Blaguarro Town Main Station

[Sinderella]

Yeah Odette supposed it wasn’t shocking that word about Ignauseous’s political demise had gotten out and around, but the wagons…that information had come up from the journal, but she didn’t recall if any of that was openly public. She supposed the group had made it clear that they’d found a journal with some damning evidence in it, so maybe it wasn’t that far out that it could have gotten back to Terminal Two, and they simply acted out of caution…

“Believe me, I’m stepping as lightly as I can right now,” she said. Whether that would remain so, she couldn’t say.

She was left thinking to herself for a beat, considering the murkrow and what she’d heard from Ryder in her haze. So it was just an observation, and nothing certain. Which meant her hypothesis could still be right. Still, she did agree that it was quite strange they’d arrived as others were disappearing. Was it perhaps like…a trading thing? But why?

The ground rumbling grabbed her attention, and she looked up in time to catch the aggron lumbering toward them. She remained silent through the pointed interaction with the gabite, and kept her expression neutral as the group was regarded.

“Well, you can only hear ‘Witching Beast’ and ‘Blaguarro’ in tandem so many times before you get curious,” she answered cordially. Anite didn’t seem like anyone they’d be wise to rustle. “The disappearances are a new update, though. This is the first I believe any of us have heard of it.”

 

[Butterfree]

"Hm." Anite's eyes narrowed. "I know you, city boy. Didn't think you as the prying type. What's got you and your little collation so interested. Better question, how'd you find out about our business in the first place?"

Dave narrowed his eyes. What? "About your business?"

 

[Inkedust]

Anite lowered her head to get a better look at the poochyena that spoke up. Metal ground and squealed against metal as she let out an exhale through her nostrils, ruffling his fur. "We Blaguarro folk don't see outsiders much so when anything happens in town, odd or mundane, it becomes our business to resolve and I don't hear anyone around blabbing freely about it before you came, so I ask again. What'd you find that got you so interested and how?"

 

[Butterfree]

Dave glared back at the massive Aggron. In the back of his brain some dumb Poochyena instinct wanted to run away and he wanted it to die slowly. "Well, if you must know, a wagon headed here was attacked by some unholy hellbeast, and back when we fell out of the sky here the other day, Jaak here told us all about these 'Witching Beasts' people have been spotting around here. You don't think that sounds pretty fucking concerning?"

 

[HelloYellow17]

Scraggy shrank back a little by the sudden influx of attention but gave a few quick nods. "Yeah! Like when yous are following a 'mon walking down the street but then they turn the corner and then poof! Gone! Can happen to anyone too. Ryder's sayin' it's the same thing that caused yous to appear here."

Wes shot a look at both Bellatrix and Odette who had suddenly crowded in around the poor kid. Did these guys know nothing about to approach a spooked person? Thankfully, that didn’t deter the kid from providing more information.

“Sounds like the work of Teleport, if you ask me…” he said more to himself than anyone else. There weren’t many ways to make some disappear so effectively, after all. He looked back at the…whatever this kid’s species was. Would it be rude to ask? Ugh, probably. “And there’s never any sign of a struggle? No…weird scents or energy signals or anything like—?”

A booming voice made Wes jump and he immediately dropped into a defensive stance until he saw the freaking massive Aggron lumbering their way. Holy hell, those things were so much bigger when in the body of a small dog. And she’s got a type advantage on me, to boot, he thought instinctively. Best to tread carefully around this one…which Dave was definitely not doing.

He nodded and quietly thanked the kid for his help before padding over next to Dave and clearing his throat. “We’re not here to cause trouble, we’re here to…to help. And find out the source of these problems. And besides, if we were up to no good, it wouldn’t be very smart of us to come into town in broad daylight and show our faces like this, right?”

Dear sands and stars, please don’t eat me.

 

[Shadow Serenity]

“Sounds like the work of Teleport, if you ask me…” he said more to himself than anyone else. There weren’t many ways to make some disappear so effectively, after all. He looked back at the…whatever this kid’s species was. Would it be rude to ask? Ugh, probably. “And there’s never any sign of a struggle? No…weird scents or energy signals or anything like—?”

