Missingo Master: With the Banette distracted, you seize upon your opportunity. Issuing your orders, you watch on as Stewie nods curtly, shifting position in mid air to ready his stance. Concentrating intently, the Ledian ignites a furious blue aura around one of his fists, causing it to tremble with the intensity. Banette can only stand there in consternation, desperate for some instruction - any instruction - but as the seconds pass it becomes dauntingly clear that nothing was to come. With a guttural roar, Stewie lurches forwards, seething fist screaming headlong into the gut of Banette. The Ghost type is launched backwards by the Focus Punch, slamming with a crunch into a nearby wall .... but somehow managing to hold onto consciousness. Hissing savagely, the Banette lunges for Stewie, determining that this would be it's last engagement. Claws awash with thickened purple haze, the possessed doll rakes a Shadow Claw along the carapace of Stewie, but the Ledian is unperturbed. He had been given a job, and he would see it through. With a hammering blow, the Ledian thunders a final Dynamic Punch into the face of his opponent, and this time as Banette is thrown, it slumps to the floor, eyes overcome by dizzied spirals. Taitus cheers at the sight, but the celebrations are quickly drawn to a halt by the sound of a almighty boom, emanating from deeper within the dungeon. The blood drains from Taitus' face as he looks towards you, before you both start immediately towards the origin of the sound.
Flashing back a few moments, and Meowth coats his tail in a hardened coating of silvery energy. Taking careful aim, the feline swings the stiffened appendage through the air, grating harshly against the refined crystal of the Mega Stone. The expert strike seems to have worked, at least on a superficial level, as a deep gouging crack splinters the surface of the stone. Unfortunately, a dull groan is soon after heard. Turning, Meowth sees the executioner on his feet and reaching for the axe already - presumably he had received a degree of training to resist mental attacks like Hypnosis. However, before Meowth can move, a blinding flash of yellow streaks past him. Buzzer had gone on the offensive, and now there was no hostage to hold her back. Clad in an high voltage armour, she slams a well muscled arm into the chest of the executioner, and the man is flung from his feet with sickening force, skidding along the ground before finally collapsing into a heap, breathing but badly injured.
(Meowth gained 1 level)
Mana Opal: People screamed as they dispersed, and from nowhere a number of guards leapt to their defence, raising their shields to protect as many as possible from the lunging blades. Watching the chaos unfold before you, you can't help but want to rush ti the aid of the villagers. As you shout your orders, Honedge seems unperturbed, more focused on causing as much pandemonium as it could. Metallic shearing rising from the body of the possessed sword eerily approximated laughter, as the demented conductor caused the animated weapons to lurch left and right. Fontaine is quick to the mark however, taking keen aim and coating one of his arms with a thick set silver aura. Grunting, the Metang abruptly jerks forward to strike with a Bullet Punch, the sheer speed of the blow leaving Honedge no room to react. As the clangorous note of metal crashing against metal rings around the surroundings, the manipulated swords all fall to the floor - but Honedge rears on your Metang, turning it's attention towards Fontaine instead.
A cursory glance of the crowd showed that there had been no serious casualties - a handful of villagers sported light cuts here and there, but nothing immediately life threatening, and the guards seemed similarly unscathed. With that put to one side, Fontaine shifts to hover just before you, arms raised in a fighting stance. With a garbled screech, Honedge ignites the length of it's blade with a crawling darkness, hissing as it charges forwards with clear intent to land a Shadow Claw. While you may have navigated successfully out of the frying pan, you were well and truly into the fire now.
Enigmatic Professor: You tail the mysterious beast, your squad perfectly suited for such an endeavour. As you move, the trees begin to close in on all sides, creating a rather oppressively claustrophobic atmosphere. As they do, you gradually start to lag behind the smaller creature, who was much more adept at weaving between the encroaching foliage - and yet you never got the impression that you were ever about to fully lose the track. Finally, you break into a large clearing, realising that you had strayed from the path indicated to you by the guards. Looking around, you spot the Pokemon you had been following standing on a bluff overlooking the clearing, and it indicates with it's head for you to approach.
