Pokemon in Space [IC Chapter #03]

[LucidRain]

Kalva was a little disappointed that there weren't any more of those 'luxury' balls. He was always worried that Quina didn't have a comfortable time in the times he had to put her into the Aether Ball, and was hoping he could get a spare one if Cathode did have one. Oh well, that was too bad.

"so you can repair things like a"

Kalva struggled for the correct spelling of the next word. It was these times that he really missed Quina, she would know the right word to use.

eggi engee eni

He gave up after a few more tries, crossed out the sentence from before and tried again.

"so you can repair things like a fixer

is there other things you fixed"

 

He listened to Betani carefully on the side. So... Gina was part of the rebellion. Well, Kalva wasn't too surprised to be honest. Gina was passionate and strong-willed at her age, and Kalva could see her rising to the call when she was even younger and surrounded by a Nexus of zealous rebels. Though to think that she once fought against Space Aether, and even more than that; that Kalva didn't know this about her until now... it really made him think. Did Kalva really know much about Gina, or was he judging on too much of a shallow basis? He trusted her the most out of all humans in the Space Aether group, and so far he had never went wrong in following most of her guidance. Kalva knew she was a good person. He just needed to understand her as a person, rather than just a good mentor or guardian.

[DemICE]

"He-~"

Cathode found his attempt to spell what was obviously an engineer cute, but found even funnier the irony that his replacement word was more accurate than the intended one.

 

"What you wanted to write is an engineer, see?" She quickly pulled out her Comm and typed the word for him to see the correct spelling. "But actually 'fixer' would fit more what I'm doing. I am leagues before a real engineer. I am merely tweaking already existing stuff, or try to combine some of their parts to create something I have an idea of. Like this Sleepyspray here, see?" She said pulling out her newest successful contrapion. "It is a repel bottle but instead of repel liquid it has sleep powder from a butterfree. Useful eh?" Anyone watching her could swear her eyes  had a sparkle of excitement right now.

 

"But that's the extent of my ability. I can't create something completely new yet. That Luxury Ball needed just enough of my knowledge to become functional again. If it was any more broken I wouldn't have been able to do much. But I hope", she said pumping her firsts in front of her  "in the future my skills will evolve enough to be able to create original stuff."

 

She then got closer and whispered in his ear "When that happens, I might be able to replicate my Luxury Ball's working interior and implement it into your cute ralt's ball  without interfering with the Aether model's other functions. Just don't tell anyone 'kay?"

 

Realizing that she had just done the unprecedented  of getting in very close proximity with another person on her own volition, she panicked slightly and instead of doing the normal thing of pulling away from him, she actually pushed him away from her with enough force to make him fall in the fortunately large row of seats occupying the back of the vehicle.

"Aaaaahhh s-sorry sorry I ddididn't mean to-.... oh no, a-are you okay? I didn't want to actually push you, honest!"

[Bfroger6]

"O-oh right, Kai. Yeah Mum's gotta be feeling real great about herself right about now..." Rob scratches his chin and sighs but smiles. "Yeah I guess Bob's gotta be happy too. But I'd like it if he stopped being mad at Mum and me for failing the Cadet course. We expressed out worry but he didn't listen and now he's blaming us." Rob notices Kai standing up in the car and turns in panic. "H-hey Kai you gotta sit down, you can get hu-ag!" Turning the wheel, he barely escapes crashing right into another car while he was busy panicking over Kai. Wiping a droplet of sweat off his forehead, he keeps his eyes on the road, trembling somewhat. Betani seemed to be perfectly fine and only shot the man a sideways glance full of contempt. "I-I'm sorry everyone. But yes Kai please sit down you're giving me a heart attack!" He added in a panicked voice, holding a hand over his chest where his heart would've been. He then types something onto the screen on the car's interface and a holographic image pops up.

 

 

"Do you mean this? It's a Tyranitar. Sounds like a cool toy to have." Rob smiles.

