Ask to Join The Dark Tournament

[Loziana]

"Damn, My head hurts and my ears are ringing. Alex?" Aidinia heard the sounds of the jungle before she even opened her eyes. "Something is definitely wrong, I don't feel Alex." Aidinia sat up, she took in her surroundings. Seeing Alex's ball by her side she breathed a little easier. The great wind bag in the hologram began speaking as she was getting to her feet. She turned and looked to the sky just in time to see Alex, the trainer, shot. She screamed. Her hand flew to her mouth and just as quickly Maverick was struck by the bolt from the sky. "Oh God, NO!" She cried as her eyes glistened with the beginning tears.

She cried only moments before realizing that now wasn't the time to grieve. Act now, process later began her mantra. Just like losing a patient. Her pain was intense, but she knew there were many other trainers, and they were going to need her. She was a Dr. and they were her priority, them and their Pokemon. She gathered her wits, looked about, water, food, shelter and then collect the others.

Aidinia began to walk, the first thing she sought was thick waxy leaves. Thick leaves served multiple purposes, the first, water collection, the second, water tight roofing, the third bedding off the damp ground. The third use also required branches and pliable strips of vine or wood to create a cot. She traveled toward the horizon hoping to find her way to the edge of the jungle. She looked for coconut, banana and pineapple as she traveled. These would be good sources of food. As would leaves of edible plants. She knew a few that would surfice. She also knew that she could fashion fishing nets from vines. This won't be to hard. We will survive this. We know survival, Alex, it's what we do. We have to survive this. We have to for our friend. For Alex. Her tears began to flow again, but they didn't stop her work. They merely made her more determined to survive and to stop the lunatic who killed her friend.

After gathering food, Aidinia realized she needed a way to carry things, so she swiftly combined a few leaves into a make shift back pack. She also thought ahead to medical supplies and gathered antiseptic plants, absorbent plants and the like to her growing collection in the leaf pack.

Her objectives: find a clearing, make a strong shelter to block out the wild Pokemon, find her friends. She realized she could block the Pokemon simply by surrounding her camp with sharpened spiked sticks tall enough to be over her small shelter. The spikes would also serve to tie vines to in order to place her roofing/ water collection system. A sliding door would seal the camp and wouldn't be hard to fashion. She set about her day working to achieve her goals of food, shelter and water. Tomorrow she would start looking for her friends.

 

[SUPERRNOVAA]

Floyd was carefully walking through the jungle until a stray root tripped him over. A pokedex, his pokedex, fell out of the pocket in his pants and tumbled out on to the rocky ground in front of him, it miraculously turned on. Floyd, a bit confused at the situation tried to get up, but he couldn't. There was something extremely sticky underneath him. Upon looking downward, a slightly transparent web revealed itself, not only that, the pokedex stationed in the rocks nearby began to speak.

"Spinarak, the String Spit pokemon. The web spun by Spinarak can be considered its second nervous system. It is said that this Pokémon can determine what kind of prey is touching its web just by the tiny vibrations it feels through the web's strands."

"MMMPH!" Floyd exclaimed, his mouth was stuck to the web. The sound of Spinarak chittering grew louder and louder as three of them approached him from behind. Scared and dazed, Floyd struggled but to no avail, the web wouldn't even budge one bit. Inspiration struck as adrenaline furiously pumped itself into his veins. Two of the approaching Spinarak crawled over some mossy bark to get on to their web, the other one wriggled it's way on to his leg and slowly started to climb up it. They were all aiming to get to the head.

In a small ditch beneath the web, Swifts pokeball laid dormant. Floyd repeatedly tried stretching his fingers in an effort to tap the pokeballs button, only a centimeter of space separated his hand and the pokeball. The Spinarak climbing up his leg had made it's way to his neck now.

'HSSSSS'

The Spinarak clamped down on Floyd's shoulder and pierced his muscle, sending a small river of blood to leak and travel down his back. Floyd grit his teeth as hard as he could as a tear rolled down his cheek. The pain was immense, and there were still two more stings to come. "C'MON!!!" He yelled in agony while he mustered up all of his strength before finally managing to hit the middle button on the Pokeball below. Swift came out and immediately used ice beam on the Spinarak digging into Floyd's shoulder. A small white sphere materialized in front of the Starmie only seconds before a thin but precise snow-like beam came flying towards it.

 

[Nygenn]

Location: Jinko Island, Jungle
Time: 1st Day, Early morning
Tagging: Salem, Ajax

----------------​

A dull throbbing woke Salem up. He opened his eyes and pushed himself off the ground into a sitting position. He let out a groan when he felt a painful stab in his side at the motion.

“What…” he began to say but then it all came back to him.

He had pulled open his room door expecting to find a staff member carrying his drinks, but that didn’t turn out to be the case. Instead of the hotel staff a small group of armed and masked men had rushed him the moment he swung the door wide.

Before his mind could really process what was happening his body was already going through a familiar motion deeply ingrained in his muscles. Time seemed to slowing down as he lowered his center of gravity while snaking his own arms around the outstretched arm of the front most invader. He then stepped inside the man's guard, twisted his shoulder into the sternum and his hips into the man’s pelvis. Immediately he moved the grunt’s arm over his shoulder, pulled down roughly on it while kicked sharply back and up. Using the first man's mass as a counter weight Salem could put more force behind the kick and he used this to its full effect. His foot struck the next grunt's head and it snapped back from the force.

It all happened in an instant and when time seemed to flow normally again the man leading the group was on his back on the ground. The second man had fallen backwards and was clutching his face where Salem’s heel had connected with his nose. Blood seeped from beneath his mask and he was cursing vehemently.

When his mind caught up with his body Salem spun his leg around the arm he was still holding onto and pressed his weight down on the man’s shoulder. “Who are you people?” he demanded and applied a bit more force on the shoulder joint electing a painful moan from his captive.

The smile was gone from Salem’s face. His jaw was set and his eyes looked hard at the men who had tried to ambush him. He counted four of them from what little he could see of the dark hallway beyond.

“Fuck this!” one of the men in the back shouted. “Koffing, gas that asshole!”

A floating mass of meat the color of bruised skin pushed its way through the doorway. It was covered in nasty looking boils and its face seemed stuck in a look of perpetual, drug induced bliss. The Pokemon wasted no time at all and opened its mouth to bellow forth a thick cloud of foul green gas.

Salem instinctively released his captive to jump back and pressed a corner, of the blanket he was wearing, to his face. It wasn’t enough though. The gas burned his throat and Salem doubled over as a coughing fit hit him. His eyes stung and started tearing up, but from the corner of his limited vision he could Ajax slowly getting up. The big Pokemon was roused by all the commotion in the room and started struggling to roll out of the fluffy bed.

“Restrain that thing!” the same voice from before shouted. Immediately two enormous Arboks slithered into the room deftly avoiding their masters. They were on the Blastoise before he was well and truly on his feet and wrapped themselves tightly around him. Ajax roared in frustration as struggled as best he could but there was no escaping the constricting snakes.

“Ajax!” Salem yelled in between coughs and started for his friend. However, before he even finished the first step he was bodily tackled by some of the men with masks. Salem struck the coffee table in the middle of the room on his way down and gasped involuntarily. The thick smog immediately rushed down his throat and into his lungs. Salem coughed and choked as he writhed on the floor. One of the men stepped forward and delivered a hard kick to Salem’s abdomen.

“You broke my nose you little shit!” the man raged and kicked him again, then once more. He would have kicked a fourth time if one of the men hadn’t intervened.

“That’s enough!” the man commanded. “We want him in somewhat functional condition.”

“Yeah!” another man chimed in. “I put my money on him so don’t go killing him now.”

Salem barely heard the hate filled roar of Ajax as darkness overcame him. Right before the world went completely black a red light engulfed the raging Blastoise and pulled him back into his Pokeball.

“Sis…” Salem muttered and then the void claimed him.

All of that had happened at night. The sun was out now and beaming down through the thick foliage overhead.

‘I must be out in the jungle somewhere.’ Salem thought as he took in his surroundings. ‘The question is if this is the same island or not.’

He spotted a Pokeball in the dirt a little ways to the side. “That had better be Ajax” he commented and struggled a bit to get up. That’s when he noticed the black clothes he was wearing. Pants and shirt, both made of cheap materials and not in a style he particularly preferred.

‘Well I suppose they could have left me completely naked’ Salem shrugged and focused on the Pokeball again. No sooner had he taken a step towards what he presumed was his friend, then a loud voice boomed in the sky. It sounded like it came from several speakers in various directions.

“Welcome to the Dark Tournament,” the voice began and continued explaining the details of the most twisted game Salem had ever heard of.

He continued towards the Pokeball and picked it up, wincing and clutching his bruised side as he did so.

Before he could anything else a second voice caught Salem’s attention. This one sounded like a defiant young man and seemed to coming from somewhere overhead.

“I don’t know who the fuck you are buddy, but you really are insane if you think any of us are going to stay on your deathtrap island!” the youth bellowed and Salem grinned with approving admiration at the statement. He looked up and tried to locate the man in the sky. But just as he found him, past some thick overhanging branches, the rebel was shot from the sky. The Pigeot he’d been riding didn’t last much longer and was taken down by a bolt of lightning.

Salem looked on, horrified, as their bodies plummeted lifelessly to the earth below.

The voice that had spoken up first continued his explanations in a sickly amused tone.

Salem didn’t want to listen but he knew that his survival might depend on this information, therefor he zoned everything else out and committed the message to memory.

Then a distant female scream disrupted his concentration. Though, thanks to that he heard the buzzing of wings rapidly approach him from behind. That had been his only warning and all he’d managed was a single step forward before his back exploded with pain. Salem fell forward to the ground and got the wind knocked out of him. Biting his lip to keep from screaming he cast a furtive glace over his shoulder and saw the last thing he hoped to find.

Over him loomed a particularly wild looking Scyther. It clicked its mandibles together producing a nerve wreaking chittering sound. Salem noticed his own blood dripping down one of the bladed appendages of the monstrous bug Pokemon.

He turned on his side and threw his arm out, tossing the Pokeball high up over his attacker. It popped open mid-flight and a massive Blastoise came down with an earth shaking stomp right where the Scyther had been. The agile Pokemon had sensed the threat and deftly dodge several meter backwards.

