Jory

Twang-thump. Another arrow thudded into the hastily painted target on the crate. At the other end of the ship, several of the pirates in Asgall's crew groaned as coins exchanged hands. Roland grinned lightly and lowered his bow, putting his hand out to collect his share of the earnings. Could worse, he thought to himself as he looked at the target in pride. Five arrows were stuck into the bull's eye, scarcely any space between them. One of the pirates clapped the ranger on the shoulder. He was a rugged man who had clearly been at sea for some time and would be happier once they were away from the shore. "Aye, yer a good shot, that's to be sure. But can ye hit yer mark whilst this here vessel be a-bobbin' and a-swayin' in the swell of a storm?" he asked Roland, challenging the marksman. "I see no reason why I should not be able to. Come that time I suppose we will have to place another wager. How does that sound to you, Stig?" he asked the seafarer. The pirate nodded and smiled broadly. "Aye, I do believe I'll be takin' some o' my coin back from ye," he said happily. "I'll be goin' to check the riggin' afore we set sail. Good day to ye, Master Roland," he said jovially. He then walked away, looking up to the yardarms. "Oi! Get yer arses in gear, laddies! We'll be settin' sail soon and I won't have any o' ye bilge rats' lazy knots slowin' us down!" Roland chuckled at the brash seafarer's berating and turned toward the aft of the ship, walking to the railing and learning his arms heavily on it. Hopefully we'll be better equipped this time. I'd hate to have to drift all the way back here on just a piece of this ship, he thought morbidly.

Jacob chuckled as he saw Danielle take the mic on the monitor, then realized he'd forgotten something extremely important. Son of a.... he thought to himself as he rushed out of the waiting room, searching frantically for Kristen. I need to get back in there before my match starts! He continued hurrying around until he found Ryan and Kristen talking. He jogged up to the pair, slightly out of breath from searching most of the waiting area already and surprised to see Kristen on the way out. "Hey, Kristen, you alright?" he asked the redhead.

Jacob looked on in disappointment, shaking his head at Kristen's nerves getting the better of her. She seems so strong on the outside, but I suppose she's never been in a situation like this before, he thought to himself as he watched Henry prepare his next attack. He felt bad for the fiery redhead. After all her talking and blustering, she was getting creamed by Henry. "Come on, do something!" he shouted, voicing his inner thoughts. He then covered his mouth and looked around the room, hoping no one had heard his small outburst. I know you can do it. Just breathe, he hoped. If Kristen didn't get her act together soon, she was going to get knocked out in the first round.

Roland nodded wordlessly and moved toward the crates, looking at the ships. Certainly better equipped than the ones we used in Sigeto. But will they be enough? he wondered as he picked up a heavy crate and carried it onto Asgall's ship. He walked back down the gangplank and grabbed another crate, preparing for the journey ahead.

{Conclave Group} Jory sighed in relief as Carissa said his name softly and put a hand on his face. Then, he smiled down at her. As he looked at her it dawned on him how important she was to him. He felt a surge of emotion like nothing else he'd felt since the day his brother died in Lilycove. "Don't you ever scare me like that again," he said gently. He stroked the girl's hair gently, trying to comfort her after the ordeal. "I don't even want to think about..." he trailed off, unable to even finish the sentence. "Just don't do it again, okay?" he continued, his voice nearly at a whisper.

Jacob's eyes were glued to the monitor as he anxiously awaited the start of Kristen's battle. I hope she does well. After all, Henry showed off his Pokemon pretty well during the opening ceremony. He then looked down at the three members of his team who could actually fit in the waiting room, glad for their company. Spitfyre and Teo were both watching the monitor closely, the Charmeleon's arms crossed and his eyes narrowed. Although the day had only just started, the Fire-type was clearly focused on winning from the get-go. The same couldn't be said for Arete. She was fluttering around the room and watching other people's Pokemon interact, curiosity getting the better of her shyness. She eventually returned to Jacob, roosting on his shoulder and turning her attention to the monitor. In my first match I should stick with what's been working this whole semester, he thought to himself. All the new strategies I've developed are going to work much better if they haven't been seen yet, particularly our new gambit, he thought to himself.