 

On the other hand, Betani was quite silent. Until Radovan implied she might be jealous, at which point her cheeks flashed red, she unbuckled her seatbelt and turned in his seat, glaring daggers at him. "I. Am. Not. Jealous. Of. That. Despicable. Lousy. Woman." She uttered every word with utmost hate in her voice. For a moment she is frozen in that position, until Rob places a hand on her shoulder and she shakes her head. "Get off me." She pushes his hand off and sits back down, buckling up. She's silent for a second, but speaks again soon. "The prophecy is something about a wish maker. One that woke for seven days every thousand years to grant the sole wish of many. Apparently, by their calculations, we were at the thousandth year since the Cosmostrophe, which was, by this legend, also caused by the wish maker. But they were apparently wrong. And the legend was obviously fake, since nothing happened. All the ruckus was made by them and President Naether, not some stupid legend." Crossing her hands, Betani shuts down again.

 

Rob takes over. "Yeah, what Betani said, pretty much. But it's a cult. They were probably gathered around some charismatic but delusional person who led them into believing this nonsense. Some say they the Pokelluminati even went as far as to perform genetic experiments on humans and Pokemon in order to influence the wish maker into wishing for world's destruction. But if you believe in something like that, then you also gotta believe in the god of creation who would most definitely prevent such a catastrophe from happening. I don't know what they were thinking, honestly and I have other worries. We all do. Pokelluminati are forgotten nowadays. Some people in drapes are seen from time to time but the officials arrest them immediately and they're mostly copycats that wanna undermine Space Aether's credibility by posing as Pokelluminati."

 

As Rob speaks, the scenery slowly shifts as there are less and less tall business buildings and more apartment buildings. Additionally, you can see billboards posting holographic images of Empress Tsareena and her famous Tsareena. Lots of shops line the streets, from clothes to supermarkets.

[IntSys]

 

I command to crush, and off with his head, with the griffin's sharp talon.

Soldiers onward now, pray for your queen, raise your spade right now, gather lines for break.

Nut cracker kingdom out, hit to the left, cotton candy privates are melting down, let the red queen off with off with off with his head.

Hit to the right, lollipop sergeants are crumblin' down, it's time to win battle.

 

 

The singer poured her heart out with each and every verse, singing a world that could've been. Oppositions fell like an egg thrown at a rock. The singer's stance was clear, and it was quite a surprise that she was tolerated here. Pokemon sympathizers are few to none in the city, after all.

 

The ruckus happening next to Emmanuel surprised him, snapping him back from the fairy tale. "Wh-What happened?" He turned to look at Cathode, particularly confused.

[LucidRain]

Engineer. Got it. I'll most definitely forget that later, but I'll try to remember. E.G.N - wait, no. E.N.G.I.N.E.E.R.

Kalva watched the Sleepyspray with great interest. He saw those 'repel' bottles in the scraps piles he was familiar with as well. Actually, Flint, a Rockruff that came through their place every now and then carried one of those 'repel bottles' around as a form of dummy toy. He and Quina tried to tell Flint it was unhealthy, but Flint insisted.

And now to see a human be able to modify it into something useful! It was fascinating really. Kalva thought of all sorts of ways that Cathode could invent stuff out of scrap. Their family was the sort that picked through piles of refuse to find something useful to sell. Over time, they had collected quite the stash of old time gadgets, broken equipment and junk. Perhaps Cathode can make something useful out of those things? Though, Kalva thought sadly, their part of town wasn't quite the safest. Maybe later.

Kalva's face lit up when Cathode offered to modify the Aether Ball. He brought up his pen and paper to write a thank you, before he found himself being pushed surprisingly far. Kalva was rather thin and short for his age, but Cathode was pretty strong to push him over so easily!

 

Kalva kind of laid on the seats with a surprised face, blinking a few times to comprehend what had happened. Did he do anything wrong? Did he accidentally offend her? Was he in trouble? When Pokemon pushed him over so abruptly, he assumed that they were playing tackle with him. And the last time a human pushed him over was when...no, of course not. His Dad was gone and Cathode was another Cadet of his age! And hearing Cathode apologise profusely - it was wrong of Kalva to even be reminded of that time. Kalva sat back up and picked his pen and paper back up and half bowed in apology, got confused on what he was apologising for, then waved with an awkward smile to show that he understood. He got up his pen and wrote,

"its alright misteaks mistakes happen

thank you for offering to help me :) "

[DemICE]

Cathode's face was completely hidden by the bushy hair she had pushed in front of it out of shame. Still it was relieving that her reflexive action did not cause an even worse reaction. Why was he apologizing though?

