Torrent Beach

[ShiniGojira]

June was the first to notice the strange note, but as it was well after midnight, he was too groggy to really care about it.

Then came the next morning, and he had completely forgotten about it.

He and Evie were on their way towards the training area, having agreed – *cough* forced *cough* – into joining her in a training session.

Just then, a sharp scream sliced through the cheery atmosphere, sending chills down June's spine and cutting their conversation short.

Wasting no time, June mounted his furry friend and they sprinted towards the direction of the scream.

By the time they had arrived, there were several people already present. Jumping off of her, he surveyed the area along with Evie, taking note of the paw-prints and footprints on the sand.

"Look," Evie said, directing June's attention towards the stretch of glass.

"What the hell happened here?" June muttered, raising a scaly brow.

"What's going on here?" he asked. "Is everyone alright?"

"We're fine, but whatever happened to the person here probably went just as well as you'd expect," Evie replied.

"I've got a bad feeling about this." June felt like he was forgetting something but he couldn't quite remember what.

She held up her crumpled note. "Did anybody get some cryptic shit under their door last night, or am I the lucky one?" she called out sarcastically.

That was right! The note!

June took out his own, presenting it towards her. "I've got one too, something about Solgaleo and a shield."

 

[Panoramic_Vacuum]

[Something bad], Hazel signed.

Something bad,” Gladion translated, “but it was over by the time we got here.”

"Something bad?" Steven glanced again at the scorched sand. "Was someone attacked? A wild pokemon? Or...?"

His stomach did a flip at the alternative.

"We have to try to find whoever this happened to. That scream wasn't good. They could be hurt."

But Steven paused at what else the young man had said.

Gladion crossed his arms. “So,
I’m developing a hunch that our buddy with a Scisor didn’t just leave like we’d thought. In that case, this should be the second time this has happened. Unless anyone else has found mysterious scorch marks, the fire was probably Drampa’s.”

"Wait, you're saying this is the second time someone has gone missing?"

Steven's mind immediately went to the events on the boat...

Aggron was already glaring at the trainer with the feisty Pidgey (now apparently a Pidgeotto) and...

"Gods..." Steven muttered. The other female trainer and her shiny Sylveon were here, too.

It was too early to deal with not one, but two disappearances, let alone anything still brewing between these two trainers. Silently, Steven prayed they wouldn't start anything--

As Zack kept looking around, he noticed Odette nearby. He jumped back in shock, wings in a defensive position. “Wah! It’s the angry lady from the boat! Don’t come closer, or I’ll take you down!”

"So much for that."

 

[Sinderella]

The verbose one telling us to meet at the security place at noon? Yeah. Got that.”

"Hm," she huffed. "Then I guess it was passed out to more than one person."

She eyed her note again. What was starting to bother her now was the ending of it. And take care to keep this secret...

Should she even tell anybody what Enora had just found? Is that what this note was implying in the first place? Or were they not meant to know that they'd all gotten the same note? But then why send the same note to multiple people in the first place?

“Wah! It’s the angry lady from the boat! Don’t come closer, or I’ll take you down!”

That goddamn voice...

Malice glinted off her eyes as she cut her gaze in Zack's direction. She felt her anger surge, and in any other situation, she might have gone for a good kick. However, her brain was running too wild with the evidence she had stretched out before her, that she had no room to deal with this degenerate.

"If you don't have anything helpful or insightful to add here, kindly keep your fucking mouth shut," she spat. "Or I'll shut it for you."


She walked over to the trail of glass, Enora and Odile at her sides, as she kneeled down to examine it. She was so certain it was a fire type that had been here, and yet...

"Well," she started, deciding to cast a line, "I will say that we didn't pick up any trace of fire types here. So maybe this did belong to the Drampa..." she muttered, rubbing her cheek.


