Chevaleresse

As you already know, I'm interested.

Kage hurried after Jacob and Bart. Once they reached the pile of grunts at the tunnel, he turned to the person he would have been battling. "Jacob, how about you send Teo in up front, and Lucas'll stand back and give them hell from a safe distance. I'd send out Reina, but she took a nasty hit earlier and she needs some time to recover. It looks like these goons have a lot of the same Pokemon." He laughed, despite the situation. "It's like they think they're from a video game or something. Let me guess, they're wearing some sort of funky outfits too?"

So, basically I'll be writing a few of my ideas for a book I'm attempting to get put together here. Feedback is always welcome. Impact is a sort of post-apocalyptic high fantasy, set about a century after an unknown event collapsed civilization on far-future Earth (roughly 200 years in the future at the moment of Impact), which was literally covered entirely with cities, except for the oceans and a few select areas owned by the elite. Humanity had developed interplanetary, but not interstellar, flight, though this was mostly used for mining operations and the like. Access to said technology was lost in the Impact, and most of the population of earth (roughly 98%) died immediately, with a large portion of the survivors dying to a sort of wasting sickness, along with other factors like starvation and fighting. The people who made it through that found themselves with enhanced capabilities, varying from slightly augmented physical strength or mental capacity to fully superhuman abilities, including but not limited to moving at well over 100 kph, lifting and moving seemingly impossible loads, or full telepathy (though the last is considered somewhat of an art, because it is nearly impossible to translate a telepathic impression into a coherent thought.) The stronger the ability, the rarer it tends to be, with three rough groups in the survivors; people who are essentially normal humans, those who have obviously unnatural but not overwhelming ability in one or two areas, and those that are veritable superheroes. I can give more detail on the setting if you'd like.

The would-have-been emperor sat at the tip of what might have been called a crag, if it were made of rock and not a protrusion coming from the omnipresent mounts of metal. His knees were drawn up to his chin, and his arms wrapped around his shins. Daichi - he visibly flinched whenever someone referred to him as such, but the young man refused to give his true name and the others did not know of anything else to call him after his apparent transformation. The stars were clearly visible, without a single cloud in the sky. Unusual, in these days, with the amount of debris still present in the atmosphere from the cataclysm so many years ago. There was a slight breeze, just enough wind to stir the air and keep it fresh. All in all, it was a beautiful night. If one watched closely, they might have been able to see him rock back and forth slightly. It was a small motion, belying what lay within and difficult to notice. His breathing had a hint of raggedness to it, and the darkness veiled the face underneath his hair, disguising the emotions that played over it. Daichi's clothing vastly contrasted his previous attire; it almost seemed like he had intentionally chosen low-quality, worn clothing, with frayed jeans and a shirt whose sleeves had been ripped at the ends. The sound of metal, gravel, and dirt crunching echoed from behind and below where Daichi sat as another shape moved toward him. It drew no reaction for the longest time, and Jason took a seat next to him, sharing the view. The boy's broad shoulders and dark hair normally held a strong contrast to Daichi's lighter frame, but at this time of night they seemed about the same. This particular viewpoint could be called beautiful as well. The shadow of night softened the harsh angles normally present in the terrain of endless junk, and allowed one to see a true rarity in it's entirety; bare earth, only dusted with a short, tough sort of grass and the few plants the ground could support. Jason still marvelled at it occasionally; the only plants he had ever seen before his journey brought him here were the sort that could survive on bare metal and shattered brick, snatching nourishment out of the air with grasping, twisted leaves and a metallic glint. The amount of buildings present in the bowl-like formation was unusual, too; many people had been forced to move here, and it was difficult to return, especially when one's new home was capable of feeding one's family. Both of them just sat for a while. Jason knew from previous experience that trying to initiate conversation would get him nowhere, eliciting either a sort of friendly innocence that covered the truth or monosyllabic answers followed by a swift escape, depending on Daichi's mood. He wasn't the patient sort, but he wanted to know what lay beneath the mask. Eventually, his patience paid off. "You know, don't you?" Daichi's voice was quiet, deep and soft, and someone without Jason's superhuman senses might have had difficulty actually picking out what the young man had said. It held a sharp contrast to what the rest of the world heard; while nothing had changed about Daichi's voice itself, he no longer spoke with the harsh, arrogant edge that had predominated his speech. "Know what?" Jacen's voice wasn't quite as deep, and had a straightforward, plain quality. Still, he was aware of the mood, and adjusted his tone accordingly. "I remember everything." "Everything? I thought you said you only had an impression of what happened. I remember us explaining to you, and you looked shocked." Some members of his group, including Jason himself to an extent, hadn't believed Daichi at first. He claimed that he was manipulated somehow, a weakness in his psyche used and exploited to allow someone else to gain total control. That sort of ability was unheard of, and thought to be quite impossible. "It was an act. I don't think anyone was really fooled. I tried to tell that to myself, but you can't run from your own actions." He breathed deeply, and the exhalation was more ragged than the last. He turned his head downwards, burying his gaze in his knees. "Do you have any idea what this is like? I thought I would be a hero someday. I already was, to an extent. I protected my little town from the world. I scared off anything and anyone who wanted a piece of our home. I'm sure you did the same. I always wanted something. . . more, though. I wanted to do more, something I would be remembered for." He let out a bitter, harsh laugh. "I guess that part's taken care of." Jason stayed silent for a change, unsure of how to respond. He was surprised to hear all this; normally Daichi was a fairly cheery individual, at least after his - for lack of a better term - transformation. The young man was always quick with a joke or a playfully biting comment (always immediately followed up with an apology, or a disclaimer stating that most of what he said was intended as nothing more than humor). This was strange. "I always prided myself on my morality. If I ever made a mistake, I tried my hardest to fix it. I'll never say that I'm infallible; I am human, after all. But this. . ." He trailed off for a moment. "I don't know if I can thank you for sparing my life." "You can try to make up for it, or something." "How? I ordered death and was obeyed. There are so few people left alive across the entire world, and I rendered the landscape lifeless for miles around here. I watered what is possibly the only fertile land left in the entire world with the blood of the innocent. I don't blame those who carried the orders out, either; if anyone disobeyed, I threw their bodies on top of the pile of their butchered family. I did so many horrific things to so many people. Those women. . ." He stopped again and took a few more breaths, almost gasping as he struggled to maintain control over his voice. Jason again remained silent, though this time his uncertainty was mixed with shock and horror. People had told him many things about what the mad emperor had done, but he had never known which were true. "I am a maelstrom of villainy and sin." He picked his head up and looked in Jason's direction, though he didn't meet his gaze. "They say that psychic suggestion is just that. You can't make someone do something they would never do. That means that there is some sort of circumstance in which I would do these things." His eyes rose to finally reach Jason's, though the other boy was still staring out over the ledge. "I am not sure if I even deserve the release of death, but I cannot 'make up for' this." "Daichi-" "Don't call me that." Jacen looked back towards him, though he had already returned to looking out at the small city nestled in the depression below. They both remained silent for a few moments. "It isn't my name." "I understand." It made sense. Wanting to go by a new name, leaving the old one to rot along with the memory of the deeds committed under it. "I don't think you do." The other teen's reply held a double meaning. "I am telling the truth; that is not my name. My mother called me Kaede." "Oh. Well, Kaede, my own mother always said that there was no use worrying over what has been done. Worry about what has to be done. Sound like a deal?" Jason wasn't really sure of how to respond to the situation, other than moving on as quickly as possible. "I could sit here and point out the problems with that ideology, but I'll refrain from doing so." "That sounded like a yes." The only thing this response elicited was a sigh of exasperation.

