Ask to Join Pokémon Ranger, Almia goes old school. RP thread.

[AceyPie]

Celia mainly stood silent whilst walking with the group apart from the seldom chat with Frank and Jake about the poachers, how could she forget them? First mission, first screw-up of her career "Ngh..." She mumbled and shook her head as a thought enetered her mind If Frank lived in the same area as her, why had she never seen him before...? Or is she just being an idiot and they've actually talked before...? without even finishing the though Celia smacked into a branch "Gah!" She held her nose as Zian, who was particularly stingy with the plantlife squealed at Celia's auditory spike, she pulled out that one sharp thing she always carries which was luckily a lengthy dagger and started chopping away at the vegetation.

Just a couple hours of chopping down inmocent plant life and their descendants, the sun was starting set, albeit it wasnt night yet. Celia sheated the dagger and adjusted her hat and moved to the 'drag marks' and kneeled down beside them heck, if she didnt know better she would've mistaken them for smears of... droppings, these poachers tried to cover their marks, if not, what else? She didnt see any more marks further down the main path so she whistled as Zian timidly made his way to her, she tilted her head to the tracks as Zian sniffed it, Zian pulled his head back and continued sniffing as Celia stood up and walked over the Jake and hacked at the vegetation dangerously close to Jake's face with her dagger "Boo..." she greeted in a monochromatic tone "Zian's trying to pick up a scent..." she scanned the surroundings for trodden up plants or anything akin to it "and looks like he's taking awhile... never happened before, is there anything here that can like... mask a scent...?" She looked over to Jake for a second before moving her eyes back to the barely visible view from the ever so slightly elevated ground

((OOC: speaking of retcon I can have Zian pick up the scent from up north and start running there so we can rendevous with the rest of the group?))

 

[Paddler]

(OOC: It sounds like a fun option, so go for it.)

 

[AceyPie]

As Celia was having a chat with Jake, Zian may have picked something up from the dodgy drag marks. Zian quickly made his way to Celia, whose boot almost got a huge Lycanroc-sized bite mark in it "Calm down boy!" Celia shook Zian off her foot as Zian barked and ran off towards the way they came from "Where are you going?!" The girl shouted at the sprinting dog Pokemon, who was already gone "Guess Zian found a scent... I guess?" Celia made sure her hat was firmly on her head and began running after Zian, in a slightly slower pace hoping Zian would notice Celia wasnt following and backtrack, also because she knew the others couldnt keep up with her especially in this type of terrain "Come on guys! Zian's got something!" She shouted to get everyone's attention before running off north, doing her best to keep a reasonable pace as aforementioned.

 

[DarkHydraT]

"Zian found something? Let's hope it is the poachers." Frank stood up and had to hurry to keep up with Zian, the extra weight of Audrey weighing him down by a solid 59 pounds. He was no stranger to this kind of terrain, having spent most of his childhood here, but he felt cumbersome and became top-heavy due to the Carnivine clinging onto him. "Audrey, do me a favor and go towards Zian using the trees. See if you can help him. If he stops, check the wind direction and use Sweet Scent to signal us. Got it?"

Apparently the Fly Catcher Pokémon didn't understand as she didn't seem to want to let go of him. Why did her friend want her to let go? Wasn't he a fan of hugs? Frank just sighed and smiled, petting her head. "Can't expect too much of you, we just met. It's okay, just have to push through." He accelerated his step by a bit and pushed branches away that his partner couldn't bite off.

 

[AceyPie]

Another terribly long run all they way north "Geez Zian cant you slow down bud?" Celia huffed, pretending Zian could understand him or hear him for that matter, Zian on the other hand seems to have bumped into the other group, he sped through Wynter, Jordan and Msyu, who was left quite frightened by the lightning fast Lycanroc running through. Not a moment later Celia arrived, worse for wear which was a first she had never gotten tired following after Zian before... "AH" she bent over and held her knees, gasping for air "Zian's- never run that- fast before..." She stopped between words to take in air... and as Celia hoped Zian came back, knowing his partner wasnt able to keep up, he whimpered sitting down infront of her "Im fine bud... what's gotten you so worked up?" Celia let herself fall to the ground, still trying to recover from that tediously long run, and it looks like Zian was too as he rolled out his tongue and began taking pants "Remind me what this group was doing again...? I forgot..." She chuckled awkwardly

 

[DarkHydraT]

After a while, Frank arrived with a pale face and a delighted Carnivine. "When...what...why is Zian...running so far?" He panted, clearly out of breath. "We...met the Kakuna deliverance..group. Those poachers...are a solid while away now." He straightened his back and looked at Celia and Zian, not exactly amused. "Don't tell me that he smelt this group, that's the worst outcome of this run. They're supposed to go to Logger's End, so away from Chicole Village." Audrey reached for a nearby tree and finally let go, instead hanging on a branch.

