[X] My Assistant

[Kamaitachi]

"This mission will probably not be like the last, in many ways."

Despite the thinly veiled warning, Kanoa Kaipo could only watch as the pencil moustache of his superior officer moved up and down with the speech.

"I suppose not." Kanoa shrugged idly "No beach, right?"

The Magma Officer sighed, almost grumpily, as he placed a forefinger and thumb to his temples, massaging them gently. Kanoa's lackadaisical attitude was really starting to drive him crazy.

"Agent Kaipo, allow me to remind you once more that you're my subordinate, and should treat me as a superior."

"Right-o Captain Crapface" Kanoa saluted half-heartedly. "You're really no fun."

"Magma is not fun!" the voice snapped exasperatedly back at him over the see-speak-phone gadget that Kanoa really didn't like. "Your fellow Magma agents are scheduled to meet you at your apartment. Since you're the most senior agent..." another long sigh from Lennox "...you've been put in charge. Any area not under a Magma Insignia is ripe for the taking. Choose an area, and claim it under our glorious flag."

"Hot Tits!" Kanoa fist pumped, not really sure why he was happy at receiving such an honour, but it was kind of one all the same. "Sir!" He quickly added, almost as an afterthought.

"I beg your pardon?"

"Hot Tits, sir." The young Magma agent gave something of a nodding bow, letting his hair fall all across his face.

"Lennox Out." Shaking his head, the Officer with the Errol Flynn moustache disappeared off of the screen.

Kanoa sighed, dropping the webcam down a bit, revealing the fact that he had, in fact, been naked the entire conversation, and had been most unwilling to move around in his room lest the man saw his nudity. He really didn't want another reprimand for simply being in his room, but, Lennox had caught him at a really bad time.

"Okay, so, any minute now...I should be meeting...Abraham West, and...Aaareeieyeeeieieyes Zarre...Zarren...Zalbag?. Abraham West and Zalbag." Kanoa smiled as he started to put on some underwear to get ready. "Sounds like I'm working with some hottie-totties this time. This may already be a better mission than last time."

[Yzarc Drowsnam]

Abraham opened his eyes at his own leisure when the door to his motel room knocked. The night before had been somewhat of a blur. He remembered doing some meaningless "mission" with Raine, and then getting drinks with her. Generally, when he went out drinking with a young lady, he tended not to drink very much. This was mostly because he was very goal oriented, and drinking fogs things like that up. But he did remember having fun, a feeling quite foreign to him at that point in his life. He looked to his side, half expecting, half hoping to see Raine lying beside him. But, of course, she was not. Apparently his gentlemanly charm was not enough in his drunken state to woo her.

As he rolled out of bed, Gaia, who had been lying at the foot of it, hopped off and followed him loyally to the door. He opened it, half awake (and half asleep) and half naked (though half clothed as well...He had pants on.) "Hi," he greeted the young man at the door, dressed in casual clothes.

"Mr. West?" the man asked, looking down and smiling at the little Swinub, looking back up at him while hiding behind Abraham's legs. "Hi there, cutie,"

"That's not Mr. West," Abraham said, dryly.

"Oh?" the man looked back up, feigning confusion. "Well, I coulda sworn-"

"That's Gaia," he continued. "And I don't think she likes you too much."

"Yeah, well," the man shrugged. "Few do, when they first meet me at least. I think she'll come around, won't you Gaia?"

She slowly shuffled into the open. "Damn it," Abraham sighed. "I think she does like you."

"Told ya,"

"So what do you want?"

"I got your next mission right here,"

"Great," he sighed. "I don't suppose I'll be partnered up with-"

"I don't look at the missions," the man said. "It's why the envelope is sealed. Anyway, I'm out. It was nice to meet you, Gaia," then he looked back up at Abraham. "You, uh. Less so. I'm sure you're just tired."

"Honestly, I'm just glad you didn't say I had a case of the Mondays."

"Well, it is Tuesday."

"Get out."

The man chuckled as he turned and walked away while Abraham shut the door. He opened it up, wondering the whole while whether or not he'd be working with Raine. There was certainly something different about her, and her Flaafy got along really well with Tartarus, his Elekid.

But no. Kanoa Kaipo and Ares Zarrenler, and the meeting place was Kaipo's apartment in the suburban area of the war-torn city. "Well, Gaia, looks like we're going to the Burbs." She didn't know what that meant, but he knew she'd enjoy the scenery over the poor district, where his motel was located. She grew up in the suburban area of Mauville, after all. And Tartarus, he tended to just enjoy being out and about.

He figured he'd be a little late, but it was worth it - He had to get dressed, after all. But, for Abraham, getting dressed meant more than covering up. Sure, he'd bring his Magma uniform along, but unless someone specifically told him he had to wear it, he wouldn't, plain and simple. Whoever designed those pieces of garbage (and he did use the term 'garbage' lightly, as he was more inclined to literally wear garbage than these uniforms given the choice, because at least the former is some sort of fashion statement).

He wore a slim fitting khaki suit, the whole thing tailor made back in Mauville City. Under the coat was a light blue button up shirt with a dark blue tie which had white stripes going across. This was all after a nice shower and shave (as well as the other "sh" which I shall decline to mention as it would only serve to undermine Abraham's class).

