[X] My Assistant

[Master Houndoom]

Branwys twitched as if she had been slapped. Her eyes widened, and she felt her face heat up dangerously. A mad part of her imagined herself as a cartoon character, walking up his body until he was bent over backwards, parallel to the floor, her standing on his chest and giving him a scolding on his chest.

It was a relatively small part. The rest of her was gritting her teeth hard enough that she felt they'd crack. She felt her blood rising to her head, fit to burst.

But her voice was quiet.

"The world... exploded...? The world exploded, is that it?" Her tiny fists clenched tight enough for her knuckles to turn white, and she could feel her fingernails biting into the flesh of her palm. "My world exploded, Cesc, in that ätzend forest! Did you even know?! I'm starting to wonder, because while I'm dealing with that, while Dimo is trying to get me out of my depression, I'm getting texts from you about going off to 'get some'," her voice deepened in mockery of a typical male, "'hehehe you got that bikini hahaha', and just as I'm starting to feel even a little bit like myself, just as everything looks like it might be ok again, Dimo and Oggie disappear, I've got to deal with six pokemon I don't even know and I almost got eaten by a bómánta snorlax!"

She ended, her chest heaving, feeling the hot pinprick in the back of her eyes that could only mean one thing.

"You know what? Forget it. I... I can't even be around you right now."

[Toogee]

Watching Tag leave to tend to his own business, Tikal realized that perhaps he was serious when he had asked her to keep an eye on them. When he left, she could see why, as Darius made a potent declaration about having to be heroic. This, combined with his attire made it all the more difficult for the girl to resist the urge to cover her face with her hand. She would agree to let him go on with his plan, so long as she could be the voice in his head, to steer him away from some epic failure.

"Right... well... let's get started then. What's your plan?" she asked, recalling the Pokemon she had summoned to help the group escape from the madness out on the battle arena. All but the Oshawott, which somehow reminded the girl of Darius, swinging his scalchop about as if it were a sword, in a demand to take part in the 'heroics' that the armour-clad trainer promised them.

Tikal looked down at the little Oshawott, which was quick to run over to Darius, examining his gear. Unable to hold back any longer, her hand slipped over her face.

"...Looks like you've got yourself a fan."

"My...plan?" Darius replied, as if Tikal said some foreign word. He managed to come up with how he expected things to go, but it wasn't clear whether this was an actual plan.

"Well first, we're joining the party of rescuers. Then, we're going inside the arena. Give any foes what for and rescue the hostages. The hostages, being super smart scientists, will of course have the answers to where our pokemon are. Before you know it, we're back in time for dinner. All in favor of the plan?"

Darius of course raised his hand and he could count on his new buddy Oshawott to join the party. Lyla appeared distracted, which only left Tikal to decline.

"Majority rule!" Darius exclaimed. "Come on. Let's go be good guys."

The dragon trainer dragged Lyla to the volunteer sign ups, presumably with Tikal in tow. He then proceeded to volunteer all of them into the daring rescue effort.

"Darius Dovakin and his merry band shall assist. Victory is no doubt in our grasp!"

"Uh...K," the girl replied, pointing them to the staging area where the volunteers were to be gathered. This wasn't far from where a small girl was erupting violently on (what he presumed to be) her beau and another girl. Darius decided to let them be; not even he was that brave.

This post has been edited by Toogee: Oct 19 2013, 07:03 AM

[Kamaitachi]

Ah.

Cesc's eyes widened in surprise as Branwys lay into him. He watched her explode outwards, and was briefly reminded of supernovas. Yet, at the same time, his own blood boiled dangerously past critical levels. Before he could even think through his responses, he heard himself fire back:

"You couldn't tell me that!? You spend all your time moping around, leaving me here wondering what's become of you? If at any point, I stopped being who I was, would I have lost you? If I didn't try to get you the cheer up, would you just curl up and die? What was I supposed to think, especially when you wouldn't talk to me. You look at me like all of this is my fault, but check this out:"

He angrily threw the six pokeballs he had on the floor. His temporary team of Pokemon came out, looking between Cesc and Branwys with confused looks on their eyes.

"I don't know these Pokemon either! You're not the only one who's missing her friends. This isn't just about you."

He panted heavily, tears of frustration stinging the back of his eyes. It'd certainly been a long time since he'd felt this sensation. Almost sheepishly, he recalled the makeshift team back to their pokeballs, watching Branwys for a silent, terse moment.

"Fine."

He moved over, scooping up the little Wooper at Branwys' feet, looking at the woman who appeared head-shocked and wounded "C'mon, let's find you a Doctor."

He needed something to distract himself, otherwise he'd start stewing and stewing to nobody's relief. He took Adelaide by the arm and started leading her towards one of the makeshift medical tent. Such a wild move confused even him as he started to think about it, but it happened to be the most convenient excuse for getting away from the conversation with Branwys. Funny enough, he'd also completely left Lori ditched behind without saying a word. It was getting hard, under the duress, to keep all of his thoughts straight.

"Él que tiene boca se equivoca", he muttered to himself.

