Ask to Join The Dark Tournament

[PentheWonderful]

Their steps were slow, and careful.

Taking their sweet time, gauging each step forward. Her muscles were tense, locking together in order to support the weight of the much larger man depending on her for balance, to support Salem, this strange man that defied everything she knew of the cold, cruel world. The man with strength to spare, who had shared with her his strength, was now relying on her to keep him steady and present,

And that made her feel big.

Cassie held him, and her mind was split in many different directions between adjusting and readjusting her pace for Salem to match, memorizing the surprising sturdiness of his fluid body, each fiber of his muscles against her person, and watching Ajax lumber ahead, moving further and further until he disappears in the greens and plant life, taking Lin and Lady with him. But she was used to thoughts running simultaneously through, and it amazed even herself how many things she could juggle now, as they expanded into the void.

The path was too steep to scale. This she concluded from the trembling of her leg muscles, straining, crying desperately from the weight they supported. Her feet were dug deep into the moist soil and her toes were curling in a desperate attempt to grip at something, anything, but she knew just as well that it would not be enough to ascend the slick, direct slope back to camp without the proper bearings.

They would need to go around.

“Where did your fire go Kar-sie?” Her breath catches in her throat, a white flash across her eyes, and she could feel her vault rattle. The lock trembling, rattling with the clang of metal against metal but it could never break free. The doors had been sealed so tightly to contain the nightmares within that even she could not open it anymore. Cassie slowly found her eyes traveling to Salem, meeting those teal irises that flooded her senses with his presence so easily. "What... What did you call me?"

“Cassie, I meant to say,” He corrected himself. “Sorry about that.”

His gentle face, his strands of ghostly blond hair that now tickle her neck, his warmth that her body greedily absorbed, and his scent, finding she couldn't smell him at all. All she could find was blood, and it dampened his pants, and stained and soaked through her's. Yet again, drenched in the blood of strangers. Her brows furrowed, she shook herself free of her stupor, and her steel mask melted into distressed concern. Cassie found the floating thought of washing him and Lin in the river too late, but given the circumstance surrounding Arrow, it would not have been safe regardless.

Cassie pressed Salem closer to her, and gave him a nod. Perhaps to show that she had forgiven his slip of tongue. Or perhaps she was giving him a heads up to his sudden redirection down an alternate route, something easier for him to tread. She hid beneath the brim of her fedora from his searching eyes, and her lips were still and stiff, for she had fallen back into her silence. She focused her gaze ahead, drawing lines in her head to trace the route they would take back to camp, and she gauged their location, how far away they had strayed and how further away they would need to in order to tread the long road.

Some would say, the scenic route, but Cassie refused to take in the view. Not of the vibrant evergreens and colorful blooms that thrived around them, and not of the god of a man that leaned on her for support and held her as closely as she held him. One step. Two. Such luxuries she would not be able to indulge in, not when there were lives at stake that weren't her own. So she cast her mind elsewhere and thought on objectives and planned her move five steps ahead, for ten different outcomes. Another step forward, a slight stumble back.

One consistent theme in her plan was to have Ajax assist her in washing the blood on both trainer and huntress away when they meet in camp. And Cassie knew one thing for sure; with their Shellos of a pace and their forced detour, they would be arriving much later, and she only hoped that Ajax would keep the Liepard from possibly attempting to devour the huntress again. Though Lin, on her escort to the settlement, was already being licked clean by Lady's dexterous tongue, catching every last blotch of blood on her marred skin which could have easily drawn in unwanted attention.

But she and Salem were not in the clear yet. They were both walking lures in his current bloodied state; something that would not have been a problem had they been able to stick with their pokemon, and get to camp as soon as they could. But the situation was different now and fortunately, it was something Cassie had considered. On the path they now traveled, they moved along the flow of the river, close enough for her to still be able to see its pristine glimmer. But also the unmistakable browns of clay pottery. There, laying by the riverside were the pots and bowls Salem had gone down to wash in the first place.

Cassie threw her gaze back, over her shoulder where Ajax's massive trail of crushed flora seemed so small in the distance; her only bearing from disorientation. She memorized it, familiarized it, and then pinned it to the forefront of her mind. And then, she once again strayed from the path, stomping down the undergrowth that retaliated and pricked her bare feet with their broken branches. But Cassie held on steadfastly, she would not let him fall, and planted her feet firmly into those thin stakes so she could lift Salem, lighten his load and protect him from the pain.

Because she remembered how he had done the same for her, when he pulled her close, instead of pushing down on her for support.

Once again back by the riverside, Cassie bent her knees and eased him into a sitting position. Only then did she release him in order to take his face within her blood stained hand, clasping gently his cheek. "Salem." She began, ensuring that she held his attention. "I'm going to wash you. You are covered in blood and it will attract wild pokemon. If that happens, we won't make it back." A short pause, as her eyes wander back to the pottery laying by the river. "Also..." At this, the girl replaces the steel and she pulls her lips into a fragile smile. "I found your pots. Let's see if they work."

As soon as she had appeared, she had gone.

Light as a summer breeze, she swept each pot in her arms to fill with river water. Her muscles strained to lift the water filled pots, but she managed to carry them to Salem all the same. Once that was done, she knelt before him, and her hands worked dexterously to undo his belt and ease him out of the damp pants and undergarment. His length sprung free of their restraints, and for a moment, she had to raise an eyebrow at his arousal, but connected the dots just as quickly.

'It must have been the doctor.' Cassie concluded, before swiftly removing her own garments and moving over to the river's edge and submerging the clothes underwater within the shallows. With large river rocks, she pinned their edges to ensure they did not drift away, and stepped back. Counting, testing their stability, and finally, left the river to wash the garments for her. 'What a silly man.'

Her eyes preserved their modesty by keeping away from Salem's arousal, for despite their situation, she found her concern, her desire to care for him to be much stronger than any sexual desire she might have held. But then, she was never one for such indulgences. With a bowl in one hand, she scooped water from a full pot, the other removing her fedora to place it beside the sturdily crafted pottery work. And then, she moved the bowl over Salem's shoulder, warning him, "It's cold." Before gently poured the liquid onto his body, watching it stream down the rippling muscles that she scrubbed clean with her free hand.

They worked swiftly, in perfect rhythm. One hand continually providing the flow of water while the other roamed his body. Slowly, tenderly, thoroughly washing away each smear of blood and battling the stream that had flowed from his puncture wound. Her dainty, long, disfigured fingers danced across his study torso, down his well defined legs, wondering how such a hardened body could move with the fluidity of water, and carefully brushing her thumb over each scar. 'You're just like me now.' She found herself thinking. 'Except, not like me at all.'

Her eyes flicked upwards and immediately found their mark; his bright, teal eyes, with their shine dulling from exhaustion, unfocused and struggling to stay afloat. Her hand had returned to his cheek faster than she could register, and Cassie willed his shine to return. That light and tranquility, that strength that she so sought, and the ace trainer discovered her heart beating, pumping blood through her veins the way her thrills do. It filled in her gaps, and she was whole, and warm.

Her thumb gently caressed the skin underneath and not once had she thought about the time and effort spent. She found comfort in this work, because it was not just work. It was the feeling of finally being on the inside, experiencing things firsthand.

And it was exhilarating.

 

[Nygenn]

Location: Riverside, Some ways away from Camp SAM.CG
Time: 2nd Day, Around 10 am
Tagging: Salem, Cassie

----------------​

‘Where are you taking me?’ Salem wanted to ask when Cassie steered them away from the path that led up to camp.

A part of him was happy she did so though. The incline looked rather steep in his weakened condition and while Salem wasn’t one to feel embarrassed about his actions, he wasn’t particularly looking forward to struggling so much in front of Cassie.

‘What a silly thought,’ he mused. Why would it matter if she saw him struggling or not? But he already knew the answer to that thought before it had even fully formed.

‘Because I want her to like me.’

Salem kept quiet while he pondered the ramifications of this realization. With her support he did not have to pay much attention to where he was going as long as he kept placing one foot in front of the other, so he didn’t.
-

His wandering thoughts were reeled back in a moment later when Cassie ushered him onto the ground.

The motion really made him realize how very weak he actually was right now. It took all he had not to groan out loud in protest, but he managed by redirecting his attention to remaining seated upright rather than continuing the momentum until he was laying flat on his back.

Cassie was on her knees beside him, her small hands on his cheek. Again he noticed how cool her touches always felt to his skin. Salem has always had a rather high body temperature and he found the feeling of her skin on his rather soothing.

His eyes automatically found hers and he listened tentatively when she explain she was going to wash him and why. She mentioned his pottery as well, but Salem’s mind was still stuck on the moment she had spoken his name.

The way she said it, with that musical voice of hers and that exotic accent had him replaying it over and over in his mind, and despite himself he felt his body respond again.

This was the second time she aroused him simply by saying his name.

He remembered the moment a few hours earlier, in their secluded little grove where he had given her his ribbon. The memory caused him to grow even larger and more rigid than he already was, and he fidgeted with his pants the moment she walked away to retrieve his earthworks.

Cassie returned a minute later and kneeling in front of him she began to undo his belt. It was all Salem could do to just lean back and raise his hips of the ground when she pulled his pants and undergarments down.

When his member sprang free he caught her looking at it in surprise for a moment. Never before has Salem ever felt ashamed of his desires and he certainly wasn’t going to now, but he had almost smacked her in the face by accident. For some reason he had to clench his jaw tightly to keep from apologizing.

Somehow this girl kept managing to make him feel different and strange about normal, and familiar emotions.

Cassie seemed to have come to some sort of conclusion and must have decided not to let his state of arousal bother her. In fact, the devious little minx went a step further and dismissed it altogether when she proceeded to strip herself naked in front of him.

His mind reeled and his body jerked involuntarily at the sight of her, in particular when she gathered their clothing, turned around and bent forward to submerge them in the shallows of the river, giving him a good look at her backside.

‘By the Deep Current, she has no idea what she is doing to me,’ he thought as he struggled to control his breathing. If he hadn’t been awake before, he most definitely was now.

Cassie was an absolutely beautiful small thing. Lithe and sensual, in both her form and her movements, and that voice!

Fortunately he managed to regain some semblance of control through sheer willpower alone before she turned back to him again. As much as he wanted to act on his lust right now, it felt wrong somehow.

Now would not be the time to succumb to carnal desires, and he discovered that she meant too much to him to simply use her to relief his stress.

He focused on that thought and to his mild surprise discovered that it actually helped somewhat. His flaring lust abated a little and was instead replaced with a desire to connect emotionally rather than physically.

He wanted to get to know her.

Cassie knelt beside him, oblivious to the torment she inflicted, and got ready to begin washing off his grime and blood.

“It’s cold,” was the only warning she gave him before she splashed the icy river water onto his burning skin.

Luckily Salem was accustomed to the shock of cold water being the fanatic swimmer that he was. Despite this his body jerked a little, or maybe that was because of the sensation of her small hand running across his bare chest and stomach. Whatever the real reason, it helped him settle down and regardless of the intimacy of her touch, or maybe because of it, he really couldn’t tell anymore with this girl, he felt himself relax.

He watched her as she worked, quickly and efficiently. It seemed a little detached, but Salem could feel there was something hidden in her touch. Was it uncertainty, or perhaps a suppressed longing?

Whatever it was, he couldn’t figure it out by the time she was finished.
-

Her cool, sharp eyes flicked up to his half lidded ones.

He had certainly enjoyed her ministrations and felt more clean and relaxed than he had in a while.

His eyes fluttered open when he felt her cool touch on his cheek again. He refocused on her face and was surprised at the serene expression he found there. It was strange seeing her so unguarded but he found the look very becoming of her.

‘I want to learn more about you,’ he thought. ‘I want to know who you are and what you mean to me.’

His own hand reached up and grabbed hold of hers. He brought it down in front of him so that he could studying it more closely. With his fingers and his eyes he roamed across the scar tissue covering the dainty appendage. He traced the folds and grooves passed the ribbon on her wrist and up her forearms, then down again to the tips of her delicate fingers.

Before he even really knew what he was doing he had bend forwards and pressed his lips softly against her damaged digits, kissing them gently.

Then as if having made up his mind about something he tugged firmly on her arm and pulled her sideways into his lap where she was forced to steady herself against his chest.

Salem could feel the cool skin on the outsides of her thighs against the warm skin on the inside of his. He could also feel her weight as she settled in.

‘How light she is,’ he noticed, and suddenly she did not appear the strong, confident woman he was used to seeing. In her stead he now had a fragile little girl sitting in his lap whose eyes were watching him, studying him, trying to determine what he was up to.

Before she could object or complain about anything he said,

“I want to know who you are.”

He had whispered the words, but he knew she had heard them clearly.

“Allow me to wash you too.”

Not waiting for to respond he continued where he had started with her hand, he traced his fingers up along her slender arm towards her narrow shoulders, then down her shoulder blades and across her back.

Salem moved slowly, deliberately, and took in every sensation. His hands paused at every little scratch and scar, to trace it carefully with his fingers. He was mapping her body and moving from one mark to the next, unraveling the stories printed on her skin.
-

It took an eternity to cover her back, or at least that is what it felt like.

Small though it was, it bore an extensive collection of scars and Salem was adamant to familiarize himself with every last one of them.

Eventually he had made his way down to her narrow hips, her firm bottom and her strong thighs.

He continued his journey for as far as he could reach down her legs, before finally he pulled his hands away from her body entirely.

Salem found himself unable to look away from her, from her marred, sun kissed skin. She was breathtakingly captivating and demanded his rapt attention.

Blindly his hands searched for the bowl of water she had used. He eventually found it, lifted it up carefully and brought it in between the two of them.

He held onto the bowl with one hand while the other dipped into the water and cupped some out of it to sprinkle across her back. He started from her shoulders again and rubbed the water into her skin, washing away dirt and sweat and blood. His hands moved slightly quicker now that her skin was familiar territory.

He knew every bump and dimple, every nook and cranny and worked meticulously yet sensually to clean all of her.

Soon enough her back was done and her skin glistening in the daylight filtering through the leaves.

Salem put down the bowl, put his hands back on her hips and proceeded to slide across her skin, around her body to her stomach. Before he got there however, she placed her own delicate hands on his’ to halt his movement.

She was looking back at him, searching his eyes for something. Whatever it was, she must have found it after a while because she turned back around to face away from him and let go of his hands.

Just like how he had moved down her back exploring every inch of her body there, so now was he moving up her front.

Here too, the tiny woman sported a myriad of scars, some natural and some very, very unnatural. It were these scars where Salem took more time trying to identify them, define them, and make sense of them.

He noticed that Cassie would become more restless whenever he paused longer at a particular scar, but would settle down somewhat as soon as he moved on again.

He covered her sides and belly before moving up across her chest and over her, surprisingly large and firm, breasts. When he finally reached her throat he moved his hands to her shoulders and pulled her back into his chest. At the same time he moved his head forward to press his cheek against the side of her head.

Once more his hands left her body in search of the water bowl and once found, set to work on cleaning her front.

Cassie’s body was so wiry, lean and firm that it was difficult for Salem to determine if she was feeling relaxed or tensed in her current situation. He also could not see her face and therefore not read her expressions, however she hadn’t stopped him, nor moved away, and that must mean something.
-

When he was finished with washing her he leaned the both of them back slightly, and slowly upended the bowl of water, emptying what remained of its content over the both of them, after which he placed it back on the ground beside them.

By now, Salem was feeling very clean and relaxed. He would still need to take it easy, and find some time to catch a couple of hours of sleep, but for this moment he was whole once more.

Without really thinking about what he was doing he reached up and wrapped his arms around his beautiful caretaker, pulling her in a warm and loving embrace. He was now intimately familiar with her body and she somehow seemed to melt perfectly into his own.

When she did so, Salem became vaguely aware of a feeling of recognition. As if they had embraced each other before, but he knew this was not the case. They had only met a mere two days ago, at the security check in on the docks, after all, even though it felt like so much longer.

‘We must have a strong affinity,’ he figured and let his mind wander, simply relishing in all the sensations that their proximity brought him, and hopefully her as well.

He took a deep breath, feeling the tiny girl rise with the swell of his chest, and caught a good whiff of her natural scent.

She smelled like rain, and grass. ‘A meadow,’ he concluded.

There were no meadows in Regalo Del’Mar, but he knows he must have been to one at some point during his travels because the scent was so familiar, and it lulled him into a serene trance.

He was so relaxed in fact, that he did not even consciously register what he said next.

“Hmm,” he hummed contently.

“You smell so nice, Karela.”

 

[PentheWonderful]

Somehow, Cassie had done it.

The shine returned to Salem’s eyes with a flutter of his eyelids, and those pupils of his focused on her once more, a gaze that was perplexed to her serenity. Was it so strange? She couldn’t help but wonder about the many things that had stemmed from that one question. How had he seen her? How did he perceive her? What had he thought of her, and how had she looked to him if her bubbling emotions surprised him? All those little things seemed to matter so much.

The bewilderment had melted away, replaced by the softness she had grown accustomed to. By the time she pulled herself away from her thoughts. His large, warm hands engulfed her’s and brought it down from where it greedily absorbed the warmth from his cheek. His calloused fingers and his gentle eyes traced the flow of deformed tissue, all the way down from the tips of her fingers to where the sinews faded into her skin just below her wrist.

And she remembered how ugly they were, and she was afraid, and wracked with regret; for leaving her gloves behind, and plagued with confusion on why it mattered to her, why his opinion of her mattered so much when she had stopped caring so long ago. She had stopped hoping to be accepted, stopped caring to try. But along he came, and suddenly she was hoping and caring again.

And it scared her.

A that fear was quickly shattered by surprise when Salem pressed his lips against her marred skin, and in turn, shattered the dam that held her feelings. They were flooding in like a tidal wave and she would not be able to stop it. The pain, the loneliness, anguish, and depression, hit her at full force and she felt them all tenfold.

And Cassie trembled because they sponged up what little warmth and light she had acquired and she was so very cold.

Before she knew what was happening, she found herself seated atop Salem’s lap and all she could focus on was his warmth against her frigid skin. Her eyes eventually peered over her shoulder to the man himself, desperate to learn what he planned, yet fearful of the answer at the same time.

He was dangerous, oh so dangerous and she wondered if she let herself go too far.

“I want to know who you are.” He whispered, and Cassie found her heart clenching, for he was asking the combination to her vault of secrets, but they were locked away for a reason.

“It might scare you away.” ‘I’m a monster.’ She whispered back, but it was too soft to pick up, and too muddled by the river as she ducked her head low, allowing her fringes to sweep across her face while her heart worked to restore the dam.

“Allow me to wash you too.” He continued, but it had not been a request for permission. It was a statement, and she found she couldn’t bring herself to argue it.

All she knew was that in the next moment, she felt his rough palm slide up her arm, over her shoulder and then down between her shoulder blades where it came to rest against her back, against one of the many scars she owned, and she shuddered from his touch, and it occurred to her that he had the perfect, close up view of her ugliness.

Her hands were soon reaching up to grasp her arms, crossing over her breasts as her shoulders squared, and she finds herself holding each breath she took when his fingers curiously danced across a scar. Her eyes fluttered shut, and she basked in the sensation of something she could not see, praying he does not decide to finally be appalled by the new blemish he’d discovered, and leave her behind.

She desperately prayed so, because his fingers were the only thing keeping her strong in the face of the pain and anguish still running loose in her veins. Because she had no choice but to feel them now, and allow herself to feel them.

‘I lost my entire team. The one thing I couldn’t live without and I know I might never see them again, or ever be able to replace what they had meant to me.’

The glitch, displacing her flow of thoughts and back again.

‘I lost my legacy. Nobody will ever respect me, or hear me, or see me without disgust in their eyes, and nobody will remember me, and everything I’ve done.’

Static, roaring and breaking apart the words, letters, and numbers.

‘I lost my fortune. It’s all gone for naught, and if I were to have children, they would have nothing to inherit but a bad name.’

The power was cut, and one by one, the thoughts disappear. Her vault deep in the darkness begins to rattle once again.

‘I lost my looks. My body is ruined, and it will stay this way until the day I die.’

And a flood of emotions rush in from the void it left behind and it crushes the vault in its wake. But she did not run. She held on to the warmth, and finally, finally she allows them to engulf her.

‘I lost my family. They’ve removed me, and left me behind, and I know they won’t be there for my funeral.’

Drip.

A drop of warmth fell onto her thigh, unable to replace the heat Salem’s hands had given her, and they grew cold far too soon. She missed him there, against her skin. Cassie moved her eyes, her breaths steady and even, but she found her vision was blurred and her eyes were stinging from the saltwater welling in them. Her hands release the death grip on her arms that now bruise over, and as his eyes graze her back, she presses her own against her palms, where the tears run down her wrist.

Warm.

The thorns leave her heart, biting into her skin with the cold of the water Salem drizzles over her back, and he soothes them with his touch. She loosened her shoulders and steadied herself, to accept the movement of his hands against her back, roaming it with such familiarity and confidence. And she felt clean as the water runs down her back and wrist. Inside and out. And it had been his touches that cleansed her

Her hands brush away the last of her tears, and once his hands return to her hips and slid around her stomach, she reached down and clasped them, relished in their warmth, and halting their advance. She squeezed them gently, and she moved her fingers to slip in between the spaces of his. And she found that they fit together like a jigsaw.

Cassie shifts slightly, and peers back at him though the fringes of her wild hair. With her glance, she expressed her gratitude, her hesitance, and utter inability to regain control of the situation to his concerned eyes. She was resigning to him, placing her trust in him, and finally, she gave herself to him to see what he would do. She released her hold, and turned back.