"Thanks, that helps a lot." Frank gave Audrey a thumbs up as he began taking deep breaths. It was clear to see that the Fly Catcher Pokémon held onto him tight, although he didn't seem to have any injuries. "Now what? We split up and we're back together again except for mister Southwoods. I hope he isn't lost."

 

[Paddler]

OOC: Ooooooh, I somehow thought you wanted to split off from the rest of us south group and then meet back up with us at the drag mark (how did I think that?), but we're running back towards the north group. Aaaaaaaaaaah. Dayum, that's a serious run. Okay...

South
Jake figured a trainee in motion outranks a ranger who doesn't know what's going on. He also figured that he still wants to be able to run through the forest tomorrow. After following at full pace for a while and not seeing an end to the run he cuts down to a lower speed. He nods to Frank as he lets the guy in a plant suit passes. 'Go, I'll catch up,' his eyes say. Between the fresh footsteps of people running, the barking of Zian, the yelling of Celia and Jake's sense of heading in a consistent direction he manages to stay on the trail of the others. As the others get ahead far enough to put their sounds out of hearing range Jake starts to get a sneaking suspicion of where they're going and makes a mental note not to let Celia and her partner track anything for a while.

North
'Ooooh, there's not just carrots on this cart, there's cucumbers,' Lefty thought. 'O, and leek, and potatoes. That's a good cart. Though it does smell a little funny for vegetables. I'd better stick my nose in that business. Hey, that's waggy tail friend. I thought they went somewhere else? Why are they running around here? Never mind, there's food to be checked out.'

(OOC: This time I have an idea for what Lefty is on to here, which I will reveal in time. I'll give everyone a post to catch their breath. Note that Lefty as of this post is not trying to draw anyone's attention, though he is visibly moving towards the cart pulled by the Doduo and Growlithe.)

 

[AceyPie]

Celia was finally alright after that long run all they way south of here, albeit she was still quite parched it was nothing she couldnt handle, besides at least the group was back together again, well mostly Jake was still nowhere to be seen, The girl stood brushing off the dirt from her legs as she twirled around to scan her surroundings only to find Jake was still behind "Ah geez... I hope he's alright..." Celia expressed her concern to no one in particular in which she often did in her alone time, she stood up and began walking casually ahead to see Lefty, who was getting mighty curious about a cart of foodstuffs "Hey Boy why dont you go over and socialize a bit huh?" Celia knelt down and scratched behind Zian's ear, Zian was all too happy to NOT oblige as he ran behind a rock, refusing to go near anyone as Celia sighed and walked over to Lefty "Whatcha got here buddy?" She leaned over the cart "Leeks? Potatoes?" She whispered to herself "they arent in season yet..." she thought to herself and as she examined the cart that was pulled by the Doduo and Houndour she debated whether snooping through other people's stuff was acceptable now that she was a ranger... well almost this trainee thing still has her mighty confused on what their objective today was, she looked left and right and proceeded to call out to the older woman as she supposedly is the one incharge "Ma'am, if you dont mind me asking... where are taking this fine harvest off to?" She feigned interest and knowledge on the veggies not reliable to full mature this time of year and in such great numbers too! Maybe she was just being paranoid and they stockpiled the foodstuffs but she had to make sure, can't have another screwup she thought to herself as she waited for the woman... or women rather to take notice of her and hopefully answer her question.

 

[Paddler]

(OOC: Okay, let's do this.)

Lefty was now rummaging through the vegetables with his horn. There was somethings about this that... Ah, you see, there it is: a big wooden crate. Good find eh?

The younger woman, noticing the interest the Rhyhorn and the fast running ranger have for the wooden box runs up to her cart. Three large steps and she's there. Before anyone can act she twists a large wing nut functioning as a dial and flips a lever. When the box starts glowing, so do the baskets full of Kakuna.

