[X] My Assistant

[Jonahman10]

Amelia awoke with a fright, yelping as she hit her head on the car roof. Where was she, Maple Street? That's right Officer Jenny called her over to help. She must have dozed off on the ride over. How strange, it was only a short drive and yet Amelia had fallen asleep. Quite clearly, she was quite behind on sleep.

She pushed the door open with a relaxed yawn. A foul aroma squandered through the street as it did before, however it was slightly different, there must have been a Stunky nearby. Officer Jenny was pointed directly towards the Grotto. She quickly ran up to receive her mask and flashlight, and made sure Hope and Austin were safely inside their balls.

Delainey was there by Jenny. Amelia greeted her generically, they really didn't know each other that well even though they went into the cave together. She looked much better than she had been after the explosion. She would be good to have along. Daniel was happily jumping around excitedly, because apparently he caught a Stunky and his Pokemon evolved. Amelia congratulated him, hiding her quilt about not training Austin and Hope. If she wanted to keep up with him she would have to hire work at the farm...

Mack went in first, which was strange because he was the one who knew it the least. Reluctantly, Amelia went in directly after him hoping they wouldn't be alone for long. He still creeped her out a little, but it would be bad if he got lost in the cave. The cave smelled much cleaner than before, and it was well lit. Many features of the cave had been distorted out of recognition when the Sulfuric fire and the large explosion rattled the cave. It was possible new paths had been opened by the disaster.

Mack asked for directions. If she remembered correctly there was a right hand turn up ahead before the calamity...

"Well, there used to be a right turn up ahead, but the cave has changed drastically."

This post has been edited by Jonahman10: Jan 11 2011, 04:34 PM

[Amissa]

"Uh yeah, a right turn," Officer Jenny said. "That may be a problem. You'll see when we get there."

Daniel looked around the cave curiously as they walked on. Many of the stalagtites and stalagmites appeared to have been broken from the explosion. Thankfully, the worst of the debris had been cleaned up by the crew of volunteers, so the explorers didn't have to worry about tripping over huge chunks of rock everywhere they went. However, the large pillars that the stalagtites and stalagmites formed were strong enough to withstand the blast and Daniel recognized one in particular.

"I ran into that one when we were running from the fire. I couldn't see much through the smoke and the light, but I remember that one," Daniel pointed to one sturdy looking pillar. He frowned at a sudden thought. "Did you guys know that geodudes are resistant to both poison and fire? Like, even in this environment, geodudes do just fine. Maybe I should have captured one last time we were in here."

He continued to follow the group down through the cave until they reached a huge clearing where the lights at the top of the cave stopped and what appeared to be four dark tunnels opened up.

"You see, you guys never mentioned the cave dividing into four different paths. I thought that these probably were broken open by the explosion. That can happen in places like these. A large explosion may collapse some tunnels while opening new ones. The volunteer crews and investigative teams haven't gone any further than this. This is a big reason why we need you with us. I need to know which way you guys went. Is there any way that you can tell?" Officer Jenny asked, shining her flashlight down each of the four paths.

"Well crud," Daniel said, scratching his head in puzzlement and catching his breath. Just the short trek through the cave had caused his breathing to become elevated, which frustrated him. He was used to running around with wild abandon without ever having to stop for a breath. Thankfully, the doctors and the hospital had assured him that this shortness of breath was a temporary result from the disaster and that his breathing should return to normal as long as he got plenty of fresh air and normal amounts of exercise. Daniel however, being a tad hardheaded, figured that more cave exploring adventures and hunting down nasty criminals probably wouldn't kill him. He'd pass out first. "I don't have a clue which way I went. I couldn't see anything and I was choking on smoke. Hercules, my machop, pulled me along to safety. Plus, this doesn't look anything like I remember."

Daniel tried to think of a way to figure out where the bad guys had kept their factory now that the features of the cave had become unrecognizable. Surely, someone who knew the cave extremely well might be able to find his/her way even after the changes. None of them had spent a lot of time in the area, but what about pokemon? Delainey had captured Phoebe (or Miss Dreavus as Daniel thought of her) in this cave and she seemed to know a thing or two about the factory. If not Phoebe, then maybe one of those geodude would be willing to help out. Hopefully, they wouldn't still be mad about being trounced in their first fight. If they couldn't figure this out, they would simply have to guess, and who knows where that might lead them.

[Aureylian]

Delainey smiled at Amelia when she greeted her. It had been a while since they had talked and even then they hadn't really said much. She said hi and waved, but that was about it for the conversation. She walked over to her, attempting to strike up another, but she heard sounds coming from the cave that had caught her attention.

She turned around and saw Daniel engrossed in a fight with a rather tough looking Stunky. His Geb had never been all that tough, but it would be good for him to battle. Delainey steered clear of the attacks, but stayed close just in case the pokemon decided to go after something or someone else. Daniel wasn't very confident at times, but he could be when he needed to be. She watched as his partner engaged the skunk pokemon in battle, taking on his trainers zeal. He wouldn't give this up without a fight.

Overall, the Stunky had put up a good fight, but in the end, the little Nincada won out. Daniel threw the pokeball and was very excited when he caught the pokemon. No one else seemed very proud, like it wasn't anything unusual, but Delainey was proud of him. She walked over, patting Daniel on the back and smiling. "Good job," she said. Officer Jenny handed Delainey a pair of glove, a mask, and a flashlight then headed back in the direction of the cave. Delainey took a moment to put the thick gloves on, not exactly happy about it.

Officer Jenny yelled to Daniel, which interrupted his excitement. His Nincada hadn't followed them, which caused him some worry. Delainey watched as the smoke cleared and the glowing stopped. She hadn't really seen a pokemon evolve before. "Wow." she said.

"Let's go then. Onwards! Also, please avoid bringing in any open flames. This is a sulfur mine, and no amount of cleaning up will change that. It's still very dangerous."

It wasn't until Officer Jenny had said that, that Delainey realized Axel was still out of his pokeball. "I know you don't like it, but you have to come back." Delainey pulled out his pokeball, calling the pouting pokemon back into his ball. "Sorry, bud."

-------------

The group made their way into an open area inside the cave. It had changed so much since they had been there that it was barely recognizable. No one in the group could remember which way they had gone. "This isn't good." she sighed.

A flash of red light caught her by surprise, the light taking the form of Phoebe, her Misdreavus. She had almost forgotten that Phoebe had once lived here, so she would know the place better than any one of them. "Phoebe, do you know which way we went?"

Phoebe flew around the cave, but she seemed a little distracted. This cave had been her home for so long, and now it was destroyed. Changed forever. She floated back to Delainey with a sad look on her face, tugging on her hair. She pulled them towards one of the tunnels. "I guess we went that way."

Delainey pulled out a small berry and gave it to Phoebe in hopes that it would cheer her up. "It's okay, girl." she smiled. "We'll catch who did this, I promise."

[Jonahman10]

Four paths diverged in ominous darkness, and they were to take the one last traveled? Sounded eerily like a poem from an English class she used to take. Truthfully, she didn't know what their proper route was either. Before it was dark and she had her head full of selfish thoughts. Plus, these paths had not been there when she had last came here.

Luckily, Delainey's Pokemon came to the rescue. It had lived here all its life, and now it's former home was gone because she didn't wait for the police. Amelia looked away; she couldn't stand to look at the sad Misdreavus knowing its sadness was her fault. Also, when turned away the others wouldn't see the tear bead off from her eye on to her shirt. Wiping it off she turned back to see that it had motioned for them to enter the second cave on the right.

