[FIN] Kanto Competition

[Blood_Goddess]

Rosie had been enjoying the story as well, intending to listen to it till the end when she would tell how Yuri ended up catching the Eevee, but everything stopped when something had caught Rosie's attention.

Rosie started a little when Faleen's voice snapped her back, and Dove was there to continue the question, though the blond could not find the words to answer their questions, instead she kept her eyes on Ray, who was now watching her with a mild curiosity.

"Ray... That black ball on your jacket." She started, lifting a hand to point at it, though withdrew it cautiously.
Ray glanced down at the ball on her strap, then back up at Rosie with an arching eyebrow.

"Have you seen one of these before?" Ray asked though she turned her head a little, watching the normally very perky girl who now looked somewhat... horrified.
Ray had never even seen one of those balls before, but with a nod from the pink trainer, it was clear that she had.

Faleen had also looked over at the dark ball with Rosie's indication, though outwardly she remained puzzled, she watched her sister closely, wondering just how Rosie knew what those were... and why to be so fearful of it.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Agatha had disliked the environment immensely, despite the promise of food, and had retreated into her dusk ball almost immediately when the group entered the crowded, loud restaurant. Sera had let Luke sit first, and since he sat on Rosie's other side, the brunette sat next to him. She would've preferred to sit next to Rosie, of course, but sitting next to Luke was good too. This, though, put her at such an angle that prevented her from seeing her blonde friend unless she leaned forward or back to specifically attempt to see her, and she did so at Faleen's question. It was incredibly obvious, from her silence and moreso from how pale her features had become, that something was wrong. Silence was one thing, but diminished color was another entirely.

The question the girl posed about the ball Ray had though gave her pause, but regardless Sera aimed a confused frown at her friend. "What about it?" It just looked different than a normal pokeball - but there were plenty of balls that looked different, like luxury balls and ultra balls and whatever. Granted, though, she hadn't seen one like this before, but that didn't mean much.  

[Blood_Goddess]

"It was a while ago, before I was a trainer." Rosie said "Its the ball that a Rocket used to steal one of my pokemon."
Rosie explained, looking from Ray to Faleen then Sera. "I've never seen it before of after then though, but what it did to him was... Those are not normal balls" She looked hesitantly back at the ball, sitting with her back straight though her head was bowed lightly. "Where did you get it?"

Ray could honestly say she wasn't surprised to hear that it was used by Team Rocket, her glance shifted over to Luke for a moment before speaking again to Rosie, for now she set aside the question as to where she got it, since it was in fact... originally from Team Rocket as was explained by Luke.
"Team Rocket stole a pokemon from you using a ball like this?" Ray asked, leaning forward into her arm a little more. "How could it manage that? was you're pokemon not registered?"
If the girl was not a trainer at the time then that would make a lot of sense, and would not surprise Rayan in the lest, Though the older women didn't look about to dismiss this, if the girl knew anything about this ball then she wanted to know it. Ray had been almost personally offended that she didn't know what this pokeball was.

Faleen had been watching the conversation closely, though she added nothing to it.
She had noted the women ignoring the question as to where she had gotten the ball, and did not miss the quick glance to the person sitting next to Rosie.
Faleen's head inclined lightly, eyes just barely narrowing as she considered the blond next to her.
She was starting to get a better idea as to the origins of this ball, This of course would imply that somewhere... someone in this room possibly held several other pokeballs that were Rocket property.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

"...what do you mean, what it did to him?" Sera asked slowly with a frown, her anxiety growing a bit - not out of concern for the Rapidash now in Ray's possession because no way, but out of concern for her own stolen pokemon's well-being.

Ray's question caught Sera's attention and the brunette looked to her briefly before focusing on her blonde friend again, her worry lessening as she firmly grasped onto the notion that the pokemon in question hadn't been registered. It couldn't have been. With as little as she knew about pokemon training, she knew at the very least that a pokemon couldn't be put into another pokeball if it had been in one already. As if to confirm her own decisions in her head, she reiterated Ray's question with, "Yeah, was it?" It wasn't, surely. It couldn't have been. No way.  