If Jake had a sixth sense he would start sprinting right about now.

 

[AceyPie]

Zian perked her ears and head up at the sound of metal clinking and arranging itself, a bit reluctant at first to investigate what the Rhyhorn and his partner were doing, Curiosity finally took over him as her ran to see what Celia was doing... luckily he isnt a cat.

Celia's eyes widened at the sight with an audible "Woah" she didnt know what it did but it still made her fascinated, I mean its not everyday you see glowing Kakunas, despite the earlier sights this still made her giddy like a child "Thats... all amazing and everything ma'am..." Celia cleared her throat for a moment "But... if you dont mind me asking" she derived her eyes away from the luminescent Pokemon and into the woman's eyes "What does it do...?" She shrugged before her gaze inevitably averted back to the basket as in between intervals they both shined with a lustrous... eh shine I guess, before long she noticed Zian was not at the cart sniffing at the box "Boy why dont you go and make sure Jake doesnt end up missing like that Southwoods guy" she patted Zian's head before he ran off south and immediately ran into Jake...

Quite literally, it didnt take long for Zian to recover (dunno about Jake) and as soon as he did he started to frantically jump around with barking and howling to get his attention and once sure that he did he started sprinting back the other way towards Celia and the others, hoping the aged man could keep up, while Zian was running however Celia wanted to see if she could get some of those leeks though amidst all this work and stress, a good veggie would really do her some good right about now.

 

[DarkHydraT]

Frank may have been physically exhausted, his brain was still in prime condition and those glowing Kakuna were not a pretty sight. "Celia, get to cover! Those Kakuka are evolving!" He stood up and tried to get Celia to move, hoping that he could keep her safe from the sting of a swarm of angry Beedrill. Audrey was fascinated by the sudden pretty lights and began to move towards it, she then realised that those glowing lights was food! Oh happy day, her first meal after that kind person helped her. She opened her mouth and a sweet scent began wafting through the area, attracting human and Pokémon alike.

Frank was not exactly thrilled to find out that Audrey used Sweet Scent, this could end badly. "Cover your nose, don't get drawn to that smell!"

 

[AceyPie]

Celia was mesmerized by the sight of the evolving pokemon "huh...?" She responded to Frank, not really listening much... not listening at all to be accurate, she took a sniff in and that was enough to break her from her trance from the pretty lights the sweet scent battling with the lights for her attention "What the...?" Celia turned to Audrey, she was used to Pokemon used Sweet Scent, a ton of trips to the forest and encounters with different pokemon that knew sweet scent in general, most of them were bug type though, dunno if that would make a difference if the sweet scent came from a grass type such as Audrey "Whats happening?" She raised her hands up and slowly walked away from the cart and near Audrey incase the Carnivine decided to do something... unsightly to those Kakuna, the sweet scent was still affecting her as she struggled to fight the urge to put her head inside Audrey's mouth, albeit to a much lower extent that most people, Zian on the other hand though was very uncomfortable as he covered his sensitive nose with his paws, laid down on the ground, whimpering "Frank?! Whats Happenin'?" She turned to Frank whilst keeping one hand ontop of Audrey's head ready to wrestle with her once she got close enough to the cart

 

[Paddler]

The glowing Kakuna start moving around, making space for themselves, getting ready to evolve. Audreys sweet scent seems to have a calming effect though. As the monstrous grass type focuses itself on the baskets hanging from Jordan's Gogoat those Kakuna seem to calm down, and their glow dims a bit.

The glow in the baskets on Jake's Rhyhorns back doesn't dim. It intensifies and the Beedril start popping out of their old protective shells. Lefty finds himself covered in a growing number of busy yellow bodies with sharp needle arms. At first the Rhyhorn doesn't really know how to react, but then he gets stung. He jumps up a bit, what's happening? He gets stung a second time though, and tries to shake the baskets loose, but the weaving is too good. As he gets stung a third time Lefty decides he's had enough and starts running. South, in the direction of the river. Water, loose sand, gravel, lots of stuff to bury yourself in and see if it helps.

Jake doesn't see anything yet, but he's close enough that a feint buzzing sound starts reaching him. This is weird, but the reality that he should be speeding up isn't sinking in yet.

