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Global PokédeX Plus Forums _ Finished RPs _ When Crime Pays

Posted by: Yzarc Drowsnam Dec 6 2010, 11:35 PM

Justin got to Arasam two days later, on Friday, with a day to spare. It was nice because he was able to get a hotel room and relax for one last night. Though it was true his partner, Nate Guzman, was already waiting for him, Justin didn't particularly care for Nate's company and so decided to wait until the next day to give him a call.

It didn't matter, though. He got a phone call that night around eight. Sighing, he answered. "Yo."

"Hey, Justin, it's Nate."

"I know," he rolled his eyes. "What is it?"

"Well, um," Nate began. "I mean, you know, we have the, uh, the thing. The job? The, uh-"

"Yeah, I know," Justin said. "I'm here. But it's not 'til tomorrow, right?"

"Well, yeah, tomorrow morning, though," Nate said. "I was thinking we could get together tonight, and I could fill you in."

Justin sighed. "Dude, I've been walking for the past couple of days. I just want to sleep, man."

"Tough shit, Justin," Nate finally sacked up. "You want some quick details on what happens if we fuck this job up?"

"Ugh, fine,"

So about an hour later, there was a knock on the door. "It's open," Justin called out, lying comfortably shirtless on his bed watching TV. Nate let himself in.

"Yo, Justin, long time no see, man!"

"Sup, Nate," Justin sighed, rolling over so he was sitting upright on his bed. All of both of their pokemon were still in their pokeballs. Justin noticed that Nate had four pokeballs, one more than their last mission. "You get a new pokemon?"

"Yeah," Nate nodded. "Why I was here so early, actually. Check it out!" He summoned Ninja, a sneasel, who immediately checked out her surroundings. She seemed to gather that Nate was at ease around Justin and so approached him calmly and curiously.

Justin just raised an eyebrow at her. "Should I be nervous?"

Nate laughed. "I don't know, dude, I just got her."

"Alright dude, well, I believe you, she's cool. Call her back?"

"Fine," Nate laughed, calling her back into his pokeball.

"So what's this job? Why the hell are they telling you about it and not me? What, like you're the leader of our unit?"

"Could be," Nate smiled. "So check it," He pulled out a rolled up map from his backpack and placed it on the carpeted floor at the foot of the bed, forcing Justin to move and sit on the floor to see it. "Alright, so this is a cave in Mt. Carello. See, we just take this route here and that'll take us to the entrance. Then we follow this path exactly," the paths were marked on the map. "That's where we meet five men."

"Five men?" Justin asked. "Sounds kinda sketch."

"Yeah, well, I'm sure they're just as suspicious of us."

"Should they be? I mean, our thing is deception, right? Are we planning on-"

"No." Nate said. "This is a real mission. They're not leaving it up to us to pull off something like that. I mean we're like the lowest ranked unit."

"So what's the plan?"

"This." Nate pulled his backpack in front of him and pulled out a fairly small locked briefcase. "We're selling it."

"What is it?"

"Dunno. Not supposed to."

"So we're selling whatever's inside that case for some money. I don't suppose we get to keep any of the profits."

"Nope," Nate said. "I mean, we get paid for the job if that counts."

"Not really, considering I bet it's upwards of a hundred thousand it's selling for."

"Probably," Nate laughed.

"So, what? Why are they letting us do this? Seems pretty important."

"Didn't say," Nate shrugged. "If you ask me, though-"

"I did."

"What?"

"I did ask you."

"Oh," Nate stopped. "Right. Well, then, I think our bosses don't trust these five men."

"So, there's a high mortality rate, and so they send the worst unit."

"Doesn't matter if we die," Nate sighed. "Worst case scenario, for them, they're back to 100 units, which is what it's supposed to be anyway, right?"

"Yeah," Justin sighed. It was an unsettling thought. They were getting sent to a very important mission on the premise that it was probably going to end badly. Either they don't go and get fired (which in Team Deception probably meant worse than getting fired at the Raging Tauros) or they go and get killed by some thugs. Hell, though, maybe Hitmontop was strong enough to keep them safe even if outnumbered. Maybe these mystery men were actually upstanding citizens. They could only hope for the best.

They set out fairly early the next day, before the sun even came up. Justin let Nate sleep on the floor of his hotel room, but he still managed to sleep comfortably in his bed. He was barely awake as they walked, but by the time the sun came up and they were already on the mountain trail, his eyes were open enough. When they got to the place where the cave was supposed to be, however, things started to look unfamiliar.

"So, isn't there supposed to be some sort of cave around here or something?" Justin asked.

To their left and right was thick brush and there didn't seem to be an entrance to a cave anywhere around. Forward, the path just kept going up. "No, no, this is it," Nate insisted. "I know it. It's precise."

"Then where?" Justin asked. "Where do we go, Nate? Why don't you-"

"Shut up, Justin," Nate said. "Shut up. I'll figure it out. I just need time to think."

"Our time is too valuable to waste it in your brain, Nate," Justin rolled his eyes. "This is a fucking trap, man. Team Deception wants us dead."

"No they don't!" Nate yelled. "If they wanted us dead, they'd just kill us. They'd just do it. They don't need all this secrecy. It's too-"

"Deceptive?" Justin finished. "No, that seems right up their alley."

"It's around here."

"You said it was precise."

"Well, I-" Nate stopped for a second and pulled out a pokeball. He summoned Da Bomb, his numel. "Hey Da Bomb. Use Magnitude."

"Dude what the f-"

He didn't get to finish. The ground beneath him began trembling. "Magnitude 2!" Nate yelled. It trembled a little harder. "Magnitude 3!"

"Dude this mountain is gonna collapse!"

"No it won't!" Nate yelled as the trembles grew louder. "Magnitude 4! Magnitude 5!"

By that point, they were forced to hold onto nearby trees just to stay on their feet. "You're gonna kill us!"

"It'll only tear apart weak surfaces!" Nate insisted. "Magnitude 6! 7! 8!"

"Nate calm down!"

"Magnitude 9!"

"Nate!!"

They felt the ground beneath them start to tear and break apart. It wasn't deep enough at this point to actually affect the structure of the mountain, but the surface was falling apart. "You ready?" Nate yelled.

"No!" Justin yelled. "No, I am not ready! Nate don't you do it! Don't you do it!"

"MAGNITUDE 10!"

It was almost a beautiful sight. Rocks were being uplifted, a few trees uprooted. Justin and Nate had to dodge stray boulders and yet, in the midst of all the insanity, Da Bomb stood completely motionless, concentrating with such intensity. His calmness in the whole situation was almost reassuring. That was, of course, until the roots of the tree onto which Justin was holding started to snap away from the dirt. Death seemed so close.

But then, simultaneously, Justin and Nate noticed something just a few yards away. While the rocks beneath them were simply moving around awkwardly, those rocks were moving much more violently. A few seconds later, they collapsed and fell into a hole in the mountain. "Da Bomb, that's enough!"

There was a fairly lengthy comedown from the massive earthquake, but by the time the ground had returned to motionlessness, the terrain around them seemed utterly changed. Trees had fallen over, the path was completely covered in rocks and, most importantly, there was a fairly large hole in the ground. "That's our cave," Nate smiled confidently.

His smile was interrupted by Justin's fist to his face. "Nate, if you ever" He was interrupted, this time, by a flare of heat flying past his face as Da Bomb defended his trainer.

"I got the job done, Justin," Nate stood up, rubbing his pained face. "You need to quit being such a baby."

Justin groaned as he took the lead towards the hole. As he looked down, he realized it wouldn't be possible to climb back up. "Is there another way out of this cave?"

"Not according to the map," Nate said. "But I bet there is."

"Yeah, probably," Justin agreed. "I mean, it's not like our Mysterious Five are coming in through this hole."

When they jumped down into the cave, after Nate called back Da Bomb, a fairly long distance, they realized that it was very dark down there. Again, Nate called out his numel, which made Justin feel slightly uneasy. "Use Ember," Nate whispered. He probably didn't need to whisper considering no one was around, but the quietness and darkness of the cave made the whole situation feel more spooky. Da Bomb created a small flame above the hole in his back which lit up the cave nicely.

"So, we should be going- Yes, perfect," Nate spoke, mostly to himself, as he led the way through the cave, looking at the map as he walked. "Down here," "Okay, now we turn left," "Straight through this part,"

Up ahead, they saw a light. They approached carefully and got to an open area, well lit with a few torches. Sure enough, five men were there, dressed fairly casually for the most part. "You the guys?" one of them asked.

Justin and Nate just looked at each other. "Y-Yeah," Nate said.

"Backbone, Nate," Justin whispered softly. Nate nodded.

"You got the money?" Nate asked firmly.

"Only if you got the package," the largest of the men said as he stood forward. He had tanned skin and neat hair. He was the only one dressed in a suit. His voice was deep.

"We got it," Nate spun his backpack around to his front and pulled out the small briefcase. "Let's see the money."

The man in the suit nodded and turned to the man to his right. "Show them." That man nodded and turned around, walking just a few feet and leaning over. He returned with a similarly sized briefcase and opened it up to show a whole lot of cash: Too much to count. It was at that point that both Justin and Nate realized they had no idea how much money they were expecting. That would have been nice.

"Do you wanna count it?" The man in the suit asked.

Nate started to get nervous, but Justin chimed in, his arms crossed confidently. "Why?" he asked. "Do we need to?"

"It's all there," the man replied with an insincere smile. Justin nodded towards Nate. Nate and the man with the money walked towards each other, their respective briefcases in their right hands. They reached both their left and right hands over to each other so that Nate handed off his briefcase to the other man's left hand and took the money with his own left hand. Both let go of their packages and took what they needed.

Nate walked hurriedly back towards Justin, but tried to remain calm. "Pleasure doing business with you gentlemen," the man in the suit said.

"Likewise," Justin lowered his head very slightly. Mostly, he was just pleased they didn't try to cheat the duo out of both. Of course...

As they turned around to leave this area of the cave, Nate bumped into a particularly large man, who had moved around in the dark tension to be behind the two. While Justin was somewhat confused at the situation, the large man took the opportunity to simultaneously grab the suitcase from Nate's hands and punch the poor kid in the face, knocking him over. Justin reacted quickly by summoning Hitmontop, whose pokeball he had been holding since the start. Immediately after that, though, he had to dodge a punch from the same large man.

While Hitmontop kept the other four at bay and forced them to summon pokemon of their own, Justin retaliated against the larger man with fast and powerful punches of his own. He attacked relentlessly against the man's face until there was a sufficient amount of blood on his own fists to tell him that the man was no longer a threat. "Nate!" He yelled. "Get up! Come on, man!" Nate was conscious, but disoriented. Getting punched in the face twice in one day tends to do that to a little guy like him. Justin pulled him up off the ground. "Can you run?"

"Yeah," Nate said slowly. "Yeah,"

"Let's go,"

As they moved towards the exit, he turned around to see Hitmontop being attacked by four pokemon at once. There was Magmar, Ariados, Gallade and Cranidos. Before he got completely obliterated, Justin called him back into his pokeball and the two ran.

When it got dark, Nate came to a terrifying realization. "They got Da Bomb," he said.

Then Justin came to an even scarier one. "And the money."

Of course, more importantly perhaps, they were still being chased.

Posted by: Kamaitachi Dec 28 2010, 02:44 AM

Tag was broke.

This was evidently going to be quite the problem. He'd spent most of his money purchasing Tobi from the Black Market in Lenoilia, due to a mind reading Abra. However, after parting ways with Cameron and Raven at the Loch Ranch, he decided to simply set off once again on his own, turning down the Loch Ranch's famous hospitality. He'd had enough of people for the time being, even if he did particularly enjoy the company of one of them. Hopefully he'd run into her again soon.

He paused for a moment at that thought. Tag hadn't looked forward to seeing someone in quite some time. Oh well, it was a welcome thought after all.

Arasam was fairly nearby, even if it was a bit of a hike. Along the way, Tag took the opportunity to take on a few challenges from various trainers, trouncing them soundly with his loyal team, and earning a pittance of money as spoils. They all seemed fairly generic, if only because Tag didn't really care to hear their stories afterward. He wasn't looking for more friends. He had Raven and Cameron both out there somewhere, and...oh right, that other kid. Justin. He was a friend too, right?

Finding himself a bit irritated at that train of thought, Tag was incredibly relieved when he realized how close the mountain felt. That changed his thoughts to what the next step in his journey would be.

This was Mt. Carello, or so a passing trainer had said. He'd passed by it without much of a thought on his way from Barley to Petropolis, but he vaguely remembered a trainer saying that he'd visited a Move Tutor at the peak of it. The thought of getting stronger was an enticing one, so Tag figured, why not? He'd scale the mountain.

* * *

It proved to be a poor decision. Tag hadn't exactly thought that hiking up a mountain would be an easy task, but he didn't count on it being nearly so exhausting. At the very least, he noted as he looked down at himself, the travel helped him regain some of his former musculature. He was a bit more toned from the harsh living of a trainer, and having avoided cities, fast food and all those other fattening things. He felt good and healthy, if albeit very tired. He didn't engage in too many fights along the mountainside. He slunk past any trainers already engaged, and would simply alter his course when he sensed pokemon nearby. He just wanted to get to the move tutor, and wanted his pokemon in as close to full form as possible, so they could learn some new moves quickly, and he could be on his way. He'd also heard that Arasam had a gym, home to a master of Flying and Fire pokemon. Half of his team was weak to BOTH fire and flying, but he'd attempt to challenge it anyways. To aid him in this, a few new moves wouldn't hurt.

Unfortunately, the trip up the mountain path was starting to get a little monotonous. There really wasn't much excitement involved, especially since he was avoiding conflicts at the moment. Occasionally, a little pain would start up in his stomach, seeing as he'd been punched by a Breloom there a few days before, and even shorter before he'd been shot. His poor stomach. At least it was starting to look more like a washboard, rather than a glob of pudding. Sure, it was vain of him, but who didn't enjoy looking good. In his past two adventures, he was two for two on losing his shirt, so at least he'd want to look kinda sexy, even if he were covered in blood, or lying on the ground with paramedics hovering over him. There was no rhyme or reason to that thought, obviously. It was just a matter of personal vanity and pride, and Tag's pride wasn't about to accept the fact that he had a couple pudgy bits on him.

The reverie was good enough to keep the fact that his feet were starting to hurt at bay.

Occasionally, he'd let out one of his pokemon to enjoy the mountain air and the scenery. Tobi, the newest addition to his team, seemed to enjoy it immensely, as he'd been cooped up in a cage in polluted Lenoilia and in the city of Petropolis for goodness knows how long. The normally calm Vulpix enjoyed cavorting about, running ahead several paces of Tag and turning around to crouch down, wagging his six tails energetically. Tag would smile and keep walking, watching as the Fox pokemon bounded about happily, enjoying his newfound freedom. Well, he was still bound to Tag so it wasn't true freedom, but it was freedom from the suppressing air of being a commodity, rather than a living creature.

When Kyoko was out, she'd waddle alongside him, forcing Tag to slow his pace a bit. He didn't really mind, except for the part where she seemed even more stinky than usual. She'd more than likely sucked up a lot of the polluted Lenoilian air, and after all, she'd evolved into her current state surrounded by the noxious Koffing gasses. He tried to smile at her, but found his eyes watering at her stench. Poor Kyoko seemed somewhat offended by it, as her Trainer couldn't even really bring himself to stand around her at the moment. Perhaps her poor mood made her smell all the fouler, so Tag apologetically recalled her to her ball after she'd gotten some time out in the open air.

Bachi trotted faithfully alongside Tag when he was out, occasionally veering off path to follow some scent or some sound, but would quickly be reeled in as Tag sharply called his name. Tag hadn't quite pegged his Nidorino to be such a curious sort, but here he was, entranced by all the sights and sounds around him. Perhaps it was because he had evolved in Petropolis, and spent most of his time in Lenoilia, but his senses must've been heightened since his evolution, and now he was actually enjoying all the sounds and smells around him. After each of them had their turn out in the sun, Tag recalled them all, continuing the trek on his own.

Continuing further on the path, he noted a hole in the side of the mountain.

"Ah. A cave" he said aloud to no one, seeing as there was really no one to hear him. By his logic, the Move Tutor was a crazy hermit living in a cave. Therefore, the cave was a natural place to begin looking for the Move Tutor. Should he have stopped and asked for directions? No. That would've made a much less interesting story. His mind was soon occupied with what moves he might've been able to teach his pokemon. He figured that another support move like Tailwind would be good for Suzu, or perhaps she could learn Ice Punch to help against flying pokemon. A move like Sucker Punch would be good for Bachi, to help him get in some early hits. His speed was a bit of a hinderance, since evolution he'd grown more defensive and less mobile. Naturally, he grew curious as to how Bachi's evolution into the powerful Nidoking would affect him. Tag had heard that Vulpix could learn the move Magic Coat, and that seemed to be just the sort of move that the Move Tutor could teach Tobi. He wondered if the Move Tutor could teach Kyoko how to not stink so much, but in terms of actual moves, he wondered on the possibilities of Kyoko learning Razor Leaf, to add to her offensive arsenal. The thoughts were fun and engaging in his head, as he argued with himself the pros and cons of each choice.

Tag sighed, as the cave was quite dark. Reaching into his backpack, he pulled out his handy dandy flashlight and continued along the way. If at any point there seemed to be trouble, at least he could find his way back. He knew he had some chalk to mark his way back if the little underground cave divulged into some crazy underground tunnel. At the very least, in this way he was prepared. He headed down a little ways, noting, disappointed, that there seemed to be no signs of life, or even any signs that anyone had ever lived there.

He wasn't prepared, however, for who would appear in his flashlight's beam.

"Justin?" He blinked sheepishly at the person in his lights. It looked like a dull witted, overly muscular teenager, that was for certain. He shone his light over a little to the kid's side, noting a scrawnier, slimy looking kid. "Oh. You're here too." he couldn't help as the disappointment slipped out of his voice. "...What're you doing in a cave?"

Posted by: Tymid Dec 29 2010, 05:58 PM

"Finally! A chance to enjoy our vacation!" Raven stated energetically, leaning down to continue washing her face in the river they had stopped at. Their food supply, generously given to them by the folks at Loch Ranch, was running low, and Raven knew that waterfronts were a wonderful place to find berries, as well as possibly catch a fish. Requiem had been assigned to that task; with his speed and love for fresh Magikarp, Raven knew he would come up with something, even if it was just for himself. Aria had occupied herself with mulling over random objects; ever since her leg injury, the kitten was a bit lackadaisacal and ponderous, something which worried Raven greatly. It was unlike Aria to be anything other than happy and spunky, but Raven didn't blame her. She probably wouldn't be apt to recover after such a grevious injury, either.

The newest, self-proclaimed member of the team, a deaf, blue-eyed Larvitar (whom Raven refused to keep or name, seeing as she insisted that she did not have the means to support a gravel eating lizard) was busy digging and happily munching on soil, oggling at the mountain in the distance. "That's where we're headed, Larvitar." Raven said, pulling her head out of the flowing water, her dark, lush hair and face dripping with the crystalline fluid. The Larvitar simply continued staring at the mountain, dirt and mud smeared upon his stout little muzzle. Raven turned her head, a loud splashing catching her attention. Requiem was in a fierce battle with a rather large Magikarp, growling and snapping appropriately. Being the ever-digilant trainer, Raven, though a series of snaps and claps, commanded Totodile to use Bite, a recently acquired move that was discovered when Requiem proceeded to attack a sapling, and bite it in two.

The Totodile's attention piqued towards Raven, and with a reaffirming nod, proceeded to Bite the Magikarp and put it out of it's misery. The large, orange fish fell limply in Requiem's mouth, and the proud blue lizard dragged his catch over to Raven, dropping it beside her. "That's my good fellow!" Raven said happily, still attempting to squeeze water out of her hair, pausing to reach out and touch the Totodile's nose, to find it reciprocated by a gentle claw reciprocating the gesture to her own nose. Raven rose to her feet, her thumb placed in the Magikarp's mouth, holding it up to her side. The fish had to weigh at least 20 lbs, which was a good weight for such a fish. Walking over to the pre-constructed line, constructed out of two attached tree limbs and a piece of vine, Raven strung up the hefty catch out of reach of any hungry poke'mon.

Upon feeling her footsteps, the Larvitar came trotting over, looking up at her with it's adoring blue eyes. "Don't worry, I'll feed you too, while you're here." Raven said to deaf ears, and the lizard kept blinking up at her lovingly. Raven couldn't help but smirk at the poor thing, and knelt beside it, scratching it on it's tough little scales. It crooned happily, and Raven rose to her feet, looking around for some kindling. Night was upon the small group, and they needed to get a fire built to cook the 'karp, as well as to keep them safe throughout the night. She was surrounded by fallen logs near the riverbank, which suited well as a proper source of firewood. After gathering a small armful of wood, Raven proceeded the short way back to their makeshift campsite, where her companions were patiently waiting.

Raven stacked the wood in a triangle fashion, and looked over to Aria, who was currently nibbling on a a leaf. "Aria, mind helping me out a little bit here? I could use a Spark." Raven said with a smile, indicating the small pile of wood in front of her. A happy smile spread across Aria's face and she slowly rose to her feet, and limp-trotted over to Raven, nuzzling her hand in the process. Aria's mobility had improved greatly; she was having to be carried at Loch Ranch, and now, she was to the point of moving on her own, even hopping and sprinting when she got into a particularly mischevious mood. There was still a small limp to her step, but it was far greater than never walking again, which had been a fear for Raven, initially.

Aria looked at the pile of wood, and her body began to glow. Raven recognized this as the move Charge, and moved away from Aria slightly, knowing what was next. Aria's fur began to spark, and soon enough, as Aria's nose neared the pile of wood, a large spark flashed, and the pile of wood flashed to life. Raven winced with the flash of heat, but as the fire settled, Raven couldn't help but smile at her companions, their faces brilliantly flickering with the reflection of flaming tongues.

As the sun settled over the horizon, a wonderful smell of cooking fish, cooking rotisserie style over the flames was thick in the air. Raven and the crew were nibbling on some berries, a few, unripened berries already in her pack for transport in the morning. Raven reached out and pulled the stick off from over the fire, breaking off a fin and crunching it. The food was ready. After waiting for it to cool, Raven divvied out wholesome portions to everyone, save the Larvitar, who was happily munching on some soil, and sneered at his portion. Aria and Requiem munched happily on their pieces, while Raven tugged away a piece of filet from the bone, savoring the earthy, fishy flavor.

The moon rose high over their campsite, and little more than stripped fishbones remained. All involved had full tummies, Requiem and Aria's pouching out a little more than usual. Any remainder fish had been salted, and placed in her pack, due to a salt lick that the Larvitar discovered the day before, and was about to devour. Raven permitted this act, only after the Larvitar had graciously carved out and crushed some of the rock salt for her. There wasn't much left, but the salt on the fish would prevent it's untimely decay.

The fire was naught more than simple embers now, so Raven added a few more small sticks, and wrapping her jacket about herself, snuggled up to Aria and Requiem, whose eyes were already half-lidded with fullness and slumber. As she felt something of a rock hit her back, she knew that the Larvitar was bedding down for the evening as well. "Good night, all." she said with a yawn, curling up around her team and slowly, gently falling asleep under the night sky.

~*~

~Lights...so many lights...flashing, peering, prodding and assaulting her...there was no escape...no escape...


Raven awoke with a start, sweat beaded on her brow. Dawn's first light was creeping over the horizon, and her companions were still fast asleep. The fire had crumbled an ashy pile, residual embers still glowing in the grey flakes. Shakily, Raven propped herself up, which caused a sleeping Requiem to fall over and wake with a groggy, grumpy growl. The others stirred with his noise, and with their own respective mews and growls and yelps and chirrups, looked up to Raven to see what was the matter. "It's nothing, guys...bad dream." she said sleepily, reaching up a hand to wipe the sweat from her brow. Her hand shakily reached into her pack, pulling out a cigarette and a lighter. Requiem was now immediately awake, and was hopping excitedly, his claw reaching for the cigarette, trying to get a puff. "Damn it, you're trying to quit..." Raven murmured, passing it to the Totodile who inhaled a drag, exhaling contentedly through his nostrils. Taking the cigarette back, Raven finished it, and ashed it in the soil, tossing the butt into the remaining embers of the fire.