"R-right, thanks.  ... I'm just not very good with interacting with other people, and close proximity makes me even more uncomfortable. I was so excited at the prospect of a big tinkering project that I forgot about that for a moment. ...I'm trying to work it out, seeing as my days of not having  to interact with other people are long gone."  

 

Last part was partially a lie. She had never given much thought to her problem since the meeting with Mason. In fact, she had never considered it a problem from her side. Though that incident made her start processing it in her mind.

Speaking of problems, there was still the mystery of her device having been tampered with.  There was the possibility of it being a voice recording function, so she should be careful of what she says with it near her.

 

In the meantime she had moved her hair away from her face, and she noticed a bewildered Emmanuel staring at her direction, he was asking what happened.... naturally. Seriously what to even say?

"Don't worry don't worry it was just an accident,  hee... hee... " She answered avoiding eye contact.  She realized her hand had gone and started scratching the behind of her head on its own. She immediately pulled it back. That was an obvious guilty pose in the movies. Way to go Cathode... way to go....

 

Moreover, people had been discussing about cults and catastrophes near her all this while, and she had managed to not listen to any of those probably important pieces of information.  Even more way to go Cathode...

Edited July 26, 2017 by DemICE

[Yours Truly]

Radovan shrugged his shoulders before looking directly at Betani "I honestly didn't mean anything by it, it just seems like you think about her and her position in life a lot..." After realizing that he had just tried to solve a social mistake with another mistake he quickly tried to redirect the conversation by reaching out to pet Red before asking "So what are your reasons for choosing your starter anyway?" to no one in particular.

[InnocentSerenity]

 

Kai let out a cry as she was knocked off her feet, her hands failing to grab onto anything to prevent her from hitting the ground. Her head hit the car’s floor from her side, the hard impact causing her eyes to tear up only slightly. She failed to move for some time, barely reacting until she saw the Tyranitar hologram appearing.

 

“Yeah, yeah!” The girl quickly got back to her feet, nodding her head quickly as if her head wasn’t in some kind of pain. “That’s the one, it looks awesome!” She showed no signs of feeling anything abnormal as she waved her hands around in front of her. “Ohh, I can’t wait until they come out.” Kai jumped into her seat, putting on her seat belt as Rob asked. She tapped her head, checking where she had hit the floor the hardest. "Ah, good. I don't need to ask Mama for help."

[Strider]

Shelly backed off a bit at Betani's sudden annoyance. "So more just utter contempt for her than jealousy? Anyway," and here, Shelly tried to pull things towards a slightly tamer subject, "I might have missed something before, but did you say where you're from?" It was a small, superficial attempt to change the subject a bit, so Shelly had no idea where to go with the conversation, but it seemed better than the alternative of letting things devolve into an awkward and annoyed silence.

"I guess, I'm curious how you came to join the Aether Academy?"

[DragonRage]

"Wish maker?  I swear I've heard of that," Taylor murmurs to himself, "But I can't remember where.  Probably during one of my big study sessions.  Info can get lost if you try to take in too much at once."

[Daniel Blackworth]

All this Pokelluminati talk is interesting. I believe the wish maker story is also unexpectedly intriguing. It makes me wonder why the Pokelluminati actually wanted to wish destruction to the world. Perhaps they desired to be something in this world where we are mere specks in time? I believe that their intentions were misplaced, but I still marvel that they had the desire to make a mark in the world.

Frederick reflected carefully and was deep in thought. He was about to continue asking Betani about the Wish Maker, but he was interrupted by the pesky Radovan, who seemed to be asking a question without a clear distinction on who should actually answer it. He decided to answer the question to get it all over with.

"I received Theodore when I was younger from my father. He introduced him to me and we immediately became close with each other because we both enjoyed exploration and adventure."

Edited July 30, 2017 by Magister Divergent

[Bfroger6]

Rob had to restrain himself from looking to the back of the car when he heard Kai's head bump into the floor quite forcefully. "A-a...Kai are you...ok..." He sighed a sigh of relief when Kai got up mere moments later, apparently unfazed by what'd happened. "I-I'm glad you like the Tyranitar. Apparently it's a popular Pokemon among kids. I guess people like big monsters, eh?"