 

[DarkHydraT]

"Audrey, stop it!" Frank shut Audrey's mouth and tried to pull Celia into the shrubbery. "Those Kakuna are going to evolve, and those Beedrill won't be happy! Come on Celia, hide!" The medic was clearly worried, that amount of Beedrill would burn through his antidotes like a Munchlax through a bakery. "Audrey, help me here!"

Audrey, always happy to help the friendly man, wrapped vines around both of the humans and lifted them to the safety of her tree before opening her mouth again. "Not what I meant, but sure. Thanks." Frank sighed as he glanced at the Kakuna.

 

[AceyPie]

Celia tried to shake Frank off, quite succesful at that, throwing him off "What are you doing?!" She turned her head enough to release the pressure of her hand from Audrey for Audrey to lift both of them up to a nearby tree, she was surprised the Carnivine could lift her, she panicked there for a moment, she had a bad relationship with bug pokemon, moreso than Psychic Pokemon? Maybe not, still it was, although reluctant to show it, she was relieved to be lifted into that tree... "I... I was fine... alright? I didnt need your help" Her stubborness was still as hard as ever

 

[DarkHydraT]

"You are okay right now, but the risk of Beedrill stings is big. If it wasn't for Audrey, we both would have been lying on the ground with a swarm of angry Beedrill stinging us." Frank said sternly to Celia before looking at the Kakuna who were seemingly affected by the scent of Audrey. "That's odd though, they seem to take longer to evolve when Sweet Scent is in effect."

 

[jade421]

"Well, this isn't good." Taylor muttered as she moved with Frank and Audrey while Star remained on her shoulder. Star's cheeks began to spark a bit as the Shinx's face became defensively aggressive while the Kakuna began to display the signs of an inevitable evolution into a swarm of Beedrill, one that would spell major issues for the group as a whole and beyond.

Well, this job got a bit more troubling. Not helped that it seemed that Audrey unintentional tried to provoke them which was bound to create issues but she held restraint as she glanced to her allies.

"So, anyone want to fill me in on the plan from here?" Taylor asked as the situation was bound to get hectic and some plan was needed; something she could see even as a rookie.

 

[DarkHydraT]

"Sweet Scent should calm the Beedrill down somewhat, but someone needs to turn that machine off! This all happened when that thing got activated. And Lefty left as well, someone needs to find him as well. Mister Southwoods won't be happy if he loses Lefty because of us. If Celia here can stay calm and not get lured to Audrey, I can take care of the box and heal myself. In the meantime someone else can find that Rhyhorn!" Frank was anxious, but he still tried to keep some order and calm in his voice. This was a moment where he could make the best or worst decisions of the mission.

 

[Paddler]

Jake had crossed the bridge and was running along when he heard a sound build up, a distant thundering gallop, getting closer fast. He recognized this sound, so he called out while running: "Lefty!" Lefty did indeed appear from over a small hill in the road, but he didn't stop as Jake had expected. While usually Lefty wasn't very good at making his own decisions, right now he seemed dead set on going somewhere as fast as he could. Still carrying a now very small number of very angry Beedrill still stuck in the baskets Lefty stormed right past Jake, who looked surprised for a second and then sprinted after the Rhyhorn, fast enough to almost keep up with it.

Meanwhile further down the road the rangers had managed to get themselves to safety, but they were not the only ones at the scene. The younger woman who had pulled the lever had run off into the forest, but the older woman had tripped and was getting swarmed by black and yellow bodies, desperately fending them off with a walking stick. Correction, make that half a walking stick after that last hit.

 

[DarkHydraT]

"Oh for the love of -!" Frank jumped out of the tree and grabbed a branch. "HEY! OVER HERE!" He waved the branch around and yelled to get the attention of the Beedrill. "Over here, you striped rascals!" He hoped to get the attention of the Beedrill so that he could lure them away from the older woman. "Take care of that woman and turn that machine off, the Beedrill are my issue!" He tossed his medkit towards Celia and Taylor, although he kept the bandages on him. He could light it on fire to scare them off with those bandages, If only he knew how though.

"Taylor, is Star capable of creating a fire or something? I need some right now, and fast!"

