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 Posted: Sun May 05, 2024 8:17 am
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Freth looked back in confusion away from the SNAG, seeing Raifort go absolutely estatic over the discovery of the violet book. It was a little off-putting. She was no stranger to the wonders of history and discovery and the rewards they could bring, but even she had the know-how as to how to keep it under general wraps lest everyone looked at you as if you’re insane. Leaving the lab, Freth was feeling a little relieved, glad to be out of the dusty, abandoned lab and back out in fresh air. As everyone conversed to get together to have a picnic and get everything set up, Freth stood back for the time being, pretty much taking in the lay of the land, and make sure that there wasn’t any unwelcome company for the moment. Though, it was a half-hearted attempt at best. Freth was a little distracted.
“You want to see what’s in that book.” The hunter spoke up.
“Doesn’t take a psychic to figure that one out.” Freth told her mental passenger. “I’m wanting to know what was worth taking a dive into a crater. And I still can’t get over just how no one bothers going in there, even if it was to just simply find the Professors. I’m feeling a cover up, and I can’t place as to exactly how. I don’t know who would have it out for these people, or why. Surely no one would have just let two esteemed professors just go in on their own knowing the hazards, instead going ‘Your funeral’ and let them go. Honestly, I can’t bring myself to believe in all this time this region has been established, no one has bothered trying to figure what the hell is going on in that crater. And that isn’t getting into the fact what little the professors did leave behind left things rather weird.”
“Truthfully, I can’t still fully get over that equation on that dry-erase board. I’m telling you they were working on Ultra Space in some capacity, but I couldn’t tell you where that would have taken someone.”
“I can’t bring myself to believe someone stumbled onto Ultra Space like they did.”
“I can. I’ve known of a reality that did just that.” Eris told her.
“Really? How so?” Freth said, her skepticism abound in the mental airways.
“Well, I personally didn’t deal with it, but in the Recon Squad, we do have a few scientists from that world working for us. To what I am told, a meteor was coming in to end all life on their world. Apparently, one of those scientists discovered the means to opening up Ultra Space and thought to use a tunnel to send the meteor elsewhere. They were stopped by some second party though because someone else realized that by doing that, they severely risked making it someone else’s problem in another world. Probably to a world that perhaps wouldn’t have had the answers like they did.”
“Did this world survive?”
“Oh, yes. Apparently, they managed to get their hands on a Rayquaza to Mega Evolve and blast the thing.”
“…convenient.” Freth deadpan said, suddenly unbelieving of the story.
“Little does basically anyone in that world realize though, because they discovered the means of entering into Ultra Space on their own, without the help of say…an Ultra Beast for instance, Recon Squad had to take action. The team that managed to work out the mechanics to opening up a way into ultra space…they had one of two options. Either come with us-“
“Or you kill them. And either way, the squad made sure they destroyed any work they did so it’d be borderline impossible to do so again.” Freth said.
“Precisely.”
“God, what are you guys? The Illuminati?” Freth asked, her face unable to hide her frustration any longer.
“I would be lying if I said it didn’t feel like that sometimes.” Eris admitted. “Regardless, because of that, I’m left wondering what’s in that book, too. What is in that book which ousted someone to be stark-raving mad and left something that two modern-day esteemed professors decided to pursue. I think you need to see what's in that book, if for nothing else, your sake. If there's really nothing to note, I'll leave it alone, but just seeing what I saw earlier, I rather not leave it to chance. You'd know that much at least about me.”
Freth couldn't completely disagree, though she was more convinced that Eris was trying to pull strings here somehow. Freth too was curious about what was in that book, though not for really any of the concerns Eris had. She would hover off the ground and start making her way towards Raifort. She supposed if nothing else she could ask to see what was in the book, so at least that would put Eris at ease.
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Posted: Mon May 06, 2024 3:20 pm
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Odd wanted to withhold the book from Raifort for a moment and allow Freth or Sol a moment to look it over. To his understanding, Freth had a bit of a background in studying history so she might be able to tell them all something of it if she could see it and, of course, Sol was from this region and likely would be able to discern a few tidbits from it even if he didn't fully understand everything in it. Like if letting Raifort play with this book might come back to bite them all in the rear later. Unfortunately, the woman was far more energetic and physically capable than he'd expected a teacher to be and snatched the book away from him in a flash, her eagerness to begin studying it's contents seemingly a source of that energy in the moment.
He grimaced internally, ensuring Remix was returned to his Ball for the time being, as he followed the excitable instructor out of the lighthouse even as she lauded him as the so-called "hero" of the moment."I'd say Remix did more of the work than I did. Regardless, I just hope that book doesn't end up being more trouble than finding it was worth. He responded, muttering the second half more to himself than to her.
