[IC] Pokemon & Humanity: A Familiar World | [Always Accepting] |

[Riddles]

Jade came home after a long day of hanging out downtown. Her mother already had supper ready, and unfortunately Mike was there, too. She ate as fast as possible to avoid talking to him, then went into her room. Mike only had one day off work each week, which happened to be today. That meant she would have a completely normal day tomorrow.

She had no idea how wrong she was.

---

"AH! What the fuck?"
Jade was woken up by a sudden outburst from Mike. Her mom let out a scream as well, making her wonder what was going on. She sat up, yawning a little, and wiped a bit of drool off of her mouth. At that point, she went from half-asleep to wide awake when she noticed something odd. She had paws. Animal paws. It wasn't just that, either. Her entire body had completely transformed. She had long fur hanging down from her arms, she was covered in black and white fur, and she had appeared to be a mustache. She scrambled to her feet, and looked in the mirror. She was some kind of weasel-like creature now. The only thing on her body that even somewhat resembled her human body was the scar. It just HAD to be the scar, didn't it? She put on her bandana to cover it up, then exited her room to see what was going on outside.

"Mike, wait!"
"No! I'm getting the fuck outta here!"
Jade walked into the room just in time to see Mike, who was still human, leaving the apartment. Her mother followed him, trying to convince him to stay. She'd turned into a creature similar to Jade, but with purple fur. Jade ran outside. If her and her mother had transformed, she wondered how many other people had done the same. Upon leaving the building, her jaw dropped. There were all kinds of creatures roaming the streets - A flying scorpion, a bird with a fedora, and even one that looked like a bunch of keys. A blue rabbit with a ball on the end of its tail started dancing, and rain began to pour down. Jade didn't know what the hell was going on. She seriously doubted anybody knew. Only one thing was for certain: shit was hitting the fan.

[Sumable]

-The Batter-
I woke up to hear screaming, gunshots, and banging. I jump up, put on my clothes, and grab my bat. I had recently installed a heavy metal alloy to the inside of it, making it sturdier, but a bit heavier. I heard someone or something throwing up, and Katie screaming "Daddy!" and I run over to her room. I open the door to see a small, pink, dog-like creature, vomiting profusely. I hear her call for me again, and it was trying to explain that it was Katie in between the projectile vomits. I grab her, and get ready to drive to the hospital, and as I do, I see some people running out of a building and some... unearthly beings, like the 'it' that was sitting right next to me. It was vomiting on the road, on people occasionally, and I see the back window get shot, startling me. It didn't shatter though. Boy, was I smart to get bullet proof windows. I see that the hospital was already wrecked, so I drove to the psychiatrist instead. Nowhere to be seen. I drive around until very suddenly, my car door was ripped open, and I was able to grab my bat as a large dragon ripped me out of my seat, and got in the car. I grab the back door, and hang on as the beast drives crazily at high speeds. I nearly fell, with only a one-hand grip. I had lost my footing, and had severely scraped my shoes, and I find my footing again, grab with four fingers on my other hand, and I opened the back door, allowing me to get in and eventually choke the damn beast out with my arms, but he scratched my arms quite badly, but eventually passed out. I tossed him away, and the car went out of control, slamming into a building. I got jolted forward, got whiplash, and my daughter went flying, and was suddenly stopped by the strong windshield.

I groan loudly as I slump out of the car, and stand up and grab the thing, and my bat. It was unconscious, I think. I listen for its heart, and it was beating, but very quickly. I bring the thing with me, and into some apartment complex. Possible safety, if I can find some non-hostile. I hear someone, or by now, someTHING singing. I grab my bat, hide the thing, and hear the gunshots. "Shit..." I mutter to myself as I ready my bat, but I felt weakened, almost. It was hard to breathe, or even think, and I was hurting in my arms and feet and generally everywhere. I rub my neck, and see whatever was singing enter a room. I saw its silhouette, a body or two near it, and I and sneak behind it, and hit it in the back of the head with my bat. He stumbled, turned around, and I had readied my bat again, wanting to get a home-runner hit on his skull, but he turned around, and squeezed the trigger, but he missed. I hit the gun away, and kick him on the stomach, then beat him down with the bat again, and cough. "Damn... Psychopaths..." I sputter as I walk into a bedroom, collapse on the bed, and I sighed and coughed loudly. I'm sure that 'Katie' was well hidden enough.
-Katie-
I wake up, and groan, throwing up over and over again. I walk out of wherever I was, and I begin crying loudly because I thought I was kidnapped in my sleep. I run around, panicking, and I throw up about every five steps. I cry loudly for someone to help me, and I turn the corner, to see a shotgun barrel aimed above me, and it slowly lowered onto my forehead, and I freak the hell out, and run like hell. "W-wait..." A raspy voice says. "Little... thing, come back! I won't hurt you, I-I promise," it coughs. I continue running like hell, down the stairwell, but I saw the entrance was destroyed by our Corvette. I squeal loudly again, and curl up into a ball, in the corner, afraid. What the hell was going o- *BOOM!*

What was that? I think, looking out a small crack to see a building on fire, and people shooting things, and things dying, and my vision gets blurry as I fall on my back and faint again. I heard the raspy voice, saying "I... *sucking deep amounts of breath in* I just ne-needed that gun because some crazy religious guy was goin' around, y'h-*hack* y'hear?" and by then, I was already asleep. Wasn't this just peachy, I was short, throwing up, I could smell EVERYTHING EVER, and I wasn't even sure if I was... well, me.

[KaBling]

"You bloody idiots." An odd voice called out from the warm yet seemingly cold room.

It was larger than two stories and could fit several orchestras. A table that you would find in a office split off into two directions (a 'Y') took up most of the room, with square chairs that were ripped out of some architecture magazine being at its sides. The room hadn't always been like this, reflecting periods of history. Currently, brushing aside a 70's vibe, the room was modern with slick chairs, and a top-notch carpet had replaced the vinyl floor. The ceiling dangled some orbs of light, really sophisticated bulbs held up with a smooth rod. Wallpaper was replaced with a dark grey paint, still somehow bright. There were two double-doors at opposite sides of the room, with glass panes replacing a majority of the doors themselves.

The room was quiet, after shortly finishing a lengthy discussion. Their time was up - half of them wanted Arceus gone, while the other half wanted Arceus to stay. Incidentally, they either wanted the computer gone or left on. It was placed in the middle of the table, with a tired Arceus almost asleep beside it. He didn't want to have part in the world's affairs anymore, what with half of them wanting him dead and the other half cheering him on. Gar-Teal on the other hand wanted to get this over and done with, sitting opposite of Arceus as he stared at the lines of code being formed...