 

[Nukas]

Aubrey
Aubrey had realized she'd run a little ahead of the rest of her group and decided to backtrack a little bit. She was walking back when she heard a familiar buzzing that could only mean one thing. Oh no no no no no. The Kakuna were starting to evolve much sooner than the group had expected. She started to run back and she noticed a couple of figures in a tree and one very familiar looking Carnivine. What the heck is the southern group doing here? Obviously, she had missed a bit, but she had to stay focused. She saw the old woman fighting off Beedrill and decided that she had to be the first priority. "Scarlet I need you to use thunder wave in order to paralyze the Beedrill, I need to get that woman out of the way and I can't do that with this swarm."

Scarlet
When Scarlet noticed the swarm of Beedrill she Cobalt and drew him to her location through instinct and fear. She realized through all the buzzing what Aubrey was saying and used thunder wave on the group of Beedrill surrounding the old woman.

Lucas
Lucas had finished up dissecting and sketching the strange evolution box and found an evolution stone he had not seen before inside of it. He took out the stone and decided to put it in his pocket for later inspection. He did a little thing where he flipped his notebook in the air and caught it before thrusting it in the air, trying to come up with his own ranger salute to signify that the mission was complete. This, however, did not work out as planned as he dropped his notebook in the mud. Luckily none of the new information had been smudged, although ironically his page about different types of mud was caked in it. He looked over at his sleeping partner, he felt so bad for the little guy, but he knew he got the best care around. If he was being honest he was trying to delay his journey to the rest of his group as long as possible in order to let the little guy sleep, but he knew he had to head out pretty soon.

Cobalt
Cobalt was sleeping soundly when he felt the slightest tingle in his cheeks. Was the Dedenne in his dreams trying to nuzzle with him? He went up a tree to follow the Dedenne, but he tripped and started to fall. After that, his eyes shot awake and he felt the tingle in his cheeks again. He started crying out to his best friend and partner and pointing weakly in the direction that the message was coming from, the others were in trouble.

 

[jade421]

"On it! Star use Thunderbolt on that patch of grass there!" Taylor called out as she was quick to act, finding a patch of grass that was isolated with some dirt around it as she had the Shinx fire an electric jolt right at it as she aimed to set it on fire for whatever Frank desired to use it for.

Another trainer, a ranger if Taylor had to guess, used paralysis to try and stun the Beedrill which had been an appreciated help as soon Star got the grass cocking which provided Frank opportunity for whatever his plan was.

 

[DarkHydraT]

"Thank you, this should help a lot!" Frank wrapped a solid portion of the bandages tightly around the branch and creating a small bulge on the side of the bandages. He gazed around and saw a pine tree, just what he needed! He ran over towards it and pulled out a knife, cutting the bark away and into the wood underneath. Almost ready! The medic cut shallow notches underneath the main cut in a V like pattern. Soon tree sap began leaking out and Frank made sure to use it, covering the bandages in the sap making it incredibly sticky and flammable.

Audrey was not exactly happy to see the fire, that stuff was incredibly painful and capable of burning her home. She quickly climbed higher in the tree and refused to come back down as long as that fire was still lit.

"Relax Audrey, it will be gone in a minute." Frank reassured his friend as he lit the sap drenched cloth on fire, turning the branch into a torch. He stomped on the burning grass, extinguishing the fire before running towards the Beedrill. "Go away!" By waving the torch around, he tried to scare the Beedrill off even when they were paralyzed. This woman was certainly suspicious, she carried one of those boxes around along with another person and probably knew something about them. They needed to catch and interrogate her, but for that to happen she had to be saved from the buzzing mass of yellow, black and pain.

 

[Nukas]

Aubrey
While she was happy her plan to paralyze the Beedrill worked so well, Aubrey was not happy to see Frank running into the fray of the Beedrill with a big flaming stick. She knew Beedrill did not like fire, and she wasn't sure how much the paralyzation would hold them back if they got scared. She decided to run in and help him save the woman. The faster she was out of danger, the faster Frank would get the heck out of there. "Sorry ma'am but we have to get you out of here, NOW!" She started to almost drag the woman to the tree where Audrey was, and she hoped Frank would not be far behind.

Lucas
Lucas had Cobalt in his hands and was running towards in the direction that Cobalt was directing him. His little buddy was still weak, but he knew that Scarlet never contacted unless it was important so there was no time to waste.

