Rising Darkness

[Moonlight-Zelda]

(OoC: This is a Johto-base roleplay, set four years after the events outlined in G/S/C, except without the game-hero or heroine. PM me if you'd like to join. There should be room for four people before things start to get cluttered.)

(Also, there is a mention of Legendaries and their mythology, but no actual appearances.)

(My RP Character, Serenity. )

RPer's:

(1) Moonlight-Zelda (Head)
(2) Shocari (?)
(3) RedRising24
(4) Kazea Tetsujen

Warning: God-modding posts will be ignored.


Rising Darkness

Moonlight danced across the dark waters of Ilex Forest, fern leaves rustling loudly. A cloaked figure was emerging from a thick clump of trees, shadows cast by its hood obscuring the wearer's face. The cool evening breeze tugged at the midnight blue fabric, rippling through it as the child-sized being strode towards the northern gatehouse. "… Almost there …" a feminine voice whispered, softly drifting before being omitted by the tree cover.

A sharp gust of wind suddenly shook the tree tops, several Hoothoot cooing in protest. The figure turned, glancing up as a humanoid yet winged shadow swept past. She whistled sharply, her tone a high-pitched and wavering, the hood of her cloak blown back when it circle around. Another cool gust succeeded in tugging her long umber tresses from under the folds of her cloak, falling halfway down her back as the creature landed in front of her. Crystal blue eyes stared down into the young woman's pale cerulean ones. "The southern area of Goldenrod has slackened, in their patrols. We should be able to enter, Serenity, without causing a commotion," the undersized Dragonite said calmly, his voice resonating in her mind.

"All right, that's at least a start. Thank you, Freyr," Serenity murmured, nodding gratefully to her amber colored companion. The sharp, curved white fang that hung from the dragon's neck on a sturdy iron chain shimmered slightly in the pond's reflection, swaying when Freyr shifted his weight. Though he still towered over his mistress, weariness tainted the Dragonite's muscular form. A small smile touched the young woman's lips, shaking her head. "You should rest. I'll be fine on my own," she said, maximizing a cobalt and white painted pokeball as her bare arm emerged from underneath the cloak.

"You're certain of this?" Freyr asked dubiously, tilting his head in amusement at his long-time human companion. "After all, you know they are not to be taken lightly," he added with a sigh, referring to the black-clad humans that had begun staking claims.

Serenity chuckled, before sighing. "While I appreciate your concern, neither of us have rested adequately in several days. You should while you can," she said, glancing up at the full moon. The pale celestial sphere, unfortunately, made their presence more noticeable — As well as strengthened the pokemon whom held reign over the night.

"Fair enough reasoning. Just be careful," Freyr murmured, a thin beam of red light enveloping his six foot frame. The elegant Dragon-type vanished within his pokeball when Serenity lowered it, absentmindedly minimizing it.

"I will be," she whispered to the night, hooking it to her belt as she continued. Yellowish light from the gatehouse's wide windows fell across the turf, seemingly darkening the area around it. The young woman moved into a brisk walk, before disappearing into the sea of trees once more.

Her fingers curling around a short metal tube as she walked, the hollow metal quickly growing warm to her touch. If she didn't deliver the Kanto-based ‘Resistance' soon, then it wasn't likely Johto would be able to overthrow Giovanni's ever growing rule.

 

[Sir Red]

(OoC: Just a warning, yes it's supposed to be kinda vague... Also, I had some trouble pasting it for some reason, my indentations disappeared for the most part... :-\)


It was a cool night in Goldenrod City and there was a strong wind coming from the south. The dark side streets were void of activity and noise. An eerie quietness had overtaken the city recently; the citizens too fearful to speak any more than completely necessary whilst out in public for fear of being accused of going against Team Rocket. And going out past dark was considered practically suicide, and yet a there was a young dark haired man doing just that.

He silently slipped from shadow to shadow, clearly well versed in the art of creeping through the night unnoticed. He came to halt and reached behind back, drawing from a small pouch a spherical device that grew too many times its' initial size in his hand. He watched with baited breath as a Team Rocket Grunt patrolled past in the dead of night. The Grunt passed by without noticing the teen, and he let out a soundless sigh.

He stood back up and took one step out of the shadows before feeling a sharp pain shoot threw his back. He let out curse, no longer caring about silence since his cover was already blown. The dark haired lad stumbled forward and turned to see who, or what had assaulted him from behind.

He was greeted by the menacing glares of two Rocket Grunts and their vicious looking Pets. The teen cursed under his breath, how had they been able to sneak up on him? The Beasts began to circle him as they led him towards a dead-end alley.

He looked around for a way out, and seeing none did the only thing he could. He threw the spherical device that he had withdrawn earlier high into the air. There was a flash of white light and as the ball returned to the boy, floating in the air was a fair-sized Black Bird. The two wolf-like beasts continued to press forward, repeatedly looking at the Bird of Darkness circling above her trainer. The alley finally came to an end and the boy winced as his wounded back bumped into the wall.

His menacing predators readied to strike, "Mightyena, Bite the Trainer!" one of the Grunts commanded. The dark haired teen looked on with disturbing calmness as the Bite Pokemon closed in quickly, its' razor sharp teeth prepared to rip him to shreds.

As it was about to sink its' fangs into the young man's arm it was suddenly struck first. Out of the shadows the Black Bird unleashed a powerful tackle and then vanished back into the shadows. The Rocket Grunts looked to the sky and saw that the bird was just as they had last saw it. They were confounded, were their eyes deceiving them?

As they tried to figure out what had happened, the formerly downed Mightyena got back to its' feet and joined its' brother in once more stalking their prey. But by this time, they had allowed enough time for the man with the hauntingly blue eyes to draw out another containment ball. He threw this one lower into the air and it had a similar result. Out of the flash came a short navy and tan quadruped pokemon.

The two Mightyena stared down their new prey in the dark shadows, their trainers not being able to discern exactly what type of Pocket Monster it was. However, this probably was soon remedied as the sleek pokemon suddenly ignited his head and behind. The grunts and their Mightyena recoiled from the sudden light source, and that was all the opening that was needed. The Darkness and Volcano Pokemon struck with devastating force, knocking their targets out cold.

As the Rocket Grunts tried to register what had just happened they too were hit hard. The two of them crumpled to the hard, cold ground. And then the man that they had been hunting was suddenly on them. He knocked the shorter of the two out cold with a swift punch to the temple. The other, he had something to say to first. He grabbed the Grunt by the collar and pulled his face close to his own.

"I'd advise you to remember this night very well," he said in a barely audible voice that was laced with hate and disgust. "Because someday soon you, and all of Team Rocket will be seeing me as I make you all pay for everything that you have ever done." The dark haired teen was seething with anger.

"Wha…What are you going to do to us?" asked the Grunt, his voice trembling with fear. He looked into the eyes of his foe and only saw no inclination of compassion of any sort.

A sadistic smile crept across his face, "Well I still have business to attend to tonight, and I can't have you or anyone else interfering in it. So….I guess I'll have to tie you up and leave you here." With that he punched the conscious Grunt in the temple, knocking him out like his teammate. He pulled some rope out of his bag, tied them up and stuffed their mouths.

With that he recalled his Pokemon to their storage spheres and slipped back into the shadows, and disappeared once more into the cool night.

 

[Moonlight-Zelda]

(OoC: Sorry, I had to go to bed before I could finish my post last night.)

The brunette quickly moved through the shadows, the heels of her black boots clicking on the now filthy concrete of Goldenrod's southern streets. Though her movements were barely audible as she turned into an alley way, the young woman's lithe form was tensed. Wary.

Serenity paused, tensing against the unyielding brick wall as a passing Grunt stalked past. The rank smell of tobacco followed him, causing the young woman to stifle a cough at the intensity of it. She slowly relaxed when his footsteps began to fade into the night, pushing herself away from the wall. Her pale cerulean gaze swept across the other road as she reached the end of the alleyway, unwilling to be caught off guard. Especially since she was carrying something that would more than likely get her killed, among other things, if they found it.

And it seemed that the street in front of her was void of the patrol, at the moment. Serenity immediately took the opportunity, half jogging across it before someone appeared. Her hand touched Terasu's pokeball under the cloak, before brushing away the thought of using her for cover. Psychic abilities were now being sensed, judging from how much quieter the Resistance had become as of late.

With any luck, however, the tide would soon change. Simply holding out wasn't enough, yet they had reached an impasse. With the Resistance's small numbers, they could not risk an all out strike. But then, on occasion their guerilla attacks were sometimes just enough to unnerve their foe — Even with Team Rocket's ever growing mass.

The young woman suddenly flinched when she collided with a previously non-existent object as she rounded the corner, stumbling backwards several steps. Hard hazel eyes were boring into her from underneath a black cap, the bright red ‘R' on the man's uniform visible even through the darkness.

Her own eyes narrowed, defiant as she straightened. The Grunt chuckled, sizing her up. Being nearly a foot taller, he was apparently assuming her to be but a child. A mistake, on his part. "Now what would a little girl like yourself be doing, wandering the alleys at night?" he drawled, maximizing a black and yellow-striped pokeball.

Serenity immediately slipped into an offensive stance as response, her lithe form tensed. The young woman's arms hung laxly at her sides, yet more than ready to strike out. "And if I am not a child?" she queried calmly, balancing her weight on the balls of her feet, prepared to move in any direction.

The Grunt's hazel glare swept over her once more, hardening more so. "Then you face the consequences."

 

[BlackHero46]

The winds of Johto carried a suspicious calm this evening. The air pulled and twisted the tides of the lake bordering the vast metropolis of Goldenrod City. It was quiet, a bit too quiet. Not even the Pokemon of the night seemed active. As a few clouds obstructing the moon faded away, and the pale silvery light cascaded over a lone figure exiting from Ilex Forest. Her long green hair flowed with the ever wavering evening breeze as she walked. Her jade eyes scanned the area for any sign of moment. "It seems we weren't followed, Teto...," rang out the figure's soft voice, obviously female.

The Pokemon beside the newcomer stepped into the moon's radiance. The Shiny ice fox's snowy fur stood out in the dark environment around her. The Pokemon's bright blue ribbon-like tassels, that protruded from the crystal shaped crown on her head, pulled eastward with the wind; the Soothe Bell around her neck jingling from the movement. Then, the Pokemon voiced herself, her cry unknown to this foreign region."Glace...Glaceon."

The human nodded, being with the small Pokemon for years had taught her how to basically understand the newly evolved Glaceon even without her speaking a proper language. The Trainer signaled her partner to follow behind her as she sneaked past a building with a Daycare Service sign near the front. The girl sighed to herself when she stopped moving and took a place behind a tree, the Goldenrod borderline just a few feet away.

The Trainer hadn't expected this... She had come back form her journey in Sinnoh to visit a close relative of hers named Nick, who was training in Blackthorn to become a Dragon Master. At first, she'd had a great trip. The days were sunny, the people were friendly, but not everything could be that perfect. The moment she'd arrived in Azalea Town... things took a turn for the worst. Team Rocket had returned, and this time, they took their advances out in the open. Two grunts had tried to force her to pay an inhumanly expensive toll when she'd tried to go through Ilex Forest. Of course she had refused, but they weren't going to take no for an answer and had sent a few Golbat after her. The Trainer had been able to break past the grunts and into the Forest, though she knew the Golbat were tailing her.

Stilling her hand on a Quick Ball attached to her belt, the girl unlatched it and quietly released the Pokemon inside. After a flash of bright white light, a Lucario appeared; and a well-trained one at that. The Aura Pokemon bowed in respect before speaking telepathically. "Master Kazea... what reason have you to summon me? I will do anything I can."

Kazea brushed an errant lock of hair from her eyes before looking off towards the city before her. "Saisuke, something bad is happening. I need to get past this city without anyone noticing, so scan for any people who look like they're up to something sinister."

Saisuke bowed again before he went to work. The black drops off his head slowly raised up, blue Aura surrounding him. He took some time to finish his scan. "There are numerous characters guarding the entrance of the city. However, there is a small alley near the side of the gates that is unwatched."

Thanking the Aura Pokemon as she returned him to his respective Pokeball, Kazea faced Teto. "We're going to have to be careful and accurate with this. You ready?"

The Glaceon tensed in agreement at her Trainer's question.

The twosome crept up near the gates of Goldenrod until they were just inches away from a couple of Rocket grunts. Kazea hated Team Rocket... for her Father was no better then them. She pointed to a trashcan that was fairly far from where she was standing and issued Teto a command. "Alright Teto. Use Icy Wind on that garbage can over there, and make sure it's not too strong."

The little Pokemon's eyes shown blue as she whipped up a soft Icy Wind. The force was just enough to topple the trash bin over, and the guards quickly fell for one of the oldest tricks in the book to go investigate the noise.

Kazea took her short chance to rush past the gate. She easily located the alleyway Saisuke had told her about and wasted no time going down it. Resting her back against the tattered wall of the building, the girl released the intake of air she hadn't even realized she had been holding. They were safe... for the time being. That's when the most peculiar of sounds found its way to the ears of the human-Glaceon duo.

"Now what would a little girl like yourself be doing, wandering the alleys at night?," rang the first voice. It was obviously masculine, and overall, it wasn't pleasant.

"And if I am not a child?," said the other voice, this one feminine, and obviously a bit flustered; though not suspicious like the first voice.

"Then you face the consequences," the first voice replied to the second.

Kazea tensed. Someone was caught, caught and in trouble. She peaked around the corner of the alley to confirm her suspicions. Sure enough, there stood a young women, about eighteen or nineteen by the looks of her. She was dressed in garb worn by Dragon Tamers. The other person was defiantly a Rocket, and fully prepared to harm this Dragon Tamer by the way he was holding his Pokeball. Like Kazea would just stand around and let that happen. Jumping out from her hiding place, she yelled, "Teto, use Ice Beam!"

Teto did as asked and fired a powerful Ice Beam from her mouth. The attack hit and froze the Pokeball, knocking it out of the grunt's hand. His frozen Pokeball flew a few yards away from the impact. The man recoiled from the unexpected attack, and was now looking straight at Kazea.

Said Trainer didn't seemed fazed by his menacing glare. She only stalked forward, ready to command Teto to fire another move if he was to so much as take one more inch towards the Dragon Tamer, who was still backed against the wall.

