Back... Home?

[Jacen Zidar]

The entrance of Team Pravus headquarters was well-hidden, but Jacen knew exactly where the seam of the doors was, where the hinges were, and - more importantly for the moment - where the device that scanned his handprint was. He walked slowly up the hill toward the doors, leaning heavily on the golem who walked by his side, endlessly patient with the crippled man. Crag put a heavy arm on Jacen's opposite shoulder, yet held it up slightly, guiding Jacen with more gentleness than most pokemon of his type were capable of. "Are you sure you don't want-" his gravelly baritone rumbled before he was cut off. "Quite sure, thank you." Jacen said. He wasn't out of breath at all. The hill wasn't a difficult climb for him in terms of endurance. It simply took a long time for him to move up any sort of incline. He looked ahead toward the doors. Another twenty feet. Thor, the typhlosion who had glued himself to Jacen's side ever since Hermes' death, watched over the two of them warily, his eyes flickering around the area every few seconds as though expecting an ambush.

It seemed to take an age, but finally they were at the door. Jacen pulled down the cover of the entry device and put his hand against it. "Let's hope this still works." he said, knowing full well the sort of alarms that went off within the hidden building when someone whose handprint wasn't in the database tried to get in this way. Seconds ticked by, during which Crag shifted his feet uneasily and Thor snorted his impatience, but finally the doors began to grind open. Ordinarily, Jacen would have smiled upon walking through this entrance, but now he had mixed feelings about his return to Team Pravus. There was no time to be thinking of that now though, was there? The doors were open, a stunned-looking grunt whom Jacen recognized standing guard near the door.

"Commander Zidar!" the man stammered, giving a hesitant salute, as though not quite sure how to greet the hitherto mysteriously disappeared commander. At this, Jacen did crack a small smile. "It's been... A long time. Should I tell the President you're back?"

Jacen shook his head slightly. "I would rather inform her myself." he said quietly. The grunt nodded, looking oddly confused, fidgeted slightly for a few moments as if he wanted to say something but wasn't sure he should, and then returned to leaning against the doorway and keeping an eye on the cameras nearby.

Jacen glanced back as the doors shut behind him and his two pokemon, then turned his gaze to the rest of the entrance area. Not much had changed, surprisingly enough. He had half expected the place to have been renovated - whether due to a change in leadership (and thus decorating style) or due to possible damage during the war. Of course, if anyone had discovered the location of the headquarters and gotten in, the whole base would have been moved anyway. The rest of the base was probably laid out much the same as well. He remembered the layout perfectly still, and began to walk down one of the nearby hallways, planning on going to speak with Mion first and foremost, before the grunt he'd just spoken to managed to spread the news of his return all around the headquarters.

[Emmaline]

Emmaline walked through the halls of Pravus, intent on some mysterious destination. Now, this was a normal enough sight in the Pravus headquarters, but to an outsider, this site was far from usual.

Emma was wearing her favorite dress. Short and pretty purple, with just a little bit of black lace, the dress was cute! But somehow, although an observer’s eyes knew the dress was whole and looked brand new, somehow the edges of the dress appeared tattered to the observer’s mind. Tattered and fraying, although the edges were perfectly whole. Emma’s wild black hair tied back with her favorite purple ribbon. She had carefully chosen her prettiest black shoes with the little skull buckles on them to complete the outfit. The shoes were shined to their shiniest! Her regular bunny skeleton backpack was strapped to her back, the string attached to Polly the Magnemite grasped tight in her little fist. Around her neck, Emma’s little purple Pravus necklace proudly identified her allegiance.

But what made this spectacle really unusual was the Murkrow on her head. Yes, an old, graying, crotchety Murkrow perched on Emma’s head, holding tight to her ribbon, slumbering away. The old bird, affectionately called Poofy by his trainer, even snored a little.

But what really made this spectacle really interesting was the fact that Emma was only three and a half feet tall. No, Emma wasn’t a really short person like the infamous E.Nigma. Emma was only physically six years old.

Yep, one of Pravus’ youngest experiments, and one of the only of her age allowed out into society as a regular agent, was only 6 years old. A real tribute to Pravus’ genetic engineering prowess and training program.

She did have some quirks. Nothing to unusual.

Anyways, the commotion caused by Jacen’s arrival attracted the girl’s attention. Emma broke off from her single minded course to her goal to approach the man. Maybe she sensed a fellow Pokemorph? More likely, she recognized a fresh face to scare.

She tugged on Jacen’s sleeve, and stood back. Emma’s impassive face appeared to be waiting for something. After a moment, the Pokemorph frowned and reached up to poke at the Murkrow on her head.

Poofy sputtered at his abrupt awakening. He smacked his beak and glared down at Emma, who stared back with impassive purple eyes. A short staring contest ensued, but Poofy quickly gave up.

