To say Hideo was excited was an understatement. He finally had a shot at a badge - thanks to Doug knowing the person who ran this gym. With a skip to his step and a wide grin, he nodded as Doug cheered him on. “You should get that reservation ready now!” Hideo said, being lead into the tent by the three Pokemon he’d brought with him; Rocky, reliable as always, an asset perfect for finding whatever they had to find. Elga, who’d serve as Hideo’s eyes for this exercise thanks to his Telepathy. And Grapple, his shiny Grapploct that had the decency to ink his entire body so he wouldn’t stick out like a red-headed white-bodied thumb, for taking things with a more subtle touch than the Lycanroc.

All but Rocky saluted the lady that briefed him. Hideo read over the notes, Elga being the one to look over the items and map for him, relaying the information well enough as if Hideo could see them himself. After a moment of deliberation (and bowing to the lady in thanks), Hideo made his choices; he took the SMOKEBOMB/POKEDOLL for safety, while choosing to start in the BLUE ZONE.

---

Cue the music playing in Hideo’s head

“That big opening east seemed like a good place to start,” Hideo quietly said, his Pokemon following close behind him. He headed straight east, pausing as he went a good distance. His curiosity was held back by some amount of caution; even a small mistake could lose him a part of his team. Or even disqualify him entirely if he wasn’t careful.

“Rocky, see if you can sniff anything out.” Best to know if any guards were around here; Elga would help him as well as if he could see, but even he knew sight wasn’t always the best way to find something. Or someone. And Rocky’s Odor Sleuth would help him without needing to venture out and take a risk.

Summary

Hideo takes the SMOKEBOMB/POKEDOLL
1.  Starting from the BLUE ZONE, Hideo moves 2 spaces east
2.  Rocky uses Odor Sleuth to find a scent to track (from the same space as Hideo).

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John Sullivan

ROUND 2

You emerge from the hole in a courtyard to the dulcet tones of Hideo Kojima's vivid acid dreams, and swiftly move east with your pokemon in tow.

You cannot see (obviously), but your pokemon are here for a reason. Through Elga, you know that as far as interesting landmarks and spots go... from where you now stand, directly east, is some kind of warehouse or large storage building, and parked directly in front of it is a Pickup Truck.

A guard stands, well, guard relatively nearby. Guard might be a strong word, however. He seems lax, out of focus, and generally uninvested in his job. He would probably be making it to manager within a few weeks.

At your command, Rocky attempts to utilize his keen sense of smell to find a trail.

He finds something smelling curiously like Bacon, leading straight into the warehouse you stand besides.

OPERATION HIDEO

Map of the Installations.

STATUS REPORT

-Hideo Kino moves. He can now 'see' a warehouse to the east, directly besides him, as well as an unmanned Vehicle and a bored, distracted guard.

-Rocky smells bacon inside the warehouse.

GAMEPLAY MECHANICS

SPOILER: Click to show

There’s elements of Choose-your-own-story, as well as an economy of actions.

Missions are timed. The Challenger has 10 posting rounds to accomplish their objective.

Player’s have an economy of two actions per round. Their commands are:

• Move [1-2 squares, provided no insurmountable obstacles; All Trainer movement is stealthy, so long as one evades a guard's line-of-sight.]
• Action Command (Can be anything; using a pokemon move, commanding a pokemon to scout, attacking a guard, etc.)
• Shoot [2 bullets, target can be up to 4 squares away, provided no cover/obstacles. Difficulty may increase with distance.]

The player can Move twice if desired. They can forego moving at all and make two Action Commands instead as well.

ACTION COMMAND

Every round, the player is free to decide what they'll do and how they'll handle their current circumstances. For every Action Command taken, they must roll a dice.

As the DM, The Gym Leader looks upon their actions, judges the level of risk and reward on a (Low | Mid | High) scale each, and then determines if the result of their roll was enough.

The consequences of a failed roll are context dependent.

A Growlithe failing a roll on an attempted Odor Sleuth may simply not find anything, or even lead their trainer astray, but not immediately pay any consequences other than lost time.

