Private/Closed Le Saut Trompe (Kalos Travels)

[Trucro]

Jacob trudged on along the road. Route fifteen was a nice walk, through grass fields and a small forest, they could see the mountains they were headed towards out in the distance. Trees surrounded the route, partially blocking their view of the mountains, but there were other things to look at. The area was rich in life, pokemon and plant. They had crossed a large river less than a mile back, and smaller streams had followed them all the way alongside the path. One Jacob’s left, his Heliolisk, Dexter, walked at his side. Jacob really enjoyed Dexter; the electric pokemon was a cautious and thoughtful one, and Jacob felt he was reflected in Dexter. That’s not to say the pokemon was always overcautious. At the moment, he was happily walking down the road a few steps ahead of Jacob, looking over at their other companions.


To his right walked Curt. Jacob had known Curt for some time now, and Jacob felt they had become pretty close. Curt was interested in Martha, who had been a famous trainer in her day and acted as Jacob’s instructor. Jacob even liked Curt’s pokemon, who always seemed to be out and about. Embertail jogged alongside the group, ever the energetic runt. Dexter(Heliolisk) really liked Embertail as well, although he could never keep up with him.


The group was heading for Laverre City, where Martha was waiting for them. Martha had not been feeling well recently, and Jacob wanted to make sure he went to visit her. On the phone she had sounded better than ever, however, and she insisted that Jacob bring Curt along. He assumed the two of them must’ve bonded back at the tournament in Slateport. Whatever the reason, he found himself walking with Curt to Laverre, the city of fairies. Martha’s daughter was the gym leader there, as was only natural. Jacob had never been fond of Valerie. She was very different from her mother; harsher, he felt, and too focused on fashion. But she was Martha’s daughter, and Jacob put up with her. Jacob turned to Curt.


“Have you ever been to Laverre before?” Jacob had travelled the Kalos region at 10 years old. In fact, it was his first pokemon journey. He had never challenged the gym leaders, however, falling ill as a child. He was lucky that he found Martha and she had helped him recover, and made sure he found his way home. As such, he had spent plenty of time both in Kalos and Laverre, and knew the city pretty well. “It’s not my favorite city,” He continued, looking down at Dexter, who was looking back up at him. “But it is pretty unique.”

 

[Curtkid]

"Heh, no, my friends and I haven't been to Kalos much outside of our Subterranean Adventure, well, that and our incident in the Kyandi's manor...er, long story", Curt informed Jacob. He looked back to see Embertail and Raviel, his teams Jolteon, chatting with Dexter a few feet behind them. Dexter, according to Jacob, was a Pokemon called a Heliolisk, a Pokemon neither of them had ever seen before. Despite the Dexter's more cautions and meditative nature, he seemed to becoming fast friends with Embertail, which didn't surprise Curt at all. Despite Embertails tendencies to be, impetuous at times, his overall Jolly and Goof-ballish nature made him very hard to dislike.

"We've hardly ever been outside the Kanto or Johto regions to be honest, when we meet in The Glimmering Caves, it was our first times so far away from home", Curt said, until the Jolteon that was traveling beside him tugged at his leg,"Oh, yeah, Raviel here believes he's from Kalos, but that was along time ago, all he can really remember from the city he was born from is that it was cold and had this huge pink thing in it". The only two regions that we're particularly cold where Sinnoh and Kalos, so he assumed he must be from one of those regions. Raviel was hoping he'd run into something to jog his memory, and had urged Curt to accept Martha's invitation. Even though Curt was going to accept anyway, he figured he owe'd it to Raviel to do a little digging to find his family, considering how hard he fought in the Slateport Tournament,

"Raviel was named by his previous family, until they got separated in Saffron, he's a little foggy on the details, so we're hoping to run into them, but you don't have to worry about that, we're going to do some digging on our own time", Curt finished as he decided to turn the conversation else were.

"I'm just really honored that Martha actually wanted to see us again", Curt said giving Jacob a friendly smile, "do you think she'll let us battle her this time, man, that's be a dream come true, even if we probably don't stand much of a chance against her." Despite Curt's words, and the knowledge that Martha's was on par with an Elite Four member, he actually had faith in his team to give Martha a decent fight.

"Arrough Rarwarwu?", Embertail growled at Jacob as he ran up to join him and Curt, leaving Raviel and Dexter to introduce themselves to each other. Curt briefly worried if Raviel's more, street-punk style attitude, would be able to get along with the more solemn Dexter, but the two electric types seemed to be getting along O.K. Curt's head snapped forward when he realized Jacob probably wanted to know what Embertail had asked him.

"Oh, Embertail asked if you know what Martha battles like, seeing as you were her pupil and all", Curt translated for Jacob, equally curious about the Fairy-Type master.

 

[Blonde]

Sai felt the cool rush of icy cold water rush down his throat, he felt the hard push against the back and the soft slide down. He pulled the metal canteen away from his mouth, the taste of old water left a bitter taste in his mouth from the rim of the bottle. His eyes looked straight forward, through the thick green of the woods that ran before him. He turned to his left, it seemed clear nothing to be heard. Then he looked right and saw the soft back and forth movement of a black and gold tail in the air. His Shiny Luxray, Cloud had curled up in his usual position and laid next to Sai. Sai, had smiled, he ran his hands through the Shiny Lion's mane and felt the soft vibrations of his purs against his palm and fingers.
"You've been traveling for a while huh.." he said to the lion.
Sai slowly pulled his hands from the lions hair, he felt the hair slowly part between his fingers and he laid his hand back on his lap and leaned against the strong sturdy tree that stood tall behind him.

The ground below Sai, had been cold and slightly damp, from what it seemed it had rained maybe a few days ago. It might have been dry in other places but this spot was not one of them. He closed his eyes, but kept his ears on alert. He had just came into the Kalos region about a week ago, his first time being here. His travels finally gave him a chance to explore the region, before he came he replaced his team again giving some of his new Pokemon a chance to grow as strong as he knew they could. His Luxray, Cloud, was a stray Shinx he found one day during his travels, the Poor lion cub had a scar across his eyes, just like Sai has a scar at the bottom of his chin the ran up towards his lip. He found himself gazing into the Lion's eyes often because the will to keep going shows off in the both of them.

A few minutes went by, the area in which Sai and Cloud had taken their break was quiet for a couple of moments.
"Arrough Rarwarwu"
It was a distance sound, but some how Sai managed to catch ear of it. His eyes slowly poped up and he glared over towards his right. His Luxray, being as nimble as he is became on the alert just the same. So with force, Sai placed his foot down on the floor and pushed himself off the floor. He stood tall and tip toed his body towards the sound. It was slightly familiar, but at the same time, it wasn't. Sai kept himself hidden as he made his way towards the sounds. He ducked and dodged through pushes, Luxray swiftly behind him as ninja as this natural predator could be.

As the sounds got louder, He calmly felt himself slow down and soon after peered behind a tree. He had not looked out yet, afraid of being caught so for minutes Sai kept his distance, but close enough that when he finally looked out he would see where the sounds had been coming from.

 

[Trucro]

“Uh, well…” Jacob began thinking back to all the times he had battled with Martha. She truly was good neigh unbeatable, Jacob thought. He had fought her many times, as he grew with his pokemon he seemed to do a little better, but never was able to defeat her. He thought for a moment the best way to explain his experience before responding. “Yea I’ve battled her a few times. She’s really… good.” He scrunched up his face. He didn’t mean to use the word good. He reminded himself he’d have to say something quickly, or else Curt would probably think that was all he meant to say, and that he was an idiot.

“It’s like,” he continued, “her pokemon are an extension of herself. Often, they don’t even have to talk to know each other’s thoughts. Her pokemon themselves are incredibly powerful as well, there can be no doubt; she trained them and groomed them very well since they were young. When I was younger she would have her pokemon simply take Nero’s attacks, and I would have him pound away at them only to discover they remained unharmed. More recently, she’s been having them dodge, which is fair, because they’re also extremely fast. She only uses fairy types, you know, so heavy hitters are rare. Nontheless…” Jacob trailed off thinking about Martha’s Wigglytuff. The pokemon was one of the physically most impressive pokemon he’d ever seen, with the strength to move mountains. But other than her, the pokemon were pretty scant on physical ability. Jacob decided not to mention specifics. “she doesn’t attack often, but when she does, you’re in trouble. She’s got a good eye for weak points, to see where a pokemon has lacked training or proper vitamins, and she can use that to her advantage like no one I’ve seen. I saw her battle Wikstrom once; ya know, from the Elite Four here in Kalos. It was possibly the most epic battle I’ve seen.”

Jacob looked back at Curt, not realizing he had been speaking for some time. He had actually forgotten what Curt had asked him. He closed his eyes and smiled, almost laughing at himself, as he raised his hand to his head and began rubbing the back.

“Did that answer your question?” he chuckled. He glanced down and Dexter(Heliolisk) who was observing Raviel intensely. As a fellow electric type, most people would assume the two would get along. But Dexter often had problems with other pokemon, and electric types didn’t seem to be an exception. He didn’t get hostile or anything, but often withdrew from them. Jacob hoped they would get along, but those thoughts were in the back of his head now. He yawned and stretched his arms. They had been walking for hours now, and Jacob felt like he could use a break. “What do you think of taking a rest here for a moment? It’s about lunchtime anyway.”

 

[Curtkid]

"Sound's good, I could use a bit, what do you guy's say?", Curt asked Embertail and Raviel, who each growled in agreement, "I have some ingredients in my backpack, I can make lunch if you want to set up camp". A few pops and flashes of light later, and the rest of Curt's team was out. Whips, a massive and powerful looking Dragonite. Lockjaw, a nevous looking Croconaw with a scar over his left eye. Flare, a Ninetales who (ironically) was missing her far left tail. And Jasper, a particularly tall Cuebone with an oddly shaped skull-mask. The rest of his team free to stretch their legs, Curt began to sort through his and Jacobs food rations.

Curt sat down and pulled out a frying pan, a large pot, and whatever he and Jacob had for food, mainly potatoes, squash, and rice. Curt began debating what he could make while Embertail set some sticks on fire with his tail. He could do something simple, like just boil everything a mix it together and leave it at that, but Curt wanted to do something a little special for his traveling companions.

"Yeah, I can make something with this, Embertail, do you mind making the rice?", Curt asked his buddy, who responded by grabbing the pot and giving him a thumbs up. Using human tools was nothing new to Embertail, he had lived with Curt and his family for almost his entire life, and had picked up many human mannerisms, in fact, most people that got to know Embertail would say he acted more like a human then a Pokemon. Curt, after getting a little water from Lockjaw (his teams Croconaw)immediately began peeling and cutting up the potatoes with his pocket knife, he did the same to the squash, but decided to leave the skin on those for a bit of extra texture. While he worked on the vegetables, he meditated on what Jacob had told him about Martha.

"Her Pokemon are an extension of herself, huh...", Curt muttered as he thought about what Jacob said. Curt wasn't exactly a Pokemon expert, but he knew exactly what he meant. The bond between a human and Pokemon was one of the most important aspects of a trainer, and it could become so strong that it could do crazy things like, well, it was hard to explain. It wasn't telepathy like Flare used, it was something...more, and now that Curt thought about it, his bond with Embertail was like that. Curt could understand his growls perfectly and Embertail seemed to know what Curt was going to have him do in battle before Curt even gave a command, plus, that Lizard of his always seemed to be able to take just one extra hit or squeeze out just a little extra damage when he really needed it. Curt looked over to his first friend as he covered the pot of rice, he could help but let out a small smile, Embertail wasn't the strongest Pokemon by far, and Curt wasn't exactly a stellar trainer, but somehow the two just, clicked with each other and their bond made each other far stronger then they would ever be alone.

Finishing with the vegetables, he threw them in a pan with a little MooMoo milk from his thermos ( he had no idea how that stuff never spoiled) along with a little thyme, salt, pepper, and just a dash Figy berry hot sauce, for that extra kick. While finishing up the Stir-fry, he pondered on his relationship with his other Pokemon and whether anyone else has the same bond with Curt that Embertail had forged. He figured the closet one was Lockjaw, they had been together for along time, and Curt was capable of snapping him out of his paranoia fairly well. Whips had once been that close with him, until he evolved into a Dragonite and refused to listen to him. However, after they rescued Whips from Team Rocket the dragon had rewarmed up to Curt, Embertail, and the rest of the team, and they had began rebuilding damaged bonds.

"Rawraw", Embertail yelled at Curt, while beckoning him over, signaling the rice was done and everyone else was waiting on his Stir-Fry.

"Alright, be right there", Curt said as he stood up to being the massive amounts of the earthy and slightly spicy Potato and Squash Stir-Fry over to the hungry Pokemon and their trainers, "alright Jacob, lunch is ready whenever you want it!"

(Phew, haven't made and RP post that long in a while, I apologize in advance for any mistakes ^^)

 

[Trucro]

(I guess I'll just introduce all Jacob's pokemon )

Jacob reached onto his belt and began to release his pokemon as well. Nero(Blaziken) appeared at his side in a flash, and the pokemon stretched as he normally did when he was released after some time. Jacob liked to have Nero out and about in general, but the pokemon was a walking challenge to any other high-minded, egotistical pokemon that happened to be walking around, and Jacob hated to deal with the battles that inevitably ensued. Nero walked close to Jacob and sat beside him as they began to eat.

Next he released his Tangrowth, Atlas. Atlas was a very shy pokemon, rarely getting along particularly well with new people or pokemon, but he was very protective of Jacob and the others. Jacob felt comfortable and safe around his Tangrowth, and he knew Atlas felt the same way about him. True to form, once released, Atlas staked out a position around the edge of the campsite, generally avoiding Curt’s pokemon. Normally, Dexter would have joined him, but the Heliolisk was too engrossed with Embertail, and apparently he had taken a liking to Curt’s Jolteon was well.

