route_1065 | A menagerie of the tragedy that I've caused

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A menagerie of the tragedy that I've caused

Who: Solf J Kimblee (

sadisticwarfare), and anyone in the Ecruteak area who wants to engage them – OPEN LOG, don't forget to do the thing and tag yourself in!
Where: Ecruteak City
When: Forward-dated; morning of November 14, 2014
Summary: They've declared war.
Rating: PG-13 or thereabouts. ...Look, if this goes badly, it's basically going to be MICHAEL BAY PRESENTS: THE LOG.
Log:

It's a lovely day out.

While the last attack had been delayed by too much snow to be pleasant, it seems that the weather is with him today; the sun has been out and the temperatures high for the season, and overall, he finds that he can't complain.

The bombs have been set. The residents of Ecruteak have "forgotten." And unlike the hotel room he was holed up in last time, the room he's in is very, very dark.

It's not to say that there's no light; the device in his hand is offering a light ambient glow from the numbers adorning its face. There are a few of them; he allows his fingers to trail over them idly while he waits. Exactly what he's waiting for is a little difficult to say; perhaps it's just a matter of dramatic timing.

Some of those numbers are pressed down after a while, codes of some sort. He pauses for a moment; catches his breath.

Clicks the red switch at the top.

Hopefully no one was particularly close to the museum, as that explosion is going to be a nice one. Not enough to take the building down, mind you, but more than enough to take out a good portion of it. (Sorry about the lawns on those houses nearby, by the way; they're going to be looking a little rough after the fact.)

He closes his eyes once it's done, a light smile crossing his features underneath the hooded mask; it's been a while since he's done this, but the sound is just as beautiful to him as it always is.

Let's begin.

[OOC: Notes on how to play are here! If you have any questions, feel free to throw a comment on that post and I'll get to it ASAP.

Right now, the goal is to pick a location within the city - and literally any of the major landmarks are fair game - put it in your top-level, and we'll lead you from there!]

[OOC PART II: Here's your progress tracker, guys.

Bomb 1 - museum: DETONATED
Bomb 2 - location currently unknown: STILL ACTIVE
Bomb 3 - location currently unknown: STILL ACTIVE
Bomb 4 - pokémon center: NEUTRALIZED
Bomb 5 - location currently unknown: STILL ACTIVE
Bomb 6 - outdoor soundstage: DETONATED
Bomb 7 - bell tower: STILL ACTIVE
Bomb 8 - location currently unknown: STILL ACTIVE

You've got your work cut out for you, Hero Squad. Godspeed. :|b ]

Threaded | Flat

[Jimmy wasn't going to come. He saw the post on the Network as soon as it appeared, and honestly he hadn't been sure what to think about it. They had just narrowly escaped a disaster, and now someone was threatening their safety all over again. He wasn't in Ecruteak at the time; it would have been easy for him to ignore it and hope that someone closer would help these folks out, with the excuse that it's too far away. Or too dangerous, perhaps.

Late in the night just before the allotted week was up, Jimmy mounted his Volcarona with his remaining team of five on his belt and left Goldenrod without word to Joker about what he was doing. He knew he wouldn't be able to stand back with the idea that this was going on sitting on his conscience, and telling him would just have his good friend worry.

He would be fine.

Not long after Inferno lands and Jimmy dismounts does he hear an explosion in the distance that seems to rock the ground he's standing on. Inferno's wings flutter a bit at the sound, her antennae flicking with distress. Jimmy puts a hand on her side as he looks around, his brows furrowing. He hasn't been to Ecruteak many times, but that doesn't mean he wants to see it bombed either. People and Pokemon are at risk, and that's not something he can just stand by and watch.]

[The beginnings of the Olivine disaster had taken place in the early morning, too, so it's no surprise that by the time the museum blows, Carmen is already awake and making her way through the sleepy streets of the city. She's lucky in that this time, she's not particularly close to the blast; as tempting as it would be to drop everything and head in that direction as soon as the explosion thundered through the morning air, it's far enough away and she's close enough to her intended destination that she'll leave that one to someone else, and keep heading the last short distance to her intended location.

Maybe they're skewed priorities, and maybe it's a questionable line of logic that's brought her here, but the prevailing thought she can't escape is the fact that these poor girls have been targeted constantly, and she's not going to be able to focus on anything else until she's done something about this.

So here she is, outside the theater (honestly, she's probably on a rooftop or an awning nearby so that she can survey the place from a better vantage point) and taking a look around — checking for anything obviously out of place, ajar doors, broken windows, crying girls, staring passerby, or something equally worthy of notice.]

[Of course he'd had to go. It wasn't like he has a real attachment to Ecruteak - he's never been before this, actually - but the idea of constant action is, at least, familiar to him. He and Mimi fly in on Regal, and as they land in the city Tobias considers the area.]

