There's been a major rules update that overhauled Talents, Bonds, Pokémon battles, and conflict resolution, along with adding more description and generally making the rules more user-friendly. I strongly recommend that you give the new document a once-over.

I've done my best to convert your characters to the new system, with the italicized Talent being your Star Talent. If you have a different interpretation of your Talents, don't hesitate to drop me a line. You have all the way until the next Milestone (the end of this session) to finalize your Talents. I'll only let you change them once though, and you won't get any Star Pieces for doing so.

And now, on to our next session of Noel Quest. Wait, what?


November 2, 1960
11:44 am
Minami-ku Crossing, Viridian City

It all happened so... so fast.

Noel, you watched as the men with guns took Eddie and Hal away. You watched as they pushed them into the car, and the car drove off away from the train tracks. You tried to squint, to peer through your tears and see if you could spot Hal through the glare and glass. But you couldn't see him. You saw only shadows as they drove away.

The shadows moved and the sun glowered from the heavens. You cried. Something in you was inextricably tied to Hal, like a ribbon that wound around your hearts and tied them together -- well, that ribbon snapped. Something in you snapped. Maybe your tears were the fragments of that something, slowly drifting to the earth.

You ran out of tears in the end. You felt so very empty inside.

Slowly, like a clock that's been wound up and only now allowed to tick, you become aware of time passing around you.

Toby and Nap are huddled with you on the rooftop. No one else is here with you but the wind. The electrical generators stand around you like tombstones in the afternoon sun.

You open your mouth to take a breath, and the wind strikes chapped lips. You didn't realize how thirsty you were. You need to... you need to get it together. You need to figure out what to do next.

Where are you going to go? Could you get help from one of the Indigo League's aid centers? No... they're the bad guys... but then who else? Team Rocket, in their shrine hideout? Uncle Kei? They're so very far from here...

You're scared, Noel. You're so scared, but you have no choice but to decide --

What do you do?

Zinger, you are temporarily playing as the Voice of Noel's Inner Fears. G_W, you're the Voice of Noel's Adolescent Anger, and Rubik, you're the Voice of Noel's Struggling Ability to Think Rationally. Feel free to chime in and advise Noel on what to do next.

Jumping repeatedly behind the rooftop corners in desperation, Noel watches a slideshow of his brother slowly leaving. Despite the quality starkly dropping, the rendering just takes longer and longer, as the weight of each leap grows and the ancient seals on the tear glands break asunder. Despite the blending sun ray ricocheting in front of his eyes, he continues the motions for a good minute after the car slips into the cityscape, hoping to catch another final glimpse in vain. When the bones gradually grew too heavy, he sunk down and wiped the tears with his hands, looking perplexed into the palms. Noel couldn't remember the last time he cried. He always wore a smile, and tried to make sure everyone else would as well. The feeling of sadness eluded him, but this probably didn't feel like it. This didn't actually feel like anything. Nothingness pumped throughout the body, submerging every thought in aimlessness. Stranded on his own little island, he listened to the silence of his own mind. That is, until he was brought to wake by the shock from a newly arrived Nap.

Sorry, I... I-I spaced out for a bit. He momentarily loses his train of thought, or lack thereof, as he kneads Nap's wool for a few seconds, catching himself in a void... Right! Hal. His brother. He was gone now. Vanished, taken away. Traded in with this stupid lump of metal. Noel gave it a look of discontent, one the Magnemite could only hope to reproduce in its dreams. It was a bitter blend of anger, sadness and confusion, and wedged between them was a strange kind of grin. His trust in Hal was what had kept his spirit adrift, but now there was nobody to stop it from plummeting. He had been so sure that together, they would get Dible back. But now he stood here, with only Nap by his side. Maybe Dible wasn't going to return. And if not, what of his brother? Noel looked up at the clear skies, and felt a bit of jealousy, wishing he was in less of a disarray. Then he grabbed onto the ledge and looked down at the street, and found some comfort in the busy street life. Various ideas popped into his mind, as he scoured the myriad of faces for Indigo League representatives.