Ajax roared a challenge and trained his cannons on the hostile bug. He glanced at his trainer behind him on the ground.

“You have no idea how glad I am to see you amigo,” Salem said through gritted teeth as he propped himself up on an elbow. “Be careful, this is no sanctioned match,” he continued. “We’re facing life and death battles with tortured monsters from here on out.”

Ajax huffed his understanding and immediately initiated the fight with a pair of solid water pulses. The massive bullets of water shot from the cannons on his shoulders with an audible thump and flew straight at the wild Scyther.

 

[TepigTurtwig]

The spinaraks were hungry, and no Starmie was going to deter them from such tender flesh. As soon as the ice beam hit one, the other one shot a string onto a nearby tree, and was grappled onto it. From this tree, it began firing away with string shots, creating a web around Floyd and Starmie. Then, it leapt onto the web. All it had to do was drop down on Floyd on a bungee cord-like string, pluck him up, and let his partner handle the Starmie. At this exact moment, the other managed to thaw out of the ice beam, which was already very rapid and unprepared and had cracked considerably when the spinarak was slammed into a tree. With both in position, Floyd would have to act fast.

...

The Scyther was pummeled backwards. It seemed those water cannons were going to do a number. However, Scyther wasn't giving up quickly. It may have gone feral, but it still needed food, and the other feral pokemon were very deadly. Scyther began using fury cutter, starting with cutting a few trees around him. Not only would this provide the Scyther a place to hide from water cannon attacks, but every time fury cutter makes contact it becomes stronger. Scyther was so used to taking out his prey with fury cutter, even in this feral form he knew its exact use. When it could slice through trees like a hot knife through butter, he dashed at the Blastoise.

 

[AesgirFenrir]

"Small Team Rocket operation my ass," thought Shade as he shook his head, "what moron did the recon on this mission?" He pressed the button on his Pokeball to release Anubis. "Well, partner, the fun and games have been canceled. This mission just got real." The Mightyena snorted in acknowledgement. He walked over to where Cassie and Lady were having roast pigeon for breakfast and silently joined them in eating. It was likely the only easy meal they would get this week. Afterword, he and Anubis dug a large hole and placed Ajax and the remains of Maverik within. "Well, Ms. Michaels, I'm no priest. Would you like to say any words for the boy?"

 

[TepigTurtwig]

Efret was scouting for any mechanical structures. He needed to find some place where could get clues on the mysterious man. So, Blaze and him glanced around, always looking opposite directions. And that was why Blaze caught the attack before he did. A shape hurtled through the woods, speeding like a bullet. Blaze was barely able to knock Efret down before the shape flew past where his head used to be. As it slowed to a stop to avoid hitting a tree, it became clear that it was a Fearow.

Efret and Blaze scrambled into position, ready to counter the Fearow. Efret was already evaluating his enemy, immediately noticing how its momentum and speed could be used against it. "Blaze, flamethrower!" When Blaze fired a flamethrower at the Fearow, it dashed away, and hurtled at him. Let's wrap this up. "Blaze, one more flamethrower, at the tree behind you!" Blaze ducked while firing the flamethrower, and the Fearow flew at the burning tree, unable to stop. Now roasting, the Fearow was vulnerable to a slash, and was defeated.

 

[Nygenn]

Location: Jinko Island, Jungle
Time: 1st Day, Early morning
Tagging: Salem, Ajax

----------------
​

The deadly mantis danced further backwards dodging left and right as it went, avoiding the massive water bullets. Ajax loosened a second salvo but again missed the nimble predator by mere inches. The shots slammed into the tree behind the Scyther with a wood splintering impact, the sound of which thundered through the area. Scyther kept going and disappeared behind the tree.

Ajax bellowed his frustration and fired a third salvo directly at the tree. The water connected and burst straight through the trunk and slowly but noisily the tree began to topple over. Unfortunately it fell in the direction of the Blastoise and his trainer. Salem cursed and started rolling to the side clumsily, hindered by his wounds. Realizing the danger his trainer was in Ajax stepped protectively over Salem and withdrew his head as the leafy crown of the tree came down on them.

Salem uncurled carefully to peek up at his protector. It seemed the tree had only glanced his Pokemon and bounded of his large shell.

“Are you okay amigo?” he asked gingerly. A hollow sounding rumbling echoed from the top of the large shell, quickly followed by the Blastoise’s head. Salem blew out a sigh of relief, but it wasn’t long lasting. The vicious mantis came charging directly at them, deftly running down the length of the tree. It was swinging its deadly appendages in a crazed frenzy, carving up the trunk as it came. When it was nearly upon them its blades were practically humming with power.

“Aqua Ring!” Salem yelled.

Ajax complied but wasn’t quite fast enough. The Scyther slammed into the torrent of water and cleaved straight through it. The watery barrier did nothing to stop the assault, but it did slightly alter its trajectory.

In another moment the mantis had flown by leaving a long gash across the width of turtles shell. It turned, chittered excitedly and dashed in for another pass, again leaving his marks on Ajax who still stood protectively over the human at his feet.

Seeing his friend so harassed was killing Salem inside. His mind was racing, desperately searching for a way out of this mess. His eyes fell on the toppled tree and suddenly he had an idea. A wild and chancy idea, but it was all they got now.

Keeping low, Salem struggled to get his feet under him. He kept his eyes on the Scyter was who was turning again for another pass.

“Ajax,” he whispered. Ajax heard and listened intently. “Reverse Surf, right here, on my mark.”

The crazed bug kicked off dirt, launching itself into another headlong charge at its prey. It approached rapidly and when it swerved slightly to pass behind the big Blastoise and rake it’s powered up blades across the shell one more, Salem acted.

“Mark!” he shouted. He crossed his arms protectively in front of his face and jumped backwards with all the strength he could muster in his feeble condition. At the same time Ajax also jumped backwards, boosted by the enormous pressure of the water spouting from his cannons and directed at the ground they had stood a moment before. He intercepted the passing insect and then slammed it heavily against the trunk of the felled tree. With a sickening crunch the Scyther was squashed between the tree and Ajax’s hard shell.

Salem meanwhile, was caught by the splash of the water current and swept off his feet. He landed heavily on the ground several meters further, coughing up water. His back felt like it was on fire and no matter which way he turned or twisted he couldn’t find any relief. He settled onto his front so that he wasn’t lying on his wound at least.

After a while the pain subsided somewhat, but never fully went away. The wound pulsed in time with his beating heart but he could probably bear that.

Ajax had wandered over on all fours after making absolutely sure the Scyther would never rise again, and now gently nudged him with his head.

Salem reached up and patted his brave partner on the snout. “Don’t worry jefe. You’ve taught me how to be tough so I’ll survive this encounter and then we will survive this twisted tournament together,” he said shakily, but managed to smirk confidently regardless. ‘At least, I hope as much.’

For a while Salem concentrated on his breathing to calm his racing heart. ‘And the day has only just begun,’ he thought solemnly. ‘So much for making the most of it. I pray that the others are faring better.’ His mind wandered to the girl he had shared his last meal with. “A disappearing skill like hers would be great to have right about now.” He chuckled, flinched from the pain, and settled for a weak smile.

 

[SUPERRNOVAA]

In response to the Icy attack, the two Spinarak approaching Floyd's head jumped on to the trunk of the tree that their web was hanging off of and they fired multiple string shots at the trainer caught in it. Just as the third string shot was fired, Swift jumped into Floyd and used his spinning appendages to snap the webs and tear them up. This sent the young trainer flying into a nearby tree, which thawed the Spinarak in his shoulder out of it's frozen state. Oddly enough the spider-like Pokemon didn't let go, if anything, the sudden movement made it clamp down even harder on his shoulder.

​

Floyd, using what little strength he had left, got up and hid behind a large, mossy boulder to the left of the tree, all the while with a Spinarak still digging into his shoulder like it was the best meal it ever had. At this point, the Spinarak was hooked into his tissue, there would be absolutely no way to remove it without harming himself in the process.

"Psyshock!" Floyd yelled with all the courage he could. The adrenaline rush began to dwindle, the shock and pain got worse the more he paid attention to it.

Swift leapt into the air with grace and became enveloped in a pink aura. Suddenly and without any warning, every single rock, pebble and boulder within a fifteen meter range of the Starmie was lifted out into the air and covered in the exact same aura, including the boulder his trainer was behind.

'...Sick em.' Floyd thought, he no longer had the energy to speak out loud. The Spinarak in his shoulder wasn't just trying to eat him, it was also using Leech Life to heal the wounds inflicted by Swift's Ice Beam.

Swift let out it's species signature cry as a flurry of stones flew towards the Spinarak at an extremely high speed. A couple of rocks passed right through the trunk and into the ground, although most of them hit their target. They probably didn't have enough time to even feel the pain of the attack as the three largest boulders absolutely decimated the tree they hit.

Blue sludge was sent squirting out in all directions as the two Spinirak's attacking Swift were crushed where they hung under the might of the Starmie's psychic attack. Three boulders and a lot of stones all piled on top of a tree and two feral Spinarak. It was a hollow victory for Swift however, his trainer was still in grave danger.

Floyd lied on his back, heavily bleeding from the shoulder. The Spinarak tore itself from the area around his neck and made it's way into his shirt. Floyd flinched and tensed up every time the bug clawed a bit of his skin off. It was biting him all over. His back, stomach, chest and arms all had large gashes on them, while a most of them didn't bleed, it was still incredibly painful.

Swift acted of his own accord and as soon as the opportunity presented itself, froze the Spinarak with another Ice Beam. The Starmie also gently nudged the bug off of his trainers stomach and on to the ground, where it was sawed in half and crushed at the same time by a spinning blade-like limbs.

Floyd couldn't move no matter how hard he tried, he was drained of energy. Only his thoughts comforted him while he looked into the sky above.

'At least young Spinarak don't develop poison sufficient enough to harm humans until they evolve. I think I got lucky.'

'And this is only the beginning... who knows what I might encounter? This is gonna be one hell of a ride.'

​

 

[Chrocey]

Witnessing any sort of traumatic incident was a bitter pill to swallow. As was Delilah’s way, she would simply decide not to swallow it. Instead she rejected the notion of Alex being dead and clung to the hope that he and his Pidgeot were still alive and merely wounded somewhere in the forest.