Shakespeare, his Togekiss, was the next to be released, and in a flash of white the pokemon appeared in the sky. Shakespeare was generally an all-around happy pokemon, but he was also determined to become particularly strong. Shakespeare had been given to Jacob on his fifteenth birthday years ago as a Togepi by none other than Martha herself, whose two Togekiss had had children. As such, whenever they battled, Jacob had to use Shakespeare, and the pokemon always gave it his all. The pokemon flew over to Atlas, almost dragging the grass pokemon over to eat with the others.

Seeing that the site had been filled with pokemon, Jacob decided it might be better to let his others remain in their pokeballs. He partially had selfish motivations for this. His Goodra was an extremely affectionate pokemon, and Jacob tended to be covered in the pokemon’s goo whenever he released him. His other pokemon, Stargazer, was a Golurk, and frankly, would have taken up nearly half the remaining space in the clearing. So Jacob kept these two pokeballs attached to his belt as he ate the meal that Curt had made. It was nice to have someone making food for once.

“Where’d you learn to cook?” Jacob asked, half rhetorically, his mouth still filled with food. It really was a good meal, and Jacob was surprised it could be cooked in the middle of the woods. “Anyway, Curt, you never told me about your travels in Kanto. Did you challenge the League? Yea I thought about doing that here in Kalos, but I quickly discovered it was more fun to catch and study pokemon than work competitively.” Jacob looked over at Embertail. He missed the days when Nero was just a small orange blob, and Jacob was capable of carrying him around. Nero used to have so much energy, and be so helpful. He still had remnants of his former self, but pokemon change when they evolve. Not always is it very drastic, but Jacob noticed the difference in Nero. It wasn’t bad, of course, it was just different.

 

[PentheWonderful]

Cassie never really minded the mud, or the mess. It was a part of exploration, and it was how she discovered places that had never been ventured before. Of course, that was also how she mainly got herself in trouble. Despite the numerous close calls she's had, she still wakes up in the morning and goes out for more. So now, as she trudged back to the direction where Sai had been waiting, she couldn't help but smile at the idea of traveling with a person. At least, temporarily. Despite being forced to stay in the same room at one of Lumoise' Pokemon Centers due to a storm just the other night, they both had a preference for solitude, and being with other people took a considerable amount of energy for them to manage. At least, she did. Because that was the only way she could find her true self after having it taken away by her demanding parents.

Nine had ran ahead. The Ninetales was young for its species, only half a decade old. His fur was still mostly white, not yet donning the golden coat older Ninetales had. He was incredibly intelligent and perceptive. He took orders exceedingly well, and gave back inputs just as well. He was one of her confidants, the Pokemon she could trust to keep her team in tact if they were separated. He was also very modest, and it irked her at times when he refused the credit for his own hard work. However, he did love being out of his Pokeball. His young spirit compelled him to chase the wild Dedenne that hid in the tall grass.

By her side, carrying freshly picked berries she'd set out for, was her Lucario. He was her guardian, and her dearest friend. He kept her safe, secure, and most of all, in one piece. Literally. Ryu was the first Pokemon she caught during the start of her journey seven years ago, and they'd gotten along swimmingly since then. He was deathly loyal and committed. He was the one Pokemon that would follow her orders without question. To this day, she wondered why still. Why and how he had trusted her as much as he did. Why he protected her like he was protecting his own life. Perhaps it was because he wanted to repay her for all the training she'd given him, for helping him work around his weaknesses and expand his strengths. Or maybe it was simply because he knew she would've lost an eye years ago if he didn't. Although sometimes, she does admit his over-protectiveness can get a bit annoying.

However, when she arrived at the tree where Sai was supposed to be waiting, she found he wasn't there. A slight cock of an eyebrow. "Don't tell me he ran off already." Nine's head popped out from the tall grass and approached his trainer soundlessly.

'Perhaps something caught his eye.' He suggested.

"Can you find him, Ryu?" The Lucario only scoffed. He was especially bitter around Sai since the previous night's turn of events.

'I can smell him from here. He's right over there.' He began walking, and with a chuckle, Cassie followed, finding the young man peering from behind a tree.

"I hope you're not peeping naked girls." Cassie hummed jokingly, casually nudging his side. Her eyes then traveled to where he peered to not moments ago, and felt her own pupils dilate when she spotted a certain brunet sitting around a cooking fire. She kept her expression stoic, however. But Nine, on the other hand, on sight of Flare, had his fur standing on end yet again. Her fists clutched. There was a considerable amount of respect lost when someone leaves you to die, and a considerable amount of respect earned when you learn of someone's humble beginnings and struggles. "Please tell me you're thinking what I'm thinking."

Beat the crap out of Jacob and get Curt as far away as possible from him.

 

[Blonde]

(Same Jacob, I'll introduce Sai's team, Probably the last time i change his team up for a bit)

Sai felt a soft nudge in his side, his eyes slowly traveled to the direction of Cassie. As her eyes traveled outwards towards the direction that Sai had been tracking, he held his hand out and gripped her shirt lightly; he had pulled her down lower, she was to high and judging by their team she could be easily spotted if wanted too. After that night with Cassie in Lumoise, Sai couldn't bear to leave her side even if he was a lone wolf in his eyes. Having the female around was slightly pleasant for him of course, it was his first time actually traveling with another female after that faithful day long ago. Sai stared at Cassie, he was happy that they girl understood the situation quickly.
'Please tell me you're thinking what I'm thinking" she said.
Sai nodded slightly, but held his ground. He felt his feet slightly sink into the soft dirt below him. The smell of old mud and forest clogged his nose and he had to hold his face lightly into his shirt. Sai without saying a word, felt all kinds of pain right now. Just the sight of Jacob put his eyes to flames and his emotions into a fight of anger. He closed his eyes and let out two deep cold breaths. He turned towards Luxray that had been watching him, staring at him as if he could see the electric currents in Sai's body run crazy. 'Sai, who is that man, you're electric energy is going crazy' said the Lion. Sai looked over at Luxray and realized that during the time Jacob's appearance in the Pokemon center ages ago, Luxray was unconscious and in his Poke-ball, so he couldn't know who Jacob was at all. Sai ran his hands through his mane and let out a soft smile.
"The man right there, sitting next to the Blaziken, That's Jacob" he said gesturing towards him "Do you remember, a while ago when we invaded the Pokemon center and stopped those team rocket members?" Sai eyes slowly became black, brown and gray, as if he went into stalking mode; like a Lion would do in the Savannah stalking his prey. Sai's heart beat became slower and slower, and so did his breathing. "He was the brains behind the attack on the Pokemon center"

Luxray nodded as he looked at his master, he's never seen this side of him but he wasn't surprised. Luxray heard many stories about Sai's adventures, all of the danger and Pokemon he's met, he would only guess that this was something Sai picked up while traveling. Luxray looked over at Jacob, then he looked over at the kid that was peeling potatoes beside him. 'Who's that? another one of his henchman?' said Luxray. Sai shock his head, he had also forgotten that Luxray was fairly new to his team, and hadn't met Curt before.
"No buddy, that's a friend of Cassie's, he's not like Jacob at all"
Sai could only hear the muffled conversation between Jacob and Curt. He proceeded to look back at Ryu, his eyes locking up with his but he looked away and turned to Cassie.
"I'd say jump in.. but it seems that Curt and him are having a friendly conversation. So I'm guessing Curt doesn't know or Jacob hasn't told him"
Sai leaned back on his hands and sat down, he begun to sink into his mud slowly.
"What are your thought on this"

Before Sai and Cassie had left Lumoise City, Sai had remembered to switch his team before they begun their journey. So on hand, Sai had the Shiny Luxray, A Chestnaught named Arrow, A Arcanine named Loop, A Sceptile named Shift, A Scraggy named Leaf and a Turtwig named Tera. Each one of his Pokemon he met just before he reunited with Cassie, with the exception of Luxray, but they've already grown close real quick.

Arrow (Chestnaught) had been the protector of his tribe, he wore a two intertwining back straps on his upper arm.
Loop (Arcanine) was a gift from a young boy, who believed Sai was a super hero after saving him from almost being trampled over by a heard of Tauros.
Shift (Sceptile) was a lone thief, after being caught stealing from Sai bag, Sai opened up to him quickly and proved to grass type that he was the right trainer for him. Shift's personality reminds Sai of Old man Bruno.
Leaf (Scraggy) followed Sai everywhere after watching his battle with Clay, the Unova ground type gym leader.
and Tera (Turtwig) was a started Pokemon that Sai received from professor.

Sai held back any unnecessary actions, until he knew what Cassie wanted to do. Of course Sai was willing to jump in and attack, but not to save curt but because he really wanted to battle Jacob and the sheer hatred in his eyes clouded his judgement slightly.

 

[PentheWonderful]

(Since everyone has introduced their teams, I will too.)

Cassie allowed herself to be guided down on the ground, laying closely by his side. A single glance to Ryu and Nine urged them to immediately drop to the ground. They stared intently; Ryu, with the same burning hatred towards Jacob for attempting to burn down his trainer and his team members, who he's come to love like family, and Nine, towards the lovely female Ninetales belonging to Curt. Fang, her brash Garchomp, stirred restlessly in his pokeball, upset and itching for a battle with the guy that left them for dead. He was one of the two tanks of Cassie's team; being the most powerful Pokemon she had. Proud of his power, he enjoyed battles more than any one on the team. However, more than often he forgets to listen, and ends up paying for it dearly.

She touched his pokeball, hushing him and urging him to wait. Cassie eyed the area carefully. Her apathy brought some advantages; her judgement could never be clouded by emotion. While Sai explained the situation to his telepathic Luxray, she thought through a strategy, looking down at the resources she had; her Pokemon. There was Ace, her Swanna, and the other tank she possessed in her team. While Fang excelled in melee combat and close combat, Ace was a master of long-distance assaults, being up in the air while he manipulated the water surrounding the enemy. He was the most level-headed one of the group. He did not panic. He did not stress. He kept his cool and most of the time, he was the medic whenever his trainer got hurt. He and Fang made a deadly duo.

Then there were her two girls; Jade the Roserade, and Aurora the Froslass. While Ryu and Nine classified as Cassie's all-round fighters, the girls were her strategic combatants. They avoided direct attacks, but rather, preferred to toy with their opponents before striking them down. Aurora was a tad bit too clumsy for her own good, unfortunately. Naive and innocent. She was always a liability on the field, and she was the only Pokemon on her team that hadn't fully mastered their power and body. The Froslass, however, looked up greatly to Jade, the graceful, elegant, and swift Roserade. Jade had a great love for shiny, pretty things, which could drive her, or distract her during battles. It was a gamble, but either way, her Roserade always performed well, if not winning battles, accomplishing set ups for the Pokemon up next.

'No.' Cassie thought. 'I shouldn't over-complicate things.' Finally, her gray eyes flicked back to Sai, and said quietly. "You're right, we shouldn't jump right in. If we did, most likely Curt will jump in and defend Jacob. I propose we separate them. Then, you can do as you like with Jacob."

She began to move back, behind the tree, and poked Nine. "Hey. Since you're so invested already, how about you help us out with this plan?" The Ninetales snapped his head towards her, ears back as a bad feeling rose in his gut. "Go over there and ask Flare to follow you to the tall grass. Make sure Curt sees you, and follows you, but don't let Jacob see."

'W- wait, what do I say?!' Nine laid down low, close to the ground.

"Hey, wanna catch some Dedenne? I don't know, you'll figure something out." Even Ryu had to hold back a snicker. Nine, however, gulped. 'Here goes nothing...'

Slowly, and carefully, Nine crept towards the rest site, creeping through the tall grass. He made his way towards Flare's general location, and peered his body out just enough to be in Curt's line of view. 'Flare...' He was shaking from his nerves. 'Hey, over here. It's urgent, please come with me. Quickly, it's of the utmost priority.' Before she could respond, he quickly took off south. The moment he did, Cassie got up and followed suit, knowing precisely where he would go. But not before looking back at Sai and nodding. She knew she could trust him.

 

[Curtkid]

Oh, I assume my travels through Kanto were, for the most part, kind of like everyone else, I traveled around with long time friends, made some new ones, and together we challenged gyms, you know, the usual stuff", Curt said admits bite's of food," sad;y, I didn't earn the privilege to challenge the league, we placed in the top eight in the Pokemon League Tournament, but lost to a childhood friend of mine, though, her team went on to win it all, so it wasn't so bad. As for my cooking skills, well, I originally intended to pursue a culinary profession, but it didn't work out, so my pals over hear motivated me to go on a Pokemon journey, which turned out much better". Curt finished as he smiled warmly towards his team before turning back to Jacob.

Flare looked out over the rest of the group with a soft smile, it wasn't long ago that she despised humans and any Pokemon that traveled with them, if one of her pack told her a year ago that she would be traveling with a human partner and his team, hoho, how one encounter with a pack of Houndoom can change ones perspective. Just as she was finishing up her meal, a familiar voice called for her attention.

"Hmhm, I was wondering when you'd come and talk to me Nine", Flare said to the nervous, and now slightly shocked Ninetailes, "sorry if I surprised you, but I'm sure you able to detect Ryu's aura as well, powerful Lucario like him can sometimes have difficulty hiding it". She brought herself to her full height, gave her coat and eight tails a quick shake, before addressing Curt.

"Curt, Embertail, could you please ask Jacob if he could excuse you to walk off meal for a moment, an...old friend wants to have a talk with us, and please, be discrete our friend doesn't want Jacob to know they are here", Flare said telepathically to Curt. With only a slight turned of his head towards Flare's direction, Curt began to thing of a way to pull away from Jacob without looking suspicious, thankfully, Embertail was two steps ahead of him. The Lizard Pokemon immediately stood up, and began tugging on Curt's sleeve while emitting a string of growls while pointing to the woods.

"Hey Jacob, could you excuse us for a moment, Embertail and Flare want to go for a quick, after dinner walk through the woods, don't worry, we'll be righ-

"Babbou babbou", Jasper cried while running up to Curt and Embertail.

