[X] My Assistant

[Amissa]

"All right then," Caroline said, walking off a bit to place suitable distance between her and Luna. She wasn't certain how far away she should be, but she didn't want to be in the way when the fight turned rough. "I'll start with Thor first. Go Thor!"

The little green electrike ran out onto the open grass, awaiting his opponents. "Trike! Elec-trike!" He barked to signal that he was ready. Meanwhile, Swiper shot Caroline an annoyed look. He had wanted to battle first. However, Caroline was mostly interested in helping Thor learn more attacks. Besides, his Thunder Wave would be useful for sure and Caroline considered Thor to be her more reliable pokemon. She respected Swiper's strength and she intended to call him into battle if she needed him, but she was acutely aware of Swiper's problems with authority and preferred to put a bit more training into her most obedient pokemon.

Caroline glanced over at Karuto to see which of his pokemon that he would start with. She was expecting him to use his squirtle first, but she was anxious to see his other pokemon as well. She thought that a water and an electric type would make a great team, but Karuto's second pokemon was a complete mystery to her. In her head, Caroline was already planning ways to coordinate Thor's attacks in order to allow Karuto's beefy squirtle to do as much damage as possible.

As she expected, Karuto called Squirt over to fight alongside Thor. The two teammates eyed each other warily. Thor was naturally suspicious and Squirt didn’t appear to fully trust the electric type. Both, however, were eager to battle and jumped to attention when Luna sent out two of her pokemon. After a short moment of consideration, she called out Sirius, her poochyena and Lena, her gastly.

It took only seconds for Caroline to determine who her first target would be. She considered the gastly to be the greater threat. Luna had once told her that Lena was a trickster and a joker, so she wanted her out of the battle first. “Thor, use thunder wave on that gastly!” The electrike’s body tensed as he summoned up his electric power and bright yellow sparks crackled over his green fur just before he released a jolt. The shock burst forward as swiftly as lightning strikes, but Lena had been tipped off by Caroline’s command and the crackling energy only grazed the swift and evasive ghost type.

“All right Squirt, use water gun on the poochyena!” Karuto commanded and Squirt launched his attack. He took aim at his grey canine opponent before releasing a powerful stream of water from his mouth. The bite pokemon emitted a quiet yelp of surprise as the water blasted him and he staggered backwards from the blow. He quickly recovered, however, and leapt forward again, soaking wet but determined to fight on.

“Sirius, use howl! Lena, hypnosis!” Luna called out, appearing pleased and proud of both of her fighting pokemon. The two did not disappoint. Sirius tipped his head back and let loose his howl, raising his fighting spirit. Lena set her eyes upon Thor, drifting slowly from side to side as she tried to seduce him into falling asleep.

“Don’t look into her eyes, Thor! Keep your head down and tackle that gastly!” Caroline cried, sounding a bit desperate and anxious. If Thor was put to sleep, he’d have no chance to fight. He would be helpless and Squirt would be left to fight against two pokemon at once!

Thor obeyed her orders and it appeared at first as though he would complete his attack successfully without being affected by hypnosis. He managed to charge ahead, rushing forward while keeping his eyes to the grass below him, and he flung himself at Lena before passing right through her. The electric pokemon felt a chill as he passed and inhaled a peculiar odor, which he choked on. He looked up and behind him to see if he’d hit his target and found himself staring the grinning gastly right in the eyes. He heard Caroline cry out in surprise, but it sounded far away and quiet. He couldn’t fight it, and he soon fell into a deep but troubled sleep.

Caroline hit her head against her palm, furious at herself for making such a blunder. She’d never fought a ghost type before and didn’t know that attacks like tackle would pass right through them. Of course, it made sense. She’d seen Lena disappear and reappear again, but she’d never seen her pass through objects before. Beside her, Swiper hissed and coiled angrily as he beat his rattled tail against the ground. “Quiet!” Caroline snapped at him impatiently, “You’re not helping.”

“And who’s fault is that?” Swiper hissed sounding cool but still irritated at being left out of the fight. Oh, if only his human could understand him! It was such a shame for all of his witty comebacks to be wasted.

Caroline glanced over at Karuto, feeling a bit guilty that she wasn’t holding up her end of the fight. He didn’t seem concerned with her at all though, and it was obvious why. With Thor asleep, Squirt had two pokemon to concentrate on fighting instead of only one and Sirius was proving more evasive than Caroline would ever had guessed. The poochyena dodged the second water gun that Squirt sent its way, leaping away from the stream of water that came towards it and used its howl a second time. Meanwhile, Luna’s gastly floated over to the water type and gave it a big lick on the face.

Caroline grit her teeth and tried to wake up her sleeping pokemon. “Thor! Thor! Wake up!” She shouted, waving her arms about in frustration. She knew that the arm-waving wasn’t going to help, but she felt like she needed to do something. Swiper looked away from the fight and pretended to go to sleep. On the battlefield, Thor didn’t move a muscle.

Squirt was left trembling from the lick attack, but he grit his teeth fiercely, still ready to fight upon receiving the order. “Squirt, use bite on poochyena!” Karuto shouted. His fists were clenched and he looked just as determined as his pokemon. The squirtle ran at Sirius with his mouth open wide, displaying many sharp teeth. The poochyena’s eyes widened in alarm and he managed to jump back just as those jaws were about to close upon him.

“Lena! Lick again! Sirius, dodge and use headbutt!” Luna commanded, exuding an air of confidence that Caroline privately envied. Caroline made a few more weak pleas for Thor to awaken, but the pokemon only rolled over and snored loudly. She kept looking at Swiper and wondering if it would be best to switch pokemon now. However, Thor hadn’t taken a single hit, and she didn’t like to deprive him of battle experience that he badly needed. She decided to wait a bit longer before calling Swiper into the fight.

Lena licked Squirt again with her long tongue and this time Squirt’s trembling did not stop. He continued to shake and appeared to have a great deal of difficulty moving. Oh no, Caroline thought, he must have been paralyzed! Karuto commanded another water gun attack, and Squirt did his very best to obey. He shakily turned his head to find Sirius and take aim at the poochyena once again. However, his aim was clearly affected by his condition because the attack hardly touched the bite pokemon. When Sirius ran head first at the water type, Squirt was unable to move away and caught the worst of the headbutt attack. Caroline flinched as Squirt was sent flying backwards and she saw Karuto clench his teeth and tighten his fists even more.

Caroline thought briefly of the time when she had first met Karuto, the way that he had looked and behaved in the pokemon center while waiting for his squirtle to heal. He had been so distracted. He didn’t seem to really gain much focus until after his pokemon was better. That squirtle probably meant the world to him. She was learning something about her battle partner during this fight and it was that Karuto’s pokemon were his love and his pride. She was also learning that Luna was a trainer to be reckoned with and Caroline took note to avoid making her too angry in the future. Man, this girl's pokemon can fight!

At that moment, Thor blinked and brought himself groggily onto his feet. Luna’s two pokemon were still focused on Squirt, and Caroline smiled deviously as an idea struck her. A surprise attack! “Thor, hurry and use thunder wave on gastly again!” Thor shook himself briefly as he remembered where he was and what he was doing. It was time to pay Lena back for putting him to sleep! He growled lowly to himself as he launched his thunder wave attack from behind the ghost. Lena tried to turn towards the electrike, alerted by Caroline’s command, but it was too late and the blast of yellow electric energy surrounded her.

“Yes!” Caroline cheered for Thor’s small accomplishment. Swiper lifted his head up and watched the battle again, though he tried to appear uninterested. He was curious about how far Thor could go.

“Squirt, come on. I know you’re not done yet. Use another water gun on poochyena!” Karuto said, watching anxiously as Squirt recovered and made it back onto his feet. The paralysis was still plaguing the pokemon and it seemed to take a great deal of willpower just to coordinate his muscles to walk. He managed his attack though, and this time his aim was perfect. The blast of water hit Sirius square in the face, blowing him backwards into the air.

“Sirius!” Luna yelled, eyes wide as she watched the pokemon that she had rescued land on the ground with a harsh THUMP! The poochyena let out a soft whimper but managed to force himself onto his feet. He was soggy and shaking but he still appeared willing to fight. “Lena, you have to help him,” Luna pleaded, no longer sounding as confident as she looked. “Sirius, howl!” Again, the canine tipped his head back and filled their ears with his loud, long, cry. Lena was slower to respond as she was feeling the effects of paralysis all over her body. “Hypnosis!” Luna commanded and the ghost carefully and shakily locked its gaze onto Squirt.

“Water gun again at gastly!” Karuto ordered, and in that split second when Lena and Squirt were eye-to-eye, Squirt managed to purse his lips and release one last blast of water directly at the ghost before falling victim to her hypnosis. The squirtle fell backwards and rocked back on his rounded shell as he began to snooze.

Uh oh! Now it looks like it’s time for Thor to hold his own against these two, Caroline thought grimly. She set her eyes on the weakened poochyena and admitted to herself that she had underestimated it. It’s howl attacks had no doubt increased its attack power a great deal and unlike Lena, she was sure that it would be hurt by normal attacks. “Okay, now tackle poochyena and quickly before it attacks!” Caroline hoped that Thor would heed her warning. Her electrike didn’t have a hard shell to protect it, and she worried that it wouldn’t handle nearly as much damage.

