To Hoenn Alone

[Deleted]

When reality slows down a bit and her sore eyes can stop trying to make sense of rapidly moving blurs, Natasha closes her eyes and presses the heel of her hands to her temples. They'll search the rooms, and then they'll either kill or capture Mirage and Anastasia. Well, maybe not Mirage if it's up when the door is being picked, but Annie certainly... And then-- she feels an invisible hand clamp her heart at the realization hits her, --then they'll find the Eggs. I should have sent them off to the Foundation! This is why I'll never be a proper Trainer.

The burst of air that escapes her in the form of a sob is what pulls Natasha back to the present and the fact that she's not the only one crying. With all the others making noise nearby, she can't be certain if that's her daughter--a mother knows their child's cry--but there is a child in need there. In the dark. In the same room.

Not bothering to wipe the tears from her face, Natasha pulls her hands from her temples, balls them in to fists and holds them at her side before taking a breath and speaking loudly, trying to force herself to be calm, "Ruby?" Her voice cracks on the word and she clears her throat and tries another deep breath to calm herself, "Ruby, is that you?" Then, realizing what effect that might have on her daughter, she adds a little more firmly, "If it is you, stay right where you are and I'll find you. If it's not Ruby O'Hara crying over there, stay still little one, we'll find your parents and bring them to you."

Taking another breath, she turns her head around, trusting her ears to tell her if anyone is breathing nearby in a way that's a bit more calmly, then she shrugs and continues, "I don't suppose any of you smuggled in a Fire or Electric Type? I'm sure most of you would appreciate some light."

SPOILER: Click to show

{Spoiler}
Charm, since we don't have Diplomacy 20637173273d6+4

[Micah]

Your cry of "Ruby?" does not elicit any real response from the various people or the child, so you are reasonably confident that the child is not her. When you ask about smuggling in pokemon, one of the other folks manages to get themselves together a bit and speaks, "They woke us up from our cabins, took our pokemon and tossed us in here. None of us have any pokemon. I think there were about five adults and one child in the group that I came in with, and you guys are the first new people to have been brought in here. Do you have any idea who these guys are or what they want?"

[Deleted]

Having nevertheless instructed the child to remain still even if she wasn't Ruby (and deep down she's know that she couldn't be), Natasha is a little disappointed at the lack of Pokémon, or night owls, in the group. Her mind wanders to a few stories her husband told her of the war and she frowns thoughtfully, "I don't suppose any of you have Elemental Fire and Electric Magic with enough self-control not to use it while being captured?" her tone is doubtful as she reaches behind her until she finds a wall or the stairs, moving away from breathing and muttering a curt "Excuse me." if she touches flesh as she moves.

She leaves the explanation of the spineless cowards who take innocent people hostage to the chef and instead closes her eyes, and trying to listen for any sounds above, even as she tries to soothe the throbbing headache a spinning, blurry world produced on their trip down here.

SPOILER: Click to show

{((Listening))}
Perception: Hearing 2538408023d6+4

[Micah]

You get no response to your question about elemental magic, so you can assume that is a no go. You can hear the chef break out of his shock and begin explaining what he knows about Team Aqua to the other people trapped together.
Blocking that out you listen for other things, outside the confines of the small room. From the sides you can hear sounds indicating that their are more people being held in similar circumstances in nearby locations, from outside the door you can hear the pacing movements of someone walking outside guarding the various impromptu prisons. From up above you can hear the sound of more people being herded down this way, along with lots of doors being slammed open and shouts telling folks to drop to the ground and submit to Team Aqua. Finally, and most unexpectedly, you hear another sound, coming from between these sounds. It seems as though someone is climbing between the floor of the next floor up and the roof of this room.

[Deleted]

Natasha closes her eyes to better let them rest and allow her to concentrate on the noises. She presses her lips together as she hears the other people being help/captured nearby and then the sound of a guard above. Hearing a person climbing towards their location, though, she turns, feeling for the steps and making her way up, reaching upward to ensure she doesn't knock her head on the hatch before each step makes for slow, but somewhat steady progress (unless something delays her, of course).