"Er, and Jasper too, anyone else want to come", Curt asked the rest of his party. Raviel was too tierd from walking all day to want to come along and Lockjaw wasn't to thrilled about the idea of trudging through a shadowy forest and Whips...
Whips just gave a grunt which they all took as a no.

"Right, we'll be right back then, just want to walk of that meal", Curt finished as the trio began following Flare into the woods. Despite it only being noon, the tall tree's seemed to cast the forest into a perpetual twilight, the crunching of leaves appearing to be the only sound echoing through the army of tree's. Once they got far enough from the campsite, Curt turned to talk to Flare.

" O.K Flare, what's up, why'd you want to pull- wait is that...?", Curt finally got a glimpse of that familiar Ninetailes in the distance admits all those tree's, and recognized him almost instantly. They'd seen him plenty enough times to tell him apart from other Ninetailes, but if Nine was here, then that meant his trainer, Cassie, was near-by as well.

"Rarrwa rarrough", Embertail said with a small smile while waving at Nine.

"Yes Embertail, that's what I meant by old friend, I can only assume Cassie wants to speak with us in private, for one reason or another", Flare said to the group through her telepathy.

"Well, lets not keep her waiting then", Curt said as they followed after the Ninetailes through the denser part of the woods.

 

[Trucro]

Jacob nodded as Curt stepped up. He didn’t really think about it until Curt Embertail and Jasper were already gone. But as they left, Nero(Blaziken) gave Jacob a nudge. He turned to his side, swallowing his last bite. Tilting his head, he spoke to Nero.

“What’s going on?” Nero was always an edgy pokemon, so it wasn’t very out of the ordinary for him to be nervous. But something had gotten him really worked up. “What is it?”

The pokemon didn’t speak in response, but merely looked around, over in the bushes to where Curt had left, and then around at the trees. It got Jacob thinking and he had a sudden realization: why would Embertail want to go for a walk? They had been walking all day, and were just about to start walking more? They were probably just doing something they didn’t want Jacob seeing; but what could that be? Jacob figured he’d ask when Curt returned.

Jacob didn't give it a second thought; Nero was an easy pokemon to worry. Jacob just began to put away his dishes, oblivious to what was going on in the brush not far away.

 

[Blonde]

Sai nodded as Cassie begun her leave. He took a minute and sat there, he watched carefully. He looked at Curt first, even though him and curt were in the cave together with Cassie and Jacob, he didn't have much feelings towards the boy. He had to assume that Curt and Cassie had shared a moment together later on in their travels for the reason that she wanted to protect him from Jacob. Sai shrugged it off, him and Cassie had a strong trust towards each other, she would only tell him things that were seriously important, so if it didn't come up then it wasn't important. It was later on that Sai realized that Cassie will become the light in his life, more then he knows now.

Sai looked over at Jacob now, he felt his blood boil. How could one man upset him so much, he never usually let people get to him but Jacob some how burned the under meat of his skin. He wondered still why he became so weak as to join Team Rocket, If he was still naive. Sai couldn't help but cloud his mind with angry thoughts. His eyes burned on Jacob, but he tried to keep himself cool. Over the corner of his eye, Sai realized that Cassie begun her magic, he saw Nine pull his sly dog moves on Curt's Ninetails and soon after they left after him. Jacob was alone. Sai would strike when the time was right. He saw Jacob's Blaziken become slightly suspicious of the air, and begun to steady his heart and breathing. Sai turned towards Luxray and nodded at him. They started to move into position quickly and unnoticeable. Sai was ready to finally get back at Jacob for that night.

But he waited for the right move, and moment to let Luxray attack.

 

[PentheWonderful]

Nine traveled deep into the forest, his milk white fur glistening under the scarce sunlight peering through the canopies. His lithe body moved quickly, and soon, he came upon a clearing where a large, moss-covered boulder stood. He circled around the boulder twice before sitting before it.

Moments after he took a load off, Ryu appeared from the shadows and landed soundlessly beside him. Atop the boulder was the petite trainer herself, sitting nonchalantly as she observed a small bloom in her hand. The gray of her irises soon flicked to Curt, and she smiled softly, shifting her position to slid off and approach him. "Curt. It's been a while." She extended her hand for him to take. "How've you been? How's your family?"

Her questions were sincere, yet at the same time, she was stalling. Knowing Curt, he won't just go off with her and leave Jacob behind, not to mention he didn't even have his complete team and gear. There was no way. She supposed, she'll just have to break it to him straight. "I'm going to cut to the chase now. You need to stay away from Jacob." Her eyes were serious and so was her stance. Her two Pokemon seemed on high alert as well. "He's with Team Rocket now. It'll bring you anything but good. I know, because last time I saw him, he left me for dead in a burning Pokemon Center."

Her fists clenched at the thought of the horrifying event. The world literally falling apart around you. She'd never come to fear fire more since that fateful night. However, letting out a long exhale, Cassie shook her head and shut her eyes. "I'm warning you that he's nothing but trouble, and I suggest you get away from him the first chance you get."

 

[Curtkid]

Curt just stared at Cassie with a blank, expressionless face. At first he eagerly returned the handshake Cassie offered, always happy to see a new friend. Embertail had let out a cheer filled growl, and he assumed Flare said hello as well. His original plan introducing Cassie and her team to Jasper was shot dead when she made her statement about Jacob. His mind was drawing a blank, all his thoughts, his questions, his arguments were overridden by a simple statement that Embertail was able to express perfectly.

"What?"

Y-yeah, Cassie, I mean, are you sure about this, are you positive this isn't some sort of mix-up or some...thing", Curt felt the words die in his mouth as Cassie gave him a harsh glare. She made it abundantly clear, Cassie had the utmost certainty in what she said was true, but their was something more, something that appeared to almost, haunt her. Whatever it was, the look on Cassie's face sent a large shiver down Curt's spine.

O.K, O.K I believe you! It's just, Jacob and his team have been so nice the past couple of weeks, I'm just having a little trouble believing he's as bad as you say, especially being a member of Team Rocket, and the Fairy-Type master, Martha, thinks highly of him, and he is, and, EEERRRGGGGHH, Embertail, what do you think?", Curt grunted in frustration while turning to his number one partner for some advice. The fire-tailed Pokemon put claw to his mouth in thought for a moment, before speaking to Curt in growls that Curt was somehow capable of understanding.

"You think I should try to get his side of the story huh? Hmmmm," Curt said he spent a moment going over Embertails advice, as though to back her frined up, Jasper let out several growls to agree with whatever Embertail suggested.

"You think so too, huh Jasper, we'll I agree that we should be willing to hear his side of the story if he wants to share it, the only problem is he might not be very forth coming with the information...but... maybe if I form my words right and take my time, show him I'm willing to be open minded to his situation, I might be able to get something out of him". Curt was still somewhat lost in his train of thought over how he was going to approach Jacob over this, and wasn't completely paying attention to how Cassie responded to his suggestion, thankfully, Flare had that covered for him.

"IF I may, I believe we should have Cassie and her party come with us, staying hidden in the shadows of course, just in case things go...sour with Jacob, that way they can assist up if anything goes wrong while Curt is indulging his kinder nature ", Flare said via telepathy while looking to Cassie and her team. Though she never said it out right, she had grown slightly fond of Jacob and his companions, and was at least willing to try and hear the boy out before rushing to any conclusions.

"That's a good idea Flare, what do you guy's-oh", Curt's words, once again, died in his mouth. From what Curt could gather, neither Cassie, Ryu, or Nine were particularly eager to hear Jacob out.

"Look, Cassie, whatever happen with Jacob, and can't speak like I know they guy as well as I'd like, but so far, he's been good to me, and I can't just straight up turn against him without at least hearing what he has to say on the matter, but I promise, if you have any inkling that things might go bad you can jump in and I swear I'll have your side", Curt said with a soft smile while looking straight into Cassie's pretty grey eye's, "but please, at least give me a chance to talk to him, can you give an old friend that"?

 

[Blonde]

Sai took a deep breathe, time stopped, the air became dense and heavy, and without letting out words, Sai told Luxray to strike. Luxray nodded and silently jumped out the bush. His fur stood up and small sparks glittered around him, like the electric storm of space. With a loud screech, Luxray released one of his most powerful moves; Thunder. The loud boom was sent flying towards Jacob and his Pokemon. Thunder; being one of the electric Pokemon's more powerful moves wasn't very accurate, but Sai was sure that Jacob would dodge, or atleast his Pokemon were fast enough to move. He knew Jacob was quick on his feet so he had no worries about the move missing, but in the back of his mind he hoped for the move to hit directly.

Sai slowly rised up, he slide up against the tree, his body felt heavy. Maybe his anger had gotten to him, or maybe his hatred but he felt himself slip into the dark red and black clouds in the back of his mind. He pushed his feet through the bushes and stood behind Luxray. His glare was like lava, it was extremely hot, intimidating and dense. The air became thicker. He felt as if his mind was one sided at the moment, and nothing would change that until he completely broken jacob's will.

He stood behind Luxray, he watched as the thunder came flashing towards Jacob. He was silent and still. He learned before not to under estimate him, but Sai remembered that Cassie was still with Curt and had to stall until she came back. He didn't really need her here to deal with Jacob, but he knew Cassie very well and he was sure she wanted to be here.

 

[PentheWonderful]

Despite her own concerns and frustrations, Cassie knew Curt was right. He was right, and there was nothing she could say against it. He made merit, and his suggestion was fair. Her rational mind simply found no use in arguing it. A sigh escaped her pink lips, and her arms soon crossed over each other. Even Ryu, who was the most concerned for his trainer's well-being, couldn't argue. Nine didn't even put up a fight. 'It seems we're all in agreement.' He concluded quickly, visibly impressed by Flare's previous suggestion. The Ninetales got up, and proceeded to lead the way back to the camp site.

Cassie shut her eyes, allowing herself to calm down. Her arms slackened and hung back at her sides. She took a step forward, nearer to Curt, before walking right past him. "Well, you heard Nine." Her voice grew further away as she disappeared into the thick bush. Ryu followed behind her, but paused in front of Curt to send him a glare. 'If she gets hurt again, you're the one who will feel the pain.' He said threateningly, Aura flaring dangerously. As fast as he'd came, he was gone again, after Cassie

The trainer fixed her eyes on the shimmering fur of Nine's coat, on edge and anxious of what was to come. She curled her hands into a fist, to keep them from shaking. And she drained the emotions swelling in her chest. She needed the calm of her mind. Not the instability of her heart. Cassie only paused to check on Curt, and her occasional glanced were quick. The camp area was close, but none of them could know the chaos about to ensue.

 

[Trucro]

A crack of thunder rang out, and Jacob turned to see what it was. He wouldn’t even have noticed what was going on before the attack hit. If it weren’t for Nero(Blaziken) and his quick feet, Jacob would’ve been seriously hurt. The Fire pokemon leapt into action, pulling Jacob out of the way as he dived to the ground. Jacob had the breath knocked out of him and he tried to recatch it as he looked around.

“What’s happening?” he asked, partly rhetorically, and partly to Nero who had just saved him. The thunder attack had hit the stump Jacob was sitting on. The impact was clearly visible and the stump was still smoldering. Dexter(Heliolisk) was on alert, looking every which way before landing on Sai. Atlas(Tangrowth) and Shakespeare(Togekiss) looked up from their corner as well to see what was happening. Jacob’s eyes finally landed on curt, and he and Nero stood to face their attacker. “You!” Jacob shouted. "What do you think you’re doing, eh?!?! Attacking me like that! Who does that! We were just eating here and…” Jacob stopped, still catching his breath. Nero stepped up, however.

“BLAAAAAAAA!” The pokemon continued Jacob’s sentence as he took a deep breath. Nero took a step in front of Jacob, blocking Sai and his Luxray from attacking Jacob directly again. Having caught his breath and relaxed for a moment, Jacob thought about the situation. The last time he had Sai, he had been a member of Team Rocket; that’s he was attacking him, and he knew that. But how could he explain that he wasn’t anymore and have him believe him? He wouldn’t believe him.

“Look, I don’t know what you think you’re doing,” Jacob began. “But it’s definitely not what you’re doing.” As Jacob said these words, he knew that it was the wrong way to go. That wasn’t the way to begin an explanation of the events that had taken him from Team Rocket; those were fighting words. “I’m not with them anymore!” He corrected himself, raising his hands to make a gesture he hoped meant stop.

 

[Curtkid]

Funny, for a moment there, Curt, Embertail, and the rest of the gang actually thought this could end peacefully.

His heart lifted when he saw Cassie, Ryu, and Nine all agree to their plan. Even Ryu's intimidating threat to snap Curts spine if Cassie got hurt didn't do much to dissuade him from his objective (which struck Curt as a little odd, Cassie was a tough girl, she could take care of herself, granted, Lucario were known to be a tad over protective). Indeed, a little apprehension aside, Curt was almost feeling optimistic about the whole situation, until they heard a loud boom echo across the forest. At first, they though little of it, until they saw Lockjaw sprinting towards them through the forest in a panic.

"L-Lockjaw, w-whoa buddy, calm down, tell me what's wrong", Curt said as he knelt down to calm the panicking alligator. Thankfully, ever since he evolved from a Totodile, he'd become easier to pacify and just seemed less pron to act on his inner phobia's. Still, something had obviously spooked the Big Jaw Pokemon, and if his frantic pointing and other gestures were any indication, it was something at....

"T-the camp site?", Curt said softly, the color draining from his face. Lockjaw had made it plainly obvious that something was going down there, something bad. If his Pokemon got hurt and they weren't their to help them, no Whips, Raviel, Jacob and his could handle themselves just fine. But that was no excuse not to make haste back towards the campsite. What he saw was just as bad as he feared. It looked like a small fire had somehow started, likely due to Pokemon attack, Nero looked like he standing between a shiny and intimidating looking Luxary and his trainer, likely they perpetrator of the attack that started the fire. Whatever had happened, Jacob was in trouble.

