2024-01-27: Aggressive Prospecting
- Log: Aggressive Prospecting
- Cast: Giovanni, Jessie and James, Arisugawa Joy, Damian Tamaoka, Rena Lanford, Claude C. Kenny, Josephine Lovelace, Dirk Swordsman, Timu Guado, Dias Flac, Gwen Whitlock, Vivace Mori, Violet Salazar, Jacqueline Barber, Ida Everstead-Rey
- Where: Great Krosian Plains
- Date: January 27, 2024
- Summary: Team Rocket comes to Salva to steal its mithril ore. Can the Drifters stop them in time?
==========================<* Great Krosian Plains *>========================== The bulk of the countryside around the capital city of Krosse consists of rolling, grassy fields, a stark contrast from the arid desert sands to the north. Every year, however, the desertification spreads, and more and more life is swallowed up by the sands. As travellers near the capital, the grasslands transition into cultivated fields. The yields from Krosse's farmlands have given the kingdom the nickname of the breadbasket of Ignas, and the majority of its trade centres around grains, fruits, vegetables, and other foodstuffs. While its might pales in comparison to its larger neighbours, Krosse maintains a significant standing army to help deal with monsters and green-eyed neighbours who might seek to seize that bounty for themselves. These soldiers are kept active by frequent patrols and maneuvers throughout the Plains and major roadways; as a result, travel in the kingdom is safer than nearly anywhere else on the continent. BGM: Star Ocean 2 - Field of Expel - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-5A5kvdAVc
DC: Jessie and James switches forms to To denounce the evils of truth and love!! DC: Ida Everstead-Rey switches forms to Naturalist Ida and the Battling Menagerie! DC: Claude C. Kenny switches forms to Galactic Wanderer!
<Pose Tracker> Giovanni has posed.
Allen, the mayor of Salva, has his head in his hands.
He is standing outside of his house -- a large, two-floored mansion suitable for a minor noble -- and there are town guards scattered about. They're all asleep, which was thanks to a well-timed Jigglypuff strike.
"Stop!" he calls out. "Please! I'll give you whatever you want!"
Today, Team Rocket has come to Filgaia. There are a half-dozen people in black outfits, with a red 'R' on their shirts, who are scurrying around inside. And, outside, supervising, are two unlikely figures: Guado, wearing armored black coats with the 'R' printed on the breast.
One is a big Guado, with broad shoulders and spiky short blonde hair. The other is a lean Guado, with aquamarine hair. Biggs, the larger one, looks at Wedge.
"Think we should ask him?"
Wedge Guado shrugs. "May as well."
"How about your mithril deposit?" Biggs Guado says, looking back at Allen.
"Some...thing else?" Allen asks, hopefully.
"No dice," Biggs says. Then, he gives a glance to the two Pokemon that he and Wedge have out: a Grimer and a Shinx, who are looking about on sentry duty. They seem to take this seriously. (Mostly.)
This robbery is underway -- of course, Salva is on the road, and Drifters are never far away...!
DC: Arisugawa Joy switches forms to Ex-Nurse Joy wants to fight!!
<Pose Tracker> Jessie and James has posed.
"This place is so scary!" James whines, as they walk on the way. "Everyone is carrying dangerous artifacts!"
"I saw a Snake Pokemon," "they're just called snakes," "bite a Cow Pokemon," "they're just called cows," "and it DIED! It didn't even faint!" Jessie, with mild corrections from James, relays aghast.
"Myaw!" Meowth rubs at his face, where he'd tried to make friends with a Filgaian Cat only to get clawed in the face.
"But when in Filgaia..." "... do as the Filgaians do!"
Chainer Jessie & Symbologist James would like to battle!
And so, the iconic Team Rocket Team (iconic for winning NO FIGHTS) stands guard outside the mansion... without their Pokemon! Ekans and Koffing will not be exposed to the VIOLENCE OF FILGAIA today. No, instead -- Jessie is holding a chain-whip, and James...
... well, James still just has one of his roses, like he's always had.
"Nothing to see here!" Jessie declares, beside a sleeping guard. "Totally normal day in the life!"
"Go about your violent business," James assures them, with a smile.
<Pose Tracker> Arisugawa Joy has posed.
It's unnerving for Joy to have her second trip to Filgaia already be spoken for; she was hoping to be able to see more of the world before duty calls. But then... she chose to be here, didn't she? She has to be here, because she wants to help the boss' vision for protecting Nede come to life.
For the boss' duty...
"I didn't know you two were learned in martial arts," Joy admits, looking at Jessie and her chain whip in particular. ... what's James got up his sleeve? Some kind of kojiro la smoking bomber?
Joy draws her breath as she stands beside her senpai, but doesn't say anything, tucking her baker boy cap down a little tighter. "Honedge. Please."
The Pokeball pops, and out comes her trusty Sword Pokemon, hovering up and down with its one eye blinking towards her. "... don't look at me like that."
<Pose Tracker> Damian Tamaoka has posed.
Damian also was hoping that his next trip to Filgaia would be more about sightseeing and learning than, well... this.
He is not at all sure that he is ready for this. But Joy is here, and, well... he wants to back up his friend, so... here he is, too. Dressed in the black grunt uniform with a bold red R on the chest, and a cap that he pulls down as low as he can over his face.
They're on a whole other world from Energy Nede. Who could possibly recognize them here?
He looks at Jessie and James curiously as they bring out... a whip and a rose. "W-wait, where are your pokemon...?"
Purri, as ever, is perched on his shoulder, but he has a Vulpix and a Wurmple out before him, too, to be on guard.
GS: Giovanni has adjusted their boss level for 3 opponents! GS: Damian Tamaoka has adjusted their boss level for 2 opponents! <Pose Tracker> Rena Lanford has posed.
Rena had sorta been non-committal on plan 'pass through Salva' until they were within sight of the gates. However, the moment they did...
"It wouldn't hurt to just stay the night, right? We're not in that big of a hurry. The last time we were here Claude was saying how he'd like to have a whole 'jam session' at their shop, given the sheer variety."
She directs towards Dias, trying to execute her plan. That plan being to try and nudge Dias towards reestablishing contact with the friends of his youth.
It's foolproof, as now it's on Claude and his jam cravings they're stopping - not any plan of Rena's.
Upon hearing the commotion in town, Rena's whole vibe changes as she furrows her brow and-
"What's going on over there by the Mayor's House?"
And starts over quickly in that direction to witness-
"Allen!"
There's a strange sort of Deja Vu, in what she sees, Allen with his head in his hands, being accosted by thugs. She remembers Arlia, and his own 'men' seizing her, to take her back to Salva.
It wasn't his fault. He was possessed by that strange glowing rock. She's not sure what the Ten Wise Men were doing there, still, to this day.
But she knows they need to be stopped.
Rena doesn't even hesitate, as she rushes in to his side, past the crowd of uniformed henchmen. "What are you doing to my friend! Stop that immediately!"
Is she admonishing Team Rocket? The Jigglypuff?
Yes!
"Team Rocket - you should be ashamed of yourselves!" As she glares at Jessie and James now, "You're one to talk about violence when your group is using innocent Pokemon from a place so much better off than this to bully the people here for their resources? How do you think they're going to make a living without them?"
Rena emphatically gestures, shifting her stance like she's ready to conduct VIOLENT BUSINESS that Jessie and James is warning about.
"Pack up and leave at once! We're not letting you take anything from the people of this town."
And as if to punctuate this point, Rena's first act is to call out, "Deep! Mist!
And to VIOLENTLY spread a sudden obfuscating Fog right over Jessie and James! Making it difficult for them to see even GREATER VIOLENCE coming RIGHT AT THEM!
Probably in the form of snakes. This world sure has a lot of snakes huh?
GS: Rena Lanford has attacked Jessie and James with Deep Mist! GS: Rena Lanford has gained 1 Combo! GS: Rena Lanford's stances have changed from Counter to Counter and Hero! GS: Rena Lanford has completed her action. GS: Jessie and James suffers a terrible blow from Rena Lanford's Deep Mist for 0 hit points! GS: Jessie and James's Blind Ward may block the effect! GS: Drowsy applied to Jessie and James! GS: Blind blocked!
<Pose Tracker> Claude C. Kenny has posed.
Claude likes jam! Homemade jam is not something he got a lot of back on Earth. But he also just thought it would be better if Rena got back to Arlia rested, instead of being tired as soon as she got home and without the energy to go and see everyone.
It's practical!
But... There is commotion.
"Allen?" Claude wonders, because he seemed like a pretty good guy when he wasn't being possessed by a horrible rock. And he frowns, seeing Biggs and Wedge again...
Robbery.
"There's not going to be any 'business' in the violence for you today," Claude says with a frown, approaching. He has a sword at his belt again, since they're not on Nede. Rena admonishes them, but Claude puts a hand on his weapon. "If you're going to be armed..."
He doesn't send snakes. But in the wake of the mist he sends, "AIR SLASH!"
A blade of air cuts through the space between him and Jessie!!
GS: Formation! Claude C. Kenny has attacked Jessie and James with Air Slash! GS: Claude C. Kenny has gained 1 Combo! GS: Claude C. Kenny's stances have changed from Counter to Avenger and Counter! GS: Claude C. Kenny gains 10 FP from his Daredevil! GS: Claude C. Kenny has completed his action.
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
To make an extremely long story very short, Josie had to see a woman about a rocket -- well, that is, rocket plans. Thus, she hadn't been on the rocket that had gone into space... or been among the initial wave of folks heading eastward in search of the source of the light. But word had made its way west in due course, of course--
And so, at considerable discomfort, Josie had stowed away on an eastbound ship. Which had docked at Jolly Roger. Which had then, thereafter, had as one of the few immediate ships available, had a small ferry towards Marze of all places. But this was no time for a homecoming: Josie had a rift to investigate, and so she'd struck out on the road.
(Besides, even if her auntie would understand (probably), it wasn't as if she felt like getting into that whole business now of all times.)
...and the road from Marze of course meets with the road with Salva, though, you see and thus...
"Well, ain't this a pretty mess," Josie murmurs, pressed flat against a partially-withered tree. "Looks like they've a bandits problem. ...Pretty well-coordinated bandits, though..."
And then a blue-haired young lady runs in to admonish the lot of them and Josie, from her half-hidden position, arches a pale eyebrow. "Well now..."
In one swift motion, Josie steps out from behind her cover with her rifle drawn and takes a quick snap of a shot towards the young lady with the big sword. The kid looks like, well, a kid, but she's well aware that looks can be deceiving with elves.
And she also knows better than to trust anyone wielding a sword with an eyeball on it. ...A floating sword with an eyeball on it, mind.
"So, feel like talking up what this's all about?" Josie calls out.
Up in the branches of a particular old tree, of course, there is a familiar black-and-white bird. Penelope watches.
GS: Josephine Lovelace has attacked Arisugawa Joy with Grasshopper! GS: Josephine Lovelace has gained 3 Combo! GS: Josephine Lovelace has completed her action. GS: CRITICAL! Gamble: High! Arisugawa Joy suffers a terrible blow from Josephine Lovelace's Grasshopper for 203 hit points! GS: Jam applied to Arisugawa Joy! GS: Jessie and James takes a glancing hit from Claude C. Kenny's Air Slash for 67 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Jessie and James gains 1 additional Combo! GS: FP up! Reaction bonus!
<Pose Tracker> Dirk Swordsman has posed.
IT WAS INEVITABLE.
Dirk Swordsman skates through a portal in the world despite the presence of the cops. He has a Pokemon Trainer's license and can legally go anywhere he wants in order to catch 'em all, or so he thinks, and sometimes thoughts become reality.
The other world - Filgaia - is subtly different. The wind feels different. There's a lot of tall grass but it seems kind of crappy. Also, there aren't any skate trails. After taking a moment to register the location on his phone map, he frowns when he realizes he's not getting any reception, but after clicking it to Airplane Mode, it's cool.
A LITTLE WHILE LATER
"We don't take whatever that is," says the General Store guy as Dirk slaps his credit card on the counter.
"What do you take?"
"Money...?"
"One sec," he says. He turns to the three weird little things following him around. "Conference."
"Chespin, che," Chespin comments.
"Oh yeah."
Dirk turns around and slaps a Gold Nugget on the table.
"Huh! Didn't think you was a miner. How'd you work your claim, Hoods?" asks the shopkeep, who has decided that the part of Dirk's completely out of context garments and equipment he's gonna remember is that shirt with a hood on the back.
Dirk points to Chespin. Chespin beams and waves. "Cheees!" (I found it on the Underground Route!)
"I got no idea what that means," admits the storekeep, "but:
NOW
Dirk troops out of the general store with a stick of licorice in one hand. He has Change in his pocket. Charcadet also has one (a licorice stick, not a pocket.) Chespin and Farfetch'd both have new red bandannas.
Dirk eats his Filgaia Candy while looking down the street, towards the wilderness.
"Charc?" remarks Charcadet, who was facing the other way. He licks melting licorice off his adorable little charcoal-paw, looking up the road, deeper into town.
"Sup," Dirk says.
He lifts his shades to squint into the glare of Filgaia for a moment. "... are you Inkannin' me, man, what the hecc."
ACTUALLY NOW:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-aILrMl_sU
Four figures walk through the haze of the sun towards the big house towards the center of town. One tall, three short. The haze gets thicker for a moment as their shadows cast before them. The tall one steps a pace ahead.
All of this dust cold sucks, thinks Dirk Swordsman as he closes near enough to confirm what Charcadet told him. Somehow, somewhere, this is Team Rocket, and they're all the way out here.
One of them... wow, they're all coming inwards. Especially that one chick that threw up a cloud of mist.
Through this, Dirk draws his blade -- and turns it to point towards ... the guy. With the... like... "Hey!" he says to Damian, heedlessly.
The sword is pointed. "You're mine, Rocket."
Behind the shades his eyes widen -- just in time for passing dust to get into one of them. (arrrrrrgh, thinks Dirk)
GS: Dirk Swordsman has attacked Damian Tamaoka with SWORDSMAN wants to battle!! GS: Dirk Swordsman has gained 2 Combo! GS: Dirk Swordsman's stances have changed to Avenger! GS: Dirk Swordsman has completed his action. <Pose Tracker> Timu Guado has posed.
Timu has made good friends in Energy Nede, and started taking up the Pokemon Journey... but traveling still takes her back out to Filgaia with the others. It's all part of it, and with some coordination has figured out some good things that her Pokemon can still eat outside of the formerly exile-in-paradise that is Energy Nede.
Having both her Fuecoco (a small round crocodile-shaped thing) and Moteray (a flying stingray-shaped creature) has helped keep her safe on the road too, as wild monsters aren't as likely to take their chances against small groups in these parts. The journey to Salva is a whole lot more enjoyable than traveling this far out otherwise might have been, even with the additional food burden.
Timu is a ways behind some of the others, picking up on some commotion and noticing the town guards are, well, not on their feet! Or alert! Rushing down to their side, she notices they're at least still breathing, and nothing resembles poison that she's aware of (based on what she was taught in Spira, and what Rille might have pointed out to her when they first traveled through the Badlands).
She looks up among the gathered - strange people in black shirts with the red letter 'R,' hasn't she seen something like this on Energy Nede? However, some silhouettes are unmistakable, as the Guado teenager's hands go up to her mouth in an audible gasp.
"Biggs? Wedge...?" She was told the names, so she's not blind to the possibility - but it's still shocking to see them here, of all places...
If they look around, it's Gon's older daughter, Timu, on her own save for the two aforementioned Pokemon who are now sizing up Grimer and Shinx. (Fuecoco is, at least, with the tilt of their head. Moteray is just vibing, flitting about aimlessly like a pyrefly.)
The furrowed brow and scowl is unmistakably her father's, she inherited that from him. "What do you two think you're doing?!"
<Pose Tracker> Dias Flac has posed.
When Dias left Arlia, Allen was just the son of the mayor. Now he's the mayor proper... A lot happens in nearly ten years. That's not even taking into account the incident of about six or seven years ago, when Allen was affected by a certain stone, of which Rena has told Dias the bare-bones basics. (These bare-bones basics naturally do not include any kind of attempted wedding ceremony.)
He's not especially inclined to return to Arlia or Salva. But if he's just tagging along and staying at the inn while Claude gluts himself on jam, he can simply shrug. "Do what you want," he replies.
That was then. Right now, there's a ruckus in town--or there was, before a Jigglypuff silenced it. Dias frowns when Rena poses that question, but silently follows, a subtle tension riding on his shoulders. Sure enough, they reach the manor, and Allen is being accosted in his own home by bandits. Not just any bandits, but Team Rocket.
His usually dour poker face twists into a hard scowl. "Tch..."
Rena yells at Team Rocket--at Jessie and James in particular, who seem to be eschewing their Pokemon for Filgaian-style violence. Dias scores a red-eyed glare across them, across Joy, across Damian (the only one here he doesn't recognize, in fact), to Biggs and Wedge within.
His stare falls on Allen, but only for a second. If Allen happens to catch his eye, it's even less than that. Then he focuses back on Jessie and James, cloak sweeping back as he draws his blade. 'Go about your violent business,' they say, and he will do precisely that.
At them.
Claude and Rena might be willing to spare chasetisement for them, but Dias doesn't bother. That murderous glare of his is their only warning before he rips off a line of searing energy erupting from the edge of his blade, just after Rena casts her Deep Mist spell, alongside Claude's own Air Slash. It's well-timed--almost like they've been practicing. "AIR SLASH!" he roars.
Joy had asked for a match the last time they'd met. That's precisely why Dias doesn't target her now. This is not a time or place where he's willing to hold back.
GS: Dias Flac has attacked Jessie and James with Far Air Slash! GS: Dias Flac has gained 1 Combo! GS: Dias Flac's stances have changed to Stoic! GS: Dias Flac gains 25 THP from his Cautious! GS: Dias Flac has completed his action. GS: CRITICAL! Jessie and James partially evades Dias Flac's Far Air Slash for 157 hit points! GS: Cripple applied to Jessie and James!
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
Drifters are never far away, especially when one of them is a courier, doing courier things.
Just another day, delivering goods and services, reestablishing her old customer base, getting cried on by her childhood buddy Silas in Little Twister, and having polite tea and many, many grudging hugs with Auntie Frea. Really, it was the latter half of things that took up more of her time than actual business. Who knew a person could miss the Badlands this much? It's a rhetorical question, because Gwen has secretly been homesick for years.
But now, business calls, and Gwen even has a proper Gear for it, now! .... Except she has to park her Gear out a ways sometimes in smaller towns because Gears carry certain... connotations in Ignas that are bad when you're keeping appearances as the harmless courier next door.
Other than that, it's just another day on Ignas, with normal things, like the mayor, outside his mansion, the town guards all being asleep, and.... Team... Rocket.... uniforms.
It takes Gwen a moment to remember that, nope, she's definitely on Filgaia.
It is only natural that the courier intervenes, especially once she sees some familiar faces ahead of her. "Whoahwhoahwhoah." Gwen waves her hands in front of her, fingers splayed, palms out. "You guys. What are y'all uh, _doin'_ here? Y'all know just how much.... uh... _attention_, you're drawin' right now?"
She has her usual smile on, but there's a specific way she's playing on certain words that hint at the underlying current of anger. "Y'all gotta stop this before you attract the attention of people who'd _really_ like to know about where you're from." Gwen doesn't move to use force, just yet. She's using her words, instead.
<Pose Tracker> Vivace Mori has posed.
Today, Team Rocket has come to Filgaia.
But they didn't come alone.
Vivace Mori, trainer and would-be Gym Leader, has come to the conclusion that the Nedians - the adult Nedians, anyway - are doing far too little. They don't want to (or can't) fight the Ten Wise Men, they don't want to deal with Filgaia, they don't want to do anything except wait for the Visitors to do things.
But it's a Nedian problem, and it should have Nedian problem-solvers, and so if the adults weren't going to do anything, she sure was. And so she planned an expedition to the other world (without asking anyone). She didn't know what she needed, so she guessed, based on movies she saw. It was... a process.
Also a Nedian problem: Team Rocket. Vivace wasn't expecting to run into them on this side. She had actually followed them for a little bit, but at a distance, where she was unlikely to be spotted. And as a result, she's a liiiittle late dropping in, but...
Well, she's dropping in.
Literally.
Vivace, standing atop a building, plants her foot up on the edge of the raised facade with the sign proclaiming it to be SALVA GENERAL STORE, pauses for a moment, and calls, "Team Rocket!" Only then does she leap!
She lands on the street surprisingly well given she just jumped off a roof (admittedly, of a one-story building) in a three-point landing that hurt her ankles more than she'd like to admit. She pushes herself up, rising to her full height, which isn't all that much, really.
Vivace is, very obviously, a Nedian, about fourteen years old. She's darker than the others here, but she has the same pointed ears, and the outfit really gives it away; distressed but not holed jeans, a slightly cropped sky blue shirt, and a teenage league baseball-branded windbreaker proclaiming her allegiance to the ARMLOCK KEYS (complete with stylized Klefki logo). Oh, and she's got five Pokeballs on her belt and one in her hand, which is another good giveaway that she's spent some time on Nede.
"What's the matter? Couldn't cause enough trouble at home?" Vivace passes the Pokeball from hand to hand before leaving it in her left and pulling out a second. She glances over at the approaching Dirk, does a double-take when she recognizes about three quarters of the crew (Dirk, ironically, is the one she does not), then looks back. Is she going to be shown up right here and now?