"Well...now that we're all awake..." Raven sighed, rising to her feet, stretching in a large, vibrant way, the others mimicking her movements. Reaching down, Raven hefted her bag onto her shoulder, the pink and orange sunrise illuminating the mountain in stark contrast. "...I suppose it's time to go. And it's time for you..." she said, poking the Larvitar on the nose and rubbing her fingertip on it "...to find a new home in the mountain." she concluded sweetly, looking into the Larvitar's sapphire eyes with her own, green ones reflected back to her.

Thus, their trek to the mountain began. Raven was happy to see that the Larvitar was getting more and more excited with each passing step, tugging on Raven's pant leg and pointing towards the mountain. Requiem and Aria followed along with a keen sense of focus, although Raven was happy to note that Aria chased more butterflies than she did the day before. The road was long, and the mountain, which had been at the beginning of the day, such a formidible creature, she now, nearing the end of the day, found that she was at it's base.

Her group was tired, all save the Larvitar. It was time to find a place to camp. Requiem and Aria, for once, didn't oppose going back into their poke'balls, since they were nearly dead on their feet, as it was. They needed to find a place to camp, and soon...the sun was already low in the sky. However, the Larvitar had other plans. With an excited squall, it began ascending the mountain...and rather quickly. "Hey...hey, wait! Slow down! Stay! Heel!" Raven cried, but the deaf poke'mon simply charged ahead, oblivious to her commands. As she followed behind the green demon, she contemplated letting him go, but she had at least wanted to find him a cave or someplace safe. Her legs were burning, and her breath caught in her chest. A dark indentation at the side of the mountain caught her attention, not only for the fact that it was a random cave, but also for the fact that the Larvitar had seen it as well, and was dashing inside. Raven reached the mouth of the cave, hearing the Larvitar's little feet go padding into the darkness. Her breast heaving, she placed her hands on her knees, trying to catch her breath.

Well, that was that. Nature had taken it's course, and the Larvitar had found a new home. Raven had done her job. "Well, so long, Larvitar. I'll miss you, but...it's meant to be." she said between deep inhalations. As she was preparing to turn and head back down the mountainside, an excited scream met her ears. Her blood ran cold, as she recognized it to be that of the Larvitar. Her worst imaginings flashed before her eyes-perhaps the cave had already been occupied by something bigger and meaner? Without a second thought, Raven dashed into the cave.

As the way got darker, Raven slowed down, squinting in an attempt to see her way in the murky blackness. "Larvitar!" she cried, her voice echoing against the dank walls of the cave. Another excited scream from the lizard proved that she was indeed going in the right direction. Her pulse, still quick from her trek up the mountain, and fueled now by adrenaline, was the only thing she could hear, and it was pounding in her ears. The whole thing seemed futile; she was now in pitch darkness, and couldn't even see her hand in front of her face, if she wanted to. Her hands gripped the damp walls of the cave, feeling her way through the corridor. But, what was that? A light?

Raven cautiously went towards the light. Perhaps it was an exit? As she saw the source of the light, she saw three silhouetted figures, one holding a flashlight. Attached to the one holding the flashlight...was a Larvitar, who was holding on to the man's leg for dear life, nuzzling and snuggling on him. "Larvitar, no!" Raven cried, stepping into the light. Her breath caught in her throat as she realized who was holding on to the flashlight. "Tag...?" she asked softly, brushing a lock of brunette hair out of her green eyes. "Tag! What are you...?" she began, before her vision turned over to the two men, whom Tag was shining the light upon. Raven looked between the three, and immediately got on her guard. "There's...not any trouble, is there?" she asked warily, finally noticing that the Larvitar had detached itself and was now nuzzling her leg again.

So much for a quiet vacation.

Posted by: Yzarc Drowsnam Dec 30 2010, 03:55 AM

Justin and Nate came to a halt when they approached Tag, too tired to be excited at the reunion. Nate, whose name was often forgot by acquaintances, knew precisely that Tag did not recall. It also meant he didn't really care. Though really, the thing that made him care the least was that those men had his most powerful pokemon. Justin, on the other hand, couldn't help but be overcome with relief at the sight of his intimidating...Acquaintance? Rival? Friend? Something. They had some relationship. That much could certainly be said.

After a few moments catching his breath, he stood up straight and tried to force a smile. He looked behind him to see if they were being followed, but heard nothing. "I probably should have expected to see you, Tag," he said, noting all of their frequent accidental encounters. As he held his hand out to shake the man's hand, however, a woman approached. It seemed their commotion had attracted a larvitar, which apparently attracted women. Go figure.

Apparently, she was with Tag, and Justin gathered that he wandered off for some reason. It didn't seem like Tag, but who knows? Then she asked if there was trouble.

"Um, yeah," Justin began. "Yeah, there are some guys in the- I'm Justin, by the way," he squeezed past Tag and offered to shake the woman's hand. When he got closer and noticed her tattoos, it pretty much confirmed in his own mind that she and Tag were dating, or at least together in some intimate sense. "My partner, Nate," he nodded his head behind himself to Nate, who was basically mortified. "There's a more open space a little further in the cave," He was referring to the meeting spot where he and Nate were betrayed. "Be a little easier to figure things out there, I think."

Posted by: Kamaitachi Dec 30 2010, 10:05 PM

Blinking owlishly, Tag finally came to his right mind that he had in fact run into Justin and Idiot in a random cave on the side of Mount Carello. Justin did have a point though; part of him should've expected the crazy-random-happenstance meeting. "Part of me should've expected this crazy-random-happenstance meeting".

He was surprised that Justin, for once, looked relieved to see him. Perhaps it was just his imagination, but it did appear to be something like relief. If Tag was a welcome sight, that usually meant to him that something far worse was just around the corner. That or Tag had softened up considerably since their introduction. The latter seemed to ring more true, so he discarded the first thought. After all, calling the other kid "You're here too" instead of "Idiot" seemed like a good baby step.

His second question of "What're you doing in a cave?" would ultimately have to remain unanswered for the time being, as he felt something suddenly cling to his leg. His hand snapped to Suzu's pokeball on instinct, as he flashed the...well...flashlight down at his leg. With a happy smile on its face, he noted that there was a Larvitar clinging to his leg.

Aww. Cute.

Wait.

There was a Larvitar clinging to his leg, and it evidently knew him, which could only mean:

"Larvitar no! Tag?" He had not really gotten the sound of that melifluous voice out of his head yet. Therefore, part of him thought it to be merely hallucination. However, there she was again, blazing green eyes and all.

"Raven?"

Now things were truly a crazy-random-happenstance sort of moment. The oaf Justin whom he'd grown accustomed to (not enough to say friend. Perhaps acquaintance and a half, or acquaintance +1) then Raven, whom he'd warmed up to within hearing the first sarcastic words float from her mouth....were now all together in a cave. This was gearing up to be something interesting.

"There's not any trouble, is there?"

"Um yeah. Yeah. There are some guys in the- I'm Justin by the way" Tag mentally slapped his forehead. In his confusion he'd hurt himself forgotten his manners and failed to introduce the group of strangers. In his confusion he also remembered that he didn't do that in general. His thoughts were willy nilly. "My partner, Nate." Nate. That was it. Nate. "There's a more open space a little further in the cave. Be a little easier to figure things out there, I think."

Tag turned to Raven "What're you doing in the cave?"

That was all anyone really wanted to know. What was everyone doing in that one particular cave? And what on Earth was going on?

Posted by: Tymid Dec 31 2010, 12:22 AM

Raven peered down at the hand in front of her; even in the dim light, her emerald, highly intelligent eyes shimmered with a lingering doubt. However, she extended her slender hand and gripped Justin's firmly, in a not-so-feminine manner. Perhaps it was a way to show the fellow that she wasn't your average girl with tattoos, messy hair, and a pretty leather jacket? In either case, upon releasing his grip, she nodded to the one called Nate, trying not to smile at the terrified look on his face.

"Well, then. Justin-by-the-way and Nate, it's a pleasure to make your acquaintance, I think. I'm Raven." she said quietly, her pretty voice echoing in a unique, sarcastic southern drawl that echoed throughout the cave. She stroked the poke'balls at her hip gently, looking down at them with a fond eye. "I'd introduce you to the rest of the crew, but they don't see too hot in the dark, nor are they too fond of surprises." she said with a chuckle, her eyes darting to Tag in a knowing glance.

As soon as her eyes turned to him, he asked her what she was doing in the cave. In mock anger, a playful smirk resting on her full lips and her hands falling on her hips, she answered. "I could ask you the same thing, you oaf. Last time I checked, you were s'posed to be going cross country, not frolicking about in some dark cave." A small, light laugh filled the corridor, and her eyes fell upon the Larvitar once again. "Well, ever since lover-boy down here decided to follow me from Lenolia, I decided I should at least try to get the fellow to a new home, and a mountain seemed just the ticket. After procuring a map and some delicious vittles from Loch Ranch, I found that this mountain seemed to be just the ticket. Anywho, to make a long story short, this Larvitar seemed to like the mountain, leading me on a wonderful trek up through sharp rocks and briars and what-not..." she paused, smiling down at the Larvitar, scratching him on the head. Looking up at Tag again, her smile faded, and she cleared her throat, putting a serious expression on once again. "...Not because I'm fond of him or anything...just wanted to make sure that he got to where he needed to be alright, is all. I can't keep another poke'mon, y'know."

Her eyes darted down to the Larvitar once again, then back to Tag. "Before you know it, I saw his little green rear run into this cave, and as I was about to venture on my own way, I heard him squalling like a banshee. So, I come chasing after him to see if he's found some sort of monster, and instead, he'd found you. Not sure which one's worse, honestly." she murmured, flashing Tag a mischevious smile, and extending her hand out to him. "It's good to see you again, you damn fool."

After she had explained her story, she turned once again to Justin and Nate. "Now that we all know why I'm here..." she paused to run her hand through her silky, brunette mane, pushing it out of her face so that they could see her better, if they so pleased, "...I think Justin's idea sounds good. We can all get acquainted a little further down, eh?"

With that, Raven stopped to listen. She had gleaned from Justin's fragmented sentence that they didn't need to stay very long, which was why her story had been cut a bit short, to say the least. She heard nothing other than breathing, which was a good sign. She looked back down at the Larvitar clinging to her leg, and shook it. "Not again..." she said with a groan, leaning down to pry the Larvitar's stumpy arms from her pant leg. The poor thing seemed to have mild separation anxiety.

Posted by: Yzarc Drowsnam Dec 31 2010, 01:22 PM

As they Justin led the way into the more open area, he forced himself to stay composed, unlike his frantic partner. They were, in fact, walking straight into the part of the cave with five men, each armed with pokemon, or at least where they were earlier. There was no way to know if they stayed or chased after or turned around. Justin was initially hoping they'd stayed stationary, but once he bumped into Tag and Raven, both of whom were trainers, he was hoping they had chased after them.

The reason for that is because that would mean they needed to finish off the witnesses. They already got everything for which they came: The money, the "package," and hell, they even got an extra pokemon which they could probably sell. If they decided to chase down Nate and Justin, that means they needed to do one more thing, and if the two were with Tag and Raven, they would immediately be accused as witnesses and would be forced into the same situation, thus doubling their numbers and something like quadrupling their chances of survival. Honestly, Justin didn't even consider that it was kind of a douchey move to implement these two in this. Not for a minute, at least. Then he realized that he was becoming more and more of a dick. He shrugged.

When they got to the open area, the five men were gone. That meant they probably didn't care about witnesses, which meant they needed to be chased down. Before he let Tag or Raven speak, he turned to them. "I'm gonna be straight with you guys," he said with absolutely no intention of being straight with them guys, "There are some men somewhere in this cave. Bad men. They stole Nate's numel."

"He has a name, Justin,"

"I'm not saying his name," Justin said calmly, his arms crossed.

"His name is Da Bomb,"

"And now you see why I didn't say his name." Justin shrugged. "Anyway, we were using him as a sort of torch, figuring our way through the cave which we found," (As opposed to created) "On the mountain side." He knew, of course, that everything he said would be taken with a grain of salt, at least by Tag, who knew a little of Justin's deceptive history (seeing as how he tried to swindle Tag into helping him do crime before). The difference this time was that there was a glimmer of truth behind his huge falsification.

"I don't know why they did it," Justin continued. "But Nate and I are going after them. I promised him. We'd be really grateful to have either of you along."

Posted by: Kamaitachi Jan 1 2011, 04:13 AM

Tag shook Raven's hand with the same strong grip from the first time they met. Once again, he felt that anything less would be condescending to her 'weaker gender', which was something Tag neither thought, nor wanted her to think he thought.

"Raven, the pleasure is all mine." He smiled. It wasn't by any means a dashing, winning smile of a charming man. In fact, Tag's smile was almost a bit lopsided. With all the stubble he'd accumulated since he left Lenolia, it should've appeared awkward; a bit broader of a smile might've indicated that he was a lunatic. However, the good nature in the smile, and the slight softening of his deep brown eyes were the clearest indicators that he was, in fact, incredibly happy to see her.

Once they reached a little cave clearing, Justin began to fill them in on the situation as to why the duo had appeared within the confines of the cave. Then the two had a brief squabble over the pokemon's nickname (which Tag had never heard before, and thought it quite fitting for a pokemon like Numel, even if he'd never admit that out loud, especially to Nate.)

The situation seemed oddly familiar, though. It would've been deja vu except for the fact that it wasn't. Last time, Justin and Nate had recruited Tag and Malcolm Smith to help them with a Seviper...and it had led to trouble. Perhaps it had even made it double. No. That was wrong. There was simply trouble. This time, Justin and Nate were asking Tag and Raven to help them with a Numel. Something about this formula seemed all too familiar. Last time, even with the meddling of the 'Pokemon Rangers', the consequences had not been too dire. However, this time, he was in a cave, and there were 'Bad Men' about.

Tag closed his eyes for a moment, crossing his arms in front of him. It looked, for a moment, like he was about to do an about face and march completely out of the cave. In actuality, he was having a sort of internal match with himself, playing a quick chinese checkers game of pros and cons. How that was even possible was unknown to everyone but Tag.

Almost with a resigned sigh, Tag unfolded his arms, meeting Justin eye to eye (which meant he had to tilt his head back slightly).

"I'll help." he nodded. He had resolved the issue on a few points: Justin had proven himself to not be such a bad kid after all. Without Justin, Tag probably would've ended up a hostage for the rest of his life, or worse yet, dead. Justin had also cheered him on during his last gym match. While he didn't exactly like (or even know) Nate, he did not like the idea of someone stealing someone else's pokemon. The cherry to top the thought sundae was that Tag and Raven had both just rescued a decent number of Black Market Pokemon, and in all honesty, Tag did not want to see a Pokemon as cute as Numel wind up in one of those cages, with one of those cruel tags in its ear. Well, it didn't necessarily have to be cute pokemon, rather pokemon in general. Had Nate possessed an uglier pokemon, like...Magmortar or Hariyama, Tag still would've felt the same way. "I don't want to see Da Bomb end up in one of those Black Markets." It was a sufficient explanation as to why he volunteered his aid.

Justin wasn't so bad a kid. However, Tag really hoped that it wasn't JUST the combo of Justin and Nate that seemed to create problems. Tag really hoped that the equation for trouble involved a Seviper in some way shape or form. Having Numel as the new goal, perhaps things would not turn out the same way.

At the very least, he was willing to trust that Justin was not once again deceiving him, even though all the clues were pointing to the fact that they probably were. Tag would give Justin that benefit of the doubt.

Posted by: Tymid Jan 1 2011, 10:20 PM

As Raven felt Tag's firm grip, a certain warmness filled her heart, which made her almost not want to let go. She did, of course, but his grasp made her feel secure for the first time in a long time, like she was around someone she could trust. She knew she could trust him, considering she had, upon the first time meeting him, risked her life and the life of her poke'mon to embark on a hare-brained scheme to rescue some poke'mon. She didn't regret it at all, in fact, she felt quite proud about what she had accomplished, but the new scars of her endeavor lingered on her pale skin.

As they reached the bigger area, Raven looked around, her street smarts allowing her to subliminally scout out the surroundings. It seemed pretty primitive, but the fact that the rocks and dust were greatly disturbed around her feet, like there had been a scuffle, caught her attention. It was then that Justin started talking, and she lifted her head politely to listen. As she did so, her face went from polite focus, to slight worry, to a concerned frown. A stolen poke'mon? Crazy name or not, that was a big deal. However, the story, in her mind, wasn't adding up. It was one thing for a poke'mon to be stolen; that was almost a daily occurence in Petropolis. However, for a group of men to be lying in wait in a random cave that would probably never be entered except by the most determined of spelunkers, who would more likely than not have a cast full of extremely strong poke'mon with them.

However, it was clear, by the look on Nate's face, that a poke'mon had most definitely been taken; she could recognize that fear anywhere. As her nose wrinkled in thought and contemplation, she looked over to Tag, who seemed to be having a bit of conflict about the situation as well. Raven, not being a very social person, wasn't too apt people, but helping a poke'mon was a whole different matter. The only thing stopping her from saying yes to the two was one troubling thought; Aria. Her wounded warrior was still in a healing state; could she really risk the little Shinx getting hurt again? Then again, maybe some battle would do some good. The answer was simple. Raven would ask her.

Plucking one of the two poke'balls from her waist, she called forth the Shinx, who appeared with a large yawn and blinking, sleepy eyes. "Hey, baby." Raven said sweetly, kneeling down to pet the kitten's head, who smiled up at her with that happy, shinxy face. "You feel up to doing some more rescuing? Hm?" she asked, stroking behind the kitten's ears. The reply was immediate. A happy mewling and a small bounce confirmed what Raven had been thinking, and Raven hugged the kitten to her, playfully nibbling her ear, before recalling her back to her ball for some more shut-eye.

Raven rose to her feet, and she caught Tag giving his affirmation to help. Raven nodded to Nate and Justin, her arms crossing in front of her chest. "You can count me in as well. I'll do what I can." she stated calmly, however, she made her way to Justin, a slow swagger to her walk, and curled a finger under his chin. Her green eyes flickered dangerously in the dim light. "I only have one stipulation, Justin." she said in a low whisper, a few of the smaller scars on her face exposed on the shadows on her face. "Lie to me, and you will never receive my aid again."

She paused, and pulled away from him with a small smile. "Not like you'd ever need it, of course!" she said cheerily, turning to Tag and offering him a jovial smirk. "Look at me. I'm turning into a regular social butterfly." she murmured, rolling her eyes and rubbing at her temples, in mock disappointment.

Posted by: Yzarc Drowsnam Jan 2 2011, 04:05 AM

Justin was mostly glad to have Tag's aid, since he was not only a better trainer than both Justin and Nate, but smarter as well. The girl seemed oddly sensitive, and very in touch with her pokemon, which Justin did not expect given her rough exterior. Tattoos, holy jeans, a leather jacket. It was almost as if she was trying to look tough. Maybe it was an intentional coverup for her girliness.

As he was noticing the shinx's scarred left eye, gaining some more respect for the woman, she approached him calmly and assertively told him not to lie to her, touching his chin to force him to listen. When she walked away, Justin's eyes naturally wandered a little below her back. He wanted to say something cool. Something which would make him seem just as powerful or strong as her. What came out? "Yes, ma'am," He was entranced.

After a second, he collected himself, however, and decided to add a point of interest, seeing as how they'd certainly figure it out anyway. "I didn't lie," he nodded his head, "But I did leave out a few truths,"

"Justin?" Nate seemed concerned.

"The other parts don't matter to you, though," he added, "Or they shouldn't. The point is that these men are criminals, and I'm sure o'that. Nothing good will happen to," he wanted to sigh, but refrained, "The Bomb, if we don't get him back. If that's not enough for you, then I'm sorry. I can't tell you any more. It's your call."

He actually felt good about this. He was telling them up front that he was doing something shady, and left it up to them to decide whether they would help given this lack of information. Both Tag and apparently Raven had a deep concern for pokemon, and they would help. Justin would probably never tell Tag that the seviper he accidentally helped Justin capture would eventually become a miserable zoo animal. Hopefully that would never come up. In any case, he really hoped he didn't have to lie to Raven. She was scary.

Posted by: Kamaitachi Jan 2 2011, 06:47 PM

"Look at me. I'm turning into a regular social butterfly."

Tag allowed himself a soft chuckle.

"You and me both. Next we'll have to attend some fancy to-do."

However, Justin then pointed out that he'd lied by omission by leaving out some truths. Perhaps he was saying that to appear more trustworthy? Who knew?

"So they're criminals. It doesn't matter. Since we all met up by crazy-random-happenstance in this cave, and Nate's pokemon has been kidnapped, we might as well just get on with it." The usually astute Tag had completely missed all the warning signs on this one. He had his objective in mind, and was ready to once again test out his mettle. He wasn't a Hero of Justice by any means, but he was willing to help Nate and Justin against some criminals, in the same way that Justin had helped him back in Petropolis. What he failed to ask was why Justin and Nate were involved with criminals this time, and why were they in a cave? Had he thought it through a bit more clearly, he might've put some version of the story together. But, of course, he was trying to trust Justin, so that meant giving a little leeway.

"Shall we get started, or should we give them more of a head start?"

Posted by: Tymid Jan 3 2011, 06:00 PM

Notice. (click to show)


"Yeah, let's go," Justin nodded to Tag. "Pretty sure they just went down this way." He led the group of four through the cave, which was not quite as well lit up as when Da Bomb was lighting the way. Tag's flashlight was sufficient, however.

Justin and Tag, as the leader and the light bearer respectively, were up front when the cave became narrow enough for only two people to walk side by side,leaving Raven in the back row with Nate. "So, Raven," Justin said, turning his head back to her, "How long have you known Tag?"


Raven smirked in the darkness, but the creaking sound of her leather jacket gave the impression that she had shrugged. "Let's see...well, I met him a couple of weeks ago, so let's give it that. I'm not too good with numbers." she said with a chuckle. "I'm assuming you know him as well. He's a tough old biddy to know, isn't he?" she queried, her eyes darting over to Tag mischeviously, knowing she'd soon be getting a comment her way, or maybe he would just ignore her. He was good at ignoring people, at times.


"Uh, yeah, you could definitely say that," he casually looked over to the man whose approval he so desperately sought, even more than his own father's. Two weeks? How was Tag already so close to a girl who- Oh. A girl. Well, that cleared that up nice and neatly.

"So, if you don't mind my asking," he began, changing the subject. Talking about Tag while he was right there, it seemed weird. "What happened to your shinx?"


"Hit by a car and abandoned, actually." Raven said sadly, stroking the ball that Aria resided in gently. "When I found her, you could barely recognize what poke'mon she was. However, she was still alive, so Requiem and I took her to a Center and got her patched up...waited until she was up and about before we took her home."

A small smile fell upon Raven's face, as she remembered the first time she had seen Aria open her eyes. "Requiem's my Totodile. He doesn't look much better, but that's because I found him by a riverbank in a trash bag, beaten half-to-death. Why anyone would do that, I don't know, but he doesn't really like men, and he's not the most friendly of 'diles. You'd have to meet him in broad daylight if you don't want him to chew on you a little bit. Just a little, though."


"Aw hell," Justin shook his head, looking forward again, "I'm sure I'd deserve it a little. But, uh, yeah, maybe not right now." Justin was warming up to pokemon, that much was sure, but mostly to his own, and a little bit to Tag's. Point being, he didn't have the wherewithal to try and convince a beaten pokemon that he was a good guy. "Seriously, though, that's really cool of you to take in pokemon that need it." The last pokemon Justin took in was a damn pinsir who would probably rule the pokemon kingdom with an iron fist if released. Hopefully he wouldn't have to come out in his expedition.

Raven's smile faded, a little bit of a frown replacing it. "Cool? I wouldn't call it cool, really. That's like saying it's cool to breathe, or eat." Her voice was genuine--for once, she wasn't trying to be sarcastic. "I don't see why someone would hurt a poke'mon at all, or at least do something to help them. It just doesn't seem humanly possible to leave a living, breathing creature to die, or to suffer." she pondered aloud, and her eyes drifted to Nate, who still looked rather uncomfortable. "Which is exactly why I'm helping you guys, no matter how nefarious you two seem. Poke'mon are tough, but even they need someone to fight for them, every now and then."

"So," Justin began, "Gonna go ahead and overlook that word you just called us to say that you coulda done a lot less for them. You coulda left 'em. You coulda taken 'em to a pokemon center and let them handle it. I mean, that's probably what I'da done. But you took 'em in and took care of 'em yourself. Talk it down all you want, they weren't your responsibility."
"I just mean to say that I respect it is all," he added.

