(ELITE) The PYRITE Team

"Oh he is, no mistake about that. I don't even need the aura scanner to tell when he's turned," Mike answered, tapping a little device attached to his temple. Huh. Now what was that little gadget? "He's the only one with a special kind of Shadow formula that turned him completely purple when he was under its influence. They called it XD-001. Normally he's pure white but not when this stuff has him. And...wait. Relic Stone? The heck is that? What does a rock have to do with purification?"

"Wish I had some high tech gear to see shadows," Wes mused. "I had to have an angry ginger to do it for me. But wait, you don't... know about the Relic Stone?" At Mike's admittance, Wes sighed.

"How in God's name-- The Relic Stone is this... uh... relic, I guess, in Agate Town. It's imbued with Celebi's power and, when a Shadow is near to purification, the stone is used to undo the final lock. It's also what lets me use the Time Flute." Wes stared at the other man a moment. "...You don't know what that is either, do you?"

---

"Hehe. Perfect. Let me get a better look at that." Asche held up the coat proudly, glad that he was able to help. "I have an idea. Let's put this on you, and paired with those goggles you can look like that weird doctor in one of Dean's favorite movies. He'll die laughing and stop being so pissy. What do you say?"

"Yeah!" He looked at his strange paws and spat the coat out of his mouth. "So how do I... like... put it on?"

Soon the group of humans and Pokemon went upstairs to accomplish their task. When they made it to a hallway, Diantha checked a door and said, "I suppose now is when we choose an apartment and pick it apart. Makes sense to go for the first one, right?"

Colm agreed, "Makes sense."

Once the door opened with a huge squeak, Cossette joked to Athena, "I guess now is when we split off into human-pokemon groups?  My condolences."

"Try not to kill each other," Colm teased. Any unease he had faded since it appeared that neither trainer had any desire to interrogate him.

Watson weaved between the humans' legs to get a better view of the apartment. When the Raichu was close enough, he took a few tenative sniffs. He promptly sneezed.

"That bad?"

"If the blonde guy cleaned it out like he supposedly did, it wasn't recent."

"Try not to kill each other," Bishop teases, Cosette giggling alone quietly as she slips off into one of the rooms to search. A sneeze rings out, Diantha turning to find the Raichu twitching his nose and observing that no one had definitely come in here recently.

That's good, she supposes as she follows Cosette fully into the other room. If someone had been through here recently, that could mean a number of disastrous things for us. It's better that there's no one here at all.

And she's eternally grateful when there's no signs of violence in this room. The place is not without sorrow, but at least death isn't one of them.

"Probably a bad idea to check the fridge," Costte remarks as she starts to dig through the cabinets of the kitchen. Diantha can only nod in agreement, pondering the point of searching the kitchen at all.

"We did come here specifically for bedding. Maybe we shouldn't waste time on the kitchen?"

"I mean, we're definitely not going to find anything bedding related in here, but it never hurts to take a peek. There might be something useful. Matches, extra batteries..."

"He said he already checked the place, though," Diantha pointed out.

"He did, but sue me."

No harm in letting her look. She watches as Cosette makes short work og checking everything in the kitchen except for the refrigerator. Dusty, empty cabinets. The drawers are the same. Shame. Cosette sighs, closing the last drawer with a bit more force than actually necessary.

"All right. Let's go find the others then." Diantha follows her out of the kitchen and into the other rooms, looking for the others.

"Yeah!" Phoenix found herself just as excited as her strange blue friend and her waving tails were more than happy to prove it. "So how do I... like... put it on?" Trotting over to Asche Phoenix picked up the collar of the jacket and draped it over his back, mumbling “Hold still,” as she tried to work it across without dropping it. He shifted a bit to help keep the cloth from falling until finally it settled and she could pull on it to cover him. Once she adjusted it to where it was draped across his back like a cape she put her paw on his back to stabilize it and held up one sleeve in her mouth. “Put your leg in here,” she mumbled again. “Then we’ll do the other one.” Asche complied easily enough.

It took a few tries but eventually they got his forelegs in the sleeves, however about time for the third try Phoenix was ready to rip them off. Neither of them had the dexterity to button the coat but it didn’t matter, he looked enough the part to amuse their trainers so she declared him finished and led their little game towards where the boys were filling up the tub. Humming ‘My Eyes’ as loudly as possible she strut into the room followed closely by Asche in his ensemble causing Dean to turn around to see what exactly was going on. The smile on his face was instantaneous.

Not only did Asche look like a pokemon version of Dr. Horrible but Phoenix was humming the tune of his favorite song obnoxiously loud and he couldn’t contain his laughter. He put down the jug he was using to fill the tub and staggered over to the Absin to give him a big hug, ruffling his fur affectionately. It took a minute for him to catch his breath enough to even give them the credit they deserved. “I don’t know how, and I don’t know why, but you two are just the best you know that? I haven’t laughed like this in ages!” He pulled Phoenix towards him as well and hugged them both. “Thanks guys…”

"Wish I had some high tech gear to see shadows. I had to have an angry ginger to do it for me. But wait, you don't... know about the Relic Stone?" Michael shrugged. "Never came up before. What does it do?" It seemed his lack of insight proved to be a bit much for the blonde. Not a feeling the younger man was entirely used to.