Salem continued his advance to complete his map of her scars, and with each touch, she felt the emotion of the memories return to her, a second tidal way hitting her blow by blow and pleading her to accept them. The first wave had blown the vault open, and the monsters have come out to play. And that was exactly what she did.

Her eyes once again sliding shut, she could hear the whips cracking, how they sounded like lightning in her ears and it made her heart seize each time they came. She could hear the blades whistling, cutting through air and she remembered how much they stung when they sliced through her skin. And she could hear the gun being fired, lodging their bullets beneath her skin where she would always remember them. She could hear the pokeballs shattering and the electricity crackling and she remembered most of all the southern accent in Mathew’s voice, and the utter hatred in her mother’s. The abuse, physical, psychological, verbal, that she received from her parents early in her life, the childhood she had been robbed of, and slow death of the person she could have, would have, should have been.

Cassie remembered every single monster she locked away and they all still scare her terribly. She squirms beneath their intimidating presence so vividly flashing beneath her eyelids, and her body trembles like a leaf, but then Salem pulls her against his chest and presses his cheek to the side of her head, and she was steady again. She let the water run down her front with the rest of her thorns. She was damaged, ruined, and beyond anyone’s comprehension and that was okay. She was truly okay, because she knows she would always have her rough edges and ripped corners and she would always be constricted by thorns because she sought the pain, and she had finally accepted her heart in the matter.

Her ugly, scarred, tattered, broken, calloused heart.

And perhaps she’d finally found someone who would accept it as it was.

The last of the water Salem poured washed away the last of her tears, and she listened to the clay as it scraped against the gravel. Cassie remained with her eyes closed, but she was ready to delve back into reality. Just then, his arms wrap around her, and kept her there. In that position she had found herself in, his warmth filled her senses, and it resulted in the immediate relaxation of her muscles. She leaned back folded herself in his arms, finding her curves fitting perfectly against the sculpture of his muscle. Her head rested against his chest, and she soon found her own fatigue catching up to her.

Her eyelids were heavy, and they simply refused to open when she willed them to. There, she felt at ease, as if harm couldn’t touch her. Strangely at home, as if it were something she knew, and was familiar with. Her mind was filling with blurry lights, warmth and comfort, and they bubbled up pleasantly, so different from any memory she ever tried to recall. Somehow this bright, beautiful piece had been locked up with the monsters, but now that the vault had been destroyed, it was finally free.

‘Fear not, for I shall keep you safe always, fair lady,’

Sand beneath her feet, palm trees swaying overhead. A family vacation many, many years ago when the world was confusing and twice as large. The air was warm, and she could smell the distinct scent of the sea, hear the gentle rolling waves on the shore. She remembered a sunhat swaying atop her head, it was far too big for her then, and she recalled the silhouette of a lean little boy and his bright green eyes, kneeling before her with her hand in his.

She remembered leaning down, and then wrapping her small arms around him, and he had returned the gesture by doing the same, pulling her against his dry muscles. She fit perfectly.

‘My mama is always so mad at me... I never know what to do...’ Her small voice echoed like bells inside the chiming memory, and she breathed out a breath she remembered taking then. ‘How do you do that…? I wanna be more like you…’

‘Salem, right?’

Her eyes flew open, and her heart seized in her chest. Cassie breathed in, and the only thing that registered to her was the smell of the ocean permanently stuck to Salem’s being. As much his identity as his body was. Her mind scrambled to form words and ideas, but nothing ever came together, and instead she feels Salem’s chest vibrate as a hum left him.

How his voice had changed. From the light, boyish tone that had been brave and bold, to the deep, sultry velvet that was passionate and carefree. He was the only subject she could still clearly remember from the overexposed memory, like burning film improperly placed on a projector.

“You smell so nice, Karela.” He mumbled, and suddenly his previous tongue twist of her name made sense again. Karela, the name he’d accidentally given her because he’d forgotten what her actual name was. Her ‘islander name’, which she later discovered to share with a terribly bitter, terribly unappealing green fruit.

And now, she could not help but laugh a silly little laugh at the mention of that word. That name.

“Why had you chosen such an awful fruit of all things?” She spoke with the utmost of amusement in her voice, but it was directed more to herself than anyone, and it occurred to her that perhaps, just perhaps, he knew the entire time.

Though the memory had faded, he was still clear within it, and she wondered why. The full story had been lost, and she was left with only bits and pieces of conversation and silly activities without their reasons or context.

But those bits and pieces were not enough for her. She needed the whole picture. This memory only widened his puzzle frame so much more, and she realized she had even fewer pieces than she thought, and it only fueled her desire further to seek those answers and understand.

Shifting her position, she turned so that it was her side that was pressed against his chest, and she met his gaze with an inquisitive look. Millions of questions fought to be made known. Yet, this silent gaze, and a careful question was what she settled with instead. “What does that name mean to you?”

Her hand placed itself upon on of his arms, where she loosened his hold so she could see him better and everything else aside from him didn’t matter at that point. And for once, she did not quite know what to do. With the thrill building in her again, she wasn’t sure if she could hold back the floodgate of questions with that hot-blooded drive.

Impatiently, almost compulsively, she searched the memory for any pieces, any hints that he would know, any ques that he would recall that would somehow evoke this memory; this experience that she held only a fraction of. Because he was the only one who could complete them, and the only one who could solve this puzzle that had now involved her directly in it.

Stranger and stranger.

“L… Lemming…” She finally squeezed out, her brows knitted together as they desperately searched for answers in his eyes. “Lemming. That was… Your nickname… Wasn’t it?”

 

[Nygenn]

Location: Riverside, Some ways away from Camp SAM.CG
Time: 2nd Day, Around 10 am
Tagging: Salem, Cassie, Lyrana

----------------​

“Why had you chosen such an awful fruit of all things?” Salem heard Cassie chuckle softly.

So softly in fact that he surely would have missed it had their heads not been leaning comfortably against each other. It made him wonder if her words were even meant for him, or if she was just talking to herself while thinking of someone else.

He frowned a little at the thought that she could be thinking about someone else while she fit so perfectly in his embrace, but at soon as the flare of annoyance rose up it died down again. It didn’t really matter. She could think of anyone she wanted if that would make her happy. He was just glad to be the one around her to hear that musical laugh of hers.

Her happiness filled him with joy and he instinctively hugged her a little closer.

Cassie shift in his embrace though.

She set herself sideways but continued to lean into him, and Salem discovered that he liked this position better. He felt more connected with her when she opened herself to him in this manner.

He looked down, curious what had caused this shift in her. He knew she had been silently weeping earlier, and that she had been laughing softly afterwards. So now he was curious to learn what was going through her head and occupying her mind.

She had been searching for his eyes as well it seemed. Their gazes met and comfortably clicked together again, as always seemed to be the case between them.

“What does that name mean to you?” Cassie asked him inquisitively.

The question confused Salem. What was she referring to? Was she even talking to him?

Assuring himself that she was indeed talking to him he cast a quick glance behind him before meeting her eyes again, his brow now displaying amused confusion.

“Lo siento Cassie,” he began, and wanted to continue with, ‘but I don’t know what you are talking about.’

Before he could however, she spoke up again.

“L… Lemming…” she said with some difficulty, and Salem froze at the mentioned of that name.

His body went ridged beneath her as his mind was flung back through time and space, hundreds of miles out across wild oceans to a cluster of a tropical islands, and several short years into the past.

He easily conjured up the image of his loving sister Lyrana, standing on the white sands of Acedia’s beaches. Her skin tanned and her eyes a darker green than his own. Her pale hair, long, wild a free, flowing around her shoulders and down her back. She wore that gentle smile, filled with pride and love, which she always reserved for him.

“Lemming. That was… Your nickname… Wasn’t it?” Cassie said, hammering painful nails home. Every fragment of her sentence jarring a string of memories.

‘Lemming.’ He remembered all the times his sister had playfully called him such.

‘That was…’ He remembered all the things Lyrana had taught him over the years.

‘Your Nickname…’ And he remembered how she had always made him feel special among all the other children in her care.

‘Wasn’t it?’

That last question brought back those final moments of the life he shared with his sister. That time of great insecurity, of not knowing what to say, and of not knowing what to do to make her stay.

Salem was unaccustomed to keeping emotional pain from showing on his face. He was always in the habit of focusing on the positive things in life, or when dealing with loss, focusing on the good memories instead.

This painful moment he would turn around soon enough as well, but not before it stabbed him in the heart and shone in his eyes.

He closed his eyes for a moment and quickly stilled the turbulent waters of his psyche with practiced ease. Then he opened his eyes again and his smile was bright and true once more, for he never expected to hear anyone call him by that name again.

“That’s right Cassie.” He told the curious girl in his lap. “That was the name my sister always used for me.”

Then his smiled lessened a little to make room for wonder, and he asked,

“How do you know this?”

 

[MozzaD]

"Ah, what a beautiful morning, isn't it Athos? The sun's out, the sky is clear, the trees are green, and if you listen closely; you can hear the beautiful sound of people getting brutally murdered by virus-induced Pokémon!" Jasper exclaimed, his voice as sharp as knives. Athos' hazel eyes narrowed at how sardonic his partner was being and nudged him, and desperately wished that the trainer would stop speaking.

"Oh, look there, old pal!" The trainer pointed to his far left, guiding the Gallade's eyes to a truly marvellous sight, before speaking with a voice more acidic than an Arbok's, "There's nature at it's finest, a swarm of Yanmega eating the carcass of a dead Buneary! I just love how you can see the entrails pouring out of it's limp body, and how the Yanmega are tearing at it's skin and leaving nothing to the imagination when it comes to Buneary anatomy...it's FUCKING great!"

As he took a glance at the macabre sight, The Gallade recoiled at the scene and immediately glared at Jasper, throwing his arms out exasperatingly at the trainer, feeling a very strong urge to hit his trainer.

And why was Jasper so irritated? The simplest answer was, as Jasper would eloquently put it, because he, "was stuck in a gigantic fucking forest filled with crazy fucking Pokémon that want to fucking eat him."

In all honesty though, Jasper was mortified of the situation he was in, yet after being feeling so vulnerable after watching that first trainer and his Pidgeot die horrifically, and especially after that nightmare from the night before. To top it off with the fear, he was also hungry and thirsty, they both were. So, he translated his hunger, thirst, anguish, and terror the best way he knew how: by being a massive cunt.

"Well, I don't know about you, but I'm enjoying our time in this godforsaken, hellish, shitstorm of a forest. I FUCKING love it!" He hissed.

However, Jasper's insufferable ranting was silenced by the sound of loud, ominous thuds. Each thump causing the trees around to rattle and shake, leaves cascading down to the jungle floor. The duo quickly snuck to the nearest large bush to hide from whatever godforsaken behemoth the forest decided to throw at Jasper this time. That's when he caught a glimpse of the thing that was causing so much ruckus: a Slaking.

However, this Slaking seemed to be the alpha of whatever pack it came from. It was larger than the average variation of it's species, easily over 7'0" and slightly bulkier as well. It's white mane was polluted with the dried blood of whatever poor beast had decided to throw itself at this colossus. Jasper also managed to get a quick glance the shape it's fists were in: it was slightly bruised...and also covered in a concoction of blood and dirt. It was moving on all fours yet still looked like it was able to tower someone of Jasper's height.

As the trainer saw what was passing by, he prayed to every possible God out there that he wouldn't get spotted. Something that big would destroy Athos and Jasper, and especially since it was probably infected by the virus, like the rest of the Pokémon that resided in this forest. Jasper therefore concluded that an "alpha" Slaking topped off with a virus that caused a Pokémon (like this one) to be more bloodthirsty and aggressive was a combination that his Gallade wouldn't be able to defeat, not alone anyways.

His breathing slowed, only inhaling when he needed to, his hands gripping the spear that rest on his lap. Beads of sweat rolling down his face as the Slaking paused for a moment, looking around curiously. The blonde's heartbeat was racing, feeling lightheaded at the prospect of getting caught by that monster. Athos was faring better, as he remained calm throughout the entire time, but Jasper had knew that the shiny Gallade was terrified, his arms were slightly trembling; both prepared for a fight and horrified at the concept of it.

As the Slaking slowly began to pass, moving towards another section of the rainforest. Jasper let out a long exhale, wiping the sweat from his brow as he whispered to Athos, "We're clear to move. Let's keep going."

With that horrifying ordeal out of the way, the duo began to move forward, both with their original plan of finding A: a Team Rocket grunt or patrol to extract information from, and B: a source of water. On their way, they occasionally came across the mangled Pokémon body or two, which was quickly becoming commonplace in this green hell that they were stuck in. And after a few more minutes of trekking ahead even further, they began to hear something that they couldn't even comprehend: the sound of a stream. Fresh water, Jasper thought, quickly realising that they can finally get a drink. He turned to Athos, hoping that it wasn't just his ears trying to grasp onto something that wasn't actually there, and the shiny Gallade nodded his head, a smile forming on the Pokémon's lips.

Upon inching closer, the duo would hear another sound: a Pokémon and it's trainer. Jasper heard the satisfied grunts of what looked like a bulldozer and another trainer; he was a male with broad shoulders and a strong body, tanned complexion, and messy brown hair, essentially the average soulless male model you'd see on television.

At first, Jasper was relieved to see someone stuck in a similar situation up until he flash-backed to the hologram, where one of the other participants turned out to be working for Team Rocket. Immediately with that thought in his mind, he formed illusory correlations and pegged this man as a threat, although really he had one thought on his mind: this man might know where Maddox and the others were. Jasper probably knew deep down that logically, he wouldn't be associated or a member of Team Rocket; but with how delirious he was from thirst, hunger, and fear, his fight or flight response went in for the kill.

"Ace, we have to ambush them." He ordered, the Gallade looking astounded at what he was hearing before he continued, "Remember that other trainer who was next to the scientist who put us here? He was a part of the tournament, remember? What if that guy is one of them? A trainer working with Team Rocket. What if he knows where Maddox is? We can't take the chance that he'll help us out now only to backstab us and take you away from me later."

Athos was clearly hesitant about this, but thought it'd be more safe than sorry to attack them head on. Best case scenario: Athos and Jasper get information on where to save the others. Worst case scenario: some poor bloke gets his ass kicked.


The two began to weave around the thicket that lead to the strangers, Jasper holding the spear in his hand as they inched closer and closer towards their targets. And once Jasper and Athos were in range, the two sprung into action.

"Now, Ace! Close Combat!" Jasper yelled, the cobalt-blue Gallade leaping into the air, before sending a flurry of powerful kicks, punches and elbows on the Bastiodon.

Jasper emerged from the bushes right afterward and kicked the man down to the dirt, and before he could do anything to retaliate; the blonde pointed his makeshift wooden spear at the tip of his neck, "Now, now, no sudden movements, hun. I'm not in the mood for having supermodel kebab for breakfast."

Jasper looked towards the other Pokémon and threatened in a sarcastic yet icy tone, "Now, you do anything to hurt my Gallade, I will make sure that Beefcake Billy over here gets a stick shoved into his ass. Got it?"

"Now, let's get down to business." He said, keeping the pointy end of the spear against the other trainer's neck, "Who are you?"

Regardless of whether or not the man would answer the question, Jasper would continue, "Now, while we're both trainers who are stuck in this shitty jungle, I don't trust you enough to not put this spear against your neck. If you're a member of Team Rocket, you WILL tell me where the other Pokémon are being kept. If you're not...well..."

Jasper shrugged, "Make a case for it...if I believe you, I might just let you live. If not..."

"Let's just say you won't be getting the prize."

 

[Chrocey]

Did he just avoid my question? Delilah thought to herself, furrowing her brow as Nevashi ignored her query about Damian’s health. That can’t be a good sign. Perhaps Damian is still in really bad shape.

The bee trainer looked at her friend with concern. Dirt scraped and slid against her feet as she made lazy steps to his side. A wave of weakness washed over her while stomach churning hunger reminded her how much energy she didn’t have. With a grunt, the girl fell onto her rear, sitting next to Damian and looking over him once again.

“Why would you do that?” Delilah murmured whilst staring at him, “I mean, I know I’m super famous and awesome, but…”

Delilah sighed and hung her head for a moment. She ran her hands through her hair before looking around at their surroundings, looking for anything to take her mind off of the current situation. Of all the battles she’d been in, this one was perhaps the most taxing.

Little did she know that her wish for a distraction would come true.

Delilah’s heart skipped a beat. Her eyes widened, and for a moment, she thought she was seeing a ghost. The girl planted her feet firmly on the ground and stood back up, squinting her eyes. Was that who she thought it was? Was that…

“Floyd!” A burst of joy and excitement accumulated in one single shout of the trainer’s name. Without a second thought, she took off toward the trainer in a full sprint before practically tackling him with a hug.

“No way! I can’t believe it’s you!” she exclaimed and held him at arm’s length, looking him up and down. “I mean, I totally knew you would make it out here on your own. That brain of yours is probably chalk full of survival tactics and cool geeky science stuff!”

Delilah and Floyd hadn’t known each other very much. In fact, their interactions before the dark tournament began were very limited. He was a familiar face, however, and to Delilah that was as good as bumping into your best friend on an island of monsters.

She considered him before looking onward and finally noticing the Lapras with two women on it, and a Pangaro.

“Whoa…” the bee trainer said before looking at Floyd once more. As if finally understanding a complicated joke, she gave him a wry grin, “ooooh...I see what’s going on. I didn’t peg you for a ladies man, Floyd.” She stepped past him and waved at Amara and Lilly.

“Greetings! In case you all don’t know, allow me to introduce myself!”

Delilah struck a pose, “when you think that your meal is finished, I am the dessert that coaxes your appetite! When you think your painting is perfect, I’m the splash of black and yellow that inspires you to keep painting! When you are living a nightmare, I am the sting that wakes you up! Open your eyes and you will see…” she struck one final pose, “...that I am the great Bumble Bee!”

After a brief pause, she stood normally and looked slightly unsure about her revised intro. After having heard Apollo do his intro, and it being much more poetic than hers, she figured she needed to incorporate some more colorful words as well. The man may have been a creep, but he certainly had some style.

‘I really hope he didn’t just up and die’, Delilah thought to herself. She shook the thought from her head for the time being.

Delilah returned her attention to the tall trainer before grabbing his hand and pulling him toward the ditch. “Come on! Let me introduce you to the crew!”

Erajest passed them as he approached the Lapras with Kiwi in his arms.

“That’s the doctor, Dr. Ne-ver-shy, or something like that. In his arms is his pokemon, Kiwi.” She then pointed to the sleeping little girl and Ecarte. “That’s Mina and Eclaire...wait, no, Ecarte. Not Eclaire.”

Delilah pointed to her Beedrill, who looked up after seemingly being in deep thought. “That’s Beedrill, as you know.” She pointed to Orion and, at last, Damian. “That’s Orion and, as you seem to already know, Damian. I tried to give him a cool nickname, but I guess ‘Sal’ just wasn’t up to par with his ‘refined’ standards.”

The girl kept her eyes on the unconscious champion, her delighted expression gradually becoming more wistful. “He got hurt pretty bad. We just got done with a battle with a Nidoking who attacked him with poison sting.” She locked her emerald green eyes with Floyd’s. “The poison’s out of his system thanks to the Togepi, but we’re still waiting to make sure he wakes up.”

After a brief moment of silence, Delilah clapped her hands together and smiled, trying to break away from the dread of the situation. “Anywho! How have you been? Not to totally bag on you but...you look worse for wear.”

 

[BurbleBurble]

Date: Day two, about 9:45 Pm or something
Location: Camp SAM.CG / Riverside
-----

The fox had everything she needed. Well, it was actually everything that Lin had on her. A bowl, an assortment of herbs, a stone knife and pestle. With all of this, she could fix Arrow. Maybe.

But when she was half way through the looting, she noted Cassie savagely riffing Aidinia. While she hadn't personally observed, it seemed the doctor had to agree with Cassie in the end. Smart doctor, not unlike that one that she watched Gerald give the rest of his companions to. Though that man also had been staring at Gerald with a certain look to his eyes...Humans were odd.

She was also going to burn that man if she ever saw him again, because he took away her and Gerald's family. He was to blame.

But, burning that other doctor would have to wait, now she began the task of making the tea. A small pit was dug out, large enough to fit her flaming stave in, but not big enough for the bowl to fall in and snuff the flame. Then, she filled the bowl with the water from the river.

Utilizing the pestle and a larger stone she had drug from the riverside, she crushed up the herbs she thought Lin used. A bit of that...A tad of this...the reddish one too...

Soon, the tea was cooking. It'd have to simmer for a while, but hopefully, it would work. The herbs that made it all possible were stored alongside her cracked Pokeball. Wait...Did she really miss Cassie, Salem, Ajax, and Lin (And presumably Lady, but you never know with Lady...) leaving? Oh well...She got another compliment from Cassie of all people AND a scratch on the cheek. While it didn't have the calming effect of Salem's touch, the scratch was a scratch, and a compliment was a compliment.

So she took this time to eavesdrop. There was a Hitmonlee and a Sylveon, both presumably the Doctor's. How she got two was a mystery to the fox, perhaps she just found him around. They were saying odd things, like hoomanlings. Whether or not the Hitmonlee was psychotic may have been up for debate.

Having nothing better to do now that they stopped talking, the fox decided to evaluate the restraints Aidinia had decided to put on Arrow. Seemingly they covered every base, seemed solid enough to hold for a good while. Wouldn't last forever, but nothing ever did, did it?...Most nothing, anyway. But they'd hold long enough for the tea to be done. That's what mattered.

But something they said was bothering her. Aidinia, a fighter? And a healer? She just...Wanted to clear something up.

