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"Ugh...yeah be glad they can't..." Ren gave a sheepish smile from behind his mask as he also returned to the grim task of dismantling the miasmic mountain. Shoving piles of slime covered trash into bags only unearthed the more moist interior, renewing the stench with every bag until Ren was overwhelmed. Stepping away from the heap to take a series of frantic breaths, he saw a fellow classmate hauling...something. "Hello, I am Sun! And this is my truck! It can fit so much garbage into itself. Do you wanna put the trash in the back, and I can drag it away?" Ren was taken aback by Sun’s strange offering and the brute strength it took to drag it across the beach without functional wheels. Peeking behind the wreck, he marveled at the deep wane in the sand carved in the truck’s wake, unearthing yet more buried. Equally confusing was the fact that someone had abandoned an entire truck on a beach. However, any able pair of hands was a welcome relief in the conquest of Trash Mountain, no matter what they came bearing. "Ren, we may be able to use this to our advantage. Let's get what we can in Sun's truck here and work to lug it back out of h-..." “Definitely,” Ren replied with a sigh of relief, ‘Thank you for the help Sun-san. Here, let’s load the bags.” For a good few minutes, things seemed to return to something resembling normal, with Ren and Sun hefting the damp bags of trash into the bed of the truck, then the empty cab of the truck once the bed had already been piled high. While picking up trash would not have been the first thing he thought he would be doing at a beach, the rhythmic movement was oddly relaxing to the mind. This physical meditation was interrupted by three tremors. At first, he thought it might have been a real earthquake, but the vibrations were too regular and rhythmic to be natural "Everyone!!! Please make your way to the bus this instant! This is an emergency!" "Don't worry, everyone! We will make sure you all stay safe! Please be careful as you make your way back up to the bus!" At first, Ren thought this may be yet another test, much like the one in the simulated city, but something in the urgency in their voices suggested a true emergency. “Well, looks like we won’t be bringing this back,” Ren said to Sun, gesturing to the truck that was now bursting at the seams with trash, “Hopefully whoever finds it next can finish what we started.” Picking up his equipment, Ren then turned to address Ben and Ayane who were busy fussing over a broken TV instead of picking up more trash. “We should probably get out of here. It looks like this might be a real emergency this time.”

The girl definitely noticed that Chris was following her, but she also didn’t seem to care? Which was weird because he totally would have cared if he was the one being followed. At the same time, though, she also managed to keep a stable distance between them, so it almost felt like he was being led rather than him giving chase. That was fine by Chris, of course. Sure, odds were good that he was walking right into a trap, but what was he supposed to do, not walk into it? That meant giving up, and he was committed now. It also meant he didn’t have to disguise his intentions, so he kept his gaze, well, not locked on her, but always in her general direction lest she disappear. Eventually, the game ended. She dashed ahead and ducked into an alleyway, and just as she did so, three familiar hoods came into view. They too seemed interested in that particular alcove, or at least they were interested in stopping Chris when he tried to go in. “What are you doing here?” one said. “This is official Kalo family business.” Obviously, Chris wasn’t surprised that they acted as they did, but he did at least try to put on a good confused sort of face. “Who?” he said. “Honestly, that sounds like a made-up name. That’d be like me going around like ‘This is Ellwood family business, gimme your peaches’ or something. ‘I’m of the Chaderson clan, you must do as I say.’ Come on. I’ll let you pass because I’m nice, but you shouldn’t be acting on false authority like that.” He stepped into the alley and made an exaggeratedly gracious gesture of allowing them to pass, having gotten out of the way of the main road. The one in front sneered and said, “You absolute buffoon. This alley is where we are heading. I’ll let you off with a warning since you are clearly from elsewhere but if you want to survive long in this city you better learn the names of the mage families here.” “Oh, now you’re insulting me?” Chris said. “Even if the Kalo family exists, even if you really are part of them, and I’m still not convinced of either of those things, wouldn’t you think this is a rather poor showing on your part? If it were me, I would be putting on a pretty face to all passers-by, leaving us commoners content with our bread and circuses. If that facade is removed, though, as you are threatening to do, what is left but the gory violence of a small minority of haves oppressing the have-nots?” The man laughed. “With what we have in store, it won’t matter-” he started to say, but another man placed a hand on his shoulder and cut him off, while the third then proceeded to take the lead. As he got close, Chris spotted something of a faraway look in the man’s eyes, but he started speaking before Chris could comment on it. “We will be going down this alley,” he said. “You don’t want to be here if what we are looking for is indeed there.” “I feel like if it’s not there you’ll still be mad at me,” Chris said. “You’d say I let whatever you’re after get away. I can imagine scenarios where