Vivace tosses the pair of Pokeballs open, revealing an Alolan Sandshrew - a little pangolin-like Pokemon whose shell appears to be made of iced-over iron - and a Tinkatuff, a small pink humanoid with a 'ponytail' carting a hammer as big as it is. "C'mon, girls! Don't let them have it! Shock 'em!"
The Tinkatuff immediately rushes forward - but lets out a startling yell as she approaches, going for the Astonish rather than putting that hammer to use. The Sandshrew merely scrapes its own back which starts to emit a deep cloud of mist, which does a lot to reduce the dust in the area, at least.
<Pose Tracker> Violet Salazar has posed.
Violet is still in her Nedian outfit of jeans and a white t-shirt. She's finding it much easier to move -- and to breathe-- without her corset. She's going to make this a permanent change! She follows Ida and Timu into the house, noticing the guards asleep and two Pokemon on sentry duty, as well as two strange men. She hasn't seen Ida in awhile! She nods at Timu but doesn't know her, only that she's a Guado. She hears Timo confront the two strangers with "Wedge? Biggs? What do you two think you're doing?!?" Evidently this "Wedge and Biggs" with their R-emblazoned clothes are up to no good. Well, she's going to put a stop to that! She reaches for a Pokeball on her belt. "Bubba!" she calls, and out comes a Seel, still dripping wet from the icy waters inside the 'ball. He joins the rest of her team, a Hitmonlee, a Hearthound, and a Clefairy. "Sic 'em, Kozi!" Vi orders, pointing at the Grimer and Shinx. The Hearthound yips in response and sends a tsunami of heat -- not fire -- directly at the Grimer! It's not fire, but it's still hot enough to do some damage -- if it hits!
GS: Violet Salazar has attacked Giovanni with Heatwave! GS: Violet Salazar has completed her action. GS: Vivace Mori has attacked Damian Tamaoka with Strategy - Keep Them Off Balance!! GS: Vivace Mori has gained 1 Combo! GS: Vivace Mori has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Jessie and James has posed.
"Before I joined Team Rocket, I was part of a bike gang," Jessie explains to Joy, twirling her chain. "They used to call me 'Big Jess' -- or 'Chainer Jessie', since I was very talented with the chains!"
Wait, when she says bike gang, she means... push-bikes...?
Listen, it's probably very intimidating on Energy Nede.
"Until we know just how violent Filgaians really are," James explains to Damain, meanwhile, "I don't really want to pull out Koffing. Don't worry! I had an extensive education!" In what? Tailoring? (Well, also tailoring.) He was never part of a biker gang, but what he does have... is a very rich background.
It's true that despite their low scores -- they've never won a fight -- Jessie and James still got the care of a very special Meowth. And while part of that was, of course, an effort to make them shape up...
... they also have skills which not all the Grunts in the organisation have.
BUT WAIT! The tables are TURNED ON THEM, as the HEROES use Smokescreen to obscure the battlefield! Wait, no, that's Deep Mist -- and all their experience with dealing with Smokescreen makes them quite good at seeing through it, even as it deepens.
"That little girl is back!" Jessie snaps, within the mist.
"And she's got bite to her bark," James says, calmer. "But she doesn't know that we're prepared for their ruffian planet. Deep Mist!" He invokes, right back at her, surrounding her in a blinding watery miasma.
Apparently, he's focusing his magical energies through that rose, judging by the Symbols which light on on its petals for a moment as the spell casts. The rose was a weapon all along! James was ALWAYS armed--!!
(Not shown: Jessie and James eating a nice, full meal and psyching themselves up to fight Filgaians.)
And Jessie, with reflexes which have saved her from getting sliced up by an angry Scyther which DEEPLY objected to that net, springs out of the way of the Air Slash which cuts through the gloom. "Our business is doing great!" She declares, as she spins towards him, and invokes: "Spiral Lash!" And it's not a sword but a whip that lashes out around her, just to add insult to injury.
James, meanwhile, gets hit by his own Air Slash -- but he at least manages to get out of the way enough for it to buffet him back a few steps instead of cutting him in half. (Would Dias cut him in half? He THINKS Dias would cut him in half. He's scary!) "Whoa... you're not holding back, are you?! All right! I'll show you! LUNAR LIGHT!" Because of course Team Rocket has all those stellar sorceries. Of course they do.
GS: Giovanni solidly guards Violet Salazar's Heatwave for 60 hit points! GS: Shieldbreak blocked! GS: Jessie and James has attacked Rena Lanford with Deep Mist! GS: Jessie and James has gained 1 Combo! GS: Jessie and James has attacked Claude C. Kenny with Spiral Lash! GS: Jessie and James has gained 2 Combo! GS: Jessie and James has attacked Dias Flac with Lunar Light! GS: Jessie and James has gained 1 Combo! GS: Jessie and James has completed their action. GS: Gwen Whitlock has attacked Arisugawa Joy with Disappointed!! GS: Gwen Whitlock has completed her action. GS: Arisugawa Joy solidly guards Gwen Whitlock's Disappointed! for 0 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Arisugawa Joy gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Weaken applied to Arisugawa Joy! GS: FP up! Reaction bonus! GS: Claude C. Kenny solidly guards Jessie and James's Spiral Lash for 84 hit points! GS: Mighty applied to Jessie and James! GS: FP up! Power Burst and Reaction bonus! GS: Damian Tamaoka takes a solid hit from Dirk Swordsman's SWORDSMAN wants to battle! for 91 hit points! GS: FP up! Power Burst!
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
It's nice to be back home in Ignas. There's a lot going on these days, and a lot's happened since she last visited. ...So, right now, Jacqueline is taking the opportunity to see the rest of the area, to get a feel for what's changed in her absence so that she can be ready to adjust. It's important, as a merchant.
...Some things never change, though. Case in point - as Jacqueline is making her way through Krosse... she hears reports of crime in progress. Well... she can't exactly let that go. Her path diverges.
She's surprised, though, when she arrives to find out out who's doing the criming.
"Team Rocket?" Jacqueline says, incredulously. "...You're stepping into dangerous territory. Why are you here? Why are you doing this?"
The others engage - and Jacqueline turns her attention to Joy. She was there, when they were lead to the rift. She considers her for a moment.
"Is this where your will to fight has taken you?" Jacqueline asks. She draws a bottle from one of her bags. With a Mystic touch, the contents evaporate - and start to form a glittering cloud around Joy. It's pleasantly lavender-scented... but it also steadily invokes drowsiness, the longer one stays in it, to drain one of the energy to keep fighting.
It almost feels a bit cruel, after asking a question like that.
GS: Jacqueline Barber has attacked Arisugawa Joy with Slumber Solution! GS: Jacqueline Barber has gained 1 Combo! GS: Jacqueline Barber has completed her action. GS: Arisugawa Joy solidly guards Jacqueline Barber's Slumber Solution for 34 hit points! GS: Delay, Drowsy, and Poison applied to Arisugawa Joy! GS: Quick and Shield applied to Jacqueline Barber! GS: FP up! Reaction bonus! <Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
Ida was here to see how Krosse has been holding up, years after its Purification. The good news is that there's no more here than elsewhere on Filgaia--the odd pocket here and there, but that's easily cleaned up.
The bad news is... banditry. From people Ida was hoping would quietly ignore her home.
The martial artist watches from behind the corner of the Salva General Store, her face twisted in a scowl. Beside her is Grey Lady, her horse, who eyes Grimer with equine wariness and distaste. "Hold here, girl," she says, putting a hand on Grey Lady's muzzle. The grey mare snorts an affirmative, and steps back into the alley.
Ida steps out into the street, facing Biggs and Wedge's Pokemon. Her eyes dart about beneath the wide brim of her hat. The hem of her duster blows in the wind. Her hand darts behind her, to her belt, grabbing for something--
Joy's here. She might have her hat pulled down, but Ida recognizes her, recognizes that the other kid in the Rocket uniform can't be any older than sixteen. Guilt tightens in her chest, and her hand closes around something...
"Aurora!"
Ida hurls the Pokeball fastball-style; it splits open in mid-flight, and a wash of red-white light coalesces into a largeish Eevee, ears pricked, tense and ready.
NATURALIST IDA sent out AURORA the EEVEE!
"Quickly, on that... teal-and-black cat!"
"VOI!" Aurora cries, and she blurs forward, throwing herself bodily at the Shinx with lightning speed!
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has attacked Giovanni with Quick Attack! GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has gained 1 Combo! GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has completed her action. GS: Dias Flac takes a solid hit from Jessie and James's Lunar Light for 211 hit points! GS: Riposte applied to Jessie and James! GS: FP up! Reaction bonus! GS: Giovanni takes a glancing hit from Ida Everstead-Rey's Quick Attack for 47 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Giovanni gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Riposte applied to Ida Everstead-Rey! GS: FP up! Reaction bonus! <Pose Tracker> Arisugawa Joy has posed.
"C-Chainer Jessie...?" Joy sounds incredibly impressed and in awe at the same time. "Wow..."
It's additionally unnerving to have Damian here -- Joy's worried about him, and with how busy they've been, they haven't been able to sit down and talk about all this... and now the situation's really been forced upon them. Seeing him dressed in the black grunt uniform that she's no doubt fought across Nede during her own journey introduces mixed feelings.
"Mia, if you get in trouble, it's okay to run. I'll guard you. Okay?" Joy tries to reassure. She looks to Purri, Vulpix and Wurmple, as if to say, 'Please guard him too.'
But the attack comes in a way that she doesn't expect -- while Rena and Claude stick to forms of attack that she can imagine, a deep mist and a blast of air -- Josie goes to snipe her from a range that she doesn't even spot.
Psychic feelings flare as something deeply uncomfortable and dangerous cry in out in her mind.
"Watc--"
The bullet, aimed for her, never reaches her, because her sword hovers in place and takes the blow for her instead. Honedge's sheath looks to have cracks on it, as the payload sinks into its... flesh? Into its steel?
"Honedge!" Joy looks to be in disbelief, fear washing over her arms as she stares to Josie, who's peeled out of cover. "Mia, they have ARMs! Watch out!"
Timu confronting Biggs and Wedge happens in the corner of her mind, as does Dias pressing on Jessie and James, but honestly, it's all kind of secondary against the very, very fresh fear of being shot at.
"Shedinja! Ditto!" Joy calls out, as two more Pokemon come out in tandem -- a two-foot tall cicada-like creature with a halo over its head, and a purple blob that... then goes and transforms into another Shedinja.
The twin shields hover around her in a slow revolution, and then she draws Honedge from its sheath to grip in both hands.
Jacqueline is also present, and challenges her as to where her will to fight has taken her. "Miss Jacqueline Barber. I won't make excuses... I have people to protect!" Given who she was calling out earlier, it's clear that it's the boy with the grunt outfit.
But Jacqueline's method of combat involves a substance cloud that's pleasantly scented, and it doesn't take long before it starts itching in her lungs and she starts coughing. She's starting to feel really sleepy, but--
Then she procures an Energy Herb and stuffs it into her mouth. "Sorry, but those on the journey are all trained to be careful of Pokemon with Sleep abilities...!"
Not that it stops her lungs from feeling irritated, but she'll have to cope with that. "Clawitzer, please cover us!"r
A fourth Pokeball pops, and out comes a large blue shrimp whose presence looks somewhat like an advanced ARM, with longer yellow whiskers. It briefly charges up, and sweeps a thin beam of ice across Jay and Josie, more to urge them into hiding than attacking.
Gwen is here again, urging her to stop doing it before they draw the attention of someone who'd really like to know where they're from -- and Joy's current panic has her grabbing her by the arm to hide behind a decently thick fencepost.
"Miss Gwen Whitlock! Hurry! There's a gunner out there! You'll get shot!"
Joy says. To the veteran Drifter who's been shot like a thousand times in the last seven years. ... at least her instinct is noble?
GS: Arisugawa Joy has attacked Jacqueline Barber with Clawitzer - Ice Beam! GS: Arisugawa Joy has gained 3 Combo! GS: Arisugawa Joy has attacked Josephine Lovelace with Clawitzer - Ice Beam! GS: Arisugawa Joy has gained 3 Combo! GS: Arisugawa Joy has attacked Gwen Whitlock with Yes I'm The Boss Tonight. Yes I'm Protecting You Too.! GS: Delay expired! GS: Arisugawa Joy takes 33 damage from Poison! GS: Arisugawa Joy has completed her action. GS: COUNTER! Rena Lanford counterattacks Jessie and James with Light Cross! GS: CRITICAL! Rena Lanford solidly guards Jessie and James's Deep Mist for 78 hit points! GS: Blind applied to Rena Lanford! GS: Hyper applied to Jessie and James! GS: FP up! Arcane Font! GS: Jacqueline Barber solidly guards Arisugawa Joy's Clawitzer - Ice Beam for 94 hit points! GS: Quick applied to Arisugawa Joy! GS: FP up! Reaction bonus!
<Pose Tracker> Giovanni has posed.
"Yeah, it's like that off Nede," Wedge tells Jessie and James. He glances once at them. "Where we're from, they're the restless spirits of our dead that congeal into monsters."
"You get used to it," Biggs adds. He glances at Joy -- but he doesn't remark on her speaking with her Honedge. Best to let them work that out between themselves.
Gunfire erupts -- and a Symbological spell going off. Biggs swears under his breath, then he calls out: "Look alive! We got some attention from the locals!"
There are all manner of Drifters coming in -- and some, Wedge realizes, are from Energy Nede. He looks around -- then pauses, when he hears his name called. "What in the--" His eyes narrow. "Gon's kid. What are you doing here?"
"She's got Pokemon," Biggs says.
"You need to go home, Timu," Wedge says. "This isn't any place for you! And we're..."
Biggs finishes for his partners, "...proud members of Team Rocket, now!"
"Grruuum!" the Grimer wails, as a blast of heat rolls over him -- and sends the pile of purple sludge bouncing backward. He looks towards the Hearthound, before he spits up a huge glob of mud.
"Just what he said," Wedge tells Violet. "We've got a new employer, these days."
"Hey, buddy!" Biggs calls out. "Look out!"
Shinx looks up -- eyes gleaming as he gets a look at Aurora the Eevee. Who rushes right in -- and just clips the Shinx, which bounces to the side with a spin. Then, he shakes himself -- opens up his mouth -- and ROARS at Aurora, with eyes that are briefly, faintly, red.
"Rena!" Allen calls out to her, looking up. His robes are a little ruffled; his eyes go wide, as he looks about. "D-Dias, too..." How long has it been? "And you, Mister Kenny! I'm so relieved to see all of you!"
Especially, perhaps, Rena and Dias.
"I-I'm not sure who these people are!" Allen says. "Or what they want! Or where they came from! They have these strange orbs, and monsters in them, and--"
GS: Giovanni has attacked Violet Salazar with Grimer - Mud Shot! GS: Giovanni has gained 1 Combo! GS: Giovanni has attacked Ida Everstead-Rey with Shinx - Scary Face! GS: Giovanni has completed his action. GS: Violet Salazar takes a solid hit from Giovanni's Grimer - Mud Shot for 133 hit points! GS: Violet Salazar's Poison Ward may block the effect! GS: Delay and Poison blocked! GS: FP up! Arcane Font! GS: Josephine Lovelace takes a glancing hit from Arisugawa Joy's Clawitzer - Ice Beam for 74 hit points! GS: Ida Everstead-Rey takes a glancing hit from Giovanni's Shinx - Scary Face for 27 hit points! GS: Break and Slow applied to Ida Everstead-Rey! GS: Damian Tamaoka takes a glancing hit from Vivace Mori's Strategy - Keep Them Off Balance! for 38 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Damian Tamaoka gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Infect! Debuff durations extended!! GS: Weaken blocked! GS: FP up! Power Burst and Reaction bonus!
<Pose Tracker> Damian Tamaoka has posed.
Damian looks to Joy and nods. "O-okay, but... I g-got your back too, Alice, alright?" Jessie apparently knows how to use a whip, or a chain, and Damian isn't quite sure what to think of that, but Jessie has... a rose?
No, not just that--symbology. "Wh-whoa..."
Damian's eyes widen when he sees Dirk, and he quickly ducks his head down and pulls the brim of his hat down extra much.
Please don't recognize me please don't recognize me please don't recognize me...
'Hey!'
Oh crap he's pointing that sword at me.
Being called a 'Rocket' actually hurts him, and he glances aside, trying to turn his head so he's not recognized. It feels like a futile effort, but...
The shout of 'TEAM ROCKET!' from atop a building draws his attention, and he looks up, eyes widening as he sees someone about to jump. "W-wait--" Annnd too late.
She seems unharmed, which is honestly a relief, but that means she can call out her pokemon against him. Oh, no.
Tinkatuff hauls forward and wails, and Wurmple cowers for a moment, but the Vulpix--Pixi--steps in front of her to protect her from the charging steel type.
Welp, nothing for it now. "P-Pixi! Ember!"
"Vul!" Blue flames appear around Vulpix's many tails, and then are sent for Tinkatuff and Charcadet.
GS: Damian Tamaoka spends 1 Combo on Poison! GS: Damian Tamaoka has attacked Dirk Swordsman with Ember! GS: Damian Tamaoka has gained 1 Combo! GS: Damian Tamaoka spends 1 Combo on Poison! GS: Damian Tamaoka enters CONDITION GREEN!! GS: Damian Tamaoka has attacked Vivace Mori with Ember! GS: Damian Tamaoka has gained 1 Combo! GS: Damian Tamaoka enters CONDITION GREEN!! GS: Damian Tamaoka has completed his action. GS: Dirk Swordsman suffers a terrible blow from Damian Tamaoka's Ember for 148 hit points! GS: Dirk Swordsman's Cripple Ward may block the effect! GS: Mute and Poison applied to Dirk Swordsman! GS: Cripple blocked! GS: Vivace Mori takes a solid hit from Damian Tamaoka's Ember for 150 hit points! GS: Cripple, Mute, and Poison applied to Vivace Mori! GS: FP up! Reaction bonus!
<Pose Tracker> Rena Lanford has posed.
"Who are you calling a little gi-!? Ackpffahhh!" The immediate retaliation of Deep Mist is a taste of her own medicine that causes her to choke, "What!? That's my spell-!" Rena protests in alarm, even as she takes it to the face, and calls out, "LIGHT! CROSS!"
Abruptly in their midst, there's a burst of sudden detonations of radiant light, clustering together into symbological expressions of power. "Ruffians!? You call us the Ruffians when you're literally shaking this place down!
Rena suddenly is rubbing at her eyes, sputtering against the Mist, but in this, squints as Allen addresses her.
"It's going to be okay Allen. We're going to take care of this and we'll explain it all later."
Rena feels almost ashamed on some level to introduce them as people from where she comes from.
How's that for telling a good friend more about yourself?
So for now, she defers that for later.
"If that's how it's going to be then! TRACTOR!" Symbological power rises around her once more, in the form of runes, and James will likely see a FAMILIAR zone appear around him, a blackened circle upon the ground, before gravity reverses, briefly.
"BEAM!"
As she tries to make him fall upwards, before she then reorients and INCREASES the gravity surrounding him, to try and slam him back to the ground with greater mass than he ordinarily has.
She takes the momentary reprieve to kneel down near him and to try and offer him a hand up, "Allen! Can you stand? If you can get away then-! ...The people of this town need you."
If he can't, then she at least has several healing spells to take care of that, but right now... she's having to keep an eye on Claude and Dias too.
GS: Rena Lanford has attacked Jessie and James with Tractor Beam! GS: Rena Lanford has gained 1 Combo! GS: Rena Lanford has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Timu Guado has posed.
'You need to go home, Timu. This isn't any place for you! And we're...' 'proud members of Team Rocket, now!'
To either side, Otherworlders step forth. To her left, Ida. To her right, Violet. One of the trilling cat-fox creatures from the former, a very warm hound from the latter (who is flanked by a strange upright brown creature with distinctive legs, and one of the cute ones from Mt. Moon).
The fight already starts in earnest. Timu crosses her arms, flinching as mud flies from one side, and the gray-teal cat makes a face even meaner than what her father could muster (that is not an easy feat).
It takes her a moment to find her composure, mulling over those words. Filgaia was frightening - and still is. The journey out of the Lost Woods was harrowing. The people of Sylvaland were rough to her, owing to her appearance. The way from there onto Ignas and through the Badlands... there was cruelty, but there was friendship.
"Spira isn't 'home' for me anymore," she murmurs... and then draws her healer's staff, custom-made by Seraph Yvain with flame accents at the top. She takes it in both hands, closing her eyes, "and what you're doing... it's nothing to be proud of!"
She glares, bearing down with her eyes. The universal language for...
Pokemon Trainer Timu challenges Team Rocket Grunts Biggs and Wedge!
Fuecoco stands at the ready. "Fueeee!" They lean forward, angry eyebrows and everything.
"Mote?" Moteray flits down and looks in their direction, and sometimes that's as good as you're going to get with him.
Timu nods the once. "Fuecoco! Use Bite on that one!" She points with her staff in Shinx's direction, and off the little Fire Croc Pokemon goes, opening their maw wide as they charge forth and...
Chomp!
GS: Timu Guado has attacked Giovanni with Bite! GS: Timu Guado has gained 1 Combo! GS: Timu Guado has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Claude C. Kenny has posed.
Claude and Dias have been practicing. Once, it would've been a strange thought to imagine he'd be using the same move with Dias; now, it's just a fact of life.
