“Oh,” she replied, nodding, then decided to take a sip from her bottle. A good minute of awkward silence would certainly follow as she looked down on it, just sitting there unsure as to what to say. Honestly, this all felt weird to her on multiple levels, so it was difficult to find words. Everyone else just seemed so much…better at adapting to this, so much more willing to accept this as a long-term situation and everything. Did they not wake up every morning hoping that the day’s assault would be the last?
[break][break]
Megan sighed, gripping the bottle more tightly. “That’s pretty…impressive…” she started before falling quiet again, fishing for words. It wasn’t that she resented Jo for dealing with this better or anything like that. It was just that everything felt so wrong. And Megan could not even truly comprehend what was wrong with herself.

[break][break]

+ ooc notes

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

“Well, technically you are squatting here too,” she replied with a brief laugh. They all were, after all. None of the actual owners of these buildings were present here – if any even existed in the first place. Even the peasants outside were not the people that actually inhabited this place. They likely felt even more displaced than they did, everything being of a much more modern make than they could possibly be used to.
[break][break]
If they were even real, that was. “Besides, this is the Pokemon Center. Can’t exactly live in a place like this, that’s not what it is made for.” Or maybe she was just beholden to notions that were no longer currency. Then, she blinked, realizing something. Well, two things. One made her briefly blush, but she decided to put it up for now. Instead, she focused on the other with a raised brow. “Are you telling me you have actually been living inside this place so far?”

[break][break]

+ ooc notes

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

She nodded in response. “Yeah, pretty hot out there. Seems like despite how the world kind of just becomes a toxic wasteland outside the city, seasons are still a thing. We got here end of June, so we are nearing the warmest time of year, I think.” Honestly, she did not know. But none of them did. That was kind of the problem. This was Galar, yes, but a version of it unbeknownst to man. None of this made any sense.
[break][break]
Megan sighed. She just wanted this to be over. “Something to drink would be nice. And we are working on some extra housing. Some of the damaged buildings are beyond repair and too close to the frontlines anyway. Some of us are squatting there right now, but we figured if it can get hotter, there could also be winter. Best to take care of that now that there is a lull…” Megan did not want to address the constant fighting directly. It was too taxing to participate, she did not want it to pollute this chat, either.

[break][break]

+ ooc notes

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

“You better,” she simply stated, already having made up her mind in that regard. It wasn’t a bad title, after all. Megan, personally, did not give a toss about some people supposedly being crowned by the peasants. That was even more fake than everything else. Plus, them being given out for essentially doing the least to actually prepare for the attack just because people were charismatic irked her on some level.
[break][break]
Ah, well, whatever. “Anyway, no, my Pokemon are fine,” she replied, not even realizing she skipped the other part of the question. “I just kind of didn’t really know what else to do, so I figured I’d check up on you. Well, not really, things are probably fine here, I already guessed that much. Should be more honest.” Yet, she was still going to skip that part. “I kind of just came to hang out until the noon heat is over and I go back out there to help with some stuff they are building.”

[break][break]

+ ooc notes

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

“Of course we can. I will send Lucario over after lunch to help with that,” she replied to the random townsperson with a smile. It had been quite a while, hadn’t it? Maybe she should learn their names after all. Megan had not bothered initially. They had just come here to help defend the town. One big, decisive battle, an act of heroism, as the big guy had said. Even had beaten back the nasties for the time being.
[break][break]
Yet, no big portal in the sky sucking them back to reality, no victory fanfares blew announcing that it was over. No nothing, really. Every day, she woke up thinking that today would be the day that they finally escaped this rotten place.
[break]...[break]
Well, maybe that was a bit rude towards this place. The time-displaced peasants certainly were trying to make it livable, even trying to produce some food for them despite the toxic conditions. Hence, she would always meet them with a smile, even though it faltered swiftly once she turned her back on them. These people, this place, it just did not fully feel….real. But the time spent here did.
[break][break]
Megan sighed, turning towards the Pokemon Center. None of hers needed the aid, but, well, when she entered and was greeted that way, the detour was already well worth it. Just one word, but a smile much genuine than hey own. “Hey there nurse Joy,” she reciprocated, not being able to help herself from making that pun.