A Growlithe failing a roll to scout an as-of-yet unseen, unexplored part of the map will be taken out.

Your pokemon can only attack someone/something it can see, and only with the means available to it. For example, If it doesn't have incredible speed, or a move of considerable range, then attacking a far away enemy is either impossible or of exceedingly high risk/difficulty.If the player is not entirely certain of whether an action would or wouldn't cost a pokemon, feel free to ask the Leader directly.

Despite its mechanics, the game is fairly free form, and so, if a Challenger is uncertain of whether something is allowed or how a specific action they have in mind would play out, they are encouraged to discuss it directly with the Gym Leader over Discord.

CHOICES

Sometimes, players will be given 2 to 3 choices to make based on their previous actions. These choices are context dependent, and generally offer both something to gain and lose. Choices don’t cost the action economy.

The music continues

Rocky sniffed away...and he caught onto a scent. A delicious scent. But unfortunately for his salivating mouth, he couldn’t just rush in and devour the source.

Of course, even if Rocky hadn’t immediately notified Hideo, the boy was already intrigued by the massive warehouse. There was always the chance that the target was inside - and if not, they might find something useful. Rocky seemed excited to go in there anyways.

But just waltzing into a building like that, in this situation, was not the best idea. Especially not with that guard hanging around, distracted as he may be.

“Grapple, go take a look inside that warehouse,” Hideo quietly ordered, “Let us know if you find anything interesting in there.” His Pokemon’s ink-covered body would no doubt aid in a stealthy scouting of the building. With a tentacled salute, the Grapploct would try to make his way inside the warehouse and search through it.

And while that Pokemon was busy…

“Rocky, keep an eye on that guard. If it looks like he’s noticed us or Grapple, take’m down.” His Lycanroc nodded, crouching low, ready to charge in the guard became aware of their presence. “...but uh, don’t actually hurt him that bad if it happens.” Best to make sure Rocky didn’t go too crazy.

Summary

1.  Grapple (the Grapploct) is sent to scout the inside of the warehouse.

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2.  Rocky prepares to attack the guard only if he notices the group or Grapple (basically, he takes an Overwatch action).

ROUND 3

Fortunately, your Grapploct performs his task competently and without error- the distracted guard never so much as moves- actually, he might be moving. Tilting to and fro... He looks sleepy.

Anyway.

Once inside, Grapple probably realizes he should count himself lucky for the heavy scent of cooking meat that permeates the air- because it's likely just about the only thing that's keeping the 4 Growlithes inside from turning him into Takoyaki.

It's a small warehouse, and as far as he can see, nobody important looking enough to be the leader is inside. There's a single guard at the center of the warehouse, with a makeshift pan hung over some sort of tin can fire, cooking several cans of spam for the 4 Growlithe's running excitedly around him.

The lights crackle up on the ceiling, their age showing both from their crackling bulbs' and the uneven height between them, far too many hanging lower than others, almost as if ready to fall down. The guard and his pokemon don't look particularly worried however; they look like they still have some time left.

Unless someone interferes with them anyway.

Several boxes are set around the area, and why wouldn't' there be, it's a warehouse.

The contents might be interesting, but opening them would require some force... and even if the Growlithe can't smell you, they might be able to hear you.

SUDDEN CHOICE

These choices DO NOT consume ACTION ECONOMY

There's an opportunity here to both do some serious damage to the enemy's forces AND obtain a few goodies. Of course, the risk ain't small- and considering how many unopened cans of SPAM there are, it doesn't seem like these little Growlithe's will be out in the field any time soon... provided your cover ain't blown later.

You've got choices to make, quickly! Your dear Elga will manage communications and commands between you and Grapple...

• Somehow utilize the lights above to take down the guard and the Growlithe's below. [Medium Risk; Obtain 'item' on success, lose Grapple on failure.]
• Return to Hideo [No risk, no reward]
• Other [Context Dependent Risk, ? ? ? on success, lose Grapple on failure]

What do you do?

