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Sojaveña Wilds Totally Normal Bulletin Board

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"We best not indeed. Come on, let's get at it," Felin replied and mirrored his smirk.

There was something nostalgic about venturing into a mystery dungeon with someone new to it again after borrowing herself to semi experienced teams for such a long time. She hoped the experience would reinvigorate her, and perhaps she gains something new out of it too.

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[Ch02] Totally Normal?
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    • A day had come around where Corey found himself staring at the bulletin board, not interested in any jobs this time around... No, this time he was inclined to just observe the board itself. The mystery of this thing was really starting to get at him it seemed, leaving him just... rather transfixed by it and pondering what made it even work in the first place. He knew magic was likely a factor, but to what extent? And most importantly, who was responsible? Surely others must have wondered this as well at some point... yet they were all just so inclined to get work that they evidently just kept pushing that question off... and so had he for all this time...

    "...Just what are you really?" he quietly murmured, hand resting against his chin in contemplation.
     
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    • So far, the team had gathered much information from the adventurers in the area and consolidated their notes. And Corey, particularly adept at this kind of trickery, would see some signs in the air after so long.

    Teleport.

    Somehow, Corey knew and could sense that Teleport was in some part a contributing factor to the board's magic. Beyond that, however... all was shrouded in mystery.

    In a few minutes, supposedly, the next scheduled 'board refresh' was supposed to happen.
     
    Jade had visited the bulletin board a few times, but always just for small errands and such. She hadn’t really felt up to proper dungeon diving, not in an unfamiliar body that barely knew how to use moves. But as time went on, she found herself itching to do more.

    And so, once she was feeling mostly healed, Jade wandered out to that crossroads lined with tents. She approached the board and peered at it, looking for anything that seemed doable.
     
    The jobs listed were all standard fare. Most combat was against bandits who were obstructing a road being constructed by an unknown party. The standard gathering missions were for healing items and scouting items. Curiously, that Moon Stone job was still posted at an even higher reward than before, though Moon Stones were rare in the area...

    ...Someone was behind the bulletin board. A Machoke, making little paranoid gasps and jumps any time the wind blew and moved the papers.
     
    Teleportation... of course... that made sense, especially after having used the power himself a few times by now. But truly that raised further questions. After all, if this was the teleport move, who was triggering it? The board itself? No one seemed to be appearing and disappearing along with the mission papers...

    Though speaking of appearing and disappearing...

    "Hey! Hold on a sec, you're that Machoke that was going on about some 'psychic war' or something, weren't you?" If Dayle was intending to stay hidden, it didn't take an expert in stealth to tell he'd hardly made a very good choice of a hiding spot...

    "You seem kinda jittery, bud, you okay? What're you doing all the way out here?"
     
    "Geh!" Machoke stepped away, staring at Corey like he was some kind of secret spy. That was probably exactly what he thought.

    "...Teleport... You know it too. There's Psychic energy here... I'm watchin' you..." He pointed an accusatory finger at Corey. "In exactly three hundred seconds, you're gonna do something, aren't you?" He stared harder. "...Two ninety-five..."
     
    "Woah now, relax, big guy!" Corey said, holding his hands up to show he wasn't planning anything nefarious.

    "Look, I only learned to teleport recently, this billboard's been teleporting notes well before I learned how to do it. I'm just as suspicious of its origins as you are." Okay, maybe not entirely... but there was no denying at least that he was intrigued by it.

    "I'm not doing anything in three-hundred seconds, I promise, this isn't my doing. We're better off working together than pointing fingers anyway, right?"
     
    Jade really wasn't sure what to make of the Machoke's ramblings. He didn't... sound super reliable. But then, there was an actual psychic here confirming that the board change really was just a Teleport trick. Hmm...

    "Maybe the person running the board just wants to remain anonymous?" Jade offered with a shrug. "A strong psychic-type running things doesn't seem all that weird." She glanced back at the types of missions pinned up. "And it all seems like helpful stuff. Nothing like what the mayor was up to, or anything like that."
     
    "I don't trust that," Dayle said, pointing at Jade. "Think about it! Can youuu trust it if some great authority is workin' from the shadows? A deep dark secret organization corralling the masses to make sure they do their little tasks... gears in the system... they're buildin' to somethin'! I'll figure you yet! Dayle is on the case!" He pointed at the board, which did not reply to Dayle. A gust of wind blew and Dayle held his stance for a few extra seconds.
     
    Corey glanced at the Meowth, then the Machoke, then the bulletin board. It only just occurred to him that he didn't recall seeing this particular Meowth before... Was she another fellow outworlder? She seemed about as confused as anyone unfamiliar with this Machoke would be, much as she was rather surprisingly calm about it all. In any case though, she wasn't the biggest concern here... The loudmouth conspiracy buff was riling himself up some more, ranting about shadow authorities... Not that Corey completely doubted the existence of some hidden cabal after the things he and the rest of the crew have dug up, but he had a suspicion that, per usual, the Superpower Pokemon was barking up the wrong tree.

