[Game thread] Skull Ruins Pokerole

[Dragonstrike]

Spoiler

Dagny floats into the room and seats herself in her chair.

"Yes, Nathan! You did it! My USB self-destructed after delivering its payload, so they may not even know I got in. But I did, and I'm already learning a lot."

"First of all, this is obviously illegal. So I can't just bring it to court as evidence, but I can use it to guide my further steps."

"Almanac uses Porygon's first stage as a cyber-security force. I expect your own Porygon encountered him and easily defeated him, being a higher evolutionary stage. I could keep the Porygon, try to see what it knows, and maybe get it surrendered for adoption eventually. Not anytime soon, though, due to the delicate nature of my meddling."

"No question that Almanac is simply a front for the Scimitars now. I'm learning that was the plan all along. Of course, Scimitar wants the kind of legal research Almanac was doing anyway. What I haven't yet found is who their financial backer is. But I've learned about all sorts of resources they're developing: special breeds, artificial evo stones and mega stones, extradimensional technology, and lots and lots of resources for probing the Skull Ruins. They plan to strip it layer by layer, exposing all its secrets."

"Cosh, Delta Porygon." Delta Porygon brings up some files on the computer-desk. "Seems Cosh owns a Steelix and a Skarmory. Looks like he borrowed some 'forbidden eldritch knowledge,' some rare book, from the Water Scimitars to further research extradimensional spaces. His goals include manipulating the dimensions of Gauntlet-stored Pokemon for great effect - for example, he could punch you with the force of Steelix's Heavy Slam."

"Porygon, Hans Smith." Beep! "Hans Smith was a legitimate Almanac scientist, actually! He planned to join the Scimitar organization someday, but was not issued a gauntlet at the time of his death in early 2017. Looks like he was involved in a lot of dangerous games - borrowing money, gambling, shady investments. Just white collar bullshit, really. He worked in the Procurement division, gathering wild Pokemon for experiments. Lots and lots of demerits in his record for failing to get the Pokemon back to the lab. Methinks he was self-sabotaging, but his superiors just thought him incompetent. He was about as low on the career ladder as you can get in Almanac.  I don't think he was a double agent, Nathan."

Blink, beep!

"It also says he had a pet Absol, which earned him admiration from the lower-level Scims, but not the 'wizards' who despise Pokemon companions. That should have helped him a lot in his work, but I guess you can't help some people. Now, about this camera, do you want me to develop it?"

"Yeah, go ahead and keep Porygon. You've got more use for it than I do, obviously."

"Encountered some of that extradimensional technology ourselves when we got in there.  Sent a few of our pokemon to a place that Keni calls Sideways at a single touch, so anyone who couldn't evade the attacks or didn't try to was instantly removed from the battlefield entirely.  Very dangerous.  Smashed most of the stuff we encountered that was utilizing it, but Keni warned us that the Scims might still have some remnants of it left."

"I'll keep in mind that we've got a source of funds now. Which is perfect, because we might need them soon..."

"Yeah, if you could develop that film, that'd be great."

"...*sigh*...well, I suppose that still makes some sense...*ahem*...yeah, so...about that pet Absol that Hans Smith had...the nickname Dizzy sound familiar to you?  There's...um...*ahem*...more to this story than those files are saying..."