 

[Sir Red]

(OoC: Let me know if something doesn't fit right with your posts thus far. I tried to change my initial idea after rereading how the Grunt found Serenity.)

The dark haired trainer set off once more, his former assailants more then taken care of, he needed to be more careful then before. And to be sure that he wouldn't be attacked from behind once more, he pulled out another ball from his pouch and released the creature inside with the customary white flash.

A small brown fox like pokemon appeared next to him in the dark, damp cellar. The Evolution Pokemon ran over to her trainer and nuzzled up to his leg affectionately. He bent down, petting her gently, his eyes constantly scanning the area for any signs of movement or activity.

"Demeter, I need you to follow me and watch my back. Essentially do what you usually do, attack any unknown person," the man said, his voice low and nervous. He had only recently begun working to foil Team Rocket's plans. Demeter nodded in silently; she sensed the unease in her trainer and wanted to do anything needed to help him.

He stood back up and ran across the empty street. The dark haired radical was heading east along the southern part of the city limits. His skinny, darkly dressed form darting in and out of alleys and over forms of cover; as he neared a major street he Demeter alerted him of someone approaching from the rear.

The teen grabbed Demeter and hoped a fence to his right. He landed in a small courtyard and dashed behind some bushes. He peeked out from his hiding spot to see who had walked by. He heard the clicking off footsteps against the ground and then source of the noise came into view. A very short girl walked by. What was a small girl doing roaming these dangerous streets at night. The dark haired man cursed her reckless stupidity.

And then he swore again as he saw that a Rocket Grunt had spotted her; even from this distance the teen could see a malicious glint in his eyes. He was conflicted as to what to do; she was just a child, yet he had his own business to attend to. So he looked down at Demeter, who was also silently observing the situation.

"What should we do?" he asked her in a hushed voice, his gaze following the Grunt out of view, but in a different direction from his prey. Demeter's answer was simple and obvious; she got up and ran off in the direction of the two who had just gone by. "Well I guess it's decided then," he said to himself sarcastically.

He got up and followed Demeter. When he finally caught up with her she was at a fork in the road, not sure of which path the two had taken. The teen cursed under his breath, they had spent too much time deciding what to do. Then he noticed a drainpipe to his left and grinned to himself.

He recalled Demeter for the time being and scurried up the wall. When he reached the roof of the home he was out of breath from the activity that was harder then he initially thought. But from this position he had a better view of the surroundings; but there was a downside, up here it was easier to be spotted. The roofs of the homes in this district were densely packed together, so it was relatively easy to traverse the area from the roof tops.
The teen set off across the roofs, looking into the streets on both sides as he went. And after only a little while he spotted them on his left and stopped. A cool gust of wind blew his bleached bangs about as he got down low on the roof; careful so as not to betray his presence.

The Grunt saying something, but strong wind made it impossible to hear from this distance. And just as he readied to attack, another creature of the night attacked him first. A young girl stepped out of the shadows; a Glaceon at her side which shot an Ice Beam at the Grunt, freezing his pokeball.

The situation seemed to be alright, what with what appeared to be a competent trainer there to take care of the Grunt. However, the teen stayed where he was; curious to see how the situation unfolded and if his assistance would be needed.

 

[Moonlight-Zelda]

(OoC: Sorry this seems short, but it's all I could come up with, without auto-ing anyone's character in a soon-to-be battle scene, XD. And don't worry, RedRising, your post is fine.)

Serenity sidestepped when an Ice Beam shot past her, taking the moment to avoid the possibility of being struck by the Grunt's pokemon. She shivered, the coldness of the attack cutting through her garments. Footsteps were now audible behind them, the frozen pokeball skittering across the grime-coated concrete. The glassy ice coating cracked as it collided with the brick wall, fragmented light reflecting from the still hovering wisps of glowing power. The ultra ball suddenly began glowing at the button, it apparently having already been pressured. A sleek black canine appeared in front of the Grunt, hard grey horns curving around the back of its head. The same gray bone donned it's ankles, three longer bones curving over it's back. The Houndoom's tan muzzle was rippling, its sharp, yellowed fangs appearing as it slipped into an offensive crouch.

She glanced over her shoulder, watching the arrival out the corner of her eye. The arrival's long, mint colored tresses shone under the full moon. An unfamiliar feline-fox stood at her side, a low growl now emitting from its throat, hackles raised. Another foe for the Rockets, it seemed. But unfortunately loud enough to attract attention.

The brunette's jaw clenched, her gaze flicking back to the Grunt. He seemed undeterred, only encouraged by the silent challenge of the Trainer. Serenity hesitated, before unlatching Terasu's pokeball from her belt. She immediately maximized the pale pink sphere, the folds of her cloak falling behind her shoulders and bare arms with the wind as she summoned the Psychic type. A shimmering silver-blue Dragon Scale was visible, suspended from a thin platinum chain over Serenity's heart. With a thin beam of crimson light, another feline-fox pokemon appeared.

It's large fennec-like ears were Terasu's main feature, aside from her forked tail. Slender, yet rippling muscle was visible underneath the Espeon's fine pelt. Her lilac gaze calmly fell upon the Rocket Grunt, unfazed by his glare. Terasu's small paws lightly padded the cement, her thin tail slowly swishing from side to side. Almost bored, it seemed. The Psychic type glanced over her shoulder at Serenity, noticing the Trainer and one of her distant kin. "They honestly do not learn, do they?" the feline-like fox queried, a small sigh audible as she looked back to their black-clad foe.

"It does not seem so, no," Serenity agreed, her tone nonchalant. If she gave the appearance of one unnerved, then it was likely that they would ‘search' her extensively — If they could catch her. The young woman's pale cerulean gaze flicked back to the Grunt. She sidestepped once more after a moment, moving in front of the other Trainer.

If anything, the newcomer did not need to be drawn into the conflict. Not when lives now hung in the balance, what with Team Rocket's arrogance.

 

[BlackHero46]

[BlackWarGraymon's post IGNORED.]

The newly freed Dragon Tamer took charge almost straight after she'd been given the chance to move. Despite Teto's efforts, the Ultra ball she'd knocked away ultimately released itself anyway. The grunt's Houndoom was good and ready for a fight with the elder Trainer's Espeon, whom she'd just released. Like Saisuke, the Espeon seemed to have telepathic ability, or at least that's what it looked like from Kazea's point of view. The elder Trainer had stepped in front of her upon regaining her stature.

The Rocket Grunt snarled for a moment before pointing to the Espeon known as Terasu. "You little brats! I'm going to make you regret that... Houndoom, use Flamethrower!"

The demon dog jumped up near the Espeon with what seemed to be an abnormal amount of speed. The cape clad Trainer jumped away as her Espeon took the initiative and dodged the flames the Houndoom was invoking from its gaping mouth.

Kazea couldn't just stand and watch. She was a capable a Trainer as anyone after all. Though for some reason, watching this other Trainer battle... telling her Espeon to whisk its Psychic abilities at the opposing Houndoom, who was continually attacking with Bite and the occasional Flamethrower, it stilled any actions she could take. This person... she had defiantly experienced many a battle before.

"Houndoom, grab that Espeon in your jaws!," shouted the Rocket out of nowhere.

Terasu's psychic powers and attacks were strong, but Houndoom, being a part Dark type, wasn't really fazed by such attacks. The canine Pokemon ran up from behind the Espeon and pinned her down with its fangs; the feline fox caught of guard.

As the Houndoom prepared a Flamethrower, Kazea finally took action, despite the elder Trainer's obvious reluctance to involve her in the fight. "Teto, use Aqua Tail to get that mutt off that Espeon!"

Teto ran straight at the dog, a diamond dust flurry flowing from her swift paws as she ran. Water suddenly enveloped the Glaceon's long ribbon-like tail, and with a single slam the Houndoom was knocked off Terasu; for Water attacks were a weakness for it. The two Eeveelutions met each others gaze after that, Teto smiling at Terasu and extending a paw in greeting.

Kazea herself took the time to walk over to the Dragon Tamer with a collected calm demeanor."I appreciate you trying to keep me safe, but at this point I'm already in this mess. It looks like you could use the help, I'm sure more Rocket grunts are going to arrive to back that guy up," she said as gestured to the grunt, whose Houndoom was getting back up to resume the fight at hand.

With a smirk, Kazea continued. "I'm Kazea Tetsujen. As much as I 'd like to give a proper introduction, this isn't really the best time. What do you say we team up for a while?"

 

[Sir Red]

The dark haired male watched as the short girl, who he still assumed was a child, and the newcomer battled the Grunt and his pokemon. A grin played across his face as he sat with his back against the chimney of the roof he sat atop. From this spot he had a clear view and the shadow of the chimney hid him well.

These two girls were more then capable of handling themselves, and he had just wasted a considerable amount of time worrying about the small girl. He shook his and laughed to himself, that's what he gets for worrying about foolish strangers. With that he got into a crouching position and looked around for a way to get down from where he was.

He peaked over the top of the chimney, and was met with a startling discovery. What he saw were a number of Rocket Grunts making their way towards the battle that the girls were having. The teen dropped back down into a sitting position and cursed. They had made too much noise and alerted more Rockets.

He brushed his hair out of his eyes as the wind picked up once more; the cool breeze sent a chill through his body. He cursed himself for not getting a black jacket. He had a white one, but in a situation were not being seen is key; a white jacket would be more harm then help.

The teen continued to sit there in indecision as the Grunts neared; he snuck another look and saw that they had nearly arrived. He sighed, angry with himself for what he was about to do.

He stood up and ran to the back side of the room and found a balcony off the second floor of the home that he was currently standing atop. He hopped down onto the balcony with surprising grace and then jumped from the balcony to the yard below, rolling to ease the impact.

The dark haired teen stood back up and ran off into the nearest alley, intending to cut off the Grunts before they could get to the women. He took lengthy strides knowing he had limited time. He thought about taking out one of his spherical storage devices, but decided not to yet.

He dashed through the alley, hurtling trash cans as he went; his body was tired from the physical activity he had been doing earlier and he still had yet to treat the wound he'd received from the Mightyena earlier.

The Rocket Grunts navigated there way towards the source of the commotion they had heard earlier; there were three of in all and each had already released their pokemon. The two female Grunts each a large tan colored cat walking in front of them. The male in the middle of the two had a large sinister looking black dog that was covered in skulls.

The teen shot out from the alley to there right, taking them all by surprise. The Grunts and their pokemon jumped back in shock as the young male smirked at them with malicious glee in his eyes.
"You guys want to play?" He said in anything but a playful manner. The Grunts quickly regained their composure and smirked right back at him. They prepared to attack, but their teenage opponent cut them off. "Three on one is hardly fair, so to make things more interesting for me; whichever one of you can catch me will be given the pleasure of battling me," he said, hoping that they would fall for his ploy.

He knew that his chances would be slim of beating three Rockets in this situation, but that wasn't his plan. All that he needed to do was to lead them away from the two girls.

"What makes you think we'd let you ru…" one of the female Grunts started, but before she could finish the young man had already set off down a side street. "Damn! After him," she yelled to the other two angrily. "Don't let that brat get away alive!"

The rebel sprinted down streets and alleys, no longer caring about stealth. Sweat ran down his head and into his eyes. He wiped his eyes to try to stop the stinging caused by the sweat; his breath was heavy and labored. With every step his back ached from the flesh wound he'd recieved earlier. With every corner he rounded he expected to run into a Grunt and possibly meet his end, but still no such incident had happened.

As he continued run to his breathing was getting more and more strenuous. Until finally his legs gave out and he fell from exhaustion; the teen let out a silent curse as he struggled to get back to his feet, but before he could he was tackled and pinned to the ground.

He looked up into a pair of large, menacing, red cat eyes. The teen was stricken with fear; pinned on his back like this he couldn't even reach his pokeballs. And on top of that his body was practically shutting down from exhaustion.

"We…finally…caught…you…," came the voice of the female Grunt, clearly exhausted from running after the teen for so long. She took a few more deep breaths and then smiled a menacing smile. "So…are you prepared to die young one?"

(OoC: To be honest I currently have no idea as to how I'd solve this situation. XD)

 

[Moonlight-Zelda]

The brunette nodded, accepting the other's assistance with a small smile. "Call me Serenity," she murmured, glancing back to the battle at hand. But also unwilling to give her full name, in the presence of the Grunt. "… And unfortunately, you're probably right," the young woman added, sighing.

Thick scarlet now trailed down Terasu's slick lavender pelt, testament of the fanged attack. The fleet footed Espeon's forked tail gave an involuntary twitch when the Houndoom's low growl became audible again. The pale blue Glaceon immediately moved into an offensive stance, its wedge shaped tail stiff.

The demon dog's amber gaze was now focused on the Eon duo, burning. Saliva was beginning to drip from its fangs, its sleek black and tan form tensed with anticipation. Houndoom's silvery claws clicked on the pavement when it began moving forward, tail held high in Alpha status.

Terasu suddenly hissed, the slick fur on her back standing on end. The advancing canine paused, amused by the feline fox's vocal challenge. Terasu suddenly tensed. Freyr appeared in a flash of red light, on his own accord.

"What is it?" Serenity queried, startled.

"I felt another human before the battle begun … Now it is suffice to say that there is trouble around him," Terasu said quietly to both of the female humans, glancing at Freyr. The undersized Dragonite nodded silently, apparently receiving information from the feminine Espeon.

"Okay. If you think this person needs help, meet at the base when it's all said and done," Serenity murmured, realizing that Terasu had ‘prodded' Freyr's pokeball to open it. "Best of luck to you," she added, her hand falling to the remaining two spheres on her belt that still contained her partners.

Terasu suddenly sprung onto Freyr's back, though the amber colored Dragon-type barely seemed to notice. Wind whipped up in the alleyway, tugging at their hair and clothes when the Dragonite lifted into flight. Serenity turned to Kazea after a moment, noticing the bemused stare she was receiving.

"They know what to do … But I believe it is time to continue our battle, before he grows bored," the brunette murmured, glancing at the Grunt and his Houndoom. She unlatched the crystal blue pokeball from her belt, maximizing it in her palm. An elegant, sapphire blue and white Dragon soon appeared in the thin beam of vivid red light, her neck and tail crystals glowing from the inside.