 

[Paddler]

Jake caught up to Lefty, who was rolling around in the water and mud of the river's eddy currents. Two Beedrill were still stuck in the net, but between drowning and squashing them Lefty seemed to be doing a decent job at keeping them in too much of a panic to put up a good fight. Without slowing down Jake grabbed a branch of a shrub on the river bank and snapped it off as he dropped down the rocky incline. He ran over the stones and pebbles of the beach and started poking at the Beedrill with the branch. It wasn't easy with all the moving Lefty was doing, but he got both of the Beedrill unstuck. As they flew off, away from this tumbling madness, Jake tried to calm Lefty down. He grabbed the still rolling beast as beast as he could and spoke to it: "they're gone Lefty, they're gone, the bugs are off of you, calm down Lefty, listen to my voice, calm down, calblubblubblubwraaaahdown Lefty, no need to keep going Lefty..."

 

[AceyPie]

Celia couldn't stay still on that tree, barely being able to contain herself, and being as reckless as she was and not in the sense she wanted to be seen as a hero, well maybe but more so in the way to maybe somehow redeem herself from the screw up on the first mission, she quickly got off the safety of the tree -A fine thing, that tree, filled with kindne- err... leaves- she got off quite tipsily, rolling off onto the ground she grunted as a mild pain from falling a modest height ensued, of course she was used to pain, at least that's what she thought until the first Beedrill came and stung her arm "Ngh!" She bit her tongue instinctively as she always would if anything hit her harder than a Rhyhorn,which it did, a seriously itch followed as another angered Bee Pokemon took this chance to sting her other arm, she fought her way towards Zian, (but not before getting stung a couple of times again)who was ducked in fear, whimpering for his life, Celia laid down on the ground with him, her belly face down "He-hey there big fella..." She was pratically whimpering like her Lycanroc partner, tears streamed down her eyes as she caressed his cheek "I'm here I'm here..." She tried to sound as calm as she could amidst all the chaos "You dont have to be scared Zian, I'm here now I'm here now" She tried to reassure the timid Lycanroc as she crawled over closer to her partner, hugging him as best she could in her current position. Zian's whimpering somewhat stopped and by some miracle he wasn't stung yet "Zian Zian Zian" Celia tried her best to be understandable which was hard to do, considering all this chaos, pain and the uncomfortable itching the stings caused "I n-need you t-to be strong f-for me.. o-okay?" her tears had made they're way towards her chin "I... I n-need you to use Stone Edge for me..." Celia's breathing got raspy as she slowly ran out of energy

Zian ultimately slowly got out of the burrow which was his body, he never used Stone Edge before! well yes technically he knows the move along with a few other useful ones but he never used the move before! B-but Celia... his whimpering was not towards himself anymore but towards his partner, he lowered his head again into the safety of his body as Celia's grip on him slowly loosened, before long Celia completely let go of Zian, What was he supposed to do now?! He knew exactly what he was supposed to do, listen to his partner... Zian got up best he could, braced himself... and stomped the ground as hard as he could! Small, sharp stones flew up all around everyone, hurting everyone they flew past even the other rangers but not as much as they hurt the Beedrill. Soon enough everyone was scattered with cuts (except Celia who was unconscious, not to mention she was mildly allergic to Beedrill stings), the ground was littered with holes, but completely beedrill free

 

[DarkHydraT]

"Whoa!" Frank was caught off guard by the sudden Stone Edge, cutting himself on the sharp rocks but pleasantly surprised by the fact that the Beedrill left. He turned to face the user of the Stone Edge, but thanking Zian had to wait as Celia was unconcious and clearly stung by Beedrill. He extinguished the torch he was holding and ran towards the fellow trainee. "Audrey, pressure!" The Carnivine that was hiding in a nearby tree came closer and wrapped her vines around Celia's arms as Frank began sucking the venom out of her arms.

After extracting the venom from Celia's arms and the other places she's been stung, the medic let the Beedrill antidote drip into the wonds and wrapped bandages around her wounds. "That's the best I can do, if she's allergic then recovery will be harder but I believe she'll make it through." After preforming the same procedure on the wounded woman who carried the box, he tied her arms together and put her against a tree. "Alright, anyone know how to interrogate her? I'd like to keep an eye on Celia."

 

[kyuukestu]

"Eeek!"

Startled herself by the rushing Lycanroc and his trainer, Wynter hopped to the side and well out off Zian's way. In perfect sync, Mysu too had leaped to the side, the Glameow's leaping for Wynter's legs. Now, Mysu's claws were nothing to scoff at as Wynter was now learning first hand —"EEEEEEEEEKK!!"