Do you have a system restore point, or any software for recovering deleted files? The latter exists in free forms, though I recommend installing to an external drive of some sort.

You know that rolling 3x/evading 6x gets rid of Blastblight, right? The trick to Brachy is a lot like the trick to Gore/Shaggy; he's got really strong attacks that come in consistent patterns.

Damnit. Well, here goes nothing. "Reina, Bulldoze!" As he shouted the order, Kage recalled both of the Pokemon he currently had on the field with a smooth motion, simultaneously trying to brace himself against the incoming tremors. The saurian Pokemon rolled back onto her feet, a bit unsteadily, and then slammed a foot down with a powerful motion, sending shock waves toward the opposing team. Her trainer was sent to his rear, but Kage still prepared to send both Lucas and al'Thor back out when the attack subsided. ((al'Thor is a Metang, by the way.))

Damn. That was too close. "al'Thor, Pursuit on that creep's Metang! Reina, give it a nasty Bite if it sticks around!" This is bad. Who the hell are these people? "Lucas, intercept that Sonic Boom with Magical Leaf!" Again, Lucas was actually the first to act, scattering the glowing projectiles in a sort of shield between al'Thor and the Voltorb. Reina and al'Thor lunged in tandem, with the Metang just flying over the Tyrunt's head as the Steel-type swung at the opposition.