"O.K, there's Jacob, and it looks like he being atta- wait a second, is that...Sai?", Curt said, mildly surprised. He hadn't seen him since their adventure through The Glimmering Caverns a few months back. Curt remembered him in particular because Sai had bashed him on the head, but other then that, he seemed like a decent (if a bit odd) guy. Curt wasn't sure why he was attacking Jacob, but from what he overheard from Jacob's yelling, it sounded like Sai had a less then stellar encounter with Jacob when he was part of Team Rocket.

"Flare, sneak around and see if you can find Whips and Raviel and then meet up with me as soon as you can, I have a feeling we might need their help", Curt whispered to Flare. Flare, in response, nodded and then, in an instant, she was gone, like one of the many shadows that covered this thick forest. Then, Curt reached towards his belt and pulled out a Pokeball and a Greatball, Lockjaws and Jaspers respectively.

"Sorry guy's, but I don't want Sai to think I'm threatening him by showing up with half my team out", Curt said to the two Pokemon, who nodded in understanding. Two quick flashes and they were back in their Pokeballs, thankfully, Sai seemed too focused on Jacob to notice the lights. Taking a deep breathe, Curt looked towards Embertail, trying to seem as determined as possible.

"Alright guy's, you ready to do this", Curt asked them. A nod from Embertail and two shakes from his belt told him all he need to know. With that, Curt and Embertail jumped from their hiding spot.

"Sai, please, I know it's alot to ask, but you need to hear Jacob out, I-I honestly don't believe he's bad anymore!", Curt yelled to the other trainer. The eloquence his words had when talking with Cassie had disappeared. Now his words sounded about as well put together as Jacobs .

"RARROW!", Embertail cried, trying to back Curt up, maybe thinking a Pokemon vouching for Jacob would hold more merit with the trainer. Somehow, both of them doubted that Sai would listen to them.

 

[Blonde]

Sai watched as Jacob's Blaziken stood between his Luxray and Jacob himself. He stared deeply at Jacob his mind was cloudy and Jacob's voice was muffled, he couldn't hear a thing. The only thing he could hear was his mind telling him not to listen. Jacob looked frantic, was it a trick? some sort of act or ruse? Sai still didn't care. Jacob was smart and knew what he was doing during times of crisis.

As he stared at Jacob, his eyes became hazy; the pulsed. "Can I hear my heart beat so clearly.." he thought. "this hatred for Jacob, it's a real thing" Sai was soon lost in his mind, his eyes traveled back and forth between Luxray, Blaziken and Jacob. Sai watched as Blaziken called out his loud roar, but it was still muffled. "MUUURRRR.." is all he heard. Sai watched every moment, he saw Jacob's strange moments here and there, his hearing slowly came back to the current situation. 'You!' Jacob shouted, 'What do you think you're doing, eh?! Attacking me like that! Who does that!? We were just eating here and!.." Sai squished his eyes in anger. Jacob out of all people saying this total bullshit to him right now. Sai held his hand out. "Luxra-" but he was interrupted.

'Look, I don't know what you think you're doing..' said Jacob 'But it's definitely not what you're doing.' Sai was confused, was Jacob actually nervous from Sai's attack. It couldn't be true, he must be acting again.

After five minutes of watching Jacob blather on like an idiot, Sai decided it was time to attack again, maybe this will bring him to fight, but out of the side of his eyes, a young boy jumped from out of the bushes and with him a charmander. Sai's eyes slowly narrowed, and they traveled over to the young boy. It was curt, and if Sai remembered his partner Embertail. 'Sai, please, I know it's a lot to ask, but you need to hear Jacob out, I-I honestly don't believe he's bad anymore!" at this point, Curt was shouting at the top of his lounges at Sai. He slowly reached for his belt, and gripped a Poke ball in his hand. Sai could only think of was where was Cassie, she must be close by if Curt is here.

‶Shut up!″ Sai's voice was raspy, slightly hardened,
‶You're going to defend him by trust correct... Curt?″
‶Has he told you of all the treacherous things he's done, while he was in team rocket.. or what happened between me him and Cassie? ″
Sai held his hand up then threw it to the side, he held the Poke ball out. "Chestnaught.." he said, with a quick flash, the Poke ball opened and out came the red light of data, then soon after Chestnaught. Having some trouble here Sai? Chestnaught said. Sai looked at his Pokemon and slightly gestured. He returned his attention back to Jacob and Curt.

"Jacob, at this moment, you have no right to ask questions from me, or my attack on you.. You know what this is about don't play the innocent here" his eyes became cold. "Now.. back to the original plan. LUXRAY USE CHARGE BEAM!" Sai directed his Luxray to attack Jacob once more, with Chestnaught for cover.

Chestnaught was trained under Sai for Speedy defense and Powerful Fighting attacks, even though Chestnaught had a few weaknesses him and Luxray made a good double team comp on the count of their sync training.

 

[Trucro]

Jacob sneered. Sai was such a moron: couldn’t he understand any more nuanced point of view? Evidently not. Luckily, Curt was protecting him. He cringed at Curt’s mention of “not bad anymore.” Jacob didn’t believe he was ever bad, and he didn’t believe that being in Team Rocket meant that he was bad. He had joined Team Rocket to assist a friend, an old man who had saved him from a dangerous situation. When the old man died, he had tried to leave, but was roped in by the Boss, who had stolen his pokemon. It was only a few months later he was able to escape with his pokemon. In that time, he had met many worthwhile trainers, and so had some people he would consider friends remaining in Team Rocket. He knew that Team Rocket had done some terrible things, but what organization hadn’t? It’s true, his position was more nuanced than good or bad. Jacob knew neither existed anyway. How could anyone be all good, or all bad? Everyone was a mix of the two, and the acceptable ratio was for each person to decide. As Sai’s Luxray released his attack, Jacob gave his pokemon orders.

“Nero, use flamethrower! Dexter, counter attack with Thunder!” Jacob’s Blaziken released a column of flames that collided with the charge beam attack, cancelling the attacks and kicking up a bit of dust. While Dexter(Heliolisk) counterattacked, releasing a bolt of Thunder towards Sai’s position, Jacob turned back to his Togkiss, Shakespeare. The dust still providing cover, he gave Shakespeare commands. “Use the cover to fly into the sky and listen for me; I could need you for a counter attack.” The pokemon did as he was told, shooting up into the sky. As the dust cleared, Jacob hoped Sai hadn’t noticed Shakespeare. Jacob turned to Curt.

“Listen to me, Sai is crazed; he doesn’t know what he’s doing! I need your help!” Jacob quickly glanced around at the pokemon that surrounded him. The small clearing was filled with pokemon, Jacob’s, Sai’s and Curt’s. This battle would certainly be one in close quarters; this trading attacks back and forth couldn’t last long, unless one of them retreated into the forest, and Jacob wasn’t about to do that.

 

[Curtkid]

W-Wha-, but I, we-," Curt could only stutter as he watched the scene play out before him. His attempt at diplomacy failed hard, if anything, it made things worse. Curt watched as each Pokemon exchanged attacks, fire and lighting collided mid-air, sending bits of fire and electricity everywhere, this wasn't a controlled or regulated match, this was a deadly, high stakes battle. The power behind Nero and Luxray's attacks were so intense, If many more collisions like that happened, they could easily spark a fire and have the entire forest engulfed in flames within minutes.

Curt, at a total loss as to what to do, looked Embertail for any advice, any hint as to what might be the best move to make next. Embertail returned Curt's gaze with an expression of shock and confusion that was probably similar to the expression that Curt had right now. There was no two ways about it, one way of another they needed to stop this before they ended up destroying the entire area. Thankfully, Curt had a Pokemon that could help with the battle and help migate the damage to the forest all at the same time. After waiting for Dexter's Thunder attack to finish up, Curt snapped a ball from his belt.

"Damn it Jacob, you owe me big time for this, Jasper, please, I need you!", Curt yelled as he slammed a Greatball on the ground, revealing the Cubone, Jasper. Sending her out caused Curt to briefly remembered how Sai had luckily found a shiny Cubone back in The Glimmering Caverns, but quickly cleared his head of these nostalgic thoughts, they needed to focus on the current situation, "Jasper, use Ice Beam on the Chestnaught to immobilize it, Embertail, intercept Sai's Luxray with Dragon Claw and keep him covered, you're the only Pokemon here fast enough to possibility do that, and whatever you two do, STAY THE HELL AWAY FROM CHESTNAUGHT!"

Embertail responded to Curt with a short, almost uplifting, roar and charged at Sai's Luxray at high speed's, his claw glowing bright green with Draconic energies, Embertail may not be able to breathe fire, but he was defiantly quick on his feat, and could even give an agile Luxray a run for its money in the speed department. Jasper herself gave a sort, more fierce yell as she shot out a bright blue beam of freezing cold energy at Chestnaught with the hopes of immobilizing him, or at least slowing him down. Curt a;way's found it interesting (and a little odd) that a Ground-type could learn an Ice-type move, but right now he was just plain thankful that Jasper had it at her disposal. He wasn't being paranoid about them keeping their distance from Sai's Chestnaught, those things had enough physical strength to flip a tank, and he did not want any Pokemon on his side to be on the receiving end of one of Chestnaughts attacks. With his team given instruction, he quickly turned to address Jacob about the situation.

"Jacob, listen, Jasper's Lightning Rod ability will attract and negate Sai's Luxray's electric attacks, be sure to keep that in mind when giving Dexter commands, and have your team be careful with their attacks, I don;t know about you, but I don't want to be responsible for starting a forest fire", Curt whispered to Jacob before returning his attention to the battle, "oh, and, after we get out of this, you OWE us an explanation". The situation was looking worse by the second, their was no sign of Cassie and the battle only showed signs of escalating, Curt just hoped Flare could locate Whips and Raviel before the whole forest went up in smoke.

 

[PentheWonderful]

The original plan was to let Curt talk things out.

The original plan was to stay low and listen to what Jacob had to say.

But that plan was ruined now. Thrown out the window the moment Sai attacked.

Now, Cassie had a new plan, but that too was aborted the moment Nero sent out a stream of fire to collide with Luxray's attack. She saw the burst of color, the heat, colliding with Charge Beam and sending sparks flying. Cassie wanted to run, but she was a deer in the headlights. Ryu had luckily managed to pull his trainer aside from an incoming debris kicked up by the rampant, violent attack the boys were now blindly throwing at each other. But she only clutched her chest, feeling the erratic beat of her heart. Cassie could feel it. The scorching pain, blistering bite creeping on her hands.

That was why she wore gloves.

'Cassie! Cassie! Please calm yourself! We need to stabilize the situation!' Came the voice of her own fire type, Nine. Gray eyes met with the rubies of her Ninetales, and still she could see the guilt in his eyes. Almost five years ago, when he was just a young, reckless Vulpix, he'd burned his trainer, sparking her now prevalent fear of flames. The scars she hid with layers of make up, and eventually, the gloves. 'I promise I will protect you. My flames are now and forever will be on your side, Cassie.' He assured desperately. Cassie, still being held firmly by Ryu, finally got a grip. Inhaling, she conquered the tremors in her hands, and looked at her Lucario surely, who nodded back at her.

'I will be here too. Don't you worry.'

"Alright... Let's settle this dispute before we all burn down." Her hand now hovers over her belt, grabbing a Pokeball and holding it to her side. "Ace." A flash, and the large swan Pokemon appeared. He did not roar, or give a call. He stood there, proud and calm as a lake. Cassie then glanced at Nine, and nodded at him. "Get between them. Ace, you cover him. Let's stun them with Flash. Go."

The moment Cassie had uttered the word, 'go', the two Pokemon took off into the camp site, intercepting the frenzy of a battle with ease, as Curt and Jacob had stopped to plan a strategy, and Sai was collecting himself. Once at the center, Nine lowered himself to the ground, while Ace spread his wings. Nine released the light energy inside him while Ace reflected the sun's rays like water with his pure white feathers. A blinding ray of light exploded from the duo, the combined power of their attack blinding anything within a ten feet radius.

Cassie and Ryu simply covered their eyes.

Once the light had died down, Cassie started walking, taking her side before her two Pokemon. "Here I thought you could handle this on your own. Curt." She spoke his name with a hint of spite, before turning her gaze to Sai, and speaking just as spitefully, "And Sai, blind rage is extremely unattractive." Her arms crossed, she now took in the full view of the scene before her, shaking her head in disappointment. "You each have two Pokemon out. What kind of battle is this? Four on two? Really?"

Grabbing two Pokeballs from her belt, she swiftly returned Nine and Ryu. But her eyes were on Jacob. "We have a bone to pick with you, Jacob. But for me, it's not about Team Rocket. I don't give a damn about what you were stealing or why you were stealing in that Pokemon Center, and I don't give a damn about whether or not you're with Team Rocket." Her fists clutched, tension clear in her body language. "But when you fled and left us to suffocate, get crushed, and burn. That's where I draw the line."

Now, Cassie held her hand up, as if measuring the distance between her and Jacob. "So Jacob. I challenge you to a double battle. Curt will be on your team, and defend you. I will be on Sai's team." Her eyes glinted with an iron that said this was strictly business only. "We will use one Pokemon each. I will use Ace. Let this be a knockout battle. The side whose two Pokemon are knocked out first, wins. You owe me this at least. Jacob."

She placed her hand down, and stepped back until she was by Sai's side. "So pick your Pokemon."

 

[Trucro]

Everything happened so fast. The flash took Jacob by surprise, and blinded him, as well as Nero and Dexter, and the group stood their unable to see for a few seconds. As such, he was hoping that Curt still had eyes on Sai, and could protect him from whatever had released the attack. From somewhere to his side, he could hear a woman’s voice shouting. It sounded familiar, very familiar, but he couldn’t place it. He listened closely to the voice.