It may have been dangerous to walk through the poor district of Noverus in such an expensive suit, but truthfully, the only items of value Abraham owned were his clothes. If poor people in far off lands were allowed to drive around in cars with thousand dollar rims, why couldn't he enjoy a stroll looking fly as hell through the ghetto of Noverus? He had Gaia resting on his shoulder (Yes, even though it was a tailor made suit worth more than any of his other belongings (save his other suits) put together) and Tartarus by his side as he walked anyways, and both of them were strong enough to protect him should anything bad go down.

Nothing bad went down!

He made it to Kaipo's apartment at the address listed and knocked on the door.

[Pokefan209]

Why couldn't Grunts get a simple day off?

Mayim was at her favorite dojo, the one near that skatepark...Shady Some-thing-or-other. She was practicing her punches on a big swinging punching bag. Her Mankey, Ox, was doing them on a slightly smaller bag. They enjoyed coming here every Tuesday to practice a little before any major fights. Work was typically slow on Tuesdays, but just in case, Mayim had her X-transceiver in her back pocket. She was wearing her typical "Got Miltank?" t-shirt and purple exercize shorts while she practiced her fighting moves.

All at once, she felt a hand grab her shoulder. Grabbing it, she brought the entire body over her shoulder and slammed it to the ground, planting her bare foot over the man's rapidly rising and falling chest.

"Excellent form, sweetheart," the man said, smiling. Mayim smiled back and pulled him up. He dusted off his black shirt and squeezed her in a big hug. Ox jumped on his shoulder, his eyes squeezed up in happiness, and began banging on his head, playing his favorite game, "Attack Duece!!!"

"Hi Duece!" Mayim exclaimed, very excited about seeing her guardian. Maybe he had a big surprise for her! Maybe they were going to see a movie, or get ice cream...

"HQ's got a mission for ya," Duece said, losing all friendliness and warmth in an instance. Mayim's gaze lowered. Why did she think it would be anything but missions? Ice cream and movies were what you were supposed to do when you were eight and with your dad. That was what normal people did.

Mayim wasn't eight, wasn't speaking to her dad, and most certainly wasn't normal. She was part of Team Aqua, and had been kidnapped, beaten, and nearly killed. Most fourteen year olds worried about boys, makeup, appearances, and high school. Mayim didn't get any of that. She was worried about if she was going to live every day. Mayim listened carefully as Duece whispered the mission into her ear. When he was finished, she nodded, grabbed her shoes from the edge of the mat, and made for the door. Mankey followed her, leaping off Deuce's head as Duece looked at his apprentice with a guilty expression. He always thought it was too much responsibility for a teenage girl to be on Team Aqua, but Mayim was battle-hardened. She would make it.

Probably.

This post has been edited by Pokefan209: Sep 12 2011, 05:14 PM

[BlackStarLine]

Daniel had returned from his little break with renewed energy. Although it had been relaxing he could have done with doing a bit of training for Jet. Ah well, could do it in the next mission whenever that was.

In typical fashion, Daniel hadn't bothered to unpack his bag from when he returned from his break so everything he needed was still in there, such as his spare pokeballs and stuff.

"God... i've really got to start unpacking stuff when I return from holiday..." he muttered. Max, who had been lying at the foot of Daniel's bed, snorted. "Hey! I don't know what you're snorting about, I will learn to unpack my stuff eventually..." Daniel replied. Max rolled his eyes and turned his head away. Daniel just shook his head. Max had been with him for years and knew how he could be. Whenever Daniel said he would do something, he never did and Max had come to expect it.

"C'mon Max, let's go for a wander, see if there's anything to do." Daniel said, picking up his car keys and pokeball belt. He stuck his keys in his poket and his ball belt over his chest as normal.

As they walked through the building Daniel's CO called him into his office. "So what's up?" Daniel asked when he had sat down.

"Word is Magma and Aqua are trying to take control of a local skate park. It's known as Shady Acres to the locals and no doubt Magma and Aqua will start charging kids to use the park, should they gain control. I want you and Ms. Lore to go and stop them from doing so." The CO explained. Daniel listened intently and nodded when he thought it necessary. "You got all that?"

"Yep every word. I'll see if I can find Rachel and tell her what we've got to do. If you see her can you explain and tell her to meet me at the garage?" Daniel asked.

"Of course. That is my job you know?" The CO replied.

A couple of minutes later Daniel was outside his CO's office wondering where Rachel could be. He had never fully explored the Sanctuary and didn't know if there were other sleeping quarters apart from where he was. He decided he would have a quick wander and if he couldn't find Rachel after 15 minutes of searching he would just wait for her by the garage.

[Dragonwish2]

Rachel woke to hear a buzzing on her wrist, also feeling the gentle vibration. She sat up and had to keep herself from crying out. Her back screamed at her, aching all over. She had spent the night in the cheapest motel she could find, and had planned to take a bus to the Rebel Base (known as the Sanctuary, she now knew) that morning. The bed was rock hard, the mattress as thin as paper. Rachel stretched and looked at her Pokétch, reading the name of the video caller. CO, was all it read. Rachel pressed the button on the bottom, and the screen turned white before her CO's face appeared.

"Good morning, Rachel. We have a mission for you." Tyler Smith was expressionless, as always.

"Couldn't this wait until ten?" Tyle remained silent. Rachel sighed. "Not responding to a question is rude. Okay, get me up to speed."

"Our spies have gotten word that Magma, and maybe even some Aqua members, are trying to spread their rule to neutral areas of Noverus. The location we're currently interested in is Shady Acres, a park that has recently built a skate ramp. Many Noverus citizens 'hang out' there, which allows an advantage to anyone whose influence covers it."

