[X] My Assistant

[Rasu]

"Murkrow!" A black bird flew high above the city, heading towards the river where his trainer was waiting. The bird landed on his left shoulder carrying something on his beak. The teenager opened his hand and the Murkrow left the small sac which landed with a "clinging" sound. He opened the sac and several coins fell to his hand.

"Good job, Capone. Those spoiled rich people don't even know what hit them." Andrew said with a smirk while petting his Murkrow.

Andrew lived in a small apartment located in the middle of the poor district. He shared with his Pokemon which were his only friends since he left Sinnoh. He reached his belt and took out an Heal Ball and a Quick Ball containing Andrew's other Pokemon. In a bright flash a Mareep and a Riolu emerged from the devices and immediately jumped in happiness for meeting their trainer.

"Look what Capone got for us!" He reached the small sac and showed it to his Pokemon. With a joyful look, both of the Pokemon greeted Capone and returned their thoughts to the sac.

"You all know what that means, right? It's food time!" After this was said he returned all the Pokemon, except Capone, to their respective balls and went back to the streets of Noverus with an happy look on his face. Andrew took out the bag and started to count the number of coins, eventually stopping at eighteen.

"Looks like today we'll have a nice din-" Andrew got interrupted when a Team Magma grunt passing by went against the teen. Andrew ignored the grunt and continued to walk.

"Hey you!" The grunt shouted pointing to Andrew "What about an apology?!"

Andrew turned back and his attitude changed to a more cold one. "Why should I? After all, you're the one who wasn't paying attention, you're the one who should apologize."

"Why you little..." The grunt started to run towards Andrew with his fists preparing for a punch, while the teen remained in the same place calmly, with the same stare.

This post has been edited by Immortal Whisper: Oct 18 2009, 05:15 PM

[Ganymede]

"Uh, I think we're lost."


He had been in Noverus for a total of two hours and had been unofficially lost for about an hour and a half. With this remark, however, Loyal was now officially lost - a feeling of gnawing despair that is almost as bad as drowning (but not quite).


Scherzo gave him a Look.


"Hey, it's not exactly my fault," Loyal huffed, crossing his arms. It was rather chilly in Noverus, but then again, few places were as warm as the islands of southern Johto. Rubbing his arms, Loyal looked around briefly. Tall grey buildings, short grey buildings, some medium-sized grey buildings, a brown building - just to mix things up - and not a canal or waterway in sight.


It made him distinctly uncomfortable.


"Alright, so." Scherzo looked up at him expectantly, perfectly at home in the chilly grey city. The Sneasel had always seemed a little out of place in Altomare, and not just because of his type - people simply distrusted the Sharp Claw Pokemon, labeling him as a thief and mischief maker. Of course, Scherzo did like to play pranks on everyone, so it wasn't like their fears were all that unfounded, but still.


"We're in a city we've never been in before. Everything looks the same. It's cloudy and there's no water and - wait, no, it's starting to drizzle. Great." Loyal frowned and shuffled his feet, kicking a pebble. "Hey, Scherzo - didn't we cross a river to get into the city?" He waved his hand vaguely back the way they had come from, although he really had no clue as t if they had actually come from that direction. Noverus was really quite confusing.


"Snea." The Sneasel said, shrugging. Loyal sighed and resumed staring glumly at a squat grey building, absentmindedly wondering if there were any hotels in this town and, if there were, if any of them had a decent-sized swimming pool.


And that was when he heard the shout.


"Why you little..."

Half-turning, Loyal caught sight of a man in a weird-looking red outfit charge a teenager in a brown coat - who just stood there. Eyes widening, Loyal began to run towards the two, Scherzo leaping ahead of them.


"Hey, what're you-" Loyal was cut off as Scherzo seemed to vanish, reappearing a split-second later next to the man, holding out his clawed arm, a smirk on his face.


Loyal watched as the man slowly tripped and fell, as if in slow-motion.


"…Sorry," he said weakly, as the man twitched. He offered a nervous smile at the teen, scratching the back of his head nervously as Scherzo, satisfied with his work, leaned against his leg with his arms crossed.

The move Scherzo used to 'vanish' and reappear was Quick Attack.

[Rasu]

Andrew stood still watching the grunt getting closer while he planned his next move. But then he fell. He simply fell. One minute he was running the next he was on the floor. Confused Andrew looked around to see what made the man trip when he barely caught sight of a Sneasel before it vanished.

