@ almost EVERYONE how did I even manage that

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Husband and wife are led toward the dressing room they'd requested, but it becomes quickly apparent that others attempting the same have encountered an invisible barrier. Charles looks confused, a tad affronted, but Gavin is already considering Plan B.[break][break]

Fortunately, Rocket are causing the least amount of chaos outside of the eccentric clown that was Goro.[break][break]

Red eyes scan the gathered crowd and the security that pens them in. He spots head scientist Eva Dumont standing with dominic sinclair, but does not linger on them to preserve their cover. Like him, and like marie jules, they are biding their time. Those among the League seem to have a different idea in mind, sending out Pokemon and attacking the Mimes. priam conrad films the unfolding scene, capturing footage for later leverage no doubt. The kid's smarter than people give him credit for.[break][break]

Katherine Fairburne is among the least subtle of the Rocket agents lying in wait, but even she is careful.[break][break]

As his brows knit together in a mask of confusion, he reaches for his wife's hand as if to comfort her. When Marcel grips the other, he does not pull away immediately — if they were lucky, and this strategy worked...[break][break]

vJSG1vEp

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It appears that, just as the three of them were about to enter Armstrong's dressing room, a barrier shimmers between their fingers. There's no exit and then all hell breaks loose. It appears that they aren't the only ones trying to infiltrate the trees roots - not that this was surprising. What was more surprising was how reckless and impulsive the League appeared to be. They were making things difficult.[break][break]

One quick glance around the room shows to her the familiar faces of her coworkers. She sees the group by the vending machines, looking the part of workers and keeping their noses out of business. Eva Dumont, priam conrad and dominic sinclair aren't given a second glance - they know what they're doing and she isn't about to linger too long for fear she might blow their cover and her own. She doesn't know them, they're faceless workers.[break][break]

And then she notices Katherine Fairburne, because how could she not? She's seen the girl wear masks and her facade and voice is uncannily familiar. She, too, appears to be posing as a coordinator, sobbing about a broken mask. Interesting.[break][break]

But it's marie jules who catches her attention the longest of them all. She sits off to the side on a bench or something, moving out of the way of the ice as it blocks the exit. [break][break]

Guards move in to interrogate and the Mr. Mime's appear more than a little testy. Water splashes, the tree grows, and she feels Gavin's fingers wrap around hers. He squeezes and she squeezes back - even though the gesture is a show, she finds comfort in it regardless. It surprises her when Marcel's hand closes around her other hand, but she allows it, even squeezes his as they either TELEPORT thanks to Marcel's Sylveon.[break][break]

On the off-hand his attempt doesn't work she would remain clinging to Gavin in genuine horror at how much of a mess this has become. There's no need to act that sort of disappointment.[break][break]



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well things were quick to go to the reverse world and back. first it was the crowding of the rooms as more people slowly started to show up and things started to happen. while he didn't really scan his gaze over those who probably had the same idea of him as trying to sneak in one person did try and just walk right in, of course when your FERNANDO SILPH that sort of privilege is given to you. he was probably here on official business, that made sense.
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then all hell decided to break loose.
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first it was a hatterne belonging to Ruby Walker that decided to just up and smack one of the mr. mimes just standing there and doing its job, followed by a clown on a dinosaur suddenly walzting on through like it was nothing. oh and even mr god of the sun Balder Schwartz showed up on his lion (and kazimir thought he was one for dramatic entrances). if chaotic entrances were all that happened then that would be fine, of course it wasn't that easy and someone decided to turn this place into an ice skating rink complete with water feature. of course the security around didn't quite like that so they decided to try and keep the peace by placing everyone under arrest. that went as well as well as one would have hoped when everyone decided to not do that.
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it really didn't help that the tree decided to just move, you know cause that happens with weird mysterious trees, and open up a hole leading down. while guards came spilling out of the opening on the side Kazimir and his pokemon decided to slowly back up to the hole and try to get a look to see what was down there withougt being suspicious. of course when the ice floor is also wet one can't get a lot of traction and soon the trainer found his feet moving left and right with little control. cue the clown that was sliding along the ice to come crashing into his legs and sending kaz over the edge and into the hole.
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it was there that machoman and goodwitch both shared glances of disbelief at the sheer luck their trainer had at falling into a hole before the machoke dropped what he was holding and jumped followed his trainer down into the hole. goodwitch on the other hand did the same but sunk into the shadows thanks to her phantom force to remain unseen as she made her way to the lower floor to follow her idiot comrades.
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_ZU7lgmG