Upon further investigation, it became clear that there were scorch marks from the fire that they had incidentally started on the way in. The faint smell of sulfur still emanated from the mouth of the cave...

Why was all this happening to her? She should be happy, she had everything she ever wanted before. Her family's business was out of debt, and she was a hero in Gigarte. But yet, she was the most miserable she had been in her entire life. Did she really want it all if she could only cause pain to those who try to work with her?

This post has been edited by Jonahman10: Jan 11 2011, 04:34 PM

[deyv87]

Mack had been walking for a while, listening to the others talking behind him. He was about to offer the lead to Officer Jenny when she explained about the caves collapsing and about needing the kids to find out which direction to go. Mack stepped to the side to allow the group and recently released ghost pokemon to take the lead. He intended to take up the rear position, but Officer Jenny waved him ahead of her, so he continued walking. His eyes and head kept darting around, looking for any structural damage to the cave, and finding tons of it. Mack knew first hand about collapsing caves, and really didn't want to experience it again.

Jenny put a hand on his shoulder and whispered to Mack, "Calm down, a volunteer engineer deemed the caves safe enough. Besides, no need to scare the kids." Mack just nodded and continued following the children.

As they continued, Mack started noticing near-horizontal scratch marks along the walls, some of which ended with bits of metallic shrapnel stuck in the sulfurous walls. "So, could someone tell me a bit about the machines that were making these pokeballs? From the lateral gouges on the walls, and all these metal bits, there might not be a whole lot left of them to look at."

[Amissa]

"It looked like an automated assembly line. There were conveyor belts and robotic thingies, and a lot of noise and grime. I mean, it created enough pollution for people to smell it in the subdivisions, so it must have been pretty inefficient in here." Daniel explained for Mack as the group moved forward. He carried the typical Gigarte environmental attitude that equated pollution to inefficiency and outdated technology. "See, here's some of it."

As the group moved forward they began to come across more an more bits of shrapnel and remnants of some great mechanical endeavor. However, due to the damage caused by the bombs, it wasn't until Phoebe led the group to what appeared to be a dead end and a pile of rubble that Daniel saw anything to suggest they had reached the place where they'd battled the polluters the first time. The boy reached down and picked up the shattered leftovers of one of the dark pokeballs.

"Ew," he said, and examined the broken bits in his (fortunately, gloved) hands. It appeared that whatever substance caused the pokeballs to look so sinister was leaking out, revealing a standard pokeball underneath. Daniel took great care not to get the black substance on his clothes. It gave off a revolting smell even through the protection of the gas mask. "What the heck is this crud?" Daniel asked, holding the object far away from his face.

Officer Jenny looked at the broken pokeball curiously, and then pulled an evidence bag out of a pack on her hip and carefully collected the fragments. "I'll have the boys in the lab take a look at these," she said as she packed the evidence away. The police officer cautiously looked over the rest of the wreckage, but it appeared that the bombs the criminals set off had done their job well. So little was left of the place that it seemed like it would be impossible to learn too much about the culprits. "I was hoping that we would at least be able to find how the criminals escaped..."

Just then, something caught Officer Jenny's attention. One mechanical arm, like the one that Daniel had just described working on the assembly line, could be seen coming out of the cave ceiling. It appeared broken beyond repair, same as everything else in the area, but sparks were popping off of the broken bits. "The electricity is still running here!" Jenny announced, eyes widening in shock. "We know that they weren't leeching off the Gigarte power grid. If anyone were to notice such a large amount of energy being drained, they would log it and inspect it immediately. This means that this factory had to have had an independent energy source." Jenny rubbed her chin like a detective hot on someone's trail and began prowling around the cave again, looking for any small clue she may have missed.

"The rubble is loose here," Jenny cried suddenly after inspecting all of the walls. "Why don't you guys help me move this and we can see what's on the other side?"

"Sure. I mean, these probably aren't going to attack us, right?" Daniel said with a grin as he came over and helped to haul rocks out of the way.

Jenny gave Daniel a puzzled look, but otherwise remained focused on her task.

[Jonahman10]

The macabre cave opened up into the path they had treaded before. There was still a distinct mark in the wall where they burrowed in to escape the flames on the way in, despite the utter destruction of the rest of the cave. How powerful were the explosives if they could wreak this much damage on a cave? Did these people have enough explosives to blow all of Gigarte up? If they did, it would ultimately be her fault that thousands of people died and an entire city wiped out. A sickening feeling lingered in her stomach, that is why she felt like crap. She had been trying to avoid it, but in the end, it was her fault.

Guilt had been the tide before, but now came a tsunami. She was so stupid! How could have she been so rash and foolish, risking her life and the lives of others? How could she make it up to everyone else? Was there even way to forgive some like her? Her hands started to quiver, and her face began to sweat beads down onto the cold floor.

Soon, the remnants of machinery were visible in the light, sending chills up her spine. The sheer inefficiency of the plant astounded her. Whomever planned it was practically trying to erk the people of Gigarte. This was the perfect bait for her, it lured her curiosity and attraction to fame and fortune to consume her entire being. Surely, these people couldn't have known that this had happened...

Her thoughts were interrupted when Daniel exclaimed at the sickly liquid flowing from a shattered, but ever still ominous pokeball. Jenny put it away in a plastic bag for evidence. She then pointed out that the electricity was still functional in this part of the facility. Sparks were flying from a melted wired on a crane. Strange, you'd think that it would be utterly devastated with an explosion that twisted the shape of the cave structure itself.

Amelia giggled a little bit, relieving a little bit of pressure and clearing Amelia's mind, when Daniel mentioned being attacked by rocks. She couldn't deny that was funny, mistaking Geodudes for rocks was always amusing. She began pulling up a rock and rolling it over, reaching it's resting spot underneath the sparking crane.

Now that she though about it, compared to other sections of the cave things were generally in tact. Perhaps they had this section of the tunnels enforced for some reason. Maybe they needed protection for their factory or something. Helping Jenny figure out what was happening could help repay for what she had done...

"Isn't it weird there appears to be more in tact debris in this chamber, do you think it was structurally reinforced or something?"

This post has been edited by Jonahman10: Mar 15 2011, 05:38 PM

[Amissa]

"Oh, that's exactly what I think!" Officer Jenny answered to Amelia without even lifting her eyes from the task at hand. "They wouldn't have wanted to die in the explosions themselves. Plus, they may have hoped that they could come back and reuse this portion if they managed to cause the outside entrance to cave completely. They got out somehow, going in this direction, I bet. Aha!" Jenny gave a triumphant yell as a sheet of metal was revealed from beneath the rock rubble that they were moving.

Daniel took a moment to rest after rolling a particularly heavy rock away from the pile. "So what *pant* did you find?" Daniel wished that he could take the gas mask off for a moment. That might make it easier to breathe, or it would make it harder. Since he would rather not risk being poisoned by the noxious fumes in the cave, he would simply have to keep it on and keep still until he stopped feeling like he had run a lap or two. After a few minutes, Daniel had caught his breath, and he tried to look extra involved and cheerful so that anyone who noticed would ignore his momentary fatigue.

Daniel was so busy trying to keep up with Officer Jenny and doing his best to look like he was completely fit and healthy that he hadn't quite noticed how distressed Amelia was growing. By the time he looked over at her, she seemed positive and bold once more. This was good for him, since even though Officer Jenny was escorting them, Daniel mostly considered Amelia to be the unofficial leader. Whenever he thought of her, he imagined her charging ahead into the depths of the unknown and bravely facing off against wicked criminals.