"How in God's name-- The Relic Stone is this... uh... relic, I guess, in Agate Town. It's imbued with Celebi's power and,  when a Shadow is near to purification, the stone is used to undo the final lock. It's also what lets me use the Time Flute." Celebi? Like...the Legend? A Legend was responsible for purifying pokemon? With a flute? Well now how in the hell was that supposed to work?! "...You don't know what that is either, do you?"

Michael sighed heavily and pushed himself off of the wall gently. As his mind raced his legs began to get itchy with the need to pace out his thoughts. "To be completely honest, no. No I don't. All I ever had to do was catch a Pokemon, earn their trust and affection, then put them through a Purification Chamber. Music makes a little sense in that we had to get all of their energies lined up in a rhythm, a tempo that maximized the effect of the chamber. That makes sense to me. Scientific cause plus scientific explanation equals scientific solution. 1, 2, 3. Simple. Magic rocks controlled by flutes that summon pseudo-gods? That's a lot less scientific and dives into realms I am really not familiar with."

It seemed that Wes' disbelief was a bit much for the redhead. "To be completely honest, no. No I don't. All I ever had to do was catch a Pokemon, earn their trust and affection, then put them through a Purification Chamber. Music makes a little sense in that we had to get all of their energies lined up in a rhythm, a tempo that maximized the effect of the chamber. That makes sense to me. Scientific cause plus scientific explanation equals scientific solution. 1, 2, 3. Simple. Magic rocks controlled by flutes that summon pseudo-gods? That's a lot less scientific and dives into realms I am really not familiar with."

Wes sighed. "It's all that old bat Eagun ever talked about. Celebi this, purification that. In any case, yeah, Celebi was the entire power behind purification at all. Eagun, Agate's leader, said that Celebi helped Shadows remember what they were like before they were fucked over by Cipher. He might have died by the time you came around, though. Everyone there had a foot in the grave." He frowned at the thought; hopefully it wasn't the case. Eagun was Rui's grandpa, after all. "Anyway, the Time Flute is an instrument blessed by Celebi. With it, I can summon Celebi itself and completely reverse shadowfication, even if I haven't worked to purify the pokemon at all. It's got one good summon in it left, but I have to play it by the Relic Stone. Otherwise, it's just a flute."

---

Justy looked up from their work to see his new pokemon and the hostile Ninetales strutting up and... humming? Wait, was that... “I don’t know how, and I don’t know why, but you two are just the best you know that? I haven’t laughed like this in ages!” Dean could barely stop laughing long enough to breathe much less speak. “Thanks guys…”

"Is-Is that my coat?" Justy asked, peering around Dean to get a better look at Asche. "I'll be damned; I think you're wearing it better than me, buddy."

Once the group arrived at their 'destination', Cosette turns to Athena to make a joke. It's amazing how quickly the two of them have began to get along. "I guess now is when we split off into human-pokemon groups?  My condolences."

”You're all invited to his funeral,” Athena says with a snicker she doesn't even try to conceal.

”Rude.”

”Try not to kill each other,” Bishop adds in, and after that, the three mini-groups split up for the search. Unfortunately, as the Raichu notes, everything is dusty as hell and reminiscent of those scenes in movies where they show the untouched rooms of people who died. Matt didn't care all that much for such depressing scenes, but he can imagine someone like his brother commenting on how sad everything looked. Yeah, Chris would have something to say about all this.

Trying not to think of his little brother, Matt follows Athena into one of the bedrooms. On a lighter note, at least dust meant this place hasn't been touched by serial killers and whatnot. That would really put a damper on the mood.

”Alright, mattresses, mattresses. That's what we're looking for,” Matt says as he glances at everything except a bed. The room is pretty bare, but some sketchy drawings are hung unevenly on the wall, as though they'd been brushed past. It doesn't look like kid art, but then, his own art amounts to little more than stick figures. Both his siblings had well surpassed his meager drawing skills by the time they were in elementary school.

”Yeah, there's one problem with that.”

”And that would be...?” Matt asks as he inspects what looks like a pair of Numel.

”Well, for starter's, there's no bed.”

”What-really?”

”Yep.” Sure enough, when Matt looks around the entire room, it's deprived of the one thing they needed. Hell, there isn't even a lone mattress.

”This place is shit,” Matt grumbles. He didn't envy whoever had to sleep on the floor when they were living here. Their 'search' doesn't last much longer; the room barely contains anything, and of what little remains, nothing is of any real use. Either the person using this room had been miles below the poverty line, or it was some sort of storage for throwaway items. Man, if it's the latter, someone must have really disliked their art.

Unfortunately, this means the two of them have to return to the others empty-handed.

