Logfile from Pokémorphs - Link. (edited and formatted by Nidonocu)

Dense Forest

In this deeper part of the forest, the tree canopy gets thicker and the sunlight of day or moonlight of night is reduced to spots and shafts that sparkle on the forest floor. Here the ground is soft, covered in undergrowth and so uneven that makes it impossible for building and the branches here are too tall for structures in the trees.

With these elements in place, even pokémorphs have mostly left this place alone, in fact, all signs of civilisation are gone, no paths, no trails, and all sounds from the city or travellers along the dirt tracks further out are absorbed by the massive trees and deadened to silence. The only sounds that remain are the faint cries of wild pokémon and leaves blowing in the breeze.

At the deepest part, only one thing stands of note, a large naturally woven together wall made of thicker trees, rocks and mounds. It stands high enough to rival a small building and long enough that it stretches off in either direction, cutting off part of the forest from the rest. There appears to be no way through it and all that can ever be seen moving are flashing glimpses of pokémon that disappear before you can ever truly spot them.

Contents:

Hope

Sheba

Mewtwo

Link

Tatikyas

Catasis

Obvious exits:

(Back) towards the Path leads to Northern Forest.

,-Name-----------Sex-Species--------------Size----------.

| Link N Porygon2-Morph 5'3"/110 lbs |

| Sheba F Persian-Morph 5'7"/130 lbs |

| Mewtwo N Mewtwo 6'7"/269 lbs |

| Catasis F Catasis 5'10"/??? lbs |

| Hope F Abra-Morph 5'4"/102 lbs |

| Tatikyas M Raichu-Morph 5'10"/165 lbs |

`-------------------------------------------------------'

Link is now participating in a Tiny Plot (TP).

Catasis is now participating in a Tiny Plot (TP).

Mewtwo is now participating in a Tiny Plot (TP).

Hope is now participating in a Tiny Plot (TP).

Sheba is now participating in a Tiny Plot (TP).

ALRIGHT SO.

... Here's the forest. It's very tranquil and peaceful, the beginning of the afternoon has just occurred, the sun is very high in the sky, and it's a beautiful day. It's the sort of day where Pidgey and Rattata roam the lush greens looking for foods, where leaves fall from trees - or stay on them, if that's really what they want to do. Absolutely nothing can happen on a day like this. He says, knowing full well...

*WHITEFLASH*

That would be many of the cast of the first act, arriving a little ahead of schedule. Tatikyas will be there, with his twitchy ears and his yoyo, Hydra design, clacking away. Why does he carry that anyway? It's his link to Asayoru, if you're curious, and it makes him feel like he knows what he's doing. And maybe the 'chu does. Here's to hoping. He takes a breath and looks around, showing a few signs of paranoia, but nothing a good fleeing couldn't cure. "Did we get everyone?..." This will become evident. At least now, the Hydra HQ is safe. Safer. That's something, at least.

Of all the problems Catasis tends to pose to everyone and everything, at least being teleported isn't a problem. Her long hair rustles in the wind as it tends to do, and she takes the moment to smooth the wrinkles out of her skirt. Despite being informed at least to a point of what is going on, she still manages to look completely lost and confused. That's just the way she rolls, though, it would seem.

Hope floats here, an inch above the ground, as she sometimes does. Her clothing today is her cloak, a large, ragged gray thing that hangs down past her ankles, made of stitched together rags, like it's been made and remade a dozen times over through the course of its life. Her feet are bare, pointy monstertoes peeking out from underneath. Presumably she is wearing things underneath the cloak, black and baggy things that would further hide any semblance of skin or pinkness, but it's hard to say, because the darn thing is closed, so she ends up looking like one of those mysterious cloaked figures you hear so much about. The ones who are probably up to no good. She's even got a hood, which almost, but not quite, falls completely over her eyes. One eye, anyway. The other eye is visible, if just for the slightest unnatural crook of fabric that could not possibly be there by chance. She must be using powers so she can look all dramatic.

So she floats there, in the dead center of the group, because she is transport and that is how it goes. And is totally silent. But she is thinking things. Oh yes.

Sheba was getting used to a life of 'luxury' -- where all she had to do was find food, or someone to find her food, and make sure that Catasis didn't get into too much trouble. And here they are, now, disrupting that. The Persian sighs and looks to Catasis with faintly narrowed eyes. She's not annoyed at Cata for once, though; just everything else. She places her hands on her hips and looks toward Tatikyas. He's the ringleader here after all, isn't he?

Link remains still for a moment as the light of the teleport fades. The process of being transported as a whole always tended to unsettle him to the point of needing a brief system check and of course, making sure to realign his positioning system. After a moment he unfreezes, appearing to blink and look around as around the rims of his irises, a little chase pattern animates like one found on a digital video recording device, already keeping track of everything as ordered. He looks over the group and then nods to Tatikyas. "All party members are accounted for, we are approximately four miles north of the city," he states calmly. "What is our next action to take?"

"Alright then, great," says Tatikyas, watching Link. "Just wait a moment. Scan the area, let me know if anything significant changes," says the 'chu to the 'bot. Ahh, Porygons. Not near the top of his favourites list, but if they're not screaming about battleships and trying to destroy him then he's fine with it. Mostly. Then to Hope, giving her a glance but not trying to add to whatever thoughts might be going on in that brain. And then Catasis, who he smiles at, somewhat impractically.

"This place is no more danger than the base was for the moment," he informs, winding the yoyo back up manually - he seems to have missed the ratchet. Darn.

"I wonder if anyone mentioned what we're here for," adds the Raichu as he gets to Sheba, scratching one of his cheeks with a small flicker of sparks. "One of our Xatu has predicted Mewtwo is on his way back here, but you're pretty relaxed. I hope that's a good sign," he says, grimly. "Excuse me if I'm not sorry to inconvenience you."

Catasis offers a sort of smile back at Tatikyas, though she's not quite sure why he smiled at her, particularly with the further explanation he gives to Sheba. "Why is he coming here now?" the blue one asks, though it ought to be fairly obvious, even to her, shouldn't it? Her attention turns to Sheba. "We haven't caused any problems, have we?" Well, lately, she means.