"̷S̵o̶o̵o̵o̴o̶o̷ ̴E̴n̷o̸r̸a̵ ̷f̷o̵u̴n̷d̸ ̵p̷s̴y̷c̸h̴i̵c̴ ̵e̵n̷e̸r̷g̴y̸ ̴i̶n̷ ̶t̷h̵e̸ ̴a̴i̴r̵ ̴a̷n̸d̸ ̸t̵h̴e̵ ̷n̷o̴t̸e̷ ̵m̶e̴n̵t̶i̸o̷n̴s̷ ̸S̸o̷l̸g̵a̴l̸e̵o̷,̷ ̸w̴h̷o̸ ̶i̷s̸ ̸a̵l̴s̷o̸ ̶a̵ ̵p̴s̸y̴c̸h̸i̶c̷ ̵t̴y̵p̴e̴.̶ ̵W̶e̸i̴r̵d̷,̷ ̶h̵u̵h̸?̸"̴

"..."

"..."

"Thanks. Way to keep it subtle."

She stood up and faced the others. "I guess she said it," she said reluctantly. "We found very faint psychic energy in the air. And our notes coincidentally mention a psychic/steel legendary. So this is either a warning, a code, or a red herring to hide the fact that somebody with a psychic type is up to some mad bullshit right now."

 

[Hanafuda]

"If you don't have anything helpful or insightful to add here, kindly keep your fucking mouth shut," she spat. "Or I'll shut it for you."

Seb saw from a corner of his vision that Zack was looking frightened at a woman. “Hm? Zack, what’re you…?” He saw the dark doppelgänger as well, becoming concerned. “Oh… Maybe not the best time for a battle?” He turned to Odette with a grimace. “Sorry, miss. Zack’s pretty battle-happy, so it’s kinda difficult for me to keep him calm.” He turned to his Farfetch’d and signaled an arm towards the Pidgeotto. “Jack, mind helping me here?”

Jack nodded and went with Zack, holding his shoulders from behind. “Zack, she doesn’t look like she’s gonna hurt us. Relax.”

“What if she tries somethin’ funny?” Zack asked while shaking his head. “Can’t you let me take her down before she—”

“Don’t make Seb put you on timeout again.”

That seemed to be enough to calm Zack down. He lowered his wings and head in disappointment. “Okay, okay. We’ll go for her later.”

 

[Panoramic_Vacuum]

"If you don't have anything helpful or insightful to add here, kindly keep your fucking mouth shut," she spat. "Or I'll shut it for you.

Well, at least someone else wasn't in the mood for another confrontation, though the hostility was still through the roof...

She walked over to the trail of glass, Enora and Odile at her sides, as she kneeled down to examine it. She was so certain it was a fire type that had been here, and yet...

"Well," she started, deciding to cast a line, "I will say that we didn't pick up any trace of fire types here. So maybe this did belong to the Drampa..." she muttered, rubbing her cheek.

Aggron was still tensed at Steven's side, and he placed a hand on his arm. They wouldn't be the ones to make the first move. Besides...


"A Drampa?" Steven thought back to the first night at dinner. He'd seen a trainer there with a Drampa, right?


"A young girl had a Drampa, as far as I can recall. What kind of person would attack someone like her?"


Aggron snarled in agreement.


"I'm going to go look for her. Someone should alert island security as well."

"Hopefully," he began, giving the Pidgeotto and his trainer a meaningful look, (and very purposefully avoiding any eye contact with the shadow doppelganger,) "I can trust you to not be at each other's throats at a time like this?"

Gingerly, Steven walked past the scene of the struggle and into the woods beyond, Aggron clomping along behind him with surprising care.

 

[Shiny Phantump]

"I guess she said it," she said reluctantly. "We found very faint psychic energy in the air. And our notes coincidentally mention a psychic/steel legendary. So this is either a warning, a code, or a red herring to hide the fact that somebody with a psychic type is up to some mad bullshit right now."

Gladion crossed his arms. “Well, it seems overwhelmingly likely that there was a teleport involved. People don’t just disappear, after all. That’s a psychic trick, and one that doesn’t necessarily require the herald of the sun to pull off. Given how flowery the rest of the text is, it is possible it’s a verbose way of saying ‘when the sun peaks in the sky.’”

 

[Hanafuda]

"Hopefully," he began, giving the Pidgeotto and his trainer a meaningful look, (and very purposefully avoiding any eye contact with the shadow doppelganger,) "I can trust you to not be at each other's throats at a time like this?"