'Excuse me, Did you say she was a fighter?...Because I somewhat doubt that. No offence, she's likely a great doctor, and no doubt a fantastic craftsman seeing from the restraints...But the fighter thing, I'm a bit skeptical on. How long has she been a "fighter"?'

-----

Gerald perked up at Megan's response, she seemed more than happy to talk. He...he...

Didn't know what to talk about. He cursed his frazzled brain, thinking ahead of the situation at hand.

"Uh, so, uh..."

Poor Megan. Likely thought he was crazy. At the least, confused.

"I mean, so, uh, what do want to, err, talk about? I mean, err...I'm sorry. I'm terrible at this."

He wasn't sure if it was his less than stellar state of mind taking effect, or if he was embarrassed.

"Wait! I got this. So. What were you here at the tournament for? I mean, I was here for the actual tournament. Not this sick idea of a tournament. Do you have a Pokemon? Or did it oh..."

Hopefully, Hopefully, either Megan had a Pokemon she hadn't used yet, or just didn't have one.

He'd hate to make her feel even worse.

In his stuttering thoughts, Gerald was unaware of the staring Diglett. Luckily for the two, it wasn't big enough to cause any real damage to either of them, or the camp. Though, it was beginning to head on course towards the two...

 

[Astralkitsune]

Megan
​

Megan looked upon the shy awkward young man before her and let out a little laugh. "He really is cute." Then she realized he might think she was laughing at him so she frantically waved her arms. "Uh I am not laughing at you I promise it's just nice to talk to someone, when a scary pokemon monster isn't trying to eat my face." Her face turned red and she flailed her arms again, "not that I think all pokemon are monsters or anything." "Good job Megan you are such a spaz."

She quickly changed subject trying to cover up her awkwardness. "I don't have a pokemon. I came to this Island for a part time summer job. I.. was trying to make a little extra money to save up for a trip to Kalos with my friends and I heard about this job through a temp agency. She shrugged, "So yea I was like cool free trip to a tropical Island, beach time, maybe some hot guys, and free food and rooms to boot. They had me working the reception desk for Kanto at the tournament beginning."

She sighed and shook her head, "I should have figured, since it was me after all that my employers would turn out to be crazy murderous scientist military fanatic guys. She started to laugh, "and I didn't even get the free food or the beach party. But hey, at least there were hot guys right." Her laughter started growing threatening to become hysteria or tears.

The diglet narrowed it's eyes and went back underground heading toward the two unsuspecting trainers.

 

[Loziana]

Savior jerked toward June's voice, "Fighter, Ha! no make hitmonlee laugh, hoomanling not a fighter, YET." The emphasis on yet made Alex cringe. I don't like the sound of that. Alex thought as she approached June. "What are you working on Lady June?" He asked. Alex's voice was calm and moved like black satin in a dark cold room. Everything of this Pokemon was unobtrusive and He was more than a little sensual. Every bit his trainer's protege. "I merely meant to say that Aidinia has it in her to be a fighter should she work at it. I haven't seen her fail to accomplish a goal. Currently, her goals are to earn Savior over there's trust, which means learning to be a strong fighter, and surviving this island. Considering how closely those goals are related, I think she is working pretty well to accomplishing them, had she not chosen to exclude herself from the pack at camp. I know that she wishes to help the sceptile, But she risks much staying here with it. The water's edge is dangerous."

Savior broke in then, "Are you saying I can not protect?" Savior looked angry and stormed toward Alex... Aidinia stepped between "Hold on there. If you are ready to train than we can train. Just give me a sec to finish up." She walked over to observe what June had been doing. She investigated the herbs. What I wouldn't give for a lab. I wonder if this is the tea Lin had spoken of?.

As her mind was wondering a surprise attack from Savior rolled Aidinia into the river and she came up swinging wildly. She landed a weak hit and managed to climb from the water. She tumbled and attempted a sweep. Savior dodged easily. There was very little she could truly do against the Hitmonlee, but Aidinia was nothing if not prideful and she wouldn't give up. She took hit after hit dodging when she could. She landed a few blows nothing of consequence, but she was getting faster. That was improvement and that's what she hoped for. Savior's assault seemed never ending but when it ended very little real time had passed. He had taken out his anger at Alex on Aidinia and she knew it. Her body hurt and she was tired. All of the berating from Cassie and then a beating too, she felt as though she were back in school.

"June Dear, is that the tea that Lin had spoken of? She asked as she sat to treat the cuts and bruises from the assault from the hitmonlee. She hoped he had worked out his aggression and would leave Alex be. He wasn't to blame for her weakness. She would continue to try to work harder. For just now she would rest.

Alex growled during the assault on Aidinia. "How could that over grown ape beat on her like that! She is a wonderful person her cares for everyone!" Alex's mind wondered to when Aidinia had found a homeless girl beside the clinic at home. She worked for hours picking out the girl's hair. Bathing her and washing her cuts and bruises. She bought her clothes and took her for dinner. Alex knew Aidinia had wanted to keep the girl, but she didn't. She knew her medical skills were needed in far to reach places and she put others before her own selfish desires. Even now, with Savior she was allowing him to beat her bloody to prove to him that she could take it. Aidinia was doing it just so he'd allow her to help him. Alex growled and sat hard on the ground. I'll hold her closer tonight to remind her she is loved. Alex thought as he watched the fight come to a close.

 

[SUPERRNOVAA]

“Floyd!”

The hug hurt, as the wounds on Floyd's back and shoulder were still quite sensitive, but he silently endured it, for the sake of not being a complete buzzkill. As the bee obsessed maniac hit Floyd in the stomach at full force with an attack to match that of a Tauros, a strange thought just popped up in his mind, without reason.

'Delilah.'

Who was Delilah? He hadn't heard of that name before, in fact, he didn't know a single person with that exact name. Floyd's curiosity was shattered when Delilah began to praise him for being a nerd. It was nice to see yet another bunch of familiar faces, even if they weren't all that familiar. Floyd instinctively reached for the Pokedex seated in his back pocket to start gathering information on the many different Pokemon around him, but he quickly withdrew his hand. This was not the time, nor the place for that, despite what Professor Rowan told him, there is a time where research isn't appropriate. After Ms. Bee finally let go of him, Floyd couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief and crack a small smile. He was finally part of a large group of people, he didn't have to worry about foraging or building, he could just do what he did best.
Provide backup.


“Ooooh...I see what’s going on. I didn’t peg you for a ladies man, Floyd.”

The young man began to feel a mix of extreme embarrassment and slight anger at her statement. What she said wasn't true in the slightest, and it really ticked him off.

"Tha-hh. That isn't... er.."

Floyd's words got caught up in a mess of stuttering and random pauses, he knew what he wanted to say, be he really just couldn't speak properly. Where was that seamless speech he had back in the clearing? The one that allowed him to talk without a single bit of hesitation?
Then, without warning, once again, Delilah got caught up in one of her...unique, introductions. As she was doing this, Floyd looked over to the ditch. A Togepi caught his interest. According to what he had read, apparently they can siphon the happiness of the people around them, but they can also release it to people in need of it.

Suddenly, something snatched Floyd's hand from where it was, and then violently tugged him along, causing him to slightly trip forwards a tiny bit. He quickly realized it was only Ms. Bee, trying to introduce him to everyone as she spoke the names of everyone that passed by.

"Neervershee, Kiwi, Mina, Ecarte, Damian, Orion, Beedrill and of course, Delilah, right?"
Floyd recalled all of the names Ms. Bee had spoken about out loud, without realizing it. All except for one, herself. He didn't even pay the slightest of attention to the fact that he said 'Delilah'.

“Anywho! How have you been? Not to totally bag on you but...you look worse for wear.”

"Well... uhm... "
Floyd paused for a moment and traced Delilahs face with his slightly tinted violet eyes. It was like she was denying something when she spoke. Ignorance was bliss, right? Floyd took a deep breath in and then exhaled, before spouting out information.

"Lily over there has grown quite the injury on her leg, but you said Kiwi can heal stuff, so I guess that's problem solved?..."

His hand reached over to his left shoulder and pulled down his shirt a bit, leaving an abnormally large scar that goes from his chest, over his shoulder and on to his shoulder blade.

"I got attacked by some nasty Spinarak, and I got this, along with some others just like it. Luckily I was found by Amara, otherwise I probably wouldn't have... Er... y'know."

---------------------

Swift tapped on Orion's leg and started to flash red and yellow. The Lucario remembered him, right?

 

[PentheWonderful]

She was right.

She was oh so right and she loved being right.

Right about the secrets he held behind his sea green eyes, about them being there, about the silent prowling of his own demons beneath his air of confidence and underlying strength. They were his strength. The wounds that made callouses that made him stronger toward such pain the second time around.

But they still scared him. That much she knew from the subtle flinch of his pupils, their dilation. The way his eyebrows twitched and how his full lips had stiffened. Cassie could feel the sudden tension in his muscles, subtle as it was, all those little twitches that rippled beneath his skin from where her hand lay on his arm.

And she knew then that he wasn’t perfect. Perhaps closer to it than she will ever hope to be, because he had his own rough ridges and tears, and those little things made him so much more real to her.

It made him human.

And she felt much more comfort in the arms of a human than an untouchable flawless god she could never fit in her life. ‘Do I want him in my life?’ Came an instantaneous thought, a pondering voice, as she watched Salem press his eyes shut and force his demons away, drowning them with his vibe of tranquility and erasing their existence with a smile.

‘He was already a part of it, apparently.’

She watched his eyes pull open, and it was as if the little break in his character never happened. “That’s right Cassie.” He said evenly. “That was the name my sister always used for me.”

His sister…

Cassie furrowed her brows and the gears in her head worked overtime, scanning and rescanning the memory but finding it was too broken and everything too blurry to properly see. It was simply bright, and warm, and all she could see was his hazy silhouette running through the jungle with her.

And she suddenly found herself longing. A longing that brought a breeze of crisp nights she spent looking out the window, not quite stargazing, nor present. Simply longing for the impossible request that brought her so much more pain from her parents’ hands than she would from suffering in silence.

And the bright memory turned over to reveal the monsters hiding behind it.

Their words, spiteful and accusing. ‘Why don’t you go then? Run back to those islanders you’ve known for a day. You think they care about you? They don’t need you, they needed our money. Stop fooling yourself! ’ Until she finally decided she would be better off forgetting. For that brightness and warmth, that freedom to cry, and laugh, and smile brought her more pain than when she had never known it.

For the cruelest thing one could do to someone who had been confined in a room was press their face against the window.

So each night, she tucked away those memories, her desire to run to a saintly being she’d discovered on the island and tell her all about the nasty things her parents had said and all the hurt it brought her so she could soothe them all away. Like a mother should. And Cassie recalled she used list in her head all the things she would tell her. That beautiful young woman from paradise.

His… Sister…

His… Nana…

The film began to restore the holes that had been burned into its surface, filling in the gaps with a new piece that projected a new picture; Salem’s sister. The teenager that had taken care of them and gone along with their adventure during her short time there.

Her island mother.

“How do you know this?”

It was Cassie’s turn to feel a stab in her heart. It had been so long ago, and they both had been so young. But she couldn’t help- she couldn’t stop herself from feeling the betrayal building inside of her. ‘Did she forget about me too? And she allowed her gaze to drift away, leaving Salem’s eyes. She stared ahead, but focused on nothing.

“I was there.” Came her brittle voice.

‘You’re always being left behind.’

‘I don’t want to be left behind anymore.’

Her hands gently pulled Salem’s arms apart, and she stood from his lap, wandering slowly, almost aimlessly to the river’s edge where their clothes had stopped bleeding. “I was a strange foreigner girl you tried to feed a green mango to. I didn’t want to eat it, and I cried.” She crouched down, pulling each article of clothing loose and then scrubbing them once, or twice, to ensure their cleanliness.

“You called me Karela.”

Cassie wrung the clothes dry, squeezing as much water as she possibly could from them before walking back to him, gathering their belts from one of the bowls along the way. She handed him his pants and belt, purposefully avoiding his gaze when he glanced inquisitively at her. And she continued, “I guess you thought I was as ugly as that fruit was.”

She moved back to put space between them, closed her eyes for a moment and pulled a smile onto her face. Hollow and melancholic as the emotions, the hurt, the betrayal, grief, and sadness, cease to exist. And there was only acceptance left when she swiftly dressed herself in her damp clothes. “You’d be right about that.”

She wrapped her belt around her waist, rope, Maverik’s rib, and Lady’s empty pokeball still attached to it, and finished dressing by placing the fedora rightfully on her head. And once Salem was dressed and ready, Cassie extended her hand for him to take. But despite this, her eyes still refused to meet his. Instead, she watched her hand, her scarred, disfigured limb, and waited for him to take it.

With that hollow smile still ever decorating her lips, she murmured,

“Although, I didn’t think I used to look as bad as I do now.”

 

[Jake Acker]

It had always amazed Knox just how quickly things could go to shit. A nice summer’s day could be ruined by the sudden interference of a rainy shower for example. Or in this case a rare moment of peace in a deadly game ran by one of the world’s most notorious criminal gangs could be shattered by some screaming lunatic with a pointy stick.

The flash of blue had taken the pair by surprise, Bastille was still mid splash when he caught the blur in the very corner of his eye. Only years of training with Devon saved the Bastiodon from taking a blow devastating enough to knock him out entirely, the fighting type move could have overcome even his tank like defences due to its super effectiveness and the powerful Pokémon behind it, a shiny Gallade who certainly didn’t seem to be holding back. Regardless of the Gallade’s power however Bastilles training did certainly come to his rescue as he activated an iron defence milliseconds before the first blow landed, his skin taking on a metallic hue and hardening to become almost impenetrable. That’s not to say it didn’t hurt. The wounded Bastille let out a bellow like a locomotive as he stumbled backwards from the force of the blow, the prehistoric Pokémon’s massive bulk creating huge splashes of white froth as he toppled onto his side in the river channel where he had been having so much fun moments ago.

Knox only had time to look up from what he was doing for a split second to see what had happened, a look of surprise on his face as he saw what had happened to his friend before he too was attacked. He felt a boot strike him in the back somewhere near the base of the spinal cord, the force of the impact making the young man sprawl on the ground before him. A taste of pebbles, water and something a little metallic filled his mouth. He knew was it was immediately. You didn’t get as far as he had in his profession without being exposed to the taste of your own blood after all. Struggling to turn over Knox stopped moving when he saw the makeshift weapon being held to his face by some blonde guy dressed identically to himself. Blonde guy did not look happy.

"Now, now, no sudden movements, hun. I'm not in the mood for having supermodel kebab for breakfast."

Hun? Supermodel? Knox was used to danger but this was a new experience for him, not often the men pointing weapons at him were so quick to compliment him. “I'm sorry, are you attacking me or coming onto me? You’re really not making it very clear. Nice stick though by the way, I see somebody enjoyed wood shop at high school.” he said with his trademark innocent smile as he looked up at the man looming over him, eyes darting to the weapon poised ready to end his life with a jerk of the wrist. Perhaps rather luckily the man chose to ignore his smartass remarks.

"Now, you do anything to hurt my Gallade, I will make sure that Beefcake Billy over here gets a stick shoved into his ass. Got it?"

Bastille stirred in the river when he heard the threat being made to his partner, water cascading off of him majestically as he rose to his feet, struggling against the current as he did so. The Bastiodon looked between the blonde man and his Gallade with a steely look in his large yellow eyes. Funnily enough he wasn’t too fond of these pair of clowns who had come out of nowhere and ruined his fun in the river, attacked him while he wasn’t looking and were currently threatening Knox. The bulldozer of a reptile looked at Knox for reassurance and was glad that his trainer didn’t look worried in the slightest as he signalled for Bastille to remain calm with a wave of his hands and a confident smile. Bastille begrudgingly stayed where he was, the river fighting to do the opposite of that, whilst he watched this new pair with the eyes of a Hawlucha, waiting to see what his trusted trainer would do to get them out of this one.

"Now, let's get down to business." The mystery blonde said bluntly before continuing “Who are you?"

Knox opened his mouth to respond to this, mind already formulating a response, but before he could even get a word out his chatty blonde attacker just kept on talking. What kind of integrator doesn’t wait for you to answer?

"Now, while we're both trainers who are stuck in this shitty jungle, I don't trust you enough to not put this spear against your neck. If you're a member of Team Rocket, you WILL tell me where the other Pokémon are being kept. If you're not...well..."

The man shrugged “Make a case for it...if I believe you, I might just let you live. If not..."

"Let's just say you won't be getting the prize."

Despite the fact he had clearly just been threatened Knox wasn’t mad at the stranger at all. Clearly the two of them were in the same situation, this man and his Gallade just didn’t know it yet. Who knows, perhaps these two could even become useful allies if he played his cards right, Knox thought as he shuffled ever so slightly on the gravel that had felt so nice beneath his feet, but ironically was now doing the opposite to his head. After composing himself for a moment the Devon agent opened his metallic blue eyes wide, and put on his most charming grin. “Okay buddy I’ll tell you everything I know, just keep that overgrown toothpick away from me okay?” he said in a soothing tone, gently pushing the end of the man’s weapon away with the very tip of his finger. “I guess I should introduce myself properly first, I'm Knox Lomar and that over there” here he jerked a thumb over towards his companion “is Bastille.”

The young man suddenly began to laugh before stopping himself and apologising “Sorry it’s just you have no idea how many times I have had to introduce myself with some kind of weapon pointing at me.” He said as he wiped a tear from his eye. “Anyway, sorry to disappoint you friend but im actually not a member Team Rocket so I can’t tell you where diddly squat is being kept around here. I am however, in fact an operative for a Hoenn based company named Devon, we specialize in minerals and developing all kinds of new and exciting technologies, maybe you’ve heard of us?” he asked hopefully as that would save him a whole lot of explaining. “Im afraid I can’t really offer any evidence of that just yet though so perhaps the fact that im covered in dirt and drinking water from a river is enough to convince you im truly as far up shit creek as you and it seems neither of us have a paddle.” Knox said as he slowly got into a sitting position, not wanting to alarm the man who could end his life at any moment.

“So what do you say you do us both a favour, put the stick down, help me up and we can go find those Pokémon together, alright? You’re not the only one who is hoping to save their friends.” Knox said extending a friendly hand to the man, hoping he had managed to convince this man and his odd coloured Gallade that he and Bastille were worth more as allies than enemies.

 

[Nygenn]

Location: Riverside, Some ways away from Camp SAM.CG
Time: 2nd Day, After 10 am
Tagging: Salem, Cassie, Lyrana

----------------​

“I was there.” Cassie offered by way of explanation.

‘There?’ Salem thought. ‘On the island? With me?’

He wracked his brain trying to remember. Was she one of the girls he has been with? No, she couldn’t be, for he remembered every one of them vividly. One of the dancers during an Amnis Colo then? No, that wasn’t it either, she would not have been able to know his sister’s nickname for him if that were the case. What then?

His mind briefly refocused on the present when he felt her extricate herself from him. Her absence left a void roughly her shape. The feeling of her leaving reminded him of laying comfortable beneath a warm blanket and having it pulled away from you, instantly exposing you to cool flowing air.

He adjusted just fine of course, but there was that single moment heavy with the feeling of loss.

It passed.

“I was a strange foreign girl you tried to feed a green mango to.” Cassie continued while she pulled their clothes from the river. “I didn’t want to eat it, and I cried.”

He had offered her fruit. That was a clue.

His mind began to recall all the situations where he had offered a girl fruit, but he immediately realized he was never going to find her this way. In his culture, where the giving of things is one of the most fundamental principles there were simply too many instances of him giving things. He needed something more, another clue, something specific.

“You called me Karela.”

And there it was.

His mind flew back in time to a simple moment on a sunny morning roughly fourteen years ago. It was the day before he had received Hinako, a newborn Nidoran at the time, from his father in an attempt to cheer him up.

Cheer him up because he was mourning the loss of a friend.

The little Pokémon had been a bundle of happy excitement and thoroughly demanded his attention every day since.

‘That must be why I wouldn’t remember,’ Salem thought, but he was remembering it now.

It were those silver eyes of hers. Those Silver eyes that had felt so comfortable to him, that kept haunting his mind at every opportunity. He had already been captivated by them long ago.

Salem recalled that morning vividly now. They had both been very young and small, Cassie even smaller than she was now. She was dressed in a breezy, one piece sun-dress and had a comically large hat on her head, while he was wearing a customary white cloth hanging from his waist and was otherwise naked.

She had hugged him for reasons he couldn’t recall now and they had fallen over. Lyrana had come running over to make sure they were both alright.

“Of course I’m fine,” he had responded hotly, “and so is…” But he couldn’t remember her name at the time. He only knew that it started with a ‘ka’ sound and had decided to call her Karela on a spur of the moment. Afterwards he had made something up about her needing an island name because he was too embarrassed to admit he had forgotten hers.​

Cassie handed him his clothes then and he looked up at her, seeing her in a new light. He was no longer just seeing her as she appeared. He was seeing how she had changed, from what he could remember of her as a child, into the woman standing before him now.

“I guess you thought I was as ugly as the fruit was,” Cassie said and quickly got dressed.

‘No,’ Salem thought. That was not it at all.

He too dressed swiftly, but because he was still feeling relatively weak he just pulled his pants up to his thighs, then laid back to lift his rear of the ground and pull his pants the rest of the way up. He clipped his belt back into place after that, all the while remembering the real reason for her name.

He had seen the girl get of the impressive looking ship that was docked in the harbor. His curiosity had been piqued and he had followed after her as she made her way down to the beach. He decided that he was going to welcome her as his sister had always instructed him strangers should be welcomed.

With gifts.

He ran back to the docks where a woman manned the stall that most of the local fruits were delivered to after harvest.