{Conclave Group} Jory stopped punching briefly and noticed the key card, ripping the cord off Lealia's neck and holding it in front of his face. There was a bit of blood spattered on it from his assault on the acolyte, but nothing too major. He looked down at Lealia and his face contorted in fury once more. He punched her in the eye one more time before getting off of her, breathing heavily and looking backward toward the remaining acolytes. "Anyone else want the same treatment?" he snarled at the group. Cowed by his brutal attack on their leader, they all shrank backward, no one willing to cross the rock barrier to get near the veteran and the Zangoose crouched protectively near him. Jory then turned his attention to Carissa, his fury turning to concern as he saw her bleeding profusely. Shredder watched the group of acolytes carefully, almost wishing they would make a move so he'd have an excuse to punish the people who hurt Carissa. The veteran quickly ripped one of the sleeves off of his shirt and put pressure on the wound while he held Carissa's hand. He then turned to Michael. "Run outside and see if any of the acolytes have medical training," he said. He then looked down at Carissa. "Shh... Breathe easy, Carissa. You're going to be alright. You're going to be alright," he repeated, his voice breaking.

Jory nodded and dug into the loadout pack. After a few moments of rummaging he triumphantly held up a small box. He opened it to find that it had been segmented into several compartments. Each had a number of small pills in it. He took out a red one. However, after seeing that it was labeled "Tamato," he put it back. He then found one labeled Cheri and sighed in relief. Before doing anything else he closed the box and put it back in the loadout pack. His next course of action was to call Oliver out of his ball. The reptilian GAO still seemed to be suffering from the strange muscle spasms common to the electrical paralysis GAOs seemed capable of inflicting. He carefully held the GAO's mouth open, being careful to avoid the small, sharp teeth as the placed the pill on top of Oliver's tongue. He then stroked the bottom of his partner's neck, coaxing the pill along its esophagus and down into the GAO's stomach. After a minute or so, Oliver showed visible signs of improvement. He nodded gratefully at Jory, then took stock of their new situation. Robertson then looked at Surge. "You were right about those pills. They're miracle workers. But what do we do now, sir?"

Lux looked over at Anver, his eyes lingering on the man for quite some time. He replayed the events of the evening in his head and finally arrived at a decision. He nodded in Cedric's direction. "I think Anver will be a valuable asset if we're planning on taking down Utopia at any point. He's experienced in avoiding the authorities and knows how to infiltrate hard-to-reach areas," he said firmly. "And having seen him in action, I can safely say that I think he'll be valuable should we run into any resistance along the way." He then looked to the rest of his teammates, awaiting a response.

Jory reacted quickly and violently as Lealia pinned his partner up against the wall, an extreme protective instinct coming over him as he saw Carissa in serious danger. "Shredder, Rock Slide!" he shouted. The Zangoose acknowledged that playtime was over and slammed his claws on the ground in a sledgehammer strike, causing large boulders to materialize and fall around Unit S and the lone Acolyte in an attempt to cut them off from the rest of the group for the time being. The veteran then ran at the Acolyte, tackling her to the ground and freeing Carissa. The two wrestled on the ground for a few seconds before Jory managed to gain the upper hand and ended up on top of her. He then began to throw a barrage of punches at the girl with little regard for her safety or health, wanting only to beat her smug fucking face into the tile floor.

Well, I think it's appropriate here to use as the case of Jews v. Christians c. 1000 CE as a barometer for the current issues between (insert any religion here) and Islam. Islam, much like Christianity does, believes that there is one "true" path to a good afterlife/heaven/virgin paradise or whatever. Despite sharing many core values, Christians and Jews disagree on two primary points: 1) Christians (historically) believed Jews were responsible for the death of that one guy Jesus, and so treated them as a deicidal people and 2) that because they did not accept Jesus as the one true path to God they were heretics. A big issue with many Islamic extremists is that they cannot be reasoned with, as they are willing to die unless everyone converts to Islam or dies in their negation of said religion. Disclaimer: I am not saying all Muslims share this opinion, as I know several who do not and fully respect both their commitment to their faith and their eagerness to set themselves apart from the more extremist populace. Anyway, in the past these differences in faith led to an unbelievable amount of bloodshed that continues even to this day. I wish Muslim radicals could be reasoned with or made to understand other points of view, but much like the Westboro Baptist Church they are so set in their bass-ackwards ways that they refuse to admit that it's okay for other people to be "wrong." Today the Charlie Hebdo murderers were neutralized, and I could not be happier that those fucking loonies were carted off to Never-Never Land. They give Islam a bad name and have no place in any modern society if they are unwilling to accept the fact that yes, people do make fun of other people's beliefs and ideology. Have you EVER watched NBC and heard them talk about Fox? But you don't see Elizabeth Hasselbeck shooting up the NBC headquarters, do you? Anyone willing to resort to that form of violence over teasing is better off dead. /end drunken rant