Hope smirks. It's not a nice smirk, either. But whatever cruel and not-at-all-nice thoughts she's having, she doesn't say them, because.. well, it'd be impolite. And mean! And anyway, she's a professional. Totally. So, instead, she focuses on something different. "... what do you think he's like?" Mewtwo, we mean. She can't help the small trace of wonderment that sneaks its way into her voice.

But lately isn't the point. News takes a while to travel. The Persian first rolls her eyes at Tatikyas before she turns to Catasis. "We haven't caused any problems?" Sheba makes tsk tsking noises, clicking her tongue. "I've been morphed. You've /killed/ a person. A human, no less. And injured several others. Then, what with Team Rocket and now Hydra..." She turns to Tatikyas afterward, to finish her statement. "I'd say that we're actually in a lot of trouble. But not to worry. If we die, at least Mr. Tatikyas will be to blame for it. It's on your head now, isn't it?" A pause. "I don't think that he'll be happy to see /me/... It's been so long."

Link nods once at Tatikyas. He had through extensive time spent peering over Hydra's files and learnt a few things about their leader's run-ins with less friendly individuals of his species. This information had in turn been used to reach the conclusion that he should often try to be as non-confrontational as possible with the electric-type. "Apart from some pokémon fleeing by our presence, there is no current significant activity," he reported, looking out in to the forest again. The shiny bird looks back though at Hope as she asks her question and he tries to come up with a succinct summary. "Reports indicate that he is.. impulsive." A nomination there for understatement of the month.

"I'd say Miss Sheba is not very optimistic," furthers Tatikyas at Hope's query about the Pokémon. The yoyo clatters again, clicking quietly as it spins at the bottom of his throw. Right then. "You are wrong, I absolve myself of blame. I don't know why, only that there was a prediction. Because if there is conflict to be had, Sheba, neither you nor me nor anyone on this island will be able to do a thing about it. Even the military will not confront it." He checks himself over, poking at his earpiece radio - he's still in touch with the world - and fingering his red cellphone. Because by this point he'd have set up some contact with the PIA. If this is gonna be big, anyway. Nobody knows at the moment! This could all be an echo, but Tati plays it safe. For once. Maybe he's truly become grown up now.

The yoyo comes back up. Maybe not.

"It's a bit fatalistic, mebbe. Now we just have to wait."

<News> Boom. There is a loud rumble and a faint shockwave somewhere off to the south. Those that look will see a pillar of smoke rising from the ocean, possibly where one of the warships standing by used to be. At once, static begins to sound over the PA system throughout the city. However, nothing else seems to happen."

Catasis opens her mouth to say something, though she's distracted by the distant rumbling off to the south, and she looks to the plumes of smoke climbing up into the sky. She doesn't say anything, but tiny arcs of electricity start popping across her fur, and her tail whips in agitation. For those waiting for something to happen, it appears that the timing of getting to this place couldn't have been much better.

"With power like that, I'd be impulsive, too." Hope continues to smirk, offhandedly. And then action! Action!! ACTION. There's a distant rumbling, to which Hope turns her head. Of course, her first thought is something along the lines of, 'I wonder if everyone's okay..?', followed very quickly by, 'AGH GOD LIGHTNING'. To which she quickly shrinks away from Catasis. She's never actually been subject to the freak of nature's tantrums, but she's heard about what happens to those who do. And thus she shrinks. She even debates, for a moment, all manner of quips and snarky retorts. Then annoyed yells. The humble, polite requests. And all of these are quickly dismissed, one right after the other, with the knowledge that Catasis could end her. So, instead, Hope merely shrinks back, hovering away from her very, very slowly with gritted teeth.

<News> As the video report on recent increase in cookie prices comes to an end on the Pokémorph News hour comes to an end, the camera returns to the Zigzagoon-morph anchor that looks distracted rather than alert as he appears to be listening to his ear piece and reading something from the computer in his desk. "Ladies and gentle-morphs, we are getting breaking news reports of some explosion out at sea, close to or on one of the Kanto military ships," he says as BREAKING NEWS flashes across the bottom of the screen via an on screen graphic and the screen splits in half as a live feed comes from a camera being hauled up a flight of stairs in the broadcast centre by a struggling cameraman trying to get a first look. "We'll be bringing you live footage in just a moment.."

Sheba's ears slick back, but her expression remains the same - bored, irritated. She's very afraid, however, but she does all that she can to not show it. Instead, her hands reach to cross her arms across her chest. Looking indignant is much better than looking fearful. If only she could have found a way to bleach her fur, to make herself look like a normal persian, perhaps Mewtwo would not recognize her. The guardian that failed. She casts a glance at Catasis. Perhaps it was Catasis' fault, then, since Tatikyas refuses to take responsibility. Her tail tip twitches and she takes one step back, surveying the crowd.

Link jumps at the sound of the explosion and doesn't hit the ground again, hovering slightly off it as he pivots to face the sound of the distant bang. His eyes animating a targeting reticule in place as he tunes in on the source. "Detonation, south of the coast. Source, military ship, 87 percent estimate. Attempting to get a remote visual feed," he then pauses and looks down at Catasis and then to the 'chu, "78 percent estimate it is not a coincidence."

Tatikyas's radio explodes with life and he spends a few moments talking into it, behind a hand and turned away so he's not messing with conversation too much. Then he's done with it and he looks at Catasis again - he can top up the rest of that 22 percent, really. Well, we're in the zone, so let's go with it.

"I'm afraid I don't know what happens now," says the Raichu, making the open-hands gesture to Sheba. "This bit was left out. Hope, be ready for departure," he says, watching her and trying to relax. But he can't. There's electricity in the air, and that inspires his own, and his ears sparkle. Grr, annoying. "Link, gotcha. Keep it going."

There is a general noise of discontent from the few Pokémon that hadn't decided to flee yet, at which point they do just that, leaving the 'all-too-quiet' feeling in the immediate area. Well, save for the crackling of electricity and radio and all that. Catasis gets a glazed look in her eyes. "He is here - they are trying to stop him." Her fur shines yellow, growing pointed and stiff, much like a Jolteon, when all is said and done. "It's not going to work."