And they'll save this town, like they've helped people before.
Their business is great, is it? Claude blocks the whip's strike with his sword, interposing the weapon between him and Jessie for a moment, though the shockwave of it still impacts him. That's some reflexes, all right.
"If you want us to hold back, you can always give up. This planet isn't a 'Ruffian' planet!"
"Rena's right!" he calls to Allen. "leave it to us!"
While Rena focuses on James, Claude continues to aggress on Jessie. Pulling with his sword to try to overextend her befre she lets go the whip strike, Claude darts forward through the smoke to make a palm strike straight at her stomach. "Meteor Palm!"
GS: Claude C. Kenny has attacked Jessie and James with Meteor Palm! GS: Claude C. Kenny has gained 1 Combo! GS: Claude C. Kenny gains 10 FP from his Daredevil! GS: Claude C. Kenny has completed his action. GS: CRITICAL! Giovanni suffers a terrible blow from Timu Guado's Bite for 211 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Giovanni gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Delay applied to Giovanni!
<Pose Tracker> Dirk Swordsman has posed.
Dirk immediately says "Sup girl" to Vivace. His non-sword hand is held out for bumps, although the QTE opportunity does not take long and will not affect future reality branching. "You from Armlock?"
A pause.
Dirk turns his head to do the math on where Vivace leapt from, which is a lot of why he's conceding the initative to Damian. Farfetch'd looks at him with an expression of cordial contempt as he does this, before focusing back up with his Leek held in a defensive pose.
Intense blue flames surge out towards Charcadet, who is raising his own swordlike object in a defensive stance. He braces himself and the BBQSqer as the flame washes forwards -- but it's more intense than his, with his oranges and reds briefly washed out by blue as he lets out a yelp of "Char!"
"Aw crap, he's good," says Dirk as Charcadet stumbles for a moment, the blue flame licking on his charcoal body as he struggles to regain his footing.
"Farfetch'd! Put that kit out!" Dirk instructs, as Farfetch'd, perhaps finally glad to see action, launches forwards. He actually flies for a few wing strokes before sweeping his wing and leek around to kick up a chunk of the dust towards Damian and the Vulpix, even as he calls out, "What are you punks doin' here?! These guys don't even have electric lights!"
Dirk hasn't seen one, anyway.
GS: Dirk Swordsman has attacked Damian Tamaoka with Farfetch'd - Sand Attack! GS: Dirk Swordsman has gained 2 Combo! GS: Dirk Swordsman takes 36 damage from Poison! GS: Dirk Swordsman has completed his action.
<Pose Tracker> Violet Salazar has posed.
Violet is knocked back and instinctively throws up her hands to protect her face as the Grimer's Mud Shot strikes her. She doesn't ingest any of the mud, and so avoids poisoning. She takes a few precious seconds to regain her balance, then realizes the Grimer must be resistant to heat. Time to change tactics! Water is the opposite of fire, right? "Bubba, get him!" she orders, and the Seel obligingly galumphs in the Grimer's direction. He's awkward on land, but his horn could do some damage -- if the Grimer doesn't get out of the way! She silently approves as the Guado girl sics her little crocodile Pokemon on the teal-gray cat.
GS: Violet Salazar has attacked Giovanni with Fierce Horn! GS: Violet Salazar has gained 2 Combo! GS: Violet Salazar's stances have changed to Stoic! GS: Violet Salazar has completed her action. GS: Giovanni solidly guards Violet Salazar's Fierce Horn for 77 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Giovanni gains 1 additional Combo!
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
The sword swells into the way of her bullet, taking the blow. If Josie weren't mistaken, she'd almost think that the thing was 'alive', after a fashion. But that's not all that gives Josie pause.
Well, that's an interesting thing, Josie thinks as she regards Joy.
It's like this kid hasn't seen an ARM before -- or at least, not in this sort of context. But more than that, the kid calls out to Gwen, who is someone Josie does know. ...Who immediately takes a particular approach with the 'bandits' attacking Salva.
Josie is a Drifter who has been around the block a few times, so to speak. She glances over at Gwen and cocks her head, as if to take the other woman's measure.
Joy, in the meantime, takes up not only the blade but a pair of creatures that float about her as if they were living shields. Bit by bit, Josie assembles the pieces in her mind.
"...From 'beyond', are you lot? Heh. Bite off more'n you could chew-- whoa!"
A beam of ice rips across the area! Josie leaps out of the way just in time for it to do little more than raise frost along her pantlegs, but that was really cold! So monsters from another world can be commanded like that...
"Interestin' friend you've got there," she remarks, electricity already crackling down her right arm. Seizing the bolt that gathers there stiffly, she hurls the Symbological armanent headlong for Joy!
Not just ARMs but dangerous magic, too?!
GS: Josephine Lovelace spends 3 Combo on Gatling, loading 3 into Gatling! GS: Josephine Lovelace has attacked Arisugawa Joy with Bolt Lance! GS: Josephine Lovelace has gained 2 Combo! GS: Josephine Lovelace has completed her action. GS: Jessie and James solidly guards Rena Lanford's Light Cross for 78 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Jessie and James gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Jessie and James solidly guards Rena Lanford's Tractor Beam for 91 hit points! GS: Jessie and James takes a glancing hit from Claude C. Kenny's Meteor Palm for 89 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Jessie and James gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Mighty applied to Claude C. Kenny! GS: COUNTER! Arisugawa Joy counterattacks Josephine Lovelace with Honedge - Retaliate! GS: Arisugawa Joy suffers a terrible blow from Josephine Lovelace's Bolt Lance for 211 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Arisugawa Joy gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Cripple and Jam applied to Arisugawa Joy! GS: Mighty applied to Josephine Lovelace! GS: Arisugawa Joy enters CONDITION GREEN!! GS: Josephine Lovelace suffers a terrible blow from Arisugawa Joy's Honedge - Retaliate for 223 hit points! GS: Hyper and Quick applied to Arisugawa Joy! GS: Damian Tamaoka suffers a terrible blow from Dirk Swordsman's Farfetch'd - Sand Attack for 128 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Damian Tamaoka gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Blind applied to Damian Tamaoka! GS: Hyper applied to Dirk Swordsman! GS: FP up! Power Burst!
<Pose Tracker> Dias Flac has posed.
Allen looks their way, and Dias avoids his gaze just in time to focus on the battle. When he starts to say he doesn't know who these people are or what they want, Dias cuts him off with a gruff, "We know."
'We know who they are, where they're from, and what the orbs and the monsters in them are,' he means. This might not come across well. Fortunately, Rena and Claude are here--both to give a clearer 'we'll explain later' and to protect Allen and encourage him to get to safety in the first place. It helps too that Timu has arrived--not that Dias knows her, but Biggs and Wedge clearly do, and it seems like they're more interested in her than in Allen. Likewise, many Drifters have arrived for their own purposes to engage Team Rocket, some with Pokemon, some with their own weapons. Dias takes it all in to the extent that one can in a glance; he has his own foe in front of him.
James calls down Lunar Light with the power of his rose, and Dias's approach is interrupted by a bombardment of weaponized moonlight. The pale explosions burst around him, searing at his defenses, and he grunts as he's forced to one side, eyes briefly shutting to avoid getting blinded. As it calms, he shoots at glance to Rena as she begins to cast her Tractor Beam, and he sheathes his blade. Is he standing down? No, of course not. Jessie and James can say what they like about this planet; it doesn't change what Dias intends to do. While Claude gets up in Jessie's face to keep her busy, should James be successfully caught in Rena's arte, Dias will draw again at blinding speed, another shockwave erupting from his sword, in the instant when James begins to fall.
"Moonlight Arc!" he growls as it cuts the air. This time, it's crescent-shaped and human height, like a pendulum blade that can only go forward.
Which is to say: yes, Dias isn't holding back, and given the opportunity, he would cut James in half.
Bandits deserve no mercy.
(That being said, Dias isn't actively trying to kill them. It's just that he's not actively trying to not kill them, either. It's an important distinction.)
GS: Dias Flac has attacked Jessie and James with Moonlight Arc! GS: Dias Flac has gained 4 Combo! GS: Dias Flac's stances have changed from Stoic to Stoic! GS: Dias Flac gains 22 THP from his Cautious! GS: Dias Flac has completed his action. GS: Jessie and James takes a glancing hit from Dias Flac's Moonlight Arc for 46 hit points! GS: Jessie and James enters CONDITION GREEN!!
<Pose Tracker> Vivace Mori has posed.
Vivace fights down the urge to call 'It's spelled Trainer with a T-R' at Jessie. Mostly because she actually does have a chain, she's apparently pretty good with it, and Team Rocket already has too many TRs around. But it still feels wrong to watch someone go after someone else with a chain.
Vivace only regrets the drop because now her legs hurt. But it looked cool, dammit.
She does not immediately return the fistbump with Dirk, but that's as much because her hands are full of Pokeballs as anything else; she simply doesn't have a hand free, even if she is so inclined.
"What gave it away," she asks, not wanting or expecting a real response - she's got a jacket with Armlock written right on it and she's holding Pokeballs, it's not exactly a challenge. She's more focused on the impending battle.
Vivace doesn't know who Damian is; she's never seen him before as best she remembers, and while she knows a surprising number of Trainers she is absolutely not batting 100. Her eyes narrow slightly behind her glasses as she considers, both him and the battle. There's a lot of battle going around, a lot of chaos; Vivace has never been in a situation this chaotic before.
So, focus. Narrow it down to the parts she can handle. That's Damian, with Dirk assisting.
Vivace is very used to people trying to light her Pokemon on fire, because - specialist as she is - she has a vulnerability that everybody knows. The Pokemon know about it too, but that doesn't make it any easier. "Come back!" she calls, as Tinkatuff lurches away from the sudden Ember, returning her to the Pokeball. She's not defeated, yet, but Vivace doesn't want to leave her out for a follow-up strike.
But the Alolan Sandshrew is still out, and under cover of the mist she charges, claws out; swipe after swipe at the Vulpix to keep Pixi off-balance and reeling with a squeaky "San san san!". At the same time, Vivace switches Pokeballs, holding this one in her hand for a moment and not immediately tossing it out. Maybe she thinks Dirk's Pokemon are providing enough support for her Sandshrew.
Vivace is still considering Damian. Mostly, his skills. He's not that bad, she thinks... a few of the Rocket grunts she's seen really barely deserve the title of 'trainer', only by courtesy, but he's actually got a bond.
GS: Vivace Mori has attacked Damian Tamaoka with Sandshrew - Fury Swipes! GS: Vivace Mori gains 5 FP from Sufferer! GS: Vivace Mori takes 26 damage from Poison! GS: Vivace Mori has completed her action. <Pose Tracker> Jessie and James has posed.
And those detonations of light, from Light Cross...
... serve as a remarkable spotlight for Jessie and James, who strike a pose. "Star Light!" James carries on the theming, as light glitters down to shine upon Claude.
"That's right!" Jessie declares, when Rena can't believe they're the ruffians.
"No rough-backs," James adds.
Unfortunately, yes rough-backs, as James is picked up in that inverted slice of gravity and thrown to the ground. "Ow ow ow ow ow!" He whines, as he rubs his bottom. "Geez!!!"
Jessie can't stop to berate him, though, because she's too busy springing back to evade that Meteor Palm. (He ends up striking her hip, instead.) "You're pretty tough," she says, and holds up her chain-whip all folded up to instead invoke through it: "Neutralise!" She has Symbology, too -- healing Symbology.
Meanwhile, James -- picked up by Meowth instead, who is wisely choosing not to directly intercede with this terrible Filgaian violence -- brushes himself off, and points his rose at Rena. "We'll see about that!" He cries. "Gravity Crush!" This time, it's not about gravity playing favourites on Rena -- it's just about a big rock appearing over her head and gravity doing the work.
This is followed by: "YIPE!" As he scrambles out of the way of Moonlight Arc. "Jesssiiiiee! Show him how it's done!!!" This might have been meant to sound cool, but his high, whining voice makes it quite clear Dias is the scariest person here in his estimation. He NEVER TALKS and he KEEPS TRYING TO CHOP HIM IN HALF!
(It's nice how he isn't trying to kill them, but he's still VERY scary.)
"Don't boss me around!" Jessie snaps, but she snaps her whip out in a wide arc of her own, anyway. "Moonlight Arc!", she invokes, as her own shockwave goes for Dias in turn.
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
It's all right, Ida thinks to herself, as Aurora goes for the attack. It's like a play-fight, but more intense. If that Pokemon's Trainer is any kind of responsible, they'll withdraw their Pokemon before anything serious happens.
Aurora flinches. Her posture changes; Ida recognizes the hunched back and tight muscles as a clear sign of anxiety. "Aurora, back to me" she cries, making a beckoning motion with her hand. The Eevee retreats in a few bounding hops.
A new Trainer enters the fight. She'd noticed Timu earlier, but Ida put her in the 'to protect, if necessary', category. She glances back and forth between Biggs and Wedge and Timu, eyes widening.
"We've got your back, Timu," Ida says. She pulls a second Pokeball from her belt, and hurls it. "GET THEM, SAL!"
NATURALIST IDA sent out CATASTROPHE SAL the CATERPIE!
This one splits open to reveal the green, round, wiggly form of a Caterpie. Sal draws herself up, the Eviolite crystal around her neck gleaming in the light, and stares down the Shinx. "Pi! Pie!!" she cries, glancing back to Aurora--encouragement?--and she locks onto the enemy Pokemon with dead aim. Silken string sprays downrange as Catastrophe Sal tries to lasso her foe with String Shot!
GS: Jessie and James enters CONDITION GREEN!! GS: Jessie and James has attacked Claude C. Kenny with Star Light! GS: Recover! Cripple removed from Jessie and James! GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has attacked Giovanni with String Shot! GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has gained 1 Combo! GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has completed her action. GS: Jessie and James has attacked Rena Lanford with Gravity Crush! GS: Jessie and James has gained 1 Combo! GS: Jessie and James spends 2 Combo on Headshot! GS: Jessie and James has attacked Dias Flac with Moonlight Arc! GS: Jessie and James has gained 3 Combo! GS: Drowsy expired! GS: Jessie and James has completed their action. GS: COUNTER! Claude C. Kenny counterattacks Jessie and James with Meteor Palm! GS: Claude C. Kenny takes a solid hit from Jessie and James's Star Light for 170 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Claude C. Kenny gains 1 additional Combo! GS: FP up! Reaction bonus! GS: Claude C. Kenny enters CONDITION GREEN!! GS: CRITICAL! Rena Lanford takes a glancing hit from Jessie and James's Gravity Crush for 69 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Rena Lanford gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Break applied to Rena Lanford! GS: FP up! Arcane Font and Reaction bonus! <Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
Jacqueline casts a glance Josie's way, then toward Gwen - taking stock of who else has engaged her. Josie shooting first is... illustrative, Jacqueline supposes.
She glances to the side, to the boy Joy had called out to. ...She does feel a pang of sympathy when her potion causes Joy to start coughing.
"...I can sympathise with that." Jacqueline admits. "But I have to protect the people of this world, too. And I'm not the only who feels that way. ...You're both going to get hurt, if you continue doing things like this here. Are you prepared for that?"
Joy calls out Clawitzer. Jacqueline's been researching Pokemon, so she hasn't come across this one yet. She casts a hand out, a barrier forming to intercept the Ice Beam. Frost flows around her, forming on the ground around. She can feel the chill traveling down her arm, too, even through the barrier. She backpedals, then quickly casts her other hand out. This time, rather than a barrier, she invokes one of the Crest Graphs in her gauntlets. A fog begins to billow out from Joy's location, to obscure her vision.
That done, she glances back Josie's way.
"These people are members of Team Rocket, a criminal organization from Energy Nede - the world we ended up in." Jacqueline explains for her benefit.
GS: Jacqueline Barber has attacked Arisugawa Joy with Obscuring Fog ! GS: Jacqueline Barber has gained 1 Combo! GS: Jacqueline Barber gains 5 FP from Gleam! GS: Jacqueline Barber has completed her action. GS: Giovanni takes a solid hit from Ida Everstead-Rey's String Shot for 0 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Giovanni gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Entangle and Slow applied to Giovanni! GS: Giovanni enters CONDITION GREEN!! GS: Arisugawa Joy fully evades Jacqueline Barber's Obscuring Fog for 0 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Arisugawa Joy gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Blind and Weaken blocked! GS: FP up! Reaction bonus! GS: Gamble: Moderate! Damian Tamaoka solidly guards Vivace Mori's Sandshrew - Fury Swipes for 54 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Damian Tamaoka gains 1 additional Combo! GS: FP up! Power Burst! <Pose Tracker> Giovanni has posed.
"Spira's not your home anymore?" Biggs asks. "Then... that makes three of us. If you insist... then we'll stop you! We've learned a thing or two from the Boss!"
The Shinx gets bit. He yelps, sproings high into the air, and lands on his hindquarters -- bouncing once, twice, and then skidding to a stop. His eyes swirl, for a moment. Then, he shakes.
"Get 'em, buddy!" Wedge calls out.
And a bolt of lightning drops down fromthe sky, crashing straight towards Timu's Fuecoco.
The Grimer, in the meanwhile, turns -- as the Seel rushes in. He doesn't quite evade; instead, he stands his ground, and gets slammedbackward by the blow. "Grrruum!"
Then, he opens his mouth -- and breathes out a terrible cloud of noxious violet gas across the Seel.
And not a moment later, a burst of string shoots by -- and catches the Shinx, wrapping it up in string. He wails, thrashing; Biggs frowns.
"That one, too!" Wedge calls out.
"Grruumm!!"
The Grimer, somehow, leaps into the air -- and lands (given its consistency, splashes, too) on the ground. A shockwave shoots out, and a flash of light with it, that threatens to bowl Sal over!
"You--er--do?" Allen asks Dias, with a look of confusion. He did, as it happens, misunderstand. And a part of him wonders: what must Dias think of him now?
"Ah... thank you!" Allen calls to Rena, when she says a little more. He looks at Claude, too, then nods. "I'll put my faith in you!"
When Rena kneels down next to him, he blinks -- then he nods at her. He takes her hand, after a moment's hesitation. There is still a little voice that whispers in his mind: he doesn't deserve her help.
He won't say it's untrue.
But the people in this town deserve her help. And those people need him.
He takes Rena's hand, then rises to his feet. He nods. "I'll get clear," he says, before he looks at the mine entrance. "Everyone! Make for there!" He starts moving, and a few town guards -- starting to rouse -- do the same. "We'll leave it to Rena, Dias, and their friends!"
GS: Giovanni has attacked Timu Guado with Shinx - Thunder Shock! GS: Giovanni has gained 1 Combo! GS: Delay expired! GS: Giovanni spends 1 Combo on Poison! GS: Giovanni has attacked Violet Salazar with Grimer - Toxic! GS: Giovanni has attacked Ida Everstead-Rey with Grimer - Disable! GS: Giovanni has gained 1 Combo! GS: Giovanni gains 5 FP from Sufferer! GS: Giovanni has completed his action. GS: Violet Salazar solidly guards Giovanni's Grimer - Toxic for 55 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Violet Salazar gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Violet Salazar's Poison Ward may block the effect! GS: Disease applied to Violet Salazar! GS: Poison blocked! GS: FP up! Arcane Font! GS: Dias Flac suffers a terrible blow from Jessie and James's Moonlight Arc for 282 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Dias Flac gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Blind applied to Dias Flac! GS: Hyper applied to Jessie and James! GS: FP up! Power Burst! GS: Dias Flac enters CONDITION GREEN!! GS: Delay! Attack greatly weakened! GS: CRITICAL! Timu Guado partially guards Giovanni's Shinx - Thunder Shock for 97 hit points! GS: Poison applied to Timu Guado! GS: FP up! Reaction bonus!
<Pose Tracker> Violet Salazar has posed.
Bubba's horn grazes the Grimer but doesn't do any serious damage; his momentum just knocks him backwards. The Grimer responds with a lungful of violet gas. Bubba has sense enough to hold his breath -- and as a penniped, he can hold it for a long, long time, compared to a land Pokemon. If only this were an underwater battle! Violet grimaces. Time for another tack! "Steve!" she calls to the Hitmonlee, "headbutt the cat!" He bobs enthusiastically -- he's been eagerly awaiting his turn. Steve advances with alacrity, attempting to do just that. He is a Fighting Pokemon, and battles are his reason for living! "Hiiiiiiiiiiiiit!" he says excitedly, pupils dilated. He really does enjoy this!!
GS: Violet Salazar has attacked Giovanni with Headbutt! GS: Violet Salazar has completed her action. GS: Ida Everstead-Rey partially evades Giovanni's Grimer - Disable for 0 hit points! GS: Cripple, Jam, and Mute applied to Ida Everstead-Rey! GS: Hyper applied to Giovanni!
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
Josie looks at Gwen, and Gwen offers a wan, apologetic grin back at her. ".... What, are ya really gonna give me that looo--o--uwah!" Joy takes this moment to grab her completely normal-feeling left arm, in order to drag her to safety behind a thick fencepost.
The sheer earnestness of it all leans Gwen in shock, making it far too easy for Joy to do. Gwen certainly can't fight her now!! Joy was trying to protect her and everything!