"Well, that's something you don't see everyday..." The sighting of a Sneasel in the city wasn't rare but a prankster wasn't that common. What caught Andrew's attention, however, was a weak apology. He turned around to see a teenager about the same size as him. Next to him was the Sneasel, with its arms crossed.

"Save your apologies, he wont need them. You got a quite fast Sneasel there, saved me from a good beating there." He pointed to the man still on the floor "These Team Magma grunts are getting annoying... Well, thanks for the help, let me buy you something to eat. I know quite a few good places around here." Andrew said smiling while putting away the coins into his pocket.

"Krow!" a shout from Capone was enough to make Andrew focus on the man again. He was now getting up from the cold wet floor and he was reaching two Pokeballs under his vest.

"Oh, this isn't over yet..." he threw the balls at the same time and in a bright flash a Poochyena and a Numel emerged through the mist.

"Looks like this one wont give up... Are you up for a battle? I'll take care of the Poochyena." Andrew said to the teen next to him.

"Name's Andrew, by the way. Andrew Simons" he said before reaching his Quick Ball.

[Ganymede]

"Eat?"


At that precise moment, Loyal's stomach decided it was high time to remind him that yes, the last time he'd eaten was way back on the ferry from Johto, and yes, he should probably eat soon if he didn't want to pass out from hunger. And besides, if they could find a nice restaurant with a fish tank or something, he could let Aletta out for a swim...


"Oh, this isn't over yet..."


Oh, the weird guy - Team Magma, from what the other teen said - was standing up. And pulling some Pokeballs out from under his vest. And sending out two Pokemon - what appeared to be a Poochyena and something that vaguely resembled a dessert his mother had tried to make once, before she decided to just let their father cook all their meals.


"I'll take care of the Poochyena." the other teen announced. Scherzo immediately dropped low to the ground, claws before him, tail feathers twitching. Loyal sighed - he had really hoped to avoid battling as much as possible (how else he expected to help free the city from Magma only Arceus knows), but when push came to shove...


The dessert-thing snorted and pawed the ground, smoke coming from its nostrils and a hole on its back. Now that he thought about it, the thing did look rather like a very small, very tired-looking volcano. With a quick glance at Scherzo, spring-loaded and ready to attack, he reached into his pants pocket and pulled out a rather plain, blue-topped Pokeball.


"Um, Scherzo? Would you mind if you sat this on out?" The Sneasel froze and looked at Loyal with an expression close to that of someone who has just been informed that the sandwich they just ate had peanut butter on it, and they were allergic. Quickly stumbling over his words, Loyal held out the blue Pokeball, as if in apology. "Um, well, that thing? The one glaring at us? I think it's a fire type, and you're an ice type, and from what Valen says, that won't end well, so can you, um...let Aletta handle this?"


Scherzo gave him a Look - this one quite a bit more incriminating than the last - and moved behind Loyal, arms crossed.


Loyal hit the release on the Pokeball and held out his arms as a Horsea materialised, catching it gently. "Hey, Aletta," he muttered, patting the Dragon Pokemon on the head. The Horsea wiggled joyously. "Would you mind if I asked you to fight that thing over there?"


Amid Aletta's frantic head-shaking - "You're going to fall and that puddle is not deep enough to hold you" - Loyal heard the other teen's voice, cutting through the mist.


"Name's Andrew, by the way. Andrew Simons." Loyal turned just in time to see Andrew pull out a Quick ball. Loyal nodded once and turned back to the volcano-thing.


"...Loyal Harper."

[Rasu]

The Riolu was called to the battle field from his Quick Ball.

"Ok Zen, that's your opponent. Try to locate its weakness with Foresight!" the Riolu started running through the wet floor to get closer to the Poochyena. With a close stare he started to identify the foe but got violently interrupted when the Poochyena was ordered to use Sand-attack. The wet sand buffeted the Riolu straight in his eyes, making the battle even harder.

"Heh, Poochyena, Bite him while he's blind!" the Magma member was clearly taking advantage of the situation and this angered Andrew. He watched in fear while Zen took all those Bite attacks but then he remembered something about Riolus' powers.

"That's right... Riolus are known as Emanation Pokemon... Maybe it can use that power somehow?" after this thought, Andrew reached his bag, took out an encyclopedia and started to search quickly for the page about Riolus.