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[attr="class","omgentop"]ROOT OF THE MATTER[break]
ROCKET VS. LEAGUE

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DEATH-ENABLED

FACTION EVENT

SIGN-UPS CLOSED

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WHAT HAPPENS

SEVERAL THINGS HAPPEN AT ONCE. As the hall bursts into action, Andrea Benoit’s performance above begins to blare in the PA speakers. The frost shakes from their metal grids as her song sends the harrowing rumbling of bass through the ceiling.[break][break][break]

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MARCEL, EMMA, GAVIN (B1 / STAIRCASE)

marcel maeda is able to TELEPORT to the other side, the staircase leading to the second floor basement now unguarded. Emma Wolfe and Cillian Quinn are teleported too, but as they reappear, they slip on the crude ice. Should they move down one flight of stairs, they will find that the rest of the staircase is densely packed with growing tree branches that push out from the main body of the tree.[break][break][break]

KATHERINE, GORO, KAZIMIR (STUCK IN BRANCHES OF B2)

After Katherine Fairburne’s Morpeko briefly confuses one of the Mr. Mimes, she immediately teleports below. her, Goro Shimizu, Kazimir Wynter, make it through to the next floor— but it is not what it appears to be. As the three land or reappear in the middle of the next basement floor, they find themselves constrained and tangled in a mess of terribly thick curling branches. Like vines, but less easy to break and dense.[break][break][break]

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Looking around, they will find that the floor is smothered in foliage— if they are even on the “floor” or ground of this level. These three—who are in close proximity to each other— must find a way to escape their entanglement, for the tree pulses, as if ready to grow once more.[break][break][break]

ATLAN, ILLEANA, SILPH (B1)

As if pulled straight from the espionage genre, beckett carlson manages to catapult himself on to the branches. Recalling his Rookidee, he makes it to the other side speedily. beckett carlson has enough time to start walking down the stairs as well.[break][break][break]

At illeana reyes’s flash of her Head Scientist badge, the security guards relax in response to her; she manages to teleport to the other side— but only has time to reappear on the ice.[break][break][break]

FERNANDO SILPH’s authority is flexed too, and as a MISTY TERRAIN flows from his Tapu Fini, the security guards yell: ”Yes! Stop whoever you can.”[break][break][break]

Another mutters, ”If the boss finds out, we’re fucked.”[break][break][break]

MR. MIMES, RUBY, KAIDA, ALEXEI (B1)

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The two Mr. Mimes in the main hall, now IMPERVIOUS TO STATUS CONDITIONS thanks to the MISTY TERRAIN, attack the ones coming their way. The attempted HYPNOSIS is witnessed and the strike on Goro Shimizu is noted. They prioritize it as Ruby Walker attempts to advance with her Gallade. One Mr. Mime SKILL SWAPS with her Hatterene, replacing her MAGIC BOUNCE with SCREEN CLEANER. The Hatterene is then recalled. The other Mr. Mime fires ICY WIND from its mitten hands to stall Ruby Walker, and Gallade.[break][break][break]

In the exposed middle dressing room, the two Mr. Mime attempt to halt Alexei Ivanov and @selena. Kaida Adachi is fast enough to act before FERNANDO SILPH’s Tapu Fini’s MISTY TERRAIN takes hold. Thankfully, INFATUATION can not be blocked by the purplish fog. One of the Mr. Mimes falls to the snake’s seduction, allowing Kaida Adachi to slide through quickly with her Salazzle. Security guards attempt to snag her with their arms, but she whips right through to the other side. She, like beckett carlson, is able to start going down the stairs. illeana reyes may attempt as well— but her descent is not guaranteed.[break][break][break]

