[X] My Assistant

[Yzarc Drowsnam]

"No!" Justin shouted without thought when the illusion disbanded. "No! No! Why?" Suddenly, the beauty taking place outside of his eyes was made apparent to be just inside his head. Reality took over. Now he found himself shirtless on the disgusting pavement looking up at the unclear skies surrounded by rundown buildings. His breathing slowed and his sense of truth returned.

It was terrible.

Finally, he pulled himself to his feet, trying to figure out the situation. There was Nate, awkwardly pulling himself out of a garbage can, holding an empty beer can in his hand. The two made a confused sort of eye contact. He looked over at Pan, who tossed aside a ball of fluff from her pachirisu. Then there was Douken, who actually had some level of understanding of what was going on. His growlithe, Rufus, launched an offensive against four black fox type pokemon near him. Did they have something to do with his eyegasm?

He had to have one. He pulled out an empty pokeball and looked at it for a moment. If he had one of those things, he would have endless access to whatever it was he just experienced. He stifled a smile as he looked back up at the foxes, watching curiously as Rufus initiated combat. His heart was beating faster and faster as Nate joined the battle with Whip, his brand new eevee. Having access to that kind of euphoria, the kind that made him lose his mind, roll around on the ground shirtless, completely unknowing of the world outside of the drug. That's what it was. It was a drug. A drug to which he was already addicted.

His hands were shaking as he watched the battle intensify. He had to make his decision quickly. Did he want to catch one? Did he want to feed this addiction? At least he had the wherewithal to know it would be a terrible decision. And yet, there he was, unable to make the decision that would be so easy for any of us. "Don't do it," he said to himself as he pulled out one of his filled pokeballs. He didn't even pay attention to whose it was. "Don't do it," he said again as he tossed it out, summoning Nincada.

"Leech Life," he said as Nincada scurried towards one of the Zorua. "No," he whispered, to himself. "Don't let her do it." His hands ran through his hair as he scratched an imaginary itch underneath. As Nincada and Zorua exchanged a few blows, Justin looked down, again, to his empty pokeball. "Stop it. Don't." He insisted to himself, but his body did not pay heed. He threw the ball at the fox, pulling it inside. It didn't even wiggle before the creature burst forth. "That's good. It's a sign. Don't catch him," he said as he pulled out another pokeball. This was his second to last. After Nincada landed another Leech Life, he threw the second one, pulling the fox inside yet again. This time, it wiggled twice, but, again, he burst out.

"Don't!" He yelled to himself, finally audible to everyone. "Don't do it!" And yet, he found himself pulling out his final empty pokeball. His mind knew it was a terrible idea, but his body insisted. Nincada, realizing that Justin was having a breakdown, backed away from Zorua to help her trainer through these trying times. However, she somehow forgot about her battle. Zorua used Pursuit and knocked her on her back. As she wiggled her little legs, trying to get back onto her feet, Justin's attention was caught. "Nincada?" he asked.

Zorua landed various attacks on her defenseless body, but before Justin could throw his empty pokeball, he saw something particularly strange. Her body stopped moving. Even Zorua seemed confused. To make things worse, something impaled outwards from her stomach. It looked like a golden blade or claw of some sort. What was happening to her. "Nincada..." A second blade protruded now and then, finally, Ninjask burst forth from the shell. Something was different from the few other Ninjask he'd seen, though. Her colors were off. Or, maybe, they were more on than any of the others. She was golden. Her colors were gorgeous, her wings were shiny. This was nothing compared to the color euphoria he experienced minutes before, but it was reminiscent.

"Nin-" he began.

"Jask!" She finished as she flew directly towards him.

"You evolved," he cracked a smile. "You're beautiful."

He looked over to Zorua, though, still gripping the empty pokeball. It wasn't done with the empty shell, though. It knew something was still going on. After a few moments of sniffing, the shell pulled itself off the ground and hovered awkwardly in front of the fox. "The hell?" Justin asked. Zorua and Shedinja just looked at each other for a few seconds. Then, Shedinja looked over at Justin. "Shed...Inja?"

And in that moment, everything else was gone. Shedinja was his. It had to be his. It knew it was his. He knew it was his. The only problem was he didn't have a spare pokeball in which to carry it. Well, he did, but...He looked down at the final empty and then back up at Zorua. Then a little to the right at Shedinja. He threw the pokeball at his decision.

Wiggle. Wiggle. Wiggle. Ping.

He walked over to the ball, leaned over and picked it up. He looked at it for a second, not confident he had made the right decision. He sighed, just looking at this newly filled pokeball. This was his team. He now had six, meaning he did not have room for-

"Zor!" he heard from his left. He looked down at the black fox who was rearing to charge. As it did, it was cut off by Ninjask, who flew by with ridiculous speed and knocked it out. Then, she flew back to Justin and did a few laps around his head before resting on his shoulder.

"Yeah, I think I made the right choice too," he smiled.

[Toogee]

As the shock of the transition from fantasy to reality wore off, Pan glanced over the dark pokemon as she quickly turned to Justin’s voice. Fortunately, his cries were not those of pain. Rather, he seemed to be very disappointed in leaving the illusion. Justin must have really liked bathing in icing. That wasn’t the case according to Douken however. He was under the impression that they were “surrounded by slots”.

“Slots?” Pan inquired. “I thought we were surrounded by candy…”

There was no time to delve into the mysteries of what they saw. The group had to deal with the present first. Pan turned back to the attacking pokemon. At first glance, she thought they were a group of very dirty vulpix. Upon closer examination, however, the researcher noticed that the black fur looked entirely natural. The characteristic multiple tails were replaced with one fluffy tail. It was quite clear that these were entirely different pokemon, the likes of which Pan had never seen before. Soon enough, one of the zorua went after the pachirisu, looking for an easy meal.

“Chi-Chi, use Electro Ball!”

The pachirisu faced off with the approaching enemy, gathering electricity upon the fur of her tail. The hair on her tail stood straight up as it gathered energy for the attack. Finally, Chi-Chi flung her tail like a catapult, raining down clusters of electricity upon her opponent. The zorua, shocked by the attack, quickly backed off as he thought of another strategy.

Pan looked back at Justin as he struggled with his own opponent. He was particularly angry that he couldn’t catch one of the dark pokemon, his pokeball failing to capture the target. Though it would have been nice to have an actual pokemon to study over, Pan wasn’t sure what would happen should the captured zorua turn on her. The illusions were quite strong; who knows what they were capable of? Rather than capture the creature herself, she would have to make do with the next best thing.

*CLICK CLICK CLICK*

Almost on reflex, Pan had her camera within her hands, immediately taking pictures of the pack of zorua. She made sure their other pokemon were within the pictures a well; they would provide good size references. This was when she witnessed Justin’s nincada transform into two separate creatures: ninjask and shedinja. It was an amazing sight to see, not to mention quite rare to catch it on film. Through her camera, she also realized that her own battle wasn’t quite over. The zorua struck once more, sneaking amongst the other battles before ambushing Chi-Chi. He swiped his paw at the squirrel in a fierce faint attack.

