Irondale City: The Chase

[maestro]

It was just a normal day in Irondale City, or would have been if the streets were not alive with gunfire and shouting. Many civilians found themselves ducking for cover as Syndicate agents were found chasing a man wearing a short blue jacket, carrying a Pokemon container in his hand. Shots were being fired from firearms at the man, who would return fire with an SMG he would just point behind him over his shoulder. This would not ever hit any of the pursuing agents, but it would provide them enough moment of pause for the guy to change his direction and dart down alleyways.

When he gave them the slip for a moment, he stopped to catch his breath in a dark alley. Jayce looked down at the capture ball in his hand, smiling "Don't worry...little guy....I'll make sure...you stay safe" he said confidently, in between breaths. "Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to just take you in broad day light, but hey, I got you out...and I'm going to make sure that you are kept safe. Just like I promised...ah shit..." he said as he overheard agents talking to surround the alley. He stuffed the spherical object back into his pocket and pulled out another magazine clip and reloaded. He then looked at the figures appearing in the alleyway "Hey guys, I don't suppose we could forget this happened and you could just let me go?" he negotiated. Their response was just a shower of bullets, to which Jayce took off from, "Guess not!" Jayce said out loud as he began to run further down the alley.

[Ink]

When the gunfire had started, the girl had ignored it. Her eevee, motled of fur, with an odd collar around it's neck looked up at her but kept following her. When the shots got closer, she stopped to see if she could spot the idiots playing with fire. When the young man with a machine gun bolted past her, followed by a squad of syndicate thugs. They had not resorted to using pokemon, but considering the cost of capture balls and the fact that they could generally shoot problems uncontested, they likely didn't carry any.

She gave a short command for her pokemon to follow her and she darted after the rushing crime scene. Not that the police were any help here. Most cops were too crushed by the syndicate or worked for them now. It was all up to those that despised them to clear the streets of their rabble. When the boy darted down a dark alley, she smiled. It was a perfect place to let loose. And it looked like this one became a dead end.

She followed the group down as far as they went until the thugs surrounded the youth. He would be forced to kill them now, and likely he would be mowed down himself. She leaned up against the walk and fingered the silver cross on her neck idly. "Nuada...wage war..."

The eevee took off from the girls side and into the fray. The shadows of the Alllway hid its presence at first, allowing it's first shift to go unnoticed. Shifting into a flareon it unleashed a hellish Fireblast upon two men closest to him. In the now flickering flame light those who turned to see the new assaulter would see the Flareon shifting and changing, reforming into a vaporeon. As the syndicate thugs struggled to put out their men and face the new threat Nuada braced itself and unleashed a powerful jet of water, slamming the full group of men up against the wall, and rendering them out cold... or dead, it didn't matter either way to the girl.

Not moving from her spot, she looked over to Jayce and his machine gun. Nuada stalked towards him, becoming a Jolteon and bristling with electric charge, growling at Jayce and his gun.

[maestro]

Jayce came to a wall, Dead End, shit he thought. He turned around and cocked his SMG "Alright, then when there is no where to run, we fight!" he said as he pointed his SMG at a couple of thugs approaching him. His attention was caught by the number of thugs that had followed him, holding up their own guns and pointing them at his direction. "Surrender the Pokemon NOW!" one screamed. Jayce just smirked "You think I can turn back now, after coming this far? Uh uh...no can do. I made a promise to this little one that I would rescue it and keep it safe, and I never go back on my promises" he defended as another agent yelled "Shoot!" 

As soon as the order was given, some of the thugs burst into flame. Jayce suddenly stopped any action he might have taken to process what had just happened. The chaos of the agents being assaulted by the unknown was enough for any that survived to take a full retreat "Forget the Pokemon, run! Retreat!" they shouted. Jayce gave a sigh of relief as he just finally processed that there was a Jolteon growling at him and no other Pokemon in sight. 

He looked down at the Jolteon, confused as to the hostility "So did you do all that? That...was definitely something different. I've never seen a Jolteon....do that. Did they other two disappear? Where are they?" he inquired. He then realized it was growling at his gun, drawing his attention to it. "Oh, you don't like this? Oh, no worries...*click*...I was empty anyways hahahaa" he said as he pulled the trigger and nothing was drawn out of the barrel. He threw the gun to the ground and squat down, smiling at the Jolteon.

"I guess I was lucky you came when you did, or else this little guy wouldn't have gotten away" he said, rummaging into his pocket and pulling out a capture ball. It suddenly opened and an Aron popped out, looking at both Jayce and the Jolteon with a confused look. "See, I told you I would protect you, one way or another" he boasted as the Aron looked both confused and relieved. "Although, you should probably thank this Jolteon...if not for it....oh hey, do you have a trainer? Where are they?" he inquired.

[Ink]

"Nuada...be at peace."

