The Divine Houous | Ketori

[Shelby]

Breathing out a sigh as he walked through the doors that opened on a motion sensor, their mechanical sound ringing in his ears, Lima's eyes went right to the man who he had been looking upon as a ruler, as a leader, for as long as he could remember. His footsteps echoed off the walls of the medium sized room, four screens hanging above and behind the black and white desk that the man before him sat behind in the seemingly cushioned chair.

"Ah, Liam. Always a pleasure to see you. I do hope that you are enjoying the powers of your higher position."

When the man spoke, Liam's body stiffened as he straightened out his back and put his shoulders back. The deep, scratchy tone that came from the man always sent a shiver down his spine, however he did nothing about it, would do nothing about it other than listen to the man. After all, he had saved his life when he was younger, when he was so confused as to what and who he was. Yet he could still not help think that there was something wrong with the man and his ways, with the words that he would preach to the people of Houou of the visions he would have, visions he had claimed to come from the past, and the words of the Legendary Pokemon Ho-Oh itself. Sometimes, Liam wondered whether or not the man was being completely truthful, though he never said his reservations aloud. No, he would never do such a thing if he knew what was better for him.

Shifting his eyes down to look at his side, it was always a reassuring sight to see Casimir walking and standing by his side. With her head always held high, with her eyes always looking to where they needed to be, there wasn't a doubt in anyone's mind that this Absol was the closest he was to a Pokemon. She tilted her head to the side and looked up, glancing at Liam before she turned her head straight and stopped, along with Liam, as they made it to the front of the desk.

The man behind the desk rose his brows before a smirk graced his lips, his hands folding in front of himself as he rested them against the desk. Liam bowed, nearly kneeling down as Casimir did the same thing. "I do hope that you calling me is not for ill news," Liam stated, picking his form back up as he left his hands dangle by his side. Small sounds of beeping came from the large monitors above, one showing the map of the Johto region, one showing a diagram of all the interconnecting networks the organization had settled around the region, one showing video surveillance of the cameras that weaved their way through the building that they kept themselves in, and the other showing various other locations and images that Liam did not care to try to learn about.

"No, no ill news to be brought upon in this meeting. Sit, please." Isaiah, the 'King' of the Houou's, motioned with a hand towards one of the two chairs that sat in front of the desk, to which Liam took the seat, Casimir stationing herself right beside Liam. Once Liam was sitting, Isaiah turned his chair around to put his back to the other man, his hand reaching for the remote and then clicking on a button that changed the images on all of the screens, causing Liam to raise his brows as the image of a boy, perhaps in his early twenties, appeared on screen. "As you know, we have been searching for years a way, a key if you will, to open the gates to the true land that we, the Houou's, are destined to be in, as well as the gates itself. Years ago, the legendary settlement civilized themselves in an ancient realm that kept them protected and that kept them in Ho-Oh's good graces, so that they could continue to communicate with it to keep the world locked in the way that they wanted it to be. But of course, as you know, the land had been taken from our ancestors because people believed that we had too much power, that our ancestors were doing no good when it was them who kept the world in tact as we should do now."

He clicked the remote again, changing the picture to the same boy, except this time the shirt that he wore had been risen from him moving a certain way, a blue marking appearing on his back, words of their ancient language seeming to be on there. Liam furrowed his brows at the sight as he leaned furrowed his brows, leaning forward in his seat to get a closer look. "But finally, after years of searching, we have found our key. This boy is the thing that will lead us to our land and bring us back to Ho-Oh. The Legendary Pokemon has even told me as such, has showed me images of this boy in my mind. There is no doubt that he will be the one to open our land back for us, and we must take it. And that is where you come in, Liam." The wonderment from the man's tone was gone as he turned to look at Liam, clicking on the remote again to show another picture of the boy, this time of what he looked like, what his face was. "I need you to find this boy and bring him back to us; I feel as if you are the only one able enough to do this job.