The sullen voice continued. "We've made little progress arguing and bitchin' on for hours. Obviously, the computer's staying."

"Not over my dead body, it's an embarrassment that thing is even in here." Another voice shouted, contempt with arguing and talking as soon as someone else talked. A majority of the people in the room had odd clothing - some had headphones, some had clothes resembling musketeers, and some even looked like USAF pilots. "We've now reached the deadline, and there's no turning back. If you turn on the television on right now, you can see how the rest of our descendants are doing."

"No, no, no. It ain't the end. You just gotta break that glimmerin' screen and there's your problem solved." At that point, everyone was just murmuring to each other. Most of them didn't want to be put on opposing sides just because of their opinions - if they wanted the computer gone, then they were with Gar-Teal/Giratina. If they wanted it to stay, they were with Marcus/Arceus. Obviously, they all thought the names were ridiculous.

"Well, that's settled, isn't it Arceus?" Gar-Teal/Giratina spoke, smirking at Marcus with his arm rested on the table. Fucking hell,

"All of you. Don't you understand what will happen if we were to destroy this object?" Immediately, everyone stopped talking as Arceus rose from his seat, facing Giratina first and turning to everyone. "It would stop signalling a Soviet-era satellite and reverse the disguises for our people. However... we cannot have another holocaust, let alone a worldwide hunt and ultimately a genocide. Not for the Jewish people, and certainly not for us either." Arceus sweated and closed his eyelids, remembering the days where humanity was aware of their presence... and attempted several genocides of their race. By instinct, Arceus had blended his people with those of the Jews. Unfortunately, word got out, and centuries of pain had followed. It would be another millennium before his power would regenerate, and by the looks of things, he had no time to wait. Mew, floating upwards and scrolling across the room, decided to speak.

"Arceus. We've been over this five times. No one's opinion will change. We all believe that humanity would forget, yet we all also believe that we can live with the humans..." He softly said with a high-pitch. There was something odd about Mew, feeling the same lethargy as Arceus since he gave his powers to everyone involved in the Universal Reset. "I'm leaving the Council. There's nothing happening, and I want to fix the world myself..." Mew flew over to one of the double doors, entering them and disappearing.

Reluctantly, as the war of words continued, most of the legendaries had also left. Some had commitments, some just wanted to leave. Eventually Arceus and Giratina had a little fight, before departing with their own ways. It was the fall of the legendaries...

---

I could hear everything. From car alarms to broken windows... struggles of people and Pokemon trying to live... my TV going crazy...

All in my front door. I scratched my cheek, wondering if I was crazy or delusional. I mean, if I could remember correctly, I was a Wyvern... or, something like that. I cut up my couch and carpet, to the shock of my parents who had returned early morning. Well, one of them... my mother still hadn't returned. My father, the bird of knives he was, had came downstairs drunk and dazed. He had wanted nothing to do with today's events. Meanwhile, outside my cracked windows, I could see a Machamp performing a take down on some ruthless psychopath. I backed away from my window, flipping over and helping my dad walk back upstairs. I heard some explosions in the distance, although I was more concerned with ripping my wallpaper. Well, my dad ripping my wallpaper. Eventually, I'd have to look for my mother.

"Ergh... is everything this blurry?" He asked, his beak still somehow able to speak.

Even I could speak, although I really wished I didn't add to the noise that was getting into my ears. "No, dad. You're drunk again. Come on, get to bed." Hopefully, he'd stay, otherwise I'd be pretty screwed. Well, slightly more than the world currently was.

After helping him on his bed (and hoping he would cut it all up), I decided to go explore the world. First, I opened my door. Second, I closed it as soon I witnessed a police car getting burnt by some fire Pokemon. Third, I just leaped out my door and took to the skies, flying somehow on my first try. I could see I wasn't the only thing up and above.

[Evanist]

As Erion arrives at the bathroom, he saw 2 strange creatures looking at the window, arguing a bit.
"What the heck happened! Why the freaken heck we are...." the one with a white scarf and slightly pink scarf says in a female voice. The male one argues.
"I don't freaken know! Do I look like I know what happened! It's like if we were mutants!" the male voice one says. Erion looked at them, analysing, before figuring out what they looked like. Erion grumbles at this.
"Freaken heck William and your freaken wish....." was the first thing he says. The 2 looked at him, surprised, and stares.
"Wait... Erion?" his mother then says. Erion sighed and nods. His heart was racing right now, but he was not stressing right now. He then float a bit and his parents stares at him.
"How the heck you doing that!?" his father asks.
"Think of floating and rising up...." Erion says calmer. He looks at the window, seeing and hearing lot of fire, gunshots and other problems. Just then their door started to get bashed. Erion quickly turned around, before seeing what looked like a large rock smash the door and pass threw, in rage. Erion turns around and looks at his parents, scared a bit.
"Mom, dad, quickly, we have a..." he start saying before seeing a stone being thrown right at his chest. He flew away a bit, but then stopped his movements by using his powers. His parents quickly goes in front of Erion, who grumbles a bit.
"Stupid Golem.... Mom, dad.... trust me on this but.... raise your ears up towards that thing." he says. His parents looked at him.
"What?" his mother asks.
"Just do it!" Erion says. They both turn and then rises their ears... the eye ball paterns showing and then blasting the thing with a lot of psychic powers, actually hitting and blasting the thing out the door and rolling quickly away, hurt. His parents then closes their ears, and stares at the door.
"How the heck did you know that Erion?" his father asks.
"With how many times my friend talked to me about pokemon.... I don't know how but we changed into those...." he says. William, your freaken wish just made everything fall in total chaos.... Everything was going haywire as rain started to pour outisde. Erion gets up, and moves to the door.
"Erion , what the heck you doing! It is dangerous outside!" his mother says worried
"I will be fine.... I am smaller and able to hide... and I know I can do something to blast everything around me if I am in trouble." he says pointing his ears. A espurr... he had to change into a freaken god dang espurr. For once he was grateful to William for having talk to him so much about some pokemons and having played the game. Not everyone played it though.... He grumbles as he leaves his house and move to the direction of another rain cloud at a distance. He was seeing more and more people and pokemons attacking each other, scared and confused on what happen. Lucky that Erion could hide in the darkness and move on. Just then though, he saw what seemed like a large dragonair going and squeezing someone. That someone was William, still a human..
"But... I...." William start to say. The dragonair just stared at him, mad. Erion, seeing this, suddenly lets out a confusion attack on the thing, who then lets go of William, who fell on the floor. The thing stares at him.
"Why you little." the dragonair says before letting out a twister attack that.... actually did not do anything to Erion.
"What!" the dragonair yells before getting hit by psychic blast and then by William in the back of the head with a wooden plank. The thing fell on the ground unconscious after this.
"T...Thank you... I... I did not think a dragonair would do this..." he says before looking at Erion, who stares. William gets a shiver in his spine. Erion sighed.
"God dang your wish William, I told you things would get into chaos." Erion then says before running off, having William just stares and jaw drop a bit at what that espurr said. Did it know or was it... Erion?
As Erion continued to run, going deeper in the raining place, trying to find some people that would need help, he though about back in the fight. How the heck did that twister attack done nothing to him... espurr was a pure psychic type.... that was completely abnormal. And he was seeing hybrid species everywhere. It was as if over night the world had changed into chaos. Great... and how would his friends and colleagues react seeing him like this...