The infatuated Mr. Mime instead focuses its attention on Selena Desmarais's attack. It mimes a square of PROTECT to stave off the flames, while the other casts ICY WIND on Selena Desmarais, Alexei Ivanov and their respective parties. They are unable to make much distance.[break][break][break]

DOMINIC, EVA, PRIAM, ZACHARIAS (LOPEZ'S DRESSING ROOM)

When the soft drink trolley smashes into one of the security guards, the barrier to kyle lopez’s dressing room is smashed by the bisharp’s IRON HEAD. It fades, the psychically created barricade withstanding only one solid hit; afterward, @zacharias and priam conrad are pushed in, the cellphone of the younger man capturing every frame of the ensuing chaos. Eva Dumont slips in too. The door is closed. here, Andrea Benoit’s music is even louder. Despite the cacophony, @zacharias puts the guard to sleep with his Gengar. The guard is then tossed into a wardrobe by Eva Dumont’s Orbeetle. Closet hangers holding noah faber’s hoodie and shorts topple over the man like a blanket before the doors close once again.[break][break][break]

dominic sinclair’s klefki floats toward the keyhole. What comes next is delicate work. Although it takes some time, pink chains grow from the keyhole and begin to wrap around the whole perimeter of the hallway to FAIRY LOCK the trainers’ Pokemon in place. It locks in time for many Pokemon to be affected. A table is placed in front to act as a further barricade.[break][break][break]

WHO IS AFFECTED BY FAIRY LOCK?

dominic sinclair's FAIRY LOCK will last this round. The following trainers' Pokemon have been caught by this effect: illeana reyes, Selena Desmarais, FERNANDO SILPH, Ruby Walker, Alexei Ivanov, marie jules, @matteo. Pokemon affected by this move can not switch out or flee during this round; ghost-types are unaffected.[break][break][break]

MARIE & MATTEO (B1)

marie jules and @matteo look on as innocent bystanders...[break][break][break]

OBJECTIVES

IN ORDER TO CLAIM COMPLETE REWARDS FOR YOUR FACTION, and to facilitate plot moments within the event thread, your respective groups will have objectives to fulfill collectively. for example, if your rocket character becomes captured, that objective is fulfilled for the entire group.[break][break]

throughout the event, more objectives may be added/these objectives are subject to change.[break][break]

league

• ic objective: extract a biosample of sap from the tree's roots; protect the tree. ☐
• sub: have three league-affiliated pokemon die by rocket hands. ☐
• sub: be captured, seriously injured, or killed by a rocket character. ☐
• sub: heal/defend a teammate against a rocket's attack (pkmn or human). ☐
• sub: every character must reference every teammate at least once throughout the thread. ☐

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rocket

• ic objective: poison or destroy the tree from its roots, at all costs. ☐
• sub: have three rocket-affiliated pokemon faint/die by league hands. ☐
• sub: be captured, seriously injured, or killed by a league character. ☐
• sub: heal/defend a teammate against a league's attack (pkmn or human). ☐
• sub: every character must reference every teammate at least once throughout the thread. ☐

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THINGS TO NOTE:

• please try not to invent new npcs; however, i've worked the new security guards in alongside the canon two that have now moved closer to your side. for simplicity's sake, we can say there are a total of four security guards, one for each mr. mime.
• Balder Schwartz's existence in this raid has been retconned due to his player going on brief hiatus.

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RULES & GUIDELINES

• the 3 pokemon you have signed up with are now locked in for the event.
• each of your pokemon can only perform 1 move per round.
• please do not meta-game; this event is not a competition.
• if you do not post by the round's deadline, you will be skipped.
• like others have been doing, please note when you have tagged everyone once for the objective!
• for this round, please ROLL once.

