Ammokkx

Secundi Lux

---

Chie had spent most of her time looking out the windows, losing herself in the chaotic rattling of the rain. Something was bugging her about the exams everyone had gone through, a feeling that had eaten away at her ever since the four girls reunited after their individual evaluations.

She had it easy.

Nobody had said so out loud; a good chance it didn't even cross their mind. But compared to what the others had gone through, their stories; Chie's evaluation was a breeze. Chie ended up with a few wounds, sure. None of them severe, and her instructor was more toying with her than actually trying to kill her. But Rivka, Selma, Crystal- their instructors sounded downright malicious. Days long excursions that tested the limit of the girls' endurance, fights that had a real chance of killing one of them... not to mention the state Crystal was left in after her trial.

It bugged Chie. She couldn't quite tell why, but it did. It's not like she wanted to be as beat up as her teammates were, and her first instinct was worry for their health above all else. So then why did her getting off easy plague her mind so? Chie closed her eyes for a bit, remembering back to it. Remembering the words of her instructor.

"Stop doubting yourself."

A tapping on her shoulder snapped the girl out of her thinking. Liam, one of the cadets, offered her a cup of coffee. Chie gave him a warm, if slightly pained smile and humbly accepted it. She... didn't like coffee very much. It was bitter, it often tasted burnt and her household was much more fond of tea. Beggars can't be choosers, though, and its not like she was going to pass up on some needed stimulants. Chie carefully drank down the cup, trying not to think too much about the taste as she did. Luckily the protein bar- though hardly exciting itself- did a good enough job of cleansing her palette after. All too well, too, since it looked time for Kheper to shape up and roll out. Chie hadn't missed the ominous black clouds that had tainted the sky, so it was only a matter of time before something happened. Chie glanced over at the monitors, trying to get as good of a look in at the area as she could get before the orders to deploy came in.

"Yes Ma'am!" Chie saluted and wasted no time with transforming into her parma. She stuck close to her team while still being the last one out of the building, frowning at the awful weather. Rivka, Selma, Crystal- all of them talkative, all of them gearing up for a fight. Chie didn't spare much of a look back at the soldiers who would be left behind, her eyes fixed on her team. She felt some of the tension glide off her shoulders when she saw their confidence shining so radiantly against the darkened night. Involuntarily, her face eased up, the corners of her mouth curled up just a tiny bit. Its their first real mission together, and somehow, maybe, everything was going to be alright. She just knew it would be.

"Selma, I'll use my magic to help you scout the area. Don't be afraid to rely on me," she offered. She knows about Selma's seismic trick, but it took a lot of concentration. Chie had a slightly easier time feeling out the shifting centers of gravity than she used to, but the rain was throwing a lot of grey noise into the mix. Between her and Selma, though, there wasn't a whole lot that could slip by unnoticed. "Nothing should get past the both of us. And even if something somehow did," Chie continued her thought, pausing to look at her two other teammates, "then Rivka and Crystal should be able to cover us."

Yu☆Gi☆Oh!: Soul Mirror

"I know more about this damned shrine than you do," the boy growled back at her when she questioned his motives. "And what I'm doing here is none of your damn business. Get lost," he spat out, turning his head back to the door. But by some cruel twist of irony to him, Aiya deigned to finally give her name:

"The name is Aiya Tenshi, Daughter of Tsumugi Kotei."

The delinquent had readied his fist to punch the door since kicking hadn't worked out, but froze upon hearing what she'd said. "Tsumugi... Kotei..." he muttered, throwing his head back over his shoulder. "You..." he growled again, the frown on his face having turned to an ice cold glare. He fully turned, narrowing his eyes, getting a good look at her. He seemed to noticed something about her as his eyes widened, briefly, just for a little bit. Then, the boy laughed. He'd brushes his hand through his hair and bellowed it out, a mad laughter as he seems to have realised something. "Ahaha! Isn't that just wonderful! This once-noble shrine, left to rot in some spoiled little angel's care!"

He bitterly laughed it out for a bit, but then stopped himself. "Hey, you're a duelist right? Don't even bother to hide it. I can see those runts behind you. How about we practice for a bit?" he'd taunt her. The boy threw the backpack slung over his one shoulder to the floor, but not before pulling out a duel disk from it. "If you win, I'll leave this place alone. If I win, though, you'll be a good little girl and sit out while I have a chat with the old man."

JRPG-inspired magic school RP with a heavy focus on story and characters!

:thinking:

I've been out of the RP game for a hot minute, and I'm known to take risks with GMs that are new members, so plot down my interest for now.

Yu☆Gi☆Oh!: Soul Mirror

Kei ruffled through his hair in frustration listening to Haruo trying to explain the situation. ”What are you even on about...?! Improper harmony and vessels..." Kei muttered as he tried to wrap his head around it. "Humans possessed by a malevolent spectre, like... like a ghost, right?" he'd try to reason with himself. The older not-quite-gentleman was talking about spirits too, and mentioned Kei's very own Silent Swordsman. Hearing that, he perked up. ”Wait, huh? You're not messing with me right?! Partner... partner is real? I really did hear him?"