[break][break]

+ ooc notes

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

Megan was no stranger to sifting through the mud, of course. That was probably her one good quality. Despite having started out in retail and not exactly as a nature child, she had taken to life on the road fairly well.
[break][break]
Some would say too well…but that was not the matter right then! No, there was a muddy river about – with a lot of Woopers and big Woopers working in unison. Honestly, that kind of cooperation between Pokemon was always a nice sight to see, so she mostly just stood there and took in the sights.
[break][break]
It would be kind of dangerous to just try and fight one of these. Given their typing, it would be tantamount to sticking your hand into a jar of poisonous quill fish to try and fish for some keys. Well, that was a tortured metaphor. But yes, attacking evolved mons ferrying little ones. It was probably best to just hang back and hope for stragglers, as always.


[break][break]

+ 0fL1aiMs

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

Was she serious about the sacrifice, as the blonde girl asked near her? Probably not. Megan did not plan on dying here, after all. At least not like this. Sacrificing was something reserved for an absolute last resort, never something one even considered as a first option.
[break][break]
Because your life did not belong just to you. Dying, even if for a noble cause, would hurt those around you regardless. It was always best not. At least she had gained that much resolve. Which was good in the face of this army coming their way, after all. After all, this was meant to be a moment of heroism, meant to be when they fought to protect others.
[break][break]
Even someone like her could commit to that. How could she not? Jo was behind and above her, unleashing something rather big at the enemy. Could not exactly run away from any of this now. Not that she had planned to do so.
[break][break]
Not in a million years. She nodded towards Hydreigon, whom she released the moment an army came in sight. While she did not have any Z-Moves or Mega Evolutions at her disposal, she did have a big scary dragon with three heads. “Tri-attack. Don’t target the same things. Just hinder them left right and center to throw off their rhythm,” she ordered to the black dragon as they took to the polluted skies.

[break][break]

+ does not join francie myrtle moving far from the centre, but takes to the skies and has Hydreigon use Tri-Attack on the attackers XRO1Xe3K

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

Megan briefly stopped when she heard those words. They felt kind of familiar, but also foreign. This was what she had told Jo all the way back, hadn’t she? Becoming a gym leader had been her goal, after all.
[break][break]
Yet, the difference clearly was in the presentation. When Megan had said it, she had spoken of far-off aspirations, of ultimate goals that she would eventually try to realize. But when Jo said it, there was something so deterministic, so urgent in them that even those familiar words felt alien.
[break][break]
So alien that briefly, she just stopped entirely. “I…see,” was all she could deliver initially. It took her a few moments to shake her head as if shaking something off, before trying to laugh that episode off. “Sorry about that. I just had the thought that I really ought to get around to doing that too, don’t I?”

[break][break]

+ Johanna Joy

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

Honestly, Megan did not know what she had expected coming here. This place was supposed to be a picturesque place, the kind that one saw in travel magazines that tried to sell you on the idea of going on vacation. She knew because she had browsed those more times than she could have counted back in the day. Working night shifts, thinking of places to one day visit only to never end up doing so for this reason or that. She had gotten out of that trot by now, even seen a good chunk of the world.
[break][break]
But on the other side of that coin was her terrible timing, which led to her seeing many of these places at their worst. This definitely counted. Clearly, this place was more of a gloom wood than a Glimwood and things got worse from there. For the most part, her and Swampert would tag alongside Jo, whacking down those weird hands where they popped up, looking out for other threats. Frankly, aside from Jo she did not really know a lot of these people – and she did not truly feel like talking anyway. Not with that heavy air of death hanging over everything. It reminded her of that horrible minute during their last encounter with the unfathomable.
[break][break]
She did not want to think about it. In fact, she did not want to think much about any of this and instead wanted to invest herself as much as possible into a task. Hence, she soon went about helping others with their own tasks where she could and have Swampert do what it did best, directing it to place slippery moats in strategic locations – i.e. where others told her to put them – and preparing herself mentally for the fight to come.
[break][break]
Megan did not want to fight. Not really. But she had reason to. So, she would. One way or another.