If/When she reaches the hatch, the woman runs her fingers carefully over its surface, taking a bit more time at the edges to see if there is any sort of latch or locking mechanism inside. If there is, she puts a hand on it to try and estimate how hard it would be to lock in the dark without even her blurry vision to assist. If there is not, she frowns and moves one step down, then waits, listening for signs of what's happening above.

If the guard's moved away and the approaching steps are still at a distance, she steps back up and gives the hatch an experimental push with her right shoulder and left hand, not trying to lift it completely (as that would likely attract instant attention) but rather trying to see if anything is locking it from the outside as she doesn't remember hearing anything being dragged over it when she was brought there with the cook.

SPOILER: Click to show

{((Rollin-rollin-rolling...))}Step Climbing (Stealth): 10099378402d6-1

I'm not sure what would be needed to figure out something in the dark (both searching and fiddling with the larch, if there is one) so I selected the most likely suspects:
Guile 2d6+2
Intuition 4d6+4

Perception: Hearing 3d6+4

I would think pushing/lifting(/straining muscles ) is Athletics? 2d6-1

[Micah]

You move to test the exit of the room and to your surprise, it seems that the hatch is unlocked and completely openable. Thinking on it, it makes sense, as these likely have key based locks and it is to early in the attack for Team Aqua to have acquired the right keys for this place. About the time you test this, you hear a soft thump, as someone small lands inside the room, having come from the roof somehow. The voice of a young male child issues from the place where you heard the thump. "How many people do we have in here? Any of you have pokemon training experience? I have six fully evolved and well trained pokemon, and I would rather have two of them out and active when I bust you guys out then one."

[Deleted]

"The hatch is unbar--" Natasha begins in a steady, but low voice before the thump is heard. "And someone was climbing above..." she finishes rather lamely as her fingers take their turn massaging her temples. No wonder she couldn't wrap her mind around someone climbing between floors. She'd convinced herself that the person was moving, above on deck somehow without being seen.

She does finally focus on the young male's question, and only managed to half-conceal her snort of disbelief at his question. "I have Pokémon--" she offers, gritting her teeth for a moment to push back the stab of pain in her heart at the thought of Anastasia being in danger because she left her and Mirage behind, "--but I won't do anyone any good in a combat situation."

Not to mention the fact that I'm not sure about the legality of using someone else's Pokémon! Natasha is not surprised, amused or embarrassed by that thought popping up in her mind. The best way to avoid trouble is not to go looking for it, after all.

She leans on the stair and vaguely motions towards the base of the stairs where the others are being held, despite the fact that no one can see the motion, "Someone else mentioned their Pokémon had been taken away."

She attempts to listen above again. "I know the door is unbarred," she repeats, "though I have no way of knowing when that'll change. I only heard one guard above, but there are several Team Aqua members who were taking more people into other...rooms." She shrugs a shoulder, a good a word as any...

SPOILER: Click to show

{((Listening))}
I'm not sure how often you want her to roll this sort of thing, which is why I've been doing it each post.
Perception: Hearing 4685888243d6+4

[Micah]

#For the most part I prefer to just have a single roll apply to a broad branch of time. Basically the first 20 you rolled when you first started doing things will be what I am using until the situation changes enough for me to ask for another roll. If someone does well it lasts for a while, but if someone does poorly they can't just spam the same skill to try to make up for it.

The kid speaks, "Well if their is just one outside..." A moment later you hear the sound of a pokemon being called forth and the kid and the pokemon rush the hatch. Their is the begging of a shout from the gaurd that is cut off by a sickening metal on skull sound, causing the shout to be cut off. The kid shouts, "Hey, everyone can come on out. The way is clear." You can hear him opening the doors to the other compartments. You don't hear any mass movements from further above, so it seems like no one heard the aborted scream of the guard.

[Deleted]

((Okay. That makes sense.
((No one heard the guard's shout, the crunch or the kid's shout? Wow. Bad rolls. ))

Natasha pushes herself to the side of the steps with a half-stifled swear as the child starts rushing up the stairs with some sort of Pokémon, in the dark, without any warning.

Thankfully, the woman is not crushed by their would-be-rescuer and it seems he hasn't managed to bring the world down about their ears. Yet.

Of course he's also likely killed someone.

