[X] My Assistant

[Yzarc Drowsnam]

While Norbury's Ember attack landed cleanly onto Vinyl, whose lack of speed made it impossible to dodge, the damage wasn't completely devastating. Vinyl's attack, however, was. Sleep Powder only required a bit of luck, since it was a slow moving spell, but the Magby seemed too occupied in landing its own attack to dodge the Bellsprout's. It took a moment for it to realize what was happening, but finally conked out.

The thief took a moment as well to even notice his Magby had fallen. Rightfully so, he was more focused on the battle which seemed to be going against him. He didn't expect the switch to Meowth and was adjusting Lemon's strategy accordingly. When he turned his head to see Norbury asleep on the ground, he sighed. Jill, rather than having Vinyl waste the precious moments of advantage on weak attacks, had him use Synthesis in an effort to regain the life he had lost from the Ember.

While the thief called back Norbury to continue the battle, he had Lemon use Thundershock again on the Meowth. It wasn't the strongest move, but coupled with the static electricity which made it difficult to use physical attacks against it as well as the Meowth's lower level, he was confident he could win at least that fight. He was also sure he could take down the Bellsprout, since he had another super effective pokemon against grass.

"It's your turn, Palin," he tossed out his pokeball, revealing a little Smoochum. "Use Powder Snow on that Bellsprout. Dodge if it uses Sleep Powder again." It was certainly a tactical decision. Powder Snow chilled the air around its target, making it difficult to move. The loss of agility would make it difficult for Vinyl to land his most devastating attack. Moreover, Ice would deal a lot of damage. Unless, of course...

"Come on back, babe," Jill said, recalling Vinyl into its pokeball and sending out Pele, her Ponyta, in his place. Though she was hit by the Powder snow, her speed was so high, the drop had little effect, and her fiery body reduced the damage from the snow. Jill's eyes remained on the battle as a whole, however, and she did notice that, while Kirby's Meowth was tenacious, it simply wasn't dealing enough damage and was taking a lot in return. The thief's pokemon had some training, apparently, and if they planned on winning, they'd need to use the advantage of having two tactical minds against his one, though it was clear he wasn't dumb.

"Pele, use Flame Wheel on the Elekid," she said, calmly. Pele charged straight through the Powder Snow as its feet and body began bulging with flame. Soon, an orb of fire surrounded her as she charged head on into Lemon.

[Umbrae Calamitas]

Jill, Lysander noted, seemed to have things well enough in hand. Briefly, he lamented the fact that, once again, Garm was taking his duty as guardian as being superior to his ability to battle as a pokemon - especially considering their opponent was a criminal. Of course, Garm hadn't agreed from the beginning with him chasing after the thief, but that was just too bad.

The thunderbolt from the elekid hadn't done an incredible amount of damage to Mafdet, but the static effect hd stiffened the meowth's movements. Not that she, stubborn as she was, would allow that to stop her battle or to give any indication that it bothered her beyond what she couldn't control. Foolish, stubborn, vain felines.

Mafdet was crouched low to the ground, her tail whipping back and forth in a ferocious, steady tandem, as her paws carried her in a tense, slow circle around the elekid. Her eyes were narrowed, but Lysander could see the mossy-green irises gleaming, the gears in her head working as she planned and plotted, as cats are wont to do. She was not the type to listen to him without question in a battle; oftentimes, more often than not, in fact, she went her own way.

Considering how well it had gotten her along this far, he was disinclined to argue her way.

The growl that she released from low in her throat caused the elekid to stiffen in surprise and perhaps a little fear - the sound, more than the status attack itself, being a discouraging vibration.

And in the next second, the meowth was moving.

There were other feline species more agile that she; a mere kitten, she was not nearly as lithe as her evolved form would be, or the other cat species in the world. Still, one would never say that she was clumsy, and she moved across the ground like a fish swaying through water - an utter certainty in her movements that she belonged here. And she was on the elekid, then, with claws zinging from their sheaths in her paws to decorate the yellow pokemon's face in crimson scratches, her gleaming fangs bared as she growled.

Her large ears, clumsily-oversized for her round head, twitched at the barest of sounds, and Mafdet leapt. Her forepaws pinned the elekid in the center of its head, balancing her form, as her hindlegs came down, slamming with graceful force upon the golden pokemon's skull and propelling her forward and upward in a leap that cleared the charging form of the ponyta. With a sharp "raow!", the meowth hit the ground behind the ponyta, paws twisting in the dirt to keep her balance. Growling low in her throat, she kneaded her claws in the earth, and then turned mossy green eyes onto the smoochum.

