#Should I make the ball shadow black whaddaya think

[wordycheeseblob]

Just finished upgrading my textbook

[doublenuzlocke]

Entry #3: Explosions in the Desert

((aka does this even count as an AU I just moved them to a different Pokemon game ;;;;;

but also I am a sucker for adding Colosseum onto everything can you tell that I really, REALLY want to rewrite the whole game ;;;; ))

  “We’ve been stranded here for days and it’s your fault!”

  “How is it my fault that you got bored and decided to gamble all our travel funds away and then get banned from the casino?”

  Gold rolled his eyes. “Okay, fine. But you’re the one who wanted to visit Pyrite in the first place.”

  “We couldn’t go straight from Phenac to Agate, it’s too far!”

  Kotone huffed at him and he could see that he wasn’t about to win this argument. He let out an aggravated breath and stepped down. “Fine. I’m gonna go see if we can find some help.”

  “Don’t go out by yourself, this place is dangerous!”

  Kotone still looked angry, but her concern shone through. Gold pulled the two Poke Balls off his belt and held them up for her to see. For emphasis. “I’m not alone, Kotone.”

  She looked torn for a moment, debating whether or not to allow him to leave. In the end, she flipped open her ‘gear and turned away. “Don’t go too far, I’m calling up Norman so he can come get us.”

  “Not that asshole.” Gold shuddered at the thought of his dad arriving to scold him for his inconsiderate recklessness. Not to mention how angry his mom was gonna be when she found out. He cringed and left their hotel room. “Ugh, this really sucks.”

  Even if he pulled out Chocobo or Mom to complain to, they’d just agree with Kotone that he’d been the one being an ass here. Well, that Casino was the one who’d cheated him, first! He’d noticed their underhanded tactics and lying, telling him he’d lost when he’d clearly won, but they seemed to have the city’s police in the palm of their hands and had him thrown out for his troubles.

  Sulking, Gold wandered the dirty city’s battle square, ready for a fight to release some steam. He caught sight of a duo with a Whismur and a Lotad battling a Chaser girl with a Dustox and an Oddish. That didn’t seem entirely fair. Still, the Chaser managed to take out the duo’s Lotad and one of them sent out a Makuhita next.

  The moment the Makuhita came into sight, Gold froze. It seemed wrong somehow, surrounded by a dark aura and drained of colour. Without any issues, it beat both the opponent Pokemon, then turned on its partner.

  The duo quickly withdrew their Pokemon (the Whismur and the Makuhita), then collected their prize money. And Gold should’ve known better. He should’ve listened to Kotone and returned right back to her. But the warning bells in his head were going off too loudly for his common sense to kick in and he approached the duo, determination in his steps.

  “Hey, nice battle.” He grinned and waved, greeting them with his best faux friendliness act. The two warily turned their attention to him and he continued, going directly for the kill. “Must be easy to beat up some unsuspecting chumps with an illegal Pokemon like that.”

  The two of them hesitated before the one with the orange Mohawk spoke up. “What’re you talking about, ‘illegal Pokemon’? How could such a thing exist?”

  “I dunno.” Gold shrugged, keeping up his act of friendly innocence. “You tell me why your Makuhita there was weirdly dark and powerful enough to take down a Pokemon it should be ineffective against.”

  The two shared a look, then brandished their Poke Balls at him. “Those are fighting words if I ever heard any. Don’t you agree, Trudly?”

  “I’d say you’re right there, Folly.” The other sneered and they sent out their Pokemon, the Whismur and dark Makuhita. “Let’s demonstrate why you don’t come 'round here asking too many questions.”

  Gold smirked, confident that Chocobo and Mom could handle these losers. The Makuhita, though, charged right towards him. He didn’t get a chance to even send his team out. It punched him right in the gut and the shock, along with the impact, knocked him out immediately.

//

  Crys hated sand.

  She hated sand, the heat, and the general lawlessness of the land.

  But complaining about Orre wasn’t about to help her get a plane ticket outta there, so she had to keep fighting and living in spite of all that she hated.

  If she just continued playing along with Snagem, then she could make enough for the gas to get to Agate. As long as they believed she was a loyal scientist, then she could plan out her betrayal without any of them being the wiser.

  Maybe in another life she could’ve studied Shadow Pokemon more, researched into why Orre had no wild Pokemon when other regions’ deserts could support their wildlife, done something useful with her life. As it was, she could only bide her time until she could make her escape.

  Luckily, she wasn’t the only voice of discontent amongst the ranks. Another grunt, Silver, was also itching to blow the joint (though he was a fantastic actor, keeping his stony expression as he discussed a plan to bomb the place with her) and agreed to work with her to cause a ruckus in exchange for getting out. It’d taken zero convincing on her part, which was fine and dandy since he was a valuable addition to her plan with his knowledge on explosives.

  They blew the place up, stole the snag machine, and never looked back. If they hadn’t needed to stop for gas at the old train pit stop, they might’ve gone straight to Unova. Maybe further. Crys was just so glad to finally be out.