She reached for the pokeball on her belt, but hesitated and soon withdrew her hand. It wasn’t time to let him out yet.

Delilah walked with her hands behind her head in a very casual manner. As though she were still on vacation. She was already planning what she was going to eat upon returning to the hotel.

“Wait a minute…” Delilah stopped dead in her tracks as something crossed her mind. She looked around the forest, her expression serious. “...now that I’m out here, I can finally see what bug pokemon this island has to offer!” She smiled wide and got into a crouched position.

Comically, the bee trainer snuck from tree to tree, bush to bush, keeping her eyes pealed for any wild bug pokemon there may have been. Much to her delight, she managed to find one within a few minutes. It wasn’t completely out of the ordinary, of course, since she was in a forest.

“Oooh! A Butterfree! I’ve always wanted to capture one.” She instinctively reached for her belt, but soon remembered that all of her pokeballs had been taken from her. With a sigh, she simply sat there and observed the Butterfree in its natural habitat.

Something was wrong with it, however. It was flying much more erratically than most Butterfree do. As a matter of fact, it seemed more agitated than any one of the ones she’d encountered before. Perhaps it was under some sort of distress, or had just gotten out of a harrowing situation.

With that in mind, she thought it prudent to try and approach the usually peaceful pokemon.

“Hey there, little guy. There’s nothing to be afraid-” A searing pain emanated from Delilah’s sides. Something gripped her waist like a vice, and soon she found herself lifted up horizontally and looking at the sky. Her eyes were wide as she tried to get a view of what it was that was attacking her, but she couldn’t quite turn well enough without hurting herself even more.

The vice around her waist got tighter and tighter. Luckily for her, her arms were free enough to reach for the pokeball on her belt. “Beedrill…” she coughed as the wind felt like it was being squeezed out of her “go!”

Delilah threw her pokeball. Not only did Beedrill materialize, but he materialized in motion towards the creature that was harming his trainer. He didn’t wait for her to command him. Instead he reacted to the sight of his trainer in peril the best way he knew how.

The Beedrill held out his drills and fired two sharp needles from the tips. Each needle was planted firmly, and with great precision, into the eyes of the attacking pokemon, to which it let out a cry of pain. A second wave of needles were fired, but they ended up piercing a nearby tree instead.

Delilah felt the pressure on her waist give way and she fell onto the forest floor. She quickly stood up and limped over to her Beedrill and turned to face the monster that’d attacked her. A large pinsir stood there, clawing at the needles that penetrated its eyes. It didn’t take long before it gave up and was thrown into a literal blind rage and charged at them head first with the horns on its head already grabbing for its next prey.

“Beedrill! Agility!” Delilah dove out of the way, as did Beedrill. The Pinsir’s attack missed. Instead, it accidentally grabbed a nearby tree.

“Now use Pin Missle!” The Beedrill shot a total of three pointed needles from his stinger, hitting the Pinsir a total of three times up its back.

The Pinsir used its horns to crush the tree in half. After doing so, it turned and angrily faced Delilah and her Beedrill. To which both of them responded by backing away a little in shock.

“Uh...this guy should be down by now, shouldn’t he?” Delilah murmured out of the side of her mouth at Beedrill. Beedrill simply buzzed in agreement.

Dellah held her fist up, “no matter! Hit him with...twin...needle…” Her speech slowed down and soon, she fell to the ground. Snoring could be heard, indicating that she’d fallen asleep. Beedrill looked at her and buzzed worriedly. He then looked up and saw that the Butterfree she’d seen earlier was attacking his trainer with Sleep Powder.

This was an unfair fight. Two against one didn’t work in Beedrill’s favor. He needed to act fast lest the situation get even more dire.

With quick thinking Beedrill used Pin Missle again, this time taking pot shots at the Butterfree instead. Angered by the shots that were fired at it, the Butterfree maintained its altitude and began moving toward Beedrill in the hopes of putting him to sleep as well. Beedrill buzzed as loudly as he could and began flying exactly opposite the direction of Pinsir. Pinsir, who picked up on the sound of the Beedrill, began charging at him once more. As he charged, he walked right into the trail of sleep powder that Butterfree was laying down. The pinsir faltered with each passing step, until eventually it collapsed into a heap on the ground. Beedrill turned around and fired Twin Needle one last time at the Butterfree, piercing the butterfly’s wings, which caused it to screech in agony.

In a last ditch attempt to take out its prey, the Butterfree plummeted towards the Beedrill for a tackle. Despite using Agility earlier, Beedrill wasn’t able to avoid this attack and was knocked backwards into a tree. His frail wings twitched and ached as he recovered from the attack.

Without spending another minute to ensure the pokemon were taken care of, Beedrill rushed over to Delilah and slid one of his drills under her upper back, and the other behind her knees. He started flying away from this area. No destination, no goal, just away. From now on he would be trying to stick with the safer routes instead of facing off against these strangely deadly wild pokemon.

On the bright side, his Swarm ability meant that he and his trainer would be able to hear the cries of wild pokemon much more easily. Unfortunately, it would seem that these wild pokemon were everywhere. Another encounter was inevitable.

 

[Nygenn]

Location: Jinko Island, Jungle
Time: 1st Day, Early morning
Tagging: Salem, Ajax

----------------
​

Salem had been laying on the ground for a couple of minutes acclimating himself to the stinging pain in his back. He had been making little movements and flexed different muscles in order, to try and get a feel for the scope of the damage. It seemed to be a gash running diagonally downward starting from his right shoulder blade. Luckily this meant he still had use of most of his left arm without pulling too much on the wound. He had also counted it a blessing that it mostly just skin and muscle tissue that got cut and hadn’t gone deep enough to touch his spine.

‘Won’t get much wandering done if I can’t walk after all’ he smirked. Then decided it was time to get up. Nothing would be gained from laying around any longer.

Ajax had been sitting nearby, keeping a vigilant eye on the tree line. A ring of water gently flowed around him in a gravity defying manner that Salem had never been able to fully comprehend, yet always marveled at. It surrounded him and was slowly mending the deep grooves Scyther had left in his shell. Though, as soon as he noticed his trainer struggling to get up it fell away and he came over.

Salem smiled at his companion and gratefully accept the silent offer of support. He grabbed hold of the Pokemon’s shell edge and let himself be pulled up.

“Sorry to burden you,” he said, then winced when Ajax nudged him a little roughly. “Okay, you’re right. We don’t speak like that in this team.” He released his hold on Ajax and looked around. “Alright then, there’s still plenty of time left to turn this day around. First things first though.”

Salem walked over to the smashed remains of the once mighty Scyther. It was an ugly sight, hardly more than a smear, but some pieces were still intact. And among those fortunately, was one of the bladed appendages. It had caused them so much grief earlier, but could now well be the key to their salvation.

Salem knelt and rummaged through the gooey remains until he found a fragment of the other blade. He pulled it free and placed it over the point where the unbroken blade was attached to the arm. “Step here,” he instructed Ajax who prompt stomped the fragment down cutting the unbroken blade free. Salem made a careful test swing with it.

“So it’s not very balanced in its current state, yet its study and sharp. Not quite a weapon, but it will make an excellent tool.” He looked up at his Blastoise. “See? Things are already getting better. Now let us leave this place before more unwanted guests show up. Corpses attract carrion.”

With that, the duo slowly made for the tree line and left the messed up clearing behind.

 

[TepigTurtwig]

Efret kept going, already leaving a trail with the blood of the wild pokemon behind him. He had saved the Fearow and a few Pidgey he had encountered. He really hoped to find miltanks, as milk and steak were perfect options for survival. As he cleared through the underbrush, an idea came to him. Why not build camp? And so, Blaze and Efret set to work carving out wood, and making a camp. Eventually it was done. But, it needed a decoration, so Efret took some vines, and made a phrase. Mysterious Man, We Need To Talk, it said.

 

[Astralkitsune]

As Floyd lay on the ground starring up at the sky, trying to catch his breath and regain some energy after receiving such wounds. Swift's core suddenly flashed bright red and the Starmie attempted to flip around in time to stop the imminent danger that was upon then. An Ariados was leaping through the air with a loud screech intent on landing right on the exhausted boy that it saw as prey. Before anyone even swift could react a large purple tinted beam of energy resembling a laser smashed into the Ariados from the side and hurled it into a tree with enough force to crack the tree. The smoking body of the large spider pokemon slowly slid down the tree utterly wrecked by the powerful Hyperbeam. This was followed by a loud and victorious Lapraaa!!

As Floyd turned his head to look the purple haired Sinnoh champion could be seen standing there. Crystal was rested beside her temporarily winded from the high powered attack. Once again Floyd was under that icy stare, as she just watched him lay there.

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After BeeDrill finally set Delilah down, thinking the area safe for the moment. He buzzed around his trainer looking for wounds and trying to make sure she was alright. This preoccupation and just having fled the recent encounter made him drop his guard for a moment. The whoosh of an oncoming projectile and the heat on his back made the bug pokemon spin around to see the oncoming ball of fire heading for his trainer. There was a sudden movement from the trees to the side and Delilah was tackled to the ground by a human body. Taking the two to the ground avoided most of the damage of the fire attack. However Apollo still took a hit to his back side as the flames exploded and incinerated most of his black shirt. The young man had some noticeable burns on his back, but he still managed a smile and gave a thumbs up at the girl in his arms. The female Pyroar leaped past the startled BeeDrill and took an aggressive stance growling fiercely up at the Talonflame perched in the tree above.

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As Efret set to work building his shelter and making himself cozy, his Charizard sat laid out on the ground confident in it's power after so easily winning the recent fights. The pair did not seem to comprehend the true danger of the situation. The only warning was a slight rumble in the ground. As Charizard craned his neck to look at his trainer a large Sandslash burst out of the ground right beside Charizard and delivered two rapid slashes aimed at the Charizards belly with it's razor sharp claws.

