death scenario! And I need my deck!" Darin roared back, raising his arms above his head in anger.
"Well, get looking!" Ariel shouted. Their exchange continued for a few more minutes, until Rayanne came down the stairs and Ariel, having had enough, walked over to talk with her. Darin, fuming, stomped back up the stairs to look for his deck. Soon, as Ricky predicted, everyone else had came downstairs in various states of awakedness. Hayden ran down the stairs excitedly, going right over to Carson and asking him to help him finish his deck. Mandy walked in barefoot, yawning, stretching, and bobbing her head up and down. With a quick "Morning, man..." she made her way over to a couch and fell asleep again. Miguel and Constantine descended together, with Miguel eating very quickly and heading into the underground with his fishing rod. It hadn't worked yesterday, but he thought he found a better place. Terry and Illana were having a very animated discussion about how the ancient Pokémon could have attacked, with lots of posing and calling out of various attack names, both real and made up. Herbert, even drearier at the prospect of being awake so early, was being half-carried by kyle until he was deposited into a chair next to Mandy. Omarro gave a jaunty wave to everyone and disappeared into the tunnels, saying he was off to see the Underground. Jesse, Emile, and Angora proceeded and settled down to begin eating. Only Lucy had not surfaced.
"Better than an alarm clock." Ricky noted. "Should we hide his deck every night?"
"Are you crazy? He'll need it." Emile gave Ricky a look of shock. "Did you hide it last night too?"
"No, he knocked it off the table with his bug net."
"Why didn't you tell him this?"
"I did. Last night."
"Well, he clearly didn't hear you."
"Fine. I'll go save him." Ricky stood up with a sigh and walked up the stairs.
"Oh, and while you're at it, tell Lucy to get down here!" Angora yelled after him.
By the time Amara got back, everyone had eaten and was going about testing their decks against other people. Mostly Miguel, since he had Seismitoad of his own, but anyone would do. Eliza and Kiara were modifying everyone's BattleSim to include... something. Probably that Magno-whatchamacallit. There was also what seemed to be a fully built generator a few feet away. Despite what was happening, the air was calm, lighthearted, even. Nothing like the Pokémon Trading Card Game to do that. Despite the crowded room, the lack of Angora's rather large frame and imposing presence stood out to her. She was long past being intimidated by a simple presence, or threats to her, but it did make Angora's absence slightly more notable. Walking over to the kitchen, she looked for something to eat quickly, and let the conversation from just across the room flow in.
"And now, I'll, like, use this totally groovy Giga Drain, man." Mandy said. "It'll, like, do 100 damage to you, man." She placed two dice onto Constantine's Greninja.
"Vat?" Constantine remarked.
"Oh, and I'll like, heal 100 damage from my Meganium. Isn't that groovy, man?"
"Vat!?" Mandy was clearly having a good time. Constantine... not so much.
"I'll attach G Booster and -" Carson responded, before being cut off by Miguel. "Right. Quaking Punch. Why'd I have to start Sylveon?"
"Sorry, that's just the way it is sometimes." Miguel responded. "It's a good thing I have this weakness policy attached."
"I'll just Megalo Cannon." Carson sighed. Illana's fabulous fairies were a liability this time.
"Okay, so if I play Level Ball, I can search my deck for an Eelektrik, right?" Hayden asked Cynthia, who was moderating a game between Hayden and Kiara in a separate room. Amara smiled. Hayden already seemed confident, despite his dad presumably being upstairs.
"Yes. Then, you can evolve and use Dynamotor to attach an energy to your benched Raikou." Cynthia responded.
"Cool! Now I'll retreat and use Thunder Lance!" Hayden collected his two prizes.
"Well, my turn..." Kiara seemed decidedly less confident. "I'll use Revive to get my Pikachu-EX back, use Fisherman to get my energy back, use Magnetic Circuit to put them back on Pikachu, and use Overspark for a knockout. Right?"
"Now, my precious Durant will devour four cards out of your deck! One for each of my beautiful bugs!" Darin called out. "Oh, did I discard your Old Amber?"
"I didn't need it." Terry replied calmly. "Not when I have Omastar, anyways. Now I'll just search for Aerodactyl, and..."
"My Vileplume's Ability reads..."
"...I can't play half my deck. Got it."
All this and more floated into Amara's ears as she headed back out the door, remembering her deck was at home. Eliza walked into the room, hair tied back, sleeves rolled up, looking quite pleased with herself. "Okay, I've finished modifying everyone's BattleSim!" she triumphed, and everyone looked at her.
"What do they do now?" Questioned Ariel.