//

  While Crys handled filling up the bike, Silver decided to check out the small establishment. The news was all ready reporting on their coup of the blown Snagem base, but Silver ignored it in favour of ordering some waters for him and Crys. Two of the patrons, however, stood and rushed out after the report ended. Might’ve been two lowly grunts, who cared? Silver paid the nice bartender, then left to rejoin Crys.

  “That was Trudly and Folly.” She remarked as soon as he was within speaking distance. He grimaced, prompting her to continue and please explain why that should’ve mattered to him at all. “They had a sack in the back of their vehicle. I thought maybe they’d stolen some Pokemon, but it was too big to be just a stash of Poke Balls.”

  Again, Silver regarded her with his very unamused stare. “And why would that be our concern?”

  “Silver, they might’ve kidnapped someone.” She frowned at him. “We should really try to stop them.”

  She had such a lawful mentality. He often wondered how Snagem had managed to keep her for so long. He also wasn’t willing to try to talk her out of this. It was her bike, after all. With a heavy sigh, he hopped into the sidecar. “They’ll be heading to Phenac.”

  She relaxed in relief, then climbed onto the bike proper to start it up. “Right. Let’s see if we can stop them before they reach the 'mayor’.”

  The bike’s engine roared to life and they took off, out into the open desert. Silver pulled his goggles on as she flicked her visor down over her eyes. He’d heard from a terrified scientist that she’d been the one closest to the explosion when they’d been trying to create the first snagging device prototype, but it never seemed to stop her. Now she wore the fruits of that experiment, the smaller and portable model, on her arm.

  Learning about her had been useful at the time, but they’d soon go on their separate ways. Silver needn’t worry over any potential weaknesses her scar might cause her. He didn’t have to worry over her figuring out his own weaknesses, either.

  They arrived at Phenac after a couple of hours and found Trudly and Folly, the two inept idiots, attempting to carry the burlap sack that clearly held a human body inside through the main plaza. Silver almost didn’t want to intervene, curious as to how far they’d make it before they were captured by the authorities. However, Crys had all ready leapt up to confront them, so Silver begrudgingly followed suit.

  “What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Crys shouted at them.

  They jumped, fumbling and dropping their body in a sack as a consequence. A muffled groan of pain came from it and Silver was almost impressed. How two failures like them could’ve managed to actually kidnap a human being was a fortuitous amount of bullshit he couldn’t even begin to imagine. Trudly held up his hands, pleading. “What? Whaddaya want with us? We’re busy, that’s what.”

  “Yeah, we’re busy.” Folly added in, crouching to attempt to gather the sack back up. “We’ve got a real catch here and the Mayor asked us to–”

  “Shut up!”

  Trudly hissed and Folly did, in fact, shut up. Unfortunately for them, that’s when the sack started shouting. “Help! Get me outta here! Murderers!”

  Folly shook the sack roughly. “We ain’t murderers, we’re kidnappers! Get it right!”

  Trudly smacked the back of Folly’s head. “You idiot!” He glanced up at Crys and Silver, then around the plaza. The noise was drawing a crowd. Trudly growled and yanked Folly to his feet. “We gotta ditch, else Mirror B’s gonna make us sit through another punishment concert. He’ll be hearing about you from us, Crys!”

  After hurling a last (and laughably ineffective) threat, Trudly dragged Folly off, out of the city’s entrance. Crys went to give chase, then stopped herself. She let out a tired exhale and approached the sack, motioning for Silver to follow her. “You all right in there?”

  “Unless a bruised gut and some probably cracked ribs count as 'fine’, then nope, not at all, thanks.”

  Both Crys and Silver were taken aback by the response, having not expected one. Crys tugged at the knot keeping the sack tied shut and, reluctantly, Silver knelt down to help. She spoke with conviction, if a bit distracted by the task at hand. “Once we get you out of there, we’ll take you to the Centre here so you can get more help. That sound good?”

  “Sure, yeah, as long as it’s not here, I’m sure it’ll be great.”

  They got the knot untied and carefully removed the bag to reveal a guy, probably around their age, with black hair and dried blood around his mouth. Crys winced at the sight. “They got you good. Need some help or are you okay to stand on your own?”

  “I think I can do it myself.” The guy tested his legs, gritting his teeth with every movement. They really needed to get this guy to a Centre. He managed to stand, holding an arm to his stomach, and grinned half-heartedly at them. “Thanks, by the way. I’m Gold, nice to meet'cha.”

  Crys softened and gently placed a hand on his shoulder. “Crys. And this is Silver. Careful, now.”

  She directed Gold towards the PokeCentre, which was thankfully not too far away. It was also nice that she’d introduced Silver for him, as if she’d known he wasn’t about to do it himself. This seemed dangerous, but it wasn’t like they had much of a choice. If they’d simply left, they’d draw even more attention, after all. Silver rolled his eyes, but followed after them. It’d at least be interesting to hear this Gold’s explanation on how this even happened.