Crouching low, Mafdet slinked her way closer to the smoochum, green eyes gleaming as her tail whipped back and forth.

She lunged.

[Yzarc Drowsnam]

As Mafdet's agile attack neared its completion, her target, Palin, disappeared, causing the Meowth to miss entirely. Jill's arms remained crossed as she eyed the opposing trainer, who seemed to be somewhat shamed. "Fine," he said. "You got me."

It was a respectable decision. Often, people look down upon giving up, but in doing so, he saved Palin as well as Norbury (who was still asleep) from meeting the same fate Lemon met - A painful knockout. Jill refused to show respect for the man, however. She looked over to Kirby and nodded, keeping her arms crossed as she took two steps forward. "You stole a pokemon from a woman a few minutes ago. We want it back. That's all."

"A few minutes ago?" he asked. "That was like, half an hour ago."

"Oh okay," Jill nodded, "That changes everything. We'll be off now."

"No, you don't-" He sighed. "That's not what I- Look. I don't have it anymore. I already handed it off."

It was certainly convenient. Jill and Kirby were clearly not the torturing type, so what would they do to make sure he was telling the truth? There really wasn't anything aside from being very perceptive, and even professional lie detectors aren't 100% accurate. At this point, they had a decision to make. They could either believe him and try to find out to whom he handed it off, or they could just walk away. The man likely had some level of loyalty to the recipient, or at least they knew each other. You don't just randomly sell a stolen pokemon to a passerby. It was planned.

Truthfully, walking away sounded like a good option at the time. Jill's lunch hour was nearly up and she did have a meeting she needed to go to. Mostly, though, she just wanted to finish what she started. It would have been much easier to walk away at the beginning. Here, she was already committed. She turned her head to see Kirby's response.

[Umbrae Calamitas]

Lysander was smiling cheerfully at the thief as he spoke. "Are you going to tell us where this person is whom you handed your prize off to, or am I going to run you over with my wheelchair until your mouth starts working?"

Garm chuffed, rolling his eyes. He was perfectly well aware that not only was the wheelchair incapable of running over anything taller than someone's foot, but also that his charge was not the type of person to make a habit of trying to run people over, or holding true to threats made to scare people. Not that he made many, but this circumstance was special. And annoying.

The thief, rather than immediately divulge the information, sneered. "I'm not scared of a cripple."

Garm rumbled a low growl in the back of his throat, but remained seated firmly. Lysander, however, grinned wider.

"See, and that makes you stupid." He leaned back easily in his chair, crossing his eyes and appearing completely content with the situation. "We've already proven that we can beat you in a fair battle."

"Fair? It was a handicapped battle."

Lysander gave his wheelchair and extravagant wave. "Two pokemon on two pokemon is fair. Not being able to move your legs? That's not fair. Wanna try things my way? A growlithe's teeth can do wonders, and Garm can run faster than you."

The thief jerked a thumb at Lysander. "You've been relying on a cripple for helping in chasing a thief? How do you expect to catch the guy whose selling this pokemon for a high price with his losing you time?"

"Shouldn't you be more concerned about telling us what we want to know, so you have time to run from the cops?"

"What cops?" the thief asked, sneering.

Lysander merely smiled when the sound of sirens began to throb in the distance.

[Yzarc Drowsnam]

Jill turned her head as the sounds of sirens got closer, to get a better read on the direction. She looked up to see that the man was somewhat nervous, as cops tend to make criminals, but in truth, there was no way the police had any hard evidence on him. Actually, as she thought a little more into it, there was no reason for them to suspect him of the theft. The police weren't here for him. They were there for Jill and Lysander. It was they who invaded this man's home and instigated a pokemon battle. They were the only ones clearly breaking the law here.

But maybe this man didn't think things through like she did. "So let 'em come. They got nothin' on me, and I ain't sayin' shit to you."

They didn't have time for this. "I don't have time for this. Pele, use Ember on him."

"Whoa, wait, what?" He began backing up as Pele shot small bursts of flame at the man. He had to dodge the embers, which began dancing around at his feet.

"I'm not with the police," she said. "I don't have to follow their rules. Tell me where the pokemon is, or I will blow you up." The look on Jill's face was as fiery as Pele's mane became. She hadn't thought her plan through all the way truth be told. She was entirely unprepared to injure this man, but her threatening gaze was damn near perfect.