(note: feel free to have Matt be w/ the others next round, I kinda meant for that to be the point of the last sentence)

Diantha and Cosette slipped into the kitchen while Matt and Athena headed to one of the bedrooms. While Colm doubted that the first pair would find what they were looking for in there, he left them to their devices. Once Watson's nose stopped bothering him, Colm went to the other bedroom that he could see, or at least he assumed it was a bedroom. The door was closed, so he jiggled the knob to see if it would even open. It didn't resist, so he nudged the door open. Stale air hit them, and thankfully the smell didn't indicate anything else.

When Colm took a few steps in, he was hit with a sense of melancholy that he couldn't shake. The sofa bed was unfolded, and the sheets had been tossed to the side as if someone had jumped out in a hurry. The mattress was still there... "Guess we lucked out, Watson. No floor sleeping for us tonight."

The Raichu sniffed the fabric and sneezed again. "This better not have bed bugs. I swear to Zygarde that if I have bites in the morning, you're going to pay."

"If you have bites, then I probably will have some too," Colm shot back. However, he started pulling off the fitted sheet to get a look at the mattress proper. The white fabric was stained yellow hopefully from age. The alternatives weren't appealing, even if they didn't have much room to complain. He picked up one end of the mattress and shook it a little to see if anything fell while Watson watched like a hawk.

"Should be alright," he approved after a moment.

"Well, that's all I can see for mattresses... Shall we look around for a moment?" Colm was glancing at the closet and nightstand.

Watson wasn't too enthused, but they needed to kill a little time. "Eh... we can try. Don't think we'll find much else."

The night stand's drawers yielded nothing, so Colm moved to the closet."Mostly want to see if they have goggles. I'll take kiddie swim goggles at this point. Riding in the desert earlier was hell." The closet was a mess. More than likely the clothes had been already raided, or it was a reminder of how quickly the former resident had left. He aimed his flashlight to the top shelf, and he was rewarded with the shadow of a box. Eagerly, he reached up and tugged the box towards him and placed it on the ground. It was a bit heavier than he expected, but he didn't mind as his curiosity overcame him. The cardboard top was already slit open, so getting in wasn't an issue. Once it was opened, he was rather confused. "Skiing gear?" In a desert. That made sense. Then again, this stuff looked rather old, even by epidemic standards... He was fairly sure that if given enough time he could wrestle out the story of this aparment's previous owner, but figuring out the puzzle would only make him feel worse. So instead he quietly pulled out the skiing goggles, and scooted the box back into the closet. He'd let the others know of that find in case they needed something.

"Sounds like they're regrouping," Watson's ears twitched and broke Colm's reverie.

"Alright.." Since it was a sofa bed mattress, it folded up easily. He folded it into its trifold shape, and he carried it towards the others. He triumphantly announced, "Found this!"

(Writer's block wins this round fuck this shit I'm out. Better luck next round I suppose.)

"Is-Is that my coat?" Dean released his hold on Asche as he felt Justy leaning closer to him, trying to hide the slight blush that rose from the nearness behind his still grinning face. "I'll be damned; I think you're wearing it better than me, buddy." Brushing the back of his hands across his eyes Dean tried to clear the misty tears from his heavy laughter away and chuckled out an agreement. "I think our pokemon have been rummaging through your bag. Is there some reason you guys decided to play dress up?”

Phoenix grinned and wiggled out of Dean’s grip to stand proudly by Asche. “Well with you so tense and freaking out repeatedly, of which I admit no part of my share in causing, we thought you could use a bit of fun to clear the air. And I wanted to rummage through your boyfriend’s stuff.” Dean sputtered in embarrassment and nearly fell over scooting away from Justy. “He’s not my-! Phoenix why would you even-?!” The blush he had been trying to hide was spreading across his entire face now as his whole body tensed, unable to even look at Justy without it getting worse.

“Uh huh, so that’s just what, a sunburn?”

“I just met Justy today!”

“Yeah but you think he’s cute.”

“That-! Shut up!”

Phoenix merely arched an eye ridge and continued to watch her stammering trainer. Turning to Justy she gave him a sly grin. “Hear that Justy? He didn’t say no.” Her voice had a light, playful tone at the end almost as though she were singing the last word. “Maybe you two should talk about that, huh? Couldn’t hurt.” Dean honestly thought he was gonna die from embarrassment at this rate.

"It's all that old bat Eagun ever talked about. Celebi this, purification that. In any case, yeah, Celebi was the entire power behind purification at all. Eagun, Agate's leader, said that Celebi helped Shadows remember what they were like before they were fucked over by Cipher. He might have died by the time you came around, though. Everyone there had a foot in the grave." Eagun...Eagun... Michael's face morphed into one of contemplation as his eyes rolled up, as though he could somehow see the memories filtering through his mind. Why did that name sound so familiar...? "OH! Eagun! The old guy with a million Chu. I fought him a couple times, nice old man. I kind of remember him mentioning a rock, or at least telling me where it was, but mostly I just remember fighting a lot of electric rodents. His wife gave me a Lucky Egg after I helped her out though."