Rachel nodded. "Magma would brainwash any kids there, and adults would be recruited or have their children recruited. Who's Aqua?" Tyler showed a flicker of a smile.

"Aqua is another team in Noverus, trying to undermine Magma and in its place put its own rule over Noverus. They're quieter than Magma, but still known here. As the name suggests, they prefer battling with water type Pokémon. Anyways, back to the topic. You are to go and prevent either group from taking over the park." Rachel listened carefully.

"Do I get any fun partners for this mission?"”

"As a matter of fact, you do. Daniel Reeves will be working with you again, though this time on your first 'non-educational' mission. He requested you meet him at the garbage. That is all." With a click her CO hung up. Rachel chuckled as she rose to pack her small bags. Tyler was developing a habit of hanging up on her, but she would have to get used to it.

Rachel showered and dried herself, changing into her new black short sleeved V-neck with a white vine and leaf design on the front. She pulled on regular jeans and black sneakers, her shining blonde hair hung up in a low ponytail.

She looked up a map on her Pokétch, showing the streets and distance. The Sanctuary was only a five minute jog away, if she guessed right. The bus would be missing a passenger that morning.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"I so-o should have taken the bus." Rachel stopped yet again and sat on a public bench in front of a Pokémon Center. A woman sat next to her, holding a bag of groceries. She had been jogging for six minutes now, and was still a small way from the sanctuary. She checked her Pokétch again, tapping the screen. It froze up. Rachel groaned.

"Recalculating. Recalculating." Rachel glared at her wrist device. The voice was getting ever so annoying, and it had been randomly speaking the same word as she jogged.

"Recalculating." She groaned and tapped the screen frantically. "Shut up you stupid machine!" Rachel yelled at the device, and as if on cue, it stopped speaking. The woman next to her on the bench stared at Rachel. Rachel froze, humiliated by her outburst. She was silent, until her Pokétch dinged.

"Rebooting, rebooting." Rachel stared at it incredulously, rising as she worked at the Pokétch. She turned around and looked up at the Center, a light going off in her head.

To her great annoyance and relief, she had arrived at the Sanctuary.

This post has been edited by Dragonwish2: Sep 16 2011, 04:20 PM

[FirePower]

Ares stumbled to the door as someone knocked impatiently on the other side, still half-asleep. It had been a long night for him, and he'd only gotten a few hours of sleep. It had been the same ol' hooligans that wandered the streets of the middle of the night, doing whatever they did at three in the morning. The thing was that they'd had a larger pokemon with them, which of course scared Volgen. The hounder had spent the rest of the night hiding under the bed and wailing like a loudred. It had just stopped a few munutes ago, and Ares had almost fallen asleep again when someone had knocked on the door. Hope had certainly slept better than him, and suddenly fell from the top of Ares' closet, rudely awoken from her light sleep. Cadou, who had slept through Volgen's entire ordeal, was still snoozing on a single wooden chair in the corner. Volgen stuck his head out from the tattered bed before reluctantly trailing behind Ares to the door.

"Mr., um, Zorenlar?" The visitor, a man in his late twenties wearing a magma grunt uniform said, trying to pronounce Ares' name off of a slip of paper. The man tried a few more times without success. "Put simply, are you Ares?"

"Zarrenler, sir," Ares corrected. "And yes, I am." He was used to his last name being mispronounced, being as complicated as it was. (Though Kanoa's Zallbag was a first.) Heck, the only reason he knew how to pronounce his name, or even knew what his last name was in the first place, was from the untidy inscription in hope's pokeball.

"Good. You've been assigned to a mission, A real mission this time, not whatever junk they've been sending you on up to now." The man smirked. Ares guessed he had done the same odd jobs that Ares was doing when he first joined, and didn't think too highly of it. "It has been decided that you, Mr. Abraham West, and Mr. Kanoa Kaipo are to try and take a neutral area of Mr. Kaipo's choosing for team Magma. You are to meet with Abraham and Kanoa at Kanoa's apartment in the suburban district. Here's the address." Ares was given a slip of paper with the address on it before the man left.

"All right guys. We're goin' to the suburbs," Ares told his team. Hope nodded from the foot of Ares' bed, and Volgen yipped happily, all of his previous anxiety gone with the night. Cadou continued to snore, lost in some sort of dream. Ares returned Cadou and Volgen before putting on his shoes, throwing his bag over his shoulder and climbing out the window. Besides his old pair of black sneakers and his worn out hiking backpack, Ares was already wearing his clothes. They were all the clothes he had, apartment could get a bit drafty at night. It really wasn't much, the bug-infested dump he called home. It had three rooms: Ares' empty closet, a bathroom, and the main room that served as the kitchen, bedroom, and living room all at once. The apartment's furnishings were as unimpressive as the building itself. He had a single wooden chair, a bed the felt like it was made of concrete (Not that it made a difference, since he usually slept on concrete anyways.), a very dented microwave, and a refrigerator that barley worked. It wasn't much, but until he got a raise he'd have to live with it.

From his window, Ares jumped onto the fire escape, conveniently located just a few feet below. Hope glided down next to him, settling on the railing. He quickly climbed down the fire escape and climbed down the ladder. He'd pulled it down a few weeks ago when he'd first bought his apartment. Since then nobody had pulled it back up or complained as far as Ares knew, so he assumed that nobody cared whether or not he used it. Hope perched herself on Ares' back and grabbed his sweatshirt with her claws, careful not to pinch her trainer's skin. Volgen came out of his pokeball as well, his short tail wagging vigorously. Together they went on their way through the city.

