Unova League

The first thing that lured Touko out of her unfeeling stupor was the smell of fresh pizza...and James was carrying it over! Quickly she snatched the official declaration of war out from under the feet of the milling crowd.

Huh. Apparently she had a crowd worrying about her. This was unusual. Oh. Right. She was this famous, supposedly unbeatable hero. Slowly, one piece at a time, it started to come back to her.

"James? Why do I smell pizza? I didn't know delivery came all the way out here." She sniffled and wiped her face with her jacket sleeves to clear her vision and focus. But her senses did not deceive her. A portly man in red coveralls was on the cover of a white cardboard box...and for some reason he had an M on his cap. Probably some mascot or something.

"You and me, let's eat first, and then we'll discuss strategy. Right now I am not in a good place, but food tends to help when I'm having a bad day."

Touko didn't even care that it wasn't her favorite kind. She just accepted that in this moment, James was her hero, coming to the rescue when she couldn't help herself. And with every mouthful that went down her gullet, she had to remind herself that this was okay. She just had to get out of here before the paparazzi decided that the two of them were now an item...of course, there was no escaping the autograph requests. Luckily the napkins that came with the pizza were considered an adequate medium.

"So, uh...gotta start somewhere, might as well start with everyone in the room here. What do you plan to do about this? There's got to be a way to cut Melaine down to size. There's no way she's not getting some kind of help from outside. But the thing that really pisses me off is if I had strung her along and stroked her ego, I might have gotten the fight to a point where Claw had a swords dance or two and I could have done some real damage."

"A Golurk delivered it. It's not a trainer so it's allowed passed the gates. Pokemon can't solo challenge the league so it works. Eat as much as you like, Emiko. As for Melaine, taking her head on isn't an option. In my experience from life and the occasional game, big enemies usually have so called support beams. Be it underlings or a power share with something. And seeing her power already, she has to have one of those. She doesn't seem like she'll stop at just Unova though. But, if she wants to move that power with her minions and stay in one place, she'll have to funnel it into something or someone on site. So whatever she's funneling into likely's gotta be taken down. Nothing is this powerful without something powering it up. It's just not possible."

"How did you know food would work, James?"

"Lucky guess. I always order a pizza when I'm down. Well, used to. You tend to cheer me up a lot of the time, Shirona. Anyway, you eat up, Emiko. After that, we'll move somewhere before the people here get ideas or flood you for autographs."

Fafnir, the Garchomp, jumped out of his pokeball and eyed the crowd, attempting to break it up. It worked quite well as people backed away from James and Emiko.

"Now now, Faf. No need to take it too far."

James returned Fafnir to his ball after the dragon gave a snort in reply.

"It's nice that you're feeling better, Miss Emiko. It hurts terribly to see a person so... so... uh, at the level of sadness you were at."

"Depressed"

"Is that the word? Alright. I'll remember that."

"Hell of a lucky guess," Touko said with her mouth full between bites. "But I think they already have." She took a pen and started signing napkins...which seemed to elate some fans. "Oh my gosh! Not only her signature...BUT HER SPIT IS ON THIS!" said one. The champ just rolled her eyes. No getting information out of people who were star struck.

"Gimme that. And your pen." And she quickly scrawled out an autograph.

Emiko Touko

"Let's get out of here before cameras start going off and people thinking we're an item."

"That would be a good idea. I don't need to be on another tabloid."

James stretched a little bit and Shirona floated over next to him. He turned to face the crowd which had creeped toward Emiko again after the one person got through."Best if I work an act so people don't think we're an item. That will be very inconvenient if that's plastered on the front pages. I could try to go for a bodyguard. Yeah let's go for that." he thought.

"Ok you lot. That's enough. Back up and away from the exit, people. Miss Emiko needs to be going now. And please do it peacefully, I'd hate to have to let that Garchomp out of his ball again."

He put his hand on the dusk ball on his belt and a majority of the people backed up again, leaving an opening to either of the doors. He didn't like making threats, but he wasn't above them as they had their uses. Fafnir was a darn good one.

"A way is clear for you, Emiko. I suggest you take it. I'll meet you outside. Shirona, go with her to make sure she's good outside."

"Very well. Come on, Miss Emiko. We should be off"

"I agree."

And with that, Touko withdrew her Unfezant from the PC in exchange for her Volcarona before heading towards the door.

"I'm feeling like heading home to Nuvema. If you want to follow me...that would be OK," she admitted with a blush and a slight giggle. "I don't know what you plan to do about the impending attack, but you're clearly strong enough to do something. Just...don't bite off more than you can chew. Here's my number. Call me if you find anything."