OPERATION HIDEO

Map of the Installations.

STATUS REPORT

-Grapple sneaks inside successfully, observes the situation, communicates it to you through Elga, awaits your orders.
-Remember that SUDDEN CHOICES DO NOT CONSUME ACTION ECONOMY

GAMEPLAY MECHANICS

SPOILER: Click to show

There’s elements of Choose-your-own-story, as well as an economy of actions.

Missions are timed. The Challenger has 10 posting rounds to accomplish their objective.

Player’s have an economy of two actions per round. Their commands are:

• Move [1-2 squares, provided no insurmountable obstacles; All Trainer movement is stealthy, so long as one evades a guard's line-of-sight.]
• Action Command (Can be anything; using a pokemon move, commanding a pokemon to scout, attacking a guard, etc.)
• Shoot [2 bullets, target can be up to 4 squares away, provided no cover/obstacles. Difficulty may increase with distance.]

The player can Move twice if desired. They can forego moving at all and make two Action Commands instead as well.

ACTION COMMAND

Every round, the player is free to decide what they'll do and how they'll handle their current circumstances. For every Action Command taken, they must roll a dice.

As the DM, The Gym Leader looks upon their actions, judges the level of risk and reward on a (Low | Mid | High) scale each, and then determines if the result of their roll was enough.

The consequences of a failed roll are context dependent.

A Growlithe failing a roll on an attempted Odor Sleuth may simply not find anything, or even lead their trainer astray, but not immediately pay any consequences other than lost time.

A Growlithe failing a roll to scout an as-of-yet unseen, unexplored part of the map will be taken out.

Your pokemon can only attack someone/something it can see, and only with the means available to it. For example, If it doesn't have incredible speed, or a move of considerable range, then attacking a far away enemy is either impossible or of exceedingly high risk/difficulty.If the player is not entirely certain of whether an action would or wouldn't cost a pokemon, feel free to ask the Leader directly.

Despite its mechanics, the game is fairly free form, and so, if a Challenger is uncertain of whether something is allowed or how a specific action they have in mind would play out, they are encouraged to discuss it directly with the Gym Leader over Discord.

CHOICES

Sometimes, players will be given 2 to 3 choices to make based on their previous actions. These choices are context dependent, and generally offer both something to gain and lose. Choices don’t cost the action economy.

The music continues

Hideo had caught on to the scent of the food, and noted it was a pretty delicious scent. And it soon dawned on him that this was why Rocky had been attracted to this area; he smelled food.

Still, he got a fairly decent survey of the area inside, courtesy of Grapple-through-Elga. There seemed to be a lot of Pokemon in there - all distracted by the tantalizing aroma of cooking meat. Unfortunately, none of it was bacon.

A very disappointed Rocky glared at the warehouse, his taste buds drying up instantly.

With how much food there was to prepare, there didn’t seem to be much reason to interrupt them. The lone guard inside didn’t seem like their target, and Hideo had a hunch all they’d find here was food. A neat snack no doubt, but not something they should waste their time on.

“Elga, tell Grapple to come back out,” Hideo ordered. The moment Grapple had returned, Hideo had another order; “Rocky, plant some Stealth Rocks by the door. Just in case they do come for us later, it’ll slow them down a bit.”

As much as Rocky wanted to do more than just that, he obeyed. The Lycanroc would head to the door, trying to plant the Stealth Rocks so they’d ambush anyone else walking by the door - without immediately triggering on the drowsy guard.

After that, Hideo would make his way down south; he couldn’t waste any more time with the Spamhouse.

Summary

(Free) Grapple is ordered to take the "Return to Hideo [No risk, no reward]" option
1.  Rocky goes to plant Stealth Rocks by the warehouse door.

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2.  Hideo moves 2 spaces south.

ROUND 4

A trap succesfully left in place, you advance south with your entourage in tow.

Your steps carry you to the right side of a gateway. On the other end, you can see two guards- one you've already seen before, the other... is not too different from him, looking thoroughly uninvested in his current job. More importantly, however, beyond them, to the far east, you can see...