 

Betani shrugged Radovan off with a swift response. "Shut up or I'll shut you up." She, unlike Rob, sighed in annoyance at Shelly. "Yeah well I'm glad someone's finally figured it out." The girl crossed her hands. "Gina is just a horrible person and role model because all she's done in her life is she got spoonfed everything. I myself, am from #02. The slums, yes, I'm too young to have been from the Village itself while it was still standing. I was an orphan and you bet I had to work my hardest simply to get into the 2nd Academy and become a Cadet. That's how I came to be a Cadet. I graduated top of my generation. People like Gina disgust me because they never even had to try to succeed. She never went through the Cadet course, she only had to go through the exams to become both a Cadet and an Instructor.. I don't see the fairness here. But I also digress. I don't want to have to talk about Gina anymore. I don't care about her." Betani returned to being silent.

 

By this time, the Empress's song had finally ended. Betani and Rob's tensions quelled with it as well. What was curious was that Betani took a deep breath as it ended, as if she'd been holding herself as it went on. Meanwhile Rob merely grinned, pulled a handkercheif out of his pocket and wiped his forehead with it. "Heh yeah........I went to see the Empress once and got my nose bashed in. The mobs gathering around her are scary, I tell you. But she herself seems nice, like she just wants to send a message out. Eh if the right people would listen, it'd all be easier." Betani shrugged at his remark. "Well, can you blame them? They're mostly folks from #02. You yourself are from #07, you can hardly know how difficult it is there. And getting a message across that promotes Pokemon and the fight against Space Aether must be refreshing to them. Second wind for the rebellion though, I'm sure of it." Rob flinches. "O-oh yeah I've been hearing stuff about #02 right now...something's stirring there."

[IntSys]

Emmanuel simply nodded back to Cathode in return, taking her words for her condition. As the song ended, he grew worried. The song must have echoed with a vocal portion of the city's population. Beneath the fairy tale, it signaled revolution.

 

"Something's stirring?" Emmanuel was concerned about Rob's mentioning of #02. "I haven't been home for so long. What's happening there?"

[Bfroger6]

Rob seemed to adjust in his seat before answering Emmanuel's question. "Yeah...uhm...well, you see, there's been talk of a new rebellion forming in #02. Someone new emerged outta nowhere and started gathering followers, not affiliated with the Pokelluminate preachings from what we've heard. This is all still small-scale but the higher ups worry it might turn into a new Incident. I worry too."

 

"That's 'cause you're a wimp, you wimp." Betani was looking out the window. Framed in the scene, the malls have started to slowly grow thinner, shops far and few between, unlike the commercial district they were driving through just moments ago. Instead a much more peaceful scene revealed itself to the crew-the outer district, also very much known as the residential one. The houses were all still white and whatnot like the rest of the sterile Space Aether environment, but, unlike anything the crew had seen up until then, they were in fact houses and not tall buildings. All of them were also similar, and many had backyards. It was the suburbs. Rob continued driving across this new landscape. "We'll be there soon, guys." He exclaimed in a happy tone, and sure enough, soon the bus passed next to the first apartment building in a while. They'd entered the area reserved for Cadets, The Park of the Sword, where gladioluses grew in orderly lines between houses and buildings, blocks of white separated by greenery and vivid buddings. With the whole sky thing everywhere around them in the...well...skies, it was a scenery worthy of beholding. "I live in one of these." Betani remarked coldly.

 

You soon arrive at an area where houses seem predominant. They're arranged in lanes to the side of the main road, each lane having a series of houses on each side. Rob continues. "You see, we don't actually have a house large enough for all of you to fit in because, well...we usually don't get this many Cadets succeeding in the same generation. So you were assigned a special house. It's a bit further down from all these other houses but it's bigger and should work for you for the time being." He smiles into the mirror for you to see and drives off to the end of the lane.

 

[Next post will be you arriving at the house. That means this is the last rotation you can use to ask Rob and Betani any questions you want.]

[IntSys]

Emmanuel did not reply. Inevitably, he'd be forced to put down the revolution. An exterior revolution would never work. Change must happen from the inside.
 

"Wait, are we sharing the same house?" He raised up one last question before the car arrived.