"Anyway, the Time Flute is an instrument blessed by Celebi. With it, I can summon Celebi itself and completely reverse shadowfication, even if I haven't worked to purify the pokemon at all. It's got one good summon in it left, but I have to play it by the Relic Stone. Otherwise, it's just a flute." Michael's blush returned as he realized he had gotten carried away, going silent and waiting patiently for Wes to finish speaking this time in case he accidentally cut him off again. Finally silent for once he was able to take in what Wes was saying even though his mind was still determined to try and pick more logical reasons for Wes's answer than magic. At least until he said he met the Legend.

Michael had never been one to discount people telling tales of seeing or meeting Legends as he himself had captured Lugia in order to save him from Cipher so that wasn't what surprised him. What did seem incredible however was that Celebi would appear from a combination of a flute and this Relic Stone. Maybe they had to resonate together in order to work? All objects have varying resonance and perhaps this flute needed that specific stone in order to produce a sound only Celebi could hear?

"Strange...very strange. But not entirely impossible. If somehow Celebi is still able to be summoned would it really be able to purge him? They were so confidant XD001 would resist the method you had used... I need to know exactly how Celebi does it, if I know maybe we could amplify its power somehow like the Purification Chambers. If the stone acts as a resonator then there is no reason we can't tap into that as well. Maybe Celebi would know...? Ugh. This is bullshit. Stupid Cipher." Michael sighed as his rambling mind halted its numerous theories and he dropped back against the wall again, toeing the ground with his foot dejectedly. "Nothing is allowed to be easy is it?"

Dean wiped the tears from his eyes as Asche proudly stood in Justy's coat, the entire look maximized with the goggles. "I think our pokemon have been rummaging through your bag. Is there some reason you guys decided to play dress up?”

The Ninetales that had been nothing but belligerent to him wriggled out of her trainer's grip and stood next to the cosplaying pokemon. “Well with you so tense and freaking out repeatedly, of which I admit no part of my share in causing, we thought you could use a bit of fun to clear the air. And I wanted to rummage through your boyfriend’s stuff.”

Wh--

Dean nearly leaped away from Justy while the latter simply stared down at the fox in dumbfounded silence. “He’s not my-! Phoenix why would you even-?!” The poor man's face erupted in blush. Thankfully, Justy was a little too tan for his own to show, but he still felt the heat gnawing at his cheeks.

“Uh huh, so that’s just what, a sunburn?”

“I just met Justy today!”

“Yeah but you think he’s cute.”

“That-! Shut up!”

The fox grinned up at them, turning her coy eye to Justy himself, who was still drowning in his own stupor. “Hear that Justy? He didn’t say no. Maybe you two should talk about that, huh? Couldn’t hurt.”

"I-- It--" Justy stammered, mouth flapping like a Stunfisk. Oh, he had been confessed to so many times. So many wonderful people, both men and women, had come to him, asking him on dates and complimenting him, but... he honestly just didn't know what to say.With each word, his voice became smaller and less confident, the blush on his cheeks staining even his tanned skin. "I think...ing that Dean is, i-indeed, a-- it's-- nice and attractive, uh, person of the uhm... male... variety... And... it's-- he's-- I thank... him. I am... flattened-- flattered. Flattered. Yes. Uhm..." He turned to Dean and, in a tiny whisper, he asked, "Wasn't there a... bath... of some sort, where I could possibly drown myself?"

---

"Strange...very strange. But not entirely impossible. If somehow Celebi is still able to be summoned would it really be able to purge him? They were so confidant XD001 would resist the method you had used... I need to know exactly how Celebi does it, if I know maybe we could amplify its power somehow like the Purification Chambers. If the stone acts as a resonator then there is no reason we can't tap into that as well. Maybe Celebi would know...? Ugh. This is bullshit. Stupid Cipher." Wes tilted his head in bemusement, watching the ginger scour his mind as he flopped back against the wall. He really was just going through a mental obstacle course, trying to get to the bottom of this, wasn't he? "Nothing is allowed to be easy is it?"

Wes shrugged, chuckling a bit as he pondered. "I honestly don't think Cipher ever knew about the flute. I didn't boast about it. They never saw me purify anything with it. They knew about the Stone, sure, but that was because they knew about it before I did. And if they do know, then they'd know it's only good three times. I doubt they'd expect an impatient little shit like me to keep one of the charges." His face erupted into a grin. "Either way, it's a decent lead. And if it doesn't work, you'll at least get to see it in action for future reference. But the main concern is that you don't have the pokemon in question with you. Kinda hard to do any of this without it. Where is it?"

Matt had grumbled under his breath the entire time they walked back (which took about a minute) about Numel sketches and missing mattresses, with Athena snickering at him the whole time. Or maybe she found their fruitless search funny, he didn't know. Sometimes, he had to work to figure out what sense of humor Athena had, and nine times out of ten, Matt settled with “no fucking idea”. She often laughed when he fucked up, but hey, it's not his fault the people here either were forced to live without a bed or simply chose not to. If a dude in a ski mask put a gun to his head and demanded Matt choose, he probably would have gone with the former. This place didn't exactly resemble Lumiose City, and something told him it'd been that way before the whole apocalypse deal. Only a wild guess, but one he could have bet on, if people still gambled.