Kage released the rest of his team as quickly as possible with the exception of Virtes; the little Dragon-type was fiery, but not strong enough to battle in this sort of situation. If it came to it, he'd physically defend his team. Before he could follow up on Jacob's advice, his path was cut off by a number of rival Pokemon. Damn. "You ready for this?" he asked his team. He quickly assessed his matchup, and figured out that he was in some deep trouble. He couldn't easily KO the opposition without doing the same to his own team. He'd have to take out their threats individually. "Alright, al'Thor, use Light Screen and stick to Reina as closely as possible. Reina, I need you to give that Elgyem a nasty Bite." Kage briefly considered the stone he had in his pocket before giving his Kirlia the next order. No, it would hurt more than it would help. "Lucas, why don't we give that Voltorb a little Confusion?" The Psychic-type was the first to act, though all of his team acted nearly in unison. Telekinetic waves bombarded the Voltorb as the Tyrunt leapt toward the Elgyem, with al'Thor as close to her as the Steel-type could manage without impeding her motion.

Hiroki gave a somewhat hesitant smile in return. "That sounds cool. I don't really know how busy I'll be, but I'll do that." She looked around the room at the others after she noticed a bit of motion out of the corner of her eye. Ringo looked absolutely stricken, which turned Hiroki's shy smile into a broad, smug grin. She made eye contact with the other girl before turning back to face Nozomi and Kagari. "Were we going to play anything else?"

"Lady Silef of house Asterlux. I was the head of the house, until. . . well, the event that brought me here. It is good to meet you." It was still strange, to think she was dead. It wasn't pleasant, either. The thought stunk of failure. "Let me apologize for my staring; your, ah, manner of dress is not something I'm used to." She almost referred to her own armor, or lack thereof, but thought better. I might end up in combat with this man. It wouldn't be prudent to inform him of my strategy. Her face soured a bit, however, as the show continued. "You'd think they could just get to it," she grumped, mostly to herself.

I said I'd pop back in with the next chapter, and I'm sticking to that.

Silef looked at the Victonari next to her with more than a fair bit of surprise evident on her face. A knight, and knowing the manners of the court? Color me surprised, though his manner of dress - or lack thereof - is still rather offputting. Perhaps I can tolerate his presence. "He's probably some jumped-up minstrel who thinks his music was given by the gods themselves - as they all do, in my experience. They tended to live rather short lives from what I remember." Her voice was addressed to the man beside her, but pitched so that it was clearly audible to the obnoxious one with the brass. Or, at least, it would have been if not for his braying.

Silef is trying not to pay attention to the commoner filth.

Hiroki was equally impressed by Nozumi's singing and miffed that she completely stole the spotlight. That was supposed to be her song, and an actual chance to prove both her singing and guitar skills, but the other girl apparently had a different idea. She felt so out of place. Everyone around here seemed like they did everything so effortlessly, and here she was being upstaged by someone on one of her favorite songs. And, of course, the obnoxious one from before was there to rub salt in the wound. She sighed slightly. Hiroki supposed that it wasn't Nozumi's fault for being a much more talented singer. "Um, you should give me singing advice sometime. Maybe I could give you advice on playing bass or something."

sorreh i keep getting distracted I promise to post tomorrow at some point.

Silef looked at the whole hall with a raised eyebrow. The whole display was rather ostentatious, but she was used to such gratuitous displays of wealth and power. (Well, other than the servants being suits of armor, and perhaps the overall scale of the thing.) The other guests, however, were not exactly what she was expecting. It was a veritable menagerie, with people of every sort of shape and size present and all of them rather uncouth-looking. Notably so were the people she was seated next to. Some sort of barbarian chief, from his look, on her left and a common hunter on her right. She said nothing to either, but her displeasure at being surrounded by such people was clearly evident in her posture and face.

Silef waited the barest amount of time, only long enough to be on the edge of politeness, before ordering a hearty meal. Going into battle on an empty stomach was tantamount to suicide, and this "Clash of Fates" didn't exactly sound like a peaceable discussion. She focused her mind intently on the task ahead, trying to mentally prepare herself for a variety of situations. Would she be leading troops? Fighting duels? Would small squad-based combat predominate? Each one had its own set of tactics and sorceries; mantling oneself in flame, for example, tended to earn one the distaste of one's comrades in close quarters. The messenger entered the room to the noblewoman devouring an unfortunate leg of chicken in a decidedly unladylike manner. She froze momentarily, then set the food down and stood. After hurriedly cleaning herself with a napkin, she quickly skimmed the sheet. It seemed basic enough; simply requesting that she allow the servant to bring her to this place. She signed her name with a slight flourish, then gestured at the servant to lead her forward.

That's. . . weird. I don't like this. "Lucas, Calm Mind and stay alert. I don't know what he's trying to accomplish, here." The Kirlia did as he was told; there was no outward effect, but internally he was gathering his energy, building up his mental fortitude and preparing to strike at the first opportunity. What's he doing? Trying to psych me out or something?

EP10 was out when I joined, iirc.

You can head to the industrial part of town and try to investigate, you can attempt to find Mediators or other magi that might know something relevant, you can sit around and nap if you really feel like it. Up to you.