"Well, I'm glad you asked." Eliza started. "So, you know how there's a giant army approaching us?"
"Yep." Herrisan ventured. "And despite the fact that we're battling them, couldn't some of them just slip past us?"
Eliza smiled. "Yes, that's why I modified them. They all now contain a trans-systemic magnetized power charge!"
"A who in the what now" Terry questioned.
"English, please?" Rayanne followed.
"Oh. None of you took mechanics?" Eliza paused. "Well, what it does is powers a barrier when it's turned on. That barrier has the same charge as other BattleSims without this charge, repelling them. They're all connected to a trans-systemic magnetized power converter, which runs it. If one of us falls, the others will pick up the slack. If all of us in one group fall, we have about thirty seconds for someone to pick up the pace from the other group before total shutdown."
"So... we don't have to worry?" Ariel questioned.
"No, you do. Worry about your battling skills, because if you lose not only do you run the risk of being captured or killed, but you weaken everyone else." Eliza responded. Seeing realization set in, everyone resumed battling with a more intense air. She then went upstairs to have a shower. On her way up, she bumped into Lucy, who was sitting on the landing. Continuing upstairs, Eliza heard a noise coming from the locked room on the third floor, but thought nothing of it. After Eliza moved past her, Lucy decided to travel downstairs and join. She would need practice, too. Walking downstairs, she found Herbert not playing and convinced him to play her. A dreary battle of Archie's Blastoise versus Pyroar ensued.
"Nothing like those two to suck all the mood out of a room, huh?" Rayanne remarked to Ariel.
"Tell me about it. I don't know what's up with Lucy, but she doesn't want anything to do with this. Why doesn't she just leave?" Ariel responded, dropping her voice to a whisper over her game.
"Well, Mr. Angora did save her and her guitar." Rayanne offered. "Maybe she has a sense of loyalty to him?"
"Well, what if she's secretly a spy, and that's why she doesn't want to tell anyone anything? She also plays water..."
"Ariel, she plays Blastoise. that's completely different from Seismitoad. In fact, it loses to the Seismitoad deck."
"Oh, right. Well, something's up with her!" Ariel exclaimed, a little too loudly, though she thought nobody heard. After finishing a few games with Herbert, Lucy walked out of the room and through the tunnels.
Lunch came, and then dinner. And then night fell, and everyone was asleep quickly. Lucy returned from the underground and crept up to her room. Angora woke up, restless, in the middle of the night. He turned on his radio, keeping a constant vigil, ready to alert everyone in case the army arrived in the dead of night. He caught Lucy on her way up the stairs.
"Lucy?" He said, surprisingly softly.
"Yes, Mr. Angora?" She replied. She wasn't intimidated by him.
"Get to bed." He dismissed her.
"Yessir."
Meanwhile, in an unknown location, an unknown person was sitting calmly in a chair. The attack had went well, they thought, and they had gained considerable ground, including the entire northern section down to river's isle. Soon, domination would be theirs. Lianin was a small nation, consisting of a large island and a few somewhat smaller island, connected to their own nation of origin, Tertora. Tertora was mountainous, snowy, and small. They had been looking to expand for years now, and this was their chance. A light told him that one of their lieutenants was trying to get through to them. Hitting a button, a voice, scrambled and disguised, entered the room.
"Hello?" The unknown person said.
"This is Hale. We are ready for the first wave." Hale said.
"Good. Commence the attack at dawn."
Man, I forgot how fun this was to write. I'm not sure how frequently I'll update this or whatnot, but this chapter was fun. As I said up there, I highly recommend rereading because it's been forever and a half since the last chapter.
I enjoyed trying to describe some of the battles, and just how the characters' personalities worked with each other. Mandy's dialogue is still a blast to write, but the rest of the characters can be interesting. This chapter's a little plot-light, but it sets up for the first wave. The story was always going to focus more on the characters and setting, not the TCG, but I'll try my best to write interesting battles.
We get a little glimpse into the lives of some characters, their thought processes, and even the start of the main plot.
This is also the first chapter without an appearance from Saylla. Feels weird.
I enjoyed trying to describe some of the battles, and just how the characters' personalities worked with each other. Mandy's dialogue is still a blast to write, but the rest of the characters can be interesting. This chapter's a little plot-light, but it sets up for the first wave. The story was always going to focus more on the characters and setting, not the TCG, but I'll try my best to write interesting battles.
We get a little glimpse into the lives of some characters, their thought processes, and even the start of the main plot.
This is also the first chapter without an appearance from Saylla. Feels weird.
Feedback is appreciated. Thanks for reading.
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