[X] My Assistant

[Tymid]

As soon as Abraham's hand touched her shoulder, Raine jerked to attention. Her head whipped over, her eyes widening at the sight of his hand upon her shoulder. It was warm. It was gentle. It was...different. Her steps slowly ceased, and she blinked owlishly at the hand on her shoulder, seemingly unsure of what to do with it. For lack of a better thing to do, she lifted her own tiny hand, and laid it on top of his, which allowed for an even more awkward blush to present itself on her face.

"Er...yuh. Yes. Yeah. I'm dandy. Nifty and dandy, to be precise." she stammered quietly, clearing her throat and craning her neck around Abraham's form to find the Hoppip. Unfortunately, she couldn't seem to locate it, and she wrinkled her nose in dismay.

"Did you know..." she began, speaking more aloud to herself than to Abraham "...that I've never seen a Hoppip around here? Ever? This could be a great moment in the research of Hoppip migratory patterns. Or, it could be just a fluke. Or, we could be being followed, but that's highly unlikely..." she murmured, her mind still on the topic of the curious Hoppip.

The Horsea at her feet was still looking up at her, back and forth between she and Abraham curiously. "Seeeea?" it seemed to ask her, and Raine looked down at it curiously, watching it bounce. The lapse in attention seemed to trigger something in her echoic memory, reminiscent of vague words that Abraham had said only moments previously. As she stared down at the Horsea, she heard his voice in his head, talking about renaming the Elekid at his side. He had asked for her opinion.

"I think Tartarus is a good name." she said with a light smile. Raine was used to having her echoic or iconic memory save her butt in situations that she wasn't really paying attention; echoic was good for when she wasn't really listening, and iconic was good for when she wasn't looking at the big picture. It was as she was thinking of this, that her smile faded, and her blood ran cold. Thinking back to the Hoppip that she had been viewing only moments ago, there was something that stood out in the slightly transparent mental image. Squinting her eyes tightly, and shaking her head, as though that would be some aid in jarring her memory, she frowned. Something...wasn't right. And yet, she couldn't place her finger on it.

"Abraham..." she murmured, reaching out her hand to tap his arm gently. As soon as she had his attention, she leaned close to him, close enough to whisper "...Something's not right. I can't put my finger on it, but...keep your eyes open."

[knil1]

Jened continued to track the two. He tried to sneak closer to the pair and attempt to gather more information.
"Did you know... that I've never seen a Hoppip around here?” Jened shrunk back. Clearly, a new approach must be taken. He reached over his shoulder and flailed about trying to grab a Pokéball from his bag. He ignored the bewildered glances people threw at him, eventually grabbing hold of one. He looked at it and smiled.
“Just the one I was looking for.”

He pressed the center button and a Vulpix emerged, instantaneously preening her golden paws. “Vul?” She hadn’t even made the effort to look at her trainer when she asked for directions.
“Aglaia, see those two up ahead? Track them.” The Vulpix sighed, jumping onto a stack of crates to figure out to whom her trainer was referring. “See them?” He pointed to the targets as precisely as possible.

“Pix.” Aglaia jumped off the crates and began a flowing trot, letting the slight breeze ruffle her curls and blow her conditioned fur, in by no means a rush.
She was quite the diva, but she was obedient, and Jened had no care at all.

He looked up to Amy, who seemed to have taken the exact moment to look for her trainer. Once they saw each other, Jened motioned for her to flow past the two trainers into the next alley, where she would be returned to her Pokéball. Amy replied with a huge grin and continued to track the Agents.

Jened looked ahead again and noticed Aglaia jumping over awnings to stores. Seemingly, she didn’t want to taint her fur with the dirt on the ground, so she went for a cleaner surface. It may have been more obvious, but she could be followed easier. And she knew that she had to avoid being found by the two, unlike the careless Hoppip.

[Yzarc Drowsnam]

Abraham quickly pulled his hand away when he saw how uncomfortable it made Raine. He didn't think it was an inappropriate touch, but he really didn't want to make their situation awkward, and it only takes one person to make things awkward. Raine wasn't quite so socialized to pretend as though she weren't uncomfortable, and so Abraham decided he'd be the one to act differently. He was naturally a very intimate and flirty person. It didn't mean he was hitting on her, because he tended to act the same with guys, but if she was going to interpret it that way, he'd have to just not be so touchy.

"Well, that's good," he chuckled when she mentioned she was dandy. "To be both nifty and dandy, wow, especially considering I haven't heard those words since five years ago when the TV was making fun of people from twenty years ago."

"Did you know," she went on to explain how odd it was that a hoppip was floating around them. She was so suspicious of such a cute little pokemon, going on and on about an obscure pokemon's migratory patterns.

"I did not know," Abraham replied, "Any of that, no. Truth be told, it's just a little Hoppip, right? We're in a city, it's probably domesticated in some way or another. I'm very doubtful that any scientists are gonna be interested. Poor little pokemon was probably abandoned, been floating around the city, trying to find someone who will take care of it. You okay, little guy?" He asked, unaware of how to to know the sex of a Hoppip, but turning to face it.

As it got closer and Abraham tried to lift a friendly arm towards it, Raine continued with her speculations, telling him to keep his eyes open. He smiled. "Well, now I'm just gonna close them out of spite," he said, clenching his eyes closed for a few seconds. "Seriously, why are you so worried? No one in their right mind would waste time tailing us." That's when he noticed Gaia trying almost desperately to crawl up the side of a building to their right. She smelled Aglaia, but Abe didn't know that.

"Raine, of course I'll keep my eyes open," he said, curiously watching Gaia awkwardly try to crawl up the wall. "But you should definitely relax a little bit. In any case, we should keep moving. Gaia!" He called the Swinub who shuffled around to look at her trainer. "Let's get goin', girlie." She quickly abandoned her cause on the building to join Abraham's side to continue her trek through the Poor District.

[Tymid]

As Abraham told her all of the reasons why she shouldn't be worried, Raine's face squinched into a look of consternation and frustration. Yeah, they weren't toppling the Aqua executives or anything important, but they were still enemies in foreign territory. Aqua intel around these parts were exceptional, and the Rebellion weren't too particularly fond of Magma either. His lax attitude disturbed her some, and she seemed to bristle slightly, even though she kept her mouth shut. She disliked arguing, and now wasn't the time. She just wanted to get this package delivered, and get this mission over with so she could go home and read a book or something.

Which reminded her.

"Abraham, you have the map, don't you? Mind telling me exactly where we're headed? I'm sure I'll know a short cut." she said mildly, curiously watching Gaia attempt to scale a wall. Curious behavior, but she wouldn't mention it, considering that Abraham didn't really give a damn. Why waste words?

Raine idly looked about for the Hoppip, and this idle gazing slowly turned into a more focused search; she couldn't really see it. "Uh?" she murmured aloud, tilting her head and looking around. Nowhere. She hmmed to herself, but kept the majority of her thoughts to herself. Shooting Abraham a small glare, she halfway hoped that they were being followed for the sheer fact that she could prove him wrong. She couldn't believe that he had said that "no one in their right mind would follow them." No one in their right mind would put a 5 foot tall girl in charge of guarding two significantly larger and dangerous men in one jail cell.

