They are at war, and discretion was a lesson learned early. The dog comes dressed in a business suit, looking the part of a bored HoS for some local Mauville corporation. Only when they near their sight does he quietly excuse himself from Zev Harcourt's company and change into tight black combat fatigues. An oni mask hangs around his neck. It is more to send a message than achieve any practical effect. All three of them know the score. Man, void, and dog all share a common banner.[break][break]
"Yo. Professor Layton. I'm Hitoshi." He speaks to the man he knows is their point of contact. Five carefully selected pokeballs and the Hasegawa Muramasa sit at his hip. The dog's team has been in shambles ever since the battle on the resurfaced island, where two great flags warred for primordial ice. What he has will do. Looking up, he scans the building. Four floors, with the windows turned glossy white. No hints as to what lays inside is forthcoming, but he smells danger.[break][break]
"Nice to meetcha. Heard good things from the other grunts. That new rookie says nice things about ya all the time." He does not know that the rookie, howard slayte, is his boss. It doesn't much matter. They're here for a mission, and he's resolved to show he's ready. His mind considers possibilities, avenues of approach, ways into and out of the building.[break][break]
"Tell me 'bout the trial. I gotta go in through the front?" Unconsciously, he glances at his handler, wondering if the shades wearing man or the man shaped void will give him his orders.

And just like that, it was show time.

Oscar smiled, turning around to open the main doors for his participants. "After you, gentlemen." The entry corridor was a dimly lit, with an open door to their right and two double doors ahead of them. The glass of the double doors had been painted black, preventing any peeks into the office building's lobby. Several inactive bolt locks had been welded onto the sides of the doors, waiting for the test to begin. Through the right door, the duo would find the security room. Once they were fully inside, Oscar would move over to open this door entirely.

Blank security monitors lined the walls of the security room, waiting to be throttled awake so that Oscar may observe the training from afar. Oscar bent over behind the door and pulled out a black plastic box, which he quickly shoved towards Hitoshi. "Place all pokeballs and weapons in the box and then hand it over to Zev." Oscar's glasses slid down slightly as he gave Zev a cheeky grin, "I wonder if our beast remembered to leave his shit at home though." Oscar chuckled and waited patiently for everything to be put into the box. Once that was done, he would place the box into the security room and cross his arms. Time for the briefing.

"Alright so here's the deal. Once you walk past those doors the locks will activate. On the other side of those doors is an electric padlock. This padlock needs four keys to open, one for each floor. Your mission is to get the keys and escape the building within eight hours. Easy right?" Oscar sneered and clapped his hands together, "Nah, there's a little hitch. My Genesect is in the building with you, and after thirty minutes it's gonna start hunting your asses down. If it finds you, it's been instructed to use as much force as possible to prevent your escape--you know, without destroying the building. I've scattered some tools you may find helpful throughout the building, but you will mainly be relying on your own cunning and survival skills. The only rules are that you don't try to break any of the windows and don't use avatar powers--which only applies to one of you. Timer starts once you cross the threshold."

Oscar snapped his fingers, as if he had forgotten something. "Oh right! And remember to have fun!" He gestured towards the double doors, indicating that it was time to enter when they were ready.

OOC Rules

This game is played through chosen actions and dice rolls. Every turn you may choose two of the following actions.

>Search for Item
>Hide (or Run)
>Use Item
>Move up or down a floor

--Search: When you search for an item, make a roll.
>1-40: You find nothing. Lower numbers may activate a trap that gives away your location.
>41-70: You find one of Oscar's Tools.
>71-100: You find a key.

--Hide (or Run): When hiding, you are challenging Genesect's search roll (see below) to avoid being spotted. Simply roll, and if your roll is higher than Genesect's you will succeed. If you do not hide while Genesect searches the same floor as you, you will be spotted and a hunt will begin. This includes if you intend to switch floors.

If Genesect is Hunting you, you will do the same thing as before to avoid being caught. You have three 'lives', losing against Genesect's Hunt roll three times will result in being eliminated.

--Use Item: Use one of Oscar's Tools or use the keys to escape. Tools are revealed upon successfully locating one. They will always be advantageous.

--Move up or down a floor: Exactly what it says on the tin, use the stairwell to move up or down one floor. Try not to move up or down at the same time as Genesect, it is very easy to be spotted within the stairwell. There is an elevator that allows you to skip floors, but it requires the use of an Oscar Tool to open.

Every round of posts is worth 30 minutes of time.

--Genesect: After this first round, Genesect will become active and start hunting you. Every round, Genesect will choose a mode to be in.