“Chi-Chi, try confusing him!” Pan commanded as the pachirisu lifted herself off the ground. She simply blew a sweet kiss towards the dark pokemon. The zorua twirled around with a drunken smirk on his face (not too different from the one Pan displayed earlier). The fox pokemon was waddling around, trying to muster some sort of attack.

[Douken Sota]

it seemed each trainer took their own Zorua to take on, Douken's focus was the one he first saw that was on top of the roof, and even though he took some damage from the fall and Flame Wheel, he seemed to of been in some top shape. Clearly, this Pokemon he was facing had some decent stamina on him, and maybe a bit more strength than Rufus. Still, it wasn't going to stop Douken.

"Now, use Bite!" With fangs feeling sharper, the pup jumped at the fox and went for a powerful crunch at the small fox. Unfortunately, the Flame Wheel hit snapped him from reality form the fall and saw it coming, smoothing to the side, dodging the blow before striking back with a Faint Attack, a powerful blow that knocked back Growlithe. That's strange. Koldo knows that move as well, and both seem to feel about the same strength, but why does it seem like that hit was a lot bigger than his? Dad did talk about how Pokemon can use moves stronger than normal if it is the same type as the user...

"So does this mean they are Dark Types?" he muttered aloud as the Zorua went for his next attack. With claws extended a set of Fury Swipes were let out, each one smacking the Pup as he tried to get up and turn around, having trouble being pinned down, and Rufus having trouble.

"Counter with Reversal!" Using the window between the swipes, Rufus lifted out his feet and kicked the dark fox back, knocking it away to give the pup some room to get up and run back back at his trainer's side, letting out a howl, body glowing brightly to try to take in as much light as possible. "Morning Sun..."

Upset about the turn of events, a dark aura built up inside the Zorua's mouth, letting out a blast of dark rings as the Dark Pulse was aimed right at Rufus. Unfortunately, the Zorua had no control over it, nor to power to fight the recoil as it launched himself back and the attack upwards, striking Douken in the face! With the Zorua flying away form the attack, Douken was knocked back, followed by a couple of clanks on the floor.

Douken's glasses were busted into multiple pieces, An arm at one side, the bridge somewhere else, and both lenses laying on the floor. Recovering from the face blast, he held onto his head, looking down at the alley, seeing a pull wall of blur.

[Yzarc Drowsnam]

Four Zorua, four trainers. That seemed like the deal. So while Justin battled himself against who to capture, Pan focused on taking pictures and Douken battled another somewhat blinded, Nate was getting to know Whip, his new eevee, the hard way, which, incidentally, was the fun way and really the only way he knew how.

He knew Eevee wasn't a very strong pokemon, so he would have to find a way to bring Zorua down to his level. As it vanished into nothingness and appeared behind Whip for a perfect attack, Nate concluded that its attacks were physical based on how Whip reacted. That part didn't matter quite yet, though. A simple growl wouldn't weaken its attacks enough to make a difference. "Whip, use Sand Attack,"

As Zorua charged for what looked like a Pursuit attack, Whip whipped up a nice little stream of sand to block its opponent's vision. The tricky fox pokemon shook its head as it continued to run, not focusing on its direction. This allowed Whip to sidestep its attack, leading into Nate's next command. "Growl!"

"Veeeee!" Whip yelled as Zorua turned back around to face him. Its sight was still blurred and its inhibitions were heightened when it heard Whip's confident growl. Nate hoped the Sand Attack would weaken its accuracy, but Faint Attack could not be hindered as such.

"Quick Attack!" Nate shouted and, quite immediately, Whip charged, knocking Zorua back a slight bit, but before the fox could even flinch, he appeared behind Whip and attacked with, yet again, perfect accuracy. Sand Attack was ineffective and Faint Attack was not a weak move. Whip was breathing heavily as he looked back up at Nate, his big eyes full of fear, disappointment and even disbelief. Nate simply nodded and called him back inside the pokeball, next sending out his most powerful pokemon, Pinch the Krabby.

"Pinch, use Harden!" Nate shouted. As Pinch focused on somehow increasing the endurance of her shell armor, Zorua used another Faint Attack. Weakened by Whip's Growl and used against Pinch's Harden, the attack was not incredibly effective. "Good, now- What?"

What could it be that Nate was confused about? Why would he say "What?" before the end of his command? What could possibly- Yeah, that's pretty much it. Pinch began her quick evolution from Krabby to Kingler. Nate took advantage of Zorua's confusion and wasted no time. "Pinch, use Stomp!" Her incredibly powerful physical attack against Zorua's particularly weak defenses proved to be substantial. She lifted her massive claw and whacked Zorua onto its side. While down, she stomped with her tiny legs, though they had the wight of her massive body on top of them.

Before too much damage could be done, Zorua vanished, yet again, and appeared behind Pinch. Before she could turn around and knock him away again, he attacked. She did, however, turn around and knock him away, though she took even less damage than his previous attack. When he charged her again and disappeared, she anticipated it and turned around, holding her claws in front of her. Zorua knocked against her protected body and fell back. Before he could attack again, she stuck out her larger claw and gripped the little fox in a vice. She looked to Nate as if to see whether he would give a thumbs up or down. When Nate just shook his head, she tossed Zorua aside rather than obliterating him, which she knew she could do.

The fox managed to pull itself to its feet, but comprehended the mercy of Pinch. Rather than insisting on a fight, it lowered its front paws and bowed to the newly evolved Kingler before scurrying back off into the disgusting alleys from which it came.

"Congrats on your evolution," Justin smiled approaching his partner and patting him on the back. "How do you like your new body, Pinch?" Nate was pleased when Pinch seemed to smile at Justin. He was glad that his pokemon and his partner were getting along.

"I couldn't help but notice Nincada evolved too," Nate nodded, noting Ninjask still buzzing around all over the place. She was curious enough when she had tunnel vision and was locked to the ground. Now she was incredibly fast, had amazing eyesight and could fly. This was either going to stay cute forever or get old quick. "And you caught its shell?"

"Yeah, it calls itself Shedinja," Justin shrugged. "I haven't pokedexed it yet, but it seems pretty cool,"

"Shedinja is a weird pokemon," Nate smiled, "It's really really weak. One hit from anything will knock it out. Thing is, not much can hit it since it's barely even alive to begin with."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, it's part bug and part ghost. The only things that can even touch it are the things which are good against those. Fire, dark, stuff like that."

"Interesting."

"You think these two need some help?" Nate asked.