[Savato]

~Freddy Girault~

What the hell did I become? I looked like Filou, my hamster when I was 11 years old except in human midget size and completely HUGE when it came to fur. I mean this was an exaggeration, the fur made me look fat compared to what I could feel when passing my hand over my abdomen section. I quickly checked if everything was alright, and by that I grabbed my junk real tight to feel it. This was a very unusual feeling, it felt like it was there yet it was hidden and I could not recognize my French pride there. And what? A man should always care about his manhood even after severely traumatic moments. I stared at the mirror for no more than 15 minutes, not really accepting what was going on and maintaining my belief that there's a possibility it's a dream or a really bad acid trip, until a huge explosion could be heard and vibrated throughout the hotel and shattering the windows of my room. The powerful vibrations were more like an earthquake to my new form as I fell off the sink and banged my ass on the floor. Ignoring the pain, I was more concerned as to what happened and how the hell my windows were exploded.

As I approached the windows and hopped on a nearby drawer, my eyes widened in complete and utter stupor. The was fire, people running, crying, children lost, cars crashing on each other, debris everywhere, animals and unrecognizable creates running rampant all over the streets. I was high in the hotel but only three floors high, allowing me to have a clear view of everything. It would only be when I looked up at the skyscraper right in front of the hotel that I seriously felt nauseous, as if I was staring down in the abyss so much as this felt imposing - a plane which was probably supposed to land at the airport near the area pierced the building and half of the monolith exploded. I was scared, not because of the plane, but because of the upcoming thoughts that ran through my head. What the hell is happening to the world? To me? Is this the end of the world? I was drowning in stress and would bite my nails if I could, however the building right in front of me would suffer a second explosion for the remaining engines of the plane, creating another powerful explosion that pushed me backwards and brought down the entire building with it. I could see it crashed as I lied on my back against the carpet. This was insane, and I had to get the hell out of here before this building falls down next by some super mammoth creature or some other out of control airplane.

I hopped on my bed and searched my pants' pockets, taking out the cell phone and a pistol magazine. I'd lay them on the bed apart from the clothes and then went in to grab my handgun under my pillow. My little hands had trouble carrying these, so shooting would be a big problem. As I sat to think for a moment, considering how dangerous it would be to get out unarmed, my tail which I barely took into account yet, grabbed the hand in a fashion that it could easily replace a hand. I barely even actively make it grab it, it felt automatic like reaching in for something with my hand. As I realized this, I raised an eyebrow and quickly observed that my tail reacted as if it were an arm or something of the sorts. I smirked, realizing that maybe not all hope was lost, but now I'd have to carry the rest. I then had the same sensations with the differing fur linked to my head as both of these strands of fur grabbed the items and had the final strand serving as a weird scarf hold them against my back. They actually felt light when held my these things, despite my small silhouette. Perhaps this vermin-like body had something I wouldn't expect from it when it came to physical prowess, after all I did make pretty strong jumps without ever trying.

As I stepped out my hotel room, it was chaos all over the corridors, and the elevators, so I took the stairs. The lobby was devoid of staff and people were fighting to get their luggage out and snagging keys they confided to the employees who righteously fled the area. I didn't care, I swiftly ran off in the streets hoping my small form would avoid getting too much trouble. Luckily the exist didn't face the apartment hit early, but my God was this a mess. I had to look for some place safe, that wouldn't be susceptible to multiple hazards at once. So high buildings were a no go seeing the numerous planes losing balance and the amount of flying creatures there were, a few of them terrorizing the citizens. I I ran for a couple of minutes, I would pretty much cross a line of weather here, for only in a split second my new fur had gotten soaked by unwarranted rain. The drizzle was strong, the streets were flooding from where it was raining but barely any water made it out of the limit I was in just a few seconds earlier. This was troublesome, but I had to push forward because it appeared obvious people were tending to avoid these conditions and simply wanted shelter, I needed to find something like a garage or at least some cabin where I could think straight.

Within the rain, where darkness ruled because of the clouds I could barely see because of all this water pouring down on my face, I could distinguish three silhouettes marching near me, almost toward me. They were the only souls I'd cross, sans a few that were escaping just at the border of this climate shithole.Two of them were quite short, possibly children, but one looked tall and barely human at all. I pointed my gun toward these folks, not because I wanted to harm them, but rather I wanted to know what was really going on and possibly get useful indications. I'd douse them with a little of my French flavored English as a warning of my presence. Though I did take a strong voice due to all the rain drops hitting the ground and the background explosions and gunshots governing the sounds roaming in the area.

"Hey, you three. I recommend you don't move and further, not because I have a gun pointed to you, but because I'm getting away from there and I have damn good reasons to."

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________

~Jade Fintch~

He was walking closer and closer to my room, shooting in every apartment room he crossed, thus shutting everyone up. In a way it felt less stressful because there would be less whimpering and crying, but in another I was mortified knowing I'd be fucking next. I swallowed my fear and clenched my laptop, in hopes that he wouldn't bother to look for me if I stayed quiet. As hit footsteps got really loud, I'd hear someone else march in at a very past pace before I could hear powerful thuds and a body hitting the ground. The singing stopped and the footsteps that kept going were not the same as before. Suddenly a man opened my door, which was more than likely unlocked by that sociopath before being taken out or something, and a different man with a baseball bat came in as if he owned the place and lied down on the bed I was hiding under of. In the moment I was vexed that people would act this way, I mean c'mon I'm not one to get fucked up boys and girls. But then I felt completely relieved knowing this man was the one barging in my room and not that crazy asshole.