With the command from his trainer, the pokemon called Nuada shifted back into eevee form and promptly rolled over on his back and stretched out his legs. The girl walked out of the shadows and leaned down, petting the eevee's exposed belly. "Whose a good boy?" She said with particular joy. A synthesized voice came from the collar. it was of mid range and seemed a bit on the simple side. "Is it me? Am I a good boy? I must be. Pets."

The girl, after gratifying her pokemon for a job well done, stood to look at the boy. "It's a good thing you dropped the firearm. Nuada dislikes them and might have attacked you for it. We share a similar distaste for them." It was hard to think that the simple happy eevee had just ruthlessly attacked syndicate members without prejudiced.

"I don't often find people that openly defy the syndicate. You must know you'll need to leave here for a good long time. Hope you are not missing anything. You could come with me though... it would make for an interesting experiment. Beside's as of late traveling alone has become dull and my last companion... well they disliked science" She failed to mention that she had left him in a bog surrounded by shuppets because he told her she was a godless heathen and that her science would cause the downfall of man. He also called Nuada an abomination... that was just mean.

[maestro]

"Oh hey! You must be this Jolteon's trainer! Hey, thanks for the assist there!" he said, thankfully to the girl who appeared. Jayce, at first, was smiling and thankful for the Jolteon, but that soon turned to confusion and bewilderment. "Hey...did....did your Jolteon just....unevolve" he inquired, his Aron now nuzzling his leg. Once it spoke back to its trainer, Jayce was startled again "And...did it just speak?!" he exclaimed.

As the girl spoke, Jayce looked at her with a look that was clear he did not know how to take her. Of course he had to leave, he was planning on it anyways. He had been on the run from the Syndicate, so he hadn't really stayed in one place for too long. He decided not to let it get to him, though, because without her he would have probably been full of bullet holes.

He picked himself up from his squatting and gave his usual, confident smile "Well, I've been running from the Syndicate for a while now...so where I go really doesn't matter to me. However, I'm going to leave the decision of teaming up with you for this little guy to decide. What do you say?" he said, looking down at the Aron. The Aron looked up at him with a blank stare, then looked over at the Eevee and trainer inquisitively, then back to Jayce to nod in acceptance. Jayce gave him a smile and thumbs up, "Alright, then it's decided! We'll team up with you guys for now" he said, now extending his hand to the female trainer. "My name is Jayce, pleased to meet you and your amazing Eevee...Jolteon...Flareon?" he said.

[Ink]

As the man called Jayce talked, Nuada got back up and sniffed around him. The man was talking real happy like, and that was good, but Nuada didn't care about his words. He smelled like gunpowder, which was bad. But he also smelled like popsicles, and happy, and dirt, and like this auron guy here. Speaking of the Auron, Nuada pounced on the guy and started to give him a bath, "Bath time, bath time, shiney little pokemon, fun time, bath time, you taste like dirt!"

Leona ignored her silly pokemon and instead focused on the young man. "That eevee has a name. He is Nuada, please give him the respect he deserves by calling him such. Yes he can talk. Its because of the special collar he wears. It's not always a boon, but he is relatively intelligent and loving so his speaking is ok. I would not recommend it for everyone. As for his evolving abilities... My father and I have discovered that every pokemon has special sets of evolutionary limiters programed into them. they are the reason why some pokemon always evolve in the wild with no help at all and while others rarely evolve and while some take special events or only can evolve with human interference. We looked to the eevees to solve their secrets as the eevees have a multitude of evolutionary tracks compared to solo line pokemon. By removing these limiters we have enabled Nuada to shift between forms. It takes a fair bit of energy but we keep him on a high calorie diet with special food pills added to keep his energy up and reduce strain. Its fascinating and we are pushing him to strech his abilities and perhaps find new evolved forms. It would be an amazing start to this goal..."

She halted as a realization hit her. "Sorry... I haven't introduced myself yet. Leona Francine Marygold, Daughter of Lucas Marygold, founder and CEO of the Marygold Science Application Corporation. Pleasure to meet you and your Aron...does he have a name?"

[maestro]

Jayce just chuckled innocently at the gun comment. It wasn't that he enjoyed using guns, but more that he enjoyed building them. If he could build a gun that would never be fired, he wouldn't complain. But it was obvious his new compatriots had issues with them, so he admitted defeat on this topic. "Noted. No guns" he said, giving her and the Pokemon an assuring smile.

