[attr="class","samjermain"]Watching her recent discoveries being put to devastating use tickled Kelpie in all kinds of places. While poison burning off faces was certainly grotesque, it was beautiful in both savagery and brutality. Currently out of her own personal stockpile—with her nephew off playing soldier elsewhere—the scientist retreated into the alienness of the Ultra Deep Sea. While waiting for the fighting outside to die down, she may as well get work done.

A former member of the swimming team, she felt comfortable in this place of upside-down gravity. Each kick of her legs bringing her in whatever direction she wanted—the typical rules of physics be damned. The heavyweight cat beside her didn’t seem as pleased. Laying on his side, he just allowed the winds to carry him. Whether by luck or happenstance, those currents kept him within paw’s reach of his master’s heeled boots.

Calpurnia convinced herself she enjoyed the realm on its own merits. That part of her affection did not come from it being the site of her missing husband’s last mission. Some part of her hoped he’d just pop up again. Save her from all the drudgery of playing mommy and keeping house. And, of course, him reminding her why she’d kept him around longer than the rest. But, for now, she just drifted amongst the Nihelego, admiring the translucent beasts. A notebook in her hand was quickly filled with scrawl as she let the ideas flow.

New weapons and abominations to push human evolution. Items designed to make a world without Pokemon—or most Pokemon—a reality. Things that would make people the true inheritors of the Earth. You’d think peons would be grateful.

Suddenly, Perseus jerked his head up. A rumble drew Calpurnia’s attention to the ground below. Ah, why did people have to ruin this. Did no one teach them to knock on the doors of interplanetary portals? Flipping so she was on her belly, the scientist smiled at her unseen intruder. “Why skulk around, darling?” A purr emerged from her chest, as dangerous as honeyed nightshade. “The aether’s fabulous.”

Her pen dropped from her fingers to the path below, its crystal handle sparkling in the dim light.

Notes

• +50 MP for thread start
• +25 mention Ultra Beast
• +10 per post

[attr="class","samjerpoke"]

Thomas looked up as the voice greeted him. Mordred got into a defensive stance immediately, Bulking Up as he spotted her.

"I think I have good reason to skulk around!", Thomas replied to her. As he spoke, he got himself in position to kick off his cover, should she direct an attack right at him. He took notes of the multiple rock formations he could land on, the multiple directions he could go in.

The pen dropping down below didn't go unnoticed, either.

"Can't trust anyone or anything I see around these parts!"

---

tags: Calpurnia Kubrick
notes: +10
Ceruledge used Bulk Up

[attr="class","samjermain"]“Do you?” Calpurnia inquired of the man below her. She gave a lazy backstroke bringing her closer to the source of his voice’s echo. Movement from in front of her—like glass shifting in water—caught her violet gaze. An elegant hand reached out, almost ghosting across the Nihilego’s tentacle as it swirled its way across the cavern. She faked a sniffle. “Such a big, strong man, scared of little old me?” A good idea in fact. This cougar had claws.

Crocodile tears now? Was this woman a whole darn menagerie? “Am I really so frightening?” She lifted her tooth-shaped necklace to her hand. “I really should—ow!” A point dug into her skin, a few drops of crimson falling through the air to the walkway below. These she waved away irritably, like a mosquito. The cat at her side rolled his eyes, finally putting some effort into propelling himself downward. Digging his claws into the top of a stone spire, Perseus righted himself. He preferred being regal to looking like a cat on a leash.

From his perch, he resembled a certain leonine Disney villain—just without a facial deformity. His spring tails waved back and forth with obvious irritation. One paw lifted as he licked at his claws.

Thomas’s next words drew a laugh. “Are you trustworthy?” The crimson swam in the air between them. Not such a big deal on its own. But, to the observant, it was enough to cause a shift in the patrolling Sharpedo in the water.

Notes

• +10 MP for post

[attr="class","samjerpoke"]

The former member of the Elite Four would not dignify her taunting with a response. Years on the field taught him not to judge a book by its cover. He was sure this woman was dangerous, especially how she conducted herself on alien territory. The fact that she was making herself at home like this told him everything he needed.

"I wouldn't trust me!", Thomas replied to her. It was more of a warning, than anything.

Though Thomas remained cautious, the bloodthirsty Ceruledge lunged towards the Purrloin, blades flaring up to strike at the feline with Bitter Blades.