It was a while before Ares found the right building, they all looked so much the same to him. Once he did he simply took the elevator instead of climbing the fire escape. He didn't really want to get into more trouble than he had to. He went down the hall until he found the right room, where a man in a expensive-looking suit who he presumed was Abraham West was waiting. Silently he returned Volgen and waited along with the man.

[Kamaitachi]

Kanoa had milled about his room, getting things a few things in order, namely the Magma supplies Lennox had sent him. On his bed were a stack of Magma Flags to be hung up at various locales, and a stack of Magma flyers to paste on walls. Oh, and he also put on some clothes. Lennox hadn't specified their use of uniform, so he didn't particularly feel like wearing that awful, itchy thing. Slipping on a white tee-shirt and black cargo shorts, then a pair of socks and sneakers, and finally his favourite pull-over cap, he was just about ready to take a nap when he heard a sharp 'tap-tap' at his door.

Slouching his way over to the door, he gave a quick stretch and stood somewhat at his full, not so impressive height. Opening the door, he noted a man in a very sharp suit, which gave Kanoa the impression that Kanoa had underdressed for this meeting at his apartment. But then another kid rounded the corner into the hallway, indicating that it was, in fact, this new man that had over-dressed.

"Mister West, Mister...Zorblorg. Please come in." Kanoa wasn't sure which one was which, so he simply said their names aloud, in attempts that they'd make some semblence of response. "I'm Kanoa, pleased to meet you both." As they entered, Kanoa would toss the bag of flags over at Abraham, and the box of flyers (and a box of thumbtacks and scotch tape) over at Ares. Kanoa lifted up his skateboard and grinned cheekily over at his two fellow agents. "And we're going to go claim the Shady Acres Skate-Park today. If there's any surprise as to why I chose that locale, you're fired." Reaching down and grabbing his messenger bag, he slung it over his shoulders and looked at the two. "So...Abraham, Ares. Uh...why...don't you introduce yourselves? Let's get to know one another before we start this mission, right?" Kanoa didn't like playing leader by any means, and it was definitely a little awkward since two men were standing in the middle of his apartment, waiting to go on a mission of Manifest Destiny for Team Magma. At the very least, he'd learn a thing or two about them before they went.

[BlackStarLine]

20 minutes later, Daniel was standing by his car outside the front of the Sanctuary. He looked at his PokeNav just to check where the Shady Acres Skate Park was, but was distracted by a movement from Max out of the corner of his eye. He looked to where Max was looking and saw Rachel hunched over panting hard.

"Now I really need to get her Nav number so I can pick her up if she lives away from the Sanctuary..." Daniel muttered to himself.

Rather than waiting for her to reach him, he decided to go to her. He returned Max to his pokeball and got in his car, remembering to set the nitrous tank for a quick getaway if required, before heading towards Rachel.

"Rachel, no point in you going into the Sanctuary when i'm just outside. So hop in and we'll get a move on." Daniel said as he pulled up beside her.

[Yzarc Drowsnam]

Abraham sighed as the youngster before him jokingly said he would fire him if he didn't understand why they were claiming a skate park. He honestly didn't consider why until it was asked of him, but at that point, he figured Kaipo was a skater. Then, he sighed again as Kaipo suggested they introduce themselves and get to know each other.

He nodded afterwards and decided to just play nice. He was tired, but it was no call to be rude, after all. "Alright then," he said. "I'm Abraham West. I likely will not be joining you in skating, but I do enjoy the outdoors. These are my pokemon," he was referring to Tartarus the Elekid standing at his right leg and Gaia the Swinub on his left shoulder. "Gaia" he tilted his head to the left, "And Tartarus," he tilted his head to the right. "They're both pretty strong, and if we do encounter any problems, they'll make sure we do okay."

Then, he looked at the third member of their group, Ares Zarrenler, whose name Kaipo had sufficiently butchered. The name was awkward and unfamiliar, certainly, but Kaipo's interpretation suggested a complete lack of alphabetical knowledge. "Ares," he said. "I am really looking forward to hearing you introduce yourself, particularly your last name." Truthfully, it wasn't too complicated to pronounce. Abraham's only concern was where the accent was supposed to be. It was either the first or second syllable, but he didn't know which.

[Pokefan209]

Mayim Psy walked out of the dogo, ignored the car that Duece had left her, and hopped on her sleek black bicycle. If she was going on a mission, might as well warm up the muscles beforehand, right? She grabbed her helmet, but before putting it on, felt a tug on her shirt. Ox was still down there, staring up at her with big eyes. Mayim quickly withdrew him. She almost forgot that he hated bicycles.

Mayim quickly biked around a few blocks to the place the Magma grunts were supposed to meet. A modern skatepark called Shady Acres. Pretty nice place, if she did say so herself. Before she got there, however, she took a wrong turn and was met with a very expensive car that seemed to be able to break Mayim into pieces if she slammed into it. Quickly snapping the handlebars to the right, she avoided the car. Unfortunatly, a girl stood where she was aiming for. Mayim made another snap on the handlebars, but this proved too much for the bike to take. Mayim flew off, thankfully missing the girl, and landed in a bush.