A very large structure- relatively speaking. It's a strange combination of warehouse and castle, with a single flag flapping atop dramatically. You would need to somehow pass by both guards undetected in order to get there though.

Or to somehow take them out of the picture anyway.

On the hand, a much less guarded path (As far as you can tell) leads southwest, to another large, yet otherwise inconspicuous warehouse.

What do you do?

OPERATION HIDEO

Map of the Installations.

STATUS REPORT

-Rocky succesfully laid a trap on the door to the Spamhouse.
-You travel south. You sight a Large, fancy warehouse to the east, and a large, simple warehouse to the southwest.

GAMEPLAY MECHANICS

SPOILER: Click to show

There’s elements of Choose-your-own-story, as well as an economy of actions.

Missions are timed. The Challenger has 10 posting rounds to accomplish their objective.

Player’s have an economy of two actions per round. Their commands are:

• Move [1-2 squares, provided no insurmountable obstacles; All Trainer movement is stealthy, so long as one evades a guard's line-of-sight.]
• Action Command (Can be anything; using a pokemon move, commanding a pokemon to scout, attacking a guard, etc.)
• Shoot [2 bullets, target can be up to 4 squares away, provided no cover/obstacles. Difficulty may increase with distance.]

The player can Move twice if desired. They can forego moving at all and make two Action Commands instead as well.

ACTION COMMAND

Every round, the player is free to decide what they'll do and how they'll handle their current circumstances. For every Action Command taken, they must roll a dice.

As the DM, The Gym Leader looks upon their actions, judges the level of risk and reward on a (Low | Mid | High) scale each, and then determines if the result of their roll was enough.

The consequences of a failed roll are context dependent.

A Growlithe failing a roll on an attempted Odor Sleuth may simply not find anything, or even lead their trainer astray, but not immediately pay any consequences other than lost time.

A Growlithe failing a roll to scout an as-of-yet unseen, unexplored part of the map will be taken out.

Your pokemon can only attack someone/something it can see, and only with the means available to it. For example, If it doesn't have incredible speed, or a move of considerable range, then attacking a far away enemy is either impossible or of exceedingly high risk/difficulty.If the player is not entirely certain of whether an action would or wouldn't cost a pokemon, feel free to ask the Leader directly.

Despite its mechanics, the game is fairly free form, and so, if a Challenger is uncertain of whether something is allowed or how a specific action they have in mind would play out, they are encouraged to discuss it directly with the Gym Leader over Discord.

CHOICES

Sometimes, players will be given 2 to 3 choices to make based on their previous actions. These choices are context dependent, and generally offer both something to gain and lose. Choices don’t cost the action economy.

The music shifts

Group successfully reunited (and trap successfully set), the group discovered quite a lot more very quickly

Another warehouse to the east - with a flag on the top. The perfect place to house an important person. Or an important item. Or something else important. It was worth looking into - literally.  The other warehouse to the west could wait.

The only complication; a second guard. Who was notably less tired-looking than the other. And Elga brought to his mind another potential pitfall; there could be more guards watching over the building. That opening to the southeast corner had his attention in particular.

He’d have to take a closer look. Take the guards out one at a time before checking the inside.

“We’re gonna get close to the guard Elga just told me about,” Hideo whispered, “Grapple, I’ll need you to knock him out. Like, until he goes down and stops moving. Or tells you it counts as knocking him out.” While he didn't want to get violent so soon, Elga was all but telling him they'd have to deal with these guards before checking inside.

With the order made, Hideo would advance to the southeast.

Grapple would try to ambush the guard from behind, wrapping around him with an Octolock. He wasn’t just aiming to restrain the guy; he’d make sure to wrap some of his tentacles around the guard’s neck, as if to strangle the man into unconsciousness.

(Hopefully the guy playing the guard would get the hint - he didn’t want to actually have to choke the guy out).

Summary

1.  Hideo moves 1 space east and 1 space south
2.  Grapple will try to knock out the southeast guard by "strangling" him with Octolock

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ROUND 5

Success!