---

tags: Calpurnia Kubrick
notes: +10
Ceruledge used Bitter Blade on Purrloin

[attr="class","samjermain"]
In the lab, she regularly interacted with \Nihelego. Any fear she felt at the sight of one faded after the first few encounters. Like jellyfish, they were almost completely devoid of grey matter. There was little to fear from them. The realm itself may be dangerous, but her ability to stay calm kept most predators at bay. Sharks went after those who flailed at the water’s top, typically. Something still in the water likely did not taste good.

At his declaration, Calpurnia laughed. The sound echoed around the cavern, the bell-like sound’s echoes quickly making it unnerving. “Ah, an honest man.” Calpurnia purred. “What a rarity.” Any amusement ended however when the brute launched an attack at her boo-boo bear. For a moment, the beautiful face twisted with rage. “Hitting first?! What a nasty thing to do.” With a flip, she landed on the spire nearest her friend. Though not wobbling in the air was difficult. “Purrsy. Teach that renaissance goth some manners.”

A smile appeared as she turned toward the distant part of the cavern. Attracted by the blood, a horde of Sharpedo
The cat jumped away from the Ceruledge. A yowl tore from his throat as the blade tore through his front ruff—shedding thick fur and a few extra drops of the red stuff. This he moved to splatter across the damnable specter’s face. His blue eyes narrowed irritably. With a hiss, he dove in with an Aerial Ace, all eight front claws slashing at the ghost-type. A cough from his trainer drew his eyes to the right.

With a surge from his back legs, he evaded the charge of the first Sharpedo. Its Crunch aiming to take the Ceruledge’s helmet with it.


Almost bored by the barbarity, Calpurnia sank onto the top of her pillar.

Notes

• +10 MP for post

[attr="class","samjerpoke"]

Thanks to the virtue of his Bulk Up, the Ceruledge had an easier time of taking the Aerial Ace. But before he could retaliate against the fat feline, a horde of Sharpedo came careening towards them. While the Purrloin's method of evasion was more simple, the Ceruledge opted to teleport out of their clutches with a well-timed Phantom Force, causing the Sharpedo to crunch down on nothing.

The fact that the woman would cut herself in order to draw in a horde of Sharpedo proved his point about the woman clearly being dangerous.

Thomas kicked off away from his position, moving to the next rock, while deploying his Shadow Luxray. The Shadow Pokemon would begin to barrel at the horde of Sharpedo with a Wild Charge.

---

tags: Calpurnia Kubrick
notes: +10
Ceruledge took Aerial Ace
Ceruledge used Phantom Force to evade the Sharpedo
Thomas sent out Shadow Luxray
Shadow Luxray used Wild Charge on the Sharpedo Horde

[attr="class","samjermain"]With the hit of the Aerial Ace, Calpurnia grinned. A bit of encouragement was called down to him from her little soap box. “What a good boy, Purrsy!” The feline just stared back with a look best described as mild disdain. But he was bathing in the praise. Momma could tell.

Out of range of most of the Sharpedo—and immune to their crunches—the cat watched as the sharks drew nearer with bated breath. He hoped to see a chunk taken out of the ghost. He was curious what color it would bleed. Instead, with some ectoplasmic nonsense, it disappeared from the middle of the hoard. With a series of fleshy thumps, the trio of sharks crashed into one another. Their fangs tore at corrupted flesh as they added injury to their embarrassment.

What stupid, bullish creatures. Calpurnia thought huffily as the brawl started. It would be beautifully feral if it was not so annoying. "Ooooooh~<3" The sight of the Shadow Luxray drew a delighted gasp. “Someone's a naughty boy!” The ultimate in sacrilege to some, Shadow Pokemon were an interesting subspecies. Kelpie quite enjoyed them. A true treatise on the power of sacrifice and limits.

Taking an opportunity where she saw one, the woman unleashed a Pokemon off the edge of her seat. From the other side of the rock, a Sharpedo emerged with angry, hungry eyes. This creature drew closer to the Luxray with a Shadow Sneak. Its teeth glowing with a violet lie—which could be mistaken for a crunch—the ‘shark’ moved to take a chunk out of the Luxray’s tail. Its eyes were filled with almost goblin-like mirth.

The other Sharpedo, hit by the electric attack, retreated for a moment. Their teeth gnashed.

[attr="class","samjerpoke"]

Thomas didn't really have a choice in the matter of the Shadow Luxray. After the incident in Sootopolis, he ended up catching the Shadow Pokemon, which had turned against her previous trainer. Ever since then, he tried in vain to purify her.

Despite the pain she inflicted upon herself with her Wild Charge, the Luxray could only grin in satisfaction as she managed to take out one of those annoying little shits. Despite this, she would yelp as she felt one bite down on her tail.

"Volt Switch!", Thomas ordered.