"Gunner? What? Where? You mean--" Her eyes are wide like a pair of gella coins. "Joy, whoah, it's okay, I know that gunner! She tends t'do that!" Gwen hurriedly tries to explain. "I know the other person attackin' you too. Great client, great person all 'round--"
There is not enough time to explain all the stuff that is going down. "What I'm tryin' t'tell you guys is," Gwen hisses, "there's organizations on Filgaia, unseen n' all that, that'd gobble y'all up, _as well as those of us Drifter-types that're hidin' from sorts like 'em_, n' there's, like, ten million better ways t'do business here too! _Better_ ways. Like, if ya need funding, y'all ain't limited t' stealin' n' crime. I mean, there's people that do that here, yeah, but like... Josie! Jay! Help me out on this! You guys are on different sides of the whole lot of this! _We could figure somethin' out_, just... not like, in this town?"
She's making pleading eyes to the two there, gesturing around with her hands.
<Pose Tracker> Damian Tamaoka has posed.
'Aw crap, he's good.'
Damian is, honestly, a bit surprised by how well those flames worked. He should have specified which to attack, but the result seems to have worked well enough.
Farfetch'd is sent in attack. Damian hesitates a split-second too late before calling out, "Pixi, Quick Attack--" Pixi starts to run fowrad, charging right at the enemy pokemon, but the delay causes her to run right into that spray of sand and be vulnerable for a follow-up. Pixi stumbles back, eyes squeezed shut as she tries to wash out that sand with tears.
Dirk wants to know what they're doing here, and Damian just glances down and pulls his hat down over his eyes. "I-I don't have to answer that!"
By the voice he's young, one of the youngest people in this fight, to be sure, tied only with Vivace herself. And he definitely doesn't have the confidence she does to jump off of a one-story building. Or be a future gym leader.
But he does love his pokemon dearly.
Sandshrew is sent in, and Damian calls out, "Pixi! Put your guard up!" Pixi's tails wrap around your face to try and protect herself from the flurry of slashes, but she's driven back with each swipe since she can't actually see.
"Wurmple, can you slow Sandshrew down? Please?"
The little bug pokemon was quivering, but at Damian's plea it regains a little bit of nerve and lets loose with a String Shot at Vivace's Sandshrew, trying to entangle it to relieve the assault on Pixi.
Damian points at Farfetch'd. "Purri! Before it does another attack!" The Purrloin on Damian's shoulder leaps--not unlike Vivace herself did--from Damian's shoulder right for the bird pokemon--but she drops short unexpectedly, landing and then charging in for an attack from a different angle to try and put it off balance.
GS: Damian Tamaoka has attacked Vivace Mori with String Shot! GS: Damian Tamaoka has gained 1 Combo! GS: Damian Tamaoka has attacked Dirk Swordsman with Fake Out! GS: Damian Tamaoka enters a Counter stance! GS: Damian Tamaoka has gained 3 Combo! GS: Damian Tamaoka gains 5 FP from Sufferer! GS: Damian Tamaoka has completed his action. GS: Dirk Swordsman solidly guards Damian Tamaoka's Fake Out for 68 hit points! GS: FP up! Power Burst! GS: CRITICAL! Vivace Mori takes a solid hit from Damian Tamaoka's String Shot for 0 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Vivace Mori gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Entangle and Slow applied to Vivace Mori! GS: Giovanni solidly guards Violet Salazar's Headbutt for 62 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Giovanni gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Break blocked! GS: Gwen Whitlock accepts Arisugawa Joy's Yes I'm The Boss Tonight. Yes I'm Protecting You Too. for 0 hit points! GS: Hyper applied to Arisugawa Joy! GS: Gwen Whitlock has attacked Josephine Lovelace with Truth and Love??! GS: Gwen Whitlock has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Rena Lanford has posed.
"No what now!?" Rena startles on the 'No roughbacks' things. "You-! You're impossible!"
Allen tells her, all of them, she'll put his faith in them, and she actually smiles at him, "Thanks Allen, we won't let you down."
It is a fortunate thing that he gets clear, as he starts gathering the townsfolk to follow towards the Mines, "We'll hold them here! They're not getting anywhere near those mines.
Unfortunately, James says 'Gravity Crush' and Rena's eyes grow wide, as she immediately starts diving into a roll herself against the familiar spell.
The boulder clips the side of her head, and she comes up in a stagger, pressing a hand against the point of impact, obviously somewhat dizzy.
But getting a foot down, she gets her bearings. And she finally takes a moment to assess the situation, "Claude. Dias. I'm guessing that... on Nede..."
There's a sort of cant of her head in their direction, and Rena abruptly, makes a gesture like she's beginning to cast another spell.
"SILENCE!"
Except there is no Symbological Power there at all, it was a feint. It's just her rushing down Jessie to get inside the effective range of that Chain Whip.
A rapid sequence of jabs, followed by a sudden twinkle of light as the sunlight catches the knuckles she's wearing just right.
Before she follows up with a vicious haymaker, right towards Jessie's beautiful jaw.
"You may have been in some gang, but I'm betting neither of you are used to a REAL brawl!"
Her implication to Dias and Claude is perhaps a simple one. They may be using weapons, and weapon techniques - but they're probably more used to Pokemon and spells.
Thus, she intends to try and overwhelm the with the three of them in the In-fight.
"Let's turn up the pressure!"
GS: Rena Lanford has activated Force Action: Full Clip! GS: Rena Lanford has attacked Jessie and James with Rena PUNCH!! GS: Rena Lanford enters a Counter stance! GS: Rena Lanford has gained 3 Combo! GS: Rena Lanford has completed her action. <Pose Tracker> Claude C. Kenny has posed.
Star Light! Claude is familiar with that spell. He frowns, as he sees it coming--but there's not much he can do but endure it. Well, endure it, and send out a wave of force for James, "Meteor Palm!" He can do that all day.
Well, all day if he doesn't keep taking hits like that, anyway. Claude is seared by the Light, his uniform jacket largely protecting him but the experience still proving exhausting. "So, that's how it's going to be?"
Rena feints out of a spell, meanwhile, and Claude grins. Even as he shifts to block the entrance to the Mines--and thus, the path towards Allen and everyone else--he says, "You shouldn't have made her mad. That was a bad idea."
He's proud of her.
But he also starts to get in closer to his friends from that vantage point, "I'll back you up!"
He flourishes his sword and calls, "VICTORY!"
Healing light surges off of him in waves of green, settling on Rena and Dias both--Dias getting a larger helping as Claude focuses his inner energy on, "Dias! You've got him!"
GS: Claude C. Kenny used Force Action: Mystic on Dias Flac! FP up! GS: Blind removed! GS: Claude C. Kenny spends 3 Combo on Gatling, loading 3 into Gatling! GS: Claude C. Kenny has attacked Claude C. Kenny with Giving Sword of Life! GS: Claude C. Kenny has attacked Rena Lanford with Giving Sword of Life! GS: Claude C. Kenny has attacked Dias Flac with Giving Sword of Life! GS: Claude C. Kenny has gained 2 Combo! GS: Claude C. Kenny's stances have changed from Avenger to Avenger! GS: Claude C. Kenny gains 10 FP from his Daredevil! GS: Claude C. Kenny has completed his action. GS: Claude C. Kenny heals Rena Lanford! She gains 211 temporary hit points! GS: Claude C. Kenny heals Claude C. Kenny! He gains 227 temporary hit points! GS: Hyper applied to Claude C. Kenny! GS: Claude C. Kenny heals Dias Flac! He gains 209 temporary hit points! GS: Shield applied to Claude C. Kenny!
<Pose Tracker> Timu Guado has posed.
'We've got your back, Timu,' Ida says to the teenage Guado, who nods her head.
"And... I've yours," her words are shaky from emotion. This is the closest she's ever come to enacting non-Blitzball-related violence to a fellow Guado, even if by proximity (throwing a Blitzball at her dad's face counts as Blitzball-related violence). She's come a long ways from the days where she and her sister were just headstrong, curious youngsters wanting to know why things were they way they were.
"Good job, Fuecoco!" She praises her friend and partner, who celebrates as the opposing Shinx flinches from the blow. Timu keeps her staff planted to help keep herself upright and tall - she's in control here, she tells herself. She's deciding what she's doing.
'Get 'em, buddy!'
In Timu's mind when she sees the flash of lightning starting above, her brain goes 'oh no.'
Her heart...
"Moteray! Cover Fuecoco!"
Moteray, the purplish-and-yellow stingray, flits in that direction interposing themselves Fuecoco and the incoming lightning, bright flickers from the tip of their tail as they selflessly take the blow.
They get a bit unsteady and start to flit a little lower to the ground, while Fuecoco looks up and realizes the danger they were almost in. "Co...? Fuecoco!!"
"...teray~" Moteray smiles as they drift along.
The whole of the technique displayed is something beyond what a starting Trainer is capable of.
"If all you've learned is to make the lives of everyone around you worse," Timu levels her gaze, "you didn't learn anything, did you?"
She eyes the Grimer there, knowing what trouble they've already been causing for Violet's team and Ida.
"Moteray," she brings her hand up to brush them gently as they float by, rattled a bit by the lightning strike but still holding up, "that one over there," she eyes Grimer, "use Nuzzle!"
Moteray flies erratically along in Grimer's direction, loopy and swirly until he gets up close to the Sludge Pokemon with naught but in his heart but the idle love of existing, floating around, and discharging uncomfortably numbing amounts of electricity while trying to brush themselves up against them lovingly.
GS: Timu Guado has attacked Giovanni with Nuzzle! GS: Timu Guado has gained 2 Combo! GS: Timu Guado takes 29 damage from Poison! GS: Timu Guado has completed her action. GS: Josephine Lovelace accepts Gwen Whitlock's Truth and Love?? for 0 hit points! GS: Josephine Lovelace gains 2 Combo from Inspire! GS: Giovanni takes a glancing hit from Timu Guado's Nuzzle for 17 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Giovanni gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Cripple, Jam, and Mute applied to Giovanni! GS: Hyper applied to Timu Guado! GS: FP up! Reaction bonus!
<Pose Tracker> Arisugawa Joy has posed.
Out of the corner of her eye, Joy keeps an eye on those Mia has engaged -- fortunately, that swordsman guy is using a Charcadet, and the other girl a Tinkatuff... all right, they're challenging him to a Pokemon battle. That's one worry off her mind -- right now.
But even hidden behind the fencepost, Joy can feel the hairs on her skin stand as Josephine prepares a Symbological spell of electricity. "Shoot--"
Joy rolls away from the fencepost as it erupts into a thousand little piece of debris, but Josie sees that the Shedinja and Ditto have both come together to shield her -- and they oscillate with a strange energy that seems to just reject the elemental energy right off their husks.
Wonder Guard activates!
But the retaliation comes swiftly, since Joy holds Honedge aloft and carves thin air to say, "I'm not going to sit still for you... Honedge!"
The pink-haired woman carves the air, and a rippling wave of energy tears through the air to sweep out, in a manner not unlike Air Slash, towards Josephine. At the same time--
"Clawitzer, follow-up!"
Clawitzer gathers more energy, and a loud, rupturous roar of water bursts forth from what passes for a mouth -- or perhaps a barrel? -- and continues to harry Josephine and keep her on the move in turn.
A fog billows out into her location, and Joy grimaces; she could get Hydreigon to defog this mist, but Hydreigon's expressed a deep anxiety of fighting people. No, she can't do that to her!
But the fog should be as much of a detriment to Jacqueline as well, right...? Hidden inside the fog, she reaches for her inhaler to breathe in and fix her own immediate, urgent problems, trying her hardest to not give her location away.
Unfortunately for Gwen, earnest as she is, Joy's a little too shocked and busy and feeling like she's fighting for her life to really listen to her a lot. "I know. You have a really dangerous world, and I can't even imagine the kind of people that make someone like you terrified, but still..."
Jacqueline further challenges that if she continues on the way they are -- they'll get hurt. "... neither Mia or I can go home. So we don't have a choice. So the choice has already been made for us!"
GS: Arisugawa Joy has attacked Arisugawa Joy with To Train Them Is My Cause! GS: Recover! Drowsy and Poison removed from Arisugawa Joy! GS: Arisugawa Joy accepts Arisugawa Joy's To Train Them Is My Cause for 0 hit points! GS: Restore! Recover! Cripple and Jam removed from Arisugawa Joy! GS: Arisugawa Joy has activated Force Action: Fury Shot! GS: Arisugawa Joy has attacked Josephine Lovelace with Clawitzer - Water Pulse! GS: Arisugawa Joy has gained 3 Combo! GS: Arisugawa Joy enters CONDITION GREEN!! GS: Arisugawa Joy has attacked Arisugawa Joy with Our Courage Will Pull Us Through! GS: Arisugawa Joy enters a Counter stance! GS: Arisugawa Joy has gained 2 Combo! GS: Arisugawa Joy enters CONDITION GREEN!! GS: Arisugawa Joy gains 5 FP from Gleam! GS: Arisugawa Joy has completed her action. GS: Arisugawa Joy heals Arisugawa Joy! She gains 184 temporary hit points! GS: Misery inflicts a random effect! Mute applied to Arisugawa Joy! GS: No such target was found. [#-1]
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
"Good," says Ida, with a smile to Timu and Violet. "Stay alert, though--if I remember rightly, they've got at least two in reserve, and one of them is a Bomb." Her inflection tells Timu all she might need to know--that kind of Bomb. But then-- "Sal, look out!"
Sal is already in motion by the time her Trainer cries out. "PI!" she thunders, a grunt of effort and exertion as she twists her whole body into a combat roll. Unfortunately, she's out in the open, and not quite fast enough to get free of Grimer's shockwave. The force of it picks up her tiny body, and flings her back towards her Trainer, an indignant, dopplering "Piiiii~!" echoing after.
Ida sinks down, and snaps her hands up to catch Sal like she's a fastball. The Caterpie uncurls in her Trainer's arms, eyes gone swirly. Aurora is huddled against her ankles, her fear aggression now turned on Grimer with Shinx wrapped up.
The third Pokeball at Ida's waist cracks open of its own volition. A wash of red-white light heralds the arrival of a second Eevee.
MARIGOLD the EEVEE has joined the battle!
"EVOI!" Marigold cries, facing down the Grimer with indignation in her eyes. She nuzzles against her frightened sister, and then leaps up into Ida's arms to nuzzle Sal as well. A faint white glow washes out across all three Pokemon, and Marigold lands back on the field, braced and defiant.
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has attacked Ida Everstead-Rey with Marigold Lends a Helping Hand! GS: Riposte expired! GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has completed her action. GS: CRITICAL! Ida Everstead-Rey accepts Ida Everstead-Rey's Marigold Lends a Helping Hand for 0 hit points! GS: Restore! Break, Cripple, Jam, and Slow removed! GS: Pray grants a random effect! Amplify, Burst, and Hyper applied to Ida Everstead-Rey! GS: No such target was found. [#-1] GS: No such target was found. [#-1] GS: Sneak! The true nature of Arisugawa Joy's attack becomes clear! GS: CRITICAL! Josephine Lovelace takes a glancing hit from Arisugawa Joy's The Power That's Inside for 164 hit points! GS: Josephine Lovelace's Jam Ward may block the effect! GS: Jam blocked!
<Pose Tracker> Dias Flac has posed.
Sure enough, Allen misunderstands Dias. Dias still doesn't explain himself, though. It's enough that Rena helps him up and Allen listens to her. Though some of the guards have been put to sleep, all this ruckus looks to be waking them, and they're starting to clear out at Allen's command.
That's good. Dias takes this in from the corner of his eye with some relief. Without unconscious innocents in the way, there'll be less of a risk of someone getting caught up in the wrong place at the wrong time.
James yelps as he scrambles out of the way of Dias's Moonlight Arc. Dias, undeterred, moves to close in on him, continuing to be a relentless, banterless force of steel--only for Jessie to repeat his technique, loosing a crescent shockwave at Dias from her chain whip. Even with James yelling for her to 'show him how it's done,' this is genuinely unexpected; while clearly James and Rena have some symbological spells in common, Dias didn't expect Jessie, using a completely different weapon, to be able to use the same artes as him. He snarls in pain as the shockwave impacts him, shredding into his armor and sending splashes of crimson to color the air, and then, the dirt.
And then:
'SILENCE!'
"Ah," Dias utters, gruff, as Rena jumps into the fray with her two best friends (her left fist and her right fist), and Claude takes up a defensive position to protect Allen and the townsfolk while channeling healing qi through his sword. He rises, cloak flapping back under one arm, as some of his wounds close as a result. "...You two've been a hell of an influence on each other," Dias comments, and if the humor doesn't fully make through his flat voice, it might just come across via his smirk.
The real joke, of course, is that Rena has always been like this. Regardless, when Rena calls the charge and Claude cheers them on, Dias turns and moves to close the distance between himself and James. Whether that's in time to keep him from getting off another spell is one thing, but Dias nonetheless sweeps Swallowblade up, right and left, and then down, bursts of energy forming a cross in the air and up from the earth as he leaps at him.
"Crescent Cross," he growls, maintaining an intense eye contact through the assault.
GS: No such target was found. [#-1] GS: Dias Flac spends 3 Combo on Gatling, loading 3 into Gatling! GS: Dias Flac has attacked Jessie and James with Crescent Cross! GS: Dias Flac has gained 1 Combo! GS: Dias Flac gains 28 THP from his Cautious! GS: Dias Flac has completed his action GS: Violet Salazar has canceled their attack on Giovanni.
<Pose Tracker> Dirk Swordsman has posed.
Even as Farfetch'd executes a high grade example of a Sand Attack, Dirk is once again distracted, because he can see a guy with a sword that emits a bursting shockwave. "Woah," says Dirk, looking directly at Dias Flac.
"Cheeees," agrees Chespin.
"Caa," huffs Charcadet, who can see this but has somehow managed to get the unfamiliar experience of a Burn. Now HE knows what it feels like!!
Farfetch'd sees it too. Something about the sight resonates within the brown duck. This will be important later.
Then he, too, looks back Just in time to get a face full of Purrloin. "Farrr!!" says the duck, flapping desperately enough to leave a couple of small feathers behind before realizing, maybe belatedly, that he has been Had. The experience is profoundly frustrating.
"Chespin we gotta pin this guy down," Dirk says, with a dramatic sweep of his sword. "Use Pin Missile to flood the zone!" To Vivace, he says, "You think he's holdin' back or is this HIS whole team? Cuz..."
Cuz he's pretty strong. Dirk may not be able to articulate it clearly, but this is definitely not 'some clowns with a Pokemon Theft Machine,' which is the sum total of his own engagement with Team Rocket.
Chespin, as this is going on, crouches downwards and presents his shoulders towards Damian and his fellows. Chespin is not precision-aiming this business; a barrage of snap-crackle-pops come as the base of these Grass-type quills pop like seed pods, propelling a shotgun-blast-like burst of sharp pointy objects. Wear eye protection!
GS: Dirk Swordsman spends 3 Combo on Gatling, loading 3 into Gatling! GS: Dirk Swordsman has attacked Damian Tamaoka with Chespin - Pin Missile! GS: Dirk Swordsman takes 33 damage from Poison! GS: Dirk Swordsman has completed his action.
<Pose Tracker> Giovanni has posed.
The Hitmonlee rushes in for the Sphinx, and despite his best efforts -- trying to stand firm against that -- he gets headbutted. The Sphinx flies back, eyes swirling, and Wedge frowns -- then holds up a Pokeball.
The Shinx is pulled into it, with a flash of light. "Good work," he says. "We got it from here!"
Then, Wedge throws another Pokeball out -- this one with a few new Symbols added to it -- and it opens up, with a burst of pyreflies. And, then, a Bomb flies out.
The large red Fiend shakes -- and then a ball of fire forms, and goes hurtling down for the Hitmonlee.
"We've learned what we can do," Biggs says. "And what we'll never be able to do. There's no place for us in Guadosalam... and I'm not going to just fade away."
"Ah, hell--Grimer! Look alive!" Wedge calls out, shooting his comrade a look ('Less talk, more Pokemon battling').
Grimer gets bumped into -- and electricity shoots into it. "Grruuum!" he yells, blasted backward by that nuzzle -- and then rolls to a stop, glowering at Marigold the Eevee.
Then, Biggs holds up a Pokeball. "All right, tag out!" he calls out. The Grimer is pulled into a Pokeball -- and he throws another out. A Skiddo bursts free. The goat-like Pokemon snorts, before rushing to strike at Marigold with a headbutt!
Then, he turns, and sends off several fast, razor-sharp leaves that go hurtling for Moteray.
GS: Giovanni spends 3 Combo on Gatling, loading 3 into Gatling! GS: Giovanni has attacked Violet Salazar with Bomb - Fira! GS: Giovanni has gained 1 Combo! GS: Giovanni spends 2 Combo on Headshot! GS: Giovanni has attacked Timu Guado with Skiddo - Razor Leaf! GS: Giovanni has gained 1 Combo! GS: Giovanni has attacked Ida Everstead-Rey with Skiddo - Takedown! GS: Giovanni gains 5 FP from Sufferer! GS: Entangle and Slow expired! GS: Giovanni has completed his action. GS: Violet Salazar takes a glancing hit from Giovanni's Bomb - Fira for 75 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Violet Salazar gains 1 additional Combo! GS: FP up! Arcane Font! GS: CRITICAL! Ida Everstead-Rey solidly guards Giovanni's Skiddo - Takedown for 104 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Ida Everstead-Rey gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Poison applied to Ida Everstead-Rey! GS: Timu Guado has activated Force Action: Guard! GS: CRITICAL! Timu Guado solidly guards Giovanni's Skiddo - Razor Leaf for 118 hit points! GS: Poison applied to Timu Guado! GS: Hyper applied to Giovanni! GS: CRITICAL! Jessie and James takes a glancing hit from Claude C. Kenny's Meteor Palm for 117 hit points! GS: FP up! Reaction bonus! GS: Jessie and James solidly guards Rena Lanford's Rena PUNCH! for 139 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Jessie and James gains 1 additional Combo! GS: FP up! Reaction bonus! GS: Jessie and James enters CONDITION GREEN!! GS: Jessie and James takes a glancing hit from Dias Flac's Crescent Cross for 84 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Jessie and James gains 1 additional Combo!