Thor obediently rushed at his foe, keeping Sirius locked in his sights. “Lena, lick!” Luna shouted, but the ghost was still hindered by her paralysis and couldn’t move fast enough to intercept the speedy little electrike. Thor landed hard against Sirius and the bite pokemon let out a sad cry as it was knocked down. Lena came up behind Thor and licked him a bit belatedly. Meanwhile, Luna came forward and tenderly lifted her injured pokemon off the ground. She cradled him in her arms like a baby and appeared to speak soothingly to him, though it was too soft for Caroline to hear. She backed away from the battling pokemon and set Sirius gently on the ground at her feet before sending out another pokemon, her abra named Danil.

Caroline let out a soft sigh of relief as the poochyena was defeated and beamed proudly at Thor. Swiper only tilted his head thoughtfully. Now there was just an abra and a paralyzed ghastly to fight against and Caroline thought that Thor could handle those. Thor, however, kept his guard up. He hadn't lasted this long by taking his enemies for granted. He snorted aggressively at the two opponents.

[deyv87]

“Yeah, let’s hit the park. You lead the way.” Rick retorted. Rick had a bite to his speech that simply wasn’t there before Tyler had entered the pokemart. Tyler wondered if Rick was annoyed that Tyler had helped that homeless man, or if Rick was just tired of escorting Tyler around. There wasn’t anything Tyler could do about either of those, so he decided to just focus on the next step for now.

Tyler was familiar with that particular park. It was where his school companions and he used to go to battle each other. He continued speed walking the same direction he was already going as he studied his Pokenav. Rick and he were practically as far away from the park as they could be without being in the port district. On the plus side, they just had to follow this road in a straight line. They had to go first from the poor district, through the suburbs, into the wealthy district, then around Groudon’s Thumb, and out of the wealthy district before hitting the park.

Tyler pocketed his Pokenav and turned to Rick, who was following behind a few paces. “Hey, would it be possible for us to rent a vehicle from Groudon’s Thumb on the way? It could really speed this up.”

“Well,” Rick replied, half hiding a grin on his face, “you can’t yet, but I can rent a motorcycle. I guess you’ll just have to hang on the back.” Tyler wasn’t too sure he liked Rick’s sudden happiness, and was pretty sure this wouldn’t turn out well for himself. Rick had sped his walk up a bit and had caught up with Tyler. “And if speed is an issue,” Rick started, his grin getting bigger, “why are we walking?”

With that, Rick started running down the road. “Are you kidding…” Tyler mumbled to himself, before hitching his briefcase under his arm and bolting down the road after Rick. After a few moments, Tyler was sweating through his black attire. As he ran past, he noticed a few people stopping and staring at the two of them. Occasionally, someone would cheer Tyler on, clapping at the thought of someone chasing down an obvious Magma member. This occurrence happened less and less as Rick and Tyler moved towards the center of the city, both because as they moved through the districts the number of Magma supporters increased, and also because Tyler was falling well behind Rick.

By the time Tyler reached the base of Groudon’s Thumb, Rick had already been standing around for several minutes. As soon as Tyler half-heartedly jogged up to Rick, Rick chuckled a bit and said, “Ready to rent that bike yet?”

“Why don’t… why don’t you go get it… and meet me here.” Tyler replied between breaths, glaring what he hoped were daggers at Rick. Tyler was doubled over, hands on his knees, so he didn’t expect his stare was doing much.

“Or, you can meet me on the other side of the building. Apparently you could use the exercise.” Rick almost spat at Tyler, before entering the building.

Oh, man will I be happy when this mission is over. Tyler thought to himself as he turned right and walked around the building. If I ever get a chance to give him a mission, I’ll at least do the recruits a favor and tell him to do something by himself. As he walked, Tyler slicked his sweat soaked hair back and tied it back up with his pen and pencil. Knowing that he would soon be on a motorcycle, he took his notepad out of his shirt pocket, and placed it in his briefcase.

A moment after he reached the road they needed to travel, Rick rode up on a dented, dirty red motorcycle wearing a matching red helmet. “Umm, don’t I get a helmet?” Tyler asked, not seeing a spare in any obvious place.

“You would, if you had come in with me... but they only issue one per member.”

Tyler groaned. “You know what? Whatever, maybe the wind will dry me off by the time we get there.” He said, clearly annoyed. He clambered onto the bike, placing his briefcase between himself and Rick, and then he tried to find a place to grab on that wasn’t Rick. After a few seconds, he gave up and muttered, “Screw it,” as he wrapped his arms around Rick’s chest, locking his fingers together. “Let’s go.”

Rick gunned it, racing down the street at what Tyler assumed were illegal speeds. He didn’t see any speed limit signs, because he kept his eyes closed for most of the ride. The one time he did open his eyes, it was just in time to see a middle aged guy in a business suit jump out of Rick and Tyler’s way. A minute later, the bike slowed down and parked. Tyler let go of Rick and opened his eyes to see the park. He hopped off the bike, and began fixing his hair once more.

“So, what does your sister look like again? I don’t remember there being a description in the briefing.” Tyler grabbed his notebook from his briefcase, made sure it was turned to the proper page, and placed it back in his shirt pocket.

Rick looked out over the park, and stopped fairly quickly. “Ok, see those three kids battling? She’s the girl on the left.” He said.

“Hmm. No need to bring attention to ourselves while they’re battling.” Tyler said, trying to walk between Rick and the larger group, thus blocking their view of Rick. “Why don’t we sit down at that bench until they’re done?” He motioned to a park bench, and sat on the end closest to the battling kids.

“Why? That’s my sister, let’s go.”

“She’s also our target right now,” Tyler said in a low voice that wouldn’t carry over to Caroline and her friends, “so let’s just wait until they’re done battling before we tramp on up to them and cause a potentially stressful situation, ok?” When Rick didn’t move Tyler continued. “Please? In order for my plan to work, I need Caroline to be calm. Nobody believes strangers when they’re stressed. I am a stranger to her… I don’t know how to explain this further. Just please come sit down for a few minutes. If my plan doesn’t work, I’ll totally concede and do whatever you think is best to finish this mission."

Rick rolled his eyes and sat down next to Tyler, crossing his arms. “Whatever.”

[Aureylian]

Caroline had an amused look on her face when her Electrike triumphed over the Poochyena, although, at the same time, a not so happy look, feeling bad that the Pokemon had fainted. Luna’s Gastly quickly licked the green dog’s face, causing him to pale a little and shiver. He made a face of total disgust.

"C'mon Thor, now tackle Abra." Luna had released her Abra and the Electrike quickly ran after it. Danil was still a very weak Pokemon, never having much experience.

"Danil, Fire Punch!" It was time for her to go on the offensive. She had Lena out, using her as defense. Danil’s arm was engulfed in flames, yet they didn’t hurt him. He held out his arm and the Electrike, named Thor, ran right into it. The look on Caroline and her pokemon’s faces was a look of surprise. She apparently never thought about Luna’s offensive strategy. The friction of the blow caused Thor’s fur the crackled with electricity.
"Okay, change of plans. Try thunder wave instead!" Out of the Electrike’s fur came a familiar bolot of electricity that shot forward to the Abra. The wave have hit Danil, causing him to be unable to move. Lena had no offensive moves, so Luna really had no way to push forward at the moment.

“Lena, Hypnosis on the Electrike!" It was the only thing she could do. She had to at least try and keep the Electrike away until Danil could move again. Lena moved around, trying to confuse the poor dog. She went into the ground and came back up right in front of him. She stared deeply into his eyes,
"No Thor, look away from her eyes!"Lena heard Caroline shout at her Electrike, but it was no use. He was now asleep for the second time.

Luna saw the Squirtle stir and, during the time of his ‘nap’, she had almost forgot about him. "Use bite on the Abra!" The Bite was very affective, almost causing Danil to pass out already. "Danil, Fire Punch on the Electrike again." Luna knew that a fire attack wouldn’t do much on the Squirtle, so she had to try getting rid of Caroline’s Thor. The hit struck Thor in the side, causing him to roll along the grass. A whimper escaped his lips as he woke up. He tried standing, but the hit dealt a lot of damage.

"No, I think that's good enough. Return Thor and go Swiper!" The two pokemon switched places and now Caroline’s Ekans was out on the field.

"Ok Squirt, Bite Gastly again!” The Squirtle came straight fo her, picking up speed. He bit her, which was very affective. She wasn’t badly injured, but Luna recalled her and sent out her Growlithe.

"Lyra, Bite on Swiper!"

"Swiper, use Glare!" The Ekans attempted to scare Lyra, but the Bite got to him first, causing him to flinch.

Karuto nodded toward the Growlithe. "Squirt, use Water Gun!" He seemed very confident, which got most people in trouble. But it helped him control his pokemon.

"Lyra, Ember!" small Growlithe let loose an Ember attack, which met the Water Gun. The two Pokemon battled it out, with the two attacks pushing on each other. Neither attack made an actual hit, but blew up into a giant cloud of smoke. "Lyra, use Bite now, while it can't see!" Lyra used her powerful sense of smell to find the Squirtle in the smoke, landing a very powerful Bite.

"Swiper, bite Abra!" Caroline yelled, remembering the weakened psychic type. Just then, Swiper's selective hearing kicked in and he aimed his bite attack at Lyra instead, intent on getting some revenge.