Raven's smirk returned. "Now, respect is a word I can hold dear. Thank you very much, Justin." she said sincerely, dipping her head in his direction. "But, like I said. I can't understand why someone wouldn't do what I did, how their conscience could stand the guilt. Then again, I'm proven more and more every day that the human conscience is a fickle beast, growing more and more fallible each day." she said with a sigh. Her eloquent speech, mixed with her southern drawl was unique to listen to, however, as her nature was, she ended her thought with an appropriate, conclusive phrase. "People suck."

Justin held back for a second to really think about what he was going to say. "Sometimes," he agreed. "But I think even the people that suck the most deserve some kind of- I don't know, hope? I mean, pokemon can suck too. Trust me. I guess I just mean- I guess-" he was stumbling over his words, not really knowing what to say. "People make mistakes, and they do shitty things, but I still think, on the whole, they're doing what they think they gotta do."

"Hope. That's a dangerous word, right there." Raven said warily, nodding to herself. "Sure, everyone deserves hope. Everyone deserves a chance. A chance to change, a chance to live...you can pick your poison."

Her pace slowed, to where she had slowed to a complete stop. Her left hand totally rose to her right wrist, upon the exterior arm, not the interior. Her gaze took on a haunted, deep expression, and her head canted to the side. "However...I've found that giving a poke'mon a chance is...less risky than giving chances to people. People...they don't understand. They don't have the capacity to understand." she murmured. A coo from the Larvitar at her heels caused her to lift her head with a snap, and trot ahead to the rest of the group. "Basically..." she began, her voice resonating in a forced, happy quip "...People will always help people. People don't help poke'mon very much. So, that's what I'm here for, I suppose."

Justin looked back to see her running ahead to the group. "Are you okay?" he asked.

"Yeah. I'm fine, you kidding me? Just had to shake off the velcro lizard back there. He slows me down a lot." she said softly, a gentle smile falling upon her face. A small silence followed, and she cleared her throat. "So! Enough about me...what about yourself? What do you do?"

Hell of a question. He sighed and rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. "Yeah, I'm in construction," he lied. Hoping that one wouldn't come back to bite him in the ass. "That's why I got my hitmontop, he really helps out." He realized that all his interesting stories came after he joined Team Deception. "So, yeah, I'm a pretty boring guy."

Raven's eyes flitted to the hand at his neck, her brow lifting. After living on the streets, around drug dealers and ne'er-do-wells that made Justin look like an angel, she had learned to decipher a few of the big signs that people were being dishonest, or 'tics'. "What part of construction, exactly? Do you weld? Supervise? Do framework, or...?" she asked innocently.

"Well, I'm a contractor," he said, a little more confidently. The fact that he actually used to work in construction helped. "So I tend to do a lot of different stuff. Mostly, since I live in Petropolis, I work on streets and buildings. Structural, I guess, if you wanted to be super specific."

"Oh, you live in Petropolis as well? I live in a little 1 bedroom apartment downtown. What was your last project?" she asked curiously. Now, naturally, she didn't know every project going on in Petropolis, but the longer it took him to respond as he thought of something, would be an indicator of falsehood. She really didn't care, just so long as he wasn't hurting Poke'mon, or herself or Tag.

"Well," he said, going to the easiest answer, "City's building a new highway, you probably already know, and I've kinda just been working on parts of that," It had a hint of truth to it. That project had been going on for years and he actually had worked on it.

"Ah, alright." she resigned. "Well, everyone's gotta do something, I suppose. At least you've got the good end of the employment scheme--that project is supposed to last for a while. I'm going to assume you're just taking a vacation?"

"Yeah," he said, looking straight forward. "Not quite the dream vacation, but you know. But, yeah, I've always kinda wanted to live downtown. Rent's just, well, you know. Must be nice."

Raven laughed aloud. "I don't think you and I are talking about the same downtown. I'm not talking about the suburbs. I live an apartment the size of a closet." She spread her arms a ways. "About that big. Barely big enough for Requiem, Aria, and myself. Which is why I can't keep you." she directed down to the Larvitar, who was smiling goofily up at her. She looked back up to Justin, and shrugged.

"He's deaf. Can't hear a word I'm saying." she murmured quietly, as though it would matter.

Justin looked up as he thought. "Well, I guess, yeah," he didn't want to argue with her. He figured she probably lived near downtown, where the rent was a little more reasonable but the location was a little more dangerous, since downtown apartments cost a damn fortune.

"Hold up," he stopped the group, "You hear that?" It was the sound of growling and when Justin took a few steps forward, he noticed the path was brighter up ahead. "There's something going on up there,"

Raven didn't respond, simply moved forward, placing one hand on Tag's shoulder and one on Justin's, pushing herself upwards so she could get a better look. At her heels, she heard an odd sniffing and huffing, and the Larvitar took a few steps backward. A group of about...4 or 5 more Larvitar, each with glaring red eyes, were looking at the group. Needless to say, none of them looked too happyto see the group, and none of them looked like they wanted a big hug, like the pacing Larvitar at Raven's feet. "Uh-oh." she said calmly, removing herself from the two men's shoulders. "They don't look happy. Not at all."

Posted by: Kamaitachi Jan 3 2011, 07:05 PM

It seemed rather odd to Tag that Raven and Justin had chosen...well...Tag as their first topic of conversation. This was mostly because not only was he within earshot, he was also within arm's reach. In fact, he couldn't even tune out anything of what they said, because Justin was talking over both of their shoulders to Raven.

Unfortunately, Tag had no idea what a biddy was, so he wasn't sure if he was being complimented or being lightly mocked. Either way, he was a bit uncomfortable with the two talking about him.

"I don't understand your question, and I refuse to answer it." He shot what could only be described as a friendly glare over at Raven, turning it to Justin. Luckily, Justin changed the topic to Aria, who was by far a more interesting creature to talk about.

Oh how the two did prattle on! They spoke almost as if they were old friends, even going so far as to pontificate on the fallibility of human conscience! Tag almost imagined that he was sitting in a quad in some university, playing guitar shirtless while Justin and Raven prattled on with flower wreaths in their hair, and Nate served them lemonade mixed with vodka. That image was almost racist. Nate sat beside them, quietly puffing from a marijuana cigarette. There. More appropriate. Almost.

He used the opportunity to allow himself to daydream, someone hypnotized by the monotony of walking through a cave. The daydreaming allowed him to completely remove himself from the constant chatter of the two. It also allowed him to completely miss the fact that they were about to run into some trouble.

"They don't look happy. Not at all."

Tag, somewhat snapped from his reverie, stepped into battle-mode in an instant. Within a second of being faced with a group of Larvitar, Tag pulled out a pokeball and dropped it on the ground in front of him.

"Kyoko" The flash of the pokeball was quite bright in the fairly dim cave. Once it faded, it revealed stinky, drooling Kyoko, who still appeared to be a bit pouty from earlier. "Let's go, Sleep Powder." Taking a glance over at the four or five unhappy Larvitar, she allowed her sulkiness to fade as she launched into her attack. Shaking her entire body, she puffed out a cloud of pink spores from the top of her head, floating over towards the Larvitar. Much to Tag's chagrin, not all of them fell to the attack. In fact, only two of the group succumbed to the sleep.

Incensed at being attacked in what was more than likely their home, the remaining three charged forward, delivering a triple tackle to the Rafflesia pokemon. She cried out in pain as the three rock pokemon slammed into her, tossing her back towards her trainer, who caught her with a bit of a grunt. She waved her little stubby arms and feet about cutely, wriggling in Tag's grasp.

"It appears I've made them madder."

Posted by: Tymid Jan 3 2011, 07:54 PM

"You could say that, yeah." Raven said, brow furrowed, and her stance falling into one of defense and battle posture.

Raven took no time to pull off the first poke'mon at her waist, which contained Requiem. As she called him forth, Nate and Justin would get their first glimpses of the scarred Totodile. Tag would know what she was doing when Raven made the quick series of snaps and claps, and the jet of water came forth from the Totodile's mouth, hitting a Larvitar square in the mouth, knocking it flat on it's back. The remaining Larvitar, looking at it's fallen compatriots, was fuming, and as it prepared to run straight at the angry-looking Requiem, Raven saw a green blur running towards Requiem.

The Larvitar, her Larvitar, waving it's stumpy little arms, ran forward, as though trying to communicate with the other one. As it garbled on in whatever language it was speaking, Raven quickly and quietly moved Requiem into a position where the last enemy Larvitar could be taken out. The enemy Larvitar appeared to understand what Raven's was saying, but on an attempt to communicate back, Raven's Larvitar simply shrugged, tapping the ground furiously. Amazingly, the enemy Larvitar began tapping back, and neither of them were growling or chirping anymore...simply tapping. Raven watched, astonished at the transaction, and despite herself, she began plotting different taps and commands to teach the blue-eyed lizard.

"No! I can't keep him!" she murmured aloud to herself, looking at Tag, Justin and Nate with quickly darting pupils. "Sorry. Thinking aloud." she mumbled, still watching the two Larvitar communicate. It was quite fascinating, but it was only so to Raven. Requiem had finally noticed Justin, Nate and Tag's presence, and was staring at them all, his eerie white eye not having a definitive point to look upon, so it kind of looked like he was staring everywhere at once. However, as his other eye darted between the men, the red, chipped spines on his back bristled, and a low growl sounded, his scaly lips curling back and showing shiny white teeth. He wasn't growling so much at Tag, he knew who Tag was. He was defending Raven from this new large man and his scared looking friend.

Raven looked down in time to see the slaver dripping from Requiem's large mouth, and she knelt by him, scratching his scaly hide. "Easy, love. It's alright. Be good now, and you can eat them later." she said idly, not even diverting her eyes from the two conversing Larvitar to nuzzle a scarred scale on the 'dile's head. The growl subsided, but his evil looking eye(s) remained locked on Justin and Nate.

As she rose to her feet, Raven turned to Justin, only looking him in the eye for a moment. "I was just kidding about the whole eating thing. You knew that though, right? Right. Good." she said hurriedly, turning around to find her own Larvitar plodding back over to her, tugging her pant leg excitedly. The normal, enemy Larvitar watched it as Raven's went back to her, and Raven watched confusedly as hers flailed it's arms, pointing further down the corridor and crying "TAR! TAR! TAR" so loudly, that Raven winced and patted the little lizard's head like it was a snooze button. "If I were to name you, I'd call you Forte." she groaned, digging a finger in her ear on a search for a bleeding eardrum.

"Guys, I think he wants us to follow him." Raven called to Tag and Co., but as she finished her speech, both her Larvitar and the foe Larvitar sprinted into the darkness. "Damn it." she whispered, and she trotted after the two, leaving Tag, Justin and Nate behind.

As she disappeared into the darkness, all was silent...for a moment. Her scream split the silence of the cave in two, and she stood trembling, hands clasped over her mouth, at the entrance to a giant cavern. It was obvious what had made the large cavern...and it was laying right in front of her. A massive Tyranitar was laying there, and while Raven's Larvitar was standing beside her leg, the foe Larvitar was nosing and prodding at the still body of it's larger evolution. "My God..." Raven whispered, tears leaking out of her eyes. "They killed it. They killed it." she whispered over and over, and finally turned away from the cavern and back into the corridor, her hands still over her mouth.

Tyranitar were extremely rare, and the first one she saw was lying, motionless in front of her. Requiem stared blankly at the large creature, and then started pulling on Raven's other pant leg gently, trying to get picked up.

When Tag finally showed up, she merely looked at him and walked into his chest, burying her face in his shirt. She didn't care if he hugged or consoled her, she just needed to be close to someone...a human...that was alive.

Posted by: Yzarc Drowsnam Jan 3 2011, 09:17 PM

Justin stood back and watched as Kyoko, Requiem and Larvitar took care of the enemy larvitar, noticing all the while that Kyoko had evolved from the timid little oddish she once was. His hand was actively resting on Hitmontop's pokeball, however, as it tended to do during times of tension. It all seemed to work out without his buddy this time, which was good news, especially since it seemed the friend and foe larvitar had ceased aggression and were somehow communicating. When they darted off, Raven followed intently as if the young pokemon was her own. It was cute that she kept trying to convince herself she wasn't about to adopt it.

The other three followed with somewhat less speed, and when they arrived were bombarded with too many things at once. First and foremost, likely at least, on everyone's mind, was the tyranitar lying motionless in the large opening of the cave. Then when Raven cried into Tag's arms, his suspicions of them being totes into each other were confirmed. Then, when this all settled, one thing seemed to ring very loudly in Justin's underworked mind.

"I get the feeling we're out of our league," he said, turning to his partner on his right. "Either these guys are packing some really strong pokemon, or have guns."

"I don't care," Nate crossed his arms, "I'm not leaving Da Bomb,"

"Nate, they're gonna kill us," Justin shook his head, not taking his eyes off the motionless tyranitar. "Look what they did to this thing, dude. You think they're gonna show us more mercy?"

"I don't plan on ever being at their mercy, Justin," Nate said, angrily. "Our pokemon are good. We can take them,"

"I am not putting Hitmontop between me and armed men," Justin shook his head. "If they have guns, I'm bailing. And if they used pokemon? That means their pokemon are really strong, and ours are not. Hitmontop could not take this thing on." The truth of it was, Hitmontop probably could, but only due to a very clear type advantage. He resisted both rock and dark, and his fighting attacks did quadruple effective damage to Tyranitar. Justin, though, was relatively unaware of all this information, but knew enough to know that pupitars don't evolve unless they are very strong.

"Fine," Nate yelled. "Well I'm going. Have fun on your way out."

"Nate, they'll kill you!" Justin yelled.

"Who'll care?" Nate asked. "Will you?"

"Of course I will, I'm your partner."

"Are you my friend?"

"Yes!"

"I'm not an idiot, Justin," Nate was already walking towards the other end of the open part of the cave to another tunnel. "Your hints aren't as subtle as you think. You don't care about me, and you definitely don't care about my pokemon. You don't give a shit about anything but money."

"Nate!"

"We're criminals!" Nate yelled, directed towards Raven and Tag, "Just thought you guys should know. Members of Team Deception." As he turned towards the tunnel, he stopped himself. "Oh, and Justin quit working in construction a while ago. He's a professional criminal now. Have fun with that." And with that, Nate turned towards the tunnel and walked out, fully prepared to never be seen again.

Justin watched his partner walk into the dark and narrow tunnel, but did not chase him. He stood awkwardly for a moment, then turned his head from the tunnel, to the tyranitar, then finally to Tag and Raven.

Posted by: Kamaitachi Jan 4 2011, 02:55 AM

Tag paid no attention to Kyoko's stench as he watched Requiem enter the fray. Raven's signature battle style went full into effect. Naturally, it left the opponent no time to react, and thus an enemy Larvitar was floored immediately.

However...it turned out that Raven's Larvitar could communicate with the Larvitar swarm...brood...pride...whatever the proper collective noun was. As a result, the larvitar began communicating in a series of taps on the ground, that the deaf Larvitar obviously had no problem understanding. Pokemon were indeed marvelous and intelligent creatures. (Usually).

As Requiem turned his attention to the boys of the group, Tag almost subconsciously began to move away from Justin and Nate, but then in a sign of utmost reassurance, he stepped in between them and the angry Requiem, hugging his Gloom to him tightly. "Hello again, Requiem. I'm pleased to see you're well...and as vicious as ever."

Tag did not succeed in calming the ferocious Totodile, but Raven's gentle hand seemed to do the trick.

Raven then burst off down the hallway, following the Larvitar. Tag was unsure of what to do with the unconscious and asleep Larvitar in the hallway, but decided they would be fine for now; no one else was coming from the direction they came in, and the enemy was fleeing the opposite direction.

Tag burst into something of a jog to keep up in Raven's pace, but she was a bit more determined than him to charge forward into the great unknown of the cave. He feared the worst as he heard her shattering scream pierce his ears, and he clung even tighter to the pokemon in his arms.

The first thing he saw was Raven throwing herself towards him. With a shrill cry, Kyoko extracted herself from Tag's grasp and hopped up onto his head, fumbling around and clinging to the back of it, where she peeked out cautiously.

There was a moment of intense awkwardness as a crying Raven planted her face directly into his chest. He could feel moisture pooling up on his tank top, blinking as he felt it mat up the hair on his chest. Gingerly, and almost awkwardly, he placed his arms around her and patted her back.

Then he saw why she was crying.

Now, obviously, different reactions stir up in different people. While Raven cried, and Justin started weaseling, Tag simply got angry. He wasn't exactly quite sure as to why; anger is a fairly irrational emotion, but the sight of the Tyranitar dead on the ground made his blood boil.

"You're kidding right?" Tag turned to Justin, balling his fists up. "Hitmontop would be our best bet against a Tyranitar."

This comment was evidently lost, because Nate and Justin were arguing like a married couple.

"We're criminals!" Nate yelled as he moved to the other end of the tunnel. "Just thought you guys should know. Members of Team Deception." Then he spilled the beans on Justin quitting construction.

Tag slowly let go of Raven and turned to Justin. All of his anger seemed to have subsided, disappearing from his eerily calm face. However, when he spoke, his voice hissed with barely controlled rage.

"You bastard." He spat at the ground at Justin's feet. Without explaining himself further, he turned and headed after Nate. This seemed like an odd move, but really, it seemed perfectly justifiable to Tag. He was going to call Nate a bitch, and mess up some criminals who were more professional than Justin and Nate to avenge the Tyranitar, and to rescue Da Bomb. Why he was still deadset on rescuing Nate's Numel, he really wasn't quite sure. What he did know was that he'd probably end up taking Nate down too.

He wasn't sure if Raven was following him, or remaining in the cave with Justin, but a more rational part of his brain hoped that she was following him.

He caught up with Nate, slowing his pace to walk alongside him, pointing his flashlight forward, with Kyoko still clinging to the back of his head like some odd backpack. As Tag walked, she seemed to be spitting her acid drool at the ground behind him, leaving a sort of trail. Tag hadn't commanded it, but it seemed that at least Kyoko, who was quite fond of both Justin and Raven, wanted them to follow.

"So...let's get your pokemon back. I said I'd help."

Now that the brief flash of anger subsided, he wondered why he was still holding on to the notion that he'd promised to help Nate rescue Da Bomb.

"You are only as good as your word." he heard some faraway voice in the back of his mind say. That was probably it after all. "Let's get back Da Bomb." Tag wasn't sure exactly as to what Team Deception was, after all. Team Rocket he'd heard of. Team Galactic, sure. Team Deception? It sounded like a bunch of street magicians. If Nate was a criminal, he was probably just a pick pocket, and the people he was going after were higher ups in the organization, therefore, following Nate would allow Tag a bigger blow at yet another contraband ring.

This was his logic. It seemed sound, right? Hopefully Raven was following behind to help. Tactically speaking, he was hoping Justin would follow too.

This however, would prove to be a problem. No one in the group had actually taken the time to see if the Tyranitar was dead, unconscious, or asleep. Perhaps it had been the shock of seeing such a large creature grounded in such a way. After all, such a sight is pretty intimidating. Add Raven's tears and Tag's boiling temper, it had gone unchecked.

Thus, it began to stir, standing slowly before noticing Justin and Raven. The fearsome creature rose to its ful height, glaring angrily down at Justin and Raven. With a single step forward, it seemed poised to attack. If either Raven or Justin made a move, its sand stream would whip up a sandstorm in the confines of the cave, leading to a very difficult battle.

Posted by: Tymid Jan 5 2011, 12:15 PM

Wiping her eyes, she cleared her throat roughly to compose herself. It was at this point, she felt Tag's hand patting her back, and she pulled away. She looked up at him awkwardly, muttered a stopped-up "Sorry..." and then proceeded to listen to the argument, which didn't end very well, and involved Nate delivering the information that Justin was no longer in construction, and was in fact a criminal.

Tag didn't take the news very well. In fact, he spat at Justin's feet and walked off, following Nate. Now, she was left alone with Justin, but she knew where she was going to go when she knew there were 5 Tyranitar slaying men in the cave. And that was with Tag. But before she followed him, she turned to Justin, smirking. "I told you." she said. But her voice wasn't cocky, if anything, it was sad. She had truly wanted to help him, he and Nate...but her one rule, for anyone, anywhere, was to be truthful with her, in any circumstance. She had warned him.

She turned away from him, and began to follow Tag's footprints, trying to stay as far away from the slain Tyranitar as possible, having never had an affinity for dead things. Corpses were one of her phobias, actually...she was always afraid that they would move, or blink, or jump up and yell "Surprise!". A small, dotted trail at her feet made her smile; by it's acrid smell, it could only be Kyoko, trying to lead her to follow. How nice.

Requiem and the Larvitar stayed close beside her, and both seemed very jittery. "Come on, guys...it's fine. It's dead." she murmured, looking over to the motionless monster. As if on cue, as soon as she said it, it's eyes opened. As she watched it's pupils narrow, her breath caught in her throat. Unable to even scream, she stayed locked in it's death gaze, her worst fears having come to fruition. It was only after the creature took a deep breath, and exhaled a cloud of sand right toward her, that she knelt and picked up Requiem and the Larvitar, and skittered away, following the trail of acid to the exit she assumed Tag had taken.

Seeing Tag made her very happy, so happy in fact, that she ran past him, squeaking a word that sounded like "Alive!", her face blanched of all color and emotion, save terror. She slowly stopped running, and stood still where she had stopped. Her heart felt like it was about to thump out of her chest. As her mind cleared slightly of fear, she realized that Tag, Nate, and Justin were still back there, and Requiem could be a great aid, if they needed to fight. She turned about, and trotted back to Tag and Nate, who were now watching the great creature lumber to it's feet, growling and groaning as it did so. Requiem and the Larvitar's eyes matched her own: half awe, and half fear. "Why couldn't we have come across a sleeping Blissey...?" she asked shakily, showing that despite her fear, her wit and logic were still intact.

Why did the damn thing have to look at her?

Posted by: Yzarc Drowsnam Jan 6 2011, 12:37 AM

Sighing, Justin watched Tag leave after Nate, and then Raven. He crossed his arms and ran his fingers through his hair. He rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly while staring at the ground, trying to think of what he was going to say to undo what Nate did. Nothing came to mind, though. The worst part was that Nate was right. Justin didn't care about anyone but himself. He didn't feel bad about lying to Tag and Raven until they found out. He didn't feel bad because, while he cared what they thought of him, he did not care about lying to them. Terrible.

He sighed again, but before taking his first step towards the tunnel where Tag, Nate, Raven and some pokemon went, he saw the rock beast in front of him move what the tyranitar probably considered a tiny amount, but it was pretty substantial to a tiny human. His hand jerked to Hitmontop's pokeball, but when the thing stood up, fighting was the very last thing on his mind. Running, oddly enough, was not the first. As the beast looked down the tunnel and blew sand into it, Justin felt concern for the others, who were all likely at least somewhat blinded by the sandstorm.

All the noise was coming from inside the tunnel, so much so that Tyranitar hadn't even noticed Justin standing right next to it. He backed away slowly and quietly, and finally pulled out Hitmontop's pokeball, but did not summon him quite yet. Not until, at least, the beast charged through the tunnel. Then Hitmontop popped right out. "Alright, bud, we gotta redeem my stupid ass,"

It felt weird, for sure, chasing down a raging tyranitar in a cave.

On the opposite side of the beast's charge, Nate had the most brilliant idea of all. "Run!!!!!" When he turned to run, both Tag and Raven were behind him, so he made an awkward bump, but was entirely unapologetic. "Let's go! Go go go!"

Posted by: Kamaitachi Jan 6 2011, 12:59 AM

It was sort of a see-saw effect. Tag was initially distrusting of Justin, and was right to do so. He had been deceived. That sort of thing made some amount of sense, since Justin was evidently with Team Deception. However, the next time around, he had partnered up with Justin out of necessity, and it turned out the kid wasn't so bad. His pokemon seemed quite fond of Justin, enough that Tag would entrust them with the kid in a time of duress.

However, once again, he had been somewhat deceived. Justin had basically filled them in on the situation, tactically omitting one choice bit: He was a criminal too. Well, so was Nate, but for the record, Nate have never actually stated otherwise. These trivialities had allowed Tag to follow Nate, rather than hang around with Justin.

His thoughts turned to Raven, wondering if she was following, and as if on cue, the tattooed girl bolted past him. As he turned to watch her skitter by, he felt some sharp stinging at his back. Like a ninepin, he fell head over heel for a moment, caught completely off guard. A focused sand stream had thrown him clear off of his feet, and sliced the leather jacket on his back almost to shreds. Luckily he'd been wearing it, or else he'd have some severe lacerations on his back from the jets of sand.

