Back Order

[Crimsen]

At one point not long ago in Kanto's history, Cinnabar Island was the scientific marvel of the region, if not the world. Its scientific advancements in pokemon research as well as its own natural hazards proved its undoing but over time we were able to restore the island to something worthy of its former glory. Soon after its restoration was finalized we lost the island to Boure infiltrators but we are ready to take steps in reclaiming it for Zemina and the League.


Back Order - Crimsen, mario alfero
Twice a month Boure delivers cargo to the island. Intelligence knows the cargo is just food and medicine for their trainees. What they don't know however is how it is arriving and where it is coming from. Patrol the skies and stake out the seas and earth for those supplying Cinnabar. Again, we need to know where its coming from so you'll have to figure their trajectory based on their approach of Cinnabar, we understand that it may take several drops to trace them back to their location; be prepared to spend weeks if not months on this assignment. Finally, engaging the suppliers or their cargo is largely prohibited so it goes without saying being detected and/or identified is equally prohibited.

There was much in the skies to admire tonight. The view of the constellations was almost enlarged from their position under the heavens. If you were outside of the big cities, the spectacle of the night sky was always worth a look, even if it was only a small glance. And as far as Kanto went, the Seafoam islands were as far removed from the cities as you could get. Sure, it wasn't the safest of all Zemina dominated territories, what with Fuchsia and its rampant safari zone pokemon to the east and Cinnabar and its volcano to the west, both of which were now occupied by Boure.

It pissed of Crimsen to no end that his home was now one of his least favorite places in the region. He'd have liked for it to have remain untouched by war, if not totally neutral to all three sides then at the very least Kopec inhabiting it would mean it was neutral to the other two groups. Sadly this was not the case. Boure control over it would mean confrontation with Zemina soon and given Cinnabar was now were Kanto Boure trainees got their feet wet that said eventual confrontation would be a bloody one.

The gambler-gentleman wanted better for his home.

Plus in terms of war strategy Fuchsia was already there's, as was Cinnabar and Pallet. The Seafoam twins and Viridian were the two remaining territories Boure needed to control the entirety of Kanto's southern seaboard leading right up to the front door of the Indigo Plateau. It didn't seem like Boure had eyes on Seafoam but it was the closest thing to Cinnabar they didn't already have control over. Of course if they tried they would be at a loss against what Zemina was cooking up inside these natural walls.

With a sigh Crimsen heard footsteps approach from his rear. His partner in this assignment and it was time they switched shifts. Their objective had been to find the method of delivery for food and medical shipments to Cinnabar and then to trace the vehicles back to their point of origin. The orders seemed to imply simply following the vehicles to their next destination wouldn't guarantee locating their origin so tracing them back to where they came from little by little would be the only sure fire option.

That is unless they just high-jacked one of the vehicles and beat the info out of the crew or pilot or whatever. Such tactics were too heavy-handed for Crimsen this early into the operation, and was expressly prohibited during his briefing. "You're up, Jumpman. Wake me if you see anything."

mario alfero

[mario alfero]

Strategy, strategy, strategy. Hopefully those words would be tonight's key word. It didn't matter how much it took. As long as he could think to himself, there would be no real issue, would there? 'Jumpman' took off his backpack, setting it quietly on the ground. He wore a full facemask, and he looked to have just woken up from a nap. No real big deal. He pulled a pair of binoculars out of the backpack along with a pencil and a notepad. He flipped the mask up and stayed low to watch the overall patrols and lights.

"Yeah..." All Mario had said was a simple confirmation, and it was one that let him focus without too much incident. He started to use the binoculars and pulled out the pencil from the bindings of the top of the notepad. He'd study whatever he could see, and he'd probably use the scribblings for a plan and evidence to bring back. It wasn't exactly his style for team play, but he does what he has to do. At the very least, he'll finally get to see what exactly these nutbars on the 'opposing' side are doing.

He kept quiet still... Strategy of neighboring towns was irrelevant to him at the moment. Right now was mission time. And he he acted out of line, well that wouldn't get him anywhere, now would it?

[Crimsen]

Lies. Wars were started and fueled by lies; bold-faced lies and even lies of omission. Other things were fueled by lies too, love, marriage, carreers, friendships, partnerships. The thing of it was, the lies weren't what soured such ties and bonds, how the lie was follow up in action was usually the problem.