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As Gerald pondered the situation and tried to comfort his confused and scared pokemon he could feel eyes on his back. Turning around he could see the bushes moving slightly. A moment later a cute Eevee walked out of the bushes looking very innocent and walked up towards him cocking it's head, "Eevee?" When it got close enough the Eevee snarled and leaped through the air it's face twisting into a horrible counterpoint to the expression it wore moments ago as it attempted to sink it's teeth into the youths throat.

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As Damien and the Lucario made there way through the dense jungle the sounds of wild pokemon could be heard from all around and then came another much more chilling sound. The sound of a scream and it was accompanied by the smell of burnt flesh and electrical burn. Stepping into a small clearing the pair would see the remains of a dead sixteen year old boy, who looked like he might have been from Kanto. Beside the boy was the body of a fried Ratticate with it's fangs still barred in death. A new sound permeated the clearing coming for the trees above, "Pachii.." Looking up the pair would see three pachirisu climbing on the branches above. Their cheeks sparked with electricity and they had a wicked gleam in their eyes.

 

[TepigTurtwig]

Efret instantly became alert. He couldn't avoid the Sandslash's slashes, so Blaze took the hit. However, he still had ways to defeat this Sandslash. He decided to let the Sandslash go back into the dirt, and Blaze knew that he was supposed to rise into the air. As Blaze rose, he began scouting for weaker patches of dirt. However, Efret was also scouting, and they both spotted the same weakness, and knew to fire at it. Blaze instantly fired a flamethrower at it, hoping to warm the earth so much that Sandslash would not want to go in it.

 

[PentheWonderful]

"Small Team Rocket operation my ass, what moron did the recon on this mission?"

'So you are a cop.' Were the thoughts flickering around in her head while she enjoyed her meal. Though, he'd piqued her interest when he got up and started digging. 'What are you up to?' Why wasn't she voicing this out verbally? Ah, well. It all clicked when he pulled Alex's body in anyway.

"Well, Ms. Michaels, I'm no priest. Would you like to say any words for the boy?"

Cold silver eyes flicked quickly to the hole that had been dug, the body that had been placed in it. "...And you think I am?" She turned back to Maverik's roasted body. "No."

Lady, who was seated beside her, watched it intently. Hunger flashed like a blade within her emerald eyes. The smell of blood was permanating and pungent and the Liepard licked her fangs to show her desire. Her trainer had her hand around Lady's paw. Squeezing slightly to draw out her deadly claws, and was currently using it to let blood from the Pidgeot, allowing the dry ground beneath them to hungrily soak it up, as well as to gut the carcass, feeding Lady the bloody treasures as thanks for borrowing her claws.

Though she did set a few aside. You never know when you need to bait wild Pokemon.

And boy was she glad to be wearing gloves.

The flesh was charred on the outside, but luckily it also did them the favor of ridding all the feathers they would've needed to pluck. On the inside, however, the muscles and fat had been cooked thoroughly, and with the blood out of the way, slightly more sanitary to consume. While she worked, and savored breakfast, she watched Shades, wasting time and energy to give a burial to some stranger's corpse. Brows furrowed, she spoke with steel in her voice, "Why are you even burying him? Do you not realize you're not only wasting your energy, but also all the possibilities?" She let out an exasperated sigh, getting up and going over to the grave with Lady eagerly trailing behind.

Arms crossed, the girl looked down at the, aside from the hole in his head, in tact corpse. "Say a starved, rabid Pokemon comes along to try and devour us. Why would you even think of wasting our Pokemon's energy to battle them when you can just give them what they want? It's not like he'll mind, he's dead."

And Lady jumps in the hole, sniffing and licking the blood trailing down his head. Exploring, discovering. Before proceeding to gnaw Alex's hand off his wrist.

Cassie watches this for a moment and adds, "To a lesser extent, Lady would be a pretty bad way to die too. Or possibly your Mightyena. They have to eat too." Carnivores were still carnivores. Even if they were tame. "Take my advice and don't. Help me ration the rest of the Pidgeot. I'll some banana leaves to wrap it in." Like an icy breeze, the trainer turned on her heel to return to their generously served breakfast. "Otherwise, it'll spoil in a day in this climate."

Luckily from them, the clearing they'd woken up in was quite abundant in fruit trees. Aside from bananas, there were mangoes, coconut, pomegranates, and even grapefruit. In a set up like that, the only real reason to go into the forest would be to find wood for shelter. Thus, she snagged some banana leaves- they would be useful for shelter roofing as well, she noted, and returned to the Pidgeot roast to carefully wrap the divided meat in. Stacking them and then putting rocks on top of them to keep it from unraveling. Once that was through, finally she says,

"Find some rocks. We're going to have to build a makeshift storage unit."

Before Lady's feast upon Alex got too bloody, the girl hoped into the grave, and with great effort, removed the body from it. Lady followed it faithfully, even as Cassie dragged it a few feet from where it originally was.

Throwing in dirt to soak and patch the parts where blood had been spilled, she exclaimed to Shade. "Maybe your work wasn't a waste after all! We'll use the grave for the storage. All we need are those rocks and some more banana leaves, and something strong to throw off wild Pokemon. Help me build a fence around this area while I make this."

Thus, as the rocks arrived, Cassie arranged them to line the walls of the grave, collecting more banana leaves to line the bottom with, convincing Lady to help her cut down some bamboos to line the top with, securing them into place by burying their ends with more dirt, leaving a gap in the center to take and store food in, before then piling more banana, ginger and eucalyptus leaves on top before pinning them down with more rocks.

Complete. Most of her time went into creating that tightly sealed storage, but it'd be worth it. It's not the first time she'd been in survival situations, and she'd absorbed enough trivial information her father spouted to know which plants would keep you alive, and which would cause you a slow, painful death. The day went by far more quickly and it was now high noon. Hopefully, the fence would be complete by then, and Lady hadn't devoured all of Alex. They still needed his remains for wild Pokemon. Though technically they still had Maverik's innards.

Thinking aside, Cassie proceeded jumped to another course of action; building shelter. With the leftover bamboo Lady had cut down for her, and with some hanging roots she acquired from a banyan tree nearby, Cassie constructed a basic wall and roof structure, which was completed with banana and fallen coconut leaves. It took up even more time, but she was still running off the energy from Maverik and he kept her stomach full. She never needed to eat much anyway. 'No water... The coconuts would be our only shot at hydration.' She thought. With her mind so locked on one track tasks, the girl hadn't realized how fast she was working before going to do another task.

Climbing a coconut tree.

The girl shed her boots and socks and neatly placed them in the shelter. Then, taking a deep breath, she grabbed onto a coconut tree, its fruit ripe for the taking, and proceeded to climb with the agility of a Mankey. She wasn't one to gloat, but climbing was definitely one of her strong suits.

Up, higher and higher, a rib from Maverik's ribcage fastened securely on her new belt to cut the coconuts free with. Rising above the tallest trees just for water. She started to ponder why she was doing this. All these tasks were pointless. Team Rocket won't release them in a week as they'd promise. No, the only reason they did that, and offer prizes was because they were sure all of them would perish. And what then? Once the week was over, what happens? They weren't getting out.

She knew this, deep down. And perhaps all the mindless work she'd done was to simply keep these thoughts away.

Still, being up so high, Cassie couldn't help but look into the dense greens surrounding them and wonder if anyone else realized this too.

 

[Mega Gallade X]

"Yep. I think we're lost." Damian said back to Orion as the pair walked. They'd been at it for at least ten minutes and hadn't seen another person or pokemon, although he knew they were out there. The thought of a feral pokemon hunting them out of their sight sent a chill through his spine.

The scream caught his attention straight away and the two headed for it without a question, if someone were in trouble, he felt the need to help.

When they got to the clearing Damian had to cover his nose the smell of charred flesh was so bad. Then he noticed the Ratticate, both of them were dead. The sound of sparks from above was what caught his attention at first. Three Pachirisu.

'Alright. Wild drugged Pachirisu with intent to kill. Stay calm. Electric pokemon, so that means ground type moves.' Damian thought to himself.

"Lucario! Bone Rush!" He said as he pointed at the three hostile pokemon and moved closer to a tree to take cover from any electricity fired at him.

Orion materialized the Bone Rush in the form of a staff and waited with closed eyes in a state of mental preparation. The Pachirisu were charging. They'd taken these two as a pack, they must be thinking they can get away with the same. Orion's first goal would be to swat them away from one another so they can't create a collective attack a second time and attempt to dodge the first. It was quiet in Orion's head for what seemed like a long time but in reality was mere moments in the real world. The thunderbolt shot and Orion twisted his body and the lightning struck where he'd been. Launching off the ground up at the trio he swung his bone rush at them in a focused flurry.

 

[Astralkitsune]

As Efret's Charizard launched it's fiery attack from the air, the ground burst open just past the flame charred spot and the sand slash hit the ground curling up into a tight ball. The spikes on its back gleamed for a moment and then it began rolling around the camp in a haphazard circle dodging fiery attacks from above and tearing to pieces anything in it's path. In the wake of it's destruction more and more debris, dirt, rocks and sand began getting kicked up into the air.The surrounding environment was swirling and turning into a deadly sandstorm.

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The Lucario leaped into the air twirling the club in a devastating spin. Two of the Pachrisu scattered with the the third holding it's ground and visibly building up charge in it's cheeks. The left Pachrisu with extreme speed bounced off a tree and rocketed at the Lucario slashing him lightly with it's tail spikes (quick attack). Then middle pachirisu released it's bodily charge in the form of a ball of electricity traveling at the Lucario which met with the club and disapated before making contact. The right pachirisu kicked off a different tree and flew straight at the Lucario's backside with it's fangs out and glistening with energy (hyperfang).

Just before the Pachirisu hit it impacted a lightly purple tinted wall of light (light screen) and bounced off hitting the ground an all fours and chittering angrily, "Pachii, Pachiii!" Then a ball of swirling pink energy hit the Pachrisu hard and sent it rolling in the dirt (moonblast). However due to the bright sun outside the pachrisu angrily leaped to it's feet not defeated yet.

 

[BurbleBurble]

"Hmmm...hmm hmmm...." Gerald nervously whistled to himself and June. It was fairly pointless, he had to note. Probably just attracted more attention to himself. And if on cue, a bush rustled. "Who...who's there?" The boy and fox braced themselves for the worse, from a Beedrill, to a Parasect, to a...

"Eevee?"