"The last place he had been seen in was Azalea town, which is where these pictures of him had been taken. It will be a few days journey for you to get there and to come back, and he may have even left the town, but, hopefully, he will be around the general area. But bring him back, quickly, and listen to Ho-Oh's words; it will lead you in the right direction."

Liam nodded his head, and after being given additional information about the target, such as make sure he brought the boy back in one piece and unharmed he grabbed onto the folder that had information of the boy, along with his picture inside of it. He agreed to the conditions, listening to the man say that he wanted him to bring along one of the lower ranks of the organization, saying that it would give them more experience. Oh, how Liam wanted to not agree to those terms, but he nevertheless did, and after walking out of the office with a bow, he headed in the direction of the common area where many of the members loitered around when they didn't have any duties to attend to or any missions to accomplish at the time. His eyes scanned the area, listening to the buzz of the talking of people as some turned to look in his directions as the sliding doors closed behind him and Casimir, some of them instantly looking away, others giving him quiet nods. Now who to bring along? A lower ranking one, one that, if something were to go wrong, no one would probably care was missing. Someone who he could use as bait if he so needed to, which in a case of capturing of male could prove to be very efficient unless he wanted to use just brute strength.

When his eyes finally landed on someone he narrowed his eyes, sighing as he pinched the bridge of his nose. What was her name? "Candace Baron," he spoke out, his voice ringing above the noises of the others.

 

[Marlowe]

It was a rather boring day.

The birds were chirping and soaring through the azure skies, dipping above and below the distant clouds. People chattered amongst each other and carried out their errands; they bought clothing and food and toys for their children or nieces or nephew. It was a boring day, indeed; the same thing happened over and over again, every day, for as long as she had been in the area. It was a calm and laid back town where nothing new happened. She always saw the same faces, heard the same voices... it was utterly mundane.

Candace groaned as she leaned against a brick wall, running a hand through her greasy and sweaty hair. The hot sun had been bearing down on her scalp for the past few hours as she patrolled the city in search of "fishy" individuals. But all of the people of the town were the same as the ones that she saw the past times she went on patrols. No one left, no one new showed up. It was just the same faces, over and over and over. The cheery ones, the gloomy ones... she already knew that the tall blond man was always smiling unless his wife was sick and the short old woman always scowled and looked at everyone with contempt, like all old women did. At first, it was interesting to look at all the different faces. But now the faces had become commonplace and shallow.

'Brai.'

The dark-haired woman looked to her side to find a bipedal, golden and black-furred fox Pokemon standing beside her. Tyndall's amber eyes looked at her expectantly, as if asking if it was time to leave. She sighed, looking down at her watch. It was 2:00. She had been standing there, staring at innocent beings, for four hours. Candace held back another groan once she knew what time it was. She felt much more tired than she already was-- and hungry, as well. It was then that she decided it was time to go back indoors. There was no way she could stand being outside anymore; her legs were about to give out.

Candace stretched her arms above her head, uttering a low yawn. "Come on, Tyndall," she said, motioning over her shoulder as she walked away from the wall. "Let's get something to eat."

After a while of scavenging for food, she finally got her hands on some chicken and steamed rice. She had also purchased several small, rectangular cherry and apple pastries that she had found in the store. Even if she didn't eat them all at one go, she could just stuff them in her purse for a rainy day, much like the day she had spent outside. Tyndall trotted behind her as she went back to the Hohou Headquarters, his tail wagging slightly. Before Candace could even sit down in a chair in the main lobby, the Braixen pranced around her legs anxiously, awaiting his food.

She opened her container and the smell of delicious, grilled chicken reached her nostrils. Candace's stomach grumbled loudly as she began to dig into her food. Every once in a while, she would give one or two pieces to the Pokemon standing in front of her. He loved the taste of meat; he was a carnivore, after all. She was enjoying the food when her name was called. Candace looked up to see a man with an Absol standing not too far away. A frown crossed her lips as she set the container to the side. "Yes?" she asked, getting to her feet and approaching him. Tyndall followed behind her, his ears swiveling back slightly.