<News> To the southwest of the island, easily in view for the people gawking at the smoke, another battleship has circled around from the west side of the island, and with a distant pop, its cannons fire into the air. To the observant, and to those with binoculars, there is a small, fuzzy purple sphere above it, hovering in the sky.

"You're slow." Hope continues to float slowly, slowly away from the sparking Catasis, inch by inch as she spits words. Her cloak flutters slightly, as even in dire circumstance she can find brainpower to devote to looking spiffy. "I was ready to leave five minutes ago."

“So what is the point of us being out here?" Sheba asks, and despite her stony facial features, her curled tail is getting puffed up. It's kind of comical, but Sheba would probably claw anyone's face off for saying so. She clenches her teeth, then tilts her head, looking at Catasis. Who knew she had such power? Oh wait, she did. Right. "So, Cata, are we going to die?"

<News> On the News channel, the split view of the anchor and the wobbly camera changes to just that of the camera while the zigzagoon continues to narrate. The camera zooming and focusing on the distance sights out at sea. In the distance, bits of sinking ship and humans are floating in the water, a few inflatable life boats starting to appear from the smoke while something in the sky starts to take fire from another ship. "It looks as though one ship has been completely destroyed and, something, someone is in the air? Can we get a tighter zoom in on that?" The cameraman tries to focus in but the handheld nature means it continues to swing and pan, barely able to catch a good look at the figure in the sky.

Uplinking to the phone in Tatikyas' hand, Link accesses the news stream and resolves the captured frames from the dodgy camera work. "Confirmed, it is him," he says, holding a hand up and letting a small holographic image form in it of his high resolution composite. There's still some fuzziness, but the resemblance to Catasis is unmistakeable. The Porygon2 though does take some pause as he looks between Hope and Tatikyas, it might just be the complete lack of fear in the artificial morph, but he can't help but ask them a question. "Should we not.. wait and find out his intensions before we retreat?" asks the bird poignantly.

"The point is," says Tatikyas, finger in his ear passively monitoring radio, and then giving it a pause as electricity jolts from his hand to the ground. Too much gathered static makes his radio unhappy, so he's discharging. "I saved the life of everyone in the base today. My flimsy little heavily fortified building isn't going to keep him out, so I took us away from it. Hopefully for us it will survive. Catasis.. as soon as he gets here, my responsibility to you becomes forcefully severed, and I'm really sorry Pokémorph-kind is unable to help you. I mean it. Please try and be gentle," he says, giving a nod of his head and taking a few steps back towards Hope.

"You'd have us gone by now," he says to Hope, looking at her. And to Link. "We'll know when we should flee, I think. But I doubt we'll have cause - or reason - to outstay our welcome."

<News> The PA speakers speak in a distorted voice through the static. "...yellow level alert... ...recommend all citizens to return to their... ...until further..." The purple sphere off to the southwest streaks suddenly down, into the boat below, which bursts into a large ball of fire and smoke, much as did the first one. The shockwave is enough to unbalance anyone on the beach or closer, and whatever that was streaks out of the fire and smoke - just a smoky trail arcing over the city, to the north.

Catasis frowns, sparing a glance to Tatikyas before she looks back off to the south again. "I will miss you," she says, sounding more than a little distant. She really has nothing else to say, even to Sheba being much more short than she used to be. It is quite the stressful moment, after all, and Catasis can understand that much, at least.

<News> "And it looks like the aggressor is firing back and oh sweet.." there is a blast of static that masks the voice of the fluffy narrator as the view fuzzes but the camera captures the second ship go up in a fireball. More static flows both from the camera feed and the main news channel its self as the zigzagoon then resumes. "We've received a communication from the PIA that residents are to remain in their homes, away from windows and to stay tuned to news sources on TV or Radio to stay informed. We here at the PM News will stay on the air and do just that," he adds with a tone of authority and calm while the camera pans the ocean. "It seems for now other ships are staying away, though I can make out more smaller rescue boats being launched.."

Hope's features are marred into a frown. She floats on standby. "If we die, I'm blaming you." ... she fails to specify who she's blaming, however. There's three good people here, though, so take your pick.

It's really a short hop from the ocean to the forest when one can fly at somewhere near the speed of sound. And, so, there's only just so much time to react to the second explosion before its source is more than ready to arrive at its actual destination. With smoke still clinging to it from the second boat, and with a boom of impact and a wave of energy erupting from his landing, Mewtwo has arrived. The energy that erupts from him upon landing isn't even so much as a directed attack, but it's the kind of thing that disrupts synapses, and makes thinking and moving suddenly that much more difficult. Someone isn't bothering to hold back today.

<News> "There are at least several hundred humans sailors and their pokémon on those boats, we have no estimates though at this time of any casualties from the PIA or the military.." says the Zigzagoon as there is then a brighter glow in the sky. "There appears to be something happ.." he starts and then a bolt of blue streaks across the sky over the island as the sound of a sonic boom blasts first from the sky and then repeated from TV's and radios as the camera pans quickly to try and follow the blur but catches just a glimpse as whatever it is lands down in the forests, north of the city.

OH GOD. Hope, poor Hope, falters for a moment, wobbling midair in the wake of the AURA. And then drops. Luckily she is only an inch above the ground and it's not much of one, but still she falls on her butt, and it is not a graceful landing. "OWowowow." And there she sits, clutching the hood of her cloak.

Sheba holds her breath. She probably knows Mewtwo better than anyone else here, yet she, for all the world, can't think of how to react. Oh, were she only a normal Persian, she would know exactly what to do. Of course, were she still a normal Persian, they wouldn't be in this situation to begin with. Without thinking it through, Sheba steps forward and reaches to take Catasis' hand, provided that she doesn't pull away, and then drops down onto her knees, bowing her head. Maybe the old non-morph Sheba is still in there, somewhere.

