ill tidings [mission]

[cynthia]

take care of your house take care of your home lest you lose your own

ariados are, by themselves, nothing to be worried about. they are like any other pokemon -- with wants, needs, and individual thoughts. in a swarm is only slightly different; there are many of them, true, but each individual one is able to be spoken to and reasoned with. had the ariados swarm reached any other town cynthia knows she would have helped anyway. that it's in her own celestic town just makes her work harder, put more effort into this excursion. she comes when her grandmother calls, riding upon togekiss like she often does these days, when braviary deserves a rest. thankfully she'd still been in sinnoh, or the flight would have been longer. it's around noon when cynthia arrives, and the ariados are everywhere. what few houses are in the town have their windows closed and doors locked, she can tell from where she's standing, and are covered with webbing. she can't tell how long they've had control of the town, but her lips still press together into a thin line and her hands start running down togekiss's back absently. then she takes off her black coat, hands it off to lucario who's let himself out of his ball, and takes garchomp with her to get down to the bottom of this mystery. she won't battle the ariados -- no, as wild pokemon, that's not necessary. but she does attempt to start herding them back to the forest. she wonders if there are any other kopec around in celestic, though -- celestic town is kopec-aligned, after all, and her grandmother had said that kopec had known about the swarm. she can't see them, for all she looks around, but perhaps they'll arrive later. for now, all she can do is wait and take care of the swarm. Blue

[Blue]

Sinnoh, known for it's beautiful mountains, modern cities, rustic towns and newly added to that list was its giant fucking spider infestation.

Blue arrived in Celestic about an hour prior in hopes of clearing out this Ariados infestation. He'd initially come with the intention to do this the Kanto way, that being have his team forcefully remove the Ariados quickly and effectively before harm came to the city. However due to his alignment in the war he found himself unable to really use violence of any kind to solve this problem. That and the giant spiders as creepy as they could be weren't really hurting anyone, if anything they were just a big nuisance He knew he was in a bit of a spotlight, not only for himself but for the Sinnoh chapter of Kopec.

"Lei sleep powder. Ali Psychic." The two pokemon were used to the orders at this point. The Exeggutor's job was to put the spiders to sleep, while the Alakazam's was to peacefully move them with his Psychic back into the wilderness. However he'd run into a bit of a snag when it came to a few of the spiders. Ariados were known to have the ability, Insomnia meaning they were unable to fall asleep and as such they'd react negatively to the psychic moving them. He needed a way to get those Ariados in particular out of the city without aggravating them. Outside of the city Roll was stationed corralling the spiders keeping them from returning to the city after waking. Rock Slide was good for making barriers and Drill Run proved efficient for making holes.

Blue swore under his breath there seemed to be no end to the johtoan pokemon, and he still had no idea what prompted this infestation. If he had more of a clue maybe he could get to the bottom of this and move the pokemon out in one fell swoop however he as always had shit luck and continued to move the pokemon out the hard way. As he complained silently Blue happened to catch a glimpse of blond hair out of his peripherals, the majority of the residents had holed themselves in their homes while the others managed to leave the town. Blue was far too preoccupied to really care who it was, and so he'd call behind him. "Look either get to safety or if you have capable pokemon help me out here." God damn he was so tempted to let Eli have a field day. As he watched Ali transport another two Ariados to the corral.

cynthia

made by redox of gs

[cynthia]