"Nah, they got it," Justin shook his head. "I've seen them battle. They're both- Oh," That's about when he noticed Douken's broken glasses on the ground and his look of utter confusion as he looked down the hallway at Zorua, who was injured pretty substantially as well. "You alright, Douken?" Justin asked, rushing over and putting his hand on the guy's right shoulder. He looked down at the glasses. "Those things are gone, man. Do you have any spare or anything?"

This post has been edited by Yzarc Drowsnam: Feb 22 2011, 01:05 PM

[Toogee]

Meanwhile, Chi-Chi had gained an edge over her confused opponent. The zorua attempted to scratch at the pachirisu, but his paw simply struck the ground. The blow caused the opposite effect: claws against asphalt were quite the unpleasant feeling. While the dark fox was nursing his injured paw, he noticed that the rest of his pack was either defeated or headed in that direction. The zorua wasn’t quite sure where his teammates went; his confusion led him to run away from the battle. The fox chose a random street, its focus only set on escaping the superiorly trained pokemon.

With the battle over, Pan called Chi-Chi back to her vest and checked on the others. Justin and Nate seemed to be alright, both with freshly evolved pokemon. It was the best news they had so far on this trip to Lenoilia. Considering the trouble the group had gotten into so far, they could use the help of more evolved pokemon.

Douken, however, was holding his head as he faced the broken shards of his glasses. He was caught in the crossfire of the zorua’s attack, leaving his vision distorted. Pan was worried that the attack did more than break his glasses. She was more concerned about head injuries.

“Do you need to take a break?” Pan said with concern. She could see such an attack taking a lot out of a person.

"Don't worry about me,” Douken replied, trying to laugh off his teammates’ questions. “I'll be fine. Just got to find my glasses once my head stops spinning." However, when he found one of the pieces, he let off a sigh and muttered "Great. Pretty much going to be blind until I get a new pair." Clearly, he had no second.

“In the meantime, I think we should keep moving and rest somewhere a bit…safer.” Lenoilia was a very bad place to be blind and disoriented. They could no longer stay on the streets with Douken’s condition, especially since the afternoon was beginning its transformation into evening.

“Now, take my arm,” she said to her blinded friend, offering her bent arm. “We’ll be your eyes for a few days.”

She looked back to Justin and Nate, giving them a concerned look.

“Could you guys keep an eye out, just in case?” Strangely, the researcher wasn’t concerned of wandering through forest at night, but an urban environment was a completely different story.

“Hopefully, this Dream’s End isn’t too far. Maybe even a bit more welcoming…”

***

The group had travelled a good bit further north on their journey. They had passed by numerous little shops, though most of them were abandoned. Pan saw a closed down toy store, a few of the carved wooden toys still scattered on the floor. On the other end of the street, a baker was hard at work making several loaves of fresh bread. One wondered how a business such as this bakery could even function in a city like Lenoilia. Yet, that was exactly what was happening. Even here, life managed to cling on.

Finally, Pan and co. followed the road to the right, ending up in a blank field. According to a piece of flat rotting wood (the remains of a sign), this was once the city park. The researcher could imagine parents coming here with their children to have a picnic, or weekend sports games being held on the green. In the present, there was nothing green about this park. Whatever plant life that had once existed had deteriorated from the poisonous environment. All that remained was fallow dirt and a colony of ragged tents in the distance. The dreary environment was made more so by the gathering rain clouds in the sky.

“This must be it,” Pan remarked as they walked towards the miniature neighborhood that shared the same name as the street: Dream’s End.

Dream’s End consisted of dozens of makeshift homes made of poles and tarp. Within those tents were people adorned in dirty worn attire. These people appeared from all walks of life common to Furoh adventurers, be they trainer, coordinator, or pokeathlete. No matter what their dream was, they all had one thing in common: their ambitions were cut short.

As the group entered the area, a large man approached them. His brown hair matched the color of the messy beard that covered much of his face. Seriously, one could spot the remains of his turkey sandwich within the hairy labyrinth. His pair of faded black jeans had holes in his knees, while his red vest had bits of cotton sticking out like a porcupine. He rolled the long sleeves of his blue flannel shirt down his arms as he greeted the group.

“Well, hardy har har, lads and lass,” announced the surprisingly cheery homeless man. “The name’s Harvy, and you have the fortune of coming across the biggest gathering of trainers in all of Lenoilia. Or should I say…misfortune?”

((Douken Sota's part written by...Douken Sota.))

This post has been edited by 2gamers: Feb 25 2011, 11:24 PM

[Douken Sota]

Accepting Pan's offer, he hoisted himself up, leaning a bit on her to let himself get his barrings. Sure, seeing without his glasses was not a first, but being blasted in the face and being in this town alone was. This meant even if he got comfortable enough, he couldn't tell the difference between anything since he had no mental map made. This is just going to make it harder to keep that promise, he thought, remember what he told Nurse Joy before holding his hand out, slowly moving it towards him until the blur came full vision... about a foot to his face.

Looking down at the noticeable blur of orange and red, he said, "Alright, Rufus. You had some police training on you. I want you to use that and help us keep a look out." Blurry vision didn't help him see the pup was staring at a Pidgey in the sky instead of Douken. Still, the group was once more back on the move.

The light dimmed around them, having the colors blend in easier and easier, wishing Chi-Chi would help provide light, however, with the area opening up, it was clear they were getting closer. Pulling out the shattered lens from his pocket, he closed his left eye and help it in front of his right, just to get a quick glance of the park area, trying to note the tents and dead trees before pocketing it away, the damage hurting his eyes more.

Hearing the voice, Douken let himself from Pan and turned to face the voice, staring at the blend of colors as he tested his balance. "Nice to meet you. I'm Douken. This here is Pan, Justin, and Nate," he said, pointing out each of them (though off their marks a bit) to say their hi's. "We are here about the biker situation. We understand they hold an unbeatable Pokemon, and are hear to gather information."

This post has been edited by Douken Sota: Apr 24 2011, 04:16 PM

[Yzarc Drowsnam]

Imagining a place more gloomy than Lenoilia was difficult. It was as if the city itself were gray. Nate and Justin both grew up in rough urban neighborhoods in Petropolis, which he previously thought was bad, but Lenoilia at this point in time at least, was just so much worse. Surely the city must have been the true bottom of the barrel.

And then there was Dream's End, shanty town within a dump of a city. While it was true that these makeshift towns tended to have high rates of crime, drug abuse and other negative attributes, the first man to approach them actually seemed quite friendly. Justin and Nate, having grown up in an impoverished environment, were both reluctant to accept that this Harvey really was interested in helping out his fellow man. When they both instinctually put their hands on a pokeball, there was a brief moment of connection between the two where they both knew they would have to step up and be on guard. Just because the biker gang wasn't around didn't mean they were safe. It is true that those with the least to lose also have the most to gain at the expense of others. Harvey's friendliness probably put Pan and Douken at ease, but not the others.