The Houndoom's ragged growl immediately resumed, bits of flame escaping its mouth. "Let the battle begin," Kazea said from beside her, nodding to the Glaceon.


(OoC: You can auto Freyr and Terasu when you post, RedRising)

 

[BlackHero46]

At first, the jade-eyed Trainer was taken ever so slightly by surprise when a smallish Dragonite, compared to most others, found its way out into the open and lifted the now departed Espeon on its back and towards whatever, or whoever it was that was feeling distressed; at least by Terasu's reasoning.

The brunette, who had introduced herself as Serenity, effortlessly picked up on the younger Trainer's questioning gaze. She calmly gave her bemusement an explanation, speaking in an all knowing, and even sagely way. "They know what to do … But I believe it is time to continue our battle, before he grows bored," Serenity murmured softly, glancing at the Grunt and his ire Houndoom, both losing what little tolerance they had left to remain still.

Feeling a smile tug at the corner of her mouth, the feeling of it all but happy, Kazea supposed there really was no way of getting around this fight. She hadn't a clue of what exactly was going on here, but she did realize the inevitable situation. Getting to Blackthorn would have to wait, because now, Kazea had a new task to uphold to herself: getting her, and anyone else around her, out and away from this place until the time came again to come back.

Serenity brought the girl from her thoughts when she called forth yet another Dragon, this one long and slender with crystals lining its tail and two winged ears.

Before either Trainer could comment, the malicious snarl of the Rocket's Houndoom caught back any words they could form in their throat. The demon dog was so overly angry from Teto's Aqua Tail that its searing flames were constantly spewing from the slight open area of its mouth. The canine's razor-edged fangs seemed to draw on the fire as it breathed it out, only adding to their dangerous appearance.

Kazea's eyes fell closed, knowing this wouldn't be easy with Teto being a pure Ice type and thus weak against fire attacks. She felt a tug on her pants and instinctively looked down, surprised.

Teto stood there, as best she could though she was small for a Glaceon, and after the Eeveelution dropped the fabric of her pants, she nodded at her Trainer resolutely.

It took a moment, but Kazea in turn nodded at her Pokemon. Looking to Serenity, she stated, "Let the battle begin."

As if on cue, the Grunt commanded his Houndoom to rush at the Dragonair and Glaceon. The dragon type in the line of target was as graceful as it was fast, and easily evaded the ongoing charge.

When the dog set its sights, or more precisely, its Flamethrower on the small forgotten ice fox Pokemon, Teto shot a sub-zero Ice Beam at the ground, freezing over the entire paved floor of the alley. The Glaceon could easily maneuver over ice, and the Dragonair could just fly over it. The Houndoom, however, was not so lucky and stopped its building flames to keep its balance.

Serenity issued a command for one of Kazea's favorite moves, Twister. In response, the slender serpent cried out its name and slowly began to twirl its tail in a quickening circle. The Twister attack the actions spawned was immensely strong and soon was whipped at the Houndoom.

The Demon dog had no way to avoid the attack with the ice causing it to already become immobile. The windstorm threw the Houndoom into a wall, and to add farther damage, Teto swiftly ran up over the ice and deluged the dark-fire duel type with another Aqua Tail.

The Houndoom seemed down at first, but suddenly Serenity gasped and Kazea noticed something typical for a member of Team Rocket.

The Grunt had called out, not one, but two more Houndoom from his remaining Ultra Balls. The two newly released Demon dog's had crept up on Serenity's Dragonair and used a combination of Fire Blast and Faint Attack. The ambush made the dragon fall to the ground, and though it wasn't near fainting, it seemed the Fire Blast had caused a Burn.

Teto was distracted by this and didn't see the seemingly defeated Houndoom from before get on its feet. Before the Ice type had time to react, the original Houndoom buried her under a Flamethrower.

"Teto!," Kazea cried as she watched her Pokemon drown in fire, her Pokemon's small body silhouetted within the inferno.

Satisfied with its vengeance, the first Houndoom met up with the other two to bite down on Serenity's Dragonair, who was trying to use another move, though Kazea wasn't sure what move exactly.

The Glaceon remind on the ground, her beautiful white fur slightly singed from the attack. Her paws twitched, her ears flicked, and her blue eyes soon opened. Teto got up, her eyes and body glowing blue.

Kazea wanted to sigh in relief that her best friend was alright, but she knew what attack Teto was using and wasted no time in grabbing Serenity's arm and pulling her under the roof of a building. Looking to the brunette, she sputtered out, "Tell your Dragonair to come over here! Dragons are weak against ice, so you don't want your Pokemon over there!"

Serenity looked to the girl in confusion, but soon relented. She called for her Pokemon, who heard the command and slammed the three opposing Houndoom away so it could glide over and curl its body securely around its Trainer.

The trio of demon dog's were about to go over to where the two trainers were hiding, but that's when Teto stopped stalling.

With a cry, the light from Teto's body shot up into the clouds above. The air suddenly dropped five degrees...

The Houndoom all looked at each other in confusion... until one of them was pelted by a large chunk of hail, and then another, and then another.

The Rocket Grunt was also hit by the ongoing hailstorm Teto had summoned. Though he tried to stand his ground, the increasing power of the hail was getting to him.

The Glaceon wasn't done. She next summoned a wicked Blizzard attack, the effect coupling with the hail and freezing two of the Houndoom solid.

The Grunt looked to his cowering Pokemon, one too weak to fight and the other two iced over.

Serenity's Dragonair went over to the three near-defeated demon dogs and prepared a Dragon Rage attack in case he still wanted to continue the fight.

The man growled before returning his canine followers into their Ultra Balls and running off, though not without remarking, "I'll get you little wretches for this! Just you wait!"

The effects of hail soon went away, something Kazea was thankful for, as she was prone to cold weather. She ran over to her tired and still singed Glaceon to scoop her up into her arms. Before she could though, the Dusk Ball on her belt opened by itself.

After a flash of purplish-black light, Kazea's Umbeon stood in the alley, his Reaper Cloth Scarf flowing in the wind like a shadow on the water, and his cerulean blue eyes landing on Teto.

The younger Trainer couldn't help but ask, "Byakuya, why did you come out? I didn't call for you."

Byakuya looked to Kazea with pleading eyes, the intent behind them all too clear.

The light of understanding dawned over the Trainer, and she smiled before whispering out to him. "Oh, I get it. Sorry... go ahead."

Byakuya smiled before gently looming over the weakened Glaceon and pressing the side of his body into her, his head resting contently on hers.

A streak of red lined Teto's face as she blushed from Byakuya's proximity. The ice fox purred lovingly as she nuzzled her head up under the Umbreon's chin.

Kazea turned to face Serenity, and to give the Eon couple a little bit of time to themselves. Byakuya was very much in love with Teto, and Teto was the same with him, though nether of the Eeveelutions seemed to get that both of them shared that mutual feeling.

"I'm sorry about the sudden turn of events, Serenity. I'm really not sure what's going on but..." The jade-eyed girl took out a Burn Heal from a pouch on her belt and offered it to the Dragon Tamer before continuing. "...Here... this is for your Dragonair's Burn. I know it has the ability to shed status effects, but the sooner you heal something the better."

 

[Sir Red]

(OoC: Typed this one up quickly, I apologize in advance for any typos or mistakes. ;D)

The cold still night was suddenly filled with screams of utter agony. In the middle of a main street there was a battling going on, if one could call it that. A large, tan feline hissed as it stalked its prey. A teenage boy, bloodied and exhausted, tried to defend himself from the vicious onslaught. As the cat pokemon menacingly stalked her prey he made an attempt to draw out a ball from his pouch, but the Classy Cat Pokemon lunged at in; her teeth sunk into the flesh of the teens forearm. He cried out in anguish.

The trainer of the Persian smiled, clearly getting joy from inflicting pain and misery. The female Grunt slowly walked up to her beaten prey and bent down next to him. She reached out her hand and turned his chin to make him look at her; her long nails digging into the skin on his face. The trainer winced in pain, not wanting to give her the satisfaction of hearing him scream again.

"I have to admit, you've been awful fun," she said, a foreboding sweetness in her voice. "It's really a shame to have to mess up such a pretty face, but I suppose that's what you get for messing in Team Rocket affairs," she said as she stroked his face with phony affection. The she stood back up and took a few steps back, her high-heeled boots clicking on the concrete road. "Kill him Persian," she said bluntly, her voice laced with venom.

The tan cat once more began to close in on the exhausted trainer. She prepared herself to finish him in one strike; fangs barred, crimson eyes glinting in the moonlight she charged. As she neared a Twister suddenly blew her back; the Rocket Grunt looked to the sky in surprise and saw a massive being silhouetted against the night sky.

The dark-haired trainer, who had closed his eyes tight in preparation for his end, opened them once more to see a bipedal dragon touch down in front of him. He wasn't sure at first if this was just an illusion from the immense pain or not.

But his question was answered for him as a booming voice echoed in his head, "Rest easy now little one, we'll handle this." The teen was a little apprehensive at first, but then his exhaustion took over fully and he slipped into unconsciousness.

The Dragon Pokemon turned his attention back to the still dumbfounded female Grunt and her equally bemused Persian; the two quickly regained their composure and gleefully prepared to battle their new foe.

"So, the little boy had allies? Well no matter, I'll just have to go through you to get to him. Which is fine by me," the venomous woman said as her Classy Cat began stalking the Dragonite.

"Do not take us lightly," the same voice boomed in the head of the female Grunt. Needless to say she was a bit surprised to hear a voice in her head; as she pondered where the voice came from her Persian attack on her own.

The large cat leapt at the undersized Dragonite, teeth ready to sink into his flesh. But suddenly the Persian was enveloped in a mystic pink aura. The Classy Cat let out a cry of surprise as she was hurled into the outside wall of a nearby building. The Persian slid down the wall, a trail of blood left in her wake from the devastating impact.

The Grunt looked at the Dragonite in surprise; as far as she knew Dragonites couldn't learn Physic attacks. Then she noticed something sitting on the head of the Dragonite, a small cat-like being. The moonlight making her lilac coat glisten, the ruby set into her forehead glowing faintly.

The Grunt realized she was outmatched, and needed to flee quickly. She recalled her Persian and made a run for it, and much to her surprise, she wasn't being followed. She let out a sigh; then she swore that someday soon she would kill that dark haired boy and the unknown trainer.

Back at the site of the battle the two mysterious saviors were making there way over to the unconscious boy. The two exchanged telepathic messages and then the Dragonite bent down; picking the limp body up into his arms he once more set off into the sky.

(OoC: Seeing as how he's unconscious I suppose I'll have to wait till ya'll post again before doing anything.)

 

[Moonlight-Zelda]

(OoC: I know you gave me permission to auto Kazea, but I still feel like I made her seem out of character, XD. Sorry about that ...)

"Thanks," Serenity said, smiling as she accepted the icy blue Burn Heal. The feminine Dragonair landed between the duo, her tri-crystal topped tail curling into the still chilled air. "This is Nieth, by the way," she added, spraying the pale blue ointment over the large burn that had charred blue and white hide near the dragon type's throat raw. Thankfully, it would accelerate the healing process.

The elegant Dragon briefly bowed her head in greeting, passing over a vocal response judging from their location. "Hello," Kazea said quietly, smiling as she nodded in return. "What is it?" the jade-eyed trainer asked, noticing the Dragon Tamer pause.

Serenity glanced over, lowering the Burn Heal. "Freyr and Terasu say they found the person they mentioned, and are now waiting for us … Since you seem to be in Team Rocket's sights now, perhaps you should come with me. Because, judging from your Glaceon, you aren't from Johto … You may as well get the general ‘lay of the land', per say, and it wouldn't hurt to rest for a bit," she offered, shrugging in uncertainty as she began moving across the still thinly iced surface of the alleyway.

"No, it wouldn't. Teto, Byakuya, come on. It's time to go," Kazea called over her shoulder, reluctantly interrupting their cuddling position. The Eon-couple's heads popped up, before bounding towards their mistress. The jade-eyed Trainer smiled softly in apology to them, momentarily pausing to rub behind their ears before they invited themselves back into their pokeballs as Nieth vanished.

The Dragon Tamer glanced back, resting a hand against the cool brick wall. "Well, we aren't far, so you can let them back out soon," Serenity said apologetically, a tinge of crimson appearing in her lightly tanned features when she realized Kazea had recalled both of her partners.

"They'll enjoy that, then," the jade-eyed Trainer said, following the cloaked Tamer when she began to walk again.


Serenity paused when they reached a somewhat large shed, the duo having walked to the middle section of the suburb. Though the house in front of the shed had been abandoned, she still withdrew a silvery key from the pocket of her trousers as she moved towards it. She inserted it into the locked knob, and twisted, before pushing it open. "Here, take this and slide it through the black box inside," she said absently, handing Kazea a gray cardkey with a reversed, blue ‘R' on it.

The brunette immediately pulled the door shut behind them after the jade-eyed trainer accepted the cardkey, making sure it was latched securely before locking it. Serenity turned, glancing around the dimly lit room, a small amount of yellowish light suspended from the uncapped bulb overhead. Though the air was somewhat musty, it wouldn't do to upgrade the ground level.

She paused when the mechanical box beeped at Kazea, moving next to the other Trainer. The steel-colored elevator doors slid open, just brief enough for them to enter before it immediately closed again. The steady hum of the belts above them and a dropping sensation told the duo they were submerging beneath the building, though how far they couldn't say.

When the doors reopened, bright light reflected off of gray-speckled white tile and solid sandstone walls. The heels of their boots clicked on the floor as they stepped out, turning slightly to observe their surroundings.

Three different doorways were cut into the stone on three separate walls of the small square room, sturdy iron doors standing ajar. Two desks were shoved against the wall, one becoming unoccupied when one of the people stood. The brown haired man strode towards them, his liquid brown gaze sweeping over Serenitiy's companion curiously. "You're bringing a lot of company in recently," he commented, shoving his hands in the pockets his faded gray jeans.

The Dragon Tamer chuckled, shaking her head. "Bill, this is Kazea. Kazea, you've probably heard of him," Serenity said, gesturing between the two. Both nodded in greeting, while she turned towards the infirmary.