Do Indigo League people usually patrol the street? Could I feasibly find one alone? The gun-ploy is kind of enticing.

I kind of just rewrote the introduction. In retrospect, it ended up rather similar overall, but I wanted to elaborate on the state of mind.
As for Zinger, I don't think that is something Noel would be scared of. Not yet, at least. As a character, he feels a strong sense of security by having Hal by his side, and is very insecure about his own abilities. Therefore, he is probably more afraid of being alone than he is willing to seclude himself.

Noel, your mind keeps running in circles. Forget about Pokémon... it all comes back to one thing, doesn't it?

Guns.

It's always the ones with the guns. They're such small, simple machines, but they carry so much weight. Weight to exert power over others. Power to decide your own future, and not let anyone stand in your way. You wonder what it feels like to point a pistol at someone, knowing that you choose whether they live or die with the simple pull of a trigger.

That's right. You need to get your hands on a gun. It's the only way.

Absent-mindedly ruffling Nap's wool, you think back to the last time you saw a gun, before all this happened. Yes... there are guards at every Indigo League relief center, aren't they? Big bad men with guns who threaten helpless people like you and your brother. They don't deserve that kind of power. And what about the traffic police stationed at checkpoints on the road between Viridian City and the Tohjo Wall? They carry guns, too. It's all their fault that you lost Dible... that they locked the gates between him and you, trapping him on the other side of the Wall forever.

You hate them all. It's all their fault. Everything is their fault.

Nap looks up at you, looking a little worried and apprehensive. It's okay. You're a hero, just like Manchamp. You'll make this all better.

What do you do? Voices, feel free to continue adding your helpful -- or not-so-helpful -- input.

Well, your absence doesn't seem to matter a whole lot right now, for what it's worth, but I don't know if you expect your availability to change any time in the near future.

@Zinger: I don't mind if you try to hit-and-miss. It's an opportunity for me to learn what I believe Noel is as a character as well, and I'll just tell you if there's something I find strange. I'm ultimately the one in charge (I think), so it's not like there's any harm.
I've been writing this for too long though, and "hide" also doesn't sound like something that leads anywhere fun, so I'll pass on your latest post.

@CKY: I'd prefer if you didn't narrate Noel's mental state, unless you don't mind me contradicting it at the next opportunity.

"What should I do. What should I do..." Noel evaluates the different options he presents to themselves, quickly finding it overwhelming, despite none of them seeming appealing. Then he realizes that he's approaching the entire thing wrong. It's not about what he should do, but rather what Hal would do. He finds a moment of clarity at this revelation, and the answer is obvious: Hal would go save him...self? What an amusing thought. Then again, where would Hal be? Well, he could always figure that on the way. An Indigo League member would surely know, he just had to find one of them. "Come on, Nap, let's go", making no remarks to Toby.

But what if Hal planned to get captured? Noel stopped on his step towards nearest relief center. But what if he didn't? Eddie might have betrayed him. Noel pressed down his foot and continued moving forward. If Hal managed to break out, then there wouldn't be a problem, so he had to save him just in case. Besides, being alone wasn't any fun. More than anything, he just wanted to see his brother again. Noel pondered on the different ways he would approach the eventual scenario. What if he just smiled and asked kindly? Had he even seen someone from the IL smile? Besides, he was pretty sure everyone there hated him for some reason, and trying to smile just made his cheeks kind of hurt right now. He needed someone to tell him though, like he hungered to know. Well, he was also hungry. But this was a different kind. Maybe he could make them.