take care of your house take care of your home lest you lose your own

it's lucario who has the point the man out to her, with pokemon of his own trying his best to corral the ariados back, or at the very least, contain them. then the bipedal jackal pokemon goes back to trying his best to do his part in the movement of the swarm with his own stone edge and togekiss following suit with mirror move. she doesn't respond verbally to the man at first, instead humming and directing garchomp where to put the ariados she's holding onto next. the landshark nods and drops them into the hole she'd dug earlier, and cynthia watches the bug pokemon land on the others already inside, curious as to their swarm behavior. they don't attempt to leave the hole, at least -- they stay down there, instead, and watch as more of their swarm are poured in with them. "i'd be happy to," she says instead, not mentioning that she is already putting her pokemon to task in helping celestic town; from what she can see, the man hadn't even turned around to face her. she doesn't mind, though -- he's already busy with his part of the swarm. the question still stands, though, of what had caused the swarm. could it be that the recent fights had driven the ariados out of their natural homes, leaving them to flee to the nearest safe area available? or could it be something else entirely? cynthia ponders on the question as her pokemon continue to work, removing the ariados while being as gentle as they can. they're succeeding, for the most part; they've cleared out the area near her grandmother's home first, and cynthia is grateful for that. finally, she asks the man instead, since he has apparently been here longer. "do you know what's caused the ariados swarm?" she calls out, half-turning from where she's standing to look at him. he seems young, but capable. and he seems familiar, somehow... although cynthia can't quite pin down what. she waits, instead, hands in her pockets and her pokemon around her, working but aware. Blue

[Blue]

"If I did I would have handled it already." His voice was more than slightly snarky as his team moved another four Ariados into one of the holes. He'd yet to capture a full look at the woman instead he'd seen various powerful pokemon that were obviously trained. His partner was apparently no newby trainer that much was certain. He wouldn't admit it but having a capable partner was definitely a big help. He'd think further on her question though as his pokemon moved more Ariados on their own. The only thing that seemed even remotely similar happened to be the Lake of Rage incident, but even then the Gyrados there had been reported to be violent. These Ariados seemed more lost or moved... than anything.

"An old acquaintance of mine mentioned something like this happening a couple of years back in Johto, but back then the pokemon were more aggressive. these pokemon are too docile for anything I've seen in the past." The Kanto native cursed under his breath. Gramps would have figured this out ages ago. He could always call the man, but the elder Oak had a lot on his plate these days and he didn't want to bother him with an event he could handle by himself.

"I'm gonna go off on a limb and say Ariados are native to these parts, if you take me to their previous home I could probably figure something out." Blue figured after thinking had come up with two conclusions. "Either there's something in the city that's drawn them here or something is keeping them from going home. It Doesn't take a genius to know I'm not from around these parts, but i'm gonna guess Ariados are found in the forests around here. You know anything that would attract a bunch of gigantic docile spiders?" He'd now turn to face the woman. Pretty girl, long blond hair dressed in black it rang a bell but he didn't know exactly who this was probably a gym leader or something. "You look familiar, I know you from somewhere?" The normally refined Blue was much to deep in thought to care for pleasantries it was a common trait among the Oak's to forget their manners when business was at hand.

cynthia

made by redox of gs

[cynthia]

take care of your house take care of your home lest you lose your own

ariados are not, in fact, usually found within celestic. they might be found in the areas near the town, but never within the small establishment itself. cynthia can't think of anything that would attract the bug pokemon here, and she's one who'd grown up in the town; aside from her own grandmother, she doesn't think anyone else other than a native would know their home as well. and as all of the citizens had fled or barricaded themselves in their homes, that leaves cynthia as the sole expert. she's fine with that; she's dealt with being the most knowledgeable in a situation before. she might not like having responsibility being laid solely on her shoulders with everything to lose and everything to gain, but no one can deny that the ex-champion can't handle pressure well. "no, i don't," she slowly says, "but i can find out." lucario comes when she beckons, and is promptly sent off in the direction of the forest, carefully making his way past stray ariados. she knows that he can take care of himself, and cynthia's left with the man and his questions. she feels like laughing. no one ever asks her anymore, "do i know you from somewhere?" she's too well-known for that, for her long blond hair and signature black clothing. she's usually much more subtle about who she is than this, but with celestic involved, she'd wanted to be recognized. either this man isn't from sinnoh, or he hasn't heard about the sinnoh champion, which is fairly odd in and of -- wait. she knows that face. cynthia is a woman who does her research -- right now her entire life revolves around that, more or less -- so when the man -- boy, so young, yet seen so much -- turns around, she can put a name to a face. cynthia gives him a smile anyway. "maybe. i'm cynthia; i grew up in this town." she doesn't give a last name, or a title. she doesn't need that now. "you're blue oak, correct? from kanto?" he looks remarkably similar to the pictures she's seen when he'd rose to championship and had fallen not long after to red, at least, so it's worth the cautious guess. "what brings you to celestic, or are you here for the ariados swarm?" Blue