Daniel also felt himself adjusting (a bit unwillingly) to the presence of Phoebe. Looking at her, he thought she could be described as a pretty pokemon, in a weird gothic kind of way. The fact that she had survived in such a rotten place spoke mountains about her constitution. Therefore, he decided privately to himself, that Phoebe was okay as long as she stayed far away from him.

"It's a door!" Jenny exclaimed. She was practically glowing with excitement, and anyone present could tell that she was simply born to catch bad guys. She and the others had cleared away the last of the rubble, revealing the entirety of the metal door. A computerized contraption that was probably the lock next to the door was also revealed, but it was absolutely totaled. "And this is lucky, it's cracked a bit. I think I can make it through. Come on everyone!"

There wasn't even a hint of worry in her voice as encouraged the others to follow her through the crack in the door, she was too concerned with catching the culprit to think much about leading civilians into danger. This is how Daniel preferred it. The last thing he wanted was to be sent home being told that the mission was too dangerous or that he'd done enough. He wanted to see this thing through to the end. The door was the type that slid closed sideways. Daniel had only seen doors like it in movies or in places built for a more modern style such as the Gigarte Mall that his father had designed. Officer Jenny was slender enough to carefully slide through, but it would obviously be a very tight squeeze for anyone wider. Daniel worried about getting stuck, but Officer Jenny seemed to have considered this.

"Come out, Croagunk, and please help us push this door open wider." Officer Jenny said as she pulled out a pokeball, which opened to release a small blue pokemon. Daniel immediately thought of Hercules, and his hand fell to his fighting type's pokeball. "No, Daniel," Officer Jenny held a hand up to stop him. "Remember the fumes. Pokemon like Croagunk and Misdreavus are resistant to poison. Your Machop and probably your Ninjask too, might be put in danger if you call them out in here. Luckily, I think there is an airlock beyond this door. I'll check the air once we get past it, and if it's safe, then we can probably remove our masks and let our pokemon out if we need to fight."

Meanwhile, Croagunk inspected the door. The outside handle had been blown off and the door itself was dented inward from the blast. However, the fact that the door was still standing meant that it was made of pretty tough stuff, and it was quite thick. The blue pokemon carefully tried to push the door open a bit wider and managed to move it so that it was about halfway open. "There, now you can all come in here. We should all be inside the airlock before we move forward. We'll have to close the door behind us." Officer Jenny explained.

Daniel eager followed Officer Jenny into the airlock. There, in a corner, several protective suits with gloves and masks were hanging up. Clearly, this was the place that the men went through before they entered the factory. The fact that they rushed out without putting on their suits was probably because he, Amelia, and Delainey had caught them by surprise. There were vents at the top and bottom of the room, which Daniel guessed was supposed to suck out the bad air and replace it with clean, breathable stuff. He stood with Officer Jenny and Croagunk while he waited for the others to enter the airlock as well.

[Jonahman10]

As Daniel looked over his shoulder, Amelia finally decided that the only way she could make it up to the crew was if she uncovered the villains! She thrust herself into a large boulder, shoving it away from the pile. Sweat was on everyone's face as they worked to pull away the rubble. After a while, a door was revealed.

The door was all computerized and stuff, sort of like the lift from the city to the world above. It looked pretty badly torn up, understandably so from the weight of the boulders. Luckily, the hefty Croagunk was able to slide open the door. Could have her Pokemon been this strong if she had trained them, instead of working so hard? No; she should stop getting angry at herself.

Behind the metallic door was a dank room that was clearly man made. Stepping inside, Amelia could feel the toxicity detection feature on her watch click off. Some bio-hazard suits were hung neatly on a rack in the corner. The room was rather nice compared to the rest of the cave, at one time the ceiling lights probably illuminated the room amply, but they seemed to be either broken or turned off deliberately.

The weirdest thing about the room was the vents were on the floor and the ceiling. If she recalled correctly, the ventilation system in most Gigarte went straight up to the surface. The cool surface air sank into the vents and then the warmer air rose through the vents, or something like that. This room must of had an air pressure control or something, what had Jenny said? An airlock?

"I'm not that good with physics so I'm not sure how an airlock works, but don't buildings in Gigarte usually only have vents on top?"

Perhaps the air vents had simply been well hidden...

[deyv87]

Mack absentmindedly walked through the wreckage, recognizing the remains of many machines he had used back when he had an actual career. Several of the machines were foreign to him, but he had built a few custom production machines himself, and didn't put it past these people to make what they needed themselves. He overheard the group talking about the inefficiency of the machines, and almost made a rude comment about how wrong they were before realizing they were talking about the pollution. Sure, these machines were about as healthy as sucking on a tailpipe, but Mack knew they were also dirt cheap and easy to repair because they were made of very common components.

Actually, Mack thought to himself, some of this is still salvageable. Mack stepped out of sight behind some rubble as the group started moving boulders. After a few minutes, Mack wandered back toward the airlock, having just finished packing as many mechanical and electrical tidbits as possible into his backpack. Most of the pieces had been damaged beyond use, but Mack had at least been able to restock on servos and LTDNs.

"Well," he started as he slid his backpack through the door ahead of himself, "I would imagine that one of the vents sucks the fumes out..." Mack entered the airlock and put his backpack back on. "...while the other pumps fresh air in." At this point, Mack began looking around the room for a control panel of some sort. "The biggest question... well, the second biggest question... is 'which vent is which?', depending on how the controls are situated."

Having found the control panel in the far corner, Mack slid past the others to take a look. "Ah, lucky us! Whoever designed this decided to be user friendly." He pointed to a blue button labeled 'start.' "Of course, that still leaves us with that big question... how do we make an airtight seal on that door?"

Mack paused for a moment before starting up again. "Actually, shift both of those questions down a peg... 'does the airlock actually have power?' is probably even more important. I don't know about you guys, but I don't want to be in an airtight, non-functioning airlock."

[Amissa]

"I'm not that good with physics so I'm not sure how an airlock works, but don't buildings in Gigarte usually only have vents on top?"

"Traditionally yes, but most of our buildings aren't occupying sulphur mines filled with deadly fumes. Here, a bottom vent would probably work to remove the bad air," Officer Jenny answered Amelia before turning to Mack. "I expect that the power is still working since electricity was still flowing to that piece of broken robotics we saw. So this should probably work okay, I think."

And that was all of the reassurance that Jenny gave, because once everyone was inside the airlock, Croagunk used the surviving handle on the inside of the door to force it closed as tight as it would go. Since Mack had already pressed the button for the machine to start, a lit up smiley face blinked on the panel as the toxic air was quickly sucked down the bottom vent and fresh air was pushed down from the top. The smiley face blinked again with the process was complete and the door in front of them automatically slid open.

Daniel smiled confidently. "I knew we probably wouldn't die!" Daniel eagerly followed Officer Jenny's lead as she removed her mask and stepped forward into the new corridor. He took a deep breath of the fresh air and called Hercules out of his pokeball.

"Maaachop!" Hercules cried happily, flexing his arm muscles.

"I really don't think they expected anyone to get this far. Look, they even have a little map showing the direction of the emergency exit." Officer Jenny observed. Indeed, a small map outlined in red was portrayed on the corridor wall next to a fire extinguisher.