<Pose Tracker> Vivace Mori has posed.
Sandshrew rakes with her claws, taking advance of perceived weakness in the Vulpix when she can't be seen between Farfetch'd's sand and her own mist. (If perhaps not as deep as the Symbological mist elsewhere.) She sees an opening, and she's going to use it -
But Wurmple comes to the rescue! The string tangles up the little Sandshrew, causing her to stumble over her own feet. She reflexively curls up after that, but the frozen-over Alolan Sandshrew isn't quite as good at curling up as the other sort, and while she makes a pretty good try she doesn't quite get all the way into a ball. It does stop the assault, though.
Vivace scowls for a moment. Stalled by a Wurmple!
"Look, I don't even know what you guys want in this... uh..." Vivace is trying very, very hard to say literally anything other than 'run-down dump' but it's what she's thinking. "Way out here, off Nede. Is it just because they don't know what a Pokemon is and you thought you'd get some cheap shots in?"
She glances toward Dirk. "No idea. Let's find out," she says, and grips the Pokeball she'd been holding, but not released, a little tighter.
Raising her voice again: "Because if all you want is some new territory where they don't know your name, you're not doing a great job. I'm pretty sure I'm better than you. So unless you want to lose here... go home. And remember you got beat by Vivace Mori!" The name... is not as famous as, say, Joy's, except for people who know Armlock's gym history, and even then it's mostly the surname. But she's trying.
Vivace winds up and pitches the Pokeball like it was a baseball. She's had practice throwing, and she throws it hard, aiming to land it in the dirt right in the midst of Damian's Pokemon.
"Gholdengo! Make it rain!"
What comes out of the Pokeball is a four-foot golden humanoid... who, on close examination, is made up of coin after coin after coin all stacked up. Cylindrical legs into a cylindrical body into cylindrical arms, with a face with two coins turned ninety degrees to make eyes - even cylindrical hair, in dreadlocks.
It spreads its arms, and more coins explode off it in all directions, a veritable bomb of wealth. (Too bad most of them aren't worth anything! But a few are.)
Sandshrew elects to remain curled up. It's safer.
GS: Vivace Mori spends 2 Combo on Headshot! GS: Vivace Mori has attacked Damian Tamaoka with Gholdengo - Make It Rain! GS: Vivace Mori has gained 1 Combo! GS: Vivace Mori gains 5 FP from Sufferer! GS: Vivace Mori takes 40 damage from Poison! GS: Vivace Mori has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Violet Salazar has posed.
Giovanni's Bomb shoots a wave of fire at Steve the Hitmonlee; some of it catches him and singes his left arm, face, and shoulder. "Leeeeeeeeeee," he protests. Violet isn't going to let any of her Pokemon get injured if she can help it; she gestures him back to his Pokeball. If Giovanni is too much for one Pokemon, maybe using the whole team at once would work better? "Synergy Gambit!" she orders everyone (except Steve). Her Pokemon form a circle, building up their magical attacks and discharging them all at once, together and as one beam. It'll do some damage if it hits -- but such a narrow focus would be relatively easy to dodge!
GS: Violet Salazar has attacked Giovanni with Synergy Gambit! GS: Violet Salazar has gained 5 Combo! GS: Disease expired! GS: Violet Salazar has completed her action. GS: Giovanni solidly guards Violet Salazar's Synergy Gambit for 76 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Giovanni gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Blitz applied to Giovanni! <Pose Tracker> Jessie and James has posed.
"Huh?!" Jessie yelps, as Rena darts in to punch her in her BEAUTIFUL JAW. "Aiieeee!!" She goes flying, because Rena has been brawling on Filgaia her whole life.
"Rrrgh... you twerps, I can't believe you! Cure Light!!" She snaps, as she picks herself up, and light shines over herself and James to pick them both up.
James has his own problems, of course. He scrambles away from Meteor Palm's force, only to, "EEP!", find himself running RIGHT into Crescent Cross instead. Luckily, despite that cross sending him reeling, Jessie's Cure Light quickly catches him and makes sure he doesn't get his uniform too messed up.
"I SO don't like you two doing teamwork!" He says, pointing at Claude and Dias. "He's super scary," he points his rose at Dias, "and YOU'RE super annoying!!" That's Claude. Hey, why does Claude have to be the annoying one?! "So I'm going to put you on ice -- Deep Freeze!" Still pointing his rose at Claude, hailstones crash down to assault him.
"Let's show them how it's done," Jessie says, drawing back her whip in her own cross of gestures. "NORTHERN CROSS!" This attack sails towards Rena --
-- even as James follows up with, "SOUTHERN CROSS!", and stars in the sky make their own cross formation as they shine down to scour Dias.
GS: Jessie and James has attacked Jessie and James with Cure Light! GS: Jessie and James has gained 1 Combo! GS: Gamble! Jessie and James heals Jessie and James! They gains 196 temporary hit points! GS: Jessie and James has attacked Claude C. Kenny with Deep Freeze! GS: Jessie and James has gained 1 Combo! GS: Jessie and James spends 1 Combo on Link! GS: Jessie and James has attacked Rena Lanford with Northern Cross! GS: Jessie and James has gained 1 Combo! GS: Jessie and James has launched an attack Link! GS: Jessie and James spends 3 Combo on Gatling, loading 3 into Gatling! GS: Jessie and James enters CONDITION GREEN!! GS: Jessie and James has attacked Dias Flac with Southern Cross! GS: Jessie and James has gained 1 Combo! GS: Jessie and James enters CONDITION GREEN!! GS: Jessie and James has completed their action.
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
"And there's the Bomb," Ida says, her fingers twitching. She saw what it did last time; this town is a lot less durable than Oak's lab. "You know what to do." Don't let it do its thing, Timu!
"Evoi?!" cries Aurora, darting forward to interpose herself between Marigold and Grimer.
"Evoi!" Marigold asserts. "Evoi!" She meets her sister's eyes. She's not backing down. "Evoi!" She points a paw at Moteray! "Evoi!" And Steve! "Evoi!" And Sal and Ida! "Voi!" At Aurora!
Marigold's eyes close for a moment. "Voi," she says, with a shake of her head, but, "...Evoi." A little nod.
"That's right," Ida says. "Marigold's a part of this team, too. And--!" Biggs interrupts what is undoubtedly a touching moment of Poke-self-actualization by switching Skiddo in. Aurora LEAPS between her sister and the goat, and earns the horns for her valor. Like Sal before her, she goes flying back, but even further. She hits the dusty road, and skids a few meters. Ida takes an involutary gasp, eyes widening.
Aurora rises to her feet, swaying as she shakes her head. Marigold glances back at her elder sister, and when she looks back at Skiddo, fury gleams in her big Eevee eyes. "EVOI!" She digs one precious paw into the dusty dirt--on dessicated, dying Filgaia, there's plenty of that--and HURLS it right at Skiddo's face!
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey spends 1 Combo on Interrupt! GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has attacked Giovanni with Sand Attack! GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has gained 1 Combo! GS: Ida Everstead-Rey takes 37 damage from Poison! GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has completed her action. GS: Claude C. Kenny solidly guards Jessie and James's Deep Freeze for 77 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Claude C. Kenny gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Slow applied to Claude C. Kenny! GS: Hyper applied to Jessie and James! GS: Claude C. Kenny enters CONDITION GREEN!! GS: CRITICAL! Dias Flac takes a solid hit from Jessie and James's Southern Cross for 141 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Dias Flac gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Break and Shieldbreak applied to Dias Flac!
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
It's illustrative of... Josie, perhaps.
Josie, for her part, raises another eyebrow as Joy hauls Gwen off to safety. It seems to her that a miscommunication's definitely afoot, but given that she's very much an advocate of ARMs not words, well.
It's not a problem she's immediately taking steps to correct. Besides, that shrimp thing of hers did attack her! ...Because Josie shot at her, yes, but the point still stands.
Speaking of retaliation, though!
A yell escapes Josie as that airslash takes her across the middle, the force of the impact laying her out along the road upon which she'd been standing. "Shit--" Scrambling to her feet, she's just in time to experience a near hit (again, from that shrimp creature) in the form of a pressurized water blast mere moments after getting to her feet. A streak of red runs down her cheek and a few stray pale hairs dance in the sunlight. Slowly, Josie glances back over her shoulder to discover the hole in the signpost she knew she would discover.
Yeah. ...Yeah.
"'Preciate the name, Jay," she calls back, "Though the rest, I'd pretty much figured! So they got problems even behind that rift, eh?"
There's a pause as something else clicks for Josephine.
"...How'd you lot end up on Energy Nede, anyhow? That rocket end up crashing into a rift instead?"
This part of the tale she hasn't heard, as such.
Gwen, though, appeals to reason!
She tries to suggest they opt for a different target. Like, maybe-- some legitimate business practice?
Josie visibly draws a blank. "Gwen, kiddo. Ain't you askin' the wrong person."
Josie has not held a 'real' job in about a decade... if being an ARMs Meister even counts as a real job. She looks over to Jay. "What'd you think, Jay? You got a business opportunity for a buncha criminals?"
For her part, Josie holsters her rifle with deliberate slowness.
And then she snaps her fingers.
"LIGHT FLARE!"
...Is this how negotiations are supposed to go?
GS: Josephine Lovelace has activated Force Action: Fury Shot! GS: Josephine Lovelace has attacked Arisugawa Joy with Light Flare! GS: Josephine Lovelace has gained 3 Combo! GS: Josephine Lovelace has completed her action. GS: Giovanni takes a solid hit from Ida Everstead-Rey's Sand Attack for 0 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Giovanni gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Dispel! Blitz and Hyper removed! GS: Blind and Interrupt applied to Giovanni! GS: FP up! Reaction bonus! GS: Giovanni has lost 2 Combo from Interrupt! GS: Rena Lanford takes a glancing hit from Jessie and James's Northern Cross for 67 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Timu Guado has posed.
'Stay alert, though--if I remember rightly, they've got at least two in reserve, and one of them is a Bomb.'
"Our," as in Spira's, "Bomb?" Ida's inflection to Timu is not missed, and there's a shock and urgency in Timu's own two-word question.
"Ueco?" Fuecoco turns around as if to ask if that's something bad.
There's the Bomb, right now, taking Shinx's place after Violet's Hitmonlee helps take them out.
"That's a Bomb," Timu echoes Ida's warning and sentiment.
Moteray's tagging in a small victory with Grimer's forced withdrawal, though this comes with Biggs sharing his resolve. They've learned what they can do, and what they'll never be able to do.
By Timu's own words, Guadosalam isn't really for any of them anymore. She's interrupted by this only by Moteray looking over for positive reinforcement.
"You did good, Moteray," Timu seems only a bit distracted when-- Skiddo is out, and razor-sharp leaves are coming their way. "Fuecoco, protect them!"
"Fueeeee---!" It's Fuecoco's turn to move to intercept, catching those razor-sharp leaves that see the little Fire Croc reel back on one tiny leg and flail their limbs. Even dampening the effect of a Grass-type attack off of their own Fire-type self, there is a gulf between Biggs and Wedge as Trainers compared to Timu.
"Mooote...?" Moteray peers down in an unwitting U-turn, seeing that Fuecoco just took one for them now.
Timu's eyes close. "Biggs... Wedge... do you really want to use Fiends to harm everyone else outside of Spira, too?" She's never had that gift with pyreflies like her younger sister and her father. She considers the playing field, with Ida's other cat-fox (Eevee) and the group Violet has by her side.
She might be able to focus down Skiddo.
'You know what to do.'
"I do," Timu responds, simply and gently, tapping the staff on the ground to call attention from her two Pokemon on the field.
"Fuecoco!" She calls.
"...Fue!" He huffs, nods, and gathers himself.
"Use Yawn on the Bomb!"
Fuecoco eyes the ball of flame, from whatever dying sentiments given perpetuity in the pyreflies that constitute them, little crocodile fury in its eyes but also a little something more, as they open up their jaw...
"Fuuuueeeeeeee... coooooo~" They yawn in their direction, a small expulsion of hot air that's only mildly uncomfortable compared to what adorable power their yawn holds.
GS: Timu Guado has activated Force Action: Full Clip! GS: Timu Guado spends 1 Combo on Interrupt! GS: Timu Guado has attacked Giovanni with Yawn! GS: Timu Guado has gained 1 Combo! GS: Timu Guado takes 33 damage from Poison! GS: Timu Guado has completed her action. GS: Arisugawa Joy suffers a terrible blow from Josephine Lovelace's Light Flare for 0 hit points! GS: Misery inflicts a random effect! Blind and Weaken applied to Arisugawa Joy! GS: Giovanni solidly guards Timu Guado's Yawn for 65 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Giovanni gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Drowsy and Interrupt applied to Giovanni! GS: FP up! Reaction bonus! GS: Giovanni has lost 2 Combo from Interrupt! <Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
Gwen pleads with Joy, tries to impress on her the dangers of Filgaia. ...Jacqueline can sympathise.
She nods back to Josie, then..
"It's a long story... but simply put, the Ten Wise Men went home, and we got dragged along for the ride." Jacqueline explains. "I left out a lot of important details... but we can cover that another time."
Joy takes cover in her fog, and Jacqueline watches carefully, trying to track her next move. No attack - but she does call back to Gwen and herself. Jacqueline frowns, thinking about this.
"...So, even Nede still has that kind of problem. I'm sorry." Jacqueline apologises. It seems so idyllic - but even in a society so advanced, people will still be people.
"...But Gwen's right too, though. You need to be careful about what kind of attention you attract here." She says.
And Josie asks her a question, which Jacqueline thinks about for a moment.
"Well... that depends, really." Jacqueline says, looking Joy over consideringly. "I don't suppose any of you'd be interested in retail?"
She gestures with her right hand, then - sending a bolt of lightning crashing down to where she estimates Joy's position!
GS: Jacqueline Barber spends 2 Combo on Gatling, loading 2 into Gatling! GS: Jacqueline Barber has attacked Arisugawa Joy with Lightning Strike! GS: Jacqueline Barber has gained 1 Combo! GS: Jacqueline Barber gains 5 FP from Gleam! GS: Jacqueline Barber has completed her action. <Pose Tracker> Rena Lanford has posed.
"I know you will!" Rena calls out to Claude, confident that he will, they've fought enough battles together after all.
Healing light surges off of his blade, and Rena bathes in it, breathing more easily, "Trying to take my job?" She teases him lightly.
Dias' comment gets an almost sheepish look, "And? You were a 'heck' of an influence on me first." Is her simple riposte.
Perhaps part of the joke is that he was an influence on her when she was young enough to be scandalized by cursing.
"Can't believe what!? You started this fight!" Is Rena's statement to Jessie, as she complains, but then she's secretly delighted that Jessie commented on.
Claude
AND
Dias
doingteamwork!!!!
That's a big development! "Good work you two!" Rena calls out and Rena responds to the Chain Whip by putting her dukes up, her knuckles at the fore. And then abruptly, weaving her head to the side.
The chain whip clips her ear, but she uses her sudden momentum to suddenly move in on her.
This time when Rena punches, Jessie might note when her knuckles sail past her, but behind the knuckles, is her hand.
Her fingers suddenly grip on her, and in the grapple attack, she tries to send them both sprawling to the ground!!!
Immediately she attempts to grasp her arm and shift her leg around her in an inverted arm lock, as she presses uncomfortably at the back of her elbow with both arms, applying pressure towards the shoulder joint.
"Say Uncle!" Then like the RUFFIAN she is, presses down harder, "Say it!"
Dias is correct, Rena has always been like this.
GS: Rena Lanford has attacked Jessie and James with Jujitsu Infight! GS: Blind expired! GS: Rena Lanford has completed her action. GS: COUNTER! Arisugawa Joy counterattacks Jacqueline Barber with Honedge - Retaliate! GS: Arisugawa Joy takes a solid hit from Jacqueline Barber's Lightning Strike for 198 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Arisugawa Joy gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Quick applied to Jacqueline Barber! GS: Jacqueline Barber critically guards Arisugawa Joy's Honedge - Retaliate for 61 hit points! GS: FP up! Arcane Font! GS: Damian Tamaoka has activated Force Action: Guard! GS: Damian Tamaoka has activated Force Action: Accelerate! GS: COUNTER! Damian Tamaoka counterattacks Dirk Swordsman with Payback! GS: Gamble: Low! Damian Tamaoka solidly guards Dirk Swordsman's Chespin - Pin Missile for 150 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Damian Tamaoka gains 1 additional Combo! GS: FP up! Power Burst and Reaction bonus! GS: CRITICAL! Damian Tamaoka solidly guards Vivace Mori's Gholdengo - Make It Rain for 117 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Damian Tamaoka gains 1 additional Combo! GS: FP up! Reaction bonus!
<Pose Tracker> Giovanni has posed.
Violet's Pokemon unleash a number of barrages for Biggs and Wedge's Pokemon. The Bomb flies up over them -- and the Skiddo leaps and bounds between them, but both get clipped a couple of times.
At least, until a blast of sand slams into the Skiddo's face. Then the Skiddo -- wait for it -- skids, running wide of any attempt to circle back on the Eevee.
And that's when Fuecoco... yawns.
"I don't think that's gonna--" Biggs starts, until he pauses. Because the Bomb floats up -- floats down -- and then its eyes close, and it comes to rest. "...work?"
"Ah, crap--Skiddo's in trouble!" Wedge cries out.
The Skiddo looks between them: Violet's Pokemon, the Eevee sisters, and Fuecoco. He hesitates, for but only a moment.
Then, he looks up. His eyes narrow -- and he stands on his hindlegs, points a hoof at all of them -- and curls that hoof in. That would be Skiddo for 'bring it!'
Then he starts to make large, wooden seeds appear -- out of thin air -- and kick each of them in turn, sending them raining down upon his foes!
GS: Giovanni has activated a Boss Action! GS: Giovanni has activated Force Action: Lock On! GS: Giovanni has activated Force Action: Full Clip! GS: Giovanni has activated Force Action: Snipe! GS: Giovanni spends 2 Combo on Headshot! GS: Giovanni has attacked Violet Salazar with Skiddo - Seed Bomb! GS: Giovanni has attacked Ida Everstead-Rey with Skiddo - Seed Bomb! GS: Giovanni has attacked Timu Guado with Skiddo - Seed Bomb! GS: Interrupt expired! GS: Giovanni gains 5 FP from Sufferer! GS: Giovanni has completed his action. GS: Interrupt! Attack weakened! GS: CRITICAL! Gamble: High! Violet Salazar partially guards Giovanni's Skiddo - Seed Bomb for 251 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Violet Salazar gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Violet Salazar's Poison Ward may block the effect! GS: Poison blocked! GS: Hyper applied to Giovanni!
<Pose Tracker> Claude C. Kenny has posed.
"I might be thinking about it," Claude jokes back to Rena.
Yep. Claude's proud of Rena. Though Dias has a point, how they've influenced each other. In another circumstance, he'd smile about it. It's not a bad thing, to take some cues from your friends.
Eep! Teamwork.
"Too bad!" Claude says. "You think you're the only ones who know how to work together?"
Deep Freeze! Hailstones crash down at Claude, and he extends his sword to shield himself, battering away stone after stone. The chill still gets to him, but the bulk of the attack is smething he can defend against. ...Even if it slows him down.
But if they're going to use ice, then...
"Knuckle...!" Claude brings his sword to a point-down grip, making a fist over the hilt. Then, he rears back--and strikes, a flaming shockwave erupting from his hand for James! "Burst!"
His sword is back up in moments, and he's still blocking the way.
GS: Claude C. Kenny spends 2 Combo on Headshot! GS: Claude C. Kenny has attacked Jessie and James with Knuckle Burst! GS: Claude C. Kenny has gained 4 Combo! GS: Claude C. Kenny gains 10 FP from his Daredevil! GS: Claude C. Kenny has completed his action. GS: Dirk Swordsman solidly guards Damian Tamaoka's Payback for 92 hit points! GS: FP up! Power Burst and Reaction bonus! GS: Interrupt! Attack weakened! GS: CRITICAL! Gamble: High! Timu Guado takes a solid hit from Giovanni's Skiddo - Seed Bomb for 358 hit points! GS: Poison blocked! GS: Hyper applied to Giovanni! GS: Jessie and James suffers a terrible blow from Rena Lanford's Jujitsu Infight for 158 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Jessie and James gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Cripple and Disrupt applied to Jessie and James! GS: CRITICAL! Jessie and James takes a glancing hit from Claude C. Kenny's Knuckle Burst for 167 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Jessie and James gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Hyper and Shield applied to Claude C. Kenny! <Pose Tracker> Damian Tamaoka has posed.
Damian is a bit embarrassed, to be thought of as potentially holding back. He really, really isn't. (Well, he is in that he's not trying to do anything truly unscrupulous like 'attacking a trainer', but within the confines of 'a pokemon battle' he's just hoping to survive the battle i one piece.)