Climbing up to the vantage, you follow the line of sight of the white canine - which you can now identify as an Absol. Squinting somewhat to focus your vision, you quickly notice what was obviously the bandits camp. A few trees had been felled to create a perimeter of sorts, and around a central campfire there were a number of thieves enjoying a drink. They clearly had no real intent to mask their presence - the smoke from the fire rose high and readily identified their position, and the noise from the camp could easily be heard despite the insulating snow underfoot. Having not seen your attacker, you had no way of knowing whether they were among the gathered bandits, but the chances were good. In one corner of the campsite, you spotted their thieved items, but something else had caught your eye. In another corner was a large cage, heavy wrought bars confining a young boy. Could this be the reason the Jarl and his guards seemed so eager for an outsider to be the one to apprehend the group?
Alice Hope: Your rather shameless show is met with disdain and confusion respectively from the businessman and Kaito - but it has the intended effect on Buzzwole. The Bug type continues to violently flex, the whole situation rapidly descending into some sort of surrealist nightmare. Fortunately Jasper is able to find his moment among the madness. Sneaking in close, the Sableye leaps upwards, raking sharpened claws over the collar with a well placed Feint. Small gouges follow at the point of impact, but still the machinery refuses to yield, despite the intensity of it's sputtering. Worse still, Buzzwole seems to have cottoned onto the deception, leaping back determinedly and glaring at Jasper. While his aggravating display continued, it was clear that things had gotten serious.
Jasper grimaces at this, but forges on all the same. Curling one of his hands into a compact fist, he ignites a trembling orange aura around the appendage, leaping upwards once more to land a crunching Power-up Punch. Before he can land though, Buzzwole brings a hefty fist swinging round - and despite the blow grazing Jasper on account of his smaller stature, it is clear that the sudden Ice Punch had left it's mark, one of Jasper's arms now thinly coated in ice. Disgruntled, the Sableye issues a buzzing swarm at his opponent, chuckling as the Infestation began to work it's magic. While the device began sparking out of control, clearly on the verge of breaking, the attack also had the effect of pushing Buzzwole to his most irate. So furious was he now that even his flexing had ceased, his pure unbridled fury focused squarely on Jasper. Whatever he was about to do, it wasn't going to be pretty.
Lit: The vendor girl seems to take immediate note of your flashed bandana, her face twisting from shocked to confused to accepting all in a brief matter of seconds. Fortunately, the old man observing your capture doesn't seem to notice, too preoccupied with his pipe and a tattered notebook he had retrieved from within his clothing. He seems to barely listen as you begin to talk directly to him, choosing instead to continue writing - but as soon as you mention being from the future, it is clear the atmosphere changes. The man quickly puts away his notebook, and his demeanour shifts from one of curt annoyance to intense scrutiny. Taking a moment to stare you down, the elder finally extends a single bony finger, indicating for the guards to follow. Wordlessly, the arresting officers step forwards to grab both you and the vendor by the arms, frogmarching you deeper into the castle after the man.
You walk for what feels like a few minutes, winding through a number of snaking corridors. You tried to make sense of just how far into the castle you were moving - for quite a while it seemed more than anything that you were descending, and as you walked a distinct fragrance began to build. One of flowery incense, masking something you couldn't quite place no matter how much you focused. Before you could settle on any reasonable guesses, you are forced into a large, courtly room.
On every side were a number of rather important looking men, sitting cross legged on tatami. A cursory glance leads to you estimating roughly seventeen men, eight on each side with a single man presiding at the head of the room. The man who led you here as well as the guards all make a show of bowing low to these men, before gingerly retreating. As they did, the man sitting at the forefront sets down an ornate pipe, a grim smile on his face. His voice boomed with authority, a steady undertone of wisdom and experience dripping from his words.
"So, I hear you are travellers from the future. May I ask what business you had with my festival?"