Special abilities
Riolu are sensitive to a special type of energy called Aura. Riolu's evolved form, Lucario, can use these waves to attack, or study these waves to predict the movements of their opponents, and use them to track anyone. However, Riolu does not have the ability to fully use these powers, although it can still emanate these waves to communicate and sense them - albeit only in "ripples" as opposed to the "waves" of energy its evolution can sense and guide. Most notably, it cannot learn Aura Sphere or Detect naturally, two moves that Lucario learns that are often attributed to its aura powers. However, it does have a remarkably similar movepool to the Hitmons.
Like almost all Fighting-type Pokémon, Riolu naturally has superhuman strength, stamina, and endurance and is capable of making long journeys on foot in a short amount of time.

"That's it! Zen! Turn your anger into Aura and redirect them to the Poochyena!" Zen thought on everything that made him angry, including the consecutive Bites from the Poochyena. When his limit was reached he started to emanate the feelings in form of waves, not to attack but to warn the Poochyena. It was enough to make it back off and when the path was clear, Andrew gave him his next orders.

"Now clear that dirt! Were you able to finish off the identification process?" the Riolu shook his head in response "Fine, it appears that the Poochyena is too fast for you to identify in close range... I know! Use Foresight again, but this time boost your speed with a Quick Attack!"

"Rio!" Zen initiated the sprint, and later the Foresight. This time the Foresight was completed but when the Riolu turned around to gain some distance from the Poochyena the opponent started to run after him.

"Looks like the Quick Attack isn't enough... Zen, use the wet floor to gain more speed! Run towards the wall and wait for further instructions!" sliding through the wet floor, Zen was able to gain more speed and he was leading his target against the wall. When he was close enough his trainer gave him his next instructions.

"Now jump!" the Riolu did so and the Poochyena went against the wall "Now finish it off!" the weak spot previously identified by the Foresight was hit. A kick on its stomach was enough to make the Poochyena fall on the soaked floor and faint.

"It's up to you now, Loyal."

The encyclopedia page came from Bulbapedia so all credit belongs to Bulbapedia.

This post has been edited by Immortal Whisper: Oct 24 2009, 06:10 PM

[Ganymede]

Loyal watched, entranced, as Andrew and his Pokemon fought the Poochyena. A well-timed kick to his ankle snapped him out of his reverie, just in time for him to jump to the side as the dessert-thing charged at him and Aletta. Sliding a bit on the wet street, Loyal flung his arm out to balance himself, wincing as the soggy sand grazed his hand.


A few feet away, Scherzo was swinging his claws back and forth in front of the Pokemon, smirking as the Taut began to take effect. As soon as the Sneasel caught sight of Loyal, he leapt out of the way - leaving a clear shot for Aletta.


"Aletta, would you mind using bubble on it?" the Horsea nodded vigorously, wriggling happily in Loyal's hands before taking careful aim at the Pokemon. Inhaling deeply, the Horsea closed his eyes for just a moment before hundreds of bubbles shot out of his mouth, hanging in the air for just a moment before barreling straight at the fire-type Pokemon. The thing let out a loud, pained moan, shaking its head from side to side as bubbles enveloped it. With a happy cry of "Horsea!" Aletta nearly leapt out of Loyal's arms, bringing a smile to the teen's face. Even Scherzo seemed impressed.


In the brief seconds he had bought, Loyal reached into the back pocket of his pants and pulled out a light blue Pokedex, flipping it open with some difficulty (he was, after all, holding an excitable Horsea in one arm). A light blinked on as Loyal held the device towards the dessert Pokemon, followed by a calm voice.

Numel, the Numb Pokemon. These camel-like Pokemon are extremely dull-witted and do not sense pain. A Numel can store magma as hot as 2,200 degrees Fahrenheit in the hump on its back. If the magma gets wet, the Pokemon will become sluggish and slow to take action.

Wait, what?


It was raining and the Numel had charged Loyal pretty quickly - not to mention the fact that it had definately noticed Aletta's Bubble attack. And now that he thought about it, the picture on the Pokedex - showing a tired-looking Numel next to someone - looked quite different from the Pokemon in front of him. For one, the real Numel looked angry - very angry. It also had something attached to its hump; a thick black tube led from the thing into the hold at the top of the hump.


"Um, Andrew?" Loyal said, backing up. "I don't think this one likes being attacked..."