"Here I thought you could handle this on your own. Curt.And Sai, blind rage is extremely unattractive.You each have two Pokemon out. What kind of battle is this? Four on two? Really?We have a bone to pick with you, Jacob. But for me, it's not about Team Rocket. I don't give a damn about what you were stealing or why you were stealing in that Pokemon Center, and I don't give a damn about whether or not you're with Team Rocket." It was at this point Jacob realized that it was Cassie who was talking, and had mounted the attack. Still blinded, although his sight partially returning, he raised his arms to protect him from any attack she might be launching. Cassie continued. "But when you fled and left us to suffocate, get crushed, and burn. That's where I draw the line.So Jacob. I challenge you to a double battle. Curt will be on your team, and defend you. I will be on Sai's team. We will use one Pokemon each. I will use Ace. Let this be a knockout battle. The side whose two Pokemon are knocked out first, wins. You owe me this at least. Jacob.So pick your Pokemon."

Jacob blinked a few times as he looked over at Cassie. His eyesight had mostly returned, and he was able to see her standing by Sai’s side. He took a moment to look around at Cassie’s pokemon, noticing that she had a Swanna hanging around (Ace is a Swanna, right?). Nero had also regained his eyesight, and he turned to a more defensive stance, taking into account Cassie and her new pokemon. Things having settled down, Jacob spoke.

“Let’s get a few things straight. This wasn’t some sort of legitimate battle between us and Sai; Sai ambushed us, attacking me and not my pokemon! And it would appear that you helped him! Now, I don’t know why you want this battle, but I’m not planning on letting my pokemon take a beating for some sort of grudge you hold against me. And I’m definitely not letting you two pull me into a trap like last time. I’ve got no reason to fight you, we have nothing to fight about, unless you continue your assault!”

As he finished, Nero pushed out a puff of air through his nose, lowering his head to glare at Sai’s Luxray, whom he continued to stare down. Jacob, on the other hand, looked over at Curt. He needed to gain the trainer’s reaction. What had Cassie meant when she said that she thought Curt could handle the situation? Had they spoken before? Was Curt part of some plan to capture or kill Jacob? If he was, why had he helped Jacob against Sai? Jacob's mind was racing.

“Curt…” Jacob began. “Et tu?” he asked as he tilted his head downwards. Dexter(Heliolisk) had inched closer to Jacob’s side, and had nudged Jacob’s hand. Nero’s eyes shifted to glance over at Curt and Embertail.

 

[Curtkid]

"GGGAHHH, I'm trying to help you, you stupid jack ass!", Curt yelled heatedly towards Jacob and that paranoid Blaziken of his, rubbing his eye's as his vision slowly returned. Curt didn't mean to be so hostile, but between half his team being ambushed by Sai, their whole plan about talking with Jacob going to hell before it could begin, ending up forced into a battle he wanted no part in, being blinded by Nine and Cassie's....anorexic...Pelipper thing (he never learned what kind of Pokemon it was), and, to top it off, now he was being accused by Jacob of stabbing him in the back right after sticking his neck out for him. Curt was feeling a little frustrated.

Putting aside his anger for the moment, Curt looked to check on his team. Embertail was gaining his vision back and seemed no worse for ware, wobbling around comically like something had made him dizzy, but Jasper was a different story. Cubone were cave dwelling Pokemon, their eye's somewhat sensitive to bright lights, and Jasper was still reeling in pain from Ace and Nine's flash attack. Thankfully, Embertail made his way over to help Jasper almost immediately and was making sure she was recovering O.K from the flash. After Embertail gave Curt a quick nod, signaling Jasper was O.K, Curt turned his attention to Cassie and Sai.

"And you two, what makes you think I want to be a part of your grudge match, I still have absolutely no idea what's going all, all I know is that you, Cassie, just show up out of nowhere saying Jacob is part of Team Rocket and then "Mr. I-Missed-The-Last-Day-Of-Anger-Management-Class" attacks us out of the clear blue", Curt yelled while pointing at Sai. Though Curt technically wasn't with Jacob and his team when they were ambushed, Whips, Lockjaw, and Raviel were. Putting Curt in danger was one thing, but putting his Pokemon in danger was a whole 'nother kind of offense, "what if that attack hit someone who had nothing to do...whatever the Hell happened between you guys, what then?"

Embertail and Jasper finally made it over to Curt, it seemed that the Cubone's vision had mostly returned but her eye's were still giving her a lot of pain. Taking a quick breathe to calm himself, Curt knelt down, thanked Jasper for her help, apologized for her getting hurt, and began to call her back to her Pokeball for a rest, only for her to shove the ball away. Apparently The Lonely Pokemon wanted to see whatever was going down through to the end. Curt gave her a small smile, that Cubone always hated leaving a situation on a loose end for somebody else to deal with, Curt respected her wishes and left her out for now. His Pokemon tended to, Curt stood up to finish addressing the other trainers in the vicinity.

"Listen, we're not fighting, and unless we get a clear, straight forward explanation as to what the hell happened between you three, we are leaving as soon as the rest of my team get's back!", Curt said firmly, with Jasper giving a loud, rage filled yell in agreement, she was obviously still upset about getting Flash-Banged.

To be honest though, Curt wasn't sure if he could follow through with what he just said. He was angry about he and his friends being thrown into the middle of all this "revenge" business, sure, but he didn't think he could just abandon Jacob, Cassie, or their Pokemon to let them tear each other apart. Deep down, Curt knew that there was a strong possibility that the safest way out of this situation would be to end up agreeing with Cassie's demands for a battle.

 

[Blonde]

Boom..

Bang..

Sai vision was milk white, only the soft hazing sound of a ring went off in his head. His eyes were wide open when it hit him, the light yellow flash of Nine's effect move. A minute went by, he heard what sounded like someone talking through a tin can, but then he heard the spiteful voice of Cassie talking in the background. He had his hand carefully around his belt during the time of Curt's counter attack against him, but he slowly lowered his tighten hand down. His ears, still filled with a muffled ring began to dilute, Cassie had been talking towards Curt. "Here I thought you could handle this on your own. Curt." She spoke his name with a hint of spite. Then it got slightly got quiet for a second. "And Sai, blind rage is extremely unattractive."

Blind rage was unattractive huh? all he could do was smile when he heard that. He shut his eyes, In slight worry that they wouldn't regain vision in time to help just in case.

He listened as Cassie spoke to Curt and Jacob, it was laughable, because he just realized he had slightly overreacted and let this whole thing to get his head. All he needed was a small reminder.

“Let’s get a few things straight. This wasn’t some sort of legitimate battle between us and Sai; Sai ambushed us, attacking me and not my pokemon!" yelled Jacob. Sai shrugged with his eyes still closed, "Whatever Jacob, honestly you should have saw this coming" he slowly opened his eyes and looked over at him. They had returned to there burst light hazel state, he had relaxed himself, regained his vision and his ability to talk clearly. He turned his attention to Curt, who gave Sai the name "Mr- I Missed The Last Day of Anger Management Class". He couldn't deny he was angry, with his actions anyone could tell he was angry, the thought of Jacob alone sent his emotions into a blaze, how he almost killed them in an effort to cover up evidence from Police and how Him and Cassie were left to deal with it, so much hell. The crying tone of Jacob's voice made Sai go crazy; First it was "Sai Ambushed us" here and "Pull a trap on me" that. He took a deep breathe and counted backwards in his head as Cassie finished talking and came by his side.

"Listen, we're not fighting unless you give us a clear, straight forward explanation as to what the hell happened between you three, we are leaving as soon as the rest of my team gets back!" said Curt.

Oh did that unravel more nerves in Sai body, the deep breathing had started to wear off.

"I have to interrupt you there.. I for one, don't owe you no explanation Curt, sorry. If you want to know what happened.. asked your friend over there" he said with a stern voice. "I'm sure he won't tell you though.." Sai eyes glared over at Jacob who's head tilted downward towards his electric Pokemon Heliolisk. Luxray on the other hand, felt the cold alert stare of Jacob's Blaziken, of course the lone lion glared back, he kept everyone in his sight and As for Chestnaught he stood beside Cassie on her left hand side.

"I'm sorry" he said turning his attention to Cassie, "I let it get to me" as he reached for her hand cupping it. He looked down for a couple of minutes before he picked it back up. "Do the battle Jacob, if you and Curt win, we'll leave you alone.. but if you lose.." he hesitated thinking about his next choice of words carefully. "You'll must pay for your actions"

 

[Trucro]

“You’ll must pay for your actions…”. Jacob sneered. Who was Sai to punish him, especially after the assault? Sai had really gotten him angry, but he tried to remain calm. He was fine, and his pokemon were fine. And it appeared as though Curt had decided to remain at his side, at least for the moment. The next question that logically followed is: what would he tell Curt? The true story was long, and confusing, and he might just as easily deny the entire thing. If he claimed not to be a member of Team Rocket, Curt might believe him. But there was no fooling Cassie and Sai, of course, who would continue with their accusations. Curt might remain on his side, but a battle between the group would not end well for him. Both Cassie, and Sai were stronger trainers than he was, and he would need an inordinate amount of luck for he and Curt to defeat them.

Which reminded him of Shakespeare. The Togekiss was still high in the sky, hiding amongst the clouds, waiting for Jacob’s orders. The pokemon could swoop down at any time, dazzle the group with some attack, and create cover for Jacob’s escape. But Sai would definitely be after him, and his Luxray looked faster than any pokemon Jacob had. No, Shakespeare would only be used as a last resort.

Jacob looked down at Dexter(Heliolisk), who was close by his side. The pokemon was looking up at his trainer, curious as to what his response would be. A grudge match in the woods? A surprise attack? An ambitious escape? Perhaps he could lie his way out of this? Or, he could tell the truth, and face the consequences. The truth was his least favorite option, but he felt it was probably the correct one. He looked over at Curt, before glancing at Cassie.

“Well, I’ve never told anyone what really happened. And that includes Martha,” Jacob said sharply, nodding towards Curt. “But I guess that if anyone deserves to know, it’s you two,” Jacob looked over at Sai and Cassie. “Just, let me finish the story before you attack again.” He lowered his tone as he finished his sentence, as if he were talking to children. He sighed, and then started again.

“I guess it really started just a few weeks after our meeting in that damn cave in Kalos. I had returned home to Hoenn, and was walking from Lavaridge to Mauville City. It had been a long time since I had made that trek, and although I had done it before, the mountain was foreign. I took a wrong step, and plummeted off a cliff. The fall must have been nearly thirty feet, and I would have broken every bone in my body if somebody hadn’t rescued me. That person was Gus Tully.” Jacob took a pause, and another deep breath. “While I hadn’t crashed directly into the ground, I had hurt my leg pretty bad in the fall, and Gus helped me into a small house he had along the side of the Mt. Chimney. He helped bandage me up, and let me stay the night.

“When he discovered I was a pokemon trainer, and he had seen my pokemon, he immediately asked me for a friendly battle. I obliged, and Nero here was thoroughly defeated by Gus’s Exeggutor. His style was very interesting, and I’ve never seen anyone fight like Gus had before. Anyway, afterwards he interrogated me as to who I was; I told him I was a student, taking a semester off from my studies. He asked me what I wanted to do with my life, I told him I wasn’t certain. He asked me if I had heard of Team Rocket: I told him I had. Finally, Gus asked me what I thought about Team Rocket. I told him probably what any of you would say today. I told him they were terrorists, murderers and thieves. I told him they corrupt the governments of the world, and have far too much political sway. I said it was scary the reach that they had. He asked me if I had ever met someone from Team Rocket, and I told him the truth: I had not. The interrogation was odd for certain, but I wasn’t averse to these sorts of conversations, and found voicing my opinion rather enjoyable.

“So, he asked to battle again, and we had another battle. Later that night was when he finally told me who he was. Gus had been part of Team Rocket for years, he said, ever since he was my age. I was understandably surprised, and afraid, but he asked me why I would treat him differently now. I had no good answer. He explained that Team Rocket had done terrible things, but it was not the people in the organization that had caused this, but rather its leaders. He claimed, and I agreed, that Team Rocket, with its vast resources and virtual army, could be a massive force for good in the world. So, he offered me a position, asking me to join him, and to help him transform Team Rocket into that vey ideal. I thought about it, but it didn’t take long for me to accept.”

Jacob had been talking for some time now, and he paused to take a breath for a moment. He looked back over at the stump where he had been sitting before Sai attacked. It had stopped smoldering, and was enticing as Jacob had been standing for some time. He made his way over to the stump, and took a seat. Turning back to the group, he continued.

“Gus took me into the group, and with his help I made a name for myself within Team Rocket, simply doing administrative tasks. I wasn’t really involved with a lot of the so called ‘grunt’ work, but I helped manage the group, and I accompanied Gus on his missions to improve, or rather to prevent more damage to Team Rocket’s image. You see, if the organization was going to be diverted to good, it couldn’t remain a widely known terrorist organization; it had to be known for its good works. We had little to no funding, but Gus and I became increasingly popular with the grunts, as it gave them a sense of belonging and doing good; finally, they were getting the respect they deserved, from us at least.

“Of course, the Boss of Team Rocket, Giovanni wasn’t fond of Gus’s attempts to usurp his power, and Gus died rather suddenly. I was surprised, and incredibly sad, not knowing that the Boss had probably had a hand in this. One day, about two months into my working at Team Rocket, and about three days after Gus had been killed, the Boss called me into his office. It was then I realized his betrayal of my mentor, and I fought the man right there in his office. I was decimated, and my pokemon were confiscated. I was given an ultimatum, to either join Giovanni, or die. I joined the Boss, and he decided to turn me into his own mentee; they gave me the best pokemon the group could muster, and trained us together in the next months. I had begun to plan a new form of Team Rocket takeover; Gus’s peaceful mission had failed, so I was going to kill Giovanni and force the organization to either moralize or disappear.