[colourcodedchaos]

"It's not a doctor I need! I, I need to... do... something? Yes! I need to do something! Something positive, something I can actually do, which is mostly find out what the hell is going on and also where are my shoes?"

"They're on your feet, Doctor," sighed the Grovyle.

"Woo," added the Wooper.

"Anyway, I, I need to get back into there. We haven't got much time! Whatever this bunch of cretins running around in there want, they've got the manpower to get in and out quickly. We need to get everyone to... to... oh, dear... I had it a moment ago... why are my hands warm, strange blue thing that goes Woo?"

"Woo," confirmed the Wooper with a vacant grin and a shrug.

"Ah. Thought so."

"You can understand him?" The Conkeldurr asked.

"No, but I can make the odd educated guess. Also, I remembered how I did it. AHA! That's what I needed to remember! Justin Smart! He's part of this, he's working for Team Erection or whatever they're called, bloody stupid name if you ask me, oh, er, chaps, where did the lusty Latin lover come from?"

"I don't know," growled the Grovyle, "maybe you just wished really hard?"

"If that were true, I'd not be here now with a massive head wound and a load of talking animals. You're purple. You weren't before, I don't think. Wherefore the dye job, pray tell?"

"Ugh, we don't have time for this! Pull yourself together! You shrugged off everything that those guys in the helicopters threw at you, I think you can handle remembering something that happened all of ten frigging minutes ago!"

"<Sorry about her,>" mumbled the Conkeldurr.

"<Woo,>" replied the Wooper. He then tipped off the chair and faceplanted on Cesc's foot, bouncing off and coming to rest beside the stricken frame of Stompy Geoff.

"Ah, there we go. Magically-appearing sexy Spanish man, do you know how to pilot this thing? Or at the least, can you point a joystick at someone? You never know, you might get a few chances to practice..."

Cesc was then treated to a woman with a face so covered in scars and burns it looked as if it was in the grip of trench warfare trying to look smouldering and alluring at him. Lesser men would perhaps have run away or wet themselves. Frequently, both outcomes happened at the same time.

[Living Arrow]

Lori’s eyes bored holes into Cesc’s back as he swooshed away on an oddly smooth breeze of fiery intent with a Wooper and a weird looking woman. What did he think he was doing, leaving her like that?! He said he wouldn’t let her go and yet here she was… abandoned with his… girlfriend? After that performance, maybe not anymore.

“Awkwaaard…” Lori muttered to herself, hugging her arms around her upper arms and rubbing some heat into them. She tried averting her gaze anywhere but at the short blonde that Cesc had left behind but there was simply no avoiding her. The poor girl was more down-trodden than she had first appeared and, even to Lori’s surprise, seemed to be in a worse emotional state than her.

*Damn, Lor! This Branwys girl must have been through a lot, huh?* Suddenly her initial reaction seemed so stupid and petty. *Did she say nearly eaten by a Snorlax?!*

“Sooo…” Lori sighed, offering Branwys a weak smile. “Nearly eaten by a Snorlax… I had the same problem with a Braviary once… Guess we look good enough to eat, huh?” She looked down at herself to find her usually cute pop-dress torn and dusty, clumpy swathe of red hair spilling over her shoulders outside of her normally well-controlled pony.

“Or maybe not.” She gave a pathetic chuckle, idly considering the way in which her sister Kino always looked perfect. In fact, she wouldn’t be surprised if the once Unova Champion could walk through a hurricane unscathed.

[Master Houndoom]

Branwys' eyes narrowed during Cesc's reaming of her. Part of her recognized that others were going through the same thing, their pokemon being stolen. That had, however, not been her point! It wasn't just that her pokemon were missing, it was that they were missing after everything else that had been happening!

And now he had walked away. Like a little baby. People expected her to act like a little baby, but he should know better!

She wiped at her eyes furiously, facing the direction Cesc had walked in, scowling hard enough to braise the lower calves and knees of anyone between her and the man who was the focus of her ire, had such a feat been possible.

Then a voice sounded, behind her. She stiffened. The voice was friendly enough, but she knew, she just knew it belonged to the girl who's arm Cesc had recently been holding.

Damn it all to hell, anyway.

She turned, just as the girl had made a joke that they were good enough to eat, after mentioning her own problems with a braviary. In truth, Branwys would have laughed her tiny buns off if she had been in a better mood. Even now, the attempt, the very fact that she wasn't being a little (had had, the tiny woman called the larger one little, it is to laugh) harpy about Cesc. It made her less prone to want to rip her face off.

It was a mildly nice face.

She couldn't laugh, though. It wasn't in her at the moment. Instead, she let her shoulders drop and sighed. "I'm sorry you had to see that... I'm... we're..." She stopped. Was she making excuses for him now? Or was she making excuses for them as a couple..?

"I don't know what we even are..."

[Kamaitachi]

"The 'lusty latin lover' has ears." Cesc allowed himself a half-smile. A part of him wondered if this was his problem. He had emotions. He felt things. Deep things. But as soon as he felt a certain way, it tended to vanish. Cesc's anger burned at both ends, and vanished as quickly as it arrived. Sure, he was still seething, but his quick humour returned in a way that surprised him.

