Thread: Pokémon - Transcendence (Start-Up)

Tsubasa quietly landed on Yue's shoulder as she nodded in agreement, there was quite a bit of security around the entrance to the third floor so no doubt they would have some here.

Yue moved over to Zane and tapped him on the back. "I know where his lab is, its down in the basement but we have to be careful the security down there can be pretty tight" She whispered as they entered the building.

Dmitri followed behind the others, motioning for Kain to stay silent.

Rhea Anderson sat up from the step of her family's apartment, her Teddiursa, Luna, following behind her. Her mind flashed through the pictures she recalled of the previous day's infomercial from a particular man in a lab coat she had never seen, shouting something about Streamside University and a warning about the TOM. Her mind was set – she was going to go, just to see if it had any importance to her.

“Ursa! Teddiursa!” Luna called after her confusingly, trying to figure out where her companion was headed. “Ursa...?”

“Luna, I'm headed to Streamside University,” Rhea turned to Luna, flashing a smile at the bear Pokemon. Luna was still young, and well embraced that fact. Rhea loved Luna so much that she treated the Pokemon like it was her child, a part of her family. “Do you want to go?”

“Ursa!” Luna giggled as Rhea picked up the Teddiursa and let her hang by her shoulders and claw at her back. At times it hurt, but Rhea enjoyed it.

* * *

Rhea hurried past small shops in the Third Floor's center, occasionally running into a pedestrian or two. She mumbled an “excuse me” and ambled along before the situation became any more awkward than it already had. Young children glanced at her oddly, as if Luna on her back was an abnormality. Teenage girls giggled, and Rhea kept walking. It was normal for her, the laughing and the staring. She didn't care.

As she neared the University, her feet stopped moving as she studied a group of people – teenagers, rather – standing at the door of the University, a Ditto unlocking the door for them. Rhea hesitated before walking forward to the group. The group acknowledged her for only a second before one of them told them all to remain quiet as they entered the building.

“Ursa?” Luna whispered.

“Luna,” Rhea mumbled to the Pokemon. “Quiet..”

Michael Raymond stood in the backyard of his family's home, his Whismur in front of him. "All right Wisp, today's the day! The day we finally make a difference!" he declared, standing straight and tall.

Wisp merely tilted its head and gave him an odd look. "Whismur?"

Michael deflated. "I know we've never really taken any action before, but we have to at least try, right?" he said, more confidently than he actually felt.

Wisp seemed to give a tiny, then nodded once. "Mur!"

"All right," Michael smiled. "Let's go see this Professor Hunt," he said, the broadcast from yesterday playing through his mind.

* * *

Michael walked through the streets to the University, keeping his eyes on the ground in front of him. Despite his earlier enthusiasm, he felt his confidence fading. Nevertheless, he walked on -- he'd feel twice as cowardly if he backed out now. Besides, this might be fun, he thought.

As he approached the University, he saw a group of other teens already entering, the last of the group passing through the door. "Of course I'm late," Michael muttered, speeding up to a full run. "Wait for me!"

Dmitri halted his stealthy walk and turned to the person shouting and sprinting down the hallway. The crazy Russian raised one hand flat to denote for the newcomer to slow down, and raised one extended finger to his lips, to signal the need for shutting up, while Kain simply hovered next to Dmitri with an angry look on its face.

Zane gave the thumbs up to Yue, and he unclipped a Poké Ball from his belt. He flicked it in front of him where it burst open, revealing his Zangoose. Zane crouched down near it and beckoned it closer. It crept up to Zane, following everyone elses example by being quiet.

"Go ahead with that Furret and scout for people. If there's nobody else here, head down," Zane explained. Zangoose nodded, and quickly and quietly dashed down the corridor. Zane stood up and continued down the hall. There were so many rooms on this first floor, but a lot of them seemed to be classrooms. Zane entered one particular classroom and took a quick look around. It was a Sciences classroom, with lots of tables fixed to the ground with gas taps on top. Some of the taps had bunsen burners plugged in. There was an electronic whiteboard at the front of the classroom, and a computer on a desk next to it. There were also a few bookcases, and a store room could be seen directly next to one of them.

"Hmm? What's that sound?" Zane muttered to himself after hearing a loud puffing noise. It appeared to be coming from the storeroom. Zane cautiously approached it, and threw it open. Immediately, a purple blob burst out, and Zane's quick reflexes allowed him to dart to the side to avoid it. The purple blob, which revealed itself to be a Koffing, hovered around for a second before floating through an open window.

That's unusual, Zane thought to himself, usually Koffing only hang around the fifth floor. Unless it belongs to a teacher or something, why would it be here? Zane shook his head and left the classroom, then continued to look for the stairs.

OCC: Sorry. Didn't realize this was up! Can someone fill me in. Don't have time to read. Sorry.

OOC: Well, we all saw this commercial with the Professor talking about how TOM is malfunctioning, and he told us if we wanted to help then we should come to the Streamside University on Floor 3. So, all of us showed up, and the door was locked, so we broke in, and now we're investigating.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Crystal heard the noise that Zane heard, and was cautious to keep moving. "Zane," she whispered. "what was that?"

OOC: Do we know each other's name's yet?

Joe and Josh, quite suddenly, burst into the room, closley followed by Eddie and Alicia, their Eevee's.

"Are - we - too - late?" they panted together.

Zane turned to Crystal and scratched his head for a second. He hesistated for a second, wondering if Crystal would believe him if he explained the disturbance. After all, any traces of of the fifth floor travelling up two floors to get to where they were was unheard of.

"It was a Koffing. Which is odd, since they're only found on the fifth floor..." Zane explained, gazing up at the window that the Koffing had escaped through. If a Koffing had managed to escape, he worried that the Berserkers, a term for the residents of the fifth floor, might be able to escape as well.