Knight of Iron

"Maybe I'll look into a pack like that," he said, "But evacuation sounds good, unless, like we want to cause a distraction or something."

Roy, having watched the man eat in amazement, entered the back again and came out with four more chicken legs, which he threw on a brass plate that he slid along the countertop. He pinched the coins off the counter. "Qui' the appeti' there! Wha's your name?" The barkeeper had begun kneading some dough, making the strange meal Exodus had requested. Orpheus slowed down as he reached the bottom of the stairs. He looked to Val, a bit confused. "Which way?"

Yeah... look at me complaining about it before actually finishing the episode... . But who's to say T'Challa won't talk him out of it?

"Not uprightly!" "Sounds good enough," Stefan replied. The girl threw out two of her own Pokémon—a giant blue dinosaur-looking-thing with a turtle shell, and a white, feline humanoid with a long, purple tail. The turtle thing unleashed a blast of water that met Delphox's fire, and the humanoid simply absorbed the energy of Lucario's ball, then dissipated it into the air around it. "Your Pokémon are NOTHING compared to the might of Team Scimitar!" she cried, laughing like a maniac. Stefan drew his sword and bolted to the left, where there was a door leading into a hallway. Two goons spotted and raced after him, the door swinging wildly. "Shoot," he whispered.

Cruz took one gratefully. "Probably, I tend to get low everything when I'm like this.' "Janice was trying to explode but I guess she chickened out."

"That's not how it works—weren't you paying attention!?" Stefan hissed. "The ball will still have its connection. We need a fresh one, and one capable of storing probably hundreds of thousands of tons of matter, rather than just a walking fox!"

"What he said," Kreshnik answered, "I subsist off the life force of others. Namely, blood." "Well, if you ever need to run from me, just enter someone's house. Literally, if someone has claim over the property as their proper abode, I can't come in unless I'm expressly invited." His smile faltered. "Sucks, really." "Just as long as we get away from spooky monsters."

"We gotta grab a ball for Dax, though," Stefan said, hesitating. "I know where they are. Maybe you and Isabelle can try holding them off? Make sure they don't kill Professor X? While Merl and I try and sneak away? Or does anyone have a better plan?"

Exodus smiled. "Glad you asked; I haven't fully explained it. As the prophecy, which you both have heard, has said, there's a dragon. What we actually need out of this dragon is information—on how to save the worlds. The safety pin which holds the Realms together is finally coming loose, after a thousand years, and that son of an orc kept the secret of how to fix it until very, very recently." The barkeeper swiped it. "That'll get ya something, at least." His assistant came from behind the door a second later, with some chicken legs, which he set on the counter. "Eyo, boss? Whacha didja wan' em' raw fo'?" Orpheus raced after her.

Stefan ducked behind the desk as well. As Isabelle's Delphox and Lucario emerged, a figure appeared at the far side of the room, dressed in yellow and black, with olive skin and short cherry-red hair. She looked at Professor X lying on the floor. "This is my lab now, Lyell," she said, then laughed loudly, stepping closer towards his body. Several goons, dressed similarly, began to swarm in from behind her. "This is not good," Stephen whispered.

I believe we are, but I respect those that say we aren't. If you argue, they'll just point out every single one of our beliefs and how the Bible supposedly contradicts it, and so we don't believe in the Bible, and ain't nobody got time for that! Perhaps by your definition. Try to avoid meeting psychopaths.

I used to be annoyed by people saying "we believe in a different Christ." Then, I realized, oh boy we do. 'Cause their Christ is the same as Heavenly Father, and is the same as the Holy Ghost, has no body, and they all are the same essence. That this God existed before all else was made, decided he was so great that He deserved to be worshiped, then created all the angels and humankind for the sole purpose that they will make it to heaven so that they can, simply, worship him forever and ever. Yeah, if that's the mainstream view of Christ, we believe in a different Christ Not dissing anyone! I only mean to point out differences.

Cruz shook his head and stuffed the rest of the bar in his mouth. “A bit loopy. Got any granola bars? They’ll help.”

“A shame. Beautiful creatures, they are, almost otherworldly! I’ve seen them turn entire armies into ash. Typically why we leave them alone, I believe.” He cleared his throat. “But we’ve gotta break right into their center.”

Cruz just ripped open another granola bar and bit a chunk of it off. “So,” he said, “We meet again! I’ve been expecting you... hahaha!” He rubbed his nose absentmindedly, and a head injury from when he fell to the ground is visible.

“Surely not the actual city of dragons, or you’d not be here today!” He chuckled. “They don’t have much tolerance for human visitors. Did you get to meet one?”

“Let us sit, then,” Exodus offered, a bit eager to get away from the hungry Wolfson, even if just a little. “Tell me, what know either of you of the Northwestern Dragonlands?”

He gasped for breath. "I've... done... a lot of healing today," he managed, then fumbled around in the back pocket of his. He pulled out a granola bar, ripped open the wrapper and stuffed the entire thing into his mouth. "I'll be fine, but not much useful right now."

Professor X followed. The lab was very large, practically a mansion, with massive glass windows overlooking a valley with cities below, allowing the bright sunlight to pour in unfiltered. What walls weren't glass were solid black, decorated with giant green X's. They stood in what seemed to be a waiting room, with large TVs and a dark rug with a giant green X across it. Professor X slid across the floor, a bit cheerful now, and grabbed himself a dark jacket with a green X across the back, then put it on. He spread his arms wide. "Welcome to the lab!" He paused. "It's not... quite... how I remember it." And with a quick thwoop, Professor X fell to the ground, a tranquilizer dart sticking out from his neck. @STAG @Isabelle6060

"Excellent," Professor X said, "Then let's GET MOVING!" He flipped the projector off, and he used his wand-thing again to summon another portal. Shiny white tile floors could be seen on the other side of it.

"I don't think she'd be screaming about the ghosts. We ought to go check." The barkeeper seemed unfazed by the man's urgency. He turned around and opened a door back, then called. "Get some of 'em chickens we killed this mornin', and keep 'em raw." Then he turned to the somewhat canine man. "Roy's gettin' it, but you're going to have to show me some coin."

Exodus noticed the the man and, as was his nature, smiled. But he pointedly did not greet him. Oh, how he tried to see Wanderer's as equals, and though ideologically he did, it still didn't stop the wave of annoyance at some of their more carnal ways. One would've thought a few centuries would do the trick, but it had almost made it worse by simply just giving him more experience with them. The barkeeper, however, just smiled kindly. "Any meat will do?" Orpheus looked to Valzwyn after hearing a scream from the kitchen. "Uh... is there anything particularly... scary, in your kitchen that you know of? Or should we probably check that out?" @Channelknight Fadran

Cruz keeled over and vomited, then wiped his mouth with a handkerchief. He pointed towards Cumulo. "Any chance you can explode that guy?"