Of course, there was all the psychiatric talk about defense mechanisms and whatnot, but that didn't really matter. The bizarre woman he was moving about had talking Pokemon (which he barely seemed to register), and it was definitely distracting him from his earlier, unexpected blow-up.

He'd put it aside for now; he could always come back to the discussion with Branwys once he...they...cooled off.

"I have handled joysticks." Cesc shrugged "Never anything so...elegantly destroyed." Perhaps the lady had not witnessed the quarrel. Perhaps she had, and was an opportunist. Nevertheless, the young co-ordinator felt quite the opposite of 'lusty', 'sexy' and 'magically-appearing'. Perhaps the Electrode had done a number on this woman with the "Woo"'ing blue creature. He had an ear for innuendo, but felt no need to engage in otherwise flirtatious behaviour at the moment. He cast a glance over at Stompy Geoff, wondering where such a machination had sprung up from.

"It appears...the nurses are very busy." Cesc gently scooped the Wooper back up absently, holding it to his chest like one would a stuffed-toy. "Well, you seem okay to go. Let's..." he paused for a moment, looking back at the group. This distraction was quickly losing its distractive capabilities, despite Adelaide's best efforts. "Let's, as you say, do something positive. There are people trapped down below. Shall we go be heroes, Miss..."

He stopped, tilting his head slightly to the side, meeting her still smouldering gaze. "I'm Cesc."

Even in introduction, he'd skipped utilzing his full name, which he often employed to dazzle people; Francesco Rojas was a name that rolled off the tongue like silk into velvet pudding. He felt a bit hollow, his usual showmanship fading into himself. The poor man was not used to having strong feelings about anything really. He couldn't even remember the last time he'd fought with anyone remotely resembling a paramour.

But therein was the question: What was Branwys to him, and why was he so upset. If only, he thought to himself, half-depressed but half-amused I didn't have the emotional capability of a four year old.

Awareness, was perhaps, the first step to getting better. It was the only step he felt like taking at the moment. He had Pokemon to find, a maybe-girlfriend to console later, a red-haired trainer whom he'd left with the maybe-girlfriend, and a scarred woman attempting to glamour him with battle scars. The world had exploded in a rain of exploding sphere creatures, and his team of Pokemon companions had been replaced by new, weird Pokemon companions, and he was standing next to a mechanized battle robot that operated on joysticks.

For just a moment, the sheer absurdity of his situation rested on the top of his head. It would've crushed him had he not resolved to gently tuck it aside the way he did most things. There were things to do, and he could process thoughts later.

"Your name is...?"

* * *

Cesc and Adelaide rejoined the group after the brief and ultimately pointless detour, just as the Rescue Worker declared that the group was to set out. As per usual for all catastrophic events, a rag-tag group of trainer had banded together for a rousing event of heroics.

"E-excuse me, sir?" The Young woman rounding up the rescue team seemed quite taken aback at Douken's accusitory tone and intense eye-contact. "Of course we need everyone's help, it's an emergency." Her reaction seemed fairly reasonable to anyone watching body language: Most people did not like intense eye contact with strangers.

"Okay everyone! We've got no more time to spare, let's move out!"

She waved an arm, leading the raggedy group of trainers back towards the arena.

* * *

The path back to the main battlefield seemed much less vibrant than before. While earlier there had been crowds of people, abuzz with excitement, there was nothing but emptiness. The occasional creaking of something buckling under its own weight mixed with the rare, sad, "...trooode..." of a moaning, exploded Pokemon. Trainers looking around saw nothing but devastation, and the occasional strewn body on the floor. In the distance, a few people were helping out wounded, pulling off debris with the help of what appeared to be makeshift partners. The rescuer woman would wave them towards the Pokemon Center, calling out to them with her Megaphone.

The group ultimately reached the battlefield; the once magnificent colliseum had been torn to shreads, with several pieces of debris and detritus strewn over the once pristine fields and stands. The scent of sulfur, spilled food, burned flesh, among many other odors, filled the area with a slushy, almost hazy like smell. A thick dust cloud appeared to be hanging over the air, as if the earth itself had decided not to come back down yet. There was nothing but the air of devastation, speaking to the trainers as they entered with the absolute silence of despair.

The Rescue Worker called out into the heavy air with her megaphone, and a few more similarly dressed men and women appeared, handing the trainers ropes.

"We'll have to rappel down into the facilities through the blast holes. Try and get any survivors back here, and we'll pull them up. Please refrain from catching any Pokemon if you can help it; we have no idea where they'll end up due to the storage system being all crazy. " She instructed.

Small group at a time, the team would descend.

* * *

Sure enough, once the entire team had assembled, they appeared to be on yet another Pokemon Battlefield. This one appeared to be made with little 'volcanos' of toxic sludge. The unused "Poison" field, it would seem. The tiny man-made mountains had been ruptured, apparently, and several pools of clearly poisonous liquid had collected on the floor. Surely, even the gentlest contact would prove devastating to the touch.