"Ow..." she groaned, trying to climb out of the bush, but was hindered by many prickers poking at her skin. She turned toward the girl. "Help?" she muttered, nearly out, but with her shirt stuck on many prickers.

[FirePower]

Ares quietly followed Abraham into the apartment, not bothering to correct Kanoa when his last name was hopelessly mispronounced. He didn't really want to talk unless he had to, as he usually was around people. Hope hissed, leaving it's perch on Ares' back as the boxes came hurtling towards it's trainer, who barely managed to catch them before they hit him in the face. Kanoa suggested they all introduce themselves, Abraham did, along with his two pokemon. After that the smartly-dressed trainer told Ares he was looking forward to the younger trainer's introduction, at which Ares simply shrugged nonchalantly and carried out his intros in his usual quiet voice, being extra careful to emphasize his last name.

"I'm Ares Zarrenler, um, and I probably won't be skating either." He had run out of things to say by now, but he didn't just want to just leave it at that. He finally got some inspiration when Volgen and a now-awake Cadou came out of their pokeballs. "Um, these are Hope, Volgen, and Cadou, my pokemon," Ares said motioning to his gligar, houndour, and sandshrew in turn. Volgen wasn't particularly intimidated by Tartarus or Gaia, but he stayed by Ares' side as it usually did. Hope returned to her perch on Ares' back, and Cadou, deciding it was still tired and went to sleep (which Ares had trouble believing.). The sandshrew was promptly returned, though the box of posters was nearly dropped in the process.

"So, um, should we be going then?" Ares asked, feeling very awkward. He wasn't one for socializing, and standing around talking to two men who were obviously older than him made him feel even more out-of place. As though understanding his trainer's discomfort, Volgen cocked it head and whined softly, pawing the ground.

[Kamaitachi]

"Abraham West and Ares Zarrenler. Got it. Tartar. Gaia. Hope. Wolf. Caden." Kanoa nodded earnestly, honestly trying his best to remember their names. It couldn't have been too terribly hard. Abraham was a hottie that reminded him vaguely of a dashing space pirate, and Ares was prepubescent. It honestly wouldn't be that hard to tell them apart, as well as remember their names. Even though they both began with A. That would probably get a bit confusing later on. The pokemon nicknames all but short-circuited Kanoa's poor memory for monikers, but hopefully he'd sort it out towards the end.

The other two agents introduced their pokemon as they appeared from their pokeballs, but Kanoa opted to do so as well. Holding out all four pokeballs, he summoned his team into his rather small room.

His Skorupi appeared sitting on his shoulder, clacking annoyedly at the two intruders in the room.

"This is Darkslide." The Scorpion irritatedly nestled down on Kanoa's shoulder. He never got out of his pokeball in the apartment when Spider was around, and now that he had the opportunity to do so, it was rather...crowded.

"Coco Wheelie." He pointed to the Roselia hugging his leg, who looked shyly up at Abraham and Ares, a little blush appearing on his face.

"Benihana." He indicated the top of his head, where a Pink Shroomish had settled in nicely, greeting the two Magma agents with his beady little face in its eternally grumpy position.

"And Helipop." Finally, Kanoa pointed to the Zubat flapping around excitedly, never having the chance to be in the apartment due to Spider's aural fear of flapping wings. Within moments, Kanoa recalled his team to make room back in the apartment before a premature pokemon battle broke out.

"Well then." He toed at the ground "I haven't been given any vehicles by Magma, especially not for this mission, so I'm afraid we're hoofing it." He held up his skateboard, a bright smile appearing back on his face. "Or! Or! I wouldn't mind shelling out for a cab. We can write it off as a work expense!" Kanoa particularly enjoyed doing that.

[Yzarc Drowsnam]

Ares introduced his pokemon, Hope, Volgen and Cadou and then Kanoa, his. Darkslide, Coco Wheelie, Benihana and Helipop. Abraham took a moment to commit them all to memory before actually analyzing the themes of the nicknames. Once he did that, it was somewhat clear that Kanoa was, indeed, interested in the skate park so he could skate. Darkslide and Coco Wheelie were very clearly names of skateboard tricks, and he could assume Benihana and Helipop followed the same theme. He didn't care enough to ask for a demonstration on any of these moves.

Then, the boy, aka Abraham's superior, suggested they shell out for a cab. He simply shook his head. He was already overpaying for rent in his crappy motel since, as of yet, he couldn't afford a deposit on an apartment where he could enjoy cheaper monthly rent. He wasn't about to give up five dollars just so he could do his job, for which he didn't intentionally sign up in the first place, more efficiently, even if there was a promise of reimbursement at some later unspecified date.

Though he wasn't quite looking forward to sweating on one of the nicest suits Noverus had seen, Gaia had a way of keeping the air around him cool enough to get by without getting disgusting. "Pass," Abraham said. "I say we walk. Gaia can keep us cool if it gets too hot, but it's still morning, so I think we should be fine."

[FirePower]

Ares nodded politely as Kanoa did his best to remember the names of all the pokemon. Really, the only one that wasn't close was Volgen's. Ares couldn't blame him. There were so many pokemon it was kind of hard to remember all their names. Afterward Kanoa introduced them to his own pokemon, making the room rather cramped. All of his pokemon, Ares realized, were either poison types or grass types. He listened intently, doing his best to remember the names of each pokemon, as Kanoa introduced his skourpiki Darkslide, his Roselia Coco Wheelie, his oddly colored shroomish Benihana, and his zubat Helipop. Overall everyone had a lot of names to remember, but hopefully nobody would get completely mixed up. Kanoa returned his pokemon, making the room a little more roomier. Ares considered doing the same with Volgen, but he didn't want to drop the box of fliers, thumbtack (especially) and tape.