The man almost shouts, but Grapple's tentacle around his neck makes him reconsider. He is quick to tap out against the Grapplock's appendage, carefully laying himself on the floor without making any noise to alert the other guards... before dramatically sticking his tongue out and feigning death.

Elga assures you it is hilarious.

With the guard taken out, your pokemon are free to look around more thoroughly. You were quite right to be weary; there's a man standing guard almost directly across from the large warehouse's entrance, looking far more alert than the previous two.

The sound of an engine can be heard in the distance, now that you pay attention; a vehicle is moving; your pokemon saw the silhouette of one rounding around the warehouse, though just barely.

What do you do?

OPERATION HIDEO

Map of the Installations.

STATUS REPORT

-Guard eliminated.
-New ;Alert' Guard spotted.
-Moving Vehicle detected.

GAMEPLAY MECHANICS

SPOILER: Click to show

There’s elements of Choose-your-own-story, as well as an economy of actions.

Missions are timed. The Challenger has 10 posting rounds to accomplish their objective.

Player’s have an economy of two actions per round. Their commands are:

• Move [1-2 squares, provided no insurmountable obstacles; All Trainer movement is stealthy, so long as one evades a guard's line-of-sight.]
• Action Command (Can be anything; using a pokemon move, commanding a pokemon to scout, attacking a guard, etc.)
• Shoot [2 bullets, target can be up to 4 squares away, provided no cover/obstacles. Difficulty may increase with distance.]

The player can Move twice if desired. They can forego moving at all and make two Action Commands instead as well.

ACTION COMMAND

Every round, the player is free to decide what they'll do and how they'll handle their current circumstances. For every Action Command taken, they must roll a dice.

As the DM, The Gym Leader looks upon their actions, judges the level of risk and reward on a (Low | Mid | High) scale each, and then determines if the result of their roll was enough.

The consequences of a failed roll are context dependent.

A Growlithe failing a roll on an attempted Odor Sleuth may simply not find anything, or even lead their trainer astray, but not immediately pay any consequences other than lost time.

A Growlithe failing a roll to scout an as-of-yet unseen, unexplored part of the map will be taken out.

Your pokemon can only attack someone/something it can see, and only with the means available to it. For example, If it doesn't have incredible speed, or a move of considerable range, then attacking a far away enemy is either impossible or of exceedingly high risk/difficulty.If the player is not entirely certain of whether an action would or wouldn't cost a pokemon, feel free to ask the Leader directly.

Despite its mechanics, the game is fairly free form, and so, if a Challenger is uncertain of whether something is allowed or how a specific action they have in mind would play out, they are encouraged to discuss it directly with the Gym Leader over Discord.

CHOICES

Sometimes, players will be given 2 to 3 choices to make based on their previous actions. These choices are context dependent, and generally offer both something to gain and lose. Choices don’t cost the action economy.

The music continues

Grapple’s Octolock went without a hitch. The guard went down quietly, even making it clear that he was indeed “dead.” Tongue-out and all.

Hideo nearly laughed and blew his cover - but a bumpy, fingerless hand pressed against his face before he could get a sound out. Thank goodness Elga knew how his trainer would react to that news. Besides, he shouldn’t be laughing; this was supposed to be a serious mission. And it was time to get back to it.

Just as he thought (which was something Elga told him in his usual, subtle way); another guard watching the “castle” from the opening. And he was told this guard looked far more awake and aware than the other two.

Though none of them missed the sound of an engine running. Probably the car they’d seen by the Spamhouse, considering it sounded like it was moving away from them. But a quick reminder from Elga told him that the car was about to turn around the warehouse. Taking out the guard there would probably alert the driver the moment they passed by, who’d probably alert the rest of the base too.

And they still had to take a look inside.

Violence wouldn’t be the answer this time.

A distraction would.

First, occupy the attentive guard and the truck. “Elga, can you break that flag off there with Psychic and toss it to the side? That’ll get their attention long enough for Grapple to get in.” There was a degree of uncertainty to Elga’s response, but he’d try.