“Shaka!” he called at the elderly woman, recognizing her when he came closer.

There were no strangers within the Acedia tribe.

“Shake I need a fruit!” he said when the woman turned her attention down to him.

“Oh, well if it isn’t little Salem,” she said joyfully. “You’re looking ever more handsome by the day.”

“I don’t have time for that now Shaka,” Salem replied urgently. “I need a fruit, may I take one?”

“Of course you may, cariño. You are still growing after all.”

“It is not for me Shaka,” Salem explained. “It is for the girl.”

Shaka raised an eyebrow at that before she broke into a wide smile.

“Oh, well in that case you should take two,” she said and winked at him.

Salem looked at the assorted fruits on display. There were a lot of options to choose from. Eventually he settled on two that looked impressive and he knew to have interesting tastes, a green melon and a karela.

“Ah, don’t take…” the older woman tried to warn him, but Salem had already dashed away with his trophies in hand, yelling his thanks over his shoulder.

“Oh dear,” Shaka said with a bemused grin and sat back down on her stool, watching the boy run to the base of the pier and then across the beach.
-

When Salem neared the little girl in her white dress and with the big hat he called out to her,

“Hola niña! Wait up, I have something for you.”

The girl swirled around to look at him, slightly bewildered, and slightly fearful when she saw him approach.

Salem came to a halt right in front of her, but took a small step back when he noticed her clenching and unclenching her small hands and tugging at her dress. She was clearly nervous so he tried giving her a reassuring smile.

“You are new to the island right?” he asked her. “It is our custom to give you a present then. I brought you two so you can choose,” and he held out the two sizable fruits before her.

The girl shook her head quickly, so quickly in fact, it almost knocked her oversized sunhat right off her little head. The color further drained from her fair skin when his gifts were presented to her, and she took a couple of steps back.

“N-no, I don’t want any. I’m not hungry, I already ate.”

Salem frowned a little at this. This was not how he expected things to go, this was not how things should go, but she looked incredibly adorable with that large hat on her head shaking out of sync with the rest of her, so he persisted.

“They are very flavorful fruits though,” he said and laughed heartily before taking a generous bite out of the green melon, and visibly suppressed a shudder at the incredibly sour taste.

“Exciting taste right?”

The girl looked up at him, and her fearful expression turned to a scowl now.

Salem took immediate noticed of this, for the girl had bright, light eyes that swirled like quicksilver and burned with passion. The look intrigued him and for a moment he did not quite know what to do next, then he swallowed the sour piece of fruit and burst out in chuckles and smiles.

“So the green mango surprised you,” he said hefting the fruit in his left hand. “Perhaps you are more of a Karela girl?”

He offered the girl the other green fruit, this one he held in his right hand, and was distinctly alien looking.​

“You’d be right about that.” Cassie said pulling him fully back into the here and now.

She finished dressing and put the fedora on her head to complete the action, then extended her hand for him to take, but keeping her eyes averted.

“Although, I didn’t think I used to look as bad as I do now.”

Salem looked at the offered hand for a moment and then smiled broadly, confidently. He took her hand in his and pulled himself to his feet with her help, but did not let go of her afterwards.

“Karela,” he practically sung. “You were beautiful then and you are ever more beautiful now.”

He accentuate his statement by bringing her hand to his lips and pressing a firm kiss on her fingers.

“I named you after the fruit that I had attempted to gift you to celebrate your arrival on the island. It was a spur of the moment things, but I had forgotten your name and was too embarrassed to admit it.”

He chuckled, then laughed softly, before continuing.

“I remember you now. You were the cute little foreign girl that came to the island for one day and wholly charmed my sister and called her, mama.”

Salem cupped Cassie’s chin with the index finger of his free hand, and gently bade her to look up at him. He wanted her to see the truth of his words.

“We were devastated when you disappeared, which led my father to give me a baby Dorino he had just received from a scientist visiting the island.”

He took a moment to move his finger from his chin to her cheek and brushed her skin softly.

“Lyrana named the baby Pokémon Hinako, which she said means ‘child of harmonious days’ in the old Kanto language. She named her after you, and she is here on the island somewhere.” Salem explained.

“Although the little baby grew up into a strong Doreina.”

He looked Cassie deep in her silver eyes, those familiar silver eyes, and descended down memory lane one last time.

It was the evening he last saw his sister, their final moment together in fact. He had tried everything he could to make her stay, he had even tied a ribbon around her wrist in desperation, but she was undeterred. He vividly remembered the look she had given him, the look she always gave him, the one she specifically reserved for him. It was a gentle smile filled with pride and love.

“My dear Lemming,” she had said softly, affectionately using her baby name for him, despite him now being a fully grown man much taller than she was. He had placed his own hands over hers where they rested on the sides of his face. His mouth was moving, forming words, but no sounds came out. He didn’t know what to say or where to begin.

She had let him try for a moment, then silenced his lips with a gentle kiss. When she reared her head back she could see the heavy tears roll slowly down his dark cheeks, his green eyes glowing.

“Smile for me, Lemming,” She had said, her own face serene, setting an example for his.

“Smile…”

She brushed his lips with her delicate fingers. “I love it when you smile, for you have the most radiant smile.”

He forced a smile and remembered her eyes glossing over then, her voice wavering. A single tear spilling from the corner of her eye and slowly rolling down her cheek, but she ignored it.

“Now go…” she said and then swallowed for her voice broke. “Go and find her. She is out there waiting for you, I just know it.”

At the time Salem had no idea what his sister was talking about, and he hadn’t cared. He only wished for her to keep on talking so that she would not leave.

But she had left.​

Salem blinked once, his smile never faltering.

He understood his sister’s last words now.

‘I found her,’ he thought to his sister in an answer long overdue.

“I found you,” he said to the girl now looking up at him, and slowly tilted his head down to hers.

 

[PentheWonderful]

The ride back up the hill was slow and steady.

Lady found it reminiscent to the boat ride she had taken with Cassie on their journey to this strange, leafy, and all in all exciting... Bush. Yes, that's it. A strange floating bush in the middle of a very very large pool you can't seem to find the edge of. Maybe it's more of a puddle then? Lady couldn't quite tell.

Here, there was only one house. A strange building that many people settled in. Shared. The idea didn't thrill her one bit, and that was because she felt the others didn't need to be there, they didn't belong there. If there was only one house, then it was her's, and this place was their's. She didn't belong here at all, that much she could gather from the time she spent living there. Not to say, she would die here, or grow utterly lost in its green and muddy terrain because that simply wasn't true.

There was a difference between what you like and what you're good at. Lady liked her paved streets, high rise buildings, and shiny modern facilities. But she was very good at surviving, and thriving. The horrors here didn't faze her. She'd seen much much worse in a smaller, more vulnerable form as a Purrloin in much worse conditions, and she survived that just fine. Now she was a fine tuned machine who knew exactly how to use every aspect of herself as a weapon, and take revenge on all the little things that scared her and left her feeling helpless before. This was nothing compared to what she'd been through, and she knew that was why Cassie brought her.

Because Lady's heart was a dark as her own, and they would outlive everyone. Everyone and everything were just stepping stones, a means for her to get what she wanted. And what she wanted now was survival, and the flesh of whoever exiled her to this god awful bush, away from the house.

That she swore.

Glancing over to the blue head of Ajax however; the stepping stone she used to return to the measly shacks at the human settlement, she figured it wouldn't be so bad to have him around. She would never have to get her paws dirty, or even exert any unnecessary energy by walking, thought the Liepard as she combed through the fur of her forelegs with the swift strokes of her rough tongue. Laying with her belly against his warm shell, Lady thought back on how this big lug had easily apprehended the terribly speech impaired Sceptile that was spazzing out earlier, dragging him into the water and emerging victorious. Oh, he could probably get her across water too. Yes, this blue lug would definitely be useful for her survival. She wouldn't mind having him around at all.

The human reeking of her own blood and sweat was pushed dangerously close to the edge of Ajax's large shell, mostly from all the rolling around the feline did to scratch her back against the ridges of the shell's segments and okay, she admitted she had been nudging her around to turn her over on her back to get every last drop of blood clinging to her skin. But also leaving her scent there, on the Blastoise's shell, and pushing away anyone who would try to take her spot.

Lady had extracted as much blood as she could from Lin without drawing them anew. Her skin had been licked clean, leaving her in a rather awkward position dangling by the shell's edge. But as for the sweet nectar still clinging on the huntress' clothes, she unfortunately to let them be. The fabric and leather had a horrible texture, different from flesh and a flavor of their own that corrupted the taste of blood quite considerably.

It was just a big, big waste.

Turning her head back now, she took notice of the trainers that were now out of sight. Nowhere to be found. She flicked her tail.

"Hmm..." Lady hummed, crawling forward an inch or two closer to Ajax's head. "It sure is awfully quite. You don't talk much, do you, big guy? I like that. It makes you seem all mysterious." She let out a purr, placing her chin on his shell. "You know, I have a feeling we'll be spending a lot of time together. I never really got your name."

 

[Nygenn]

Location: Camp SAM.CG
Time: 2nd Day, Around 9:45
Tagging: Gerald, Megan

----------------​

Ajax mostly ignored the feline purring in his ear. It was a pleasant enough sensation, certainly one he could imagine himself drifting off to, but he had never been one for many words, or actions for that matter.

There had been a time when he did a lot more of both, but he had been much younger then, and much smaller. Thinking back on those days now only made him feel tired, although they had been good days. He had been respected, revered even, in a nice territory everyone eventually accepted as his. Even the humans would pay him tribute when they passed through.

Yes, it had been a good life, but it had grown too small, or rather he had grown too big.

The memories put him in a good mood, and so he decided to acknowledge the purple kitten.

“Call me whatever you want,” he commented offhandedly in his deep rumbling voice. “The humans call me Ajax.”

He was reached the top of the hill then and casually strolled into camp carrying a small human woman he did not know. He turned in the direction of the huts, figuring that would probably be where the other humans wanted her. When he got there however, he noticed the red haired man and the other small girl he once carried while she was unconscious, locked in conversation. At least he thought they were conversing with each other. Both of them seemed to be rambling to their own feet.

‘Human customs…’ he thought dismissively.

The giant Blastoise turned towards the other hut and when he did so he felt one of his paws come down on a weirdly soft rock he hadn’t noticed. He stomped the pebble into the ground, pulled his paw out and continued on his way.

“Hey Puss,” he grumbled at the female Liepard riding on his shell as he slowly pushed off with his front paws to stand upright, sliding the unconscious woman slowly off his back.

“Catch her.”

She didn’t.

The human girl landed on the ground in a tangled heap of limbs, and Ajax ‘tsked’ when he turned to look.

He gently nudged the unresponsive human until she resemble a sleeping person more than a sprawled out Tangela and wrinkled his nose at the strong smell of blood permeating from what must be her clothes for her skin seemed strangely clear of blood.

He looked around for a moment before shrugging and dropping down on all four again. He aimed one of his shoulder cannons at the small human and gently prayed some water on her body.

The jet of water hit the girl in the side of her torso and the pressure of his stream lifted her off the ground and floated her all the way over to where the other two humans stood.

‘Oops,’ he thought dryly.

‘Well at least she’s clean,’ he figured and looked over to see the girl had rolled onto her side and thanks to the water was now covered from head to toe in mud and dirt.

‘…Of blood anyway.’

He congratulated himself on a job well done and was about to lay down again when he remembered he had to go back down to watch over the wild Sceptile.

'They owe me a good scrubbing,' he grumbled, and went on his way.

 

[Curvykitten]

Name:Lily Matherson
Location: Woods,
Tagging: Dynami, Floyd, Amara, Delilha, Dr, Navashi, Damian
Lily kept her breathing as calm and steady as possible, her chest aching and protesting against each heavy breath. She could feel sweat rolling down her spine, and her lips still felt so parched that speaking seemed impossible. The fact that she wasn't walking helped, specially considering the fact that her legs felt as sturdy as jello. But she didn't complain, and a tired smile still struggled to appear when the others looked at her. Lily knew she could do this....she had to.

Dynami watched the area around them carefully, but worry for his trainer, his friend still etched along the edges of his features. He knew Lily would push herself till she broke, giving everything she had to those around her. He had never known such a giving human in his life. His mind flashed back to the moment they met. He had picked a fight, he couldn't win, foolish as he was back then he always bit off more than he could chew. But there she was, wild blonde hair, all legs and more gumshun then someone so small should be allowed. She had taken a beating to protect him. Covering his already battered frame with hers. And yet the first thought that came from her when it was over was the concern she had for him.

It was that day that Dynami had decided to protect the young trainer. Even as they healed together he worked to better himself. For the first time in his life Dynami had a real reason to be what he boasted about. The large pokemon nudged Lily as she swayed, that soft smile returning in an effort to assure him she was fine. He'd protest her struggle to stay awake, but the stubborn ranger wouldn't budge. Even against someone so much bigger than she was, granted when it came to Lily he really was just a big teddy bear.

The sudden thunderous boom that filled the air and shook the ground brought life back to Lily. Shock, fear, readiness all swirled within her dual colored eyes, her back stiffened and her senses kicked into high gear. A new rush of adrenaline crash through her veins and sent her heart racing once more. "What...." she spoke as her eyes tried to focus on the scene now revealed before her. The dust settles as another group of trainers came into view, along with the sickening sight of a now dead nidoking.

Lily's stomach turned as a hand came up to cover her mouth. It was all she could do to keep herself from puking then and there. The island had turned people and pokemon into sick creatures, and it was getting harder and harder to stand. Shaking her head Lily was about to speak when a rather overly happy young woman approached their small group. She seemed utterly unaware or caring of the scene that lay behind her, proclaiming her name and striking a heroic pose as if it would jog some epic connection to a memory of her.

There were popular and down right famous pokemon trainers around the world for sure. Unfortunately Lily had never heard of her, but to crush the young girls oddly spirited nature seemed wrong. Shaking her head Lily looked away from the two trainers greeting each other and looked to the doctor. "Hello Sir,' she managed a smirk, "Oh a togepi, or rather Kiwi, it's a pleasure to meet you both. I'd hate to bother you, but would you or this lovely Kiwi be able to...umm...to do..." she felt groggy, her body heavy as she fought to keep herself upright. "Pang...goro...or...pan...pa." Dynami spoke up, his one concern reflecting in his voice as he seemed to speak to the togepi. "What he said." Lily nodded softly as she tried to push to sit up once more.

 

[MozzaD]

Tagging: Jasper, Knox, Bastille, Athos
Location: River
Time: Day 2: 10:00am
-------​

Jasper was impressed with how well their ambush had gone. Both Athos and Jasper had managed to incapacitate their targets, although admittedly, he was surprised by how quick the large Pokémon's reflexes were. It managed to use Iron Defense a split second before Athos' hits began to connect, and considering the fact that Jasper's Gallade was pretty damn fast and they had ambushed the two, the blonde trainer knew that the two were the real deal.

Regardless of the Bastiodon's split-second decision which saved him; the strength, precision, and the rapid succession of each hit that Athos threw managed to topple the colossus on it's side. And with both the trainer and his Bastiodon on the ground, a victorious smirk emerged from Jasper and Athos' lips.

Much to Jasper's interest, it seemed that the man under his boot had a smart mouth, off-handedly referring to both Jasper's compliment and the sharp stick that he might shove into the trainer's trachea. The blonde trainer simply chuckled, before stepping closer, and planting his boot on the other man's torso, and pressing against it before saying slyly, "Sorry meat-head, you're not my type." And as the man further aggravated the spear-wielding blonde, his response was just as caustic, "Of course! wood shop was one of my favourite classes, it's right along there with "What to do when a criminal organisation dupes you and drops you into a gigantic fucking jungle 101"."

Jasper applied just enough force against the trainer to make him fall back onto the ground once more, before Jasper removed his foot and planting it back on the ground. He then turned to the Bastiodon threatened it by threatening it's trainer, it's yellow eyes giving the Kalosian an enraged glare, which he responded with a simple, smug chuckle. Athos remained on guard as his trainer spoke, the blue Gallade's eyes locked on the large beast's every movement, ready to strike if the Bastiodon decided to feel lucky. Although, with every sharp threat that Jasper made, he noticed that this other trainer didn't seem too scared by the fact he was being threatened...in fact, he didn't seem to feel threatened at all.

Continuing with his threats, Jasper creased his brow as the man's response was a charming grin. And as he began to speak in a calm, level-headed tone, attempting to wave off the spear that was pointed at his neck. In response, Jasper gave him a mockingly sweet smile, before aiming the tip of his spear back to his neck, "You're cute, but not that cute."

The trainer introduced himself as Knox Lomar and his Bastiodon as Bastille. Jasper chuckled and looked over to Bastille and spoke sarcastically, "Hey, Bastille, fun morning so far?"

And then the strangest thing happened; Knox started laughing. Athos and Jasper shared a confused look with each other, finding themselves in the company of a very peculiar trainer. "Do you usually laugh at people who want to kill you?" He asked, "If that's the case, how the fuck are you still alive?"

When Knox clarified, and began to explain who he was and what he worked for: The Devon Corporation, Jasper felt eased learning that he wasn't a member of Team Rocket. He certainly didn't act like an average member of Team Rocket, who were usually indoctrinated, brooding, and total cunts. Not to mention the fact that he had a Dinosaur Pokémon as a companion, further proving his validity as an Agent of Devon, however, Jasper still needed Knox to answer a question.

"I'll ask you one question to see if you're lying or not. Devon "Agent", since you've probably done operations in the field, what Pokémon do you receive upon reviving a Claw Fossil, Old Amber, and a Sail Fossil?" He asked, knowing how experienced with archaeology most operatives in that corporation were.

Upon answering that correctly, Jasper felt a swell of relief rush through him, removing the tip of the spear from his throat and saying,"Thank God. I've done a few odd-jobs for them here and there, but what the fuck is an agent doing here?"

"One: no, I won't put down the spear because I've come to enjoy threatening you. And two: you're a strong guy, you can get up yourself." Jasper responded, smirking before turning away and walking to the body of water, and beginning to drink from the stream. The river was fresh water and it wasn't too turbid so he began to cup water in his hands and drink. Athos quickly began to do the same.

After downing as much as he could stomach, Jasper turned back to Knox, and introduced himself, "Allow me to introduce myself: Jasper Moreau, and the blue Gallade that just kicked your Bastiodon's ass is Athos. Pleasure to threaten you." He said, a smug smile on his face before explaining, "Athos and I are planning on going to the edge of the forest, and if my prediction is correct; there'll be a Team Rocket patrol or two looking for anyone who wanted to escape the horrors of the forest."

Athos began to go towards the Bastiodon, and bowed respectfully, and communicating to Bastille and apologising for striking him, hoping that he'd be forgiven.

"If you're heading deeper into the forest: good luck. But, if you want to come with Athos and I, we should start heading that way soon, the ruckus we caused is bound to attract a wild Pokémon's attention...and trust me, if you haven't had an encounter with them yet, it's not fun. At all."

Jasper remembered the events with the Tropius and muttered, "Fucking camouflaged, fruit-having piece of shit."

 

[Astralkitsune]

Apollo-- Tagging Jasper and Knox
​

The two male trainers could hear a loud rustling of tree leaves and limbs coming their way. Two figures burst out of the Jungle, both running at full tilt recklessly. One figure was a young man with hair the color of dancing fire, golden eyes, and a lean but tough athletic build. The young man was about six feet tall and had two small dermal piercings under each eye. Each piercing was a red stone, that caught the light of the sun. He wore the same black pants with belt that the other two wore although his were somewhat tattered. He wore no shirt and his body had several burn scars with a large, very recent one displayed across his back. At his side ran a magnificent female Pyroar who was matching her pace to her trainers and looking back over her shoulder occasionally.

"Gang way!" The man shouted with a somewhat noticeable kalosian accent. As Apolllo ran past the two trainers he turned to Vulcana, "try slowing it down again." The Pyroar stopped her run with a skid, kicking up dirt as she abruptly flipped around bracing herself on all fours. She reared back and opened her jaws releasing a huge gout of flame which she aimed at the ground just in front of the jungle, sweeping her head to the side as she did so. The effect created a wall of fire between the two and whatever their unseen pursuer was. The two men would not have long to ponder that thought, before the same huge Slaking that Jasper had spotted earlier burst through the wall of fire like something out of a horror movie. It's eyes were blood shot and it howled in rage, showing jagged, sharp teeth with the stench of rotted meat still on it's breath and trickles of saliva flying everywhere.

 

[Jake Acker]

Knox couldn’t help but grin as he realised that the man attacking him was clearly just as quick witted as he was, perhaps with a slightly sharper tongue even. His quick and well worded responses to everything the Devon agent said certainly proved that much. It was an enjoyable sensation actually despite the rather dire circumstance, Knox hadn’t been able to talk to anybody but Bastille since he had been out here in the forest and unfortunately prehistoric reptile bulldozers don’t make great conversationalists, especially when compared to this fast talking charmer of a man.

"You're cute, but not that cute."

Not that cute? He had no idea why but Knox was actually a little hurt by that after the compliments he had received earlier. “Oh my apologies did you want cuter? Should I put on a pair of Wigglytuff ears and roll around in them? A strange demand, but I know that you know just as well as I do that I would rock those ears.” He said in response to this in a slightly more teasing tone than the calm and steady one he had been using to soothe the trainer on the other end of the stick. He even risked looking over at Bastille to see what he thought of the negotiations thus far. It only took one glance at his companion to realize he wasn’t impressed, rolling his eyes at the pair of them and stomping his feet in the water every now, sending froth high into the air again and again in an attempt to convey his feelings. The Bastiodon only glared upon hearing the blonde man’s joke at his expense, still holding his ground, weighing up his options. Could he reach Knox in time to save him? Unlikely honestly. The Gallade had already proved itself to be a very fast threat indeed and as much as he hated to admit it, Bastille wasn’t exactly nimble.