"That's enough Squirt, come back." Karuto said, calling the Squirtle back towards him. He didn't look particularly badly injured, but Luna thought he would like to give his other pokemon a turn.
"Deli, go!" He said, throwing the pokéball forward and releasing the Delibird.

Luna had never seen Karuto's Delibird before, so it came as a little bit of a surprise. The Pokemon was an ice-type which actually gave her the advantage. Swiper landed a bite on Lyra's tail, but she bit him back. She ran around in a little circle, trying to disorient the Ekans while they had a hold on each other.

Caroline giggle a bit, like it was a fun little game. "Wrap it up, Swiper," The Ekans wrapped himself around Lyra and squeezed, causing her to yelp.

"Deli, use present on Abra!" Karuto shouted. The Delibird grabbed a present and threw it towards the Abra, which exploded on contact.

Swiper had Lyra almost completely enclosed in it's massive body. But she was clever. "Lyra, now!" The Growlithe let out a massive Ember attack, hitting Swiper on the side. Swiper cried out in pain and rage. The attack wasn't especially damaging, but like all snakes, Swiper hated any sort of temperature extremes. "Swiper!" Caroline yelled, "You could still manage the wrap!" but the snake was simply too angry to listen to whatever she had to say. He brought himself up and stared Lyra down with the most hateful Glare that he could muster, backing it up with a furious hiss.

Danil had been hit by Deli's Present attack and it exploded. "Danil! Fire Punch!" Danil teleported the short distance to behind the Delibird and hit him with a massive fire attack. The attack had done a lot of damage, fire against ice.

"All right, Ice Ball on Abra!" called Karuto and Deli did as he was told. The ball of ice formed around his mouth, shooting forwards.

"Danil! Dodge!" The ice flew at Danil five times and whenever they came close to him, he disappeared and showed up a few inches away. "Now, help Lyra!" Lyra was flinching slightly at Swiper's Glare when Danil came at him with a Fire Punch.

"Swiper, look out for Abra! Bite attack now!" Caroline instructed and Swiper turned to see Danil's fiery fist heading right for him. Swiper lunged at Danil with his mouth open wide. He took the fiery attack right in the face, but bit down hard on the arm that delivered the blow. The result for Swiper was devastating, however, since the fire caused him such pain. The Ekans had taken a few very damaging blows, and he looked like he wouldn’t last much longer.

"Return, Swiper. We did a good job and we can have that burn looked at when I take you to a Pokemon Center." Caroline said as she called the ekans back into his pokeball. She gave an apologetic shrug to Karuto and a friendly wave to Luna. "I concede, so it's just the two of you now."

Karuto brought back his Squirtle to fight alongside his Delibird. "Deli, use ice ball again!" Karuto ordered. The ice flew forwards, this time hitting the Abra and knocking it flying.


This post has been edited by Ozzy: Jun 30 2010, 09:24 AM

[Xal]

Karuto was surprised to see Caroline drop out of the battle. He'd expected her pokémon to fare much better, especially the Ekans. He just supposed it was down to Luna's pokémon being extremely talented at dodging everything. As per the rules of the double battle, he sent Squirt back to fight alongside Deli. He'd been injured from his earlier battling, but not severely. Karuto had only recalled him to give Deli some more battle experience, he was sure the Squirtle had a lot of fight left in him.

"Use ice ball again, Deli!" Karuto called out to the Delibird. A ball of ice formed at his beak and then flew forwards towards the Abra, knocking it backwards.
"Lyra, use Ember on the Delibird!" Luna called out in response. The Growlithe launched embers at the ice type, and Karuto knew that if they struck then it would be disastrous.
"Dodge it Deli!" He shouted. Deli was more than happy to, throwing his wings above his head and flinging himself to the floor, just out of the way of the attack. The fire type may have had a type advantage over Deli, but Squirt had one over Growlithe.

"Squirt, use water gun on Growlithe!" He ordered. He let forth the attack, just as Karuto ordered Deli to use ice ball on Abra again.
"Lyra, dodge and use Bite!" Luna called out. The Growlithe dodged the attack easily, then began circling Squirtle. Soon after that it bit into his tail, which - Karuto supposed - wouldn't be much bother. It might have hurt, but he didn't need to use his tail to battle.
"Danil, Fire Punch again!" She ordered. The Abra punched the ice ball, trying to knock it back to Deli. The ball broke apart and a small lump hit Delibird.
"Squirt, water gun. Deli, ice ball!" Karuto ordered, repeating the same orders he'd been giving for a while. It wasn't a particularly interesting way of battling, but it was the best he could do. He needed the order out quickly anyway, in order to take advantage of Growlithe being so close to Squirtle. As the attacks struck Growlithe still looked able to battle, but Abra wasn't. She was returned and replaced with the Gastly that Karuto had thought was left unable to battle. It seemed he'd gotten it wrong, evidently.

"Bite the Gastly!" Karuto ordered Squirtle. Bite being a dark type move, he now had type advantages over both opponents, not to mention the fact that he and Deli had been under a lot of strict training. He knew he was being arrogant, but he saw no way of losing this battle now. Ozzy ordered the Gastly to use Mean Look on Squirt, but Karuto didn't know what effect it was meant to have other than leave it spooked out.
He then ordered the pair to both attack the Gastly, to finish it off once and for all. Deli was told to use another ice ball, and Squirt was told to use bubble. Gastly dodged the ice ball but not the bubbles, leading to Luna ordering Growlithe to order help out. It used an ember attack, which hit the Delibird. Deli instantly threw a present attack at it and then Karuto ordered Squirt to use water gun, but somehow the water gun hit first. However, this seemed for the best as Growlithe appeared to be knocked out. Unfortunately, when present hit it didn't do damage but instead actually healed the pokémon. It climbed to its feet and was ready to battle.

"Growl, Growlithe! Lyra, Ember!" Luna ordered. The ember missed both the pokémon, but they were unsettled by the growl.

"Deli, ice ball on Gastly! Squirt, water gun on Growlithe!" Karuto ordered. With any luck the battle would be over soon. Karuto didn't know how long the pair could hold out. The fire attacks had caused a lot of damage for Deli, and Squirt didn't seem too well either.
"Lena, use Lick on the Squirtle!"
Just as Squirtle used water gun on the Growlithe the Gastly came over and licked it, after dodging Deli's attack again.
"Hurry up, Hypnosis!"
The gastly came face to face with Delibird, and tried to hypnotise it. However, Deli used the opportunity to use an ice ball attack with great accuracy, hitting the Gastly head on.
Meanwhile, Luna ordered Growlithe to use bite on Squirtle. As it was biting she then ordered her to use ember, and Karuto didn't know if Squirtle would be able to survive all these attacks in quick succession. He didn't look like he was faring up too well, but still had a little fight left in him. Squirtle retaliated with a similar strategy to the one Growlithe used. He bit the fire type, and then launched a water gun at it. Gastly and Growlithe fell to the ground, defeated.

"You guys did great." Luna whispered as she recalled them to their pokéballs. Karuto thought similarly of his own two; Squirtle even looked proud of himself, although heavily beaten up. As he stood there with his hands on his shell he slowly started glowing. What? Karuto had no idea what he was doing. He'd never seen a pokémon glow like that before. He'd seen pokémon glow for some kind of attack, but never a Squirtle. More importantly, never his Squirtle. He'd taken a beating in the battle, but Karuto was sure he'd be fine. He wouldn't be able to bear it if something had gone seriously wrong, or if he had some kind of 'glowing disease'.
As the glowing subsided Squirt looked different, slightly larger and with different features. In front of him stood not a Squirtle, but now a Wartortle. Karuto stopped and smiled, silently embarrassed about his paranoia. An evolution was, undoubtedly, a good thing. More strength just meant a better pokémon. Of course, he'd still need to be healed before he had another fight, but once that was done he was sure he'd be a much more powerful fighter than he had been as a Squirtle.

Karuto's Squirtle evolved into Wartortle .

This post has been edited by Xal: Jul 6 2010, 05:50 AM

[deyv87]

Tyler watched the battle unfold as he mused about whether or not this situation was ideal for him and his mission. On the one hand, he thought that Caroline would only be accompanied by one person, whichever of these other two people was the other pokemart employee, so it was unsettling to see her battling with two other people. On the other hand, however, if the upcoming interaction did lead to a battle, the only person beside himself with fully healed Pokémon was Rick. Tyler glanced over at Rick, wondering if he would fight Tyler to protect his sister. Tyler was fairly confident about his own Pokémon’s’ abilities, but he still didn’t know Rick’s entire team. He only knew that Rick owned a starly who knew wing attack, which was not much information at all.

Tyler realized that he had been looking at Rick longer than he should have, so he gestured with his head to the battling kids before saying, “Not bad,” and returned to watching the battle. Tyler wished the battle would hurry up and finish. His mind wandered for a bit as he waited. He chuckled to himself as he was reminded of a sleet storm with all the water flying about and balls of ice mixed in. Then he considered what actions he would take in this battle as he watched. A status causing gastly? Sounds like it’s time to send out Mary. Someone sent out a Delibird? Time for Ruby to shine. Tyler noticed, however, that he needed to catch a few more Pokémon with elemental attacks. He didn’t have any Pokémon who could specifically deal with the growlithe or the squirtle.