When Leona began going off on her scientific babble, Jayce's attention began to be lost and he seemed to just stare off into space, drool seeping out of his mouth at one point. His blank stare showed obvious boredom. When she introduced herself, his attention snapped back into reality. "Well, it is a pleasure to meet you Leona..." he then looked down to the Eevee "..and you too, Nuada. My apologies for insulting you and making you upset with the firearm. Hope we can move past that" 

Upon being asked about his Aron's name, Jayce looked as if he had just been hit and run with a thought that never dawned on him until just now. "A...name? I guess...I never thought of it. I didn't really expect to take claim of the little guy, but the Syndicate was going to use him for doing their dirty work, and he just looked so miserable. And hey, doing anything to mess with the Syndicate is okay in my book" he said as the Aron continued to nuzzle Jayce's leg. "Guess he has taken a liking to me, eh? Well, from what I saw on his info card, he was taken from a trainer named Ridley...so...how about Ridley?" he suggest, to be greeted with a very joyous nod and nuzzle from the Aron.

[Ink]

Leona almost winced visibly at her first name being used. She really disliked it and forgot sometimes that people didn't know that right off the start when meeting her. "Please... let's not use my first name. You can call me Frankie. or Francine if you must be proper." She raised a hand to momentarily brush some hair from covering her face, allowing one emerald eye to peer out at him as she hooked her hair behind one ear. "Ridley seems like a good name. He seems strong, and Nuada likes him," "FRIEND" "Where were you planning on going next? I had wanted to check out the gym here but I'm afraid that Nuada isn't ready or that just yet. Not by far. Even shifting a few time still tires him out."

A growl emitted from her stomach rather loudly and her hair fell back in her face as her hand jumped down to her belly. "I suppose though, that if you know a good place to eat around here... that would be an advisable course of action. I know Nuada is probably famished."

[maestro]

Jayce gave an apologetic smile back to her as she requested her first name not be used. "Alright then, Frankie it is" he said with a bit of a jovial kick behind his voice. As for where he was heading off to, he had no idea at this point. "Hmm....well, I suppose the Syndicate will take time to lick their wounds that Nuada gave them...so we should have time to grab a bite to eat. I believe there is a small restaurant in the middle of town, close to the Steelix statue. It is a quaint little place, and their deserts are to die for. They make great pies and a great assortment of candy. It is run by this lovely couple that are very friendly, even though I think the husband is accident prone because his leg is always in a cast it seems" Jayce said, beginning to trail off.

Ridley was enjoying the company of Nuada, even though his personal space was being violated. His entire outer shell was steel, so it really didn't bother him with the licking. He gave a low, content growl at Nuada to show he was appreciating having a friend and no longer be captive in the Syndicate.

[Ink]

Steelix statue. Leona had passed it this morning. She had not noticed the shop off hand but she was sure she could finde it. "Come along then..." She then spun on her heel and walked away, expecting them to follow her.

Nuada did, jumping up, ready to go. He nipped the Aron by the neck and flipped it up in the air in an arc. He caught it on his back and then trotted off after his master, leaving Jayce all alone, though he too assume the man that smelled of happy and gunpowder would be coming with them as his master had said. Master was always right.

Leona walked the streets without caring who she brushed past. Many people recognized her and gave her wide berth, many gawked, and a few snapped photos. None approached her save a little girl that broke out of the crowd with what looked to be a poster of Leona in a lab coat. The girls mother raced forward to try and stop the girl but it was too late as she had already latched herself onto Leona's leg.

Seeing his master 'attacked' Nuada bolted forward, shifting into his umbreon form and tackling the girl, knocking her off his master's leg. "Nuada... be at peace... this little one means us no harm..." Nuade shifted back to Eevee form, "Sorry.. I'm a bad boy... sorry..."

The little girl, who sat up quickly reached out to Nuada and petted him, much to her mothers horror. "Good Boy."

Leona helped the girl up, and in a short exchange she found that the girl was a fan and wanted to grow up to be a scientist just like her. As Leona signed the poster she gave the girl a serious look. "Hard work, perserverance... those are key. Always be learning and never be dissuaded from the truth. Science doesn't have time for lies."

With that the little girl ran off to her mother and the enigmatic science girl continued on towards their eating place.

[maestro]

When Ridley was tossed up onto Nuada's back, it looked at his new friend with a puzzled look. For a moment, everything was fine, until the sudden realization on both Pokemon sinks in that physics was still in affect, and Ridley fell off of Nuada's back with a sounding thud on the street. Despite this, however, it gave a slight chuckling growl and looked back at Jayce who was just beginning to follow the group.

Jayce watched the scene with the little girl, finding himself frozen with his arm outstretched towards Nuada as he tried to stop him from attacking the little girl. Crossing his arms and watching her interactions with the little girl, he couldn't help but be impressed. He looked down at Ridley "She isn't bad at handling people, for someone who seems so aloof" he admitted. 