The Luxray would attempt to electrocute the "Sharpedo" biting down on her tail with a bolt of electricity, before retreating back to her Pokeball. In her place, Thomas would bring out a rather large Scizor, with a bloodthirsty grin on his features.

"Ripper, Brutal Swing!", Thomas ordered.

The Scizor would swing his pincers wildly, creating a dark shockwave that hurdled towards the horde of Sharpedo.

---

tags: Calpurnia Kubrick
notes: +10
S-Luxray took Bitter Malice
S-Luxray used Volt Switch
Ripper sent out
Ripper used Brutal Swing

[attr="class","samjermain"]Scared off by the sparks, a few of the Sharpedo slid backward in the water. Red eyes shared glances as the other group finally stopped tearing chunks out of one another. One of them decided to head for easier prey, aiming for the cat instead. But an Aerial Ace to the snout changed that. Like a lot of bullies, the dark types waited for someone else to chance the attack. Teeth gnashed angrily as they did so.

What a bunch of dang sissies. One of the horde thought to herself. With her teeth wrapped around the dark cat’s tail, Calpurnia’s ‘Sharpedo’ had no choice but to take the hit. Instead of letting go, the stubborn creature just locked down harder. Ice spread from its clutched teeth. But—like a magician’s rabbit—the feline disappeared. The odd fish out clapped its teeth together on the empty air. The strength of the bite left her ears ringing. With a hiss, the creature's form rippled.

Its gunmetal grey skin shifted white, angry red scars blooming across it like blood on cotton. In its place, a Hisuian Zoroark--Ivanka--stood.

Calpurnia wanted to warn her friend below but thought better of it. The beefcake would be a lot easier to manage if this particular illusion stayed in place. She just needed to trust Ivanka could handle herself out there. Which was difficult, considering Kelpie’s general beliefs about Pokemon. But, in the end, the trust seemed well placed.

When the Scizor emerged, Calpurnia wrinkled her nose. What a nasty, brutish little bug!

The Brutal Swing slammed into the Zoroark. It grunted, swirling through the air like a swimmer in a whirlpool.  Fortunately, a few Sharpedo took the opportunity to steal the opened spot, circling the Scizor. Her fur smoking, the creature rose shakily to its feet. A dark, malevolent aura covered her as she hissed. With a grunt, drained by the Curse, Ivanka dropped into a crouch. But her ghoulish yellow eyes still bore straight ahead. The same aura, looking like a spectral nail, flew toward the Scizor, intent on surrounding it with the malevolence.

Though not super effective on the rest of the hoard, the Brutal Swing managed to rattle a few of them. One went so far as to retreat, the prey is not easy enough for it. The rest just blinked the shock away, diving back for the Scizor with another set of Crunches.

From his place above the fray, Perseus offered up a bit of praise for the Scizor below. This self-esteem boost came with a pretty nasty side-effect though.

[attr="class","samjerpoke"]

A Zoroark. Despite this being the Hisuian Variant, they were a species that the former Elite Four member was intimately familiar with.

As the Sharpedo encircled Ripper, he'd look around. He would feel the malevolent aura of the Zoroark cursing him. Despite this, he kept his cool, focusing himself with a Calm Mind in order to tune out the Purrloin's praises of him.

As the Sharpedo moved in on Ripper, Mordred would reemerge behind Ripper, the two back to back. The Ceruledge would begin to violently stab and slash at the approaching Sharpedo in breakneck Close Combat. Ripper would take a more measured approach, carefully dodging the oncoming Sharpedo, and clamping down on the shark with his pincer, in a mock, yet deadly Bug Bite.

Thomas clutched a Pokeball in his grasp, looking around in order to make sure the Sharpedo, nor the woman's two Pokemon, came for him before he could deploy it.

---

tags: Calpurnia Kubrick
notes: +10
Scizor is Cursed
Scizor used Calm Mind to negate Swagger (no boost)
Ceruledge emerges behind Scizor, the two standing back to back
Ceruledge used Close Combat
Scizor used Bug Bite

[attr="class","samjermain"]As the Zoroark fought to get to her feet, its master looked quite displeased. The typical maternal air was replaced with a cold, dissecting stare. Violet eyes were icier than Nevermelt ice. “Ivanka.” Calpurnia’s voice cut through the cacophony below. “Get up.” Swaying like a drunk, the Zoroark rose to its feet. The area around its ribs, which took the brunt of the blow, had turned a sickly purple. As the two Pokemon dispatched the wall of sharks, the kitsune prepared an attack.


