Team Snagem HQ (Mt. Silver)

[Requiem of Whyspers]

Odd and Lykas both nodded in unison. "You're welcome." Odd told her. "I'm pretty sure we're not the only ones who feel like you've earned your own partner's return to you."

"And even if we are, who cares?" Lykas added with a smirk. "How often have I actually cared what people think of me for my actions?" He laughed softly for a moment before looking back to Odd. "We should let Sub know in person that we haven't seen Cera around and see if he knows where she is."

"Ya. I've got a really bad feeling I know and I want Sub to tell me he knows better. Otherwise I'm just gonna be even more worried." Odd replied. "We'll see you later, Aile. Good luck with Arkana." He told the woman they'd just assisted before he started to walk off, trying to think of where Sub might be. Would he be in his office or that newly furnished "war room" he'd set up recently?  

[Cecile Silverstone]

||Ulla Hanabi||

As her team was heading down the dormitory, Riolu felt Odd's aura getting stronger as they were drawing closer to the man. As they turned the corner, Ulla noticed Odd. She was about to give him a big smile, but then a memory flashed in her head of him eating the Team Flare's soul. She quickly froze in place as she offered a wave. "U-Uhm...H-Hi Odd." She said softly as she took a step back. All of her Pokemon noticed her behavior, as this wasn't her usual attitude to anyone. "Y-You look lost....was there something I can assist you with?" She asked a little nervous. Riolu kept watch of her as well as Odd. The dog Pokemon sighed and pushed Ulla forward a little closer to Odd to break the ice.  

[Requiem of Whyspers]

Lykas was the first to notice Ulla and looked down at the girl. "You know this creeper bait? Who is she, your baby sister?" He asked Odd with a smirk plastered across his face.

When Lykas spoke up, Odd actually started paying attention again. "Hm?" Looking around to see who had spoken, he realized why they felt anxious to him. "Oh, Ulla. Hello there." He greeted the child, running a hand through his red and white hair for a moment, causing the thin braid dropping down his back to sway gently from side to side. "I'm gonna have to put a pause on the Sub hunt..." He told Lykas. "I need to deal with something here."

"Explain later?" Lykas asked, looking worried for a moment. Odd nodded and Lykas took that as all the sign he needed to take his leave. Heading off toward Sub's office first. Luckily, he'd find him in there. "You have a minute?" He asked the Dark Channeler from his door with a light rapping on the doorframe.

Odd's crimson eyes fell upon UIla with a look of concern on his face. "Ulla..." He wasn't sure how to start this conversation. He knew it was coming sooner or later. The girl had seen what he did and yet, he couldn't wrap his mind around what had happened or why. How do you explain your actions to a child when even you don't understand them, after all? "I just want to say you don't have to be afraid."  

[Cecile Silverstone]

||Ulla Hanabi||

Ulla looked at Odd seeing he was having trouble himself. The little girl shuffled her dress a little confused on what to say next. Going out to be part of the Snagems, she knew she was going to see different things. But seeing one of his team mates eat someone's soul? How do you wrap your head around that. She looked back up at him with a stretched smile. "It's okay. I mean....You're a Channler. There's a ton of things I don't know about you. There's probably a ton you don't know about yourself right....?" She asked with a forced giggle. "I guess when you first introduced yourself. And you said that if I had any problems with ghost. That was what you meant, huh?"

Being able to joke a little bit, Ulla felt a little better. "Uhm....It doesn't need to be now. But someday, could you tell me how it's like? Being a Channler? I heard everyone experiences it differently. I'd really like to help you guys in anyway." She said trying to break the ice. "I heard you were trying to look for Sub? Can I tag along with you?"  

[Requiem of Whyspers]

Odd shook his head at Ulla, surprised how easy she made it seem to just accept things as they were. "There are things I'm still learning, yes. I'm one of the more skilled Ghost Channelers in recent history but the problem is that there have been so few in so long that there's very little known about us in general. How our powers develop can be so different between just two of us, even." He tried to explain. "My own training takes me to places I hope you never have to see and I have to do things no one should ever have to do in order to gain more power and more understanding over what I can do." He continued, sighing as he realized just how crazy it really sounded.

After a moment, though, he finally smiled. "And ya, stuff like that is what I meant. If someone else, alive or dead, ever tried to haunt you, I'd be there to help you just like anyone else in Snagem would be. I'm just better at dealing with the dead ones." He chuckled softly when he said it. "Kinda helps that I'm dead, too." He joked before waving for the girl to follow. "You wanna come along? Sure. Lykas went to see if Sub's in his office. Let's go see if he found him." He told the little girl as he turned on his heel and started to walk toward the aforementioned office.  