Teleport could be an option... some kind of illusion magic, maybe, too... they had a zorua on their side, after all. Or feint attack... There were a dozen ways Kimiko could think of for a pokemon to make someone disappear into thin air, or make it appear so. But now he was asking for energy signals?? Gods, this was a little kid, not an aura reading machine!

She didn't have a chance to say as much, however, when the giant aggron stomped onto the scene, demanding to know their business. Ugh... so much for a quiet, down-low investigation.

Dave already mentioned the attack on the wagon, which Kimiko shot him a glance at. Given the contents, no outsiders probably should even know about those convoys, attack or not. They may as well have just admitted to sneaking on board.

We’re not here to cause trouble, we’re here to…to help. And find out the source of these problems.

Kimiko sincerely hoped this aggron was not among those who'd sent the charmeleon after their convoy, because if she was involved, she now knew they were going to be trouble for her. She resisted the sudden urge to facepalm. This was... very much not going how she'd hoped it would.

Well, nothing left for it now but to roll with it. She crossed her tiny arms and stared up at the mountain of steel in front of her. She glared at the aggron best she could - better to at least make an attempt at trying to look intimidating than looking scared.

"And with such a large, loud group, no less," she said, adding to the rockruff's last statement. "No. Put simply, you may not have heard people 'blab' about it, but people are tired of being afraid of these witching beasts, or rumors of them. Someone's gotta do something about it."

 

[JFought]

When the aggron came stomping towards them, Isidora's fur bristled and she had to push her claws into her arms to keep them from unsheathing. She had never seen one up close before, and Anite was massive, threatening, and activating just about every fight-or-flight instinct the sneasel had. But she'd fight herself before she let that show.

...Is what she would've liked to think, but damn did the creaking of that metal armor keep her fur on end.

Judging from the way Anite carried herself: "I take it you're in charge of keeping the town safe here?" she inferred, keeping her arms crossed. "Like the others said, we're just here to ask questions and look around, nothin' else. I hope that's not askin' too much."

 

[Hap]

Scraggy shrank back a little by the sudden influx of attention but gave a few quick nods. "Yeah! Like when yous are following a 'mon walking down the street but then they turn the corner and then poof! Gone! Can happen to anyone too. Ryder's sayin' it's the same thing that caused yous to appear here."

A kidnapper who knew teleport, Ridley guessed. That seemed to be the simplest explanation for how people could vanish into thin air in the middle of the day. The idea that it could be something like the voice behind it unsettled him, though, considering the dream he'd had after his encounter with the shadow charmeleon. Which - shit - reminded him that he still needed to ask Andre, Wes, and Dave whether they'd had the same experience.

Ridley had to wonder why whoever was behind this would bother kidnapping people when wild pokemon were so much less likely to be missed. The beast they'd encountered hadn't seemed sapient, but then again they'd all been too busy getting ripped to shreds to try communicating with it. That might be something to try when they met a second one, if he could figure out a way to do it which wouldn't immediately result in a repeat of the first time.

And, if they were right about the shadow charmeleon having been sent by Terminal Two, then meeting a second Witching Beast would be a matter of when, not if. With all the people watching, it would be barely any time at all before both their presence in Blaguarro Town and their purpose for being there were a matter of public knowledge.

"We Blaguarro folk don't see outsiders much so when anything happens in town, odd or mundane, it becomes our business to resolve and I don't hear anyone around blabbing freely about it before you came, so I ask again. What'd you find that got you so interested and how?"

Well, that was a wildly suspicious statement. Way to make it super obvious you've got something to hide! Great job!

"We've just been hearing rumours about the Witching Beasts around here and wanted to check it out," Ridley said casually. "I like stories about monsters and figured I could learn more by coming to the source, you know?"

Despite the lingering ache of his wounds, despite the visible patchwork of his disguise where the old pink scarf he'd used to repair the damage hadn't quite matched the pink of the existing fabric, Ridley still felt more excitement than fear when he thought about the Witching Beasts.

 

[Sinderella]

Odette slowly brought her hand up to pinch the bridge of her nose, sighing deeply. So much for having a more cordial approach, suspicious response or not.

We’re gonna get stomped out of here before we even fucking do anything, she thought.

