[attr="class","aurelie"]

[attr="class","aurelie_body"]When the white-haired woman finally spoke to her, she exuded such a natural air of authority that Aurelie found herself all but leaping to obey her simple instructions. She seemed like someone used to being in charge, like some modern-day general born and raised to command an army. Considering that Aurelie was feeling a little bewildered by the number of factors and variables in their environment and situation that needed to be taken into consideration, she felt grateful for the leadership.

"Yes, ma'am," the red-haired smith said crisply, resisting the urge to perform a salute. Mentally picturing them proceeding down the hallway back-to-back like a coordinated pair, clearing out one room after another, she added with a grin, "If you've got my back, then I've got yours."

For a moment, Aurelie hesitated as the eternal question popped up in her mind: Her right, or mine? With Porygon scurrying all around both of them, though, she decided to follow common sense and swiveled to her right. She and her Delphox gazed into an examination room identical to the one she'd just been in. One Porygon was poised right in front of the computer monitor here, looking as if it were about to merge right into the screen somehow.

Always quick to assess a situation, her Delphox stepped past the threshold and waved the stick that it always seemed to have in its paw, gesturing as if it were a magic wand. The tip of the stick seemed to glow softly with soothing light, traveling in slow, mesmerizing patterns that caught and firmly captured the Porygon's attention, seemingly lulling it into a dreamy trance. In a moment, the Porygon dropped onto the desk, looking for all the world as if it were snoring softly in a light, fitful sleep.

"Phew, well done, Fiametta," Aurelie congratulated her Pokemon partner thankfully. The Delphox inclined her head graciously, like a queen accepting homage.

In the next room, they saw an orderly already attempting to subdue a mischievous pair of Porygons with his own Pokemon, a plump pink Chansey. For this one, Aurelie asked her Delphox to simply pitch in with a few blasts of telekinetic force to help subdue the more rambunctious Porygon. As the orderly finished dealing with the two Porygons, the red-haired smith moved on, cradling her burnt right forearm carefully to avoid bumping into anything with it by accident.

"How are you doing so far?" Aurelie asked, tossing the question over her shoulder to the white-haired woman. With an effort, she kept her eye studiously averted from the prosthetic hand—and the even more fascinating and beautifully constructed prosthetic leg extending from the hem of her skirt suit—this time, to avoid giving offense. Crisis management now, interesting engineering examination later.

[attr="class","cred"]VEL OF PIXEL PERFECT

[attr="class","aurelie"]

[attr="class","aurelie_body"]Of all the things that Aurelie had expected to do while visiting a Heatran shrine, tidying it up might have been around the middle of the list, but accidentally confronting someone at knifepoint would have been near the bottom. She really hadn't meant to put Isaac Merlo at knifepoint, but when she'd drawn her knife and spun around to face the unexpected intruder, it'd turned out he had been standing a lot closer behind her than she'd realized. To her, it had only been taking a few steps forward with the knife in her hand; to him, it must have felt like suddenly being assaulted by a mugger.

He'd reacted to it all surprisingly calmly, though. Aurelie doubted she herself would've been able to recover so quickly and start chatting so cheerfully with someone who had just pointed a knife into her face. Well, if he was able to let go of the misunderstanding so quickly, she could do worse than to follow his example.

"Yes, I'm Aurelie. Good memory! You and Cygne both," she replied. Both of them had instantly identified her after only having encountered her once before. Maybe it was just because of the eyepatch, though.

"And yes, it really is a small world," Aurelie agreed, taking a step back and letting the newcomer and his Pokemon continue with their efforts on the other side of the shrine. "And yes, I wish we had run into each other again under better circumstances too. This is definitely not as fun or laidback as a summer beach party, that's for sure."

A small, sad smile tugged at her lips. "I'm sorry for reacting so poorly when I heard your voice, but I thought perhaps you were one of the people who'd done...well, all of this." She gestured to the ravaged shrine around them, still being diligently hosed down by his Dhelmise and her Sealeo in tandem. "I'm not really a serious worshipper, but I feel like a certain amount of respect and decorum is expected in a place like this, you know? I suppose you could say it put me a bit on edge, so to speak."

She bent to pick up a discarded beer can, grimacing in disgust when she noticed it was still half-full. "I'm all for people blowing off steam, especially when we're all feeling a sense of impending doom, but that's why people throw beach parties. Going far out of your way to wreck a quiet little shrine on a mountaintop is just..."

Trailing off, Aurelie shook her head in displeasure. With her head turned to one side, she suddenly saw a flash of movement out of the corner of her eye, and her grip on her knife tightened. She tensed, trying to listen past the splashing of cleansing water from their two Pokemon.