Apparently, no one was in their right mind. Raine's suspicions heightened, but she calmed slightly as she looked down to Epsilon. He was idling and blowing bubbles. So adorable.

[Yzarc Drowsnam]

"Okay," Abraham nodded, pulling out the map from his pocket and unfolding it. "So, okay," He looked at it for a few seconds, lowering it down so that poor little Raine could see. "There's the Horsea's Mouth, so we should be around here. And our target is circled over here. And-"

"Raine?"

He looked up and then back down at her and then over to his left. Out of one of the run down houses came two men. One was fairly well built and tall with a well trimmed goatee. He wore a T-shirt and jeans with a blue bandana around his head. The other one was just a little shorter and skinnier, completely shaven and with short, clean black hair. He wore a blue polo shirt and khaki pants. Seeing his choice in colors made Abraham cringe just a little bit, at least until he realized that the blue theme probably indicated they were with Team Aqua. But how did they know Raine?

In any case, they needed to act like non-Magma members. If the guys knew Raine, it was possible they already knew their affiliation as well, but on the off chance they didn't, it was better to be safe than thrust into battle. Or sorry, depending on how you feel about cliches.

Before letting her respond, which would probably be devastatingly incriminating, he spoke up first. "Can I help you guys?" In a bid to potentially ward off any untoward thoughts these two might have had, Abraham wrapped his right hand around Raine's left. He hoped she would follow. They were just a couple enjoying a sightseeing trip through the neighborhood. Maybe they got turned around because they're in a new city. Better to be a couple than partners in an opposing team. He hoped she would follow, but he kind of knew she wouldn't.

[Tymid]

Raine had been observing the map closely, mentally remembering the back alleys that she had traversed so many times as a child, when she heard her name called. Her head shot up, looking around wildly for the source, but when she saw it her blood ran cold.

There before her, stood a much older, much more muscular Stephen Mallard, a fellow whom she had seen a lot at her very home, playing with her elder siblings. She didn't think he'd remember her; she had opted to stay away from her siblings' rambunctious play, it was too noisy. However, there he stood, though she didn't know the other fellow.

Just when she thought things couldn't get any worse, Abraham grabbed her hand and brusquely stated if there was anything they could do to help. Raine slowly turned her head down to the hand, her lip sticking out in a soft pout, her brow furrowed in confusion. It was only after the response of her displeasure showed on her face that her face wiped itself of any emotion save a very indetectable frustration, and she looked back up to Stephen, blinking rapidly. Stephen was looking at Raine and Abraham's entwined hands with curiosity, and his brow lift didn't reassure her.

"S-Stephen! Hey, hi! Hello! It's...erm...been a long time!" she stammered, trying to place a polite smile on her shocked face, and mask the fact that her heart was about to thump through her chest. Her mind started racing through different scenarios. Did he know she was in Magma? Did anyone here know? Did he have contact with her siblings still?


"Um, yeah...it has. What are you doing back here, Raine? It's been a really long time since we've seen you around here. We thought you had left for good." Stephen said, an edge of wariness in his voice. Raine knew that he was speaking to her, but he was looking directly at Abraham.

Raine made a "Hunh?" sound that was reminiscent of a small dog under a pillow that just had it's tail stepped on. Her quick mind was racing, but not quickly enough for believable dialogue.

"Oh, me? Hm? Just on a...a visit. Y'know, back home and stuff. With my...my...

He's NOT your boyfriend, Raine, don't even think of lying about something that disgusting.

"My...

Hm...maybe they'd believe it. But he's not really a boy, now is he? What is he?

"My manfriend!" Raine exclaimed, immediately biting her lip after she had said it. Like a wounded puppy, bottom lip still tucked in her mouth, she looked up at Abraham through the tops of her eyes, blinking slowly, as though she was trying to say: "I know I did a bad thing. Don't hurt me."

Epsilon bounced merrily at Raine's feet, blissfully unaware of what was going on. Raine witnessed Stephen and his partner's change in stance, a more tense stance than casual. Raine visibly winced when Stephen spoke again.

"Raine...what are you doing here, and who is this guy. You aren't looking to cause trouble, are you? You don't have many friends around here, you know. You might as well tell the big boys the truth." he said softly, a vicious edge to his voice. Raine physically wilted, her hand that had been clutching Abraham's so tightly out of nervousness now falling like a limp noodle within his larger palm.

Raine knew she had no friends. She was fine with telling herself this, and being comfortable with it. She was a strong person. But something about someone from her childhood spelling it out so plainly...broke her heart.

[Yzarc Drowsnam]

At that point, Abraham went from being cautious to angry. He wasn't the best guy in the world, sure. Hell, he did some downright terrible things in the past. He did a pretty downright terrible thing earlier that day, what with pretending to represent a pokemon charity and taking peoples' money for himself. But at least the people from whom he stole thought they were doing good and they walked away happy. He never hurt anyone just for the sake of hurting them like this S-Stephen fellow seemed to do.

At "Who is this guy?" his anger was formed. This guy? Who is this guy? This guy is Abraham West and he probably has slept or at least will sleep with your sister at some point. He's smarter, meaner and so much better dressed than either of you two thugs and he should be condescending to you. Not the other way around. Where the hell do you get off saying-But his inner monologue of self righteousness was cut off when the guy continued his terribleness and, seemingly for no reason, told Raine about how she had no friends. Holding her hand the whole time, he could feel that she was hurt by this.

That's when his inner monologue left the realm of inner.

"This stops now," he said, feigning calmness. "Stephen. I think it would be wise for you to apologize to the lady. I am Raine's-" As he spoke, he thought of whether or not he should say it, but once he got to the point in his sentence, he refused to hesitate. He could not show weakness. "Manfriend, but I do not need to justify who I am to you two. There is no need to be so hostile. Now, apologize."

"Or what?" Stephen laughed. "You'll have your army of adorable little pokemon cute us to death? I see your vulpix up there, too. Not a very good hider."

Vulpix? Abraham turned his head slightly to see Aglaia on the rooftop behind him. Tartarus and Gaia were both out and battle ready. Gaia could sense that there was some intense hostility, but Tartarus was obliviously rotating his arms as he always did when he had nothing more productive to do. Raine, of course, had Omicron and Lucien still in their pokeballs, and Epsilon was out already. These guys thought that they had four pokemon between them: Gaia, Tartarus, Epsilon and Vulpix. Truthfully, they only had five. Vulpix wasn't actually on their team, but Omicron and Lucien were. It wouldn't hurt for them to think they had six, though.

He couldn't say "it" because that would imply he didn't know its gender. "She's not trying to hide," he said. "She doesn't need to. She can burn your asses without effort. Now, I think you know I don't want to resort to violence. I'm just not that kind of guy. But if you refuse to apologize-"

"Let's just skip to the part of this speech from your pedestal where you just accept that we're gonna battle."

