Oz: Crossroad of Legends

John Doe paused to look for any takers, then stepped forward to grab everyone's attention.

He cleared his throat. "Greetings, everyone." He brought a hand to his face to swipe the mask off his face and performed a bow. "I am Joshua, but..." He stood up straight and put the mask back on his face. "On the field, I request to be referred to as John Doe, humble Pokemon egg smuggler. In my world, I'm part of a rebellious army striking against a tyrannical government that conquered the world by force. I specialize in infiltration tactics as I perform my primary duty of smuggling Pokemon eggs from under their noses."

Line up.

John Doe waved his hand, and all five Pokemon lined up in front of him. Grinn took his far left (and the audience's right), jumping out of a shadow on the ground and shooting his hands up in a "boo!" gesture before chuckling. To her right, hovered Rotom bearing a hearty grin, then Manaphy doing a loop in the air, Zoroark crossing his arms, then Ditto performing the most gentlemanly bow a blob creature can muster.

"My world is widely inhabited by creatures we call Pokemon," Doe explained, deciding to play it safe and explain it under the assumption that the concept would be completely alien to at least a few of the people gathered here. "Pokemon have many unique powers, come in various shapes, and live in different places. We humans used to live happily with Pokemon, until recently."

John Doe started from his left. "This," he gestured to Grinn, "is a Gengar. Her name is Grinn. As a ghost-type Pokemon, she is able to phase through solid objects, literally hide in the shadows, and steal heat from the surrounding area." John Doe turned to a number of wooden training dummies with very light armor erected behind him in preparation for demonstration. "She can also attack using Shadow Ball." On cue, Grinn charged dark energy in her hands before hopping up and launching the projectile to one of the training dummies. The attack hit the dummy in the upper chest and blasted the top half off on impact. "She can also put foes to sleep with Hypnosis, as long as they maintain eye contact. It would be rather inconvenient to demonstrate, so I suppose we'll just have to move on to my next Pokemon."

Grinn looked at John Doe with a questioning look with a hint of disappointment before getting back in line. Rotom zipped up to Doe's side.

"Yeah! My turn! Which target do I blow up?"

Focus, Rotom.

"This is Rotom," John Doe said. "He's also part ghost-type, but he's also part electric, since he has a body of plasma." Doe smiled a bit as he affectionately brushed the back of his hand on Rotom's forehead. "Still safe to pet, but you have to be careful if you don't want to get electrocuted."

John Doe reached into his pocket and held up is communicator. "Rotom here as the unique ability to possess and control any piece of electronic machinery he can enter." On cue, Rotom zipped into the device. He held the screen forward to see that the text 'H E L L O' was displayed on front. Rotom left the device, and the screen powered down. "Not only that, he can also discharge electricity onto foes." Without waiting for the order, Rotom grinned, chose one of the training dummies, and fired his flashiest Thunderbolt at it and scoring a direct hit.

...The dummy continued standing, unscathed.

"Huh?!"

"...Which, unfortunately, is not very effective against wood."

Rotom looked back in surprise. Then, realizing his folly, smiled nervously. "Hehe... Whoops... Well, at least I can still show off my super-special-switcheroo spec--"

"Now," Doe interrupted. "Moving right along."

"Oh come oooon papa, why not?"

We don't know if we can fully trust these people. Best to keep a few Tricks up our sleeves, just in case.

"Next," Doe said as a dejected Rotom flew back in line. "We have Manaphy, Princess of the sea." The Seafaring Pokemon waved to the crowd. Surely, at least one of them had their heart melt from the cuteness. "Her body is composed of 80% water. As you can expect..." Manaphy flew over John Doe's head and chose two targets. The first, she hit with a modest Water Pulse. The training dummy shook more violently than one would expect from the attack. Then, she breathed in before exhaling with an Ice Beam, drawing it across the ground before directing it over the second dummy, leaving a trail of ice as it struck over the chest-area. After that demonstration, Manaphy landed back on the ground and performed her best attempt at a curtsy.

"Rare that she shows off," Ditto observed.

"She's learnin'!" declared Grinn proudly.

"Now this, is the Dark-type, Zoroark." The fox nodded in acknowledgement, but remained still. "Zoroark are known for many things, such as their ferocious bite, sharp claws, the strong social bonds they form with each other, and most importantly, the ability to trick others by manipulating their perception and making them see illusions. Case in point." The Zoroark that had been standing in line suddenly vanished. Then, one of the soldiers in Yuleian armor standing behind the audience began walking forward to take John Doe's side. Keen-eyed viewers would've noticed the non-human, bestial footprints left behind by the man before the illusion faded and Zoroark's true form remained. John Doe hid his smirk. "Offensively, Zoroark is capable of breathing fire with Flamethrower, and create shockwaves of dark energy." The Zoroark demonstrated by stretching it's neck in preparation, then firing a stream of fire at dummy Manaphy had left frozen, then turning and unleashing the aforementioned dark shockwaves at an intact dummy. It just barely hit it in the shoulder area.

"I see. In my case, you're hiding Taunt... and not the more valuable illusions."

We'll be using your illusions so often that they would be the most poorly kept secret... Also, I don't feel like explaining how Taunt functions.