Soon, they arrived at a restaurant near the center of town 'The Ingot Lodge'. Jayce took in a deep breath "Ah, smell that, it smells like good home style cooking" he said as Ridely looked up at Jayce and mimicked his trainer's actions...even though he couldn't smell anything. Jayce led the group in and to a table off to the side. "I think you will like this place, it's nice and quaint and the couple who runs it are really nice"

As if on cue, a loud crash could be heard coming from the kitchen, along with following clashes and clangs of pots and pans. "How dare you steal a piece of my pie! Do you want me to break your other leg! Look at that, we have customers! Go out and get their orders!" said a young, but loud female voice. "Sheesh, alright alright, I'm going as fast as I can with this cast on" said the young male, limping over to the table with a cast on his right leg. "Hi, welcome to the Ingot Lodge, please forgive my amazon of a wife, she has...issues. Anyways, what will you be having?" he said as he popped a lollipop into his mouth.

[Ink]

Leona didn't quite understand the man, that looked so happy though he looked rather battered, as he asked for their orders. He looked a little scruffy as he sucked on his lolipop. Who was she to judge the man. She took a look at the menu for a moment as she sat down at the table. "I think that I'll take the Narwhal delight and a candyman's special for dessert. And give me one of the Amazon's playgrounds, but it'll be for Nuada." She pointed down to he companion.

She looked around at all the people smiling and chattering in the small restaurant. It was nice to be among the normals from time to time. She was sure that was wrong of her to think, but if pokemon had types so did people. and those types were multilayer. Normals just lived their lives ignoring the overarching things happening around them. Awares seen what happened but did nothing, Specials tried to achieve some goal, and the beyonds were the change makers, beyond all others reach. She wanted to take down the Beyonds.

She stared off into space thinking about what that would entail. It meant that one day she would have to overthrow her father, but would he step down then willingly, or would the syndicate have corrupted him so far she no longer recognized her father.

[maestro]

Jayce nodded to the waiter "I think I'll have the Volt Chops to eat, and for desert, I'll take the Waffledome Surprise...and for the little guy...uh..." Jayce said as he looked down to Ridley, who had somehow gotten his hands on Jayce's silverware and was munching on them. "Uh....might need a few extra things of silverware" Jayce said, laughing nervously.

As he walked away, Jayce then turned back to Leona, kicking his boots up on the table and reclining in his chair. "So, Frankie, tell me about Nuada. I've never really seen an Eevee, or any Pokemon for that matter, do what it does. I think it's actually really cool"

[Ink]

Leona shooke her head a little at Jayce who apparently had not paid attention at all to her when she was talking about what makes Nuada special. She was used to this however, because most people could only handle so much of the science jargon before tuning out. "Nuada is unique among all other eevees in that he can evolve at will and revert back to base form at will. My father and I made him this way so we could more closely study the evolution process and see if there are new ways for it to evolve. With these studies we hope to understand evolution in pokemon and why it happens and what is needed for it. Nuada no longer needs the assistance of Stones or timing to evolve into his different forms. He retains all the skills and talents of all his forms. While this is powerful, shifting is costly on him and saps his strength. He's still a pup and so we try not to push him unless needed."

When the food arrived she gave Nuada his and started to eat first, letting the conversation die for a bit, her stomach taking over her brain. Once she had eaten a bit she sat her fork down to continue. "I wish that i had the means to stay in the lab and put him through testing, but live testing is needed. It also happens that i can not stay in the labs any longer. My father an I do not see eye to eye on how to deal with the syndicate. He has bent to their will, and he makes a mockery of the science he claims to tout as absolute."

She looked down at Nuada as she lowered her voice. "He will be the key. I'll make him stronger, faster, smarter. I will build a team of pokemon to support him in combat and train them to work together, using my technology that i built with my father. I will hunt down a legendary or two if I have too and bend them to my will with science.... and then I will return home to MSAC and I will destroy them... a building can be built, but the Syndicate is a plague that needs to be wiped out...."

[maestro]

With a mouth full of food, Jayce listened to Leona tell him again what was behind Nuada's abilities. And again, he lost interest and was confused by all the science going on. When she finished, Jayce finally swallowed his mouthful of food and responded "You know, I have no idea what you said about why Nuada is the way he is, but what I do know is that he is very special, and that makes him okay in my book" he said, grinning.

Jayce shifted a moment "Sorry to hear about you and your dad...me and my old man don't see eye to eye on everything either" he said as he waved his hand in the air almost dismissively. "He and I just have two different views on the world and I don't think we will ever agree" he added. "And as for the Syndicate, I'm working on doing what I can to take away the damage those guys do. They have way too much, in my opinion, and they use it to bully others" Jayce said, seemingly getting work up by speaking of them.

"I know I can't stop them, but if I can come from behind them and fix the people they break...even if it is just to help them in the most minor of ways, I'm going to do it. This region deserves better than them" Jayce stated confidently as he looked down at Ridley, who met his gaze and smiled and raised his arms up proudly for Jayce.