And like that, off she went, to contemplate her strategy. Soon, Unova would be at war, and she had to be ready. Just like Titania told her that one time in Alola. Not everything could be settled by a well regulated duel, after all.

"I think I'll take you up on that. Better than sticking around here considering I don't have all the Unovan badges. You get a head start though. It'll bring up more questions if I go flying directly after you."

"It's about South Southeast of here."

"Got it. For now, let's get out of here."

The pair proceeds to head into the back end of Victory road for a breather from the people in the lobby. After about 5 minutes they re-emerge. Asuka pops out of her ball without being asked and James and Shirona hop on. Asuka takes to the skies and follows Shirona's directions to Nuvema Town.

"When we get there, I hope I can get some info out of what Rachel gave her. Doesn't matter how little... If we want to do a damn to stop this, we can't just wander in the dark. We'll try to work something out."

"She likely wants to protect her home region so she would probably appreciate the help."

"Probably but, she might be too textbook. Regardless, time is of the essence here. Asuka, can you go faster?"

"SKREEEEEE!"

The Staraptor gave a shrill cry before flapping its wings and speeding itself up from it's previous leisurely speed.

Emiko Touko ascends towards Unova.

Carrena Amber Vale descends into Johto.

...From the depths of the wilderness emerged a familiar young girl, clad only in the ragged remains of a once grandiose pretty pink princess dress. Her shoes were long gone, though her crown still rested atop her head. She had burn marks on her body, concentrated mostly on the lower legs and arms. Frankly, it looked like she ought to be in serious pain. Her naturally red eyes surveyed the signs of civilization and her heart skipped a beat as she realized she knew where she was.

“...Oh wow! I think that's Victory Road!” Iris blurted out in amazement. How long had she been lost? She had no idea. Time had lost meaning to her quite some time ago. Days and nights had gone without her ever noticing. Hesitating only a brief moment, she promptly burst into a run and charged her way into victory road, racing through and leapfrogging a lazily foraging gigalith that kinda stopped and glanced around in bewilderment as it felt something rapidly scale it before leaping off. As she traversed the cavernous trail, she closely passed by a couple and startled them. The man of the couple did a double take, before calling out after her. “HEY! PUT SOME CLOTHES ON!!”

Iris slowed to a stop, glancing down at herself. ...Oh yeah. These really didn't look like they qualified as clothes anymore did they. She turned about and walked back to the couple. “--Oh hi! Almost missed you there. Sorry, I've been living in some big monster's guts for like I don't know how long now. I guess it ruined my pretty dress...” she replied, pouting slightly at no one in particular. The man that had called out to her before just kind of stared for a moment as he attempted to process what she had just said. “...What??” he asked in bewilderment. “It's okay though because I had lots of fun escaping! My pokemon and I learned a lot while we were in there. There were a lot more spiders than I expected though. Anyway I need to go now. I've gotta get some new clothes and tell everyone I'm okay!” Iris blurted out rather cheerily. “ . . . Wait, what?!” the man replied, somehow more confused than before. However, Iris simply turned tail and ran off, waving as she did so. The man's partner leaned over a bit to watch her leave. “...Was that the grand champion??” his partner asked.

Not long later, Iris' Haxorus launched into view of the pokemon league with a panicking Deino hanging onto her tail by its teeth and Iris riding her back.

Inside the pokemon center, two clerks sat listening to what was essentially elevator music, relaxing with some coffee and reading the new online. One of the clerks deigned to look up as a flash of movement caught their eye, sort of staring for a moment before leaning over and grabbing the other's attention with a simple “Hey.” and a head gesture toward the door. The other clerk looked up briefly and then did a double-take. “...What the fuck?” the clerk blurted out. A few seconds later, Iris launched herself from Haxorus and performed a flip, returning the pokemon in mid-air and sailing through the automatic doors to land in the lobby. At the sight of this ragged, burnt child, the clerk that had just sworn began screaming in a panic. “--...What?” Iris asked rather bluntly, somewhat irritated by the high pitched squealing of the clerk. “...G-Grand Champion. Welcome back.” the other clerk stammered out. The clerk that wasn't trying to find their composure then began making a bunch of phone calls. First, Nurse Joy. Second, Drayden--he could bring some proper clothes and prepare a tailor for the royal regalia's restoration. Third, ...the UPL's Advisor to the Grand Champion, Irvine Wallander.

Shinya arrives, coming from Unova.

Shinya has left the area, heading south into Unova Wilderness.