A little brown creature emerged from the bush. "Oh. That's...not as half bad that I thought it was." June never dropped her guard, though. She didn't want to get caught off guard. "Your kind of cute, little gu-" He was interrupted by it's face taking on a grim expression, before lunging at his throat! Grabbing it by the scruff, Gerald began panicking. "Ahh! AHH! Get it off get it off get it off get it off!"

With a swift flick of her wand, the Delphox swung the creature at a rock. With a disgusting yet satisfying crunch as it's bones smashed against the stone. And pulled it back, before smashing it back at the Boulder. And again. And again. When June finished her Psychic rampage, the Eevee was more like a bloody smash on the stone. "Thanks June. Y-you saved my skin there." The Delphox nodded solemnly. "Let's check that corpse. Might be something worth salvaging, morbid as it sounds."

But just as Gerald took step in the brush, however, several more Eevee emerged, and a Leafeon sprinkled in as well. The Alpha. They seemed rather unhappy at what happened to their pack member.

"Oh. Hey...Nice weather today?"

June sometimes didn't know if Gerald was clueless or just plain stupid. But, he was relying on her. And she had to rely on him. Jumping in front of the pack of Eevees, a glorious light emitted from the end of her wand. A Dazzling Gleam. It wasn't bright enough to damage, no. But it was bright enough to disorient them long enough for the duo to escape.

They were running now. The pack wasn't too far off. Every time an Eevee got too close for comfort, June would flick it into a tree or something hard enough to disable it. But the over use of her Psychic abilities were taking a toll on the Delphox.
She had to finish this sooner rather than later. Wasn't there something like "Take out the leader, the rest scatter?" Perhaps this could apply here as well. But she needed a clear shot.

Preparing a Will-O-Wisp, she forced the spectral flames to alight some shrubbery in the ground. A small wall of fire blocked most of the little creatures, and the ones who weren't so careful were burned pretty badly, plus said a special hello to Gerald's boot. June had her eye's locked with the Alpha. "Hurry up June, neither this flame wall or me will hold up forever!"

Her wand burst in flames. She rolled a burning circle in the air, like a target. A scarlet blast of flames erupted from her mouth, towards the Leafeon.

 

[AesgirFenrir]

Shade had Anubis patrol the perimeter while he wove vines between the trees around the perimeter of the clearing to provide an outer fence. Then he began sharpening wooden posts to build an inner wall. As he worked, he thought "this girl must have really been through the ringer, she's borderline sociopathic."

As he worked, his mind drifted to his early career. Before he started working with Pokemon. Alex even looked a lot like his first partner. Who had ended up pretty much the same way. He shook his head to shake the image from his mind, the red of blood soaking the blue uniforms as he waited for the medical team that was already too late.

"These bastards are going to pay for all the casualties they've caused," he muttered. As the day wore on, he paused in his work for some food and coconut water. Looking at Cassie, he said, "So Ms. Michaels, was all the bad press true, or just Rocket bullshit? I tend to believe you got used for a patsy in that fiasco."

 

[Mega Gallade X]

Damian watched as Orion engaged the three hostile pokemon. Orion was definitely gifted in terms of physical combat but he was outnumbered here.

As one Pachirisu slashed Orion but he seemed to shrug it off in the adrenaline of battle, there was blood in his fur from it however, Damian wasn't sure how deep the cut was but this had to wrap up soon or it wouldn't be good.

Orion countered the Pachirisu's electric attack with his Bone rush unfortunately it also dissipated the Bone Rush staff.

Damian saw the third Pachirisu launch for Orion's back but it fell to the ground as if reflected by something. A light wall that was difficult for Damian to see. Suddenly the mysterious energy collided with the now grounded Pachirisu and Damian turned his head to the source.

"Lucario! Use Extreme Speed! Don't let up once it's down! These things aren't going easy!" Damian called glancing back toward the battle at hand.

Orions body vibrated and almost became a blur delivering swift and decisive blows toward the Pachirisu still on the branch. Every punch seemed to create another fist as an after image of strikes insued, to most, the sight would cause a headache trying to focus on him was like trying to watch the spokes of a bicycle wheel in motion.

 

[Astralkitsune]

Orion rained down a furious wave of blows on the Parchirisu in the tree. The relentless fury was too much for the small squirrel pokemon to take and it eventually fell out of the tree a crumpled heap of broken bones. The Parchirisu on the ground went into a blur of speed and raced directly at it's attacker. As Damien turned his head in the fight, he could see a young girl who looked no older than twelve and a Gardevior (no longer in maid outfit ) closely beside her. The little girl was dressed int he same plain black clothes with a pokeball on the back that he was. Her face looked very determined and her eyes followed the battle. The third Parchirisu had stealthily and quickly sneaked up behind the Gardeior and was rushing in a full on blitz attack it's fangs outstretched and glowing with energy. It seemed the Gardevior was about to be caught between two hyperfangs. As the back Parchirisu approached the Gardevior and her trainer both smiled, as it was suddenly struck hard by an rippling wave of psychic energy in the air and thrown hard into a tree with a loud thud.(Future Sight) The little girl spoke up, "Ecarte saw that attacking coming a mile away." She turned back to the frontal Parchirisu, "Now Ecarte use Focus Blast and show them you are not to be trifled with." The Gardevoir nodded and then her body began to glow with energy as the murderous squirrel closed in with blinding speed she spun in a perfect flip and kicked the Parchirisu in the face so hard she sent it flying backwards with as much speed as it came at her.

 

[PentheWonderful]

Work. Work, work, work.

She stabbed the rib into the hardy stem of the coconuts in order to drop them down the dizzying heights onto the ground. One, two, three. She spared the rest for later. On the ground, they'd only expire. Just like they would, maybe. Securing the rib back on her belt, Cassie began her climb down.

And meeting a shiny Liepard.

Oh wait, no, that's just Lady.

Alex's blood had stained her violet coat a slick crimson. Even though she was in the process of licking herself clean after a satisfying meal, that blood wasn't going anywhere without a proper hose down. Oh well, Cassie supposed it would make Lady look a lot more threatening to other Pokemon, wouldn't it? Though she knelt down in order to gather the large, plump, coconuts, the trainer dared a look at the remainder of Alex's corpse. He was a bloody mess. Unrecognizable, but, at least he's still got meat on him. She could probably divide him up further and store him with Maverik's innards for emergency uses.

And she wondered if it was normal for someone to see a human corpse and think that way.

Probably not, oh well.

"Lady, Night Slash on this." Cassie rolled a coconut over to Lady for her to slice open, but instead she stared at it, and proceeded to toy with it like she would a ball of yarn instead. The brunette frowned a little bit and scratched her cheek. Maybe she lucked out on the fact the tournament ended up being a survival test after all.

Going with a different strategy, she took the second coconut and hurled it at Lady instead! "Lady!"

At this, the Liepard's head snapped up, and in a timely, instinctive reaction, she drew her claws and finally used Night Slash to slice clean through it. Anticipating this chain of events, Cassie hurriedly caught the coconut halves before they could hit the ground, or spill too much of its precious water. Setting one half down in front of her Liepard as a prize, she proceeded to drink the other half in the shelter.

"So Ms. Michaels, was all the bad press true, or just Rocket bullshit? I tend to believe you got used for a patsy in that fiasco."

Her eyes wandered to Shade, who'd made quite an impressive progress with the fence. She lowered the coconut from her face and wiped her mouth with the back of her glove. "...The second option." She let out a silent sigh, lean slightly against the shelter wall. "It's a long story. But the bottom line is, they won. They did it." She shrugged. "They took everything I had and then some." Cassie lowered the coconut further onto her lap. "All starting from when I helped stop that stupid heist in Johto... Things steam rolled from there. I shouldn't have gotten involved, but I just screwed myself over when I... I should've just walked away."

She looked into her reflection in the coconut water for a moment, before simply drinking from it again. "Nice guys do finish last." A sigh. "Anyway, I'm going to see what I can do with the corpse. You can probably bury Maverik's bones."

And with that, Cassie got up, and forced herself back to work.

Work. Work, work, work.

Dividing up the once human corpse, pulling out the one big banana leaf used to hold Maverik's innards, and piling them together, reuniting the trainer and his Pokemon.

Getting another leaf and using it to better wrap the bloody mess and using the banyan root to tie them shut. Instead of putting them together with the Pidgeot meat, she stashed it near the shelter, covering them in eucalyptus leaves she lightly crushed with her hands in order to draw out their strong scent, and gathered the last remaining coconut Lady had toyed with.

Just keep working, and everything will be alright.

 

[Mega Gallade X]

Damian came out from behind the cover as it seemed the wild pokemon had been dealt with for the time being. Orion leaped down from the sturdy branch he was on.

"Are you okay Orion?" he said to the Lucario as he gave a firm nod, there were obviously cuts on it that needed to be tended to but they didn't seem to be causing him too much pain.

"Thanks for the save." Damian said as he eyed the little girl and her Gardevoir. The child seemed familiar but he couldn't quite place a finger on it.

"I'm Damian Salvatore." He said as if he expected everyone he met to know the name carried some weight. Damian walked toward the dead trainer searching the pockets of the black outfit to find something of value he could remember the boy with, the tournament Identification card would at least give him a name, he'd even settle for a pokeball, it wouldn't be much but he'd know what it meant.

Orion stared intently at the Gardevoir without moving other than the occasional twitch of his ear from noises deeper in the trees.

 

[Astralkitsune]

Mina stared at the young man for a moment and then giggled, "don't you know stealing for the dead might get you cursed by a Gengar. She cocked her head to the side, "Ecarte and I know who you are Unova champion although clearly you do not study your peers as well as you should." She skipped by him and over to the dead parchirisu that Orion had killed. she carefully grabbed it by the tail and picked it up before wrinkling her nose. "Are you sure we have to eat this Ecarte?" She shrugged and sighed, "well at least it is already tenderized." She walked back over to the Gardevoir, "your right we have to keep our strength up so that we can get Teddy back, and make those team rocket bullies pay for taking Teddy." She blinked and looked around for sticks before turning back to Damien, "can you make fire for me pretty please." She blinked and gave him the cutest expression she could muster.