Bill paused. "Oh yeah, Freyr and Terasu are waiting with the guy they brought in. Joyce says he'll be alright, but lost a lot of blood. You should probably go talk to her if you want to know more," the PokeManiac said, shrugging, making it clear the nurse wasn't telling anything more to him. "And speaking of Joyce, Lance mentioned something about an Elite Squadron when I had Abra helping her," he added, bemused.

 

[BlackHero46]

(OOC: You autoed me perfectly. ^^ Don't worry about that, in the future you may feel free to auto, as it makes posts run more smoothly. Oh, you may do the same Red.) I will have to auto you a bit, Moonlight. ^^;

After returning Teto and Byakuya to their respective capture containers, despite Teto hating to do so, Kazea diligently followed Serenity, leaving the iced over paved alley of Goldenrod City in the dust. She was thankful Teto was more lenient about traveling inside of her Luxury Ball during this dangerous hour. Normally, she hated being inside the thing, but even the little Ice type could realize that after the commotion her Blizzard attack had caused it wouldn't be wise to follow her mistress out in the open as she usually did. The fact that she also had taken heavy damage during that Flamethrower didn't help either.

The brunette lead her to what appeared to be an old beaten-down shed in the middle of a local, yet forgotten, part of town. The shed was dusty, and a bit out of place within the area, though Kazea supposed she wouldn't know what really would be 'in place' considering she'd never been to Johto before.

The house that the shed was situated on was old and clearly deserted. A few of the windows were cracked and brown with age. Strangely enough, there where no signs of the common Zubat or Rattata in this vicinity. Pokemon of such nature usually flocked to places such as this, but the building was abandoned in every sense of the term.

Serenity soon revealed a shiny sliver key from her pocket and wasted no time in releasing the lock on the door to the seemingly unpopulated building.

Kazea had to raise an eyebrow at the Dragon Tamer's actions. Why in the world was she taking her to some warehouse? She didn't have the time or patience to think on it too long, for Serenity had finished opening the door and was hurriedly gesturing her inside.

"Here, take this and slide it through the black box inside," Serenity said almost secretively whilst she handed her an unusual gray card key with a reversed, blue ‘R' on it.

While the elder Trainer worked on shutting the door firmly behind them, Kazea walked across the dusky room and inserted the card key like Serenity had told her to. The box for said card was hard to see in this environment, but she managed with the help of the light of a lone uncapped light bulb hanging above her.

Kazea coughed a little. The air in this vicinity was thick with dirt. It was a bit unsettling at first... for she had to keep in mind her condition; without a breath of wind for too long would make her ill beyond reason.

After completely detecting the ID card, as it seemed to be, a very inaudible 'beep' sounded from the box and an elevator Kazea hadn't even realized could exist opened slightly ajar.

Serenity, who had stood next to her after securing the entrance, darted past the steel doors with Kazea in tow. The machine shut itself and slowly descended. The gears and belts of the rusted machine were slightly unnerving. All events of this happening had occurred so fast, this strange elevator could be leading the duo anywhere at this point.

After many long minutes of silence, the elevator stopped, and the doors of it slid open to reveal a small square area with three separate rooms and or hallways placed in different directions. Two long wooden desks hugged the east and west walls of the room, one of them becoming unoccupied by an actual host when a young man with brown hair and even browner eyes approached the two arriving females. The man looked familiar to Kazea, though his name eluded her.

The man gave the younger trainer a funny look, curiously sizing her up it seemed, before being direct, yet lighthearted with Serenity.

"You're bringing a lot of company in recently," he commented, shoving his hands in the pockets his faded gray jeans.

Serenity stifled a laugh with the back of her hand before shaking her head and gesturing to Kazea.

"Bill, this is Kazea. Kazea, you've probably heard of him," she said.

Of course! Bill, the PokeManiac. Kazea had read his many books on Eevee back in Sootopolis. It was nice to actually see him in person, though this wasn't the best time for talking about his work.

Bill nodded in a friendly manner, which Kazea mirrored politely.

Serenity and Bill went on to discuss the person Terasu and Freyr, obviously the brunette's Dragonite, had discovered back in the alleyways, and his health.

Kazea, however, was a bit distracted by this whole underground base. There were various Trainers about, all with strong capable Pokemon with them. This had to be some kind of resistance group set up to defend people from the uprising mass of Team Rocket Grunts.

"Kazea, aren't you coming along to the infirmary? Your Glaceon should get some medical attention."

The jade-eyed girl snapped her head in Serenity's general direction, realizing she'd completely spaced out. Bill had just disappeared through the west doorway, and into the infirmary, when Serenity had finally gotten Kazea aware enough to follow her.

The medical area was very large in contrast to the smaller central room from before. Humans and Pokemon alike, some with more severe injuries then others, lay on the plush white beds all lined against the walls with only a privacy certain between each one.

A Nurse Joy tending to a young man was the first thing that caught Kazea's eye. As she, Bill, and Serenity went to observe him the Nurse Joy greeted them.

"Oh, hello Bill. I see you finally found Serenity."

The Dragon Tamer chuckled slightly as she went to reunite with her Espeon and Dragonite, who were contently located atop another bed across the room.

The Nurse smiled at Kazea before asking, "I see Serenity's brought more then one new guest tonight. Who are you?"

Nodding in greeting, Kazea answered, "I'm Kazea, Kazea Tetsujen from Sootopolis City. I just came back from the Sinnoh Region to visit a relative, though I was sort of caught off by Team Rocket and bumped into Serenity."

As the Nurse went to examine the Trainer on the bed again she threw her name over her shoulder. "I'm Joyce, pleased to meet you Kazea. Feel free to release your Pokemon from their Pokeballs, and I'll have a look at them as soon as I'm done with this poor young man. If Serenity's brought you here, I can assume you've been in a battle.

As Kazea unlatched her verities of different Pokeballs from her belt, Bill decided to make conversation. "So you're from the Hoenn Region, huh? We here in Johto rarely see Pokemon from Sinnoh and Hoenn."

"Really," Kazea said, surprised, before adding, "I see Pokemon from Johto all the time in both Hoenn and Sinnoh."

In six flashes of light, the mint-haired Trainer's Pokemon appeared near a few spare beds. A Flygon, Swampert, Lucario, Arcanine, and of course Byakuya and Teto, all appeared before the people in the room; all the Pokemon with unique defining accessories.

Kazea decided to introduce her team to Bill, and anyone else who was bothering to listen. "These are my partners. The Flygon is Masuyo, the Swampert is Yoru, the Lucario is Saisuke, the Arcainine is Hadaki, the Umbreon is Byakuya, and the Glaceon is Teto.

All five Pokemon, excluding Saisuke, spoke their names in greeting. The aura Pokemon chose to speak telepathically. "A pleasure to meet you. I am Saisuke, loyal guardian and Aura Knight under Master Kazea."

Bill was fascinated by Kazea's diverse team of Pokemon. He was mostly interested in Teto, Byakuya, and Saisuke. "My, a Lucario that can harness the power of telepathic communication. Very rare indeed." Looking to Byakuya, he then said, "Oh, and this Umbreon has blue eyes instead of red! How unusual. And it's always a treat to see a rare evolution of Eevee," Bill added to finish his observation.

"You'll have to forgive him, seeing foreign Pokemon always turns Bill into a chatterbox," Joyce said to Kazea while continuing her work.

The PokeManiac seemed to almost blush from her comment, though Kazea brushed it off when she noticed Teto lie down to rest up on one of the beds.

The little Ice type must be so exhausted and weak from that Houndoom attack, though she couldn't blame her.

Giving Teto a good scratch behind the ears, Kazea left her Pokemon to be further observed by Bill; confident that Byakuya, who was now curled protectively around Teto, would make sure the Glaceon was warm and relaxed.

The jade-eyed Trainer pulled up a chair and sat by the teenager Joyce was tending. He looked about her age, with raven black hair that had one bleach white lock in the front that fell over one of his eyes. For some reason... Kazea felt more then a little worried about him; which alarmed her because she really didn't know him at all. Something about the fact that he was truly hurt, she supposed, and that didn't sit well with Kazea at all.

"Is this the Trainer Terasu and Freyr rescued?," she asked Joyce.

The nurse nodded solemnly before replying. "Yes. He was badly injured and has lost a lot of blood, though with the medication I gave him he should be alright."

Sighing deeply, Kazea asked another question. "Is it alright if I stay here 'till he wakes up? I really don't have something else to do, and... I feel kinda bad for him..."

Joyce blinked in apprehension, but quickly relented with a smile. "Sure, though it may take some time before he wakes up."

With that Joyce went to discuss some matters with Serenity, and left Kazea to sit and wait for whoever this person was to awaken.

As she sat there, tired, confused, and worried, one tiny flitter of inward thoughts swept past her. "What in the world have I gotten myself into?"

 

[Sir Red]

(OoC: Woo! A crazy dream post! And sorry in advance if I made Kazea act in a manner that she normally wouldn't.)

The early morning sunlight poured into my open bedroom window. I rolled over and murmured groggily. It was so bright that for a moment I honestly thought my eyelids had burst into flames. My last line of defense penetrated; I opened my eyes and blinked away the sleep, trying to adjust to the light. I rubbed my eyes and sat up; as I looked around my quant little room something was nagging at the back of my mind.

I surveyed the room, the yellow walls reflecting the light back and I had to squint. On those walls were countless posters of various pokemon. I looked down at my bed, and saw my Eevee sheets and bedspread. I continued to look around, my floor littered with random toys and Pokemon memorabilia. I laughed to myself; mom is going to be so mad when she sees my room a mess.

Then I looked at myself and realized that my feet were hanging off the end of my bed; this was quite odd. I suppose I had hit a recent growth spurt or something, a huge one!
I swung my abnormally long legs over the edge of the bed and stood. I wiggled my toes, the soft carpeting between my toes felt like I was walking on puffy clouds. I stretched out and then, being careful not to step on anything, made my way to the door.

I opened it and stepped out into the upstairs hallway. I looked down the hall at the door to my brother's room and wondered if he was up yet. So I ran down the hall to his room, as I had every morning for years now. I threw open the door and scurried inside, but I suddenly stopped.

I looked around the room in confusion; my brother wasn't in his room, and neither were any of his things. His room was completely empty! I continued to look around the room; anxiety and fear beginning to take over.

I ran from his room screaming for my parents. I ran down stairs at top speed, skipping whole steps in my haste. I heard noise coming from the kitchen as I neared the first floor; I sighed, a little less worried now that I knew someone else was in the house.

I rounded the corner at the bottom of the stairs and came to a crashing halt. Standing there in the kitchen wasn't my mother, father, or even my brother; it was a strange man dressed in all black, a large red R was on the front of his shirt. He turned to look at me, a menacing and blood curdling smile on his face. A sense of foreboding overcame me; I began to take shallow, shaky breaths; my heart felt like it was gonna burst out of my chest right then.

Kazea sat in her seat lost in thought, occasionally stealing a glance at the mysterious patent lying next to her. Nobody was sure of who he was or how exactly he ended up in such a sorry state. Kazea adjusted herself in the uncomfortable chair; she yawned, obviously tired from the fact that it was the middle of the night. She took another look at the boy and noticed something was different.

The jade-eyed trainer looked around hesitantly; the boy was running a cold sweat and his eyelids were flickering in a peculiar fashion. Kazea hesitantly lifted up the blanket that was covering his body; upon immediately inspecting his heavily bandaged chest she could see that they were once more becoming stained with blood, fresh blood.
Kazea nervously dropped the blanket back down on him and stood up. She was overcome with fear and ran from the infirmary to find Joyce and alert her of the situation.

The man walked towards me; he raised his left hand, blood dripped off of it and onto the floor. Somehow, even though I couldn't explain it, I knew that the blood wasn't his. And this made me even more nervous and my heart beat quickened even further. I suddenly felt incredibly light-headed; I stumbled forward and clutched the kitchen counter for support. What the heck was going?

I turned my head to look back to were the mysterious intruder had been, but he wasn't there anymore. The man may have not been there, but there was still blood on the floor, and it was spreading! I swallowed dryly, trying to get up the courage to search for the source; my throat felt like someone had rubbed sandpaper against it.

I stumbled across the kitchen; I was still using the counter for support because I feared that my legs would give out any moment now. I walked out of the kitchen and into the front hallway and then my legs really did give out. I fell to the ground in shocked fear.

I sat there in a broken heap trying to fully comprehend what exactly I was seeing. Across the room, on the floor in a crumpled, bloody heap was my father. He lied there motionless and still, a pool of blood staining the hardwood floor around his body. I then began to cry; not because of the state my father was in, but because of what I saw under his bloody body. I could make out another small body; this one too was wounded horribly. Although I couldn't tell who or what it was, I knew that it made me immensely sad to see it in that condition. I wanted to go over and try to help them, just do something, anything! But I knew, and I had somehow already known before even seeing them, that they were both dead.

Joyce franticly tried to tend to the dark-haired boy's once more bleeding wounds. She mopped the sweat off her brow with the back of her hand, nervous of his condition. Everyone else in underground hideout was whispering to one another from outside the now closed infirmary room. The only people currently in the infirmary were Joyce and a scared and shocked Kazea. Things were not looking good; the boy had already lost huge amounts of blood earlier and he was bleeding once more.

After what seemed like an eternity I got back to my feet; my legs still wobbling under me, I splashed my way through the cold blood and into the dark living room. All of the curtains in the living room were closed, and after the rest of the house had been so bright, it took me a moment to adjust to the sudden change. As my eyes adjusted I began to notice a large object floating in the center of the room. I could tell that it was a good couple of feet off the ground, but I couldn't make out what it was. I squinted real hard and then gasped in shock.

The figure that I had been trying to discern from the darkness was my mother. A rope noose around her neck, a stool was knocked over next to her dangling feet. My eyes were wide with horror; I couldn't believe what was happening. Everyone I loved and cared about was dying, and I couldn't save them.

I stumbled back out the room and suddenly I was falling; falling through time and space and existence itself. Then I hit cold, hard concrete. I was back on the streets of Goldenrod City, but something was different. The air had a more sinister feel and taste to it. I was on my back, and as I looked around I saw crimson eyes peering out of every alley and shadow. I tried to scoot away, but my body had stopped moving on me.