"Hey...there's more than one path." Cesc said aloud. He immediately regretted it, as it was possibly the most obvious assertion he could have made. He summoned up a little of his bravado, pointing towards the three exits. "So...let's split up!"

He inwardly groaned. Why had he been the first to speak up, and why had he failed so miserably at being inspiring?

"I'm going this way." He pointed towards a path, pretty much arbitrarily. He didn't bother to explain his reasoning, or even really stay with the group. Having rejoined the group, while maintaining a safe distance from Branwys, had made him edgy and uncomfortable. The opportunity to branch off on his own seemed like the perfect vacation from his emotional duress. Even if the vacation turned out to be yet another death-trap with horrible night dwelling creatures, it still somehow seemed preferable to confronting his own feelings about stuff.

[Living Arrow]

Darryn lost track of Jill as he entered the Pokemon Center but didn’t think she would mind him disappearing on her – they were, after all, mid-crisis and they didn’t really know each other all that well. He was, however, thankful that he had been with a talented trainer when everything had gone to piece back at the colloseum.

*Are you here somewhere, Jaima? Meiko? Tuesday?* He wondered, casting his eyes over the dirt-stained faces filling the Pokemon Center. There was next to no chance of him finding a single person in that room and opening himself to the Empath space was an accident waiting to happen. A voice stole his attention amid the hubbub.

“You’ll go to help, won’t you Mister Kellor?” A pair of young female trainers hovered nearby, their question drawing the attention of others close enough to hear. Darryn looked at them blankly.

“Sorry, what?” Darryn scratched the back of his head.

“You’ll go and help with the rescue effort, won’t you?”
“Yeah, a strong trainer like you would know what to do, right?”

Darryn swallowed. Surely this couldn’t be what he was coming to? His face recogniseable within the trainer community was one thing but having such expectations thrust upon him because of it? He wasn’t some adventurous wannabe Pokemon Master – he was a Co-Ordinator! He specialised in beautiful displays and musical appeals, not diving into danger for the sake of some adrenaline rush or the glory of being a saviour!

“Uh-“

*****

Darryn kept to himself as the rescue effort drew together and was led out of the Pokemon Center and into the wreckage of the grand invitational village. The eyes from those watching him before had pushed him from the room with their intent pressure and the next step in his ridiculous saga was written by those onlookers. His legs moved of their own accord, all thought drifting from his immediate situation and and seeking answers as to what happened to his cousin, Lady and his other Pokemon. Where were they now? Were they safe? Heck, were they even alive?!

“Let’s split up!” The melodious voice of Cesc Rojas sounded over the murmurs of the collated Pokemon trainers for a moment, jerking Darryn’s head up from staring at the ground. Darryn had seen his potential rival’s name up on the lists of entries for the battles in the collosseum but hadn’t considered that he might actually meet up with him so soon since his last venture to the Boutique of Bonnies Breeding Center.

Darryn’s eyes widened at the suggestion that Cesc made. He’d only experienced bad things when he had been separated from his friends so Cesc’s suggestion only inspired hesitation in the Co-Ordinator. Split up? Into what groups?

*Who’s here, anyway?* Darrn wondered, searching through the unfamiliar faces that surrounded him. *Who’s the most experienced here? The strongest? Wasn’t Tag Lee meant to be at this event? Why isn’t Jaima?! Maybe Pan made it or- it’s him!*

Darryn’s eyes landed on Douken Sota at the far side of the group of trainers. Surely Douken would be one of the stronger trainers at the event – wouldn’t it make sense to make sure Darryn got into a group with him? At least the chance of survival would be improved around someone like that…

“Mister Kellor, would you lead a group this way, please?” The young woman rescue worker pointedly raised her voice with a worried look painting her face. Darryn balked, staring at her in shock. Surely she had meant to say someone else’s name. A number of pairs of eyes began to turn his way.

“Uh-“

[Toogee]

And so, the group of volunteers gathered beneath the underground facility. The area didn't seem to fare much better than the outdoors, with rubble, broken electronics, and a caved-in floor the highlights of the room. Everyone was climbing down with the aid of ropes that other rescue workers had set up. Darius too had joined the cavalry, helping his young charge Lyla down if and when necessary. Reaching the bottom had led the group to the poison arena, along with a path split into three portions. As everyone else began gathering down, the dragon trainer examined an ID card in the rubble. The picture depicted a girl with a bobbed black hair and green eyes along with the curious name of Marsh Mallow. Before Darius could question the wisdom of the girl's parents, he looked up to find a rescue plan being put in place

One of the volunteers, Cesc, had suggested to split the group up to cover all the paths. They would almost certainly have to if they were to find all the survivors. Each path was likely fraught with danger, specifically from angry pokemon. Needless to say, no one was jumping at the chance to lead the way. Even Cesc, who had made the suggestion in the first place, wasn't exactly convincing in his assertion. This group needed to be rallied into action. They needed motivation to become the heroes that people needed. They needed a bombastic battle cry from Darius Dovakin.

And so, Darius walked up in front of the crowd to give just that. His leather armor and cape alone would turn heads his way.