"Three," she said as Pele shot more embers. "Two."

"Fine!" The thief shouted. "Jesus, lady!"

"You haven't given me sufficient reason to not say 'one' yet."

"Go left on this street," he said, pointing to the direction from which Jill and Kirby came. "Go until you hit the highway, take a right. That's a busy road, and you need to take that pretty far, to the central part of town. Take a left at Vulpix Lane and all the way at the end of that road is a big house with two vacant lots next to it. That's where they're taking the pokemon. If you get there after they do, though, you're not gettin' it back. Just sayin', they got lots of protection."

It was very specific and so Jill was inclined to believe him. Either way, they couldn't stick around for any more time. "Don't follow us."

She looked at Kirby and moved her head towards the direction of the street. "Let's go." They had to be off the property before the police arrived.

[Umbrae Calamitas]

Lysander rolled his wheelchair after Jill, allowing her to take the lead. She was clearly unhappy with the way things were going presently - her actions spoke volumes in that regard. And her actions were precisely the reason that Garm was walking between Lysander and Jill, his muscles tense and hackles raised.

Battling a pokemon against another pokemon was, to the rare person in this world, a cruel and despicable action. To most people, pokemon were to be caught, and then became companions, friends, battle partners, or even co-workers in some fields. Although the man they had left to flee the police was a thief, their pokemon battling his was normal.

A pokemon attacking a human, however, was wrong.

Like any wild creature, a pokemon in its natural habitat will often rebel against those who force their presence upon it, or attempt to attack or capture it. It is natural for a wild pokemon to fight back when one attempts to force it to do something that it does not agree with. That is why those going out to capture a pokemon always have another pokemon readily with them - to do battle with the potential capture, to protect the human from harm.

Ordering a pokemon to attack another human was an action done more often done by criminals that some random office worker off the street. The people that they were going to confront now might very well sick their pokemon on either of the humans coming to stop their thievery, but Lysander had not expected that the girl he had offered to help would do such a thing.

He didn't like it.

He didn't like it at all, and it brought to his mind questions about what she did, exactly. She'd told him that she was on her lunch break, and considering it was around lunch time, he didn't have any reason to disbelieve her. He wondered now, however, what she did for a living that had her so capable of sending a pokemon after another human without a glimpse of hesitation. Lysander could make threats all he wanted like the one he had said about Garm, but that didn't mean that he would go through with them. Jill had told Pele to use an ember attack on the thief, and the pokemon had without question. That bothered Lysander a great deal.

He wasn't going to say anything, though. He wasn't going to mention that he disagreed with it, or that he thought it was wrong, or question her about what she did for a living that made attacking another human being so easy. It was more than the possibility that she could turn her pokemon's attentions upon him. He didn't want to give any hint that if she dared to try that again, or dared to command something worse, his wheelchair rolled both ways. Lysander didn't like thieves, no, but he also didn't like bullies, and while he wouldn't send his pokemon after a human, he could send them after another pokemon.

So Lysander kept silent about her willingness to attack someone, and kept his cheerful smile on his face as he glanced up at a street sign. "Vulpix Lane. Left now, is it?" he asked, as he turned his chair in that direction and began rolling down the long street, wondering what he would really find at the end.

[Yzarc Drowsnam]

As they walked, Jill kept her eyes out for anything suspicious. They weren't quite sure what to look for. In hindsight, she should have told the thief to mention something along those lines, but the impending threat of arrest may have hindered her judgment.

To make matters somewhat worse, Vulpix Lane seemed to be one of the likely many entrances into the bad part of town. This is, of course, a superficial judgment which she made. It was certainly and doubtlessly, however, one of the poorer parts of the city. Poverty leads to crime, which meant that there could very well be many people in this area committing crimes, or at least who looked like they were. Simply seeing someone suspicious didn't necessarily mean that was the person for whom they were looking. The thief did mention that there was more than one person, though.

They were also not in the best situation themselves, a woman in a business suit and a boy in a wheelchair, both very clean looking. Jill had never been mugged before, but she wasn't dumb. They were basically asking for it. Luckily, they both seemed to be at least fairly competent pokemon battlers.