"Yeah...kinda takes all of the work out of it..." Daniel commented as he gazed at the map over the officer's shoulder.

Hercules stood off to the side and nonchalantly did a few lunges to stay limber.

"Well, not all of the work. We may be able to see what way they got out, but we still need to find their power source. We'll want to disable it."

That made sense to Daniel. He wondered how they could be covertly powering this diabolical factory. Judging by what he'd seen so far, he would guess that they were converting the captured souls of orphaned children into electricity.

"Machop!" Hercules whined, as he come over and tugged on Daniel's shirt nervously.

"Hey buddy, what's up?" Daniel patted Hercules on the head. He was used to his machop feeling insecure particularly around strangers or crowds. However, this seemed a bit different from Hercules's usual shyness. He kept pointing down a nearby corridor. The lights along the ceiling flickered suspicously, and Daniel thought he could hear a faint noise coming from further down. "What the heck? You guys hear that?"

Daniel took a few hesitant steps in the direction of the noise. It came again, louder and clearer this time and the lights brightened to such an intensity that some bulbs simply exploded, unable to bear the charge. "It sounds like some kind of an explosion." Daniel breathed before pushing Hercules behind him and retreating a bit behind Officer Jenny.

"Come on Croagunk," Officer Jenny said, calling her blue fighting type who bravely bounded to her side. "Are you guys coming?" Officer Jenny asked the group before leading the way down the mysterious (and now much less well let) hallway.

Now Daniel really was uncertain. He'd only just barely survived the last explosion. He wasn't sure he wanted to walk in the direction of the next. "Ma-chop?" Hercules whimpered up at Daniel, his big red eyes gazing up at his trainer with the utmost trust.

"Oh. We're um, we're...we're guarding the rear. Don't worry guys! Herc and I have got your backs!" Daniel said, giving the team a wide and confident smile as he maneuvered himself and his pokemon to the back of the group. He discreetly took one more peek at the emergency exit map just in case. "Come on guys, let's not let Officer Jenny get too far ahead. Onward! For adventure! For justice! For...whatever else you guys can think of...dinner maybe."

[Aureylian]

Delainey walked slowly along the corridor of the cave. She had put on gloves before entering the cave, so she ran her hand along the few smooth surfaces of the cave wall. Her hand followed the lines of the scorch marks and she wondered what happened to the pokemon that had been living here before. She looked around, but she couldn't find one, not one single pokemon. Maybe they were hiding, or had gotten out. That's better than staying here, at least for now. Her gas mask had finally started to really bug her and she almost went to take it off.

No, Mistress, no!

Delainey looked around. Who was talking to her? I must be hearing things. She rubbed the areas of her face where the gas mas was touching. She couldn't help but want to take it off, she wasn't used to the mask yet.

No, Mistress, no! You must keep the mask on. Phoebe flew in front of Delainey's face with a worried look upon hers. You must keep the mask on, Mistress. Delainey was very confused.

Are you... inside my head?

No, Mistress. Well, kind of, Mistress. I am a ghost. I can't speak, only invade your mind. Mistress, I can talk to you through your mind. I trust you, so I shall talk to you. We ghosts are wonderful things, Mistress.

Why are you calling me Mistress?

Because you are my Mistress, Mistress. You are now in control. I trust you, Mistress. Now, keep your mask on! Phoebe floated away and made it back to the front of the group, leading the way down the long corridor. Delainey stood there for a few moments in confusion. She could not get over the fact that her pokemon had been in her head. Or am I going crazy? She shook her head and walked along with the rest of the group, thinking to herself. Was she really in my head? Am I going crazy now? I don't know.

No, Mistress, you are not going crazy.

I don't know if I'll ever get used to this.

-------------

As the group walked along the cave corridor, shrapnel was sticking out in a few odd places here and there. Some pieces were sticking out of the walls and there were many small pieces scattered on the floor. Delainey carefully picked up some of the pieces that were less sharp and handed them to Officer Jenny, who put them in evidence bags. It's a wonder what forensic labs could piece together from such little evidence. There were only a few pieces that had actually stuck into the wall, she every one she came by, she picked those out of the wall and gave them to Officer Jenny as well. "May as well start some of this clean up." Why hadn't anyone tried to clean this up after the explosion? Maybe they only cleaned up the front entrance, leaving the rest until after the investigation.

"Ew, what the heck is this crud?" Daniel had picked up one of the left over pokeballs to examine it. Delainey looked around to see if anymore were lying around, but there seemed to only be the one. There were so many here before, you'd think that there would be more laying around... wouldn't you?

"The electricity is still running here!" Delainey had zoned out for a short moment, lost in her own thoughts. "We know that they weren't leeching off the Gigarte power grid. If anyone were to notice such a large amount of energy being drained, they would log it and inspect it immediately. This means that this factory had to have had an independent energy source." She watched as Officer Jenny inspected the walls, searching for clues. Maybe they would finally find something? "The rubble is loose here, why don't you guys help me move this and we can see what's on the other side?"

"Sure. I mean, these probably aren't going to attack us, right?" Delainey laughed when Daniel mentioned the Geodudes. It wasn't likely that that would happen again, since it didn't look like any of the pokemon were still around in the cave. Where did they go...? Delainey was worried about them, but she had to remain focused on the task at hand. She lifted rocks and started to move them so that they could get passed them. It was definitely a team effort to move all of the remaining rubble. Officer Jenny made her ideas known to the group while they continued to clear away the rocks. After a while, a metal door shown through the rubble. Now that the group at reached their destination, Phoebe stayed close to Delainey. She floated around her head and pulled at her hair every now and then. You are a silly little Pokemon, Phoebe.

Officer Jenny called out her Croagunk to open the door wide enough that everyone could fit through it. Delainey slipped through the door and found herself inside of an airlock. It didn't take long for someone to figure out the controls and start up the machine. All of the fumes had been sucked out and replaced with clean air. Delainey was happy that she could finally take off that wretched, but very useful, mask. She found it to be quite irritating.

"What the heck? You guys hear that?"

Delainey could hear the faint sounds of what seemed like some kind of explosion. She stepped closer and the sounds got louder. What on earth could it be? Officer Jenny lead the way out of the airlock and towards whatever was making that noise.

"Oh. We're um, we're...we're guarding the rear. Don't worry guys! Herc and I have got your backs! Come on guys, let's not let Officer Jenny get too far ahead. Onward! For adventure! For justice! For...whatever else you guys can think of...dinner maybe." Delainey could tell that Daniel was a bit nervous. Everyone was. They had no idea what they were getting themselves into. She walked up behind him to move him along.

"Come along, Daniel. No need to be too nervous." She gave him a reassuring smile. "You want to catch who did this, don't you?" Delainey followed Officer Jenny, leaving Daniel towards the back of the group. Phoebe took it upon herself to float closely behind Daniel so that he would be motivated to move forward. Delainey knew that he was still uneasy around Phoebe, so this made her laugh a little.

It's not actual telepathy. The only reason Delainey can hear her is because she is a ghost-type. Phoebe could really do it to whomever she wanted, which is what adds to her ghost-y-ness.

This post has been edited by Ozzy: Jun 2 2011, 03:08 PM

[deyv87]

Mack stepped through the airlock and removed his gas mask, looping a strap from the mask through his belt so the mask hung at his side. As some of the others were examining the map, Mack's eyes were following an electrical conduit leading from the airlock down a corridor with flickering lights. He then joined the rest of the group and examined the map, looking for any rooms labeled "office" or "file storage" or even more helpfully "this is where we keep blueprints for those black pokeballs." He was unable to locate any of these, but at least noted where the restrooms in this place were.