“Grapple, try and get inside the warehouse and tell us what’s inside. And take this with you.” He handed the Pokemon the POKEDOLL. The one he’d been carrying around this whole time. “You can use this in case you get spotted or need a distraction. And if you find someone that looks like the guy we’re after - you know what to do.”

This got a salute from the doll-carrying-Graploct (not the the boy would see), waiting for Elga to make his attempt before trying to slip into the “castle” undetected.

Summary

1.  Elga tries to break the flag off the top of the "castle" and throw it one space east of the "castle" using Psychic, to try and distract the attentive guard and the truck.

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2.  Grapple goes to scout the "castle", after being given the POKEDOLL/SMOKEBOMB.

ROUND 6

Success! And Failure.

The flag at the top of the structure is sent hurtling eastward by Elga's powerful psychic push, spinning through the air before landing smackdab atop the truck's bloody windshield. The man at the wheel let out a frightened shout, the vehicle quickly getting out of control.

You've successfully distracted the guard standing directly across the largest warehouse's entrance, the man unable to look away from the soon to be carnage.

But enough about the humanity- Here's how you f*cked up.

It was a good idea to send in your well inked Grapplock to spy; he already had done so successfully before. But-

You underestimated the defenses the Leader of the terrorist group would afford for himself. As Grapple slithers through the shadows of the warehouse, masked by his own ink, the bottom floor seems almost too empty.

And then...

Sniff.

ROAR!

A thunderous bellow suddenly rocked the very foundation of the warehouse, boxes thrown about and windows blasting to pieces as your Grapplock is thrown flying into the wall, splattering against it and rolling down to the floor.

He barely manages to see up above on the railings what seems to be a shady silhouette looking down upon the scene, arms folded behind his back. He cannot see it, but a sticker reading 'Hello, my name is Bossman' is stuck to his breast pocket.

No, he's much more worried about what stands in front of him, across the large warehouse.

Its fiery mane flows in the nonexistent crossbreeze of the structure, somehow maintaining complete dramatic effect while it holds its head high and regal.

An Arcanine.

One second it simply stood there, staring down Grapple.

The next, it was halfway across the warehouse in a blur of motion, fast approaching with fire covering its maw-!

SUDDEN CHOICE

These choices DO NOT consume ACTION ECONOMY

Death fast approaches, REACT! Elga is managing communications and commands!

• OH GOD OH GOD OH GOD! [Lose Grapple.]
• OH GOD OH GOD ATTACK![Lose Grapple. Roll Dice. If 75+, eliminate Arcanine.]
• SMOKEBOMB![Save Grapple, leave premises.]
• SMOKEBOMB & SURPRISE ATTACK![Make a Dice roll. If 30+, eliminate Arcanine. If 1-29, Lose Grapple.]
• Other[Context Dependent.]

OPERATION HIDEO

Map of the Installations.

STATUS REPORT

-Flag is thrown off the building. Lands on truck's windshield. Precipitates a tragedy.
-Grapple is found by Arcanine. Make your Choice, and remember, Choices DO NOT consume ACTION ECONOMY.

GAMEPLAY MECHANICS

SPOILER: Click to show

There’s elements of Choose-your-own-story, as well as an economy of actions.

Missions are timed. The Challenger has 10 posting rounds to accomplish their objective.

Player’s have an economy of two actions per round. Their commands are:

• Move [1-2 squares, provided no insurmountable obstacles; All Trainer movement is stealthy, so long as one evades a guard's line-of-sight.]
• Action Command (Can be anything; using a pokemon move, commanding a pokemon to scout, attacking a guard, etc.)
• Shoot [2 bullets, target can be up to 4 squares away, provided no cover/obstacles. Difficulty may increase with distance.]

The player can Move twice if desired. They can forego moving at all and make two Action Commands instead as well.

ACTION COMMAND

Every round, the player is free to decide what they'll do and how they'll handle their current circumstances. For every Action Command taken, they must roll a dice.