"Are his limbs secured?" Joyce asked in an exhausted and stressed tone. The job of keeping this teenager alive had become increasingly harder as he had recently began to trash about in his sleep. Joyce had had to ask for assistance, and some of the men had come in and tied the patient's limbs down so he wouldn't hurt himself or anyone else.

The shadows seemed to be closing in on me as I willed my body, to move to no avail. As the shadows advanced I began to hear hisses and growls coming from them. My breathing became heavier and more ragged; fear once more gripped my very soul. And then I heard the one thing that I had been dreading all along, that cackling voice reverberated about the now complete darkness.

The crimson cat eyes looked like stars as they bobbed and weaved about me, never striking though. "So," she said; stretching the word. "Are you enjoying your time alone in your dark heart?" Her words seemed to be ripping my insides out, "But wait, you still have your dear, dear brother. I guess for you to be truly alone I'll just have to kill him. Oh! Or better yet, what if you killed him? Now that would give you what you truly wish for, you wouldn't ever have to care about another human being again. Ha!" She scoffed. "Your no better then Team Rocket," she cackled madly at that, and that was what pushed me over the edge. I let out a deafening scream of agony and just lied there and let my body and spirit by ripped apart by the hordes of demon cats.

Joyce sighed in relief, "His heart rate has steadied and his breathing is normal. He'll need a blood transfusion, though." The Nurse stepped back from the blood soaked bed, her hair disheveled and matted down with sweat. She sighed in relief once more and turned to face her still slightly shocked helpers. "We should let him re-…" she stopped suddenly as she saw the look on Kazea's face. "What's wrong?" All Kazea could do was point to the mysterious male who had recently given them more trouble then they could believe.

Joyce let out a submissive whimper, assuming that it was the worst and his life was in peril for the third time tonight. But she instead saw something that took the breath right out of her lungs; she turned around to see her patient looking around in wide-eyed bewilderment.

The teen took in a sharp, nervous breathes; suddenly becoming aware of the restraints, he assumed that Team Rocket had captured him. "Who the hell are you?!" He yelled hoarsely; everyone in the room was silent in shock, how was he conscious after all that he had just gone through?

(OoC: Wow! That was a lot more then I initially intended to write. XD I realize it's a bit lacking on, well Pokemon related…well…anything. But I was struck with inspiration and it felt like a decent idea. *shrugs*)

 

[Moonlight-Zelda]

(OoC: Oh, sorry, Red. I forgot to mention you guys can auto Serenity if you want, XD.)

Serenity turned, tensing at the urgency of the dark haired man's shout. Raw rage, pain, and confusion were visible in his eyes. Terasu and Freyr had brought her back to the infirmary as soon as he'd begun thrashing, to help Joyce and the others. The young woman glanced at the white-clad nurse, whom nodded reluctantly to both her and Kazea.

The duo slowly moved forward, trying not to stress him further. But, despite their efforts to keep him calm, he only struggled against the restraints more so, beginning to rub his wrists raw. Serenity paused, before nodding to her pokemon companions. Both the undersized Dragonite and the feminine Espeon strode to the bedside, Terasu hopping onto the unfortunately thin mattress itself. "It's all right … They're not going to harm you …" the naturally telepathic Psychic-type whispered to him, purring as she nuzzled the uninjured section of his arm. Trying to help calm him, noticing his once again erratic breathing.

Serenity then moved to the foot of the bed, whilst Kazea began working on removing the cloth bindings. The jade-eyed trainer was suddenly forced to jump back when his right wrist came loose, narrowly avoiding a surprisingly sturdy punch that was aimed at her stomach. The young Dragon Tamer quickly released the slipknot that held the Trainer's legs down, but did not prove as agile as her new companion. The dark haired man's booted foot connected with her left side, pain shooting through it as the breath was knocked out of her. She moved back to give him space when he jerked into a sitting position, clutching the long scar that ran down her side.

"Who are you people?" he snarled, bandaged chest heaving with the effort from his struggles. Scarlet was slowly spreading across the fresh white cloth, making it obvious he was stressing himself into more blood loss.

The brunette slowly stepped forward, though massaging her now throbbing scar. "We're the Resistance … Terasu, the Espeon next to you, sensed what had happened. Right now, you're in a secondary base. Just rest," she said softly, lowering herself onto the cot across from the Trainer.

Kazea slowly did the same, easily allowing herself to relax from exhaustion. But also making it clear they were not going to harm him. The jade-eyed Trainer hesitated, noticing his hand fall to his belt. "Your pokemon are in the healing process," Kazea informed him, nodding towards the somewhat outdated and admittedly slower rejuvenator. "They'll be done in a bit."

Though reluctant, he slowly began to relax with their gentle persuasion. His icy blue gaze traveled around the infirmary, taking his surroundings with what appeared to be forced calm. Freyr moved to the bedside after a moment, promptly plopping onto the hard tile floor. A sheepish look entered the undersized Dragonite's crystal blue eyes, innocently curving his strong tail to where it covered the cracks he'd accidentally made. Smaller than most or no, he apparently still weighed enough to incur minor damage.

Serenity chuckled, shaking her head. "… So, what is your name?" she asked softly, her gaze flicking back to their newly awakened ‘guest'.

 

[Sir Red]

The dark haired teen blinked slowly, the room seemed to be spinning slightly. He forced his eyes to focus and involuntarily reached behind his back to check on his friends, but to his surprise they weren't there. As if she could read his mind; a female voice told him, "Your Pokemon are in the healing process." He looked over at her, a smile on her skinny face; the male followed the direction in which she was looking and saw six red and white balls sitting in the rejuvenator. "They'll be done in a bit," she informed him.

The teen looked back at the girl who was speaking to him, and saw that there were in fact two girls, roughly his age, sitting on the bed next to his. He looked the two of them over thoroughly, and maybe lets his eyes linger a bit too long. He turned his attention back to their faces and saw the two of them, slightly red in the face, glaring at him. He stared the two of them down, not willing for them to deter him and his ‘curious' nature.

Suddenly he was snapped out of his own head as the room shook slightly. The attention of the small medical room had turned to the abnormally small Dragonite that had caused the disruption. The Dragon Pokemon sheepishly tried his best to cover the damage he'd caused. One of the girls laughed at the Pokemon's behavior; the boy had to smile too, it was a goofy little thing. Besides, it had saved his life earlier.

He was once more dragged out of his mind by a disturbance in the room, this one in the form of a question. "So, what's your name?" The pretty little dragon tamer asked. The battered teen hesitated, what was the danger in revealing his name if they were who they said they were. "You don't have to be so quiet…or hostile, or…weird…" said the umber haired woman.

The dark haired teen adjusted himself in the bed and propped himself up on his elbow. "…My name is Alexander, but you can just refer to me as Alex," he said bluntly, looking as though he'd rather not be there. The two girls exchanged awkward, hesitant glances.

"Well I'm Kazea, and this is Serenity," said the other girl, her mint green hair catching Alex's attention. She smiled a little awkwardly at him as he just stared at her impassively. "So…how are you feeling?" she asked; the question kind of dieing in her throat as she asked it. Kazea looked awkwardly at her feet as Alex stared emotionlessly at her.

Serenity glared at Alex, "You're not the friendliest fella are you?" The short dragon tamer asked; she a little peeved at his rudeness. Alex looked back at her, the two locked eyes and there was an immediate intensity between the two. Everyone else in the room sensed this and shared glances, not sure of what to do; the situation, if it could be called one, resolved itself.

Alex suddenly felt really light-headed; his elbows gave out and he fell onto the hard mattress. His head bouncing on the sweat soaked pillow; he was out cold in seconds. Serenity rolled her eyes and stood up, her long umber locks whipped about as she left the room. Kazea continued to sit on the bed; she stared at Alex's once more sleeping body, lost in thought.

(OoC: A bit short, but I couldn't think of anything to write. Also, sorry if I did anything with either of your characters that I shouldn't have)

 

[BlackHero46]

((OOC: *Yawn* Sorry about the absence Red and Moonlight. But I'm back with a post. xD You did a good job at autoing me Red. Though I can be pretty stubborn and and rarely taken aback, in that situation, I think Kazea would behave like that. Haha... she's very much a tomboy for the most part though. Oh, sorry if the work "pervert" comes up here a lot in this post. Kazea just hates perverts, not that I think anything of that about your character Red. xD But on with the story)

Kazea dropped a tired load of air from the back of her throat as she continued to gaze upon the person that had introduced himself as Alex, out-cold on the medical bed in every sense; utterly drained of all energy, or even the will to move.

He'd been quite active before this, the new environment and situation must have really rattled his chain, considering how he reacted to his situation. His wounds had opened away to allow fresh blood to seep from his beaten torso half-way through his subconscious thrashing but he was now, at least willingly, settled.

Alex must have thought he had been captured by Rockets at first. Who could blame him? Goldenrod was covered in the thugs, even more so then pesky Weedle were to an itchy Mightyena. After he'd detected no threat from the room and people in it, Alex had gone about sizing up and carefully scrutinizing both Kazea and Serenity.

The look he'd given them made Kazea feel a little more then awkward. She dearly hoped that this new Trainer wasn't some kind of pervert. He'd given nether Serenity's nor Kazea's looks of disapproval at his 'wandering eye' even the slightest hint of resentment, even bothering to have a sort of stare down with the two females.

Alex had given Serenity a good look over after that, but it was when his eyes landed upon Kazea, after her question, that she'd felt a flush of heat rush to her cheeks. She couldn't quite place how exactly this person had the ability to make her blush like that. It felt so out of place to have someone look at her like that. Normally, she'd award such a gaze with a simple, "What the hell are you looking at?" Though just the way he'd aimed his glower, and with such emotionless expression, it caught any words she could spit out. The chance that Alex may be some kind of... well, pervert wasn't thrown out the window of possibilities; though Kazea tried to keep an open mind that he wasn't.

Though Alex had given Kazea a much longer glare then Serenity, the Dragon Tamer wasted not a moment more to tell the male off for his rude behavior. Daggers were shooting from the eyes of the two by the time Serenity had finished speaking. Them getting along properly looked like a far-off accomplishment. Serenity had left the room with her Pokemon soon after Alex had finally collapsed from exhaustion.

Now sat Kazea, alone with Joyce as she sat delicately on the young man's medical bed. It wasn't that she felt drawn to Alex... she just, in a sense, felt it was only the right thing to do for him. A part of her wanted to perhaps get to know him better, for who knows why; he hadn't exactly come off the best way, first impressions often tell a lot about a person after all. He somehow captured Kazea's intensive interest, thus she waited by his side.

Joyce was now on the task of examining Kazea's Pokemon, all of which were out and about; some on free beds relaxing, and others near on the floor chatting amongst the other Pokemon in the room.

Teto and Byakuya were still curled up together on the bed next to Alex's. Kazea was staring intently at the cuddling Eon-couple, worried as any Trainer could be. Teto's condition was still charred by that Houndoom's searing flames. She hoped Joyce would have more then a Burn Heal for the little Glaceon.

After a set period of who knows how long a time, Serenity came back in with Bill in tow; Freyr back into his Pokeball it seemed, though Terasu was still out and about.

The Espeon hopped up near Byakuya and Teto's curled frames and remarked to the Umbreon when he perked his head up at her; his blue eyes suspicious of her. "You'd better not get up to anything, otherwise I'll do the utmost to keep her away from you."

Byakuya's face streaked red and the yellow rings along his strong body lit up with a strong glow; his equivalent to a blush. He growled at Terasu and spoke in mumbled cries that only other Pokemon could possibly understand.

Terasu only laughed telepathically at whatever the other Eeveelution had said to her, and only curled up in a similar fashion a few feet away from the Glaceon and Umbreon on the bed.

Serenity pulled up a chair and so did Bill, the two of them about to speak.

Kazea interrupted, trying not to sound rude or angry, though nothing could prevent the confusion that attached itself unto her words. "Serenity, I think I've waited and seen enough now. Something in Johto is not as it should be. Please... tell me the truth; what exactly is going on?"

 

[Moonlight-Zelda]

(OoC: Sorry for taking so long, and about the length of this post. Bear with me and my ideas, XD.)

Serenity paused when she heard Kazea speak to her, the rough grain of the wooden chair sliding against her palm as she turned. The younger Trainer's tone was strained, an edge to her voice. The young woman sighed, turning the chair around to face the jade-eyed Trainer. She lowered herself into it after a moment, resting against its low back as she crossed her ankles.

The slightly younger girl's gaze was steady, almost cold with resignation. "All right …" Serenity said quietly, fingering the smooth Dragon Scale at her heart. It shimmered under the light when bumped, momentarily gleaming like a crystalline rainbow. "It is sufficient to say that Team Rocket returned to Johto with a vengeance, when they located Giovanni. Though their past attempt at a resurrection four years ago failed, it didn't stop them from launching an all out attack on Goldenrod and Olivine. As you saw earlier tonight, they pretty much rule the roost here," the feminine Dragon Tamer murmured, tapping the cracked tiles from Freyr's earlier antics with the heel of her boot. They clinked slightly, the smaller pieces crumbling into gritty grayish-white dust.

Kazea nodded, though clearly unsatisfied. "Well, that's just a summary. But you're obviously holding back, Serenity. I'm not a child," the jade-eyed Trainer said coolly, crossing her arms.

"I did not say you were," Serenity said quietly, her pale cerulean gaze remaining level with the rich green one. She paused for a breath, before gesturing to Alex's motionless form behind Kazea. "As you can see, their methods have furthered beyond simple theft. Vulgarities are commonplace among Team Rocket's ranks, and not just vocal ones. Now that they've laid claim to Johto's main cities of transport and trade, they hold her in their palm. Team Rocket now has the leisure of slowly expanding their territory, and they're doing so in a spiraling motion. The Resistance has been making guerrilla attacks against them, damaging and or stealing supplies of theirs, as well as openly rebelling against their hold," the young woman said softly, causing the PokeManiac standing next to her to nod in agreement.

Kazea's eyes narrowed, pushing herself up. The heels of her boots clicked against the tile floor, her hands curled into fists. "Stealing makes you people no better than them," she objected, her tone equally soft. But it had the icy edge of disgust to it.