As if that wasn't bad enough, the thundering buzz from the swarm of beedrill was soon upon her. Panicked, she took to diving into the nearest bush.

"Mysu, Hypnosis!"

Although she'd called out an order, neither Mysu nor Wynter herself knew where their attackers were. Flustered as the duo was, stray shots of hypnosis went careening through the forest to land on whoever was unlucky enough to be in the way.

 

[jade421]

"W-what the heck..."

That was all Taylor had been able to get out in the last few minutes. While she had Star work to paralyze the Beedrill before a sudden Stone Edge came from out of nowhere as someone came to try and take the box and another one had been caught in the crossfire. Both seemed down for the count as it turned out running into a Beedrill swarm was a stupid idea but irregardless Frank had gone to suck the poison out before he bound up the thief and asked for interrogation.

"I-I mean I can handle something like that. But I think we should make sure they get some help in case of allergic..." Taylor started to say, before Star seemed to race off which caught her eye as it appeared some Beedrill were by a bush as they targeted something.

"Star Thunderbolt!" Taylor called out, as she had seen enough today to guess something or someone was in trouble in that bush as Star fired an electric strike on the Beedrill; the aim to shock them into paralysis or scare them off to help clear them from the bush.

 

[Nukas]

Aubrey
Aubrey had barely gotten the woman that Frank was helping out of danger when a rogue stone edge came barreling straight at her head. While it may have gotten rid of most of the Beedrill, it almost got rid of her as well, although she was able to narrowly escape with just a scrape on her cheek. After Frank had asked for some help interrogating the woman, Aubrey was prepared to be the bad cop and get some answers out of this lady. Before she got the chance, however, She suddenly couldn't quite keep her eyes open. She felt a great urge to fall asleep right there, and she collapsed.

Lucas
Lucas was getting tired of running and knew he had to have been getting close. Cobalt had gone back asleep because he was sure Lucas knew the way to go from here. Suddenly Lucas caught a glimpse of two very familiar figures in the distance. Of course, this caused him to be a little confused. He looked back in his notes where it clearly states that Jake should have been with the other group, and yet he was here alone with Lefty, away from both groups. "Jake? what are you doing here, I thought your mission went in the opposite direction. Also, where are the other groups? Scarlet sent Cobalt a distress call which means that Aubrey must be in danger.

 

[DragonFlye]

Nice going, Kreiss, Jordan thought to himself at Wynter's sour demeanor. That was something to be repaired at some point, hopefully, but he figured she could use some space for the time being. Instead, he reached into the pocket of his duster to run a thumb over the copper coins that Jake had given him and focused on the steady, familiar thump of hoofsteps.

Their trip predictably stretched into the late evening, and Jordan was considering calling Aubrey and stopping the group to rest before he spotted a few dark shapes up ahead. His steps faltered, but he soon realized that it was only a pair of travelers and their Pokemon, wheeling a rickety cart containing a humble harvest. "Hey!" He called, waving with a friendly smile as they approached, but concern on the edge of his mind. While it was true that the route was popular with merchants due to its location between Pueltown and Vientown, this late at night there was always a risk for unprepared traders to be caught off-guard by bandits looking for a score. The pair of women could probably use an escort to the nearest town, but then again, there was their current mission to worry about.

Only, as he was mulling over options in his mind, he was nearly barreled over by a furry blur, followed by a person that he quickly recognized as one of the rookie rangers that had been with Jake's group. Where had she come from…? While it was true that Jordan's group hadn't been moving particularly quickly, it still would've been a hell of a trip for the group to backtrack all the way towards them. He looked down as she commented on Lefty's pilfering of various produce, but the younger woman had moved quickly to something in the cart. Jordan opened his mouth to remark on it, but never got the chance as Thorne unexpectedly reared up on his hind legs beside him. The motion took him by such a surprise that he fell to the ground, shielding his eyes from both flying dirt and a bright light the emitted from the baskets on both Pokemon's bodies. With a start, Jordan realized that the Kakuna they'd been carrying were evolving, but… he'd never heard of any Pokemon evolving twice in the same day.