that wouldn’t even be true. What if you just got the wrong alleyway, for example? All these alleyways look the same to me -- I could easily mix them up if I wasn’t paying attention -- but, like your friend said, I’m obviously new, so maybe there’s some distinguishing marker that I just can’t see? Or what if…” He didn’t actually have any other examples, so the sentence just sort of drifted off. Still, he regrouped with one final retort. “Listen, I’m just saying, if you’re going to beat me up no matter what, you should at least be upfront about it.” “He’s stalling,” the first man said, clearly just done with the conversation. He stepped back up to the front and moved to shove Chris out of the way. “Ah, yeah, see, just like that,” Chris said. He stepped forward, and with his right hand, he guided the shove away from his person. With his left hand, he punched the guy in the face. That third of the trio stumbled and fell back, clutching his face. Meanwhile, the other two were already in motion, the one with a faraway look seemingly ignoring the melee and pushing forward, while the other began chanting something, with words unintelligible to Chris’ ears. The former, Chris let go for the moment. If there was magic going on, he needed to deal with that first. With as much speed as he could muster he ran up and kneed the caster in the gut. Without even a grunt the caster doubled over as Chris hit him. His mouth opened and there seemed he had bitten his tongue, and blood came spilling out. He crumpled down to his knees and blood that had dripped onto the floor began to blacken and sizzle. It was something Chris made a note of asking Estellise about later, but he had to focus. The final man had continued down the alley. Chris gave chase, and once he was close enough, kicked the man’s knees out from under him. The man flailed and fell to the ground, which wasn’t exactly what Chris had expected, but it did mean he could calm down and actually take in the alley if none of the Kalo goons got up right away. The alley was a lot darker than should have been normal in the morning sun, enough that Chris couldn’t actually see the end of it. There was no trace of the girl either, though that first thing probably explained the second. Before he could investigate further, a scratching noise from the alleyway entrance caught Chris’ attention, and he turned back around to see a creature crawling towards him that, well, he wasn’t sure how he would describe it. It was almost like an upturned purple starfish, with its appendages pushing the center up until it reached a height of two feet or so. He wasn’t sure, but Chris didn’t feel like getting close to something so foreign to him, instead opting to chuck a dagger at it. Which worked!… for a moment at least. The dagger pinned a tentacle down, but the thing just kept moving forward, eventually tearing its limb from the rest of its body and continuing on like nothing had happened. Which was a problem because Chris didn’t have a dagger for each tentacle. His hand drifted to his other dagger out of habit anyway, but it brushed against a small bag along the way, and he remembered: Blast powder! Why deal with removing tentacles one at a time when he could do it all at once? Aiming was a little different with a bag rather than a blade, especially with something as volatile, but he tried to get his toss as close as he could to the creature’s open maw and covered his ears. For a moment, it didn’t take, and the thing kept crawling towards him. But then… *Bababadalgharaghtakamminarronnkonnbronntonnerronntuonnthunntrovarrhounawnskawntoohoohoordenenthurnuk* The creature’s remaining tentacles flew from the body in different directions, some hitting the walls and at least one flying past Chris and deeper into the alley. They still twitched about -- even the one impaled with his dagger had a bit of life to it -- but no longer together, they could do little else. Instead of bleeding out, though, they seemed to be leaking water. Again, that was something he’d have to ask Estellise about, Chris thought. It was a mystery for later. The more pressing mystery was, hopefully, still further down the alley.

Team Adarid - Arceus' Chamber Attack after attack, the gijinka in the room really laid into the Godslayer before them, using every last ounce of their strength to really grind him into the ground. Somehow, even after all the punishment he had taken thus far, Kura was still able to get to his own two feet to stand before them once again. However, even his strength seemed to faulter, as his entire body was wreathed in the dark flames, consuming him until he was nothing but a pile of ash on the floor. With a hand held over her shoulder that seeped with blood, Taiga could only crack a wide toothy smile. "Serves you right, ya jerk!" Soon after, the main event began, and Arceus herself almost seemed to come back to life. After a short daze, and some tears, Arceus explained to them why she had been so neglectful all these years. "Save it for someone who cares, damnit..." Taiga groaned, Getting to her feet, and trudging over to where the others stood in her presence. She had to admit, this chick really did radiate the energy of something benevolent. It made her wanna spit. Nonetheless, she smiled. "Glad you're alright, ya damn good for nothin' god! Fufufu!" "You've done so much despite me abandoning you. Nothing I can do will ever make up for my mistakes. But I wish to try. I shall rejoin the world and look after its people. Not as an apathetic observer, nor as a ruling God, but instead I promise to work alongside all the inhabitants of this world and do my best to correct the