allitersonance
Banned
Sign up/OOC thread here. It's still open, but make sure to sign up in there and preferably keep all OOC comments there, and definitely all OOC discussion.
--
The small group of summoners were gathered in the children's area of the temple, a circular patch of land carpeted with lush green grass and surrounded by tall rocks. A stone platform stood in the middle, large enough for several people, but only one man was standing on it - a short, thin man with a tangled beard and roughly-cut hair. He looked down at the summoners, glancing around to make sure there was nobody still coming, then smiled, immediately getting to the speech they were all waiting for.
"I realise that most of you probably know enough about werepokemon and pokepires to fight against them, and you've probably read some of the myths about wereanimals and vampires and can connect the dots yourselves. Or maybe that only goes for people that haven't been raised by the Temples, since they probably only want you reading their myths involving characters who are one hundred percent pokemon or one hundred percent human. Whatever, I'll pretend you're smart. And I know that most of you have heard the reports from the villages out west. But the Shaymin summoners don't. Or maybe they do, but they want to make sure that you're all up to date. So I, Silver, am here to tell you everything you should know but don't, remind you of the stuff you should know and do, and repeat a lot of crap that you know because it's been pounded into your brains.
"I'm sorry that you're going to have to suffer several minutes of boring exposition, but I'm being paid well for this. By our standards. You summoners have an insane amount of money from those taxes and everything, but a lot of us out west are the people paying you. It's about time we get to see some of that coming back to us, even if it's just me.
"This probably won't be much help, because, a) you should know all of this already, b) this is information of questionable accuracy that I've gotten from villagers, through means like threats, torture, bribery, and blackmail but not really, and c) I was only able to interrogate the people that survived, and it stands to reason that they're the ones who haven't seen very much. So, you know. Take everything with a grain of salt.
"Werepokemon are some massive tribe in the northwest, made of mages that can transform into pokemon. And, you know, that magic isn't supposed to exist, and you Temple bastards will make restore everything to how it should be, in case they threaten your rule.
"They've attacked both night and day, but on nights with full moons, they tend to leave the bloodiest injuries... except they also tend to leave their victims alive, so we know more about their activity on the full moon than any other time. They act like animals, except several times more vicious, but only on the full moon. Otherwise they act mostly human, even in pokemon form, and are generally more successful at this killing thing. They've gotten closer to the Temple of Shaymin than the pokepires have, so you'll probably be seeing them first.
"Pokepires, meanwhile, in the southwest, only ever attack at night. They're stronger and faster than people, but not always pokemon, because they also seem to be part-pokemon. They retreat whenever the sun starts rising, for whatever reason, even the fire- and grass-types, but they don't go up in flames - which probably wouldn't hurt all of them, anyway. A lot of people tried just waiting it out, and the pokepires were fine. They attack people and drink their blood. The first few attacks only involved a small group of pokepires, but more recent attacks were made by a larger army. They can use some of the elemental magic that your pokemon do, depending on their subspecies. They tend to have short swords and daggers and knives, but they don't always use them in a fight.
"Now," Silver said, looking over the summoners again, "you may be wondering what these werepokemon and pokepires - which is a stupid name, I must say - look like. How can you tell if someone is a werepokemon or pokepire? Pokepires are obvious. They'll look like a human with very obvious characteristic of a pokemon species. For example, imagine me, except I'm covered in brown fur and have long, tapering ears coming out of the top of my head. I also have a long, fluffy brown tail that's white at the tip. Maybe I walk a little weird, maybe my legs are strangely shaped. You have just pictured a pokepire. And yes, I have seen one with those characteristics.
"Werepokemon are harder. They'll either look like a normal human or pokemon, with nothing in between. Maybe they act more like an animal in their human forms, or more like a human in their pokemon forms, but sometimes actual pokemon and humans do the same thing. So if you want to know if someone is a werepokemon, well, it just sucks to be you. Because you can't. You just can't. You can scan a werepokemon in human form and you'll learn that he just happens to have a level, perhaps, but maybe you scanned a mage instead. And no matter what, if you try to capture a pokemon-form werepokemon, it'll fail, but how do you know they didn't just escape? Well. You don't. You have to see them transforming.
"Shame, isn't it?
"And that's your quick lesson on werepokemon and pokepires. If you're still paying attention, congratulations. Maybe you won't die when you're unexpectedly faced with them, if you weren't paying attention to what you were told before. That's pretty much it. I have nothing more to tell you, so you can stop paying attention now. Oh! Wait. There's one more thing."
Silver grinned, leaning forward toward the crowd. His face and skin was rapidly turning pale.
"I wasn't kidding when I said you can't tell if someone's a werepokemon."
He suddenly grew outward, falling forward, ragged clothes tearing apart and falling to the stone under his feet. Strange patterns were growing on his chest, and then he was a togekiss, already several metres in the air and disappearing fast.
Spearow, perched on Ilene's forearm, screeched in alarm, and Ilene stared after Silver dumbly.
"Gwuh?"
It took several precious seconds for Ilene to fully process anything, and with a muttered curse, she looked beside her to make sure there was empty air. She focused her magic power, saw and felt it appear as a blue dot, and quickly drew the Calling circle, large enough for her pokemon to emerge from it.
"Charizard!"
The circle was filled with a swirling white light, and the orange dragon shot out of it, flames filling his mouth...
...and the flames died as he looked around, finding nobody that looked like any real opponent; the weretogekiss had already flown too far, and although it probably wouldn't be impossible to catch up, Silver had a substantial head start.