Natasha takes the edge of her right sleeve and rubs her earlier tears off of her cheeks with an economy of motion before climbing the last few steps up to go stand on the deck. Of course, she still doesn't know the ship all that well, so she just continues to stand there. Blinking a few times before trying to see if any of the blurry shapes of rail or deck give her any indication of which direction her room or the galley might be.

If she spots the cook when he comes up, she motions him over, "That pot of Enriched Water can either help our injured or come to Crunch us in the behind, depending on if Team Aqua bothered to check what I was doing. I had taken it off the heat, though, so it shouldn't have been ruined." She slips her lower lip under her upper lip for a moment, running her tongue over her dry lips and then quickly pressing her lips together before she adds. "If they haven't gotten to my room yet, I need to get there first. Do you happen to know the way from here?"

[Micah]

"Uhh, yeah, I know the way to the passenger compartments from here. But thats probably where most of the aqua forces are as well. They may have left the kitchens after they swept it for people, but I bet they are still kidnapping folks from their rooms even as we speak. Maybe we can get the kid to help us get there." A moment later, "Hey, kid, my friend here wanted to get to her room, are you headed that way, or do you have other plans?"
"Hmm, I guess the passenger compartments would be the best place to fight the Aqua guys. I'd still rather do it with some help, as its easy to get overwhelmed when you can only command one pokemon, but I suppose I'll just have to hope that I can find someone there that can help." His voice gets louder and he seems to be directing it at the group. "I'm going to head to the passenger area. If anyone wants to go their then come along, otherwise try and find some place to hide." With that you can see the kid heading out, towards some stairs. You here movement upstairs, and it sounds like a group of people are headed down the same stairs the kid is heading up.

[Deleted]

"No!" Natasha snaps when the cook suggests asking the kid for help. "I understand if you don't want to go, so just point me on the way, but I don't need someone who has six Pokémon and never bothered to train one to incapacitate their foes along. I already have one death on my conscious for telling him the guard was alone--" she nods in the general direction of the "crunch" she'd heard earlier, setting her jaw to keep from shivering at the memory, "--and I don't need more."

She waits a few moments longer and then picks a random location and goes if the cook has not pointed out the proper staircase to her.

[Micah]

"I don't think the guy is dead. He looks very very unconscious, and its likely he will not be very happy when he wakes up, but at least from where I am standing he does not look dead. Honestly, I think you should give the kid that broke us out of this place a bit more faith. He seems to have good intentions, and if he isn't the most careful guy in the world, who can blame him, I mean he looks like he's ten for crying out loud. If you don't want to trust him, I'll take you to your room, but if we get caught by ourselves, it might blow everyone else's cover and get everyone else captured again too."

[Deleted]

"Right, ten," Natasha counters, gritting her teeth, "Ten with six fully evolved Pokémon who are very effective living and breathing killing machines in the wrong hands. The ends never justify the means used to get there."

She watches as more people come out of the other storage containers and she swears under her breath, "And you don't think having this many people moving about will break anyone's cover? Or having Team Aqua members that can't check in or are missing from their posts? Or likely a million other things that my husband could list without even thinking about?"

She shakes her head, taking a half-step towards the rooms before stopping herself and closing her eyes tightly and balls her hands into fists as her side, but she doesn't go storming off to find her room and her Pokémon, "Just because I know I'm useless here doesn't mean I enjoy it... At least if I got to my room I could use my PokéDex to send out a distress call."

[Micah]

The man hesitates to respond, but then you hear people heading upstairs at the same time people from downstairs are heading down. "Looks like you don't have to worry about blowing cover any more. The kid and a couple of guys he manages to get to help him out just made contact with a group of Team Aqua guys in the stairwell. Looks like they are winning quite handily, but I don't think any on this side of the ship can mistake this for anything but a fairly loud battle." The chef seems correct, as you can distinctly hear fire, electricity, pokemon slamming into each other and other sounds associated with pokemon battles echoing from the stairwell.

[Deleted]

Hanging her head for a moment, Natasha sighs and finds a place to sit and wait out the battle. She can't safely go anywhere near that sort of battle, after all. "Let me guess... That's the way to the rooms, right?"