"Balls." Tag muttered as Nate screamed the most intelligent idea he'd heard all day. For a moment he hesitated, bringing his hands to his pokeballs...but to face an oncoming, upset Tyranitar was suicide. So Tag, slightly disgraced at the thought, ran with Nate and Raven.

On his back, Kyoko puffed up a Sleep Powder, but due to Tyranitar's Sand Stream and its charge, it simply ran through it. A sweet scent likewise had no avail, and a Stun Spore was equally useless. Resigning herself to artillery work, she began firing off Acid blasts like a rear-gunner. They had little effect on the large, charging creature, but she boldly continued firing from her perch on Tag's shoulder. There had to be something they could do about the sand...and Tag came up with a quick solution:

"Kyoko! Worry Seed!" With surprising accuracy, Kyoko fired off what was soon to become her signature move. The seed scored a hit right between the Tyranitar's eyes, causing a small white flower to bloom. As the Tyranitar's ability changed from Sand Stream to Insomnia, the sand stopped pouring out of its pores. This, of course, did nothing to hinder the sand already out there in the whipped up sandstorm, but at least no more was flowing out.

Tag watched the fairly unchanging scenery of the cave before him, until he spotted some rocks crumble in the distance, revealing another tunnel.

"THERE!" He bellowed, pointing towards the little off-ramp of a tunnel. He charted his course and burst forward with all of his leg strength. Tag found himself issuing something like a battle cry as he threw himself headlong into the little tributary cave. He tumbled unceremoniously, Kyoko abandoning ship and rolling along side him. Hopefully, Nate and Raven followed suit.

Posted by: Tymid Jan 6 2011, 11:49 PM

Raven certainly was getting her cardio today. The sand stung her face, making her wince, but thankfully, it stopped, thanks to a certain smelly poke'mon's Worry Seed. The angered roaring of the beast behind her spurned her sprinting little feet, and even though there was sand in her eyes, she bolted forward.

"THERE!" Tag had cried, and Raven was due to follow...but then, a cry hit her ears. She had been making sure Requiem was at her side, not having the time to do a recall while running. She was not that talented. However, Requiem had stopped, and was screaming and hollering and protesting for all that he was worth, pointing towards the Tyranitar. The massive creature was confused, throwing itself against rocks...and apparently, the vibrations it was sending to her Larvitar companions was unsettling. In the distance, she could see her Larvitar waddling towards the creature, waving it's stumpy arms frantically, balking out random sounds. Raven could swear that they sounded like "Stop", but that was impossible.

Pulling her poke'ball from her waist, she recalled Requiem while there was a moment of silence, and she whipped her head around to see Tag's retreating, torn back, and then she looked towards the Larvitar, waddling towards it's doom.

She knew what she had to do.

As small rocks fell around her with every thundering slam of the Tyranitar's body, Raven turned away from the smaller tunnel that Tag and Nate had darted into, and sprinted towards the Larvitar. Her cries were in vain; it couldn't hear her. She cast fear aside for a moment, an illogical desire to help the little creature driving her adrenaline in a very foolish fashion. As she reached the Larvitar, swooping down upon him and hugging him tightly, the very earth beneath her feet seemed like it was about to give way to the netherworld. She held the Larvitar close to her, and as though it knew what she was trying to convey, it buried it's nose into her jacket and whimpered.

Then, the shaking stopped.

Raven, kneeling and holding the Larvitar close, could hear everything. She could hear the sound of her heartbeat, her own breath sounded deafening, but what was probably most terrifying was the fact that a deep, slow sniffing could be heard. The large Tyranitar was seemingly trying to scent if it's quarry was still in reach. Raven didn't move, and hardly breathed, as she witnessed the Tyranitar slowly bending down to look into the tunnel. As it's reptilian eyes met hers, they shared a moment of observation. But Raven knew, that as the Tyranitar inhaled a snarling, deep breath, and rose to it's full height, that things were about to get bad. Really bad.

As the Tyranitar roared, Raven screamed, rising to her feet and sprinting towards where the tunnel that Tag had gone into had been. As she saw it in the distance, a thundering slam knocked her off of her feet, and she turned so that she landed on her side, and not directly upon the Larvitar. The Tyranitar had just successfully used Giga Impact against the tunnel wall, sending a shockwave that rendered Raven almost immediately unconscious. As her vision swam, and slowly faded to black, she saw that a tummult of rocks had fallen in front of the tunnel, sealing it shut.

The Larvitar danced helplessly around her limp body, attempting to tug her along, to get her somewhere safe. Bigger rocks were falling. Raven was no longer in control.

It would take a miracle to save her.

Posted by: Yzarc Drowsnam Jan 7 2011, 01:20 AM

Because Justin as running from behind the tyranitar, he saw the whole thing unfold. Well, not the whole thing. There was a lot of sand flying in all directions and it was very difficult to keep his eyes open. He managed, though, and was able to see his companions make a sharp turn into a small tunnel. The tyranitar was not so quick to change course, however, and ran straight past.

It realized not too late afterwards, though, that it was chasing nothing. Not the most intelligent of beasts, it tried to simultaneously slow down and pull a complete 180 turn while in a tunnel in which it barely fit. Terrible things ensued, as one might imagine. It unconsciously began tearing down the cave walls at its sides, causing rocks to fall from above and the side. While Justin's initial worry was that the small tunnel would cave in on itself, his fears changed when he saw the tiny larvitar waddle out into the larger tunnel.

Justin did not stop running, but he was still too far away to do anything. Hitmontop could probably speed up really quick, but he insisted on staying near its trainer. As Justin suspected, Raven followed the larvitar as if it were her own. By the time she got hold of it, the tyranitar had turned around completely and the ceiling was beginning to fall entirely. The beast attacked but missed and hit the wall, causing more rocks to fall.

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

"Raven!" Nate called as she abandoned the two to chase after Larvitar. Before he could chase after her, though, a large rock fell right in front of him. He looked up and to the right to see the wall around their tiny tunnel begin to crumble and fall inwards. To his left, the same was happening. This was not a very sturdy tunnel. "Tag," he said, forcing himself to breathe normally, "We need to get back."

As the two backed up (difficult to do in such a narrow corridor) they watched the walls collapse on themselves and completely block them in. They had to keep moving back as the rocks piled up more and more and created a pile pretty far back. They were either trapped, or were in a different part of the same cave. "How far back does this thing go?" he asked as things quieted down.

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

Quite immediately, Tag and Nate were locked in their smaller tunnel. Justin didn't have time to hope they were okay. Tyranitar was about to go to town on Raven's unconscious body. And no. Just no.

"Fake Out!" Justin said, his breath dwindling as he closed in. Hitmontop nodded (or at least Justin assumed he nodded, as his eyes were focused forward). Hitmontop bolted forward with damn near ridiculous speed, spinning wildly on its head, and burst itself from the ground, clapping its particularly large feet right in front of Tyranitar's face. This caused the beast to take a few awkward steps back as Hitmontop gracefully landed on the ground, still spinning rapidly.

"Mach Punch!" Justin shouted. He came to a slow and leaned over as he ran. The rocks above Raven's body were falling harder as bigger ones began to crumble. He kneeled down and slid his left arm under her knees and his right under her back. "It's alright, bud," he said to Larvitar. "Follow me," Lifting with his legs, he pulled her closer to his chest so her head didn't flop about. "Keep Doing it, Hitmontop!" he shouted as he ran forward. Luckily, Hitmontop's Fake Out had pushed Tyranitar back enough steps for Justin to move forward enough to avoid the falling rocks, which were filling the tunnel behind him.

He looked to his feet to see the frightened Larvitar, and then up towards Hitmontop and Tyranitar. Apparently, the Giga Impact had taken a lot out of it. Still, Justin never thought Hitmontop could actually hold his own against this thing. He spun his way around Tyranitar's Crunch and socked it in the face with another Mach Punch. Then it deflected rocks thrown at it with Stone Edge with its spinning feet as if it were nothing. "Triple Kick!" Justin called out.

Little did he know at the time, that would be its finishing move. As Tyranitar leaned forward to bite down hard, Hitmontop's spinning legs knocked it in the mouth, making it stand. The spinning grew in velocity as Hitmontop followed through, jumping off the ground and kicking it another time in the face and finally a third extremely powerful and precise hit before falling back to the ground. He spun gracefully back to Justin, who was holding Raven with relative east as the three (Hitmontop, Justin and Larvitar) watched Tyranitar roar with a dazed look on its face. They all braced themselves as the large pokemon hit the ground, causing it to shake slightly, but it seemed all the loose rock in the area had been wedged free by that point.

He wondered why there was so much loose rock in a cave home to such a large and reckless creature in the first place. He did not recall, however, Da Bomb's Magnitude 10 not an hour before. That probably shook things up a good amount and caused Tyranitar to forget its footing in its own home.

Posted by: Kamaitachi Jan 7 2011, 02:14 AM

Tag rose up from the ground unsteadily as it trembled around him. Furiously wiping sand from his eyes, he looked around wildly until things focused. Unfortunately, the first thing he saw was a large rock fall directly in front of Nate, effectively blocking the two from the main tunnel. He vaguely heard Nate cry out Raven's name, and hoped that the girl was okay.

Backpedaling in the tiny cave with Nate, he found himself essentially pressed up against the other trainer, almost uncomfortably so.

Finally, a heavy thud and a tremble, and the rest was relative silence. In Tag's mind, something had taken down the Tyranitar, but that left Raven on the other side. Tapping the rock experimentally, he noted grimly that it was far too big and even farther too unstable to try and get through.

"We'll just have to find out." Tag grumbled. It was at times like this that he wished he had a mobile phone, that way he could call people. Even still, one couldn't expect to get great service inside of a mountain, he mused.

A strong odor hit his nose, interrupting his thoughts. He fidgeted uncomfortable next to Nate, ready to accuse the lad of flatulence, when he looked down to see Kyoko, smiling up at him. Of course. It was his stinky pokemon. Evidently, in her terror of running from a gigantic opponent, she'd worked up quite the eau-de-fear. For all intents and purposes, it smelled like she'd soiled herself, when really it was just the acid-honey dripping out of her mouth.

"Thanks for your work, Smelly." Tag nodded. He noted the look of displeasure on Kyoko's face before she disappeared. Evidently she didn't take kindly to being called Smelly. It was unfair of Tag anyways; it was just in her nature and her biology to stink. It was the defense mechanism of the Rafflesia plants anyways.

As he re-clipped her pokeball to his belt, making a mental note to apologize to her later, he noted that his hands were empty. This was an atrocious omen, because it meant that his flashlight had been discarded in the run and was somewhere in the tunnel where the large Tyranitar lay fallen.

"Uh...let's try to find out how far back this tunnel goes." He squeezed himself past Nate and dusted himself off. He hadn't yet noticed that his prized jacket was all torn up. Without much hesitation, he plucked another pokeball from his belt, dropping it on the ground in front of him. He had recalled earlier that Nate and Justin mentioning Nate's Numel as a torch, and figured he'd mimic the idea.

"Tobi. Would you mind playing flashlight for a bit?" The Vulpix yawned almost lazily, completely unaware of the doom it had just missed. He trot forward into the cave, tilting his head back slightly, tossing a little flame into the air. The little fox pokemon kept it at a constant glow, much like a little candle flame, and led the two misfit partners down the tunnel.

"Let's hope this goes somewhere." Tag sighed, then turned around to look at Nate "Because you're probably the last person I'd want to get stuck in a cave with forever."

* * *

As they walked, Tag noted the air growing increasingly colder. Before long, he could see his own breath escaping from his mouth in front of him. For that brief moment, he wished he'd warn something warmer, although he honestly hadn't foreseen the need for it. However, as it grew colder, it also grew lighter, which seemed like an odd combination.

The trio rounded a bend, stepping into a frigid opening. Tobi immediately extinguished his flame to look around the room, much to Tag's subconscious chagrin. However, he was far too awestruck at the sight to issue complaint.

They found themselves standing on something of a ledge, which was the circumference of the entire room, forming the edge of a rather large basin. Below them, a beautiful cavern sprawled out. The main floor of which appeared to be a large sheet of ice with several jutting protrusions. Upon closer inspection, Tag discerned it to be an underground lake, frozen over. They weren't that high up, altitude wise, for the temperature to be that cold naturally, so he deduced that this was the work of ice pokemon. As he looked up, he noted something at the top of the ceiling, which appeared to be almost a skylight. Faint light was shooting downwards through the hole, striking a crystalline rock in the very center of the room. This crystal refracted and reflected the light, sending and eerie, cool glow throughout the entire room.

Scanning the room once more, he spotted another tunnel entrance at the 90-degree spot from where they were, just to their left. Hopefully that would reconnect with the main tunnels.

"There we go." Tag pointed to the opening, preparing to step down a little. across.

They hadn't taken three steps into the cave when they heard some fairly unsettling noises. For a second, Tag thought he heard a chorus of an incredibly inappropriate word, until he realized that it was merely a rhyme.

"Runt, Runt, Runt Runt!"

Of course, they'd attracted the attention of the ice pokemon who had created the ice lake, and probably inhabited this portion of the cavern.

Several of the protrusions in the lake started wobbling around, as if roused by the presence of two men and a vulpix. Almost magically, they sprouted feet and started skating around on the ice, chanting their little mantra with increasing volume. Tag looked closely to see several little faces on the black spots of the little cones.

"Snorunt." he stated matter-of-factly. The statement came out with the usual hardened edge that Tag spoke every sentence with, but inside his mind, he was cooing gibberish at the cute Eskimo-like pokemon.

Without much warning, the pokemon on the ice skidded to a halt and turned to face Tag and Nate. Tag managed to count six pokemon, all of which appearing peeved at the intrusion on their territory. Almost like watching synchronized skating, Tag watched as the combo attack unfolded. Half of the Snorunt (That is to say, three), jumped upwards, slowly tilting forwards in an angle aimed at the travellers. The three behind them launched a frigid blast of air from their little mouths in a tandem icy wind attack. The wind itself propelled the three frontline Snorut forward at a startling speed, turning their cute little cone bodies into very dangerous and sharp projectiles.

Without so much as an millisecond of hesitation, Tag shoved Nate one way before throwing himself in the opposite direction while Tobi scampered forward, down the slope. Three sequential 'thuds' resounded off the cave wall as the Snorunt bounced harmlessly off of the sold rock walls.

"Balls." Tag sighed as he unceremoniously got to his feet once again. Unclipping another pokeball, he tossed it down next to Tobi. In a brilliant display of light, it unleashed its charge: Bachi.

"Tobi, Ember! Bachi! Double Kick!"

Two things happened at once: Tobi's ember seemed much more focused, and shot out a solitary ball of flame. It looked quite condensed as it raged with a tightly packed fire. Tag allowed a look of utter confusion to cross his face: The spray of the ember attack was what he'd been counting on, not this focused projectile. However, as it impacted with the first of the three Snorunt, it exploded magnificently, blasting out flame that engulfed the other two Snorunt in its blast. He flipped out his pokedex and pointed it at the aftereffects of the attack, only to have it mechanically drone at him: "Bursting Flame."

In all his experience, Tag had never heard of such an attack. He'd have to look further into it later.

At the same time, Bachi had charged forward across the ice, preparing to launch into a powerful double-kick attack. However, with such low friction, he found himself in trouble of finding a decent grip. Slipping around comically, the pokemon face-planted into the ice and slid forward, only gently bumping into one of the downed Snorunt before sliding off on his belly in a little twirl. Tag realized dully that it wasn't the best battlefield for his comrade, and quickly recalled the pokemon. As he was doing so, the three Snorunt that landed on the ledge turned to face Nate, preparing to attack.

Posted by: Tymid Jan 8 2011, 01:01 AM

Raven's eyes fluttered open, and her vision was grey. She coughed, causing a cloud of dust to explode from her brown mane, and she squinched her eyes shut, rolling her eyes about inside of her eyelids to try and move some of the dust over to the corners so she could see. She inhaled deeply after her dust attack, and something smelled different. It smelled...what did it smell like? It smelled musky and manly...and sweaty. Still somewhat dazed, Raven lifted her head, and about a foot higher than her was the face of a man she had recently met, his face stuck in a stoic frown, reminiscent of battle. She tilted her head up to him, and in a soft, shaky voice whispered the most profound thing she had thought of all day.

"...You're not Superman."

Truly a moment of genius for the dizzy girl.

As her mind began to clear, her entire body tensed within his muscular arms. "There's a Tyranitar somewhere in here, and it's out to eat me." she rasped, her small hands clutching onto Justin as though he were her last hope for survival. Little did she know, he had been. She pushed herself away from him slowly, swaying like a drunkard, her vision still swimmy from the impact. A loud "Tar!" met her ears, and as she looked down at the small Larvitar that was scampering towards her, she fell flat on her ass once again, shielding her face, and making a sound that sounded like a mouse who had just been doomed in a mousetrap.

She slowly uncovered her face as she realized that this Tyranitar was much smaller, and instead of chewing on her, was instead burrowing his head between her breasts. She looked down at the creature, then up to Justin, a hint of red touching her cheeks. "Typical boy." she murmured, prying the cooing Larvitar out from betwixt her feminine pectorals, and setting him down beside her, patting him on the head lightly. Unfortunately for Raven's slightly unstable psychie, this meant her eyes were now directed towards true Tyranitar, who was knocked out a mere 20 feet away. Doing some sort of a backwards crab walk, she reiterated her squeak of terror, and crawled backwards into his legs. Releasing the tension from her muscles, she fell flat on her back, her breathing heavy and her eyes wide with fear. She not only saw an upside-down Justin, but also a right-side up Hitmontop.

"This is just not my day..." she groaned, speaking mainly to herself, reaching her hands up and dragging them down her face, causing a few streaks of sweaty sand to make her look even more bedraggled than she looked originally. She slowly sat up, and groped for her balls to see if they were still there.

Her poke'balls, that is.

Finding that they were both secure, and that she was in a somewhat steady state of mind, she slowly rose to her feet, slapping at her jacket and pants, sending clouds of dust in every direction. She was facing Justin and his Hitmontop now, which meant that the murderous Tyranitar was behind her. She slowly turned around, hands on her hips, and the slow tilt of her head showed that she was either in deep thought, or disbelief. Turning back to Justin, her hand made a thumbs'-up pose, and she threw it over her shoulder, her brow raised. "So...you did that?" she asked, but then threw her hands down, turning away from him. "Never mind. I don't want to know. It's not trying to steal my soul, and I'm okay with that." she murmured, taking a few steps away from him, purveying the area.

"Talk about remodeling..." she said softly, bending down to pick up one of the smaller rocks, and turning it over in her hand, observing it. She then turned back to Justin. "You lied to me." her voice rang in menacing, warning tones. "...But you saved me, I assume. I don't think I'm ugly enough to make even that thing drop of sheer fright. For that, I have to thank you."

Her head dipped slightly in thanks, but her lips were pursed into a line of annoyance. "But that doesn't mean I can just...let what you did go. I have pride, you know." she stated defiantly, turning away from him again. "Then again..." she said in thought, one hand coming up to scratch her head, "...I could just use the whole eye-for-an-eye thing. But lying is a completely different matter. I swore I would never let myself be lied to again, intentionally. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me."

It was obvious that she was merely speaking aloud the thoughts growing through her head, and as she continued mumbling to herself, her hands a visual scale of which decision she was going to make, each side rising and falling like a conflicted Libra. As her hands fell to her side, she turned back to him. "I have decided." she said formally, crossing her arms in front of her. "I promised your friend I would help him get his poke'mon back. I intend to do just that. However, my talents do not lie in anything even closely resembling spelunking, which means that without help, I will probably die in this cave. I told you I would not help you if you lied to me. Which means...you will help me find your friend and Tag..." she paused at the mention of the man, dearly hoping that he was safe "...and then, I will continue to help your friend get his poke'mon back, in which case, I will be in no way helping you, and thus, I stick to my promise. Sound fair?" she concluded, tilting her head curiously his direction.

Without waiting for a response, she nodded curtly. "Good. We should be off before this thing decides to wake up...again."

Posted by: Yzarc Drowsnam Jan 8 2011, 01:15 PM

Justin stood with his arms crossed as he watched Raven regain her senses, in a way in which he did not expect. She spoke gibberish, compared him to Superman, screamed at the sight of a tiny larvitar, screamed again at the sight of a fallen tyranitar, hid between his legs and then, finally, had the longest conversation with herself he'd ever seen, barring homeless people.

"It's not waking up for some time," Justin just shook his head and nodded towards Hitmontop. He actually did it. This was something he far from expected. "But yeah, that all sounds fine," He could tell based on her tone that she was no longer mad at him and was simply being stubborn. He knew that she knew that his little lie (What was he supposed to say? The truth? Completely out of the question) did not compare with him saving her life from falling rocks and an angry tyranitar. This was beyond eye-for-an-eye. Justin didn't care a whole lot, but he knew she cared, and hell yeah he was gonna use that.

He recalled Hitmontop and they continued down their path, looking for any tunnels opened up on the right which might loop back around towards Tag and Nate in relative silence. Awkwardly so. Justin wasn't a huge talker and didn't mind walking with someone in silence, but this was not regular silence. It was intentional silence. It was so awkward, and Justin didn't handle awkward very well.

"I am, by the way," he said the first word in five minutes, looking to his left at Raven. "Superman. He lies all the time, you know."

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

Nate backed up with three snorunt coming at him. He gulped and tossed out three pokeballs. It only seemed fair. Three on three, right? So out came Pinch the Krabby, Ninja the Sneasel and Teddiursa, who did not have a nickname. Nate, slightly better at pokemon battling than his partner, Justin, actually had some coherent idea of what he wanted.

"Ninja, use Screech on the far left one. Pinch, use Metal Claw on it. Teddiursa, you attack the middle one."

Ninja and Pinch's combo attack was sufficient to knock out the first snorunt, who became extremely weak defensively after a Screech and was also already weak to Pinch's Metal Claw. Teddiursa's powerful Shadow Rush did significant damage to the middle snorunt, but did not knock it out. It and its remaining buddy both used Powder Snow against Teddiursa, who took the hit like a champ. The snow engulfed the shadowy bear, but it did not burst forth even though Nate knew he was capable.

"Ninja, Screech on the far right one, Pinch, Metal Claw on the middle one." As they executed their attacks while the snorunt prepared another Powder Snow, Nate rushed over to Teddiursa and brushed the snow off. Sure enough, he was a pale blue and was frozen completely solid. "Sorry, buddy," he stood up and called him back inside his pokeball. He looked over to see Pinch finish off her target, which was already weakened slightly by Teddiursa Shadow Rush, on top of her attack boost from her previous Metal Claw. The final snorunt took a Screech from the sneasel, but brushed it off and, rather than using Powder Snow or Icy Wind as Nate had expected, it used Headbutt on Ninja.

She took the hit and fumbled backwards, but got back up. Her defensive qualities were fairly weak, to say the least, but she was still in the game. Meanwhile, their single opponent recently suffered a pretty severe defense drop.

"Ninja, Faint Attack. Pinch, Metal Claw." Before the little snorunt could even waddle away from the other two pokemon, it was swarmed. Ninja disappeared into darkness and appeared behind the little guy, attacking relentlessly. Pinch caught up and, with her boosted attack against Snorunt's weakened defense, completely smashed it with Metal Claw. Honestly, she didn't even need Ninja to use Faint Attack, but it was still nice.

"Tag, you need some help?" he asked, noticing Bachi fumbling over itself on the ice below them. "My sneasel can handle herself on the ice."

Posted by: Kamaitachi Jan 9 2011, 02:00 AM

"Tag, you need some help? My sneasel can handle herself on the ice."

"While I appreciate your concern, I'll let you know when I need help." Tag nodded to Nate. Tag had caught glimpses of Nate's battle. Never having seen it before, Tag was somewhat impressed with Nate's ability. This was mostly in comparison to Justin, who seemed to order attacks at random, or even let his prized Hitmontop just do its own thing.

Snapping back to reality, he watched as the trio of Snorunt he was facing launched their attacks. As they each took a deep breath of air, they fired off what appeared to be a triple Powder Snow attack. Tag woefully misjudged this, as two had launched Powder Snow, but the center one had fired off an Icy Wind attack instead. Icy Wind moved a bit faster than Powder Snow and struck Tobi before he could brace himself. As he staggered back, the two Powder Snow attacks fell over him, slowing him down immensely.

"Tobi, Bursting Flame!"

This time, the Snorunt were prepared. Each of them mustered up what appeared to be something of a force field in front of them, crouching in braced positions behind it. The fire attack burst against it magnificently, but otherwise left the trio in tact.