--
The small group of summoners were gathered in the children's area of the temple, a circular patch of land carpeted with lush green grass and surrounded by tall rocks. A stone platform stood in the middle, large enough for several people, but only one man was standing on it - a short, thin man with a tangled beard and roughly-cut hair. He looked down at the summoners, glancing around to make sure there was nobody still coming, then smiled, immediately getting to the speech they were all waiting for.
"I realise that most of you probably know enough about werepokemon and pokepires to fight against them, and you've probably read some of the myths about wereanimals and vampires and can connect the dots yourselves. Or maybe that only goes for people that haven't been raised by the Temples, since they probably only want you reading their myths involving characters who are one hundred percent pokemon or one hundred percent human. Whatever, I'll pretend you're smart. And I know that most of you have heard the reports from the villages out west. But the Shaymin summoners don't. Or maybe they do, but they want to make sure that you're all up to date. So I, Silver, am here to tell you everything you should know but don't, remind you of the stuff you should know and do, and repeat a lot of crap that you know because it's been pounded into your brains.
"I'm sorry that you're going to have to suffer several minutes of boring exposition, but I'm being paid well for this. By our standards. You summoners have an insane amount of money from those taxes and everything, but a lot of us out west are the people paying you. It's about time we get to see some of that coming back to us, even if it's just me.
"This probably won't be much help, because, a) you should know all of this already, b) this is information of questionable accuracy that I've gotten from villagers, through means like threats, torture, bribery, and blackmail but not really, and c) I was only able to interrogate the people that survived, and it stands to reason that they're the ones who haven't seen very much. So, you know. Take everything with a grain of salt.
"Werepokemon are some massive tribe in the northwest, made of mages that can transform into pokemon. And, you know, that magic isn't supposed to exist, and you Temple bastards will make restore everything to how it should be, in case they threaten your rule.
"They've attacked both night and day, but on nights with full moons, they tend to leave the bloodiest injuries... except they also tend to leave their victims alive, so we know more about their activity on the full moon than any other time. They act like animals, except several times more vicious, but only on the full moon. Otherwise they act mostly human, even in pokemon form, and are generally more successful at this killing thing. They've gotten closer to the Temple of Shaymin than the pokepires have, so you'll probably be seeing them first.
"Pokepires, meanwhile, in the southwest, only ever attack at night. They're stronger and faster than people, but not always pokemon, because they also seem to be part-pokemon. They retreat whenever the sun starts rising, for whatever reason, even the fire- and grass-types, but they don't go up in flames - which probably wouldn't hurt all of them, anyway. A lot of people tried just waiting it out, and the pokepires were fine. They attack people and drink their blood. The first few attacks only involved a small group of pokepires, but more recent attacks were made by a larger army. They can use some of the elemental magic that your pokemon do, depending on their subspecies. They tend to have short swords and daggers and knives, but they don't always use them in a fight.
"Now," Silver said, looking over the summoners again, "you may be wondering what these werepokemon and pokepires - which is a stupid name, I must say - look like. How can you tell if someone is a werepokemon or pokepire? Pokepires are obvious. They'll look like a human with very obvious characteristic of a pokemon species. For example, imagine me, except I'm covered in brown fur and have long, tapering ears coming out of the top of my head. I also have a long, fluffy brown tail that's white at the tip. Maybe I walk a little weird, maybe my legs are strangely shaped. You have just pictured a pokepire. And yes, I have seen one with those characteristics.
"Werepokemon are harder. They'll either look like a normal human or pokemon, with nothing in between. Maybe they act more like an animal in their human forms, or more like a human in their pokemon forms, but sometimes actual pokemon and humans do the same thing. So if you want to know if someone is a werepokemon, well, it just sucks to be you. Because you can't. You just can't. You can scan a werepokemon in human form and you'll learn that he just happens to have a level, perhaps, but maybe you scanned a mage instead. And no matter what, if you try to capture a pokemon-form werepokemon, it'll fail, but how do you know they didn't just escape? Well. You don't. You have to see them transforming.
"Shame, isn't it?
"And that's your quick lesson on werepokemon and pokepires. If you're still paying attention, congratulations. Maybe you won't die when you're unexpectedly faced with them, if you weren't paying attention to what you were told before. That's pretty much it. I have nothing more to tell you, so you can stop paying attention now. Oh! Wait. There's one more thing."
Silver grinned, leaning forward toward the crowd. His face and skin was rapidly turning pale.
"I wasn't kidding when I said you can't tell if someone's a werepokemon."
He suddenly grew outward, falling forward, ragged clothes tearing apart and falling to the stone under his feet. Strange patterns were growing on his chest, and then he was a togekiss, already several metres in the air and disappearing fast.
Spearow, perched on Ilene's forearm, screeched in alarm, and Ilene stared after Silver dumbly.
"Gwuh?"
It took several precious seconds for Ilene to fully process anything, and with a muttered curse, she looked beside her to make sure there was empty air. She focused her magic power, saw and felt it appear as a blue dot, and quickly drew the Calling circle, large enough for her pokemon to emerge from it.
"Charizard!"
The circle was filled with a swirling white light, and the orange dragon shot out of it, flames filling his mouth...
...and the flames died as he looked around, finding nobody that looked like any real opponent; the weretogekiss had already flown too far, and although it probably wouldn't be impossible to catch up, Silver had a substantial head start.