I'd crawl out, wearing only a T-shirt and shorts, only to stand up and glare at the man. I let him a few seconds to realize that MAYBE he had intruded in my place and was KIND OF hanging around on my bed. Hand on my hips I would then snicker as I sign that I really didn't give a fuck at this point.

"Well thanks for getting rid of that Jehova sucking asshole. Hope you're liking my grandiose bed because I sit my sweaty ass on it every day, all day."

I'd say to sooth the tensions that were undoubtedly rising because of everything that was going on, but for some reason I couldn't help but be natural with the sight of a normal person right before me. I'd let out a quick sigh and let my arms drop a little as I just grasped how shitty everything got.

"Fuck... Sir, man, whatever. What the hell is going on? I-I don't even..."

I didn't even introduce myself, all these things were suddenly rushing through my mind. However as I finished my incomplete sentence, the man before me could see a part of my face igniting in a purple flame for about half a second, as well as parts of my body distorting in such a way that no one could be convinced that it would be some optical illusion due to fatigue or drogues. It looked completely abnormal and the worst part would be that I wouldn't notice any of it.

[Sumable]

-The Batter-
I grumble with my eyes closed. "Sorry, miss, but I woke up at eight in the mornin' to a thing puking in my daughter's bed, and my other kid's missing, so just give me a damn minute to rest," I say. "Oh, and I nearly got carjacked," I mutter as I sit up, popping practically every bone in my body. I open my eyes to see a half-child, half-beast, and I swipe my bat from where I rested it, and nearly swung it, but I pretty much just saved this girl from that guy, apparently. I let the bat rest in my hands, and sigh deeply, looking at her again strangely. I walk out of the room, and back to my daughter's hiding spot, and I yell some profanities as I see that she was missing. I walk in every single room, over dead bodies, and then downstairs. "KATIE?!" I yell, and someone whips around with a shotgun, and I kick the barrel to the side as they shoot. I think I must have broken a toe doing that or something, because it hurt quite bad after I knocked the fellow out. I continue walking downstairs, after having confiscated his shotgun, and I see Katie lying on some rubble. I grab her, and hug her. She was very soft, almost like a pillow now. I walk upstairs, and back into the room. "So, my guesses are you're the single living thing in this place now?" I ask as I carry Katie over my shoulder. "Might as well get to know each other. Hell, might help just in case we find each other again," I say, looking at the beast.

I hold the bat with my arm and hold my hand out for a handshake. "My name is John McDouglass. Now, I don't trust you all that much, but I'm sure you can't do too much harm, being an adolescent and all," I say, ignoring the fucking terrifying appearance of whatever she was now. I fix my cap, and check Katie's pulse once again. She was doing fine.

-Status-
John: Hurt, tired, broken toe and whiplash injury, lacerations on the arms
Katie: Nausea, panicking, fainted.
Overall: John may need some help, but should be fine. Katie is fine.

[Lugia]

Bart, Maria (who finally woke up from the rain), and I were all walking towards this supposed 'cheap hotel' that we could all afford for the night. It was a good thing that I managed to take my wallet with me before I got kicked out by Mary, and everything seemed to be going fine with everyone mostly ignoring our little group, until I notice a small figure, barely visible in the rain. "Hey, you three. I recommend you don't move any further, not because I have a gun pointed at you, but because I'm getting away from there, and I have damn good reasons to," the figure shouts at us. Obviously, whatever he was, he was now a pokemon, though, due to the rain, he resembled looked like some sort of overgrown hair monster... but... I decided against laughing the moment he said he had a gun pointed at me. "Whoa, um, I'm not here to cause trouble, okay? Just... put that thing away," I say to the creature as I back away slowly. I then realize that the gun might not be my only concern at the moment, as the creature said he had some sort of reason to be afraid, to be running from what appeared to be the exact hotel my group was going to stay the night at. "I'm guessing this means that my hotel plan ain't gonna work, anymore," Bart then says to me, somewhat quietly, as if the creature wouldn't hear. Given the size of the creature's ears, I doubted that he didn't hear what Bart said... not that it mattered, it's not like he was calling the guy crazy, or something... "I dunno if I trust this loon, though... I mean, this place is sealed tight," I stop him there, and add "Bart, he can hear you. Also, if it's so secure, how is the place cheap?" Bart chuckles nervously, and runs behind me, as if that's going to accomplish anything. I hen finally decide to ask the guy "So, why are you trying to get out of here?" I then hope that his answer isn't in the form of a bullet to my head... there's no dodging that, and it would pretty much mean game over for me.

[Evanist]

As Erion was walking towards what looked like a large building, he saw more and more people and pokemons fighting each other. Each time he tried to defuse the situation, but sometimes he had trouble to, so he had to move on, letting others he helped try to take care of everything. He continued to move before seeing a group of what seemed to be a lucario, a large gooey dragon... looked like a goodra but very different, and a weavile, in front of a Cinccino with what seemed to have a shotgun. It looked confused at the moment... Erion slowly moves forwards, his mind ready if the guy were to try to shoot him. He moves slowly forwards.
"Woah.... god... please... let's not have bloodshed here... please..." he says, before looking at the Cinccino, not knowing he was using baby doll eyes at the moment.
"We do not need more violence then what we have right now... please.... I know everyone is confused on what happened, but we need to keep our heads clear. We were all humans before this, I know, but it does not mean we cannot act civilized." he then says. He breath deeply. He just hoped that the Cinccino thing would not go and just shoot him. He was ready to let out a psychic blast and disarm him if that was the case, but it was a risk he was taking right now

[Savato]

~Freddy Girault~

My ears perked just slightly each time they talked, or even whispered, and some how I could clearly hear what I would consider indecipherable just a few hours ago. I simply kept my gun pointed at them until they gathered the courage to actually tell me something interesting, and patiently waiting until the barrel of my handgun wouldn't stress them out as much. As two of them spoke I noticed they appeared just as confused as me or anyone else I've seen recently, or maybe they were more worried about getting something like shelter than discussing what was happening to all of us. Maybe I should have asked them about it, but hell I'm not expecting much from these youngsters. One of them asked a question, which made me raise an eyebrow as the recent explosion and destruction of a building wasn't obvious enough. Although the sporadic climate and chaos elsewhere would probably prevent them from paying that much attention.