They did walk by quite a few groups of people, none of whom really seemed to be rushing in the same direction. Everyone, however, gave a suspicious glance at the two out of place people. Jill, nervous, kept her right hand on Pele's pokeball within her purse and just kept moving quickly, not making eye contact with anyone.

They were making it through just fine, regardless of Jill's somewhat ignorant suspicions and at a fairly substantial pace as well. The street was fairly long and winding, but there was no question that they remained on Vulpix Lane. As they turned one rather steep curve, they saw two men walking away from them, in the direction they were both already walking. Jill stopped for a moment if only to take a deep breath. If the thief hadn't misled them, these two looked to be the culprits. They were the only people walking with as much purpose as Kirby and Jill, and in the same direction as well.

She didn't say anything to Kirby, but simply assumed he understood the situation as she pulled out Pele's pokeball. She'd spent too much time walking and was already late for her next meeting, but she figured Erica and Matt would cover for her. Still, she needed to hurry and wondered whether Kirby had the fortitude to do what may have been necessary to get the pokemon back from these men, who were likely more heavily invested in the organization and less likely to just give in.

Rather than speaking, she summoned Pele, who whinnied loudly upon being let loose, immediately grabbing the attention of the men in front of them. As they turned around, it was clear they were surprised to see what they did - Kirby, Jill, Pele and Garm.

During their moment of confusion, Jill didn't wait for either them or Kirby to make a move. "Flame Wheel," she said with some certainty. Her confidence was perceived by the Ponyta, who began to quickly charge the duo in front of her, her fiery mane growing brighter and hotter. The gangsters, fortunately, had time to react to the attack since there was some distance between them. They communicated something to each other as one summoned a Shellder in front of him.

Pele slammed into the Water pokemon, who hid behind its hard shell and took a remarkably minimal amount of damage. The Ponyta took a few steps back and turned her head to see what Jill's next command would be. "Can I help you?" the Shellder's trainer asked, running his hand through his thick brown hair. "Seems like a mean way of saying hi, wouldn't you say?"

The thought had occurred to her, once the command was made, that these two were not the men involved in the stolen pokemon trade. It had occurred to her that she just commanded an attack on two innocent men, who may or may not have even had pokemon to defend themselves. Their quick thinking a battle competency made her reevaluate those considerations. These were their guys.

"I'm looking for a stolen pokemon," Jill said.

"This?" the trainer asked, holding up a pokeball from his small nylon backpack. "How do you know it's stolen?"

"Cut the shit," Jill said as she caught up to Pele and was now closer to the men. "I don't have time for it."

"Look," he began. "Lady. You and your, uh, friend, here," he gave an odd glance to Kirby, "Aren't gonna get this thing back. And if you attack me again, I'll steal your Ponyta too. And fuck it, I'll steal your boy's wheelchair. I don't give a fuck, but guess what? I'm allowed to not give a fuck because I don't lose fights. So see what happens. You fight me, my buddy will fight the cripple. We'll make an event out of it. But when we win, I'm takin' what's mine."

[Umbrae Calamitas]

Lysander didn't care for Jill's presumptuous attitude, though he bit his cheek, especially once he found out that her instincts - or mere guesswork - had been right. He would have done as he had planned and had Garm take out her ponyta for attacking the humans, except it would put him in a bad position. For the moment, he couldn't lessen his strength over her, but he didn't think he would be spending much time in her presence once this was over. She didn't make him feel the least bit comfortable. Or clean.

A slight pressure and movement behind him as Mafdet moved did nothing to distract Lysander. His eyes were focused on the partner of the man who had been talking. He had drawn two pokeballs, and called out two pokemon as Lysander watched.

A woobat appeared like the dirty end of a q-tip popping into someone's ear. The other pokemon was a mawile, dark second mouth slavering hungrily as the creature danced from foot to foot.

"Think you have a chance, Cripple?" the man sneered.

Lysander didn't bother to reply to the thief. He was accustomed to lesser people resorting to insults.

"Garm, I need you on this one," Lysander murmured. The growlithe grumbled low in his throat in disagreement. "You think they're going to just let us go if we win? I need you to fight."

The growlithe tilted his head back, eying Lysander, and then chuffed in sudden agreement. With a snort, he stood up from where he had been sitting and marched forward, a growl rumbling loudly in his throat.

Lysander pulled a pokeball from his pocket and compressed the button on the arm of his wheelchair, holding the ball aloft so the pokemon within reappeared next to Garm.