Then, another guy came out of the same house. This guy was short and lean. He was a little darker skinned than the others and had medium length brown hair. He was also clean shaven. This one wore a blue T-shirt and blue jeans. He was very blue and the two blues did not mesh well together. "What's up, Steve?"

"Nash, I want you to fly up to that building and take care of that Vulpix. Me and Craig will deal with these two."

"Why are we fighting?" Nash asked. Really. A member of Team Aqua wanted a reason to fight.

"Pretty sure these kids are Magma."

Kids? Abraham decided not to get upset. He was older than all three of these brats. Combined, too, if you include spiritual age. Abraham did not. More pertinent on his mind, however, was the fact that there were three guys about to jump into combat with them. Maybe the Vulpix would join their struggle if she was in danger from Nash, but one extra pokemon wouldn't help very much.

Nash summoned a Wingull and grabbed its talons tight as it flew above Abraham and Raine and onto the building behind them where Aglaia was watching, while Stephen and the other guy prepared to battle Raine and Abraham. Abe didn't let go of Raine's hand, but just looked at her and nodded, as if to say "We'll be fine." Of course, he wasn't even sure of that.

[knil1]

Amy seemed to have noticed the man she was following gesturing towards him and slowly drifted downward. She spun upon descent, but at the sight of her trainer’s eyes, returned her attention to the next alley. Aglaia all the while was silently growling at a Swinub that was trying to draw attention to her. Aglaia quickly retreated, but once the Swinub began to follow its trainer, she jumped back to action.

As Amy flew around a corner where two men emerged in front of the two people Jened was following. Things began to look bad. Even if they were against these Magma Agents, they were imposing on Jened’s mission, and no one dares to impose themselves on “Sol” Tenkuu’s mission.
He snuck closer and pressed himself behind a pillar of one of the buildings.

The girl spoke up, revealing one of the men to be named Stephen, who in turn, finally identified the girl to be Raine. Jened was pleased to have finally identified one of his targets. The conversation progressed in a rather condescending manner. The man he had been tracking grew angrier with each phrase that flowed from Stephen’s mouth. Then something that Stephen said struck a terrible chord for Jened.

“I see your Vulpix up there, too. Not a very good hider." Not only had this man ruined Aglaia’s cover, he was arrogant enough to go as far as to insult her abilities.

It was interesting to hear the Magma man speak up and mention that Aglaia belonged to them. But he didn’t mind too much, as long as they didn’t get any ideas.
But, as Jened had observed, Aglaia accepted the flattery and sat on the awning graciously, flaunting her beauty and power as well as she could.

"Let's just skip to the part of this speech from your pedestal where you just accept that we're gonna battle." Sure enough, they Stephen & Co. had made themselves into a barrier in which Jened will probably have to destroy.