Well, at least the squirtle is paralyzed. He thought, watching the gastly’s tongue slide up the squirtle’s face. Ha! And the growlithe is unconscious too. He thought moments later, when the squirtle pulled off a nasty little combo move. But I’m not here to battle; I’m just here to convince a girl to hand over her pet so it can have its memory tampered with. Crap.

Tyler leaned toward Rick and said, “I think now’s as good a time as any.” Before standing up and flattening his shirt against his torso. He turned toward the group of kids again just in time to see the squirtle finish evolving into a wartortle. Double crap. Tyler thought. Now he really didn’t want to get caught up in a battle. Even paralyzed and wounded, a wartortle would pose a viable threat to Tyler's party of Pokémon.

After waiting for Rick to slowly stand up, Tyler walked casually toward Caroline, happy to hear Rick’s steps following. The boy seemed not to notice Tyler or Rick. Most of his attention was on his new wartortle. He could have sworn the other girl’s eyes were following the two of them, but when he glanced to see, she too was looking at the wartortle.

“Caroline?” Tyler started once he had finally reached the girl. “Hi, my name is Tyler. I work with your brother, and was hoping I could ask you a few questions about your spearow.” He extended his arm to shake Caroline’s hand before continuing, trying to sound upbeat yet informative. “You see, a few months back, there was an industrial accident at one of our facilities. Several people and Pokémon were injured, and one Pokémon was unaccounted for; a spearow with a missing eye. The people at Team Magma… and your brother has confirmed this… believe that you have a spearow who matches that description.

“That’s where I come in. I’ve been asked to bring your spearow back to headquarters so that we can identify if your spearow is the same unaccounted for spearow from that accident. I’ve also been asked to determine if your spearow should undergo psychiatric counseling. Either way, rest assured, we would promptly return the spearow to you. I know how attached trainers can be to their Pokémon… I’m the same way with mine.” Tyler gently tapped his new mankey’s pokeball at his hip.

“But as I was saying, if your spearow is the same spearow from the accident, it may have been traumatized by it, and if this is the case, then the people at Team Magma feel responsible.” Tyler set his briefcase down between his feet, pulled his notepad out from his pocket, which was already on the page he had prepared earlier, and pulled his pen out from his hair before continuing.

“So, as I mentioned, I need to ask you a few questions to determine if your spearow should get free counseling. It’s actually a fairly short form. I just need to know your spearow’s name, gender, and if it has shown any odd behavior. Rick has already mentioned that your spearow is aggressive and bites people, so I have to mark that down; but, other sorts of odd behavior could be anything from not sleeping well, to being lazy, to not following orders in battle… or even if your spearow has been eating noticeably more or noticeably less than is normal, we’d like to know.”

Tyler readied his pen, prepared to write down anything Caroline said. He also wondered what fears the girl might have that he would have to assuage before she would be willing to hand over her pet.

[Amissa]

Caroline sat on the ground as the battle continued between Karuto and Luna. She was surprisingly serene despite her loss. In her opinion, her pokemon had performed well enough. Thor couldn't help being put to sleep twice and even though Swiper ignored some of her orders, he always made himself productive. She decided that he just wasn't the best pokemon for double battles. He became so angry whenever a pokemon hurt him that he would only focus on getting revenge instead of the larger fight. She hoped that the new sandshrew that she caught would at least obey instructions. Caroline began to zone out as she pondered what kind of name to give to her new pokemon. "Sandy" felt a little too obvious. What other names were good for a female ground type? Terra, she thought, that means "earth" I think, and it sounds pretty.

A bright light caught her attention and caused her to look up. Was the battle over already? It must have been, and now Karuto's squirtle was evolving. The pokemon grew larger and darker. Once the glowing subsided, there stood before them a wartortle instead. Caroline grinned, happy for Karuto and his pokemon. The battle had certainly been intense, and it should have been more than enough to elicit evolution in an already well-trained squirtle.

Caroline stood up and brushed the loose grass off of her clothes. She thought about hooking the leash back on Thor, but decided to recall him into his pokeball instead. Even though he probably could manage to walk to the Pokemon Center with her, she thought it would be mean to make him do so. She would have carried him in her arms if he would have allowed such a thing, but she knew that he wouldn't. Therefore, the electrike vanished in a flash of red light as he was sucked into the red and white ball in Caroline's hand.

She looked up suddenly at the sight of a man approaching her. Someone would pick a fight with us right now when we're all worn out, she thought nervously. None of her pokemon were in the best shape to fight, but she was happy that she hadn't let any of her pokemon battle to the point of fainting. If she really needed to escape, she could call out Terra to use her sand-attack or Thor to use a thunder-wave. But wait, that guy behind the man was her brother. The two siblings waved at each other and smiled, though Rick's smile came off more as an arrogant smirk. Just then, the man began to talk to Caroline and Rick turned his head, appearing to be examine Luna and Karuto with a critical expression.

The man's name was Tyler and he wanted to talk about her spearow. Caroline assumed that Rick had been running his mouth about her pet to his buddies at work. Rick had never seen Friday, but she had talked with him about her. The more that Tyler talked, the less Caroline felt like she understood. Why was her spearow in an industrial facility? More importantly, why would Team Magma care about some random injured pokemon? Was it just because her brother was on the team?

"I know how attached trainers can be to their Pokémon… I’m the same way with mine.” Tyler gently tapped his new mankey’s pokeball at his hip.

How kind of him to remind me that he's carrying pokemon of his own. Three, by the looks of it, and I bet they're all fully healed and ready for a fight. She was perhaps, too well-versed in some of Team Magma's intimidation techniques. Even though this Tyler fellow sounded like a nice guy and looked very professional, Caroline noticed that he wasn't wearing a Magma uniform even as he claimed to work with her brother. There were few things as suspicious as a person who was obviously trying to dodge suspicion. And why would he think I would care if he worked for Team Magma when my brother's on the same side?

“But as I was saying, if your spearow is the same spearow from the accident, it may have been traumatized by it, and if this is the case, then the people at Team Magma feel responsible.”

Caroline almost flinched at that one. Oh, the lies! Did this guy think that she'd been living on another planet for sixteen years? Even when Team Magma was doing something productive like building bridges or schools for the city, they didn't show much concern for average civilians, especially not in the poor district where she grew up. It was always geared towards increasing their own power and influence. There was no way in the world they would feel responsible enough about a little injured spearow to provide it with psychiatric help. She kept glancing at Rick, hoping that her brother might accidentally betray the game they were playing at, but he seemed more interested in Luna. Her older brother had fixed Luna with such an intense stare that she wondered if the two had met before.

Tyler began asking Caroline about Friday's odd behavior, and she thought of all of the ways that Friday demonstrated her need for "psychiatric care". Friday was aggressive, and she didn't follow orders in battle. She didn't sleep well, waking in the night if she heard even the slightest noise. She didn't eat well either, but only pecked at her food half-heartedly. Thinking more deeply, Friday really might be better off if she got some help.

Caroline tried to make up her mind as to what to say. She could go along with it and at least hear Tyler out. Rick was capable of playing some mean tricks, even on her, but she considered taking or hurting one of her pokemon to be beyond him. She felt like if she could get Rick alone, she could eventually get him to spill the whole story. There were some obvious details missing that she wanted to know. Her other option was to call Tyler out right away, but she wasn't sure where that would lead. Just what would he and Rick together be capable of if she made it too obvious that she wasn't about to give them what they want?

She opened her mouth, about to say something though she still wasn't clear on exactly what it was. However, Destiny chose just that moment to leap out of the tall grass. She ran over to Caroline, giddy and excited with a budew in her arms and a beat up pidgey on her shoulder. "Caroline! Caroline look what I caught! Isn't he just the cutest thing you ever did see? And he has the poison point ability too! Dustin will like that." Destiny gushed, proudly holding out the little budew for her coworker to see.

Poison...the Pokemon Center! Caroline looked from Destiny to Tyler. "We uh...we need to go to the Pokemon Center. Our pokemon are all beat up from battling, so we really ought to hurry. I'm sure you understand what it's like to worry when your pokemon are hurt. I bet you're the same way with yours," Caroline said, pleased to turn that one around on him. "Besides, Destiny and I are still on the clock. Our boss in paying us to catch pokemon and come back, so we need to be quick. We can talk about all this while we're waiting for our pokemon to heal at the Center."

Way to stall! Hopefully the walk back to the Pokemon Center and the time spent waiting on their pokemon to heal would give Caroline enough time to plot out how to deal with this character. She glanced at Luna and Karuto, wondering if they were coming along too. She'd appreciate having them with her. That way at least, she wouldn't be outnumbered.