Seb noticed the look Steven gave him. He was about to talk with him, but when he left towards the forest, he frowned. There went his chance to talk to the Champion of Hoenn. Maybe once there was free time, he would be able to have a chat?

“We’ll try,” he muttered.

 

[IFBench]

Coleane was sitll in shock. A human...a human, had disappeared. She thought they were invincible! What could have possibly done this to a human?

Gen hugged one of her forelegs, after putting the dagger back in his bag. "I'm s-scared..." he said.

"...so am I," Coleane said, wings drooping.

 

[Sinderella]

“Sorry, miss. Zack’s pretty battle-happy, so it’s kinda difficult for me to keep him calm.”

Odette glared at the new face on the scene. Right, the bird's stupid fucking trainer. Seriously, where was Noel when she needed him? Surely he would have been able to put these idiots in their place.

"You're his trainer. Do better in keeping him from harassing people instead of excusing it as him being 'battle happy'," she hissed. "Where I'm from, he'd have been fucking detained by now."

“What if she tries somethin’ funny?” Zack asked while shaking his head. “Can’t you let me take her down before she—”

“Okay, okay. We’ll go for her later.”

Her expression didn't falter. All she did was slowly look down at Enora.

"S'il te plaît, dis-moi que ce serait une horrible mauvaise idée de les écorcher vifs maintenant?" she said dryly.


Enora kept her stern eyes on Seb, Zack, and Jack as she spoke. "Ce serait absolument horrible si vous les écorchiez vifs maintenant. Je ne te blâme pas, mais ne le fais pas. Ils n'en valent pas la peine." [/I] As much as she was ready to carry out the terms of her warning, she didn't want to make the situation worse. Or taint the area.

"J̵E̷ ̶P̵E̵N̸S̴E̴ ̸Q̵U̷E̸ ̶T̶U̷ ̴D̴E̶V̸R̷A̷I̴ ̷L̵E̸ ̵F̷A̶I̸R̸E̶.̴ ̴C̷O̶U̷P̷E̸R̵ ̸L̶E̴U̴R̵S̵ ̷B̴I̴T̴E̸S̷.̴"

She glared at Odile for a beat before looking toward Odette. "Il y a de plus gros problèmes à portée de main. S'ils te dérangent, j'ai dit que je m'en occuperais."

She sighed, before finally eyeing Seb again. "S'ils reviennent sur moi, je pense que je vais les enterrer."

Odette rolled her shoulders and stretched out her neck. "You lot aren't worth the spit I used to shine my tap shoes. Fuck off."

She made plenty of space between herself and them after that.

"I'm going to go look for her. Someone should alert island security as well."

"That's probably not the best idea. We don't even know what happened to her, so if something took her, it's still out there."

Ah, fuck. That was the guy from the boat. And his Aggron. You know what...he was probably fine, actually.

“Well, it seems overwhelmingly likely that there was a teleport involved. People don’t just disappear, after all. That’s a psychic trick, and one that doesn’t necessarily require the herald of the sun to pull off. Given how flowery the rest of the text is, it is possible it’s a verbose way of saying ‘when the sun peaks in the sky.’”

"Well, didn't somebody mention we were portaled here? Or did I assume that because I know this is a meeting of multiverses? Either way, that makes the most sense. I'm just spitballing based on the note and what we found..." She'd learned the hard way not to accept anything at face value...but she also knew the hard way that sometimes she barreled down the wrong Buneary holes.


She began to drag her foot in the sand. "Who showed up with a psychic type?" she asked herself. The Wes's both had their Espeons. One of the staff members had a Hypno. She saw some jerk looking fucker with an Alakazam, too. And the HOOPA. There was a Hoopa here...and somebody had also been walking around with a Hatenna, she was pretty sure.

Of course, that didn't account for any non-psychic types that could learn psychic moves. But then wouldn't their essence be in the area as well?

"So maybe the next questions we should be asking is...are we going to sit at Dauntless Shield at noon? Are we going to start eyeing the psychic types that are here with us right now?" She paused to look at the note again. "Will that be how we figure out what fucking secret is being referred to here? Or maybe we fucked ourselves by even revealing we'd all gotten this note?"

She scoffed in irritation. "But then why send the same note if the sender figured we'd keep to ourselves? To fuck with us if we did?"