"There! Did you hear that, just now?" she hissed to the newcomer, Cygne's friend. "I think maybe there's some people coming this way. At least two people. They're laughing and...hooting to each other? And whooping? Not very nicely, either."

Keeping a firm grasp on her knife hilt, she started to walk toward the shrine's entrance, not wanting to jump to conclusions like she had with the newcomer. One hand hovered over the set of Pokeballs she carried with her. "'Protect' might be the right word for what you might need to do in a moment," she quipped, peering around the entrance toward the mountain trail, "assuming these people are here for something besides leaving an offering to Heatran."

[attr="class","cred"]VEL OF PIXEL PERFECT

[attr="class","aurelie"]

[attr="class","aurelie_body"]This morning, Aurelie was still a little in shock that her attempt at the Over-the-Gyarados last time had actually gone so well! She'd fully expected not to be able to pull it off for weeks. Now, though, all that remained was the fabled Magikarp Splash. For all that she had seen numerous people perform it perfectly by now, the thought of trying it herself filled her with trepidation. If the Starmie 720 and the Over-the-Gyarados were intricately eye-catching thousand-layered Damascus-patterned swords with ornately sculpted guards and pommels, meant to be showy and flashy to catch the eye and intimidate a rival, then the Magikarp Splash was a simple, sleek pair of perfectly matched daggers, demanding faultless symmetry, impeccable balance, and unwavering attention to detail to hone each of its four edges to immaculate razor sharpness. It was a challenge, but a subtle and painstaking one that allowed for few mistakes or missteps.

And if Aurelie had demonstrated anything throughout her less-than-stellar career so far in Mantine surfing, it was that she was far too capable of mistakes and missteps in abundance.

You still have plenty of time to master this, though, she told herself. She patted her Mantine companion for the morning, urging it toward the surging waves breaking toward shore. All they could do was try, after all, and see if it worked, and if not, then figure out what to fix and what to keep doing, until they succeeded.

[attr="class","cred"]VEL OF PIXEL PERFECT

[attr="class","aurelie"]

[attr="class","aurelie_body"]Aurelie breathed in the salty, invigorating ocean air and smiled as she pulled on her goggles before her dive. Once again, the world is my Clamperl, she thought with a chuckle. She was definitely starting to see why some people loved starting off the day with an early-morning dip or swim. Maybe she might consider doing the same at Lilycove City's beach in the morning once she got home. Those waters certainly wouldn't be as rich and bountiful as these depths, but then, the experience of swimming and diving in the water would be enjoyable enough.

But for now, the waters of the Slateport City beach awaited. She took another deep gulp of air and slipped beneath the surface, letting the crystal-clear saltwater embrace her again. A gleam on the sea floor below caught her eye, and she swam toward it at a leisurely place, reaching forward with inquisitive fingers.

[attr="class","cred"]VEL OF PIXEL PERFECT

[attr="class","aurelie"]

[attr="class","aurelie_body"]Lorem ipsumdolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Sed sagittis erat in odio ornare, in congue leo auctor. Suspendisse risus magna, dapibus eu ligula at, tincidunt vulputate leo. Curabitur suscipit hendrerit ligula at pretium. Suspendisse iaculis varius tortor, sagittis dictum felis tristique nec. Proin nisl neque, condimentum a nisi eu, lobortis rutrum ex. Fusce quis lorem nisi. Suspendisse nulla nibh,porta sed risus vitae, tempus vestibulum nibh. Fusce a suscipit nulla.

"This is what dialogue looks like," she said.

[attr="class","cred"]VEL OF PIXEL PERFECT

[attr="class","mon"]

[attr="class","monbody"]Aurelie rushed into the hallway intending to face the pack of runaway Porygon head-on, when suddenly an unearthly wailing sound filled the air and the Porygon in the back of the pack tumbled to a stop, as if stunned by the loud noise. Looking toward the source of the sound, Aurelie met the eyes of the steely white-haired woman she'd briefly noticed before, with an Audino beside her. Two thoughts swiftly sprang to the red-haired smith's mind.

Wow, she's gorgeous was what she thought first as she beheld the other woman's flowing snow-white hair and striking features. Then, rather more emphatically, Aurelie thought, Wow, that's some gorgeous work! as her gaze slid over the prosthetic hand peeking out of the woman's suit sleeve, her single eye widening in admiration to see the flexible, finely-articulated joints and smooth, lifelike construction. It wasn't until a fleeing Porygon bumped into Aurelie's leg that she realized she was being both rather rude for staring and not particularly helpful at the moment with herding the Porygon.