[Xal]

Karuto looked away from his newly evolved pokémon towards Caroline. He was about to ask if she would be going to the pokémon center like himself, but saw that she was talking to two strangers. At least, one stranger and someone who seemed slightly familiar. Could it be? As the man stood there Karuto could have sworn he'd seen him about a week earlier; perhaps the ordeal had left him shaken and paranoid, possibly explaining why he was convinced Luna's pokémon was the one that attacked Squirtle, but Karuto was convinced that was the Magma grunt who he'd attacked the night he met Caroline. The battle was his own responsibility of course, but Karuto didn't want to accept that. At least, not fully. He loathed Team Magma, even the stranger who seemed to be doing his best to appear kind (but was certainly a very bad liar; Magma's sole purpose, in Karuto's eyes, was to distress people. A psychological problem must surely be a sign of a job well done, not something to be concerned about). He may have been out of uniform, but he still said he was working for Magma. The idea that this could be a grunt carrying out Magma business even off hours just made him angrier. He couldn't stand to look at either of the pair, so just stood there and looked down towards Wartortle. He'd need a new name. 'War', perhaps, like how Squirtle had been Squirt and Delibird was Deli? No, calling a pokémon War just seemed weird. The name would seem to fit though, if the expression on his face and the rage in his eyes was anything to go by. It was as if he recognised the Magma grunt too. It had been dark though, it was possible they were mistaken. Karuto just wished that the grunt wouldn't recognise him if it really was him, and since Squirtle now obviously looked a lot different that was very possible.

"We uh...we need to go to the Pokemon Center. Our pokemon are all beat up from battling, so we really ought to hurry. I'm sure you understand what it's like to worry when your pokemon are hurt. I bet you're the same way with yours." Caroline said.
"Besides, Destiny and I are still on the clock. Our boss in paying us to catch pokemon and come back, so we need to be quick. We can talk about all this while we're waiting for our pokemon to heal at the Center."

Karuto didn't want to spend another minute with the Magmas, but his pokémon were badly beaten and still needed urgent attention. And, as he thought about it, he wouldn't be at all surprised if they ended up battling Caroline. If he'd had his pokémon healed he'd be able to join in, and since they'd become much stronger they'd stand a much better chance at winning. He'd love to wipe the smirk off their faces and regain some lost pride from the battle with the grunt a week earlier. He'd promised himself he'd cause problems for Magma, and if a battle erupted against the four of them (assuming Luna and Caroline's friend, who had returned with a new pokémon, would help) the Magmas wouldn't stand a chance. Yep, this was the opportunity he'd been waiting for, to safely defeat a Magma and ruin at least one of their plans. The fact that there were two goons to beat just made the offer more appetising. He wouldn't be able to stand their company but if he battled them it would be worth it.

"I'll come too." He put it simply. He didn't want to open himself up to conversation with the pair.

[deyv87]

Tyler had a feeling that everyone around him was more on edge than he would have liked, but at least the kids hadn’t decided to book it. He was mildly annoyed that a fourth kid had decided to jump into the picture and interrupt his conversation, but there wasn’t a whole lot he could do about it. Tyler thought that perhaps if he happily agreed to join them in healing their pokemon, Caroline might be more willing to trust, or at least converse with him.

“Yeah, sure thing,” Tyler responded after Caroline mentioned a trip to the pokemon center. “Sounds like a plan.” Tyler turned to Destiny as he pocketed his notebook, “Nice to meet you, Destiny. I’m Tyler, and this is Rick.” Tyler pointed a thumb back at Caroline’s brother. Tyler slid his pen back into his hair before picking up his briefcase.

The boy with the wartortle voiced his intention to join them to the pokemon center. “Mkay,” Tyler responded, “and congratulations on your wartortle’s evolution, by the way.” Tyler thought to himself for a moment, trying to remember this kid’s name. When he couldn’t, his thoughts returned to his mission and to Caroline. “I know this is probably pretty sudden, Caroline; so, if you’ve got any questions for me, ask away.”

Tyler knew this might be a Pandora’s Box situation, but it was also probably the fastest and most direct way to reassure her about any fears or hesitations she might have. Tyler caught a glimpse of Rick, who was clearly none too happy about escorting this gaggle of children anywhere. Tyler just hoped Rick could hold himself together long enough to not blow this mission, along with any scraps of Tyler’s credibility.

[Amissa]

"Sure," was Caroline's articulate response to Tyler. She was already leading the way out of the park. Destiny cast an icy look between Tyler and Rick before swiftly moving to walk closely next to Caroline. Destiny knew Rick, and had even had a crush on him when she was younger. When Rick ran away from home and Caroline couldn't find him, Destiny knew because Caroline had told her and Dustin. When he returned with a brand new job that won the family some nicer accomadations, Destiny knew that too because Caroline had told her and Dustin. Caroline had been careful not to mention what Rick's new job was and now Destiny knew why.

Destiny never felt comfortable in the presence of Team Magma members. They had too much power over her and she always worried that if she turned them down for a date or demanded that they pay full price for store items, they might arrest her. She knew that Caroline was equally uncomfortable when it came to Team Magma, and once upon a time, Rick had shared their apprehension towards the organization. So what had happened? He got bought, Destiny thought with a regretful shake of her head. I guess anyone's at risk. I felt sure that Rick wouldn't give in like that. He must have really felt up against a wall. She'd missed most of the action on Caroline's end and hovered around her friend anxiously for an update.

Caroline, however, was more concerned with keeping Tyler busy until she could make sense of everything. She was naturally distrustful of most strangers even when they weren't asking medical questions about her pokemon. "First of all, if my pokemon qualifies for this free psychiatric care, what would that be like? Nothing too painful or invasive, I hope." She pretty much ignored the questions that Tyler asked her. She didn't feel comfortable giving away any information about herself or her pokemon just yet. Besides, Caroline didn't know anything about human psychology, let alone pokemon psychology. If she was guessing correctly that Tyler was lying, then chances were that he didn't know anything about pokemon psychology either.

Caroline gave the man time to explain as they walked before asking another question. "What sort of accident caused all this anyway?" This was simple enough, she thought. It was the sort of thing that Tyler should know if he was being honest. She listened closely to Tyler's response to this question as well, noting whether he sounded nervous or like he was ducking the question. By now, they had walked far enough North that they were approaching a lonely looking alleyway. Caroline automatically began to deviate in order to avoid the alley.

"Yo Caroline! Where ya goin'?" Rick shouted out suddenly. Caroline almost jumped a bit. Rick had been so uncharacteristically silent that she had forgotten that he was there. And yet, Rick had been keeping up the whole time, bringing up the rear of the group. He'd spent most of the walk listening to Caroline and Tyler and wondering whether this plan would work or if he'd end up having to be a bully after all. He kept a curious eye on Destiny as well, even giving her a brief smile that he hoped passed as suave. However, he barely gave Karuto even a glance. The boy's wartortle was cool, he could give him that much. He didn't remember Karuto from a week earlier, though. To him, the battle with Karuto had not been significant. Some young tough had challenged him and lost, which was no big deal to Rick. More important to him was what happened later that night, that loss that he took that ruined his mission. He never forgot that!

"I'm goin' to the Pokemon Center!" Caroline responded, sounding annoyed even before Rick began to argue.

"Let's go this way. This way is faster. You said you were in a hurry." Rick said, nodding towards the alleyway.

Caroline wrinkled her nose at the idea. She wasn't the kind of person to take a shortcut down an isolated alleyway when she had the option of walking on populated, well-lit, sidewalks. "I don't want to go that way. My pokemon aren't ready for fighting if we get into trouble."

"That's fine, cause mine are and so are Tylers'. If anything happens, he and I can take care of it. C'mon don't be a wuss."

"I'm not a wuss."

"Caroline's a wuss!" Rick suddenly shouted loud enough for nearby strangers to hear. Caroline couldn't put up with that kind of behavior and immediately ran back to the alleyway and slugged her brother solidly in the shoulder. Rick chuckled and followed his sister down the alleyway, inadvertently screwing up the order of the party. Now, instead of being at the back, he was directly behind Caroline and Destiny. This allowed him to engage in more casual conversation with his sister. "I saw you lose that fight. That ekans got roasted in more ways than one."

"Aren't you observant?" She said sarcastically, "If you'd come earlier, you would have seen that sweet capture I made." Caroline couldn't resist a bit of bragging and forgot about trying to keep Tyler out of her business for a moment.

"Really? What did you get?"

"A sandshrew! A great ground type. You don't even have a ground type do you? I guess I'd make a better Magma than you!" She was teasing now. Her walk suddenly turned into a confident swagger and she grinned broadly, as she talked about her new pokemon.

"Not with the battling skills that I saw! You've got a lot of training to do if you want to put that ekans in his place."

"I bet I could take you!"

"I bet you couldn't!"

"What have you been up to lately, Rick?" Destiny interrupted their banter.

"Well, you know, Magma business. Mostly patrols and stuff, keeping the peace and running errands for the higher ups."

"It sounds exciting," Destiny said without even a trace of excitement in her voice.

"And hey, we're always ready for a few new recruits!"

"What happened to you wanting me to quit work and go back to school," Caroline responded, suddenly uneasy again. The situation was weird enough at home without her brother trying to recruit her.

Rick just snorted. "You don't have to quit school to join Team Magma! That would be dumb."

"Dumb, like a certain older brother I know."

"Hey!" Rick had a comeback ready but chose not to use it. He'd treaded into dangerous territory. He was happy that he was able to loosen Caroline up and get her smiling again, but he almost got into trouble talking about Caroline going back to school. This argument between him and Caroline was hot and old, and it always went along the same way. He would insist that she needed to go back to school and follow her dreams, and she would insist that helping to support the family was more important. He'd say that she didn't need to make that sort of sacrifice, and she would say "Why not? You did." Rick knew that he needed to avoid going down that route today, so he gave in and satisfied himself with looking indignant. Besides, he had the pleasure of already winning this fight. Caroline was registered to start in her new school shortly after she finished her last days of work.