When she called for a picnic in celebration, he found himself recalling Baroque as well, feeling it wasn't necessary to leave the sarcophagus out to watch the door any longer if they were outside. As the group began to set up blankets and Raifort called in a supply drop from the school, he took a moment to step away on his own, climbing to the top of the lighthouse and looking out over the immediate area. Something still felt off to him about all this and he wasn't quite sure what it was. "Maybe I'm just being paranoid? He grumbled to himself, fighting the urge to punch the lighthouse wall. Something always went wrong on these kinds of "adventures" whenever Snagem was involved, as if the universe itself was conspiring to cause as much trouble for them as it could. "Blizz must be rubbing off on me... He's the one who predicted something bad was going to happen before we even left for the region, after all..." He paused for a moment, looking around as his senses tripped. Something that was giving off a distinctly "Ghost" energy was passing through or something. He felt it for a brief moment and then it was gone. "Or maybe it's that. I'm going to assume that cabbie's story got to me for now and try to enjoy myself with the others." He said to himself, trying to shake away the sense that something of a spiritual nature had just come through and returned to the picnic site just as the assortment of sandwiches were brough out. Grabbing one for himself, he took a seat and a few tiny bites as he looked around, hoping to spot some local Pokemon and learn a bit about them. Something tiny caught his attention as he did and, upon closer inspection, he found a Nymble, it's name currently unknown to him, hopping by him. "Huh... That must have been what I saw when we got here? Weird little thing. A Bug of some sort, I'm guessing?" He pulled out his SNAG and tried checking to see if GRAY had finished updating the PokeDex feature yet, snapping a picture of the Pokemon if not to try and help the AI with compiling data.
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Posted: Tue May 07, 2024 3:36 am
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"That's!..." Sol almost couldn't believe what he saw Odd find under the computer tower. But there wasn't much mistaking the cover, barely getting out of Ms. Raifort's way as she hurried over to Odd and the book in his hands. Had she not gone over so quickly, he would've asked to take a look at it himself... but she was awful quick to see to a celebratory picnic outside, getting little chance to capitalize as a result. In time, though, he'd notice Freth contemplating something before a flash of frustration on her face showed itself and she started towards Raifort. Finding it best to leave her to it, he'd look to the spread Arven and Brian had put together.
"...ah, jamón," he remarked to himself as he grabbed two of the half-sandwiches, one for himself and another for his Scorbunny once he was let out. It was one of the more elaborate ones of the bunch, a cut of Paldean ham being the most apparent attraction of it alongside cheese, tomato, peppers and olives adding their own notes to the combination. A slight hint of olive oil and garlic lingered to top it off, and Sol couldn't help being a bit nostalgic for it as he took a bite. "Thirty years and some things still haven't changed, have they?" The kick of the peppers wasn't quite as strong as he remembered, but new physiology had a way of affecting a lot of things. "Last time I had this must've been... right before I left the region for Kalos."
Inigo would find more of a kick by comparison, giving a curious look at Sol as he nibbled on the sandwich. Paldea was entirely new to him, not unlike Galar in the short time the team spent there. Much as he was curious and wanted to explore, he knew not to stray far right now. Sol, however, was just glad Buzzwole didn't decide to let themself out in front of a bunch of students and Ms. Raifort.
He heard Beau too, taking another bite himself and swallowing before giving an answer. "Now that you mention it... wasn't there more with us when we got here?" He wasn't sure that anyone was actually missing, but there was a hint of unease even his nostalgia couldn't totally shake.
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Posted: Wed May 08, 2024 5:45 pm
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Rachel frowned at the information she was given; it seemed the professors were more well-known for risk taking than anything else. She didn't have anything else to say after this, not that she could really say anything now that Raifort's attention was solely on the revealed Violet Book that Odd had pulled from under the computer tower. Ah, so that's where it was. Hmm, what an odd place to store a book.
Brian smiled a bit at Arven's enthusiasm when it came to cooking. When the younger male said he'd love the recipe for the poffin he'd given Mabostiff, Brian nodded. Most Pokemon seemed to enjoy the treats, and he'd even had a few wild ones ask for them before he'd left home. He looked up as the rest of the group came outside, raising a brow at Raifort's suggestion that he aid Arven in making lunch for them. While he didn't mind, he had to wonder how she knew about his cooking ability. Had she overheard him saying that he knew how to cook, or had she done her research on each of the Snagems that had arrived at the academy? Shrugging mentally, he gave a nod and followed Arven into the lab, aiding in the preparation of various sandwiches and picking up hints about what ingredients went best with each other from the younger male.