[break][break]

+ sticks by Johanna Joy , makes moats and helps out jukyUkyp

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

Two pieces of good news. One was that Jo was decently fine, given the situation. The other was that apparently, people seemingly stopped fighting, if only because something new had appeared. Something big and powerful. “I am fine. Though I have a feeling this has just begun,” she replied to her friend, deciding to stick to the other for the time being. Her Swampert gave her a curious glance, as if trying to convey something, before gesturing towards the statue, then their surroundings. It took a bit until she made the connection, but a lot of it fell into what was being explained along the way. However, his urgency did contrast the big Pokemon’s relative calm on display.
[break][break]
Then again, calm was relative when someone went around possessing people to communicate a message. Megan did briefly glance over toward Johanna again, as if to make sure she was not among the possessed. Jo apparently did the same – and already made a decision. That girl certainly had come a good ways since their little meeting in the distortion. If only Megan had also managed to become better at making decisions…
[break][break]
She shook her head. Not the time and place to do that. Instead, she would for now simply decide to follow another’s lead. Not much, but it just made sense. But she did pick a question of her own, too: “I take it this has got to happen. As for the question: How much time will we have to resolve this? And I will go Ballonlea as well.” It wasn’t exactly a grand question. But this was a bad place to be in. They had to make sure they understood what would have to happen how and until when if they wanted out, so she had to be pragmatic for once.



[break][break]

+ Checks up further on Johanna Joy , asks how much time they have, chooses ballonlea as well kD9sjUCF

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

“Ugh,” she sounded, holding her head as she looked about. This was not the area from before, right? She’d never been here, but she had seen this on TV, she figured. Well, it was impossible for her to tell that it was Wyndon specifically, but this place had the markings of one of those big Pokemon stadiums.
[break][break]
Megan shook her head, not really bothering too much to think about it. First things first, she needed to check up on the others. Her Swampert, though dizzy itself, seemed mostly fine. It had been shaken by the earlier attack, the defense scattered, but had suffered little more than bruises from it, fortunately.
[break][break]
Next up: surroundings. She was a bit off the middle, so even as League and Rocket did what they did best and immediately started fighting again now that there was no current other target, she was not immediately attacked. Which meant that she had time to get up and look around. Thanks to the protective aegis’, the fear had not completely taken over her mind and body. Or maybe it was just as potent, only hers was not the kind that saw her freeze up. No, even her apparently clear mind was but a product of it, in a way.[break][break]
Because everything she did only served one purpose: to get up and not loose any more. Her eyes did search more frantically, but fortunately, blue hair was hard to miss once she glanced over it. Completely fixating on this, she immediately rushed over to Jo who was not too far away, but looked like she was in shock still. The frozen girl did not appear hurt, but given what happened last time they were in danger, Meg took no chances. Instead, she swiftly reached for the other’s arm, squeezing with urgency. “Jo, are you alright?” That was what mattered in this moment, once relative safety was established. The rest was secondary.[break][break] Her Swampert was less disaffected like that, and instead followed along while using Foresight on the statue to see if it could discern anything.



[break][break]

+ Somewhat gets over the assault and transport, rushes to Johanna Joy , Swampert uses Foresight on the statue Ybx19U3s

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

Why, again, where they here? After the last time, they’d really ought to know better. Let these fights be fought by those who wished to fight them, and those who wished to fight each other even in the face of calamity. That was how it ought to be, right?
[break][break]
Ugh. She was getting philosophical. Not a good sign. Not at all. Megan shook her head and dismounted the Arcanine whose back she had come here on. However, there was little time to take stock of the situation or even properly distinguish friend from foe. No, before anyone could get their bearings, as those who wished to fight were already fighting, their clash reverberating through the air.
[break][break]
Calamity, once again. Megan briefly shook her head, then swapped her Arcanine for her Swampert. “Prepare a Wide Guard, just in case. Cover anyone nearby. They probably won’t react too well to having their fight interrupted. It just made sense to her.” she ordered, assuming that Jo was still close enough to be protected by it all. In this chaos, it was difficult to tell. But it could not be helped. The other seemed intent on making amends, even though no one seemed to begrudge her for the past. Megan just wanted to make sure she would stay safe, this time around.



[break][break]

+ arrives on arcanine but swaps to Swampert and has it prep a wide guard. Just in case. e5wr9At4

[attr="class","pokeclass"]