Link watching his slightly lagging news feed, begins a sentence. "I think he is mov.." Boom. And then, there he is. The combination of static and psychic effects the artificial morph a little differently but he is not by any means immune. The holographic image above his hand flickering and disappearing, his anti-gravity wobbling too as he backs up and eventually too drops back to his feet like Hope and steps backward, eyes locked on to the pokémon. If he could swallow, he would probably be gulping right now. "Correction, 99.99 percent not coincidence," he states somewhat quietly and his voice sounding a little fuzzy, after a moment his skin colours shift and he performs a Conversion to electric-type, yellow and black replacing his green and blue. That should isolate him from at least half of the energies being given off right now.

Tati manages to speak into the radio before he's momentarily put out, holding onto his head and falling back onto his rear, where there is no tail to accidentally land on. He doesn't do well with this sort of thing, rubbing his temples and pushing thoughts about like they're going through mud. Er. ".. is this intention enough?" he wonders after things start to make sense again. Turning to watch Hope, whose fall from the air didn't go unnoticed. Can she even still get them out of here? Hey, there was always going to be some risk to this. Crunch time, then. He couldn't even tell the people on the radio, they're getting frantic, but he doesn't even think we're out of the prologue yet.

Catasis seems unaffected by the aura pouring out of Mewtwo, but she still seems unable to do much of anything, despite that she's quite visibly charged up and couldn't possibly -look- any more ready for action. As Sheba grabs onto her hand, Catasis finds herself going down to her knees as well, just following the movement, for lack of better things to do at this moment. Electricity flows down her, into the ground, uselessly.

Mewtwo, as the smoke finishes clearing, looks nothing if not unamused by the motley crew here to greet him. So to speak, anyway. After all, no one has said anything to him yet. He really didn't expect anything more than that, though. First things first, he points a finger at Catasis, and with a brief flash of his eyes, shuts her down, for the lack of a better term. Her eyes glaze, seeming to lose their color, and her yellow fur fades back to blue, sapping the electricity from her. "Never before has anyone failed me so utterly," Mewtwo's voice sounds. His mouth doesn't move, but it doesn't really need to, either.

The Persian's tail calms somewhat, and she raises her head to look up at Mewtwo, eyes narrowed to slits. Tatikyas really is just trying to save his people. And the island. She supposes that she can't entirely begrudge him for that. If anyone, the fault falls on Donavan. No, it falls on Team Rocket, yet again. "If only you were an understanding pokémon, Mewtwo," Sheba begins to say. "Then perhaps you would know that this isn't Catasis' fault, or my own. But I suppose that it would be foolish to expect that much." Her nose wrinkles, but she keeps her hand tightly around the blue feline's. "We've done nothing but attempt to satisfy your wishes. But you will undoubtedly unleash your malice on this island of innocent people, all victims of Team Rocket. But, as they say, we all hate most the traits of ourselves that we see in others." There've been a lot of things that she's been holding back for a long, long time. Hopefully, she'll have hit on a few key things that will make him think twice about what he's about to do.

Link it seems picked the wrong element to align to after Mewtwo with a single wave of his hand, disables Catasis. And it would take a few moments for him to be able to realign it to either Psychic or another type. Though again, there might not be that much point with a creature as powerful as this pokémon. As the only morph still standing, if a little shakily, he moves slowly, trying to avoid the gaze of the white and purple feline and reaches to try and help up Tatikyas silently.

Tatikyas, after the initial unsettlement, is easy to guide back to his feet, and he will attempt to do the same with Hope, to snap her out of wherever she seems to be for the time being. No element is a good element with Mewtwo, he is guessing, and it's starting to dawn on him that this might be the point where there is leaving. But then it might be a bit longer. He still thinks he'll know; someone'll flare up, Sheba'll get killed, something /else/ will explode. Various things playing over his mind. He's a real bundle of joy. And actually he's not so bad, but he's just thinking. What next. Bunches of people waiting for the word and his radio is starting to recover. Does he really want to speak into it? Mewtwo's doing a great job of not caring so much that the 'morphs are here.. it seems.

"Hope," he insists.. quietly. He's on his feet again now.

Catasis can do nothing but stare, feeling a warm, useless buzzing in her head. She's able to see and hear, but that's about all she can do, only barely able to breathe, even, with Mewtwo's rather gripping hold on her at the moment. So much for being all-powerful and at all useful. At least Sheba is speaking for her... sort of.

"Don't worry about me."

There's a slight pause, where Hope remains slumped, useless, cloaked and eyes hidden. But she speaks, and shortly thereafter, draws herself up. Not standing, no. She remains there on the ground, legs curled underneath her, fallen mysterious figure. But the posture changes subtly, so that she's on call, at attention, holding herself up to some standard. Almost defiant, really. "I'm not that weak. If you need to go somewhere.. I'll take you."

Mewtwo continues to look unamused. "You throw around the words 'innocent' and 'victim' so carelessly, Sheba," he speaks, holding out his hand, and spreading his fingers, bathing the Persian in a soft violet glow. "The reason anyone is in the position they are now is irrelevant. It is what they are doing with that position that matters." With a light upward flick of his wrist, Mewtwo pulls Sheba up off of the ground, levitating her easily with his mind.

Sheba's fingers slip from Catasis' and she's lifted into the air, feet and arms dangling below her. Not uselessly, though she decides it would be useless and pathetic to struggle before him. The Persian's tail begins to puff up again, but her angry eyes remain locked on Mewtwo's, gaze steely and angry. Her curved claws slide out from her fingertips, even as she is lifted into the air. The glow around her tints her vision, which annoys the feline. So he has her. He'll either kill her or let her live with another harsh reprimand. What does it matter now? She glances down to Catasis only briefly, and Tatikyas briefer still, before she looks back at Mewtwo, a sneer coming to her face. "I suppose trying to make it right isn't worth it, and that you'll kill me now." Her ears flatten. "If you do, Mewtwo /sir/, I at least hope that you will leave the others out of this. This is between you and I."