"I don't think you want to head into buildings. I've been in a nearby hotel, tall buildings are easy targets for out of control airplanes and those flying creatures. I say that y-"

Not only did I head something moving but it was close. My reflexes felt awfully weird, as I never had this powerful sense of hearing and awareness of nearby danger before, as if I had really become one of these weird animals. Heck, it almost felt normal, like it felt normal to talk to this dragon thing, a standing mutt and a I don't even know thing with with long claws. I swiftly twisted my tail in a way that my gun would immediately target the source of the noise, and from that source a voice could be heard. It was another one of those creatures, a smaller one than those I've seen, probably even my current height, hard to tell really given I feel like EVERYTHING is huge. As he talked like some kind of emissary of peace, I quickly noticed how young he sounded and how... Naive the first approach was. If this were some basic street confrontation he'd probably get spit at or even hit, because you have no idea who the fuck you're addressing in such shady places, and given the situation this was weird. Nonetheless, I could only respect his attempt, as it would have been an approach I would have used once I made sure the gunner wasn't some insane psychopath ready to shoot down everyone with their itchy trigger finger.

"Uh-huh, yeah bien sûr. I'm keeping this up because, you know, you can never be too safe with people turning into magical fairy monsters. Anyway, I've warned you about going over there, now I'd like to know what the hell is going on and why you kids are keen on walking around in the streets in a time like this?"

I kept my gun pointed at all of them, no exceptions. I wasn't going to shoot them as they appeared unarmed and I kept a certain distance from them anyway. The problem was I wasn't sure if they could do any funny business with their new bodies. After all I could jump pretty high, what about them?

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________

~Jade Fintch~

Holy shit, I fell on my ass (again) as the guy's reaction to my sublime appearance nearly got me killed. So yeah, my mortified expression and my bruised butt were more than justifiable here. I quickly sprang up as he started to speak about kids and puking, frankly the sudden shock broke my attention for a few seconds and thus I didn't understand anything. It was only when she shouted the name "Katie" that I was brought back down among the living. I watched him rush out, raising an eyebrow as he really appeared unaffected by what was going on, plus it would only be now that I took into account all his wounds he accumulated. If anything I started to get impressed by the guy's "will". Anyways, as he left, probably to come back given it would be stupid to walk out of here without a plan, I went to fetch a new T-shirt and some jeans in my wardrobe. As I got those on in a hurry, I heard more gunshots outside. That wasn't anything new but it felt so close and I could feel the floor vibrate as the shots hit the building complex. I quickly grabbed a backpack and fit in my laptop, its charger and my phone's charger. I also took my phone and wallet so I could set them in my pockets.

The guy came back as I finished packing and he asked if this was my place and introduced himself. At first my facial expression would still indicate stupor as I was indeed flabbergasted, but then I'd smile just a bit, slapping my hand against his and giving a nice bro-shake for the heck of it.

"Yeeaaaaaaahhh welcome to my castle, aha. Name's Jade Fintch, and I'm guessing this is... Oh my God is that thing the girl you were mentioning?!"

I asked upon seeing the beast on his back. It was... Disgusting to say the least and he could probably see my negative reaction toward the sight of that thing that would more than likely be his daughter or something. I know that ain't very cool but my God that thing looked ungodly wrong. My body would also look normal as of now for John, as my magical Illusion ability which I wasn't even aware of existed yet had resumed its superb work and I looked marvelous again.

"Ugh anyway, why the fuck were you trying to kill me and why the fuck are people all weird monsters? I mean fuck the city is just a shithole now."

I sat on my bed, now wondering what I was still doing here. I mean I have a drivers licence, but my car's all the way back at New York being checked because of a recent accident. Yeah okay I may have fucked up with a red light once or twice but give me a break, it's so much shit to drive in that shit city. Thank God I don't have their accent, I would seriously look like pigeon shit if I did.

[Riddles]

The rain continued to pour down, and Jade was soaked. She didn't have the patience to go inside and wait out the storm. She wanted answers now, and she didn't care how long she had to endure the rain to get them. It wasn't too long until she noticed a group up ahead. Two of them were rather short, but the other three were human-sized. They seemed to have all been transformed, just like her. Maybe they knew what was going on.

Just as she was about to call out to them, she noticed that one of the short ones was carrying a gun. She immediately went into a nearby alleyway, trying to listen to their conversation. Walking up to the group might have ended up with her getting shot, and that was a risk she didn't want to take. She just needed some time to figure out whether she was going to approach them or get as far away from them as possible. Hopefully none of them had seen her.

[Sumable]

-The Batter-
"I nev- well... When I opened my eyes, I saw whatever you are morphing from human to beast, so I was startled. And I dunno why people are becomin' beasts," I say and soon I hear the gunshots hitting the building. "Any car or something you can use to get us out of here? Mine's trashed," I say, twirling my bat in my other hand, and holding Katie over my shoulder with the other. I sigh, and rub my eyes, rubbing Katie's back. I was a little annoyed when I saw your disgusted expression, although, I could see the reason for it as well. She was losing all the bile her body could produce. Speaking of, she actually sort of stopped throwing up. She was just gagging horrendously now, and eventually just sniffling and coughing. I sit around and hear more gunfire. "Seriously about that car thing, we need to get out of here. Is there a back way or something, maybe?"

[Savato]

~Jade Fintch~

"Erm... All this creatures shit is getting into your head pal. But at the same time seeing how your kid's become... THAT, I think I can understand~"

I said almost nonchalantly, a little smirk staying on my face as I told myself he was probably even more nanners than the guy he took down, but hey anyone who stayed too long out there would probably be one cold motherfucker if they weren't at least fazed by all this. I paused for a second to think, or rather balance out the pros and cons of actually responding positively to his car problem. On one side I'd have to risk the life of my father's Lamborghini I borrowed from him after the... Accident. Yeah, an accident. Let's remember it like that. We would get out of this shithole complex and find somewhere a bit less Zealots. On the other hand, this apartment is also safe if we purge all the assholes living here and stayed until we'd at least get some new from the internet or even some TV News. Decisions, decisions. It took me about a minute of silence, which probably appeared awkward to him, but int eh end, I reached in my backpack and took out a set of keys I tossed to this John guy.

"Alright, you're driving. The car's at the parking long next to the complex, it's the red Lambo that fits four people. You can take some food from the fridge, I'll unlock the doors leading to the parking lot."