Once it was all done, he helped carry everything outside, waiting until everyone else had their food before grabbing a half sandwich for himself, as well as his Pawmi, whom he'd named Thunderfist. The little Electric-type plonked himself down and started stuffing his face as fast as he could, prompting Brian to chuckle. "Slow down, Thunderfist," he said. "It's not going anywhere." The Pawmi looked at him almost incredulously, as if he didn't believe this human that was now his trainer, but obediently slowed down, taking his time to actually enjoy the flavors of his chosen sandwich. "Anything interesting in that book, Professor?" he asked, curious to know what Raifort had found so far.
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Posted: Wed May 08, 2024 9:01 pm
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Aile would find herself sitting under a nearby tree, watching as the others were getting set up for the picnic or bringing out their Pokémon. She'd pull out the Pokeball containing the Shadow Nincada, keeping it closed and the Pokémon securely inside. It had already eaten one of the leaves of the first Herba Mystica. Heck, it seemed to be hunting it, if she went by how she found the first Herba. Going by where a giant Pokémon was would probably be a rather strong start, but if this thing could potentially help them, or more precisely, her, lock in on it. The only issue would be that she lacked an Immunizer, and she was kicking herself for it now. Aile had zeroed in on merely using her Shadow Pokémon in Hoenn, where the tech for it was largely widespread, and it hadn't even occured that she could encounter another Shadow Pokémon outside of the region.... though, this was a very unique situation, still. One that legitimately pissed her off. How often had she used that staff with a little grub of a shadow insect before in an uninfected area? How in the blazes did it get in there? And just who got it in there? This was her staff(albeit broken now), and someone shoved a tiny shadow Pokémon into it without her knowing? The only time she had been separated from her staff was... What was that region again? Sinnoh, right. Same place where some of the team went back in time, and the place was called Hisui. Right. Also when and where she lost her arm. Arceus, if she had known about this when she asked Uxie her question, it might have changed. Those bugs that stole her staff, what had they done, and who owned-
"Woop?"
Aile's head whirled around to the creature that had broken her out of her thoughts, who dived back into the backpack once he got a look at her face. Aile realized just then that she was scowling, and that had probably startled the little brown Wooper. A long breath escaped from Aile, as she put away the Pokeball that was giving her great frustration. "Sorry, Wooper. It's okay, you haven't done anything wrong. You can come out." The Wooper would poke his head out tentatively, only to see his trainer with a small, gentle smile on her face. He would pop out more once he was feeling more confident, happy to see her calm again. The woman would take a glance over to the rest of the picnic, noticing that the food had been brought out and it was all sandwiches. As she should have expected. "Ah. How about we get a bite to eat?" Wooper cheered happily, jumping out of the backpack and following Aile over to the table. She'd look though the sandwiches until she found one that looked interesting to her, which was a simple one with ham, cheese, pickles and mustard, putting a couple pieces of it onto a plate before returning to their spot under the tree. In between her rotation of handing one of the sandwiches to Wooper to eat and then eating her own(hooray, having one arm!), she'd watch the others, trying to keep an ear out for what Raifort said. It sounded like everyone was bombarding her with questions about what was in the book, so she'd just sit back and listen this time.
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Posted: Wed May 08, 2024 9:47 pm
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Tsuki scooted out of Odd’s way, lips pursed in a way that read ‘oh, oh I almost accidentally got the robot man killed’. “Mhm, after you.” He said, inflating his cheeks from embarrassment. That actually begged a question that he felt needed to be asked.
“GRAY, why don’t you just back yourself up somewhere? I guess- I mean I guess the version of you that gets deleted would still be deleted. But the backed up version gets to dodge that bullet. So… it’s like a net neutral.” Tsuki said to the resident AI. That really seemed like a critical design flaw if he could just get CTRL Alt Deleted like that.
Oh, but the Violet Book! Tsuki eyed it so curiously, wondering what late night professor craziness that Turo had filled the book with before it was immediately handed off to Raifort. Darn. Whilst he got distracted thinking about that, the teacher’s Gengar snuck up on him and gave his face an awful lick. The boy shuddered. “But why, Mr. Gengar? But why?” He asked, wiping the ectosaliva off of his face on the way out of the lab.
Where was a sandwich when you needed it? At the word picnic however, his newly acquired Applin left it’s Pokeball of it’s own accord and shimmied it’s way to Arven. The dragon poked out of the small apple it resided in and yelped for food Arceus dammit. “My bad!” Tsuki said to Arven, laughing sheepishly at his not controlling his own Pokemon better.