“In order to do this, I needed to be convincing. I took every mission the Boss handed down to me, and that’s where we met again,” Jacob said, pointing to Sai and Cassie. “You both trapped me, and exposed me as someone who had friends who were enemies of Team Rocket. But really, it wasn’t the two of you who ruined me; one of my friends in the organization had been caught and discovered as a spy. Honestly, I had no knowledge of this, but he was captured, and I was tied to him. Immediately, I lost the few downtrodden and hidden allies I had in the organization, and I was never allowed to see the Boss privately again. I slowly dropped to the grunt ranks, and it was then I decided I had had enough. I spoke with a few of my former friends, and they allowed me to receive my pokemon in exchange for the one’s I had been gifted by the organization. With that, I left Team Rocket; the organization seemed to want to have as little to do with me as I wanted to do with them.

“Or so I thought. That was until a couple weeks ago when I saw a Team Rocket member following me. They still keep tabs on me, and I know that they do. I don’t want them to, but I guess it’s a sacrifice I had to make. Looking back on things, I can see how idealistic I had been; Team Rocket will never be a force for good, and I never really had a shot at taking down the Boss. I should have left as soon as Gus had been killed. But I didn’t get to make that choice, and so here I am.

“And that pretty well takes us to now, when I was attacked out of the blue by someone’s Luxray, and forced to fight for my life.” Jacob stared at Sai for a moment. “I guess we all make mistakes, don’t we?”

 

[PentheWonderful]

Cassie listened to all this with shut eyes. She squeezed Sai's hand lightly, and let it go, but her eyes remained unopened. Ace (Swanna), who'd remained where he was since his attack, by then had shifted to move between her and Jacob as he watched him intently with coal black eyes. Eyes that gave nothing but a reflection of those who gazed into it. "You both trapped me, and exposed me as someone who had friends who were enemies of Team Rocket." Cassie laughed. Loudly enough to possibly cut off Jacob's story. From the where his explanation was going, it seemed he was trying harder to appease Sai than he was to her. Not that it was odd. She believed Sai would've undoubtedly ripped his head off otherwise. But that single sentence tickled her insides more than anything had in a long while.

"You don't know anything about me, Jacob." Cassie finally said when Jacob finished his story, and, mimicking him, lowering her voice in the same way he did when he explained. "Enemies of Team Rocket, you don't think I'm some valiant goody-two-shoes trainer who makes it their business to foil any and every Rocket activity, do you?" She paused to glance at Sai. "No offense." And then, back to Jacob. "Firstly, I just happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time, while trying to keep this guy from recklessly getting himself killed." A shove to Sai. "Secondly, I would think that two people who trapped and ambushed you wouldn't be considered your friends, and last I checked, there were no other witnesses. Don't even bother mentioning your two accomplices. They left you the moment the door was welded shut, and all evidence of our 'friendly' conversations were destroyed by your so-called clean up crew."

Her words were laced with poison, as she continued to lash on. Cassie was a person who spoke with the grace of a diplomat, and the ruthlessness of a lawyer. "Thirdly, we weren't even the ones who did you any harm, and you can't deny you were doing bad yourself. Which brings us to our conclusion as to why this battle is inevitable." She held up her index finger. "One, your sob story changes nothing for me, and I don't give a single fuck about your involvement with Team Rocket. I never branded you an antagonist until you abandoned Sai and myself in that Pokemon Center. Say what you may, but for me, that just proves how morally questionable you are." Along with her index finger, she raised her middle. "Two, you're lucky I'm not reporting you to the cops right now." Finally, up went her ring finger. "And three, the only reason you're putting up in terms of avoiding this battle is the fact that you had a rough couple of months. I don't know about you, but I'm not the kind of person who lets a person who initiated a close encounter with death slide so easily just because of a tragic backstory."

Cassie let her hand drop limply to her side once again and shrugged. "And if I were you, I'd want the exact same thing for the two people who brought upon the same thing for me." Her eyes were like knives as she gazed at Jacob. Until finally, they flicked to Curt, and softened several degrees. "So Curt, to summarize things quickly as it went, Jacob was leading a thievery at a Pokemon Center in Kanto as a Team Rocket Agent. A Pokemon Center I happened to be staying in for family business. Sai had tailed him into the center and attempted to stop it, at the same time waking me up and getting me involved in the chaos. I ended up aiding Sai and I managed to encase Jacob with Grass Knot and Icy Wind."

Her eyes now hardened. "And here's where things got interesting. As we were interrogating Jacob on what was going on, a clean up crew appeared to wipe their tracks clean, setting the entire center on fire. Jacob knew about all this, and he kept us both in the dark. And despite everything we've been through in Glittering Cave together, he abandoned us in the frail, burning center to save his own ass." Cassie pulled her fedora over lower and held her head high, arms crossing. "And that, Curt, is why I'm pissed and demanding a solution to vent my frustrations."

She took a deep breath. "Any questions?"

 

[Curtkid]

"Uh, no, w-we'll fight alongside Jacob and his Pokemon", Curt said flatly, having calmed down after getting an idea of why everybody suddenly hated each other. In the end, to him, it just seemed like a run of terrible luck, he felt he really couldn't judge Jacob for his actions, and didn't even begrudge Jacob for them, it sounded like he had good intentions and just got in way over his head. Yet, he had to admit, he understood why Cassie and Sai had such hostility towards the young man, they felt betrayed and abandoned by a person they once considered a friend. Curt wondered for a brief moment that, if that he and his Pokemon had been in that Center, would he feel the same way towards Jacob too? He decided it was best not to think about that right now.

"A-alright, just give me a minute to choose who's...going to...oh, yeah", Curt said, realizing he was still missing half his team, "well, crap, uh, I may need a bit more then a minute". Curt scratched his head, trying to think who would possibly stand a chance against Cassie and Sai, both very experienced trainers with very strong Pokemon. Jasper was out, he eye's were still a bit messed up from that Flash-Bang, granted, she'd give it her all and go down kicking if Curt asked her to battle, but it was still a big risk to take. Embertail wasn’t the best choice either either, though many trainers underestimated the unevolved Pokemon his skill level was extremely high, but he also considered Cassie a friend, and fighting her in such hostile conditions might inflict him with guilt, he could do that to his buddy. Lockjaw…well, had the same issue as Embertail, the Blue Alligator’s friendliness with Cassie might hamper his ability, but then again-

("Curt, we're back, sorry it took so long, the noise from the battle startled the local wildlife and we got...held up)", rung Flares telepathic voice in her head. On cue, the eight-tailed Ninetailes walked into the clearing from right behind Curt, followed closely by an annoyed looking Whips, and the one-eared Jolteon, Raviel.

"Great, perfect timing you gu-why is Raviel limping", Curt said looking towards Raviel. Right as he said this, Raviel immediatly put all four feet on the ground and tried to put on a tough face, but still looked visibly pained. Asking everyoe for another minute, Curt patched up Raviels injuries (which thankfully didn't look serious) and informed the remaining members of his party as to what had happened. When all was said and done, Curts' options didn't look much more promising.

Whips flat out said that what was happening was none of our concern and that we we should leave, unless Curt could convince Cassie to change her choice to Fang, in which case he would be happy to fight. Raviel seemed to agree with Whips, but wasn't going to run away from a fight, and Flare just sighed and said she couldn't believe how quickly everything went to hell, even by our standards.

"So Whips won't fight, Raviel can't fight(REAH REAH!)-, yes, yes, I know you WOULD fight Raviel, but I'd be a bastard of a trainer if I made you battle injured, so that means my only addition option is you Flare", Curt murmured, sour at his luck, turned back to face the other trainers, "ugh, I'm sorry guy's, this is going to take a little bit longer, half my team is injured and the other half isn't very motivated to fight after the day they've had". Curt continued looking over his team trying to determine which one would work the best. Maybe he should have more faith in Embertails determination and trust him to pull through for him. Then again, Flare long range attacks and high speed might be enough to counter Cassie's swan if they were smart about. And now that Curt thought about it, Lockjaw could potentially be able to coun-

"EEGGAHH, GYYRO", Whips roared as he stomped out onto the field, a clear look of frustration plastered on the dragons face.

"Huh? Uh, wow, thanks Whip", Curt said in shock. Apparently Whips was feed up with Curt dragging this on for so long and decided he just wanted to get this over with. Curt wasn't going to complain. The only issue Curt could think of was an admittedly very possible Ice Beam from. SWANNA, THAT'S WHAT THEY"RE CALLED....

Either way, when all was said and done, Whips was a Dragonite, a Psuedo-legendary, even skilled trainers like Cassie and Sai we're going to have a hard time fighting him.

"Alright, I'm going with Whips then", Curt said, a little confidence in his voice.

“Grrrough”, Whips grunted as he bashed his fists together. Despite his previous disinterest, he actually looked pretty pumped to be battling Cassie again, Curt just wished it was under better circumstances.

 

[Trucro]

Jacob couldn’t help but smirk smugly. Cassie obviously had no knowledge of debriefings, although how could she? He had assumed she had never been part of an organization like Team Rocket, and so she wouldn’t understand the sort of review and interrogation that follows any mission. There was no question, Team Rocket knew who Sai and Cassie were, if they hadn’t before their encounter with Jacob at the pokemon center. Jacob could see through Cassie’s empty threat as well; they were in Kalos, not Kanto, and besides that, there would be no evidence. It would be Cassie’s word against his, and there was no way she could prove anything. But Jacob wasn’t about to bring it up; there was no reason to continue to anger Cassie, although she appeared pretty heated already.

Jacob turned to watch Curt as he shuffled through his team looking for the best pokemon. Jacob secretly had a preference, and he was glad to see that Curt eventually landed on Whips. His Dragonite was the most impressive pokemon Curt had, Jacob thought, and Whips would be a good teammate. Of course, the decision for Jacob was far simpler. There was only one pokemon he wanted defending him in this situation, and that was Nero. His Blaziken was still standing in front of him, prepared for battle. But Jacob didn’t actually plan on fighting.

“Well, I am not certain what we are battling for here,” Jacob began. “If we win, you’ll leave me alone, and if we lose…. Then what? Is your goal just to pound my pokemon until you feel better? Because I’m not about to let that happen. I think you both know your advantage; both of you have far more experience battling than I do, and I suspect you both have more powerful pokemon. As strong as Curt and Whips are, they aren’t the same as the support I had last time we faced each other, and even then I only escaped by the skin of my teeth. I’m not positive how you expected me to save you, after you trapped me in that pokemon center, but I am certain that this battle won’t undo whatever wrong it is that you think I’ve done.” Nero let out a sudden sneer. The pokemon was pumped, and shot Jacob a look telling him he was prepared to battle.

“That being said,” Jacob continued. “A legitimate pokemon battle, one where the goal is not vengeance or bloodlust, might have its benefits. But I won’t know which this is until you tell me. If Curt and I are defeated, what happens to me?”

 

[PentheWonderful]

"Please." Cassie seemed disgusted by Jacob's assumptions, as her brows furrowed disapprovingly. "What do you take us for? Uncivilized savages?" Shaking her head, the young woman crossed her arms and turned to face away from him. "And don't you start with that 'trap' nonsense." She turned her head, gray eyes staring into him with unclear emotion. Or perhaps, no emotion at all. She wondered if he was one of those people, the ones so blunt and oblivious to other's emotions. People might think she was as well, but, she simply chose to be.

"You could've broken out of it easily. The same way you did. You could've gotten out any time you chose. Unfortunately, the last time, it was during the last minute." Another indifferent shrug of her shoulders, and her eyes flick away from him. "Don't confuse vengeance with settling scores. Even if Sai says otherwise, he doesn't want bloodshed any more than I do. If you win, we leave you alone. Maybe we'll throw in a generous amount of cash too. If you lose, you will also be left alone. No need to pay us anything."

By then, Ace had his feathers ruffled. Literally. The Swanna, usually so collected and composed, now growing impatient. He bristled his wings and tails, occasionally shifting from one feet to the other. Cassie realized how long it'd been since she actually used him in battle. A pang of guilt hit her. "... I just want a battle. And so does Ace. Would you really deny an eager Pokemon a battle? Was there really ever a good reason for trainers to battle their Pokemon regardless? Given the stakes, and my word that no harm will come to you after the battle, regardless of the outcome, I really see no reason for you to deny anyway." Her lips thinned as she said the next sentence. "Or are you just scared of a little battle?"

I'll show you what fear feels like.

 

[Trucro]

Jacob furrowed his brow as he tried to understand the rules or the battle. Sai and Cassie wanted to fight him, but with no punishment afterwards, regardless of the outcome. It was better, he assumed, than battling them without rules, where they had total freedom to hit him with all the force they had. He looked over at Atlas(Tangrowth) who was still about ten feet behind him watching carefully, and Dexter(Heliolisk) who had taken a seat on a nearby stump.

“Very well,” Jacob replied to Cassie after an extended silence. He grabbed two pokeballs from his belt, and in a flash of red, Dexter and Atlas both disappeared into their pokeballs, leaving only Nero standing in front of Jacob. The pokemon was looking over his shoulder at Jacob, still facing Sai and his Luxray. “I’ll be using my Blaziken, Nero.” He wouldn’t have been surprised if Cassie and Sai would have expected this; Nero was his strongest and closest pokemon, and an experienced trainer might be able to tell just by looking at him.

Jacob turned to Curt. He had chosen the right pokemon, and Whips, standing beside him, appeared pretty pumped. The pokemon always seemed to be a bit focused on battling to Jacob; he recalled the stare the pokemon ha shot at Martha back in Slateport. Jacob hadn’t had the chance to see the pokemon really battle, however, and he hoped Whips was as menacing as he looked.

“This could be fun,” Jacob said, raising the tone of his voice as he looked at Curt. He only realized afterwards that this could appear as if he were taking things more lightly than he should. After all Curt was defending Jacob, and had done so at some high personal risk. The truth was that Jacob didn’t like dramatic confrontations, and making them appear less serious than they were helped him get through them. “I’ve never seen Whips battle,” he said in a hushed tone to avoid Cassie and Sai hearing. “Do you think he’ll be able to work with Nero?”