The IL relief center slowly revealed itself through the intersecting windows of a clothing store. He stood for several long seconds before crossing into the shadows cast off by the building, and the world of adults. Noel thought back on the moments he had with Hal, and the moment when he was taken. Feelings of helplessness, loneliness, maybe a bit of rage. All the things he usually tried not to consider. He invited the feelings to overwhelm him, trying to tear himself apart, and letting tears well up. There were a lot of things Noel tried to never do. Another one of them was lying, that was something only bad guys did. This time was an exception though, and he wasn't going to do it again, he swore. At least that's what he resolved to himself as he ran up to a lonesome IL person while crying his heart out, barely spotting the edge of a gun through the sheen of water...

I want to run past the IL person looking like I'm scared or in trouble, get their attention and make them follow me into an alleyway, at which point Nap backstabs them and uses Thunder Wave. At least that's the plan.

What do I roll?

Noel, you've been to the Indigo League relief center many times. You remember the time when the roof was a new and shiny red, glowing with the hope of a new future, and "Pokémon Center" was stamped at the front entrance in bright bold lettering. Seeing this place again reminds you of visiting it with your parents, with Dible cradled in your arms, when you touched an Apricorn Ball for the first time.

That time is long gone now.

You pass under a dilapidated roof stained ochre with the soot of countless years; you walk past a sign that has long since faded away, leaving only the scars of paint thinner. You see people shuffling along in long snaking queues. It's not hard to vanish and make your way under the cordons, where a surly security guard in deep blue fatigues is directing the crowd by megaphone. And yes -- through your tears, you see the butt of a handgun sticking out of its holster, tucked into his belt...

"Number 271! Two-seven-one! 271, report to the front counte--whoa!" he yells as you barrel past, wailing like an injured calf and sending the crowd into disarray. "Hey!" he shouts, but you're already disappearing into a side alley. After a pause, you hear him shouting to another of the Indigo League guards, then the echo of his pounding boots getting closer and closer. You feel yourself shaking, your breath getting shorter and shorter...

He rounds the corner. His weathered eyes widen as he takes in the sight of you -- you must look terrible, you realize. Like a homeless child.

"Kid--"

And that's when he convulses with a snap and crackle and collapses on the ground. Nap emerges from behind him, looking frightened and cowed by what he's done. By what you told him to do.

The handgun is heavier than you thought it would be. And the grip is uncomfortable and just a little too big in your hands. This is not something a kid was meant to hold.

Is this what you wanted?

Noel, what do you do next?


November 2, 1960
3:10 pm
ILMP Central Station
Chuo-ku, Viridian City

Eddie, the door opens after what seemed like an interminable wait. The officer who steps into the waiting room regards you and Hal with hawklike, commanding eyes.

"You two. Follow me."

As you trudge through the claustrophobic halls of the police station, you sneak a glance at Hal. He's been eerily quiet for the whole time you've been here. Where once his eyes were hard and determined, they're now zombielike, resigned. You realize what he's been reminding you of all this while -- a convict on death row. The resemblance is terrifying. No kid should look like that, not at his age.

But then, if you were cut off from your only family and led into the lion's den, who wouldn't?

You remind yourself that you're pretty safe, as far as guests of the Indigo League go. As far as you can tell, they bought your cover story of being threatened into helping Team Rocket hook, line, and sinker. But if they ask for your identity card or run a background check, like the inspector who captured you asked, you're going to be in a whole lot more trouble.

You're separated from Hal and ushered into a little box of an interview room, bare except for a simple desk and a two-way mirror. The hawklike officer sits down opposite you with narrowed eyes. He's watching you for tells. You're sure of it.

"So, Mister..."

Eddie, what name do you give him?

"Right. Now, I'm given to understand that you and your nephew were coerced by a band of criminals and forced to provide your car for their operation. The Indigo League has the fullest sympathy for your situation, and I assure you that we are already investigating the leads we have. We would appreciate your cooperation in bringing these terrorists to justice."

The officer leans back in his chair as the red light of the voice recorder blinks from his pocket.

"Please tell us everything about the incident, from the very beginning. What happened this afternoon?"

Eddie, what do you do?