Then, she began to shake her head. "I didn't fucking come here to solve another big mystery, dammit."

But, she had to admit, it was starting to feel kinda good.

 

[IFBench]

"We...we g-got the same note," Gen said, gripping onto his reunion cape. "I...I think we should go to that s-security office at n-noon, like it said."

Coleane trotted over to Odette, and fanned her wings out. "Hi! I'm Coleane! I...wish we could meet in better circumstances, but me and Gen will try our best to help solve this mystery, too!"

"N-not like we have a ch-choice...my knife's not w-working, so we're...trapped h-here," Gen said, looking up at the human.

 

[Sinderella]

Coleane trotted over to Odette, and fanned her wings out. "Hi! I'm Coleane! I...wish we could meet in better circumstances, but me and Gen will try our best to help solve this mystery, too!"

Right, the Tropius she'd seen with Gen a few days before. Odd couple, they were. Right off the bat she seemed so outgoing, while Gen was...Gen.

"It is what it is," she said. "I'm Odette. You're welcome to do whatever; just don't do anything stupid." She eyed Zack as she spoke. "Or fucking obnoxious."

 

[Hanafuda]

Seb rubbed his arm, feeling ashamed. He wasn’t that good at socializing with other people, yes, so he related that to not knowing how exactly to best apologize. He was able to speak with his Pokémon just fine, though. Still, even despite the inspiring words he blurted out to Wallace yesterday…

“Ugh, this sucks. Any kids around here?”

 

[Panoramic_Vacuum]

Steven wasn't very far into the trees when he slowed to a stop. He wasn't entirely sure what kind of evidence he was looking for, but it didn't seem like there was much here besides trees and shrubs. Certainly no missing girl and her Drampa, at least now close by.


"Aggron," he said, "we were here just last night. Do you think you could tell if anything has changed since then?"

He hated the idea that this girl and her Drampa could have vanished into thin air, but there was only one way to check.


Aggron nodded, and turned his snout this way and that, sniffing the air for anything out of place.

[[Use **Odor Sleuth**]]
@Flyg0n

 

[Flyg0n]

Aggron nodded, and turned his snout this way and that, sniffing the air for anything out of place.

[[Use **Odor Sleuth**]]

Aggron Used Odor Sleuth! Aggron discovered a strange scent!

A slight breeze blows from the woods at the edge of the beach towards the ocean. It carries the usual musty scents of damp earth and wet leaves and - wait, there's something unusual. A scent that wasn't there before. A fresh one at the edge of the woods, seemingly leading away from the beach. Human.

Perhaps it's worth following?

 

[Panoramic_Vacuum]

A slight breeze blows from the woods at the edge of the beach towards the ocean. It carries the usual musty scents of damp earth and wet leaves and - wait, there's something unusual. A scent that wasn't there before. A fresh one at the edge of the woods, seemingly leading away from the beach. Human.

Perhaps it's worth following?

Aggron froze with a jolt of surprise. There was something here, something out of place. He stared further into the woods, a ways down the beach from where they were.

He looked at Steven with a determined glare and pointed. They had to follow it.


"You've got something," said Steven, looking at where his partner was pointing. It was away from the scene of the struggle, away from the rest of the group...

They needed to hurry lest the trail grow cold, but...

Steven turned and headed back towards the rest of the gathered trainers. Aggron grunted a question.


"No," Steven said with a frown. "We have to go back and tell the others. I don't like what's going on here, and if something should happen, we need someone to know where we went."

"Let's hurry."

-----

"Aggron found something in the woods," Steven said, slightly out of breathe as he strode up to the group. "A scent of some kind, not sure who it belongs to, but it heads off in that direction."

He pointed down the beach where the woods grew thicker.


"We're going to follow the trail if anyone else wants to come help."

 

[MintyMimix]

The evening had already been in somber silence ever since the talk with the Other Hazel, but there was still a sliver of hope and happiness that permeated through. At the end of the day, they were on vacation...

How fleeting a feeling that was.

It took a few minutes out of the day to calm Hazel down before she could stop blabbering in her Poké-speak in a panic, but Violet had managed to soothe her with a well-wrapped hug and soft scritches under the chin. Once the Weavile was in a stable state, Violet assured her that it was just a silly note probably by some person with too much time on their hands.