The hippopotamus somersaulted across the ground out of the red light, coming to a halt with four legs splayed and a large tongue lolling from his mouth. Lysander smiled, amused, as the hippopotas laughed a loud, stupid sound, pushing itself to its feet. The thief snorted in disbelief.

"Are you serious?"

"No, I'm Sandy." Lysander pulled a black and white soccer ball out of his backpack and tossed it from one hand to the other. "All right, Uaid - sand attack! Garm - roar!"

The hippopotas let out a stupid-sounding laugh again and snorted a great breath from its nostrils, sending dirt snd sand flying at their opponents. The woobat flew out of the way, but the mawile was covered in the debris, shrieking and pawing as the sand got into her eyes and blinded her.

Garm let out a loud roar, causing the woobat he had been facing to squeak and fly back at its master, disappearing in a flash of red light as the bat retreated to its pokeball. Another flash of red light and a different pokemon appeared.

"Garm, Ember!" Lysander snapped immediately. "Uaid, tackle!"

Both pokemon moved immediately. Garm's experience and speed allowed him to move faster than Uaid, meaning he would, as Lysander had planned, attack the Durant first.

"ViceGrip!" the thief yelled.

Garm's mouth erupted with flames that he spat viciously at the ant-like pokemon. The creature screeched and lunged at the growlithe, clamp-like mouth snapping. Garm ducked out of the way and dodged to the right, in time for Uaid to roll past him, scramble to his feet, and tackle the Durant in the face. A yelp from behind him caused the hippopotas to stumble around and look to see the mawile had gotten hold of Garm in a ViceGrip that she knew, as well.

"Bet you weren't expecting that!" the thief said snidely.

"Bet you weren't expecting this," Lysander mocked. "Mafdet, scratch attack!"

With a hiss, the meowth leapt from behind Lysander, over his head, and came down with all four paws unsheathed upon the Durant.

"Three against two is cheating!" the man snarled.

"You've admitted you're a thief. You don't have any room to complain," Lysander said darkly. "Mafdet, bite; Uaid, leer on the mawile! Garm, ember the Durant!"

[Yzarc Drowsnam]

In her peripherals, Jill noticed that Kirby and Thief #2 had already begun their battles and so Thief #1 went ahead and summoned one of his pokemon, an intentional counter to Jill's Ponyta. Wooper appeared on the field, goofy looking as ever, yet clearly prepared for a fight. The Ponyta had been the aggressor, and so it only made sense that the thief would look to counter it, Jill's strongest pokemon.

Wooper, a Water and Ground hybrid, was resistant to Ponyta's favored attacks, and had two attack types which were effective against her. "Geb, use Water Gun!"

It was a predictable, yet solid, move. Jill called back Pele, expecting either that or a Ground attack (neither of which would have been painless) and sent out Vinyl in her place. Vinyl took the hit like a champ and remained standing even though he took a fire attack from the Magby earlier. Bellsprout was, unfortunately, not a perfect counter to Wooper. Wooper did, after all, have Ground attacks, which would hit Vinyl with full force, thanks to his debilitating Poison type. However, Vinyl was fast and had a very effective grass type attack.

"Vine Whip," Jill said, calmly, her arms crossed in anticipation. Before Geb the Wooper was able to come up with his Mud Shot, which would have certainly done a number on Vinyl, the Bellsprout slashed out with his little leaves. The attack, though weak in and of itself, was devastating to the Water and Ground type pokemon, due to its extreme weakness to grass. Vinyl, not normally the offensive powerhouse of Jill's team, had taken down the Wooper with a single shot, and only took a weakened Water Gun attack in return.

He looked back to her, his little eyes widened in excitement, looking for some sort of encouragement or validation. Jill smiled, nodded and looked forward to get him to do the same in preparation for his next opponent. Jill looked over to see that Kirby and Thief #2 were enjoying a 2v2 battle, but it seemed like he had it under control, so she looked back to her opponent to see his next pokemon.

Frustrated, he sent out his second, and seemingly final, pokemon, an adamant looking Riolu. "Alright, Anubis," he said, taking a knee next to his pokemon. "This is it, okay, bud? That thing took down Geb, so it's all up to you. Make me proud."

"Riolu!!" It shouted as it charged Vinyl with its palm out. Jill wasn't too concerned with Riolu's fighting type attacks against Vinyl's poison typing, but her Bellsprout was growing weary from repeated hits, and Riolu was a stronger pokemon.