 

[Shelby]

As soon as the girl had stood from her chair and began to approach them along with her Pokemon, Liam raised his brows before he turned to look down at Casimir, watching as her eyes seemed to narrow as well before she looked up at him. The dark type huffed, seeming to pout a bit before she pursed her mouth and straitened herself out, shaking her head before she looked back to the girl. Apparently, or at least from what Liam could gather, she wasn't necessarily too fond of the idea of bringing someone else along either. At least they were on the same thought process. But as the girl stopped before them, Liam, again, assessed her figure, as well as her Braixen, before he folded his arms over his chest with the folder still in his hand. He had seen her around before, knew little about her, but he had heard some things from the other members about her, the saying that she was generally on the more clumsy side but was relatively obedient when she was given an order. Could he have picked someone better of the lower ranks? Perhaps. He had time to search the members up in their database, one that he had looked over countless times in order to at least learn the names of the other members especially after he had been given his new position. Their King had told him to familiarize himself with the people, to know their names and their faces so that he would know if there were any people that he didn't recognize running about.

"We"re going on a mission," he stated, unfolding his arms and then tossing the girl the envelope. "King Isaiah believes that the boy in the folder is the key to getting us into our ancestors land and a way to getting closer to Ho-Oh, so he is send me on a mission to capture him and bring him back here. But in addition to that, he has also requested that I choose a member in the lower ranks to come along, mentioned something about this possibly being a learning experience for one of you." He frowned at the thought, resisting the urge to roll his eyes before he rolled his shoulders and looked back to the folder. "Study what is in the folder tonight and memorize it; you'll be helping me catch him, and I want you to be able to pinpoint him out when we see him, got it? We"ll be leaving at dawn tomorrow, so rest up and get your team ready. It"ll be a lot of traveling and you will not be the cause for us slowing down, no matter if you are inexperienced or not."

Liam took a quick second to look around the area again, once again catching notice of the ones that were looking their way, a few snorting, a few quickly looking away when they saw that he looked in their direction. If there had been one thing he noticed after being given his new rank, especially after many of the members had been made aware of the change, it was how everyone acted differently around him. Not that it was much of a bother to him, given how he generally kept to himself and his Pokemon for most of his days, however there was still a lot to get used to, such as the stiff conversations he would have with people when he would speak with them. "Do you have any question? If so, ask now before I leave to attend to other duties that I have."

 

[Marlowe]

The man didn't seem to like her... or maybe he didn't know her well. Candace knew who he was; he was one of the higher ranking Hohou members, a man by the name of Liam. She didn't make an effort to recognize his last name, as she didn't think it was that important. First names were good enough... right? Liam was an intimidating person-- he had an indifferent look in his eyes that said that he didn't care much for her or whom she was. She gave a mental shrug, trying to calm herself down. If he came to her, there had to be a reason, right? Maybe should could finally be of use to the Hohou. Her dark blue eyes flickered down to the Absol standing at his side; she had a face much like his, and she suddenly realized how much they looked alike. The thought struck her as a somewhat amusing one. Her lips twitched in the beginning of an awkward smile, but she held such an expression back. With her luck, he might become offended and send her into the dungeons or something. And so, Candace stood straight, her eyes focused on him as he spoke his few words.

Unfortunately for her, she did not notice the folder was tossed at her until it was too late. Letting out a cry of shock, she fumbled to grab the package before it hit the floor. Candace's fingers slipped past the edges, falling straight into the outstretched paws of Tyndall. The Braixen peered at the folder for a moment before handing it back to his trainer. She let out a nervous laugh, silently praising her Pokemon as she patted him on the head. "Mission? I haven't been on a mission before," she murmured, still a bit nervous. What if she messed up? Would he look at her like some useless Hohou grunt? She hoped not. Candace forced herself to listen once again as he spoke. Liam told her that she was to review the contents of the folder and memorize it, along with getting some rest for tomorrow. His last words of his explanation made her frown. Okay, now she really was afraid of messing up.