[Blood_Goddess]

Rosie rounded her shoulders a little, glancing over at Sera as her friend piped in with a question, as well as adding to Ray's.
Her cheeks flushed a little her brow furrowing "he was." Rosie insisted, "That's the thing, Angel had his own love ball and everything." It had made no sense, and added to the worry over this ball, a ball that was able to steal already captured pokemon. "And I don't really know... It changes them to, makes them angry, and aggressive and just...it makes them dark." She tried to explain, lowering her gaze to Ray again, with a concerned crease in her brow.
"You know what I'm talking about right?"

Ray stared at Rosie through heavily lidded eyes, though with a close intensity. one corner of her mouth tightened and after a moment of consideration Ray gave a nod.

(Page 4 has an added section to a post adding in updats for Izaya who is under cover.)  

[BlackFireKitsune]

The knowledge that the pokemon taken from Rosie had been registered, that he'd had his own pokeball and therefore couldn't be put into another one, yet had been captured regardless in the same type of black ball as Ray had... It left a cold, sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach. That certainly explained the Rapidash's behavior. Its coloring hadn't bothered her in the slightest, considering the amount of pokemon with unique colors running around, but it had seemed particularly aggressive and she hadn't encountered such behavior in pokemon before. Upset or frustrated or angry, perhaps, but not so enraged to the point of violence.

Briefly, she wondered if Havoc had been normal once. Maybe even had another trainer, if he was friendly, if he enjoyed going out with his original trainer if he had one...

Sera quickly and firmly pulled herself back from such a hazardous mental road and instead looked from Rosie to Ray and even Luke, "But why the hell would Team Rocket have something like that?" She asked, looking to all of those present now. If it hadn't been for Rosie saying it happened to her, and the Rapidash that Luke had given to Ray in such a ball, the brunette would have immediately and wholly denounced the whole thing as complete and utter bullshit. As it stood, she still really, really wanted to, if only for her own peace of mind. "What's the point?"  

[TRHQ Yuri Lowell]

As Ray told the story of how he got the Eevee, Yuri just took it all in stride. Appearing to be rather indifferent about it, though Faleen's comment drew him out of his silence. "Yeah, I guess so," he agreed, though really, he hadn't at all caught the Eevee because it was some rare coloration or anything. The color of the Eevee didn't matter to him at all, nor the fact that it was so rare. It just happened to be that way. Perhaps just out of sheer dumb luck.

The Eevee himself was hanging out on the floor around Yuri's feet and those next to him with Repede.

However, as attention was drawn to Ray's black pokeball, the man was silent. He had nothing really to contribute to that as he knew nothing about it. He'd certainly seen that angry Rapidash, but Ray had dealt with it pretty effectively. Still, Rosie's story was nothing short of disturbing.  

[Suudonym]

Luke listened to the discussion without offering much contribution, slightly uncomfortable with the direction the conversation had taken. The new information from Rosie, however, was interesting - if not ominous. There was something more to the black pokeball than its strange appearance, that much was a safe conclusion, but he hadn't expected it to have that kind of ability. It explained Havoc's disposition, but it was… kind of horrible. At Seraphine's question, he offered a response, his words heavy and his eyes at his hands, "They steal pokemon. If this ball can make a pokemon so angry it doesn't care about its trainer anymore, isn't that convenient for them?" The thought that they had that kind of technology at their disposal was extremely unsettling. There was solace, if only very little, in knowing that the pokemon subjected to this were so aggressive that they were difficult to control, though. That was probably the only reason the devices weren't used in greater profusion, or at least that he was aware of.  

[Gwennythe]

Henrietta had tried to pull Gummy up onto her lap once everyone had sat down, but the Totodile was being his usual self, and his lack of presence almost seemed like refusal to be in the chair, as he kept sliding back onto the floor.
As Ray finished the story, which had been funny but a little strange to picture- who went after pokémon with a sword? Henrietta had only ever caught Winglet, but she'd know enough to have a pokéball and let Gummy do the work... She gave Yuri an amused but rather puzzled look, though any comment she had for him was halted as the atmosphere, and the topic of conversation, changed.