The sound of exploding light bulbs redirected Mack's attention back to the corridor with flickering lights. "Woah, careful guys." Mack warned the others as they filed down the hallway, "light bulbs are designed to take a whole lot of electricity before exploding like that so... just... don't touch anything metal, okay? Just in case." Mack maneuvered his way to the front of the line with a slight grin coming across his face. He dug through his backpack, finally pulling out a pair of thick black rubber gloves which he pulled over the yellow ones Jenny had already provided the group. Mack followed the electrical conduit he had seen earlier to a door labeled "High Voltage" that was hanging open and entered the room.

Inside, the room was poorly lit, bathed in the red glow of emergency lights. Shattered glass covered the tile floor, remnants from the fluorescent lighting above. The left wall was covered with plastic shelves and a tangle of power conduits and wires. A handful of plastic kennel cages were still on the shelves, doors ajar, with wires protruding from their sides and leading into the wall behind. All along the floor in front of the shelves lay scattered cages that must have fallen from their perches during the explosion. Two industrial sized gas powered generators sat in the middle of the room, with thick wires leading up to the ceiling. Attached to the right wall was an array of gauges, one of which was emitting a wisp of smoke. In the far right corner sat a computer terminal on a desk that Mack thought must have been used to regulate power levels, or for playing sudoku. The screen was off so he really couldn't be sure. In front of the desk an office chair was toppled over, and nearby a small trash can sat on its side, crumpled pieces of paper spilling onto the floor.

Mack let out a low whistle as he walked into the room, heading for the gauges to the right first. The smoke cleared as he fanned air at the gauge with his hand. "Ok, looks safe enough for now." Mack called back to the others after taking a quick look at all the gauges. Mack wandered to the pile of cages on the floor, crouching and peering inside cage after cage. A few of the cages contained electrical leads, or broken off clamps from alligator clips, as well as soiled newspapers stuck to the bottoms of the cages. "Oh my Zapdos." Mack muttered to himself.

Frantically, Mack began picking up cages, peering inside them, and tossing them against the back wall when he saw they were empty. Halfway through the pile, he found what he was looking for. Inside a cage on the lowest shelf was a magnemite rolled on its back, alligator clips attached to its screws, its eye barely open. Mack stacked two cages one on top of the other near the generators, then opened the magnemite's cage, removed the alligator clips, and gingerly picked up the pokemon. "The poor thing must have heard us out there, then overloaded the power lines to get our attention." Mack solemnly said as he set the pokemon down on his makeshift table.

Mack patted his jacket and pants pockets, sheepishly glancing at the other people until he finally found his PokeDex in an inside jacket pocket. He made a clicking sound with his tongue as he navigated through the PokeDex and read up on magnemites. "Let's see here... blah blah blah... floats due to antigravity... attaches to power lines... feeds on electricity. That's good to know. Aha, here we go. 'This Pokemon becomes incapable of flight if its internal electricity supply is depleted.' Ok, that explains that." Mack pocketed the PokeDex and turned back to the magnemite. "Don't worry buddy, we'll get you back in the air in no time."

"Maaaaag." The pokemon let out quietly before closing its eye.

"Feel free to do whatever you guys need to do," Mack started as he looked around the room, his eyes finally settling on the two generators. "I've got fixing this guy covered." He would have loved to just hook the pokemon up to one of them and turn it on, but he had a feeling that the Officer wouldn't be too happy with creating even more pollution. Besides, Mack didn't see any gasoline sitting around, and the fuel gauges on the machines were both on empty. He sat down on a cage near the closest generator, putting his rucksack on the floor, and began studying the engine. He pulled a pokeball from his belt, releasing a makuhita in front of him, to whom Mack muttered occasionally. A bit later, he reached into his bag, and pulled out a bunch of items including several wrenches and screw drivers, a hacksaw, and all the miscellaneous parts he had scavenged from before the airlock. Mack cracked his knuckles and dove into tearing the generator apart with his pokemon.

Several minutes, quite a bit of cursing, and a trip back into the poison filled room for parts later, the engine of the generator sat a few feet away. In its place was a makeshift shamble of gears and chains attached to the generator's drive shaft. Mack had even confiscated the office chair to use as a large hand crank, after removing the back cushioning. He grabbed his hacksaw, climbed on top of the generator, and cut through the wires leading to the ceiling. After stripping away some excess plastic, he connected the exposed wires to a spare flashlight bulb from his bag, and then wrapped the wires around the magnemite's screws. Mack walked over to the now horizontal office chair, pushing against the seat back. After a moment of straining to no avail, Mack stepped away from the contraption. "Yeah, why don't you take care of this part, Buck. Just crank this bit here until I tell you to stop." The makuhita stepped up to where Mack had been, and a grinding noise began as he asserted his power into the large crank.

Slowly the gears began to turn, building up momentum and occasionally letting off a spark as gears brushed past each other. The light bulb dimly began to glow, becoming brighter as Buck turned the crank faster. The magnemite's eye opened weakly and surveyed the scene, watching as Mack patted the makuhita's back before inspecting gears and glancing back at the light bulb dangling from the wire. The magnemite began squinting as the light became brighter and brighter. Mack saw the magnemite adjusting the magnets on its sides, almost as if it were stretching. Mack turned back to the gears, making sure they didn't become loose and that nothing fell between them.

A moment later, Mack turned back to the magnemite after hearing the flashlight bulb pop and fizzle out. "Buck, stop cranking! Stop the gears!" There was a loud crack as the back of the chair Buck was turning tore off in his hands. "Oh, crap! Grab the seat or something!" Buck latched onto the edges of the seat, spinning through his hands from the momentum of the generator turbine. Mack grabbed the nearest screwdriver and jammed it between two random gears. The screwdriver spun around once, smacking Mack's hand away before getting caught and popping several gears free. The turbine began slowing down, grinding to a stop.

Mack turned back to see the magnemite hovering in front of him, its magnets spinning around back and forth happily. Cautiously, he reached out and unwrapped the dangling wires from the magnemite's screws. "Not exactly a trip to a pokemon center," Mack said, "but it seems to have done the trick." Mack froze up for a moment as the wild magnemite floated forward, nuzzling against his chest. "Aww," Mack relaxed. "How do you feel about coming with me?" He pulled an empty pokeball from his belt, and held it out to the floating pokemon. The magnemite spun its magnets in excitement, then floated forward and bumped against the pokeball. "Cool, I think I'll call you Jenny." Mack commented before scooping it into the pokeball. Mack then patted Buck on the back again before scooping him up. Mack sat back down on the cage-chair, collecting his tools and whatever parts were lying near him on the ground in his backpack. Finally, he looked back up to see what the others in his group were up to.

Genderless magnemite
Name: Jenny
Level: 13
Ability: Sturdy
Attacks: Metal Sound, Tackle, Thundershock, Supersonic
Nature: Quiet

[Aureylian]

Delainey watched as Mack took it upon himself to check for any impending danger and leading the group down the corridor. She was the first to follow his lead, followed by Amelia, Daniel, and Officer Jenny in the back, keeping an eye on everyone.

The group found their way to a poorly lit room. Most of the lighting in this room had shattered, most likely due to some sort of overpowering. Which is odd, since lights are made to withstand that sort of thing. The remnants of the lighting were all over the floor, millions of little pieces of the glass bulbs and rods.

