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The year is 1929 in the wonderful Big Apple, New York City! The economy is at an all-time high that seems sustainable enough, the culture is one of excess and hedonism, and the term "Roaring 20s" never felt more appropriate. Not to mention the mysterious "stand abilities" that have been appearing in citizens, visitors, and any other select few who may be in the city for the last forty or so years. These abilities have been appearing with seemingly no explanation, as if the city itself is granting them! But, granting them for what? Or for whom? Rules, because I have to Character App

Nate snagged a Poké-Ball from his belt and enlarged it with the click of a button. “Alright. Trust me, I am way more than ready this time. I’m getting that badge today.” “Yes, you’ve said that a few times now.” Tavares said, with a small smile. He quickly wiped it away however as he moved off towards the starting position he had used twice now with the two girls. “I know this is the third in a row but after this you can rest, go Baltoy.” and the Ground Pokemon emerged. Not looking worse for wear despite the battles so far. “Gotta repeat it for emphasis.” Nate said as he released Cassius. The Automaton let loose a piercing cry and bashed its fists together when it spotted the Baltoy, flexing both its arms in a display of dominance. “I brought some new team members too. Show ‘em how hard we’ve been working Cassius! Mud-Slap!” The Golett stomped the ground, kicking up a cloud of dirt, and then punched forward with enough force to launch it into the Baltoy’s face. “A familiar move.” Tavares noted. “Baltoy, Rapid Spin, move out of the way.” The Pokemon began to spin and, picking up speed, darted towards the side to dodge the Mud-Slap. From there it let out its own Mud-Slap. Nate jumped into the air. “Go over it Cassisus!” The Automaton followed suit, leaping to clear the cloud of mud and dust in a manner that would, in another world, cause Isaac Newton to cringe. “Now bring a Shadow Punch down on it!” he shouted, landing on his knees and slamming his own fist onto the street. Cassius once again followed suit, its fist glowing with a ghastly purple energy. Tavares slowly nodded. “Going to have to brace yourself, Harden.” he called out and the Baltoy, as the move implied, hardened its body to take the hit. Cassius’s punch landed but instead of being blown back by the Super-Effective move the Baltoy was instead knocked backwards and forced to wobble back into place. Tavares was watching intently and he seemed almost pleased by the attack despite the damage done to his Baltoy. Nate jumped back to his feet. The excitement rolling off him at having landed the first blow was palpable. “Don’t let up Cassius! Do it again!” Cassius landed with as much grace as a two-hundred-pound Pokémon could, reeling back for another swing with its shadowy fist as soon as it managed to find its footing and acknowledge the command. The Baltoy at Tavares’s command Hardened again to better take the hit. This time it was able to counter-attack soon after. Hitting the Golett with a close-range Confusion attack. The wave coursing through Cassius’s mind as the Baltoy spun away. Cassius warbled in pain; it wasn’t enough to lay the Golett low, but the mental attack managed to stagger it long enough for Baltoy to spin away. “Cassius! You alright?” Nate asked. Cassius shook its head, before squaring its shoulders and flexing its arms defiantly. “That’s the spirit. You aren’t gonna take us down so easily this time. Chase ‘em down and hit ‘em again!” Nate ordered, uppercutting the air for emphasis as he did. The Golett nodded and barreled toward the Baltoy with renewed vigor. Tavares was silent for a few moments as the Golett came closer, closer, then his eyes widened slightly and he said. “Rapid Spin, through it.” As commanded the Baltoy started to spin and head towards Cassius. The attack would have landed but, given Cassius’s Ghost Type, the Baltoy instead passed through its body. “Confusion.” Cassius pivoted on Nate’s command. The Confusion had a similar impact as the last time; the Golett didn’t seem to have sustained a major amount of damage, but it was visibly shaken for a moment. “Keep it cool. Try to get at ‘im again bud!” Cassius clenched its fist and the ghastly energy flared back to life, and then it charged forward towards the Baltoy again, more cautiously this time. Tavares seemed to realize that the same trick likely wouldn’t work again. So this time he attacked with a Mud-Slap first. Hitting the Golett with mud in the face. Then he tried to Spin through Cassius when it got closer while the mud covered him. “Gotcha! Just