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Posted: Wed May 15, 2024 2:11 pm
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Ms. Raifort perked up and looked up from the Violet book as Beau pointed out the missing person, Raifort quickly noting who was missing; Barbara. "Oh, that's Barbara. She has a tendency to wander off at times, great teacher's aid, just don't turn your back on her for too long." The woman laughed, quickly putting her nose back into the book. "There is a lot interesting! In fact, I think I've already figured out where the next Herba Mystica is located." Raifort excitedly declared in response to Brian.
It was then Raifort realized everyone in this group must have a great deal of interest in the Violet Book as well, they all had invested their time into finding it after all. She'd look around for a bit before stopping and gazing upon Freth, then looking down at the Violet Book for a moment before taking out her Rotophone and taking a few pictures of several pages. With that done she stood up and walked over to Freth, extending the Violet Book for her to take. "Here, hold onto this for me, will you? I'd like to see it back in the academy's library but I don't intend to head back just yet and I feel like it needs protecting." She said, making excuses as to why she is handing it to Freth.
With that she'd turn to the rest of the group. "The Violet Book has information on two additional Herba Mystica as far as I can tell, just need to study it a little more to find out where they are. I'll leave you all to figure that out and to track down the Herba Mystica. I'm going to go find Barbara and head off on my own little journey, I read something in the Violet Book that pertains to my own personal interest and I'm eager to get to it. Besides, I'll just get in the way of you Snagems!" She said with a chuckle. "Take good care of Arven!" With a wave the teacher wandered off to go find her aid, leaving the group to hunt the Herba on their own for now.
As for Arven he seemed unsure as to what to do now. It was great they had the book and now had some sort of idea where to go, and it was very exciting to think he'd get to see more Herba Mystica, but at the same time it was scary to realize there in fact could be more Titan Pokemon to contend with. "So...what's it say?" He looked to Freth.
"That sounds nice in theory and technically something that would be possible however I am not a normal artificial intelligence. As a member of the Porygon family I am indeed nothing more than data however as a fully sentient being it begs the question if I, the data stored in the SNAG network's main server, am deleted and a backup of myself awakens is it still me? Or is a new GRAY that simply has my memories? It's a question that bothers me greatly. Plus the copy protection that's part of my code thanks to Silph Co. is incredibly hard to crack and I don't feel like messing around in my own code, at least not that deep." GRAY responded to Tsuki's question.
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Posted: Wed May 15, 2024 7:22 pm
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Freth didn’t even get the chance to even try ask her nicely at first to see if she’d not be stubborn over the book. But much to her surprise, it was handed right over. No interrogation tactics, no foreplay, no nothing. She couldn’t complain. She couldn’t help but to stare in confusion as Raifort just left them all soon after, and without the book no less. Freth had so many questions at that point, but as far as she could figure, just answer the more immediate ones that has been looming about. She would sit down at the table, allowing everyone else to gather around as she started to skim through the pages.
“Well…let’s see…” she then said, acknowledging Arven. He’d probably should be most concerned about what was in here. After all, this was the reason why his parents are gone allegedly. “…seems like journal entries originally from that expedition that Heath was on. Looking for some particular treasure it seems like. I’m not sure if its literal or metaphorical, but…” She continued to read on, seeing notes and photographs of the various settlements of the expedition team, statements about how the crater was completely inhospitable for human life, which…maybe was true for the time. This was after all done a long time ago. As she continued on, various maps and charts were documented, laying out Area Zero at the time. It went on to talk about the various Pokémon that resided there and how they were effectively no different than beyond the crater, though notes there were at least a cry here or there that were generally unfamiliar to them. Considering the time frame, it could stand to reason that they didn’t know what all their region still had. It was like that in Hisui, that Freth could think.
As she continued to turn the page, she was trying to figure out what on earth Sada and Turo could have been up to because so far, there didn’t seem like anything particularly egregious in the pages. It still didn’t make any sense as to why no one went in on a rescue. “Freth, stop. Wait. What the hell was that? Go back a page.” Freth hesitated for a second, wondering what got the hunter’s attention now, then turned a page back once again. Mysterious Pokémon the entry told about. She noticed it earlier, but didn’t pay too much mind until she realized what the hunter saw. The picture on one of the pages. “Oh. My. God. Freth, Raifort said that this was done a century or so ago, correct?”
”I…think so. Yes?”
“The Pokémon there. That. Shouldn’t be there. It shouldn’t have been there a hundred years ago.”
“It looks like a Donphan…the face looks…not right though. Its…flat. And his trunk is all wrong.”
“It looks like one. But it isn’t one.” The hunter stated. “How in the hell did THAT get here?”