He and Diane arrive first (along with their Gardevoirs, of course, who could not be left out), but Matt doesn't know what to say to her, and soon enough they had their third member back. Small talk averted-score one for him and Athena. Bishop is carrying some sort of folded object...wait a second, is that a mattress? Had he succeeded when everyone else found an amazing total of absolutely nothing? If so, great, because that'd mean there'd be less work to do and less of a chance that Matt would be sleeping on the floor. Two birds with one stone, and he hadn't even needed to put forth a ton of effort.

"Found this!" Bishop confirms his newly-discovered treasure, no doubt proud of himself. Matt can give him that; the struggles of always having to look for his mom's keys, wallet, and other assorted items are burned into his mind forever. Not even Athena, in her sagely psychic wisdom, could remove the memory of finding his mother's car keys in the freezer.

”One down, however many more to go,” Matt says, glad to see the folded mattress even with the distinct possibility of it hosting bugs, ”I didn't find a thing, though. Either this place was empty already, or it's been picked clean.”

”We haven't seen the other rooms yet,” Athena reminds him.

"True. Either way, I'm guessing that mattress is the only thing anyone found?"

The other humans and their Gardvoirs didn't seem to have much luck. ”One down, however many more to go,” Matt approvingly said. ”I didn't find a thing, though. Either this place was empty already, or it's been picked clean.” Colm shrugged. He and Watson hadn't looked elsewhere, but given everyone else's empty hands, it was probably a fair assessment

Athena reminded them, ”We haven't seen the other rooms yet,”

"True. Either way, I'm guessing that mattress is the only thing anyone found?"

"We also found a box of... I swear it was skiing gear, but I have no idea why it's here of all places. Though that really doesn't help us much." Colm laughed at the strangeness. "I guess if need be, someone could sleep on the coat and pants, but it wouldn't be very comfortable."

"It's probably something someone stole," Watson offered easily. "Imagine the look on the face of that thief, though. Try reselling that in a desert."

Colm had to restrain a laugh at the unfortunate soul's expense. "Anyway, there was a pair of snow goggles that I took. If either of you really want them, though, you can have them. Riding through that desert without something protecting your eyes is hell." He briefly thought back to this morning when he and Lestrade had started traversing. Colm had had to bury his face into the Arcanine's mane multiple times, and that didn't always work out well.

"Found this!" Bishop said in triumph, lugging a mattress in. Well, good for him! At least someone found something.

”One down, however many more to go,” Matt answered, voicing her own sentiments. ”I didn't find a thing, though. Either this place was empty already, or it's been picked clean.”

”We haven't seen the other rooms yet,” his Gardevoir pointed out.

"True. Either way, I'm guessing that mattress is the only thing anyone found?"

"We also found a box of... I swear it was skiing gear, but I have no idea why it's here of all places. Though that really doesn't help us much." Now that was a surprise. "I guess if need be, someone could sleep on the coat and pants, but it wouldn't be very comfortable."

Diantha nodded in agreement with a sigh. It was an idea, but he was totally right.

"It's probably something someone stole," Watson suggested, Diantha frowning. "Imagine the look on the face of that thief, though. Try reselling that in a desert."

"It might also have just been the remnants of better times. It's no wonder it was left behind though; in this region those wouldn't be helpful in an apocalypse."

"Anyway, there was a pair of snow goggles that I took. If either of you really want them, though, you can have them. Riding through that desert without something protecting your eyes is hell."

"Thanks for the offer, but nah; I'm fine." Finders keepers and all that.

"Well... time to move on to the next apartment, then!" Diantha headed for the door, trying to remain optimistic. There were still several apartments to look through. Surely they'd find the other two mattresses they needed.

She really did not want to sleep on the floor.

"I-- It--" Oh fuck. That level of nerves was not going to come from a good place he could tell. What the hell was Phoenix thinking dragging shit like that out in the open?! Their harmless flirting was a lot safer behind the veiled curtain. "I think...ing that Dean is, i-indeed, a-- it's-- nice and attractive, uh, person of the uhm... male... variety... And... it's-- he's-- I thank... him. I am... flattened-- flattered. Flattered. Yes. Uhm..."

Great. Leave it to Phoenix to point out the fact he found one of the gayest men probably left alive in the entire region attractive and now it looked like he wasn't actually gay! He was having a damn panic attack that a guy he was stuck in a house with thought he was cute! This was not going to end well tonight. For anyone. "Wasn't there a... bath... of some sort, where I could possibly drown myself?" Ouch. Thanks Justy, you asshole. Dean scowled at Phoenix and stood up, pushing the fox out of his way with his leg and pulled out a towel from the linen closet. "Yeah, it should be ready now. Here. End of the hall on the left." After all but shoving the towel into Justy's arms he was gone from the room and off to hide in his own.

Phoenix watched the blonde leave and frowned, disappointed her plan worked but not in the way she expected it to. "Come on Blue, let's leave Justy to his bath. I think we've caused enough trouble for one day." She looked over at Justy and her frown deepened. "You are an idiot, by the way. Just thought you should know that."