"Do you usually laugh at people who want to kill you?" the man, now looking puzzled, asked, "If that's the case, how the fuck are you still alive?"

The look on their faces and the questions the ambushers asked only made it harder for Knox to put a halt to his laughter, because he honestly didn’t know the answer to what they had asked. How the fuck was he still alive? Skill? Dumb luck? A mixture of both? He had survived more than any man his age had any right to have survived, and had laughed all the way through it all. “Well maybe you can answer your own question here my yellow haired friend” he said looking up from where he lay in the wet and cold gravel, a bemused grin still tugging on the corners of his mouth as spoke “Why the fuck am I still alive? It is you who has the chance to end me after all.” Whatever the answer was Knox wasn’t listening, no, he didn’t want to know why he had survived, not at all. It would be less fun that way. It was only when he was asked to explain himself that he snapped back to the present and told his story as calmly as he could.

After this and despite his every urge to keep talking Knox held his impatient tongue and let the man keep talking, partly out of respect but mostly due to the face that he didn’t want to die to a man with a pointed stick after surviving many shoot outs and coming out unscathed. Well relatively unscathed. It would be a lie to say one or two bullets hadn’t found their mark on him at some point but luckily none had done more than graze him yet. Looking up at the man with his unwavering smile Knox peered into his eyes to look for something, anything, to hint that he had believed the truth and that the pair of them would survive another day.

After what was really a short amount of time but what seemed like an eternity something stirred in those eyes. A flicker of realisation, fighting to stay lit under that sea of blue. This man, thank Arceus, knew the name of Devon. Working for such a well-known company did have it perks after all. And apparently using it to cheat death by stick was one of them.


"I'll ask you one question to see if you're lying or not. Devon "Agent", since you've probably done operations in the field, what Pokémon do you receive upon reviving a Claw Fossil, Old Amber, and a Sail Fossil?"

He wanted clarification, fair enough, if he hadn’t Knox would actually be rather surprised, there was an air of intelligence around this guy. He had to stifle another laugh upon hearing the question itself though. Fossil species identification? The archaeologist could do that in his sleep. Speaking with a confident glint in his eye he immediately answered back “Anorith the old shrimp Pokémon, Aerodactyl the fossil Pokémon and Amaura the tundra Pokémon.” Raising one eyebrow he waited for a response, asking “Happy that I’m a dashing and brave agent of Devon now?” with his trademark smile.

"Thank God. I've done a few odd-jobs for them here and there, but what the fuck is an agent doing here?"

Knox was actually a little surprised to hear that this guy had done some odd jobs for Devon here and there. He didn’t seem like the geographical type, nor a particularly scientific one either. Perhaps he was one of the trainers field ops sometimes hire to when in need of some extra men on the ground? Or he could just be the guy who fixes the coffee machine every time it inevitably breaks down. Multibillion dollar company and they can’t even provide a half decent coffee machine for the guys risking their lives to make sure they the dirty work gets done, how does that happen? But now wasn’t the time for another coffee machine fueled rage, he finally had this guy’s trust and really couldn’t be asked to go through the process of gaining it again did he happen to lose it.

“Tell you the truth the only reason I’m here is to try my very best at getting a lovely detailed schematic up and running of this islands natural geography. Unfortunately it would seem you can’t even want to look at some bloody rocks these days without getting thrown into some kind of death match. Can’t say it’s not more exciting though.” Knox explained, figuring that seeming as it was unlikely both of them would be surviving this ordeal that he might as well tell this guy the classified information that entails why he was here.

Suddenly the stick was retracted from its post inches away from Knox’s Adams apple. It was a beautiful feeling finally being free to take a proper deep breath without the risk of becoming a human kebab after sitting here in the dirt for so long. Getting up and shaking lose the dirt and small pebbles that had become stuck to him Knox was immediately greeted by Bastille, The huge Pokémon bounding forwards out of the river, pebbles and glistening drops of water going everywhere as he came to a sudden halt right before his partner. A large pink tongue lolled out of the small cave Bastille called a mouth, darting out and licking Knox’s face before the man could escape its sticky wrath. Reunited with as trainer and Pokémon again Knox gave the metal giant a quick squeeze around the frill best he could with both arms wide, before swiftly and efficiently checking for any wounds that the Gallade may have caused in its surprise assault. Bastiodon were tough, but they certainly weren’t invincible. As his hands ran along his friend’s rock hard skin and pebble like bumps a small wound was discovered. A deep orange colored bruise was already forming right behind one of Bastilles sturdy legs, a reminder that their new “allies” weren’t to be taken lightly.

On this note and still searching for any further injuries on Bastille, Knox glanced over to see what his ambusher was up to now, and more importantly, where that Gallade was. The mystery blonde man was kneeling by the river, cupping water in his hands and drinking it much as he had been doing before they had been so rudely interrupted. As he drunk the man became aware he was being watched and spoke breathlessly between greedy mouthfuls of river water.

"Allow me to introduce myself: Jasper Moreau, and the blue Gallade that just kicked your Bastiodon's ass is Athos. Pleasure to threaten you." He said, a smug smile on his face before explaining, "Athos and I are planning on going to the edge of the forest, and if my prediction is correct; there'll be a Team Rocket patrol or two looking for anyone who wanted to escape the horrors of the forest."

Jasper and Athos. So they were the names of this pair of idiots who, in any other circumstance, would probably be getting a lawsuit from Devon for an unprovoked attack on a Devon official employee. It made Knox smile to picture these two sitting in a courtroom with whatever lawyer they could conjure up, facing the might of the Devon law team. It made him smile even more to imagine Bastille sitting in the little witness box, and trying to make a statement and shuffle his papers an- okay maybe now wasn’t the time to indulge in this little day dream any further. “Pleasure to be threatened, normally the people on the other end of the weapons are rather thuggish so you were a welcome change. As for this Rocket patrol, from what I have seen already back when the hotels were gassed I have a basic idea of the weaponry and equipment they carry. I don’t know what your plan is there but I can tell you now that it wouldn’t be an easy job with a stick and a Gallade.” Knox stated bluntly as he left Bastilles side and joined Japer by the river itself, stopping only when his boots were touched by a few stray droplets of water that escaped the main flow.

Bastille stood his ground as the Gallade, Athos, approached him tentatively, treading lightly on the wet stones beneath his feet. His large yellow eyes widened in surprise ever so slightly when the humanoid Pokémon actually lowered his head and gave a low and gracious bow. After a moment or two of uncomfortable silence, broken only by the water breaking over the banks on either side of the meander they stood near, the prehistoric beasts shield like face suddenly dipped down towards the ground and his front legs dipped forwards as he tried his very best to replicate the action. The overall result was clumsy and poorly executed, and after nearly falling again upon getting back into an upright pose Bastille laughed at his own attempt, a deep and throaty noise that resonated around the clearing loudly, sending some bird Pokémon is the distance up into the air. All was forgiven as far as the reptile was concerned, he had been bested by a worthy opponent, that was all there was to it.

"If you're heading deeper into the forest: good luck. But, if you want to come with Athos and I, we should start heading that way soon, the ruckus we caused is bound to attract a wild Pokémon's attention...and trust me, if you haven't had an encounter with them yet, it's not fun. At all."

Knox remained silent for a moment, enjoying the sensation of the wind rustling through his messy brown hair and the smell of the river, before finally answering Jasper. “What kind of fool would I be not to go with the man who possess the world’s biggest toothpick?” he said with a wink as he looked down at the kneeling man, who’s blonde hair blazed in the light of the sun as it rippled off the top of the water. “As for the wild Pokémon no I haven’t seen any just-“Knox’s sentence was cut off at the sound of something crashing through the jungle behind them. Something big. A man with fiery red hair and a Pyroar beside him leapt from the undergrowth as he turned in surprise only to be followed by the angriest looking Slacking he had ever had the displeasure of seeing in his life. “Yet.” He finished with an almost disappointed sigh as he got into a fighting stance ready for action. He wasn’t getting his ass kicked on this beach twice.

 

[BurbleBurble]

Date: Day two, 9:45 about
Location: Camp SAM.CG / Riverside
-----
Well, luckily for him, she didn't have a Pokemon that had recently died.

Cause he didn't want to offend anyone, or make things awkward. Especially not this person.

But Megan didn't have a Pokemon at all, apparently. So they threw her into the jungle with...Nothing? That was awful! Rocket really were assholes, weren't they? He'd punch out that old man who was to blame for all of this given the chance, along with those other two that were next to him. And that wasn't counting if they even laid a finger on his Pokemon...Gerald would not be happy, to put it lightly.

But she definitely brought up interesting points. She was saving to go to Kalos? Hot men? Well, he'd agree on that. Salem was pretty ho-

Wait. Was she...No, she couldn't, but...

Was she referring to him? He never actually thought of himself that way...Huh.

"Kalos, huh? I live there funnily enough. Lumiose City. What do you want to see in Kalos? I mean, there really is a lot to do and see..."

The unconscious Lin washed up aside them as Gerald finished his sentence, coated in mud.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, what the..."

At first, he thought it was a straight up corpse. Then he noticed it breathing, and that it was the huntress that had held a knife to his throat not to long ago.

"Lin? But how did...Oh." The 'Oh' stemmed from Ajax, who was at this point lumbering back into the wilds. Lady was there too, but no one else. Which raised some red flags, like "Where was Salem? Where was Cassie? Where was the Doctor? Where was Arrow? Where was June?"

Ugh, too many questions. First thing first, they needed to get Lin in a more comfortable position. He turned to Megan, who looked rather unnerved at the turn of events. "Uh, this is, um, sudden, but could you help me move her? To a more comfortable place. I'll explain some things then."

...

The Diglett reappeared in a new location after that dumb turtle had stomped on him. Perhaps a bit battered, but it recovered quickly. The two were preoccupied with the body that had washed up besides them, which made it a perfect time to strike. So the mole waited until they both picked up the huntress, and then charged for Megan's foot.

-----

Fighter yet? This Hitmonlee seemed over confident in his teaching abilities.

The Sylveon corrected June, claiming she was still in the works, but Aidinia would never give up on her goal of becoming a strong fighter to get the obstinate Hitmonlee's trust, and getting off the island. The Hitmonlee thought this was a sign of his own lack of protection, and tried to argue with the ribbon coated fox, though the doctor interrupted the two before anything bad could happen.

And the Hitmonlee smashed the doctor into the water, instantly breaking the peace.

'What's he doing?!'

Alex seemed a little disgruntled at Savior's less than supportive behavior. Said Aidinia cared about everyone...the Delphox took this very literally.

'Does she care about the Rockets? Or does she, quote my trainer Gerald, "Want to shove flames up their asses"?'

A few seconds passed. In the time, Aidinia was struck again and again with the limbs of the Hitmonlee. June thought about stopping it for a minute, but by the time the fox decided to step in, it was over.

Similarly disgruntled, she gave an annoyed tap to the human like Pokemon.

'Listen, while I'm sure we all would love to be great in combat, I think your doing it wrong. I don't give my trainer horrible migraines to make him a Psychic-'

"June dear," The good doctor (Yet bad fighter) asked, "Is this the tea Lin had spoken of?"

Oh yes, the tea. The reason she was down here at the river in the first place. She growled one final time at the Hitmonlee. 'Just be smart. Is that too much to ask?'

Now the Tea had been simmering for a few minutes by then, and seemed ready by the time June reached it. The Delphox sampled a bit of it...The liquid was incredibly bitter, which was probably why it snapped them back to their senses. The bowl was scooped up it her paws, and she walked towards the unconscious Arrow. Once the fox arrived, she opened up his jaws, revealing tons of tiny pointed teeth. Not that it fazed her. No, she had learned the terrifying thing was what laid in the brain. Which was why the thought of going feral scared her much more than anything else on the island. Because she'd lose herself.

With no hesitation, June poured the herbal liquid into the lizard's mouth, shut it, and propped the head upright, forcing a swallow. Then began pawing at the creatures face.

'Hey, hey. Wake up.'

 

[PentheWonderful]

He wouldn't let go.

Cassie attempted to slip her hand free, but he wouldn't let go. His warmth, seeping into her skin and reversing the cooling that her damp clothes provided in the rising jungle heat. To mask her scent. Hide her. All of her. Yet it was useless against his eyes. Eyes that refuse to release their iron grip on her. She could feel them, looking right through her facade, all the layers of masks and faces she presented, past her own skin and beyond that. Seeing her for who she really was.

Salem had a piece of her. In exchange for a piece of himself.

“Karela,” His voice rang with the gentleness of a flute. “You were beautiful then and you are ever more beautiful now.” A kiss pressed onto her fingers, but she could barely feel it through the scars flowing down her skin. 'Such a silver tongue he has.' And it perplexed her how this hyper island boy had somehow evolved into an elegant gentleman. But words like those were common among the elite.

Empty promises.

“I named you after the fruit that I had attempted to gift you to celebrate your arrival on the island. It was a spur of the moment things, but I had forgotten your name and was too embarrassed to admit it.” Her hollow smile filled itself half full, but the emotion that made itself known within it was scrambled and unclear. Incomplete without the messages written in her eyes, hidden away by the brim of her fedora.

"I know." She had known even then, but that was a time when she was not very good at expressing herself. She probably still was not today. But then he started chuckling, then laughing, ever so softly, and so did she. Without rhyme or reason, she just did. And she felt like a child again.

“I remember you now. You were the cute little foreign girl that came to the island for one day and wholly charmed my sister and called her, mama.”

Mama.

Cassie felt her stomach churn from the embarrassment that had plagued her from just that one word. That one slip of tongue. That mistake that left her longing and brought her so much pain for many nights and days upon leaving the island. The one place that had felt like the sweetest dream, and would always remain a dream. It brought more pain than mirth, and it was better off forgotten, and so she drew back, but he still would not let her go. His hand caught her chin in time, and gently, pleadingly, coaxed her to meet his eyes.

She was defenseless against those eyes.

“We were devastated when you disappeared, which led my father to give me a baby Dorino he had just received from a scientist visiting the island.” 'My father.' She responded, but her body had lost touch with her brain, and so the words drift in her head. His eyes were too sincere, and she couldn't find a single fault or lie in them, and Cassie found herself believing, slowly believing and it was scary, and it was dangerous.

She was better off forgetting, better off without, so she focused on the nasty thoughts of her disownment and the death of happier days, and she smiled at the pain it brought her. And she retreated into her mind because it was the only place she could run to. “Lyrana named the baby Pokémon Hinako, which she said means ‘child of harmonious days’ in the old Kanto language. She named her after you, and she is here on the island somewhere.” 'Stop it...' “Although the little baby grew up into a strong Doreina.”

And Salem bore into her eyes, and even there, in her own mind, he had found her. In the vastness of thought and void, he found her.

“I found you,”

Her eyes flickered back to life, because he had once again pulled her back. And Cassie found herself once again lacing his fingers with her own, fitting them perfectly into the spaces in between and feeling incredibly whole.

'Stop it...'

Cassie watched his eyes, never moving away when he leaned down and allowed her more detail of each fleck of color within them. And they slid shut only to relish the feeling of his finger running across her cheek, and her forehead pressing against his and how comfortably she fit into the contours of his face. And her heart pumped from their closeness, while she simply listened to the cadence of his breathing, how they tickled her face.

'I can't stop.'

"Yeah." Cassie said after a while. "I guess you did." ‘Never stop.’

‘I’ll never stop running. So please never stop finding me. I’ll play this game, one last time, with you.’

‘Let’s play.’

Finally, her eyes flutter open, but the eyelids refuse to move up all the way and they settled where they were, just above her irises. A small smile tugs at her lips, and they spill a new blush of color to her face, and it made her look alive. It was then did she finally decide to escape his gentle binds, taking a step back and allowing emptiness to fill the space between them. “Can you walk?”

There, she stood with her shoulders back, and her spine straight. Her head held high, she held mischief in her eyes when she once again locked eyes with him. Amusement, contemplation, serenity, and curiosity dance in the enigma that was her thoughts, within reach yet still indescribable. And their fingers remained interlinked, arms raised to retain their unity in this distance. Keeping him steady should he falter.

And if he does, she would be there to catch him.

“Tell me if I’m going too fast.” And so, she leads him away, back into the forest line where the plant life reigns supreme. She would return for the clay pottery later. At the moment, Salem was her main concern.

Her first course of action was to take note of the trail Ajax had left behind, and utilize it as her bearing. She oriented herself according to the camp’s location on the hilltop, and assessed a new route for them to tread, keeping in mind Salem’s slight recovery. From where they had re-entered, the slope had grown much less steep, and the number of trees growing along it would provide them with much needed support. This new route would cut their travel time in half at the very least, and it was something the ace trainer was very pleased about.

Cassie squeezed Salem’s hand gently, alerting him of the path they were about to take, and she looked back to read his response to her decision. Only after she found the okay did she initiate their uphill trek, making sure to adjust her pace to allow him to keep up, and recover if he so needed. She held his weight, pulling him up on certain steps, and she always remained close enough to keep their hands linked, but still far enough away to not be in his way.

Although, few minutes into their hike was when things started to get a bit… Strange.

The jungle heat disappeared. A sudden drop in temperature that had been drastic enough to send chills down her spine in the late morning. It was reminiscent to entering an air-conditioned shopping mall after a whole day of traversing a hot, sunny day. It slowed her steps, and got her looking around more carefully than she had been before.

A glitch.

Like a computer breached, her mind swelled over with static, a storm of incoherent words and numbers that washed over her train of information and thought, displacing, inverting, replacing, and erasing until she saw spots. It was enough to cease her movement and beckon her free hand to reach up and grasp her head firmly, shaking it and weaving her fingers through her hair as she blinked her to no avail.

The spots wouldn’t go away, and now the shadows were dancing.

There was that familiar feeling of… Invasion. That sensation of not being alone in your own thoughts, the presence of a foreign entity you can’t see nor discern. Her archives being tampered with, throwing them into disorganization. Like a virus floating where it doesn’t belong, intruding and corrupting everything in its wake. Her fingers dug into her scalp.

“Salem-“ She huffed, and she swore she saw her breath cloud before her eyes, turning to find the light haired man. “Are you seeing-“ But he wasn’t there. He had utterly vanished and in his place was Mathew.

Mathew.

He was a vacuum that drained all color from her face and within him, all Cassie could see was horror. Her chest tight, she couldn’t breathe. Ice coated her muscles, locking her joints in place. Frozen, the whips and electricity caught up to her with ease, and overwhelmed her senses with blood. Her throat was dry and any attempt to wet it was in vain.

“M- M…” Her lips were sewn shut, refusing to utter what her voice had sung. Her eyes darted around in a desperate search for answers and comfort, but they were all drained by the vacuum that was the admin’s piercing amber eyes, boring right into her’s. “Salem…?” She breathed, like prey calling for help but fearing whatever predator may hear it.

“What’s the matter, darlin’? Surprised to see me?”

She controlled her breathing, wracked by the trembles that would occasionally shake her body. This invasion, she knew it has happened once, twice before.

First time, she let her fears take over. She lost her team.

Second time, she took control, defied, and figured out what was wrong. And she conquered.

‘Don’t let it get to you. Take control. Defy it.’ And when Mathew dared a step forward, she thrust her arm forward, palm out and fingers spread, to halt him. Stop him. “Wait…” She murmured. “Wait…” But her eyes were telling him, ‘Something is very wrong. Please let me figure out what’s wrong.’

So she scans him, forcing herself to gaze upon his face and below. That was when her eyes ran to where her other hand had been confined, where Mathew was clinging onto it, and in that instant, something clicked.

That was where it was wrong.

In all her time with the southern man, he had always grabbed her roughly by the arm, splintering her wrist with his death grip, but not once has he taken her by the hand. This couldn’t be the real Mathew, for the real Mathew would never be gentle to her. And she thanked Arceus for the hell she’d been put through, that left her broken enough to not be able to break further. She had felt more terror from a Hypno’s manipulation to ever be manipulated again, and she had survived far more complex nightmares crafted by the pokemon of darkness himself to fear anything but the contents of her own mind.

This petty game was nothing.

The faker, the imposter’s glare was growing softer and softer, and the menace held in his smile grew duller and duller. His ambers transform into light jades and his skin darkens to a golden tan. And the illusion shatters. There was no Mathew. There never was Mathew, and all there had ever been was Salem, in his rightful place, and everything falls into place. Her mind processes the pieces of scattered clues and her experience as an ace trainer comes into play. The drop in temperature, dancing shadows, and illusions. And she draws a conclusion with ease. ‘Gengar.’

Though a part of her mind was immediately thrown back to a mansion where she had gotten an up close and personal encounter with one, her focus did not waver. Clarity washes over her silver eyes, and she blinks them several times to expel the last of the sports.

With her hand still outstretched, she prevented Salem from coming closer, from moving, and her eyes looked deeply into his when she straightened her hand to be parallel with her arm, ‘Get down.’ followed by her fingers enclosing, to point at his belt, where his pokeballs were attached.

Finally releasing his hand, her eyes slowly shifted downwards, to her silhouette marred from the pattern cast by the canopy above. ‘Gengar is very mischievous, and at times, malicious. It enjoys playing practical jokes and casting curses, such as pretending to be one's shadow, then behaving erratically.’ She mentally recited, and her body waited, tense with anticipation, heart pumping with adrenaline for the silhouette to…

Glitch.