Serenity's gaze followed the younger Trainer, sighing. "We do it to survive, even if we don't like it. Not many can manage to put food on the table in Team Rocket's main cities, what with the now outrageous prices. It is an action that the Resistance as a whole would quickly pass up if it wasn't needed," she said with continued calm, though crossing her arms over her chest.

The jade-eyed Trainer paused at the Dragon Tamer's calm resignation, before lowering herself back onto Alex's bedside. "Fair enough point, I guess. What are these guerrilla attacks you mentioned aiming towards?" Kazea queried after a moment, her tone slowly losing the clipped sharpness.

"The concept it simple enough. Carrying it out is not," Serenity said, shrugging. "We aim to put as many Rockets out of commission as possible, mainly to slow or entirely halt their individual missions. But, what with press-gang they've taken up, their numbers only dwindle momentarily," the young woman added, sighing.

Terasu's and the Eon-couple's comments were audible behind them when Joyce began treating their wounds, making the sting of the antiseptic ointment clear to her. "Sorry, but these need to be treated before they get infected," the auburn-haired nurse said to them, obviously referring to the burns on Teto and the many tooth marks on Terasu.

The sleek lavender Espeon suddenly hissed, bounding off the cot and in between the two females. Her cool lilac gaze flicked between Kazea and Serenity, her forked tail twitching as her eyes moved towards the overhead ceiling. Terasu's ruby glinted, a low feline growl beginning to emit from her throat. Yet too focused to ‘tell' them what it was.

Serenity shoved her chair back as she stood, tensing. The wooden seat toppled behind her, clattering through the nearly silent room. She paused, listening intently as she flipped her cloak behind her arms again, having grown too warm. Her petite form went rigid, finally knowing what Terasu was preoccupied with.

The acrid scent of smoke was slowly becoming evident, curling along the underground rooms. A strangled oath escaped Bill's lips, realizing what was happening. It seemed their activity around the shed had been noticed. "Everybody out!" he shouted, immediately striding to the corner of the small infirmary. In one deft motion, he pulled the wheeled file cabinet away from it. A faintly glowing circle was engraved into the floor, a greenish aura emitting from it. "The teleporter is set on random between the others we have, so go in groups of three," Bill added to them as the rest of those in the underground base immediately filed into the infirmary. "Now hurry!"

Serenity nodded to Kazea. The younger Trainer immediately understood, calling both Eons to her side with Joyce at their heels as the other Resistance members began evacuating. While all carried their pokeballs, some were also carrying small cases, what the Dragon Tamer supposed were the files they'd gathered.

Joyce tossed two small backpacks at the brunette as she momentarily bent over Alex, inserting something in his upper arm. "All of your pokemon, both yours and Alex's, are as healed as they can get in that amount of time. Give this a few seconds to take affect, then go. I gave him some adrenaline, so keep a hold on our guest," the white-clad nurse warned, straightening. "Since you two are still able, try to stay out of battle unless necessary. Serenity, take your new companions to the Ecruteak base if it's not under attack as well. All of you rest there. Bill and I will meet you as soon as possible."

The feminine duo nodded in understanding, immediately pivoting when Alex shot bolt upright. Serenity caught his arm as he stood, gasping when he lashed out, almost instinctively trying to shake her off. Another dream? She tightened her hold as Kazea grabbed his other arm, trying to steady him. "Team Rocket is smoking us out, Alex. We've got to go, and now!" Serenity said shortly, jaw clenching when he managed to knock her off. She landed on the hard floor, the tiles already growing heated to the touch. The young woman pushed herself up, lunging. Alex's icy blue gaze was almost wild from the effects of the adrenaline, making it clear his system was far too receptive to it. Her fingers curled around his arm, immediately tightening her grip again.

He finally stopped struggling against the duo, eyes widening in shock. Heat now pressed into the small, almost vacant room, leaping flames now visible in the entrance. "Go!" Bill shouted, pushing the trio towards the warp-pad.

They stumbled onto it, a sudden coldness enveloping them.



And was met with the same blistering heat, shouting once again audible. They had simply warped down the street. Not far enough. The entire side of the road was ablaze, thick furls of black smoke drifting through the night, blocking the moon and stars. A shower of orange sparks dotted the cement when the house they'd warped behind crumbled, a fresh wave of heat cutting through the cool spring air.

Serenity winced from the intensity of it, the hot gust toying with their hair and clothes. Her hand immediately fell to her belt, starting to remove Freyr's and Nieth's pokeballs when a low growl became audible.

She released Alex's arm, sidestepping when she saw the source. A large, gray and black canine. Its scarlet eyes were hardened, teeth bared and hackles raised. An imported Mightyena of Team Rocket's, it seemed. The dark canine lunged, its large paws soundlessly covering the distance.

The young woman stepped back, instinctively raising her arm to protect her face when she heard a Grunt bark out a command. Raw pain tore into her arm, wet warmth dripping down it when the large dog pokemon collided with her. A ripping sound was audible as she hit the ground, her petite frame unable to stand up to the canine's sheer weight barreling into her. Its steady growl resumed as it released her arm, reluctantly retreating back to its advancing master.

"So … A Dragon Tamer," the Grunt drawled, seeing the shimmering scale. Raw hatred was evident in his tone. They obviously knew that Blackthorn had started the rebellion. And they were going to make any that hailed from the Dragon-settlement pay dearly for it.

 

[Sir Red]

Thoughts and sensations milled about Alex's head, a frenzy of activity taking place around him. His over receptive brain tried to take in every sensation and sight in the street. The acrid smell of smoke wafted about the air, stinging in the eyes of anyone unfortunate to be outside on that ill-fated night. The massive flames that had swallowed the shed lit up the night sky, casting malicious and demonic shadows about the neighboring buildings. The cool night breezes threatened to spread the carnage to nearby homes and buildings.

All around beings closed in, they emerged from the shadows, their forms seeming to be born from the very shadows in which they so often dwell. They crept closer, drawing out small balls as they came; their tools of destruction contained inside. The Grunts smiled, sensing that they had their prey finally cornered.

Alex looked to his left and then to his right, noting that neither of his female crutches seemed to notice the impending crisis. Alex put his feet on the ground and winced, now realizing that he wasn't wearing any shoes or socks, or a shirt for that matter. Just then the shorter of the two girls, Serenity, let go of Alex and walked forward.

The icy-eyed trainer tried to yell to her, but as he opened his mouth no sound came out. Slight panic and mild anger overtook him; he cursed the cavalier antics of the dragon tamer, she would be the death of him, he knew it. As if on cue, a primitive growl sounded from the rear. Alex tried to swivel his head to see what had made the noise, but before he could the beast he felt it.

Brittle, unkempt fur brushed against his bare arms that dangled at his side. Alex followed the streak of fur and saw something that, much to his surprise, alarmed him. Serenity was on her back, the foul beast stood atop her; blood was clearly visible as it dripped from Selena's gloved hands. The naturally raven haired trainer turned his icy gaze to the Mightyena that was now stalking the short female.

Alex tried to step forward, suddenly becoming aware that Kazea was still supporting him. Alex looked at her, slight bewilderment in his eyes. "Would you mind, we have a situation here," he said bluntly; now was not the time for manners. Alex took a shaky step forward, the adrenaline surging through his body helping to push past the pain. Alex, just as he had before, involuntarily reached behind his back but still found no Pokeballs. Fear overtook him as he looked at the burnt building, had his friends been left inside?

Alex turned and nearly started to run back towards the burning building when he felt something tug at his arm. He spun around wildly, and was looking directly into the face of Kazea. She looked up at his face, and for once saw real emotion on his face. Fear and concern clearly visible in his eyes; Kazea stared up at him, at a sudden loss for words. Instead she just handed him a bag and turned to focus on the impending threat, her inquiring gaze following him for a moment longer.

Alex paid little attention to Kazea after she handed him the bag, he tore it open and inside found his six pokeballs. Alex took a few shaky breaths, a big uncharacteristic grin spread across his face. He turned back to where Kazea had just been standing, but she was gone. The usually stone-faced trainer turned his attention back to more pressing matters; he reached into his bag and pulled out a black ball with two yellow stripes running along the top. A malicious, yet worried smile played about his lips; was it really wise for him to use this pokemon when it had so little self-control?

Well, Alex had no time for his usual deliberation and thus he went with his risky choice. Alex threw his pokeball in a high arch, the grander of it catching the attention of all those in the street. Those in the street quickly squinted and turned away as a blinding light came into being in the night sky. The light died as quickly as it came; the Grunts in the area searched the sky for the beast that had been summoned.

There attention was pulled away from the sky as a menacing creature made its presence known with a battle cry. Standing in front of the bandaged trainer stood a brown humanoid being with spring limbs. The Pokemon had a crazed and deadly look in his eye.

"You ready Loki," Alex said, not as a question but as conformation for the destruction that his Hitmonlee was about to cause.

(OoC: Kind of short, but yeah. Feel free to use Loki and Alex as you two see fit.)

 

[BlackHero46]

OOC: I suddenly got this idea in my head that involves Kazea's ability to see visions; called Zephyr Hymns. I hope this doesn't ruin anything you have planned Moonlight, be sure to tell me if you'd like me to change it. And no, despite what I've written it doesn't involve actual Legendary Pokemon, just items that are from them. You are free to auto Saisuke for the next post.

The safe house, the one tat so much time had been spent in, it was ablaze; caught in fire that desired to eat up every corner of the building and turn it to ash.

Joyce had instructed Serenity to bring the newly formed trio to Ecruteak City via a transporter that Bill had hidden beneath a file cabinet. The plan had failed however and the transporter had only lead them to the street just outside the building. A few Grunts were currently in a farce with Serenity.

Kazea's first instinct was to get up and help her, she did have Byakuya and Teto out still. But as she watched the building burn, unable to tear her eyes away, she could only think of three things...

Fire... Smoke... Blood...

All the smells of the three substances had caught the wind and it made the jade-eyed Trainer nearly faint on first scent. This was not good... her 'condition' was now up and active. The wind was not clean, fresh, even breathable to a someone without Kazea's illness. To someone with such an illness... well, it was safe to say that she wouldn't retain her life too long in this area.

The flames danced about within the reflection of her eyes, and the wind turned smog blew about and blustered against her as she continued to sit by Alex. Then, there was a faint humming noise inside of her head. She began to feel a strange dizziness. Such signs could only mean one thing...

"It's happening again... a Zephyr Hymn...," Kazea thought painfully. Her eyes suddenly glowed a faint pale green, and that's when the vision began.

----------​

In the vision that played through her mind began through the eyes of a person running. The person sounded male, and it seemed that he was being tailed by something; Beedrill or Yanmega perhaps? The area was clearly a forest, and pretty thick by the looks of it. What region it was in, well, that was a different story since it could be anywhere.

Suddenly, the person spoke. "I have to hurry, have to hurry and... tell them... Giovanni's... secret..."

The man stopped running when he came across a large rock formation at the base of a mountain. There was a small gap in the side of a couple of rocks, and the man tightly, but quickly, squeezed through it.

The inside of the area appeared to be no more then a simple cave. Though as the person groped along the wall, two defining slots seemed to pop into view. Both slots looked like they where made to hold some kind of feather... in the dark they were only just hollow enough to fit something in it.

The voice again spoke. "Here, it's here... the key to stop everything... the one item necessary for my safety is just beyond this wall. All I have to do... is place a Rainbow Wing and a Silver Wing into these spaces and then..."

The person took out two beautiful looking feathers from some pocket, one of pure and sleek shining sliver and the other a melding of the spectrum of the sky. The man looked as though he was about to put the feathers into the wall, but before he could, he abruptly stuffed the two items away.

The vision trailed around to a Rocket Grunt with a team of Beedrill and Zubat, who had just entered the cave. The Grunt laughed before saying, "You've been a bad boy, running away from paying your weekly donations to us. Hiding in some old cave isn't going to save you."

The man's breath hitched as the Grunt smiled wickedly, a smile only a Rocket could create, and finally said, "Kill him."

Just as the Beedrill in the vision had their drills plummet towards the man, the vision ended.

----------​

As the glow in Kazea's eyes flickered out, she grasped her head with her hands. It was throbbing like mad, almost like her heart had jumped up there and decided to stay. She hadn't had a Zephyr Hymn in such a long time, Kazea had forgotten the pain it could cause. More importantly, what could the vision be showing her this time? A man... a hidden cave somewhere in a thick forest near a mountain... slots for items embedded into a wall... and two Feathers; a Silver Wing and a Rainbow Wing. The seventeen year-old could only assume the man had been torn apart by those Beedrill, a tragic ending indeed.

Kazea decided that focusing on that subject wasn't helping the current situation. She knew what needed to be done. After being underground so long, she wouldn't be able to survive in this air for more then a good twenty minutes. Serenity and herself needed to take Alex away from here, and needed to do it fast. Time was of the essence, a thing not to be wasted.

Alex, though, had other plans. He promptly decided to get up from Kazea's support, and with his wounds, it wasn't the best idea, so she remained firm.

"Would you mind, we have a situation here," he said bluntly to her when she refused to let up.

Kazea scoffed at his comment. She wasn't blind, though maybe he was. The male was in no condition to be battling.

Even so, Alex rose to his feet and away from her. He put his hand on his side, looking for his Pokemon; emotion finally breaking free from his restraints when he thought that perhaps his friends had been left within the crumbling warehouse to die.

Shaking her head, her interest in Alex beginning to flip to sight dislike and disrespect, Kazea stood and pulled gently on his arm. As much as she wanted to tell him off when he finally looked her way, their faces directly in line of each other, the pure fear and hurt she could not only see, but feel from him once again stilled her tongue.

With a sound of disapproval, Kazea handed him the backpack containing his Pokeballs. Her gaze lingered over him a moment more... but she went against her softer nature and turned away.

The situation at hand was what she needed to work on, once the trio was away from here... perhaps she could tell Serenity of her vision.

Kazea returned Byakuya into his Dusk Ball and hurriedly scooped Teto up into her arms. As the Trainer tried to work out some solution for this predicament she ran behind a seemingly free corner and called forth Saisuke.

Her Lucario, already all too aware of the situation the moment his back paws hit the road, bowed and awaited a command.

"Saisuke, go help out Serenity and Alex. When you finish off the Grunts already in the area, tell Serenity this plan I've come up with: Ask her if her Dragonite can carry both her and Alex, unless Alex has a Pokemon that can keep him airborne. After that, tell her that if we can all get into the air before more Grunts arrive, and that if any of her Dragons can use the move Mist, we can fly, at the very least, away from Goldenrod undetected."