"Hey," Justin said after Douken introduced him. He reached his right hand out to shake Harvey's hand but kept his left hand near his belt. Nate did the same. "So, the people here have had their pokemon stolen from them?" Justin asked to be sure. Were that the case, they had some level of assured safety. However, as mentioned, impoverished people have high incentives to turn towards crime. That's what happens when you live in a society that tells you what goals you need to have and how to reach them. If you can't do it, you either give up on the goals or you give up on the normalized means of obtaining them, meaning you make up your own means. Strain Theory was not something about which either Justin or Nate had learned formally. They just knew it.

This post has been edited by Yzarc Drowsnam: Feb 28 2011, 03:55 PM

[Toogee]

“Oh…the bikers.” Harvey’s smile lowered a bit as he addressed Douken. “Well, er, no need to spoil your first visit to Dream’s End with our problems. How about a tour first?”

Pan looked to her companions for reactions. Clearly, Harvey wasn’t so eager to delve into the details of Lenoilia’s current situation. But why? Although the subject change was more than a little disconcerting, Pan decided to follow the man, if only to question him later about the bikers.

As they passed through the settlement, the group witnessed daily life amongst the fallen trainers. One trainer was polishing off his single gym badge: a round stone surrounded by green petals. A blond coordinator was trying to brush her unkempt mop on top of her head with a plastic fork. She hoped some rich and generous agent would take her out of these slums and back into the spotlight. Meanwhile, a guy dressed in a red tank top and jogger shorts, the attire for a pokeathlete, was examining the dirty cast upon his right foot. These were common scenes in the makeshift neighborhood of Dream’s End.

When Justin asked about pokemon stolen among the trainers, Harvey shook his head.

“Some of us are fortunate enough to have been able to keep a few friends during our stay.”

“Stay?” Pan asked. It sounded like he was talking about a hotel.

“Dream’s End is only a minor setback for us. We’ve suffered many fates: numerous losses, dried up loans, and more recently, run-ins with some…unsavory fellows. But Dream’s End is certainly not the end, not for me at least. See, I’ve already started my new team. Ta-da!”

Harvey quickly pulled out a pokeball from his vest and flashed it in front of Pan and the others, as if performing a magic trick. It was a standard pokeball, though a bit more grimy than usual. He seemed quite happy about his new beginning…and completely oblivious as to how jumpy Justin and Nate were.

“Let’s go, Mighty!” Harvey called out as he reached for the middle button.

This post has been edited by 2gamers: Mar 1 2011, 11:37 PM

[Yzarc Drowsnam]

Harvey's "Ta-Da" was quickly interpreted as nefarious by the already suspicious Justin and Nate. Before waiting for his pokeball to hit the ground, Justin threw out Hitmontop's ball. Hitmontop and Harvey's Rattata, Mighty, came out around the same time, but Justin didn't waste time waiting for Harvey to make the command first.

"Fake Out Mach Punch!" Justin yelled. Without waiting a second, Hitmontop jumped in front of Mighty, upside down of course, and clapped his feet in front of the dog. As the rat flinched from the loud noise, Hitmontop followed up with a ridiculously fast Mach Punch, effectively knocking Mighty a good few meters away and almost completely out.

"What the hell are you doing, kid?" Harvey shouted, turning and running over to Mighty, barely conscious, lying on the ground and whimpering. "You okay, boy?"

"He," Justin began. "I," He looked over to the others who seemed just as confused or disgusted as Harvey. He wanted to defend himself, to explain that poor areas were typically dangerous and that this man pulling out a pokeball so quickly was akin to pulling out a weapon. He was defending everyone, really! But he decided against it. To justify his actions would only make him seem like more of a dick.

"Dude," Nate nodded his head towards Harvey. He had half a smile since he was probably ready to do the same and was a little glad Justin was the one to do it. Still, he was right.

"Fine," Justin rolled his eyes and walked over to Harvey. "Stay back, buddy," he said to Hitmontop as he approached. "Hey, man," he said, reluctantly resting his hand on the man's broad right shoulder. "Sorry about that. I, um, I was just a little nervous, you know. You sort of, well, uh, anyway. I'm sorry. Are you okay, Mighty?"

"He'll be fine," Harvey stood up and called the Rattata back into his pokeball. "If you're gonna be running around with a pokemon that powerful, you need to be less trigger happy, Justin. You're bound to really hurt someone, you keep up this attitude."

"You're right," Justin nodded. "I'm sorry. I sort of grew up in an impoverished neighborhood. We were trained to be quick to fight. It was a respect thing. If you're scared to fight, it means you're weak, and if you're weak, you get beat up. So you gotta be tough, but more importantly, you gotta act tough. And that means when you suspect something, you act on it because it usually turns out to be true."

"It's alright, bud," Harvey smiled. "I was plannin' on robbin' you all anyway."

"What?" Justin asked. "Seriously?"

"Hah hah hah!" He laughed, redundantly, as he put his hand on Justin's shoulder. "Of course not! I just wanted to show you my pride. You kids are alright. And let me tell you, with that Hitmontop on your side, you'll do alright. So, you guys seriously aim to get rid of the bikers around here?"

Honestly, Justin and Nate weren't there to get rid of any bikers. In fact, Justin had this sneaking suspicion he was there for quite a contradictory reason. He looked over to Pan and then Douken, his eyebrows raised. Douken was determined, at least, to save this town. Maybe he had it all wrong, he thought as he looked at Sota. Maybe he wasn't the hero of the story.

This post has been edited by Yzarc Drowsnam: Mar 4 2011, 12:18 PM

[Douken Sota]

Douken blinked as Justin jumped the gun with a straight forward attack on the Rattata, showing how much of a difference of power there was in the two. After a short scene, he got to understand why being so jumpy, but Harvey seemed to of taken things very lightly. Still, from the sounds from the mouse, he was able to endure the two powerful hits to stay conscious. During their talk and Harvey's joke, Douken removed the bag on his back and dug through it, pulling out two Sitris Berries and handing them to Harvey. "These here should give Mighty his energy back."

Getting back up, he told him, "Yeah, we are going to do it. Who knows, if our opponent is unbeatable for being very healthy, I think I got someone who can help even the odds," tapping Reep's Pokeball as he said it. "However, we are going to need more information for a full strategy."

With some barking in the air, Douken looked down at Rufus, who was baring at someone and turned to look over. Lifting the lens over his eye for the moment, he saw three people eying them wearily. "I think Rufus is telling us that those guys want to make sure we don't find out about anything. Maybe we should find some place more private to talk."

[Toogee]

Pan was shocked as to how fast and the manner in which Justin reacted to Harvey’s pokemon. The neighborhood the group was in, combined with his past in Petropolis, had made him fairly jumpy around the inhabitants of Dream’s End. Pan could not relate to those feelings: she grew up in relative peace in and around Celadon City. Perhaps he was acting to protect everyone, to protect her.