"I honestly don't think Cipher ever knew about the flute. I didn't boast about it. They never saw me purify anything with it. They knew about the Stone, sure, but that was because they knew about it before I did. And if they do know, then they'd know it's only good three times. I doubt they'd expect an impatient little shit like me to keep one of the charges." Michael couldn't help but return Wes's infectious smile. It was true, though, that Cipher never would have expected that given the sheer number of Shadows they had in their control at that time. The numbers wouldn't have given them the margin to even entertain the idea.

"Either way, it's a decent lead. And if it doesn't work, you'll at least get to see it in action for future reference. But the main concern is that you don't have the pokemon in question with you. Kinda hard to do any of this without it. Where is it?" Shit...

"Um... Well you see, it's like this-" Michael chuckled nervously and once again began rubbing the back of his head, unable to meet Wes's gorgeous golden gaze any longer. "He's kind of...with...Cipher? Or at least he went that way. The storms around their island have been in a significant increase since he flew by and he was headed right for them. Since the storms haven't dissipated and he's nowhere to be found the only logical conclusion is that they captured him again. Which for an organization that twice was taken down by teenagers they have a remarkable skill for capturing Legendaries. It's almost impressive."

"Yeah, it should be ready now. Here. End of the hall on the left." Justy hadn't been prepared for venom to so suddenly saturate Dean's words, the former staring at the other like a kicked puppy. What... what had just happened? Was... that a bad joke? Oh, he was bad at this. He stood in the wake of Dean's passive wrath, stalled by his own confusion, as the man's Ninetales paused in her track of following to address Asche.

"Come on Blue, let's leave Justy to his bath. I think we've caused enough trouble for one day." She gave a rather unimpressed look to Justy, apparently as done as her trainer. What had he done?! "You are an idiot, by the way. Just thought you should know that."

Justy deflated a bit, looking sadly at the towel in his hands. "...I know..." Dejected, he turned and obliged Dean's directions, happy in the small knowledge that at least alone he couldn't piss anyone else off. Asche watched him leave, frowning before turning back to Phoe.

"...I'm confused. What just happened?"

---

"Um... Well you see, it's like this-" Mike gave a little nervous chuckle Wes was all too familiar from using himself, his brows raising a little in amusement. So the other shoe was about to dorp, huh? "He's kind of...with...Cipher? Or at least he went that way. The storms around their island have been in a significant increase since he flew by and he was headed right for them. Since the storms haven't dissipated and he's nowhere to be found the only logical conclusion is that they captured him again. Which for an organization that twice was taken down by teenagers they have a remarkable skill for capturing Legendaries. It's almost impressive."

Wes' mouth opened a little as he stared in impressed shock at Mike. That... That was a doozy. Licking his lips as he thought, he held up a hand to Mike as a large grin spread across his face. "So... So let me get this straight: You came to find me to... help you bust a Shadow Legendary out of Cipher's island fortress surrounded by a hurricane? to purify him, except you have no idea how to purify him in the first place, no way to control him, no plan on getting him out or even getting into the fortress in the first place... but you thought I could help?" Wes laughed a little, the sheer incredulity hitting him like a train.

"Oh, holy shit, count me in," he triumphantly concluded. "I'm so fucking on board with this. We've both fucked Cipher before. Let's stick it to them again, yeah? Double team this bitch." Wes' smile was broad and genuine as he held out a hand for Mike to shake. "We got this."

"We also found a box of... I swear it was skiing gear, but I have no idea why it's here of all places. Though that really doesn't help us much."

Matt blinked several times. Skiing gear? In a desert? "What the fuck?"

"I guess if need be, someone could sleep on the coat and pants, but it wouldn't be very comfortable."

Yeah, Matt didn't like the sound of that. Not to say he's never had to sleep in uncomfortable ways-ninety nine percent of the time during his younger self's travels, it was either the ground or a couch way too small for him, and nowadays he doesn't even get the couch. Still, he would really prefer a nice, soft, possibly bedbug-infested mattress.

Out of nowhere, though, he realizes something funny: Matt is looking for a matt-ress. He can't stop himself from snickering like a dumbass, but luckily, it probably looks like he's laughing at the skiing gear.

"It's probably something someone stole," the Raichu chimes in, "Imagine the look on the face of that thief, though. Try reselling that in a desert."

Matt isn't so sure. If the people here are anything like his little brother, then selling winter-related shit is possible. Hell, it's more than just possible, it's pretty damn likely. Why, he can practically hear his mother's protests already: "Christopher, it's 102 degrees out there, you'd better take off that sweater this instant! And don't put on a scarf!" Good times.

"It might also have just been the remnants of better times. It's no wonder it was left behind though; in this region those wouldn't be helpful in an apocalypse."