Regardless, there was no time to dwell on it. If they were about to be dealing with a swarm of angry Beedrill, everyone in the area was in danger. Not to mention that Thorne was a grass type, particularly vulnerable to a Beedrill's vicious poison, and the normally lax mount Pokemon knew it by the way he was angrily bucking. Jordan hadn't wrestled a Tauros since his family had used them to pull their carts, but...he figured it was the same idea. He leapt at the Gogoat's leafy back, searching for purchase to try and calm his partner down enough to remove the baskets of glowing bug-types. Once he had a grip on Thorne's thick mane, Jordan unsheathed the knife at his hip and began to saw at the ropes attaching the baskets to the Pokemon's sides as carefully as he could. It took several tries; every time Thorne tossed or bucked Jordan would nearly lose his grip on the knife and need to find the rope's weak point once more.

When a thick, almost sickly sweet smell suddenly crept over them, Thorne's bucking slowed and the glow of their Kakuna dimmed, giving Jordan the chance to cut through the last supporting strands of rope. As he did so, each basket of Kakuna dropped to the ground with a solid thump. The Gogoat nearly trampled the Kakuna in his foggy attempt to distance himself from them, Jordan still clinging to his back like his life depended on it. The Ranger reached up to grip his partner's horns and murmured comforting words, and sure enough Thorne's panicked stomping soon subsided, replaced with agitated huffing. Jordan sighed in relief at the softening of his ride and tried dismounting, but his arms and legs had gone weak during the ordeal and he fell face-first into the dirt with a groan. His rest was brief, however, as the pair focused on defending themselves from both Beedrill attacks and friendly fire.

Once he'd gotten some respite from the numerous attacks, Jordan made his way over to Aubrey and Frank, where the former appeared to have been losing consciousness. He was no doctor, however, and he noted that a number of his other teammates were also in various states of unconsciousness and injury. The medic would be busy. "Yeah, thanks," he said to Frank with a smile. "If you take care of Celia and the others, we'll see what we can do about her."

 

[Paddler]

Lefty was starting to calm down, Jake pulled his head out of the mud, spit out half a glass of muddy water as if he was trying to lower someone's accuracy, and heard Lucas call out. He was thinking of explaining the situation when he saw a cloud of large buzzing things rise in the distance. Although he couldn't see the rock type attack that had caused the creatures to fly up, he knew that this was the direction Zian had led his squad in.

"What the..."

His brain reset.

"I don't think we have time for explanations Lucas. Get to whatever that swarmy could is. If that swarm is angry at anything, that thing can use our help." "Lefty, focus!" The Rhyhorn got a slap in the face which seemed to take it the last little stretch to acting normal-ville. "I'm sorry there's no time to treat you, but I know how tough you are. Let's ride!"

Jake jumped onto the back of his trusty Rhyhorn, who thundered off in a storm of dust, fast enough that Jake would have had to quickly grab his hat, had he still been wearing one. He yelled a final greeting of sorts at Lucas and Cobalt, more as a badly timed taunt than as anything serious: "Try to keep up!"

 

[DarkHydraT]

"Oh for the love of Arceus. Wynter! Try to get Mysa to relax, we can't be snoozing now!" Frank yelled at Wynter as he tried to get to Aubrey without falling asleep himself. Grabbing her arm, he managed to get her out of any immediate danger and laid her down against the tree in which Audrey was hanging.

"Will do, I'm counting on you to get this show back on the road Jordan." The medic said as he tried to wake Aubrey up from her deep slumber.

 

[Paddler]

To Jake's mild surprise, Lucas did pretty much keep up, as Lefty seemed more bothered by the stings than Jake had thought. The beast came to a panting stop at the base of the tree where the wounded had been gathered. Jake, also panting a bit from having jumped off and ran alongside his friend for the last bit, figured the Rhydon wouldn't be of much more use for a few hours. Quickly surveying the scene, most of what Jake could see was just one big mess. There were some baskets of wriggling Kakuna. Jake had missed the part where they were glowing, but right now they were just struggling a bit. There was some good news as well. Everyone was here. While he had missed the barrage of rocks, he saw the Beedrill were already scattering, and Star and Taylor were still going at them. "However you did that," he said while pointing at the scattering cloud of Beedrill, "good job. We need one more push. A fire, a big attack, something. Anyone got an idea?"

As his eyes darted up and down the battlefield and his companions, Jake's mind was racing. There had to be a solution, there's always a solution. He tried thinking of their equipment, of the damaged wagon still standing in the epicenter of the swarm, of the Pokémon in this area...