[Blue]

A rumbling pokeball on his belt influenced the Oak's next decision. The woman said she was gonna get to the bottom of this, now that he had a little bit of direction in the form of the Aura pokemon he'd send Eli out as insurance. The pokemon had been meaning to stretch his legs all day and he saw no better opportunity. If Eli wandered around town he'd just end up getting in the way. Blue glanced at the Arcanine, still majorly focused on another pack of Ariados. "Be defensive and follow the Lucario, fight only if absolutely necessary." His instructions were quick and concise giving the Arcanine plenty of time to catch up. In a flash of white the massive canine pokemon disappeared into the woods.

Well they definitely didn't spare any expense when it came to the Queen, seems like "Kopec really wants to be on your good side seeing as they sent me to deal with this." He can't say he's really surprised at the woman's identity he's annoyed he didn't figure out sooner, then again she wasn't his priority, she still wasn't. The man shrugs, as she recognizes him, just call me Blue. He sighs unsure how to proceed with the woman as he watches another four sleeping ariados are placed into a hole clearing off another one of the houses in the city. Despite her renown in the Region Blue's snarkiness is still a constant, "Are you even beginning to imply that my love for giant spiders didn't bring me out here?." He flashes his trademark smirk at the woman, before gesturing toward a slightly worn camera around his neck. "I've been working on a assignment for my old man. He has me cataloging certain scenery for a project of his. So I'm traveling worldwide collecting this data for him. I just happened to be in the area when I got the call to come check this out. Who knew Queen of Sinnoh would grace me with her presence. I'm honored" His sarcasm was more playful than anything. "Maybe after this we could talk over a cup of coffee." As he finished a small stream of pin missiles landed in front of him, one of the more territorial Ariados firing the shots as a warning to the man. "Let's make that coffee something a little stronger." Arceus knew Blue wasn't much of a drinker, but he definitely had his days.

cynthia

made by redox of gs

[cynthia]

take care of your house take care of your home lest you lose your own

officially cynthia is not aligned with any faction, although in the eyes of others, it technically does make her one of kopec. but cynthia holds no place in the faction, instead choosing to wander freely as she chooses, using the time to research things that she has always wanted to, yet never could because of both time restraints and responsibilities as a champion. (and it simply means that she can respond faster to any of celestic's problems.) garchomp herds another few into the hole in the ground, and she listens with interest to blue. his sarcasm is light, biting at the heels without too much teeth. it's been a long time since she's heard sarcasm at its gentlest, and unwittingly, she smiles a half-smile. "nothing too strong, i'm afraid," she says -- and she is genuinely sorry, since she could do with a drink at the moment. "since i'll end up visiting my grandmother, no doubt. but coffee sounds fine." queen of sinnoh. it's a title that she's heard of before, and always, it brings something heavy to her heart and coils on her shoulders like a persistent cat pokemon. "how has the research gone so far?" she asks instead, and turns to blue with hands tucked in her pockets. the wind is cold, and blows her hair back from her shoulders. she makes no move to tuck away the flyaway hair again. later, lucario will return, slightly scuffled but otherwise fine. <we have a problem,> he'll say to both of the trainers and their pokemon with his aura abilities, and he'll sigh. <a.. rather unexpected one, but still. a problem.> Blue up to you if arcanine came back with him or not /shot tell me if you'd like anything changed~