wrongs that happened over these many years." After some others presented their own wishes, Taiga stepped up next. "First off, would ya mind patching me up a bit? That ain't my wish, but I'd be happier if ya did me a solid." The girl smiled, before nodding her head. A green aura radiated around Taiga, and all of her major injuries faded away. With a sigh of relief, Taiga's body crumbled to the floor. "Sheesh...you're a life saver." Taiga cleared her throat. "Tch, not like you didn't owe me that anyway!" She rolled her eyes, only to have them shoot towards Arceus. "As for my wish, I want a big ship! One that can sail across this whole dang world. I'm gonna scoop up as many lost little ones as I can, so that no one in this world has to grow up alone, like I did!" Taiga blushed, as she gave away too much of her idea in that last bit. "W-w-w-what I mean to say is, I'm gonna turn them all into Treasure Hunters, so we can go exploring the world for all the rarest items that this planet has to offer!" "An adventurer's soul and a kind heart. I am glad the world is in hands such as yours." "K-k-kind!?" Taiga was becoming more and more flustered. "I'm Taiga the Terrible Tyrant! I ain't kind in the slightest! One more word outta you and I might just take up Kura's position." She crossed her arms, and stuck out her tongue. "As if...I'm done fightin' for a while. Count your blessings." Before making her way out of the room, she walked to Scarlet. "Thanks for keepin up with me...you were a real pal, all the way to the end. If you're in trouble, don't hesitate to come find me. You'll always have a place in my crew." Taiga slugged the Scizor in the shoulder, before looking away from her. "And..." Taiga embraced her metallic friend, with a tear in her eye. "Don't forget...you were my first friend...please stay in touch." Wiping a tear away, she smiled, waving to all the others as she left the room. With a loud yawn, Taiga woke up in her rather luxurious bed. She stretched her arms up as far as they could go, while unleashing a massive yawn that anyone on the ship would be able to hear, if they were awake. The gentle rocking of the ship was something she had gotten used to over the past couple of years, and now it was enough to make her sleep like a rock-type. She made her way throughout her cabin, getting dressed for the day, and putting on her captain's best, before setting foot out onto the deck. Another beautiful day on the open sea. Taiga made her way to the railing, looking at the name plastered against the side of the ship, the S.S. Little League. Taiga laughed to herself. Every time she thought of those words, it reminded her of Isole and Scarlet, and that damn Captain. "If I see that bird brain Captain again...I oughta" Her brow was twitching at the mere thought. That guy was really holding out on some serious treasure, she just knew it. She kicked off the railing, only to travel a short distance towards the middle of the deck. With a large breath in, Taiga let out a huge roar. "Alright you scallywags! Get your butts out here, and start the dang day already! It's gonna be as busy as ever, so wake the hell up!" With a zip, and a zoom, three small Gijinka made their way in a hurry topside. Each one saluted before her, sounding off as they had the day they arrived on the ship. "M-Mavis, reporting in as ordered!" A zubat nervously stammered. "Trixie, reporting in as ordered!" A skitty proudly said. The other small gijinka had turned her saluting into that of making an invisible wall in front of her. Taiga tapped her finger against her arm, waiting for their newest recruit to sound off. After a few more seconds of watching the display, Taiga snapped. "HEY! Sound off, you little punk, or I'll throw you to the fishes!" She'd never do it, but she had to whip these sea urchins into shape, as proper treasure hunters. The Gijinka acted like it couldn't hear Taiga, as it was trapped in some sort of invisible box. "Oho...so the fishes it is then." Taiga ominously mumbled, as she started approaching the Mime Jr. The other two looked to the last Gijinka, almost in a panic. "Come on Ez! She's seriously gonna toss you off! Do roll call!" Trixie whispered. "E-Ez! Stop messing around, or else you'll die!" Mavis chimed in. The Mime Jr smugly looked at the two, before shrugging, and saluting once again. "Esmerelda, reporting in as ordered, Mime mime!" She finally got out, with a huge smile on her face. It was a cute enough display, but not so cute as to quell Taiga's wrath, as a fist was hammered down on top of the Mime Jr.'s head. She had to put more force into it, as her hand had crashed through the invisible barrier Esmerelda had placed above her head, full well knowing she was gonna get bopped. Rubbing her head, Esmerelda looked to the others as they all nodded their heads. In unison, they saluted once more, and chanted in unison. "Good morning, Captain Taiga!" Taiga placed her hands on her hips, and shook her head from side to side. She saluted the Little Leaguers with a smile. "And good morning to you too! What a fine day it is to sail the seas, and look for treasure, huh!?" All three of the Little Leaguers cheered. "Well, today's agenda is the same as yesterday. Look for some more lost kids, and explore the unknown! Now, I remember a friend of mine telling me about his home in Alola...apparently there's been a lot of chaos going on there as of late, and I'm sure a lot of young Gijinka are looking for a place to call home..." Taiga pointed a finger towards the horizon. "Why don't we go lookin' for them!?" With another cheer, the S.S. Little League sailed into the day, and towards a new world.