Pupils dilating, Cassie slammed her foot down on her own shadow, except it hadn’t been her shadow at all, but rather a malicious creature that screeched in surprise from the attack and retaliated by knocking the small girl into a tree. Cassie relished the feeling of free fall with a grin and it utterly thrilled her. Her back exploded with pain, but she laughed because of it. The wave of distress from her spine made her feel alive.

The Gengar rose from the ground, filling in its shape and form as its red eyes glared at her with discontent. Its grin mocked her. ‘What now, girlie?’ It seemed to ask, for her stomp did not do as much as leave a bruise. ‘You lost. I beat you.’

But her intent was not even to damage the creature. She simply wanted to draw it out, and the pain was but a sweet prize for her victory. So she grins, picking up a pair of small pebbles,

And simply began to click them together in her hand.

 

[Nygenn]

Location: Riverside, On the way back to Camp SAM.CG
Time: 2nd Day, After 10 am
Tagging: Salem, Cassie

----------------​

“Yeah. I guess you did.”

Salem’s smile widened when he heard Cassie's confirmation. It was soft, barely audible, and sounded somewhat resigned but he could hear the hopeful undercurrent and focused on just that.

He had seen the warring of emotions on her face while he spoke. Perhaps she thought she was hiding it, and maybe she could have under different circumstances, but she laid everything bare for him. He saw her uncertainty and her hesitation, her fear and her denial, but also her hope and longing, her joy and finally her acceptance.

Cassie slid her fingers between his and clenched hesitantly. Salem responded by squeezing reassuringly and heard her sigh. Her eyes fluttered open and she gave him a playfully seductive smile before asking if he could walk.

Salem nodded his affirmative. Their wash had done him good, physically as well as emotionally, and Cassie stepped ahead of him, slowly pulling him along. Het let her.

“Tell me if I’m going too fast,” she said.

Again Salem nodded, but knew he wouldn’t. She probably knew as well and slowed their pace down a little bit. She led them through the jungle upstream, and then up a path that would likely take them around, but ultimately up to camp. He was grateful for that. He probably could have managed the steeper incline now, but enjoyed this time alone with her. That is, until she suddenly stopped walking rather abruptly.

He felt the faintest of trembles through where their hands were connected and instinctively covered more of her small cool hand in his larger and warmer one.

“What is it?” he asked before he felt the sudden cold as well. He shivered and looked around. Here in this dense, tropical jungle, with the sun rising ever higher and with it the temperatures, this sudden cold felt very out of place.

“Cassie,” he tried again, turning back to her. She was staring right at him with eyes wide open. Her lips moving ever so slightly as if on the verge of saying something before clamping shut. She was looking at him yet somehow Salem got the feeling that she wasn’t seeing him. She confirmed as much when she asked,

“Salem…?”

He was worried now.

‘What is happening?’ he thought as he stepped closer to her.

Once again he could see her internal struggles clearly displayed on her face, only this time the end result was not acceptance. This time defiance and anger won out. Her eyes steeled and she blinked, then seemed to focus on him. He wanted to step closer still, but an outstretched arm prevented him from doing so.

The look in her eyes changed and seemed to implore something. Then her hand straightened and almost appeared to be pointing at his waist.

Salem did not understand what was going on, but he thought he understood what she wanted. He stepped back and unclipped one of his Pokéballs, just as she stomped her foot down and subsequently got launched off the path when something jerked up, out of the ground.

“Cassie!” he called out with arms outstretched, but he was too far away to reach her and too weak to jump after her. Instead he honed in on what had thrown her off.

‘Her shadow?’ No that wasn’t it he realized a moment later when the shadow took on more form.

‘A Pokémon.’ But what kind of Pokémon? Salem had never heard or seen of living shadows, certainly not ones with such a maniacal grin.

Regardless of his mind’s wonder and amazement, his body had reacted instantly by releasing the fiery ape from his Pokéball. It materialize in between him and his adversary and immediately the heat of its mane counteracted the unnatural cold permeating the area.

Salem had worried for a moment that the Pokémon was not in any fighting condition yet, but it seems his worries were unwarranted. When the small Ape appeared it beat its chest and screamed a loud challenge directed at… well anything and everything apparently.

The fire monkey glared up at Salem first, seemingly taking in his weakened state before dismissing him with a small sneer. Then it turned to look at the purple-black, pudgy Pokémon with the psychotic smile. The apparition was almost twice as tall as the small simian and easily four times its mass. This seemed to excite the Infernape as it stood up straighter and screamed another challenge.

The Gengar didn’t seem to share the Ape’s excitement and quickly dashed to the side, but a fiery streak cut it off and the ghost stood looking down at the little Pokémon as it wiggled it’s finger at him making a mocking ‘tut tut’ sound.

Gengar tried again and dashed in the opposite direction only to have its path cut off again. It was scowling now and made a backhanded motion to shoo the annoying little monkey away.

The dismissing gesture was apparently not received very well because Infernape ducked under the motion and lunged at the ghost with high pitched roar. It unleashed a flurry of punches and sweeping kicks but almost immediately after stopped to look up in shocked surprise. All of its attacks had passed harmlessly through the Gengar’s body.

“Look out!” Salem shouted in warning when he saw the Gengar’s wicked grin return, but it was too late. The dark Pokémon swung down with a tiny claw training tendrils of darkness behind it, and struck the Infernape full on the head. Then, as the monkey recoiled from the strike it pushed a ball of dark energy into its chest which shot outwards carrying the flaming simian with it until they both disappeared between the trees.

“Furnace Ape!” Salem called after it, not remembering what it was properly called in the heat of the moment.

As soon as he saw it fly out of sight he pulled his attention back to the grinning shadow and crouched down into a combat stance. He wasn’t disillusioned about being able to fight this thing off, but he was certainly going to try when pushed into a corner.

He wanted to check on Cassie, but had no intention of turning his back to this creature.

 

[Loziana]

"Hitmonlee is smart!" Savior harrumphed at June as he stormed past her to stand guard by Arrow. "Hoomanlings are weak and must be built up to with stand pain. What Delphox know about build pain resistance? You Delphox not hoomanling. They squishy, soft, Delphox not soft like that. We protect, we fight, we not being mean we being hard. This place hard. Must be hard. Delphox should understand."

Alex stood in awe of the logic that Savior was showing in his broken, bumbling way.
I never thought of it that way. He for all the bruises is trying to help. The amazement couldn't have been more apparent on his face in that moment.

Aidinia watched as June approached Arrow with the foul smelling concoction. It better help, if it doesn't it might kill him. Aidinia thought. She watched closely hoping she wouldn't have to find a way to save the sceptile from poisoning.

Aidinia glanced back at Savior. Savior seemed almost insulted. What the hell had those three been chattering about any way? Did the hurt his feeling? Aidinia worried over the hitmonlee.

The sun barely broke the canopy of the trees but the forest was already sticky with the humidity of the day and that was only going to get worse. Aidinia stared toward the river, Arrow, June and Savior. She waited, holding her breath hoping that Arrow awoke with his sense in tact. Aidinia was sure she couldn't handle watching the poor thing go another round of fighting.

Time slowed, insects buzzed and the air itself seemed to stand still... And slowly Arrow's eyes fluttered and then opened the red blood shot veins were gone and intelegence remained... Aidinia released the breathe she's been holding.

 

[Astralkitsune]

Megan and Arrow
​

Megan looked at Gerald as he asked her where she wanted to visit in Kalos. "Wait you live in Lumiose City, wow that must be so amazing. Lumiose is one of the big reasons I want to go all the artwork and cultural exhibits, plus Lumiose Tower and oh don't forget all the wonderful food." Her mouth watered for a moment just thinking about all of the wonderful cuisine that Kalosian chefs were know for. She rubbed the back of her head and looked sheepish, "your from there though, so I am sure that you have seen all of that stuff a million times over by now huh."

Before Gerald could respond their was a powerful torrent of water and a corpse washed up next to them. Megan shrieked and jumped back, her face blanching at the sight before her. Why the hell did someone just wash up a corpse between them, "Wait I think she is breathing."

Then Gerald asked her to help him move the body somewhere else. "He called her Lin, does he know her I wonder?" She nodded and picked up the feet of the girl below her. "Wow she is really scarred, but she still has an exotic wild beauty about her. Why does every woman on this Island look better than me. I wonder how he knows her." "So Gerald, you called her Lin do you kno....."

Megan reply was cut off with another cry of surprise as she felt the earth lift up underneath her right foot sending her toppling over onto her rump. She hit the ground with an umph as the young woman's legs fell out of her arms. She stared at the angry little ambusher, as a pair of small eyes glared back at her before it kicked up a cloud of dirt and sand into her face. The dust and dirt hurt her eyes and she let out a loud sneeze as it clogged her sinuses.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Arrow's eyes fluttered open, and he blinked several times taking in the sight of the three pokemon and the red haired female human in front of him. He tried to jump back into a more wary stance and then realized that he was bound. Arrows first instincts were to escape the binding and then get back to Lin, and then the memory hit him. His own blade slashing through Lin's chest armor and tearing into her flesh. All of his muscles went weak, and he hung limply in the restraints. "Lin? where is my sister? Is she ok? Lin is strong like us, surely she is alive. Please fox... tell me."

 

[PentheWonderful]

"I just hate bugs. Don't you just hate bugs, Ajax? They are the single most disgusting creatures to crawl- eugh."

The Liepard sprawled atop Ajax's broad shell let out a distinct shudder, halting her incessant purring as the trembles snaked down her body. "They crawl. Do you notice that bugs crawl? With those creepy little legs of theirs and those big, bulging eyes, it's like- like a cluster of mirrors faced towards you all at once! And those antennae... Arceus, can't they move at the same time? Seriously, what is wrong with a little coordination?"

They had stopped by the camp to drop off the cargo as instructed by Cassie merely moments ago, assuming the red furred male and dark furred female would be able to handle it- her, and now, so obedient was he, the giant turtle had gone back down to the river for the unconscious gecko, and the top heavy woman she'd stolen the bra from. And her? Well, she was just going along for the ride, purring all the way. There was this awfully comfortable position she discovered, you see, and she was was not planning on leaving it just yet.

"And don't get me started on the winged ones- Oh, it's not bad enough that they crawl, but they have to go and fly too! Have you seen bug wings? They buzz, so loud, like bzzz, bzzz, bzzz, agh they're just the worst! Don't you think so, Ajax? I think you think so. I-"

Click.

Click, click.

Her ears swiveling to one direction, the other, an opposite way. Her purring ceased, and instead, Lady pushed herself up into a sitting position where she was much more alert.

Click, clack, there it was. So distant and sharp, permeating through the jungle hum. Her tail flicked. Her muscles wound tight, like a coil ready to spring as she lowered her head. Her eyes, they bore into the obscure distance.

Click, click, and an ape-like shriek.

Lady sprang from Ajax's shell, latching her hind claws into a ridge in his shell to launch her a good five feet forward. Her fore paws never missed a beat as their claws dug into the dirt and root to prevent slipping, pulling her body forward with her momentum as her back fluidly arched, bringing her hind legs forward to create a perfect line with her forelegs. And the latter lifted to allow the former to push her on, straightening her back as her front paws reached forward as far as they possibly could, and repeated the action, never breaking momentum.

And in a blink of an eye, she was gone.

-

'So terribly weak!' The Gengar thought triumphantly when the Infernape disappeared from sight. 'These trainers have no idea what they're doing!'

Those glowing eyes brightened with a twinkle of malice when he shifted to face Salem, the foolish trainer who thought he could defeat him with such a poorly planned, uncoordinated assault, and his wide grin somehow grew wider to see the human lowering himself into a battle stance. The girl, the strange one his master had sent him to torment, was harmlessly playing with rocks. Perhaps he'd damaged her too badly.

At this thought, the Gengar let out an otherworldly cackle, his body shuddering from delight, and it was sorely tempted to play another game with the man this time. However, his eyes narrowed with restraint, grin pulling wider, because there were bigger games to be played. He had accomplished his mission, and now, it was time to report back. Besides, there was something fast approaching, and it was an energy that all ghost types knew; a dark type. More fun for another day. With his grin never leaving his face, he sank into the shadows,

And vanished

Just as a blur of violet and cream burst through the bushes with claws drawn, but nothing left to catch. They dug and dragged against the dirt as Lady redirected her momentum and halted herself. The Liepard looked alertly around for she had sworn she sensed a ghastly energy there. But now there was nothing. There wasn't anything.

All that was left was the man, and her trainer propped up awkwardly against a tree. The fury and adrenaline built in her, but there was no outlet to unleash it upon. And so her eyes honed in on the girl with the pebbles in her hands, and her fangs were bared for her to see. It was Cassie's fault. She was the cause for her complete waste of energy.

Her complete waste of time.

-

Cassie released a brittle breath, and all at once the adrenaline left her. Pain lapped through her body in waves, and her back felt incredibly stiff. Bruising. It was undoubtedly bruising. But she could still feel her fingers and all of her toes, so at least she knew her spine was alright. But probably not for long, because her Liepard's gaze was soon on her, and they were absolutely burning.

She could almost smell the smoke.

Oh, wait, there actually was an unstable fire type on the loose, from what she'd seen and recalled from his release. The way the ape had sized up Salem instead of immediately coming to focus on the Gengar. Blindly throwing punches and kicks. Whose to say- whose to say it wouldn't come for her and light her ablaze?

The horror of her thoughts were interrupted only by real pain.

Blindingly fast, Lady's paw swiped at her face. She could feel the wind blow by and razors pierce through her skin and drag across her cheek with the precision of a surgeon's knife; deep enough to draw blood, but light enough not to scar or possibly tear her entire face apart.

But still, it stung all the same, and she bit into her tongue to suppress an exclaim from the force that had knocked her over, and disturbed her bruised back. She would take the pain. She'd take it like a winner. But then she looked up, and all she could see was Lady's intense glare, and her tail flicking in displeasure behind her as if saying, 'Don't waste my time.'

To which the trainer quickly responded by clicking the button of her pokeball before the Cruel Pokemon could gouge out her eyes.

Once the flash of white light cleared, Cassandra's eyes return to Salem. There was a hollowness there, more than anything, and it protected her from all the dangerous emotions churning in her heart as the vacuum devoured them whole. From her position laying on her side, still toppled over on the ground, she asked, "Are you alright?"

Blood ran from the three, parallel scratches on her cheek, and she could smell its iron while its throbbing constantly reminded her she was still alive. And she relished that. But otherwise, her face showed no recognition of them being there. There was only calm, an undisturbed lake reflecting whatever gazed upon it. Of course, that was before she remembered the Infernape was still free from his pokeball.

The lake's surface was breached, and with it, the calm.

She forced herself upright and on her feet, leaning against the tree for support. Her eyes were now directed to the char and ash the ape had left behind in his wake of being knocked into the bushes. If he were to emerge, she at least wanted to be in prime position to get away. But her lips were moving before her mind could catch up.

"You should... Return that Infernape back to its pokeball." She rambled, her mind grasping at straws for reasons to not see the Infernape again. "He doesn't seem very stable yet, I saw how he battled. His compulsiveness overrides his thoughts, so he might be a danger to us as well, don't you think he's a danger to us? And I'm quite sure he's injured. He should rest, he needs to rest."

Finally, her eyes flicked back to him, and they were impatient, and anxious, and fearful.

"You should return him."

 

[Nygenn]

Location: Riverside, On the way back to Camp SAM.CG
Time: 2nd Day, After 10 am
Tagging: Salem, Cassie

----------------​

The nightmarish shade had grinned at him dismissively and Salem could not help but bristle a bit at the thought, unreasonable as it was. He was relieved when the Pokémon sank into the ground and disappeared with a chilling cackle that echoed around the area for a while longer.

As soon as it was gone, Lady burst into the scene, violently yet graceful. She looked around for trouble before settling her murderous gaze on Cassie. If it wasn’t for her controlled grace and fluent movement Salem would have thought the virus had gotten to her.

‘Speaking of the virus,’ he though, ‘that shade just now had not seem wild at all, and had actually let them go.’

“Cassie, I think there’s a trainer…” he began, looking up just in time to see the Liepard swipe at the girl’s face. He had taken a couple steps in their direction when a familiar red light enveloped the feline and sucked her back into the Pokéball at Cassie’s belt.

The small woman looked up at him, bleeding as she was, from her position on the ground and pushed up against a tree.

“Are you alright?” she asked him and Salem could not help but smile in wondrous amazement at the apparent strength of this fragile looking creature. He could see through her façade however. Something about her stance, or perhaps the look in her eyes gave her away, though he could not specifically say what it was exactly.

She got up and he stepped closer to her, wanting to offer his support, but then he noticed the subtle shift in her. It was barely noticeable yet she might as well have screamed for how obvious it seemed to him. She was shifty, her voice held a barely discernable tremor, and her eyes briefly darted in the direction the Infernape had disappeared.

With just that minute motion Salem understood. He vividly recalled her reaction to the monkey only a couple of hours ago. He did not presume to understand, but looking at her scarred hands even he could venture a guess.

She began to ramble, listing reasons and excuses for why he should get rid of the Pokémon and he wholeheartedly agreed.

Salem was normally not the type to use such measures in order to avoid a confrontation, but now was not the time to deal with the infernape.

As if on cue the fiery monkey leaped from the bushes and landed on the path behind Cassie. It was waving a large branch around like a baton and looking absolutely murderous, but when it couldn’t find the ghost that harmed it earlier it screeched and broke the stick violently over a knee.

Salem had acted as soon as he saw the Pokémon leap into view when looking over Cassie’s shoulder. He stepped forward and hugged the Ace trainer tightly as the heat of the fire type’s presence washed over the both of them. With one hand he quickly tapped the Pokéball on his belt, recalling the Infernape, before re-securing his hold on the woman.

Almost immediately after the Pokémon disappeared the heat abated and the calming lull of the jungle returned. Salem’s heart was thundering in his chest, he could feel it pounding from the adrenaline of the encounter.

‘no, that’s not quite it,’ he realized.

His heart was pounding on Cassie’s behalf. Somehow he had made part of her fear his own and his body was reacting to that. But Salem was master over his emotions, and with a deep breath he let his inner ocean wash over the flames of panic, quenching them almost immediately.

“Cassie,” he said softly after a moment, and pulled his head back to look at her. “I am alright. You can let go now.”

He smiled reassuringly.

 

[MozzaD]

Tagging: Apollo, Jasper, Knox, Athos, Bastille, Vulcana
Location: River
Time: 10:10am
-------------------​

Despite having the tip of a wooden spear stuck to his neck, Knox seemed to be taking most of Jasper's threats and berating in stride, and quite honestly, it both amused and irritated the Kalosian trainer. The irritation stemmed from the fact that this other trainer seemed far too positive and likeable to be a member of Team Rocket, and Jasper's gut told him that he was threatening the wrong person. However, the blonde was hellbent on getting Maddox and the others back as fast as possible, the dehydration and hunger didn't help with Jasper's slightly impaired mental state.

Yet, at the mention of Devon, Jasper's ocean-blue eyes lit up with a piqued interest. Finally, a way to see if this man's really a member of Team Rocket, he thought. And while the question that Jasper posed could be answered by any bloke with relative knowledge of archaeology; the specificity of Knox's reply verified who he was, and thus, the Blonde's suspicions were lifted. And as the Archaeologist began to explain his purpose of arriving at the Dark Tournament, the spear tip was removed from his neck.

At the removal of danger from Knox's life, Bastille ran towards his partner, the fossil Pokémon giving Knox a lick, clearly relieved that they weren't under threat of Jasper and Athos. The familial bond between the Bastiodon and the Devon Agent only proved further that they couldn't be members of Team Rocket as seeing from experience, they saw Pokémon as weapons, not partners and family. Jasper let out a sigh of relief before taking large gulps from the river, something that he was desperately desired to do ever since he heard the sound of the stream.

Jasper had introduced himself, still retaining the usual sharp edge in his words, between large gulps of water. Upon standing, the spear-wielding trainer would have an arrogant smirk on his lips at the mention of being outmatched by Team Rocket in terms of weaponry when Jasper was just, "a trainer wielding a stick and a Gallade." Knox didn't know how formidable Athos and his partner could be...especially if they had more people in their little team. The Kalosian let his eyes speak for him: his piercing, confident glow in his bright blue eyes seemed to speak for itself. He could handle Team Rocket, he's handled them before.

The trainers weren't the only ones engaged in conversation though, Athos had walked towards the large Bastiodon to apologise. He bowed graciously to show his respect for the large Pokémon, the Gallade remaining as tactful and gracious as he always was. He even chuckled when Bastille had failed at a bow, patting the dinosaur in a friendly manner.

Knox's response to Jasper's proposition of the two sticking together caused a snicker to escape the blonde's lips, ready to fire back with an equally sharp comment when another pair entered the scene. Yet again, it was another toned hunk, this Adonis had flaming red hair to complement his blazing golden eyes. His shirt had somehow been torn off and revealed the burn marks across his sturdy, toned chest, which were supposed to be physical flaws but only accentuated his musculature.

"Fucking hell. Why does everyone who happen to be on this island seem like they were churned out of a teenager's wet dream?" He muttered, groaning.

Immediately though, Jasper realised that this new trainer and what looked like a Pyroar, were running away from something. And this something happened to be very big. Big enough that this trainer called his Pyroar to create a gigantic wall of fire just to evade whatever behemoth resided on the other side of the flame...but Jasper had a tiny clue what happened to be there, although he desperately hoped he was wrong.

"Please don't be Slaking, please don't be Slaking, please don't be that fucking Sla-" He repeated audibly...before the Slaking burst through the flames and released a saliva-filled enraged roar, it's eyes fixated on the red-head and his Pyroar.

"Great. Slaking." He groaned, before cursing the trainer that brought the "Alpha" Slaking.