"Last but not least, Ditto," John Doe said, walking over to the Pokemon in question. "This kind of Pokemon has been the bane of scientists for centuries. Ditto here starts off as a normal-type, but has the ability to rewrite it's own genetic code and duplicate it's appearance into a duplicate of another Pokemon." John Doe stepped back. Ditto compressed his body, then enveloped itself in light before expanding into the same form as the Zoroark adjacent to it. It gave a gentlemanly and very out-of-character-looking bow to the audience. The real Zoroark looked slightly annoyed. "This is no illusion. It can also temporarily learn the same abilities as the original Pokemon, although his stamina doesn't quite compare, so it can only use these abilities to such an extent. He can't copy humans very well and certainly can't speak like one, but he can copy faces near-flawlessly, which I have been able to use for disguises... You get used to the feeling of Ditto on your face." Ditto reverted back to normal.

"As for me?" John Doe concluded. "Well, I'm a former actor that knows his way around a knife and some martial arts. Any questions?"

"Nah, let's keep it under wraps," Grinn replied without needing to ask her trainer. "Though knowing what moves you got might help out the kid taking care of you."

June quietly folds her arms and stares in mild shock. "So these are... some kind of..." She trails off, still trying to process things like 'plasma' and 'electricity.' "...They hatch from eggs?"

"Like... birds, or... um... and these, er... creatures are, uh... common in your world?" June asks.

He comes from a world where ghost chickens and electric fish and talking... They're just... everywhere? How does... If the birds in our world could all use thunder- uh, plasma magic...

"...I'm glad they're friendly?" June says.

Training Grounds

"Well, not always," John Doe admitted. "For instance, Litwick look like candles, and they burn the life force of other beings to fuel their flames. Jellicent are sea creatures with a reputation for dragging ships that wander into their habitats to the ocean floor. Cofagrigus look like golden coffins, but they ensnare would-be grave robbers and turn them into mummies. In the past, entire villages used to be destroyed by wild Hydreigon, a three-headed dragon that devours everything in it's path. And then there's ghosts like Mismagius, who torments those that listen to their cries with nightmarish visions.

...But most of them do tend to be benevolent towards humans." John Doe bowed to his audience. "Now, if there are no further questions, I conclude my presentation, as well as that of this other Gengar here."

Once he was done, John Doe grabbed Chlortles (currently in corporeal form) by the fur on his head and dragged him away.

"What the hell was that?!" Doe yell-whispered, gesturing at the guard the Gengar used as Hypnosis practice, dragged off to the side and only now beginning to stir awake. "Don't just use a guard as a training dummy without warning! Do you want to get shot by the antsy and nervous guards with guns?!"

---

Training Grounds

"What do you think so far?" Alvis muttered to Glinda. His eyes drifted towards the soldier sitting half-deliriously while his buddy asked him out many fingers he was holding up. That poor soldier was not a morning person. "An infiltration expert may prove useful, but we may have to reinforce the archives for more than phantasms, just in case."

"We have little to hide, and even less that would be of value to an Outlander," Glinda replied. "Though perhaps he may be willing to assist our own private investigations of corruption among the other nobility. As for the others." She briefly glanced over at Morgan. "It seems that Lana has made a new friend in... Morgan, was it? It should be good that she is befriending an Outlander so easily, yet I cannot help but feel some concern as well. Do you think it would be foolish to invite her to tea to get to know her some more?"

"Ahh yes," Alvis said, "about that. It seems that Lana intends to have her serve under her as a retainer."

"W-What?" Glinda said. Were it not for the company present, her surprise may have been less restrained. "B-But... She has not... It has not even been twenty-four hours since they could have conceivably met! To put a stranger in such a prestigious role -- a stranger to this entire world, no less?"

"Officially, she has the right to," Alvis reminds her. "It is best that you discuss it at length with the two ladies later to make sure they understand."

Glinda looked at her daughter watching the Outlanders, oblivious to the private conversation, then looking over at Morgan. She pursed her lips slightly. "Yes. I believe I will. Erm... What are your thoughts on Morgan's aptitude?"

"Well, she makes a mostly positive first impression," Alvis said, "assuming her responses to my preliminary interview were genuine. I intend to test her more thoroughly than most to compensate for our obvious inability to perform a background check. She may need some training to receive more refined manners befitting of a royal retainer, however. I'm sure the maids are up to the task."

"I...see..." Glinda replied, not thoroughly convinced. "We will discuss this at length later.

---

Training Grounds

"Hey", Gawain spoke to Grant. "Whadya think about these folk?"

Got to admit, that younger girl makes us look like small fry, Grant mentally answered. But if none of these other guys use Pokemon the way we do, we might have a leg up.

"As long as you're not the team deadweight. Can't have you making me look bad, can we?"

And since when have YOU done anything useful?

"Just 'cause you don't remember what happened at Sevii, don't mean I didn't do you a solid that time!"

You only half remember yourself, how do I know you're not just making stuff up again?

"Cut me some credit! I always leave SOME truth between the embellished details. Anyway, back to the present, just stay calm, confident, and determined. Not like that other poor sap over there. Every time I glance at him from your peripheral vision, he's shaking harder than a Snorunt."

Grant looked at the guy Gawain was talking about. He looked around his age. Grant had caught sight of him earlier than thought he looked nervous. Now, he looked like he was about to hyperventilate.

That guy doesn't look good. I'm going to check on him.

"Really? I'll try not to spook him, then."

Grant walked over to the kid, trying his best to look as casual and non-threatening as possible.

"Uh, hello there!" Grant said. "Are you okay?"