It was easy to tell that whoever was here had left in a hurry. Pieces of everything were strewn everywhere. Shelves and boxes were in disarray. Papers scattered all over the floor. While everyone else was checking out the generators and power cords, Delainey flipped over the chair and pulled it back behind the desk. She rummaged through the desk drawers, looking for anything she could find. The open drawers were pretty much empty, except for the occasional pen or pencil or paperclip. The drawer in the middle, however, was locked. Delainey looked for a key, but could not find one anywhere. Determined to get into the mysterious drawer, she unfolded on of the paperclips to use as a makeshift key. She jiggled the paperclip inside the keyhole for a few moments before she heard the click, meaning it was open. Success!

Inside the drawer was a notebook with most of it's pages ripped out. Delainey picked up all of the crumpled papers on the floor and inside the trashcan, smoothing them out and forming piles. Since there was no real way to tell what order they went in, without looking at them thoroughly, she sorted them into separate piles. Some had math figures on them, some had illustrations, and others just had writing on them, which was next to impossible to read since they were crumpled.

Delainey had remembered that she came across a pencil in one of the drawers and pulled it out. "This should do the trick." She used the graphite of the pencil to go over the notebook, showing what was written on the page before. "Imprints."

[Amissa]

Officer Jenny bent down to inspect the cages a bit closer, using her flashlight to uncover any clues. "They were using pokemon to power this place. Not very original, but it certainly explains how they were able to keep from stealing energy off the Gigarte power grid. It looks like they had more than magnemite in here too." The police officer noted how some of the cages appeared to have been broken open while others seemed to have been released from the outside. "Interesting. These that look broken, obviously, the pokemon inside must have escaped somehow. However, these others were released. Why would they release some of the pokemon but not all of them?"

Daniel came over and looked at the same cages and ended up with a crazy idea. "What if these guys never released the pokemon themselves? What if the pokemon that broke out just freed the rest?"

Officer Jenny straightened and glared at Daniel for a moment. "That, is just ridiculous."

Daniel didn't look like he regretted his suggestion. Officer Jenny was probably right, of course, but he didn't think his idea was too far-fetched. "Hey look! There's more of those pokeballs here!" Daniel exclaimed suddenly as Officer Jenny's flashlight passed over a small collection of the evil looking balls along the wall.

"I wonder if they captured these pokemon in those pokeballs. If that's the case, then Mack, you should keep an eye on that magnemite and take note of any strange symptoms." Officer Jenny said, looking over at Mack just as he and his makuhita began recharging the magnemite that they found. "It seems like there should be more pokemon here. I mean, sure, a lot of pokemon would want to escape and head out of here, but others like magnemite and voltorb are known for their tendency to haunt abandoned warehouses and things."

"Oh, they do?" Daniel was looking at some place behind the blue haired police officer. He began walking backwards, squinting a bit to make out the shape in the dark. Hercules made a kind of growl and stepped in front of his trainer, fists up and ready to pounce. Then, in a rather quiet voice he said. "I think I may see one right now actually. Wait, maybe that's two..."

"Daniel! What the heck are you going on about?" Officer Jenny yelled. He was making her nervous, but now her croagunk had turned to look at whatever it was as well. Just then, the room was lit up by a brilliant yellow light. Daniel threw up his hands and yelled as the flash blinded him, but in front of him Hercules screamed as the jolt of electricity that struck the floor.

"MAAAGNETON!!" The pokemon roared as it levitated above their heads. The trainers in the room were protected from the electric shock as long as long as they were wearing rubber-soled shoes. Daniel's sneakers were enough to keep him from experiencing the painful shock, but the flash of light from the attack was enough to leave him stunned and completely unable to see for the moment.

"Croagunk! Are you okay?" Officer Jenny yelled. Her own boots had protected her, but her pokemon was reeling from the blow. It jerked and twitched, but seemed to have limited control over its muscle movements. "Oh no, you've been paralyzed. That must have been a thundershock attack."

"Magneton! Magneton!" The cries were coming faster and louder as more of electric pokemon surrounded the group.

"You guys want a fight, huh? Fine! Croagunk return!" Officer Jenny recalled her pokemon back to its pokeball. "Go growlithe!" In a flash of red light, her second pokemon was out. The puppy pokemon bounced about in excitement for the imminent battle.

"Herc! Herc!" Daniel yelled as he tried to stagger out of the way of the action, holding one hand up to shield his eyes. The machop was shaking off the remnants of the first blow and glowered at the first magneton. "Herc, use uh, use...Vital Throw!" At last! Here was his chance to use his new moves in battle! Hercules had been craving this kind of competition. More than that though, he was worried about Daniel. He didn't know that his trainer hadn't felt the thundershock attack, but he understood that Daniel had been in a rather delicate condition since their last adventure. These magneton were a danger to his trainer, and Hercules was ready to neutralize the threat.

"Machop!" Hercules cried out his challenge to his opponent. <<You're going to pay for that!>>

"MAG! NE! TON!" The triple magnet pokemon roared. It appeared to be gathering energy for its next attack. <<GET OUT! GET OUT! TRESPASSERS!>>

Hercules grabbed one of the empty cages and whipped it at the floating pokemon as though it were a styrofoam cup, knocking the electric type to the ground. Next, Herc ran in for the kill, running up to the magneton and hoisting it above his head. Then he spun around in a circle to build up momentum and threw it at the nearest wall where it hit with a loud CLANG! The machop grinned, even as he panted for breath. He was pleased with his work and wondered if the magneton would even be able to get up after an attack like that. He took a moment to look back at Daniel, who seemed to have made it out of the way but was blinking furiously.

"How are you doing, Herc?" Daniel yelled from off near the wall. He looked vaguely into space as he asked, not sure where his pokemon was or how the battle was going.

"Machop! Machop!" Hercules yelled back cheerfully, waving and hoping that Daniel would see. Meanwhile, the magneton was prying itself out of the wall with a sound of metal scraping against metal. The little fighting type wasn't paying attention as Magneton glared at it with its three eyes.

"Okay then, try a Low Kick attack and see if that keeps it down." Daniel instructed as his vision slowly returned. The bright flashes of electricity from the battling pokemon kept throwing him off, so that all he could make out were murky shadows in the room. Stupid chromatopsia, making it hard for me to deal with bright lights! Who'd have ever guessed that colors were so important anyway?

At that moment, another surge of electricity surrounded the magneton that Hercules was fighting as it freed itself from the wall in one great heave and landed hard against the machop's back. Hercules was knocked flat on his face as shocks of electricity coursed through his body.

"MAGNETON! MAGNETON!" <<Hahaha! You will never win!>>

However, Hercules was slowly pushing himself off the ground. He was obviously in great pain, and his muscles still twitched from the electricity. "Machop, machop!" He grunted. <<I...will always win!>> The fighting type was on his feet again and running at the magneton in fiery rage. He leapt into the air with one foot extended and nailed the steel type right in its lowest bolt, causing the magneton to spiral towards the opposite end of the room before crashing into the ground. This time, Magneton was knocked out cold. "Machop!" Hercules roared, throwing his fists in the air. <<I am invincible!>>

[Aureylian]

The imprinted writing on the paper was still difficult to read, but there were more pictures. There were only a few words that she could make out. Toxin. Poke balls. Slaves. All of this was very unsettling. Who could do something like this? Delainey continued to flip through to pages on the desk, hoping to find something that could help them. Mostly there were pictures of normal Poke balls, most likely they were trying to figure out the exact mechanics. There were sketches of them everywhere.