Another man by the name of Nash emerged from behind Stephen and was given an order to take care of “that Vulpix.”
Nash summoned a Wingull and grabbed its talons tight as it flew above Raine and her “manfriend” and onto the building behind them where Aglaia was watching.
These men will pay for their interference and arrogance.

~~~

Jened slipped out from behind the pillar glaring angrily at Stephen and his partner. He flipped his hair behind him and walked up to the Magma Agents. “Don’t you worry about Nash, I’ll take care of him. I trust you two will be able to take care of these two dorks. I’ll leave you Ardaine if you need assistance.” He reached into his bag and recovered a Pokéball, releasing a Growlithe. “Ardaine, keep an eye on these two, don’t let their opponents get the upper hand.” Jened smiled back at Raine and her partner. He believed his attempt at creating false sincerity for their safety pulled through, but he wasn’t too certain if they would trust him enough to listen to him without uneasiness.
Either way, Ardaine had enough sense that Jened just wanted her to trail the two if they decided to leave him behind.

He shouted into the Alley behind Stephen, “Amy, come on out, I think I’ll need you soon.” The Hoppip wafted out of the dark and towards her trainer. “Take Aglaia to the roof, I think we have a match going on.” Amy responded with a squeaky ‘pip’ and floated to Aglaia. The Vulpix placed her torso on the Hoppip’s head and the two steadily floated up to the roof.
Jened leaned toward Raine, “I was sent to assess how you two carried out your mission. I guess my cover’s blown, but I figured now would be as good a time as any to reveal myself.” He smiled warmly to her. He knew he was a few years younger than her, but an attempt at charming her to try and get a jealous reaction out of “manfriend” was worth it. It wasn’t blatantly obvious that they had a love for each other, but with the way they acted, impressions could be made.

He found a fire escape staircase leading to the roof of the building and climbed his way to the top where he confronted Nash. He took a short glance down and saw the Magma pair and their opponents, the few Pokémon surrounding Raine and her “manfriend”. He held back a grin every time he thought of the nickname.

[Tymid]

Raine slowly tilted her head up to Abraham, watching incredulously as he made an attempt to defend her. The longer he talked, the straighter she stood, and a hint of a smile touched her lips. It was a very kind gesture. Unnecessary, but kind.

That's when things slowly began to turn serious. At the mention of the Vulpix, Raine's eyes darted up to the aforementioned rooftops, and saw the pretty creature sitting there, watching, fluttering its tails idly. Raine's aforementioned doubt about them being followed caused a lump to rise in her throat. Now, they possibly had 4 enemies instead of 2. Things were not looking good. Raine couldn't help but sigh inwardly, thinking about how this was supposed to be a simple mission.

While she was thinking this, a young man suddenly showed himself, from the rear, no less. He didn't look too happy, but he walked with a swagger that showed that he thought he was quite capable in his own abilities. Before she had time to question, however, he stated his intention of joining the battle, on their side. Raine's brow quirked, and she nibbled her lip nervously. This was a perfect opportunity for this stranger to stab them in the back: lull them into a false sense of security, and then do them harm when their poke'mon were weak. Then again, he could just be a helpful bystander, and 3 vs. 3 was certainly better odds than 2 vs. 3.

Her semi-optimistic viewpoint fell, crashed, and burned however, once the lad withdrew the Hoppip. Her eyes narrowed dangerously, her nose wrinkled, and she snapped her head up to look at Abraham with what was possibly the most intimidating 'I told you so' look she could muster. It was then that the lad distracted her from her glare, by smoothly stating that he had been there to assess their mission status, but now he was showing himself, and smiling at her warmly.

If Raine was a cat, she would have hissed vehemently. Not only did she detest being lied to, she detested being lied to badly. Firstly, in Chapter 3, Section B of the Magma guidebook, recruits were the only ones that could be assessed. Granted, Abraham was a recruit, but the fine print clearly stated that recruits could be assessed when the recruit was NOT in the company of a higher ranking member. Raine was a Grunt. Secondly, had he truly been there to assess the mission, he would have held back until the mission was deemed a failure either by loss of the battle or by loss of the parcel, to which he would have intervened to aid in the mission's success. Then, he would go back to a higher ranking official, and Raine and Abraham would be reprimanded.

...However, since it did seem for the time being that he was actually going to aid them, Raine kept her mouth shut. A squeal from Epsilon snapped her back to the battle at hand, and she witnessed Stephen looking at her venomously, poke'ball in hand.

"You're gonna' regret this, Raine. Bookworms don't fight." he spat towards her, casting the poke'ball forth, a rather burly Machop appearing soon after.

It was then that Raine entered battle mode. Her eyes flashed violently, and she crouched into an offensive battling position. A wide grin split her face, and her usually pale face flushed with color. She recalled Epsilon into his poke'ball (Epsilon made quite the sad squeal when she did so; he looked eager) and summoned Lucien onto the field. The Houndour made a grand show of himself upon exiting the ball, as he snarled and chased his tail ferociously, grateful to be out of the ball. Raine smiled; energy was a good thing. Looking back up to Stephen, she reached up her hand, running her fingers through her long, thick mane of black hair.

"...You've obviously never seen a bookworm fight. Lucien, Ember!"

Lucien immediately focused on the task at hand, and belched a hot, smoldering Ember attack all over the foe Machop, who barely had time to evade. The Machop squealed as it looked down at it's now pink arm; it had been burned in the escape attempt. Stephen swore loudly, before pointing at Lucien.

"Machop, use Low Kick!"

The enraged fighting poke'mon charged towards Lucien, and as it was preparing to kick, Raine shouted "Dodge it!"...a little too late. Lucien did dodge, but just like the Ember attack, the pup was clipped by the forceful kick, causing him to fall snout first into the dirt. As he picked himself off, he shook his pelt, which ensued in a small cloud of dust he had gathered from the fall. Overall, Lucien seemed to be in better shape than the Machop, who was sweating and shaking due to its burn. But these were two fast poke'mon; this battle would have to come down to power.

[Yzarc Drowsnam]

When Jened made himself known and spoke mainly to Raine, Abraham felt a little dumb. It was Raine who suspected they were being followed, and Abe who tried to talk her down from such suspicions. He didn't respond outwardly, though, unlike his companion, who immediately looked up at him with the most adorable made face he'd ever seen. Honestly, he had to contain himself from laughing. This was a serious situation!

He opted not to boost her ego and refused to react to her glare. Instead, he nodded at Jened. His sudden appearance was certainly suspicious and the fact that he didn't even mention his name was worthy of some thought. Abraham was not dumb enough to let loose a huge sigh of relief and let his whole life rest in this boy's hands. Instead, he accepted the help, even if he didn't really have a choice. It was, after all, his vulpix who was in trouble. That part, at least, was clear. Jened did not show up in the nick of time to save the day. He came to save his pokemon. This battle was as much his as it was Abraham's and Raine's. "We'll take care of it," He said, noting that Jened let his Growlithe stay behind to watch.

Then, the real battles commenced. As Stephen and Raine exchanged a few words and Jened and Nash began their battle, Craig and Abraham said nothing, just looked at each other. Gaia and Tartarus were standing behind their trainer, waiting for a command, and Craig had his hand cupping two balls attached to his belt. He seemed to be trying to decide which pokemon to use. Battles were raging around them, and it had been about thirty seconds of silence between these two, just looking at each other awkwardly. "Well?" Craig asked. "Which one are you gonna use?"

Abraham was a little taken aback. That's what he was waiting on? He wanted to wait to make the battle advantageous to him? "You're waiting on me?" He asked, looking down at both of his pokemon, starting with Gaia to his left, and then moving to Tartarus. Such a better name than Double A. Now was not the time, though.

"Yeah. You go first."

Abraham just looked at Craig, bewildered, for a moment. "No," He finally said.

"This is a battle, right? So, fight."