But still, a rattata?

“Gee Justin, I think you got it,” Pan chuckled. “I thought that big mean rattata was going to know my toes off or something.” With Harvey maintaining his cheerful mood, Pan decided to poke fun at Justin’s error in judgment.

The light-hearted atmosphere dissipated once Douken’s growlithe pointed out three people who seemed a bit too interested in the group. Harvey turned towards the trio, his smile disappearing. He seemed to recognize the group and quickly returned Mighty to his pokeball.

“Come, we’ve attracted too much attention.”

Harvey was about to lead the group towards one of the larger tents when their way was blocked. One of the bikers stood before them, his arms folded to his chest. He was one of the older members of the gang, his dusty brown hair indicating his age. His weathered face stared at Harvey and his newfound friends.

“Er, afternoon, Grayson,” Harvey replied nervously. Pan moved for Turnip’s pokeball, but Grayson shot a glare at her.

“Don’t bother with that. We didn’t come here to fight but to warn.” Grayson remained still, but his voice was calm and stern.

“Then start warning,” Pan said back to him. “What pokemon are we up against?”

At this question, Grayson looked away from the group and back to the city of Lenoilia.

“Your first mistake is to assume that this is some pokemon battle. What Burro has is no pokemon. It is an abomination, a mish-mash of different creatures. A feral mutant that craves the battle. He has used this mutant to claim this city. Anyone who gets in his way, including his fellow bikers, pays a price.”

He proceeded to roll back the sleeve of his leather jacket, revealing a burnt hand. Pan’s eyes widened as she looked at the cracked, mangled skin, now knowing that this biker seemed to be on their side.

“But Grayson,” Harvey retorted, “These kids are pretty good.”

“Harvey…take them to see Timothy.”

“But-”

“They have come for information. It only makes sense for them to see Timothy. He’ll show them what’s at stake. If they can handle that, then perhaps they’ll have a chance.”

Harvey stared blankly at the old biker, then nodded in reluctant. He looked over to the group and started on a path away from the camp. Pan was quick to follow, very curious about the exchange between the two men.

“So who was that guy?” Pan asked Harvey.

“Grayson was once part of the Roadrazers, before Burro took over. He didn’t quite agree with the Lenoilia takeover and ended up here. He doesn’t like this anymore than we do, but he’s more pessimistic about the outcome.”

“And what about this Timothy?”

“Ah, Tim was the exact opposite. He believed he could accomplish anything. This was yet another challenge in his quest to become champion. Not only that, he truly cared about the people here. He could have escaped; we had a good getaway plan too. But Tim insisted on staying to get rid of Burro. Salt of the earth, that kid.”

“So…what happened to him?”

Harvy stopped walking and gave a sigh. Pan was confused: he was seemingly staring into nothingness. When she turned to what he was looking at, Pan gasped. She put both her hands in front of her mouth to suppress her shock. As Grayson said, it was all too clear what was as stake.

They were staring at a hastily sculpted tombstone, its dark surface shaped more like a circle than the traditional half oval. Faintly etched into the stone, the purpose of this marker made Lenoilia’s situation more dire than ever.

Timothy, Valued Friend, Fallen Hero

[Douken Sota]

It was almost on cue, actually, when Rufus gave the warning, because they became blocked off by one of them who went by the name of Grayson. It was strange, though, cause even with him being a biker, he gave off the feeling he wasn't someone to drive them away from the truth. In fact, he gave what they were looking for, no matter how threatening the details. A Pokemon Chimera, eh? No wonder the others are sided with him. Try and face that, his thoughts paused as he eyed his arm, through still able to see the extent of the damage through the close, faint blur, and take that kind of damage.

As he thought about it, the name Timothy was thrown into the air, and that in itself seemed to of had a gloomy feel in it, and as Douken listened to Grayson's and Timothy's past, he stopped as he did, looking at the round blur that Pan gasped over. It was a gravestone dedicated to him. So, those that do try risk their lives on it, huh? he thought, walking to the stone and kneeling in front of it, running his fingers over the etched text. I lose, and this may as well be me.

Moving his hand away from the marking, he bit his thumb so hard, causing himself to bleed before placing his thumb back on the stone. With a diagonal move of the thumb, me smeared on a line of blood, heading down and to the right before continuing on to work on a circle, though not acting as it wasn't the pure top. When he got even with the circle, me made another straight, diagonal line, mirroring the one before it, looking like an open-ended pot before lifting his thumb and drawing a straight line down to above the center, lifting it away before using his index finger to trace the same line on his shoulder. If Pan remembered the tattoo he had, he would of been tracing the lines he had on that specific spot.

Standing back up, he told them, "This has to stop." His tone was serious as a speck of water hit the top of his head, the storm starting to come over the city. "No more lives should be taken." Turning around, he showed everyone how determined he was by saying, "I vow on my Amazonian bloodline that this madness will stop, even if it means I will die if I fail!" Another promise he will have trouble keeping, even if the meaning was the same.

This post has been edited by Douken Sota: Mar 5 2011, 11:39 PM

[Yzarc Drowsnam]

Justin and Nate tagged along as Grayson appeared and they were introduced to the late Timothy. While Pan and Douken likely felt a mixture of sympathy, fear and a call to action, Justin felt a guilt boil in his stomach. No, he did not kill Timothy, but he was a member of Team Deception. Was he really supposed to believe some thug who led a gang of bikers legitimately got a hold of some abomination superpowerful pokemon? No, Team Deception was behind it in some way. Either he stole it from them, or worse, it was given to him.

Either way, they were there for a very specific reason, and it was clear at that point that Burro had something to do with it. Until they were given their orders, it was probably best not take this guy out when Team Deception clearly had plans for later. Supposedly, there was a VIP coming in the next morning, and that person was likely going to be making the real decisions.

Douken went ahead and made a death pact with himself, a vow to stop madness. "No need to get yourself killed tonight, Douken," he said, putting his hand on the guy's shoulder. "We still got a lot to learn about this pokemon. We should-" He stopped for a second to consider how he wanted to present his next idea. His actual job was to scout the town for dangers. The biggest danger, obviously, was Burro. He needed to talk to this man, and perhaps learn about this pokemon. "Let me talk to Burro. Worst case scenario, he takes my pokemon, but I might be able to learn something, right? Then maybe you guys could use that information to take him down, or something."

He really didn't expect that his pokemon would be taken. The bikers had shown some sort of respect for him, as though they knew who he was, or at least for whom he worked. They seemed eager to have him meet Burro. He just needed a chance to talk to him without Pan and Douken. Hell, it would probably be better to leave Nate outside too. The guy just tended to run his mouth too much, and he was also a little bit naive. "The bikers would take me to see Burro, I think." He added, for good measure.