But yes, none of these pokemon are stolen--they're all his pokemon, and he takes extremely good care of them. Purri and Pixi both have excellently groomed coats, and Wurmple's spikes and spines are all nicely polished.
Vivace has some words for him, though. Are they just out here to get some cheap shots in? No, they're trying to stop the Ten Wise Men. And there's a vision, for Nede, though he's not terribly clear on that and doesn't like the methods, but... he does agree they need to be stopped, at least.
Vivace Mori. Damian blinks and looks up just a little bit more to take a clear look at Vivace. That Armslock Jacket--he takes a half step back as he recognizes the name, and then immediately tries to duck his head again before Vivace or Dirk get too clear a look at him.
But leaving... There is glance sideways to Joy, who's fighting hard in her own way, and his fists clench a little. "S-sorry, but I c-can't just do that..."
Damian's team is a bit disorganized right now, unfortunately, and with him having to split his attention between two opponents that's not likely to get any better quickly. Both Chespin and Ghodelgho are aiming to flood the area. (Damian recoils another half-step as he sees that ghost-type Pokemon come out, but he can't allow himself to freak out about seeing a Ghost-type right now. Later, though, definitely.)
"Purri!" Damian reaches into a pouch and throws a couple of berry's Purri's way. She leaps up and snatches them in her mouth, in midair, and then is fortified as she charges for Chespin first, dodging and plowing through quills to slam into it with an attack.
"Pixi! Wurmple! Curl up!" Pixi continues as she has been, trying to shield herself from the rain of coins and Wurmple follows suit, both trying to weather out the storm of coins pelting them.
Purri is all scratched up but but seems much more determined than Pixi and Wurmple in the moment. She's been with Damian the longest, and has a fierce protective instinct towards her trainer. She takes the initiative here, latting out a harh caterwaul as she slashes at Chespin, trying to inflict a little bit of Torment on the grass type. Then she turns and bounds for Gholdengo. Claws extended, they glow briefly and appear to sharpen right in the moments before she tries to land an attack with her Hone(d) Claws.
GS: Damian Tamaoka has attacked Dirk Swordsman with Torment! GS: Damian Tamaoka has attacked Vivace Mori with Hone Claws! GS: Damian Tamaoka has gained 1 Combo! GS: Damian Tamaoka gains 5 FP from Sufferer! GS: Damian Tamaoka has completed his action.
<Pose Tracker> Violet Salazar has posed.
Giovanni neatly nearly shrugs off Violet's Synergy Gambit. It's not nearly as effective as she would've liked. Not only was he tough, his Bomb was still active on the field, with no sign of backing off. He calls forth a Pokemon that sort of looks like a cross between a cute goat and a plant. He(?) manifests some large seeds, then kicks them in Violet's direction. Violet is taken aback by the sudden barrage. "Hey!" she cries, attempting (and failing) to fend the seeds off. She is battered and bruised, her concentration shaken. She, herself, is helpless to attack for awhile, but that doesn't mean she can't depend on her Poketeam. "Help me!" she insists, and they comply, swarming the goat-plant creature with physical attacks! The Hitmonlee punches, the Clefairy strikes with magic, Kozi the Hearthound bites, and Bubba the Seal charges! Perhaps they can defeat him TOGETHER!!
GS: Violet Salazar spends 1 Combo on Link! GS: Violet Salazar has attacked Giovanni with PokeGauntlet! GS: Violet Salazar has gained 3 Combo! GS: Violet Salazar has launched an attack Link! GS: Violet Salazar's Stoic stance ends! Link still in effect! GS: Violet Salazar gains 20 THP from Cancel! GS: Dirk Swordsman suffers a terrible blow from Damian Tamaoka's Torment for 116 hit points! GS: Misery inflicts a random effect! Poison and Slow applied to Dirk Swordsman! GS: Dirk Swordsman enters CONDITION GREEN!! GS: Mute expired! GS: CRITICAL! Vivace Mori solidly guards Damian Tamaoka's Hone Claws for 123 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Vivace Mori gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Mighty and Riposte applied to Damian Tamaoka! GS: CRITICAL! Giovanni partially guards Violet Salazar's PokeGauntlet for 123 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
Gwen's shoulders and upper back slump in defeat. ".... C'mooonnn, it ain't like we all didn't get bounties on our heads at one point or 'nother." Pause. the straightens, eyes wide. "Wait, didn't you literally get into hot water 'bout two years or so--" She stops, remembering Josie _has a gun_, and _will shoot her_. "Ttttthat is, uh, I mean, the point bein', we ain't exactly saints either, ehehe...."
Cue the poor, poor fence, and the shards of it flying around as Gwen advocates for a peaceful solution.
Jay speaks up, and Gwen's hopeful gaze switches to her, ready to hear her words of wisest wisdom.
'I don't suppose any of you'd be interested in retail?'
Hope is supposed to spring eternal, but the two oasises Gwen had tried to pull from turned out to bone dry.
".... I meant, like.... uh... trade... n'... goods...." Gwen says, weakly. ".... They could make a killin' with just sellin' the snappy outfits without the R, even! Heck, they got Pokemon, n' ain't nobody here got that skill! I mean, 'sides us, but I mean, _they know how to handle Pokemon_. It took me years to figure out how to handle horses, n' there people walk 'round with horses on fire all casual-like!" Wait, no, this is treading dangerously close to her making the case for using the Pokemon solely for monetary gain, which would _not_ win points with Joy. "Point bein', uh..."
Instead, she turns to Joy. "There's a whole world out here, Joy! If you guys wanna have any hope of bein' able to take on somethin' like the Ten Wisemen, you gotta... think big!" wait no this is bad advice gwen
<Pose Tracker> Dias Flac has posed.
It's a well-delivered punch, too. Rena might huff at Jessie about it, but it's clear (to Dias, at least) that she's pleased about it. And why shouldn't she be? She knocked Jessie right off her feet.
Likewise, when James complains that Dias is scary, that doesn't actually remove the smirk from his lips. "Is that the influence you got from me?" he remarks to Rena. (He doesn't respond to her praise of his teamwork, but he doesn't hate it, at least.) To Claude, joking about taking Rena's job, he remarks, "Hmm. He called you annoying."
Is that a tease?? The world may never know, considering how the Team Rocketeers follow up with their own teamwork--and while Dias might be getting better at it, Jessie and James have made it their bread and butter. Chunks of ice sail down to Claude, a whip-cross assaults Rena, and showers of starlight burn in cross formation down at Dias. It's a powerful spell, and the burning light rips at the swordsman, shearing into his armor and bloodying the ground further.
And when the light dims...
Dias rolls upright, curtain of blue hair falling away from the sear of his red eyes, burning their own holes in Jesse and James as blood drips down between them.
For a bit there, he might have seemed somewhat less intimidating as he finally started talking, even bantering with his companions. Personal. Humanizing.
"Gale Thrust," he intones, just before he launches himself blade-first towards the pair at such speed that the wind is visible around him--not a direct attack this time in the sense that it's aimed for center of mass for one person, but angled to cut into Jessie and James's sides both as Rena and Claude potentially grapple and fisticuff them into place.
GS: Dias Flac has attacked Jessie and James with Gale Thrust! GS: Dias Flac has gained 2 Combo! GS: Dias Flac gains 24 THP from his Cautious! GS: Dias Flac has completed his action.
<Pose Tracker> Timu Guado has posed.
Relief washes over Timu's face as Bomb nods off with an exicteable, youthful smile. "Yes! Great job, Fuecoco!"
"Teray~" Moteray chimes in mutual contragulations as electricity discharges from their tail, flitting along while Fuecoco waves their little limbs in adulation and adoration.
"'Ah crap--Skiddo's in trouble!' Wedge shows that they're on the backfoot, and Timu gets ready to turn her attention to them. If Ida's count is right, getting the Bomb out of the way by putting them to sleep means they're the only threat left.
'Only' means 'one,' and Skiddo is one threat - a far bigger one, when backed in the corner, as large wooden seeds are kicked in their direction.
Moteray flits too close, and even on a type advantage defensively there's no denying how solid that hit is with a thundering, echoing crack that sees him careening away towards a--
"No! Moteray, return!" Timu pulls out his ball and calls him back before he can make injurious impact, her hand shaking as dust clouds kick up everywhere. She hasn't heard Fuecoco yell, though they are the intended recipient of at least one of those seed bombs.
When the dust clears, she can see Fuecoco on his back, and Timu's eyes widen.
"Fuecoco! You're--" He's hurt. She puts back Moteray's ball, drawing Fuecoco's. Tears start to form.
"Co." Fuecoco coughs, rolls side to side, and onto their feet.
"Fuecoco, you're hurt," Timu says, "it's--" She doesn't want to lose to Biggs and Wedge. But she doesn't want her new friends on her Journey to be hurt for her sake. It's frustrating, from someone already facing such a setback this early against someone (two someones) so intertwined with the collective cultural baggage the Guado now have.
"Fueco." Fuecoco shakes their head, steps forward, facing down the better-trained Skiddo. They can't quite reach their hands together to punch one hand into a palm, but they sure try.
"...Okay." Timu wipes a tear away, resting that hand on her staff. Both of them are, now. "Then... Fuecoco." She surges with a raised head. "Use Incinerate on that one!"
"Fueeeeeee----!" Fuecoco's little tuft glows alight as fire boils within, expelled in a destructive stream to - what else - Incenerate the Skiddo.
GS: Timu Guado has activated Force Action: Full Clip! GS: Timu Guado has attacked Giovanni with Incinerate! GS: Timu Guado has gained 2 Combo! GS: Timu Guado takes 32 damage from Poison! GS: Timu Guado has completed her action. GS: Jessie and James fully evades Dias Flac's Gale Thrust for 0 hit points! GS: Giovanni suffers a terrible blow from Timu Guado's Incinerate for 183 hit points! GS: Dispel! Hyper removed! GS: Giovanni's Weaken Ward may block the effect! GS: Weaken blocked! GS: Gwen Whitlock has attacked Arisugawa Joy with These are the Evils of Truth and Love! GS: Gwen Whitlock has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Jessie and James has posed.
Jessie deftly evades Rena's punch, this time!
Wait, what do you MEAN she was supposed to dodge it?!
"AAAHHHH!!"
That's the sound of Jessie realising she fucked up, because this is Filgaia and they're allowed to swear now. "Get off, get off!! That HURTS! You wretched little -- ow! WHY ARE YOU LIKE THIS!" And of course, Gale Thrust makes it even harder for her to get up -- but since she's currently in a pile with Rena, of course Dias wouldn't hit her directly.
But Gale Thrust also means James can't get to her, because he has to pull up in a hurry, arms windmilling as he stops himself from running into its path. "Whoa!" This is where Knuckle Burst catches him off-guard, knocking him right down for his trouble; even if he managed to avoid Dias, he and Jessie aren't the only ones working together. (Blossoming teamwork... so beautiful...) "Ahhh, my butt!!" He cries, because even if they can swear on Filgaia --
-- they're still Nedians.
"Mrooowrrr!!" Meowth meows, as he bites James in the butt and causes him to leap to his feet again. "OUCH! Meowth, quit it!!" "Mrawr," Meowth points at Jessie, who is still being utterly humiliated on the ground.
In the background, she can finally be heard yelling: "Uncle, uncle!!"
"Oh, uhhhh..." James stammers, holding up his hands. "You know, m-maybe we can be friends! How about it? C'mon! Let's shake hands and --"
Nope! There's a rose in his hands! "METEOR SWARM!", he cries, as the skies open up, and meteors rocket (get it?) down upon the ground, each causing their own terrible shockwave as they hit.
GS: Interrupt! Attack weakened! GS: CRITICAL! Gamble: Low! Ida Everstead-Rey takes a solid hit from Giovanni's Skiddo - Seed Bomb for 292 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Ida Everstead-Rey gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Poison blocked! GS: Hyper applied to Giovanni! <Pose Tracker> Dirk Swordsman has posed.
Dirk says "heh" to Vivace and answers with a decided thumbs-up. Then his attention snaps back to the fight even as Farfetch'd makes a landing. Chespin --
It's not Chespin's day.
Purri snaps up the Berries, and empowered by sucrose and love, smashes forwards. She gets into Chespin's face as he recovers, knocking him backwards. The Pokemon squeals; the stick he's carrying is held up in a creditable imitation of a defense stance, but the attack isn't a quick snap back.
The follow up slashes over the soft underbelly of the Grass-Hedgehog as he tries to sweep the stick around to fend Purri off -- as the feline moves in, Chespin sways for a moment, grasping the stick in both hands and then toppling onto his side. "Ches..."
(Inside Dirk's head and heart, something like a strangled choke bursts out. In that moment, Dirk knows he is over twenty-two miles from the one place on this world, as far as he knows, where it would be possible to get to a PokeCenter. The terrain between there and here that he trod whirls through his head. Aw no, he thinks. Ah no. Ah shit. Ah shit.)
The shades are impassive. "Get back, Chespin," he says, whipping up his free hand to grasp a Pokeball and hold it back. Chespin disappears in a burst of light.
(What if I trip into a ravine or something and break my leg? What if one of these local creatures beats them? What if it floods on Charcadet? Ah shit. I -- c'mon man don't lose your--!!)
Dirk swallows.
"Alright, Rocket," he says, sucking in a deep breath through his nose. The scent of an alien world, but his hand goes towards the fourth Pokeball. "That how you gonna roll? Put it all on the field!"
SOMEWHERE:
A dark space, a stone tomb, carven and gloomy. Immaculately kept, other than a touch of spiderweb and dust here and there. On a stone bier rests the blade, eye closed. But there's a click.
The eye opens as the world erupts into light, hurling the blade forwards. Subtle shadows of ancient and forgotten memories flick through his mind: if the Honedge could, perhaps he would smile.
BUT ON FILGAIA:
"It's up to you, Honedge!!"
The blade's single eye turns towards Damien. It flicks left and right quickly, perhaps to take in allies and foes. Another battlefield. The blade rises, trailing flourish of a blue ribbon grasping onto the scabbard, steel gleaming in Filgaian light.
With a snapping half-twist, a scintillating crescent of RAW DARKNESS smashes towards Purri!
(C'mon man, Dirk thinks. Pull this out--)
DC: Dirk Swordsman switches forms to The Deadly Haunted Blade -- HONEDGE! GS: Dirk Swordsman has activated Force Action: Lock On! GS: Dirk Swordsman has attacked Damian Tamaoka with NIGHT SLASH! GS: Dirk Swordsman has gained 2 Combo! GS: Dirk Swordsman takes 27 damage from Poison! GS: Dirk Swordsman has completed his action. GS: Jessie and James spends 5 Combo on Headshot and Gatling, loading 3 into Gatling! GS: MYSTIC ARTE! Jessie and James has attacked Dias Flac with Meteor Swarm! GS: MYSTIC ARTE! Jessie and James has attacked Claude C. Kenny with Meteor Swarm! GS: MYSTIC ARTE! Jessie and James has attacked Rena Lanford with Meteor Swarm! GS: Jessie and James has gained 1 Combo! GS: Arisugawa Joy solidly guards Gwen Whitlock's These are the Evils of Truth and Love for 0 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Arisugawa Joy gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Arisugawa Joy's Slow Ward may block the effect! GS: Jam applied to Arisugawa Joy! GS: Slow blocked!
<Pose Tracker> Arisugawa Joy has posed.
"This isn't just about making a buck. I joined Team Rocket because I want to defend Nede against the Ten Wise Men," Joy gives her reasoning back to Josephine, though Josephine calls for Light Flare and Joy's forced to huddle back behind other cover -- and Shedinja, who seems to be quite affected by the bright light, dizzy symbols appearing above it as it wobbles left and right.
"I can't stand the way our elders are just relying on you Drifters!"
But Jacqueline tries to spot her in the fog and sends lightning crashing down her way -- another strike of fear enters her heart at the thought of high voltage electricity hammering away at her, but--
Shedinja, once again, is there, even confused and dazzled by the lights, its oscillating barrier once more standing strong... though it's definitely getting weary.
Gwen suggests other ventures, and also handling horses (note to self: ask Gwen about the Horse she caught), but also points out that Joy has to think big to take on the Ten Wise Men. "I know... I don't know what the Boss is thinking, but I know we need a lot of power to defeat them. Even you Drifters are struggling against them, right?"
But then... Jacqueline offers retail.
Old terrors suddenly rise like ghosts from the back of Joy's mind, as everything turns ominously pink and the shadows of her face turn into the great beyond of the star ocean. Her eyes are the eyes that see beyond, staring into horrors that she thought she'd well and truly buried. Into truths that mankind desperately bury, but cannot help but bring back upon themselves, over and over again.
"NO! I'll never go back to retail! The long hours and bad pay and horrible, entitled customers and the managers that conveniently forget about your pay and ESPECIALLY the Karens that demand to speak to your manager and treat you like subhuman garbage and insist that what they're looking for is in the back, as if we'd just put stock back there and not in the showroom!! I'M NOT GOING BACK TO RETAIL!!"
oh. ohhhh. Jay's struck a nerve.......
So much so that her shouting causes a pink shockwave ripple exuding from her body that blasts back against the alchemist-merchant... and Josie and Gwen at the same time!!
Yes.
The power of retail has so wounded a soul it has manifested in psychic backlash.
GS: Arisugawa Joy has activated Force Action: Full Clip! GS: Arisugawa Joy has activated Force Action: Fury Shot! GS: Arisugawa Joy has activated Force Action: Snipe! GS: Arisugawa Joy has activated a Boss Action! GS: Arisugawa Joy has attacked Josephine Lovelace with Retailiation of the Soul! GS: Arisugawa Joy has attacked Jacqueline Barber with Retailiation of the Soul! GS: Arisugawa Joy has attacked Gwen Whitlock with Retailiation of the Soul! GS: Arisugawa Joy has gained 1 Combo! GS: Claude C. Kenny has activated Force Action: Guard! GS: CRITICAL! Claude C. Kenny suffers a terrible blow from Jessie and James's Meteor Swarm for 351 hit points! GS: Blind applied to Claude C. Kenny! GS: Hyper applied to Jessie and James! GS: COUNTER! Rena Lanford counterattacks Jessie and James with Light Cross! GS: CRITICAL! Rena Lanford suffers a terrible blow from Jessie and James's Meteor Swarm for 347 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Rena Lanford gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Break removed! GS: Blind applied to Rena Lanford! GS: Hyper applied to Jessie and James! GS: FP up! Arcane Font! GS: Rena Lanford enters CONDITION GREEN!! GS: CRITICAL! Jacqueline Barber takes a solid hit from Arisugawa Joy's Retailiation of the Soul for 290 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Jacqueline Barber gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Misery inflicts a random effect! Hex applied to Jacqueline Barber! GS: Quick applied to Arisugawa Joy! GS: FP up! Reaction bonus! GS: Jacqueline Barber enters CONDITION GREEN!! GS: CRITICAL! Josephine Lovelace takes a solid hit from Arisugawa Joy's Retailiation of the Soul for 342 hit points! GS: Misery inflicts a random effect! Weaken applied to Josephine Lovelace! GS: Hyper applied to Arisugawa Joy! GS: Josephine Lovelace has Fallen! She is no longer able to fight! GS: Jessie and James solidly guards Rena Lanford's Light Cross for 129 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Jessie and James gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Jessie and James enters CONDITION GREEN!! GS: CRITICAL! Dias Flac takes a glancing hit from Jessie and James's Meteor Swarm for 104 hit points! GS: Blind blocked! GS: Hyper applied to Jessie and James! <Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
Ida's gaze darts between Fuecoco and the Bomb, before settling into a look of relief. She lets out a breath, unsure how that worked but unwilling to look a gift horse in the mouth.
"Voi," says Aurora, fluffing herself up as she stares the Skiddo down. Neither Eevee seems to anticipate what's coming, though; Auora once again takes the brunt of the hit, and sinks to the ground as seeds pelt against her.
"Aurora, return!" Ida cries, as she fumbles Aurora's Pokeball into hand, and thrusts it out. Aurora takes a moment longer to return than usual. Her fighting spirit--and her devotion to her sister--are strong. Marigold weathers the bombardment a little better thanks to Aurora's sacrifice, but when it ends, she's swaying, dizzily. "Marigold, return!" A second beam of light engulfs Marigold, returning her to the safety of her Pokeball.
The only one spared is Catastrophe Sal, who escaped by virtue of sitting on Ida's shoulder. "Pie," she says. And she hops off onto the dusty soil of a dying world, and looks up at her Trainer. "...Caterpie."
BGM: The Ecstasy of Gold - Ennio Morricone - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYI09PMNazw&ab_channel=CinemaHotelStudios
The Evoilite around Sal's neck gleams like the tiniest of Sheriff Stars.
"Sal," Ida says. "I trust you. Show them what you're made of! GO!"
And Sal takes off at a dead sprint, which--even for a Caterpie--is pretty damn fast. She jukes wide to avoid Fuecoco's flames, and the attacks of Violet's Pokemon--and then she leaps up to RAM Skiddo head-on, despite being only a fraction of his size.
"PIE!!" Catastrophe Sal thunders, with all the righteous fury her tiny Caterpie body can muster.
