Shifting Shadows (Semi-Closed)

Shay wouldn’t (if he wanted to) say the rest of his Pokemon are as far along in their training as his Hawlucha, so most of his hopes for a backup powerhouse lie between his Cramorant, Scuttle, and his Rotom.

Also, there was something or whatever about the power of Alola from the Z-Crystals only working between a trainer and Pokemon with a close bond.

Overall, the teen hasn’t left himself with a lot of options, but no one ever said that Shay had complete impulse control whenever he’s set himself on a solo mission. And he felt it was about time he followed up on a mystery that’s been dangling itself in front of him ever since a certain someone gave him the Fightinium Z he now carries.

But trailing her would be too obvious for whoever knew about their connection for a fact. Too predictable, too risky. So while picking a different target, he frowns as recognizes certain faces among the other students supposedly from Galar.

For various reasons, Shay puts all of his old stealth and shadowing skills to the test, back in all of his old Resistance ‘gear’ (sunglasses included) as he ghosts the one going by the name “Yuki Mutou”.

Someone could stop him. Or make him explain himself. Or both. ~~Join him?~~

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Yuki was the most obvious when she was being followed.

She was definitely like, trying to lose Shay. And in the process, tripped over a lamppost when she did.

She had noticed him, very surprisingly, but then when she tried to lose him out of panic, she tripped over the sidewalk.

Then the lamppost.

Then the curb.

All in all, it's a lucky break even if Shay isn't really looking for this kid to be hurt even indirectly by his actions. Shows that either he's losing his edge or the girl is sharper than she seems.

The ghosting continues!

The jig is up. When Shay had tailed Yuki and the man to the semi-private location and learned that "Rena" had a birthday coming up, and her name was "Lulu", Shay couldn't help but give away his location, and the man pulled a gun on him.

But instead of blasting him, Adrian Toomes lowered it. "Well this is to be expected. Yuki I thought you shook your tail."

"Thought I did," replied Yuki.

"I figure you have questions," said Adrian, placing the gun back into its concealed holster. "Starting with, yes, we're both Team Rainbow Rocket members. But not willingly."

Shay jumps down from his perch, pokeballs on his belt as always and ready to fire up his duel disk in an instant- though not faster than the guy was able to pull a gun. Though speaking of that weapon, the fact that he wasn't being shot at in the first place is enough to give him a moment of pause over the information.

"Not willingly huh?" But hey it's not like he's here on police business. Good for both parties. "Tell me about that and what they did to my sister then."

"Team Rainbow Rocket's made up of people who came from different worlds, people who have hopes and dreams," said Yuki.

"And like some of us, a lot of us actually, got everything we wanted. And sometimes, went too far for it. Your sister called on a really strong entity to try and stop the fighting in your world, and got took over as a result. She might act the same as usual, but she's not the same anymore." said Adrien.

"We're trying to keep her happy, to keep the entity from remembering too much about its past life," said Yuki. "By keeping the memory of Lulu alive, but everything Rainbow Rocket's done is just pushing towards it's further goals. There's at least two people like this we know that are like this, here on Alola. The girl you call Lulu, and one other. We haven't found the other one yet, but..."

"Try not to force her or confront her. The entity that's robbed her of her will will lash out. They call it U in the upper ranks. I don't know what that means though." said Adrien.

Shay narrows his eyes in thought, it's completely unsettling and it confirms a few background suspicions of his- assuming it's all true.

"Do you know anything about what it can do?" is his next question, recalling a single moment just before a certain 'reunion' that has also been nagging at him. "Or even where it came from?"

Noting all of this away for the next chance he gets to scribble into his notes later...

"Unfortunately no," replied Yuki, shaking her head. "I know that whatever this power is though, it's Pokemon related."

"Something with a red light keeps empowering them sometimes. Their Pokemon are strong too. And they should be able to Dynamax when they appear. You fallers are able to Dynamax too, but that's because of something that the higher ups call the E-Effect or Entry Effect." said Adrien.

"It's what happens when you pass through an Ultra Hole into this world naturally, instead of artificially like we do through Ultra Holes." said Yuki. "Something SPECIAL is about all of you Fallers, and you can use Dynamax Power like you're mobile Power Spots."

"So you're doubles of those we know." Not a question, but a statement Shay leads with for once.

"And some of you are stuck, either in a some kind of debt with Rainbow Rocket or with one of those... things."

... Because there isn't anything else he can thank of to refer to such mysterious creatures as. "What's their master plan?"

"Got it in one. Some of us made some bad choices, and it left us holding bags we didn't want." said Adrien. "Some of us got everything we wanted and well, shit happened."

"We don't know. Right now, we're in operations to retake the Plates, but I don't know when that starts." said Yuki. "Right now, none of us on-site operatives have any real information of when that happens. We're blind."

It shows how much more competent Rainbow Rocket is compared to how even easier and info-laden the interrogation of a certain duck's goons went.

"Hm." The cynical side of him still sees it as convenient, but he will try to give these strangers some benefit of the doubt also considering what they were talking about before.

"... How do you know about Lulu's birthday anyway? She wouldn't have been able to tell you." he suddenly asks with the same seriousness as his other inquiries...

Or would she? The teen almost thinks the fighting Z crystal she gave him is burning a hole in his pocket again. How did she know about his starter? Enough to have that and a secret note? If it was the flying crystal he now has, maybe it would've been slightly easier to write off as a coincidence.

"A lot of our work goes into intel on the worlds we come from," replied Yuki. "Some of our worlds have very similar dates, times and histories to a point."

"For mine, it was going well. Until I killed someone in my line of work. Then I lost everything. It ain't worth it, trying to go that far just to get set for life." said Adrien. "If you ever think of it, don't. It's worse when you've got someone's blood on your hands when they're trying to do the right thing."

"She might have some moments of lucidity too, which is enough to pass for a normal girl." added Yuki. "Sometimes that's even enough to break through and give us what we need. Entrapta has stopped by once in a while since she's on the run, but we'll give you a phone number. It'll connect to a Rainbow Rocket inter-Dimensional line we both have. It's heavily encrypted. Give us a call if you need anything."

Consider him surprised when they offer up being Shay's inside source into their little corner of Rainbow Rocket. After a moment of thought, with how he has the right to not be too trusting, Shay does nod in acceptance- though later he won't put it into his duel disk (much more secure than the Rotom network) until he's sure of how genuine it is.

"And of course I'll keep my distance from her, in the meantime."

Then that mysterious entity and the real masterminds behind Rainbow Rocket will pay. Most likely not as hard as he once would've declared for Duel Academy, but no way would he disregard a suffering double of his sister.

Shifting Shadows (Semi-Closed)

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject