Magna City Shining Congress – Main Lobby

[Jackie Cat]

"Oh. You're Odette's, uhh..."

"...We are well-acquainted correspondents," choked out Nolan, not meeting Gladion's eye.

He looked rather like he was regretting not shooting himself earlier.

"Sorry 'bout your luck, man. If it's any consolation, I wasn't trying to get my fucking ears pierced again."

Gladius groaned and shuddered briefly. "I don't wanna think about it. Any of it. Gods."

He seemed to become aware of Nolan standing a little way off, and narrowed his eyes sharply, as if he'd just put two and two together.

"Alright," he said, thinly, pursing his mouth. "This must be my sign that I gotta keep living a while longer. Fuck me, I guess."

 

[Phoenixsong]

Seemed like everything was mostly under control now, mostly. But also Gladion had been shot??? Leaf rushed back toward the entrance, leaving Ralsen and the dragons to sort themselves out, but everyone was talking pretty calmly with Articuno when she got there, and the network chatter insisted Gladion was okay, it was being dealt with. She waited a couple seconds, just in case, but nothing happened, and once her heart had slowed to something like a normal pace she made her way over to the group.

We can only guess what state his mind will be in when he emerges, and I do not know what will happen if we attempt to stabilise the dungeon in the sky that is forming around him.

"Amida might be able to get through to him, though," she offered. "I can check with her again to see if she's feeling up for it." She looked at Articuno, then up at the reddening sky, confused. "What do you mean, stabilize the dungeon? How would we try that?" Last time they'd faced a super-radiant pokémon with their own dungeon, they'd kinda done... the opposite of that.

Leaf glanced over her shoulder at Blue, just to check on him. He was still slumped over her back, patched up best as she could manage, but too tired to do much other than stare at the ground.

"You doing all right?" she asked, quietly.

"More fucking guns," was all he said, mumbling at the floor without looking at her.

 

[Sinderella]

Nolan nodded stiffly. "Very well. I'll come along with you, Mhynt."

Oh. You're Odette's, uhh..." Informant? Friend? Something else? He wasn't really sure.

"...We are well-acquainted correspondents," choked out Nolan, not meeting Gladion's eye.

“Well-acquainted correspondents is a fine start.”

Like a true gunhead (or rather, a true absolute fucking moron), Odette’s ear was positively drawn to gunshots. A sign of struggle? Danger? Didn’t matter. She was running toward it anyway. It helped that she was already headed there—time was not always her friend here—but it probably didn’t help that her hand was on her derringer when she arrived. It didn’t take long for her to understand what had happened. And where her focus now lay.

Sanguine eyes turned on Mhynt. “I’ll accompany you. We’ll have a better time getting answers if I’m there.”

Then, they slipped to Gladius’ potential assassin. Her—hm. Her what? She thought about Guzma, who was undoubtedly on his way by now. Well-acquainted correspondent. Right.

Her gaze on him crossed several thresholds at once. Confusion melted into worry before mutating into something that said “What are you doing?”

 

[canisaries]

Having noticed the battle with Articuno was over, Andre and Ben had decided to exit the building and regroup with the others. Andre was surprised to see Nolan there, though he supposed it wasn't that outlandish for any Covenant member to be found at the Congress.

"Related to that. Here is our sniper. He was aiming for the Director, but appeared to have severely miscalculated. I imagine he would be willing to tell us what he knows, as a starting platform for what we can do before Arthur makes a move."

Sniper...? Now that was more outlandish.

In the courtyard, Gladius stirred with a miserable groan, and coughed up something wet and glistening.

"Something hit me like a fucking bullet," he muttered. "Was I... Did someone fucking shoot me?"

And he'd tried to shoot Gladius? Wow. Drama.

Ben looked uncomfortable and coughed lightly. "Um, who is... who's the inteleon?" he asked Andre.

"Uh... like a Covenant investigator kinda guy. We've been allies of sorts." Andre said. Also has given me some strong human supremacy vibes, he added through Betel privately. But so have a bunch of other Covenant people. It's not exactly strange to come across anymore.

"Oh," said Ben. "Hmm."

Andre stared at Ben, who seemed pensive. Was he thinking of Mike...? Mike had definitely believed humans were superior to pokémon, but Andre still wasn't completely sure how well Ben knew that. Or if how much he was in denial.