[deyv87]

Tyler was fairly disappointed as Destiny seemed to ignore his introduction and instead latched onto Caroline. It was almost like watching a shellder clamp onto a slowpoke’s tail. Tyler had never seen it happen in person, but there had been a special a while back talking about symbiotic relationships on the National Pokegraphic channel. In an attempt to keep Destiny as relaxed as possible, Tyler walked along on the other side of Caroline, giving her a little over an arm’s length of space as she lead the modest sized party.

After a few moments of walking, Caroline took Tyler up on his offer, asking about what the psychiatric process would be like. Tyler pulled from his experience training his ralts. “No, it wouldn’t be painful, though your spearow might seem fatigued or sore for a few days after the procedure.” Tyler remembered the feeling quite well. Several years ago, Tyler had wanted to understand what Mary’s psychic attacks felt like, and had her use a confusion attack on him. Though it felt as if his consciousness was ripped from his body for a moment, with colors and lights flashing before his eyes, he didn’t recall feeling actual pain. The following days were plagued by migraines and dizziness, but by the next week he felt right as rain.

“I must admit, though, there is a chance that the procedure could get fairly, as you put it, invasive.” Tyler made sure to make his next points professionally. He honestly did want to help this girl’s spearow. She seemed like a nice enough kid, and Tyler felt bad that she had to deal with Rick’s antics her whole life. He continued in a tone similar to a doctor describing a potentially risky operation to a patient’s family. “It’s safe, of course; but potentially invasive. See, we would be using a highly trained psychic pokemon to fix things and, depending on the extent of the trauma, it may have to scan your spearow’s thoughts fairly thoroughly to find the actual source of the problems. That being said, just from what I’ve heard of the situation so far, it sounds as if it’s a fairly shallow and easy to fix problem.”

After Caroline seemed sure that Tyler was finished, she queried, “What sort of accident caused all this anyway?”

“It was an explosion.” Tyler put plainly. He saw no reason to cover up the few details about the accident that he did know. “It was rather large, apparently. It happened at a research facility about six months ago. I don’t know what actually caused the explosion, though. It could have been anything from human error, to a computer malfunction, to a disgruntled employee.” Tyler glanced over at Caroline and noticed a split second’s worth of a scrutinizing gaze directed at him. It was gone in a flash, though, when Rick started yelling from behind him.

When Rick suggested going through an alley because it was faster, Tyler had a feeling he knew why. Perhaps Tyler had actually given away too much of the mission details. Perhaps Rick was trying to cut their losses by speeding the trip up. Then again, perhaps he just wanted to stop following this mass of children around town. Tyler nodded when Rick volunteered him for guard duty, though it seemed as if nobody noticed.

Everyone else seemed to be involved in their own conversations, so Tyler paused his efforts for the moment and stood a few paces away from Karuto as the other three bantered. Tyler offered Karuto a respectful “guy-nod” before thinking over his new mini-mission of guard duty. If he really did need to defend everyone, he decided it would probably be best to use Furious George, his mankey, first. Although he already felt as if he had bonded with the pig-monkey pokemon, he still intended to use George as collateral in a last ditch effort to acquire the target spearow. If he wanted to do that, it would probably be best to show Caroline that he did, in fact, care for his furious companion.

[Xal]

Karuto had nothing to offer to the conversation between Caroline and the Magmas. He'd quite like this whole thing to be over as soon as possible and he certainly wasn't going to start talking to them. They were all the same: mindless thugs. He didn't believe their story about wanting to give a simple Spearow psychiatric care but didn't really care either. As long as it didn't involve him they could do what they liked. A part of him wanted to battle them but Squirt and Deli were in no shape to do that, and even if they were he didn't fancy his chances. They were a lot stronger than they had been the last time he'd faced a grunt, but he still wasn't sure of their skill.

Rick, the grunt he'd faced a week earlier, suddenly suggested going down an alley. Alarm bells started ringing in Karuto's mind; everything he knew about Team Magma told him that going down an alley with a pair of them was a bad idea under any circumstances, let alone when his pokémon were weakened and even the strongest would probably only be able to get in a few hits before being sent down. But then again, there were four of them against two Magmas. If they started anything he could very easily just run off, he was a pretty fast runner and he didn't see how the duo would be able to stop them. It was also Caroline who suggested going to the pokémon center, not the Magma pair. Before meeting the four of them they had no way of knowing they'd be going to the pokémon center, so there wasn't any possibility of a trap of some kind. Any threat the Magmas posed here they also posed anywhere else, and Magma had never really been shy when it came to showing their strength. If they wanted something from the four of them they'd just send grunts to take care of it out in the open, they'd have no need to lure them into an alleyway. And besides, Caroline was Rick's sister. Jerk though he may be Karuto didn't think it was that likely he'd put his own family in danger, especially with Team Magma's "We look after our own, we're all so loyal!" mentality. He hesitated for a moment before following the quarrelling siblings into the alleyway, but still did so.

His worries came rushing back at the sound of scuffling and fighting pokémon. Wild pokémon fights weren't unusual, but Karuto's paranoia was making him expect an army of Magma grunts to pop out of the bins. It turned out not to be an attack on them though, just a scuffle between a Raticate and an Eevee. Karuto was about to carry on walking by when he saw that Tyler, the other grunt, had sent his Mankey out. He didn't know if Tyler was on edge too or if he was planning on a battle, but Karuto reached for his own belt. He wasn't going to bring out any pokémon, but made sure it was evident he was ready to battle (not that he was, of course, but if he gave the impression of some magical experienced fighter he might be able to stop any Magmas hiding in the shadows from jumping out at him). The wild pokémon's battle ended incredibly quickly. Raticate slashed at the Eevee with its fangs, whilst Eevee never seemed to attack. It just stood there trying to look tough in between being jumped upon by the Raticate. Karuto sneered at the Eevee starting a fight it couldn't finish, but quickly stopped as he realised that was exactly like him. The Eevee had probably been abused by team Magma anyway, no one could blame it for being aggressive in this town with them there. There was just something about the Eevee Karuto liked, the aggressive fighting attitude could come in handy. There was a wide variety of types it could evolve into as well, making the prospect of catching an Eevee even more inviting. But the pokémon was weak, what would he want a weak pokémon for? Even if it wanted to battle a lot it would still get beaten, and he didn't think evolving it would do much good. But he could still train it like he'd trained Squirt, and if it didn't get any stronger he'd just let it go. It wasn't as if it would take any effort to capture either, it was just stood there barely conscious from the battle. The Raticate had left it after beating it and Eevee had just about managed to climb to its feet, so sending it into a pokéball would be easy. And anyway, Karuto thought as he reached for an empty ball and dropped it on the unsuspecting pokémon, taking it to be healed could be his good deed for the day.

Karuto caught an eevee

The small bunnying of Tyler was done so by the request of deyv87. As well as this Ozzy dropped out between the last post and this one, giving permission to bunny/drop her character.

[deyv87]

Tyler let out an imperceptible sigh of relief when the raticate ignored the group of trainers and just jumped into a nearby dumpster. Tyler knew that for a rattata to evolve it would have to be practically twice as powerful as any of his own pokemon. Tyler wondered what the eevee’s problem was. It obviously wasn’t a match for the raticate; however, the raticate might have been encroaching on the eevee’s home. Tyler couldn’t blame the eevee for trying to scare off an intruder. He just hoped the raticate didn’t think the small party traveling through the alley was a threat. He knew they could take the raticate if they worked together, but since Rick put Tyler on guard duty, he had a feeling he wouldn’t be getting much backup.

Tyler petted Furious George’s head before walking to the front of the party, his mankey walking along on his right. As he passed Karuto he told him, “Nice catch. That eevee had spunk.” Tyler started walking past the dumpster down the alley, keeping an eye out. Other than the dumpster, some trash cans at the far end of the alley, and a general coating of grime, the alley was fairly plain. Overhead were a few electrical lines that connected to a few electric meters near the trash cans.

When he had reached the end of the alley, he palmed George’s empty pokeball and turned back to the group. “I think we’re in the clear,” he called back. Just then, Tyler heard a high pitched whine emanating from behind his mankey. Tyler glanced over just in time to see a white glowing voltorb staring daggers in his direction, hidden between two trash cans. Tyler dove back at the group, landing on his back, just as a sonicboom blasted George against the opposite wall. An empty trash can landed next to Tyler’s head; the hollow, tinny clank ringing in his ears. He propped himself up on his elbow, recalling George to his pokeball. “Heh, nevermind,” he said to the group before getting to his feet and releasing his sableye in front of the no longer hidden voltorb.

“Ok, Ruby, just keep that voltorb’s attacks hitting the wall, and not us. Feel free to use scratch while you’re at it.” The enemy voltorb started glowing again, making the high pitched sound that had alerted Tyler to its attack, before releasing another sonicboom attack at Ruby. Dirt puffed off of the wall behind Ruby as she closed the distance between herself and the voltorb. Just as she reached the voltorb, Ruby swung her right arm in an uppercut motion, scratching three vertical lines in the voltorb’s face and knocking it against the wall behind it.