 

[AesgirFenrir]

Shade and Anubis dug another, smaller grave and placed the bones of Alex and Maverik within. He built a small cairn of stones over it, topped by Maverik's Pokeball. "He was brave, if rash. He deserves a decent burial."

He then got to work completing the inner fence. Once he finished, he sat down in front of the shelter and gave Anubis a well-deserved petting. He looked toward Cassie and Lady. "You're a very quiet and guarded young lady," he said. "They really did a number on you didn't they?"

He began absently scratching behind Anubis' ears as he thought back to his previous cases involving Team Rocket. The gang was cruel, even sadistic, and they would stoop to any low to get their way. "I've seen their work in the past. Sick bastards."

 

[Mega Gallade X]

Damian found the boy's pokeball for his Ratticate, it seemed to be fried when the Pachirisu attacked, so it was stuck in its smallest stage. All the more it made it easier to carry.

"I'm not taking it for fun. Someone's going to need to know what happened here. I just wish I could get his name." he said as he placed the pokeball into his pocket, giving a moment of silence for the two

Damian watched her for a few seconds. "Yeah. I can do that." he said as he pointed at the nearest tree and Orion started to punch it with Force Palm, splintering the wood. As he started to grab sticks off the ground he let out a small sigh. What in the world was going on? He'd definitely do background checks on future tournaments.

"Wait.. Aren't you Daniel or something like that?" Damian said as he started to vaguely remember tales of a 'Furious Fairy Combatant' who enjoyed playing with her teddy bear in her spare time. News reports were weird, he never looked into them too much. "And don't you normally carry around some stuffed animal?" he continued as he checked to make sure the sticks were dry enough to actually start a fire.

Orion had gone to sit by Damian who was blowing on the smoking kindling. The fire caught and Damian added a few more sticks to it watching it grow.

"If you're going to cook that you should do it fast, smoke could attract anything." Damian said as he looked over at the girl.

 

[Astralkitsune]

""I've seen their work in the past. Sick bastards."" The words hung in the air for a moment and then another sound echoed in the clearing a somewhat distant thump. Their was silence for a moment as the trainers and pokemon looked at each other and then their was another thump and the ground shook just slightly as the trainer pair could see ripples form in the milk of a single half filled coconut shell. The next thump was even closer and the milk rippled a little more, as the pair could hear some spearows flying off into the sky.

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The girls eyes narrowed in a rather dangerous looking gleam from something so small and cute and her voice was hard, "they took teddy." She blinked and her innocent demeanor returned. She laughed, "no not Daniel silly Willamina Sorren Daniels III." She gave a small curtsy at the end of this as if putting on a show or second nature. Then she looked down at the pachirisu pathetically in her hands and over to the fire before giving Damien a big wide eyed look of pleading.

 

[PentheWonderful]

"You're a very quiet and guarded young lady, they really did a number on you didn't they?"

"Eight." Was her response. Dropping the coconut into the storage. "The number is eight." She covered the lid of banana leaves over once again, sealing the cool air inside. "It's infinite. It keeps flowing. Going. It never stops. It'll never stop." Crouched down, she stared emptily into the ground. She hugged her legs. Tighter. Tighter. Burying her face in it and simply comforting herself in that ball position.

Lady found the likeness close enough and pushed her trainer over to the side with her forepaws. "Mraaawr~!" She mewled, rubbing her blood stained fur against the trainer now sprawled on the ground. Cassie felt envy. Envy towards Lady, who was simply unfazed, unaffected by all the horrors occurring around them. Or perhaps it was because she simply didn't understand. She simply did not have a grasp of the reality around her. She simply lives. She breathes, and she moves.

Without a care in the world.

While Cassie still had her feet cemented firmly on the ground, set, trapped in reality. And yet not so. Because her mind and soul was always somewhere else. Somewhere safer. Had it stayed with her body, she would've truly lost herself to insanity.

"I've seen their work in the past. Sick bastards."

"Yea? Well I've lived it, and now you're experiencing it first hand too, wow, congratulations." Mumbled the bitter brunette apparently sunbathing beneath the light that peered through the thick canopy. But really, she just really, really didn't want to move. "That'll make a fun report, huh?"

Speak when spoken to. Move only when necessary.

Never, ever squander.

Thump.

Her eyes drifted to the fence. Unable to see over it.

Thump.

Like a heartbeat, drawing closer and closer. She could feel the vibration in the ground. Lady could too, but she mimicked her trainer and basked in the sun beside her.

Thump.

Cassie sat up. And waited. Maybe something would burst through the fence and eat her face off, huh? That sounds fun. All this nonsense would finally end, at least.

 

[Mega Gallade X]

Damian looked at her as she seriously regarded the loss of her teddy bear.

"Well, Willamina, do you mind if I call you Will, or Danny even for short? That name is a bit of a mouthful." he said as he waited for her to bring the Pachirisu over and then noticed her look of pleading. Either the girl didn't want to cook the animal (he couldnt blame her), she didnt know how (also couldnt blame her, shes a child) or was using her child status to get him to cook the animal for him. Which I guess he could blame her for? But he wouldnt.

"Let me take care of it." Damian said as he got up and took the pokemon from her, he had broken another stick in half taking the sharpest end and working it through the body of the Pachirisu. Damian glanced at the Gardevoir who had been standing there silently, she was a tad eerie.

"About your bear.. I'm thinking there has to be some way back to the resort, maybe its still there. I was thinking about making my way back there but with all of these killer pokemon i'm not sure how well that plan would work out." he said as he took the Pachirisu and handed it to Orion, whom used Bone Rush to form an energy like claw. "Take care of that please, preferably facing away from.. you know." Damian said to Orion who began to skin the Pachirisu.

 

[Loziana]

Aidinia hears the sounds of fighting as she is gathering her supplies. She runs into the forest ahead. Her heart breaks a little as she sees blood and a dead scyther lying in a clearing. I wonder what happened here. I hope the blood I see isn't from a mortal wound. The Dr. Saw the small broken piece of blade Salem had used to cut off the intact one lying on the ground. She grabbed it up realizing it could be used to fashion tools and to sharpen the stakes needed for the structural aspect of the shelter she knew she needed. She followed the small droplets of blood into the woods hoping she could find out who was wounded and help them.

About an hour into the trek she finally saw a young man and his blastois ahead in the brush. His back was bloody from a gash across his back. It was obvious he had fought the Scyther. Aidinia knew she was taking a lot of time away from getting a shelter up she knew there were still materials that had to be gathered but she decided the man needed immediate medical attention more.

"Hello, I'm Aidinia Moon, I'm a Dr. Would you let me take a look at your wound?" She watched to see if he would turn around.

 

[Astralkitsune]

Gerald's Post​

As the blast of flames traveled toward the vulnerable leafon it was met head on by a jet of pure water that extinguished the flames in seconds. Standing on a rock behind the Leafon was a mean looking Vaporeon. It would seem the mate had arrived and was none to happy with fire being aimed at the Leafeon. The Vaporeon jumped down to the ground and walked over slowly beside it's mate giving the pair a menacing glare.

Just as the situation seemed to have deepened shrill whirling sound split the air causing the Eevee pack to hunch down and look about confused. The source of the sound was an odd shaped arrow shaft as made apparent as it embedded into a tree behind the pack. Before the confused Eevee's could react further a huge swirl of razor sharp leaves whirled up in a column around the pack, although it was set carefully large enough not to hurt any of them. Gerald heard a women's voice behind his head, "don't just stand their unless you want to be part of the natural cycle you idiot." Turning his head Gerlad would see a nineteen year old girl with long brown hair and leaf green eyes. She was dressed in brown and green leathers and had an honest to god bow and arrow with quiver on her back. The girl's face was set in a scowl as she motioned with her hand for Gerald to come her way. Beside her was the origin of the leaf storm, a large and tough looking Sceptile.

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Cassie and Shade​

Thump

Thump

Thump

The footsteps were growing louder and closer. Then there was silence. After several heartbeats of silence there was a loud cracking sound as the makeshift walls were torn open by ferocious power. Standing in the hole were the wall had been were a very large Nidoqueen, and a Nidoking which stood beside her equally tall. The pair looked down on the trainers and displayed matching toothy grins of hunger.

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Damien's Post​

Mina shook her head, at the horrible nickname suggestions Damien made. "I am a girl silly not a boy, you can just call me Mina." She smiled at him and let her eyes brighten. As he took the Pachirisu from her and handed it to Orion to skin and cook over the fire she rushed up and hugged him around the waist. "Yay, thank you mister Damien." She turned her head to the side, "look teddy t......". Her face fell as she realized that her Teddy bear was not there. Then her eyes darkened almost seeming to blacken as she had some kind of thought about what she was going to do to team rocket, for taking her Teddy. The look only lasted a moment before she once more turned her head toward Damien with a bright smile on her face. "So mister where are you going after we eat and can I come along pleaseee, it's scary out here." Ecarte just stood their silently watching.

 

[Nygenn]

Location: Jinko Island, Jungle
Time: 1st Day, Early afternoon
Tagging: Salem, Ajax, Aidinia

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​

Salem and Ajax had been trudging through the jungle for a while now. They made surprisingly good progress considering the circumstance, but the Jungle seemed endless. They had been going south. The trees high overhead may be shielding the sun and sky from view, but Salem was familiar with tropical environments.

In his youth his grand uncle had taken him and his brothers into the jungle regularly for fun and training. More fun than training at first of course, but as he grew older Salem had started listening more to the teachings his elder had to offer. They had helped him and his Pokemon on many occasions before, and they would do so again now.

“The jungle wants to share with you all its secrets,” Salem recited the words of his mentor. “You just need to know how to listen.”

Early on Salem had looked for a high vertical surface where moss would grow. He’d found it easily enough on most trees around. Moss only grows where it’s moist. Near the jungle floor it was always moist so that was a useless indicator, but higher up on the trees was a different matter. The trees were only moss covered on one side, namely the side that stays in the shadow on midday when the sun is doing most of its drying. Salem knew the island to be in the southern hemisphere, therefor the moss would be growing on the south side of the trees. Knowing which direction was which now, Salem had guided them West where he knew the resorts to be. ‘That is, if we’re still on the same island’ he thought with a frown.

“One way or another, we’re getting our friends back,” he said to the big Blastoise beside him, who huffed his agreement.