Candace looked at the man with a frown as she clutched the folder. "I don't think I have any questions," she said, the Braixen nodding at the man as if reinforcing what she had told him.

 

[Shelby]

Liam's brows furrowed as he watched the girl frown, folding his arms over his chest before he huffed out a sigh and turned his attention to look back at Casimir. She didn't seem amused with the conversation any longer, and neither was he, so when the girl mentioned that she had no questions, or so she thought anyway, he gave a quick nod of his head and looked back at her. "Good. Meet me at the entrance by six in the morning tomorrow then and we'll leave. Don't be late." And with those final words he gave her another nod before turning his back to her and walking away, Casimir doing the same before she went to trot along side Liam as he started to go through the halls again, walking by people that passed by, giving them quick glances and short nods.

He hoped taking the girl along would not be a mistake, however he questioned why he had to bring anyone along with him in the first place. Surely Isaiah knew that he could handle something like this on his own. Perhaps he really did want him to bring a lower rank along so that he could teach them the ropes, however much Liam cringed at the thought. He wasn't one of the trainers here that taught the new members the ropes of the place. Despite how there had been a lack of new members joining into their organization lately, because finding people who shared the same similarity as the rest of them was beginning to dwindle down, he was still never one to lead the newer members into teaching them what they had to do about this place and about what they really are, or who they were for that matter. But, regardless, he tried to push those thoughts aside as best as he could so that he could attend to the other duties that he had to bother himself with, which, in all honesty, was more busy work that anything. Looking at reports and checking to see what some of the researchers had come to find from their networking only to see that they had found nothing, as usual. As the hours passed, and as day slowly started to turn into night, Liam had brought himself back to his room, chuckling lightly at the sight of Casimir laying on his bed, stretch out with her eyes closed. So this is where she had come after she left his side a few hours ago.

It wasn't shortly after he brought out the rest of his Pokemon and woke Casimir up so that he could tell them about the mission. Inazuma seemed excited about the news, more than likely happy to be told that they would actually be traveling about and that he may have a chance to battle others that he was not used to battling, Kaiser seemed to give his usual huff of a response, a low rumble coming from his throat as he kept his tail in check to make sure that he didn't catch anything on fire such as he had when he was but a young Charmander, and Freon, believe it or not, even seemed to be a little happy about the news. It really had been a while since any of them had been put to any field work, lately Liam having been stuck in the headquarters because of the work that he was now having to do. At least he trusted his Pokemon enough to keep them out of their Pokeballs for most days - though there were times when he had to keep Inazuma and Kaiser in check- so that he wouldn't have to have them trapped in there all day. And his room was large enough, even for the large Charzard, to all sleep in there outside of their Pokeballs which he usually did on most nights. They each had their own bedding, though Casimir had more of a tendency to stay, or to try to at least, on Liams bed with him. He even told the Pokemon about someone accompanying them with the mission, Casimir grunting out a response as she spoke with the other Pokemon, Kaiser grunting and Inazumas tail lashing at the thought apparently, though he noticed the little chuckles from the Raichu. Apparently Casimir had made some sort of joke.

Eventually they all went to bed after Liam packed up things for himself as well as his Pokemon, double checking that he had everything before he finally laid down in bed and drifted off to sleep. The alarm clock on his nightstand woke up him, his eyes opening as he rubbed his eyes and stretched his arms above his head before a yawn slipped from his mouth. While the man was used to waking up early, having to do so most every day, he still wasn't much of a fan of the action. But he roused the rest of his Pokemon and set them all in their Pokeballs after giving them a little bit of breakfast, excluding Casimir who walked along side Liam as he walked down the halls, his backpack slung over his shoulder as he started heading over to the entrance. Oh, that girl better not be late. He turned to look down at his watch to see that he was five minutes early, but, regardless, he didn't like waiting.