"Stupid, soulless, annoyingly attractive cunt." he huffed, looking towards Athos, who's arms were already extended in preparation for battle. Although what Jasper said next caused the Gallade to narrow his eyes.

"Can't we just run away and let the Slaking have some food? I mean, knowing from experience, red-heads tend to taste pretty good." He snickered, proud of his clever comment. Athos, however, was less than satisfied with Jasper's response, and the Pokémon's eyes glowed with judgement and annoyance.

"Ugh, fine." The blonde conceded, rolling his eyes as he began to formulate a plan. Within a matter of seconds, his eyes lit up, and his signature, arrogant smirk appeared on his lips. Jasper called then out to Knox.

"Knox, tell Bastille to use Iron Defense again and tank Slaking's blows, if you can, do anything to get it's attention away from Hunk #2 and Simba."

The ironically smart blonde turned to his partner, Gallade, "And you. God, I hate how morally inclined you are to save people. But whatever, yay. We're saving people. Fan-fucking-tastic." Athos urgently gestured his trainer to hurry up and give him orders because, as much as Jasper seemed to take the entire thing off-handedly, there was a huge Slaking about to kill. "Right, right. Use Swords Dance. If we're going to take the Slaking down, we can't leave room for it to stand back up again."

 

[Astralkitsune]

Erejast, Amara and Ecarte
​

Erejast felt the wind brush past him as the mocha skinned hyperactive young woman blew past him, and nearly tackled the tall young man in the other group. She then proceeded to talk ninety miles an hour attempting to personally introduce everyone and murdering his last name in the process. Erejast just smiled and shook his head, "Well at least she has plenty of energy. Ah to be young again like that."

He continued strolling over toward the group, "Actually it's Dr. Neva..." His introduction died on his lips as he noticed the young lady with heterochromia and a huge gash dangerously close to the femoral artery for anyone's comfort. He didn't even register the girl's request for healing as he was already running full tilt over to the Lapras. He carefully put both hands on her leg and inspected the damage, as he muttered. "Oh honey, you have got to take better care of yourself." His mind began going over the symptoms as he inspected his newest patient.

As was a bad habit of his the doctor muttered his analysis under his breath as he tallied off each issue. "Deep lateral laceration of the rectus femorus, severe anemia due to massive blood loss symptoms of hypovolemic shock beginning to manifest. Moderate dehydration, moderate bruising of multiple muscles." He looked deep into her eyes, "sweetie you are about to succumb to unconsciousness." He set Kiwi down carefully on the Lapras, "Ok Kiwi dearie, here we go just one more time and then you can rest." The Togepi nodded and giggled before waddling over to Lilly and giving her a hug. There was a familiar pink glow emanating from the pokemon and then sparkles surrounded Lilly as her leg began to knit up.

Erejast looked on smiling although he was deep in thought. "She has suffered to much blood loss for wish to fully work. It's effectiveness on humans is not as great as on pokemon. Trying to perform a transfusion with no tools, will be rather difficult if not impossible given our current situation." He looked over at the poison tipped needles lying beside Damien. "those needles are hollow and designed to carry a poison dose so perhaps they could work but the difficulty would be the tubing, proper sterilization, and flow control to make sure the blood behaves like we want. Best for now to significantly increase her iron intake and make sure she avoids any further blood loss. She will have to be monitored for signs of hypovolemic shock and I may need to consider other options."

The Togepi finished it's healing on Lilly and gave out a very tired "Togepriii.." before retreating back inside it's shell. Erejast clicked the button on his pokeball and watched as the exhausted pokemon returned to safety in a ball of red light. "Rest now my brave little healer you have earned it." He looked back over at Lilly, "damn what I wouldn't give for a set of acupuncture needles right now." "My name is Dr. Nevashi Miss and you need to take it easy for a while. Your body lost a lot of blood and Kiwi was not capable of returning that loss so we need to build your supplies back up naturally." He held up his hand showing two fingers. "That means one eating a high iron diet to counteract the anemia, and two avoiding further blood loss."

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Amara turned unblinking eyes on the assorted collection of trainers in front of her. She took note of those trainers she recognized from their exploits such as Damien, Mina, and the doctor. She turned back briefly toward Floyd, "Well Mr. Johnstone it seems probability was in your favor today after all." She turned back toward the trainers in time to hear the doctor's sarcastic welcome, before he was nearly run over by the unknown female trainer. The enthusiastic young woman rushed Floyd before giving at least one incorrect introduction. She gave a very flamboyant and flashy introduction about her own greatness.

Amara had memorized every single current or recent trainers name that ever earned a badge much less won any tournaments. She had certainly never heard of a trainer calling themselves bumble bee. She turned her gaze toward Delilah and spoke. "I have never heard of a trainer called Bumble Bee. Why do you call yourself great Ms. Bee?" The purple haired champion spoke with no malice in her voice or mockery, merely a flat tone and curiosity. "Also you seem to have pronounced Dr. Nevashi's name wrong."

Ecarte turned her head and looked directly at Floyd. Her eyes glowed purple for a moment and then she opened them with some surprise. "What is an untrained human psychic doing here? I need to do something, before that young man is taken advantage of and possibly endangers us all." She was still a little loathe to use telepathy with a human, but a psychic human was a different story and was built to handle it. Her voice flowed into Floyd's head.

"Please do not be alarmed. My name is Ecarte, and you need my help desperately. You have an awakening gift and this is the wrong time and place for such to happen. However once the awakening starts there is no turning back and you have already begun."

 

[Jake Acker]

Knox’s feet skirted through the small pebbles that made up the beach as he darted over to his Pokémon, his eyes never leaving the latest trio to arrive, focusing primarily on the actions of the enraged and unusually energetic Slaking who was tearing after the red head and his Pyroar as if his ass was on fire.

Upon reaching his companion Knox put a hand on his rough flank, giving the prehistoric beast a reassuring look when it turned back to him. He couldn’t have Bastille fighting with shaken nerves, especially after already taking such a devastating blow from Athos. There was a mass of green bruising amongst the yellow skin of Bastille that didn’t look like it would be healing anytime soon unless the pair of them could somehow find a doctor hiding under one of the trees or corpses around them.

A feeling of helplessness that the young man wasn’t used to reached him as his hand snaked round to his hip where his trusty side arm would normally be holstered. But of course his fingers grasped at nothing but air, the ghost of the grip he knew so well tingling in his skin. Of course the battle would have been so much easier had he been fully equipped, for Arceus sake even a 9mm would have been enough to put this beast down with some well-placed shots.

He was envisioning it now, his well-trained mind instantly locating the optimum locations to take the Slaking down. One to the Knee to stop make it tumble. One to the chest to puncture its lungs. One more in those fury filled eyes to finally kill the beast. A masterpiece of blood.

It had been that way for a long time now. The way killing was viewed as something casual. There had once been a time in which he could remember not ever having to use his weapon when on missions, simple digs and enjoyable excursions into ancient temples that could end either in only success or mild disappointment. But over the years with all the various gangs popping up like weeds amongst the grass, missions had taken on a more sinister tone. Rumours of shady figures leaving dig sites late at night, mysterious accidents that destroyed plans to excavate some ruins, even entire archaeological teams going missing. The industry was in uproar over the whole ordeal, no research was happening and nobody truly felt safe at even the most well used dig sites.

That was the way it had begun, a new generation of Silph operatives, each one able to defend themselves whilst still being able to analyse ancient history in a heartbeat. He had been one of the first, handpicked by Mr Stone himself for the job after seeing his enthusiasm about his work. He was even one of the few agents who warranted getting given a prehistoric partner Pokémon, and Bastille had quickly become his most trusted friend, providing a companion to turn to when he had moments of self-doubt or loneliness on long trips abroad. In turn Knox was the anchor Bastille had clung to after his resurrection, a helping hand to let the gentle giant get to grips with life in the present.

Knox smiled as he was brought back to the here and now. There is no way Bastille would let him down now, he never fails when the going gets tough, Knox thought to himself confidently as the inevitable fight grew ever closer.

The Slaking could be seen in much greater detail now, and honestly that wasn’t a good thing. The beast was ugly. Like hit by a train piled high with Miltank shit kinda ugly.

It wasn’t like any Slaking was going to be winning beauty pageants, but all the same, this poor fucker wouldn’t even be taking last place. They would have left him at the door. Crooked teeth stained yellow were clenched in its mouth like stakes driven into uneven ground and its normally soft and fluffy white mane was matted with dirt and blood, giving the illusion that it more of a brown colour. Its body bulged with strength though and that was the more pressing matter right now as it hurtled towards them after the scarlet haired boy and his equally red haired feline companion.

"Knox, tell Bastille to use Iron Defense again and tank Slaking's blows, if you can, do anything to get it's attention away from Hunk #2 and Simba."

Instead of complying with Jaspers wishes immediately Know turned to him with a slight frown. He wanted Bastille to take hits from this thing now? After being ambushed by Athos like that? Dick move Jasper.

“I already see how this partnership is gonna be going.” He said with a sigh before turning back to Bastille. “Hey buddy, be a lamb and use iron defence would ya? Then if you could just kindly go over there and get that majestic face of yours beat in, that would be great.” he finished with a dazzling smile.

“Don’t take too long with your little prep talk you two” the archaeologist said with a wink as Bastille charged into battle behind him. “I just can’t wait to see somebody else at the other end of the all-powerful combo of Athos and Jaspers wood shop skills.”

 

[Astralkitsune]

Apollo
​

Apollo had been having a really shitty day. First he wakes up with one of the absolute worst nightmares he had ever experienced. Then the pretty violent girl he kept trying to help told him she never wanted to see him again. Normally that would not have been enough to make him give up, but the recent vivid nightmare of his parents and their relationship made him desire not to be around any women for awhile. "I almost hit her yesterday when she tried to break my nose. I almost became the monster my father was. I will never let that happen!"

Then while wandering through the jungle alone with just Vulcana he had to fend off an attack by a couple of wild apom. He and Vulcana had managed to make monkey barbecue, but Vulcana was more than a little hurt and getting tired. They had found a clearing and tried to rest and eat their fried apom in peace when a blood curling roar had torn through the area.

This led to a wild flight through the jungle with a biggest, meanest, most industrious slaking he had ever seen. No matter how far or fast the two ran, the slaking stayed just behind them. "Never thought my death would be getting eaten by a giant fucking sloth! I should have just let that hot Bee girl kill me it would have been a much better death." The pair was getting tired and the slaking was gaining ground when they burst out into a clearing beside a large stream. Whats more their were two other pokemon trainers here.

Apollo snapped himself back to the present as he saw the large dinosaur pokemon step up to the beast. It's already harden skinned shimmered with a sudden metalic glint. Apollo turned toward Vulcana and the two stared into each others eyes before Apollo made a circular motion with his hand. Vulcana nodded and dashed into the jungle The Slaking rushed forward and slammed it's fist downward into the dino's face with enough force to cause the ground to crack beneath the unlucky pokemon.

Before the beast could deliver another devastating blow, the heat behind it intensified immensely. The Flame wall at it's back flared up soaring into the sky in the center of the wall, where Vulcana stood engulfed in the heat powering up one final overheat. As the beast turned it's head to look at the source of the heat she let out the blast. A huge ball of fire flew toward the Slaking, as the flame wall extinguished completely and Vulcana collapsed from the exertion. Apollo threw out his fist, "fuck you hair pile!"

 

[Chrocey]

“Well, I suppose I owe her my thanks then,” Delilah responded to Floyd with a genuine smile. “Finding you was on my to-do list. Now we just gotta find Alex and Aidinia.” She laughed softly, “Alex looked like he took a pretty hard tumble out of the sky at the beginning of all this, so we were all on our way to find him first. It’d be great to have all of you with us if you don’t have missions of your own.”

The bee trainer was taken aback by Amara’s interjection. While it’d certainly surprised her, Delilah had heard doubt amongst others before about her self-proclaimed fame.

“That’s an easy question! See, ever since I was a kid I knew that I wasn’t brought into this world just to ‘survive’ in it as the others do. I was born to be the most talented pokemon master in all the regions combined! I call myself great because...well...that’s what I am. I might not have any gym badges on me, or any trophies on my shelf, or pictures of me in the newspaper…”

Delilah got sidetracked, listing off her lack of achievements over the course of her time as a trainer.

“...or responses after submitting tournament applications (aside from this one), or money from anywhere besides my aunt and uncle, or friends. Well, I actually have friends now, I think. It might be because you literally can’t travel alone in the forest without somebody, though.” Delilah shot a glance over to Damian once more. For a brief moment, she wondered if that was why he’d accepted Delilah almost immediately into the small group he was in. Are he and I actually friends? Or was he just desperate for anyone to help him with Mina?

The thought didn’t last for more than a few seconds before she looked at Amara again. “Anyway, the point is, I don’t need to prove how awesome I am with any of that stuff. Spend enough time with me, and you’re sure to remember the Bee!”

Delilah gave the calculating girl a cheerful thumbs up and a broad toothy smile.

She took note of Amara’s eyes for a moment, but didn’t quite think twice about them. They somewhat reminded her of the man she saw in the top level of the hotel when she first arrived at the resort. However, any deeper analysis was cut off by Delilah’s nervous response to messing up Nevashi’s name.

“Uh...yeah. That. Maybe you can write it down on a piece of paper or something and staple it to my forehead so I don’t forget it. I’m not so good with names that I’ve never heard before. I usually just call him ‘doc’.”

After a small awkward pause, Delilah raised her hand up. “But anyway, speaking of awesome, nice job saving Floyd! I was worried that he wouldn’t last long in the forest on his own. High-five!”

 

[Mega Gallade X]

Orion stood beside his trainers unconscious body as the newcomers approached, a mixture of cautious and weary from the last encounter. Even if he wanted to, he wasn't sure he could take on multiple opponents after the Nidoking, his stamina definitely wasnt at peak performance currently.

The three stopped and seemed to chat with the Bee trainer, Delilah, in one of her fits of hyperactive conversation.

Suddenly he felt the tapping on his foot and looked at an angle to address it. Swift was blinking in an array of lights, seemingly as if to communicate with Orion. He'd remembered this Starmie, in fact, it'd almost beaten Damian and himself in a battle at the Unova championships.

Orion made a somewhat accepting gesture as he tapped on one of Swifts many protrusions.

If the Starmie was here, then... Orion glanced toward the group eyeing the tall man. That was the trainer that accompanied this pokemon. It seemed odd that the pair would also have come to this tournament, he wondered how many other familiar faces sought to gain the prize of this competition.

 

[PentheWonderful]

The first thing she registered was the smell of smoke. Unmistakable was the scent of combustion, growing ever stronger that it set her feet in stone, and she knew any attempts at escape were for naught. Her muscles had turned to wire and her joints soldered them in place. All she could do was look, for even her mind had shut her out, and stare, and plead to the man before her, willing him to move his hand and tap the Pokeball clipped to his belt.

And she watched his eyebrows knit and rise, and took in those little shifts in his stance from the subtle twitch of his fingers to the shrinking of his pupils, and she knew he understood, and she was surprised that he understood. He just always seemed to.

But too little too late, a comet came shooting over her head.

The ball of fire, so densely concentrated, it rivaled a Fire Blast waiting to explode. The light, discernible in the day time, and the undeniable sound of inferno flung the girl’s arms to the sides of her head, grasping at her dark, wild locks and her body bent forward into an almost fetal position.

“Arceus!” She gasped, and her body was in full panic.

Fire.

It was the only fear she has yet to conquer, and one she never wished to because there was simply no way to. It was the absolute worst way to go, even more so than choking, or drowning, because it caused a sensation that is non-replicable by anything else. It was slow, and excruciating, and it was a combination of boiling and melting at the same time. You’re conscious, and screaming, but the flames drown out your voice, and all you could hear is the sizzle of your own flesh and the rumble of your blood reaching its boiling point.

It is omnipotent, inevitable, and the only way to carry on living with it was to ease the fear with Nine’s presence; the one being who could, and wanted to protect her and keep them from ever reaching her again. But he wasn’t here, and the stinging of her cheek reminded her that the frail trust and protection she had from Lady was now gone.

And she was on her own, and vulnerable again.

And oh, she was falling. Her knees gave up all hope, and she anticipated the impact of the ground on her legs. But it never came.

What she could feel were strong, firm arms around her, catching her in her descent and supporting her to make sure she didn’t go farther. The smell of the ocean rose above smoke and ash, and her eyes widened and instinctively, she sucked in a breath, further indulging her in his presence. Salem had caught her. Muscles melted into flesh once more, and her elbows unlocked to allow her arms to wrap quickly around his torso.

And she buried her face in his chest, and she hid as best as she could from the heat that enveloped them both.

She was trembling, reminiscent to a leaf caught in the wind. Barely hanging on, but stubbornly refusing to let go. Salem was warm, Cassie noted, but she also realized it was different from the heat of a fire. It was stronger, somehow. Because with him, his heat was the only one she felt. And she realized it was because he was stronger than her fear. No, not only that. He made her stronger as well.

The Infernape screeched loudly, breaking something in two, and Cassie wrapped tighter around him and held in a breath. Her eyes squeezed together tightly, and from her lips escaped the tiniest of whimpers. She felt him unravel one of his arms from her waist, and she was sorely tempted to snatch it, and keep it there, but the action was over as soon as it had begun, and he had returned to her.

Where he belonged.

The air became considerably cooler then, and the jungle settled back into its rhythm. Cassie listened to the fast drumming in Salem’s chest, and wondered why it matched her pace. Had he been afraid too? ‘It’s almost as if he’d taken part of my fear. Felt it for me so I don’t have to. So I could be brave like him.’ And her arms only ever tightened around him.

‘I want to be brave like you, still.’

His heartbeat slowed, and steadied, and she desperately envied him for being able to accomplish such a feat. Because she knew she never could. She was helpless beneath the tidal wave that was fear. She could not control it. She could only hide it.

“Cassie,” He called softly, and her arms loosened their hold around him with a shudder. She tilted her head back in order to meet his eyes, and in the motion, blood spilled from where it build in the scratches on her cheeks. “I am alright. You can let go now.”

‘Do I want to?’ A voice wondered, and she was distracted by his assuring smile. Oh, he was fine. He was always perfectly fine, wasn’t he? ‘But what about you?’ It wondered again, and her eyes had wondered away again in thought. ‘Are you fine?’

‘Yes,’ She lied, and her arms unraveled around him, to drop limply by her sides. Stepping back, out of his space, his hemisphere of calm, her head began to sink, and so did her shoulders. But her back ached in complaint and it snapped her back. ‘No, no, stop. We’re not going to sink again.’ Her eyes peered shyly at him from the brim of her fedora. ‘Not in front of him. We have to be strong for him.’ So her left hand quickly rose to wipe the blood from her cheek, sliding her palm along the injury until it was met with fabric.

She paused.

And pulled back.

And simply stared at the ribbon still wrapped around her wrist.

She had almost forgotten it was there. But now that she remembered, so did her curiosity. But all the important questions had been answered, and there was nothing left she needed to know to understand. Because she already understood, and she still remembered what it meant, and what it was. So she simply smiled gently, perhaps in slight amusement. “It’s okay. Everything is okay.” She told herself, and then she flicked her eyes back up to him, and was reminded how oh so beautiful he was, and repeated softly. “I’m okay.” She did have his strength; he’d given it, given a part of him, to her after all. She just needed to remember he did.

And so she straightened her posture again.

Cocking her hip to one side the way she usually did to relax her stance, the ace trainer teasingly placed a finger on the island man’s hard chest. An air of nonchalance and calm graced the girl yet again; undisturbed and reflecting, contemplating, as she smiled cheekily at him from beneath the shadows cast by her fedora.

“I think you’re okay too.” She began, upturning her hand to gently flick his chin with her finger. “How cheeky of you, Lemming. Taking advantage of a girl like that to lug you around.” The smile pulled into a grin of mischief, but her words were but mere jokes. “I think we’ve had enough seriousness for one morning, don’t you think? How about a little game, like when we were children?”

The girl pulled back, and with a single step, she was by his side and once again circling around him, moving as smoothly as she possibly could with the bruise she sustained on her back, for she enjoyed the view very much. “If you’re fit enough to try and take on a Gengar head to head, surely you’d be able to take me in a foot race?”

Ah, she did love her games.

She couldn’t help the small chuckle leaving her through her grin. “If you win, I will give you one favor for anything you please that you can call in any time. But if I win, then you will owe me a favor.”

Because favors were her currency.

By that time, she was standing before him once again, hand extended for a handshake to take place. An eyebrow arched challengingly, she asked,

“What do you say?”

 

[BurbleBurble]

Location: Riverside / Camp SAM.CG

Time: Day two, around 9:45 AM

Tagging: Aidinia, Alex, Savior, Arrow / Megan, Diglett, (Unconscious) Lin

-----

‘What are you on about? Strictly speaking, I'm rather soft myself, not as weak as a human would be to one of these attacks, but the point still stands. Being hard on them doesn’t make them invincible. Makes them a bit stronger, true. But-’

Arrow’s body began to rouse. ‘Oh?’ Backing off the lizard, his eyes flashed back to life, now clear a yellow color. It attempted to rise, but the restraints prevented such movement. The reptile began speaking clearly, well, clearly enough to understand.

‘...It worked.’ The fox said, ignoring Arrow’s questions for a moment. ‘It really worked! I can’t believe it, I...oh.’ Right, the questions. 'Sorry, it's just I can't believe I managed to remember how to make the tea! So, good news and bad news. Good news is? Lin's alive, at camp, and I can make the tea as well. Bad news, Cassie...err, the person who looks a little like Lin, as you might know her as, isn't going to let you in camp as long as your susceptible to the virus. I don't blame her, last thing anyone would want is a slit throat.'