Tag, not wanting to risk his Vulpix in the fight, recalled him, drawing forth two pokeballs. Not wanting to appear flustered in front of Nate, he dropped the two capsules casually in front of him, revealing Suzu, his Ledian, and Bachi, his Nidorino.

Tag sized up the three pokemon before him. Each of them had been hit with the devastating Bursting Flame attack. The center one had sustained the most damage by far, so he quickly calculated a turn of action.

As the Snorunt Trio prepared to launch another attack, he quickly barked out his orders.

"Suzu, Mach Punch on the left. Bachi, Leer on the right!" As he yelled the commands, he drew an empty pokeball from the side pocket in his back pack and threw it at the most damaged Snorunt. Suzu blitzed forward, knocking the left most Snorunt back several paces. However, it hadn't been quite enough to finish off the little ice pokemon as it launched its Powder Snow attack at Suzu, covering her with a wave of cold. Bachi, despite his glowing eyes, received a similar wave. Suzu retreated to Tag, having sustained some damage, and Bachi, likewise, stayed rooted to his trainer, having a complete mobile disadvantage in this battle.

As the battle unfolded, the first Snorunt found itself struck with a pokeball. Within moments it had been sucked in, and despite her bravado, she was too weak to resist the capture device. The pokeball announced its success with its signature ping, reducing the number of enemies by one. However, the two remaining seemed in fighting form, and Suzu and Bachi were at two horrible disadvantages.

With a sigh filled with self-disgust, Tag hung his head. It took all of his effort to not punch himself in the face for uttering the next few words. Instead, he clenched his fists tightly, and through fairly gritted teeth he said:

"Now I'll accept your help."

Posted by: Tymid Jan 9 2011, 02:33 PM

Raven was busy dragging her hand on the surface of the wall, pressing outwardly in an attempt to feel if there were any soft spots in the wall, indicators of a possible, hidden tunnel. She listened to Justin's comment and smirked, "Yeah, but at least he's good at it." she said soothingly, knowing very well that he knew that he had deceived her. It wasn't an easy thing to do, and Raven had had her doubts, but she knew full well that he had gotten away with a lie to her face. She might not have been so livid about it anymore, but her pride has taken a severe blow.

Finding a semi-indention in the wall, Raven slowly dropped to her knees and started pawing at the loose dirt. The Larvitar to her side started eating it, which did the trick, all the same. The light was dim, and Raven procured the second poke'ball at her hip and summoned forth the Pokemon within, which just so happened to be the Shinx. With a large yawn, Aria blinkingly looked up at her trainer, tilting her head to the side curiously. Raven frowned. Aria had lost so much of her playful, kittenish tendencies, that she was worried that she was sick. Raven picked her up, and with a pleasant mewling emitting from the Shinx's mouth, Raven established that the small kitten was alright. Giving the cub a nuzzle and a pat on the head, she casually issued a Charge command, to which the kitten nodded, and proceeded sparkling with energy.

And glowing.

As Raven watched the little cub, the glow became brighter and brighter. "Whoa, turn down the light there, Aria." Raven said as she shielded her eyes. Unable to look at the place where she had been digging any longer, Raven squinted her eyes shut, finally waiting for the red glow to go away from behind her eyelids. Cautiously opening her eyes, she looked at the place where her Shinx had last stood. A wide smile split her face, however, when she saw not a Shinx, but a Luxio standing where the smaller kitten had once stood. "Well, I'll be damned..." Raven whispered, looking at her newly evolved companion. However, though her appearance was different, Aria still bore the scars from her previous evolution, making her look exceptionally intimidating, especially the gash over her left eye.

Aria circled, a lower, more mature purr emitting from her chest. Raven reached forward, and the gentle creature came over and sat in front of her, the purr growing in volume as her friend stroked through her longer, silkier mane. Her happy smile was still on her face...a happier smile. So that's what had been wrong! Aria had simply been wanting to evolve, and didn't know the right time. Obviously, the Charge move had given the Shinx enough energy to do so. "You look so pretty." Raven said sweetly, nuzzling the Luxio's nose with her own, only to be licked happily with a sandpapery tongue. Raven didn't mind.

Raven looked up to Justin happily. "Look at her. I have a Luxio." she said proudly, and yet in a soft tone that was reminiscent of a doting mother. After a few more moments of staring in awe at her companion, Raven cleared her throat, turning back to the task at hand. "Now, then. Shed a little light on the subject, will you?" she asked Aria, and with a confirming, almost soothing sounding "Lux." Aria began her Charge move once again. Since her electric powers had been significantly increased during the evolution, Raven stopped her once the light was enough for her to see.

As Raven pawed at the loose gravel, trying to see if the indentation was a tunnel, she decided that conversation was indeed necessary with such a tedious task. "So...why did you lie to me? Were you afraid of what I would do? Afraid I would refuse?" she queried, still looking forward at the pile, occasionally sticking her head into what she had dug out, seeing if there was any headway. "I can understand that. I don't tell many people about my life." she said thoughtfully, pausing to sneeze as a cloud of dust rolled towards her face; the Larvitar had kicked some back as he dove into the tasty dirt.

After her sneeze, Raven shrugged, chuckling lightly. "Then again...I don't really socialize with enough people for them to ask, really." she added, scooping out another handful of dirt and placing it in the steadily accumulating pile. She wiped her brow with her jacket sleeve; Raven was getting increasingly dirty. She looked up to Justin, dirt smeared all over her pretty face, and she offered him a soft, genuine smile. "Feel free to 'dig in', if you'd like. Your big hands could do a lot more than mine." she murmured up to him, before turning back to her task. "You are supposed to be helping me after all."

Posted by: Yzarc Drowsnam Jan 9 2011, 03:40 PM

"Congratulations," Justin cracked a smile when he watched Aria evolve into a fairly magnificent looking pokemon while Raven was trying to dig a tunnel. She seemed pretty confident it would lead to another path, one which might cross with Tag and Nate. Truthfully, though, Justin was fairly confident the entire small tunnel in which Tag and Nate had retreated collapsed. He hid his fear well, of course, but he was pretty sure they were dead. Raven, contrary to what he gathered from their conversation minutes before, was an optimist.

So as he watched her dig, relentlessly, he saw a sad, recently adopted puppy positive that its mother was on the other side of the fence. If she could just dig a little bit further, she'd be away from this weirdo and back home to someone she liked. Justin sighed when she asked for his help, trying to carry on a conversation all the while, and looked to his left, down the path on which his enemies continued. He had to get the money back. If he found Da Bomb with them, he'd take care of it too, for Nate.

But when he looked back down at Raven, digging away, he sighed. "Yeah," he finally said, getting down to his knees and squeezing in the small tunnel. "I had to lie to you," he said after some thought. "It wasn't about being a dick, and it wasn't about proving I could or whatever. I mean, I can't go around telling everyone I meet that I'm in a criminal organization. You gotta understand that. And just because you told me you hate being lied to doesn't make it any different. No one likes being lied to. I hate being lied to. But you can't insist on complete honesty from strangers because you're going to be disappointed."

After his hands started to hurt, he called out his two earthiest pokemon, Bonsly and Nincada, who he thought might be able to speed things up. Nincada's sharp and fast claws made it easy for her to dig into the cave and he initially figured Bonsly's Rock Throw would be useful, but after a little more consideration, decided that throwing rocks around this place was probably a pretty terrible idea.

"Nincada, Scratch, Bonsly, Copycat," He watched as Nincada tripled his own digging speed as she slashed her way through the dirt wall. Bonsly simply watched her movements, but instead of copying it exactly, as Copycat would suggest, he mimicked parts of Scratch and modified it to suit himself. He used his little green balls to dig away larger chunks of dirt though at a much slower pace. This was the ability Mimic, though Justin had no idea, and it was just different enough from Copycat to do something spectacular.

With all the added help, and to Justin's great surprise, they eventually tore through the wall into a whole different part of the cave. It was cold, bright and noisy. There were pokemon battles going on. As Justin powered his way through the dirt, he eventually found himself on the opposite side of the frozen lake as Nate and Tag. He turned to his right and leaned over, holding out his hand to Raven to help her to her feet. They were both covered in dirt. Once she was up, he grabbed Nincada's and Bonsly's pokeballs. Nincada was out first, crawling rapidly around Justin's leg and then she climbed up his back. It was so adorable, he was willing to look past the sharp pain of her claws using his skin for a grip.

Rather than recalling her, he decided to let her chill outside and reclipped her pokeball to his belt. Once Bonsly emerged from the dirt, he held up the ball to him, but waited for a second when he saw the little pokemon concentrating uncharacteristically hard.

"You alright, bud?" he asked.

Perhaps he had had a little pokemon conversation with the newly evolved Aria and wanted to try out his new Mimic skill in more practical ways than digging through caves. Or maybe he caught a glimpse of a tree while being covered in dirt. Either way, he more than doubled in height, grew arm/branches and actually gained somewhat of a face. "Sudo?" he said, trying to say "Bonsly,"

"I knew there was something different about that Copycat," Justin crossed his arms, "It was a different move entirely. He totally just copied Aria's evolution." Nodding, he held out his right hand to Sudowoodo with a fist. "Pound it." Sudowoodo moved its right branch to Justin's fist, curling up his little green rocks while doing so. When their "fists" met, Justin pulled his back and opened up his hands. Sudowoodo mimicked it exquisitely. "That's what we call 'blowing it up,' and that's gonna be our thing, alright, bud?"

"Oodo," it seemed in brighter spirits than when it was a dull little Bonsly. Justin, pleased with his evolution, called him back into the pokeball. With Nincada still resting painfully on Justin's shoulder, he walked over to the edge of the ground and looked down into the icy lake. "You guys think you can cross?" he called across the cave.

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

Nate nodded when Tag finally swallowed his pride and asked for help. "Ninja, Quick Attack, Pinch, Bubblebeam,"

The snorunt on Tag's left, as it approached, was cut off by the sneasel's Quick Attack. As it tried to counter, Nate called out "Faint Attack!" and it blew snowy powder just as Ninja disappeared, evading it entirely. She reappeared behind its back and and slashed it, knocking it out.

The other snorunt was cut off, not physically, but by a stream of bubbles from the krabby. As they engulfed it and popped all around, it was pretty heavily slowed, unable to move up and land a hit on Suzu. As it waddled with reduced speed, Pinch crawled over, sideways of course, and began walking side by side with the icy pokemon. "Metal Claw," Nate ordered. As Pinch's claw shined with a steel coat, and crunched down on Snorunt's icy body, defeating it.

"Good work, girls," he said, walking over to Tag. He looked out to the icy lake, trying to figure out if there were any other ways out of the cave. That's about when Justin broke through a wall across the ice, followed by Raven, a newly evolved Aria, Larvitar, Nincada and finally Bonsly, who quickly evolved into Sudowoodo.

"You guys think you can cross?" Justin called out.

Nate looked down at Tag's nidorino. "Well, we know someone can't," he said softly enough so only Tag could hear. Then he looked back up to Justin and Raven. "We can try!" he called, moving over to the edge of the lake and trying to see if he could rest his foot on the ice without it breaking. "It seems pretty sturdy," he said to Tag, allowing his other foot to rest on the ice. Allowing, however, did not mean it happened. He immediately regretted letting go of the edge as he found himself completely incapable of maneuvering, and regretted making fun of Bachi as well. "Dude what the hell?"

He looked back up to Tag, Tag's pokemon and his own as Ninja the Sneasel ran towards the ice and jumped in gracefully. As she landed, she immediately began skating beautifully on the ice and quickly moved over to Nate, reaching both her hands up to his. He looked over to Pinch, who crawled down into the icy lake and began crabwalking all the way across, as if it were solid dirt. Once he knew she was okay, he reached down to Ninja and let her take his hands. He kept his feet completely still as she pulled him effortlessly across the ice. For a moment, he forgot all the trouble he was in, he forgot that Da Bomb was probably scared and on the verge of death. And he just enjoyed skating across ice with his newest pokemon.

Posted by: Kamaitachi Jan 9 2011, 07:01 PM

Tag stood back and watched Nate tackle the remaining two Snorunt with surprising aplomb. As the battle ended, he pointed Suzu over to the pokeball. She buzzed over, scooping it up off the ice and returned it to Tag, depositing it neatly in his hands.

Tapping the button lightly, the ball creaked open. In its signature flash of light, it revealed Tag's first actual capture in Furoh, a little Snorunt.

He knelt down next to it extending a hand to its little nub.

"Pleased to meet you." It shied away a little from his hand, but slowly reached out to accept it. Tag noted that this particular Snorunt had a look of concern, and wondered if it was worried about the situation, or simply had that look in general.

"Boy?" It shook its head. Female, evidently. "How about I call you Orin?" Her concerned look almost appeared to be somewhat of a smile. Nodding once, she then turned to see her fallen comrades. "Your brothers and sisters will be fine, Orin." Tag reared back up to his full height, holding her in his arms. She felt really quite cold in his arms, even despite the leather jacket. Drawing a little spray type potion from his backpack, he gave a little spritz onto the area where the Bursting Flame attack had hit her. She shivered a little bit, then turned to see Suzu picking up the unconscious Snorunt and laying them against the cave wall to recover.

Tag turned to Nate and nodded curtly.

"Appreciate it."

As they scanned the room to see the exit, a wall came tumbling down. Tag clutched the Snorunt in his arms a little tighter, noting as Suzu and Bachi fell into their battle stances on instinct. However, they all relaxed visibly to see Justin, Raven, a Luxio, Larvitar and a Sudowoodo enter through the new-found opening.

"You guys t hink you can cross?" Justin called out. Despite hoping to have run into Justin again, Tag found himself a little peeved that the guy was still there. Concerning Raven, he found himself incredibly relieved to see that she was well.

"Well, we know someone can't." Tag heard Nate mutter softly. Repressing the verge to glare angrily at Nate, he opted instead to turn his head and offer a tiny consolation smile to his Nidorino.

"Indeed we do."

Tag watched with crossed arms and a mixture of amusement and disdain on his face as Nate skittered about on the ice. But Nate's pokemon seemed pretty loyal, and moved to aid their trainer.

Recalling the three pokemon to their pokeballs, Tag took something of a jogging start and slid gracefully across the ice. Just because Bachi had trouble crossing didn't mean that he did too. Tag had grown up in Blackthorn City, and had spent many days playing around in the Ice Caves just north of it; he knew how to travel on slide-ice.

Using a couple rocks (although he was uncertain as to whether or not they were actually more Snorunt), he maneuvered his way across the frozen lake to the other side. He gave a curt nod to Raven and Justin.

"Happy you're not dead." He muttered, his gaze moving across Aria and the artist formerly known as Bonsly. "Well. You two got a bit bigger." He had been curious to see whether or not Aria would retain her scars upon evolution, or if the change in her genetic pattern would erase them. It seemed, however, that she'd kept the painful reminders of her sordid past, and she looked all the more intimidating for it.

"Well. That's enough detours for today. Let's go rescue a Numel."

Posted by: Tymid Jan 10 2011, 03:31 PM

"Happy to see you're still as cheery as ever, jackass." Raven said with a smirk, tucking her jacket closer around herself, unable to stifle the shivers and tooth-clattering that was going on. She was not a fan of the cold, and it was not a fan of her. Anything under 75 caused her to bundle up with a hot chocolate and a blanket, and this was far below 75. However, as her breath puffed out in front of her in a white cloud, Aria nuzzled against her leg, as though attempting to try and keep her warm, her lower, rumbling purr rising in volume as she saw Tag.

The Larvitar also seemed to not like the cold much, and was doing a tantric dance on the cold ground, attempting to not keep one foot on the ground for very long. Aria was well insulated, and thus, didn't care. Raven sighed, leaning down to pick up the Larvitar, wrapping him up in her jacket. "You're a poon, you know that?" she muttered, but the Larvitar was completely content with burrowing into Raven's warm bosom.

As Tag mentioned that they needed to move forward, Raven nodded fervently. "As long as we get the hell out of here, I don't really care where we go." she mumbled, a large shiver causing her to shake violently from her head to her toes. Seemingly, this caused her stomach to rumble, which informed her that she was hungry. She peered into her satchel; there was a few parcels of salted, roast fish in there, as well as a few berries. As she started walking, she pulled out a parcel, which had about 5 or 6 pieces of small Magikarp filet inside, she pulled out a piece and began eating. The salt had worked well; the fish maintained it's crunchy exterior from being cooked, as well as being a bit more jerky-like on the outside, since the moisture had been pulled from it. The inside, however, remained tender, and still tasted a bit smoky.

"Y'all want a piece? I have some berries, too." she offered, but at the mention of berries, she heard a soft, mewling "Luxio...Lux." at her feet, and a gentle pawing at her pantleg. Smiling down at the Luxio, Raven pulled forth about 3 Pecha berries, and laid a filet of Magikarp down in front of her, which was devoured almost instantaneously. "Well...I had berries." Raven said with a shrug, licking her fingers free of residual salt that had been on her filet. It didn't do much for her hunger, but at least it would give her enough energy to make it through this dismal cold.

"So, who knows where to go?" she asked through chattering teeth, the Larvitar poking it's head out with a soft chirp, as though he knew what she had said. However, upon meeting the cold air, it retreated, blue eyes and all.

Posted by: Yzarc Drowsnam Jan 11 2011, 03:49 PM

Justin just nodded at Tag and Nate awkwardly when they made it back. Tag didn't mention the whole "criminal" thing, but Justin knew it was still on his mind. Nate's face, once the thrill of skating across the ice with his new pokemon was gone, became serious again as he recalled both Ninja and Pinch.

Nate approached Justin and just glared at him for a few seconds, looking up because Justin was taller. Finally, Justin broke the silence. "I'm glad you're okay, Nate," he said. "I thought the, uh, the tunnel crushed you guys. You too, Tag. Glad you're alright."

"What happened to the tyranitar?" Nate asked.

"What happened to it?" Justin grinned real big. "Hitmontop happened to it. I don't even understand, that thing was huge and Hitmontop just beat the hell out of it. It wasn't even, like. Wow. Anyway, I'm glad we're all back together and whatnot."

Then, Tag said, "Let's go rescue a Numel."

Justin nodded and walked back over to the small tunnel he, Raven and their pokemon had dug and got down on his knees, preparing to crawl under it again. "What?" Nate asked. "You're still with me?"

"Yeah," Justin stood back up. "Tyranitar kinda freaked me out, but once I realized Hitmontop could take it, it all sorta clicked. Also, those guys didn't beat it. They put it to sleep and ran. They're cowards and they're probably weak. Also, it's not like I could bail on you after you called me out like that and make myself look like even more of a jackass."

Nate cracked a smile. "Sorry about that,"

"I'm not," Justin said. "The only thing I'm sorry about is my own affiliation with them. And that's my fault. But yeah. We got us a bomb to save, yeah?"

"So, who knows where to go?" Raven asked.

"Those guys didn't take this detour," Justin said. "We gotta go back out on the main tunnel."

Nate agreed and crawled under first. After him, Justin and Nincada (who was still outside of her pokeball) and then Tag and Raven or Raven and Tag or whatever order on which they decided. Oh, and the other pokemon. Aria and Larvitar were still out, so they came too. Then they walked down the tunnel. At first, Justin was concerned that they lost too much time with their detour, but then he remembered all the running they did from the tyranitar. That probably had them breaking even-ish. Maybe? He really didn't know. Either way, they weren't going to catch up at this rate.

"We should probably pick up the pace or something," he said. "We need to catch them before they get to the city. I don't think I'd be able to pick them out of a crowd."

Nate agreed, but Justin looked over at the little larvitar. "I don't think he'll be able to keep up with us if we run," Justin said. "Maybe he wouldn't mind being put inside a pokeball? I mean, you're gonna adopt him anyway, right?" he asked Raven. "I'm not gonna claim to know you super well, but that was gonna happen eventually, right?"

Posted by: Kamaitachi Jan 11 2011, 04:55 PM

"Happy to see you're still as cheery as ever, jackass." The drawling sarcasm definitely warmed his heart a little bit. No lie. He found a certain honesty in the jab aimed at him, and he found that he enjoyed it immensely. She was not attempting to be friends with him, but was getting along with him just fine. He much preferred that to people following him around, looking up to him and making conscious, awkward attempts to befriend him. Tag was a man who enjoyed equals. He tended to call everyone else an idiot.

The ghost of a smile flitted across his face as he watched Raven pick up the Larvitar. He had no idea what a poon was, and decided to hide his ignorance on the matter by not asking.

Justin mentioned that he was glad he hadn't been crushed by a tunnel. Tag agreed; it would've been most unpleasant. He was about to ask what happened to the Tyranitar, but Nate beat him to it, verbatim, in fact. Justin boasted a bit, but this was great cause for some level of concern in Tag.

Tag's pokemon had grown considerably since last he faced Justin at the Happy-Happy Department Store in Petropolis. They had not once been able to take on Hitmontop, even from their first encounter. The mere fact that Hitmontop could now wipe out a Tyranitar with apparently minimal effort was alarming. Sure, its attacks were quadruply effective, but even still, Tyranitar's alarming defenses and rock body made it very sturdy. Tag's pokenmon surely could not have taken on the beast, even if all four...nay...five were out at the same time.

However, Tag deduced that Justin had most likely been favouring Hitmontop once again, and somewhat neglecting his other lot, save the Bonsly who had evolved fairly recently. However, he wondered how that Jerk of a Pinsir with its bizarre moves was growing. Was it still as murderous as before? He allowed himself a little shudder as he remembered nearly losing Bachi to it.

Tag nodded assent at the thought of picking up the pace after they'd crawled through the little opening again. However, the issue of Raven's Not-Raven-Larvitar was an issue. He turned to Raven, eyes inquisitive.

"You should after all. There may be no more room in your apartment, but you'll probably be travelling a bit more. You can think of what to do in the meantime."

Posted by: Tymid Jan 11 2011, 09:53 PM

As Raven held the Larvitar close to her breast, and listened to the ensuing chatter, she allowed a small, genuine smile to cross her dirty face as she looked over to Tag. Throughout the short time she had known him, he was the one person who she could generally see herself being around for longer than a few minutes. Every time she looked at his tatooed, scarred face, she felt a small warmth, and a gentle tingling in her fingertips and toes. She didn't mind the warmth that she knew was a budding friendship, but she quickly talked herself out of the tingling; she knew exactly what that meant. She wasn't about to let herself get hurt again, and risk losing a friend in the process. Besides, she and Tag both had far more important things to worry about regarding their lives. However, she couldn't help the softening of her gaze that happened every time she looked into his eyes.

Pushing those awkward thoughts out of her mind, she looked down at her hand, to see it softly scratching a cooing Larvitar. She had to admit, despite her best efforts, she had become quite attached to the disabled creature, and had learned a lot about communicating with a poke'mon that couldn't hear her words. He smelled of dirt and soot, much like she did at the moment, and as he turned his blue eyes up to her, she couldn't help but smile. The smile faded, however, as she realized that before she got out of this cave, she would have to let him go. She pressed her nose to his scaly hide, and exhaled a deep sigh, her green eyes permeating out from beneath her dirty, mudstained skin, glimmering as though they were the cleanest and shiniest gemstones that one could find.

As she was tucking the majority of the parcel back into her satchel, still shivering, she handed a piece of the fish to Nate, Justin, and Tag. "You're going to need the energy. Trust me." she murmured, tucking what was left safely amidst her quill and notebook. She was the last to follow the trio into the much warmer climate, and shivered appropriately with the temperature change. As Aria followed, she shook her longer fur majestically, and proceeded to clean herself while the group attempted to figure out what to do. Little did she know, the attention was about to be all on her.

As she was barraged with the questions about her adopting the Larvitar, her mouth fell open; she was obviously not expecting the conversation to turn to her. After Tag said his piece, her mouth slowly closed and thinned, her eyes narrowing in an agitated fashion. "Now wait just a damn minute..." she said softly, her voice in obvious warning tones, "...I told you, I can't keep him. I can't afford to keep him. He's deaf. How in the hell would I train a deaf lizard?"

However, as the three looked at her, and the Larvitar nestled in her jacket slowly lifted his sleepy head, blinking up at her with those radiant blue eyes, and offering what looked like a small, sleepy yawn in her direction, Raven sighed, and her eyes softened. "But...look at you. You're just so...so special." she murmured lovingly, chuckling softly as the Larvitar ended it's yawn with a tiny squeak. Raven's free hand rose to her temple, as she weighed the options. She should have known this was coming...there was no way in hell she could have let a disabled Poke'mon go into the wild. She should have known that by letting it follow her, she would grow attached, and end up not being able to let it go. She should have known...she should have known that she would grow to love the little blue-eyed monster.