They were about an hour into their trek through the forest when Salem called for a rest. He smirked at the thought of how his brothers would have teased him for showing his weakness.

He carefully eased himself down on a large rock nearby and spit the last wad of forest moss, he’d been suckling on, to the ground. There was no guarantee they would find a source of drink water any time soon so Salem had instructed Ajax they should keep sucking on patches of forest moss as they went to keep from dehydrating too quickly. No chewing for that would stimulate their digestive system and they’d be facing hunger instead. It wasn’t much, but it was something. Fortunately the air at ground level was relatively cool, but even so he was perspiring and the salty sweat stung his back continuously.

So far their jungle stroll had been a quiet one. There had occasionally been the distant echoes of death battles reverberating through the dense forest, but they themselves hadn’t encountered anything after the Scyther.

Salem smiled at his good fortune, but it wavered when his ears picked up a rustling behind the trees, but then brightened tenfold when a woman stepped out into the small clearing.

The first thing he noticed was her wild fiery mane of red hair. It fell down in waves past an elegant face, slender shoulders, and around a very generous chest. She wore the same bland clothes he had woken up in, but even through those he could tell she had a form. Her skin was pale, almost painfully so in the bright sunlight filtering through the canopy.

‘I have seen her before,’ Salem then realized. ‘Last night in the dinner area she returned my greeting with a wave.’

“Hello, I’m Aidinia Moon, I’m a doctor. Would you let me take a look at your wound?” she said in a single breath. And another memory from last night resurfaced. She had been tending to a pair of trainers laying on their seats and not, all together looking to well.

‘She must be a very compassionate person,’ he thought. Her concern for him was plain to see on her worried frown, but he wondered about her lack of Pokemon. ‘Surely with all that is going on, one wouldn’t want to get caught with their pants down.’ He laughed as another thought struck him, ‘or with their shirt up. Touché lady. ’

“Of course, please,” Salem answered her question and made a hand motion to Ajax.

The big Blastoise relaxed and swiveled his shoulder canons up, away from the woman.

“My name is Salem Archon, and I surrender myself to your care.”

 

[Loziana]

As Aidinia reached her patient she looked at the wound. The wound was deep but for the most part it had stopped bleeding. It was still gaping open. Aidinia knew that could mean infection for Salem. She couldn't have a great looking guy like him get that kind of sick. She started to reach for her pack, realizing it was gone she decided she should have Alex heal him. The thought of her beloved sylveon's name threatened tears. Poor Alex, I'm so sorry there was nothing I could do. Aidinia cleared her throat and pushed the knot in her throat down. "This clearing would work nicely for a make shift shelter and fortification against the diseased Pokemon. If you wouldn't mind helping me finish gathering the materials we need we can make ourselves a base to work from. Then we can start trying to find others." She popped Alex out of her ball. "Alex please heal our friend Salem here. A very mean Scyther hurt him very badly. Because of all the very sick Pokemon out here right now I am going to put you back when you fix him. I'm sorry I know you hate the ball. I also know I don't usually make you stay there, but for right now its safest for you." Alex did a flurry of dancing movements with her ribbons shimmering and spinning like a wonderful ribbon dancer. Sparkles like fairy dust showered down on Salem and he felt a thousand times better immediately. The wound started knitting itself together. Aside from some itching he barely felt the actual healing. Once the healing process began it felt slightly warm as blood flowed into the new skin. "Well, that looks much better! Thanks Alex." Aidinia cuddled Alex and then recalled her to her ball. She set about gathering materials after putting Alex back in the ball. She hoped that Salem would help.

 

[PentheWonderful]

That familiar pause.

The silence, the calm before a storm. It was no stranger. It was the face to face, eye to eye confrontation before attacks were fired. Cassie found herself holding her breath, changing her stance from a sitting position to a crouch, still barefoot was she, a gesture which Lady quickly picked up on and understood. The Liepard crept silently away from her trainer, moving far left while Cassie inched further right. Their eyes met, and Cassie made a gesture with her middle and index fingers, pointing it to her eyes and then shifting it to point to her's. 'Watch me.' It communicated, and as a response, Lady's eyes remained fixed on her trainer.

She could feel an energy. Massive, and impossibly powerful, permenating through even the fence. It was almost like echolocation. She could sense the section whatever beast coming toward them was approaching. Luckily their camp was located on high ground, and it couldn't see them either. Once owning a Lucario really had its perks because his Aura sensing really rubbed off on her.

The girl pressed herself against the fence, some ways away from the energy, and the beast mimicked. Moments, mere moments, before the storm, Cassie made eye contact with Shades, and pointed to the innards stash by the shelter.

BOOM!

Wood, reduced to toothpicks and splinters. A gaping hole where a section of Shade's hard work once stood. Violet and light cobalt. Horns resembling spikes and fangs to make any pointed object jealous. Be it the sharpest needle or sword. A king and a queen, and they were looking for a feast.

But their eyes would only find Shade and Anubis while Cassie and Lady slipped through the hole and out. Swiftly, she bent down and snatched a rock, turning and hurling it to the back of the Nidoqueen's head. It barely did any damage to her thick hide, but it was enough to get her attention. She whipped around, and as if to add insult to injury, Cassie simply hurled another stone at her, this time hitting her snout. An enraged shriek, and the female came barreling after her while the male seemed more interested in the goodies hidden away in the camp. And also Shade, who would undoubtedly make a more filling meal than the girl would.

Lady let out a hiss at their pursuer, but Cassie first knelt down to grab two small pebbles before quickly climbed onto her back. One advantage to being as petite as she was is having a wider range of ride Pokemon. Holding the pebbles methodically in one palm, she yelled to Shade, "Make sure that thing doesn't destroy our camp!" Before clicking the pebbles together in her palm, and signaling Lady to take off running at high speed into the dense shrubbery with the mad Nidoqueen closely on their tail.

Into the one place she wanted to avoid venturing entirely.

Into the great unknown.

 

[Mega Gallade X]

Damian felt a moment of surprise when the girl hugged him. The child reminded Damian of his own little sister, Elise. The two kids were almost the same age with similar hair however, that had been the end of the consistency between the two as Elise preferred dark type pokemon opposed to fairy and had a more serious take on things. What would happen had Damian not made it out of all this? Elise would probably be furious at him. He smiled for a moment. The thought of something familiar warmed his heart in this harsh environment.

The disappointment that her bear wasn't around was clear. "We'll find him, Mister Teddy, I mean. Promise." he had told her with a friendly smile as he patted her head. Looking up, he thought about how ridiculous the phrase sounded to himself.

"Luc." Orion stated, that was audibly heard as a stern 'look'.

Damian walked over and took the meat from Orion who was staring into the fire now. This had definitely been harder on the Pokemon than it was on it's trainer. All things considered the Lucario was well sheltered, typically only coming out for a battle or an intense training exercise or to eat. It was entirely too uncommon for Orion to do things out of it's pokeball for pleasure, after all, that's what the Luxury Ball was for, however that wasn't how Damian intended it.

As the meat cooked Damian kept thinking. "So mister where are you going after we eat and can I come along pleaseee, it's scary out here." she said to him. Damian had no clue. It was a terrible thing to be unprepared but who could have been for all of this? Playing this week long survival game would certainly have treacherous effects on the minds of anyone that survived. 'Maybe getting back to the resort would allow us to call for help. Didn't that mad scientist guy say there were patrols also going around the island? They'd need to have some form of communication with the others, right?' This was all hypothetical even then.

Damian stepped out stray embers that made their way onto the ground from their fire.

"I'm not sure where i'm going yet but of course, you're welcome to come along." Damian said as he examined the meat, it was a darker color, meaning the outside had cooked. He looked over toward Orion and nudged him a little.

The Lucario sliced a part of the meat so the inside was visible and then returned his gaze toward the fire. Things weren't right on this island. Orion wanted to be home, in Driftveil where Damian had raised him as a Riolu. The fresh smells of the market and playing children. Even the hustle of every day people as they went on their own personal business. Orion would typically only experience these things when training with Damian however he noticed a lot more from his surroundings than he would let on. Even their place at the league would have been a familiar sight he would welcome with open arms. New challengers every other day, the best of the best to make it pass the elite four. Suddenly Orion was alert and felt something touch his head. As he looked around swiftly he saw it was Damian, scratching behind his ear.

"We're gonna get through this buddy." Damian said as he finished the meat, inviting Mina to come sit with him.

"It's got a few bones in it still so, small bites, eat around them." Damian said as he handed the girl the food, his stomach let out a barely audible growl. Although what with everything going on, he wasn't sure he could keep food down even if he wanted to.

 

[TepigTurtwig]

The Sandslash was going rampant, and Efret knew that it wasn't going to slow down. So, he went for something a little safer. "Sunny Day!" As the sunlight struck the clearing, Blaze let out a mighty roar. Then, with a flamethrower, he seared the path in front of the Sandslash. As it rolled into the ash, it was temporarily thrown off its balance. In that moment, Efret snatched a knife he had made earlier, and plunged it into the Sandslash's neck, not letting go. While he stabbed, Blaze breathed fire onto its back. The combination eventually killed the Sandslash. Then, Efret had an idea. Why not skin it for its quills?

After he had fashioned a spikey coat for Blaze, they set out in the jungle, both becoming tired. They had been fighting all day, and needed a rest. Eventually, he came across a small camp, which was surrounded by pikes. No pokemon could do this. There were people inside. He spotted a Sylveon and a woman who looked to be its trainer. He rushed forward, calling, "Hello there, can we take refuge in your camp? We can hunt and provide fire for cooking. Plus, I know basic first aid!" As he ran in, he saw that the Sylveon had been recalled while he ran, and so, he glanced around to see if there were other pokemon defending the camp. He spotted a Blastoise, and, immediately, Blaze glowered at it. So, to avoid conflict, Efret decided to recall Blaze.

 

[Nygenn]

Location: Jinko Island, Jungle
Time: 1st Day, Early afternoon
Tagging: Salem, Ajax, Aidinia, Alex

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​

The doctor wasted no time. She immediately got behind Salem and began to inspect his injury. She gentle probed the flesh around the wound and Salem could immediately tell she knew what she was doing. Her hands felt pleasantly cool against his hot skin and he suppressed a spine tingling shudder.