>Search: Genesect is using its senses to search for a target. Loud noises and frequent movement will attract its attention.
>Stealth: Genesect is trying to move stealthily. What floor it is on cannot be tracked while in Stealth mode.
>Hunt: Genesect has spotted you and wants to break your bones.
>Rest: Genesect has been stunned and needs to recharge.

Moving up or down a floor is a Free Action for Genesect.

New mechanics may appear depending on in-game actions and developments.
You win when: You use all four keys to open the double doors.
You lose when: Genesect catches both Zev and Hitoshi or eight hours have elapsed.
You have complete creative freedom when it comes to the appearance and layout of the office building.

Here is an example gameplay loop to tie it all together:

SPOILER: Click to show

Round 1
>Zev Goes up to the second floor
>Hitoshi searches for an item, rolls 56, gets an Oscar Tool
>Genesect becomes active

Round 2
>Zev searches for an item, rolls 30, gets nothing
>Hitoshi searches for an item, rolls 23, gets nothing
>Genesect moves from the third floor to the second floor and goes into Search Mode, rolls a 76

Round 3
>Zev tries to hide from Genesect, rolls a 44
>Hitoshi searches for an item, rolls 67, finds an Oscar Tool
>Genesect finds Zev and begins a hunt, rolls a 55

Round 4
>Zev runs from Genesect, rolls a 89
>Hitoshi searches for an item, rolls a 96, finds a key
>Genesect loses Zev, moves down to the first floor and goes into Search Mode

ect.

Current Layout:

()Fourth Floor: Genesect (Idle)
()Third Floor:
()Second Floor:
()First Floor: Zev Harcourt, Hitoshi Inoue

His eyes fall upon the black box. Being told to give up all his arms and Pokemon rouses a twitch of annoyance, but he keeps his cool. This is a test. A test is meaningless unless its parameters are obeyed. Dogs are creatures which abide by nature's absolute laws. One by one, he is divested of his beast balls. Kusanagi and all his other blades slip into the box. The Hasegawa Muramasa floats up, still in its scabbard, and haughtily takes a place in the corner. A blade that old has its pride, and it will not be consigned to a black cage.[break][break]
"So we're gonna be in there bein' hunted by a big, badass legendary Pokemon?" His lips curl with excitement. A man-shaped void planted a seed of strength in the dog, and it slowly blossoms into a being which delights in its own strength. All he hears is a challenge, one that makes his mind whirl. Questions take root in his mind.[break][break]
"So there'll be tools? What kinda tools? Anything that'll help us distract yer pal? Anything that'll let us fight back? So we gotta come back through doors on the first floor? So if we end up findin' the key on the fourth floor last, we gotta sneak back past yer bug buddy on the way back down?" His amber eyes turn towards his partner in crime for the day.[break][break]
"Ghost, I'm takin' the lead, yeah? We should stick together on the first floor. Sweep one key, make our way up nice n'quiet." A hint of hesitation leaks in, second guessing himself like he sometimes does at chest. "Unless you think we oughtta climb up first?"

Oscar's invitation to begin was met with a deluge of questions from Hitoshi, each more offbeat than the last. As the onslaught went on, Oscar's smile slowly turned into a placid frown. This guy really had a motormouth, and Oscar had no gas to fuel it. The scientist began to slowly close the door, before decisively shutting it upon Hitoshi's final question.

Now safely within his security room, Oscar jumped into the rolling chair in front of the security monitor control panel. He spun around once before toggling a switch to turn all of the monitors on. They gave him a clear view of every major angle of the four floors, but Oscar's favorite monitor could be found in the very center.

It was the point of view of Prime the Genesect, allowing Oscar to see right through its HUD. Prime was currently staring at its reflection within one of the foggy windows. It had been--contemplating a lot lately. Its interactions with its 'siblings' had left Prime feeling rather unfulfilled. By helping them reclaim their individuality, it had come to find that it did not have much of an identity of its own. It was the first Genesect, but what was it beyond that? Was it meant to be anything beyond that?

It had the shadows of memories floating through its artificial brain, a foggy image just out of reach. A life that was not its own, among the jungles of a world long past. A community, a purpose, a family, a culture, all within its grasp and yet unreachable. It gave Genesect a feeling it was not familiar with, it could not even place the name. We call it yearning.

