Arrival in Vermilion! Passing Through to Pewter!

"We are behind the collars, but it is not as you suspect," the woman told Amber. "The collars are simply experiment to create the ideal collar for canines. We wish to soothe their minds when they are enraged... Our research proved stress is as bad for our canine friends as it is for us..." She then grinned lightly. "But of course, that is only our secondary goal." She untensed a bit, holding her free hand out. It had been hidden in her sleeve, but when it was sharp nails were visible. "If you come with me, I can give you more information... Of course, it won't be ALL about us, since you are not of our family."

This thing just keeps getting weirder and weirder, Amber thought. Warning bells were going off in her head, what's to stop them from just murdering me if I follow her to some alleyway? But what choice do I have. I can't just walk away with this dangling in front of my nose. The trainer seemed to be taking the wolf-like appearance of the woman in stride, something a more normal trainer probably wouldn't do. It was somewhat of a coping mechanism, better freak out over the information than offend by making a big deal about how the woman looked.

"I'll come with you," Amber decided, "but only if you promise that if I don't decide to join, my Pack and I can freely walk out of there. I'd like to not be forced into anything and make my own decisions," she purposefully looked back toward Azure and Ash, still struggling within the cage.

"You'll be able to walk out of there if you do not join," the woman told Amber in agreement. "However!... You must not harm any of our family." She still had her hand out, using the other to put the pokeball she was holding up.

"I promise not to hurt anyone who doesn't try to hurt me first," Amber vowed, eyeing the Pokeball with curiosity. "Neither will my Pack, we'll act in our best manners while we're in your company." She wasn't entirely sure how long she'd be gone, but she didn't worry much. Her company waiting in town probably wasn't doing much of anything productive, so she'd have to take the mantle and investigate. Only a little out of Vermilion and she's already got a huge lead, and something to ease her curiosity as well as fuel it. "I'm ready when you are."

The woman smiled a bit more. "Take my hand and I'll take us there," she told her. "I'm one of the special family relatives... I can utilize aura."

Amber hesitated for a second, taking a deep breath. I've committed, there's no going back now. Lowering her hand and opening the nervous fist she didn't realize she had made, she placed her hand in the woman's own. "I have no ability like that," Amber said, "just street smarts, I guess." Easy conversation was one way to ease her nerves, it wasn't like she could change her mind at this point.

"Good, now just relax," the woman told Amber. She started using her aura, trying to make Amber and her pack pass out by using Amber as a channel for it.

Amber took a deep breath and tried to relax, unaware of what the woman was truly doing. Her naivety was enough to open her fully up to the aura manipulation, as she wasn't guarding herself against it. Still, her heart was pounding loudly in her chest until a wave of exhaustion flooded through her mind. Just... close my eyes... was her last thought before darkness consumed her.

The woman smiled seeing Amber go out, her taking the trainer and her pack to where the organization stayed. Amber would have to find out the results of the operation she had stopped attempting to quit when she woke up. The woman had Amber and her pack set on a bed to rest, her standing to wait.

Slowly, Amber's thoughts started drifting into reality as the darkness faded to white. With it came the drifting of idle thought as the mind awoke before pure consciousness came to be. Slowly blinking awake, the trainer's first coherent thought was what happened? Her eyes adjusted to the sudden light of the room around her. Her first sight was of her Pack, still dozing in various spots on the bed. Then, her torso turned in order to regard the woman. "Where am I?" she asked, rubbing her head. Clearly she wasn't in the outdoors right outside Vermilion. "And how?"

"You're where we run operations from," the woman told Amber. She still had her hood up and everything, her arms wrapped since she had leaned against a wall. "I brought you here after you fainted."

"And is this what I'm supposed to see that'll convince me to join you?" Amber asked, adjusting oddly well. She knew it would be worse for her to overreact than keep her cool and gets much information as possible. "No offense, but this just seems like a hotel room. Where's the, uh, family you were talking about? I'm looking forward to meeting them." As she spoke, she took in the room, noting any escape methods in case things go bad. Of course, she had a feeling she wasn't staying in the room for long.