When Kanoa suggested they took a cab to Shady Acres, Ares simply shrugged. He preferred walking, but he didn't want to argue with anyone, let alone his superior. Hope tightened her grip on Ares' hoodie, impatient to leave the small apartment room.

As well as his old, tattered, red hoodie, he was also wearing green T-shirt that was just as worn was under his hoodie. His pants were a pair of black shorts- the only new article of clothing in his wardrobe. He was also wearing his pair of track shoes that were starting to get holes in the toes and a hiking bag that was starting to get holes everywhere.

"I-I agree with Abraham," Ares finally said, but so quietly he wasn't sure if anybody could hear him. If the elder man hadn't suggested it first the teenager never would have said anything. As it was it took all of his nerve to speak up and voice his opinion.

[Dragonwish2]

Rachel grinned at the sight of her old friend. "Glad to see you here. Did you know it's six minutes of full jogging to get here from my motel? That, and my Poketch has a faulty GPS." She looked his vehicle over. "Nice car." She reached for the handle of his car. Before she could open the door, a black and purple blur sped between ehr and the car. Rachel released the handle and stepped back just in time. The blur crashed into the bushes, a moan coming from it.

The scene was horrible; a crashed bike and a girl lying dazed. She had a cheesy 'Got Miltank' shirt on and purple shorts on. Her hair was incredibly light blonde with a blue strand peeking from the back. She was well muscled in her bare arms. Rachel winced at the sight of her, imagining the pain she must be feeling.


"Ow..." she moaned, struggling to rise but held back by something. "Help?" she whispered. Rachel looked closer to see hooked prickers clinging to her shirt and shorts. Rachel thought for a moment, then stepped back and pulled out a pokeball.

"Come on out, Jaklyn!" In a red lightning streak Rachel's Snivy was delicatly balanced on two stems of the bush. She looked down at the girl and smirked, closing her eyes in contempt. Rachel raised an eyebrow. "Can you handle getting prickers off of her clothes?" Jaklyn's eyes flared open. Rachel smiled. Jaklyn was a bit proud on showing off her skills, and it was interesting for Rachel to come up with ways to get Rachel to do brute force, however small.

The Snivy set to work, pulling prickers out expertly from the clothes. Rachel grabbed the girl's hands and pulled her up slowly as the prickers fell off, so as to not get her stuck again. Within three minutes the girl was free. Rachel tugged her to her feet and returned Jaklyn.

"What happened there? Looks like some bicycle crash." Rachel smiled, thinking as she spoke. Perhaps this girl was from the Rebellion? Or could she be working with the mysterious Aqua? Whoever's side she was on, Rachel wasn't going to slip. It had been a huge mistake last time and if not for the odd foolishness of Magma, she would have been caught and arrested, most likely.

"Are you okay?" Rachel decided that simple conversation would be the best to stick with for now.

[BlackStarLine]

Daniel smiled. "Well, in future you should give me a ring so you don't have to run."

A black and purple blur soon distracted both Rachel and Daniel, as it hurtled past them and crashed into the bushes nearby.

"What in the world was that? Was that a pokemon or something?" Daniel asked, feeling slightly bewildered.

His question was soon answered by a small groan from the bush.

"Good god... Either that person can't handle speed or something's gone wrong... I'm kind of guessing the latter." He said to nobody in particular. Rachel had gone over to the bush to see if the person was ok, and thinking they would probably be waiting a while, Daniel decided to turn the car engine off to save petrol.

[Pokefan209]

Mayim watched as the girl sent out her Snivy to cut away the prickers. With the generous help of the girl, Mayim stood up and dusted herself off.

"Are you okay?" the girl asked, who seemed to be lost in thought. Was this girl from Magma? No, most Magmas would have their insignia on their uniforms. These people seemed to be in regular people clothes. They must be either civilians or members of the Rebellion.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Mayim chuckled, thinking of how oxymoronic that sounded. She had just crashed her bike and fallen into a bush with prickers, and she was fine? Mayim smiled, before realizing what that meant. Looking behind her, she groaned.

She had just crashed her bike. Well, running wouldn't be much of an option, as she had no idea where the park was now. She looked at the girl and the dude in the car. Would it be okay...?

"Hey guys, I'm Mayim. Would you guys mind driving me to Shady Acres Skate Park on the way to...wherever you're going?" Mayim asked, her face full of pleading. If they didn't help her, she would have to call HQ for a ride. And she really hated doing that.

[Dragonwish2]

Rachel glanced at Daniel, then back to . Since she wasn't part of their mission, she had to be either a random person, a Magma, or Aqua. Still, it'd be suspicious to refuse when that was where Daniel and Rachel were headed. She smiled at Mayim. "Hello, Mayim. I'm Rachel. I think you can hitch a ride with us," she said, looking to Daniel, "if it's okay with my friend here."

She considered the girl now more. Most Magma grunts were boastful, and wore their uniforms proudly. It didn't look like this girl was highly ranked, so that knocked off Magma. How about Aqua, then? Rachel didn't know what to look for in an Aqua.