[Bfroger6]

Rob turned and smiled. "Well yeah. You're one unit from now on, like generations upon generations before you!" He gives everyone a wink before stopping next to what appears to be a house, yet is vastly different from the other houses you've seen on your way here.

 

While all the houses were modern and by Space Aether design, this one still stood out as one of, if not the largest one in the area. It was situated at the very end of the Aether suburbian area, where there were far less houses around and not a single apartment building in sight.

Rob gestures for you to open the door and get out of the car as he does so himself. Betani follows suit, ignoring you.

 

"This one's special. Its owner bought it off from Space Aether and redecorated it for his growing family but he and his family passed away 20 years ago. Since then it was back to Space Aether's custody, but went unused. President Haether gave permission to use it herself, so no issues there. It's been dusted and everything to prepare for your coming. We've also arranged rooms for you, so feel free to seat yourselves. Oh, and your luggage will be arriving shortly from your Academy dorms." The chubby man gives you a smile and clasps his hands together. Betani walks forwards and places her hand into his pants' pocket without a second thought, pulling a key out while staring him down. Rob doesn't protest. Walking over to you slowly, the girl hands the key to Shelly. "You seem like the only sane one. Keep it safe."

 

[Rob and Betani have left the scene]

---------------------------------------------------------------

 

Entering the house, you're greeted with a spacious living room with loads of natural light flowing in through the large windows on the side. There's a blue L-shaped sofa large enough for all of you to sit on and a TV set with a holographic projector function. A sticky note is attached to the TV saying 'WATCH'. Next to it there are 3 docking points for your A-Comms and 3 desks equipped with interfaces for you to use and control the house, connect online, etc. Basically holographic computer screens which function as computers if you place your A-Comms to the docking points in the wall. A small plexiglas table is situated in the crevice of the L formed by the sofa, tidily placed on a red carpet. An open concept design leads towards the kitchen on the other side of the room. It appears a well equipped kitchen. A flight of stairs leads up as well to a hallway opening up into several rooms equipped with enough beds for all of you. There is a bathroom both on the ground floor and one on the upper floor. At the far side of the hallway with your bedrooms lay another flight of stairs, next to it a window door opening to a beautiful terrace. The flight of stairs leads to the uppermost floor which conists of a small rectangular room leading to the floor of the building, decorated with plexiglas pots and flowers.

 

[NOTE: you can arrange your rooms as you please; there is not a set amount of rooms nor a set amount of beds in a room, so go wild; you have one week to arrange your rooms and DM me the list OoC; if you fail to deliver the list, I'll arrange you however I please~; you can continue RP'ing during this process]

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

[What will you do?]

1. WATCH the holographic TV?

2. No other options. Only the illusion of free will remains.

[Strider]

"Thanks, I suppose." Shelly accepted the key, and a brief impulse flew through her head to lock the door and run. It was quickly gone though, not even really a consideration, more of just a thought of something that she could do. . .  Shelly entered the house, a little amazed at the size and almost ostentatious nature of the house. She noted the piece of paper saying "watch" before investigating the rest of the house. In a sort of unaimed address to those in the living room, Shelly said, "We should probably meet back up here in like ten minutes and see what's on the TV? I want to claim a room and get a feel for the layout real quick." She wandered off upstairs to choose her room, picking one close to the terrace on the right. She then placed down her A-comm on the bed, along with the little other stuff that she had on her.

[Bfroger6]

The group would soon realize their Aether Balls have been unlocked. They could call their Pokemon out in the Suburbs.

[InnocentSerenity]

 

“See ya, Rob!” Kai waved her hand goodbye as the two folks left, leaving behind the group of small children to divide a house together. “Tell your family I said howdy!”

 

Kai quickly followed behind Shelly, jumping into the first room towards whatever space she could find to spin a full revolution in. “Hwhoa, this place looks great!” The girl swiped her Aether Ball from her belt, balancing it on her head before it released Anté, holding onto her head as she moved about.

 

"I think we can handle that later." Kai jumped over the back of the sofa, landing herself on the cushions. "They left a note, so might as well do it soon." She snatched the A-Comm attached to her belt, hoping to find something for the television set. “Hope there’s a remote function on this thing.” The girl quickly looked through the applications on the device, hoping to find something to turn on the television. As she looked through it, she did at least say a note for the rest of the group to hear. "Is there a basement in here? Mama might send me large equipment, so I wouldn't mind sleeping underground."