[Toogee]

Pan was used to having death-defying adventures. She had been chased by a beedril swarm, went toe-to-toe with a robotic drill, and even buried under an avalanche. This was the first time she had actually encountered a dead person on her journey. He was a trainer like every other kid that makes their journey to Furoh. Only at this moment had it dawned upon Pan how things could end, even on such a promising continent.

Rather than wallow in misery, Douken performed some sort of ritual, retracing the pattern on his shoulder onto the tombstone in blood. He announced that he wasn’t about to turn tail from this fight; he was going to “stop the madness”. She was right in picking him as a trusted ally. Douken was one of those people who wouldn’t bend his ideals for anyone. That, or he was incredibly stubborn. Either way, it filled Pan with the courage and confidence to stand with him.

Justin followed up by announcing his plan for investigating this mysterious pokemon: he would walk up to Burro’s lair and simply ask to see the creature. Pan had to do a double-take; the idea was complete lunacy. The worst-case scenario wasn’t losing pokemon; it was getting killed. And yet, he was going to do it without flinching. That made two men Pan could get behind.

“They’re right,” Pan started, turning to Harvey and an increasing crowd of onlookers. “If we leave, another trainer will have to face these bikers. He or she could get hurt…or worse.”

Pan turned back to Timothy’s grave, then to her audience. More and more members of Dream’s End were leaving their ragged tents to witness the quartet who vowed to help Lenoilia. Even with raindrops rapidly increasing, they still came.

“We’re not leaving until we kick these guys out of your city!”

The crowd erupted in applause as Pan issued her proclamation. The applause was short-lived: a loud clap of thunder announced the arrival of the feared storm. Though the rain hadn’t increased beyond a drizzle, it wouldn’t be long until people would be soaked to the bone.

“We’ll talk more about this in the morning,” Harvey told the group. “Get to some shelter, and quick!”

The residents of the tiny neighborhood scattered into their cramped tents, while Pan and the others were running out of the neighborhood. As they left, Pan saw Grayson watching the group before he regrouped with his allied bikers. The look on his face was not a smile: it was one of sorrow mixed with a tinge of hope. She hoped their odds would look a bit brighter tomorrow.

***

“Justin, you can’t go over there by yourself. You’ll be killed!”

The group was sitting in the lounge area of the empty pokemon center. Joy was going around the group, serving blankets and hot cocoa to the rain-soaked travelers. Pan’s hair drooped to the side, soaked with water. Her bare feet were placed into the carpet to dry, while the rest of her body was wrapped around the blanket. She had changed out of her wet clothes for sleepwear: a white t-shirt depicting the emblem of the Mauville Electric Company and a pair of long purple lounge pants.

“There has to be another way…”

((Jump to Pokemon Center approved by all))

[Douken Sota]

"And here I thought I was the only one on a suicide mission here," Douken said with a bit of a joke in his voice before taking a sip from the hot cocoa. Still, as he sat there wrapped in the blanket, looking at the fuzz of his friends as he wore a sleeveless shirt and shorts (his main clothes drying as well), he could not help but think about the risk he is taking. "I get the idea behind it, don't get me wrong. We get to see this chimera-type creation the leader has, but what makes you think he will just show you and let you walk back with the information?"

Letting out a sigh, he glanced back down at the table, eying his broken frame's pieces. Even if he could precisely weld the pieces together, the damage on the lenses could not be repaired so easily. Not only that, but if he did try to look through them, he would most likely get dizzy from it and have a hard time focusing. It was honestly the best case scenario that he didn't use them and got a new prescription at Petropolus.

"I understand that the best information comes from the source, but if he is currently ruling the city and you come to get info to stop him, I doubt he would give away such information so easily."

[Yzarc Drowsnam]

When they got back to the pokemon center, Pan and Douken both voiced their objections to Justin's plan. Sure, from their perspectives, it was really dumb. They didn't, and, moreover, couldn't, know all the intricacies, such as him being a member of Team Deception, and some of Burro's men knowing that. They didn't know that Team Deception had plans for this city. Hell, they probably didn't even know who Team Deception were. That was probably for the best. Justin didn't want Pan to hate him.

He walked through a timeline in his head. The next day, at about 9:00 in the morning, a Team Deception Admin was going to be arriving in town. Though the reason was officially undisclosed, he figured it had something to do with this monster pokemon. Justin and Nate were to meet the VIP at the Helicopter Pad on top of the pokemon center at 9:00 sharp. So, then, the question was simple. How were they going to get up there without Pan and Douken finding out about them? The answer was equally simple. They would leave before then. Talking to Burro was an excuse to split up, and they could easily sneak back onto the Pokemon Center after their meeting without the other two finding out. It was getting late, but it was still early enough to get to Burro's place.

"I'm not gonna die," Justin shrugged. He really wasn't worried about that. "I'm not gonna present myself as nearly as big of a threat as Timothy. I'll be curious, and docile." Of course, he knew he was going to come off as somewhat intimidating simply due to his stature, but Burro didn't want a fight anyway. Not with Team Deception. "Nate, you should come with me, but Pan and Douken, you two should stay here for the night. If we do get our pokemon confiscated, I'll need to know that you still have yours."

Nate was having a difficult time keeping up. He couldn't figure out who Justin's plan was going to be aiding. Were they really going to talk to Burro? When were they gonna meet the VIP? Still, he wasn't going to question it in front of the others.

"Douken," Justin said, holding out his hand to Sota. "It was good seeing you again." After they shook, he turned to Pan. He didn't say anything, but walked over and wrapped his arms around her body, holding her tight. As they hugged, he said, softly, "I'll see you soon, okay? This right here. This is gonna be too good a thing for me to walk away and get killed."

While they said goodbyes, Nate stood awkwardly to the side. He never really got to know Douken or Pan. Still, he approached Douken while Justin and Pan were hugging and held out his hand. "Good meeting you, man." He said.

[Toogee]

Whether there was another way out of their predicament or not, Justin was dead set on seeing Burro. Though Nate would be going with him, Pan still didn’t like the idea. He was going straight into the hideout and poke around in his business. Poking around in the wrong place could land Justin and Nate in big trouble, no matter how innocent they acted. It was incredibly risky, but she couldn’t think of any other suggestions.

All those thoughts were wiped from Pan’s mind when Justin wrapped his arms tightly around her. His warmth and closeness soothed her feelings, at least for a few moments. Her face snuggled against his shoulder, able to take in his rain-soaked scent. It was a temporary respite from the storm they were about to face, one Pan wished would last much longer.

And then Justin started talking, which caused Pan to start thinking.

This thing he spoke of. What was it? It was one kiss, but Justin seemed to have felt it was something much more. Pan felt, even hoped, there was something between them. At the moment, the only thing they shared was physical attraction, hardly the basis of a working relationship. Once again, that nagging question popped in her mind: what was he expecting out of her?

“You better come back,” she replied to Justin. “We still have to talk about…stuff.”