Case and point, Crimsen had only a moment ago in so many words told his partner, he was going to sleep. The reality was that he intended to. But stepping inside the walls of Seafoam's eastern island, the one closest to Cinnabar, his phone lit up with a text message from an old contact. Returning the text he went to pocket the phone but its still active screen lights reflected off of something in the distance.

Blue sparkles seemed to radiate in a corner of the cave and from his pokeball Crimsen called forth Jakka () and Rasen (). His two oldest pokemon partners they didn't very often need much hand holding and communicated with Crimsen and each other easily through body language. "Whatever that is in the distance. Bring it to me... and don't fall into any holes." With a shrug that said 'whatever' Jakka hopped on the back of Rasen, like a lizard knight mounting a steed. He even leaned forward a little placing a foot along Rasen's spine and let his elbow rest on the elevated knee. Rasen meanwhile only nodded dutifully at his orders and revealed his wing span to coast over to the distant side of the cave.

Crimsen was curious about what they would bring back, so much so that his mind slipped away from the fact that if he was up all night cave spelunking he would be useless for the next watch shift. Of course if the suppliers made the drop tonight there would be no need for a 'next watch shift' not for another two weeks anyway.

[mario alfero]

Lies, pfft. Like he'd even give a damn if the dude did or didn't fib. Not like he'd rat his 'partner' out if he went off somewhere. Although... He'd make a fun patsy if the partner cost them the mission. Even if Mario did go off somewhere, he'd be awful tired coming back. Of course, good ol' Mario knew how to keep his cover. He wouldn't send out his Pokemon. Not unless he REALLY needed to. Every once in a while, he would check behind him in case someone tried to sneak up on him or patrolled about. That was the rule, 'check flanks, no matter where you are'.

"Wonder if it's too late to think on the whole opposition thing for these chucklenuts. So far, Boure looks like a bore from here. Doing this day in and day out got really old with Rocket...twice. Ah well. At least I can watch Billy Bob down there from a comfy spot."

Mario breathed a quiet sigh, scratching under his cap. Just how long do these guys transfer supplies down here anyway? He could probably smuggle legitimate weapons on foot and on his back faster than this, not that he'd want to now in this war. If everything was fine, he'd get a bit ballsy. Here? He just had to play the equal of a waiting game for a convoy to come on in. He'd take notes about the terrain and overall patrols, noting them on separate pages just in case he'd need a refresher or his partner needed to know what exactly would be going on.

[Crimsen]

With efficiency that made plain they had been partners for years the charmeleon and the pidgeot returned from the distant end of the cave wall the latter of which carried a blue sparkly something-or-other in his beak. Dropping it into the air Crimsen was grab to secure it after a single missed grab; feathers could be tricky when they floated through the air.

Following the path of flood light strung about the innards of the island he found the bunk-bed himself and Mario would have to make amends with for the night. He for one didn't anticipate anything pleasant and hoped the other Zemina agent would wake him saying he'd seen the shipment and knew which way they were coming from. For now he closed his eyes a blue feather tight in his grasp and cool to the touch. It was old and worn down. It looked like a preened feather. Much like the ones Rasen picks off of himself every now and then. Only, this one was bigger, bluer and colder.

There was only one pokemon who could have left behind such a thing but what did it matter in the greater scope of things that it did? He'd found a feather... big whoop.

The morning came and went and with a strong reluctance he asked his other half for this assignment if anything of important last night happened at all, still studying the feather as if there was anymore to be discovered from it... there wasn't. "Please tell me the suppliers crashed or were shipwrecked and after you swam them to safety they told you where the shipments were coming from but they were blinded in the accident so they don't know what you look like." Mario's expression seemed dubious at best.

"Okay, scratch that. Just don't say... "nothing happened.".

[mario alfero]

Boy, wouldn't it be just swell if he could say that and come get this guy like a kid on MEWWY CRISMOOS morning. SADLY... He took off his cap scratching his head, giving a bitter, defeated sigh.

"Nothing happened. In fact, so much nothing happened I think I could actually fill a void with all the nothing. On the bright side, I've had time to sketch out this entire viewpoint and painstakingly detail it. What use is it? Nothing!"