Link's colours slowly shift back to normal as he watches the confrontation between Sheba and Mewtwo, standing close to Tatikyas side as he isn't sure what he should be doing other than recording and watching. He lets out a chirp of surprise though as Sheba is lifted upward and he stands more alert, raising a hand to half point uselessly, some piece of code is telling him they should be helping her, but it offers no solutions as to how.

A few days ago, Tatikyas said words to the tune of 'I can't tell the future', conversing with a certain Xatu-morph whose foretelling has saved many lives already. If he had really dwelled on the fact he had said such things, he might consider himself ready to eat crow. Something becomes very, very clear to him in this moment, that widens the eyes. He thinks he knows where the turmoil comes from, where and why this is going where it's going. It doesn't quite line up, and something isn't quite right, but the outcome... well, all roads lead to fail, don't they? "Don't," he says, quietly, at a murmur. To Mewtwo? Not exactly. He can't will his sentiment into being, but he might like to try. He puts a hand across Link's path, unspoken order. And then the spell is broken momentarily as he looks to Hope briefly, listens, nods. These are things he knew, if he thought about it.

Catasis shivers on the spot, mouth slightly open as she struggles to breathe. She tries to blink, but fails to do so at all, only able to stare blankly where Mewtwo is standing. She's still stuck on the spot, despite her will to help Sheba in some way or another. As for now... nope. She's still stuck.

Hope continues to sit there, seemingly useless, but not. She doesn't speak or move, or do anything particularly dramatic or interesting, but it's hard to not look a little dramatic and interesting when you're in a getup like that. It's possible she's paying attention to what's happening, but then again she could just be waiting for a signal to bolt. Hard to tell, really, since you can't even see her eyes. Stupid cloak with its hood.

"No, this is about everyone now," Mewtwo answers, eyes shining a brilliant indigo, and his fingers flexing. "But first," he adds, sending energy deep into the Persian. Gripping electric forces tear into her muscles, pulling and tensing and burning... Light shines out of her, burning the surface of her skin and searing the pigment from her fur and eyes. He could very well just kill her right away, but he's not content with that right now. "You will not fail me again."

<News> For the last few minutes, footage has been looping of the first explosions and then the flying entity in the sky. The zigzagoon trying to come up with new things to say to describe it while cameras got in to place further down in the city. Now though new footage appears with 'LIVE' placed prominently in one corner as he reports. "We have these latest pictures now from the streets. You can see ambulances and PIA morphs helping some of the rescued sailors, it looks like quite a number of been recovered from the water which we are now getting reports of suffering some significant contamination by leaking fuel. No signs yet at the moment of where the attacker has fled to nor any reports of Hydra or Rocket claiming responsibility for these completely surprise attacks. You can see from our rooftop camera that some military personnel are returning to their ships, it seems that most of those still alive in the water have been picked up.."

There are regrets, but Sheba doesn't think that they will matter to anyone now. Those thoughts pass briefly before the attack begins. If Sheba had felt calm enough to eat anything in the last several hours, she would be retching. Instead, her mouth opens wide in a silent O, eyes widening. The fire starts at her belly and rips through her intestines, blood veins pulsing, and so on. She writhes where she's suspended, and finally begins to scream. It's loud and wailing, like only a cat can cry, mixed with the agony of a woman who once knew love. It's epic and tragic, and she feels like she's about to burst into flame.

Link stops his movements as his superior puts his paw in front of him. His tail bobbing slightly as he watches and seems to gain a frown of sorts on his beak, it doesn't feel correct to just stand and observe as they are. As the attack on the cat-morph begins though, he lets out another chirp of anxiety. Looking from the glowing floating body, back to the chu. "We need to do something, sir?" he asks over the scream echoing in his microphone based ears.

Painful screaming. It drills through him, and Tati doesn't want to hear it, but he must. They are, indeed, just standing there. "To engage is to invite death, Link," he says, neutrally, balling a fist. "There are only two people here with the means to act, I am ashamed to admit. We are neither. But if you must do something.. I won't order you not to." Maybe that will make you a better man than he. There's no gesture in being struck down here - the only reason he hasn't gone is because Sheba's still alive. She's a Pokemorph, after all. But torture is not the 'don't' of which he speaks.

Whoosh. There's the sound of fire from Catasis, and a visible flame licks across her body, but she doesn't move from her spot yet. There's another whoosh, and flash of fire, but she's still stuck in place - only her tailtip is moving, besides her labored breathing, at this point, and she can still only stare. Whoosh.

Screaming. Oh god, the screaming. Hope trembles at the screaming. Screaming. Screaming. But Hope doesn't scream, even if her mind does. "..."

"..."

"Some leader. I thought we were supposed to save people. Isn't that what we set out to do? And you can't even do one thing. Well, I can. I don't have the power to do anything, but I can certainly try to do /Something/."

Hope looks up at Catasis, her hood sliding up with the move of her head, showing her eyes. "YOU!!" Oh crap?

"... I hate you." Oh crap. "For the record? I do. You're crazy. And.. I'm not the only one who thinks so. The things you do? To find your friend. And kill people. I think you're insane. But you see that? That right there? He's hurting your friend! She's your friend, isn't she?! He's hurting her! Not in some weird metaphysical way because he's not telling you where she is or being unnaturally cryptic. He's actually hurting her! You have the power to stop this! That's worth fighting against! You can stop it! I know you have to the power to do something, so do something, and save her! //STOP HIM FROM HURTING THAT GIRL//!!"

Link ran a number of considerations, if they do nothing, then Sheba might be killed. If they did something, there was a very thin margin that it might surprise this being that anything would try to attack it. And in doing so, something else might happen. After all, he could be fixed, biological morphs were not that lucky. And as Hope shouts, he decides to act. "Understood," he says to Tatikyas before taking a step forward and pushing past him. With that his arm raises and he pulls back a sleeve as from it, a triangular shaped weapon appears and with a quick glow and pulse, he fires a Tri-attack of fire, ice and electricity at Mewtwo. Awfully weak but again, it was to act more as a distraction than anything else.