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey enters CONDITION GREEN!! GS: Mute expired! GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has attacked Giovanni with Catastrophe Sal Lays Down The Law! GS: Ida Everstead-Rey enters CONDITION GREEN!! GS: Ida Everstead-Rey takes 29 damage from Poison! GS: Poison expired! GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has completed her action. GS: Giovanni suffers a terrible blow from Ida Everstead-Rey's Catastrophe Sal Lays Down The Law for 171 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Giovanni gains 1 additional Combo! GS: CRITICAL! Gwen Whitlock suffers a terrible blow from Arisugawa Joy's Retailiation of the Soul for 324 hit points! GS: Misery inflicts a random effect! Disease applied to Gwen Whitlock! GS: Gwen Whitlock enters CONDITION GREEN!!
<Pose Tracker> Rena Lanford has posed.
"Might want to take your time on that one." Rena says, Re: Claude thinking about it, a light tease. But 'He called you annoying.' and Rena calls out, annoyed, "Dias!"
(She knows an annoying little sister joke when she hears one.)
After all- she's /pretty good at it.
Well, give Rena SOME credit, she doesn't attempt to dislocate Jessie's shoulder when she says Uncle. She doesn't let GO either though, she just doesn't apply more Force.
"Why do you think? I was raised here! Things aren't like they are on Nede!" Rena tells her with a certain passion, "It's not that the people here are like this. It's that they HAVE to be like this, to survive. Stop- making things harder on them!"
The LESSON might have gone as planned too if not for James shouting a spell Rena DOESN'T KNOW! But she sure can GUESS what it is!
Swiftly, she lets Jessie go, standing up to her feet and- "LIGHT! CROSS!" The spell of sequenced tiny radiant explosions starts to form, even as Rena's position is consumed in Meteors slamming down, again and again from above.
And then-
"Plenty... powerful."
Rena tells them quietly in the settling dust, coughing a few times, "Guess maybe that one will come to me... some day, for now though?"
Symbological Power flares around the area, billowing out in rising runes, showing for just a second the awful state she's in after taking James' spell on to the face.
"But for now... this one is enough. Faerie Light!"
It forms within her hands like a warm glow, and then that glow spreads out, taking form as an enormous robed faerie that suddenly sweeps overhead, and- then flies over each of them.
There's a glittering shine that rains down in it's passage, that warm light moving down the forms of each person it touches and remakes that which was harmed by their magic.
"If you're so resolved to bring harm to the people of Filgaia... then I'll fix everyone you hurt with the magic I inherited from Nede, as many times as I have to."
GS: MYSTIC ARTE! Rena Lanford has attacked Dias Flac with Faerie Light! GS: MYSTIC ARTE! Rena Lanford has attacked Claude C. Kenny with Faerie Light! GS: MYSTIC ARTE! Rena Lanford has attacked Rena Lanford with Faerie Light! GS: Rena Lanford has gained 2 Combo! GS: Rena Lanford has completed her action. GS: Rena Lanford heals Claude C. Kenny! He gains 342 temporary hit points! GS: Restore! Blind and Slow removed! GS: Pray grants a random effect! Hyper and Regen applied to Claude C. Kenny! GS: Rena Lanford used Force Action: Mystic on Dias Flac! FP up! GS: Shieldbreak removed! GS: Rena Lanford used Force Action: Mystic on Claude C. Kenny! FP up! GS: Rena Lanford heals Rena Lanford! She gains 304 temporary hit points! GS: Restore! Blind removed! GS: Pray grants a random effect! Burst and Regen applied to Rena Lanford! <Pose Tracker> Giovanni has posed.
The Skiddo comes under heavy assault from multiple Pokemon. He can only weave between so many punches from a Hitmonlee, a Hearthound bite, and a Clefairy's blasts of energy. He skids away...
To get rammed into by Sal. He bounces backward, with a stumble, and starts to run again...
...and, finally, ends up right in the path ofthe stream of fire breathed out by Fuecoco. The flame rolls over him -- and when it passes, he is covered in black soot. Skiddo's eyes blink -- then he falls over.
And then gets pulled into one of Biggs's Pokeballs.
"Not bad," he says. "But it'll take more than that! We learned from the Boss himself."
Wedge throws a Pokeball. "C'mon, Grimer! You're up! Hope you ate good!"
"GRRUUUUM!"
(That would be a yes.)
The Grimer comes back out -- popping out of the Pokeball -- and there are some flecks of crumbs and berries on his great, smiling maw. He did, in fact, have a snack. And that means, next--
BUUUUUUUUUUUURRRRRRP
--there is a great, gusting, and smelly wind that hurtles for Sal, for Fuecoco, and Violet's team of Pokemon.
GS: Giovanni spends 1 Combo on Gatling, loading 1 into Gatling! GS: Giovanni has attacked Violet Salazar with Grimer - Belch! GS: Giovanni has attacked Timu Guado with Grimer - Belch! GS: Giovanni has attacked Ida Everstead-Rey with Grimer - Belch! GS: Giovanni has gained 1 Combo! GS: Rena Lanford heals Dias Flac! He gains 301 temporary hit points! GS: Pray grants a random effect! Amplify and Regen applied to Dias Flac! <Pose Tracker> Claude C. Kenny has posed.
"He did," Claude answers Dias. "...Heeeey, you're not saying you agree with him, are you?" He is probably playing along, though once he would've been serious about that question.
His butt! "Yeah!" Claude says. "And there's more where that came from!"
Meowth, apparently, helps in his way. But just when Claude thinks they have Jessie and James on the ropes, James holds up his hands. "Yeah," Claude says. "If you stop doing this kind of thing, then maybe we can get there. But--"
METEOR SWARM!
Claude is knocked clear off his feet by the blast, slamming back into a rock wall. "Oof--!"
His sword clatters to the ground despite his best efforts, and he looks worse for wear, singed and battered. But he isn't done. "Wow. ...I was taking you guys too lightly," he admits, and he pulls something from a holster at his side. "But no more of that."
He remembers all those years ago, when he used this weapon recklessly. He got all kinds of rumors spread about himself by blowing open a door with it. Will there be more rumors today?
Maybe. But he's taken them way too lightly. They are from Nede. Just like Rena, as she says. She'll use the magic she inherited...
"And while Rena's healing us," Claude says, "Dias and me'll make sure to take you DOWN!"
He lifts a hand--Jessie and James might recognize the device in his hands as a GUN, but it isn't a Filgaian ARM at all. It's a sleek, smooth Phase Gun, the very same that he once used almost at this very spot.
And when he pulls the trigger, a radiant white beam blazes forward, causing a huge explosion in the center of Team Rocket's general vicinity!
GS: Claude C. Kenny has activated Force Action: Full Clip! GS: Claude C. Kenny spends 5 Combo on Headshot and Gatling, loading 3 into Gatling! GS: Claude C. Kenny has attacked Jessie and James with Sword of Light! GS: Claude C. Kenny has gained 1 Combo! GS: Claude C. Kenny gains 10 FP from his Daredevil! GS: Claude C. Kenny gains 33 THP from Regen! GS: Mighty expired! GS: Claude C. Kenny has completed his action. GS: Gamble: High! Violet Salazar takes a glancing hit from Giovanni's Grimer - Belch for 120 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Violet Salazar gains 1 additional Combo! GS: FP up! Arcane Font and SOS Overdrive! GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has activated Force Action: Accelerate! GS: Gamble: Low! Ida Everstead-Rey fully evades Giovanni's Grimer - Belch for 21 hit points! GS: FP up! Arcane Font! GS: Ida Everstead-Rey enters CONDITION GREEN!! <Pose Tracker> Vivace Mori has posed.
Dirk has some of the same worries as Vivace, which is why she's being so careful with her Pokemon. Tinkatuff got recalled as soon as she got blasted even once, even though she was still acting like she was ready to go; Sandshrew is hunkering down and ready to protect herself, curled up defensively while Gholdengo goes on the offense.
She understands.
But she also understands that Rocket isn't abandoning the field. Vivace's gaze flicks to one side as she looks at the other fighting Rockets - some not even using Pokemon! - and back to Damian.
"Suit yourself," Vivace says. "Just remember that I warned you what you were getting into. Gholdengo! Quick, away!"
Gholdengo abruptly stops what it's doing and backs up. Fast - it is, as Damian remembered, a Ghost-type even if it doesn't really show and it seems pretty solid. But it doesn't entirely back up; it leaves a little pile of coins behind, part of its very body as a distraction.
Purri crashes into the coin stacks, showering the area in spare change and flat bits of metal. Gholdengo isn't hurt by the impact, but it did give up part of itself to make the Substitute, and it's not doing quite as well as it was before. Vivace lets it do as it will, which is to recover, drawing the scattered coins back to itself.
"Sandshrew! Clear it!"
Having been left alone for a few moments, Sandshrew is now ready for action! She rolls, tucking herself the rest of the way up, and begins to pick up speed. Ice and frigid mist forms further and further around her, an increasing shroud of ice that she just uses to roll over strings, fallen coins, and just about everything else while zooming around with intent to impact.
Vivace, for her side, is trying very hard to not get distracted. She hears something that sounds like nothing so much as a movie's beam gun, and tries very hard to not turn around and stare. This also means she misses most of Joy's rampage, but such is life.
GS: Vivace Mori has attacked Damian Tamaoka with Sandshrew - Ice Spinner! GS: Vivace Mori gains 5 FP from Sufferer! GS: Vivace Mori takes 35 damage from Poison! GS: Cripple, Mute, and Poison expired! GS: Vivace Mori has completed her action. GS: Damian Tamaoka has activated Force Action: Accelerate! GS: Damian Tamaoka suffers a terrible blow from Dirk Swordsman's NIGHT SLASH for 189 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Damian Tamaoka gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Dispel! Mighty and Riposte removed! GS: FP up! Power Burst! GS: Timu Guado has activated Force Action: Accelerate! GS: Gamble: Very High! Timu Guado fully evades Giovanni's Grimer - Belch for 28 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Timu Guado gains 1 additional Combo! GS: FP up! Reaction bonus! <Pose Tracker> Violet Salazar has posed.
Violet's Pokemon are caught in the disgusting blast of the Grimer's belch. They flinch, and some of them even back away. "That's just gross!" Violet announces (unnecessarily). The Guado girl, she notices, is in pretty bad shape. "Mimsy..." she calls to the Clefairy. "You're up!" pointing to Timu. The Clefairy spins in a circle, raising and lowering her arms gracefully, and a healing wave washes over the Guado...
GS: Violet Salazar has completed her action. GS: Violet Salazar spends 2 Combo on Inspire and Reload! GS: Violet Salazar has attacked Timu Guado with Healing Circle! GS: Violet Salazar has gained 3 Combo! GS: Violet Salazar has completed her action. GS: Damian Tamaoka suffers a terrible blow from Vivace Mori's Sandshrew - Ice Spinner for 170 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Damian Tamaoka gains 1 additional Combo! GS: FP up! Power Burst! GS: Violet Salazar heals Timu Guado! She gains 202 temporary hit points! GS: FP up! Violet Salazar's Reload!! GS: Timu Guado gains 2 Combo from Inspire! <Pose Tracker> Dias Flac has posed.
Rena grows sharp; Claude asks if he agrees. "Heh," Dias breathes around his smirk, and answers neither of them.
Which is, of course, answer enough in and of itself. They have all come a long way since the start of their journey.
That smirk fades, of course, as the battle resumes. For a moment, it seems as though Jessie and James might surrender, with Jessie pinned and James having being bitten in the butt by his own Meowth. Dias doesn't trust it; he doesn't trust any enemy, generally speaking. So when he points that rose at them, Dias is ready for what comes next--or at least, as ready as one can be for a Meteor Swarm. He leaps and jumps and backsteps out of the way of any direct impacts, but the shockwaves that follow are another story. At the end, he's still standing, but the reverberations still resonating in his body are quite painful.
But...
He's not fighting alone. Rena reclaims her heritage for the sake of her homeland and pours forth healing power. Claude admits he'd been taking them lightly, and fires his 'Sword of Light.' Both of them convey their resolve, both by itself and through their sense of camaraderie. ...They're strong. In a way beyond muscle, beyond technique.
"..."
As Rena's Nedian power flows into him and recovers the blood he'd lost and knits the wounds he'd suffered, Dias grips his sword with both hands. His pace is even, measured; he breaks into a sprint as the blast from Claude's phase gun peters out. When he stops, Swallowblade is already in motion, arching a glimmering circle around, overhead, and down, as if tracing out a full moon. Powerful light of his own forms in between, then, as he twists to one side, bursts out in both directions to, potentially, smash into Jessie and James (and Meowth?!) from opposite directions, Dias at their center.
"Begone," he commands as he cleaves the sky. And then, at the coup de grace: "Full Moon Slash!!"
GS: Dias Flac spends 5 Combo on Headshot and Gatling, loading 3 into Gatling! GS: MYSTIC ARTE! Dias Flac has attacked Jessie and James with Full Moon Slash! GS: Dias Flac has gained 1 Combo! GS: Dias Flac gains 21 THP from his Cautious! GS: Dias Flac gains 30 THP from Regen! GS: Dias Flac has completed his action.
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
"I'm also talking about trade. You have to start somewhere, and working with me would help them to get a feel for the world." Jacqueline points out to Gwen. Unfortunately, there's a fundamental misunderstanding - that only gets worse.
Unfortunately, Joy does not take her suggestion well. It seems like Nede's stores have a hidden dark side to them... A pink shockwave ripples out. Quickly, Jacqueline gestures with her left hand. A pillar of earth rises up to intercept the wave - but it still blasts right through it, bowling her over. With a wince, she hauls herself to her feet.
"I- promise I'm much better than all of that, but... duly noted. I won't bring it up again." She coughs out. She brushes herself off, before drawing a Crest Graph from both decks, the one in her left gauntlet and the one in her right, setting them in the opposite slot.
"...Are you ready? Please brace yourself." Jacqueline warns. She casts first from her left. The ground beneath Joy's feet abruptly begins to freeze - catching her, too, if she isn't careful - before finishing with a gesture from her right. The frozen earth erupts, sending chunks of frozen stone rushing upward toward Joy!
GS: Jacqueline Barber spends 2 Combo on Gatling, loading 2 into Gatling! GS: Formation! Jacqueline Barber has attacked Arisugawa Joy with Dualcasting Sequence! GS: Jacqueline Barber has gained 2 Combo! GS: Jacqueline Barber gains 5 FP from Gleam! GS: Jacqueline Barber has completed her action. GS: Arisugawa Joy suffers a terrible blow from Jacqueline Barber's Dualcasting Sequence for 266 hit points! GS: Jessie and James solidly guards Claude C. Kenny's Sword of Light for 160 hit points! GS: Hyper and Shield applied to Claude C. Kenny! GS: FP up! Countermeasures! GS: CRITICAL! Jessie and James solidly guards Dias Flac's Full Moon Slash for 175 hit points! GS: FP up! Reaction bonus! <Pose Tracker> Timu Guado has posed.
Timu watches as her teammates pool their strengths together. She's impressed with how coordinated Violet's trio are, and how Ida's Caterpie seems to be moving with so much more energy and conviction than those she met along walks about the Kanto Plains Route.
Together, they take out Skiddo.
"You did it," she says to Fuecoco--
'Not bad, but it'll take more than that! We learned from the Boss himself.'
Grimer's back out on the field, and there is a mild horror on the backfoot, but in the back of Timu's mind and in the entirety of her heart...
"Fuecoco," she quietly intones - and gets to work, the warmth of the White aspect of Althena's Blessing channeling through her as something warm envelops Fuecoco with a newfound sense of speed.
"Move!"
He moves, as fast as his tired, exhausted little body can as that awful wind sweeps out the field. He sputters and coughs in a strained (but cute, and especially bold) way as that wind carries through towards Timu's end...
"You didn't learn anything from a new Boss," she swings her healer's staff outward in a flourish, parting some of that foul air, "if you didn't learn anything from Seymour!"
The same scolding tone Gon had when talking down to people, of which he did plenty of. But, so too did he pass down his undeniable potency and skill in what Spira called pryaer magic.
Violet offers aid from a Clefairy that may or may not have recognized her aid at a time of great need for her kin, and Fuecoco is further bolstered by this healing wave to stand upright and let their tuft flare out ever brighter.
"Thank you," she says to Violet's Clefairy, and then upright. "Fuecoco! ...Don't let this stench be what we leave this part of the world. Share your song with Round!"
Fuecoco takes a deep breath, and then... a melodious, powerful song escapes them. "Fue, Fue, Fueeeee co coooo...! Coooo.... cooooo.... coooo!!"
It builds in intensity and power with all of the love and affection it has built from his short time with his Trainer, and with his other Pokemon friend currently resting in their ball, threatening to overwhelm Grimer's bad table manners with joyous, racuous song that just begs for others to join in on the Round!
"Begone!" Her finishing remark, pointing the head of her staff at two fully-grown Guado she refuses to be cowed by.
GS: Timu Guado has activated Force Action: Full Clip! GS: Timu Guado spends 3 Combo on Gatling, loading 3 into Gatling! GS: Timu Guado has attacked Giovanni with Round! GS: Timu Guado takes 38 damage from Poison! GS: Hyper expired! GS: Timu Guado has completed her action. <Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
VIRIDIAN CITY PARK, TWO DAYS AGO
"ROOOOOOOAR," says Ida, as she drives the fuzzy end of a fuzz-on-a-stick toy at Sal. "I'm a scary monster! I'm coming to get you!" Despite the playfulness in her tone, she's moving with all the speed she can muster, trying to 'tag' Sal with the stick.
Sal skitters back, and throws herself into a roll, coming up to her stubby feet after completing two full rotations. (When you're a Caterpie, that's considerable physical exertion.)
NOW
Ida sees that swap-out, and the crumbs decorating Grimer's mouth. She knows her foe's on their last Pokemon, and she's seen how that can lead to either a come-from-behind victory... or defeat.
It's as true for Biggs and Wedge as it is for Timu, and for her.
"Sal, evade! Just like we practiced!"
BGM: Aaron Copeland - Hoedown - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LsReWx9XdNs&ab_channel=solutioncow
Sal does not merely combat-roll her way out of this one. Sal contracts her body, and SPROINGS upwards, doing a sick 360-degree twist in mid-air. The wave of unpleasant-smelling force washes by beneath her, barely grazing her antenna. "Pie," Sal grunts as she lands, and she waggles said antenna, then glances back at Ida.
"Go, Catastrophe Sal!" Ida cries, all thoughts of 'dignity' and 'looking like a grown adult' thrown out the window. She thrusts a hand forward, at Grimer.
"Piiiiiiiii~!!!"
Sal sings, joining in Fuecoco's song--but she still lunges forward, once again Tackling her foe.
GS: Giovanni suffers a terrible blow from Timu Guado's Round for 226 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Giovanni gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has attacked Giovanni with Tackle! GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has completed her action. GS: Giovanni suffers a terrible blow from Ida Everstead-Rey's Tackle for 168 hit points! <Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
"So, it's for your ideals... eh?" Josie remarks, her gaze hooded. "Fair enough. Just don't let those ideals of yours make you lose your way or none, kiddo."
"So that's what went down. Well, lucky you, eh?" Josie quips to Jacqueline. "I was headin' up to check that rift out for my lonesome, but it looks like it found me first!" After a fashion, anyway. If one considers the people who lived beyond the rift to be the same as the rift itself.
Isn't Josie technically a wanted criminal herself, what with the Odessa stint and a literal price on her head for legitimate reasons? Yes, yes she is. What can Josie do but give Gwen a sly grin and a wink in response?
Again: Josie does not have and has not had a real job in years.
Which is not to say that Jay herself has much of a better offer on the table.
Josie knows that look. She's seen that look only on the most shellshocked of war veterans, to be sure, but she knows that look.
"Jay, what did you--"
The rant that follows (and the wave of psychic energy that comes with it) are another story altogether. Josie staggers back, gripping at her head with her left hand as she stumbles towards a nearby low wall and slumps against it, limp.
She's not insensate: her eyes are open and she's blinking. But she's been so stunned thoroughly by that psychic that neither is she apparently able to do all that much else in the moment.
GS: Damian Tamaoka has attacked Damian Tamaoka with Hyper Potion! GS: Damian Tamaoka has gained 2 Combo!
<Pose Tracker> Giovanni has posed.
The Grimer's belch comes to an end. And it's a powerful, rousing song that breaks through it -- and slams the Grimer backward, towards Biggs and Wedge. They look at each other with surprise.
"Uh--"
And then Wedge is struck by the Bomb, also pitched by the Fuecoco's song. He gets slammed backward, away from Biggs, and up into the air.
And then the Grimer is rammed by Sal.
It flies, slamming into Biggs. He cries out, wordless. The Grimer and Biggs go flying into the air too.
*'ping*'
Perhaps they blasted off. Whatever happened, they don't land.
A moment later, Mayor Allen peeks out of the mine -- and then he breathes a sigh of relief. "Thank the heavens..."
GS: Damian Tamaoka heals Damian Tamaoka! He gains 183 temporary hit points! GS: Damian Tamaoka spends 3 Combo on Gatling, loading 3 into Gatling! GS: Damian Tamaoka has attacked Vivace Mori with Go All Out!! GS: Damian Tamaoka has gained 1 Combo! GS: Damian Tamaoka gains 5 FP from Sufferer! GS: Blind expired! GS: Damian Tamaoka has completed his action. GS: Vivace Mori has activated Force Action: Guard! GS: Vivace Mori solidly guards Damian Tamaoka's Go All Out! for 111 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
Gwen turns to Joy fully now, hands extended wide to either side. "Then help us! If we're strugglin', do you think you guys'll do any better on your own, 'specially if we're gonna have t'butt heads? Because that'll be what happens, if we all continue like this! I'm only doin' this because I know ya'll care!"