Her vision swam as she caught movement on the trainer’s behalf. He had two hands. Four hands. His outline wavered behind a pink screen as blood dripped into her eyes. Focus. Angering Calpurnia rarely went well, not even for Pokemon er master liked. A green glow enveloped the fox’s feral form. With a yip, she zipped toward Thomas with the sound of a thousand dragonfly wings. Whether the U-turn hit or not, it’d send the beleaguered fox back to the confines of its Pokeball. Manicured nails tightened briefly around the orb before swapping it for another.



With her attempts to disguise her intentions thwarted, Calpurnia moved to even things up again. Quickly calculating what Pokemon stood the best chance—and which she cared about the least—she lobbed out a Great Ball. From it, a Dracovish emerged. Its mismatched body swam awkwardly through the air as it peered at the fishy maelstrom. It's eyes opened as it summoned up a Whirlpool around the Ceruledge, hoping to separate it from its companion.


The Sharpedo, meanwhile, stood little choice against the furious assault. More of them fled, the one caught in the Scizor’s pincher went limp with an almost pitiful stare. Scared to get in range, the three remaining sharks used various long-range attacks. One sent out a Hydro Pump and the other two unleashed a pulsating wave of whistling water.

[attr="class","samjerpoke"]

Mordred notices the ghostly Zoroark move towards his master, and immediately steps in to intervene, taking the strike. Thanks to his resistance to such an attack, on top of the training Thomas put him through, he's able to withstand the attack.

The Whirlpool he finds himself jostled in, however, throws him for a loop. Despite this, Ripper held his own against the Sharpedo, despite the curse ebbing away at him. The ranged attacks lobbed at him threatened to harm him.

That was when Thomas got out in front of Ripper, and slammed the Mysterious Ore against the ground, erecting a protective wall that took the Hydro Pumps and Water Pulses coming their way.

Taking advantage of his cover, Thomas quickly recalled his Scizor and Ceruledge back to their Pokeballs, to spare them of their afflictions. Thanks to Mordred's Ghost-typing, the Whirlpool failed to prevent him from being recalled.

In their place, Thomas sent out his Hydreigon, Kalameet.

---

tags: Calpurnia Kubrick
notes: +10
+10
Ceruledge took U-Turn
Ceruledge was hit by Whirlpool
Scizor is hurt by its Curse
Thomas used a Mysterious Ore (1/2) to erect a barricade, blocking the Sharpedo's ranged attacks
Thomas recalled Scizor & Ceruledge (Ghost-typing prevents trapping)
Thomas sent out Hydreigon

[attr="class","samjermain"]The Scizor jumps up like an annoying baseball fan in search of a fowl ball. Rendered almost harmless, Ivanka is bounced back to her trainer’s belt. A huff pushes past Kelpie’s lips, twisting them into something venomous. Dark purple eyes drop irritably to the Pokeball holding one of her favorite Pokemon. “Useless.” For a moment, she rolled the ball between her fingerprints—a dark part of er tempted to leave it adrift in the Ultra Deep Sea.

With a sigh, however, she returns it to her designer belt. Ivanka really was a doll. But she did not do her best work on the battlefield. Her usual role involved reconnaissance and bait. And, of course, the Zoroark could substitute briefly for her trainer at the office on occasion. This came in particularly handy on extended lunch dates. “Rest up, love.” Calpurnia murmured, gently patting the ball.

Once that little reunion ended, the scientist returned to the battle below. “Aww! What a dirty play!” Calpurnia shouted at Thomas bringing his mysterious ore into the mix. Such a nasty and volatile little compound. It was as explosive as a child’s temper. The whirlpool was rendered useless as the water attacks washed over the dynamic duo below. For his part, Abomination had the wherewithal to look disappointed.

The Sharpedo lobbed a few half-hearted attacks at the barrier, seemingly growing frustrated. Gnashing teeth again turned on one another as their neon eyes glowed with a ghastly light. Then, before they could regroup, the Hydreigon took the field. It’s stature and size made the sharks back up. When it stretched to its full height, the bullies of the sea scattered like dandelion seeds.

Not wanting to give the creature a chance to move, she turned to her two Pokemon. A glare was given to the fossil Pokemon, its clumsy body rushing forward in an attack, a strange purple tail growing from it as it tried to knock it into one of the Hydreigon’s jaws. With a sigh, the feline above righted himself.

Apparently, there were times when he had to get work done. He swam towards the Hydreigon, getting the head that offendd him most in his sights. Then, with surprising speed, he rushed forward in a Play Rough attack.

Above, Calpurnia was playing with something in her pocket. Perhaps two could play that ore trick?

[attr="class","samjerpoke"]