As the DM, The Gym Leader looks upon their actions, judges the level of risk and reward on a (Low | Mid | High) scale each, and then determines if the result of their roll was enough.

The consequences of a failed roll are context dependent.

A Growlithe failing a roll on an attempted Odor Sleuth may simply not find anything, or even lead their trainer astray, but not immediately pay any consequences other than lost time.

A Growlithe failing a roll to scout an as-of-yet unseen, unexplored part of the map will be taken out.

Your pokemon can only attack someone/something it can see, and only with the means available to it. For example, If it doesn't have incredible speed, or a move of considerable range, then attacking a far away enemy is either impossible or of exceedingly high risk/difficulty.If the player is not entirely certain of whether an action would or wouldn't cost a pokemon, feel free to ask the Leader directly.

Despite its mechanics, the game is fairly free form, and so, if a Challenger is uncertain of whether something is allowed or how a specific action they have in mind would play out, they are encouraged to discuss it directly with the Gym Leader over Discord.

CHOICES

Sometimes, players will be given 2 to 3 choices to make based on their previous actions. These choices are context dependent, and generally offer both something to gain and lose. Choices don’t cost the action economy.

You better believe the music changes

Well, the distraction worked, as Elga told him. The flag was thrown off the "castle", and it had drawn the attention of the guard and the car.

So why did Hideo start to sweat?

The flag was covering the windshield, not just in front of the car as he'd hoped. And the car didn't sound like it was stopping.

Ah crap. Whoever was driving that car was gonna crash. Hideo had the immediate urge to order Elga to remove the flag, but was immediately hit with refusal; they had to treat this like a real mission. Treat it like it was a real enemy.

Hideo reluctantly nodded, though there was still the issue that the car crash was going to make a lot of noise. Help them or not, this place was going on alert real soon.

The one good bit of news was that Grapple has successfully infiltrated the building. And he'd found someone in there.

That good news didn't last long.

The group knew the strength of an Arcanine well, Hideo having one of his own. Rocky was the only one that had a chance of winning a straight-up fight against it, and that was a chance. But considering they'd only seen Growlithes before, they could only assume this meant that this must've belonged to someone important; either someone that they could get something out of, or their target.

Fortunately, Grapple was prepared for this. "Elga, tell Grapple to use the smokebomb and take the Arcanine down!" Hideo ordered. And while talking wasn't a free action here, Elga already knew what Hideo meant the second he started speaking, and sent the order while Hideo was still saying it.

Grapple would deploy the smokebomb, hoping it'd be enough cover to avoid the Arcanine's attack - and give him a chance to give it a solid Brick Break.

But the others couldn't just stand there and do nothing. Hideo knew they had to get to that building to back Grapple up. Though they still had the issue of the sleepy guard still watching the building, unfocused as he may be.

Sorry sleepy guy, it was time to get some sleep.

"Rocky, knock out that guard real quick," Hideo ordered, pointing towards the guard to the north. "Don't be too rough."

With a nod, Rocky made his way to deliver a (pulled) Rock Climb on the sleepy guard as Hideo and Elga advanced to the "castle".

Summary

Grapple goes with the "SMOKEBOMB & SURPRISE ATTACK!" option, intending to Brick Break the Arcanine

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1.  Rocky goes to knockout the northern guard with a Rock Climb.

2.  Hideo moves one space north and one space east

ROUND 7

The Arcanine crumples to the floor following Grapple's maneuver, having wrapped its teeth around nothing but smoke.

The sleepy guard stands no chance. He yelps as Rocky smacks him onto his bum, his eyes falling upon the mutt before he almost immediately flops to the floor and lays himself spread eagled. Finally, some real rest.

You advance through with Elga's guidance, your steps carrying you closer to the warehouse even as the sound of something grinding to a stop fills the air. Out of the corner of his eye, Elga can see that the truck just barely managed to stop itself before ramming face first into one of the walls. The guard across from the warehouse's gates is gawking in awe at the raw luck.

And then...

a SIREN.

It fills the entire camp.