[Douken Sota]

Shaking Justin's hand then Nates, he took a moment to stare at the two, a bit of an awkward feeling in his gut. He never had a girlfriend, so watching them ave him an odd feeling about the situation. However, the two soon departed, waving them off and saying, "Do take care, you guys," before the door closed behind them.

With the two gone, the nurse walked up to them and told them, "Your clothes are almost done in the dryer, but you may not want to sit out here much longer. If you want, I can deliver your clothes to your rooms." She dug into her pockets and placed a pair of keys on the table, each with a different number on them as she told them, "Don't want any guests to sleep out here, and I am sure finding an inn wouldn't be the best idea."

Looking at the keys, Douken nodded and took one of them and nodded, saying, "Thank you," before holding the key to his face to read the room number. With that in mind, he turned back to Pan and told her, "Yeah, we should rest up."

[Yzarc Drowsnam]

"We'll get a chance," Justin replied to Pan's comment before he and Nate headed for the rain. As soon as they stepped outside, sure enough, they were pelted by water from above. They didn't quite begin their walk to Burro's place, primarily because they didn't know where it was.

"What's the plan, Smart?" Nate asked, having to speak loudly over the storm.

"We're gonna go see Burro," Justin replied, taking the lead and walking in a seemingly random direction, at least to Nate. "As promised."

"But what do we do there?" Nate asked, walking alongside his partner, "I don't think we were sent here to put an end to him. We're supposed to just be observing."

"As far as I'm concerned," Justin said, "Burro's reign poses an immediate threat to our superior who is coming tomorrow morning. I'm not planning on taking him out, I just want to figure out what the hell's going on. Did you hear that guy earlier? Some sort of mutant pokemon? Something's not right, man."

"This whole goddamn town is not right, Justin," Nate said. "But it's not our job to fix it."

"It's everyone's job to fix it," Justin said, very seriously, evens topping to talk. "If you see a guy getting mugged, you help him because you can."

"I don't," Nate said. "I'm not gonna get killed over some money, least of all someone else's. Would you really jump in and help someone if they were being mugged?"

It was a good point. Justin stopped for a second. "Probably, uh, probably not, actually."

"You gotta figure out where you stand, Justin," Nate shrugged, continuing walking even though he didn't know where they were going. Justin followed. "You wanna be a hero, but not if it's too dangerous, and not at the cost of the illegal fortune you're making. Is it Pan?"

"What?"

"Pan," Nate stated again, "She's why you're acting like such a dumbass."

"I always act like a dumbass."

"True," Nate smiled. "But seriously, you're different around her. You've always been a dick to me, and so I assumed you were just an asshole. Even around Tag and Raven. But here, you're being all chivalrous and sweet. So what's different? Our environment, sure, but I don't think Lenoilia has anything to do with you being more cheerful."

"Shut up, Nate."

"I mean, I guess it could be Douken,"

"Shut up, I'm seriously gonna punch you."

"She's not right for you, man," Nate finally made his point.

"What?" Justin seemed angry.

"I mean, she's cute, I guess. But dude, you're not even playing for the same team. Do you honestly think she's the type that could accept you being in Team Deception? Her moral compass isn't that loose. Look at her, man. She's a naive, preppy, snotty-"

"Shut the fuck up, Nate, I'm not kidding."

"Neither am I," Nate said. "It's not gonna work, dude. Tina broke up with you for what you do, right?"

"Don't even bring her into this."

"How long did you date Tina?" Nate asked. "Years, right? And she dumped you in a second. So, was she more or less naive than Pan?"

"I'm not talking about this."

"More or less, Justin?"

"Shut up."

"Will Pan stop caring about you if she finds out?"

"Yes!" Justin yelled. "Yes, she will! Of course she will!" They had stopped in the middle of the street, rain continuing to poor down on their soaked bodies in the middle of the night with no one around. "Why the hell would she stay with me if she knew? I'm a miserable piece of shit, Nate, and she's so much better than me. And yes, if she knew how miserable I was, she would forget about me. But I like her."

"Maybe," Nate said, putting his hand on Justin's shoulder. "But you don't love her. There's a lot of physical attraction, and maybe a little bit of envy of her naivety, but to me, it's just a crush. An unhealthy one, too, since everything you have with her is pretty much based on a lie, right?"

"What do I do, Nate?" Justin asked, staring at his shoes, trying not to cry. He only ever had one girlfriend, Tina, and things were so much different with her than with Pan. "Tell me what to do."

"Sleep with her," Nate said. "Sleep with her and you'll be able to see past the physical attraction part of the crush. If you're still into a girl after you sleep with her, then you know it's real. You'll see. Once you're done with Pan, you won't be into her anymore."

"And if I still am?"

"You won't be," Nate seemed confident. "Trust me. Once you get laid, you'll be able to realize how bad she is for you."

"I'm not some sex maniac, Nate," Justin said. "I want a relationship."

"You're in the wrong business, then," Nate said. "Either that or you picked the wrong girl. So either leave Team Deception or forget about Pan. The two aren't gonna both work out."

"You're right," Justin sighed, pulling himself back up. He brushed his hand through his hair, pulling some of the water from his face and nodded. "I'll sleep with her," he said. "Then I'll tell her about Team Deception. She'll either leave me and I'll deal with it, or she'll accept it, and we won't have a problem."

"Okay," Nate shrugged, knowing that, yes, she would leave him. "So," he continued, looking around. "Where are we going? We gonna get out of the rain any time soon?"

"We're going back to the bar," Justin said, walking again, "The bikers know where Burro is."

When they got to the bar to which they went when they first arrived in Lenoilia, there were about three big guys standing outside under the awning, smoking cigarettes. One of them put his down for a second when Justin and Nate approached. "What do we got here?"

"We wanna see Burro," Justin said, bluntly.

They all chuckled. "That's probably not gonna work out for you, bud,"

"We're with Deception," Justin said.

"What?"

"Burro will know what it means. Trust me, he's expecting us."

The three bikers looked at each other and shrugged simultaneously. "Alright. Go on in. Bartender's name is Ricky. Tell him what you just told us."

They did. And they did. Ricky got a guy named Pete to escort Justin and Nate up the stairs behind the bar. Pete confiscated their pokeballs before allowing them passage behind the locked door. He had them wait outside as he knocked and then went in. "Burro, some guys here say they're from Deception?"

Then, he turned to Justin and Nate. "Alright, you're in."

"You'll get these back on your way out," He was referring to the pokeballs. "Assuming everything goes well."

They nodded and walked into the room, shutting the door behind them. Burro was sitting in a comfortable looking chair in a surprisingly nice looking room. On his lap was an attractive woman in her late twenties and covered in tattoos, dressed in a low cut tank top and a short jean skirt. Not quite as covered as Burro was, but she had a sleeve on her left arm and what looked like writing on her chest. She was sipping a martini while Burro was smoking a cigar. Near them, a Flareon was lying comfortably on the ground, heat emanating from its body.