“Is that an Ultra Beast?” Freth then asked.
“No. No that is not. There isn’t a proper name for them, at least the squad doesn’t have one, not like the Ultra Beasts. The studies that were done suggest that it’s a Pokémon successor; it has all the qualities of one, but yet its machine like. It’s hard to describe.”
“What, like a Porygon?”
“No, even more advanced than that. They come from rather distant, relative futures of realities, but…this is actually bad. These Pokémon could easily rival Ultra Beasts though.”
At this point, those around Freth would notice her demeanor change. While she wasn’t physically speaking this entire time, instead keeping her mental conversation private, something disturbed her. The whole prospect of something like that being here is profound. “Keep in mind, this was a hundred years ago, who truly knows what the hell they actually saw. Are Donphan native in this region? Maybe that’s what they really saw. And even if you are right, there hasn’t been anything that came out of that crater, otherwise, I would doubt that if there was something that powerful, Paldea would still be standing. I mean, why the hell would such a thing stay in a hole like that? Say if you are right and that is what it is, what are the chances that it is still alive right now?”
“Probably not very.” Eris admitted. “But then the formula in Sada and Turo’s lab. They figured out something. They realized something. Convince me that they didn’t just find the means to open a gate and, if they haven’t moved through it themselves, they instead brought those things here. Worse, how did this happen the first time? Was it a natural phenomenon? Or was it something out there beyond the confines of this reality? And once again, I am left to ask what in the hell was Turo and Sada doing? They’re supposed to have been specializing in the Terastal phenomenon; what in the world were they doing delving into matters like that?” Freth hesitated for a moment. Eris would know in these matters than she would and for as all she knew, probably has dealt with those first hand. ”Freth, there’s no getting around it. There is something really wrong going on in this region, let alone in that crater. The fact that nothing like that has emerged out of the crater is perhaps nothing shy of a miracle. But how long is this miracle going to last?”
Freth sighed for a moment. ”Let me see what’s in the rest of the book. For as all we know, whatever Sada and Turo is doing is probably not limited to those Pokémon.”
“I can agree to that at least…” Eris replied.
Freth then looked towards the others at the other Snagem members. “Did Sub say what he was doing today? Is he still dealing with Team Star?” she said as she dejectedly start examining the other pages in the book.
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Posted: Thu May 16, 2024 12:21 am
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Brian had finished his sandwich and was just watching his Pokemon play when Raifort finally answered his question, and he and Rachel both looked up as she said she had already figured out where the next Herba Mystica could be. That was good news, but what happened if they were guarded by giant Pokemon like the first one? They both knew if that was the case, they were going to be in for some incredibly rough battling, and Rachel paled a bit at the thought. She wasn't a battler like the rest of the team, preferring to watch rather than participate in battles. She'd gotten a bit of flak from the Battle Studies teacher for her reluctance to participate in battles, but eventually, the woman had backed off after Rachel had explained that she preferred to watch and learn before actually taking part in battles, so she could come up with a strategy for her team.
Brian frowned a bit when Raifort said she would leave them to figure out where the locations of the next two Herba Mystica were, handing the book off to Freth. Hmm, something about that was off. Knowing the professor's love for history and legends, he couldn't see her just forgoing the chance to study the Violet Book in depth, despite their search for the Herba Mystica. When the woman got up and left, he debated going after her, to find out what her real reasons were for leaving the group, but decided against it. It was none of his business, and besides, they had more pressing matters to deal with.
When Freth sat down at the table, allowing the rest of them to gather around to see what was in the book, Brian and Rachel both joined her, curious to see what the book had to say. Brian was sitting across from the Galarian Articuno hybrid, his skill at reading upside down aiding him here, though he was also looking at the images depicted in the pages. One in particular caught his eye, and it seemed Freth's, as well. That didn't look like a normal Pokemon. "What is that?" he asked, confusion etched on his features. "It looks kind of like a Donphan, but not like any Donphan I've seen before."
As he was speaking, his mind was going a mile a minute, trying to figure out what was so important that the Professors would take both the Scarlet and Violet books. Speaking of which... "We've found the Violet Book, but where is the Scarlet Book?" he asked, bringing up something that he hadn't considered until now. "If that's a journal from a century ago, that makes me wonder what information the Scarlet Book contains. Why would the Professors feel the need to take both books and not return them? What information was stored on the computer that the Professors didn't want anyone finding? What happened that made the government decide to pull funding for trips into the crater? And where are the Professors now?" Freth's question about Sub had him shrugging. "I'm not really sure," he said. "Last I knew, he was dealing with them, but where he's at now, I don't know."
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