"Do you see this?!" Darius shouted to get everyone's attention. "Fate has chosen to deter us once more with these paths. Each one is filled with vicious creatures ready to tear us limb to limb. But that won't deter us, not today. When fate placed a myriad of obstacles between us and this journey, be it oceans, mountains or entire continents, did we choose to stay home? We did not. When face with a vast continent completely foreign to us, did we falter? We did not! And when the sky fell and all our friends left our side, did we sit and mourn in the streets while the call for aid went unanswered? WE DID NOT!"

Darius quickly unsheathed his sword, it's blade gleamed in the dim light of flashlights and temporary lighting around the area. He pointed his sword to the group as he continued.

"We're all being tested today. The cataclysms that have occurred would break a lesser man. And if we get to these hostages, they'll have answers to where are friends have gone. This shall be our last trial today, the last before everything is set right. By those you hold dear, I ask you step forward once more! Step forward and fight! Fight for answers! Fight for our pokemon! Fight for...MARSH MALLOW!"

Darius tossed Pandora's fake ID into the crowd and pointed his sword towards the blue path one of the paths.

"FUS ROH DAAAAAAAAAAAH"

The dragon trainer charged forward, completely negating any sort of stealthy approach. He didn't bother to look back, for he knew everyone was going to follow after a speech like that. Right? ...right?

"That is one brave fool," one of the rescue workers commented. "Seriously, someone should go make sure he doesn't do something stupid- wait, too late."

[Master Houndoom]

Her confession to the girl she'd just been jealous of was not as therapeutic as she'd hoped. Shock and awe.

They were moving. Cesc was in the crowd somewhere, but despite the nagging, Zeetha-like voice nagging her that she was being a child (and passing up a rather enticing hunk of meat, which is how she could tell it was Zeetha-esque advice), she continued staring forward. She wouldn't be the one making the first move. She hadn't done anything wrong!

Maybe he hadn't, either, came another, softer, gentler, more logical voice. Branwys growled at it internally to shut up.

Soon, the came to the split, and someone, a complete and utter idiot, based solely on the advice, suggested they split up. They were in a series of tunnels, with Nature Trio knows what down there with them, and someone wanted to split up.

They were lucky she was to short and the cavern was too echo-y for her to recognize the voice, otherwise they would get such a kick in the shin...

Then came the speech. Branwys couldn't say she wasn't moved. Not at all. She was moved to not move! But the... She sighed. He took off, and she couldn't just leave him to get eaten.

Could she?

If she'd had a nickel for every time she'd almost been eaten... she'd have ten cents, but it was weird that it had happened twice, wasn't it?

She sighed, let out the poochyena, and pointed. "Follow that sword-wielding maniac!"

[Douken Sota]

Catching the card that was tossed away, Douken couldn't help but look at it. The name was one that would point a lot of jokes, but the facial features she shown made his gut turn. He swore he felt like he was seeing Pan in the picture. However, his attention was turned away when one of the kids decided to try and throw up a speech to boost morale. It only made him look like a fool as a lot of murmuring around depicted worry about him. Still, if they were planning to move in a group, they should move in a group, not run in one at a time.

Stepping away from the crowd, Douken walked calmly to one of the pathways, but instead of heading inside, he leaned on the wall to the entrance, seeing whoever would be joining him. With the Gothita sitting on his shoulder, he heard her ask, "Master, why do we wait here? Why not head in like the others?"

Sighing, Douken replied, "One, I told you to not call me that. Two, we are better sticking as a group. I learned that while at Castle Vonmoto and Starfall Field. So whoever does plan on joining me in this route, we will go as a team, not as a reckless group of kids."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"HEEEEY!" Seican screamed, chasing after Cesc. "What's the big idea, man? Shooting off such a cool idea without any form of speech? You had to let someone do that job for you." However, giving a strum from his speakerless guitar, a very faint note rang out as he commented, "Though i don't mind. it just gives me a better chance to show off better than you!And don't think you got an advantage just because you got a girlfriend!" As if to entice him more, Seican ran off deeper into the cavern. You know, just like one of those reckless group of kids.

This post has been edited by Douken Sota: Nov 5 2013, 12:19 AM

[colourcodedchaos]

Still slightly confused about what was going on, Adelaide wheeled herself off down one of the tunnels, following the rather hypnotic movements of Cesc's hips and lying to herself quite strenuously about whether or not it was the sole reason for her picking that tunnel. The wheelchair didn't really help matters much; it had the same attitude to suspension as bulldozers had to condemned buildings, and it threatened to tip her into pools of disgusting, toxic slurry with every bump and divot in the arena. A constant stream of profanities sneaking past her lips under her breath, she eventually caught up with the others, her concussion now giving way to an absolute belter of a headache.