I told him, as my apartment building pass was pretty much attached to my backpack and I was just way too lazy to connect to the rest of the keys or simply give it to the guy. I quickly jogged down a few floors and opened the only other door in the ground floor with my pass, blocking the door for John and his ugly daughter. I skipped toward the beautiful car I was borrowed and waited for the guy to come. I was going to sit up front with the driver, since staying at the back got me car sick easily, and getting car sick in times like these was probably really fucking dumb.

[Sumable]

-The Batter-
I walk down with her, and grab a lot of food. Not sweet, so that Katie didn't eat all of it at once. I bring it with me,grab the shotgun that the guy that I killed on the stairs had, and get out. I had the handle of the bat in my teeth, the keyring on one of my fingers, the food and gun in my arms, and Katie on my shoulder still. I walk down and set her in the back, put the food and gun and bat in the back with her, and run around the car and get in, and starting it up. It took a tiny bit, but it started and I began driving down the road with this Jade girl. I looked on ahead and say "Get down," as I see a large beast pointing a very big gun at us. It looked like a huge machine gun, and I swerve into an alleyway before he could shoot. I speed down the alleyway and accidentally run over some smaller beast that appeared to be hiding. "Shit!" I yell and I then look up. It was raining. I slow down and press the button in the car to put the hood up, and I speed up again, rolling my window up. I get out of the alleyway, and onto the streets again.

Great... a riot. It was quite a lot of beasts of all sizes, throwing things that occasionally smoked up the place and then exploded, and some that summoned fire and lightning from nowhere. There was also gunfire, and I see something that looked like a two-colored, red and white beach ball explode, Michael Bay style. I back up into the alley again, and behind a building. No one would find us here, hopefully. After a while of hearing the action advance and seeing some dust and bricks falling, I hurry out of the alley and down the road, having to hit a human-like beast. It had abnormally thin arms and legs that snapped as soon as I hit it, and I continue driving off. Still rainy. After even more driving, I stop in front of a group that had a guy with a gun pointing said gun at them, and I think of what to do, looking back at the double-barrel. Katie had to roll down her window, because she started to throw up again. Poor girl.

[KaBling]

...

...

My bloody head.

First thing's first: not only was I completely inexperienced with flying, but also having to deal with freak weather replaced with sunshine then rain again. That, and other, more hostile Pokemon.

I didn't know how much time passed, and by the looks of things, time would pass faster with that bleed I was carrying, or even slower. Yes, there was a light stream of blood that came out of the wound on my head. The car I had landed on (badly) wasn't in a good shape, and I was thankful I wasn't a car. Probably just my head. So, the rain was making me cold, but at least it would wash my blood away. The fighting seemed quieter here - I was probably somewhere south, maybe slightly to the west, since not many people lived around here. There was decent housing around, but it wasn't like some sort of district currently in demand. Around, buildings stayed empty with signs proclaiming their status of being top-notch houses and whatnot. Of course, there were squatters for the less fortunate people around city, although they'd usually be shooed off before going into some other house.

Anyway, checking if the owner of the car was around, I decided to take a little walk. Flying would definitely be off the books for now, and my ears were howling with sounds. I still didn't have any idea where that metallic scrapping was coming from. The air was wet and cold and would cause hypothermia sooner or later, and my bleed seemed to stop over time. No possessions was definitely going to be a problem, especially as I lacked money and such.

Meanwhile, behind me... "What happened to my frickin' car?!" I tried to walk away, but I found myself blacking out. Then waking up two seconds later, with my face on the concrete again. I wasn't alright. I dunno what forced me down here.

Within five minutes, I found myself being confronted by a... emotionally-confused owner of a car. He definitely wanted to help me out, but his damaged, customised car said otherwise. It was like a can crushed on one side. "Woah... am I alright, mate?" I didn't think I moved my mouth there.

Sooner or later, I was no longer experiencing wet weather and sudden changes of temperature, but an atmosphere synonymous with a cosy hotel lobby. Of course, outside, it was... well, my current state of health was as damaged as the current state outside. "No, no... argh, sorry about the car..." Vision was blurry, hospital was 'closed' for obvious reasons, medical supplies in the car were all crushed... so, a somehow-surviving hotel lobby with several others seemed alright.

"It's alright. Totaled, of course, but you can't replace a head." So, I think I heard him mention the name 'Bolton' in there. "You stay put, I got a family back at home to take care of." He was genuinely concerned, although before I could thank him, he quickly rushed out the door with a... well, some sort of pistol in his hand. I recognised it as a something-Arms brand weapon, which the name got changed to Bolton Industries... funny, how I was blacking out and trying to remember things.

So, I was stuck in a hotel lobby, with a TV blaring on how a video game CEO reveals 'shocking' information about this guy Ronald discovering some paranormal shit. I was seriously crazy. That, and I would go on an epic adventure which involved punching the shit out of a space fetus.

First, I would help these wankers. Some outside, some inside.

[Lugia]

The small pokemon kept pointing his gun in various directions, and even ignored someone who was trying to talk some sort of sense into him. Of course, saying anything hurtful towards him wouldn't get me anywhere but closer to my grave, so, I simply explained "Yeah... about that, we kinda got kicked out of our old place, and since we're kinda working for minimum at this time, we kinda don't have money for our own place... that's why we're walking around in the streets like this... we didn't have a choice," I said this with a calm voice that might make someone forget that I currently had a gun pointed at my face. I honestly hoped he didn't assume we were thieves due to the 'not having money' bit, but, with what he said about the hotel, I wasn't exactly ready to stay there, anymore. Someone else then ran up to our little group with a gun in hand, and I decided to just point him out to the OTHER nut with the gun, wondering who would shoot first, and if we'd be ignored after that. I then remember the other, smaller pokemon, the one without the gun, and say to him "Hey, it was worth a try, right? Thanks," I managed to smile after that, I mean, he was a stranger, and he was willing to basically stick up for us against a guy with a gun. Some might call him naive, or childish, but I just think he's a nice guy for doing that. Sure, it might not have ended well if this guy was even crazier, but... well... people tended to at least try to keep crazy people away from guns. Whoever this new guy was, I just hoped he still had some sanity left.