Everything was suddenly getting kind of serious.
"Wow! That thing can catch other trainer's pokémon?!" That was what she seemed to understand about the talk, and was left rather aghast and indignant about it.
She didn't really understand what people meant about it changing pokémon as she'd yet to meet one like that, but the idea made sense to her, kind of. The young trainer had it a little wrong though.
"Of course they'd be all angry! Pokémon and the trainers who catch them are a team! Friends! If they caught in those and taken away from friends, that would totally make anyone mad!" During her own words, she'd found she wanted, again, to try and get Gummy up onto the chair with her.
"Forget their trainer?" This confused Henrietta as the conversation went on. Luke's reasoning for it was probably very good, but she hated the whole idea. "How would a pokémon ever do that?! Stupid Rockets... That's just cheating! Someone should just... fight them and make them give everything back!" She grumped.
It was likely the fact that she couldn't go and do just that, after hearing stories like Rosie's, plus her own hometown's history and relationship with the criminal team, that led her to give in to a kind of seething grump. The same passionate, loudness, but a slight petulant slump as, after burning through such words, she realised there was nothing the she or anyone could do -right at that moment-.  

[Tori Honoo]

Dove, as she had for most of the time there, stayed quiet and listened closely as Rosie spoke, her gaze switching to the gray haired woman's jacket, and more specifically, the ball in question. She didn't know what was inside it, but to think that it had suffered the things Rosie explained...

Flags of alarm shot up everywhere, and she hugged the Togepi in her lap closer to her as Rosie recounted her story-- the one she had told her when they had first started training. That ball had done those things? It was able to capture an already captured Pokemon? Her heart nearly stopped, as she glanced around the room at the assorted companions-- if this was true, none of them were safe, no matter how strong their moves might be.

As she looked around the room, her eyes eventually fell to Faleen, and she paused a moment, noting her expression-- that certainly didn't look like a sibling in concern for her sister, especially on topic so difficult in the first place. Then again, said sibling was a Rocket, and with this knowledge being discussed with little reserve, she was sure the woman was uncomfortable... as she should be.

At Sera's question as to why such a thing existed, Dove listened closely to Luke's explanation, then nodded in agreement. "That does make sense... as awful as it is. How are they coming up with things like that? How do you override the original pokeballs in the first place? That was the first issue, clearly, but the second worried her even more. To change a pokemon's personality entirely, on top of that...?

Henrietta's final declaration sent a chill down her spine-- something did need to be done, but what? How?

As she glanced around the table, she rubbed Tobi's back, feeling as though she might be sick. Almost half of the people here had already been effected by Team Rockets efforts, and though Rosie had been the only one to encounter this 'Dark ball' so far, it was terrifying to even think that it might happen again, and this time without the ignorance of an even darker consequence. To have a pokemon stolen was bad enough, but to have one stolen and turned against you. To know that it was a possibility, even.

Lovey did her best to ignore the conversation above, though her ears drooped as she lay curled under the table with Repede, Astal and Gummy. A soft whine escaped her at the change in atmosphere with the trainers. Whatever they were discussing was bad... very bad, and she didn't want any part of it.  

[Blood_Goddess]

Faleen listened as some of the trainers at the table pitched in their two cents about the Dark Ball, and they were more of less correct.
Still, she watched them carefully.
"This is who you've been talking about." Faleen spoke to Rosie, implying the few times they did get to speak.

Rosie nodded explaining to her sister briefly"They've been quiet for a while, but we've still getting hints that they're around,"

When Henrietta spoke Faleen glanced over to the youngest trainer, arching her eyebrows at the voracity of her words and the suredness of what the actions the trainers should take.
"If I remember correctly, they did send someone to fight them. This regions champion none the less." she pointed out after a moment to think about it
That was only mostly true, but she gave no indication that she knew more then that.  