Conkeldurr and Growlithe had kept up, and the twitching Zangoose had actually run ahead before smearing the poisonous muck all over his face as though it was war paint, but the other three members of her impromptu team were nowhere to be found. There was a noise like distant thunder, though, so she could sort of hazard a guess. She didn't want to believe they could pilot Stompy Geoff, because that made her feel even more redundant that normal, but she had to press on. This was the only chance she had of getting her team-mates back, and her eye was still charging so she couldn't hack into the systems properly and fix what Team Deception (for who else could mount an operation on that scale?) had buggered up. She had to rely on determination, cunning, and the technology of this world to carry the day.

She was therefore rather sanguine about her chances.

The quartet caught up with Cesc properly, who had been bounding ahead with gay abandon, but before she could strike up another conversation more full of incompetent innuendo than a Frankie Howerd marathon, she felt her cybereye buzz with an incoming comms transmission. She tapped the side of her head and spoke.

"I'm here. Where the hell are you guys?"

"Er, well, we've got a bit of a problem," said the Grovyle, "but we're going to be arriving shortly."

"Then I don't see what the problem is."

"Actually, um... that pretty much is the problem."

The thunder was getting louder now. Much louder.

"Ah."

"And, um, we're not stopping once we get to you."

"What? Why not?"

"Well, mostly because we can't."

"Oh, just use the brakes! Honestly, the controls for that thing are really intuitive, you'll find them easily enough-"

"Er, I'm not driving."

"Well, put the driver onto the call, then!" The thunderous noise was growing louder by the minute, echoing off the walls of the tunnel.

"Er, okay, but this is the actual crux of the issue..."

"Doesn't matter. Driver! Whoever you are, you need to use the brakes-"

"Woo," said the Wooper from the driver's seat.

"EVERYBODY GET UP AGAINST THE WALL NOW!"

[rt117]

Upong seeing her strange sword weilding companion shout something, she watched with surprise as he suddenly charged down one of the paths, not bothering to turn and look if anyone was even following him. She blinked, trying to register the moment in her head, before letting out a heavy sigh. Apparently the job of 'looking after him' would be trickier than she had thought. Especially with his seeming lack of the ability to think things through.

"Damnit Darius... you're gonna get yourself hurt." the girl sighed, slapping her palm onto her face for a few seconds, before lowering her hand to see that the Oshawott that had joined up with her since the mix-up began had taken to trying to follow behind the sword-wielding man, still struck with awe at his new idol as the small Water Pokemon waved his scalchop about.

"Darius, get back here! You're going to get yourself lost if we split up!" she called down toward him, before the roar of what sounded like thunder began to echo all around the group. This, followed by someone shouting to get up against the wall, caused the girl to sprint forward down the pathway that her companion had decided to take, rather than the more sensible solution of staying behind and devising a plan with the rest of these strangers.

"I swear... you're going to owe me later." she thought to herself, looking ahead to see that Darius was not the only one to dash off down the pathway, spotting a girl with a Poochyena. With the intent of not getting left behind, she moved quickly, scooping up the smaller Oshawott, before picking up her pace.

[Toogee]

((The following takes place in the aftermath of the Team Blue thread))

After regaining their pokemon, Darius led Lyla, Brawnys, and the others back to the surface. They found themselves back in the arena, the setting sun pelting their faces with the last glimmers of sunlight. There were no crowds waiting for them: the arena had been evacuated. They could however hear intense cheering coming from the town: they weren't the only ones to get their pokemon back.

As much as he wanted to cheer and shout, Darius couldn't exactly call the outcome a victory. The perpetrators were gone, Suicune was captured, and no one had any idea what this organization was planning next. And then there was the fact that they were the only people in this arena. The dragon trainer was wondering what became of the other teams.

"Hey, anyone think the others are already in town?" Darius asked Lyla and Brawnys. "Maybe they're waiting for us to share stories and spirits in the local tavern. I could certainly use a drink after all of this..."

[Kamaitachi]

Tag, Jill, Darryn, and Nate had emerged from the tunnels, and were now headed back towards the main group at the Emergency Response Tent. Still holding Suzu, Tag seemed a bit oblivious to the other three in his group, mostly focused on the fact that his pokemon had been returned to him. The Ledian in his arms also hugged tightly, not letting go of her beloved, intimidating faced trainer. Her face was buried in his chest, and between the occasional shudder of her carapace, and the moisture on his chest, Tag figured that the large ladybug was crying in his chest, but didn't want anyone else to see.

As he approached the tent, he saw a few familiar faces in Lyla and Darius. Not sure if he wanted to greet them or just spend some time alone he simply hovered nearby, just holding his Pokemon to his chest. He figured that Darryn would run off to meet Lyla, and Nate would probably disappear into the crowd. Jill was, if her earlier reaction to losing her Pokemon was any indication, was probably in just as much of a stupor as he was.

Yet, as he stood there, watching other trainers make their happy reunions, he noticed two men in lab coats approach him.

"Mr. Lee...we're from the Daioh Research Foundation."

"Uh huh." Tag said stoically, staring at the two men blankly.

"Well, while we were trying to get the Pokemon swapped back, we noticed you handling your Pokemon, and...well...two of the Pokemon you were with seem to have taken quite the shine to you."

"Oh?"

"Togekiss and Pichu immediately escaped from their pokeballs to look for you. We figured it was you, because well...we saw..." The other man abruptly raised his hand.