The Magma grunt sneered, looking pleased with himself. "Like it? The box heats up the magma in the hump faster than it can cool. I designed it myself," he said, with a hint of pride in his voice. "Now all the Numels are battling machines - Numel!" The Numb Pokemon snorted and shook its head. "Use Ember on that Sneasel!"


"Oh, no - Aletta, please use Smokescreen!" As the Numel took a deep breath, black smoke poured from Aletta's mouth, giving Scherzo enough cover to vanish again, reappearing on top of the Numel with a quick downward Scratch. Loyal flinched as hot steam began to filter from the cut tube, mixing with the smoke and fire in the air. With another flash the Sneasel was next to Loyal again, watching as the fire-smoke-steam fixture fizzled and died under the falling rain, leaving a highly disoriented Numel in its wake. Loyal could almost see a blood vessel burst in the man's forehead.


"Oh, just wait, I'll get you two!" the man shrieked, hitting an octave Loyal used to think was reserved for calling dogs. Two flashes of light engulfed the Numel and the Poochyena - which Andrew's Pokemon had taken out - as they were called back, the Magma grunt already halfway down the street. Loyal watched his retreating back for a moment before turning to the other teen.


"Um, is your Pokemon okay? It looks a little hurt..."

Um, I kind of wrote out the beginning of the battle before looking up Numel's moves and stats for the Pokedex - which is why I put the heat intensifier thing in. I hope that's okay - it seems like something Magma might do anyway, at least to me.

[CandyCorn]

Lily had heard the fellow Magma member's defeat by the two trainers. This was it, it would be perfect. Two weakened little trainers she could definitely tackle. Quickly. It was the perfect job for this newbie. Some other grunt may have lost, but weakened their Pokemon quite a bit. This should be easy. The two trainers were around the corner of the building she was leaning on and hiding behind. "This is it..." She grabbed Diglett's Pokeball out of her black messenger bag.

Her black shoes made soft noises on the street as she withdrew from the shadows of the tall building. She put up her hood to look more intimidating.
"It's not over yet." She challenged, tossing Doug's Pokeball in her hand with an eager smile. She threw Doug's ball in the air. It opened automatically and sent out the cute, subterranean Pokemon by the name of Diglett. It looked sharply at Zen.
Then, Lily took out the Pokeball of her Voltorb. The Pokeball spun through the air before releasing a Pokemon that looked similar to it. Voltorb spun around quickly on the street like a top.
"No running to the Pokemon center now." Lily sang.



This post has been edited by CandyCorn: Nov 2 2009, 02:23 PM

[Rasu]

Andrew inspected Zen's arm to see the damage caused by the Poochyena. Besides some remaining dirt on the Riolu's face and some cuts and browses from the Bites the attack wasn't that strong. Andrew took out a Potion from his bag and sprayed the liquid on Zen's wounds.

"Um, Andrew? I don't think this one likes being attacked..."

The Numel was carrying a black device on its hump and it was obviously angry, something that wasn't normal on that kind of Pokemon.

"What? Aren't those things supposed to be sluggish and calm?" this thought was interrupted when the grunt started explaining how the device worked and how he created it. After the brief explanation, however, he demanded the Numel to start an attack. Andrew watched as Loyal evaded the burning Embers with a Smokescreen while his Sneasel slashed the Pokemon.

"Oh, just wait, I'll get you two!" those were the man's last words before he returned both of his Pokemon and ran away.

"Um, is your Pokemon okay? It looks a little hurt..."

"Zen's tough. He had some wounds but I sprayed a Potion over his arm. Its effect should start up soon. What about yours?" Andrew asked Loyal after seeing his Sneasel attack that Numel. Ice types normally don't come out very good from battles against Fire types...

The sound of footsteps echoed from an alley. A faintful sound was heard. Something like someone reaching for its phone... No. A Pokeball maybe.

"It's not over yet." from behind, a girl released a kind of living Pokeball and a thing that had most of its body underground.

"No running to the Pokemon center now." she said.

"Well, if you think I'm gonna let my Riolu battle in this state then you're awfully wrong! Capone, go after that mole thing. It's stuck underground so you should have the advantage. Just watch out for that sphere Pokemon..." As Andrew said that Capone flew up high and prepared for combat.