It sounded too good to be true Kei. He'd always felt attached to the card for sure, felt a connection between the two of them. How could he not? Silent Swordsman was his secret weapon, his surefire pattern to victory. Kei pulled out the card to look at it. ”Partner... partner, are you there...?" he'd ask the card, getting nothing in response. Of course he didn't... the man must've made a mistake.

"Oh and Shinrei? I've been running in opposition to some of his exorcism attempts for a while. He is taking a sledgehammer to all things even when a chisel would do just fine. He probably loathes me considerably," Haruo would speak up again to snap Kei out of his daze. The boy looked back up as the man followed up with: "He's the type I'm sure to remember your face, so do be careful."

"Ngh... he can bring it! I won't lose next time...!" Kei tried to sound tough, but given him being on the floor as he said that and only managing to tie Haruo, it didn't seem to have much weight behind it. ”I don't get any of this... but if Shinrei's trying to hurt people... trying to hurt partner... then I just gotta beat him! I gotta stop him!" he'd declare with gusto. Kei wobbly rose to his feet, a fire in his eyes. He slid the silent swordsman in his hand back into his deck, shakily reaching his arm up. ”That's why... duel me again! I gotta... get stronger! Strong enough to beat even Shinrei!"

Kei was in no state to duel... but he sure looked ready to.

---

Meanwhile...

Aiya found herself making her way back home after her encounter with Tsukiko, having had some new things to ruminate on. As she walked through the gate to the dragon's shrine in Kaleido, she could hear some kind of thumping in the distance. It sounded like someone was causing some kind of rattle by smashing into something, just every once in a while.

Uknown to her was that a boy similar in age to her was kicking down the door to the shrine, locked from an obvious lack of anybody being home. "Damnit!" he shouted. "Open the damned door, old man...! You can't escape me forever!" he'd growl to himself, the frustration clear in his voice. The sight of his foot making a crack in the wood was that which Aiya was greeted with after coming up the stone staircase. She hadn't caught any of his mutterings but did see him wearing an unfamiliar school uniform to her, suggesting he wasn't from Kaleido. The boy himself hadn't taken any notice of Aiya, but if she called out to him, he wouldn't waste much time looking back over his shoulder to give her a glare and ask "Huh? Who the hell are you supposed to be?"

Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Apocalypse Rescue Team

Sorry Orgasmo, Tree, I'll be dropping this. It's not that I don't want to continue this RP, I'm actually pretty fond of it, but the mental taxation of having an obligation to write for something is a bit much for me at the moment. Under a lot of stress, life is rough.

I hope you can forgive me for dropping the ball, but right now I don't think I can handle having an RP I'd need to write as consistently for as this would require.

Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Apocalypse Rescue Team

"Vandalism..." Gale muttered to himself as he listened to Sage's explanation of events. The thieves were not only making off with the cargo, but actively damaging and destroying the infrastructure too. They're going under the cover of night, Sage posited, so would a stakeout be the right call? He's suspecting his son, but can that be right? Gale didn't have enough to go off of, but at least the account gave plenty of insight. After doing his pondering pose for a bit, the minun looked up with some determination. "...Okay. We'll look into it, Mr. Sage." he said to the aged farmhand. Gale was gonna try his best to live up the guild's expectations on the first job, so he got to work straight away with investigating the scene of the crime.

Exiting the shed, the first thing Gale did was investigate that broken fencing Sage had mentioned. There wasn't much to the fence itself; it sure did look damaged. The only strange and icky part was that Gale couldn't take two steps without his paw landing in some mud, several puddles of it being scattered all over the immediate surroundings of the fencing. If it had been raining it would be one thing, but it seemed to be concentrated in just the one spot. Not that Gale could really... figure much out from that.

Gale continued on to question some farmhands, but none of them really gave much more insight than what Sage had offered. Vexing to be sure, but not entirely unexpected. If anyone knew the source of the thefts then the guild wouldn't have needed to be called to begin with. The Sceptile said he was suspicious of his son, but Gale had a hard time believing that. Sage seemed like a nice father, from first impressions. Even at his worst, Gale never thought to steal something from his own dad. The minun nodded to himself and decided to waddle on over, finding Ting staring up at his target. "Oh, Ting," Gale would address him, "did you already talk to Herb?"

Gale would regale what Sage told him about the suspecting theft, but seeing as Ting hadn't yet questioned him, the minun promised to do it himself. "It's probably better if I talk alone... two of us might scare him off," he'd argue. Approaching Herb's tree, Gale would yell: "Excuse me!" up at it. Herb didn't respond, or even look in the Minun's direction. Gale would try again, but to little avail. Crossing his arms in frustration, Gale looked at the bark of the tree, then his paws, and then his muddy paws. He wasn't much of a climber, but when needs must...