"Tracy," Burro said before acknowledging his two visitors. "Why don't you go grab us some gin from downstairs?"

"Sure thing, babe," Tracy smiled, hopping off the man's lap. He smacked her butt as she walked past Justin and Nate. They couldn't help but notice her rolling her eyes as he slapped her.

"So I'm told you boys are from Team Deception," Burro nodded. "Is that correct?"

"Yes sir," Justin said.

"Good! Please, come sit," Burro stood up and walked around his chair further to the back of his room where he had a desk. He sat down behind it and Justin and Nate took both of the chairs in front of it. "Steam! Come over here," The Flareon stood up, yawned, stretched and walked over to the desk, lying down under it near Burro's feet. "Nothing like warming up next to a fire on a stormy night, am I right, boys?"

"Yep," Justin nodded, hoping he was getting somewhere.

"Can I offer you guys a drink? Wait. You're eighteen, right?"

Justin and Nate looked at each other at the question. Really? "Nah, I'm just kiddin'. Here." He opened a drawer and pulled out three old fashioned glasses and a container of scotch. They knew it was scotch because Burro said, "Hope you like scotch."

They were kids. Of course they didn't like scotch. But they sipped at it anyway.

"So, what can I do for you, boys? Oh! Do you need a towel or something? You're awful wet"

"We're fine, thanks. We came to talk about your pokemon," Justin said. "See, as you can probably guess, we're not high ranking members of our organization. We're just kids."

"Eh, that doesn't mean much in the world of crime," Burro shrugged. "Starry eyed kids tryna make names for themselves, they usually get pretty far pretty fast. Anyway, if you're not here to talk business, what is it?"

"Well, we're here to talk business," Justin said, "Our VIP is coming in tomorrow, and we need to be sure he's safe. That being said, I'd like to know a little bit about your pokemon."

"Well," Burro nodded, "I'm not gonna show you yet. But I assure you, your VIP will be safe. My entire army of bikers will aim to protect him."

"See, I just need to-" Justin began.

"Do you not trust me?"

"It's not that."

"Why don't you trust me?"

"Because this is crime," Justin finally said. "You can't trust anybody. But trust me, at least, when I say this: If Team Deception pegs you as an enemy, you will go down. Don't cross us. Don't cross me. So I'll ask you again. Is there a threat to my boss?"

"Not anymore."

"What? Meaning, what? There was one?"

"Yeah," Burro nodded. "But you already know about it."

"What do you mean?"

"The two of you were with those kids who wanna take us down."

"The-We-What?"

"Pandora Gibbs and Douken Sota, right?"

"How do you-"

"I own this whole fucking town, Justin. I know everything. Like you said, you can't trust people in this business. That's why I'm not gonna spill all my secrets to you, because I'm not even sure where your allegiances are. I sent some men to capture the two of them, and they're on their way here. Prove your on my side and guard them tonight."

"You-" Justin began, holding back his anger. He had very little choice. He didn't have his pokemon with him. Perhaps he could just beat the guy down with his fists, but he probably had a gun or something. And even if he didn't, they weren't about to walk out of the bar with bloody fists and a beaten Burro. "Yes sir," he finally said.

[Toogee]

Pan watched from the window as Justin and Nate disappeared into the stormy night, unaware of the conversation they were having. She hoped their plan would work; everything depended on it. Not to mention that the two would be in grave danger of getting beat up by the gang. Justin was tough, but not that tough.

“You go on ahead,” she told Douken. “I’m going to wait up for them.”

“With all due respect, Ms. Gibbs,” Joy replied to Pan, “but it really is unsafe in the lounge after hours. I will wake you when your companions have arrived. It’s the least I could do for what you’re doing for us.”

The nurse smiled, encouraging Pan to take a much-deserved rest before tomorrow. The researcher relented; she really was worn out from the day’s events. A nice warm bed was far too tempting, even if all she was going to do was think about Justin and Nate for much of the night (mostly Justin). And so, Pan nodded her thanks to Joy as she followed Douken upstairs to their rooms.

Pan put her things, her pokeballs included, onto her bed. The only pokemon she had out was Chi-Chi, who was running around the room like a hyperactive gerbil. The thunderstorm was still going strong, making it difficult to calm the pachirisu enough to sleep. Pan decided to visit Douken before he turned in for the night. Maybe with his daycare experience, he would know of something to help overactive pokemon sleep. If nothing else, it would take her mind off of current events for a little bit.

“Hey Douken,” Pan asked. “What can I do about Chi-Chi?” As she spoke, the pachirisu raced into Douken’s room and proceeded to jump up and down on his bed. The jumping seemed to increase in frequency just before a lightning strike.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Not far away, many of the bikers were spending the night partying at their bar, lovingly called Burro’s Bar. Behind this facility was a giant warehouse filled with pieces of art. The artwork was abandoned long ago during the exodus from Lenoilia years ago. They included paintings, sculptures, vast collections of books, and even a few “art cars” that were more for style than function. Though most of the pieces were kept safe by the few residents left in Lenoilia, that changed when the bikers took over. And so, surrounded by paintings of Silver and sculptures of various pokemon, Burro sat at his desk, watching Justin and Nate react to the news of what he had planned for Pan and Douken.

Unlike most of the bikers, Burro was quite the fat slob. His leather jacket could no longer zip over his fading t-shirt, which depicted the logo of the popular Poke King fast food joint. An evil grin stretched across his face upon realizing that Justin and Nate weren’t quite on top of things.

“So you thought I was the threat?” Burro asked with a snort. “It was you guys who put me here in the first place. Your bosses apparently saw something in me, and set me on the path to become the first gym leader of Lenoilia. And it’s all thanks to Beast.”

Burro set a rather strange pokeball upon his desk. It appeared to be like a regular pokeball. The only exception was the small chains that wrapped around the sphere, interlocking over the button. Most disturbing of all, the pokeball was still shaking, as if the inhabitant was still trying to break free.

“Bugger can’t even stay in his pokeball! Won’t be long until the big reveal, when your ‘VIP’ gets to watch Beast rip into those kids. All of this in a gladiator-style match-up! You guys aren’t squeamish about bloodsport, are ya?”

At this, Burro started laughing, very excited to host his very own gladiator match. After he calmed himself for a bit, he came back to the subject of “threats”.

“But, if you still think I’m a ‘threat’, go ahead and make a call. Here, you can use my phone.”

Burro slid a pokegear over to Justin and Nate. It was a typical red model, though there were plenty of attempts to scratch out the name “Tim” off the top.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Alright boys. Make it clean, make it quick.”

Eight men stood across the street from the pokecenter. Though all they needed to grab were two people, none were sure if they would leave without a fight. They needed absolute success if they were to please Burro.