A gentle pawing at her leg caused her to look down, and Aria was looking up at her, her happy smile and curiously tilted head showing that she thought it was alright. Or at least, that's how Raven interpreted it. With a resigned sigh, ending with a "...Damn it..." Raven put the Larvitar down, and as she reached into her satchel to pull out a vacant poke'ball, she knelt down in front of the Larvitar, showing it to him. "You see this?" she asked, and though the Larvitar couldn't hear her, she could tell by the way it was slowly turning from sleepy to excited showed that he understood. "This means you're a part of my family. This means that you have to follow my rules, which means no dirt in the house." she said sternly, but the tiny smile on her face belied her emotions.

As she threw the ball, the Larvitar practically leapt into it's waiting depths, and as the ball slowly ceased glowing, she looked down at it. Aria was already beginning to paw at it eagerly. Reaching forward, she picked up the poke'ball, and holding it close to her lips, she kissed it, looking down at it in a loving, maternal gaze. "Forte." she whispered, giving the little Larvitar a name that she knew he would never be able to hear. The name, in Italian, meant 'loud', which was very ironic for the poke'mon who could not hear. As she took a moment to turn the ball over in her hands, she eventually clipped it to her belt, right next to Aria's empty ball.

She looked up at the three, and her demeanor changed greatly. "You guys are going to buy me a new apartment when he eats it." she said, pointing a finger at each of them in turn, but by the newfound glint in her eyes, she knew she had made the right decision. A broad smile crossed her mock stern features, and she laughed aloud. "Well, come on! We've got a Numel to rescue. A dead Slowpoke would move faster than you three." she quipped whilst walking past them, Aria at her heels. Her pretty voice was humming a melody as she walked down the path. She didn't know where she was going, nor did she worry about the battle ahead. She did know one thing, however.

She had a new friend at her side.

Posted by: Yzarc Drowsnam Jan 12 2011, 12:21 AM

No one said a word as Raven argued hopelessly with herself as to why she could not adopt Larvitar, soon to be Forte. When she finally settled the debate, Justin just smiled and rolled his eyes, arms still crossed as he watched the events unfold. He looked over to Nate, who just smiled back, finishing off the strip of magikarp. When Raven ran past the others, Justin just chuckled and nodded. He shrugged at the others and followed her, Nincada still resting on his shoulder, though he was used to the pain from her claws digging into his skin by then.

So they all ran, and with much more speed than their five opponents were walking. He only hoped they ran fast enough to catch them before they came to a split in the tunnel or, worse, outside of the mountain. It would be hard to sight them there, as they could take a number of paths to get back to the city, depending on what part of Arasam was their destination.

When they turned a corner, though, they saw a bright light at the end of the tunnel with five figures, which either meant they were dying and those were angels of death, or that was the exit to the cave. Spoiler Alert: They found the exit, and the figures were the five guys they were after. Sorry 'bout that.

"Hey!" Justin yelled. The figures seemed to stop. "You got my friend's numel!"

"It's ours now, kid!" they heard a voice respond.

Nate didn't wait for their group to make a plan. He sprinted, as fast as he could, towards the exit. The others followed with such aggression that the five men backed up outside of the cave and waited on the mountain path in a more open area. When the three got out of the cave, they went to stand beside Nate, who had already called out Pinch the Krabby.

Four of the five men had their favored pokemon out: Magmar, Ariados, Cranidos and Xatu. The Xatu's trainer was the largest of the men, whose face was bruised and bleeding. This was the man on whom Justin pounded away about an hour before. Justin noticed that the fifth man, the leader of the group, did not have out his pokemon, which was Gallade. This man was holding the briefcase. Also of note, lying behind the five was a fainted numel, Da Bomb. "Kill them," the leader said as Justin, Tag and Raven prepared for a fight. "I'm not gonna play games with these morons."

Rather than staying to watch, he turned and began walking away, both the money and the "package" with him. While Nate's, Tag's and Raven's primary concerns were with the numel, but Justin's eyes followed the leader, holding the money. That was his job: To get the money. He had Hitmontop out, as he always did at the beginning of battles, but as he watched the money walk away, he took a deep breath as the battles commenced. The bruised up man insisted on fighting Justin, which meant Hitmontop had to fight Xatu, a pretty unfortunate matchup (though Hitmontop was definitely stronger).

Nate's Pinch was lined up with Ariados, Tag was lined up with Magmar and Raven with Cranidos. Just as the battles began, Justin yelled "Fake Out!" Hitmontop clapped its feet together in front of Xatu, causing it to flinch. "Nate, can you take two?" he asked in his brief moment. "I'm gonna chase down their boss."

"Justin, I don't know, man," Nate replied after he saw Pinch try to use Bubblebeam on Ariados, but before it even released the bubbles, the bug jumped forward and Sucker Punched the little crab right in the face, The bubbles still went off, but Nate cringed at how much damage Pinch seemed to take. "He's tough,"

"I gotta do it, man," Justin patted his partner on the back. "You got 'em,"

Before even confirming with Tag or Raven, he backed up and called back Hitmontop, running around the fight to try to chase down the leader. He looked over his shoulder to see Xatu following him, but it took a hit from Ninja's Ice Shard because, apparently, Nate managed to call out a second pokemon to help in the fight. Xatu, now that it was engaged by a real threat, turned to face Ninja and Pinch beside its ally, Ariados in a two on two battle. Nate's strategic mind was spread thin, however, as he was forced to command two pokemon at once.

Justin, meanwhile, abandoned his partners to chase down the money.

Posted by: Kamaitachi Jan 12 2011, 01:31 AM

Tag almost grudgingly accepted the fish. A brief protest escaped as to how he had his own food in his shoulder bag, but upon smelling the salted fish, he decided he could simply share that with Raven later. As thanks. Just as thanks. Right?

He watched with crossed arms and something of a knowing smirk on his face as Raven's inner monologue floated around in a place where inner monologues usually didn't go. Of course, the foregone conclusion was that Raven would 'capture' the Larvitar. It had followed her all the way from Lenoilia to the Loch Ranch, and evidently even from the Loch Ranch to Mt. Carello as well. The little Larvitar would evidently follow Raven to the World's End and back. This was convenient, because that's where they were headed next.

As Raven threatened them with the costs of a new apartment, Tag looked genuinely surprised, then his face hardened.

"Hmph." he grunted. It was really quite manly. "A new apartment? Here I figured you'd just follow me all over Furoh." It sounded catty. He didn't mean it to come out in the way it did. But he figured he'd gauge her reaction to decided whether or not he was kidding.

With the skip in her step, and the melody in the air, he figured she hadn't taken it poorly, and decided that he was, in fact, serious. He'd invite her to Arasam with him while he took on the gym leader there.

Justin breaking into a run snapped him out of his reverie. In no time flat, the group had evidently caught up with the men they'd been chasing at the cave's exit. Some senseless, very stupid sounding banter was shouted back and forth, and then there was more chasing.

However, as Tag wound up standing next to Nate, he found himself square up against a Magmar and its trainer. This was most unfortunate for Tag, as three of his five pokemon were outright weak against fire. (Little did he know, Arasam's Otis specialized in Fire and Flying, which would probably cause him much grief). Unclipping a pokeball from his belt, he summoned Suzu to the field first. As she appeared in the air, he could tell she was still reeling a bit from the ice attacks from the Snorunt earlier. She had some good stamina, but against a Magmar? He'd have to see.

"Torchwood! Ember!"

"Suzu, Light Screen!" Suzu quickly summoned up a bright, translucent yellow wall with her four arms, spreading out to cover herself as the ember bounced against it. Elsewhere, Tag caught a glimpse of Justin abandoning their fight. Anger welled up inside him as his periphery caught the muscle-bound teenager run off, leaving Nate to handle a 2 on 2 battle. It was obvious that Justin had simply abandoned the Numel again, and was in pursuit of something else. The Leader it appeared. Tag had no more time to ponder as he heard his opponent issue the next command.

"Huh. Torchwood, Fire Punch!"

"Suzu, Mach Punch the Light Screen!" There was no way Suzu could meet a fire punch dead on without being decimated by it, so Tag had her punch her own floating screen. It flew towards the enemy Magmar, Torchwood, with surprising speed. It didn't do much damage really...it just sort of crashed on the flame body pokemon, stopping it in its tracks. This was no good. Tag didn't really have time to dilly-dally.

"Torchwood, Fire Punch again!"

"Suzu, Silver Wind!" He'd have to have Suzu keep her distance. As the Fire Punch seared towards her, Suzu flashed backwards, flapping her wings with a loud buzz. The air itself rushed forward with great concussive force, but the Magmar seemed to whether that as well.

"Torchwood! Kill that damn bug! Fire Punch!" The enemy trainer was all about the direct attack, which left Suzu at a precarious position. Tag couldn't have her use encore to give himself a lull, because he would simply get a whole barrage of Fire Punches instead...but...that would actually work just fine.

"Suzu! Encore!" The Fire punch stroke him with Suzu, sending her reeling back with a horrifying screech. She slammed hard on the ground, slowly rising back up into the air to clap her hands. The familiar, glazed look came over Magmar's eyes, and a familiar green aura surrounded Suzu. This was the Swarm Ability, but Tag had no time to utilize it.

"Suzu, return. Tobi. You're up."

The little fox pokemon appeared on the field, bristling his six tails menacingly.

"Huh." The enemy trainer was really quite eloquent. "Torchwood, Smog." Torchwood the Magmar opted not to use smog, and charged forward with a Fire Punch. Tobi hopped up, over the extended arm and landed on it, absorbing the fire from its fist. His eyed glowed a fierce red as he hopped off, resuming his stance as his Flash-Fire Ability powered him up.

"Uh. Torchwood, Smog" Once again, the Magmar lumbered forward to use its fire punch.
"Tobi, Hypnosis!" Once again, the Magmar lurched forward with its arm, which Tobi hopped up onto, absorbing more of its fire. In turn, in such close range, his eyes glowed blue as he stared directly into the Magmar's eyes. After a moment, the opponent simply toppled over, asleep.

"Torchwood, return. You're up, Doctor Who!" The Magmar disappeared from the field. In its stead, a Noctowl took to the air, hovering a good distance above Tobi, who calmly trotted back towards Tag, taking his position with almost a lofty flick of his nose.

"Doctor Who! Air Slash!"

Tag grimaced, not expecting such a high level attack from his opponent. A thin blade of wind sliced dangerously through the air, slamming Tobi into the ground. The poor Vulpix cried out in pain as the wind blade pressed it to the ground, and worse still, it was messing up his fairly pristine coat.

"Tobi, Bursting Flame" As soon as the air let up, Tobi hopped back up, growling as he reared back his head. The Bursting Flame he whipped up this time was augmented by his Flash Fire in full effect. The fireball hissed through the air, combusting upon impact with the enemy Noctowl. However, the Noctowl was not yet done. Doctor Who swooped down, his own eyes glowing blue as his trainer yelled: "Hypnosis!"

Tobi, now a victim to his own attack, simply curled up on the ground, asleep. Tag growled audibly, recalling his pokemon once again. Kyoko, Bachi and Suzu were all weak to the Noctowl's flying and psychic attacks....so that left him with his new comrade. He flipped out his pokedex, scanning the little snow cone pokemon as she appeared on the field. The pokedex neatly summed up a list of moves that she was capable of performing. This was somewhat annoying to Tag, as he usually preferred to let his pokemon show him what they were capable of, but this situation was a bit more dire. He did not have the leisure of learning beforehand Orin's capabilities.

"Doctor Who! Confusion!"

"Orin, Protect!" A blue wave of energy shot out from Noctowl's eyes, but it washed harmlessly off of the force-field that Orin conjured up before her. "Now. Icy Wind!" Drawing in a deep breath, the chilly willy little pokemon launched forth a potent wind, completely with snowflakes and shards of ice. Screeching in pain, the Noctowl plummeted earthward, wherein it was recalled by his trainer.

"Weeds! You're up!" This time a Tangrowth appeared on the field, taking Tag a little by surprise. His ice-type Orin had the advantage, yet he was sending out a pokemon with a clear weakness.

"Fine. Orin. Icy Wind." As Orin drew in another breath, Tag's eyes widened sharply as he heard the next command.

"Weeds! Ancientpower!" The Tangrowth forcibly shoved its hands into the mountain side. With a tremendous effort, it lifted several chunks of rock clear out of the ground and hurled them towards the incoming Icy Wind attack. The Wind didn't affect the rocks at all; not even enough to deflect them from their course. The consequence? They slammed violently into Orin, rendering her senseless immediately.

"Orin, return. Suzu, Bug Bite!" Tag cursed himself for not remembering that in order to evolve into Tangrowth, a Tangela first had to learn Ancientpower as a pre-requisite. He'd just lost a part of his battle because he'd forgotten that simple fact. Now, unsettled, and upset at his lack of clear thought, he started flailing a bit with his commands. Usually, he kept Suzu staggering her opponents with a series of status moves, but here he had her charge in to take advantage of her type advantage, as well as her activated Swarm Ability. It did not last long as the Tangrowth simply chucked some rocks at Suzu, slamming her backwards. The force had been too much: Between the icy winds from Snorunts earlier, the Fire Punch from Magmar, and this, a rock to the face, Suzu was out for the count. Tag recalled her, muttering an apology to the pokeball. His anger at Justin running off again, as well as his self-directed anger for missing a beat in battle really had thrown him out of sync. So, taking a deep breath, he summoned Kyoko to the field.

"Weeds-"
"Kyoko-"
"Stun Spore!" The command rang out simultaneously from both trainers. The two sets of green spores clashed up against one another, spraying harmlessly out to the sides, just short of the other battles. Kyoko sized up her opponent, her acid dripping out the side of her mouth like a venomous bile. Time to put it to good use, Tag thought to himself as he issued his next command.

"Kyoko, Acid!" The Acid was much faster than the icy wind attack, so the Ancientpower moved didn't whip up in time. The purple goo smacked the Tangrowth right in the face, knocking it back a few paces.

"Now, Kyoko. Acid!" Before it could regain its balance, another acid attack smacked it right in the same spot. Kyoko's accuracy with the attack had been spot on. Flailing its arms about angrily, the Tangrowth's face seared away as it howled in pain. The trainer seemed at a loss as to what to do, so Tag simply ordered Kyoko to keep firing. Like a little smelly cannon, the Rafflessia pokemon fired off shot after shot of her acid, ultimately forcing Weeds' retreat to its pokeball.

"Fine dude. You're askin' for it." The criminal trainer cracked his knuckles and neck menacingly before drawing out yet another pokeball.

"House! You're up!" Tag found himself expecting a Chansey for some...hospital related reason...instead, an intense looking Weavile appeared on the field.

"Kyoko, ret-"
"House! Pursuit!"

As the beam shot out, the Weavile flashed out of site, appearing before the terrified grass pokemon only to slash viciously at her. She shrieked in pain as the red light enveloped her, sucking her back into her mobile home. Tag really only had one pokemon left in fighting form, but at least he could do some damage with it.

"Bachi, Double Kick!" The attack was certain to be extra effective, as the fighting move was both effective against Ice AND Dark, Weavile's exact typing. Bachi burst out of his pokeball already in a charge and flung himself at the enemy, jumping up into the air and turning himself backwards. He landed a solid two-footed kick right to House's face, rendering the opponent unconscious in one fell hit. Bachi certainly had a lot of power behind him. He pawed at the ground anxiously, waiting for the next opponent.

Tag watched as the trainer recalled the evil looking Weavile to its pokeball, before tossing another out.

"Dexter, you're up."

Of course. Replacing the vicious looking Weavile was an even more vicious looking Houndoom with a somewhat more ominous name to its person. The Houdooom tilted its head back and howled skywards, doubly having the effect of unsettling Bachi and raising its own attack.

"Bachi, Double Kick!" "Dexter, Ember!" Tag watched as the little fireballs sprayed out from the enemy, repeatedly slamming into his reeling Nidorino and realized, with a frown, that he was on the verge of losing this battle. Suzu and Orin were unconscious, Kyoko was hurt and weak to fire, Tobi was asleep, and here Bachi was getting battered by fire...things were looking grim.

Posted by: Tymid Jan 13 2011, 02:25 PM

As Justin had sprinted by her, her face swiftly turned from a happy smirk to a concerned frown. Naturally, she followed, her hand on her poke'balls cautiously, and she ran smack dab into...dialogue. As Justin, Nate and the goons bantered back and forth, Raven scouted out the situation...but someone was already scouting her out. She looked at the man with the Cranidos, and at the two poke'balls at his hip, one which she assumed was already empty. This meant one of two things; he was either very new to the group, with only a couple of stolen poke'mon to his name, or that he was very smart, choosing to only train a couple of poke'mon at a time. Judging by the eager way his Cranidos pawed at the ground, Raven could assume it was the latter.

Tag and Nate were already involved in battle, and Justin was...gone. Raven didn't have the time to be angry, considering that the man with the Cranidos was stepping towards her, his eyes darting to Aria. "Get behind me..." she whispered, and while Aria was eagerly wishing for a battle, snarling, she did as she was told, and stood behind Raven. Raven plucked Requiem's poke'ball, and quickly summoned forth the Totodile, who was raring to go. The opposing trainer frowned as he saw the water-type poke'mon, as did the Cranidos, who snorted and backed into his trainer's legs. Then again, maybe it was because the half-blind, snarling, saliva-dripping, lip curling blue thing in front of them was rather intimidating.

"Rocky! Focus Energy!" the other trainer cried, but Raven snapped her fingers, and as Requiem crouched in his offensive stance, Raven whistled shrilly, trilling the tone with her tongue. After the short whistle, she pointed to the opposing poke'mon, and shouted 'Cranidos!'. A jet of water shot forth from Requiem's mouth, and it was noticeably stronger than the last time she had seen it. The Cranidos and trainer were both without an inkling of a clue for what to do, and the Cranidos was buffeted with the full-on force of the attack.

"Yes." Raven muttered under her breath, knowing that the attack would be super effective, and would make a huge difference in the battle. The only problem was that the trainer and the poke'mon would know exactly what that command meant, meaning it would be harder for Requiem's only effective attack against the sturdy Cranidos a chancy endeavor. However, as the Cranidos was shakily attempting to rise to it's feet, she saw by the way it's eyes glared at Requiem that he still had some fight left in him. However, Raven took the opportunity to snap, calling Requiem to attention, and also gave the command for Leer, which was a bark which sounded like "He-EY!".

The Totodile, who seemed much more aggressive than the last time Raven had used him in battle, looked simply rabid. As his eyes glowed with the Leer attack, the blue lizard snarled, and the shaky-legged Cranidos fell back to the ground, seemingly having lost the will to go on. Raven couldn't believe it. Had her baby, sweet Totodile taken out a Cranidos in one hit?

"Rocky, TAKE DOWN!" the opposing trainer cried, and the Cranidos, with one last burst of energy, charged straight into Requiem, and both slammed into a wall. The Cranidos fell limp, and Raven could tell that he was laying on top of Requiem. As his trainer recalled the unconscious Cranidos, Raven took a step cautiously, toward Requiem. Not only was Take Down an extremely powerful attack, the Cranidos' previous Focus Energy move had almost guaranteed a critical hit. "Requiem?" Raven whispered, keeping one eye on the trainer and one on her poke'mon. Requiem lifted his head gingerly, and grunted at her, as though he was saying "I'm alright, woman. Just help me up." Raven picked up the Totodile, and she witnessed the owner of the Cranidos summon a Roselia, a confident smile on his face. He knew what her other poke'mon was, other than her newly acquired Forte, but there was no way that she was going to use him. She didn't even know what he could do yet, nor how she could command him.

Raven looked towards Nate's battle, finding that things were going alright, but that Nate seemed a little off of his game. Tag's corner of the field looked about as grim as the others, but as Raven saw each match-up, and how the type-advantages were off in each instance, an idea brewed in her brain. Taking a potion out of her satchel, she spritzed the tired Totodile, and as he perked, he reached out a claw and touched her nose. "You've got to trust me, okay?" she murmured, knowing that despite the potion, the Totodile was very tired, and it would only be safe to use him for two more attacks. However, if things turned out the way she was envisioning, things might be alright.

"Tag, make Bachi attack that Ariados." she called to Tag, setting Requiem down in front of her. Turning to Nate, she called "Nate, have Ninja use Ice Shard on that Roselia.", gesturing from the Sneasel to the Roselia in front of her. All four of the trainers were now quite disoriented, the change of battle partners being quite disconcerting. Raven could only hope and pray that they would listen to her, otherwise, all would be for naught. Raven, taking advantage of the confusion, snapped and trill-whistled again, this time pointing to the Houndoom and calling out his name, who was still focused on Bachi. A Water Gun attack broadsided the dog, and with a loud yelp, it slammed against the wall, steaming with the contact of the attack. Raven snapped once again, and trill whistled once again, focusing on Aria as Requiem made the final blow onto the Houndoom.

Calling the Luxio to attention with a click made by her tongue and cheek, and proceeded to make a "Shhh..." type sound, which stood for Charge. As Aria Charged her attack, Raven pulled out Requiem's poke'ball and called him back inside, the tired poke'mon literally sagging with exhaustion and pain. She did so with a good sense of timing, as well, since the Roselia was looking hungrily toward the weak poke'mon.

A glow at her side caused her to squint, and the sound of crackling and sparking brought Raven's attention back to Aria. She was ready. "-aBAM!" was Raven's next command, which stood for Spark, and pointed to the Xatu, calling out it's name. Aria sprinted over to the psychic bird, and as soon as they came in proximity of each other, the Luxio tackled the Xatu with surprising strength and agility, and the bird literally lit up with the contact. Raven winced for the Xatu, but as the bird fell to the ground, and Aria came sprinting back over to Raven, Raven couldn't help but smile breathlessly. Aria's speed and accuracy was remarkable, showing that she was slowly gaining the legendary eyesight of a Luxray.

Raven hoped that the confusion caused by the sub-attacks would be enough for Tag and Nate to take out the remaining two poke'mon. One could only hope.

Posted by: Yzarc Drowsnam Jan 13 2011, 07:27 PM

Nate sighed angrily as he watched Justin abandon their cause. Technically, the money affected Nate just as much as it did Justin, but his concern was, naturally, with the numel.

Now that he had both Ninja and Pinch out against Xatu and Ariados, it seemed like it would be fine. He didn't notice that both trainers he was facing had two extra pokeballs each, meaning his three pokemon were going to have to take on six. Fantastic. Seeing as how Ariados was causing the most problems with its high powered Sucker Punch, he decided to have both his pokemon focus on it. First, though, seeing as how Xatu's biggest threat was in its dangerous tricky moves, he decided to put an end to that.

"Ninja, use Taunt on Xatu," he pointed, and then, "Pinch, use-" he almost said Bubblebeam, but as it seemed clear Ariados was going to counter with Sucker Punch, he formulated a new plan. "Harden," As Xatu's trainer, the larger man with the broken face, commanded it to use Confuse Ray on Pinch, Ariados charged forward towards the same krab pokemon, but punched just a second too soon before collapsing on its own many legs. It was expecting Pinch to move forward to attack, but instead it backed up and boosted its own defenses, rendering Ariados' attack useless.

Xatu, meanwhile, charged forward towards Ninja and landed an awkward and aggressive attack with a combination of its wings, head and feet. The attack seemed to hurt itself more than the sneasel. Nate smiled as her taunt seemed to be effective. Xatu was ignoring its trainers orders in an effort to seek revenge against the smart mouthed sneasel.

While the larger trainer recalled Xatu, Nate commanded both Ninja and Pinch to attack Ariados. "Bubblebeam and Ice Punch," while its own trainer commanded a Bug Bite on Ninja. Things happened very near simultaneously, but there was still a slight order: Ninja charged forward the fastest, her fists turning a light blue. She punched Ariados in the face as it opened its mouth to bite. As she began to move back, though, Ariados managed to bite down pretty hard on her leg, causing her to fall over awkwardly. It released, however, as Pinch's Bubblebeam overtook it with...bubbles.

The larger trainer, by the time Ninja managed to limp back to Nate, had summoned his next pokemon, Solrock. "Damn," Nate said under his breath. He wanted to finish of Ariados, but Solrock's Rock type was going to be quite the threat to Ninja. "Faint Attack Bubblebeam on Solrock," he said, quietly enough for only his pokemon to hear. As Solrock predictably threw a rock (Rock Throw) at Ninja, she disappeared from what seemed like our plane of existence for less than a second (long enough to evade the Rock Throw) and appeared behind the sun pokemon. As she slashed at it from behind, it was pelted by Pinch's Bubblebeam. As Solrock fell to the earth. As Nate began to smile, however, Ariados ran over to where Ninja was standing at bit her again. This time, its effects were pretty bad. Ninja looked over to Nate, an apologetic look in her eyes, as she allowed them to close and her body to hit the ground alongside Solrock's.