Tyler grabbed his Pokenav from his pocket and went to its voltorb entry. “Hey, Ruby. Try using Night Shade. It might paralyze you if you keep touching it.” Ruby glanced at Tyler and gave him a thumbs up before turning back to the battle and backing up a few paces. The voltorb tilted back before rolling head over… white body portion, directly at Ruby. Predictably, the tackling voltorb passed straight through Ruby, who turned around and held out her left hand. A dark cloth seemed to appear and envelope the giant pokeball of a pokemon, constricting around it as Ruby clasped her hand.

The voltorb spun on its axis to face Ruby, but over spun by almost ninety degrees and had to correct itself. Tyler assumed the Voltorb was getting close to feinting. “Ruby, try not to knock it out; I want to catch this one. Just weaken it a bit more with a leer.” The voltorb began glowing once again, but Tyler couldn’t hear any difference between the pokemon’s high pitched noise and the ringing in his ears. Another sonicboom whooshed through Ruby, rolling a trash can behind her over. Ruby took a couple of steps toward the enemy pokemon and stared into its eyes. Ruby’s crystalline eyes began burning with a fire-like glow. Tyler lobbed a pokeball at the distracted voltorb, and Ruby’s eyes went back to normal.

After a few shakes, the pokeball sat still. Tyler picked it up before attaching it to his belt. After giving Ruby a few mimed pats on the head, Tyler scooped her up as well. “Ok, now we’re in the clear,” Tyler half chuckled. He picked up the two knocked over trash cans and put them back under the electric meter. “Shall we?” he said, stepping out of the alley.

Tyler caught a voltorb

This post has been edited by deyv87: Aug 3 2010, 03:59 PM

[Amissa]

Caroline was startled as a fight between a raticate and an eevee created a ruckus nearby. Her main worry was that the raticate would come after her and her friends next, so she edged away from the danger and allowed Rick to push in front of her and Destiny. She peered around her brother's side, however, and observed as Karuto captured the injured eevee.

"Poor thing, those raticates can be real monsters when they get riled up. I never should have let Rick talk me into going down this stupid alleyway. It's dirty and creepy, so let's hurry up and leave," Caroline complained. Destiny showed her agreement with a firm nod of her head, and the group quickly made their way to the end of the alleyway now with Tyler in the lead. From here, the Pokemon Center was directly in front of them across the street, its big red roof looking safe and inviting.

As soon as Caroline began to believe that they were safe, Tyler leapt back and Rick leapt back too in order to avoid Tyler falling into him and instead left his coworker to fall flat on his back in front of them. A sudden sonicboom attack sent Tyler's mankey flying into a wall and a trashcan hurtling towards the group. Destiny cried out in fear, and Caroline backed up further until she was behind Karuto and at the very back of the group. The trashcan landed harmlessly next to Tyler's head, and by that time the rest of the group could see what was causing the trouble, an angry voltorb.

The only thing that Caroline knew offhand about voltorbs was that they explode. That was her reason for wanting to give the pokemon plenty of space. If it had been her, she probably wouldn't have even tried to fight it and would have just made a mad dash for the Pokemon Center. Instead, she now watched as Tyler battled the voltorb with his ghost pokemon and captured it.

Normal attacks don't work against ghost pokemon. She thought to herself, still worried that she may have to battle her brother's friend. So I should use Swiper to take out that one. And Terra to take on his new voltorb since electricity is weak against ground-types. As for the mankey, I guess it would be best to use Friday, but I don't want to call Friday out if he really wants to take her. Maybe Swiper could take out two pokemon.

But Tyler sounded so sincere, and every time he answered my questions, it made sense. Even if he is telling the truth, though, I don't think I like the idea of some psychic pokemon rooting around in Friday's mind. I can't ask her now, but I bet she wouldn't like it either. Then Caroline made her decision. The only way to find out what's really going on is to tell him we don't want the help. If he really is just concerned about the well-being of my pokemon, then nothing bad should happen, right? And if something bad does happen...

Caroline really didn't know what to do in that case, but she felt sure that she needed to protect her pokemon as much as possible. She'd just have to do whatever it took to keep Friday safe. Besides, it couldn't be that bad. She had her brother and her friends with her, and they would be in the Pokemon Center.

"Finally," she sighed as they exited the alleyway and crossed the street.

"I was thinking about going back and capturing that raticate. I mean, we caught everything else in that alleyway, and I think I'm the only one here now who hasn't caught a pokemon in the last few hours," Rick said boastfully and mostly to Destiny who remained resolutely uninterested.

Caroline only glared at her brother as she entered the Pokemon Center. She doubted that Rick actually could capture a pokemon as powerful as a raticate, but then she didn't really know how strong his pokemon were. More than anything she was just irritated because in the time that it took them to get through the alley, they could have gone the long way around. However, she let her brother talk her into doing something dumb, as usual.

This Pokemon Center was a lot nicer looking than the one in the poor district. Its paint looked bright and only slightly worn, and inside it was clean and spacious. It actually had a small cafe inside, where two trainers were already sitting down and enjoying a relaxing meal. A smiling nurse joy was ready to greet them as they came in, with her chansey ready to help when needed.

"Hello everyone, how can I help you today?" Nurse Joy asked as the group of trainers came in through the doors. Caroline went up to the desk first and presented the lady with her four pokeballs.

"My pokemon need to be healed please. And please be especially cautious with my spearow. New people upset her," Caroline warned the nurse. She'd never been to this Pokemon Center, and while the Nurse Joy at her local Pokemon Center in the poor district knew about her problems with her spearow, she thought that it was only fair to give this new nurse a heads-up. A concerned frown appeared momentarily on the nurse's lips, but she quickly brightened.

"Don't worry, dear. I've handled plenty of difficult pokemon before. I'll have these guys back to you in a jiff!" The nurse said, sounding a bit younger than the rest of her family. Caroline wasn't entirely sure that this lady knew what she was getting into, but she left her pokemon with the nurse and moved aside so that Destiny could have her pokemon looked at next. She went over towards the waiting area where her brother was already sitting. Rick had bought coffee for both of them at the cafe, and he handed the warm cup over to his sister.

"So what are you thinking about doing with it?" Rick asked while they were alone. He was talking about her spearow, of course. "If you don't let somebody look at it, it will only keep causing problems. Mom and Dad already want you to get rid of the thing."

"Friday might get better on her own, if I just keep taking good care of her." Caroline said, sounding hopeful.

Rick frowned at her and his eyes were hard. In a way it was cute, how she thought that if she just treated the bird real nice it would learn to be less crazy. But he had a job to do, and on his way here he had spent some time thinking about how his sister would probably be better off if he and Tyler really did just make her spearow disappear. She was too attached and devoted to the bird to do what needed to be done and let it go, so it was up to him to help do what she couldn't and take the bird away. Besides, she had already demonstrated that she was good enough with her pokemon to make a capture. Even if she couldn't capture another spearow herself, he could always catch one for her. They weren't exactly rare.

"But then she might not." Rick answered.

"I'll figure something out," Caroline reassured him, but Rick only glared.

"You'd better before that spearow gets us both in trouble," he hissed. As far as he was concerned, the bird was an accident waiting to happen. It might even turn on Caroline one day. Who could be sure what was going on in that tiny bird brain?

[Xal]

Karuto was knocked back at the sight of the pokémon center. He'd been in the richer areas of the city before, but he'd not gone into pokémon centers. He was used to pokémon centers being small run down buildings. He usually thought that pokémon centers were just buildings that had been converted to make it somewhat suitable for healing pokémon, but this center was very clearly built for this specific purpose. There wasn't a spot of dirt that he could see and the paint hadn't peeled off exposing any bare wall, unlike back in the poor district. The complex was even so large that the café could fit in quite comfortably. He approached the desk after Caroline and handed over Squirt and Deli's pokéballs. It was only as he turned to leave that he remembered the Eevee who also needed treatment, so added the third ball to the growing line on the table.

"My pokémon need healing, they've all been in rough battles." He put simply, before heading off again before the Nurse Joy had a chance to react. He wasn't normally a sociable person and the presence of Magma grunts were hardly going to make him more talkative. It was only as Caroline and her brother got a drink that Karuto realised how thirsty he was, so made his way over to the conveniently placed café.

"Water, please. Tap." He said, not really caring how he must appear to people in the rich district. They might have money to waste on some fancy drink that was probably more froth than coffee but he certainly didn't. Besides, the way Karuto saw it if you were thirsty you needed water, so anything else filling up the cup just meant less water for you. The cashier smiled as the glass of water was handed over, but Karuto was sure that he was being looked down upon.

[deyv87]

Tyler set his four full pokeballs on the counter and thanked Nurse Joy before heading back toward Rick and his sister. Normally he would chat with the nurse for a bit before she healed his pokemon, but he had a job to tend to. Besides, if this was her second shift of the day, she must have been extremely tired. He heard Karuto order his water and considered lending him a few dollars, but then stopped himself. Karuto hadn't been mean to him or anything, but he almost exuded an icy coldness toward Tyler. Tyler thought it would be best not to accidentally make their lack-of-a-relationship worse.