[Ganymede]

The man's quickly fading footsteps soon became overpowered by the rain, a cool breeze spraying some water in Loyal's face. Undeterred, the teen walked through the quickly-growing puddles in the street to stand next to Andrew, watching him apply a Potion to his Pokemon. It looked a little like a Lucario, a Pokemon that was rapidly gaining popularity in Altomare despite it - being part Steel - not faring too well in a city of water. Loyal guessed that Andrew's Pokemon was what a Lucario evolved from. He hoped Noverus wasn't too wet for the poor thing.


"Zen's tough. He had some wounds but I sprayed a Potion over his arm. Its effect should start up soon. What about yours?"


Loyal looked at his Pokemon. Aletta was bouncing jovially in his arms, almost falling onto the street at times, but definately unhurt. Scherzo was smirking in a downright smug way, preening as he trotted around Loyal's legs. No signs of injury there either. With a small sigh of relief, Loyal looked back up at Andrew.


"They're both fi-"


"It's not over yet." Two Pokeballs spiraled through the air - the Magma Grunt standing a few metres away the only source. As far as Loyal could tell in the grey, rain-soaked light, it was a different one from the man who had just run away. Loyal hesitantly moved a little closer to Andrew.


"Um, are people here usually attacked in the streets this much...?"


Two more not-quite-friendly Pokemon were facing Loyal and Andrew. A Diglett - Loyal had seen one once, helping construct a new canal in Altomare - and a Voltorb. As Andrew commanded his other Pokemon to attack the Diglett, Loyal's heart sank a little. Sure, they both had an advantage against the Diglett, but Loyal highly doubted that a Flying-type and Water-type could take down a Voltorb that easily - especially in the rain. Loyal just hoped that the Voltorb didn't know Thunder.


"I don't suppose we can just apologise and leave, can we?" Loyal questioned, holding Aletta close as he faced the new Magma Grunt. Scherzo's tail feathers bristled as he waited for a command, glancing from Loyal to the Voltorb in obvious impatience. Loyal sighed again - today just wasn't his day - and recalled Aletta before nodding to the Sneasel. Scherzo dropped low again, red eyes gleaming in the dim light.


Without warning, the Sharp Claw Pokemon charged the Voltorb, vanishing in front of it before appearing on its left, bringing both of his claws down in a gleaming arc.


I hope he's not going to tire himself out, Loyal thought, uneasily noting Scherzo's fondness for Quick Attacks. It's fine if he's got the advantage or if his opponent's weakened, but Voltorbs are hard to injure and he's already been fighting...


"Scherzo, would you please use Taunt and lay off the Quick Attacks for a while?"

[CandyCorn]

Sharp claws of the dark and ice Pokemon were brought down on Voltorb's shiny body, creating two small scratches next to its eye. Voltorb was brought back only a few feet that were easily recovered by simply rolling forward back onto the battlefield.

Okay... So maybe this isn't as easy as I thought... Her pink flushed cheeks were now damp from the sudden rain that would hinder her Diglett. A feeling of regret pinged in the back of her mind. "Let's not let the weather bring us down! Diglett, gimme an all out magnitude! Now Voltorb, use screech!" Lily's voice was confident in contrary to her feelings and facial color. The two pokemon responded with their cries and then carried out their commands.

Diglett burrowed under the street to increase the effect of magnitude. The result was magnitude 5. The ground shook violently, nearly throwing Lily off of her balance. On one leg, her body shook with the ground. Voltorb rolled around, hitting a nearby building because its balance was lost during the mini earthquake.

It rolled back over to the battlefield then shook its head, getting ready to use screech. After a few moments, it let out a very high-pitched noise causing Lily to cover her ears with her hands and Diglett to go underground and avoid the loud noise.

The attack lasted only a few seconds, and after diglett withdrew from the ground only to escape back under to dryness. The two pokemon looked forward in anticipation.

Could we make our characters assume this is a 2x2 battle? I don't think it is very fair to do a 2x5.

Also, sorry for my short posts. I'm sorta new to roleplaying.

This post has been edited by CandyCorn: Nov 14 2009, 02:36 PM

[CandyCorn]

OOC//
I'd like to officially quit, no one has touched this in more than a week. :c

[Ganymede]

As CandyCorn has expressed interest in dropping out of this RP, I will bunny her character (now an NPC) slightly so that the battle can end and the rest of the RP can move forward. If this is not allowed, please tell me and I will edit my post accordingly.