At that moment, Marcus chose to emerge from his pokeball. He sniffed the girl's shoe and raised a leg in implication. Rachel burst out laughing at the random comedy in a moment of serious thought. She picked up her dog pokemon and returned him quickly. She was still giggling. "Sorry, He's really... immature." Rachel laughed again.

She turned to the car and opened one door, climbing inside. She turned back around and beckoned the other girl in with a wave. Rachel moved to the seat furthest from her, allowing Mayim to enter.

"To Shady Acres Park, then!" She smiled and buckled up.

This post has been edited by Dragonwish2: Sep 16 2011, 04:16 PM

[Kamaitachi]

Kanoa recalled his team back into their pokeballs, thus easing up on the crowding of his apartment room a bit. He threw a friendly arm around the young Ares, grinning brightly.

"Okay then, I've been outvoted. We'll walk." Kanoa chuckled to himself. "And don't worry about this whole, 'me-outrank-you' thing. Let's just have some fun, okay?" That being said, Kanoa reached over and grabbed his metal plated fingerless gloves, one of the only real pieces of Magma Equipment he owned.

With his broad grin ever present on his face, Kanoa opened the door, ushering the two fellow agents out, locking it behind him.

The Magma Unit then exited his building, and began the trek towards Shady Acres. Kanoa chatted away fairly incessantly as he rolled alongside the two pedestrians on his skateboard. Letting himself lag behind, then giving himself a good push to move back to level with his two teammates.

It seemed that, with the two teammates so fairly stoic today, Kanoa would take on the bulk of the talking...so he did. Despite his fairly constant chatter, there was nothing of real import to be said, other than Kanoa recounting how he wound up in Noverus, and how he had joined Magma on mostly a whim.

Before long, the trio arrived at a Man-made pond/lake, just a few blocks from Shady Acres. There was a small, arching wooden bridge over a narrower portion of the water. A few pedestrians were congregated about, but no one really seemed out of place enough in the fairly picturesque scene.

Kanoa smiled and looked around a bit.

"Let's split up here, and put some flyers up. Looks like this is a pretty primo locale, ya know?" With that said, he pushed off on his skateboard, holding a box of the smallish Team Magma flags.

Not particularly wanting to destroy the picture of the bridge, Kanoa moved to some of the lampposts nearby and began to hang a few from the locations he could reach, or could support hanging flags. He'd clamber up and drape it over, then fasten it with a few safety pins on the other side. No one had given him any real fancy equipment with which to do this task, so they really had to make do with fairly shoddy Street Team Equipment.

As he clambered down from one of the nearby trees after a successful hanging of a Magma Flag, he noticed a few leaves on the ground shaking up at him.

"Oh, hey there." The creature looked up at him with a rather blank face, but it appeared to be some sort of bulb, with a little skirt for legs, and three little leaves waving at him enthusiastically.

"Petilil!"

"Hello Petilil" Kanoa waved back, "You're incredibly cute, did you know that?"

"Lil!" The creature beamed up at him, happy to receive a compliment, even if it was from a stranger.

"So...I'm gonna catch you!" Kanoa drew a pokeball, still smiling goofily, "Darkslide, Let's do this!"

The sunny demeanor of the Petilil immediately disappeared as the Scorpion Pokemon appeared on the field, clacking his claws menacingly at the Grass Pokemon. Petilil immediately shot out several leaves, which glowed with a rather...uh...magical aura. They apparently were something like homing missiles, and Kanoa had seen it before:

"Oh, Magical Leaf. Nice." He threw a thumbs up to the pokemon, who seemed rather confused that the trainer was praising her in the midst of a battle, but then she heard him say: "Pin Missile!"

Several needles began to spray from the Scorpion's mouth, so the Bulb Pokemon immediately launched another barrage of her Magical Leaf. A few of the needles pierced through, but likewise, a few leaves struck the Skorupi in return.

"Let's try...Poison Sting!" Kanoa pointed enthusiastically, as Darkslide scuttled forward, lashing out with his poisonous skorpion tail. Petilil let out a cry of pain, but then doubled back, shooting out a single seed, which landed on the Scorpion, and immediately sprouted into vines, which wrapped around a portion of his exoskeleton. Immediately, the vines constricted tightly, and began to suck the energy from Darkslide, who made horrific screeching noises, indicating his very clear pain.

"Hmm...you're a tough Cookie" Kanoa made a 'strokey-beard-gesture' on his stubble, giving what he hoped appeared to be an intelligent look as he sized up his opponent. "So...I'll cheat! Helipop, you're up too!" A zubat appeared in the air above Petilil, flapping his wings excitedly as he circled around his foe.

"Darkslide, Poison Sting, Helipop, Air Cutter!" Helipop moved behind the Petilil, gathering energy in his wings as he did. The two moves flew out in tandem, joining together as a fearsome pincer attack, slamming into the Bulb Pokemon very hard. She quivered a bit, reeling from the two blows, then shot a pink, sparkling mist up into the air.

"Uh oh" Kanoa chuckled "Sleep Powder! How devious! Darkslide, Helipop, Same moves!" The force from the dual projectile attacks spread the Sleep Powder around, rendering it fairly harmless, and serving the dual purpose of hitting the Petilil very hard, once more. She hung her head a bit, clearly tired and in a little bit of pain from the move, but another round of energy flowed into her from the plant on Darkslide, and she seemed a bit fresher for it.