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DEADLINE & TAGS

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Selena Desmarais illeana reyes Ruby Walker Kaida Adachi Kazimir Wynter beckett carlson @matteo Alexei Ivanov FERNANDO SILPH[break][break]
priam conrad Cillian Quinn Katherine Fairburne Emma Wolfe marcel maeda Eva Dumont marie jules @zacharias dominic sinclair Goro Shimizu

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[attr="class","illie b"]at worst, she's expecting to be captured. at best, however, things are slowly shifting in her favor. the security guards visibly relax, their eyes catching the badge. it's still slightly odd to have such a thing, to even hold such a title. the perks that come with a higher status within the league are still being navigated but perhaps this could be deemed as one.

she uses the dropping of their guard to her advantage, flashing a grateful smile in their direction, and manages to whisk past the trunk of the tree. it now looms behind her, branches rustling beneath the weight of other operatives. one in particular, beckett carlson, catches her eye and she's glancing back as both her and virgo re-materialize from their teleport. it seems, however, that she hadn't fully thought this through... her feet collide with ice and she's squeaking out surprise a beat later.

ice, little to no grip with her heeled boots, and the beginning momentum of her moving before the teleport fully ends all equals her scrambling across the slippery floor.

she's struggling to even stay upright as momentum grabs hold and sends her flailing form toward the stairs. any attempt to stop, to avoid completely falling only makes matters worse. cheeks already heavily flushed with embarrassment, illeana lets out a soft whisper. "custos, help." slowly, clay hands begin to rise from the shadows of her cape with every intention of steadying her. it doesn't fully work as her legs are too panicked, too focused on finding the ground that the assistance is warded off. her kirlia is more graceful than her trainer, gently gliding across the ice after her train wreck.

will she even make it to the stairs before the guards turn their attention back toward her? does she even bother to look back and see if they're preoccupied? no, she has to keep going.

and so, the scientist does her best to attempt to find enough footing to skate away on the ice toward the stairs. mist rolls lazily over ice lazily as she goes. faintly, she's focusing not on making it to the stairs or even on the tree itself but on those held up by security. had she heard them ask FERNANDO SILPH for his assistance? oh god, is he going to capture them all? move faster, don't get caught. her arms flail a little faster as if that will actually make a difference.

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Her heart was either going to explode or she was going to throw up. The fog of adrenaline in her veins makes her snarl at the guards trying to grab her, her reactions defaulting to some long-lost attitude of her past. It didn't feel bad, if not for the throbbing in her neck, like a second heart. [break][break]

Freya screeched as they screamed towards the staircase, claws unsheating to scrape them into a more manageable speed. Kaida thought she must be under adrenaline, because Freya felt light as a feather on her back. She knew she carried her Pokemon plenty but that wasn't normal! Focus! Focus! She wrenched her mind into the present, their speed finally slowing so that she could maneuver towards the stairs. Up on her back, Freya's eyes flashed a brief light. A Nasty Plot, a simple precaution to decide how to best strike if something scary walked up that staircase. [break][break]

She knew well enough that the guards and evidently FERNANDO SILPH were moving to capture everyone, and the thought urged her on. She didn't feel bad for the civilians (Alexei Ivanov and @matteo), up here was probably the safest area they could be in, right? Still, she looked over at a woman who just appeared in a teleporting mess. illeana reyes, still trying to come help, former partner in a mission. "Ugh!" Kaida cried out, halting briefly and crouching in a lizard-like stance that Freya kept steady. She couldn't let a former partner bumble around and get captured too, now could she? Thus, completely unaware that Illeana could probably use her own occupation to get out of it, Kaida barked out, "Hema, bring her too!" The serpent flew across the Ice, only barely hearing the order and lashing out to grab Illeana with as gentle a bite as possible, aiming for her clothing...as lacking as it was. Didn't matter if she had to drag this woman with them, she must be good if Kaida wanted her! [break][break]

Stopping for nothing more, Kaida and her Pokemon pushed off towards the staircase, moving to descend it as fast as possible. [break][break]

ossRq1mr

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