"As a compromise, we're offering you their company for your journey. They took a real shine to you, and perhaps this will be a means to keep mum on what you saw in those tunnels. We, in turn, will hold silence until such a time is right." He stroked his bare face as if he had a chin for a moment, sizing Tag up. "They do not know we were watching, but for our assured safety, we offer you these Pokemon."

"They're not bargaining chips. You could've just asked me." The corners of Tag's mouth curled down.

"Yes, but we wanted a show of good-will. We're not your enemies, Mr. Lee."

"Even if we're kinda acting like them." The other shrugged. "Just...know that we're on your side."

Reaching out, they each offered him a pokeball, both of them looked like standard Pokeballs, except that instead of the white bottom, they were black.

As Tag accepted them, he wasn't sure whether to be annoyed or grateful, yet all the same, he felt pleased to have welcomed two new allies. He wasn't someone that people actively sought out for...well...good things, so he really wasn't sure how to feel at all.

As he accepted the two, one of the scientists attached a device to the Pokeballs via a cable and a suction cup. After a little odd blooping, remiscent of R2D2, the pokeballs disappeared.

"They have been registered to your trainer ID, as if you were the one who caught them. Please take good care of them Mr. Lee. I'm sure you'll hear from us one day."

"Your names."

"Roth." The older man who had stroked his non-existent beard smiled, nodding at him.

"Heath." The other, younger man smiled, extending his hand for a shake.

"Taggarty Lee. I don't look forward to our correspondence...but I understand the necessity of it. We'll be in touch."

Tag captured and

[Toogee]

Darius caught sight of one of the other teams, in particular Taggarty Lee. As he walked to Tag, the dragon trainer noticed Tag talking to two strangers and receiving two pokemon. These two were not dragons however. Darius had heard rumors that the “Bane of Blackthorn” had reformed, but to give up on dragon pokemon entirely? That was the one thing Darius wanted to know. He probably should have asked about the captured Suicune or the mysterious criminal organization. Yet he had to ask this one thing to his idol.

“You were the greatest of our guild,” Darius said to Tag. “You’ve started anew, yet you have no dragons to your name. Why not dragon pokemon?”

[Kamaitachi]

Still staring vacantly at his hand from where the two new Pokemon on his team had just vanished, it took Tag a second to register that Darius had approached him. The young man, armor-clad in the proud tradition of ancient Blackthorn, asked about the Dragons.

"You'd put me above even above the likes Lance?" a frown slowly crept across Tag's already rather stern features as he met eyes with the armored man. "Greatest in our guild." He repeated slowly; Taggarty Lee couldn't help but think it some perverse joke, even despite the fairly obvious good intent. Darius didn't seem like one for subtlety, or backhanded compliments.

"If I'm anything, I'm the greatest failure Blackthorn has ever seen. Failed the test of the Dragon Master. Became nothing more than a base murderer. An exile. The 'Bane of Blackthorn', right?" His hands clutched tightly into fists as his shoulders began to tremble slightly. He swayed ever so slightly from one side to another, as if dizzy. The day had been an emotionally devastating one already, and now Darius was bringing up the failures of his past once again.

"If you know my story," His voice rasped slightly through his tightly clenched teeth, "then you know why I'll never be worthy of Dragons ever again."

He reached up, pulling the chain around his neck, showing the remains of what had once been his proud dragon talisman. It was nothing more than a little, indistinguishable stump along an otherwise plain silver chain. It had been just that since he left Blackthorn for the last time. For a moment it seemed as if tears were going to burst from the hardened man's eyes as they continued to meet Darius' younger, more earnest ones. Then, as he lowered the chain almost reverently back to his chest, he deflated. The tension seeped from his body until he stood before Darius, looking tired, haggard, and defeated. He let out a low, almost mournful sounding sigh as he finally broke eye contact with the young Dragon Trainer.

"My legend is over. I'm just a cautionary tale now."

[Living Arrow]

“Lyla.” Darryn spared a quick glance for Tag and Jill before leaving them to join his cousin. Whatever had transpired between himself and the older trainers, Darryn still did not consider either of them to be his friends – how could he? Thanks to them he’d literally been put through a life-or-death situation and their circumstances still had not changed; there’d be no way to know if he was safe anymore and that only meant anyone he was close to could easily be put in harm’s way.

For a brief moment he considered going back to lay his hands on both of them just once before leaving. Maybe he could sew seeds of fear so deep that neither could stand to be around him, or maybe to tie ribbons of love upon their hearts so that they would protect him to their final breaths…

*No way, Daz. Just leave it.* He chastised himself coolly. *Just get out of here.*

“Darryn!” Lyla cried when she spotted him, waving frantically for him to join her and the tiny Branwys. He trotted to them quickly, wrapping his arms around his cousin tightly. She didn’t look injured so much as messed up – her hair was in disarray and her clothes were utterly ruined – but she felt absolutely destroyed.

“Ly,” Darryn held her at arm’s length to look into her eyes with concern, “are you alright?”