She shook her head distractedly and tried to gather her wits. Unfortunately, being in a hospital meant that normal Pokemon battle tactics might be a lot more hazardous than she wanted for the doctors, nurses, patients, and medical equipment all around them. While normally she might use her Sealeo's POWDER SNOW to mire the Porygon in frigid snow or a wave of BRINE to knock them down, Aurelie rather doubted the people in the hospital would appreciate a sudden snowfall or flood, even if it was meant to capture wild Pokemon. Regretfully, she pulled out the Sealeo's Pokeball and summoned her back within.

"Thank you for all your help, Océane," she said in an affectionate undertone, giving the Sealeo a fond pat before it returned. Aurelie paused to consider the other Pokeballs she normally carried. Finally, she selected one and dropped it, releasing a regal-looking Delphox draped in fiery robe-like fur.

"Fiametta, use HYPNOSIS on as many of the Porygon as you can," she instructed her. Putting the riotous Porygon to sleep was the least disruptive thing she could think of for the hospital. "If there are any stragglers, try to blast their minds with PSYCHIC until they faint."

Hopefully, that would be enough to disable the Porygon without disturbing anything else, particularly the hospital's already-disrupted routines and protocols. She also hoped it would work reasonably well with the other woman's tactics, since she was the only other person that Aurelie could see trying to handle the Porygon rampage so far. The faster they could deal with this, the less likely this chaos would spread to the rest of the hospital.

[attr="class","cred"]VEL OF PIXEL PERFECT

[attr="class","mon"]

[attr="class","monbody"]Not recognizing the person sitting atop the dunk tank, Aurelie simply offered them a brief wave, not trusting in her Pokeball throwing accuracy to toss out even a simple gibe or joke. It had been a good morning for her so far, though, so even a miss here would hardly ruin anything for her. She took the Pokeball firmly in hand, narrowed her single eye at the target, and gently tossed the ball forward in an underhand throw. She'd always read that underhand throws were often more accurate than overhand, and today seemed like a good day to test that theory, even if only anecdotally.

[attr="class","cred"]VEL OF PIXEL PERFECT

[attr="class","mon"]

[attr="class","monbody"]Comparison was the thief of joy, Aurelie had always heard, and yet sometimes it seemed like Mantine surfing was more a struggle than a source of joy in itself. At that point, there wasn't always that much joy to be stolen! The red-haired smith watched other surfers complete a series of difficult tricks with perfect aplomb, while others flailed and wiped out much as she had done. It was hard not to feel envy for the former and sympathetic solidarity—and an odd sense of gratitude at not being the only one struggling—for the latter.

This morning, she stood atop her Mantine once more, ready for surfing to steal her joy again. The Over-the-Gyarados beckoned. Would she manage to execute it this time?

[attr="class","cred"]VEL OF PIXEL PERFECT

[attr="class","mon"]

[attr="class","monbody"]Another beautiful sunny morning, another refreshing morning dive into the ocean. Part of Aurelie wished that the Splashfest festivities—and rewards—could go on forever, though another part of her looked forward to returning to her usual everyday routine. The rational part of her, though, knew that such peaceful and prosperous times were fleeting, and possibly illusory, given the knowledge of the meteor hurtling through space toward Hoenn, and thus, a wise person learned to treasure such times all the more for their transient, ephemeral fragility.

[attr="class","cred"]VEL OF PIXEL PERFECT

[attr="class","mon"]

[attr="class","monbody"]When she heard Isaac Merlo's voice coming from the other side of the shrine, Aurelie flinched in surprise. Thinking at first that the newcomer was one of the vandals returning to continue defacing the shrine, she whipped her knife out of its sheath and whirled around to face the newcomer, preparing to try to intimidate them or fend them off if she had to. Then the words he'd spoken aloud registered to her mind, and Aurelie stopped herself, realizing that perhaps he wasn't a vandal after all.

Oddly, considering she hadn't been particularly stealthy, the newcomer apparently hadn't noticed her or her Sealeo at all. Even more oddly, she couldn't help thinking he looked familiar, though she couldn't remember his name or where they might have met. Lowering her knife, she took a deep breath to calm herself before deciding to find out for sure what he was doing here.

"Hello there," she called out, narrowing her single visible eye at the young man. "Are you also here to protect the shrine? If so," she added, with a faint approving smile, "you and your Pokemon seem to be doing a good job so far."

She kept staring at the young man, still feeling like she had run into him before. It had just been in passing, but she felt as though fire had been associated with that meeting as well, strangely enough. Fire, and dusk falling, and a big crowd of people, all standing around together...