"As you wish Master. I will not fail you," Saisuke said telepathically before running off towards Serenity and Alex.

A few Grunts finally took notice of Kazea's whereabouts, and she had Teto fire off a few Ice Beams at them and their Pokemon as she struggled to unlatch another Pokeball. "I've always been alone, and had to do things by myself, that's not gong to change now. They don't seem too fond of my presence anyway... but, I owe them at least my help."

After finding the proper spherical container, Kazea tossed it up and released Masuyo, her Flygon.

The sandstorm Dragon gestured for Kazea to jump on her back, which she did after getting Teto back into her arms. Masuyo took to the air just as the Rockets caught up with her, and the Flygon glided over the battle sight displaying Alex and his Hitmonlee and Serenity. Saisuke was there, and thankfully, a lot of the Grunts had already been taken out.

Teto was busy using Icy Wind and Ice Beam, and even Shadow Ball, on some Zubat and Golbat the Grunts from before had sent after her in order to get her down.

Kazea coughed weakly into her hand. "C'mon guys... you have to hurry... otherwise... they'll be too many of them... and I... can't last too much longer in this smog..."

 

[Moonlight-Zelda]

(OoC: Okay, here's my much belated post, XD)

Serenity stiffened when the Grunt moved foreword, slowly lowering her now bloodied forearm. "… Do you honestly think I would surrender so easily?" she queried coolly, pale cerulean eyes narrowing. The blazing fires continued to lick at the night sky, reflecting in human and Pokemon eyes alike. Smoke was now tearing at their throats, steadily driving them raw with each breath they inhaled. She haltingly pushed herself up, trying to reclaim the breath that had been knocked out of her.

The Grunt shrugged. "And that's why tearing you apart will be so entertaining, Tamer," he drawled, his tone nearly an amused growl. He nodded to the canine in front of him, snapping his fingers.

She sidestepped. Something taller than her suddenly shot past as the Mightyena lunged. A sharp yelp was audible, the black and gray canine rolling to a motionless stop several yards away on the cement road. Both a Hitmonlee and a Lucario were now visible to her eye, the fighting-types glancing back to her. The blue and ebony one paused to offer a brief bow, his clam voice resonating in her mind.

"Lady Kazea sent me, Lady Serenity," the Lucario said quietly, his voice barely audible over the din. He immediately straightened when a horned Houndoom bounded towards him, suddenly jumping. Another burst of flame was visible, searing a passing Zubat as it flew past. It plummeted to the hard ground, clearly fainted from the heat as yet another high-pitched yelp was audible. The Lucario suddenly landed lightly beside her, soundless. "And you'll have to tend to that bite, later," he added, noticing that scarlet now colored her entire forearm from the open wounds. "Speaking of which … My Misstress wishes to know if you've a Dragon large enough to carry both yourself and your other companion?"

The young woman nodded, her uninjured arm falling to Freyr's pokeball. A strong grip suddenly landed on her should, causing Serenity to pivot. Alex's icy blue gaze bored into hers, impatient. "Idiot! If you're going to take so long to attack, then give it up already before you get yourself killed," he hissed, before nodding to his Hitmonlee. "Loki! Clear a path!"

Serenity glared at the ebony-tressed trainer. "Give me a minuet — And stop your Hitmonlee before he kills someone," she countered coldly, jerking Freyr's pokeball from her belt. "Because we, as in all of us, are leaving. And do not give me that look," Serenity added, ignoring the mixture of anger and disbelief in his gaze as she summoned her long-time companion. "You're injured, and not in the shape to be traveling alone."

Freyr suddenly landed beside them, causing the ground to tremble slightly. Alex's gaze softened slightly, having developed a soft spot for the now familiar dragon. But stiffened when Serenity tugged him towards it. "I am more than capable of battling," he ground out, glaring at the short Dragon Tamer.

The young woman chuckled shortly, before dry coughs began racking her petite frame. She quickly tried to stifle them with the back of her hand, ignoring the doubtful glance Alex was now giving her. "Freyr, can you carry both of us?" she queried hoarsely, nodding to her now concerned Dragon.

"Of course, Serenity," he said calmly, turning so they could mount. The young woman immediately stepped onto his back, before jerking the dark haired trainer off balance so he'd join them.

Alex begrudgingly recalled Loki as Freyr burst into flight, joining Kazea and her Flygon in the smoke-tainted sky.

 

[Sir Red]

(OoC: A little late, but better late then never.)

Wind whipped hard and fast at Alex, his exposed torso freezing from the low temperatures and speed of the wind. Alex blinked, taking a shaky breath he leaned forward; the petite body of Serenity close in front of him. The icy-eyed trainer, slowly reached a shaky hand out and, being careful not to touch her prematurely, started to put his left arm around Serenity's waist. Alex stalled inches away from actually touching the beautiful maiden, his heart pace quickening. Alex shook his head, trying to dismiss the thoughts and sensations that were whirling about in his head.

Just then there was a bit of turbulence, and all hesitance was thrown out the window as Alex instinctively grabbed a tight hold of Serenity. Alex wrapped his left, less injured, arm tight around her; his head bounced about involuntarily and came to a rest against the upper-back of the dragon tamer. Alex could feel her whole body tense, but she tried to ignore him. Alex, sensing this, and not wanting to come across as caring, pushed himself back into an independent sitting position once more.

Which was a bad choice; just then something exploded to the right of Freyr. Alex peered over the side of the dwarf dragon and saw the ground far below; vertigo getting the better of him, Alex looked over his shoulder and saw two massive birds coming fast from the rear. Alex swore softly and turned back around only to stare directly into the face of Serenity, who had also been observing the situation. The two quickly pulled there heads away from each other, slightly discomfited.

"We need to get away from here, can you keep them busy?" Serenity asked in a business-like manner, keeping her back to Alex. Alex gave her no reply; instead her turned around and took another glance at the two large, sleek birds that approached ever faster. Alex could barely hear Serenity talking over the roar of wind in his ears; she was clearly conversing with Freyr.

Alex tried to spin around, and nearly fell off from doing so, but luckily for the stone-faced trainer Freyr felt this and raised his tail to stop Alex from slipping. The dark-haired trainer smiled in relief and patted Freyr on the hind leg in thanks.

Now facing the threat, Alex pulled out a pokeball. He peered out into the darkness of the night; now suddenly not being able to spot the birds. Alex leaned out a bit, his hand sliding down the tail of the dragon; he scanned the horizon looking for their pursuers seeming to have vanished from sight.

Alex began to look about wildly, confounded by their sudden disappearance. Serenity, feeling his constant fidgeting turned to see what he was doing, "What the heck are you doing?" Alex turned to her, icy blue gaze falling upon Serenity; Alex was fuming, not wanting to look more inept then he already had earlier in the night.

"I…they…don't worry about it," Alex said stubbornly, for reasons he didn't even know, he did not want to look like a failure in front of this mysterious girl. "Just…Pay attention to the flying." Serenity scoffed at that and said something under her breath; Alex cursed her, but he had more important things to worry about.

Then a faint glint of light caught Alex's eye; something above had reflected the moonlight. Alex looked up and saw a massive bird that looked like it was crafted from steel. Riding atop the Steel Bird was a Rocket Grunt, his face lit up with glee as he looked down below him; but Alex realized with a fright that the Grunt wasn't looking at the duo on Freyr, but below them.

Alex looked below and swore loudly; his outburst captured the attention of Serenity, who also looked beneath them. Serenity looked back and forth between the two grunts, a moment of indecision.

"Damn, what'd I tell you last time," Alex yelled at her as he opened his pokeball. The flash of light revealed a small golden mouse. The mouse looked about quickly, taking the whole situation in and then quickly understanding what needed to be done. The Mouse Pokemon swished his long tail around, the lightning bolt at the end grazed against Serenity's cheek and she jumped in surprise. A slight shock was sent through here body from the Raichu; as a matter of fact, the his whole body crackled with electricity.

The sagely Raichu tensed as both of the steel birds closed in; razor sharp wings ready to tear apart Freyr and let his passengers fall to their deaths. But before that even happened, Freyr stumbled on his own, that added weight of the Raichu and the flight beginning to take its toll.


A short distance away and lower in the sky, a large Flygon circled about. A young girl sat on top of her, practically drinking in the wind. The wind played about her mint colored hair, like the two ere long lost friends. Her every muscle responding to the gusts, her body being rejuvenated; although after being separated for so long, the job was taken longer then she would have liked.

A loud crack disrupted the peaceful night, the girl's jade eyes snapped open and she looked to the east. The sky was lit up with brilliant bolts of lightning, the magnificent light display, however, didn't excite her; instead it shocked it.

Kazea, who had been searching the sky for Freyr, now knew exactly were her new companions were. She leaned forward, and she and Masuyo sped off in the direction of the lightning, which was still coming in bursts.

(OoC: I left the true action for you Kazea)

 

[BlackHero46]

(OOC: I'm not the best with fight scenes... I'll do my best.)

As Masuyo closed in the the source of the flashes and lines of jagged electricity, Kazea could see in more detail what was actually occurring. She had been correct, her new companions were indeed a part of this battle of the sky, but they were not the only one's present; Team Rocket had, of course, followed them on not one, but two heavy-plated Skymory.

They jade-eyed Trainer had not yet fully recovered, and though she felt much better, she wouldn't be able to take too much more in this state without rest. The wind was restoring her strength, it was also bone-chilling; the shivers that racked through her lithe frame, a raw and painful thing. Kazea cursed under her breath for feeling so fragile.

The zigzags of thunder were being fired off from the cheeks of a Raichu, probably belonging to Alex, who was atop what one could assume was Freyr. The Dragonite was slightly swaying in the air, the load of his passengers beginning to take a toll on the dragon's sore wings.

Serenity and Alex both seemed tense from Kazea's line of vision, that and frustrated, and even slightly shaken by this skyward chase. It would end badly at this rate, very badly. Shaking her head, her bangs slightly pulling downward despite the force of her headband holding them back, Kazea quickly commanded her Flygon. "Masuyo, let's knock these damn fools out of the sky..."

Nodding in agreement, Masuyo charged full speed towards the top Skymory and dug her claws clean through a part of the birds steel body, leaving a visible three-clawed rip indented on the side of the Steel-type. The sandstorm dragon's Dragon Claw was forceful enough to shove the Skymory, and it's now ire Trainer, a good ways away.

Serenity and Alex looked to Kazea with general surprise, almost like she was someone they'd never seen before.

Kazea only spoke quietly in response, her exhausted state causing her words to cling and drip with ragged gasps. "Forget about me already? I've been looking for you both for a long time... I'm sorry I wasn't here sooner." The worry in her words was clipped, but there. She didn't like to appear soft, but Kazea couldn't help it, she felt somewhat responsible for this whole mess.

Serenity, and even Alex, seemed to detect her weakened state. But Before long the Rocket's came again, making their presence known to the three Trainers in flight. The Skymory Masuyo had damaged was now easy to tell apart from the other one, a good and unexpected advantage.

The Grunts cursed audibly at the three before issuing commands to their Pokemon. The Skymorys both launched at Masuyo, their wings smothered in sharp white light. The Flygon twisted downwards in a very lucky dodge, a hit by Steel Wing could prove to be fatal at this point.

Masuyo charged up a Hyper Beam and released it on one of the iron vultures. The attack had the worst possible outcome and missed, the Skymory flying swiftly to the right to dodge before coming back with another Steel Wing. Masuyo had to recharge from her Hyper Beam and was just a sitting duck for the attack.

"Dammit, I'm going to be hit!," Kazea screeched loudly within her own mind. She threw her arms around Masuyo's neck with Teto securely under her; preparing for the impending impact.

An abrupt Thunderbolt connected with the Skymory heading for Kazea, and the sheer force from it was enough to paralyze the bird, the Pokemon and Grunt plummeting to the ground being unable to stay airborne.

Kazea looked to her savior, Alex's Raichu. The mouse looked to her with a smile and a little version of a thumbs up. The gesture couldn't help but make the younger female chuckle. She would have to properly thank the Pokemon for its help.

With one Skymory down, only the other remained. The one with claw marks, which Kazea expected was going to fly at her as well, instead fired a sphere of silver light at Freyr; Flash Cannon.

Masuyo was able to use moves again, but they were too awkwardly angled to attack by any means, and Alex's Raichu was too surprised to begin another electric attack. Kazea had to think fast... something... any kind of idea...

"Glac-e-on!," Teto cried from under Kazea's chest; the petite ice fox squirming free from her Trainer's protective embrace and hopping on Masuyo's neck. The Eeveelution shot an Ice Beam at the Flash Cannon, the two attack exploding on contact. After that, Teto summoned Icy Wind.

At first, the Grunt laughed at Teto's iced over breeze, the move looking like it had no apparent effect at first. He stopped laughing soon enough though, when he noticed the truth. The Icy Wind was freezing Skymory's wings, and like planned, the metal wings became unable to move. The other Grunt was soon screaming up at the clouds, following his other partner and his Skymory from earlier to the hard unforgiving earth below.

After that... all was still. The two Dragons and their passengers flew silently on, no words leaving any lips to provoke and prod conversation. A small crag in the forest caught Serenity's eye and she pointed down to it. Freyr descended slowly, and Masuyo followed. The two Dragon-types floated down between the small crag, the area well hidden by rock.

When they finally landed, they three human's dismounted and thanked the Pokemon who had flown them before Serenity and Kazea returned them to their containers for a good rest.

Kazea slumped against the cold hard wall of rock near her and sat begrudgingly. Though they were in a crag, there was wind here, a much needed element. Her breathing still was lagged and harsh, and she was colder then she could ever remember being, even more so then when she had been in Snowpoint City in the Sinnoh Region.

Sensing her Trainer's anxiety and frigid body heat, Teto softly cuddled up in Kazea's lap; a calm purr flowing from the back of her throat.

Kazea scratched behind the Glaceon's ears as she tried to recover. So much was happening... her vision... this fight... what about Nick? Was he even okay? Nothing seemed to be going right, not at all.

Serenity was busy making a fire for the night, though Alex was off by himself, talking to his Raichu.