The Murkrow sighed crankily and glared up at Jacen. “Emma says hi, and wonders what you’re doing her in Pravus” the bird said testily. He was always kind of cranky when Emma woke him from a nap.

[Jacen Zidar]

Jacen and the two pokemon moved down the corridor slowly, Thor walking slightly ahead of the other two. Crag walked close to Jacen's side, and although Jacen's hand remained on the golem's body for a few seconds (not for balance, but just as a sort of comfort gesture), he soon removed it. Crag did not seem to notice (and perhaps he did not, for it was difficult to feel anything through the rocky skin). "Do you think Mion's office has been moved?" Crag asked, his grumbling voice echoing surprisingly little in the corridor. Jacen shrugged. "It's entirely possible." he said after a moment, glancing at the golem with a small smile. "But there's only one way to find out without asking every individual we meet along the way, isn't there?" Crag made a noise like a small rockslide - probably an affirming "hmm" - but said nothing further.

Neither one of them noticed the little girl walking up behind them, and Thor was too preoccupied glaring at a pair of grunts down the hallway to take note of her until the murkrow squawked. At that point, he turned around quickly, letting out a low growl, and stepped up behind Jacen protectively, glaring down at the pokemon - not at the girl, mind you. He didn't think the girl was any threat whatsoever. It was her two pokemon he was interested in.

Jacen glanced down as he felt something tug at his sleeve, and raised his eyebrows as he saw a little girl standing there. He could tell immediately that she was a pokemorph, but that was not what he took note of. She couldn't have been any older than seven at the very most, which surprised him more than a little. No one he had known before he left had children, although it was entirely possible that someone with a daughter had joined Team Pravus since the war. He watched the silent exchange between the girl and her pokemon, taking the moment to raise a hand and gently press it against Thor's chest, indicating for the typhlosion to take a step back, which Thor did (albeit grudgingly).

As the murkrow spoke for the little girl - Emma, apparently - Jacen briefly wished he was capable of crouching down. He knew that children did not like being stared down at or having to look so far up at someone. But, that was something that could not be helped at the moment. For a fraction of a moment, Jacen wondered whether to address the pokemon or girl, but as he spoke his reply was directed at Emma. "I used to work here." he replied, his tone gentle. "I haven't been back in a long time." He paused for a moment, then decided to ask her a question of his own.

"Your name is Emma? Do your parents work here too?" He assumed, of course, that the answer would be yes, but children often did not settle for just a yes or no answer, so he expected a bit more information despite the phrasing of his question.

[Emmaline]

Emma listened politely to Jacen’s questions, not reacting to his gentle tone. In fact, her only reaction was a slight furrow between her eyes when Jacen asked her about her parents.

Now Poofy’s reaction was a bit more visible. The Murkrow chortled, nearly falling from his perch. Between the laughs, poofy managed to answer “Mister, you have truly been absent for some time, haven’t you?” The Murkrow fixed one beady black eye on the hulking Typhlosion “You really don’t know about the recent changes to Pravus, do you?”

A small hand reached up and tugged on Poofy’s wing, reminding the Murkrow to stay on track.

Poofy cleared his throat and calmed “Emma has no parents. She was created by Pravus, raised by Pravus, she knows nothing but Pravus” the Murkrow cleared his throat again and assumed a more proper posture. “She is Emmaline, Pravus Subject Number G38, Air Squad Grunt. I am the Professor-” here Poofy’s little lecture was interrupted by another insistent tug on his wing.

“Poofy” Emma spoke for the first time. Her quiet voice was quite insistent on this point.

The Murkrow sighed and leaned over to stare at Emma. This was a frequent point of contention between the pair. Emma had very specific names for her Pokemon. Some of her Pokemon liked her little nicknames, but others, especially Poofy, objected to the inane nicknames. But Emma was immovable on the subject. Poofy’s name was Poofy, not Professor like the bird wanted.

After the miniature staring match, Poofy sighed and returned to stare at Jacen and his Pokemon. The Murkrow continued, this time much more subdued “I am Poofy, and I speak for Emma.”

Emma gave a proper curtsey, dipping low to the ground, keeping her head steady so she didn’t upset Poofy’s perch. The girl gave a small nod in triumph at a proper introduction, then abruptly her demeanor changed. Her purple eyes glared at Jacen suspiciously, completely ignoring the large Pokemon to either side of the man.

Poofy grunted and flapped his wings, unsettled a bit by Emma’s mindset. “Emma wishes to know what your business is here at Pravus. Why were you absent for so long? What is your destination? What was your previous affiliation with the Pravus Organization?”