"Wait a minute," she exclaimed, as it all clicked together. "This is going to sound strange, but were you at that bonfire beach party in Slateport City? I feel as though I remember seeing you there, with a blond girl." Cygne, that was the blond girl's name. She'd had her arm wrapped around him, if Aurelie's recollection of the evening was accurate.

If it really was him, then this made for a rather astonishing reunion in a very unexpected place. A big public summer party at the beach was one thing, but a small lesser-known shrine to a legendary Pokemon... She hadn't thought she would run into anyone else here at all, let alone someone she might have met before.

[attr="class","cred"]VEL OF PIXEL PERFECT

[attr="class","mon"]

[attr="class","monbody"]Truly, the ocean's bounty was never-ending—or perhaps it was the bounty of POG Bank that never seemed to run out, in this case. Either way, more divers were showing up every day to find their own treasure-laden Clamperls, yet the rewards for their efforts never seemed to run out, as far as Aurelie could see. In its own way, it seemed like a miracle. Imagine if this system worked for food or water or, really, any other resource that people needed to live. No one would ever go hungry or thirsty again.

[attr="class","cred"]VEL OF PIXEL PERFECT

[attr="class","mon"]

[attr="class","monbody"]Well, that last attempt at the Over-the-Gyarados had been an abject failure. She hadn't even gone past the first flip before just falling off the Mantine entirely and landing with a huge splash in the water. At least, she'd been prepared for this trick to take a while, so her feelings about it were much more matter-of-fact than upset.

Still, though, she thought with a sigh as she slowly clambered atop her ever-patient Mantine again, sometimes I wonder if the Mantines are laughing at all of us trying to do these crazy tricks. Or if they get bored or annoyed with us too, for doing these things over and over again. I guess I wouldn't blame them either way! Silently, she thanked the Mantine that was now carrying her back out to sea for putting up with all her surfing antics today.

[attr="class","cred"]VEL OF PIXEL PERFECT

[attr="class","mon"]

[attr="class","monbody"]As @nikita strode down the hallway leading to the Lilycove City General Hospital's emergency ward alongside the hospital's medical director, Aurelie caught only a fleeting glimpse of the slender, steely woman in a smart skirt suit through the door of her examination room, before a nurse bent over the hand that the red-haired smith was cradling. The nurse tsked reprovingly but not unkindly over the livid red burn along Aurelie's right forearm. Drops of water dripped from her elbow, courtesy of the concerned Sealeo that had industriously kept her arm bathed in a spray of cool water during the entire trip to the hospital.

"You did the right thing coming to us as quickly as you did, dear," the nurse commented, carefully patting the skin dry with a feather-light touch and applying an antibiotic ointment. Aurelie caught her breath and winced slightly, but kept her arm still throughout the process. "How did it happen? Did you spill some boiling water on yourself while making dinner?"

Aurelie shook her head. "I was quenching a blade in oil," she explained, "and some of the oil caught on fire—which isn't terribly unusual," she hastened to add. "But I pulled the hot metal out of the oil too fast, so the oil splashed up my work gloves. The tops of the gloves lit on fire too and gave me a bad burn before I could get them off."

The nurse gave her a dubious look but continued with her work of applying ointment and then wrapping the burn in sterile gauze bandages. The ointment was already reducing the sharp pain of the burn to a mild stinging sensation, and the bandages were wrapped loosely enough to not put pressure on her skin. Aurelie's Sealeo watched the proceedings benignly, seeming to take comfort in her trainer's relief.

"Well, you should be ready to go now," the nurse said finally, after giving Aurelie a cursory check for other injuries and burns. They turned toward the computer. "Let me just print out your prescription for more ointment... Wait a minute..."

With increasing impatience, the nurse started tapping angrily at the keyboard. Aurelie glanced over curiously, just in time to see the screen glitch up into a fuzzy static snowfall. Looking perturbed, the nurse rushed out of the room to talk with their colleagues, who, judging from their voices, seemed just as baffled as they were. What the heck is going on? the red-haired smith wondered, getting to her feet and motioning to her Sealeo to follow.

Then a Porygon darted through the door of her examination room, and the computer started beeping uncontrollably. More of them ran past the door, swarming through the hallway to the sounds of startled gasps and yells. No wonder! Aurelie thought, staring at the Virtual Pokemon in shock. They must be the reason all the electronics were going haywire.

And in a hospital, full of sick and injured patients...

"Océane, come with me!" she ordered her Sealeo, who waddled along after her as best as she could. "We've got to help get this under control somehow." Grimacing as her bandaged right forearm protested the sudden motion, Aurelie charged into the hallway, intent on somehow subduing the pack of rampaging Porygon.

[attr="class","cred"]VEL OF PIXEL PERFECT