The Delphox rubbed her chin, as if thinking something. 'Although, perhaps I can supervise you on the rims of the settlement. Though I'll have to incapacitate you in the case you go feral. And by incapacitate, I mean try my best not to kill you with fire. Anyways...' June moved down to attempt to untie his bounds around his legs. Attempt, because Aidinia really tied these things tight. Maybe she was stronger than she seemed...She managed to get one before giving up. She'd have to employ some stronger force to...

Ah, she was so caught up in the excitement, she never grabbed her stick! That could certainly help undo the knots.

'Wait a moment.' She told the the reptile, as she went over to the small fire pit, where her stave continued to burn. It was half coated in black char now, the blaze consuming it slowly. It was quickly removed and extinguished.

'Sorry about that.' With a flick of the stave, the vines untwisted themselves, freeing the lower half of the Sceptile. Another little psychic pulled him up to his feet.

'I'm keeping the ones on your arms on just in case. The last thing I want is to make faulty tea that works all of two minutes and then drives you crazy.' The Delphox's gaze shifted to the Hitmonlee and Sylveon. 'There's nothing else down here for us. Let's go.' And to help the doctor who was likely very confused by all the barks and grunts at this point, June's arm swept in the direction of the pathway back to the camp.

-----

To be honest, Gerald never really ate out or visited the museum or any of that. He kind of just focused on being a trainer, taking care of his Pokemon. And maybe his work, yeah.

...In any case, Megan was quite the good help moving Lin. Well, was. She ended up tripping on something and dropping Lin's legs, and promptly falling. But was it really her tripping? It seemed like something tripped her up, and then was kicking up sand like some schoolyard bully. The bully in question was a Diglett, a small one too.

"Little son-of-a..." The young man's boot attempted to stomp the mole, in which it responded by boring back into the ground. "Now your going to run? I'll find you little...Oh, right, Megan, you okay?"

The boy offered her a hand up, but stopped abruptly when he noticed the brown creature not more than two feet away, back turned. His perfect opportunity. Quietly he approached the Diglett, and just as he lunged for it... The mole turned around, and backed up just enough to avoid his falling body. Gerald's face tasted dirt. Grunting as he pulled himself off the ground, he cursed the feral creature.

"Little BASTARD!" He shouted at the Diglett. "I'll put your head on a stake! Make you king of the fucking bees!...or was it lord of the flies? Nevermind, either way your fucked!"

More incompetent statements ensued, and more self-inflicted injuries as well, until finally he grasped his hand around the mole. Gerald laughed condescendingly at it, "Gotcha', little asshole! Who's got the last laugh now?? Me! It's me! Gerald! Whoo!" Then he remembered the first victim of the Diglett, Megan. "O-oh yeah..." Great. Made a fool (and possibly a jerk) out of himself in front of the cute girl. "Are you alright Megan? M-Megan?"

 

[Loziana]

" I'm sorry, June, Cassie will have none of it. Arrow and I will have to stay down here. If you will however, let them know that he is awake. I will send word with you." Aidinia looked around for something to send a message with. She found a small stone and used a piece of charred wood to write "He is awake." on the stone. "Here, take this to Cassie and Salem." Aidinia settled down by a tree facing Arrow and Savior. "Lin is alive but unconscious. She was worried for you." Aidinia sat back and allowed her mind to wonder off.

"What are you doing Fox?" Alex asked. "Are you sure we should release Arrow? No offense my friend but you did attack your sister."

"Release Sceptile I watch him" Savior said with certainty.

Within moments Aidinia was asleep. Her body remembering her training to sleep on a seconds notice when it could. The dream was quick coming as well and frightening. Her heart pounded. She watched as Cassie was injured over and over. Her tiny hands being thrust into open flames. Aidinia screamed out. She begged Cassie's captors to release her. It was like watching a horror movie. No one could hear her, or if they could they ignored her words. Then the scene melted and it was Salem. Alone in the ocean Salem swimming and then Salem drowning being pulled under the waved by a large tentacruel. Again, Aidinia watched and screamed and nothing she could do would save him. She couldn't be heard. She watched as people on the shore laughed and played and ignored the man being drowned by the large pokemon mere feet from them. Aidinia felt her head swim as again the scene changed. This time it was Lin, the enigma. Alone, stranded a small child. Sitting, crying desperate for protection and a sceptile comes from no where and began to maul the girl. Again Aidinia screamed and again no one heard her.
Were things so truly alone here? The scene changed one last time and she saw the man from the hotel, The horribly lonely man with the eyes of justice, the weighing eyes and the intensely frozen hair. Is he as lonely as me? Just as the question crossed her mind, the man turned and those eyes weighed her soul and she was chained. Pain exploded from her arms as the Team Rocket goons dragged her into a large arena type room. The chains were attached to a hook that hoisted her above the arena where she spun mercilessly in a circle where she could see all those she had dreamed of being slowly devoured by there fears below her. She was powerless to help them and all she could do was watch and cry. Aidinia forced her mind out of the arena and the scene abruptly changed again.

A small primitive fishing village offset with a beautiful island shore, Aidinia was an adorable two year old. It was her time to be marked as a tribesman. The villagers had gathered in the village circle facing the waves of the ocean. The fire chief of the village came forth with his Torkoal. The drummers were beating a rhythm that sought out her soul and filled her with an energy that the villagers said would fuel her for her lifetime like the coals in the Torkoal. She wasn't sure what any of these things meant but she was happy because the day had revolved around her. Everyone was hugging her and patting her on the head. She giggled with glee and ran about the island playing and soaking up the sun shine. As the darkness fell it was time and she was taken to the semi-circle facing the ocean, her village was assembled with their Torkoal companions and today she would meet her friend. She was excited but scared. The Fire Chief brought forth a baby Torkoal and asked her what the Torkoal's name would be. Aidinia thought for only a moment and she named her Siren. The Elders of the tribe inscribed a mark on Siren's Shell and filled her with coal. They chanted and sang, the scene began to change. Aidinia felt afraid, her parents grabbed her by the arms and forced her onto a stone table, she screamed and tried to get away. They came to her with the torkoal screaming as well and the tore her shirt away. She smelled the flesh of her lower back frying away as they rolled the scorching hot torkoal's shell across her bare flesh. She screamed and cried as they took the baby pokemon away. It was supposed to be her friend. She was supposed to keep it safe. Where was Siren.

"SIREN!" Aidinia screamed as she woke with tears streaming down her face. The bird shaped mark on her lower back itched and burned. Aidinia absently rubbed it as she cried.

 

[Astralkitsune]

Megan
​

Megan sneezed again and shook her head, rubbing her eyes trying to make them stop burning. She could hear Gerald asking if she was ok, and then a whump. Then thudding sounds was followed by some cursing and more thuds. "Oh man I am such a klutz, how could I fall like that and drop that other girl. This day is just not going right, wait was there some kind of small pokemon involved? What is he doing?"

Then she heard Gerald's cries of victory, exclaiming that he had caught something. She open bleary eyes to see Gerald holding some kind of small tan skinned creature in one hand, while walking over toward her. He once again asked if she was ok, and Megan felt good having someone show concern over her well being. Then she realized how tightly, and angrily Gerald was holding the tan little creature. Part of her knew that it was another wild pokemon just trying to do them as much harm as it could. However the little creature just seemed to small and helpless that she couldn't help herself. "Please, don't hurt it!" She gasped and put a hand over her mouth at the sudden outburst.

 

[Nygenn]

Location: Riverside, On the way back to Camp SAM.CG
Time: 2nd Day, After 10 am
Tagging: Salem, Cassie

----------------​

“A race you say?” Salem asked.

He studied the woman before him. She appeared happy and mischievous, but there was still a shadow lingering in her eyes and the moment he took notice of it her playful demeanor took on a more pleading one.

He couldn’t refuse. He wouldn’t have even if he could, despite knowing full well that there was no real way for him to win. He was ready to defend himself from the, ‘Gengar she called it?’ but it had been more show than anything. His mind seemed clear enough but his body desperately needed rest still. He would be lucky if he could manage a normal walking speed and he was sure that Cassie knew this.

‘She’s not really asking for a race,’ he realized. ‘She is indirectly asking me for a favor. But why, is she testing me?’

Salem pondered this for a moment, staring at Cassie’s outstretched hand in the meantime.

‘A favor is an act of kindness beyond what is due of usual,’ he mentally recited. It had come up during his learning of the English language despite it being one of the few words that is actually the same in both languages, they just like to draw it out more in English. He had found it an interesting word because it did not really exist on the islands. Their whole society was built upon people constantly doing each other favors without having to be asked for them.

‘How strange it is that she feels it necessary to ask him for such a thing, that she feels it an appropriate price to win even.’ Salem mused and concluded with, ‘The outside world may be a lot more different than I originally suspected.’

“I accept your challenge,” he told Cassie, clasping her hand in his and giving it a shake.

“What are the contest parameters?”
-

Ajax was trudging through the jungle, had he looked up at the screeching in the distance which the purple kitten had decided to chase. He had faithfully made it back down to the river again to stand guard, but when he got there it seemed that was no longer necessary. The Sceptile was surrounded by three other Pokémon, one of which that Hitmonlee that had taken out the Venusaur the day before. If it could deal with that then this little lizard would be no problem for him.

It was around that time that Ajax noticed that both Salem and Cassie were nowhere to be seen and he didn’t remember passing them on the way from camp.

‘Maybe there was more to the kitten’s sudden leaving,’ he now wondered, slightly concerned.

He looked at the group further up the river again before turning and hobbling after where the Puss disappeared.

 

[Astralkitsune]

Mina’s Nightmare​

Mina walked through a field of purple and red roses. She stood on a tiny path that was barely three feet wide that perfectly bisected the two halves of the field. On one half of the field every rose, for as far as the eye could see were a solid red color. The other half was a sea of lavender roses that swayed gently in the wind. Both sides of the field called to the girl as if beckoning her to choose a side in battle.

From the red side of the field Mina felt the emotions of safety, security, warmth, and innocence. From the lavender side she felt responsibility, pain, loss, and clarity. She looked down at herself and saw that she was her normal age of twelve, and dressed in a simple but elegant black dress. The roses on both sides of the field close to the path rustled, and two identical black floor length mirrors rose up from the flower beds on each side of Mina.

As she turned to look at the red mirror Mina saw herself reflected as a young child of about six. She was wearing a black gothic dress with pink fringe, complemented by pink hair bows holding her hair up in pigtails. In her arms was HER teddy bear, held tightly up against her tiny frame as she smiled.

Turning to look at the lavender mirror showed a very different scene. Mina saw herself as a late teenager. She was tall, lithe and her raven black hair was cut short and a little spiky. The more shocking part of the image was the plain black shirt, pants and boots she wore, all torn and spattered with blood. Her body showed a variety of injuries although nothing lethal, that quietly said most of that blood might be her own. Despite this the images eyes shown with a fierce determination, and a defiant look that screamed I will not go down easy.

There rang in the silence the ominous sound of a bell tolling and then the mirrors began to recede into the ground with a rumbling of the nearby earth. As the mirrors sand slowly downward there was revealed a figure standing behind each mirror. The figures were revealed to be identical to the same image as each of their perspective mirrors had reflected. The child and the teen both stepped forward toward Mina. Each figure stopped at the edge of the path as if unable to leave their roses and touch the twelve year old girl between them.

Mina felt the desire to go toward either figure, but also a deep fear at the same time that made her reluctant to approach either. It was like she would be making a very final and important decision if she were to choose a side, and either way she would lose a part of herself.

The child Mina gave a girlish little giggle and hugged her teddy tight. "What are you waiting for? Choose me, and we can have lots of fun together. We can laugh, and play forever and ever, when dark and scary monsters come we can run to the grownups to save us. Louis is waiting for you on this side. He misses you and is sad that you are not here playing with us. Let the grown ups do grown up things like fight the scary monsters."

The teenage Mina frowned and rolled her eyes. "Are you going to play with dolls forever and run to other people to save your sorry ass. Life is not a game and at some point you are going to have to open your eyes and grow up. Right now we are trapped on an Island with blood thirsty, deranged, pokemon beast that are trying to eat us. This is not the time to play dress up with a stuffed bear and to pretend the world is full of sunshine and rainbows."

"Don't listen to her Mina, she is just jealous that we are going to have so much fun together. She is angry just like the grown-ups. Grown-ups are always worried and angry, we don't want to be like that right?" "Put a sock in it princess, this is not place for naive little kids who are just going to piss everyone off and get eaten by a rabid pikachu when someone turns their back."

"Mina mommy would never want to see us act like that and daddy promised us that he would always protect us so there is no need to worry ever." "Our parents are fucking dead! Get over it already! Mom died, after that team rocket guy put her in a coma and dad was poisoned by that bitch he tried to replace mom with. Life is pain, you live with it and learn to overcome it. You become strong through adversity."

Mina put her hands over her ears as the two argued, desperately trying to shut out the noise and completely confused as to what to do. The field took on a darker hue and the sun turned blood red up in the sky above. On both sides of the field, the roses began to bleed, thick red blood drops rolling off of each thorn. Both Mina's began to bleed from their eyes as the turned on her. The two chanted in unison, "either way you are alone, either way you are alone. EITHER WAY YOU ARE ALONE!" Mina tilted her head up toward the sky and cried when suddenly the wind stopped howling and the clouds parted. She could hear faintly a male voice. The voice had a familiar warmth and Mina was drown towards it and she reached a hand up toward the sky.

The Kalosian girl slowly began to open her eyes.

 

[BurbleBurble]

Time: Day Two, around 10:00 AM
Location: Camp SAM.CG
Tagging: Diglett, Megan, (Unconscious) Lin / Savior, Aidinia, Alex, Ajax
-----
"Hurt it? I'm going to do much more to this thing than hurt it! I'm gonna...gonna..." He was going to say 'Maim it in the worst way possibly and roast it alive over the fire' buuuut the poor girl looked so sad for the mole. It was cute when he looked at it from certain angles, the boy supposed. "...Let it go." Gerald said, completing his sentence.

As the young man walked to the boarders of the camp, he found himself grimacing at the creature he grasped. It response, it's beady eyes stared back. "D-don't look at me like that!" Gerald told the mole, in a hushed voice. The gaze never faltered. "I don't like you, and you certainly don't like me, but we have to get along until I let you freeEEEEGH!" The last word was distorted by pain shooting up in his hands. The little Diglett had torn into his skin with a scratch attack, which provided enough distraction to free the beastie for a moment. It was scooped back up into Gerald's now bleeding hand quickly. "You bastard! I'll..." His gaze shifted to Megan for a moment, and he let out a sigh. "Keep on letting you go." There was an obvious twinge of disappointment in his voice. If Cassie was here, she'd let me kill it already...

Speaking of, he just noticed that Ajax and Lady had left some time ago. Lady would've been a huge help, would save Gerald the trouble of the mole by straight up eating it, most likely...

Well, he had reached the jungle brink by then. He unceremoniously let it out of his hands with a little toss, and it gleefully bored back into the ground. However, instead of running away like Gerald insisted, the mole was obstinate. It wouldn't move. "Get!" Gerald said. "Get out of here!" He crouched down to it's height. "I'm giving you to the count of three. One...Two...Th-AGGGPH!" Sand was kicked up in his eyes and mouth by the mischievous Pokemon. Blindly and angrily he lunged yet again at the Diglett, but the creature had sped off long before Gerald had gotten over the shock.

The man groaned as he got back up. Coughing from the dust, he continued to curse the Diglett. "Little fuck. Come back again, and see what it gets you..." The grumbles never ceased until he reached Megan again, rubbing the dirt and sand out of his eyes.

"Come on. Let's move Lin." He gruffly stated, taking up Lin's arms yet again.

-----

Why did the doctor take her for a fool? Of course Cassie wasn't going to let the Sceptile into camp. June was only going to bring Arrow near the camp, not in it. But it would be a one sided argument, and the other two seemed devoted to their trainer as well. As Aidinia handed the Delphox the piece of wood, a grunt was returned in favor.

The Sylveon wanted to know why June even thought of releasing him, while Mr. McKicky wanted her to let the Sceptile the rest of the way go.

'I have a name. It's "June". I was only letting him walk with us, but I suppose it can just be me if you'd all prefer staying here. Also, Mr. McKicky, or "Savior" was it? Ironic name...Anyways, you have hands. You can deal with the vines. Sorry Arrow, I'll bring Lin to you.'

And so she left off, scrabbled message in tow. While she mainly left to get the huntress, she might as well deliver the message as well maybe she could get another massage from Salem in the process...He did promise her one... Speaking of Salem, there was his turtle. And where his turtle was, he couldn't be far behind. Cassie would probably be there as well. The fox could deliver the message, and then fetch Lin (and check on Gerald sometime in between then).

'Hey there, Blastoise.' She stated. 'Heading to Salem and Cassie, I presume? Because the doctor has a message for them. Concerning the Sceptile. Considering it's safer in a crowd, mind if I stick with you? Then maybe I can remember your name.'

 

[PentheWonderful]

“I accept your challenge.”

Salem clasps her hand, and Cassie could not help the slight upwards tug at the corners of her mouth. He was playing along, and she would be able to learn about him further. She could see the understanding in his eyes and she knew that he knew it was much more than a game that she asked of him, but at the same time, did not. At least, not the full story. For with her words, that was exactly what she requested. But with her judging eyes and ever inquisitive stance, she was asking him to show her how far he was willing to go. How far he was willing to push.

To show her how exciting he truly was.

Was this Salem still the same as the excitable little boy she had met on the islands? Who would never cease to surprise her? She desperately wanted to find out, for she only stayed so long with things that captured her attention, until they did not. Until there was nothing left to be excited or surprised about because once a puzzle was complete, there was nothing left to do with it but to shelf it. There was no joy in solving the image already solved. Everything is known, and predictable, and dull.

So what of Salem? Did she really want to figure him out? Unravel his whole story? Part of her feared the accomplishment she so sought. 'What if I become... Bored of him as well?' A voice thought fearfully, but it was squelched with great effort by the others. 'But you want to figure him out. You want to understand him.'

With that, the young woman encloses her fingers as best as she could around his hand, for her’s was nothing more than a raindrop upon his warm, bronze palm, and they sealed it with a sure, firm shake.

“What are the contest parameters?”

Cassie let out a soft, contemplative hum as she gazed absently to their connected hands. Brows knitted together, lips pursed on habit, the millions of thoughts racing through her eyes. She clicked her tongue after a moment, a metaphorical light bulb seeming to go off in her head, and once again she flashed him a glimpse of her pearly whites with a ghost of a smile.

“No pokemon help. No shoving, pulling, or pushing. And no foul play.” Her inner child comes to surface as she chuckles, shutting her tired eyes for a brief moment to relish the gentle burst of excitement drumming in her heart beat. “Just run, and we’ll see who gets there first.”

And oh so easily, her hand slips out of his grip. “Camp is up there.” With both hands on her hips, she nods to the direction of the hill top, where his camp had been located, but her eyes were glued to him. To his muscles and the little shakes and trembles they emit. He was barely holding himself up, but there was that urge in her, one that refused to hold back. To keep pushing. To break him, and start from scratch, build him stronger, and better, and exactly as she desired. And that urge, the fact that it still lingered within, scared her. For that had been how Jeanne had made her victim and monster and how she made her Pokemon victim in turn and it terrified her to know that it was permanently ingrained in her very being. That darkness that would always loom behind every thought, the monster inside her. The infection, the abnormality, the corruption in her being. And so she told him with her eyes a warning,

‘I might try to break you. Are you sure about this?’

Cassie waited for a response, though she half knew the answer. Salem wasn't going to back down after agreeing to something, that much she could gather. And so she spun lightly on her heel and suffocated those dark thoughts as best as she could, and faced her body to the incline ahead. “Ready,” She dropped her arms limply by her side once again, and she cricked her neck left, and right. Her stance tall as she could possibly be, yet nonchalant at the same time. Almost too much so. “Set,” Her hands curled, and uncurled from the fists that they formed, and with deep breaths, she slowed her heart rate, and the emotions drained from the cracks within it. 'I want to study him. Not break him.'

Head over heart. Always.

'Don't let it consume you.'

For this race was no simple race. Not just a competition to be won with a fun prize on the side, nor was it a test of strength. It was an evaluation. This was her excavation site, her time to score big on the lottery. To discover who Salem Archon really is. Ergo, the only way to see the truth is to break open the lies, the facade and masks, and the only way that was to be done was by dropping someone to their low. To a point where all odds are against them, the point where it is make or break. For without their layers of show, you may find their core.

And she would do well not to break it, but to study and understand it as it was. And perhaps, what it could be.

In the moment of calm, as she prepared to utter the final word, she peered at him from the corner of her eyes, and with her gaze alone, she could say a million words to those willing to listen. 'Who are you in essence? Who are you going to become? And who are you, to me?'

“Go.”

Her foot stepped forward, and she pushed off with all the force she could gather in her muscles. But at the moment, it was not much. Without her adrenaline, she could only go so fast. One might think she took it easy on Salem’s behalf and it was partly true. She still needed to monitor his condition, but at the same time, she also needed to monitor her own. Her bruised back strained in complaint with each muscle pulled too far and made it very difficult to move.

But she would take the pain and swallow it.

One foot in front of the other, she latched them precisely into the protruding roots for grip, pushing off to hop, gliding smoothly up the incline.

But a few steps in, and the young woman did finally look back over her shoulder and took in the form of the man behind her. And she switched her body to autopilot while her eyes recorded every moment that passed with great interest; processing, hypothesizing, and concluding.

And when their gazes finally met, she cracked her frail, broken smile, and nodded curtly, invitingly.

‘I'm waiting.’