After an uncomfortable ten minutes of trying and failing to climb up the tree, shaking its branches all the while as he did, Gale heard a "Cut it out already!" from a now-annoyed Grovyle up above. Herb was glaring at Gale pretty fiercely, but the Minun at least caught his attention.

"Ha... ha... sorry, I just... ha... had a question!" he'd shout up, sliding back down the bark he'd made some progress up and landing his butt in the grass. "Do you... know anything... about the thefts?" Gale would ask.

"What...? No, and just leave me alone." the Grovyle would snap back, leaning back into his spot and having his gaze wander off again. Gale looked and tracked his line of sight, finding a Liligant on the other end of the line of sight. It seemed that Sage was at least right on one thing; Herb didn't seem to care about anything other than eyeing up some girls. Since it was fruitless to try and talk to the grass type like this, Gale got up and dusted off some grass before making his way back to the other two.

When reconvening, Gale was the first to share his findings. "So... the owner thinks it might be his son," he quickly reestablished for Fio's sake. "I couldn't get much out of him, though. He ignored me and kept looking at a lady out in the field..." he'd explain. The Minun also made sure to mention that the area around the fencing was really muddy, if only because he needed an excuse as to why the little legs he stood on were covered in ground-goop. "What about you two...? I don't have much to go on, so all I can really think is to maybe stake out during the night and see if anything happens."

Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Apocalypse Rescue Team

Getting something up today.

EDIT: There. Quick, dirty, didn't think about it too hard, didn't revise, but at least it's up and done.

Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Apocalypse Rescue Team

Shit, two days in a row where I intended to write and didn't get anything done. Whew.

I'm being a pretty big liability. I've no intent to drop if you two want to keep going, but I really am just struggling to get to writing anything at all recently. I'll see if I can't get something going tomorrow still, but. Y'know. No promises.

Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Apocalypse Rescue Team

hi, my name's Slowness and I tend to suffer from terminal Ammokkx

Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Apocalypse Rescue Team

"Why would someone steal from farms? If they're hungry...can't they do things for money to get the food?"

Fio's question was innocent, naïve even. And yet, Gale still couldn't help but be distracted thinking about it. "...Maybe they could," Gale answered her back. He wasn't all that worldly himself, but he'd taken in some of the country's sights and sounds. "I think sometimes that's what this is for some pokémon. 'Just another way to get money for food...' maybe."

Gale wasn't actually too sure of his own answer. Unlike Ting, he wasn't really robbed or taken advantage of on his journey. He probably had Hurricane and his endless lectures on not trusting strangers to thank for that. He doesn't really know what drives a person to steal. As for Ting... Ting probably didn't want to linger on it, either. Gale retreated back into his own thoughts again, trying and failing to find another topic to shift to. This really wasn't his strong suit.

"...Well. It won't be dark when we get there, at least. The road looks familiar," Gale chimed in, figuring to just go back to the topic of discussion from before. He still wasn't actually sure the road really did look familiar, but at the very least they weren't going the wrong way. "Let's hurry a little," he said back to the other two, hastening his pace so the party would speed up.

Eventually, the day would reach the gloom of sundown. The sky was painted a beautiful orange, heralding the day's incoming end. It was fortunate, then, that the orchards were in sight at the same time. Even from afar the trio could see the linings of trees, a host of all kinds of fruits and berries. Drawing closer, though, it became clear that there wasn't actually much blue present in its landscape. It seemed more red and pink. The grass types working the fields were tending to all manner of apples and Pecha berries, but very little in the way of Oran berries. Most of them seemed to engrossed to be paying much mind to the party as they rolled up, even if Gale kept his eye out for anybody to talk to. As his gaze shifted around, he spotted the Pokémon closest the trio; a Sceptile, straw hat on his head, tinkering with the wheel of a wagon. He also took note of a broken bit of fencing, a slight ways away from the shed the party was approaching. It sure did look like some kind of trouble had been stirred up here.

Gale looked back at his part, doing his signature 'thinking' pose before opening his mouth. "We got here a little late... I think I'll ask that Pokémon over there for some information. Do you think you two could ask around on the field? Given the hour, they might almost be done," Gale asked his party. It was a sound course of action, to him. If work was about to be wrapped up, then these Pokémon could probably afford a few moments to answer some questions. "I'll ask to see if we can get a place to stay in return for our help, too."

Having said his piece to his partners, Gale split off from the group to approach the distinctive Sceptile he took note of. The little tippy tapping of Gale's feet on the wooden planks seemed to reach their ears, given that the Pokémon shot a look in Gale's direction. Having been spotted, Gale blinked a couple times and... awkwardly waved. He froze up a little, figuring out a little too late he didn't really know what to say or do in this situation. Then he remembered something and reached for his travelling bag, ruffling around in it and taking out the wooden emblem he got from Kick. He waddled a bit closer and held it up over his head with both paws to let the Sceptile take a look at it.

"...I'm here to help."

...Maybe Gale... shouldn't have suggested he be the one to talk to the head honcho after all.