As she prepared to fire off another Sleep Powder, she felt something strike her on her forehead, and suddenly, all she could see was red.

The ball dropped to the ground, shaking a bit, but finally, the Petilil gave up, and resigned herself to her new master.

"Huzzah!" Kanoa pumped a fist in the air, picking up the pokeball. "I'm getting pretty good at this whole...catching Pokemon thing." He beamed proudly at himself, then two his two companions. "Excellent work boys, that was some pretty slick battling there." With that, he recalled them as well, clipping all three pokeballs to his belt. He turned to see how Abraham and Ares were faring at putting up flags, as he'd clearly neglected his duty to have a pokemon battle.

[Yzarc Drowsnam]

When they got to the park and Abraham was handed his flags to hang up, he surely had a look of confusion, likely because he was very confused. Was this really their job? To put up Magma flags? It just seemed such an archaic way of claiming territory. He shrugged, though, nodded to Kanoa and Ares, and began the "mission."

As he walked around, planting flags which would either be protected, destroyed or otherwise desecrated, he became more and more frustrated with the way Magma was running things. Flags don't claim territory, people do. If Magma wants Shady Acres, they should have sent people, and more than three, to do something with it. Three people running around putting up flags was useless for more reasons than the fact that flags don't do anything. Even if Aqua did submit and allow Magma the territory, what were they doing to do with it? And, realistically, whatever it is they were going to do with it, they could have done without having three guys put up flags like a bunch of morons.

But, more than likely, Aqua (and the Rebellion, but they didn't seem like as big of a threat in Abraham's eyes) wouldn't just sit by and allow such a takeover. This whole war system in Noverus was likely built out of the masculinity insecurities of three men, none of whom would likely stand by and let either of the other two blatantly disrespect them like this. They were going to get attacked and because they were only three people, they were going to lose.

It made him wonder whether he'd be happier just leaving the organization when he paid off his debt or continuing to move forward so that he could actually help to run it and maybe make the city a less miserable place. There'd probably be a lot of money in that, and he was confident he could turn Magma into a freakin' profit machine, which, of course, meant big bonuses to him.

"Hey, kid!" he heard a voice near him during his tunnel-thought while he was wandering around a pier. He turned his head towards the edge where the voice came from to see an older man (not too old, but around 50) sitting on the edge with a fishing rod. Next to him were a few pokeballs.

"Yeah?" Abraham asked.

"You with Magma or somethin'?"

"Yeah."

"Ah, I figured. 'Cause of the flags."

"Yeah," Abraham sighed. "What's up?"

"You wanna buy a pokemon?" He asked.

"I'm good, thanks."

"You really should," he said. "I caught a Shellder, pretty high leveled I think. See, this lake isn't home to many Shellder, 'cause it's man made and they just put a bunch of fish in here for guys like me. But, you know, pokemon have their way of getting in anyway."

"That is a fascinating story," Abraham said with a notable lack of fascination in his tone. "But I'm kind of in the middle of something."

"Will you let me finish? Kids these days just have no patience." Getting called a kid when he was 24 was probably a little necessary. Spending time with Kanoa and Ares did make him feel like much more of an adult than he really was. So, he nodded to allow the man to continue. "Anyway, I sell fish. It's why I came here. But the place I sell the fish to, they don't sell Shellders, which I thought was strange because Shellders are delicious. But it does make sense because there aren't enough Shellders in this lake to put them on the menu. So they're not gonna buy this guy from me, and I don't want him. I don't eat fish, see, not anymore at least, since I used to eat 'em all the time, and I've grown to really love water pokemon, so I just can't do it anymore. Anyway, Shellders are usually worth a little more than regular fish, but I'll sell him to ya for pretty cheap. Reason bein', I can tell you're a battlin' type a' trainer and if you ain't, you should be, seein' as how you're in Magma, right? This Shellder is strong and I'm sure he'll be a strong addition to your team."

Abraham waited a few seconds to make sure the man was done. "Okay, are you done?"

"I'm done."

"Kay, how about this: I'll take the pokemon for you, but for free. In return, when Magma officially runs this place, I'll make sure you keep that spot right there for fishing."

The man shrugged. "I was just gonna throw him back in the lake if you didn't want him anyway," he laughed, standing up while picking up one of the pokeballs. He walked over and handed it to Abraham. "I appreciate the business, son,"

"No problem," Abraham accepted the ball. "Now get back to fishing, I got work to do."

As he walked off of the pier, he apathetically tied a flag to a pole just near it and summoned the Shellder onto the ground in front of him, as well as Tartarus and Gaia. He looked at the Shellder, who was looking at Gaia and Tartarus with a sort of friendly gaze. Gaia moved closer to sniff around a little bit and the Shellder didn't waste any time licking her face. Then, Tartarus jumped in between the two, apparently defending her honor or something. Shellder jumped back for a second, but then jumped forward again and licked the Elekid, whose fist began to surge with electricity.

"Alright, that's enough," Abraham said before things turned violent. Tartarus and Gaia turned to him somewhat apologetically, but Shellder seemed just as curious as before. "Chaos it is. Sound okay to you?" The Shellder didn't really react, but Gaia and Tartarus seemed to like it. "Okay, then. We'll work on strategy later." He called them back into their balls and looked around for Kanoa since he had just put up his last flag.

Chaos, level 28 Shellder

This post has been edited by Yzarc Drowsnam: Sep 12 2011, 02:33 PM