Well, that's not good at all, is it now. Mario sat back, getting out a canteen of water and drinking it. He knew better than to chug seawater. Tell that to his squad and they'd probably look at you with their dumb gaze and go 'but wutter id healthy!'. He rubbed his eyes, clearly getting fatigued by having taken the night shift. No matter, it would come soon enough. Unless this is a wild goose chase in which case Mario is probably going to call it in as a boring failure. Though...

"Hey you," Mario said with a glance towards Crimsen, "What if they're delivering the stuff in a way we can't see? Like...under the water or something? I've been thinking about that for a couple hours now and it won't stop nagging at my ass."

What an interesting little point he has there...

[Crimsen]

Nothing happened over night was pretty bad but it wasn't the end of the world. Boure continuing to occupy his home and ever-increasing its chances of become the latest blood-soaked battlefield? That was the end of the world. Fight to unite all of Kanto in this war was his long term goal he imagined it would take years and would be one hell of a show. The kind of thing to drive a man mad or push him through horrible loss. Still, it had to be done and the show would go on with or without him.

The former was his preference and liberating Cinnabar, his birthplace, was basically his opening act.

Handing off an icy-blue feather to his partner he coyly shared his findings even if he didn't come straight out and say what it was he found. "Whose that Pokemon?" He asked casually going through his morning stretches. Hearing his bones crack in all the right places he straightened up, pondering Mario's stray thought.

"The briefing said they could have been bringing supplies in by air or sea. I suppose we would have seen a light or something from the water if they used boats but not so much if they used submarines." The latter thought made Crimsen a little irritated because it meant the shipment could have been brought in last night or yesterday while he himself was on watch.

He took some small solace in the thought that submarines weren't likely given that Boure was unlikely to have such resources. Still... "You're right though we have to cover all our bases. So call it; sky or sea?" As the native to this general area Crimsen had plenty of pokemon suited for traversing the climate and could handle which ever job his noticeably shorter partner did not want.


mario alfero

[EVENT]

DAY TWO, SEAFOAM ISLANDS

while crimsen and mario were debating on whether the supplies were being dropped by sky or sea, the morning crew had already loaded up with their cargo and had set off. seafoam islands this time of year weren't that hard to navigate; by both air and sea.

perhaps it had only been through luck that crimsen and mario hadn't seen their supply drops the night before. perhaps it wasn't. regardless, the boure rebels were coming, and coming in hot.

if crimsen or mario were to look north of the islands, they would find a contingent of tentacruel, gyrados, and even a few blastoise along with their trainers with -- boxes of supplies, water-proofed and traveling quickly. they would need some of their fastest water pokemon to catch the supply drop as they shot towards a small area on cinnabar, eventually swinging around and leaving with no one the wiser, if they had their way.

if they were to look above themselves, high above the cloud cover -- but barely viewable through it -- they would find a formation of pidgeot and fearow with their own cargo. these, they would divebomb the island and drop at the lowest altitude they could afford without stopping.

of course, the amount of cargo that each carried would not be equal to the amount of supplies they brought in. they could even be empty, for all crimsen and mario knew. but, well, here were their targets -- would they be able to catch each of them before cinnabar's defenses retaliated, and would they be able to find out?

each contingent was drawing closer by the minute. they would have to move quickly.

Crimsen mario alfero

[mario alfero]

Now it was time for them to get to work. Mario would have glanced at the feather, swallowing. He knew what that was... The only chance is, would anyone else? He shook his head, grunting. Now was not the time for this kind of nonsense. It was either do or die.

Hopefully do. He adjusted his cap.
"Put that away dude," Mario said as he started to spy on the coast, "We don't want any bastards trying to get that kind of crap. ...I KNOW what it is, but I'm not sayin' a damn thing, alright?"

Mario kept looking out towards sea. He may as well take it at this rate, considering he would look like a bloody target in the air what with his only method of flight being a Crobat. He scoffed, shrugging. "I'm gonna take...the..."

Mario soon noticed the contingents move in by sea, grabbing Crimsen's collar and dragging him down to kneeling level. He showed Crimsen the contingency moving through, and it looks like they were approaching fast. He moved away from Crimsen and only spoke a few words as they'd have to react now or never again.