[... That tower. The burnt one, which doesn't look like it's a good place to put a bomb - but that's exactly why he needs to check it out. He has no idea how the guy who set this up thinks, and for all he knows he's expected where people will be looking and not put them there. He recalls Regal and sends out Rachel to watch their backs as he leads Mimi into the area.]

Be careful where you step. The floor might not be the most stable.

[Kayneth was really rudely awoken by the sound of an explosion, which he really should have expected... and he did, but he hadn't expected it to be so close. So he hurriedly... did all his morning things because like hell he's going to go out without showering and making sure he looks good first and so he will look pristine as he walks out into his

yard.

what used to be his yard.

...he does not fall to his knees and yell "SEEEEETH" to the heavens, along with variants of "YOU BLEW IT ALL TO HELL," as much as he really wants to. Instead, he molders at the smoldering yard for a few moments, just to seethe a bit, before purposefully releasing his Quagsire to tag along, and heading straight to the Bell Tower's entrance, as... well, he didn't exactly presume Seth had much respect for priceless locations.]

[Having packed up and left Goldenrod as soon he'd seen that text on the network, Yusuke here has been in Ecruteak for a few days now. He's been using his time productively, for the most part - scouting the area, asking the locals if they've seen or heard anything strange. But despite his efforts, he hasn't seen or heard anything that would tip him off to where the explosives or the person that planted them might be hiding. So much for trying to get a jump on the bad guy.

Yusuke wouldn't normally be out and about this early in the morning, given his propensity for staying up as late past midnight as he can humanly manage, but with the impending threat of disaster lurking on the horizon and zero ideas as to where or when said disaster would strike, he can't very well sleep in like he usually does. So after squeezing in a few restless, unsatisfying hours of shut-eye, Yusuke throws some clothes on, guzzles down a cup of truly atrocious hotel coffee, then heads out the door, with four Pokeballs on his belt and an Altaria and a Mightyena at his side.

The city outside is quiet and still - peaceful, like the calm before the storm. Yusuke doesn't know if it's the caffeine or if it's the anticipation that's getting to him, but he finds himself feeling a little jumpy as he's heading down the road. He's maintaining his composure pretty well, though, in spite of that; after all, this isn't the first time in his life he's been faced with precarious circumstances, and besides, he's got a plan. That plan: to check out places he hasn't yet visited and see if the people there have any deets to share. Who knows? Maybe he just hasn't been talking to the right people.

Of course, he's barely reached the end of the street when something suddenly goes BOOM in the distance, rattling the windows of the buildings on either side of him and making the ground shudder beneath his feet. Heart thundering in his chest, Yusuke whirls around, gritting his teeth when his eyes land on smoke billowing up over the rooftops.]

Oh, hell--

[AWWWW HERE IT GOES. True to form, Yusuke doesn't spare a second thought before he breaks into a run towards the source of that smoke. His goal when he came here might have been to locate and then beat the shit out of the person responsible for all of this, but that doesn't mean he isn't concerned about the safety of the people living here. He's got to make sure no one was injured in that blast.]

Edited 2014-11-11 04:07 (UTC)

[As leader of the PGC, Riku couldn't just ignore the threat. And even if he wasn't with the Corps, he'd still take action.

So, for better or worse, he's here in Ecruteak, scoping out the are surrounding the Mart. At his side his his Lucario, currently focusing her aura in hopes of finding traces of suspicious machinery. They need to be cautious, but at the same time, they need to be fast, lest they face destruction.]

[As soon as that taunting asshole showed up on the network, Blake booked it to Ecruteak. That cocky asshole's threat gave him the kind of fire in the belly that has to be pounded out, either on the pavement or on somebody's face.

He's not going to fuck up again.

Blake doesn't have a chopper here. What he has is a floating pink thing.

He sent the Musharna up into the sky to patrol around and keep an eye out, along with his bat. Sure, it probably wouldn't notice if a guy walked out with an armful of bombs in broad daylight, and sure, even if it did, knowing the demented thing it might just tell him some bullshit about transparent blue hallucinations dozing angrily again, but beggars ain't choosers.

Meanwhile, he's on the ground with every dog he owns. Between the Snubbull, Arcanine, and Poochyena, one of them's got to pick up the scent. He has them patrolling and reporting back, and he's on a patrol of his own, questioning anybody he can find. As often as he used to dismiss all the natives as lobotomized morons, he hasn't forgotten that that punk he ran into was crucial last time.

Now his path has taken him near the gym, where he's questioning everybody he can find about anybody suspicious they may have seen, and warning them to stay away from landmarks and get the hell out of Dodge.]