Inside the warehouse, Bossman continues to stare down Grapple and the arcanine, arms folded behind his back and a remote with a single button in hand, his thumb pressing down upon it.

All Camp knows you are here now. You can hear the signs up activity begin to pick up.

And the sound of howls and barks towards the sky.

What do you do?

OPERATION HIDEO

Map of the Installations.

STATUS REPORT

-The Camp is fully alert.

GAMEPLAY MECHANICS

SPOILER: Click to show

There’s elements of Choose-your-own-story, as well as an economy of actions.

Missions are timed. The Challenger has 10 posting rounds to accomplish their objective.

Player’s have an economy of two actions per round. Their commands are:

• Move [1-2 squares, provided no insurmountable obstacles; All Trainer movement is stealthy, so long as one evades a guard's line-of-sight.]
• Action Command (Can be anything; using a pokemon move, commanding a pokemon to scout, attacking a guard, etc.)
• Shoot [2 bullets, target can be up to 4 squares away, provided no cover/obstacles. Difficulty may increase with distance.]

The player can Move twice if desired. They can forego moving at all and make two Action Commands instead as well.

ACTION COMMAND

Every round, the player is free to decide what they'll do and how they'll handle their current circumstances. For every Action Command taken, they must roll a dice.

As the DM, The Gym Leader looks upon their actions, judges the level of risk and reward on a (Low | Mid | High) scale each, and then determines if the result of their roll was enough.

The consequences of a failed roll are context dependent.

A Growlithe failing a roll on an attempted Odor Sleuth may simply not find anything, or even lead their trainer astray, but not immediately pay any consequences other than lost time.

A Growlithe failing a roll to scout an as-of-yet unseen, unexplored part of the map will be taken out.

Your pokemon can only attack someone/something it can see, and only with the means available to it. For example, If it doesn't have incredible speed, or a move of considerable range, then attacking a far away enemy is either impossible or of exceedingly high risk/difficulty.If the player is not entirely certain of whether an action would or wouldn't cost a pokemon, feel free to ask the Leader directly.

Despite its mechanics, the game is fairly free form, and so, if a Challenger is uncertain of whether something is allowed or how a specific action they have in mind would play out, they are encouraged to discuss it directly with the Gym Leader over Discord.

CHOICES

Sometimes, players will be given 2 to 3 choices to make based on their previous actions. These choices are context dependent, and generally offer both something to gain and lose. Choices don’t cost the action economy.

The music is legally required to change at this point

Alright, everything was going as planned.

A single Brick Break was all that was needed to take down the Arcanine, ending that threat. With that out of the way, the VIP in here was going to be that much easier to grab. If it ended up being the boss - their target - then all the better. Rocky took down the sleepy guard with no issue, thankfully only delivering a smack to the butt instead of something more harmful. And as the group made their way to the “castle”, the car thankfully stopped before it actually crashed into something.

That was when things stopped going as planned.

Hideo had to cover his ears when the siren started blaring. He was initially baffled at how they could’ve been spotted; Elga assured him the guard that could’ve seen him was distracted, and they hadn’t seen any other guards that could stop them. And it didn’t sound like Rocky’s Stealth Rocks had been triggered.

It soon hit him how it happened; there was one person aware of them.

The man that Grapple saw before, in the warehouse. Dang it - he must have triggered the alarm somehow.

“Dang it...Grapple, take that guy down!” Hideo ordered. Even if they couldn’t stop him from alerting the base, Grapple could stop him from giving any more information. With everything on alert, they didn't have the time to grill him for information if he wasn't their target. With little hesitation, Grapple looked up to the shadowy figure, firing an Octazooka from his mouth, aiming to nail the man with his ink shot.

And while his Pokemon was up to that? Hideo and the gang were going to head inside the “castle”. On the off chance Grapple missed his shot (or worse), one of them would have to get this guy.

Also because hanging around the entrance to this place did not seem like a good idea.

Summary

1.  Grapple fires an Octazooka at the boss man.

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2.  Hideo enters the "castle".