    "Uh.... Dayle... have you made sure to inform everyone in town about your latest findings yet? Seems to me like this is all important information they ought to know... right?" It was going to be increasingly more difficult to investigate the bulletin board any further with this guy ranting and raving about how he was part of some sinister scheme...
     
    Jade let out a sigh. "Well... I suppose we can't know know." It was a little weird. And she knew all too well that seemingly-altruistic operations could have darker ulterior motives... "But how exactly would we find out who's running it, anyway? Haven't a bunch of people already tried? I guess we could try to use a wonder orb or something when the board change happens, but that would feel kinda bad if they’re not doing anything wrong and we just, like, spring a trap on them.” She rubbed the back of her head sheepishly.
     
    "They're up to somethin'! If you think I should warn them, then fine! You saved the town once... you'll save it again from this new scheme." Corey could tell that Dayle's breath smelled like Oran Berries. He jumped away and looked left and right, suspicious. "If you find a way to trace who is doing this, that'll be your first clue! The Teleporter's gotta be nearby, somewhere, somehow, but people can't see'm! Like they're always outta sight... hidden... perfectly hidden... There's gotta be a way! Your chance is soon! One hundred seconds!"

    He sprinted back to town in the distance. "I'll warn Gerooome!"
     
    If you find a way to trace who is doing this, that'll be your first clue!

    Trace... that was a psychic ability, right?

    "Maybe you could like, literally Trace it," Jade offered, throwing a glance at the Ralts who'd been conversing with the Machoke. "Could be an opportunity to learn a bit more about them, if it works."
     
    Just as Dayle ran away and past the group, Mhynt Teleported to the side to avoid him. Once he was a few more paces away, she glanced at the others and frowned, pensive.

    "Do I want to know?" she asked, blipping next to Jade and eyeing the bulletin board.
     
    Tracing the culprit... Huh... That might have been Dayle's most coherent theory yet! And it did seem the Meowth agreed, suggesting that he try to quite literally use his tracing ability on the board upon its timely change.

    "Well... I mean usually I'm fighting the target before I can trace something about them... and it's more inhereting an aspect of theirs than anything else... but I suppose it couldn't hurt to try?"

    Corey turned to look at the bulletin board, lightly pressing at the sides of his head in deep concentration, making a concerted effort to block out anything that wasn't directly connected to said board, hoping that perhaps as the refresh time hit zero, he just might catch something. Briefly he was thrown off as he sensed a different teleportation, catching a certain Treecko in his peripheral vision, though apart from a light growl of annoyance he quickly reset his course.
     
    The fight with the three samurai earlier had been the highlight of the new week so far (the good highlight, anyway, never mind all that other. Stuff), but it would still be a little while before they were ready for proper tutoring in those fancy move styles, and unfortunately Work still existed in the meantime. The bulletin board was as busy as ever when she made her way over—the machoke guy sprinting past must've found a job he was really excited about—including a few familiar faces milling around nearby.

    "Hey, what're you all looking— oh," she said, cutting herself off when she realized the ralts was concentrating on something. "What's going on?" she whispered to Jade.
     
    Mhynt looked between them, and then at Corey, who seemed to be doing his best board-staring efforts ever.

    But it seemed purposeful. Was Corey onto something...?

    The board seemed mundane for now aside from the lingering feeling of... something in the air. Something nearby. Watching quietly. It was clear from the way the adventurers were looking at him that nobody had tried something quite like this before... or perhaps there were not enough people capable of it.

    For one reason or another... nobody had ever found resonance in that way. Nothing to catch. It was just a weird board, nothing more.

    But then, Corey sensed something. There were Pokemon all around and he could easily match a body to a psychic wave...

    Except for one. Where? Where? Above! Above and behind them, about three meters off the ground and two meters left of Jade, floating where nothing was there.

    Twenty seconds remained. What would Corey do?
     
    He only had so much time... Once the board changed, Corey had a suspicion that the presence would vanish soon after... unless they did something...

    "There's someone else here," he spoke, as quickly as he could whilst remaining comprehensive. He pointed at the spot where he sensed the invisible force.

    "There! I can sense them... they're right there!" There was a drive to attack the spot just to try and force whatever was there out... but that seemed a tad too aggressive. Instead, he decided a more creative approach was in order, using Psychic on the ground below the spot of the presence to raise as much dust and sediment into the air towards the spot in question.
     
    "Wait, what?" Leaf stared at the spot he'd indicated, which looked distinctly like a whole lot of nothin'. Someone was where? Doing what?

    ...did this have something to do with the board updates? Oh, shoot, what if it was? She'd been dying to find out ever since she'd first met with Espurr, but with all her results so far also distinctly resembling nothing, it had kind of fallen to the back of her mind. But if whatever he'd sensed was whoever was behind this—

    Uh, quick, do something, do something... against an invisible guy...? hm... She hadn't really had a ton of time to practice hypnosis yet, but she'd seen Rey and Clyde do it like a million times, right? Couldn't be that hard. As long as she could aim it in the right direction, it might at least slow them down. She faced the empty space and set her horn glowing, the ring seeming to shift and strobe toward the point as she tried to focus. "Hang on a minute, we just wanna talk!"
     
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