"I'm not the one who wants it to be a battle," Abraham shrugged. "If you wanna fight, I'll fight you. If not, stand there like a dumbass some more. It's all fine by me."

Craig finally sighed and sent out his first pokemon, a small brown crocodile. "Go, Tango!" Tango. Interesting name. There was some sand hovering around the pokemon, leading Abraham to believe that it was a ground type. Tartarus would not do well, but Gaia, with her ice type, could handle up on that.

Abraham just looked down at Gaia and winked at her, moving his head towards the Sandile. "You're up, chica," he smiled as she crawled out in front of the fellow ground type. Tango's dark type, however, did nothing extra to Gaia, while Gaia's ice type would prove to be effective. "Powder Snow!"

"Bite!"

Abraham held back a cringe as he heard that word. Bite was a powerful move and this pokemon did not look weak. Sure enough, as Gaia prepared to launch a fairly weak ice attack, Tango charged and bit down hard on Gaia's little pig nose. She toppled backwards, sniffing repeatedly as if she had to sneeze. "It's okay, girl, it's okay," Abraham said, "Try it again." Tango charged again for another Bite, but this time, Gaia moved to the side. She wasn't fast enough to avoid the attack, but she stood her ground this time and countered with a burst of snowy goodness.

"Keep going!" Abraham shouted. "You got him!"

"It's a her," Craig said, annoyed.

"Oh. My apologies, Tango," He continued. "You got her, Gaia!"

"Bite again!" Again, Tango bit down hard on Gaia, but she avoided the flinch and hit another Powder Snow, which knocked the Sandile on its back. It wiggled its legs a little bit, trying to roll over and continue the fight, but Gaia did not let up. She didn't wait for Abraham's command and charged her opponent. By the time Tango got back on her feet, she was met by a charging Swinub to the face. That was enough to knock her out of commission. She was still conscious, but Craig had the sense to pull her back before any real damage was done. It was worthy of respect.

And so he sent out his next and final pokemon. Gaia found herself face to face with a Vaporeon. Things weren't looking so hot.

[knil1]

Jened walked over to his opponent, Aglaia and Amy (mostly Aglaia) posed for battle. Nash stood quietly resting his hands on his hips. His eyes drooped a little. He didn’t seem to be a very energetic person.
“I take it I’m not taking care of just a Vulpix…”

“No, actually. You’ll have a whole lot more to deal with.” Jened took off his backpack and prepared for battle. Nash took out another Pokéball, this one releasing a blue Shellos.

“I can see your Pokémon are rather experienced, so I’m not going easy on you.”

Jened grinned, Nash returning a smile. “I wouldn’t expect you to.”
He looked down at his Vulpix, “Aglaia you know what to do. Go for the Wingull.”
“Vul.”

As Aglaia trotted to Nash’s Wingull, Jened looked up to Amy. “Synthesis, then Bullet Seed the Shellos.”
Amy floated up and took in sunlight, it's sprouts growing a bright white and fully healing itself, ready for battle. She then released a hoard of dense seeds towards the slug-like Pokémon at an amazing rate.
Meanwhile, Aglaia sent out a purple-ish ray towards the Wingull. The Wingull had plenty of time to move, but strangely, it didn’t. Amy proceeded to use “quick” attack on the Wingull, jumping up to it and batting at it. Jened was a little upset with her easygoing attitude towards the battle, but she’ll get aggravated soon.
The Shellos, however, started to slide away, but couldn’t escape Amy’s attack. It took a lot of damage and stopped its attempt at running.

Nash began to chuckle watching Aglaia jump for his Wingull. “Pelly, show that thing a real Quick attack and follow up with water pulse. Slick, you’ll be backup. Use Rain Dance to help Pelly, then Mud Bomb the Hoppip.”
The Wingull rose up and Aglaia quit jumping. Pelly flew down to the Vulpix at a high speed. Aglaia jumped and narrowly dodged the first strike, but was hit dead on by the second. She flew across the roof and landed on her side. She lay motionless for a moment, but then got up slowly. She sat upright and began to preen herself as Pelly prepared the Water Pulse. She got ready to run until she noticed the side she landed on was covered with dirt and dust.
Aglaia then took a change in personality and Jened sensed it. “Quick, before the rain dance is used, Use Quick attack and then finish the Wingull.”

The Shellos was in the midst of intricate moves that summoned a small cluster of clouds. Amy floated around in the increasing wind, inadvertently increasing her evasiveness.
In a flash, Aglaia was next to the Wingull, darting past her at amazing speed. Pelly had taken a couple of Blows but hadn’t stopped preparing her attack. Just as it began to rain, Pelly and Aglaia released their attacks. A flow of water was sent flying to the Vulpix and a grand Energy Ball went to the Wingull. Both attacks were OHKO. Aglaia hit the ground and Pelly fainted.

Aglaia had enough energy to run back to her trainer’s feet and begin preening herself. She was clearly in no condition to battle, but she used what energy she had left to clean the dirt off herself.
Jened leaned over and pet the Vulpix, intentionally tousling her neatly groomed coat. “Good job.” He returned her to a Pokéball as she began growling at him.

“I didn’t know Vulpix were capable of using that attack. I’m surprised.” Nash returned his Wingull to its ball.

“Well, I guess your Pokémon are just full of surprises.”

Meanwhile, Slick was busy playing target practice with Amy, who was floating around wildly above the roof, enjoying herself more than being on the defense.

“Your turn Caile.” Jened released a Shellder who opened his eyes groggily. “Amy, Stun Spore the Shellos!”
Luckily, the rain began to die down and Amy could concentrate on the battle. She flew over Slick and released a fine, yellow powder. Jened could now focus on Nash’s next Pokémon besides the one he already had out.

This post has been edited by knil1: Mar 25 2011, 11:33 PM

[Tymid]

Raine paid no mind to the battles going on around them, no matter how impressive they were or weren't. Instead, Raine was attempting to devise a strategy around Stephen's determined Machop. She felt mild confidence in the fact that the Machop's eyelids were drooping, squinting, and blinking rapidly as it attempted to maintain focus. However, Stephen was no dummy, and upon witnessing the Machop's swaying stature, he uttered his next move.

"Machop, Focus Energy! You've got this!"

The Machop seemed to glow as it flexed its muscles, pumping its tiny arms and summoning its remaining energy to fight. Raine's brow furrowed, but suddenly, she had an idea. She might be able to use the Machop's dedication and Stephen's cleverness to her advantage. The plan didn't have much of a chance to work, but for the moment, it was the best she could come up with; use Smog, and hope that Stephen realized the attack was too much for the Machop, and he'd call it back, possibly putting an easier opponent out on the field, before sending the weakened Machop back out, making the battle slightly easier to win.

"Lucien, Smog!"

The Houndour seemed to hiccup, before a large cloud of noxious fumes erupted from his mouth, the cloud spreading and slowly enveloping both the Machop, and Stephen. From amidst the cloud, Raine heard:

"Machop, hold your breath!"

Raine winced to herself. Perhaps Stephen was too clever. Her plan in ruin, she quickly began thinking of a new plan, but as the smoke cleared, Raine witnessed Stephen with his shirt over his mouth and nose, and Machop, with his little cheeks puffed out, effectively holding his breath. Before she could react, she heard Stephen utter a muffled command.

"Machop, Low Kick!"

The Machop sped forward, and slammed into Lucien with a hard-soled, powerful kick. Raine could see by the way that the Houndour skidded across the ground, that the hit was critical, and not only did Lucien not move whenever he stopped skidding, he didn't even open his eyes. Lucien had been knocked smooth out. She frowned, unclipping Lucien's poke'ball from her hip, and recalling him back inside, her heart full of worry for the pup.

"Ha!" Stephen barked, finally uncovering his face, a wide grin stretching his face. "I told you you couldn't fight. You're no match for a primed, Team Aqua...huh?"

Raine had been mentally accepting defeat before she saw what had made Stephen stop monologuing. The Machop had simply tipped over, it seemed. Tilting her head in confusion, Raine swiftly realized what the cause of the faint was as the Machop gave a long, slow exhale.

Stephen had forgotten to tell the Machop that it could breathe again.

"Ha!" the tiny girl barked back to Stephen, as he, grumbling and cursing, recalled the fainted Machop. As he heard her, his head snapped up, eyes narrowing. "We're not done yet, bitch." he growled, before unhooking his second poke'ball from his hip. Raine's confidence waned. She only had one poke'mon that she could battle with; she had no idea what moves Epsilon currently had, and she didn't want him knocked out by whatever fearsome opponent Stephen would conjure up next.