[Evanist]

As Erion looked at everyone, he shakes his head, and breath deeply. This was so much now. He looked at everyone.
"Bordel de merde... Look, let's please not go around and freaken go in a killing spree." he says before calming down, having his own head concentrating on the guns. It was not a good idea to try and get disarm them but.... stopping them from shooting might be better. Though it might piss them off more if he did that... and it would not be very safe for the group. He breath deeply, and sighed.
"Look, I do not know how we all changed.... how we all took these forms... but we resemble strongly pokemons and hybrids of them.... maybe even became them. I don't know how that happen, but for crying out loud it seems as if each of us has some weird moves we can do." he then says, looking at the gun with a shotgun.
"For example, you resemble a cinccino from that game.... and looking at the others.... " he says before looking at the lucario and the weavile.
"A lucario and a weavile... and..." he says before looking at the weird goo dragon.
"I would say a goodra mixed with something else...." he then says. He was at the same time scanning everyone's weapons. If he were to try to disarm, it might end up badly, cause that cincinno could jump and catch the weapon and shoot.... and if he were to jam their weapons... well that might work... but he did not want to make that cincinno mad. It might end up bad for him.
"So can we please talk like civilized people and know what to do next.... cause if we are to survive, doing alone would be near impossible." he then says. He hoped that no one of them would be crazy enough to start shooting. He was still concentrating on the 2 weapon bearers weapons, careful. He then breath deeply.
"And the reason I am out here is kinda... cause I want to help. Kinda slightly my job as a part time helper for the police department..." he then says, before letting out a sighed. He looks at everyone and think.
"After we talk... I might have a idea of where you could stay for now." he then says.

[Savato]

~Freddy Girault~

This was getting insane, a bunch of people were just accumulating over here as a wild car suddenly stopped right next to the group, causing me to turn my head to face them. I'd immediately derive my full attention toward the real menace at hand, the guy with the gun as big as my freaking body in his car. Yeah my senses got strong but whatever he had a weapon. This one I fixated with an actual intent to kill, the kind of look he could see through the hazy rain and the wet fur, there was no mistake, I was more than ready to shoot him between the eyes if he actually made a move I wouldn't be comfortable with. I just quickly glanced on what was around him to see who was in the car, and I could see at least on person in the passenger seat but nothing else at the back. My gun wouldn't change its trajectory, ever, and wouldn't shake either as it wouldn't be the first time I aimed to end the life of a man.

"The gun down away now. I got enough with the three stooges and wannabe fed here to care about some random new crazy fuck."

I said in a rather irritated tone, thinking that my approach with the gun may not have been the BEST idea but it was likely to be the most educated one. These creatures all looked capable of killing even without a weapon while I looked like an over sized hamster with fat looking fur. I felt like we were all in equal grounds, everyone with the possibilities to kill one another. Well anyway, I felt a bit like the antagonistic figure in this situation, which slowly prompted me to lower my weapon, but this guy with the shotgun just seemed way off given we were already too much.

"Alright look, you've all probably guessed that I won't shoot you guys if you don't do anything absurdly dumb. However I'm not lowering this gun until this guy in the car shows how harmless he really is. Putain de merde quoi, que des emmerdements...."

I've said, clearing any misconceptions they could have about my intentions, after all the big dragon thing appeared to understand this situation more than the rest. The little cop guy didn't seem to bad either, though stating he's pretty much a fed may or may not have been a good thing. For my part, it didn't matter given the shithole we were all in.

"... There's a hotel I just got out of toward the direction you were going. The staff are gone but I got out of these because such big ass buildings are just immobile targets for these flying things and screwed over airplanes. Also yeaaaaah Pokemans. Gotcha pal."

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________

~Jade Fintch~

"OH my God! Oh my God! Oh my God! Oh my God!"

This guy was completely out of it, driving like a freaking psychopath in a road filled with fire breathing shits with wings and weird creatures, crushing a few along the way making the voyage a lot less enjoyable than it should have been. After a little while, I adapted to this shitty procedure and took out my phone to check if I had internet. I did this because, you know, no one knew what the fuck was going on and we all know the internet knows everything. Clicking and swiping, I tried to use Google, and the loading took FOREVER, I almost got as mad as the guy driving my dad's car and practically breaking it. I wasn't commenting on shit, my dad would shut his mouth if he knew about this predicament anyway. Ugh, it wouldn't load, so I simply gave up.

He suddenly stopped and we ll got noticed by those.. Things?! What the fuck were they? I could hear them speak normally but all I saw were realistic looking furfags, three of them being very typical yiffing-like suits: The small one with the gun-tail thing, the anthro dog guy and the cat-like thing that could apparently float or whatever and said he was from the cops. The rest would be some fatso dragon thing that looked like some badly drawn Barney and some other cat thing with weird claws and Egyptian like traits. My God were they all horribly ugly. I didn't even want to get involved in this and actually hopped this batter guy was insane enough to euthanize these grotesque shits. But as I grabbed my phone from my pocket, again, the little furfag with the French accent, the one waving the gun with his tail in a ridiculous fashion, mentioned something about a hotel and how it was deserted. Hotel. Free Wifi. Internetz. INFO. I jumped out of the car and practically hopped in the middle of the group, hands in the air, or more like at the level of my head.

"Hold up gaiz! Free hotel means free internet! Free internet means information on EVERYTHING! Including how to deal with this crap!"

I tried to look innocent here with a rather goofy smile as if I was giving the revelation of the century, the almighty miracle of internet was upon us and we could make this miracle a reality by going to the hotel. The rain started to soak my head as I remained paused in the middle of the whole thing, risking getting shot at any second if they found me to be not very entertaining. I turned my eyes toward the group of three plus the guy who talked about knowing a place and being with the cops, then toward the French hamster thing and finally back at the batter, maybe to see if they were, you know, LISTENING TO ME.

"Okok, guns down boys and girls, no needs to be raging attention whores and simply follow the voice of reason~"

As I said that, I marched toward the hotel, expecting the others to follow. I actually didn't really care if they all followed, but I'd expect at least ONE to follow and protect me, or at least serve as sacrifice fodder if some huge dino-Pokemon-thing came around. What did I just think? Pokemon? Whoah whoah, this guy may be speaking as a creature that worked for the cops but that doesn't make his words true. Pokemon? Seriously? That's retarded. Or was it? Eh, everything got retarded the instant I met this batter guy. I could see the rain clear right before me as I walked as sassy as possible, hair completely ruined by now, and I could distinguish the hotel from the rest of the buildings.

[Riddles]

Thankfully, none of them noticed Jade run into the alleyway. She let out a sigh of relief, and listened closely to see if it was safe to approach these people. At that moment, a car drove by her, and parked next to the group. Judging by their reactions, she assumed that the guy in the car had a gun as well. Great. Now there were two gun-wielders that she had to deal with.