--Thirty Minutes until Genesect becomes active--

()Fourth Floor: Genesect (Idle)
()Third Floor:
()Second Floor:
()First Floor:Zev Harcourt, Hitoshi Inoue

"Hey, hey, wait a minute, you didn't--" The door slams shut with finality, rousing a huff from the dog. Looking up at a nearby camera, just below a timer that has not yet begun counting down, he shouts up at the scientist.[break][break]
"Hey, asshole, suck the pinkest part of my co-" And the timer starts precisely as his middle finger raises. His eyes pivot away, turning back to the task at hand.[break][break]
Shit. He thinks. Barcode's watchin'. Stay calm. You can ream the egghead out later.[break][break]
Eyes scan, finding themselves in a mock lobby. There's lots of wide, open space and rooms off to the side. Were this not a simulated workplace, the dog imagines people would pass through here, take the elevator, and forget all about this room. Rooms are off to the side, supply closets and things like that. With little clue of what he looks for, the dog begins a methodical, sweeping search, trying to find tiles on the floor that are out of place, turning up cushions in the couch, anything and anywhere someone of low or high cunning would think to hide a key.[break][break]
Hell, he even checks the tanks of toilets.

Time passed as the duo searched through the lobby. Their initial scrounging would reveal no keys, but what they would come upon was a...

TRAP!

The careless rummaging of Hitoshi yields detrimental results. A click could be heard as he opened one of the supply closets, followed by a long string of quicker clicks. Looking within the closet, he would find a mall dummy strapped to an office chair--holding a booby trapped box of fireworks.

The fireworks would unleash themselves indiscriminately, turning the supply closet into a wall of smoke and color. Loud pops would shake the walls, giving a clear indication of where the duo was located. Yet the trap's worst trick would not be revealed until the fireworks were finished, with the smoke now pouring out like water from a broken dam.

Smoke has enveloped the first floor. For three rounds, roll twice on the first floor. For Search rolls choose the lower number. For hiding rolls choose the higher number.

Genesect knows where you are.

Prime turned its head as a loud commotion occurred downstairs. It had been so lost in its thoughts that it almost forgot to pull up the timer on its HUD. Numbers flared up on its visor, revealing that it was in fact one minute behind. It closed out the timer, running toward the stairwell to get to the first floor. It could not deny that it was not in the best headspace, but it had a job to do and it would execute its master's orders without fail.

Not bothering with the stairs, Prime would leap over the railing and plummet to the first floor landing. A loud crunch could be heard from within the lobby, and unfortunately for our participants it was not the Genesect. Prime stomped out of the mangled stone created by its impact, and burst out into the lobby to seek out its targets.

6nHL6o39

()Fourth Floor:
()Third Floor:
()Second Floor:
()First Floor: Genesect (Search), Hitoshi Inoue, Zev Harcourt

Smoke fills his lungs. A coughing fit almost gives the game away then and there. A monster comes for them, lunging down to the first floor. It is a hunter among prey, searching its target. They are forced to make a hard choice...[break][break]
"Go up," the wolf says in the moment they have, "I'll keep it busy."[break][break]
A cornered animal is a cunning animal, survival instincts spurring it into action. Using the smoke, he moves away from the stairway. Artificial light carries through the smoke. Something wishes to come for him. Let it come.[break][break]
A whistle pierces through the smoke, cupped hands meeting pursed lips. The sound cuts like a blade.[break][break]
Barcode's more important than me. He thinks. On a real battlefield, contending with legendaries while buyin' an avatar time's a good play. He'll make the most of it.[break][break]
Knowing that the Genesect will soon hunt him down like a dog in the street, he runs, using the smoke to hide in the floor. Another supply closet is there. He settles in, praying the Genesect did not see him enter through the fog.

Genesect's initial sweep would be interrupted by Hitoshi's whistle. Genesect was reluctant to seek it out, given that no one would deliberately give themselves away unless they were planning something. Yet it was so early in the assessment that Genesect figured there was no way they could have set up a trap this quickly, plus it made its job of finding them a lot quicker.

Genesect marched forward toward the source of the whistle, scanning through the smoke for signs of life. It would completely miss Zev as the beast made his way to the second floor. Thanks to the thickness of the smoke, it also could not properly locate Hitoshi. It would suddenly stand still, slowly scanning the room for signs of movement.

G0uXSW4c


()Fourth Floor:
()Third Floor:
()Second Floor :Zev Harcourt
()First Floor: Genesect (Hunting), Hitoshi Inoue

His heart skips a beat, then another, and another, as the machine passes by. Somewhere along the way, through the smoke, the dog swears he spots intelligence in the motions of the monster. No mere machine, but a creature that can truly think instead of supposing a facsimile of thought through a logic processor.[break][break]
It is dangerous - dangerous as any other legend. That it was made by the hands of mankind makes him shudder. What marvels humans can work.[break][break]
As it passes by, all the lungs in the dog's air slips out, a quiet exhale of plain relief. Above, the void is left unmolested. Now all he has to do is move up and join the walking void, search, and stay one step ahead of their predator.[break][break]
Quiet as a coyote stalking a chicken pen in the night, he slinks to the stairs and tries to climb.