"I'll spy on the sea guys, you take the air. Good luck, meet about 30 clicks away from here if we get separated big-time. Oh, and... I only brought surveillance tools. So remember, no confrontation. We don't need that." Oho, look at Special Agent Mario. Which is good since Mario would sort of need that intelligence now. He dived into the shoreline, and put on a rebreather just in case from his bag as he zipped it up. He covered himself with wet sand and whatever he could find overall like seaweed to look like sea debris as he got out a special friend for seafaring nonsense. He wouldn't bring him out just yet. He was the escape plan. He began to swim to a safe distance to the contingency, moving about with the waves once at a safe distance in sight to watch and study them. He couldn't exactly scribble anything on his notepad, but he had a good memory. Only thing to worry about now is how adept the defenses were.

[Crimsen]

There it was. Alfero made the discovery, the Boure resources were here. After being down to the ground he made a mental note of Mario's physical strength. He'd always been a scrappy guy but Crimsen guessed it was his missing height and slightly wider frame that augmented his center of gravity, increasing his strength.

He wasn't all the way interested in the 'cuno feather. It was just as well, it meant the career taker was interesting more in getting the job done than collecting trinkets. Sen wouldn't dawdle and drag his feet. More important than any pokemon's feather in this moment was watching the water shipment. With all the pokemon inbound and moving to protect the shipment he almost wondered if there was a point to a sky patrol. He took a moment to build a mental path for them to Cinnabar from their current location.

Simple geometry dictated that a point by itself was just a point, random and unpredictable; this was the Boure rebels and their water types. With Cinnabar as their destination and the second point in their path they made a line. Following that line in the opposite direction would tell the duo with no small amount of certainty where this supply drop originated from. It seemed obvious once he followed that 'line' back; the only location in the area that could accommodate such a water party would be Route 19 which in turn was located south of and only accessible via, Fuchsia City.

Saving his curse words until he was sure the Zemina... hobbyist turned over unto his back so that he might survey the skies without giving his position away. Sure enough in the skies beyond the clouds were dots, high speed dots moving in the general direction of Cinnabar. They as well were used to create a line and on that line in the opposite direction of Cinnabar were four cities they could have arrived from; Lavender, Saffron, Vermillion and of course Fuchsia.

Lavender wasn't out of the question but Vermillion was. Saffron was a bit out of the way from the current trajectory of the fliers overhead but pokemon were fast and at the behest of cunning trainers they could have easily altered their flight path to make it seem like were moving in from Fuchsia. "Don't start to over think it Tokomaru." He had to tell himself mentally. Two convoys and only one place seemed to be a point of origin for both. "They're coming from Fuchsia."

[Crimsen]

With a flick of wrist he threw two pokeballs inside the cave, which ejected their contents upon impact.

Squishy jiggly flesh () and clawed talons ()  approached him carefully; it wasn't very often Crimsen called for them while laying on his back, the unfamiliarity of it all made them a little more alter than normal. "Rasen take point", his hand bent at the wrist and pointed straight up. "Follow those fliers to their landing location but don't get too close. Kagami, use TRANSFORM on Rasen and then follow his lead." After but a moment two majestic Pidgeot loomed over him. Their beaks looked a lot sharper when you had to look up at them and not the other way around. "If you get into trouble use AGILITY and TAILWIND to boost your speeds and evade them."

His facial expression became firm to illustrate the risks he took letting them act without him. "Stick together and DO NOT come back here if you're being followed. " For those unwilling to trust their pokemon such tasks might have seemed like a tall order, but being the gambler that he was he was more than willing to take the risks. With a gesture of his hand the two Pidgeot took off with an understanding of their task. How well they carried it out, would soon be seen.


EVENT - my post got a little too long so I made it a double to separate crimsen's observations from his actions. So if it's TL;DR 1st post he takes an educated guess on where the shipments are coming from, 2nd post he makes his move.

[EVENT]

even if approached, neither air nor sea contingent will react: they will simply hurtle forward, eyes ahead, as if they are not really there, or as if they are not even paying attention to anything else other than the goal.

odd.

not five minutes after their boure targets were first spotted, a heavy fog will roll in around both crimsen, mario, and their pokemon: first light, a mere mist, before it thickens into a white blindfold - too thick to see through. even if they have pokemon capable of it, it will take several defogs before anything can be seen again with any confidence.

and both air and sea supply drops will be gone by then, as if they had, perhaps, never been there in the first place.

truly odd.

Crimsen mario alfero