After a brief conversation with Kage, Jacob had entered the stands with a small bag of food. He began to tuck in as he watched the performance begin, cheering as he saw Claude take the stage. This is going to be an amazing show, he thought to himself.

Lux smiled as Cedric and Blue appeared with the other members of the Organization. He was eager to report the success of his first mission and the survival of the Bartender. Suddenly, the course of conversation changed as Cedric spotted Anver. Lux was the first to speak up, and did so with little hesitation. "The mission was a success, sir. Beverly's recording device has all the information we could get form the host of the party. Unfortunately, we were halted in our interrogation by an organization called Utopia. He frowned, then perked up again as he looked over at Anver. "However, we ran into this man on our way out. He's another Awakened. I'll let him introduce himself, but from what I know of him he'll be an asset to the Organization should he choose to join us after you speak with him." With that, Lux looked expectantly at Anver.

Jory looked back to the wall and saw that Carissa had evidently fared a bit worse against her foes than he had. "Carissa, stay with us!" he said quickly as he and Shredder moved to cover her position. More Acolytes began circling them, although they were now more wary of the young man and his Zangoose. Jory quickly unzipped his jacket and threw it to the ground, then rolled up the sleeves of his long-sleeved t-shirt. "Come out and play, Lealia!" he taunted. "Or are you just going to let these punching bags keep taking punishment? You know we'll get to you eventually."

As Marcus passed into the next life, Dru spoke softly. "May the Earth watch over you." He then looked over to Cookie and nodded, standing up and trudging over to Helzebeth's father. "I hope he was worth it," Dru thought to Dia. "We lost a great man today. And do not blame yourself. That you were able to disable the barrier at all was a miracle." He gently scooped the ranger up in his arms, feeling somewhat numb inside. "At least we were able to save him. Another step on the path to saving this forsaken world," he commented, trying to find the silver lining as he lay the man next to his daughter. Dru then muttered a quick excuse and walked off after Oarloff, calling the ogre's name as he walked through the woods.

Dru put a hand on Helzebeth's shoulder in solidarity as he looked down at Marcus, nodding grimly. "Don't worry, friend. We'll see that Ashnard gets back tenfold what pain he's wrought this day." He reached out to the spirits of the Earth, taking comfort in their presence. "Your soul will rest well, Marcus. We've left the Grave Earth far behind us." He then fell silent and looked at Helzebeth, allowing her to say her farewell to the dying warrior.

Yeah, but I figured since we're surrounded right next to the door there's not really much of an opportunity to move across the room to them just yet.