barrel on through and punch ‘em before they can get away!” Cassius did as it was told and sprinted through the Mud-Slap. It scattered across the Automaton’s torso and face, seemingly doing very little damage, but it did block out the Pokémon’s vision. That didn’t seem to though. Right when Tavares’ Baltoy attempted to spin through the Golett again, Cassius brought its fist down as hard as it could onto it, almost as if it could sense where the Pokémon was without looking. The blow knocked the Baltoy to the side and sent it spinning across the ground. Tavares narrowed his eyes and then nodded to himself. “Mud-Slap, quick.” The Pokemon let loose another spray of mud as it crashed into the nearby building. Just a few moments later and both trainers could see the Baltoy was knocked out. The Gym Leader returned it silently. “It seems you’ve learned how to handle Baltoy with advantage instead of just strength.” He looked down at his other ball. “Cubone, do your best, I know you want to win more now than ever.” He then sent out his final Pokemon for the third time this day. Nate pumped his fist. “Hehe. Good job Cassius,” he said. The Automaton once again flexed, this time in response to the praise from its trainer. It seemed very pleased with itself.

Stella continued to tap the wrench against the radio, pondering how Rusty Rick had managed to do what he did with the table. Her train of thought screeched to a halt, however, as she heard Vivian's suggestion about what to do. Her eyes quickly glanced towards Kelsey, worried that something was going to happen between the two. Thankfully, nothing more seemed to come of it, and Stella stopped her examination of the radio to watch Kelsey go and acquire more materials. The girl put a hand to her chin, pondering over Kelsey's question as she looked over towards the teacher. Stella jokingly said, "well, I uh - maybe? I...I don't know." The girl was thoroughly baffled by this, as she had been by all of the classes so far. However, the girl looked towards the machine parts as she tried to focus. She still had an assignment to do. Trying to figure out what to do, the girl looked at a few gears that Kelsey had picked up as well as the tape and wire. Threading the wire through the gears, the girl tightened them together, putting tape on the gears to hold the wire in place. When all was done, Stella had two gears that were 6 inches apart from each other attached via wire. Placing it on the table, the girl tugged at the center of the wire, rolling the gears across as she did. Looking to the other two she said, "ta-tada. It uh, rolls."

“Ah, yes, follow me.” Amir gave a final look back to the petrified form of Ms. Briar, a solemn look passing over his face. Emily led the two of them through Galatea back to the town square. Amir looked up at the clouds as they walked, occasionally looking back at Emily and Neasa to make sure he hadn't wound up lost. Which was something that happened to him pretty often. As they walked, the sun on his back, he began to ponder about the situation they had stumbled upon. If he hadn't just watched a woman die he would have almost found it funny. A cosmic coincidence that the day that he and his fellow Watchdogs visit Galatea is the same day that Ms. Briar succumbs to the curse laid upon her family? No. He was beginning to see the guiding hand of Myria. Sure, he did wish that she was more upfront with him. From what he had witnessed around the other Watchdogs, their gods tended to be more direct. Still, he could appreciate the artistry. Emily directed Neasa to the temple of Taros before turning to Amir and grabbing him tightly around the wrist. He startled a bit but did not pull away. “Is there a way for you to tell me my fate? Or what will happen if I perform a specific action? I’d like to request your guidance.” "Telling you your fate, that might be tricky. But guidance, guidance I can do." Amir looked around the square before spotting a temple emblazoned with a beautiful stained glass rendering of the same symbol that peaked ever so tastefully out of his robes. "It's your turn to follow me." Amir led Emily to the Temple of Myria, located at the eastern end of the square. The white marble of the facade sparkled in the sun. It was a beautiful sight, one worthy of a place of worship. Stepping through the doors, Emily and Amir were embraced by the wafting trails of incense. The interior of the temple was dully lit, small clusters of candles providing the only light other than what streamed in from the glass window. It created a beautiful tapestry of shifting light and color on the polished floors. Small altars to Myria lined the outer walls, several acolytes kneeled at them