Tyler still didn't have a nickname for his new voltorb. He had been trying to come up with one ever since catching it, but his mind refused to focus on naming his pokemon, but kept worrying about this mission. the job was far easier in theory than in practice. Actually, Tyler had thought, I'm making this a lot harder than it has to be. We could have just stolen her pokeballs when we first found them. Man, no wonder other Magma members are such jerks. It's just good that I decided to come up with several points of failure in this plan. Just do your best, Tyler. If she declines your offer, suggest trading your mankey temporarily. If she declines the trade, let Rick know it's up to him what we do. Maybe we'll have to take it by force. If, at the end of the day we still don't have the spearow, they're siblings. Rick can invite Caroline to spend the night wherever he lives and he, or we, can get it then. Sparkey! No, that's a lame name.

Tyler sat down next to Rick, Caroline on the other side of him. He didn't want to interrupt anything, but the siblings seemed to stop talking when Tyler came within earshot. He pulled his notepad out of his pocket and refreshed his memory on his plan, while muttering, "Now where were we?"

"Right, I still don't have your spearow's name, gender, or symptoms." He set his notepad down on the table and pulled his pen back out of his hair, waiting for Caroline's response.

[Amissa]

Caroline sighed and rubbed her forehead, bracing herself for whatever was to come. Tyler seemed like a nice guy, so she might as well be straightforward with him. His constantly jotting down notes got on her nerves a little bit though. Was he really some kind of psychologist? "She's female, her name is Friday, and her symptoms are aggression, sleeplessness, and poor appetite like you said. Look, what you're saying makes sense. I know that something must have happened to Friday to make her the way that she is. I like the idea of giving her some help to deal with it, but this method...I just don't think this will work. You said that they use a powerful psychic pokemon. You said that it's invasive. I don't know everything about pokemon psychology, but it seems like that would just make it worse. I would never want anyone messing around with my head like that. I don't think that's what Friday would want either."

Caroline looked around the room anxiously. She wished that she could just go back to work, but she was afraid that her next words might get her into a great deal of trouble. Generally, it was a bad idea to say "no" to Team Magma in this town. She made sure to note where Destiny and Karuto were in the room, and also glanced at the strangers. This Pokemon Center was probably too public. She was probably safer saying this here than anywhere.

"Look, when I found Friday she was barely alive. I feel like I saved her. She doesn't like people. I think some people must have done some really bad stuff to her once. I don't want to give her to you. You might take care of her, but then you might not. I have no way of knowing for sure, and I don't have any real reason to take you at your word. In my experience with Team Magma, the well-being of random pokemon has never been a big priority."

Rick leaned back and drank his coffee. Caroline had hardly touched hers. Rick glanced over at Tyler from time to time, checking to see if he was going to give him a signal. At this point, he didn't have much hope of winning Caroline over Tyler's way, but it was only fair to give the guy a chance. Once Tyler gave up, then Rick would take over and then they could go back to headquarters victorious.

Destiny, on the other hand, had gotten a tea after giving her pokemon to the nurse. She stood nervously next to Karuto and rarely looked up. "Do you know what's going on?" Destiny asked the Karuto at a whisper, keeping her eyes on her tea. "Is Caroline in some kind of trouble? I hate Magmas. I can never feel comfortable around them."

[deyv87]

Finally, some actual answers. Tyler thought as he jotted down her responses. He was kind of surprised, though, to find that Friday had more symptoms than just aggression. When he finished writing down Friday's symptoms, Tyler pocketed both the notepad and the pen as he listened to the girl's concerns. As she looked around the room, Tyler resisted the urge to do so as well. Tyler had played a great deal of Risk: Hoenn Edition with his father and his father's guardivoir when he was a kid, and he knew what it meant when someone actively looked at their surroundings so intentionally. She was making a tactical decision. Tyler's decision was that he didn't want the girl to think he cared about tactics, so he calmly waited until she spoke up again.

She continued her very polite declination of Tyler's offer, essentially saying that her main concern was Friday's safety. Tyler wasn't surprised, and honestly did wish that Team Magma would give the city's citizens more priority than it did. Ok, Tyler. Phase two, I suppose.

"I do understand where you're coming from, Caroline. And to be fair, I wish Team Magma's policies were kinder to the average citizen, as well." Tyler said, then paused for a moment, thinking of how to properly phrase his request, and realizing that he probably shouldn't have dissed Team Magma in front of Rick. "If I follow you correctly, your main concern is, and always has been, for Friday's safety. Based on her symptoms, I honestly do think our therapy is by far the best thing for Friday, and for the people around her who might get pecked at. I mean, it's a nice thought, but she's not just going to magically get better on her own. Something needs to actually be done. But like you said, there's really no reason for you to actually trust me. Which is unfortunate."

"Ok," Tyler sighed before continuing, "I don't want to bother you for too much longer, but would you be willing to undergo a trade? Well, not an actual 'trade' so much... basically, would you be willing to hold onto George, my mankey as collateral, for lack of a better word, until your Friday is safely returned to you?"

[Xal]

"I've no idea." Karuto sighed quietly as Destiny asked if he knew what was going on. Like Caroline had said helping people's pokémon was never a particularly high priority for Team Magma, so to say he was suspicious was a bit of an understatement. He didn't really see how any of it was his concern though, but he was happy that at least Destiny wasn't comfortable with the Magmas either. The moment Karuto got his pokémon back he'd be out of there. If Caroline was going to hand her Spearow over and have it stolen by Magmas then that was her business, not his. He didn't see any reason to stick around with Magma grunts any longer than was necessary, he was only here because he was going to the pokémon center too. He wouldn't have minded battling them if the opportunity arose, but it didn't look like that was going to happen. It was just two Magmas trying to get a Spearow for whatever reason, with one of them pretending he wasn't happy about Magma's abusive methods. Karuto didn't believe that for a second, if someone wasn't happy with Magma's work then he didn't see why they'd join it. Unless they were just cowardly and wanted a way out of being persecuted by them even if it meant they became the persecutors, but in that case they were in no position to claim the moral highground. No, all Magmas were the same to Karuto, vermin in one way or another.

"I doubt she's in trouble, though." Karuto said after a few seconds to Destiny. Whatever Team Magma wanted her Spearow for they weren't being particularly violent about it. If they were going to harm anyone they'd have probably done so by now, indicating to Karuto that that battle wasn't going to happen. He didn't expect she'd be seeing the pokémon again though, he couldn't see why Magma would try to get something only to give it back (unless their story was true, but there was no doubt in his mind it was nothing but a lie, and a particularly far fetched one at that).

He turned his head back towards the desk where he'd spoken to Nurse Joy, hoping that his pokémon would be returned to him soon. Once he had them, he'd be leaving those Magmas and this snobby neighbourhood. He wasn't particularly fond of the people around here, but every now and then he wanted to get away from the run down mess of the poor district.

[Amissa]

"No." Caroline replied to Tyler's offer. The idea honestly disgusted her a bit. Her feelings about mankey as a pokemon aside, was he really willing to give up his own pokemon as "collateral"? Caroline couldn't think of pokemon as tools or objects to be bargained for. "No. Friday is my responsibility and my concern. I'll take care of her and her problems in my own way." Her voice was firm as she said this. She hadn't expected Tyler to keep pushing after she turned him down, and the fact that he did triggered even more warning signs in her mind. If he was willing to give up one of his own pokemon in order to get her pet, it seemed like her little spearow was pretty important to him.

"Caroline," Rick said her name. His expression and tone was icy. "Give him your damn bird." He was growing impatient with Tyler and Caroline both. His sister gave him a stern look of her own, but didn't have the chance to respond.

"Caroline, your pokemon are fully healed," Nurse Joy called, and Caroline got up to collect her pokeballs from the counter.

"So what now, Tyler?" Rick hissed to his partner. His irritation was apparent. This mission was dragging out too long. He wanted to secure the target and hurry back. Now, they had a quick moment to talk tactics without the others overhearing.

"Destiny, your pokemon are fully healed," Nurse Joy called, this time summoning the darker, better-dressed female to the counter.

[deyv87]

"Fair enough." Tyler managed to get out before Rick interjected his order to Caroline. She seemed to be more of an emotional creature than Tyler had bargained for. Yes, Tyler had been trying to play to her emotions, but something he said obviously set her off this time.

"So what now, Tyler?" Rick hissed at him.

Tyler noticed that Karuto hadn't yet been called up to collect his pokemon, so he would have to be careful about how he phrased things. "Well, I don't see why we can't still be cordial to these nice kids. I would like to get my pokemon back, but after that, I'm out of ideas. I guess it's up to you." Tyler pulled out an old spy trick he had read about in a book and winked at Rick, closing his eye furthest away from Karuto so that the bridge of his nose blocked this obviously dubious action. Tyler hoped his wink conveyed the message of "If things need to get messy, I'm game," but in reality it probably just looked like he had something in his eye.

"Tyler, your pokemon are fully healed," Nurse Joy called. Tyler walked to the counter and collected his pokemon. As he attached his last ball to his belt, he realized that if he only knew which pokeball Caroline kept her Friday in, he could just grab it and run. He didn't, though, so he did the next best thing...

"Thanks for your time, Caroline," Tyler said apologetically, "and I'm sorry I took up so much of your and your friends' time." Tyler walked back to Rick, picked up his briefcase, and tossed his notepad inside it.

"So, what now, Rick?"