 

[Hap]

Andre didn't seem to be doing anything right now. Ridley sidled up to him and felt inexplicably better as soon as he was standing in the other guy's shadow and out of direct sunlight. Was that some kind of weird ghost-type instinct he'd received from his mimikyu form? Cool, great, good to know.

"So, uh, hey," he started. "You had any weird dreams recently?"

 

[canisaries]

"So, uh, hey," he started. "You had any weird dreams recently?"

Having focused on the other people talking, Ridley suddenly sliding up to him startled Andre, but not as badly as the question did.

"Uhh..." Andre's ear flicked. Why is he asking that? Did he have a weird dream too? What did that dream say? Did it say something about me? But why would he ask me about dreams if it did? Wouldn't he just confront me about whatever the dream said? Oh Gods, you're taking way too long to think about this, he has to be getting suspicious, say something! But not anything incriminating! "Why do you ask?"

 

[Hap]

"Why do you ask?"

Ridley shrugged, a full-body ruffle of his costume. He thought that he was getting better at communicating his gestures, considering that facial expressions didn't mean much through the disguise. "No particular reason. Koa and I experienced some weird dreams after the, uh -" shit, how should he refer to it in public? "- encounter, and we were wondering if other people had as well."

What would it mean if Andre hadn't heard that other voice? Potentially nothing; Ridley didn't remember seeing much of him during the Witching Beast encounter, so possibly the contact he'd had with the beast hadn't been enough to result in whatever corruption or influence the voice had sounded so afraid of.

He'd have to check in with Dave and Wes. If they hadn't heard it either... well, that was much more concerning.

 

[Inkedust]

Bellatrix nodded along with the explanations, seemingly having nothing more to add, and looked towards the aggron, who appeared to be contemplating the group's words. "That explains it," she muttered. "Ryder's been running his fat mouth again, has he?" She shot the gabite a harsh glare. Ryder yelped and began looking for a place to hide.

"We learned of the term when we were passing through here just a couple weeks ago," Bellatrix answered. "Ryder was the one to mention it and Jaak's been having difficulties with the rail recently due to the odd occurrences here." The vigoroth waved at the mention of his name.

"Of course." Anite rubbed her helmet. "Ryder was the one who coined the term 'Witching Beast'," she explained. "Given that his mouth compensates for his brain, it caught on and stuck. Nothing to do about it now though." She looked towards Dave, her gaze curious. "Wagons, huh? We've consistently been seeing them pass through monthly up until a few days ago. Nobody's tried to check them out. Folks that did never returned to tell the tale, so folks have become afraid of what might happen if they stand in their way."

"Yeah! Like One-Eyed Joe a couple months ago!" piped Scraggy.

Anite nodded towards the little one. "That's right," she said softly. Then back to the group, she added, "It's my job to keep the heads of these folk here on straight. 'Respect' is a bit of a stretch but I'm the one whose word has any real meaning here to these folk seeing that everyone else in power has all but given up on us." She eyed them carefully. "You lot don't look like the treacherous type but I have one last question. Are you, by any chance, acquainted with anyone out here. Like an excadrill, sandslash or zweilous?

She was studying their responses intently.

 

[Sinderella]

Odette didn’t do much to hide the disdain that crossed her eyes. Of fucking course it was the squeaktoy of a gabite that coined the term and was spreading all the bullshit. Sending him another aggravated look, she sighed.

So that brought her back to neutral again, it seemed. A lack of certainty on how the disappearances were happening meant it could go either way in her head. Perhaps the residents were indeed disappearing as the off-worlders were appearing, or it was indeed the work of Terminal Two. And hearing that a local had suspiciously disappeared after crossing a wagon only leaned her more toward the latter.

The fact that Anite mentioned three specific ‘mon, though, had Odette narrowing her eyes for a moment. Shaking her head, she responded “No. Haven’t had the pleasure of meeting anymon like that. But I only speak for myself.”

She peered back at Scraggy, careful to keep her gaze on the kid far nicer. “Do we want to know what One-Eyed Joe did specifically?”

 

[HelloYellow17]

A what, a sandslash, and a what? Wes snorted and shook his head, ignoring the pang in his chest at the mention of a sandslash. “Not a damn clue who you’re talking about.”

He glanced back at the Scraggy kid. A brave one, considering how many new people were around. “Who’s One-Eyed Joe?”