[Jacen Zidar]

Jacen's expression did not seem to change much either - must have been some sort of Pravus tendency - as the murkrow laughed. The only change was a slight quirk of his eyebrows, although what that might mean was hard to say. Thor, on the other hand, growled rather loudly and opened his mouth to speak, only to be silenced as Jacen gave him a glance over his shoulder. "Regardless of how long I have been away, I do not keep track of every new member or their children - or child members, as the case may be." Had he used a different tone, his words might have sounded sarcastic, but as it was his voice remained much the same, although a bit less pleasant - in a very subtle way - when he spoke to the murkrow. Crag glanced at Jacen as he spoke, but the golem's expression remained impassive as well, unlike Thor, who seemed edgy.

Emmaline? The name didn't ring a bell, although the numbers that followed her name did, slightly. He used to spend quite a bit of time down in the labs, once upon a time, and remembered distantly some sort of new project that was started about six or seven years ago. The details escaped him, but apparently the result of the project stood before him. What this girl's purpose was within Pravus Jacen did not know, but perhaps he would look into it at a later time, once his meeting with the President had finished. Jacen observed another set of staring matches, and heard Emma's chosen nickname for her pokemon - of which the murkrow apparently disapproved. Jacen might have ordinarily found the situation rather amusing, but at the moment humor over it escaped him. He also wondered vaguely why it was the child wanted a pokemon to speak for her, but it was something he did not believe to be terribly important at the moment, and thus ignored.

He noted immediately her apparent change of mien, as did the two pokemon by his side, and raised his eyebrows at the sudden barrage of questions. He did not tense up as many do when asked questions whose answers might be quite important, but rather maintained eye contact (not as a threat or challenge, of course) as he shrugged slightly. "Suffice to say that the war kept me away longer than I thought it would." he replied. "The rest is something I need to discuss with the President." Of course, he had just made his short-term destination quite obvious, but it did not much matter, really. Anyone who cared to notice the path he was taking (or would have been, had he not been stopped) could probably tell that he was headed in the direction of the president's and admins' offices anyway.

Speaking of which, Jacen really did want to get to Mion's office as quickly as possible. In a place as full of cameras as Pravus HQ was, it was easy for word to travel around more quickly than one could walk through the hallways (especially someone who moved as slowly as Jacen tended to). "If you'll excuse me." he said, speaking both to the murkrow and to Emma. His tone did not suggest a request so much as a statement that he was leaving as he turned to go. Thor stepped out of his way quickly and glared at the murkrow - still paying little attention to the girl.

[Emmaline]

OOC: Sorry this took so stinkin' long. Emma is out of the thread, you can either reply if you want or mark this as finished.

The child and her Pokemon either didn’t notice or didn’t care about the Typhlosion’s threatening attitude. Something else had attracted the Ghost-morph’s attention. The girl’s purple eyes abruptly left their inspection of Jacen and his Pokemon to focus on the floor, as if she were boring a hole straight through the ground.

The edges of her skirt began to shift slightly, stirred by an unfelt wind. Her hair and dress warped slightly; appearing frayed and tangled if viewed from the corner of one’s vision. The hallway seemed to dim and grow colder with every passing second.

Poofy shivered at the abrupt change in atmosphere. Why did it have to be today? He hated it when she got like this. But he supposed everyone had to eat…

“I suppose if you had anything bad planned you would have at least received better intel. The President is not the person you would harm if you wanted to uhurt Pravus” Poofy mused to himself

The Murkrow hurriedly tried to finish their business with the intruder before Emma really got distracted. He babbled out a parting statement, words tumbling over themselves in his haste to say them all. “Whatever you plan to do here Mister, I feel you will find Pravus a very different place than you left. I suggest you complete your business with President Winston quickly, then find someone who can reacquaint you with Pravus.”

Poofy straightened and bowed formally to Jacen, pecking Emma until she absent-mindedly curtsied quickly. Contrary to her earlier almost complete stillness, Emma was beginning to fidget, nearly vibrating with barely contained tension. Poofy spoke their goodbyes “Emmaline bids you adieu. If you wish to speak to her about Pravus happenings since your absence, feel free to find her in the dungeons.”

At the word dungeons Emma’s head jerked up, glowing purple eyes boring into Jacen’s face, the pupils all but consumed by the sickly purple color bleeding into the whites of her eyes. “I’m hungry…They are questioning the prisioners today…I will feed well” Emma murmed, the tips of her paten-leather clad feet disappearing through the floor.

Poofy squawked and pecked at Emma’s backpack, returning Polly from her strong before disappearing into his Pokeball in a flash of red light as well.

The girl, her form blurring at the edges, drawing all the light in like a black hole, disappeared through the floor, her slight figure twisting into something much more sinister just before the Pravus floor swallowed her whole.