 

[Curtkid]

"Don't worry, Whips may sometimes come off as little...bull-headed sometimes, but I have no doubt that he'll work well with Nero", Curt replied to Jacob, with Whips following up his trainers words with a brief snort. A bit of Curt admired Jacob's confidence in himself, his Pokemon, he even seemed to have some faith in Curt, to the trainers surprise, and as a matter of fact, Curt was actually beginning to feel somewhat confident in their chances of victory. Nero was an excellent fighter from what Curt saw of him at the tournament, and Whips was defiantly a testament to the legendary power's Dragonites were said to possess. Cassie and Sai may be very skilled trainers, but if he and Jacob played their cards right, they could win this.

Curt followed Jacobs lead and called back all of the remaining members of his team, barring Embertail and Whips.Though a part of Curt wanted to keep them out, just as a precaution, he knew it was for the best. Cassie and Sai had shown they we're willing to try and show some level of restraint and trust, and Curt figured the least he could do is show the same thing in return. Besides, Raviel and Jasper needed a break to recover from their injuries.

"Embertail stay's out, he won't interfere with the battle, right buddy?", Curt said while giving his friend a small smile.

"Raarroguh", Embertail growled to confirm his trainers words. So far, this hadn't had gone nearly as bad as it could have gone. Curt knew Cassie, she could be a little head-strong sometimes, but she ultimately was very disciplined and very good at keeping her emotions in check. Sai on the other hand, well, Curt could hardly claim to know the guy. From what he saw of him in the caverns, he seemed like a calm and rational person, but after what Curt had seen tonight, it was hard to say what he could expect from this man.

 

[Trucro]

Jacob nodded at Curt and Embertail, who had happily roared just a moment ago. The battle looked like it would be a tough one, but he and Curt were definitely putting their best foot forward. With Whips and Nero, they would at least put up a good fight, and then, Jacob still ha Shakespeare in wait. With Sai having Luxray, and Cassie using Ace, the battle was about to begin. Jacob opened his mouth to give the first order.

As he did, a blue beam rushed across the field from behind Jacob and Curt. It passed them, rushing towards Ace and Cassie. Jacob immediately turned around; he didn’t see if the ice beam hit or not. From the brush behind him, he saw a barrage of ice beams rushing towards them. One slammed the ground just at their feet, and another flew by Jacob’s ear.

“Run!” Jacob shouted to Curt, as he and Nero jumped to the side, dodging the ice attacks. Landing in a pile of grass, he looked over at the brush. A group of no less than four Weavile rushed out of the bushes, running towards the group. Jacob quickly rose to his feet and looked over at Nero, who was standing by his side. “Ready?” He asked. Looking back at the bushes, he could see sever people emerging, wearing dark clothes with a big red “R” on their shirts.

As he said this, Jacob and Nero was slammed from the side by a gushing of water. The two of them crashed to the ground, rolling almost to Curt’s feet. They pulled themselves up, and looked over to their side. A young woman stood in the clearing, wearing a Team Rocket uniform, with a Dewgong sitting just behind her. Jacob recognized her. It was Hera, one of his teammates when he was part of Team Rocket. She was a loud talker, but a very dangerous agent. She had reached Jacob’s rank without being the Boss’s student like he had.

“Hi there, Jacob. It’s been a while,” she said, smiling. The last time he had seen her was a few weeks ago in Slateport, she had been following him for some time. “I told you, the Boss would like to speak with you. Oh, and he gave me a friend to help bring you back,” she continued, happily, releasing a pokeball. In a flash, a Hypno appeared in front of her. The pokemon was very familiar to Jacob.

“Grey…?” Jacob asked. Grey had been Jacob’s pokemon when he was part of Team Rocket. The pokemon’s psychic powers were unparalleled; Giovanni had chosen him for his apprentice specifically. Jacob had to give the pokemon up when he left, and he hadn’t seen Grey in the months since. The pokemon was a real asset when he had it in his team, but fighting the pokemon would be very difficult, near impossible. He’d need to focus, and not worry about anyone else while they were battling. “I’ll take this one!” He shouted to his comrade, and his opponents, whom he assumed would be helping him against Team Rocket.

“Grey,” Hera began. “Use Psybeam!” The pokemon raised his hands to his head and released a rainbow colored beam of psychic energy.

“Nero, flamethrower!” Jacob’s Blaziken released a beam of fire that collided with Grey’s attack. The psybeam didn’t pause. It cut right through Nero’s attack, slamming into the pokemon. Nero shot backwards, stopping as he hit a nearby tree. Jacob furrowed his brow. This wasn’t good; Nero wouldn’t be able to stop Hera and Grey. He could still use Shakespeare(Togekiss) who was flying high above them, but the pokemon wouldn’t be able to finish Grey in one move. Shakespeare could only provide them cover. But he’d have to use it. “Shakespeare, aura sphere!”

A blue ball of energy dropped down from the sky. It caught Grey by surprise, crashing into the Hypno and kicking up dust and smoke. Now was the time.

“Everybody!” Jacob shouted. “RUN!”

 

[PentheWonderful]

In Cassie's world, everything moved in nanoseconds. Light speed. In a blink of an eye, a situation could go from stable, to complete chaos. Though she would never truly admit it to herself, she was quite a magnet for trouble. No matter where she went, everything always seemed to just go... Wrong. Maybe that was why Ryu was always so overprotective. But at least, it kept her sharp. The battle that ensued was not one that she'd expected, for, the first attack didn't come from Jacob, nor Curt. But from behind them.

Blue like the sky. The smell of frost and frigid wind. Her mind clicked in time, but the words did not fly out quickly enough. Luckily, she trained Ace well, and he'd simply been itching to get a battle going. The Swanna was wound up like a coil and reacted in half a second's time to send a stream of broiling water colliding into the Ice Beam. Scald. Both attacks ended in a wave of mist, fogging over the field. Cassie gritted her teeth, squinting her eyes but failing to see anything through the wall of fog. "Defog, Ace!" Opening his wings, the white avian began to flap with massive strength, blowing the vapor mist clean off the field.

And the trouble became clear.

A wave of Ice Beams came raining down on them like hail. "Protect yourself, Ace!" The Swanna gave a call and deflected an Ice Beam with Protect, while another whizzed right past him, and hit Cassie right on the shoulder. The young woman cried out in pain, being knocked back by the force of the attack. It felt as if someone had jabbed a cold blade right into her. She shivered, and clutched her injury from the ground. Ace shrieked in concern, but Cassie forced herself up. "I'm okay, don't worry about me!"

Her gray eyes trailed the four Weavile charging at them. Ace was a Flying-Water type, meaning he wasn't vulnerable, nor did he have an upper hand on the Dark-Ice types. However, she did have one trump card that would at least tip the balance. However, as a familiar yellow Pokemon came into view, Cassie began to scowl. "You..." It was her, that girl who'd fled from Slateport. The one aiding Jacob in his plans. She wanted to get her hands on her as well, but Jacob had clearly stated he would handle it. She could respect that. She'll just blow off some steam on the grunts.

Cassie moved aside as an Ice Beam narrowly missed her, however, she had enough time to notice the Weavile's formation; a neat line. Ace had gone airborne, knowing from purely experience what his next move would be, but obediently waited for his trainer's mark. Cassie wasted no time in her command, "Let's do a sweep! Hidden Power!"

Ace cawed, taking off higher before spinning and free falling close enough to almost touch the ground. The momentum gave him great speed, even trailing dust in his flight route. He opened his beak as his body began to glow, focusing an energy ball at his beak. Just a foot away from the Weavile on the end of the line, he fired while pulling upwards, giving the attack a much greater momentum as well. The orb resembled an Aura Sphere. It hit the targeted Weavile, instantly knocking it out, but also slamming it into its allies, throwing them off their path and dealing insignificant damage. That's right, Ace's hidden power is a Fighting type. "Nicely done!"

Despite this, the other three Weavile recovered quickly, and were angrier than before. Who knew how many more Pokemon the grunts had? Cassie knew Ace could take them all on, but they would surely fight dirty. She knew Sai and Curt could help, but surely they weren't stupid enough to just gang up on them. An admin was with them, so that meant a plan B existed, and she did not want to find out what the clean up crew had in store this time.

So the moment Jacob told them to run, Cassie's brain confirmed its decision to flee. "Forget running!" The dark haired girl grabbed Sai's arm, just as Ace came back around to them and landed. She hopped on his back, and pulled Sai on with her. "We'll fly! Jacob, get on your Togekiss, and Curt, hop on Whips!"

Without waiting, the large Swanna flapped its wings, slightly overwhelmed by Sai's weight, but managed to pull through anyway, and take off.

 

[Curtkid]

At first, Curt wasn't sure what was going on, the Ice Beams came out so quickly and so unexpectedly that Curt and Embertail barely had time to get out of the way. Whips didn't even bother dodging, months of training gave him an almost reflex like reaction to Ice- Type attacks. As soon as he saw the Ice Beams flying he immediately shielded himself with his bulky arms, which ignited in flames just before the Ice Beam made contact with him. Fire Punch made a surprisingly effective defense against Ice Types attacks. But their fat wasn't out of the fire yet, they may have been repetitively unharmed, but it was becoming clear to Curt they were being surrounded quick, and if Jacob being nearly knocked at Curt's feet by a powerful Surf told him anything, it was that these weren't your typical grunts .

One look at their attackers uniforms, labeled with the trademark large red "R", told him all he needed to know about the their identify. Curt was just glad to see Jacob fighting against their Team Rocket ambusher's instead of siding with him, he took some solace that his faith in Jacob was well placed. Curt had to wonder though, how much value did Team Rocket place on Jacob if they were willing to unleash a group of Weaviles, rather rare and powerful Pokemon to be sure. They did work best in packs though, they were excellent tracker, extremely fast and agile, and their claws could cut through steel. But Curt had no time to admire his opponents Pokemon, Cassie showed her skill as an Ace Trainer by launching a K.O'd Weavile into its pack member's, but that would only buy them a few moments of time, already they could see mulltiple Rocket Member's emerging from the bushes, and it wouldn't be long before they threw out even more Pokemon into the fray. . Thankfully, Cassie and Ace had gotten them all the time they needed.

"Whips, get right next to the Team Rocket Grunts and use Earthquake, don't let them send out their Pokemon", Curt yelled to the dragon, who was happy to comply with his trainer's request. Beat his wings once to give him some height, as he came crashing down right next to the very surprised Team Rocket member's at full force. The ground around Whips began spliting the moment he hit the ground, sending the Rocket Member's flying just as they were beginning to send out their Pokemon. Thankfully, the Grunts handn't gotten close enough to the rest of them so that Whips' Earthquake really effected the rest of them much outside of the vibrations causing them to lose their balance a bit. (Embertail did seem a little shaken up though, but seemed fine).

Then a cry rang out and Curt saw Cassie and Sai take off on Ace, Curt heard Cassie say something about Curt hoping on Whips and Jacob getting on Shakespeare. Now Curt and Embertail escaping on Whips was easily doable, but their was no way Shakespeare was big enough to carry Jacob far enough to escape Team Rocket. Thankfully, Shakespeare's Aura Spear seemed to have stunned the Admin he fighting for a moment, once again buying them a moment of time, and Jacob was still close by enough for Curt to help his friend escape.

"Whips, get over here, we need to leave now!", Curt yelled to Whips, more of a cry of panic then a command if anything. In truth, part of Whips wanted to stay and fight, but he came to Curt all the same, he knew running was necessary sometimes, but that didn't mean he liked it. Curt and Embertail immediately latched on to Whips back, but Curt told him to hold of on the take off as he turned to call to Jacob, who looked like he was getting ready to run.

"JACOB, CALL NERO AND SHAKESPEARE BACK AND GET ON WHIPS, QUICKLY!!!!", Curt yelled to his friend, Whips was plenty strong enough to carry all three of them all across Kalos if he had to, Curt just hoped Jacob could make it to them in time. Whips WOULD take off if he felt the situations was getting to hairy, and he really didn't want to be forced to leave Jacob alone in the woods at the hands of Team Rocket,.

 

[Trucro]

"JACOB, CALL NERO AND SHAKESPEARE BACK AND GET ON WHIPS, QUICKLY!!!!" Jacob looked towards Curt who had already mounted his Dragonite, preparing to take off. The smoke was beginning to clear, and Jacob figured it was the right move. He grabbed the two empty pokeballs on his belt, recalling Nero and Shakespeare in a flash of red. He swung back around, and quickly climbed onto Whips’ back.

Whips took off with tremendous strength. Dragonites were naturally powerful pokemon, and Jacob should have expected such a sudden jump. Unfortunately, he did not. As Whips took to the sky, Jacob slid down the pokemon’s back. He slowly dropped lower and lower, until he was holding only Whips’ tail. It was evidence Curt noticed as he looked back, but it was too late. An ice beam flew past them, and Whips took a turn to avoid it. The turn was too sharp for Jacob, and he lost his grip, falling into the brush of the forest.

A large bush cushioned his fall, but it still hurt. Twigs had pricked him in his back and shoulders, and he had hit a nearby branch in has fall, which had whipped around and returned the favor. The force of the impact had left Jacob without breath, and he struggled to figure out what was happening as he rolled out of the bushes. Lying on the ground for a few seconds, he could hear rustling from the path in front of him. He raised his head up to see a Weaville, staring down at him. Jacob sighed, and reached for his belt.

“Stop there!” He heard Hera’s voice and froze in place. As he did, several other Weavile rushed into the clearing and surrounded him. He let out a louder, audible sigh. Two grunts took his belt from him and forced him to his feet. Hera walked up to him, and smiled. “So, let’s go see the Boss!”

 

[PentheWonderful]

The sheer shockwave of Whips' take off rattled the air around Ace. The Swanna wavered slightly in his flight, but Cassie simply looked back in awe of the Dragonite. She'd battled Dragonite before, but none of them were anything like Whips. Of course, there was nothing unusual to Cassie in terms of his strength; all Dragonite were known as legends due to their incredible power. But what made Whips unique, was his personality. Dragonite are known for their kindhearted and selfless nature. They always seemed to worry about hurting their opponents, despite their mammoth strength. This was not the case for Whips. Whips was aggressive and eager to fight, and this gusto left Cassie feeling a slight pang of regret for not being able to proceed with their battle.