[Emmy’s journey to Ecruteak had begun almost the moment after she’d completed her conversation with Seth; or, well, after a quick trip to the Goldenrod Department store, anyway. She was very familiar with the route, having traveled it many times during her first stay in Johto, and thus managed to move through it quite quickly. Rather than staying in the city, she camped in the outskirts, staying hidden as best she could.

The first explosion sent her into action immediately, as if it were the sound of a starting pistol rather than a bomb. She’d dealt with Seth a number of times, again during her first experience in Johto, and whenever she would recall them, she would grimace. She had been both unprepared and overly hasty in her initial encounters with him - this time, she didn’t want to come across as such an easy target.

So when she arrived at the Pokémon Centre, she was dressed in the garb of an Ace Trainer - a male one - with her hair tightly tucked underneath the black cap she’d received in her gift bag from Shauna. It wasn’t a perfect disguise, and she knew it, but it felt a lot better than just rocking up in her usual outfit - or worse, her Team Rocket uniform. This entire attack was being done in the name of Team Rocket, so it was incredibly vital that she wasn’t recognized by anyone in the Team. That was why the final part of her outfit came in the form of a pair of triathlete’s sunglasses, which covered her eyes. All in all, she passed rather well as a young male trainer - or, well, at least she thought so. The baggy clothes hid her body, and the cap and glasses concealed her main identifying features. Her entire disguise had cost her a fair chuck of the modest Rocket salary she’d been hoarding, but it was worth it. It masked her identity, but didn’t draw suspicion towards her the way a full mask would.

Time to put it to the test.

So accompanied by her Metang, she stood before the doors of the Pokémon Centre and scoped it out. With any luck, it was secure - although she wouldn’t put it past Seth to include this sensitive spot on his list of targets.]

[This sucks this sucks this sucks this sucks this sucks!!!

...was Ryner's general train of thought right about now. He'd really hoped the asshole from the week before had been kidding around. Seriously? It had barely been two weeks since dealing with two other asshole teams and the Pokemon equivalent of gods, and now this guy was blowing up Ecruteak? If this guy was really that insistent on being a senseless asshole and blowing up the place, which by the way could he not, couldn't he at least give them a break first???

But, well, now wasn't really the time for that. He let his birds - a Togekiss, a Noctowl, and a Xatu - out to do some recon, since maybe they'd get lucky and see something suspicious from above. He'd be better off down below, though, and besides, anyone who was a local around Ecruteak would have seen him with his Clefairy, Absol, and Joltik all the time, and who knew how high tensions and suspicions would be.

He started his search by the inn, mostly due to proximity, and let Jehra lead the way. If there was anything dangerous nearby, surely the sixth sense of an Absol would be able to pick up on it, right?]

[Same song, second verse, a little more conflicted and a little bit worse.

Walter's both sure of and not sure of what he's doing here. Sure, because letting things happen always sits poorly with him, and not sure, because...because of a combination of what happened last time and everything that's happened since. He's still not completely sure what Seth stands for, and he's not sure what he himself stands for in comparison, and he doesn't feel equipped to make any decision beyond neutralizing a bomb.

Hopefully he won't have to.

Last time he started with the people he knew worked far enough from the rest of the city to notice odd happenings. This time he doesn't know where he's going to find the equivalent, so it may end up being a search on foot.

Asking the guards about "suspicious activity" will probably be fruitless given how many and what variety of people they see passing through daily, so Walter doesn't bother. Orthrus is out, nose to the ground, already somewhat familiar with the scent of "boom". They start at the guardhouse and head into the city, towards the residential area south of the Burned Tower.]

[When that message had gone out, both Elrics knew that something had to be done. Neither of them were going to let a threat like this slide, even if there would be others likely searching to get rid of the bombs as well. And if they were going Winry was going, so it's all three of them that come flying in early in the morning, a little bit after the museum has been blown up.]

[Al grimaces at the sight of that trail of smoke, and looks around...where do they even begin?] Should we split up, cover more ground?

[So a lady, a pair of very lady-looking Pokemon, and three different dogs walk into a bomb-threat...]

[Red's not sure what she can do, but she's long decided she's sick of doing nothing- or doing something until it's too late. So she goes with the 'divide and conquer' route as she starts off by the buildings and path that lead out to Goldenrod City. It feels a bit invasive, but she has besides her a Gardevoir whose eyes are faintly glowing as she skims through the minds of people nearby. On her other side, a Mismagius is acting as dog herder until they get a solid hit.]

[Well... If they get a solid hit. Red is crossing her fingers that either her Gardevoir picks up on an odd thought or the dogs pick up a strange smell. A Growlithe, a Houndoom, and a Furfrou together had to pick up something, right?]

Threaded | Flat

Near the Kimono Dance Theatre

Kimono Girls Theater

At the Burned Tower

THE BELL TOWER (ENTRANCE)

The Museum

Pokémart

Outside the Gym

Pokemon Centre