"Sleep Powder," she said. Anubis' attack hit first, and it hit hard, but Vinyl seemed to resist it well enough. He countered by shooting small spores out towards the Riolu. Anubis jumped back and shook his head repeatedly. Though it looked as if the spores were effective, he continued his seemingly relentless assault by dashing forward with Quick Attack. "Keep trying," Jill insisted. Vinyl was wobbling around after the hit, but Jill knew he had one more attack in him. He used Sleep Powder, as commanded, and now Anubis was surrounded by so many powdery spores, he became wobbly too.

He reached his arm back to try to get in one more hit, but the weight of his own arm seemed sufficient to pull his whole body backwards. He fell on his back in a deep slumber. Jill knew it wouldn't last long, and rather than taking the opportunity to unleash a much needed offensive, she decided to allow Vinyl the opportunity to stay in the fight. "Synthesis," she nodded. He seemed grateful as he looked up into the sky and absorbed the sunlight. Color filled his leaves and he became steady and ready for battle yet again, while Anubis remained sleeping on the ground.

"This is so gay," the Thief sighed.

"Synthesis again," Jill said. With that, Vinyl found himself at full health, just as Anubis was pulling himself to his feet. The battle continued now, with the two exchanging Force Palms and Vine Whips repeatedly. Anubis' attacks were stronger and Vinyl's defenses were fairly weak, so after a few exchanges, she allowed him to use Synthesis once more before finishing off the Riolu.

Once their battle was complete, and Riolu was back in his pokeball, Jill looked to see that Kirby and the Thief were engaged in an uneven fight. It was clear that he would win, if only because he had the number advantage, but Jill's opponent didn't seem to have anything to say on it. She approached him, Vinyl by her side and simply crossed her arms, meeting him at eye level. She didn't say anything, just held out her hand.

The gangster sighed and put the pokeball in it. "You know, I didn't steal that."

"It was stolen, though," Jill said. "And you knew it, so that doesn't make you innocent."

"You're far from innocent, Miss," the man replied. "What you've done is you've gotten yourself involved in an organization someone like you shouldn't be apart of. This isn't over."

"I never did imagine it was," Jill said. "And I never claimed innocence. Kirby," she looked to her right, towards him and his opponent. "If y'all are about done, we can get movin'."

[Umbrae Calamitas]

"Just say my name in front of a couple of thieves, why don't you," Lysander muttered under his breath. There was another good reason to not give people his first name. Not one he'd thought of before, but another to add to the list. He was glad that Jill didn't know his real name, either. He didn't need her looking him up later.

The Durant fell under the assault of the three pokemon, as Lysander had expected would be the case. The thief growled as he called out his woobat again, only for the fluffy bat to hide behind its trainer's back. Lysander shook his head, chuckling lightly.

"You know, I could take both of your pokemon down now, easily," he said casually. "It wouldn't be much of a hassle at all. So why don't we save me some time, and you the embarrassment, and just end this ridiculous facade of a battle before you hurt yourself. You go ahead and surrender, I'll accept, and then you scuttle on back to your little hovel with your tail between your legs."

Whether it was the asking him to surrender, the tail between his legs comment, or the insinuation that he scuttled, the thief didn't like Lysander's idea in the least, and made a command based on anger. A foolish decision, at best. A stupid mistake, at worst.

"Chomper, ViceGrip! Woo, Gust!"

"Did you name your mawile after a character from a cartoon? Garm, roar again, would you?"

The growlithe crouched down low and let out a fearsome roar. The mawile merely twitched, but continued lunging forward, snagging Garm in a fierce vicegrip. The woobat, however, squeaked, flying back toward the thief and batting at him in a desperate attempt to get back into its pokeball.

"Y-you stupid bat! Get out there and fight! Confusion!"

The woobat merely shrieked in response and batted his master harder.

"Uaid, sand attack! Mafdet."

The hippopotas kicked up a dust at the mawile, causing the steel-type to retreat, releasing Garm, who whined in pain and shook himself, snarling at the pokemon.

Mafdet ran across the ground and leapt, landing on the head of the woobat, who squeaked in response and froze up in fear. Its wings stopped moving and the creature collapsed to the ground, where Mafdet merely sat on top of it, staring into its eyes. The woobat, still conscious but absolutely terrified, refused to move no matter how much its trainer yelled at it.