And then they stumbled onto the beach, where everyone had been gathered and murmured about something bad that happened. There were clear signs of a struggle, and Hazel was even sure she had heard the phrase "missing" at some point while they were walking towards the crowd.

It took her a bit longer to type as one claw was firmly clasped around Violet's hand, but Hazel showed her phone to the greater group and asked, [What is going on???] Violet echoed the sentiment out loud.

 

[Shiny Phantump]

Gladion waved. His tone carried fake pleasure. “Hazel, Vi, hello! We’re all having a right fun time right now, you should join us!”

He dropped the sarcasm. “Someone screamed and mysteriously disappeared! Also something’s happening down there, our Aggron buddy found a trail.”

[Hi Hazel], Hazel signed.

Gladion smiled. “And Hazel says hello.”

 

[MintyMimix]

Gladion waved. His tone carried fake pleasure. “Hazel, Vi, hello! We’re all having a right fun time right now, you should join us!”

He dropped the sarcasm. “Someone screamed and mysteriously disappeared! Also something’s happening down there, our Aggron buddy found a trail.”

"By the gods' bones, we just can't escape this, can we?" Violet deadpanned with a prominent frown of frustration on her face. "T'was enough to know that we were being chased by a team in one world, but now a kidnapper in another. Wonderful."

Hazel clutched harder onto Violet's hand and moved closer to her side. Just feeling her warmth and presence was enough to keep her in check.

[Hi Hazel], Hazel signed.

Gladion smiled. “And Hazel says hello.”

Her grip loosed as she saw the other Hazel's signing. "Is that... sign language?" she asked as worry became curiosity in her voice. Wanting to be polite and return the favor, she carefully typed up the words in order to search up the signs—

Violet placed a gentle hand over the phone and covered the screen as she pushed down on the device ever so slightly. "Hazel says hello, too," she said, shaking her head and smiling. She murmured, "You can learn more about that later, but we need to focus, okay?" With a slight blush of embarrassment, Hazel nodded her head, and Violet took her hand off of the device.

Hazel swiped back to her notepad app and started slowly typing before she felt a bitter coldness to her side as her trainer unclasped her hand. She reacted with urgency as she darted her head to the side trying to find Violet while reaching her claw out before she gasped as something wrapped around her waist. After a moment, she recognized it as Violet's arms as she was hoisted off of the ground and held at her trainer's stomach-level.

"Now you can use both hands," she said aloud, winking, before leaning and whispering, "I will not leave your side, no matter what. You are my closest companion."

Whatever embarrassment had remained washed away as Hazel was comforted by Violet's words. She let out a purr of delight as she snuggled into her position in front of her trainer as best as she could. Once she was in a good position, she took a deep breath and began putting questions on her phone to show to Gladion and anyone else nearby. [What do we know so far? Do we have an ID on the victim? Who is the Aggron's trainer, and are they trustworthy? And did you receive a strange note by your door, too?]

She made sure to write any answers she received to show to any latecomers.

 

[IFBench]

Seeing Wallace arrive, Gen began waddling towards him. Though still trembling, he attempted to hug his friend's leg.

"A-are you ok?" the Oshawott asked, looking up at Wallace.

 

[Chibi Pika]

Signs of a struggle. Disappearances. Yeah, it was too much to ask that this just be a normal vacation, wasn't it.

Still, it was better than dealing with Team Rocket. For now.

Jade took a deep breath. "There's a lot of us here--we shouldn't have to worry about being attacked so long as we stay in groups." Staying in groups had always kept the rebels safe. Until it hadn't.

Nine was on all fours, squinting at the glass in the sand, no doubt trying to figure out if it came from Drampa... or from his attacker. Some people were talking about a psychic disturbance... Now that was an uncomfortable thought, just getting teleported away out of the blue. Although if that was the case, why would there have been a struggle?

"*Does any part of the island have teleport blockers?*" Nine asked.

Jade paused. "That's a... good question." If no one knew, then they really needed to check with the staff. The last thing they needed was for people to start vanishing in their sleep where there were no witnesses.