The pressure on Sheba's muscles increases, forcing them to pull harder on herself, enough to tear tissue and break bones. The energy sears every inch of her skin, burning the color from her. Ping-ping-ping... The tri-attack collides with Mewtwo's immediate area, holding there in a swirl of color. Attention turns to the shouting Abra, giving Sheba only a brief moment of reprieve. "She cannot help anyone," he tells Hope, straightforward, before gesturing with his free hand, sending the tri-attack in her direction now.

Tatikyas wasn't expecting that. Link, well, he was. But Hope, right. Her words burn, but the Raichu doesn't care about that; that can be tolerated. Acceptable loss, a bit of reputation. It's nothing, so long as this scene doesn't do that. As soon as the Abra starts goading Catasis the 'chu begins mustering electricity, and after Hope's shouting, he throws it all out into the air in an undirected Thundershock designed to rattle the air with the sound of air-popping electrical noise. And a shout to top it.

"ENOUGH!"

And Hope is wrenched aside from where she was. Not because Tatikyas has seen Link fire, but because he's enraged as one possessed. "Where were you when they gave out common sense? Gouge the Cat out of the box now and this whole area is gone. All of it. You save /nothing/ and you save /no-one/. The game is lost. It's also lost if Sheba dies! I cannot be the only person here who sees this," he says, blathering and taking a step back. "No. That is impudent and impossible. I can only assume this restitution for whatever she did goes ahead as planned and.. and.. everyone gets to go home. This won't happen. Mewtwo!" he all but screams, hair raised with sparks down him. "To kill her is to invite something that you might not counter so easily. But you already know that. You must know that. This is stabbing the unknown. A-" Suddenly, tri-attack. Pay attention to your surroundings, chu-brain. And the Rai winds up on the floor for the second time, caught off guard. Singed eyebrows. Ow.

The screaming stops briefly, only enough for Sheba to gasp for ragged breath. Her fur is ragged underneath her torn, burnt clothing, but tinged violet because of the aura that radiates around her. There are no stripes visible, no tint to her fur. Blood drips from her nostrils and the corner of her mouth.

It may be too late now to stop Catasis from coming out of her box... With the goading from Hope, she's being pushed far enough. Her claws grow, pulling at the dirt on the ground, and she snarls, nearly roaring like the beast she's been called many times before. Muzzle and teeth elongate, and she grows visibly, rippling with strength. Her body catches aflame, burning away her tearing dress, and she sparks with electricity as well... And it's snowing. Catasis's fur shimmers, iridescent and glowing. Her tail lashes, and she starts to push herself back up onto her feet again. This might be the 'bad part' that those gathered were afraid of.

Hope is very light. You might think she'd be heavier, especially with that cloak, which gives her a greater sense of mass and volume. She looks very solid, with that cloak. And yet. You would not believe how amazingly light she is. So it comes as no surprise that she is wrenched aside by Tati to scream at her. Her hood, now down from the wrench, exposes her ears to slick back against her head from the force of his yell. "...!!" She starts to say something, really does, but before she can muster a defense or retort or biting wit or scream, she's hurled to the ground again, with Tatikyas on top of her, as they both dodge the redirected fire-ice-lightball thing. And there she lays, with Tati laid on top of her with all his weight thrown on top of her, to save her, her eyes clenched shut.

You would not believe how amazingly light she is.

"Tatikyas.." Hope's voice is unnaturally calm, given the wild and crazy shiz about to go down. "... You're hurting me." Get off her, you oaf.

<News> For a while on the News, more footage an discussion over the injured and if the Pokémorph Hospital will be able to cope takes place. But now suddenly the camera returns to the desk of everyone's favourite zigzag anchor as he places a paw to his ear. "Further breaking news now as I can report we are getting strange reports of atmospheric disturbances in the air above the last know location of the entity that attacks the Kanto military ships. Do we have..? Yes.." The image on screen swaps to that of the roof top camera again, this time focused north and looking out over the city towards the forest where strange purple and fire coloured glows are coming from the forest and in the air, clouds are moving quickly. "Is.. is that snow?" queries the anchor as a white dusting starts to settle in a localised spot of trees around the glow.

Mewtwo clenches his fist, suddenly and hard - immediate, wrenching, crushing and twisting pain shooting across her bones and one last wave of fire going across Sheba's body before he simply lets her go, attention turned over to Catasis again, and eyes only flicking about at the morphs gathered around. Sheba shouldn't be dead yet, though she might be in just a little while now, depending on how things go. He holds his hand out towards Catasis. "The fate of this island has yet to be decided," Mewtwo tells Tatikyas in response. "It is not of my concern yet." His eyes glow again, sending energy towards Catasis to disable her again.

That had been one out come Link had not considered in his simulations. The porygon2 now dropping his arm as his attack ended up almost taking out his team leader. Tatikyas and Hope though can probably take care of themselves and so as Mewtwo drops Sheba, the plastic bird starts to move over to her, kneeling down to her side to look at her broken and damaged form. He looks up at Catasis, seemingly unafraid as snow starts to fall on his beak, "she needs medical attention," he calls, "maybe we should leave now."

The Persian hits the ground with the sound that only a falling body can make. Sheba is able to lift her head, blood streaming from her face. She sways, ears limp, then vomits blood onto the grass. The now-white Sheba lets her head fall to the side and goes quiet, not noticing that Link has come to her aid. As far as Sheba knows, it's all over for her now.

"LEAVE HER ALONE!!" demands Catasis, who seems to not even be touched by the last gesture from Mewtwo. Her back splits open, dragon wings growing from her, eyes turn to a deep red, and claws shining with the glint of steel. There is a low boom, again, though Catasis doesn't even move. The wave of energy from her is sort of undefinable, like no other elemental force. It blasts toward Mewtwo, but there's no shortage of backlash in other directions, either.

Based on this, the sum total of Tati's observations is that this ends the prologue. Chapter 1 is here, and his hopes of not even opening the book are trashed. "Point of no return! We're going!" says Tatikyas, decisively, glaring at Hope as he gets off her though.. he doesn't know whether this is a positive glare or not yet. It's a something. We may never know if it was the right something, but it's done now and there a zillion other ways Deus's prediction could have occurred and this is the way the waveform collapses. "Link, here, if you can get her, great, this isn't her playfield, nor is it ours-" Suddenly, Tatikyas's shrill call echoes into the forest as he showers the air in Light Screen. It's not much, but it's what he has. It will Do For Now. Where now is a very small amount of time indeed. "Same day service, please!" Ie, quick is good.