"What if these guys never released the pokemon themselves? What if the pokemon that broke out just freed the rest?"

"That, is just ridiculous."

"Actually, it's not all that ridiculous." Delainey remembered those scary stories that they told children to get them to behave. The older children would tell the younger ones, trying to scare them. Stories of Pokemon rebelling against their trainers and fleeing for freedom. "There is a chance that they could have broken out themselves. It these people were bold enough to keep them in those horrid cages, it's highly doubtful that they would free them themselves." Being around Officer Jenny for all this time, Delainey was starting to sound like a detective herself. She kind of liked it. Puzzles always fascinated her. This crime was just like another puzzle.

All of the sudden, a Magneton came out of nowhere. Officer Jenny and Daniel engaged in battle with the wild Pokemon, with Officer Jenny's Pokemon becoming paralyzed. Delainey had the strong urge to help, but Daniel's Machop probably wouldn't let her. He had a determined look on his face like he could never lose.

The battle raged on, but finally Hercules won. Delainey pulled the chair over to Daniel, who had been momentarily blinded by the lights. She pulled a berry out of her bag and offered it to the Machop, hoping he'd take it.

I'll add more fluff later. Yeaaaah.

[Jonahman10]

Amelia was right behind Mack, though somewhat oblivious to her surroundings and instead focused on figuring out the puzzle. If the air vents went down, where was the nasty air being stored? It couldn't just go nowhere, if there was an air pocket down below the Gigarte Biosphere being filled with volatile gas? That much combustible gas could blow the entire city up! And didn't that Demalr cave south of Gigarte open up around the same time as the disaster? Was the Grotto somehow connected to the Demalr cave?

Suddenly, all of the bulbs above her head shattered and sent shards of glass all over. Forgetting her thoughts and remembering the surroundings she saw that the place was in complete and utter disarray. Even their office wasn't this messy! Clearly whatever they were doing here was meant to be kept a secret. There were burn marks like someone had tried to destroy the evidence.

She dropped down to one of the cages. It was smaller than what the Bureau of Pokemon for Commercial Uses allowed their farm to use. It was reinforced with some sort of particularly cold metal that wasn't normally used for cages. Opening it up further she could see a sickly film on the bottom of the container. Swiping her finger across the bottom a black residue stained her hand. She took out a swab that Jenny had given them to use for evidence and collected a sample of the substance.

The BPCU also required that water and food be made directly available to Pokemon who needed to be restrained for prolonged periods of time. None of the cages had anything that vaguely resembled a feeder, and there weren't any stockpiles of food in the chamber either. Quite frankly, she would be surprised if they fed the Pokemon at all. They couldn't have been longer than a few weeks, or else they would've died of starvation.

She saw her own shadow as something lit up the room from behind her. She turned around to see Hercules fighting a Magneton way over on the over side of the room. Seeing Hercules's strength reminded her of her neglect. Her neglect did weaken her bond with Pokemon, but it did bring her out of financial ruins and more money means happier people and Pokemon. She sent out both Hope and Austin.

"Sorry for not getting you guys ready for this, but there might be some fighting pretty soon. You understand, right?"

Her hair started to stand up from a static charge and her right ear started to throb. A Magneton flew right over her head and started charging up an electric attack. This was bad; Electric type Pokemon were her weakness in the first place. Plus it was stronger than her Pokemon, she doubted she would come out well.

The Magneton fired it's stored energy with a boom. Austin easily dodged the blast, but Hope was hit square on. She smashed onto the floor as her wings stopped moving. The Magneton's Thundershock attack had paralyzed her and nearly knocked her out!

"You STUPID Magneton! How dare you PARALYZE my Combee?"

Austin made a wind with his wings then sent the Gust Attack at the Magneton. It hit straight in one of the Magneton's eyes. It cringed with minimal pain as the air slammed into it's eye. The Magneton countered with a loud Sonic Boom which echoed through the entire facility. Amelia yelped as it didn't help earache much. Austin was right back on him with another Gust attack, and followed it closely with a peck attack.

This time the Magneton wheeled back with more pain; Austin's Peck had hit it squarely in the eye. The fight was far from over though. Her watch began to go berserk when the Magneton unleashed a thunder attack which sent Austin down to the floor as well. That wasn't good, both her Pokemon were paralyzed and the Magneton could easily hit either.

"Can someone help me take down this jerkface over here! Yes, you are a Jerkface!"

This post has been edited by Jonahman10: Jun 21 2011, 09:47 AM

[Aureylian]

Just as Hercules won his battle with a Magneton, another came out of the shadows and attacked Amelia. The Pokemon let out it's stored energy in the form on a Tundershock attack. The first to be paralyzed was Amelia's Combee, the poor thing. The Magneton released a Sonic Boom that rattled everything in the room with it's shock wave. The cages rattled around them, adding to the deafening noise.

"Can someone help me take down this jerkface over here! Yes, you are a Jerkface!"

Both of Amelia's Pokemon had been paralyzed by the large Magnet Pokemon, so Delainey stepped in to help her. Daniel was still recovering from his temporary blindness, she she pushed him into the chair and pushed it away. No need in him getting hurt again. "You guys are weak to a bit of fire, aren't you?"

Delainey pulled a small red and white Pokeball out of her bag and called for Axel. Before the airlock chamber, it hadn’t been safe for the small fire-type. The last time they were there, a fire had almost destroyed the place and the group had left with many injuries. Now that they were free of the highly flammable gases, Axel could be brought out to fight. “Alright, Axel, let’s show him who’s boss.” Axel gave his trainer a confident nod and took a battle-ready position.

The outer screws on the Magneton’s body began to glow bright white. Delainey and Axel braced themselves for the first attack. The light from the screws glowed brighter and brighter until they finally merged together, forming a triangle. Each of the three bolts seemed to be emitting their own force. With great concentration, the Magneton released the triangle. The light soared through the air, at an accelerating speed, until it hit its target. The attack caused Axel himself to glow bright white while it took its full effect. Flames. Ice. Electricity. All at once. A Tri Attack. Axel, being a fire-type, absorbed the flames. The ice had temporarily frozen him, but it quickly melted away. The electricity, though, was what had a real effect on him. He tried to move, but with the current pulsing through him, it was very difficult.

“Oh, Axel. You poor thing!” Delainey’s concern had a sort of… rejuvenating effect on Axel. He shook of the small dose of paralysis and was ready to get back into the battle. “Atta boy, Axel. Quick Attack!” Axel took her order and did as he was told. Using the desk to propel himself forward, Axel charged at his foe. The attack struck the Magneton in the center of it's body, sending it backwards into the wall. The enemy Pokemon was weak, but angry. It's anger feuled it, now, and it was back in the battle in no time, yet you could see that it was losing energy. The Magneton's body glowed with a white color, which, at first, Delainey though to be another Tri Attack. "Brace yourself, Axel." The Cyndaquil was ready for an attack, but there was only a sound that came from the Magneton, the sound of scratching metal. It threw Axel off and he was disoriented for a few moments, long enough for the Magneton to use a tackle attack.