"Garm, ember. Uaid... tackle." Snarling, the growlithe spat flames at the mawile, causing the pokemon to shriek and try to run from the fountain of fire that chased after her, barking. She had her hands clamped over her head, crying as she ran away, when the baby hippopotas tackled her from the side and sent her sprawling into unconsciousness. The hippo pokemon rolled in a somersault across the ground, giggling stupidly.

"Very good, you three." Lysander turned back to his opponent. "Now, I could have Mafdet attack your woobat until it eventually faints, but I don't think that would be sporting, so... what do you say?" He smiled cheerfully at the thief.

"You stupid cripple."

"You worthless thief," Lysander retorted in a bored tone. "Are we done?"

The thief didn't say anything. He merely recalled both of his pokemon and turned around, walking off in a huff.

"Uaid," Lysander said, recalling the hippopotas once the creature had turned a grin upon him. Mafdet hopped back up behind him on his wheelchair, and Garm reclaimed his position at Lysander's side.

"Very well, Jill, I'm finished," he said, turning his attention to the girl. "And I'd be quite pleased to leave your company, as well." He did not smile this time, or even attempt to pretend he was happy. "However, I would not be adverse to taking that pokemon back to its proper owner. You have work to do, after all." He left unsaid that he would be certain, then, that the pokemon made it home. She could take what she wanted from the conversation, but he would get that pokeball from her whether he needed Mafdet to steal it or not. He didn't know what she did for a living, and as easy as it was to find those two thieves, it wouldn't surprise him at all to find out she was in with them. Nevermind her ease at attacking people...

[Yzarc Drowsnam]

It didn't even occur to Jill that Kirby mentioning her name aloud in front of the thieves was a bad thing, given her unfamiliarity to violent or illegal situations, and so his passive-aggressive attempt at striking back went entirely unnoticed (though likely not to the thieves themselves).

She did, however, notice his tone and his apparent lack in trust for her to take the ball back to the woman to which it belonged. More importantly, though, she didn't care. It was true that she had to get back to work and she was looking forward to being alone again, at least for the walk back downtown. Kirby was just way too happy for her, and even his attitude during the fight, as though it was all just a game, was annoying to her.

"Yeah," she said, simply, handing the ball to him. "Yeah, you go ahead and do that then." Up until that point, when his tone towards her changed so drastically, she hadn't had any disdain for the guy, just a slight annoyance. But apparently she did something to offend him, which didn't surprise her at all. She wasn't used to the company of disabled people and she figured she might have said something in passing to make him mad. And, being the chipper guy that he was, he pushed it down and refused to bring it to light.

So there they were, in the awkward "goodbye" moment between two people who just met. A hug might have been more appropriate if he didn't seem to be so mad, so she just shrugged. "Well," she decided to go with that and just nodded to the boy. Then, she looked to her side, to Vinyl, and began her trip down the shady road, somewhat ignorantly unafraid of the dangers. After winning that battle, her confidence was a little too high.

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

Jill decided to go back to the hotel first to take a shower. She was pretty nasty and sweaty after all that walking, and she was already late so she might as well be clean. But, as soon as she closed the door to her room, her cell phone started buzzing, as it tended to do. She sighed, rolled her eyes and pulled it out of her purse, expecting it to be Erica or one of her bosses wondering where the hell she was.

It was neither. David, her ex-husband, was calling her, as he tended to do. She rolled her eyes, yet again, and rejected the call, sending it straight to voice mail. She slipped the phone back in her purse and took a much needed shower.

[Umbrae Calamitas]

Lysander sighed as he rolled himself down the sidewalk. He was tired, and he didn't like how the day had gone. He'd helped recover someone's stolen pokemon for them, yes. The strange look the girl had given him when he'd handed the pokeball to her was not something he'd needed on top of pokemon battles, various crippling insults, and wasting so much energy on being mad at Jill for sicking her pokemon on a human being. He'd ignored the girl's look, though, and had taken only a moment to watch her call out her pokemon, more than a little curious to find out what was so special about it to have it be stolen.

It was quite a sight, to see a ruby-red staryu with a jeweled center like an emerald. A particularly odd shade, even for a shiny. He was just glad the girl had her pokemon back and he could go... wherever he intended to go.

"I suppose we need a room for the night, don't we, Garm?"

The growlithe chuffed at him, as though he had been thinking about this for hours now and Lysander was only just getting to the important stuff. Lysander chuckled. "To the pokemon center it is, then."

Please close and lock.