Her eyes shimmered with tears but Lyla Moore managed, for once, to hold them back. She sniffed deeply and wrapped an arm around Branwys’s narrow shoulders. “W-we’re OK… Right, Branwys?”

The smaller girl barely gave a response. Her eyes were focusing on something in the near distance, the traumas of whatever they had been through catching up with her like a Tauros catching up with a matador’s red cape. Darryn reached out to smooth the girl’s fringe back from her face, his fingers brushing her forehead. His eyes came up to Lyla’s quickly.

<She is most certainly not OK, Ly!> He gasped between their minds. Lyla outwardly flinched.

<Oh, so we’re doing this again, are we?> Lyla muttered back. <A little warning next time, please!>

<Seriously, this girl needs help.> Darryn frowned. <I mean I could…>

<No.> Lyla supplemented quickly. <No mind control!>

<It’s not mind control – it would just help her emotions settle.> Darryn rolled his eyes. <Nothing bad would happen.>

<Look, Daz.> Lyla took her cousin’s hand and squeezed it silently. <We’ve been through, like, a lot and it’s changed us but we need these things to make us stronger. Branwys might be stressed now but I’m sure she’ll deal with it later – these things, like, make us who we are, y’know?>

Darryn exhaled slowly. <When did you get so philosophical, anyway?>

<Who says I haven’t always been?> Lyla replied, sticking out her tongue cheekily. Darryn smiled. Trust his cousin to see the silver lining in every cloud.

“C’mon,” Darryn roused Branwys enough to get her attention from the nothingness that she stared into, “let’s get cleaned up and get out of here.”

[Toogee]

Darius always thought the tale of Taggarty Lee was one of rebirth after a dark past. Darius thought he would see a new dragon trainer, one that worked to reclaim his title with newfound wisdom from his exile. Indeed, he thought he saw this in Tag earlier when they were escaping underground.

That was not what Darius was seeing now. What he saw caused him to pause, unable to immediately respond to the story. Tag’s past left him broken, unable to join with the creatures of his birthright. And yet, despite all of that, Tag was here. He did not give up on training. In fact, stories said he was halfway through Furoh’s league. Tag could have lived the rest of his life as a hermit in some vacant land. Yet here he was, still pursuing the title of greatest trainer. It was a different team than Darius expected, but the outcome was the same. Surely there was something to learn from all of this.

After a brief silence, Darius shared his own story.

“Out of all the lands I could have trained in, I chose this one. Not just because it was unexplored or because it was home to strong opponents. I chose it because you were here. I came all this way to learn your greatest skills. I wanted to see how you fought your opponents, how you led people out of dire situations. Most of all, I wanted to learn your greatest skill: rebirth. I wanted to know how you rose from the ashes after everything that happened and continued your journey a new man. I did not hear a cautionary tale of a broken man but the next chapter of a legend still being written. Tell me I didn’t come all this way for nothing.”

[Kamaitachi]

Branwys barely heard Lyla's question. It only seemed vaguely directed at her anyways. The onslaught of thoughts rushing around her already cramped mind seemingly kept all external stimulus at bay for the time being.

She responded with the tiniest of nods.

A hand brushed a fringe of hair away from her face, and she looked blankly up at the handsome face of Darryn for a moment, barely registering that he had touched her. Barely recognizing any presence other than the comforting familiarity of Lyla.

And even then, she wished it was Agatha's. Or Zola's. Or Zeetha's. or Theo's.

As she pictured the faces of her siblings, all in order, she came to the sad realization that Zola had been right all along. She needed to go home for now. Recuperate. Whether she ventured out into the world again...well...she could decide that after she got her footing back. If that ever happened.

"Yeah." She said weakly as Darryn caught her attention. "Let's get out of here." Her voice still just a touch robotic, she followed after the cousins.

"I need to find Cesc."

* * *

Tag looked intently at Darius as the man spoke. For a man who had proven to be a bit of a Leroy Jenkins lout and an oaf, he showed surprising depth and eloquence. Even if it sounded at first like thoughtless flattery, Tag felt himself empowered by the sincerity behind them.

"Rebirth isn't a 'skill', Darius." Tag sighed, "It's just something that survivors do. It also means that the Tag you followed here had to die in order to become me. And I'm still nothing. Can't even save..." He paused, as he nearly let slip the name "Entei". Not knowing that Darius had encountered Suicune down another path.

"Thank you for your kind words. You didn't come all this way for nothing; you came here to surpass me. With a heart like yours, you'll be a better Dragon Master than I could ever have dreamed of being."

After a slight pause, a slow smile crept back onto the older man's tattooed face.

"But, of course, you'll have to defeat me one day. So train hard. Battle fiercely. Live proudly."

Slowly, he lifted the remnant of the Dragon Talisman once more. "I heard your battle cry. Fus Ro Dah? 'Force, Balance, Push'? I hadn't heard that in years. Brought back memories."

Tag straightened his back, standing as regally as he could in front of the taller Darius.

"I impart to you the battle cry of Clan Lee: 'Su Grah Dun'. Do not ever forget the power of words, like I once did."