"The family will be together shortly," the woman told Amber. "Until then, you can just rest there. We meet altogether, not as pieces."

Not as pieces? That's an odd way of phrasing things, Amber noted as her fascination rose. A slight stirring against her feet caught her attention, and her eyes fell onto Lavender, who was the first of the Pack to wake. Shortly after, Amethyst blinked her eyes open as Azure did the same. Ash was the last to wake, and he seemed to do so with an ill temper, growling slightly under his breath. "We'll wait," Amber said, giving her Pack a cautious glance. They seemed too tired to act out, but she had a feeling Ash may when he's of better energy if not warned.

"Someone will come and get us shortly I would assume," the woman told Amber. "But just to give you a glimpse of what we strive for, perhaps you'd like to see my face?"

Amber was slightly startled by the question, but only showed it was a slow blink before her mind processed what the woman had said. "Uh, yeah," she said, catching her surprised tone a little too late and allowing it to escape out along with her words. "Erm," she corrected herself, "I'd love to see it if it's okay with you."

The woman sat and crossed her legs, looking to Amber with a light smile. She lowered her hood, revealing two mightyena ears atop her head.

Amber sucked in a gasp. Out of everything that has crossed the trainer's mind, something like that definitely didn't meet the list. A full set of tatoos, perhaps, or some creepy scars, but nothing could prepare her for the sight in front of her eyes. "Are those....?" she trailed off, voicing her disbelief, not truly a question. What have I got myself into now?

The Pack seemed to regard the woman with more curiosity now. Ash lowered his head and stopped his snarling, perking his ears up toward the woman and taking a curious sniff, as if to try and catch some sort of scent of his own kind intermingled with the usual human fragrance. Lavender gazed up at her with keen interest, while the other two Pokemon didn't show much surprise.

The woman's scent would be that of a human's and mightyena's, confirming Ash's suspicion if he had any. She lifted her hand gently and petted him, beginning to talk to the pokemon with a full understanding of his kind. "Might... Yen, Mightyena," she told the pokemon, speaking how intelligent he looked. Her eyes shifted between the pokemon and Amber.

"Yena," Ash replied, oddly calmed by the woman's true form. He found comfort his kind and the canines like him, and she spoke his own tongue. His reply was a curt thank you, as his personality didn't open him up to much small talk. He had calmed, but trust was not yet earned. With a flick of his ear, he gazed back toward Amber, as if making sure she was still safe.

"So..." she trailed, "is that something that comes with the 'Family'?" She was trying her best not to come off as rude, but curiosity was a hard thing to contain, especially after seeing something as startling as the woman.

"Our family wishes to communicate with canines," the woman told Amber. "We worship them. We change as we progress towards being like our companions." She looked up. "There is one who fulfilled this goal... He is who you pure-breed would consider our alpha."

Amber's only reply was a slow blink, as if she couldn't quite fully process what the woman had told her. If they worship canines, then what's with the collars? All they seem to be doing is allowing them to suffer and die. She didn't voice the question out loud, not wanting to offend while vulnerable in a strange room. Instead, she ran her hand along the thick fur around Amethyst's neck in order to keep her own calm. "An Alpha. So you have, er, been successful in your goals," was the reply she could finally come up with. Smooth, she thought with sarcasm.

"Only one," the woman told Amber. "The others left too early or just stopped trying. They were not worthy of being like our companions." She then changed the subject. "Perhaps you would like to meet our alpha."

"S-Sure," Amber said, doing a mental face-palm at her blatant hesitation. I really need to handle things more smoothly if I want to get out of here and make it to Pewter. She took a long, calming breath and regained her wits. "I'd love to meet your Alpha," she said without any hesitation, "I'd be honored."

"Good," the woman told Amber. She noticed someone else walk in, the male looking to Amber. "Follow," he told her plainly.