victory_road | WHO'S THAT POKEMON?

[Hey, she knows that voice. Maya turns and moves out of the way.]

Hey, Shiro. Getting lost in random cities as well?

[Because yeah she's heading for the teleporter too. There's an Espurr that's flopped on her right shoulder, who is getting tired of travel and randomly appearing places.]

[Kuro knows it too! He swings his big head around, trilling, and gently headbutts the woman. Hello angry friend of Krieg. Welcome to the weird weekend.]

Hey, Maya. It's not that bad -- sometimes we meet up with old friends.

[It's fine, he's had worse weekends, after all. And offers her a broad smile.]

[Headbutts are the best form of hellos.]

I haven't run into anyone so far but who knows.

[However she is grinning because-]

On the other hand. I've got my powers back. So I'll put up with the random teleporting.

[And she holds up a left arm, now with glowing tattoos and a ball of energy in her hand.]

[He shrugs a bit, reaching over to scratch his Aggron behind the "helmet". The big guy lowers his head for it.]

You never know. Someone might still show up. And hopefully it's someone you like.

[There was something else he was about to say. But then Maya goes and does that. His whole body jerks backward, surprised. Kuro steps forward, shoving himself between Maya and Shiro.]

That's -- I didn't know you could do that.

[She'll let go of the power in her arm and that ball vanishes and the tattoos fade back to their usual non glowing state.]

Sorry. Just a bit excited.

Yeah, I can use it to phaselock people, animals, stuff like that. It's my siren power.

That's okay -- he's just protective.

[Give him a second to try and soothe the big pokemon. Kuro is reluctant to move. He's seen these weird weekends, by now, he knows anything is possible. Someone could lash out at his trainer, and he's here to make that not happen.]

"Siren" power? Krieg never mentioned it before.

I get that.

[It's not a bad reaction to have around new dangerous things. So have a respectful nod Kuro. She gets it.]

That might have been because of Angel being the only siren here. Now it's just me though.

All sirens have unique abilities. Mine is called phaselock. It's...a bit hard to describe. For example if someone was attacking, I can basically lock them in place so they can't fight back. Sort of a giant bubble that holds them still for a short period and sometimes causes damage.

It's pretty handy in fights with multiple enemies. It's one of the reasons Krieg and I fight so well together.

[Hold them still and they get an axe to the face.]

[Kuro, fortunately, isn't as high-strung as a lot of Aggrons. He calms down fairly quickly, though he presses in close to his trainer's side.]

So it's like... you paralyze them. In a bubble? Does that sound about right?

[He winces a little, at the mental image. Yeah, he can see why Krieg and Maya worked out. Just from knowing Krieg.]

Yeah. They're usually trapped. Now if they enemy is too powerful, then it won't work and it just causes them damage.

But I've been training my entire life so I'm pretty good at it at this point.

[She can phaselock most threats.]

I can see why that would be useful.

[From what little he's learned about their world, anyway.]

You guys are from a dangerous place, aren't you?

We really are.

I mean Pandora's the worst of it by a long shot but at least there they stab you in the front. I think I prefer that.

That's an interesting stance to take. What makes you say that?

[She shrugs slightly and folds her arms.]

Like I said, sirens are valuable.

I was given to a holy order when I was a baby. I grew up there, on a planet called Athenas. They told me I was going to 'fight evil' some day in the future so I had to train hard and study. I believed them. Even when they wouldn't ever let me leave and all I wanted was to find out about what I was.

[And they wouldn't stop calling her 'child']

When I was 27, they showed me to the planet and brought a man for me to kill. An 'evil man' but really he was just a scared man who hadn't payed them money and he thought I was a monster. Turns out all this time they'd been using the idea of me as a threat to keep the locals in line.

It made me realize they'd been using me my entire life, while lying to my face. So I refused to kill the scared guy, shot the head monk in the face and left. I'll take a person screaming and trying to chop me into pieces over that, any day.

[Well that's just... that's disturbing. In a lot of ways. Partly because of how matter of fact she says it. He shakes his head, pushing his hand through his hair.]

That's... awful.

[To say the least. It's probably a massive understatement.]

But, yeah. I can understand that feeling. Being manipulated is -- You're right. It's worse than an actual fight.

[She's very good at the matter of fact disturbing statements.]

It was terrible but I like to think that at least I managed to get out.

[She's logical and also sometimes you need to keep a hold of the things you gain.]

Much worse. At least in a fight you can ...fight back. Manipulation, you don't even realize you need to be fighting back until it's too late.

I'm glad. No one should be used as a weapon.

[Says the man who was supposed to be one, himself.]

Yeah... yeah, I know. But I'm glad you got away from that.

Yeah.

[Being used as a weapon sucks and she hates anyone who does it.]

...Thanks though.

So where are you trying to head to? Back home or some other place?

[He just nods, and puts an arm around his Aggron's head. The gesture absent, thoughtful.]

Back to the Island, if I can. You?

Well I started in Pewter city, so there I suppose. Mostly I'm just trying to find where Krieg is.

If all else fails, you could follow the yelling?

[She chuckles at that.]

There is always that. He's not generally one of the people I have to spend a lot of time searching for.

The random teleporting changed that a bit though.

You get used to it after a while. These weird weekends happen every so often.

Sometimes you get lucky, though, and don't end up popping up anywhere weird.

Yeah, I've heard about them a bit. Some people were trying to reassure me that I'd get my powers back at least once or twice. ....I probably appreciate that more now.

[She knows they'll vanish again but she's....surprisingly less mad about it then she'd have been when she first got here.]

Well, I haven't ended anywhere terrible yet, so that's a plus.

They were right. And that's not all that happens... sometimes Pokemon even talk, during these weekends.

[His own... abilities tend to come back, too. But he doesn't bring that bit up.]

Honestly? Is there a terrible place to be, here?

Really? Now that would be interesting.

And, there's always a terrible place. In this case, anywhere Jack is.

[She's been enjoying never seeing or hearing him.]

WHO'S THAT POKEMON?

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