"Maybe they were from Sinnoh or something," he offers with a shrug, remembering how cold people said Sinnoh could be. It's been a long time, but didn't that region have a lot of mountains too? Eh, whatever. As hilarious as this situation was initially, Matt isn't really interested in the strange tastes of what is likely a long-dead person. Besides, in all likelihoods, they didn't come back for the skiing stuff because they were killed by one thing or another. It isn't like everyone had a chance to return to their homes-Matt didn't, after all.

"Anyway, there was a pair of snow goggles that I took. If either of you really want them, though, you can have them. Riding through that desert without something protecting your eyes is hell."

Matt waves off the offer; he's already set in that department. His Talonflame-themed goggles are quite tasteful, no matter what Erasa said about them being tacky. "I'm good. Thanks for the offer, though."

The conversation is soon cut off, however, which Matt can't say he's upset about. He would rather this mattress search be done sooner than later so they can stop having to dig through a bunch of dead people's boring rooms. Normally Matt loves being able to scavenge and find all sorts of wild shit, but something about being in the presence of other people holds him back.

"Well... time to move on to the next apartment, then!"

Matt follows after, hoping the next place would have what they're looking for, and absolutely zero creepy Numel drawings.

Diantha countered Watson's suggestion, "It might also have just been the remnants of better times. It's no wonder it was left behind though; in this region those wouldn't be helpful in an apocalypse." Yeah, that was Colm's other guess, but he had tried to not let thoughts drift too far in that direction. Watson looked away, reasonably chastened.

"Maybe they were from Sinnoh or something," Matt suggested as well. Reasonable guess, Colm had to admit. Sinnoh had a lot of snow in comparison to the other regions. Though Kalos wouldn't have been a bad guess either... Thoughts of his homeland filled him with nostalgia, and he had to quickly shake off a wistful mood.

Cosette and Matt declined the offer for the goggles, and Colm was honestly a little relieved. While he was serious about giving them away if needed, he really wanted them if he was going to be spending more time in the desert. Afterwards, Diantha took charge to lead them out, "Well... time to move on to the next apartment, then!" Yeah, there wasn't much else to find in here. One shitty mattress was a lot more than he had expected.

As they herded back into the hallway, Colm paused as assessed the hallway again. Even if the area was a lot safer than expected, old habits die hard. The pause only lasted a second before following the others and shutting the door behind them. They headed to the closest door, and they were allowed access to the next apartment with ease.

(I just assumed they went to the next closest door, but if that doesn't work well, I can change it.)

Sinnoh... ah, it had been so long since she was there. When was the last time she had gone skiing?

As Diantha and Cosette split off from the others to check out one of the bedrooms, the Champion found herself smiling a little at the memory of that time she, Lysandre, and Sycamore had traveled to Sinnoh to skii. Oh, she had been terrible at it. But goodness had it been fun...

"-Di? Are you listening?" Her fairy's call shook her from her reverie, the woman glancing over at Cosette to find her with an eyebrow raised.

"... I'm sorry, no," she admitted, looking from where her gaze had fixed itself on the wall to where Cosette was, her friend having stripped the bed. "What were you saying?"

"I was saying that this mattress looks kind of servicable. What do you think?"

"I say it looks... pretty good, actually," It was a little yellow with age, but... not half bad at all. And the sheets looked decent enough. "There was a second bedroom in this apartment, right?"

"I think so."

"Okay good; since mattresses aren't exactly easy things to move, hopefully the others will have found a mattress for Matt in that other room. Let's go regroup, shall we?"

Cosette grinned and grabbed the mattress with her psychic abilities, lifting it with ease as the two women returned to the main living space to see what their companions had found.

"...I'm confused. What just happened?"

Phoenix sighed at Asche's continued naivety and gave him a small, affectionate bump with her side as she passed him, expecting him to follow. "Your new boy just insulted Dean. He blew him off and kinda made it sound like gay people freak him out by acting like an idiot just now." Walking down the narrow hall she looked to the solidly closed door of the room she and her trainer normally shared and let out another long sigh. "Dean is gonna need a little time to recover. I may be crashing with you and Dumbass tonight if he refuses to open that door all night."

It would just figure that the guy would screw up that royally. Given how aggressive Dean had been with him when she first found them together, and all the yelling thus far, she didn't realize Justy was that stupid to have caused such wrath. She figured Dean was just being a baby about having a crush like he usually was. This whole day was one giant fuck up and a half and there were still a handful of problems holed up somewhere on the other side of town. Fucking hell. Tomorrow morning the first thing that needed done was getting these to grown ass babies to talk like adults. No ifs, ands, or buts about it.

Michael felt himself shut up immediately as Wes's hand raised to pause him, an embarrassed flush crossing his cheeks as he realized he had been rambling again. He had been doing that a lot since running into Wes. Maybe it had something to do with the first human contact he had in the last four years? Ever since Eldes he'd been kind of alone...

"So... So let me get this straight: You came to find me to... help you bust a Shadow Legendary out of Cipher's island fortress surrounded by a hurricane? to purify him, except you have no idea how to purify him in the first place, no way to control him, no plan on getting him out or even getting into the fortress in the first place... but you thought I could help?" Wes's laugh made Michael incredibly nervous. He didn't realize how ridiculous everything sounded until it was repeated out loud because to him they were just facts. Hearing Wes say it, if he didn't already know the truth he would think Wes was crackers.