As both Nate and the larger man called back their fainted pokemon, Ariados' trainer did not waste time. "Bug Bite on the krabby!" he called out. Pinch tried to defend herself against the attack without an order from Nate, and was going to use Bubblebeam, but when Nate yelled "Harden!" her priorities got all funky. Not being an incredibly smart pokemon, she jumbled herself up with thought and ended up just taking the bite. Ariados managed to knock her over, causing her even more confusion. By that time, Teddiursa was out and ready for combat. "Shadow Rush," Nate insisted.

Ariados was knocked aside from the super effective hit. It was very strong, however, and remained in play. Its trainer, however, decided to recall it anyway. Nate shrugged as he noticed the larger man's next pokemon, Xatu. No longer affected by the taunt, it was prepared to unleash some pretty heavy devastation. Unfortunately, Nate did not have Ninja to perfectly counter Xatu. Ariados' trainer, in lieu of Ariados, sent out Heracross, evidently to counter Shadow Teddiursa.

"Yeah, I don't play around with shadow pokemon," he smirked right before shouting, "Brick Break on Teddiursa!" Nate was at a loss for what to do. Heracross was a very dangerous pokemon, but he couldn't just let Xatu screw everything up either. He decided, since Teddiursa could very well be taken out in two hits from Heracross, to finish it off first. "Bubblebeam Shadow Rush Heracross," he said very quickly.

As Heracross' direct path to Teddiursa was slowed by the bubbles, popping all around him, dealing some damage, Teddiursa charged, a purple aura forming around him. As he forced himself to stop, the shadowy aura continued and plunged itself into the Heracross. It wasn't nearly enough to knock the fighting bug out, however, and it landed an incredibly power Brick Break on Teddiursa. Nate didn't expect it, but the bear fainted. He raised an eyebrow when he noticed a band tied around its arms. This was the Choice Band, an item which made his attacks very powerful, though it limited him to just one.

Sighing, he called Teddiursa back, now facing a one on two battle. Pinch's defenses were way up thanks to two Hardens, but he doubted she'd be able to take many Brick Breaks. On top of that, she was walking around very awkwardly. It seemed that during the chaos of the most recent flurry of attacks, he didn't notice Xatu use Confuse Ray. He gulped. What choice did he have? "Bubblebeam on Heracross,"

Heracross landed a powerful Brick Break on Pinch, but not enough to knock her out, while Xatu flew around in the sky, creating a Tail Wind, boosting the speed of its allies. Pinch, beyond its confusion, still managed to let loose a powerful Bubblebeam, which finished off Heracross. Its trainer sent out Ariados, yet again. "Deja vu," Nate shrugged, noting that the only thing different from the last time he was face to face with the same Xatu and Ariados, he had two more pokemon by his side. Each trainer also had one more pokemon.

That's about when Raven decided to strategerize.

"Tag, make Bachi attack that Ariados." That would be nice.

"Nate, have Ninja use Ice Shard on that Roselia." Oh.

"Um, Ninja's knocked out," he said, rubbing the back of his neck.

As Dexter the Houndoom took its last hit from Requiem and Xatu fell to Aria's charged up electric attack, Pinch used Bubblebeam on Ariados, which combined well with Bachi's attack to finish it off. The Roselia which went unchecked, meanwhile, managed to release a sleeping powder into the crowd of pokemon at Nate's side of the battle.

The larger man's Xatu was down and Ariados' trainer's Ariados was down, but each of them had a remaining pokemon. Tag's opponent was completely out, but Raven's opponent still had Roselia. Meanwhile, Nate's final remaining pokemon, Pinch, was asleep, as was Bachi. Tag's remaining conscious pokemon was Kyoko, but she had already taken a few hits. Aria was Raven's remaining pokemon, and she was in good health, but could not fare well against Roselia and the next and final two pokemon to emerge.

Mamoswine from the larger man and Lunatone from Ariados' trainer. It was kind of cute that one had Lunatone and the other Solrock, but it was unfortunate that they weren't used at the same time. At least Lunatone and Mamoswine had some synergy, because neither were affected by Mamoswine's Earthquake. Oh yeah, I guess I forgot to mention that this Mamoswine was at a high enough level to know Earthquake which, by the way, was super effective against both Aria and Bachi and would easily finish off both Kyoko and Pinch, which accounted for all of the remaining conscious pokemon, unless you count Tobi, who was asleep, but also weak to Earthquake.

"I'd say it's about time for Earthquake, wouldn't you, Jake?" Araidos' trainer asked.

Jake, the larger man with the bloody face, just nodded. "Why yes I do, Will,"

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

Meanwhile, Justin had finally managed to chase down the leader of the bunch, you know him well.

The man turned around and summoned a pokemon, Gallade, and so Justin summoned Hitmontop. "Psycho Cut!" "Fake Out!"

As Gallade charged Hitmontop, it was stopped cold by Fake Out, as tends to happen. The leader walked around a decent sized radius from the fight to approach Justin, but still kept his distance from the youngster. "You really want this money, huh?"

"It's ours," Justin said. "That's how these transactions work,"

"That's how most transactions work," the man smiled. "You, as a member of Team Deception, should know things tend to work differently in this world," he paused and looked over to the battle. "Keep going, Alexander,"

"Mach Punch, Hitmontop!" Justin responded.

"Either way," the man continued their conversation on the side. "I didn't expect you to chase us down with help. I'm impressed. I'm more impressed, however, with your dedication to your organization over your friends."

"They're fine,"

"Are they?"

Justin looked back just in time to see Ninja fall prey to Ariados. "They'll be fine,"

"You seem confident. I respect that," the man smiled. "Respect is the wrong word. I admire it, I should say. It's a useful trait."

Justin noticed Hitmontop was not faring well against Alexander. Psycho Cut was, of course, super effective against Hitmontop and Mach Punch was not very effective against Gallade. He decided to change it up a little. "Counter!"

As Alexander landed a powerful Psycho Cut, Hitmontop countered phenomenally, wiping out its opponent. "Figures," the leader sighed, calling his gallade back. "You're up, Napoleon,"

His next pokemon, Napoleon, was a proud looking Manectric, whose powerful special attacks would go uncountered by Hitmontop. "Shockwave," "Counter!" Justin was unaware of that little tidbit and decided to change up his strategy when he saw Hitmontop stand idle as he took a powerful attack. "Mach Punch!"

"Your Hitmontop is very strong," the man nodded, "I would love nothing more than to continue this fight until he is defeated. And rest assured, with your terrible mind commanding him, he will be. But I am in a hurry and you have somewhere else you need to be. Now, it's gonna take both of us to agree on a cease-"

"I'm not giving up!" Justin yelled.

"You have no choice!" the man yelled back. "Your friends are going to die!"

Justin cringed at the thought. He looked from his opponent's face to the battle between Hitmontop and Napoleon, and then behind him where, in the distance, he watched as one of the men summoned a Mamoswine. It was incredibly powerful looking. He could make out the faces of his friends, if he could even call them that anymore, and saw that they were not optimistic. He jerked his head back to his opponent, who stood, arms crossed and a single eyebrow raised.

"What's it gonna be, kid?" he asked. Justin felt his heart pounding. What would happen to him and Nate if he let this man go with the money and the package? He wasn't sure what Team Deception was entirely capable of, but he figuring killing wasn't too far out of their way. Still.

"Hitmontop, stand back!"

"Napoleon, retreat!" Both the pokemon simultaneously backed away from each other, some confusion on each of their faces. "You've made a wise decision, Justin Smart," the man said. "I'm sure we'll meet again."

Justin didn't bother concerning himself with the fact that this man knew his name. Instead, he yelled "Come on!" to Hitmontop and began running back to the entrance of the cave, where the others were fighting. Hitmontop got there just in time to hear "Earthqu-" but decided not to wait for Justin's command to use Mach Punch on Mamoswine from behind, causing the "ake" to be replaced with "The hell?" Altogether, it was "Earthqu-The hell?" When Justin finally arrived, out of breath, he stood behind the enemy trainers and watched as Hitmontop went to town on Mamoswine.

"Lunatone!" the other trainer decided to jump in to help his buddy out.

"Nope," Justin shook his head, summoning Sudowoodo. That, of course, left Roselia, who was good and ready to just throw some more sleep powder everywhere. Justin looked down at his two remaining pokeballs, Nincada and Pinsir, neither of whom he wanted in this battle, though for two very opposite reasons.

He looked to his right, though, to see Da Bomb, who was formerly fainted, twitch his leg. He finally pulled himself up with a big yawn. It was knocked out for a good hour, but it seemed to gain enough energy from that hour's worth of rest to stand up. "Hey Da Bomb," Justin got down on his knees to pet the camel. "I know you're tired, but I need a favor. That Roselia over there is causing us problems. Think you could handle up on that?"

It nodded slowly and began walking around the quadruo of enemy trainers to throw embers all over Roselia before she managed to do any real harm. While those two fought, Justin noticed that Sudowoodo was quite a few levels weaker than Lunatone, as its Rock Throw was doing very little damage (if only Justin knew to tell it to use Wood Hammer).

Hitmontop was faring well against Mamoswine, taking some hits from Ice Shard here and there, but his Mach Punch was by far superior. The only iffy battle seemed to be against Lunatone.

Posted by: Kamaitachi Jan 13 2011, 11:51 PM

With the battle whipping up all around them, Tag watched as the team of Nate, Raven and himself wore down. As far as he was concerned, they were now teetering on the brink of defeat.

Snapping back to life from his grim reverie, he followed Raven's order to switch up sans hesitation.

"Bachi! Fury Attack on Ariados!" He watched as the swap worked fairly well. Requiem's water gun washed over the Houndoom, Dexter, rendering it senseless. Requiem's water gun was growing increasingly powerful, Tag found himself musing.

On Nate's end of the battle, after his interference with Bachi, things seemed to look up, except that the Roselia had gone unscathed. A Sleep Powder later, and Bachi, too, was asleep. That meant his only pokemon able to even move was Kyoko, and that seemed like a fine enough bet to him.

Tag recalled Bachi before the Earthquake, if only to save his friend from the pain of the attack, but it never happened. This was because Justin Smart had come charging back into the fray.

Tag found himself a bit angry at this. The kid had run off, abandoning them to a fight, and now he got to charge in like some heroic cavalry. On the other hand, Hitmontop would be good in taking on the gargantuan Mamoswine, who would've been a huge problem to all involved.

"Kyoko, back out." With what could only be described as a blank look on her face, she appeared back on the field to relieve Justin's Bons---scuse...Sudowoodo. Bonscuse Sudowoodo. Hopefully, Justin would shift the rock throws over at Mamoswine, where it might've done more damage.

The drooling plant pokemon looked to be in pain still from the Weavile's pursuit slash. Evidently House's claws were as sharp as his human namesake's wit. However, there was a way to remove the threat of Earthquake all together. Tag found himself once again relying on one of his favourite moves in this arsenal:

"Worry Seed Lunatone!" The seed shot out with startling speed, alighting with a sharp stinging sensation of Lunatone's nose, wherein a small flower bloomed. Tag had been correct in his assumption, that Lunatone stayed afloat due to its Levitate Ability, just like the Koffing from Lenolia.

The Psychic Rock pokemon slammed violently into the floor, before turning itself slightly to fire off a psywave at Kyoko. The psychic waves lanced through the air, striking the grass pokemon heavily, sending her flying backwards. However, it seemed that she wasn't quite done yet.

Tag closed his eyes for a moment, mentally scanning the list of techniques in Kyoko's repertoire. He'd been using Kyoko mostly as a support pokemon for quite some time, aside from her acid attack. However, there was a move that would damage her opponent AND heal her.

"Kyoko, Mega Drain!" It worked like a charm. Kyoko ran/waddled over to Lunatone and shot out her little ribbons, wrapping them around the grounded Moon pokemon. With all the strength she could muster, she began to drain it of its energy, healing herself in the process. However, another psywave attack sent her flying back through the air at Tag, roughly back at square one.

"Kyoko, Sleep Powder!" He balled his hands up into fists, and rather uncharacteristically took a battle pose, pointing at his opponent. He hadn't done anything so...dramatic...as a pose since he was a young trainer just starting out. Perhaps being on the verge of losing brought out that old fire, that old love of battle.

Nah. It was just battle that brought out the love of battle.

Kyoko's pink powder floated gently about the Lunatone, who, grounded, was unable to avoid it. It closed its eyes, and if a floating piece of rock could snore with no mouth, it would've snored.

The other trainer, Jack, Will, or grace, he couldn't remember and in all honesty, didn't care, recalled the sleeping Lunatone, seeming somewhat at a loss as to what to do. Now it seemed to have all boiled down to Hitmontop and Mamoswine, then Da Bomb and Roselia. It seemed that things were looking up.

Unconsciously, he'd moved closer to Raven, however, watching the rest of the battle unfold. His face, surprised and flustered earlier, had returned to the normal cold, calculating gaze in which he viewed battles. He stood there, waiting for his moment to strike with Kyoko, while not getting in the way of anyone else. The pokemon in question moved back to Tag and Raven, waiting with Aria and Requiem.

However, the stillness of that group was broken as they heard

"Huh. Dexter, Fire Fang."

Evidently the Houndoom had not been as out for the count as they all had hoped. It launched forward, fire swiriling around in its vicious fangs before it clamped down hard on Kyoko.

Uttering something of a gasp, Tag watched as Dexter flung Kyoko around like a dog with a chewtoy, all the while his pokemon screaming in pain and terror.

"Kyoko, Sleep Powder!" Sadly, Kyoko seemed to preoccupied with being in immense pain to listen to her trainers orders. "Raven," he turned, grabbing her arm with a panicked grip, his eyes belaying intense concern for the well being of his friend. "Raven, help her." It was an odd quality in his voice. It sounded for all the world like he was...begging?

Posted by: Tymid Jan 14 2011, 01:59 AM

Raven uttered a soft "Yes." of victory as enemy poke'mon fell out of battle, but blanched as Justin ran back in. Her face contorted in anger, and she screamed a vicious scream. "No, go ahead. We don't need your fucking help. Run away, asshole." She glared at him horribly, even as he revived the Numel and sent his Hitmontop after the Mamoswine. She knew that he would keep fighting, and yes, they needed his help, but now was a really bad time for him to come skipping in.

Tag had moved closer to her in the fray, and she could tell he was back on his game. "Good job, thank you." she said breathlessly, before sending Aria a Leer attack towards the Lunato-...oh, it was gone. She instead sent the attack towards the Mamoswine as Aria was sprinting towards the battle. She apparently understood, and was on her way to the large, icy beast. As the Luxio's eyes narrowed, and it's lips curled back in a snarl, the Mamoswine was temporarily distracted by the intimidating gaze, giving the Hitmontop a great opportunity to critical on the thing. Even Raven was slightly scared. Leering Shinx was one thing. Leering Luxio? Whole 'nother level of creepy. Especially when it was covered in scars.

A broad smile crossed Raven's face. They had done it. Once again, against immeasurable odds, they had achieved their goal. This had been a much harder encounter than against common street thugs, but they had done it. She turned to see the burning Roselia fall to the ground with a shriek, due to Numel's ember attacks. With the same broad smile on her face, she turned to Tag, expecting to see that familiar, tiny smile of victory on his face. As she was about to mention something about "Well, at least you weren't shot." her smile fell as he gripped her arm, and she saw the horrific sight of Kyoko on the ground, wailing in pain and the ground around smouldering, as well as the leaves on the top of her head flickering with flame.

As she heard the tone in his voice, her heart fell. Her face paled. Her face, in it's entirety, was in shock and dismay. She had never seen the strong man in such a state, and it was her fault. She had been too cocky; she thought the Houndoom was out of commission. Kyoko was suffering for it. As his weak voice asked her to help his poke'mon, she wrenched himself out of his grasp, backing away. She didn't say a word, and she was deaf to the world. She didn't see the other trainer smile, nor did she hear him utter another command for Fire Fang. Raven had to help.

Sprinting over to the fallen Kyoko, fumbling at Requiem's poke'ball at her hip, she summoned the tired poke'mon forth, and as she heard his rasping, exhausted and agonized panting, she whispered "One more. One more Water Gun. Take it out. Get it." She removed her jacket, and placed it over Kyoko, squishing out the remaining flame with her bare hands, ignoring the searing pain that it caused. Requiem was inhaling as best as he could to prepare for the Water Gun attack, but as the Houndoom charged past, aiming for the shrouded Kyoko, Requiem simply fell over, to exhausted to continue.

"Aria, Spa-..." she managed to get out, before the Houndoom's firey fangs sunk into her shoulder, and it's head began to shake. Planting her knees and toes into the ground, Raven's body was shaken ruthlessly as the Houndoom, determined to get to the Gloom underneath the jacket, burned and shook and tore at Raven's shoulder. Raven gritted her teeth, her body still guarding Kyoko's to the best of her ability. "I've...got...you..." she whispered to the plant, the stench of the Poke'mon the least of her worries. Every time she heard Kyoko whimper, she attempted to reach over and grab the loose sand and rock on Kyoko's opposite side, the blistered skin on her hands peeling off in the process. A snapping sound finally caused Raven to send her head back, and she screamed silently, the pain too great for her to get a sound out.

She didn't get a chance to see Aria leaping over and using Spark on the Houndoom, rendering the weak creature, finally, unconscious. Raven fell limply across Kyoko's form, and her eyes flickered open, and she saw a heaving, gape mouthed Requiem, water slowly dripping out of it's mouth. He was still alive, but he couldn't move. With her working arm, Raven groped, much like a flailing fish, for his Poke'ball. She was able to press the button to recall the poke'mon, whispering "I'm...sorry." to the Totodile, who she could tell was weakly trying to lift it's claw to touch her. Her clavicle was broken, and while there was visible puncture wounds, they didn't bleed. The extreme heat of the Houndoom's fangs had effectively cauterized the wound, and there was a slight amount of plasma leaking from them. Around each puncture wound, there was blistered flesh. Aria came over, nosing at Raven's hair, Raven being in so much pain that she couldn't move. A tear leaked out of Raven's emerald eye, her mouth open, panting for breath, but her hair lay like a mask in front of her dirty face, where the tear was making a pale trail through the soot.

She slowly propped herself up with her good arm, so not to squash Kyoko. Her other arm was limp, dangling grossly at her side. Her head hung low, her chin to her chest, her typically gorgeous hair tangled and matted with stress and dirt. With a loud groan, she sat herself up, using her other arm to drag her wrist slowly to her lap. She used the able arm to uncover Kyoko, who was in pain, but not on fire, like she had been. "Good...girl..." she rasped, reaching out the good arm to stroke the Gloom gently. However, as soon as her hand reached the Gloom, her eyes rolled back in her head, and she fell over backwards, in an awkward angle, her heels beneath her back.

Raven had blacked out.

Posted by: Yzarc Drowsnam Jan 14 2011, 04:05 PM

Nate uttered a sigh of relief when he saw Hitmontop stop Mamoswine from unleashing Earthquake. Like Tag and Raven, he did not see Justin as some big hero, coming in to save the day, but he did see Hitmontop as such. Surely if Hitmontop was a person, he would be so much better than Justin in every way.

With Mamoswine distracted by Hitmontop and Lunatone by Sudowoodo, Nate took the opportunity to to kneel down next to Pinch. "Come on, Pinch," he said, shaking her claws. "Come on, girl. Wake up." He looked up when he saw Bachi being recalled and Kyoko come out. She did a good job taking care of Lunatone, much better than Sudowoodo was doing, at least. Then, he looked over to see Justin commanding Da Bomb, who apparently just woke up. Nate was honestly relieved that he was able to do that, as he, himself, was in an emotional shock at the whole situation.

He stood up and called back Pinch in an attempt to stay out of the way and just watch as the events unfolded. Hitmontop, with the help of Aria, managed to bring down Mamoswine. Da Bomb was finishing up with Roselia and Dexter pulled itself up. Nate watched as the hellhound had a dark look in its eyes as it stood. He wanted to say something, but nothing came out. He watched, in terror, as it charged Kyoko, its mouth bursting with flames.

When it bit down, it looked as though it was trying to tear her to pieces. He raised his eyebrows as he watched the vicious dog go to town. "Sleep Powder!" he heard Tag say, but Kyoko did not respond. He watched Justin's eyes wide open in surprise and then Tag break down. Justin wanted to jump in, but he was beaten to the punch by Raven, who summoned Requiem to finish off the houndoom. Reqiuem was unable to do so and then the worst of it happened.

As Dexter's fiery mouth tore into Raven, Nate had no reaction. He'd never seen anything so brutal. His breath ceased, his hands flew to his hair and he fell to his knees. "Oh my God," he managed to utter.

"Hitmontop!" he saw Justin point to Dexter, but, again, was beaten to the punch, this time by Aria, who refused to hesitate as she decimated the remaining consciousness of the houndoom. To everyone's shock, Raven was not yet out. She had enough strength to sit up and even speak a few words. She called Reqiuem back into her pokeball and fell over in a very awkward position.

There was silence. With Dexter gone, all of the opponents' pokemon were out of commission, either due to sleep or being knocked out. As Nate rushed over to Raven to try to move her legs so they didn't break underneath her, allowing her to lay down flat, Justin turned to the largest of the men, the one who had summoned the Mamoswine. The one whose face was beaten senseless by Justin's rage an hour earlier. Justin's rage was not gone. In fact, it was much stronger.

"You guys are gonna want to get the fuck out of here," he said, feigning calmness, though his face was turning a bright red. "Because I'm gettin' ready to kill every last one of you sons of bitches." They each took a step back, all of their pokemon now inside their pokeballs. "Now!" he yelled as Hitmontop spun around in front of his trainer. They all turned and ran.

With them gone, he called back Sudowoodo and Hitmontop. He didn't say anything to them, but they knew he was proud. Then, he walked over to Raven's beaten and broken body, looking down on her with Nate sitting on his knees next to her. Nate was filled with guilt. He had brought her into this to save Da Bomb and he was sure she was going to die. Justin just looked up to Tag, guilt all over his own face as well.

"I, uh," he began, not sure what to say. Sorry didn't seem like it would cut it. And in any case, there were bigger concerns. There was a very real possibility that she would die unless given very urgent care. More to the point, though, how do you move a body so battered down a mountain and back into a city without destroying it even more? "What do we do?"

Posted by: Kamaitachi Jan 15 2011, 03:03 AM

Tag had frozen at the sight of Kyoko's brutal attack. Now he wished he'd been more of a man and rushed in to save his own pokemon. He'd asked Raven to help simply because she still had pokemon, but the woman had once again thrown herself in the way of bodily harm, this time with much more dire circumstances than the last. Tag could only watch, paralyzed with shock as the Houndoom tore into Raven's shoulders.

As he watched her silent scream, he suddenly found his will to move again and began to dart forward. He was ready to kick the skull dog, as it seemed to be his only defense left. However, Hitmontop beat him there, and Aria beat Hitmontop there.

As Justin gave a big manly threat, Nate moved Raven into a position where she wouldn't be able to break anything else. In this moment of duress, all of Tag's emotions seemed to fade away from his face, and even his person. He stood numbly over the girl who had moved to save his pokemon.

He looked to the guilt ridden faces of Justin and Nate, and realized that he felt just as guilty as the duo, simply because he'd asked something of Raven he should've done himself.

"Looks bad." He muttered darkly. They weren't too far up the mountain from Arasam, but Tag didn't feel comfortable moving Raven without knowing the severity of her injuries. There was only one thing that Tag remembered from the First Aid he'd learned concerning third-degree burn, and that was to place a dry, clean towel around the wound so as to not get it infected. However, he wasn't sure if he was dealing with burns, seeing as it was a bite mixed with fire that was dangerously hot enough to cauterize a wound. If the wound was cauterized, then there was no need to further stop the blood flow. Unfortunately, if the fire was hot enough to cauterize the punctures, then it was hot enough to have caused third degree burns on the skin, which was bad. However, Tag was unsure as to how much internal bleeding was occurring, and if there was any bone-breakage in her shoulder from the bite itself.

"One of you, go get help in Arasam." That was all he could think of. He felt really helpless, having no medical knowledge for this sort of thing, and the last thing he wanted to do was botch it up, further endangering her life. "Now."