Loyal gave a shout and pitched to the side as the earth began to move under him, his feet almost slipping on the damp ground. Scherzo gave a shriek of annoyance, his eyes glowing in the rain-splattered light. Before either of the two could regain proper footing, however, the Voltorb let out a high-pitched Screech, the sound boring straight through the air and into Loyal's mind. With a groan he fell to the ground, covering his ears with his hands. He could faintly hear Scherzo attacking in frustration and could only watch as he began Quick Attacking too fast for Loyal's eyes to follow. Shaking off the pounding headache that had overtaken him, Loyal stood and was about to call Scherzo back and just run when two more people joined the fight.


The two people that had stepped out of the shadows of the side street were wearing almost identical clothes - blue pants with white circles down the sides; black-and-white striped shirts; blue bandannas with a strange white insignia. The first to appear was a large, burly man; the second was a slim woman with curly red-brown hair. Both wore near-identical smiles that sent shivers down Loyal's spine - the last thing he and Andrew needed at the moment were more opponents. However, the two strangers didn't even spare a glance their way - they were focused entirely on the Magma grunt before them.


"Hey, girly," the woman purred, tossing a Pokeball up into the air and catching it with a flick of her wrist. "Isn't it a bit damp out here for your kind?"


"Yeah," the burly man agreed, his voice oddly high-pitched for someone of his girth. "Didn't anyone tell you that on rainy days, Team Aqua comes out to play?"


Team Aqua? "Oh!" Loyal exclaimed, suddenly making the connection. After he'd first heard of Noverus' plight, he'd gone on an information search - digging up that Team Magma had been active in Hoenn for a good many years, always fighting a rival organisation. Team Aqua must be the opposing faction, Loyal surmised, Watching as the Magma grunt, recalled her Pokemon, mumbling a curse under her breath as she backed off before turning and disappearing into the rain-fog. Scherzo let out a cry of fury, swiping the air before him with his claws before sulking back to Loyal, his tail feathers twitching in anger. Kneeling on the wet ground, Waker tried to gently brush the wet dirt off of his Sneasel's face, only for his hand to be stopped mid-rech by one of Scherzo's claws. With a huff, the Sharp Claw Pokemon walked a few feet before sitting down, obstinately refusing to look at his trainer.


"...I'm sorry about that," Loyal muttered, not quite daring to look the Aqua grunts in the eye. Shuffling from foot to foot, he pulled his scarf off of his neck, smoothing it out a little before re-affixing it, tossing the trailing end around his shoulder.


"Anyways, um. Thank you for scaring her off. There was another Magma grunt earlier, and he ran that way if you're intere-"


"Oh, we're not here for them," the man said, his smirk gone. He was staring off into the distance in plain disinterest.


"Yeah, we're actually here on a recruiting mission, although scaring some Magma sap like that is a plus," the woman added, looking from Andrew to Loyal to Scherzo, her smirk growing wider as her brown gaze settled on the latter. "In fact, would you two mind coming with us for a bit?"


"Not like it's an option or anything," the man said, the smile back on his face.

[Rasu]

The ground shook underneath Andrew's feet and he quickly got on his knees to keep his balance. He looked at Capone and smirked at the bird's advantage against the Diglett. The next move, however, got everyone by surprise with an high pitched sound directly from the Voltorb to the trainer's and Pokemon's heads, making Capone land on a nearby building to avoid an undesired crash, making him vunerable to attacks.


"Ugh! This sound! My head!" Andrew shouted with his hands covering his ears to avoid any more pain. He looked sidewards and saw Scherzo rampaging because of the Screech but a few seconds later he focused back on the Voltorb when it stopped. Two more people walked into the battlefield, a woman and a man. There was only one difference and that was the uniform. Striped shirts along with blue pants with white circles going down the side and a blue bandana with a symbol reasembling the Jolly Roger were the huge change on their clothes. They were Aqua members. Andrew smirked and called Capone.


The woman walked up to the Magma grunt.


"Hey, girly, isn't it a bit damp out here for your kind?" she said, later followed by the man. The Magma recalled her Pokemon and fleed. She didn't look too happy. At all. Capone landed on Andrew's left shoulder when the Aquas turned their looks to the teens. Loyal explained the previous situation but that was not what they wanted. They were on a recruiting mission and Andrew and Loyal were being "invited" to join Team Aqua.


"Wait a second." Andrew interrupted "So you guys want those Magma scum out of here too? If so, count me in. Afterall, the enemy of my enemy is my friend."


"So, Loyal, you coming or not?"

[Ganymede]

"So, Loyal, you coming or not?"