Hope picks herself up as Tatikyas gets off her, but again doesn't stand up, choosing instead to sit, legs curled beneath her still. She meets Tatikyas' glare. And points at him, even as the explosions start. "... I REGRET NOTHING!!" AND THEN BACKLASH. Although certainly the Light Screen helps, there's just the fact that it's from CATASIS and there's still an awful lot of that stuff. So there's a kickback, even if the worst of it is stopped. And Hope falls over again, in the dirt. OW. "... LINK!! Grab Sheba! We're leaving now!" And this is emphasised, because even now the telltale sparks and distortions of an oncoming teleport are beginning to surround her.

Mewtwo slides back along the ground, toes leaving small grooves in the ground as the energy blasts into him. He even looks like that might have hurt. "Hm. I didn't expect you to put up any resistance," he notes to Catasis, sounding like it's nothing more than an aside. "I should have destroyed you when I first had the chance." Reaching back, the genetic Pokémon begins gathering more energy between his hands. This is probably the time to stop being in the crossfire...

<News> The camera remains locked on the forest as the glowing becomes brighter and more red. Throughout the island there is definitely the feeling of some growing elemental force. "Something's happening.."

"Understood!" calls Link as with pace but care he scopes up Sheba's bleeding form in to his arms and pushes up from the kneeling stance, running backwards back over to Hope and Tatikyas' side as his eyes remain recording the start of the fight in front of them. "Attention HQ, medical staff on standby," he calls in to Tati's radio. "Sheba has suffered heavy injury, prepare for immediate surgery and clean the pre-arranged arrival area."

There's a last flicker, a distortion of air, and with a great loud *SNAP* and a flash of white light, the trio and their cargo are gone.

... just instances before the place they were sitting is torn apart.

There is, indeed, an explosion, sending grass and dirt and trees flying throughout the area just after the group of Pokémorphs is gone. It was Catasis this time, not Mewtwo, just launching energy throughout the area only sort of at Mewtwo, but it's more than enough, and the kind of explosion that will shake the rest of the island... Though that is just the beginning. The both of them are just getting warmed up now. Better hold on to what you can.

<News> Boom, again. There is another distant rumble, this time from the forest as something explodes. There's no smoke from the blast, but there is quite a deal of plant matter now raining down onto the forest from the blast, and a rumble of a shockwave passes through the city.

Hydra HQ - Main Room

Behind a large security door, the first main room of Hydra becomes apparent. A few large screens provide up-to-the-minute information regarding general information; surface conditions, general bulletins, news reports, weather. Hydras, some in uniform and some in casual clothes, walk from one room to another. As it is, this mainly serves as the living quarters for Hydra's staff. The more sensitive stuff -- information research, mechanics lab, and the like -- down the stairs and beyond another security hallway.

Contents:

Wesley

Cleo

Obvious exits:

(T)raining (R)oom leads to Hydra HQ - Training Room.

Security (D)oor leads to Hydra HQ - Security Hallway.

(Lo)unge leads to Hydra HQ - Lounge.

(M)edical Bay leads to Hydra HQ - Medical.

(C)afeteria leads to Hydra HQ - Cafeteria.

(B)arracks leads to Hydra HQ - Barracks.

(Exit) leads to Hydra HQ - Entrance Hall.

... *KRA-KOOM*

There's a great FLASH of light, a massive crack of air displacement, and suddenly, from nowhere, the group arrives. Tatikyas, Hope, Link, and Sheba. All four of them. With Hope in the middle, of course, as she is transport. Even as the light fades, Hope stands, from a kneeling position, standing in her great gray cloak of stitched together fabric, closed, hood thrown back, like some great pink wizard. And as she stands, she throws back her head.

And laughs.

A great, boisterous laugh, that almost seems hysterical. It's the laugh of mad scientists and their ilk. Perhaps she is laughing because she doesn't know what else to do.

But whatever she finds so funny, it doesn't stop her from pushing her rank. Because abruptly she whips her head back down, nova pink eyes with purpose. Steely. If you are a grunt, You Do Not Mess With Her Right Now. And she screams. "//MEDIC//!!"

<News> There is the sound of a light fixture falling to the ground in the studio and a yelp from the camera person as they are almost knocked over. The image soon returns as all that can be said by the anchorman is "what the *$&£ was that?!" There will be letters.

Wesley swallows nervously as the group appears in the main room. His skin is pale, and he's broken out in sweat. His hair is unkempt, and he's breathing heavily. His glasses are on crooked. He seems to be holding some sort of switch in place, hidden behind a maze of panels and dials. Screens up above project the apocalypse in real-time and vibrations hammer on the island so large they can be felt inside Hydra base. Around him, a group of medical people is gathered. Dude is notably absent. He adjusts his headset with trembling, beefy fingers and speaks into it. "Anyone wishing to teleport to base, do it now," he says with a wavering voice. "The GAP field goes back up in one minute." ... and then he stares at the group that arrived. At Sheba. His face gets pale. "... oh my god," he says, not bothering to turn his radio off. ... and then he lurches forward, violently ill. His glasses fall from his face, hanging by their cord around his neck.

<News> The PA speakers try to get out another message, but it is mostly incoherent. "...red... ...protec... ...citiz..."

"Hope.." says Tatikyas. Appearing, not at all dazed by the transport. He looks like he's seen the end of the world, and he's twitching, with a hand held up against his head. There is a room of people and one of them is severely injured (ded) and yet none of them are here. For this moment, there is only the Abra. "I'm confining you to base until I work out what the hell to do with you," he adds. "What to do with everything. What. I need to call Carmell. We must get ready," he announces to.. Wesley, who just happens to be dry heaving or something. "Where's Cleo! This is so.." he begins, before stealing a chair from a level 2 whether s/he wants him to or not, and sitting on it, gathering his breath and his wits. And then swearing. ".. in a moment. Tell me, how is the beach. Someone."