However, as Stephen summoned a Murkrow, Raine found it hard to hide her excitement. A type-advantage was exactly what she needed to pull through this battle. Unclipping Omicron's poke'ball, she sent the newly evolved Flaafy out onto the field of combat, smiling as the sheep seemed to rock back and forth on it's rear, calmly awaiting Raine's command.

"Damn." Stephen muttered. He knew he was on the receiving end of an ass-whoopin' unless he acted smart.

Unfortunately, for him, Raine was smarter.

"Omicron, Thunder Wave!"

The Flaafy leapt into action, its fur crackling and sparking with energy, before sending a weak charge towards the Murkrow. Raine wanted a wee bit of insurance to make sure this battle was won. As the charge hit the Murkrow, it simply twitched and fell over, it's muscles spasming wildly. Stephen swore again.

"Murkrow, get up! Wing Attack!"

The Murkrow got up...kind of. As it attempted the wing attack, it looked like a small plane attempting to correct itself in heavy turbulence, flapping one wing at a time and yet still managing to remain airborned. Raine didn't even have to tell Omicron to dodge the move; he just sidestepped it, allowing the twitchy bird to crash beak first into the ground, continuing to spasm randomly. Raine's gentle spirit wavered out of pity for the poor bird. It's very eyes seemed to reflect pain.

"Omicron, let's finish this. Thundershock!"

Omicron bleated a confirmation, and used the weak, but super-effective attack on the Murkrow. It twitched a few more times, before slowly closing its eyes, and ceasing motion. A red, angry flash withdrew the bird from battle, leaving Stephen standing there, fuming.

"Why...how? How could you beat me, you little twit?" he practically shouted, shaking with anger.

Raine simply smiled, recalling Omicron back into his ball.

"Nobody messes with my Manfriend."

[Yzarc Drowsnam]

Abraham found himself in somewhat of a battle pickle. Swinub against Vaporeon was not a particularly fortunate set up, but switching to Tartarus, his recently renamed Elekid, would take up some time and prove dangerous. Still, he wasn't about to let Gaia take a powerful hit from Vaporeon's Surf.

"Get back, Gaia," he said, "Tartarus, you're up,"

As they switched places, Vaporeon, rather than using a water attack which Abraham was expecting, began kicking up an intense amount of sand in his direction. Craig stood, arms crossed smugly, watching as the sand in the air made Tartarus squint awkwardly just to see through the veil. "Enjoy," he said.

"Tartarus, Thundershock!"

Vaporeon just kept kicking up that sand as Tartarus launched a small jolt of electricity in a stupidly random direction causing Abraham to sigh and shrug. "Enjoying?" Craig asked, smugly.

"Keep at it, big guy," Abraham smiled.

"Sounds like a plan to me," he said, "India! Sand Attack! Keep going. He's never gonna hit y-"

"Swift,"

"Oh,"

A burst of stars shot out of Tartarus' little battery arms in the general direction of his opponent. Like seekers, they sought out and found their target, blasting it with a moderately powerful attack. "Please keep wasting your turn kicking up sand."

"Water Gun,"

"Swift!"

There was about a few turns of stars and water being shot at one another until the veil of sand died down, causing Tartarus' eyes to clear up just enough for Abraham to feel confident snapping his fingers. "Looks like it's about time for a Thundershock, eh Tartarus?"

"Elek...." Tartarus began, spinning his arms wildly, collecting energy. Any guesses as to how he finished his sentence? "Kid!!" Electricity shot out of him like a coil and blasted poor India to her back. Craig had this awkward look on his face. You know, that look you get when you talk a bunch of mess and then suck.

He called back India into her pokeball and rubbed the back of his neck. "Don't worry about it, champ," Abraham smiled, "I may have better pokemon, be better looking and smarter than you, but I'm sure there's something you're good at. Keep it up. You'll find it someday. Probably just not today."

He looked over and noticed that Raine had finished her battle, making a wildly awkward remark about his title yet again, and so he wandered over to her, threw his arm around her waist from her left side and looked to his right and almost vertically downward. At that point, their identities were blown. It didn't much matter if she freaked out from the touching and, honestly, he wanted her to. How adorable would that be? "Well, honey," he said, wondering how far she was willing to take this Manfriend bit. "I say we bail while our friend is all tied up. Something tells me he's not really our friend."

This post has been edited by Yzarc Drowsnam: Mar 24 2011, 11:03 PM

[knil1]

Nash let out a groan. “I hoped I wouldn’t have to resort to this.” He released a star-shaped Pokémon, easily recognized as a Staryu. However, the metal around its gem was dull and rugged, the gem itself covered in dirt. Its color was pale and overall seemed in bad condition. But it certainly didn’t act like it. It let out a shout (a ‘hya’ sort of sound) and stood proudly before its trainer, almost as if it was trying to prove itself.
“Alright Staryu, let’s try a water gun. Slick, you keep your eye on that Hoppip. Let’s go with Hidden Power!”

The Staryu leaned back and released a powerful jet of water. It was a rather beautiful attack, but it passed Caile by a few feet. It lowered its head in shame and turned to watch its partner use a successful Hidden Power, buffeting Amy with dirt and bits of brick.
“Really Staryu? C’mon already!”

Jened had noticed the lack of a name for the unfortunate creature. There was an understood timeout between the trainers as Nash approached his Pokémon. He scolded it. Harshly. But the way Nash was yelling seemed like that of an annoyed parent.
“I have no idea what I’m going to do with you.”

“Is there a problem?”

“Nah, it just needs to have some sense knocked into it. It doesn’t do anything right.”

“I’ve seen what it can do, I’d be willing to take it off your hands.” Truth was, Jened admired the star’s attempt at proving itself. He wanted to be the one to train it into what it could be, and he was on the lookout for a new Pokémon that he was fond of.
Nash looked toward Jened excitedly. “I wouldn’t mind. But I don’t want it to go to just anybody. My employer gave it to me, but it really is useless. If he finds out I lost it to a loser, I’ll be killed.”

“So, battle for it?”

“Sure.”
Jened was disappointed in Nash’s behavior. To him, the conversation had played out as if they were both children. But Jened was going to get a new Pokémon and the annoyed feeling blew over.

“Slick, Muddy Water on both Targets. Staryu, maybe Swift will work.”

The Shellos sent a torrent of brown mud towards Caile and Amy. Amy floated up in time, but Caile took a direct hit. The attack wasn’t effective, but the Mud blurred the Shellder’s vision.
“Amy, let’s go with Bullet seed on the Shellos. Caile use Supersonic!”

The Staryu had perked up quickly and released a flurry of stars towards its opponents. Nash and Jened were rather shocked. The power behind them was intense and accuracy was dead-on, despite the fact it was a never-miss attack. Amy flew back and regained her position just as Caile had screeched across the roof. The Shellos began to waver and couldn’t dodge the Bullet Seed from Amy. It toppled over and Nash angrily returned it to his Pokéball.

“Your Pokémon shouldn’t have been able to hit him.” He glanced over at his Staryu, now the battle was resting on that clumsy thing.

Jened drew an empty Pokéball and returned Caile, who wasn’t too upset about a short battle time. Jened wasn’t entirely certain of Nash’s faction, but he respected him enough to return to a one-on-one battle. He didn’t want to win with an unfair advantage either.

Amy was still grinning, but her leaves were showing signs of wilting. The Staryu, however, seemed to be in great condition.

“Amy, Mega Drain!” the Hoppip began to sap HP from the Star Shape Pokémon at an incredible rate.

“Quick, Use Rapid Spin!” The Staryu jumped towards its opponent and began spinning wildly. Amy was thrown off of her attack as she narrowly dodged the Staryu.
“Leech Seed, go!” Amy sent off a seed that stuck to the Staryu and it quickly grew vines that wrapped around it. It hit the ground and sunk to the ground.

“C’mon Staryu! Try another Swift!” It sent forth another group of stars, with a tremendous amount of Power towards the Hoppip. But its opponent showed great evasiveness as it moved out of the way and prepared another Bullet Seed. Just as Swift turned back around and hit Amy in the back, a storm of seeds soared to the Staryu.

Needless to say, the Staryu had collected enough damage and a red blinking light could be seen under the layer of dirt covering its jewel.

Amy was still floating in the air, replenishing its own HP from whatever health the Staryu had left. Nash walked over to his Pokémon just as Amy began to glow.