As she listened in, she began to realize what was going on. The short guy was aiming the gun at everyone else in the group, and the others were trying to calm him down. None of them seemed to have any idea what was going on, except for one guy, who thought they had all turned into Pokemon. That didn't seem to make much sense, but then again neither did anything else. She would believe anything at this point.

The short guy seemed to only be defending himself. As far as Jade could tell, he wouldn't shoot her if she tried to approach them. Sure, he might point the gun at her, but as long as she didn't do anything stupid he wouldn't shoot. The same couldn't be said for the guy in the car, though. He hadn't said anything since he arrived, so she couldn't tell what his intentions were. It was best to just wait a little longer.

[Sumable]

-The Batter-
I look at the group. What was this, some big damn party? I tell Katie to stay in the car as I lean out the window. "Jade! Get back in! It's dangerous!" I say. I heard the guy say as long as no one did anything stupid, he wouldn't shoot. I sit in the car, and very carefully get out. "Look, I'm not going to do anything crazy. I just have two questions... What is going on, and does anyone know if there is something that may help my daughter's nausea?" I ask, looking around. "She's... well, I guess like... all of you, really, turned into something... uh... well, an animal," I say, coughing. I look back for a second to make sure that she was okay. "Sort of dog-like, may have something to do with her nose," I say, confused about the whole deal.

-Katie-
I open the door. I wipe my eyes, and my mouth, and my nose. I walk around the car and back behind Dad, and look around. He was talking about me, and a big squirrel had a gun. I stare at him, and wipe my eyes and nose constantly. I was afraid of what was happening and also what was going to happen soon. I hear more explosions in the distance, and the rain was pouring on my head. It was strangely calming, to be honest.

[KaBling]

Bolton Hamilton. CEO of Bolton Industries, formerly Bolton Arms and formerly Colt's and Nuts.

I never liked owning my family's business. Capitalism... well, let's just say I grew up in an era where liberalism was the new norm. Nobody wanted communism or capitalism, they wanted to be the centre... unfortunately, the world is owned by money, not people. As one wise man put it: 'A rich man's war, a poor man's fight.' We used to work under the big man once, working our asses off until we could own a business specialising in building equipment. Never took off, and in fact almost became bankrupt during the Great Depression. So, my great-great-grandfather Colt Hamilton decided to sell arms instead to either criminals or paranoid people, still under the name 'Colt's and Nuts'. We nearly got investigated several times, although we could always pull a few strings... well, make that many ropes.

Eventually, my grandfather Wayne Hamilton supplied industrial equipment and necessities once more, rebuilding a broken city and effectively putting the city under my family's control. Although, my half-brother Johnson Hamilton (current owner of Mal Co.) didn't seem too keen on sharing power - we never killed each other or even tried, we just had arguments and parted ways, before going at it through loads of money. I became owner of Bolton Industries once my father decided to retire several years ago, learning both the good and bad sides of business... not only was I creating industrial equipment, but arms and quashed court cases against myself. I renamed my company Bolton Arms before sticking with Bolton Industries once more, realising that weapons weren't our only exports.

Now, Johnson and I both seek to somehow acquire Greenfield Sciences to gain a foothold over one another, although that's not easy considering they're booming in terms of money. They'll buy us instead within a decade if we're not careful.

I suppose wealth doesn't help with everything. For one, I continued with shady deals with the Chinese or some other thing considered a threat by other countries, and threaten at least one person every week. For two, everything became the stuff of nightmares/twisted childhood memories. My frickin' car got totaled by a giant bat falling flat on it, something that probably came out in the newer versions of those Digimon games... or whatever they were called. I may be in my mid-twenties, but I certainly can't remember everything.

So, I had to get out of my obviously-stylish car. Rims were dented, sleek paint jobs were ruined, windows looked like they were going to explode, everything squashed on one side... at least that thing was still somehow breathing. I did have a family to go to, but it wasn't like I could go anywhere with a totaled car. Looking ahead, a penthouse I own on a hotel.

Carefully, I had to shoot my way through the street. Some people recognised me as the CEO of Bolton Industries and let me through, often after I intimidated them. Others tried to hold me ransom, although my specially-made pistol with explosive rounds said otherwise. Poor guy's ear's must've popped, since mine were beginning to by the end of all of that. The cars were burning, the people were running... at least, not everything was anarchy. A few 'mons (I don't want to confuse the two again) fought back and- you know what, I don't know who was on the good side. I just ducked and huddled the giant bat through the flames and potholes of the road, sometimes bumping into the occasional planted tree.

Eventually, I was in a calmer side of the city. What was supposed to be a trip to the beach was instead murderous chaos in getting back to the hotel where I owned a penthouse on top. Well, I brought it out of sympathy for some old chap with a poor heart. I should've guided my poor friend up there, but stupidly I left him in the lobby to care for himself. He'd chew out his own ears if his head was that badly hurt. I think family came first in my head... I didn't know if my wife Chell and daughter Maria were still alive in all this chaos. I couldn't even call them on a private network on my phone, not aware most of the cell towers had collapsed. I tried to call a private helicopter, that didn't work. Private limo, neither. Not even a PUBLIC taxi could be called. IN THE FUCKING RAIN.

While I breathed hard outside the hotel and zipped up my jacket, I witnessed some... unusual commotion. 'Mons and humans were having a standoff and... well, I had to break it up. Hopefully nobody knew me, but if they did, it would probably give me considerable influence. Rumours about selling arms to Chinese people, rebuilding the city, etc.

"Oi!" I yelled out, slipping my wet phone into a deep pocket of my brown jacket. Yeah, I also wore a white shirt underneath, and some wide jeans. Some rather casual-business shoes too. My family had a heritage stretching back to Britain, although I didn't really look all that British... heck, my family had real roots in Ireland or something. Anyway, my voice got through despite hearing various cracking noises and monsterous roars in the distance. As well as the occasional ridiculous 'MARTIN?' or 'DAN?' As awkward as things could've gotten, at least I didn't have to point a gun at someone. That was just asking for trouble. "What are you... idiots doing, standing out in the frickin' rain like some shitty parade? Get in the hotel, there's an answer to all your problems." Of course I didn't mean that. I lied, but I couldn't just tell them to get inside and expect someone to fix a head injury. Not while I had to run off and somehow get to my family's penthouse. Almost immediately, I began jogging and hoping for some means of transport.

...and, it turned out I wasn't lying when it came to 'an answer to all your problems.'