However, what really caught her eye was another glint of orange. More specifically, Jacob. Who was hanging onto Whips' tail for dear life. Apparently, that wasn't good enough. More Ice Beams whizzed through the air, causing Cassie to duck down and allow Ace to assume an evasive maneuver. Whips had the same idea it seemed, as he turned sharply to evade. However, this threw Jacob right off.

Truth be told, Cassie was surprised. Her facial expression showed this. But then, there was nothing more. True, Jacob had fought against Team Rocket during the initial ambush. But in her book, they were even. She owed him nothing, and he to her. They had absolutely no reason to meddle in each others business any longer, and frankly, she didn't want any part in his life either. Though, she didn't want any part in a lot of people's lives. Only few managed to slip through the cracks of the walls she put up around herself. Curt and Sai were two of them. Everyone else didn't matter. Thus, turning her attention back to Ace's flight route, she allowed a sigh of relief to escape. She didn't even look to where he fell.

Strategically, it was better this way. With Jacob in Team Rocket's possession, the barrages of Ice Beam had died down. His previous argument of them being new targets for the organization also had merit, but that was all the more reason she should stay away from Jacob; the most wanted person on Team Rocket's list, it seemed. Compared to him, she was a minor detail. So were Sai and Curt. Once they got Jacob, they'd fulfilled what they set out to do, thus, there was no reason to keep firing at the unimportant accomplices flying away on their Pokemon. At least, she hoped Jacob would keep their short attention spans occupied long enough for them to get far enough away.

Cassie felt no guilt. She did not feel much, in fact. But often, she was glad she couldn't, because it was better for her well-being. And this, was definitely one of those times.

 

[Curtkid]

Curt and Embertail could only watch, wide eyed, as Jacob was thrown from Whips and sending falling to the forest floor, his grip finally broken as a the dragon made a sharp and sudden turn to avoid an Ice Beam. They watched as Jacob was sent tumbling through the trees and ultimately disappearing into the foliage, what became of him, however, was of no mystery to anyone. They knew a fall that short wouldn't be enough to do Jacob in, but there was no way the small army of Rocket's that were combing the area were going to miss him after a fall like that.

"Whips, turn around, we need to go back for them", Curt said, his voice full of worry. It wasn't just Jacob that was i danger, but his Pokemon as well. Whips, however, just kept flying, his face locked in a stern and focused expression, "Whips, what the Hell are you doing we need to go back now!" Yet he stilled flew forward.

"Damn it Whips", Curt yelled over the air current", turn back right now or-"

"GHAAROUGH", the Dragon Pokemon roared, cutting his trainer off, disregarding Curts orders as he kept near Ace. Curt was taken aback, but ultimately bit his tongue and kept quiet. Curt couldn't force Whips to go back, hell, he technically couldn't force his Pokemon to do anything. His Pokemon followed him a listened to him because they liked him and trusted his judgement, Curt ultimately left the decision of whether or not to listened to him up to them, and they almost always did. Except for the rare occasion where Curt was judgement was being clouded and, apparently Whips thought now was one of those times. As powerful as the Dragonite was, and as strong as Curts other Pokemon were, Whips knew they could not handle all those Rockets at once. He hated running, and he hated to leave Jacob and his team behind like that, especially seeing as he was just starting to like them (that, and Nero owed him a fight), but to go back was suicide. So, they flew forward, silent the rest of the way.

After what seemed like hours of flight, which in actuality was more like ten minutes tops, it appeared that the Rocket's had given up the chase, apparently satisfied with their capture of Jacob. Worn out from the aerial sprint, Whips and Ace landed near a medium sized river so they could catch their breathe. Curt and Embertail hoped of Whips, despite not being the ones doing the actually fleeing, they felt strangely out of breathe. Settling himself one the ground, Curt turned to look at Whips, who returned his trainers gaze.

The dragon was curious as to his trainers reaction, would he scold him, scream at him for his disobedience, or just express disappointment that he abandoned Jacob and his team so easily. Curt, however, merely cricked out his back, walked over to him, and gave him a soft pat on the back, a dreary but clear smile of appreciation on his face.

"Good job Whips, you did great in dodging those attacks," Curt said. Even though Curt hated to admit it, this was one of those times. Whips was right, if they turned back now they'd almost certainly be overwhelmed, even if they managed to get to Jacob and his team, there was very little certainty that they'd be in any condition to help them.

"Rouugh", Whips growled softly. He kept his face stern, but looking closely, there was a trace of remorse on the great dragons face.

"I know, you didn't want to leave Jacob, but you were right, it would have been too dangerous to go back, and it would have been selfish of me to have you all risk yourself for something I wanted to do", Curt said somberly. He had been angry at first, but the quiet flight had given him a moment to calm down and think about what he was asking them, it hurt to admit it, but there was nothing they could do.

"Euuurrot", Embertail growled, hopping in place to grab their attention.

"Wha-Embertail, y-you thin we should try and go back for them?", Curt asked his friend.

"Rrrarough, ramragh rough", The Lizard Pokemon growled, while making strange gestures with his hands and body, it looked like he was a predator hunting some prey.

"Well, yeah, I guess we'ed have the element of surprise this time, if we sneak in there we might be able to spring Jacob and his team, but are you sure you guy's want to do that, it'll still be dangerous", Curt said, a hint of worry in his voice. But several shakes from the balls on his belt and an affirmative nod from Whips was all he needed for confirmation.

"Heh, you guy's", Curt said, a warm smile plastered on his face, "but still, the seven of us won't be enough...we're going to need...". Curt looked over at Cassie, Sai, and Ace, who no doubt overheard everything that had just transpired. Curt knew they still harbored a strong grudge against Jacob, there was no way he was going to convince them to save him....but maybe he didn't have to convince them to save Jacob!

"Cassie, Sai, and uh, Ace", Curt said awkwardly, feeling like he should at least address the Swan Pokemon, "I'm going to find and save Jacob, but I can't do it alone, I need your help". Curt felt a chill run down his spine and as heavy weight hung in the air like a Wailord. The looks on Sai and Cassie's face alone were enough to give Curt his answer.

"I know, I know, you guy's don't like him, and you know, maybe you're right, he did some bad things to you and maybe he deserves this", Curt said as he gave a shrug, as though Jacob's fate didn't matter to him.

"But tell me this: do you really think his Pokemon deserve to suffer at the hands of Team Rocket for what HE did?"

 

[PentheWonderful]

By the time they landed, Ace was winded. He could usually go thousands of miles, but that was with only Cassie and her luggage on his back; the person he's been trained to carry. Added by Sai's enormous weight, and their evasive maneuver, even the Swanna, known for their flight endurance, was winded. He gave an indignant huff as Sai slid off his back, and glanced at Cassie wearily when it was her turn. The trainer gave her Pokemon a gentle peck on the cheek, and tossed him a sitrus berry from her bag pocket.

He caught and munched on it happily.

Turning around, Cassie stretched and creaked her neck casually. "Whoo, I'm starved. Sai, do you have the cooking supplies? I think I gathered enough berries for a confit." By the time she finished saying this, she was on her knees, gathering some twigs and dried grass to start a fire with. As if Jacob's capture meant nothing to her. It probably didn't. "How do you feel about Tranquill meat?"

Nine and Ryu popped out of their pokeballs. Nine, because he knew he needed to help Cassie with the fire, and Ryu, because he knew she wouldn't want to be anywhere near it once it's burning. And because he didn't like Sai being around his trainer. Ace simply got himself comfortable on a patch of moss. From the corner of her eyes, she could see Curt speak to Whips, and pick up bits and pieces of their conversation.

She wasn't surprised to discover he was already planning to rescue Jacob. Oh, Curt. Your kind heart will be the end of you one day. Cassie was just about to ask Nine to light a fire, when, speak of the devil, Curt turns and approaches her and Sai. "I know, I know, you guy's don't like him, and you know, maybe you're right, he did some bad things to you and maybe he deserves this,"

Cassie turned, and she watched him shrug. Trying to act indifferent, but she knew otherwise. Curt couldn't be indifferent no matter what he did or how hard he tried. But then, when he continued, Cassie paused. "But tell me this: do you really think his Pokemon deserve to suffer at the hands of Team Rocket for what HE did?"

Her Pokemon's eyes were on her now, and she kept her gaze on her gloved hands. However, the most reaction came from Ryu. The Pokemon of justice was conflicted between doing the right thing, and his over-protectiveness of Cassie. 'It... It's not our fight anymore. The scores are settled.' Yet as he said this, there was a hint of uncertainty in his crimson eyes. 'But... As for his Pokemon...'

'The stakes are not worth it.' Nine also piped up, as he sat and shut his eyes. He seemed more collected than Ryu. "It would be very unwise. We'll only become bigger targets for Team Rocket.'

Finally, it was Cassie's turn to answer. And what a surprising answer it was. "Ryu is right. Jacob's Pokemon, doesn't deserve this. But, only saving his Pokemon is probably not what you had in mind." She leaned back, sat on the dirt. For some reason, she began thinking back on her own childhood, when her hopes and dreams were replaced with her parent's. When she was forced to become a trainer so that her mother could feel success where she'd failed, and to further her father's research. It was the feeling of not having a choice in life. Of reliance. Maybe that was why she loved Pokemon so much, and allowed her to bond with her own Pokemon; because she understood that feeling all too well.

"But they'd be pretty sad without Jacob anyway." Cassie flicked her fedora, adjusting its position on her head. But as she stood, her devious, sly self returned and replaced the sentimental self from before. "You do know this means you owe me a favor." That smile debonair smile on her face, as she extended her index finger to Curt with her palm facing up. Ace began to stand, and flapped his way over to Cassie, stirring the loose dirt as he landed. "And so does Jacob."

A soft chuckle left her as she once again got on Ace's back, taking her messenger bag which Ryu offered her, and returned him and Nine back to their pokeballs. "I do love collecting favors." She waited for Sai to also get on Ace before they took off, returning to the area where Jacob fell. This time, they did a careful descent, making sure the grunts were completely gone, before landing. Cassie quickly hopped off, snatching her two pokeballs, "Nine, Ryu!"

The Lucario and Ninetales reappeared in a flash of white. "Nine, see if you can catch their scent! Ryu, try to detect their auras!"

The two Pokemon fanned out, Nine sniffing around while Ryu shut his eyes and did a perimeter scan. Cassie crouched on the ground, observing the mess of footprints scattered around the forest floor. Ace leaned down and looked at them with her. A minute later, both Nine and Ryu piped up. 'That way!' They both turned to the same direction. Cassie raised Ace's pokeball. "You did well." And returned him.

Getting up, Cassie turned to the boys and cocked her head in the direction her Pokemon chose. "Let's hustle." And with a single step from her, Nine and Ryu took off. Obviously Cassie and her team did not play games when it came to serious missions.

 

[Trucro]

Jacob took a deep breath. He had been poked and prodded through the woods, reaching the forest's outskirts. It was here that Team Rocket had created a temporary command center composed of a rather large truck that opened to reveal several computers and what appeared to be a huge television screen, although Jacob knew better. He had seen mobile units like these before, and knew that they really acted as scouting and communications systems. He watched, sitting on the ground, his hands tied behind his back as Hera walked up to one of the communications consoles and began to put in numbers. She was reporting that he had been captured.

Jacob looked around the site. Several other Rocket members had sat on a ledge provided by the truck, and were eating snacks. Several Weavile still littered the area, although they appeared to be relaxing rather than actively looking for danger. After all, they were outside of dense woods; with sparce tree cover, they would be able to see an enemy from a mile away. And that was without Grey.

The Hypno stood patiently not far away from Jacob. In fact, he was the closest figure to Jacob. It hurt him more than a little to watch grey work for Team Rocket; he had trained the pokemon from a Drowzee while working for them. He had actually planned to take the pokemon with him when he left, but was unable to take Grey and his own pokemon. Grey's psychic powers were formidable, and he was the most powerful psychic pokemon, based on pure psychic ability, he had ever seen. Even if Jacob could plan an escape, even if he could somehow reach his belt which was lying safely in the hands of a grunt fifteen feet away, he still wouldn't be able to defeat the guarding Hypno, much less horde of Weavile that surrounded him.

Jacob sighed again. He wondered what Curt and the others were doing. He was certain that Cassie and Sai couldn't have been more pleased with his capture; how perfectly ironic it must have been for them. But Curt, he thought, was his friend. They hadn't known each other for too long, but he wondered how Curt would react. He was trusting, and Jacob knew that he and his pokemon had made an impression on Embertail at least. It wouldn't be devastating to him, but Jacob figured it would take some time for them to get over his loss.

His thoughts turned to his immediate future. He had figured that "the Boss wants to talk with you," meant he was going to be killed, and his pokemon confiscated. But if that was true, why hadn't they killed him already? Perhaps they were going to take him back to their hideout, but why would they? They certainly had agents more talented than Jacob, so it was not as if they needed his assistance, as far as he could figure. Had the Boss actually taken a liking to him? That couldn't be; Giovanni was cold-hearted and distant. There was no reason for them to take him back. Although, they could throw him in their dungeon and use him for ransom or coercion.

He purposely turned his thoughts away from his future. Whatever it was, he needed to avoid it. He needed a plan to get to his pokemon. Maybe, just maybe, if he was able to release Nero, he'd be able to escape. As Hera spoke to someone on the large screen (Jacob couldn't see who), Jacob carefully looked around the makeshift Rocket unit. He began to play with the rope that bound his wrists behind his back, successfully loosening it without removing it entirely. At the very least, he thought, these grunts were fairly un-thorough. Perhaps an escape attempt could work, but the more he thought about it, the fewer ideas he came up with.