Loyal balked for a moment, looking from Andrew to the Aqua grunts in confusion. He did want to help Noverus, and joining Team Aqua seemed like the best way to rid the area of Team Magma, but…it just bothered him. He had just arrived, after all, and knew next to nothing about Aqua, its goals, or its members. The two grunts in front of him seemed alright, but the stony silence of the man and the quiet intensity of the woman were just a tad unpleasant. Biting his lip, he sighed and half-turned, crouching down on the wet road. He lifted his scarf carefully, mindful of the trailing edge and the mud at his feet.


"Scherzo, come here, please." He waited for a moment, but there was no sign of movement from the Sneasel. Shaking his head, he slowly stood up and looked back at Andrew and the grunts. Loyal knew that Scherzo's pride had been hurt in the botched battle - he figured that if he left the Sneasel alone for a while, he'd be back to his usual self fairly quickly. Loyal drew Scherzo's Pokeball from his pants pocket and pressed the release with his thumb watching as Scherzo disappeared in a flash of grey-blue light. Pocketing the Pokeball again he walked over to where Andrew was standing, shuffling his feet nervously.


"I'm ready."


"Good!" the woman said, the unpleasant smirk widening. She spun on her heel, snapping her fingers in the air. "Follow me, boys - we're on our way to Home Base!"

---

Loyal had expected a bit…more out a building called 'Home Base'; perhaps a large white mansion with an imposing air of self-importance; a hidden cavern, maybe.


A squat, grey warehouse that looked exactly the same as every other building in Noverus was somehow disappointing.


"Um," Loyal muttered, looking at the building skeptically. "Is this…big enough for all of Aqua to hide in?"


"What, this rusty old thing? Oh, Arceus no. Boss's orders is for all potential recruits to do a little practice mission for us before they can get into the Maw." The Aqua woman walked over to an inconspicuous grey door that Loyal hadn't even noticed. He wondered if Magma's reign over the city included monochrome paint. He desperately wished to be back in the bright, colourful grandeur of Altomare.


As the door opened and the woman began talking enthusiastically to someone inside, Loyal leaned over to Andrew.


"What do you think the mission will be?" he asked quietly, keeping his eyes on the large man near them. "Nothing really illegal, I hope. Although that would cheer Scherzo up," Loyal mused.


"Awright! We're in," the woman shouted, using her back foot to keep the door propped open as she gestured to the interior of the warehouse. The other Aqua grunt gave Loyal and Andrew gentle shoves in the back, propelling them forward and into the building.


Large tanks of water were pushed against the sides of the warehouse; some contained water Pokemon of varying species while others were completely empty. Loyal cleared his throat nervously as the woman led them through a walkway that wound haphazardly between the tanks. Within minutes the group arrived in a small office room, only a desk and a tasteful potted plant to furnish it. A short, angry-looking man in a black suit and blue Aqua bandanna sat behind the desk, tapping a pen impatiently against the carved wooden surface.


"About time, Marren. This is it, then?" The man turned his attention to Loyal and Andrew, clearly unimpressed. Loyal found himself subconsciously standing ramrod straight, keeping his hands as close to the Pokeballs in his pockets as possible. He glanced at Andrew, wondering if he'd made the right choice in tagging along.

[Rasu]

The man had a disappointed look in his face, clearly expecting more that a couple of teenagers. This was Noverus! A city that was basically at war and from all those mighty men and brave womans out there the Aqua brought back some random kids they found on the streets.


"...I can't really say I was expecting this... Better than nothing, but still..." the man sighed before he restarted the speech "Either way I can't accept you until you prove your worth to me so you kids will be given a mission that we use to entrust to all new recruits before they're admitted in Aqua." he stopped to take a breath and looked at the empty tanks before he initiated the speech once again.

"If you look around you will find many tanks filled up with water, some full of Pokemon others completely empty. Your mission is to capture some water types from the river that passes through Noverus." the man finished by handing Andrew a bag which revealed several Net Balls inside when it was open.


Andrew took one of the balls and clipped it to his belt before throwing one at Loyal.

"So, are you up for this? I mean, it's just some water types, what harm can it do?" he asked Loyal since Andrew didn't really want to solo that mission.


"Marren, take them to the boat a leave them on the spot." the man ordered, not even giving time for both of the teenagers to breath as the woman took them to the boat, again, being pressured by the guy who was with her.