[ladamab]

Gossamer Fate

[<] [Chapter 2]

“Ah, ya see? Whaddaya think? Am I right or am I right?” Max crowed gleefully as he threw himself onto the old, beat-up recliner, pulling the the ugly serape off the tall back, wadded it up into a ball, and threw it directly onto the cowboy sleeping with his hat over his face on the sofa on the opposite side of the room. Jesse jumped so high that if he’d been armed, Max and Genji would have already been shot. “McCree! Wake up, ya Hick! If Jefe catches your ass sleepin’ in here again we’ze is all gonna be in trouble!”

“Fuck! I’mma wake! I’mma wake--shit. Fuckin’ Yank. Y’all got no fuckin’ class where yer from, aintcha?” McCree grumbled, throwing the blanket in the floor and squinted between the silent cyborg standing in the doorway and the cackling Italian laughing from where he was laid the wrong way over the armrests on the Lazy-boy. “Jesus, Max. You re-dye that shit? It’s pokin’ mah eyes out over here.”

“Uh, no. I made Genji do it.” Max snorted, running a hand through his almost-luminescent blue hair as he righted himself in the chair and gestured for Genji to come over and sit down. The cyborg remained stoically poised in the door with his arms crossed for a moment or two before giving in to the cajoling to squeeze into the chair beside Max. Jesse gave the pair of them vaguely judgemental look. Two asses should not be able to fit into that recliner, but the pair of them were petite in the truest sense. Even sitting down, Genji had an inch or so on Max but they all knew better than to make mention of his height. It was almost as sore a spot as the abomination that passed for lasagna in the cafeteria. Never bring up the lasagna. “Mah hair grows back too fast to leave it very long. Gotta keep it lookin’ fresh.”

“What’cha gotta do is dye it back to black.” Jesse grumbled, rubbing the sleep from his face and then took his hat to flick it a couple of times and ensure it hadn’t been ruined by a blanket to the face. When he put it back on, he was treated to an unamused scowl from Max and Genji’s patented stare. With the mask on, there was no way to know if he was angry or not. At least Max’d gotten him a long-sleeved, black sweatpants and hoodie combination. It wasn’t that Jesse minded the way Genji looked normally, it was that Genji seemed to mind. “What’re ya right about, Yank?”

“So you were listening. Pay up, Gaijin.” The first words the cyborg had uttered in hours, a mechanical hand coming out of the pocket of his hoodie to smack Max directly on the chest and then gesture for money. “I told you he wasn’t sleeping.”

Max’s cyber-blue eyes snapped to Jesse’s shit-eating grin and scowled, pulling his wallet out and began to count out money. “The new monks,” He snapped back, slapping the Euros into Genji’s hand. The Cyborg gestured again, a few wrinkles forming beside his eyes in a way that Max knew to be only indicator that behind the mask, he was smiling. It was so rare that despite the injury to his wallet, losing a bet or two was worth it. “I think they’re omnics and I’m gonna prove it.”

“Aw, Max,” Jesse’s hat was off again and he was running a hand through his hair as he groaned. “Ain’t nothin’ sacred to ya? They’re men a’ God. Not our God--” “Our God? You’re a protestant heathen!” “--Shut up, ‘m talkin’. Point is, I don’t like it. I know I ain’t gotta like it ‘n yer both entitled to yer opinions but on account’a the fact that yer opinions fuckin’ suck, I’mma have t’ veto this stupid-ass idea.”

“You ‘n what army?” Max grumbled, crossing his arms while Genji put the footrest on the recliner up. “If they’re omnics running around lookin’ like people, they’re dangerous. Omnics can be hacked ‘n Chaplains have a lot of information on a lot of people. If they get close ‘t Genji it could get out ‘t his crazy brother that he’s still alive.”

The conversation had taken a sudden turn for the more serious and Max had an unfortunately good point. Jesse didn’t like it but he had to admit that there was a reason that Max ran missions and he didn’t; the hacker was paranoid and prepared for every eventuality. Jesse couldn’t even imagine some of the things he was already prepared for. “Shit, Maxie,” He breathed, staring at the floor and ran another hand through his already tousled hair, “I didn’t even think of that.”

“I know you didn’t think’a it. Youse guys always think yer just gonna waltz inta this stuff ‘n figure it out as y’ go.” Max snipped back and frowned heavily with a shake of his head. “I was talkin’ to Capo ‘n the plan is t’ take the monks out fer a tour or somethin’. They refused to come out fer dinner and I gotta say, it’s not helpin’ their case. There’s basically nothin’ on the web about the Shambali ‘n that short one saw us.”

“From the helipad?” Jesse asked, his voice rising in an incredulous whine. He had some of the best eyes around and even he couldn’t see people beyond a certain point in the curtain of shadow on the landing pad.

“From th’ helipad.” Max responded with his mouth set into a grim line.

Jesse sat back heavily against the sofa as a white stripe of legitimate panic licked its way through his mind. If they could find out about Genji then they could find out about him. Hell, they could find out about Max.

They could find out about Blackwatch.

“Alright. Y’all know how I feel about attackin’ men of God but… how’re we doin’ this?”