[Yours Truly]

Radovan excitedly waved goodbye at Rob and Betani before he practically barged into the almost excessively well lit house, and he spent a bit of time exploring the various rooms of the place. He was noting how awkward the concept of sharing two bathrooms would be as he looked for a sufficiently big and terraced room to claim in the upper floor. After finding one he would excitedly think about the many songs he will rather loudly play once his piano gets here as he walked back to the living room with the Larvitar whose nickname eludes him following closely behind him. He would spend a few moments to try and awkwardly place the Larvitar on the sofa right next to him before he would turn to face Kai and say "I hope we get a decent movie channel".

[Bfroger6]

KAI

 

Kai would find a flight of stairs next to the ones leading up, leading down into the rather spacious basement of the house. It seemed stripped clean of any furniture that might've been there previously though, so it was quite literally a large empty undeground room. However, it didn't feel cramed as there were several rectangular windows on the ceiling looking up at the backyard of the house, letting in the sun's rays.

A door in the back of the basement led to a storage area that was also empty and smaller than the main basement room.

 

Additionally, Kai would realize there was a remote control for the holographic TV in one of the in-wall storages situated inside the wall next to the TV.

[IntSys]

Emmanuel sent Solosis and Poochy out of their balls. Poochy snuggled his right leg as he sat on the couch. He figured that he might as well as watch the TV first before wandering into his own room. After all, it was important enough to warrant a sticky note.

[Daniel Blackworth]

Frederick decides to check out the house first before anything. The house seemed sophisticated at first glance, and he was indeed looking forward to staying in it for their breaks in between missions. Unlike the others who might have been interested in viewing the contents of the TV, Frederick was more curious on the layout of the rooms, and he was inclined to check out his own room, which he personally decided to be somewhere near a terrace. Thus, he paced up the stairs leading to the next floor containing the rooms. He wondered if he might find something intriguing there.

[InnocentSerenity]

Failing to find a television remote function in her A-Comm, Kai put the device back on her belt, leaning back into the sofa. She swung her head back onto it, looking towards the blank television set. Her eyes noticed the odd panel in the wall near the set. She got up from her chair, pushing the panel to reveal that it swung inward. “Huh, so that’s where it was.” She grabbed the rounded rectangular  remote, pressing the on switch before jumping back onto the couch with Emmanuel. “I hope there’s some nice cooking shows on now.”

[LucidRain]

Kalva blinked and rubbed his eyes. Oh. Well, they were at a house.

Kalva had phased out for the rest of the trip, it seemed. His mind had been wandering back to the days he was back in 02.

Well...his memory of it was a little blotched. He could remember the times when he slept out with all his friends in the dump, coming back home to Mum's face creased with worry and relief. He could remember when he managed to find some 'old world' junk from the piles and managed to sell it off to a manic down to the south west. He remembered the time, or times rather, when his father crashed into his room and - 

Then his memory ended there, an abrupt halt. Like his brain short-circuited and the film just stopped. There were a few instances where he felt like he had blacked out like that.

 

Well, it was too deep to go into memory trips now! He had now to settle down into the new house. And hey, a new house!

This is our house? Wow - this is so large, so clean!

The house was at least 5 times as big as the hovel back in 02, and without rattatas, leaky roofs, even television! Though the Academy had its own little luxuries, having an entire house for just a few Cadets... that certainly felt different. It was curious how the Aether Foundation was so willing to give an entire house to a group of cadets, but Kalva certainly wasn't going to turn it down!

Kalva turned to give thanks to the kind driver Rob and sort-of-mean-but-still-actually-kind Betani, but he had missed their departure whilst he was staring at the house in awe. Oh. He'll have to catch up with them later.

 

In the meantime-! He sent Quina out of the Aetherball and excitedly showed her the new place they were gonna settle into, though both of them were very careful not to smudge the pristine walls. Didn't want to mess up the cleanliness already, did they?

Quina! This is amazing! There's 2 floors to this as well!

Kalva ran through the rooms and explored the lounge so fast, it would have seemed like he had used Agility and was jumping around all over the place.

After having a rather enthusiastic and rapid tour of the house, Kalva was back in the lounge, looking rather curiously at the holographic TV.