Gamble your life away- Goldenrod Casinos

[krimsonowl]

It was noise and crowded with pushy people in a rush. They were careless with their money at the Goldenrod Casinos, making it easy for some of it to go missing. Meryl Kerr had just been helping herself to some gold from a nearby tourist outside "The Golden Mew" when she looked back. Just a crowd of people she didn't know. She cursed under her breath furiously and glared into the crowd, pulling her cap down farther and pulling up the collar of her hoodie. She quickly pushed her way over to the large statue of the legendary Pokemon for which the casino was named and stood on the base. Meryl watched the stupid, unknowing citizens of Johto. They were like sheep, blindly following whatever their officials told them. They had no idea about the war going on around them. Blinking, she shifted her attention, looking for her group, but she could see any of them. Grinding her teeth, she sat on the base. 'Idiotic morons. I never liked them anyway,' she thought shaking her head.
It took her a few minutes to realize that the blue collar around her neck was silent and no energy was being pulled from her. Furrowing her eyebrows, she looked around. CODA always knew where their weapons were, so if she got separated fro the group, why weren't they punishing her. Meryl stood with a shrug and shoved her hands in the pocket of her hoodie. Her fingers met the gold she had swiped. A smirk split her face and she headed inside the casino to have a little fun before CODA noticed where she was.

[Astraea]

Jay was not paying attention to his fellow gamblers as they loudly and boisterously placed their bets. Instead, he manned his laptop with one hand, typing with an inhuman speed considering he was taking a drink of iced tea with the other. Jay wasn't legally allowed to drink alcohol yet, which didn't stop him under normal circumstances, but he'd rather not be drunk while gambling with his money.

It was his third night in a row inside the Golden Mew, and people were starting to go from nervousness to irritation. Nervousness, because he was a Lucem Ferre morph, as his red collar proudly displayed, and wherever one of them was, even just a small Clefairy morph, the others usually weren't far behind. Irritation, because Jay was winning much more than he bet (a thorough knowledge of odds coupled with a Lucky Chant did wonders). Jay gave them another day or two before they tried to "persuade" him to leave. In the meantime, he was going to milk it for all he was worth.

When it came his turn to place a bet, Jay glanced at the cards that were laid out in front of him on the table. Blackjack was simple, especially with four decks. An ace, an eight, and a five winked innocuously at him. If he wanted to win right away, he had to get a seven, but anything less would also work... If he remembered correctly, two of the sixteen sevens had already been dealt to the other players, as well as a decent number of the higher cards.

"Hit," he said absentmindedly when it came his turn. The six of hearts greeted him. Definitely staying with that. Jay waited for the rest of the players to finish, ignoring everyone else in favor of skimming the web some more - nothing obviously illicit, but enough to annoy the other players with his lack of attention. It was mostly because of this that Jay didn't notice the approaching CODA morph.

[[... holy crap this thing is long. -kicks it-]

[krimsonowl]

Maryl was almost swept away in the rush of gamblers moving from table to table. She chewed her bottom lip nervously and clung to the bar nearby. 'Pushy wastes of skin,' she thought, knowing there was a way for her to get them away from her, but LF agents would be all over her in seconds. Instead, she pulled her hat down more firmly over her ears, even though they ached from confinement. The bar tender eyed her nervously before coming over. She stopped him with an icy glare and he turned away. With a sigh, she stood up and headed for the nearest table. They were clearly irritated about something, but she ignored them and sat down with a sigh. 'Blackjack,' she thought absently, pulling out her Marcato stash.

[krimsonowl]

She lifted the stacks of coins onto the table when she noticed him. A short boy covered in pink fur...wearing a red collar. The coins fell onto the table with a noisy clatter as Meryl blinked. It was only a few minutes before she reacted. In a quick strike, she swept aside his laptop, which clattered to the floor. A geek would have cried as the screen cracked and the hinge bent back. Meryl planted a palm firmly on the side of the table as gamblers gasped and backed away at her sudden outburst. It was only a few seconds after that she realized her cap had come of, revealing her long black Raichu ears. Putting her weight solely on her palm, she spun and kicked out, catching the morph on the side of his head with a solid THWACK! Meryl felt the vibrations shiver up her leg with satisfaction.

[Astraea]

Jay's attention was rudely shattered when his laptop was knocked aside. Rather than waste time wondering what had happened or bemoaning his laptop (he could always get another anyway), Jay's first reaction was to set up a Cosmic Power, sizing up his attacker as he did so. Cold light reminiscent of the stars flared in his fingers, spreading up his arm and to the rest of his body with alarming speed. The celestial energy dulled the Raichumorph's kick, and he glanced into her eyes as silence fell, the kind that happened when no one wanted to speak or even move for fear of drawing attention to themselves.

"How inconvenient," he finally breathed, reaching in the back of his mind for the subtle little twitch that would allow him to activate his own abilities to the fullest. Languid head spread over him in waves, as he gazed unflinchingly at the CODA girl with icy, mesmerizing eyes, the Attract pheromones spreading through the air like cyanide. "I don't suppose you would consider taking this outside?"

And then panic broke loose as the gamblers ran for it, putting as much distance between themselves and the two morphs as they could. The lucky ones managed to reach the doors.

[krimsonowl]

Meryl felt the cold power of Attract flood through the Lucem Ferre Morph's gaze and leaped backwards, using Agility to escape. She wrinkled her nose and watched him carefully, charging her Thunderbolt in case he attacked. "Talk?" she said with a sneer, rolling the thought over in her mind. It could easily be a trap and more Lucem Ferre Morphs could be waiting outside, but her team might have realized she was missing and decided to come back too. Setting the charged Tunderbolt aside, she focused on his face. 'He has nice eyes,' she thought unexpectedly. With a growl she cast the thought aside. Using Agility again, she ran straight at him and right over him, shouting over her shoulder, "Only if you can catch me!"

[Astraea]

Jay reacted quickly as the Raichumorph sped forward, pushing himself back from the table to avoid being pinned by it. As she leapt over him, he thrust his hand forward, palm outstretched, and invisible ripples sped outwards, each increasing the weight of Gravity around the Raichumorph twofold. "Why would I need to catch you?" Jay asked innocently, bluffing with the best. Ranged combat was not his forte, and he doubted he could keep up with a Raichumorph under normal circumstances. Instead, Jay brought his other hand forward in a horizontal slashing movement, summoning multitudes of Magical Leaves that sliced through the air towards their target, trailing multicolored sparkles that illuminated their razor edges. It didn't occur to Jay at all to see if he could contact his team for help - he was too proud for that, and most of his team was spread out throughout the city. Aid would take too long to arrive.

[krimsonowl]

Meryl hissed in frustration. This Fairy boy was starting to annoy her. Using agility once more, she foguth against the Gravity increase around her. She swung her tail at his head, using Iron Tail to distract him, aiming for the space next to his ear. With a loud crack, she released Thunderbolt, electricity skittering through the air in two forks.