While she worked she talked to him about her plans for surviving this horrible ordeal. He listened and it got him thinking. ‘It’s natural to want to find shelter when you’re at the mercy of the elements, however there was more to this event that simply holding out. The Pokemon in this jungle are affected by something sinister.’

Salem’s thought train was interrupted by the sound of a Pokeball popping open. A Sylveon materialized next to them and Salem couldn’t help but smirk. ‘Fitting,’ he thought. If he had any doubts about this woman’s intentions before they were gone now. He refused to believe that anyone owning a happy Sylveon could be a bad person.

Doctor Moon asked her Pokemon if she would please heal him. The Sylveon complied without complaint and began waving its ribbons around. Salem couldn’t help but stare at the Pokemon’s almost dancelike motions. The scene triggered an old memory of a bonfire festival back home on the island. The entire tribe had gathered at night around a large tower that had been set ablaze. Men were clapping their hands and stomping a rhythm in the sand with their feet, while the girls, dressed in loose flowing gowns and ribbons tied around their wrists were dancing in the clearing. The sight had impressed young Salem immensely and he’d had been staring at the moving girls mesmerized. His brothers had teased him about that for years to come. They had misunderstood Salem’s fascination but that didn’t matter to them.

Without being consciously aware he was doing so, he’d grabbed hold of his left wrist and was idly rubbing the smooth skin where his own ribbons had been.

An unfamiliar sensation pulled Salem from his reverie and he jerked instinctively. He immediately regretted the sudden movement and braced for the pain. But it did not come. Instead, a wave of pleasant warmth swirled inside him. He felt it envelop his entire being. It touched his lungs and he breathed easier. It touched his hart and he felt it settled down. He hadn’t even realized it had been racing before, but it was pounding strong and steady now. The wave seeped into his muscles and spread out under his skin. His back began to tingle and slowly but surely he could feel it loosen up. He slumped his shoulders and finally felt the wave of warmth settle in the pit of his stomach. He giggled, because it tickled. It tickled him the way his sister used to tickle him when he was no more than a toddler.

The sensation seemed to last a long while, but in truth it was over in mere moments.

“Well, that looks much better! Thanks Alex,” his fiery doctor exclaimed. Salem looked on as the Sylveon was recalled into its Pokeball. He thanked it mentally, then looked up at the woman standing before him now. He smiled at her and his eyes seemed almost to glow with renewed vigor.

“Thank you so much miss Moon. I appreciate all that you have done for me,” he told her. Then proceeded to study her more carefully. He traced her body with his eyes starting from her feet and ending with her eyes. ‘Violet eyes,’ he noted, ‘not silver.’ The thought surprised him, but then he brushed it away.

“I don’t think it would be a good idea to build camp here,” he told her in answer to her earlier questions. “If you plan to build a camp you should do it near a stable source of fresh water. Otherwise the effort required to build a camp in this heat will leave you dehydrated, lightheaded and vulnerable to attacks,” he elaborated. “Then there is the bloody trail I left to consider. You followed it and found me right? That means others can just as easily and likely with more hostile intentions.”

Salem hopped of the stone and marveled at how easy it was compared to when he’d sat down. His back felt a little bit tender perhaps, but was otherwise fine. He touched a hand to his abdomen and noticed that the bruising there was gone as well. He stretched and folded his hands behind his head, a confident smile playing on his lips.

“Whatever your Sylveon did to me, it was super effective,” he joked. “I feel better than ever.”

Then he heard someone shouting, immediately followed by the sound of something approaching.

He pulled the doctor behind him and widened his stance a little. Ajax was immediately at his side and loomed menacingly over his shoulder.

“My, aren’t we popular today?” he said to his partner.

Salem may have looked like he was just standing there casually with that pose, bare chested, lightly slumped, a hand on his hip, and a gentle smile on his face, but he was ready to act on a moment’s notice.

“Whoever is out there,” he called warmly, “won’t you show yourself?”

 

[Chrocey]

When Delilah was an infant, the house she lived in with older brother and their parents had caught fire. It wasn’t intentional, nor did anyone die from it. It was just an event that happened.

Beedrill hovered along, carrying his incapacitated trainer through the dangerous forest. He kept himself vigilant, looking for any sign of danger. For a split second his eyes fell onto Delilah as she slept. Memories flashed through his mind in rapid succession. Memories of when he carried her through flames and ashes, Staryu at his side carrying her brother, dowsing a path for them to progress.

Their teamwork saved two lives that day. Yet the most prominent thing about that memory was the anger-fueled determination he felt. The fact that all four of them left that house for the last time that night had only fueled his determination. It wasn’t just about saving the lives of the children, it was about fixing something that had been apparently broken.

Beedrill shook that thought from his head. Now he was on his own with Delilah, and just like before, it was up to him to ensure nothing bad happened to her.

Beedrill set Delilah down for a moment as he could hear a nearby source of water. It was loud, and sounded like some sort of waterfall. The idea occurred to him that he could try to wash the sleep powder off of the girl in order to wake her up faster. The loudness of the waterfall had distracted him enough that he hadn’t been paying attention to the sounds of any nearby wild pokemon. And just like that, a fiery surprise hurdled towards his trainer.

It went without saying that Beedrill thought his trainer was being attacked by another human at first. He’d prepared his drills to retaliate, but soon came to the realization that he’d actually tackled her out of the way of a blast from a Talonflame. After Pyroar lept into an aggressive stance, Beedrill wasted no time in getting into his fighting stance as well.

The bug pokemon then began buzzing to the Pyroar, letting her know that there was a water source nearby that could possibly be useful in taking out this flying fire-type pokemon. He didn’t need to know much about these two. He just needed to know that they had a common interest in protecting Delilah.

Apollo had given Delilah a thumbs up, her response was only more snoring. She still wasn’t nearly awake enough to handle the situation, so it was up to Beedrill to ensure she got the help that she needed from these two strangers.

 

[TepigTurtwig]

"I'm right here," said Efret, "and I would like to form an alliance with you." He released Blaze from his pokeball. "This is my partner Blaze. We've been through a lot together. Anyway, I couldn't help but notice the Blastoise. Where did you get it?"

 

[BurbleBurble]

As the flames turned to smoke and steam, so did Gerald and June's hope. "Uh...want to take a little break? Maybe some breakfast?" On another hand, the man and fox were likely going to be the breakfast...Well, until an arrow shot into a tree right by the pack, taking both the horde of Pokemon and the two companions by surprise. And before the the Alpha or it's mate got a chance to react, a furious storm of leaves whipped up!

"Don't just stand their unless you want to be part of the natural cycle you idiot."

Staring over, it was a woman, maybe the same age as him, with a bow, a nasty look, and a strong looking Sceptile. "I, um, yeah! Let's go June!"

He didn't need to say that twice. June and Gerald quickly followed after the girl, but noticed she had clothing that wasn't just casual wear he was stuck in, and the bow. "Hey, it may be a bad time to ask, but where'd you get the clothes and bow? Didn't..."They" steal our stuff?"

 

[Astralkitsune]

Delilah's Post​

Apollo gave the thumbs up sign and smiled down at the girl in his arms only to realize that she was fast asleep. He hung his head and sighed before laying her on the ground gently and standing up. "Damn she missed my cool hero save." He turned and faced the Talonflame ripping his shirt the rest of the way off on purpose. He then swirled the shirt around his hands in a makeshift wrap style. His body was covered in old burn scars, now joined by the large new burn on his back. "Alright bird, I am going to turn you into a fried chicken dinner for the lovely lady here." He flexed his shoulders dramatically and cracked his knuckles,"Your flames can't hurt me I am Apollo Soulis master of fire, I will make your soul ignite with the heat of my conviction." He then took a somewhat comical fighting stance.

As Apollo's words and display went on, Volcana the Pyroar just hung her head and if a sweat drop could have appeared then it would have. She was used to her trainer doing this constantly but it still made her cringe every-time he did. She turned to look at the BeeDrill beside her with a please don't judge him to harshly look. Then she turned back toward the deadly Talonflame and roared sharpening her claws on a piece of wood in front of her. The Talonflame did not look impressed.

Apollo finished his goofy speech and stance and then looked at Volcana, "this is going to be a tough fight Vol you are going to need to work with that BeeDrill." He then looked at the BeeDrill, "I know I am not your trainer but please for her sake listen to me and work with Volcana on the attacks.

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Damien's Post
​

Right after Damien said that she was welcome to come along, Mina smiled and hugged him once again around the waist. "Yay, your like having a big brother." She turned to the Gardevoir, "do you hear that Ecarte big brother Damien is going to protect us." Ecarte just looked at her trainer and nodded once. She then looked directly at Damien with a don't fuck it up expression. As Damien handed her the meat and a place by the fire the girl quickly took a piece and then rapidly set it down. "Oww it's hot", she furiously blew on her fingers for a bit. After a moment or two she picked the pokemon meat back up and wrinkled her nose one more time before she bit in. She munched for a bit and made a face before swallowing. "It needs more spices, we should find some." Ecarte glanced to the right of the clearing and her eyes glowed purple, before she turned back to Mina and shook her head. Mina nodded and looked at Damien, "Um when we leave we don't want to go that way ok big brother."

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Gerald's Post
​

Lin frowned at the question, Just what in the hell was this strange man talking about. She cocked her head at Gerald eyeing his black clothes, "I made the bow when I came here a year ago and I brought my clothes with me." She looked at the new bow and sighed remembering her old one and how much better it was.
She then when silent and lead them both through the trees silently, and if Gerald tried to talk further she held up a finger to her lips. When she was satisfied that they had lost any pursuit Lin suddenly grabbed Gerald by his collar and with surprising strength whirled him into a tree, before quick drawing a very sharp bone knife and holding it to his throat. "Who are you, where did you come from, and who has dared to do this to the pokemon on this Island." Her voice was quiet but it was a hard whisper with an edge of steel and deadly intent, that spoke what would happen if she did not like his answers.

As soon as Lin made her move against the trainer Arrow the Sceptile spun around on the Delfox and positioned himself between the pokemon and it's trainer taking a strong defensive stance. He looked at her wand and just shook his head.