[Blood_Goddess]

"Lance..." Rosie spoke at her sisters mention of the champion, This was his home region they were in now after all, the people here probably still wondered were they were.
She knew the statement was supposed to be uplifting, but it was the fact that no one knew the fate of the Dragon Master, who had been out of contact and missing for years now.
She did not speak this out loud, she might have to tell Faleen that later since her sister probably didn't know.

Looking up at Henrietta instead Rosie smile "Everyone is doing their best, that's why we're all working so hard. They can't get away with this for long, so don't worry Henrietta." then blond encouraged "As long as you stick with friends and don't travel alone. The League is going to find a way."

Faleen took a sip from her water. "I'm sure Rosie's right, a super power like the League had proven to handle situations quite effectively in the past, I can't imagine they are that big of a problem, or going to be for much longer." she glanced around the table, noticing how each of the trainers had different reactions to the story Rosie told, the crunching the sullen faced the silence, Rosie tried to re-kindle the hope in everyone but she could see the worry that lingered in each of their eyes.
well, anyone who knew what was going on.
Faleen kept up the appearance of concern and constructive curiosity, being the worried sister.
"I cannot speak from experience however, I don't believe here in Kanto had as drastic a problem"  

[Suudonym]

This just didn't sit well. There was a certain degree of recognition that Rosie's sister would have had to have been lying to her about various things for her to not know that Faleen was involved with Team Rocket, but still he found the conversation immensely difficult to listen to. What feelings motivated the things the woman was saying? Don't trust Rosie's sister; what exactly was the meaning of those words?

Restless, unbearably so, Luke stood suddenly, only realizing once he was no longer seated that he hadn't taken the time to think of a proper excuse. "Uh," and nothing was coming to mind either, "sorry, I'll be right back." With a short-lived apologetic smile, he turned to move before he could be questioned. Just a little fresh air, just long enough to feel like he could breathe again.  

[Gwennythe]

Henrietta pulled a face.
It might have only been a couple of years, but at her age it seemed like Lance had gone missing when she was young enough to be a different a different person almost.
Growing up with such prevalent link between her hometown and Kanto, she was very aware of this League, of Lance too, but his disappearance had become something that she had almost grown up alongside now.

"But I'm not worried," Henrietta lied "and I never travel alone! Gummy and Winglet are always with me so we'd so beat any one of them who tried to mess with us! It's just wrong what they do..." Her enthusiasm and tone went all over the place in the space of her short speech but ended optimistically. "I know we could beat them though!"  

[Blood_Goddess]

Ray's eyes had settled on Sera, It wasn't very often that the girl took much of anything very seriously, but when she did it pretty much meant that it was something that made a very profound and truthful impact on the brunette.
Though Ray was silently considering everything the trainers were suspecting about the ball, feeling more and more like she wanted to see to what extent this affected the pokemon that was now in her care, and just how out of hand they became becasue of it.
But there was that time that ray recognized from Sera, as well as the worry.
"As Luke said, I don't suspect they would use the dark balls for pokemon who's balls they already had access to." She said, this one directed at Sera.
Who's pokemon she knew was missing, along with its pokeball.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Rosie smiled at Henrietta, happy to hear that from the girl, It was a scary place but this girl seemed smart, and uplifted, and that seemed to just make things a little bit more okay.
"They have something on the forums, you can find other trainers to travel with, If you go from town to town on Kodo then you should find a group of other trainers to go with I mean." She pointed out with a smile. "its safer, and its fun to travel with other trainers."

Rosie was startled when Luke suddenly sat up, blinking up at him for a couple of seconds "Are you okay?" she started to say, but he just said he would be right back and rather quickly walked away from the table.
This surprised Rosie, and she got up to followed him when her wrist was suddenly grabbed and she was prompted to stop and look over at Faleen.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Luke knew something, and Faleen knew that he knew something.
It was what he knew that she didn't have information for, and what she fully intended to get from him.
His sudden departure from the group told Faleen enough, that something was bothering him about this topic.
She arched her eyebrows when he stood up, and walked away, though as Rosie made to follow him Faleen's glove hand quickly found her sister's wrist.
"Its alright dear, he said he would be right back, the waitress is here,." She said in a gentle tone for Rosie to hear.