But is it really? Gwen secretly chides herself. It's not as simple as that, at all, is it?
---A metal mask shatters, and Janus's borrowed face looks impassively down at her, a display of the final consequence of a dead man's hubris--
Surely there is a productive way to deal with these emotions, but did that really extend to all the people she meets, who are young and just a little bit too willing to turn to crime?
bbbbuuttt not as willing to descend into the hellspace that is retail.
Gwen stares blankly at Joy as Jay's words have even more of a dimming effect that they did to Gwen herself. She's always seen Energy Nede as a sort of self-contained manmade utopia. Maybe... there's a reason Team Rocket exists?!? "K-karens...? Show room? Wh--"
The massive backlash of psychic power knocks Gwen clean off her feet onto the ground, and as a result--
"WUAGH!" bzzzt
Her ARM also releases its own surprise attack in a massive discharge of electric energy, It's largely accidental, but that... doesn't make it any better for poor Joy, standing right next to her.
GS: Gwen Whitlock has activated Force Action: Full Clip! GS: Gwen Whitlock has activated Force Action: Snipe! GS: Gwen Whitlock has attacked Arisugawa Joy with Coronal Discharge! GS: Gwen Whitlock has completed her action. GS: CRITICAL! Arisugawa Joy suffers a terrible blow from Gwen Whitlock's Coronal Discharge for 311 hit points! <Pose Tracker> Jessie and James has posed.
"Shan't!!" Jessie yowls to Rena's desire for them to stop making things harder, as she hops up and gets out of the blast zone.
And James smiles, terribly smug, to Rena: "Perhaps you could learn something from me, little girl."
(Jessie doesn't remark that there's something she could learn from Rena, given how she flunked out of Nursing School before she ever learned Faerie Light.)
"Huh?" Jessie says, as she gets back to James and Meowth, blinking at the Phase Gun. "Hey, James, have you ever seen an artifact that advanced around here?"
"Don't think I have," James says, right before they're consumed in a vast slash of light.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!"
The sound of Team Rocket screaming can certainly be heard, but the screen whites out, and it's only seconds later that it fades back to show them all clutching to each other. "I thought we were goners," Jessie says, swaying as if she might faint.
"It's not over!!" James wails, because he sees Dias coming for them, first. And, in unison, they wail again: "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH....!!!!!"
In the end, they're in a heap, and have somehow spontaneously acquired bandaids over their foreheads. How did this happen? Perhaps Jessie is very quick on the draw. But James raises a hand, and cries: "We're not... done... yet!"
"You haven't yet faced the true wrath of Team Rocket!" Jessie insists, boldly.
"It's time to face... our Dark Sphere!!" James cries, as his rose, now missing several petals, lights up to channel another spell through it. Lo, a terrible portal opens up --
-- and sucks Team Rocket through instead, injured and beaten as they are.
"What?! James, your spell messed up!!" Jessie yells, as she latches onto Meowth.
"It was supposed to hit theeeem!!" James wails, as he loses his grip, too.
"LOOKS LIKE TEAM ROCKET'S BLASTING OFF AGAIN--!"
And off they go, through the spooky portal.
They'll probably be fine.
Maybe.
GS: Jessie and James enters CONDITION GREEN!! GS: Jessie and James has attacked Dias Flac with Dark Sphere! GS: Jessie and James has attacked Claude C. Kenny with Dark Sphere! GS: Jessie and James has attacked Rena Lanford with Dark Sphere! GS: Jessie and James has attacked Jessie and James with Dark Sphere! GS: Jessie and James has gained 1 Combo! GS: Jessie and James accepts Jessie and James's Dark Sphere for 163 hit points! GS: Hex, Jam, and Slow applied to Jessie and James! GS: CRITICAL! Claude C. Kenny suffers a terrible blow from Jessie and James's Dark Sphere for 115 hit points! GS: Hex, Jam, and Slow applied to Claude C. Kenny! GS: Rena Lanford suffers a terrible blow from Jessie and James's Dark Sphere for 96 hit points! GS: Reaction switch bonus! Rena Lanford gains 1 additional Combo! GS: Hex, Jam, and Slow applied to Rena Lanford! GS: FP up! Arcane Font!
<Pose Tracker> Arisugawa Joy has posed.
Jacqueline promises that she's a much more honorable and fair grade of merchant than the kind of retail horror she's been through, but Joy's perhaps a bit too traumatised to give that another try... and... well, trading isn't really her thing regardless.
Still, she's pretty winded from the exhausting backlash, and as Jacqueline moves against her -- channeling both frost and earth; she leaps away as the ground begins to freeze, but that's a behaviour that Jay's expecting, since the erupting earth threatens to knock her back--
If it weren't for Shedinja, again, who is struck and...
ROCK is super-effective!
Wonder Guard fails!
... is sent flying back towards her, and she recalls her immediately. "Shedinja!" she winces, landing roughly and rolling to one side.
This is going entirely south, and Joy knows it; she doesn't like exerting herself psychically, especially for a violent puropse. But when Josie says it's for her ideals, she does pay attention... even as-- even as she psychically strikes her back hard enough that she's stunned for for a moment.
Josie is very scary, so Joy takes this as a sign to get away before she decides that she needs more fresh holes in her flesh from that horribly big rifle of hers.
Gwen implores her to help the Drifters, instead of butting heads against them. That she only does this because she knows they care. "I will be help you all. But where the League and the Police can't help, this is the only path I can take--"
But then her psychic backlash triggers a horrid discharge of electricity in Gwen as well, and without Shedinja or Ditto to protect her, she's blasted off her feet as well, and clutches at her chest again with a look of severe pain. "Miss Gwen, uugh--"
She quickly fetches a ball from her sleeve.
"Hydreigon... please..."
Another Pokeball comes out, and out comes-- the majestic Dragon of Darqueness, in all her six feet of roundness with her threatening three heads (one head with brain, two sock puppet heads) --with a roar!!
Then she takes a gander at what's happening and is like:
wow this is messed up
Joy climbs onto her back in a hurry, recalling her other Pokemon and sweeping by Damian's side. "The others have left. Let's go too, Mia."
GS: Dias Flac takes a glancing hit from Jessie and James's Dark Sphere for 25 hit points! GS: Hex, Jam, and Slow applied to Dias Flac! GS: FP up! Reaction bonus!
<Pose Tracker> Damian Tamaoka has posed.
Damian's already made one trip out to Filgaia, and had come away from the experience with many insights for the next trip--though he hadn't actually expected it to be used for a trip like this...
There is a guilty wince as he sees Dirk recall Chespin like that. Healing. There are no Pokemon Centers here. Damian, almost as if by reflex, reaches into his pouch and pulls out a Hyper Potion. "H-hey, I brought extras. I promise, it's genuine. I'll give it to you for your Chespin. Um..." An awkward glance to the side. "I-if not, I understand. They have a type of magic here, Crest Sorcery, that does healing, but their Symbologists can't heal. For some reason."
He's still not clear on why that is.
A faint whimper in the back of his throat as another Ghost type is brought out. Vivace was slightly incorrect--Damian didn't have to remember that Ghouldengo was a ghost type--he can feel it, as surely as he can hear or see anything else on the battlefield. And so it is when Honedge comes out, he takes another halfstep back, trying to force his breath to steady itself.
Something is wrong.
Purri crashed into the pile of coins and turned, seeking to go after Ghouldengo, but when the Honedge comes out her eyes narrow at it instead. But then her ears perk up as she catches the hitch in Damian's breathing, and her priorities shift in an instant. She turns, to make for her Trainer, but the Night Slash reaches her first, sending her flying back towards him instead. "P-p-purri!"
That gets him into action, running to his own Pokemon and taking out a Hyper Potion to apply it to her. "C-c'mon, I got you..." He is a bit frantic over her being hurt like this...
Definitely not a stolen Pokemon.
But Sandshrew is back in action, spinning out a thick, icy mist. Fortunately for Damian, Pixi has also had a chance to recuperate, and she uncurls with the intention of unleashing flames on the ice-type--but unfortunately she is too slow to act, getting caught up in the ice bfore she can really get a flame going. Her little teeth are chattering.
Damian looks conflicted as he holds Purri in his arms, and looks to the pokemon of Vivace and Dirk that are still on the field, and the state his Pixi and Wurmple are in. Biggs and Wedge, Jessie and James are already gone, and Joy is retreating too.
Damian nods, reaching to his belt and recalling Pixi and Wurmple, then...
He leaves a few Hyper Potions on the ground. "S-sorry," he mumbles guitily as he climbs onto Joy's Hydreigon, still cradling Purri. "Let's go, Alice."
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
"Pie," says Sal, decisive resolve in her tiny Caterpie voice. She spits silk into the grass with a ptoo, and watches as her foes Blast Off, Again.
Ida is shaking. Nerves and adrenaline are to blame here, because despite this being a battle between adorable creatures, there were very real stakes on the line. Marigold and Aurora are hurt, and need to be healed. Sal is also hurt, even if she's soldiering through it. There are definitely more people (and Pokemon) in need of medical aid.
But for now, Ida rushes up to Sal, sweeps her into her arms, and squeezes her tight. "You were so brave," she says. "I'm so glad you're here."
"Pie," says Sal, as she nuzzles against Ida's face. She meets Ida's eyes, nods once, and tilts up her neck. A soft glow starts emanating from beneath her carapace.
BGM: Pokemon Let's Go, PikachuEevee! - Evolution - https:'www.youtube.comwatch?v=ohar_QABhRc&ab_channel=GamingMusik
"...What the...?" Sal starts spinning silk around herself. Within seconds, she's covered in a thick blanket, which hardens into something durable and leaf-green...
CATASTROPHE SAL has evolved into METAPOD!
"A Metapod..." Ida whispers, looking at the eyes? Eyespots? on Sal's chrysalis.
"Metapod," says a voice that simultaneously comes from and from within the chrysalis.
With Sal safe in her arms, and her other Pokemon safe in their Pokeballs, Ida glances back at Timu and Violet. "Do either of you need Heal Berries?"
<Pose Tracker> Violet Salazar has posed.
"Do either of you need Heal Berries?" Ida asks Timu and Violet. "I'd like one for Steve," Violet replies, hefting his Pokeball. "I've got a Medipak to heal myself, but I don't know if it would work on Pokemon." She didn't know if Heal Berries would, either, but it was worth a shot. Violet hated to see any of her companions in pain!
<Pose Tracker> Timu Guado has posed.
Biggs and Wedge blast off.
"...We did it!" Timu exhales like a great relief passes through her, coming down to a kneel and dropping all pretense of any sort of the (attempts at) culturally-ingrained stoicism of her people as Fuecoco ambles into her waiting hands to be lifted up and hugged.
"...co... co!" Fuecoco is celebratory in mood, but weak. It might be that what was in the air might have not been safe to breathe too deeply of, his consciousness holding near the precipice of needing a nap even with Violet's Clefairy's help.
A few tears trickle down the teenager's face, which in turn goes down Fuecoco's own. The miraculous concept of Pokemon evolution goes on nearby, which Timu misses in the moment. There's a lot to unpack with having had reunited with Biggs and Wedge like that. She doesn't want to know if her people are 'supposed' to just give into either guilt or just continue down a self-destructive path of serving who has the greatest sense of fell ambition.
Fuecoco, born without any knowledge or expectation of what a Guado is or is supposed to do, instead just embraces the moment of love and affection as a partner.
"...Y-Yes, if you can, I do... I do have some Potions," she says, wiping more tears off her face as she sets Fuecoco down. "I'm sorry, I... I need a moment, okay?"
A great shadow flies over her. She looks up. She can't quite make out the full shape, but it does remind her of Hydreigon...
...
She hopes Joy's Hydreigon is doing okay, unaware in the moment of just how close the two of them were to one another today.
<Pose Tracker> Dirk Swordsman has posed.
It's almost a shame. If Dirk wasn't fighting right now he'd be seeing what Dias Flac can do. He would probably eat that shiz up with a spoon.
But there's more important stuff in hand. "Yeah!" Dirk calls out when the Sandshrew busts an abrupt surging move, ice in the somewhat overheated plains of Filgaia. And then the Rocket's talking to him.
Dirk looks upwards. "... You think I'm gonna trust--" he begins, but the dude keeps talking. Dirk's eyes are hidden by his Cool Shades, but his brow furrows. He doesn't go for the opening, which may belie a lack of killing intent, but as Damian talks, Dirk says, "Probs. they're primitive or somethin'. Look, bruh, why you talkin' so much? You afraid your buddies--"
THOOM.
"Huh," Dirk says.
His train of thought smashes through stray Magnemites of the mind. "Aight look if you and your Pokemon are so close why you working with these guys? You know what they do, right? They lie to you or someth--" Hydreigon! Honedge, who had been glaring at Purri, turns his single eye towards Hydreigon, bobbing nearer to Dirk on reflex.
He doesn't have a chance to say anything until Damian (who, helpfully, he still didn't get a clear identification on) has departed.
"..."
Dirk sheaths his sword. Charcadet sits down. Farfetch'd has been watching Dias Flac this whole time which makes it a good thing none of that business got aimed at him.
"... They don't even GO here!" Dirk exclaims. He kicks the ground.
Several seconds of sullen silence passes. Then he walks over to squat down and inspect the Hyper Potions, giving Chespin's Pokeball a semi-conscious pat as he does it. Focus. (Charcadet walks over and pokes one with his BBQ skewer. It doesn't explode in fog or reveal itself to be a deep-cover Ditto.)
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
Joy's Shedinja are knocked out and recalled, and... then she calls out another Pokemon. Hydreigon... Jacqueline braces herself as the three-headed dragon roars - but when she chooses to go to her friend's side rather than attack further, Jacqueline straightens up.
She exhales.
"...I don't feel entirely good about this, but it's for the best that it was us that ran into her. I hope they'll at least take the warning to be more careful to heart..." She supposes, then looks over toward Gwen and Josie.
"Ah... do you two need a hand up?" She asks - and hurries over to both of them, just a case.
This ended better than it could have, at least. She's thankful for that much.
<Pose Tracker> Rena Lanford has posed.
James is obviously talking about magic, but Rena blinks her blue eyes and her tone is apologetic, "Sorry but..."
There's a momentary pause and, "...I'd rather die than learn anything from a criminal? I'd say it's nothing personal but it's actually very personal."
Well at least she's APOLOGETIC about it?
Then comes the screaming, at Claude's attack and Jessie and James said they were Goners-
"I thought you were too."
Wait she did! Does that imply she thought Claude was trying to kill them? No! It just implies she thought they were dying.
Another scream after Dias' attack and-
"Wow! You two proved me wrong again! I'm impressed."
And then- the Dark Sphere comes, and Rena warily tries to put up a barrier, but the spell still connects, in a powerful portal of dark magic that drags her off her feet.
But... it doesn't last long enough to pull her through
"Hmmmmm." Rena dusts herself off while contemplating the space where the portal once stood. "They probably lived."
<Pose Tracker> Claude C. Kenny has posed.
Claude holsters the Phasse Gun again, and while perhaps some people might start back up the rumors... It doesn't bug him as much as it used to. And they thought they were goners, but they seem not to be done. "Dark Sphere!?"
Pause. It hurts and all, and Claude has to get back to his feet too--forced t oone knee by the gravitic effects--but he looks to Dias, and then to Rena, and...
"...Probably," he agrees.
<Pose Tracker> Josephine Lovelace has posed.
"...Yeah," Josie says finally, rousing from her stupor. She offers Jay her good hand.
And then asks the more important question of the moment:
"They all like that in Energy Nede?"
<Pose Tracker> Vivace Mori has posed.
The Sandshrew (Alolan style) rolls to a stop, ending up flopped on her back before Vivace calls, "Up! Don't leave yourself open like that, we worked on that!" She hops up pretty briskly after that, but...
Purri is pulling back. Vivace could ask for Gholdengo to throw a coin or something, but one, her odds aren't very good, and two, she doesn't really want to hurt the Rocket. While this was more disorganized than most of her Pokemon battles, it was still one.
And Damian cared for his Pokemon. He cared about Dirk's Pokemon, or acted like he did. That means something, to Vivace.
She gives a slight nod, then pushes up her glasses with one finger - they've threatened to slide down her nose during that battle, more active than most of hers. "Sandshrew, Gholdengo, let's take a break," she says, recalling both of them rather than follow up the attack. They're both hurt; they deserve a rest, she figures, especially if this is still dangerous territory. Though the Rockets appear to be beating feet.
Vivace looks over toward Dirk. "Guess they really wanted something out here. Even if it's for the novelty," she says, a little sourly. There really are a lot of Drifters here, now that she looks. Very few of the remaining people here are Nedians... and she has to look up at most of them, which annoys her for reasons completely unrelated to the rest of Filgaia.
She's not even that short, dammit. And even if she was, she's fourteen. She's allowed.
Vivace knows she should introduce herself, and maybe ask for advice, or assistance, or offer her assistance; she doesn't know if any of them know about the Rockets, because they're all Filgaian and she doesn't know how many of them have been to Nede. She saw a surprising number of Pokemon, but not everyone had one.
What she actually says, before she thinks about it, is, "You're welcome," before she keeps scanning the Drifters. She tries again: "Sorry about the Rockets." She doesn't sound very sorry, which she thinks is completely fair, because she's not one and she didn't bring them here.
...Vivace may not be the best at dealing with people.
<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.
If it's any consolation, if Joy looks towards Gwen at that moment, Gwen is very clearly dazed, lying flat on the ground, rather than displaying some meaningful (and definitely cool-looking) pose to display however the heck she managed to pull that massive lightning attack off. A Joltik wouldn't unleash that much energy.
"... Mhaugh...." There's a pathetic groan from Gwen as she sits up, as Jay points out what they're all thinking-- or, at the very least, what Gwen's feeling right now.
Well, besides the headache, anyway.
The courier looks up as Joy escapes on her Hydreigon. ".... It ain't us they need t'be 'fraid of. It's people, like Solaris, n' Volsung's people. Maybe... it's just a matter of time, but..."
Gwen turns to Josie. She shakes her head. "..... Nah, just... Team Rocket," Gwen mumbles, rubbing her face. "... .... Which is probably why people like Joy are attracted to them in the first place." She sniffs and rubs her nose. "... 'eah, I could use a hand, Jay, if you're offerin'. Guardians, that packed a punch."
<Pose Tracker> Dias Flac has posed.
Dias has to give Jessie and James credit for one thing: they are incredibly tenacious. They took attacks like his Full Moon Slash and Claude's phase gun, and not only are they still alive, they're still capable of fighting.
Of course, James's spell sucks them through instead of their enemies, so maybe 'capable' is a stretch.
It does tug at Dias and the others, though, but he manages to brace himself, his sword a lever against the ground for long enough that his long hair blows around him in a way that would only be heightened by swirling cherry blossom petals, but otherwise does no real harm. (No real harm compared to everything else they did, at least. Jessie and James may be clowns, but they aren't weaklings, Dias has realized.) It's an impressive sight to the Farfetch'd who's been watching all this time at least, especially when Dias stands, swishes his sword to one side, and then smoothly, elegantly sheathes it.
'They probably lived,' Rena says.
'Probably,' Claude agrees.
"Too bad," Dias quips. He looks around at the rest of the skirmishes--but the other Team Rocket members have either blasted off or are retreating via Hydreigon. The battle looks to be just about over. He looks back at his companions. "You two should go make sure Allen and the townspeople are all right. I'll make a round around town to make sure all the Rockets really are gone."
That's what he suggests, anyway. Rena no doubt has other plans.
<Pose Tracker> Dirk Swordsman has posed.
"I guess," Dirk answers Vivace, disconsolately.
"Sup," he tells her. "I'm Dirk, good fight. I ain't ever seen a Gholdengo in action and your Sandshrew's tight."
Dirk looks at his team. "... Charcadet, you want to stay out?"
Charcadet, at this point, is burning kind of low. "Charcadet," he says, with fatigue.
"No prob," he says. "Take a nap til dinner." Another ball held out, another Pokemon absorbed. Farfetch'd eyes the Drifters warily. Honedge circles around, sheathing himself in what may be his equivalent of a 'hey we're all chill' motion.
"Yeah," he says, after Vivace addresses the Drifters. "They do stuff like this. You guys probably heard more from your League or the government or whatever."
Dirk looks towards Dias Flac then, with an appreciative look on the visible chunk of his face. ("Farfetch'd," says Farfetch'd to Dias Flac, raising his leek in salute before tucking it back under his wing.) It may be an impressive sight to the Farfetch'd.
<Pose Tracker> Rena Lanford has posed.
Rena doesn't laugh, despite the exchange between the three of them, as Dias makes a suggestion, "Wait- Dias!"
Rena indicates to him, "They were after the mines right? We should all go together first to be sure Team Rocket wasn't already inside."
That's a great justification, isn't it? It's followed by Rena then getting behind Dias Flac, one of the most famous Swordsmen on Filgaia and-!
You know, just lightly pushing him in that direction.
"Besides, Allen and you probably have a lot to talk about when it comes to - defense, in case they do come back!"
Yes this is all great justification.
Still doesn't explain why she's pushing Dias Flac, renowned swordsman.
In that direction.
That he almost certainly doesn't want to go.