 

[Shadow Serenity]

"They don't sound familiar to me, either," Kimiko muttered. Odette didn't either... Kimiko thought that maybe some of the group who's originally landed in this area might know something about these three specific 'mon, but apparently not. "Can't say for sure any of us are acquainted with anyone around these parts outside of Jaak and his, uh, co-workers?"

 

[Inkedust]

"Hmm." Anite's gaze held for several long seconds before nodding and taking a step back. "Alright then. Seems like you're being honest with me. In that case, do as you will. You have my trust as long as you don't do anything to betray it unless you want to end up on the receiving end of my horns." The sudden glare in her eyes made it clear that she was being serious. It held for a moment before it softened as Anite continued. "Take my last question as a warning. Not only have these odd 'Witching Beasts' been putting us on edge but there have been sightings of strangers that exude an aura of power. Even I feel like I ain't a match for them. Those three I mentioned are just the ones I saw for myself, I'm sure there's others I haven't heard of. Unless you have a death wish, I recommend keeping your distance."

The aggron then looked at the others. "If you trust me, then we can trust them. That goes for you too, Ryder."

Ryder looked horrified before replying with a begrudging nod.

Scraggy looked ready to answer Wes' question but gave Anite a nervous look. At her nod, he jumped in confidence and continued. "One-Eyed Joe was a krokorok, who was called that 'cause he was blind in one eye. Pretty mean too, lotta people thought he was the one person in town capable of standing up to Anite, especially after a bad day at Town Hall."

"Mhm. Probably wanted to take his anger out on something and that wagon happened to be passing by," Anite finished. "Nobody knows for sure though, it was pretty late - or early depending on who you ask - when it happened. All Reno heard was shouting before it abruptly cut out."

"And Reno is one of the watchmon, correct?" Bellatrix asked, looking to one of the towers in the distance. "Any chance we'll be able to speak with him?"

"Was," Anite corrected. "He's gone too. Mav's the next best person to talk to about this though I recommend doing so before he gets himself drunk beyond comprehension."

 

[Sinderella]

Odette felt herself nodding along with what Anite was saying, feeling a sense of relief over the aggron’s apparent trust.

“Around where did you see those three ‘mon?” she asked tentatively. “Just so we know where to be wary.”

And they had a name of who to speak to next. The next best guy, since the first one had also gone missing. If he was a watchmon, then chances were he’d be around the watchtower.

Another question popped into her mind shortly after. She chewed on it for a second before deciding she had no reason not to ask. “And if you don’t mind me asking…what are your thoughts on the spike in the murkrow population? Have they been spewing anything of note?”

 

[JFought]

"Glad to have your trust." Isidora flashed a smug look at Ryder.

These strangers with 'auras of power' sounded suspicious as hell. Maybe it has something to do with Terminal Two. For now, she felt just about ready to start the investigation proper. "I'm guessin' Mav's at one of the watchtowers?" she asked. "Anywhere else worth checking?"

 

[canisaries]

Ridley shrugged, a full-body ruffle of his costume. He thought that he was getting better at communicating his gestures, considering that facial expressions didn't mean much through the disguise. "No particular reason. Koa and I experienced some weird dreams after the, uh -" shit, how should he refer to it in public? "- encounter, and we were wondering if other people had as well."

"What happened in your dreams?" Andre asked. Maybe they'd been only been given a vague warning about one of the heroes not belonging. Or... maybe they'd had the same dream as him. That would mean it had never been about Andre's past. Or maybe Ridley and Koa, too, had something to hide... but then why would they even tell others they'd had the dream?

Well, then again... Koa was a child, and Ridley had already shown a certain disregard for consequences of his actions. Maybe they just didn't realize talking about a dream of being called out as not belonging would make the others doubt them, or they just didn't care.

Andre thought back to the questionable actions that Nova and Gladion had admitted to and wondered if they'd had the same dream. This entity could possibly be quite judgmental. Or even have an alien sense of morality.

But Ridley did bring up an interesting point in that it had happened the night after the encounter. Maybe the dream had something to do with that instead of any moral failings of the people that had experienced it. That'd be a load off my mind.

Still, Andre didn't want to show his cards. He'd decide how to proceed after he was told what manner of dream Ridley and Koa had had.