Jory looked into Carissa's eyes and sighed. He took a hand off of her shoulder and squeezed it lightly, then nodded. "Alright. But if things start to go south, we retreat into this hallway until reinforcements get here. I'll go first," he said sternly, brooking no argument. He reappeared around the corner next to Shredder and grinned cockily, both he and his partner taking fighting stances. He then turned to his Zangoose. "Looks like we're gonna have to go all-out on this one. No holding back like you did on the first floor and in the forest, got it?" The Zangoose nodded. "Zan-GOOSE!" he cried, turning to face their opponents. The first few Acolytes began to run forward with their Pokemon. The first pair to reach Jory and Shredder was a girl roughly his own age and her Scyther, followed by a short girl and her Electabuzz. The two behind her had a Mightyena and an Exploud between them. Jory leapt into the fray, launching a side kick into the first Acolyte's abdomen. He then spun with a vicious elbow drop to her head, knocking the girl out cold. Her Scyther came at them with a Slash attack and Shredder engaged in a short parrying match with their claws before the Normal-type's fist caught fire and slammed into the Scyther's face, taking it down remarkably quickly. The duo was done just in time to intercept the next pair. Shredder's eye gleamed and he narrowly avoided an Electro Ball fired from several feet away. A white trail flashed behind him and he tackled the Electric-type to the ground, proceeding to hit it with several Crush Claws. As that occurred Jory took a punch meant for his face neatly on his left shoulder, then swung his right fist into the girl's chin. He then swept her leg out from under her and delivered a hard kick to her ribcage as she hit the ground, breaking her floating rib and the one above it and leaving her groaning on the floor. Jory looked up and bent backward, dodging a high roundhouse kick thrown by one of the girls. The other pulled him by the arm and caught him in a full-nelson, offering free shots to her companion. The veteran leaned against her and kicked his feet outward, knocking the second Acolyte off her feet. He then tossed his head backward, catching the girl holding him directly in the nose. She screeched and let go with one hand to stop the blood flowing out of it. That was the opening Jory needed to get out. He elbowed her in the solar plexus, causing her to double over and release the other arm as the other Acolyte began to get up. He quickly launched a side kick backward, knocking the first Acolyte out cold and following up with a spinning kick to the incoming one, dispatching her as well. Meanwhile, Shredder's fists began to glow orange as he met the Mightyena and Exploud that rushed at him. He hit the Mightyena with a blindingly fast two-hit combo, then followed it up with a kick that swept the canine Pokemon's legs out from under it. He then rushed the Exploud. His eye gleamed once again as he dodged a Mega Punch from his foe and jumped in the air, spinning and delivering two kicks that caused the Exploud to stagger backward. He then swung a pair of destructive Crush Claws at it, causing it to finally fall. The Mightyena took the opportunity to clamp its fangs onto the Zangoose's shoulder from the back. However Shredder didn't even flinch and grabbed the Mightyena by the neck, flipping it onto the floor and swinging another Low Kick at it to finish it off. The pair stood up simultaneously, looking none the worse for wear. They put their fists up, ready for the next group of opponents.

Jory turned to Carissa, a frown on his face. "Great plan!" he said sarcastically. "Now follow my lead!" He quickly pulled Carissa backward into the beginning of the stairwell where the hallway was significantly narrower. Shredder followed behind them, baring his fangs and moving his arms in a complex maneuver, hyping himself up for the coming battle. When he was done he seemed to radiate power as he prepared for the coming onslaught.

Yeah I kinda figured he's done for... That doesn't mean that Dru can't comfort him and just ask if there's anything to be done though :\

Dat all-ranged party comp >> EDIT: *groan* the ONE thing Roland didn't want to have to face again...

Again, thanks for the offer xD And on the topic of Drake, seeing as he's the only person outside the Conclave who's active maybe we could have grassnake's char or Sarcus escort the Acolytes so that he can come in and participate more actively.

"Excellent work," Dru commented to Dia as he rushed toward the two fallen men. "Slow, but excellent. Had you not succeeded at all Marcus would likely be dead." He knelt next to Marcus and looked back toward the rest of the group. "Don't just stand there gawking! Both of these men need help!" he barked abruptly. The sorcerer looked at Marcus's wound, wincing at its sheer width. "Dia, is there anything you can do for him?" he asked quickly. He then looked down at Marcus. "You're full of surprises, Cinder Knight," he said quietly. "Not many would face down a werewolf by themselves, let alone one of Ashnard's reputation. Bards will sing of this battle, you know."

Jory smiled at Carissa as she squeezed his hand, then stepped into the room behind her. He signaled Shredder to follow him into the room, then shook his head as the girl whistled sharply. Way to draw all their attention at once. Maybe if we each had more than one Pokemon this would have been a good idea, but two against- he took a quick count, estimating the number of Acolytes in the room- almost fifty doesn't exactly put the odds in our favor. His mind began to race as he looked around the room for tactical advantages. The only ones he could find in the room itself were the desks, so he devised another strategy for the inevitable battle as the pair waited for Lealia to respond to Carissa's challenge.

Dru sighed and began an intense meditation, one that allowed him to commune with the Earth spirits without the burden of his body. "I hope you know what you're doing," he said as he handed her control of his body.