"Oh, holy shit, count me in," Wait. What?! "I'm so fucking on board with this. We've both fucked Cipher before. Let's stick it to them again, yeah? Double team this bitch."

"Really?! Fuck I-! Thank you!" Grabbing Wes's hand gratefully Michael's grin stretched ear to ear, unable to contain the relief and sheer joy at finding help. This was far better than anything he had planned on finding when he came here. "We got this."

Michael dropped Wes's hand but his grin remained plastered in place. "In that case we should get back to your friends, they are probably wondering if I murdered you and stuffed you in the walls by now. We can discuss your flute and a plan to get to Citadark once we've all had some decent sleep. I can't even remember the last time I got more than three or four hours myself and I was really well barricaded for four years. Too much work to do to sleep." He realized he was rambling again and quickly cleared his throat, searching his mind for another topic. "Should we go look for them or just go back to your apartment and wait?"

Without thinking, the Absin followed his Ninetales friend, eagerly listening to her sage information. "Your new boy just insulted Dean. He blew him off and kinda made it sound like gay people freak him out by acting like an idiot just now." Oh. Well... that sounded bad... Asche looked over his shoulder to where his new trainer had disappeared; he had looked sad, though. Right? "Dean is gonna need a little time to recover. I may be crashing with you and Dumbass tonight if he refuses to open that door all night."

Asche sighed and plopped his butt down on the floor, his long, lethal tail twitching behind him. "This is dumb. They were happy just two seconds ago. I don't get humans." The rest of his ebony body met with the floor in an undignified heap, the owner unaware of his ridiculous appearance. "Why are they so weird?"

---

Wes was glad to see the ginger's face erupt into such a goofy grin. No way someone with a smile like that was in any way malicious. Goober. "In that case we should get back to your friends, they are probably wondering if I murdered you and stuffed you in the walls by now." Wes laughed at the joke-- there probably were bodies in the walls, actually. Or at the very least just in the basement. But there was no need to scare him. "We can discuss your flute-" Wes snorted, "--and a plan to get to Citadark once we've all had some decent sleep. I can't even remember the last time I got more than three or four hours myself and I was really well barricaded for four years. Too much work to do to sleep." Mike seemed to realize that he was doing that "rambling" thing again and stopped himself short, clearing his throat before his embarrassment got the better of him.

"Should we go look for them or just go back to your apartment and wait?"

"We can wait at my place," Wes easily answered, taking a step back toward his apartment to lead the way. "No need in trying to ferret everyone else out; it's a simple enough building to navigate." He nodded toward where his feet were leading, expecting Mike to follow. "You still haven't eaten, though. Maybe you can get a quick bite before everyone gets back."

This apartment is about as nice-looking as the last one (which isn't saying much), but at least it has more than one bedroom. Diane goes into one, and Matt decides the other will finally break his streak of finding nothing but Numel drawings from hell (sure, that only happened once, but still). Athena follows behind, her red eyes taking in every detail on the walls as he opens the door.

"Hell yeah!" Matt exclaims upon seeing a shitty, yellow, sheetless mattress. Arceus himself could rain down manna from the heavens, and it still wouldn't be as sweet of a sight as this thing. No more sleeping on the hard ground, or in this case, the floor. But he's not going to go without sheets, no sir, Matt is a man with taste...where could a guy find suitable bedsheets at this hour? Well, fuck, maybe the closet, genius, he thinks to himself.

"It's a shit mattress, but it'll work," Athena says as she picks up the mattress using her psychic abilities, and Matt tries his best not to be jealous. Emphasis on "tries". It's not like picking up things with his mind would be useful or anything.

"Yeah, I'll take shit over-fucking hell!"

Right as he opens the closet door, a box falls down and nearly slams onto his toes, missing by mere inches. Fuck me. His heart is pounding. That one was way too close. The damn thing could have broken his foot, and the last thing anything wants in the middle of a hostile desert is broken bones and limited mobility. Looking down, Matt sees the box's seal broke open when it fell, and inside was a bunch of...are those wooden figures? One of them is a Numel, because of course it would be a Numel.

"Matt! Are you alright?"

"I'm fine. A fucking box fell, but not on me," he replies, glaring at the thing before looking at the rest of the closet. Oh, hey, bedsheets-lucky him! Everything is turning out Matt in the most wonderful, coincidental way. He grabs the bundled-up sheets, trying not to think too hard about why they were wrapped up and thrown into a closet. Ignorance is bliss. With that mattress and these not-at-all-suspicious sheets, the two of them are completely set. Hopefully, the others have been equally lucky during their respective searches. "And yes, I know I need to more careful and that throwing open doors is stupid."

"I wasn't going to say that, but hey, if the shoe fits..."

"Oh, fuck off," he says, but Athena is already smirking. Damn, another victory for her. The two of them leave the bedroom, ready to let the others know that Matt is, in fact, not dead.