in prayer. Their forms were hunched, deeply relaxed. Amir was familiar with such form. Prayer to Myria often resulted being drawn in to sleep-like consciousness. Fate, he had learned, was best interpreted beyond the awakened world. It took a moment for anyone to notice that Emily and Amir had walked into the temple. Eventually an older acolyte, one of them temples elders roused himself from where he kneeled at the larger alter that sat in the center of the room. "Greetings," Amir bowed his head in respect, "My name is Amir, I am a Watchdog for Myria." He pulled back his robe to reveal the entirety of the mark on his chest. "I am here to request a private space where Ms. Briar and I can consult the Dreamweaver." The elder nodded, a kindly smile wrinkling his eyes. "Follow me." Before they moved further into the temple, Amir removed the wooden sandals from his feet and gestured for Emily to do the same. They left them at the front door with the other pairs of shoes. The temple elder led them to a private room, carrying a single candle with him that he used to light the incense in the small chamber. After making sure there was nothing else that they needed, he departed, closing the door behind him. The private chamber was furnished with a small altar, surrounded by pillows. Faint trails of smoke drifted off the incense, making the room smell powerfully of lavender. "Shall we commune with the goddess, then?" He took Emily's hands, their bodies on opposite sides of the altar; their hands clasped above the carved symbol of Myria. "Breathe deeply and slowly," Amir voice, already gentle, became languid and soothing as he began to coach Emily through the meditation. One had to achieve relaxation to be able to talk to the goddess of dreams. "Let yourself be pulled into Myria's realm. It is one you have visited every night, your mind knows its touch. Seek her guidance and ask her for answers." He gave Emily's hand a soft squeeze. "Do not be frightened of what you may see, her answers do not always make sense right away. And I will be with you, you are not alone."

Marie hung back and worked herself up once again as she saw everyone converge towards the Godslayer. Grimacing as the man managed to take two more attacks in stride, even still managing to retaliate against Ari amidst all of it. No matter how slow she had made him, the man still seemed to be going too fast for even Jabari to keep up with, let alone the rest of them. And then there was also what he had said. Obviously there were other Godslayers here, given how she hadn't seen Allie yet, but she refused to accept that everyone else here would be stopped by them. After all, her, Keanu, Randy and Nani had fought Allie twice and come out on top both times. Not to mention everyone else here seemed plenty strong as well. So, she had to believe that everyone else could stop the Godslayers. And so, so could she and everyone else here. Biting her lip as she tried to calm herself and focus on how to beat her opponent, the Lucario took notice of the girl and turned to face her. Taking a deep breath, the girl let out a stream of bubbles once again. The man didn't take much note of this as he started to walk towards her. Jabari, still trying to get close enough to help, let loose yet another shockwave to try and intercept the man. Seeing the two attacks approach from either side the Lucario sped his pace up, running forward he twisted himself to dodge past Marie's bubbles. Then, as the electricity caught up to him the Lucario's supernatural reflexes kicked in, the Godslayer kicking off of the ground and leaping into the air to avoid the attack. Now airborne, the man looked towards Marie again, charging up a steel pulse of energy again before firing the beam towards her. As she could actually see this attack coming, the girl dove to the side and tumbled away as the attack smashed into the ground in her place. Slowly picking herself back up, now on all fours, the girl saw that Lucario was about to land. Taking in another deep breath, the girl sent out one more torrent of bubbles that struck the Lucario as he landed. Though this had been significantly stronger than any of the icy winds that had hit him thus far, he still didn't seem at all distressed by being hit. Instead, the moment he had landed, he was already in motion again running towards the girl and kicking upwards. Slamming his foot into her gut, all the wind was knocked out of Marie as she was launched away from him. Picking herself up again, having a coughing fit as she tried to get her breathing back to normal she looked towards the Lucario. Defiantly, she coughed out, "th-they won't...lose. And neither," she coughed, "w-will we."