"Axel!" The Magneton was stronger than Axel and the simple tackle did a lot of damage. Both Pokemon were breathing heavily, almost ready to fall over. "Come on Axel..." Delainey was worried about him and Axel only wanted to please her. He was as loyal as a dog. Axel took a few painful steps forward and let out a small cry of pain. Delainey was about to run forawrd, but Axel's small body began to glow white. She thought that it was another of the Magneton's attacks, but the white light changed shape and size. When the glowing subsided, there was a Quilava where that had been a Cyndaquil only moments before.

"Quil, quil!"

The newly evolved Pokemon let out an Ember attack, without any command from his trainer, and won the battle. Magneton, being a steel-type, was very weak to fire and that small bit was too much for it.

Again, sorry for the shortness. I'm having a bit of writer's block

->

This post has been edited by Ozzy: Jul 7 2011, 06:01 PM

[Amissa]

Hercules was thrilled by his victory, but looked up suspiciously as Daniel's human friend approached. The human girl offered him an oran berry, and after a battle like that, he was feeling pretty hungry. He glanced at the berry, then at the human's face. He didn't know her very well, but since she got along with his trainer, he figured that she was probably okay. Hercules reached out and accepted the berry, popped it into his mouth and devoured it eagerly. "Machop," Hercules said politely. <<Thank you.>>

The oran berry restored some of Hercules's strength, making him feel more refreshed. However, the machop decided that he would still prefer to rest a minute as the other trainers continued to fight. He stepped over the debris in the room until he came next to Daniel and tugged on his trainer's shirt. Daniel rested a hand on the little fighting pokemon's head. "Ata boy!" Daniel cheered, "That's my little man! They had no idea what they were dealing with, the poor things."

Hercules leaned against Daniel happily, enjoying the attention. "These poor magneton might never have been socialized with humans. If all those cretins did was lock these pokemon up and use them for their electric energy, they may only be attacking because they're scared. It's too bad that we have to fight." Hercules only tilted his head up at Daniel, wishing that he could tell his trainer his own thoughts on the matter. The way that the magneton spoke to him, calling him a trespasser, it made Hercules think that there was something more here that they were protecting.

Meanwhile, the others were still fighting. Daniel had given up watching since the way the room shifted from dark and dim to brilliantly bright hindered his vision, but Hercules looked on. The pokemon and trainer both cringed at at the sonicboom attack that rocked the room during Amelia's battle. When the older girl called for help, Daniel stepped forward immediately. He may not be able to see well, but his pokemon were strong enough that he thought they could win. However, before he could do anything Delainey pushed him down into her chair. He felt like he should argue, if only to be a gentleman, but that would waste time. Delainey deserved a chance to fight too. If she couldn't take the magneton down, then he would intervene. Within a few minutes though, Daniel knew from the applause Hercules was giving that the girls had won their battle and won it well. "Great job, guys, but where's Jenny? Is Mack still okay?"

Officer Jenny was the only one still fighting. "That's it, Magneton! Come quietly, or I'll have to take you in by force!" Jenny yelled as she squared off with the steel type, her growlithe in front of her ready to pounce.

"MAG! NET! ON!"

"Have it your way! Growlithe, use fire fang!" The orange puppy leapt eagerly to obey its trainer, baring its fangs and coating them with fire before biting them as hard as possible into the steel. Daniel wouldn't have expected much, even if it was a fire type attack. How much damage can a bite do to a pokemon made of steel? However, as the canine released its prey, a deep bite mark could be seen and the magneton was sent reeling from the pain.

"MAG! NET! ON! MAG! NET! ON!" It cried as it spiraled and filled the room with another blast of brilliant light. Officer Jenny covered her face with her arms and braced herself as a bolt of electricity jumped from the magnet pokemon straight to her poor pooch.

"Grooooowl!" Growlithe howled from the pain of the attack. When it was over, it looked as if he'd just been through a clothes drier. All of his fur stood on end, making him look huge and fluffy. Luckily, he did not seem badly injured. Jenny had obviously trained her pokemon to a very high level, because the growlithe simply shook off the attack.

"Now, finish it off with ember!" Jenny ordered. Her growlithe responded by breathing a small jet of flames at the magneton. The triple magnets writhed in pain, but only for a moment. The three eyes shut tight, and then the pokemon sank to the ground, unconscious.

"Whew," Officer Jenny caught her breath and wiped a hand across her brow. "Is everyone okay? No one is badly hurt, are you?" She dug in one of her pockets and pulled out a berry pouch. "I have some cheri berries for your pokemon. Here, give them these if they've been paralyzed. That should keep them until you guys can get home or to a pokemon center." She offered a few red berries to the group and also called out her own croagunk. She gave her fighting type a cheri berry and smiled with pleasure as it began doing stretches and jumps to demonstrate how much better it felt.

"I really underestimated how dangerous this place can be. I really only needed you to help me find the way here. I didn't mean to keep dragging you along. I got carried away, and I'm sorry. I think it's best if I escort you all back to the exit now. Now that you've shown me how to get here, I can come back with my team of investigators and police."

"What? Wait!" Daniel stood up again, rubbing his eyes. "But we want to help find out who did this! Whoa! Delainey, did your pokemon evolve?" The teenager blinked at the quilava, which he could swear hadn't been there before.

"That's my job!" Officer Jenny said firmly, "and I can do it better with my colleagues. Trust me this time. This is a job for professionals. Follow me, and I'll lead you back to the entrance." She was practically begging them not to risk their lives (most of them for a second time) trying to play police.

[Aureylian]

Delainey watched as Officer Jenny was the last of the group to battle an enemy Pokemon. Her police officer lifestyle shone through during her battle, she was talking to the Magneton as if it were a human perpetrator. Jenny's Growlithe was very loyal to her and Delainey only wished that her Pokemon were as loyal to her. Another blast of light filled the room and Delainey had to sheild her eyes as to not do any damage. The Magneton could not take many of the Growlithe's fire attacks, so tha battle did not last long. . She's strong. A lot stronger than I am...

When the battle was over, Delainey walked over to Daniel, who was still sitting in the chair. She placed a hand gently on his shoulder, "Are you okay?" By the way he was acting, she could tell that his eyesight was very poor at the moment. The bright lights from the electric attacks seemed to have more of an effect on him than the Pokemon.

Axel had followed Delainey over to her friend and now nudged at her leg. He sniffed at her bad and started pawing at it. "Quil!" Delainey smiled and pulled a few berries out of her bag. Axel had fought a good fight and deserved some food afterwards. He chewed on the berries for a few moments, savoring them. When he was finished, Axel gave his trainer a happy smile and Delainey called him back into his Poke ball. Phoebe, who was still floating around the room, replaced Axel in the quest for berries. Delainey pulled out a few more berries for Phoebe, then called her back into her own Poke ball as well.

Officer Jenny began to coral the group once again, attempting to get them to leave. This led to many protests from all of them, but she wouldn't take no for an answer.

"I really underestimated how dangerous this place can be. I really only needed you to help me find the way here. I didn't mean to keep dragging you along. I got carried away, and I'm sorry. I think it's best if I escort you all back to the exit now. Now that you've shown me how to get here, I can come back with my team of investigators and police."

She was stern in the way that she talked to them now and the concern for their safetly was highly apparent. Delainey could no help but protest. They had almost died in this place and now she was just expected to leave? Any... Normal person would not intentionally put themselves back in harms way, but Delainey was not one of those people. She was determined to stay, but there was nothing she could do. Officer Jenny was, after all, a police officer. It was either leave quietly or be thrown in jail, and she definitely couldn't do anything if she was stuck behind bars.



This post has been edited by Ozzy: Jul 9 2011, 03:51 PM