Jened ran under her and waited for her to return to the ground. The small pink body had been replaced with a plumper, green one, and a large yellow flower had sprouted where the leaves had been.
Amy fell into Jened’s arms, the only characteristics remaining was her vacant expression. Jened laughed and returned her to the air and she began floating around her trainer in circles.

Nash had returned his Staryu to its Pokéball and walked over to his opponent.
“Take good care of it. I don’t appreciate the thing, but it’s still a former Pokémon of mine.”

“No problem.” Jened looked away from Nash and looked back at Raine and her partner.
“Looks like they plan to leave me behind.” He then noticed a dog shaped orange ball. “I guess Ardaine has this then.”

“Well, thanks for the battle Nash and I hope you and your friends have learned to meddle in my missions.” He ran towards the edge of the roof and gracefully jumped to the next.
He muttered to himself, “I guess this will be the only way I can keep track of them.”

[Tymid]

Abraham's battle drew to a close, and soon, she was enveloped by his big...strong...arm. The thrill of battle had waned slightly, and the normal Raine was beginning to show through once again. From the moment he called her "Honey", Raine's vocal chords had begun unconsciously producing an odd, high pitched "Eeeeeeee..." noise, and as soon as he stopped speaking, it ended in an "...eeeeeeeew." Daintily plucking his hand from her hip, she looked up at him with an expression akin to a puppy who's attempting to guard its first ever bone. Her face was still a flushed red, her nose wrinkled in her "snarling" expression.

However, he did have a good idea. The odd, lying fellow whom she had about as much affection for as the scum under Abraham's big toenail was still in his battle; now was the perfect time to make a swift retreat. Without so much as a confirmation, or congratulations, Raine simply said: "This way." and began doing her odd, Bambi-ish style of trot-running that rarely ever got seen, because Raine was not a fan of getting sweaty.

A mental image of the map she had only gotten to look at briefly unforlded in her mind. Had she not lived in the Poor District practically all of her life, she would have had to stop and think about the situation; for where to go. Instead, she composed a mental image of the map, and where she was, and combined them with the many alleyways and backroads she had taken as a child to avoid her siblings' aggressive friends, who wanted nothing more at the time than to give Raine a swirly she would never forget.

She knew that Abraham was behind her or beside her, so as she trot/ran/hopped, she said, amidst panting and gasping for air: "Y'know, you fought...really well...back there." was all she was able to think of (and properly speak; she was out of shape and already winded). She turned her head slightly, a bead of sweat dripping off of her tiny nose, and offered a half-smile, before looking ahead once again. There. She had been nice to him. That's all she needed to give the slimy, lying fellow. Arceus knew that if his head swelled much bigger he wouldn't be able to fit through the destination's door.

Speaking of...

"There." she panted, and pointing to a small looking office building, she gulped. Team Aqua grafitti covered the brick walls of the establishment, but it looked as though someone had tried very hard to keep the doorway clean of all the garbage that had been thrown at in. Raine slowed to a stop, breathing laboriously and putting her hands on her knees, mouth agape as she gulped in mouthful after mouthful of air.

[Yzarc Drowsnam]

Abraham found himself smiling a goofy smile as Raine awkwardly pulled herself out of his arms, blushing and refusing to make eye contact with him. The goofy smile was because it was just oh so obvious to him that she was into him. He knew the signs and she exhibited most of them. She was, of course, trying to convince the world, herself included, that she wasn't. Which led him to his next realization.

Why was he smiling? Immediately, he moved back into a straight face and the two made their way past Craig and Stephen, nodding and tilting his cap, were he to be wearing one, as they passed. "Later, boys," When she started running awkwardly, he burst into a fast walk. He wasn't going to run in these shoes. Do you realize how expensive they were?

As they moved, Raine commented on his battling strategy. He realized then that he didn't watch her fight at all, but she did seem to handle her own. "Thanks," he said, "You were pretty eloquent out there too," All this even though her compliment seemed oddly forced. Raine wasn't a normal girl, so he couldn't read her like he was used to doing. Maybe a forced compliment only sounded forced because she was nervous or embarrassed. All possibilities, of course, still meant she wanted to do him. Why wouldn't she?

"There," she said, abruptly stopping as she pointed to a house, panting. Even though this was, supposedly, a Team Magma building, Aqua graffiti was all over it. Abraham did not envy the poor guy who worked here.

"Great," he said, looking behind them. Sure enough, Jened's Growlithe had followed them. They were too busy awkwardly running through the streets to notice, but Jened, too, was following them on the rooftops. "I wonder for whom this sneaky character works," he said, rubbing the hair already beginning to grow on his chin. "But I do hope he doesn't turn out to be an enemy. Gaia and Tartarus are fatigued."

[knil1]

Jened leaped over alleys with ease, given the close quarters in the poor district and his long legs. He almost over stretched his legs with each bound. Someone as flexible as him enjoyed the stretching sensation on his legs, it made it easier for him to keep up with the two below him and he enjoyed the feeling.
He jumped over the first many gaps successfully until he reached an alley at least 15 feet apart. It was filled with a small sidewalk, a dumpster and storm drain. Understandably there, as Jened hadn’t seen any of them recently and they were necessary within a certain radius. Luckily, this alley was also equipped with a ladder. Jened climbed down with ease and looked back up at Amy the Skiploom float overhead. She hadn’t taken her eyes off Ardaine. She seemed to grow significantly brighter with her evolution.

He seemed to have gone unnoticed so far, and the two didn’t seem to be avoiding Ardaine yet; which was rather odd, as she made no real attempt at staying hidden. Nonetheless, Jened had watched as the “victims”, he decidedly named the pair, stop in front of a building. Blue and white spray-paint smeared the walls in writing that Jened couldn’t visibly make out. Assuming the location and color scheme, however, he decided it was an Aqua establishment.

He took the moment to prep himself. He released the Staryu to check its condition. A battle hopefully wouldn’t be necessary, but if his Pokémon were wiped out, he would want to be able to count on Staryu.
He removed a cloth from his bag, neither knowing nor caring why it was in there in the first place. He brushed off the body of the Staryu, revealing the brown sparkle typically seen on a Staryu. He left the golden colored metal alone, as that would have to be polished at another time. Then something surprised him.
As he wiped the grime off the center of the Pokémon, a purple shimmer reflected. Upon further cleansing, the gem in the center was revealed to be a brilliant purple, like that of an Amethyst.
“Wow, I’m surprised.”

The Staryu winced and retreated from its new trainer.
“Don’t worry.” Jened laughed lightheartedly. “Come here. I’ve just never seen a Staryu that color before.”

The Staryu slid towards Jened anxiously. Jened grasped one of its arms and continued to clean off the gem. “Well, I already have an Amethyst…”

Amy had been watching over Jened’s shoulder, and after the mentioning of her full name, let out a quiet ‘loom’.

“Asteria would be nice… Goddess of stars. But it sounds rather unoriginal, not to mention the fact I’m not too certain of your gender…”
The Staryu stood still, but seemed rather attentive.

“How about Iris? You aren’t so much a rainbow, but when I think of the word, I think purple.” He smiled casually. “I think it will do. It sounds much better than ‘Staryu’…”
The jewel on Iris glowed. ‘She’ seemed rather happy, and her happiness revealed her true beauty. The jewel looked cut, but to the touch is was smooth and round like a polished opal. Granted, the metal was still dingy, and she wasn’t in her best condition, but it was still a sight to behold.

Jened stood up and returned Iris and Amy to their Pokéballs. He walked back toward the building, but stayed out of the victim’s sight, as he seemed to be going unnoticed yet again. He would strike once he could find out what the building was. But first, he had to call Ardaine, who was sitting next to a wall in semi-plain sight.

She trotted over unnoticed and sat by her trainer’s feet. Jened ran his fingers through his white hair and tousled the electric blue tips. He straightened his shirt, then jacket. Retied his shoes and tugged on his black pants to get rid of any uncomfortable wrinkles.