<News> Tremors begin pulsing across the island. The PA speakers, being a bit of a hasty addition to the island, are the main casualty, as some of them begin toppling almost immediately, crashing into the occasional car or backwards into windows. The buildings are not affected, but it feels like the ground as a whole is trying to shift.

"Looking for me?" comes Cleo's voice from around the corner. She's been cooped up in the base this entire time, and none too happy about it. She also taps her radio receiver. "Okay! I can confirm that Tatikyas is here. Hope and Link too. ... Catasis is not with them, but Sheba is. ANYONE with medical experience, come to the main base -immediately-, over!"

Link remains frozen for a moment, again affected for a second by the transport. It lets if anything the sight of Sheba in his arms, burnt from the inside out become more framed in the moment. After a second he moves though and quickly carriers her to a waiting trolley where he hands her over to the assembled doctors. There's nothing more for her he can do so moves quickly at Tatikyas exhausted sounding order, still covered in blood and pushing past Wesley to the monitors and computer workstations. "Accessing all available feeds," he says, pulling a cable from a wrist and plugging it in to the system, his hands moving at a blur over keyboards and opening windows with various public and private CCTV from the boardwalk to the beach in large view and others trying to catch a glimpse of the forest in others.

"You could demote me." Hope snipes at Tatikyas, not even looking at him. "I'm sure it would make all the difference in the world." But she's already walking away from him. Towards the medical bay. Cloak practically SWAGGERING behind her with PURPOSE. "//I// have medical experience. I want everybody who has the same to follow me to the infirmary bay. Bring Sheba there with us immediately. I refuse to cause the apocalypse without reason!"

<News> Flashfire's voice rings out on the news channel, with reception suffering parallel to the tremors. "In this weird twist of fate, the outcome many Island people have been waiting for is occurring, as from here we can see the military occupiers.. are leaving?" The camera shows some boats out elsewhere on the south coast, making at full speed away from the island perimeter. The Flareon's voice continues as a voiceover. "Apparently they've decided they have had enough. Hey, senior PIA folks, what's going on there? Do you know? The island would love to hear from you. Further news as it comes in."

Cleo stands there, grimacing. She knows more about putting holes in things than she does about putting them back together. She gives Hope and the doctors a respectful berth, following them with her eyes. "... I've been handling the beach as closely as possible," says Cleo. "That seems to be our silver lining, at least. It was handled well. The agents who were there reacted well, followed orders, and cooperated with the PIA." She crosses her arms. "Now for the other shoe. What the hell is going on out there?"

<News> Streaks of light scream overhead - purple and a shining iridescent in color. The island continues to tremble, the PAs, even the ones still standing, are useless, only letting out a faint hiss of static, and the occasional interference from radio signals that manage to connect just right.

<News> On the News channel, the screen then splits in to a three way with shots from the roof-camera on the left of the screen, the zigzagoon anchor on the top right and Flashfire's camera now swinging in to view the fire-fox below him. All the screens are showing signs of static as is likely the whole image on people's TV's. The sound does make it through though. "Flash? Can you hear me? Its Ziggy, where are you and what can you see?"

"We're co-operating," says Tatikyas, looking at Cleo and smiling more than he has any right to. "Fantastic." Hope gets a look but goes ignored; as long as she's somewhere he can get hold of her when he decides what to do. For now, though.. things won't run themselves. "Link, I want this room swarming with information. More than usual. If there's so much as a whisper up top I want to know about it 5 minutes before it happens." He's overreacting. But out comes the red phone. "Time to man the troops," he says, pushing it.

Cleo gives Tatikyas a melancholy smile. She reacts to Obsidian by pushing her radio's head button. "We have no idea what happened after Tatikyas and the others teleported away. Given the seismic activity, we still think they're fighting. Orders are to find shelter, immediately." She releases her radio button and casts a worried glance in the direction of the med room. "I rather liked Sheba," says Cleo. "She was sane. And she made Catasis calmer. Damnit."

<News> "Hey, Ziggy, you're still okay. Good going," says Flashfire. "Where are we? We're on the cliffs off Seaview, panning in at these ships. Just heard they were leaving. I've no idea what it means yet.. are they planning something? Are they running with their tails between their legs? Or is this the beginning of genocide? I don't much fancy any of those options, to be truthful. And the sky, it-" *bzzt* "-very much showing a-" *flickerflicker* "Who ARE they? This must have something to do with-" Something is a bit wonky.

<News> And now it's snowing, too. It's not sticking, but there is very much snow coming down from the heavens. And the island does appear to be, indeed, shifting, sinking towards the west. If that wasn't enough, it looks like the mountain is smoking.

Link works away, walking over, trailing cable, and handing Tatikyas a number of tablets with duplicates of the visual feeds on the main monitors as well as other recorded incoming scientific data from the seismic and energy disturbances. Along with any captured conversations being transcribed to logs. "What do we do now?" he asks openly to the room. There is little much they can do though, just wait and see what happens.

Tatikyas sets everything out in front of him, clearing whatever was there before and concentrating. "I make a phone call," he says. "Damage control. Watch the news and get reports from our people on the outside." Looking up. "... there are so many people here! I hope we've more people out /there/, seriously," he says, holding the phone to his ear. "You have time for this, Carmell," he says, and the conversation continues.

<News> On the News channel, there is the sound of yelping as another light falls in the news studio and smashes in to the desk. "Oh screw this, get another handy cam and mobile mic me," says Ziggy as another morph rushes in and hands him a tablet computer which he reads. "Flash, I'm having a bit of trouble hearing you but I'm getting reports activity on the mountain, skiers are being evacuated down and.. water is coming in on West Beach?" At this point the shot flips to a view of West Beach where a camera has been rushed out and morphs are being hurried out of homes while water rushes up the sands and begins to invade the gardens of the residents.

.....

Goodnight, good Morph.

May your dreams go untroubled.

May your prayers go answered.

May no more have to suffer the Change.

*********** D I S C O N N E C T E D ***********