[Arkelos]

Arkelos and his Canines reach the outside training area; only to find it raining. "All the equipment as well as the field is soaking wet. We can not train like this." Making some jesters about returning inside, Arkelos leads them to lounge.

Flipping through the channels and finding nothing of interest, Arkelos and his group start to hear noises. "What was that?" Looking around to find nothing, the noise went off again/ Looking down, Arkelos grabs his stomach. "Oh, we must be hungry. I wonder what Jezebel is cooking today?" Turning around to his group. "Alright; Who hungry?" The entire group let out a bark. "I take that as a yes." He said with a laugh.

Upon entering the kitchen, the group finds a surprising sight. Jezebel isnt there cooking. It's dark, cold, and no smell, "Odd, very odd. Where is Jezebel at? I hope she's not sick." After seeing out some food for his canines, he reaches into the fridge to find something to eat, to wind up getting lost in thought.  

[Cecile Silverstone]

||Ulla Hanabi||

Riolu watched Ulla's and Odd's connection deepen. He smiled as he looked at Rowlet and Togetic, he nodded to assure that everything was going to be okay. All of her Pokemon smiled as Riolu looked deep into Ulla's aura. Something different was happening now, it looked like it was growing stronger. She smiled happily "I don't mind Odd. If you don't mind the company, I'd like to see you train. Who knows, maybe one day we may face against some bad Channlers that are like you. I'd like to know how to assess the situation." She said as she started walking along side Odd to Sub's office. Her Pokemon followed right behind, except for Rowlett. Who decided to sneak into her bag and sleep inside. For some odd reason, he like sleeping in her bag more than in his own Pokeball.

"I wanna see if Sub was able to get the reports about Riolu. He recently went through some testing about how far deep his Shadow Virus is." She said as she became a little concerned. "To think, that this virus can be spread to the rest of my team if we are not careful....does it spread to regular people too you think?"  

[Requiem of Whyspers]

Odd shook his head once again. "I'm afraid that's not possible, Ulla." He told her. "When I train, my body stays behind and my soul travels through the afterlife. Downstairs." He explained, trying to not to blatantly state the truth to her. She needed to understand but not necessarily hear the words for herself.

"As for the Shadow Virus, we've been able to determine that it's a genetically modified form of the Pokerus Virus or something similar to it, if I remember right. Whether it is or isn't, though, we've never seen any signs of a human or even a hybrid showing any signs of infection." He explained. The fact that her Riolu had managed to retain any of it's sanity for this long was miraculous, he had to admit. Every Shadow infected Pokemon he had ever encountered had devolved into a complete berserker rage in no time at all. Less than a week, sometimes even just a few days. "Your Riolu is definitely something special even if it turns out there's nothing particularly unique about it." He assured the girl though he felt certain she already knew that.  

[Requiem of Whyspers]

SubonicXP

"Hm? Yeah, I got all the time in the world for you and your many appendages." Sub said with a jolly smile, however forced. "What can I do for you?" He asked the hybrid as he slid the papers into his desk. He would worry about all that later.

Lykas sighed when Sub replied and put his papers away. "I hate to add to what's already on your mind lately but... Have you seen Cera recently?" He asked the man. "I was just talking to Odd and we realized that it doesn't seem like anyone's seen her in...well...over a year now, I think." He said as he entered the man's office properly. "She used to be around all the time but for the longest time now she's been nowhere." He pointed out, hoping against hope that his fears weren't true.

"And then there's our biggest threat right now. XD-002." He shuddered at the very thought of the creature. "We all know there's only one or two of it's species in the entire world. Where did Ein get the DNA needed to create it?" For Lykas to be talking about a topic like this at all had to mean something. He wasn't the time to worry about things, after all.  

[Cecile Silverstone]

||Ulla Hanabi||

"Well that would make since. Seeing how you are a Ghost Channler, I guess the only way to truly unlock your potential to train is to die. Guess I would just need to die in order to see you train." She said as she looked up at Odd with a smile. The little girl then let out a soft giggle. "I'm joking, if I were to die. I wanna do it protecting something I cherish." She said just to reassure Odd that she was just joking.

As they arrived to Sub's office, she noticed that his door was Sub's office was already open. Guessing Lykas and Sub were already talking, she was about to enter the room. Before they did, Ulla heard what they were talking about a little as she turned to Odd a little confused. "Who is Cera? Are they trouble like how Gima was? And what's a....XD....002?" She asked softly unsure what they were.