~~~

Jened rounded the corner and approached the two. “I can understand why you would leave me behind. But I am quite disappointed that you would do such a thing to someone who’s kept an eye on you two this entire time.” He grinned. By the way they looked at him, there wasn’t an ounce of trust between either parties.
But that wasn’t a reason to blow an act. The distrust doesn’t necessarily confirm he’s an enemy, despite his less than realistic impression of a Magma worker.

“I’m glad you made it this far. The way you performed the mission and battles thus far are rather satisfactory. I won’t mention my intervention in the report.” He winked.
Now things were going to get tricky. He walked closer to the two. “Your mission is complete, I can take the package now.”
He smiled graciously and hoped for the best.


This post has been edited by knil1: Mar 27 2011, 04:12 PM

[Tymid]

Raine almost breathed a sigh of relief. They had made it. They were here, outside the building...only a few short yards away from their destination. She tilted her head up to Abraham as he spoke of his poke'mon being fatigued, then tilted her head up even further to see that their skulking "friend" had followed them thusfar. Her heart sank, as she witnessed the Growlithe that had trailed them. She really shouldn't have been so foolish. She had forgotten about the Growlithe; the whole reason she had taken the passage of alleyways was to lose their follower in the maze of trashcans and Alley-Meowth.

He still seemed quite happy watching them for now, so Raine murmured: "Hurry, before he tries something. Let's..."

“I can understand why you would leave me behind. But I am quite disappointed that you would do such a thing to someone who’s kept an eye on you two this entire time.”

Raine's eyes closed softly, her left foot already in a stepping position, her back turned to the voice. The syrupy, kniving sound of his voice made her want to vomit. She slowly lowered her foot to the ground, giving him a patient, albeit, annoyed look. They were so close. Would this fellow really stop them now?

As the lad continued speaking, Raine stifled a chuckle. He was still playing along with the fact that he was a Magma? His hopeful, clueless smile showed her that yes, he was. Raine darted her eyes up to Abraham, inhaled a nervous, shuddering breath, and exhaled it slowly, giving her an aura of calm. She knew what to say, and how to say it, this time...it was just her glass nerves that were keeping her from it.

"Certainly." she said softly, taking another step towards the man, a slow, patient smile forming on her lips. Reaching back into her satchel, she withdrew the package, turning it over in her hands. "I'm most pleased we had such a faithful accompanist. You do the name of our organization proud."

It was all she could muster to keep from stuttering. She still wasn't fond of this whole social interaction thing.

"However..." she mused, turning around and placing the package in Abraham's hands, turning back around to the lad "...such a competent official like yourself is foolish in asking before the proper protocol is taken care of. And I quote: "Any delivery or transaction of any sort is to be done with the proper exchange of affliliation identification, along with the statement of the assigned pass-phrase or pass-key, which is told and/or to the recipient approximately 5 days prior to the anticipated arrival of said item. Chapter 9, Sub-section B in the...I mean, our handbook."

Raine waited a few moments for the silence to settle after she finished quoting an entire paragraph out of the handbook. All of it was true, save for the whole pass-key/pass-phrase bit. She had improvised a little, trapping the unknown "official" into something only a true Magma would know. Besides, she could recognize a false ID in a heart-beat, something she had learned during her first mission as a Magma Recruit. While she already knew that the man wasn't a true Magma due to the facts that she had uncovered earlier, maybe he'd be tongue-tied enough to simply walk away so Raine could go home.

"Well, sir. May I see your identification and hear the pass-phrase? Quickly now, please. As you know, our mission does have a succint deadline."

She was glad that her moderately cool voice didn't match the intensity of the pounding of her own heart.

[Yzarc Drowsnam]

Abraham watched as the young man approached the two, looking over at Raine and nodding his head in Jened's direction to inform his partner of the incoming. It was kind of cute, actually, watching this teenager assume a position of authority without any attempts at backing up his claims. Raine was too smart to be fooled and Abraham was basically a professional liar. If the kid had happened upon any two different Magmas, it might have worked. Might. Probably not, but might have.

That being said, Abraham was immediately concerned when Raine seemed to comply. What the hell was she doing? Did he overestimate her intelligence? To him, there wasn't even a chance that this kid could be for real, and yet there was Raine, walking over to him with the package. He wanted to say something, but how would he do it without coming off as condescen-Oh.

She turned around and handed it back to him. In her face, he could see her trying so hard to remain cool and confident. She had a little plan in the works, and it was probably going to work. She went ahead and rattled off a list of procedures which may or may not have been true. Abraham didn't read the manual; how would he know?

By the time Raine finished her speech, Abraham was already holding Tartarus' pokeball. He was relatively unscathed from his battle with India the Vaporeon, so he was the natural choice over Gaia who took a few hits already. He hoped it wouldn't erupt into battle, but if it was going to, he might as well be prepared. More than likely, this kid was unprepared to talk his way out of the situation and, as kids tended to do, he would resort to letting his testosterone fix it.

[knil1]

Jened stood silently as Raine began her explanation of Magma code. As she prattled on he could only think about the fact that she was probably the only person who had actually read a faction handbook.
Jened for one, skimmed over his, and basically got the gist of what it was saying. But in his view, what mattered more in a mission was instinct. Raine’s obvious dislike of Jened was based on her knowledge of Magma codes, but there had to be some deeper feeling that made her loathe the sight of him. But, that wasn’t significantly vital in the situation.

“Haha, I appreciate your knowledge of the Magma Handbook. I’ve not met many who were that dedicated to their faction.” He scratched his head and returned it to his hip. “I guess you already know I have no badge to show you, whether it be lost or nonexistent.” He watched Raine’s face, hoping for an annoyed reaction at his last comment.
Jened looked over at Raine’s partner, still unnamed. The way he looked at Jened annoyed him. The man didn’t seem to be impressed with Jened at all. An attitude Jened didn’t approve of.

“Well, it seems my job now is to keep you from meeting that deadline then. I’d rather do this passively, but you two seem dedicated to your cause.”
Ardaine was panting happily by her trainer’s side. Amy floated down to her trainer easily becoming distracted by a speck of dust drifting by.

The two seemed unshaken (not surprising, as he was only a kid. A 6’4” kid…). Jened made his mind up and grabbed hold of his Pokéballs.
“I guess I have no other choice. First things first, I need to know the name of Raine’s ‘manfriend’. I don’t believe I caught it earlier, and I would like to know it.”