As he took a seat next to Raven, he calmly scooped the unconscious, whimpering Kyoko into his lap, stroking her smelly little head-flower almost absently, if not reassuringly. Before long, he recalled her into her pokeball to rest, and as soon as Raven was okay, he'd take all of his pokemon to the center in Arasam.

Posted by: Yzarc Drowsnam Jan 15 2011, 04:08 AM

"I'll go," Nate insisted before Justin could respond. Of course, all three of the men felt equally guilty and responsible for the travesty which had befallen the only female in their group. During his semi breakdown, Da Bomb had wandered over to him. Petting him on the head, Nate stood up. "I'll go," he repeated, calling the numel back into his pokeball. "Um, yeah,"

He took a few steps back and just nodded as he turned and began running the distance back to the base of the mountain and Arasam. Justin half hoped Nate would run into the man who stole their money, but decided that it was not only unlikely, but even if it did happen, Nate would be incapable of taking on that man's manectric. Instead of doting on what could have been, he walked around Raven's body and stood next to Tag. He didn't say anything but just looked at her along with him.

Finally, he lifted his right arm and rested it tightly on Tag's left shoulder for a few seconds. That was all he could do.

Posted by: Kamaitachi Jan 16 2011, 02:49 AM

A day passed.

Raven had been safely moved from the side of Mt. Carello and taken to hospital with utmost swiftness and care, where she was treated by professionals specializing in Pokemon-Inflicted Wounds and Ailments. She would more than likely have a burn scar on her shoulder, but at least it was somewhat healed, and the collarbone set into place.

Tag had taken his and her pokemon to the Pokemon Centre nearby, and had brought them back without once releasing them from their pokeballs. However, upon their return to her specific room, he summoned Requiem and Aria from their pokeballs, gently ushering the two away from her sleeping form. Requiem protectively snapped at him a few times, but seemed to understand that moving her the wrong way could further injure her. Tag would show the Totodile that even he wasn't touching the sleeping woman, opting to let her lie. His warm baritone hopefully soothed the crocodile pokemon. Since he had no idea how to communicate with Forte, the Larvitar, he simply would pick him up and move him away whenever he got too close.

Tag waited in the room with Raven, only leaving to go obtain something to eat. He would occasionally summon Tobi out into the room, passing his time by brushing the fox pokemon's fur. Sometimes he'd summon Suzu or Bachi to keep company with Raven's pokemon. Sometimes Kyoko, but she seemed to be stinking up even fouler than usual. (He did apologize for calling her smelly in the cave.) He'd note sadly that one of the little fleshy balls on her head seemed burned, the color faded as if it had been rubbed over with charcoal. It made him a little sad to see the permanent reminder of the Houndoom bite there.

Sometimes he'd call out his newest comrade, whom he'd caught as part of a tactic. The shy little Snorunt, Orin, would always shy away at first, but Tag's kind insistence would eventually warm her up to him a little bit.

He'd parted ways with Justin and Nate once Raven got to the hospital, and he hadn't seen them since. He hadn't shrugged off Justin's hand back at Mt. Carello, but he hadn't precisely welcomed it either. It was a bit of a touchy subject, and though he would never admit it, he was secretly glad for the comfort it brought him.

Posted by: Tymid Jan 16 2011, 04:06 AM

One of Raven's eyes opened slightly, and then it shut again, and she squeezed both eyes shut tightly. It was too...bright in the room. Attempting to bring up her arm to lay it over her eyes, she found that not only could she not move her arm, attempting to do so hurt quite badly. So, she simply lifted her other arm and laid it over her eyes.

"Ugh..." she groaned. The sound of her voice was enough to introduce her to a whole new world of pain, as Aria leapt upon the bed, attempting to lick her face with that sandpapery tongue. Raven 'oof'ed appropriately, but as the Luxio nuzzled her face and hair, Raven's grumblings quickly turned into soft laughter. "I'm fine, babe...I'm fine." she said weakly, using her good arm to stroke Aria's lush mane, nuzzling her back. The familiar sound of ripping and tearing indicated that Requiem was attempting to get up on the bed as well, in any form he could, whether it be by jumping or climbing. "Easy, killer..." she murmured, attempting to sit up. As she did so, the pain in her shoulder grew, and she found that she was attached to a various assortment of wires. "The hell...?" she said confusedly, but then, she slowly remembered exactly what had happened.

In her mind, it was a blur. Adrenaline tended to do that to memories. But...she knew she was in a hospital. She didn't remember the transport or anything. How did she get there? The cave had been unique, but even Raven knew that the cave hadn't been equipped with a fully-functional hospital.

Raven's heart sank, her eyes still barely open. Tag, Nate, and/or Justin (she still had serious doubts about his loyalty...to anyone) had brought her there, and left. She inhaled deeply, and exhaled in a slow sigh through her nostrils.

She...didn't even get to say good-bye.

The persistent ripping and tearing noises brought her out of her melancholy state, and she turned her head to reprimand the poke'mon. What she saw instead, stopped her before she could speak.

Tag. Tag was sitting there. He and his poke'mon were sitting there. He was there, with her. For a moment, she simply stared at him in disbelief, to the point to where she shut her eyes tightly, and blinkingly looked at him again. "You...stayed with me...?" she asked softly, her now clean face contorted into the most confused...and yet grateful expression she had ever had upon her countenance. The confusion slowly turned into a gentle, welcoming smile, and she laughed. "I knew you were going to stalk me since the day I met you. I'm not that irresistable, you know."

At least her demeanor hadn't changed much. "Look...I'm sorry. I should have made sure the Houndoom was unconscious. I got cocky, and I put one of your friends in danger. I'd never be able to forgive myself if she..." she didn't continue the sentence, looking away from him and down at the curled up Luxio on her chest/stomach region. She reached out a hand to stroke Aria's head, and smiled as Aria lifted said head and showed her a classic Aria smile. "And as for what I did...you would have done the same for me, if it came to it." she whispered, turning her head to look at Tag genuinely, no trace of a smile or smirk on her face, simply a stoic look. However, the look held much more...it showed a certain bond between the unlikely pair.

Raven diverted her gaze again, looking down at the portion of her chest, only realizing now that she was wearing a hospital gown. "Ugh...I hate these things." she grumbled, huffing slightly. "My clothes have got to be around here somewhere...I don't like hospitals." she said aloud, looking about the room eagerly. Sure enough, her clothes were cleaned and neatly folded on a shelf. "Perfect." she quipped, however, upon attempting to rise out of bed, she fell back to it with a thunk, a disgruntled pout on her face.

She looked to Tag once again, and though she didn't want to say it, and that much was obvious, she muttered "You know...I'm awake now. I'm going to be okay. You can...go...if you want to. Y'know. Go do manly Tag-like stuff. You don't have to stay with me." she tried to end it with a chuckle, but all that came out was a sound that resembled someone clearing their throat. And then, with the most genuine look she had given him to this day, she added: "...But I don't...I mean, I really...I...I don't want to be alone right now. I've been alone for a long time." The statement sounded awkward, and it was obvious that Raven had just given a bit of herself to Tag. She didn't show weakness to anyone, and she had just confided in him, though discreetly, a great insecurity.

As hermitish as she was...she was human.

Posted by: Yzarc Drowsnam Jan 16 2011, 02:44 PM

Justin and Nate stuck around long enough to make sure Raven got to the hospital, but afterwards broke off from Tag and went back to Justin's hotel room. While Justin immediately threw himself on his bed, Nate just had to run his mouth. Seemed now that he had Da Bomb back he was back in his annoyingly cheery state.

"Where's the money?"

"The, uh," Justin began, sighing heavily. He let the money go in order to help the other three, but he was pretty quickly regretting that decision. Not only did he lose it, but the others still pretty much hated him. "I didn't get it."

"You what?"

"The guy, he,"

"You abandoned us!" Nate yelled. "You abandoned me and Da Bomb to get the money. I'll be honest, Justin, I didn't expect much different from you. I knew your priorities were with the money. But at least I also knew you'd get the goddamn money! What do we have now?"

"Our lives," Justin didn't get up from the bed. "You have Da Bomb."

"Stop saying that shit like you care."

"I do!" Justin finally sat up on his bed. "I'm sick and tired of everyone just thinking I'm the biggest asshole ever. You think I don't care about your lives? I came back for you. I let the money go because that Mamoswine was going to-"

"We were fine, asshole," Nate rolled his eyes. "We woulda figured something out. Stop thinking of yourself as a hero."

"I don't," Justin shook his head. "I've never been a hero and I don't try to be one. I just need you to know that I do care."

"You care?"

"Yeah."

"Yeah?"

"Yes."

"Okay," Nate nodded. "Then come with me to the hospital and let's go visit Raven."

"Oh," Justin's eyes darted away. "I don't know, maybe we should wait for-"

"I'm going now," Nate interrupted Justin, opening the door. "So you're obviously welcome to stop by later, but if you're trying to prove you care..."

"I'm coming,"

Raven pouring her heart out awkwardly and probably with the aid of some sedatives was rudely interrupted by a knock at the door, cutting short Tag's response. After about a second, Nate opened the door and walked in with a big smile when he saw Raven was awake in her bed, surrounded by her pokemon. Justin followed Nate, a look of shame on his face.

"Glad to see you're okay!" Nate grinned.

Justin just nodded at her awkwardly and then to Tag.

Posted by: Kamaitachi Jan 16 2011, 11:56 PM

A tidal wave of relief washed through Tag as he heard Raven stirring. He didn't move to stop Aria this time as she leapt up onto the bed. He did, however, wear an amused look as he watched Requiem attempt to scale the bedside.

"You...stayed with me...?"

"Sure did."

"I knew you were going to stalk me since the day I met ou. I'm not that irresistible, you know."

Then she attempted to apologize. Tag merely nodded, his stoic face appearing neither chiding or upset. He remained fairly silent as she shuffled about in her bed, his eyes only flashing concern whenever she attempted to move beyond her current radius of range. She continued to talk, and it looked to Tag that she'd been shaken up somewhat, enough to be vulnerable enough to admit a thing or two to him (one thing by saying so, the others by his inferences.)

He took a moment to formulate some sort of response, seeing as he really was at a sort of loss as to what to say. But just as he was about to say "I'm not going anywhere.", a sharp rapping at the door cut him off. This sharp rapping was followed almost immediately by the arrival of Nate and Justin. This once again put Tag back at the loss of what to say. Nate seemed cheery. Justin seemed...awkward.

Acknowledging them both with a silent nod, he looked back to Raven, curious as to how she would respond to their arrival.

Posted by: Tymid Jan 17 2011, 12:35 AM

Raven's head turned sharply to see Nate and Justin entering the room. She was, honestly, surprised that they were still even around. As Nate stated something about her being alright, she looked down at her arm, then back up at him. "I'm alive, if that's what you mean." she said with a chuckle. She turned to Justin, and lifted her head slightly, looking at him through the bottoms of her eyes. "Glad you could make it to the party." she said casually, no smile on her face, but no frown either. She was still on the fence about him as a person, but it was a definite brownie point that he had showed up at all.

Looking at all three of them, a large smile slowly crept across her face. Here she thought she was alone, and three people were here, concerned about her, in a hospital. It was the most attention she had gotten in a while. Granted, she didn't like the circumstances that people actually cared...but, it was still a notable moment.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the doctor coming into the room. "Ah...you're awake!" he said lowly, a smile on his face. "Now...let's check your progress, hm?"

As he examined her, Raven winced appropriately, but mainly spent the time staring boredly at Aria and the top of Requiem's head. She knew what scars looked like, she had no curiosity to see the newest batch. As he finally pulled away and wrote something down, she looked up at him, and asked "What's the prognosis? Can I get out of here?"

He lifted his brows and looked down at her. "It would be my recommendation that you stay here, but...I kind of get the feeling that that isn't going to happen. I will at least ask you to stay close to a medical facility, in case something goes awry. I'm also prescribing you a week's worth of antibiotics and pain-killers...just in case even you can't handle it. Other than that, you're free to go. My nurse will instruct you on how to change your dressings, which will need to be done twice a day, for 3 days. Sound fair?"

"Sounds awesome." Raven said with a grin, extending her arm to shake the doctor's hand. As he left the room, she looked at the three. "Well, looks like I've done my time!" she said cheerily. However, the question was still on her mind. Where would she go?

Posted by: Yzarc Drowsnam Jan 17 2011, 04:01 AM

OOC (click to show)


It was best, since Raven still had to change, for Justin and Nate to go ahead and leave. They agreed silently when Justin tilted his head towards the door and raised his eyebrows as if to ask a question. Nate just nodded. "Well, we'll probably go ahead and leave," Nate said. "It was good to see you again, Tag," He shook Tag's hand, gripping with surprising firmness for a man of his size.

"Raven, it was good to meet you," he continued, now approaching her bed. "I really can't thank you and your pokemon enough for helping me get Da Bomb back. It, uh, it just really means a lot, you know?"

Raven lifted herself up slightly, and looked to Nate with a soft smile. "It's no problem. I find that doing things for people kinda' gives me a bit of an insurance policy if similar things were to happen to my poke'mon. Y'know, you scratch my back, I scratch yours?" she said with a chuckle. "Besides..." she continued, leaning to pet Aria once more "...No poke'mon should ever go through that."

"Yeah," Nate nodded and smiled. "Well, I don't think any human should ever go through what you did. You're really brave, Raven, and I'm sorry it happened like it did. But yeah, I'll definitely scratch your back if you ever need it."

As she felt her face flush, she turned away from him, clearing her throat. No one had ever called her brave before. "Yeah...well...just don't do any scratching right now." she said gruffly, reaching up her spare hand to scratch the back of her head. But if Nate had learned anything from the girl, it was all a mask. Really. Just a big ol' facade.

Nate nodded and smiled, backing up to the door. Now it was Justin's turn. "Um," he said, awkwardly approaching her bed. "I, uh," he couldn't quite figure out exactly what he wanted to say. He knew the gist and decided to go with that. "I'm sorry." He paused and looked over to Tag and Nate. "I'm sorry," he said to them as well. "I'm sorry for lying. I'm sorry for getting you involved in this. I'm sorry for running off to chase down their leader. I didn't, um," he cleared his throat. The whole time he spoke, he just looked awkwardly at his feet. "I realize now that my priorities were off. I guess I'm sorry I didn't realize that sooner. I hope it was soon enough for you, though. You're a cool chick, Raven. I enjoyed talking with you. And I hope we can be friends someday."

Raven listened patiently to Justin, and as he finished, she said "You damn well should be sorry. I mean, have you seen my shoulder? It's nasty." She sounded as though someone had just stepped on her toe without saying sorry, like she was more offended than angry. "I hope you learned something else here. Some things are important. Some things are not. I don't know why you ran off...but the one thing I've learned over the years is that lives can't be bought." she said quietly, not taking her emerald eyes off of him for a minute, no matter where he looked. "We would have died without you today, even though you basically just came in to shoot the breeze when the time called for it. Think of this...think of where we might be now, if you had stayed with us? Like we ultimately wanted and needed?" she queried, her face in a curious expression. "You have a lot of potential, Justin. But no matter how strong you are, or want to be...you'll feel like you have nothing unless you have someone, anyone to stand beside you. Don't ever forget how important that is." Her eyes flickered to Nate, then back to Justin. "...I'll remember you." she concluded, laying back on the bed and closing her eyes. The soliloquy she had just given had brought back a horde of memories...and she was attempting to push them back. However, to everyone else, she simply looked tired.

Justin nodded, finally looking up into her eyes. They were piercing him as she spoke, and he was not in any condition to act tough. When she finished speaking, he just took a deep breath and nodded again. "Thanks, Raven," He backed up and looked to Tag. Rather than shaking his hand or waving, he just nodded. "I'm sure we'll run into each other again. Either way, though, I need you to know that my apology goes for you too. I know I act like a tool sometimes, but I do care about you, Tag. Tell the gang I said hey. Tell Kyoko I said congratulations on her evolution. And congrats on Tobi and Orin. They seem really great too."

"Nate?"

"Ready,"

"See you guys around,"

And with that, the two left. Neither had any idea what was in store for them, given they basically failed their second mission. Whatever was going to happen, they still had to make the trip back to Petropolis to check in. In the very least, and to Justin's great relief, Pan Gibbs was back in Petropolis. After the ridiculousness of the past day, he almost forgot that there was anything good in his life. Even if he got kicked out. Even if they beat him half to death, he'd still have Pan.

Unless they killed him.

Posted by: Kamaitachi Jan 17 2011, 06:34 PM

Tag listened quietly to the doctor, as he made his doctor-y fuss over Raven. It sounded as if she'd gotten off quite all right, despite the horrific nature of her wound. Perhaps it was just another scar to add to her collection, this one on account of her heroism regarding his pokemon.

She seemed confused as to where to go, however, Nate and Justin seemed to take charge of the room. This was fine with Tag; he didn't particularly want to announce his next few moves. He'd run into Justin and Nate again anyways. He'd figured that out by now. Nate's surprisingly firm handshake was a ressuring note to Tag. Maybe it meant they'd eventually get along, instead of circling around one another distrustfully from now on. That sort of thought, while initially repulsive, actually seemed quite okay with the surly trainer. He wouldn't mind Nate calling him a friend. He'd call Nate an idiot acquaintance in return, but perhaps more affectionately than mean-spiritedly.

Justin's little apologetic monologue seemed sincere. Tag was about to say something when Raven countered with a speech of her own. He nodded to Justin in return, allowing himself a smile as he congratulated him on his pokemon comrades. It was nice of him to notice.

And with that, the two left.

Finally alone, Tag turned to Raven.

"I'm going to bum around Arasam for a few days. Challenge the gym and the like. Why don't you stay with me here for awhile? You're supposed to stay near a medical facility, and there won't be that many on your way back to Petropolis. Extend your vacation a bit." It wasn't a coaxing sort of tone. Rather, it was like most things Tag said: straightforward and cordial. "I'd enjoy your company."

He meant it too. The whole ordeal had somewhat frustrated him a bit, mostly because here he was opening up his heart again to the various people he'd met. He wasn't exactly going to change into a happy, huggy, cheerful sort of person, but it seemed that his eyes had lost a lot of their hardened edge. The air around him had normally felt like a cold, callous one, but here now, it was just a bit warmer. He still didn't want much to do with people as a whole, but one or two friends might make the journey around Furoh a little bit more comforting.

He let his mind wander briefly, wandering how Cameron was doing over at the Loch Ranch, and how Malcolm was doing wherever he was. Hell, his mind even flashed briefly to that hopeless newbie Andrew Harding, whom he'd not seen since Petropolis. Even briefer, his mind pondered the people he was yet to meet, and how he'd end up faring with these new strangers.

"So. It's Arasam. I hear it's a neat place. You hungry?"

After her response, he'd leave the room for her to get dressed, and wait downstairs in the lobby.

Posted by: Tymid Jan 18 2011, 09:50 PM

Raven lifted her good hand, waving a tiny (even somewhat childishly cute) good-bye to Nate and Justin, and as she did so, Tag's baritone voice filled her lobes. The change in tambre caused Aria to lift her head, look lazily at Tag, and then lower it. As she listened to what he was saying, she could hardly believe her ears when he asked her to come along. The look on her face exuded a look that said "You're kidding, right?" but in all reality, that look meant that she was generally quite excited. She hadn't really intentionally travelled with anyone before, and the fact that she'd be meandering about with Tag...well, was a very exciting thought. After all, she had grown very fond of the intimidating looking fellow.

Apparently he understood the odd look on her face, and acknowledged that she was coming along. Her response, as far as responses go, was a tiny (and slightly girlish) 'Yay...', followed by "Are you kidding me? I could eat a Snorlax right now." followed by an appropriate and obnoxious stomach rumble. Clearing her throat loudly in an attempt to hide the rumble, she watched him rise to his feet. "I'll be down in the lobby shortly. I'll pay for...this..." her eyes darted to her shoulder, and then back up to him "...and we'll be on our way."

As he left the room, Raven fell back against the bed, and her cheeks puffed out as she exhaled a large breath, which she had been unintentionally holding ever since Tag had asked her to come along. Well, not really holding, but on the rare occasion that the girl ever got excited, she seemed to keep her lungs somewhat expanded at all times. It was an odd thing.

She pet Aria on her head lightly, and said "Get up, girl. I've got to get ready." The Luxio yawned in objection, but slowly jumped off of the bed. It took a while for Raven to get up completely and put her clothes on, and the act itself revolved around a bunch of cursing, various hopping, and one very loud thud as Raven careened into the wall as she attempted to put on her clothes with one arm. By the look on Aria and Requiem's faces (Forte' was apparently still in his ball), it was a rather amusing sight. "Hey, I'd like to see you perfect angels try this." she grumbled, and as Requiem sneezed, sounding oddly like a snicker, Raven glared at him. "Jackass." she murmured, and the Totodile simply looked at her incredulously, lifting up it's stubby arms like "What?!"

Finally, all clothed, and that damn hospital robe folded as neatly as one arm could muster, Raven stepped outside, following the signs to the lobby. Her jacket lay over the arm in a sling, that sleeve empty, and the other arm lay through the sleeve, her fingertips shoved in her pockets. Requiem and Aria were nowhere to be seen, but by looking at the 3 poke'balls at her hip, they hadn't been forgotten. She waved at Tag, and then stepped up to the desk, where a woman looking oddly like Nurse Joy, only with blond hair instead of pink, smiled up at her. "May I help you?"

"Yes, I'd like to pay my bill. Name is Raven."

"Last name?"

Raven blinked oddly, and then leaned close to the receptionist, saying her last name at a level that couldn't be heard by anyone but the receptionist. The girl's eyes widened slightly, but as Raven's piercing warning gaze directed itself into the other's pupils, the happy smile returned, only mildly altered by shock.

"Yes...um...let me bring up your file...ah. There it is."

Reaching into her satchel for her checkbook, she was about to ask what the damage was, until she heard the young woman say: "Oh." very softly, as though she was surprised.

"That bad?" Raven queried, laying the checkbook out in front of her, quill pen and ink bottle at the ready. The young woman behind the counter looked curiously at the unique writing utensils, but then up to Raven, shaking her head.

"No...it says you've already been paid for." the woman said meekly, apparently very afraid of Raven's death-gaze again. However, the death-gaze did not occur, as Raven only blinked curiously at the woman. She slowly turned around to look at Tag, who was waiting patiently for her so they could get on the road. He looked innocent enough...but she knew he was broke. Justin and Nate hadn't stayed long enough to pay, nor did she think they could afford a multi-digit medical bill sans insurance. Who could've paid for her?

As though reading the curiosity on Raven's face, the woman stated "It says here...third party payment. No name is given though. Sorry."

Raven slowly replaced the quill in her purse, as well as the well stoppered bottle, and nodded, the confused expression still on her face. "Well...alright, then. Thanks." she mumbled, turning around and walking towards Tag. As she met the man, she smiled at him, her eyes vibrant with new adventure. "Shall we?" she quipped, tilting her head at him with curious intent. She looked into his eyes...which seemed to have changed as of late. Little did she know...hers had too.

There may be many mysteries in the world, but none are as great and as beautiful as the mysteries of the heart.

Posted by: Yzarc Drowsnam Jan 18 2011, 10:50 PM

Not far from the hospital, the man who stole the money from Justin and Nate was driving alone in his black car. It was about two years old, but still looked brand new. It wasn't anything too outstanding, not a sports car or anything, but it was nice. Perhaps what made it nicer was the particularly large amount of cash resting safely in a briefcase in his trunk, along with the very specific artifact he was sent to get. His boss already parted with the money to buy the artifact. The artifact belonged to said boss. The money though? That was all his.

Well, some of it.

When he got back to the safe house, his four men were already there, waiting for their cut. If you're a little incapable when it comes to math, let me help you out for a second. Five men agreed to steal the money, so they each got a fifth, or 20%. And to continue the math train for a bit, 20% of 100,000 dollars is 20,000 dollars. Each. That was some money right there.

When they split it up, Jake, whose face was just getting worse as time went on, noticed that their leader's pile was just about half as tall as the others'. "Tim, what's up? Where's the rest of the money? Thought there was s'posed to be 100 grand in there."

"Yeah," Tim nodded. "Well, when a kid gets nearly killed to death (redundancy in context) I don't like to go straight home and count how much money I stole from her."

"Wait, so, what?"

"I paid her bills," Tim shrugged, then looked to Luke, whose houndoom did the damage. "You're welcome to pay me back for what Dexter did to her. But I won't make you."

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