Alex and Serenity... could Kazea really depend on two people she had just met? She sighed as she looked them over. The Trainer was much too tired to think, much too deprived of energy. She knew Serenity had seen her weakened state, and she knew the Tamer would soon barrage her with questions; questions of things that weren't her business, and questions Kazea didn't want to respond, or even truly knew the answer to.

 

[Moonlight-Zelda]

(OoC: Specifically read the middle of the post. I think it frames the general personality clash between Serenity and Alex quite well. )

Serenity smiled slightly when the dry log took the sparks from her flint, slowly but surely spreading into a small but containable red-orange campfire. The petite brunette continued to add smaller sticks to it in attempt to build a longer lasting blaze, brazen warmth beginning to emit from it through the cold night air. Small furls of gray smoke began curling into the night, causing the young Dragon Tamer to erupt into another coughing fit as she accidentally inhaled some. She stood, stepping back as she tried to stifle the sound.

The young woman turned after the coughs receded, sheepishly meeting Kazea's jade-eyed gaze. "I'm fine …" she said quietly, though shedding her cloak as she moved towards the younger Trainer. "Here," Serenity said, wrapping it around Kazea.

"… What about you?" Kazea asked after a moment, reluctantly pulling the folds of the blue cloak closer. Teto's purring was audible even through the muffling cloth, her icy blue head soon emerging from the top of the cloak. The small fox pokemon glanced up at Serenity, cocking her head when she saw the Dragon Tamer now had bare arms, one of them still bloodied.

Serenity shrugged. "I can always bring Freyr and Terasu out. Besides, they like sleeping near me," she murmured, smiling. "That, and you need to keep warm too." The Dragon Tamer paused, turning.

Alex was hanging back at the tree line, coolly observing them leaning against the rough bark of a pine tree with his arms crossed over his bandaged chest. His icy blue eyes alone made it clear he was wary, doubtful. Perhaps even irked, for some reason.

The young woman sighed, picking up her backpack as she strode towards him. Alex uncrossed his arms, pointedly turning his back to them. Serenity sighed as she stopped next to him, glancing up at Alex. His icy blue gaze was smoldering, glaring at the ground. "What do you want?" the Trainer said coolly, making a point to ‘notice' her.

She stopped, crossing her arms at his aloof tone. "You may not like me, but I'm sticking around until you're healed. If you don't like it, tough," the young woman said with equal coolness, her gaze boring into his.

"I don't need your coddling," he growled, turning back to the trees

The young woman chuckled. "Who said anything about coddling? You might need a boot up your butt to straighten out that attitude, though," she chided, brow arching as if vaguely amused.

His response was direct: "Shove it."

Serenity paused, before calmly ‘attacking' the pressure point at the back of his neck. He gasped, immediately pivoting. "What the heck was that about?" he snapped, now glaring at her.

She shrugged, now accepting that as a general reaction from him. "I told you that attitude needed to be straightened out. Just because I'm short does not mean I'm helpless," Serenity said calmly, unfazed by his unwavering gaze.

At that, his expression of stone took on a faint tinge of curiosity. "Then why did you not attack earlier?" he queried with equal calm, purposefully mimicking her tone. As if trying to bait her, in attempt to test her patience.

She ignored his question, though not breaking their staring ‘match'. "… Also, even if you want to be stuck up, Freyr can always keep bringing you back. So come. Those bandages need to be changed," she added, nodding towards the maroon coloration on the originally white cloth. "And you cannot get them tight enough by yourself, so don't try making excuses," the Dragon Tamer said shortly as soon as Alex opened his mouth to speak, digging into the side pouch on her backpack to remove the fresh rolls of soft cloth that Joyce had put in it.

The young woman moved back towards Kazea as she let both her undersized Dragonite and sleek violet Espeon out of their storage spheres. Alex groaned in exasperation, before following her back to the now warm ravine. Both of them moved at their mistress's side, though the dragon seemed to watch the dark haired Trainer out the corner of his eye.

Freyr paused when Alex hesitated, nodding towards Serenity. The icy-eyed Trainer sighed, quickly striding nearer to the fire before the Dragonite would decide to bring him. Serenity paused, nodding in appreciation to Alex since he had actually acknowledged her concern for his wounds.

 

[Sir Red]

Alex walked over to the campfire, a Dragon escort at his side; he plopped down onto a log and surveyed the area. They had situated themselves in remote clearing in the wilderness. Tall trees towered all about and partially above and over; they would help to provide good cover incase more Rockets came looking for them.

Alex turned his attention back to those around him; he looked over his shoulder and saw Freyr sitting directly behind him. Alex rolled his eyes, turning halfway around he patted the Dragonite on the leg. "You don't need to watch over me like a hawk," Alex said kindly, his gaze then shifted to Serenity briefly. Serenity was pulling a large assortment of various medical supplies from her bag.

She picked up the supplies and walked over to Alex, kneeling in front of him. Serenity reached forward, scissors in hand, and snipped part of the bandages that encircled Alex's torso. She then began the tedious work of separating the bloody bandages from the his body. Alex, trying to ignore Serenity, shifted his attention to his other new companion.

Kazea sat huddled against a rock; Alex noted to himself that she too was a bit of a recluse. He then noticed that the jade-eyed trainer was looking in his direction. He suddenly caught her eye and just stared at her; his face not betraying any emotion. The two held their gaze, neither entirely sure why.

Alex was drawn out of his mind as cold wind swept through the clearing; his bare torso was immediately covered in goose bumps. Alex then became awkwardly aware of the small hands of Serenity on his bare chest. She was closely inspecting his wounds, her hands running across his toned and scared chest. Alex looked down at her and noticed that there was a slight tinge of red to her cheeks.

"…Would you just get on with it," Alex said, trying to keep the edge to his voice. Serenity glared up at him, anger in her brilliant cerulean eyes.

"Well this'd be a lot easier if you hadn't constantly reopened your wounds," Serenity said coldly. Her words cut at Alex worse then his wounds had, she had insulted his pride. She was about to tend to his wounds again, but Alex slapped her hands away. He stood up shakily, his bare feet crunching the leaves underfoot.

Serenity shot up and reached for him, but he shook her off; and then Freyr came to her aide and stepped in front of Alex. The diminutive dragon glared down at Alex; fully ready to hold him down if need be. Alex took a shaky breath and glared over his shoulder at Serenity.

"Finish it…quick," he hissed as he sat back down. His icy gaze shifted to the sky as he tried to ignore the umber haired lass tightly bandaged his chest. She seemed to try and punish him by making the wrappings as tight as possible.

Alex stood up and winced, the bandages hurting a little. Despite his best efforts to hide the mild discomfort, Serenity still saw it and smiled to herself.

With that taken care of, Alex decided to let some of his pokemon out. He grabbed a few balls from his bag and released three pokemon. The first, his partner, the quadruped Volcano Pokemon, Helios; also were his other two long time friends, Demeter and Baal.

The three pokemon stretched out; Helios immediately began to frolic about, he ran all over the campsite. He ran up to everyone and touched everything, and then he came to a stop in the fire and sat down.

Demeter immediately ran over to Alex and began to fuss over his wounds; she noticed Serenity sitting near by and glared at her. Alex laughed at this and scratched Demeter behind her ear.

Baal, however, slowly walked over to Kazea; he stopped in front of her and bowed his head. The Electric Mouse Pokemon smiled fondly at Kazea and then turned his attention to the small ice fox poking its head out. Baal poked the fox lightly on the nose with his long tale and then dashed off.

(OoC: I couldn't think of much to put in here…)

 

[BlackHero46]

(OOC: Sorry if I made Alex a bit OOC. It was just a general reaction I wrote for him, seeing how he's acted with Serenity so far, haha.)

Kazea couldn't help the laugh that escaped her when the Raichu from before, known as Baal, had sauntered ever so cutely up to her and bowed its furry head in respect. The little mouse reminded her ever so much of Saisuke, for the Lucario always bowed before addressing anyone.

The Raichu gazed at her with a fond and almost affectionate little smile for a few moments, until Teto poked her head up from under Serenity's cloak and tilted her head. Baal's eyes lit up playfully before he tapped Teto right in the nose, though not hard enough to hurt, with the point of his thunder crested tail. The Raichu scurried a few feet away then, his tail swaying invitingly side to side.

Teto blinked and pondered at first, though soon enough she was smiling, understanding the little game the Raichu posed. Hopping out from under Serenity's cloak, she raced after Baal, and when close enough, put a soft paw to his twitching nose; a rejoinder for his previous actions.

Kazea watched with gentle eyes at the new game of tag between Baal and Teto. Both being fast runners and engaging in a few play tackles, the little game was increasingly entertaining. Teto hadn't lost the her will to play-fight, even after evolving; a pleasant discovery.

The sounds of Hoot-hoot and Noctowl were a never-ending stream of lullabies in this area. Other Pokemon could be heard as well, though some were more inaudible in comparison. The wind, though balmy, was a frigid chill this evening. Kazea was honestly weighing whether it was more hurting her or helping her. Coldness... not her strong point; even under Serenity's cloak, she was still shivering more then a Snorunt in the dead of Winter.

Kazea was tempted to creep closer to the soothing warmth and crackle of the tender flames that danced about in the makeshift fire pit. Though some other voice in the deep corners and crevasses of her mind told her to remain aloof, remain indifferent to the two other humans taking refuge with her.

Serenity was occupied with Freyr at the moment, the Dragonite enjoying some evening conversation with his Trainer. Alex was, similar to herself, off in his own selected space with nothing sort of a 'bricklayer' facade stamped onto his mug.

His eyes briefly caught hers again, like it had before for a short period. The two proceeded with another stare down, Kazea not about to let him size her up to any way he wanted. For the briefest of moments, she swore a slight streak of red fell unto his hardened features, but even if that had been true, it disappeared in less time then it had been there. Kazea thought on it for a moment, but then figured that she shouldn't even care in the first place placed her wary attention elsewhere.

Baal and Teto were still hyperactive as ever, both still enjoying their childish frolicking. Kazea tried to hold her focus on them, but there were still things distracting her from it; mostly, the vision presented by her Zephyr Hymn. The man Kazea's own viewpoint in the vision had been from had mentioned Giovanni... the event must have been somewhat recent, or at least recent enough to the times at hand. Though Kazea was a stranger to the Sinnoh Region, how could she possibly know anything about how to figure the vision out? She really couldn't, not without help.

Reluctantly dragging her body to her feet, still a bit weakened, Kazea walked up to the Tamer and coughed into her hand to grab her attention. "Hey Serenity..."

The young women smiled at her to prod the entire question from her younger companion, noticing the slight blush of embarrassment on her face.

Looking of to the side, Kazea finished her awkwardly asked inquiry. "May I... sit with you for a bit."

Serenity seemed a little surprised at first, though patted the space next to her for Kazea, who sat down hurriedly and pulled Serenity's cloak around her more. The two were quiet for a bit, until Serenity noted Kazea giving her a slight eying look and asked, "Is there something the matter, Kazea?"

Kazea snapped from her bemusement and quickly retorted. "N-no! No, not at all... You just, you remind me of someone I really want to see. My cousin, Nick, he's a Dragon Tamer too. He was supposed to be training in Blackthorn, and I was coming here to see him, but..."

The brunette's eyes softened on the jade-eyed Trainer's now saddened slouch. Though before she could provide some sort of comforting gesture or statement, Kazea spoke again, this time her tone serious.

"Serenity, have you ever heard of some kind of rocky area where you place Silver Wings and Rainbow Wings? Those are sacred feathers from the Beast of the Sea, Lugia, and the Phoenix of the Spectrum, Ho-oh, correct?"

 

[Moonlight-Zelda]

(OoC: Yeah ... This post doesn't really answer Kazea's question, but we now have a new member to our little group. ^_^ )

Serenity glanced up as she heard Kazea next to her, mildly curious. At least the jade-eyed Trainer had saw fit to join them. The petite Dragon Tamer leaned towards the fire more as another cold wind burst through the ravine, Freyr moving to act as a wind block for both of them. Terasu crawled onto Serenity's lap after a moment, purring as she nuzzled her chilled mistress. She smiled, rubbing behind the feline's fox-like ears. But paused when the other trainer spoke, glancing over.

"Serenity, have you ever heard of some kind of rocky area where you place Silver Wings and Rainbow Wings? Those are sacred feathers from the Beast of the Sea, Lugia, and the Phoenix of the Spectrum, Ho-oh, correct?" Kazea queried quietly, her solemn tone tinged with curiosity.

The Dragon Tamer nodded after a moment, leaning against Freyr's side as she began digging through her packpack once more. She suddenly tossed a tightly rolled piece of cloth at Alex, the spare cloak unfurling as he caught it. "Put that on, Alex. I can see that you're cold as well," she said absently, ignoring his now bemused stare, apparently caught off guard by the gesture. Serenity dropped the backpack at her side as she turned back to Kazea, her arms circling Terasu to lessen the bite of the wind on her bare arms.

"Well … There is a mention of it, in one of the legends recorded at Blackthorn. It is said that the denizens of the skies and seas have a focus point in Mount Silver … But no one has every found that said point," Serenity mused, suppressing a shiver as yet another gust of wind made it's way through the trees. She glanced up, stiffening. A vivid golden and violet beam suddenly shot across the sky, briefly lighting the entire area. An equally vivid, metallic screech raked across their ears.

Terasu hissed at the sound, Demeter mimicking the action in miniature. Freyr suddenly stood, his crystal blue eyes glinting in the aura-based light. "I would suggest moving back. All of you," the Dragon murmured, gently pushing both of the young women towards Alex.

The icy-eyed Trainer stood, calling his other pokemon to his side. Serenity and Kazea hesitated, before moving back as well, half dragging the ebony tressed male with them. "I can walk," Alex said coolly, jerking from their grip and stepping back with them. Leaves crunched under their feet, the increasingly turbulent winds now tugging at their hair and clothes.

A shimmering, steel colored bird pokemon suddenly fell from above, landing with a solid ‘thud' on the hard ground. Before the trio could as much as take a step back, another large shadow swooped over head. The fire leaned after it, and sputtered to a small flame, casting them in only a dim orange glow.

Kazea suddenly gasped as it swooped back around, startled. The ground suddenly trembled, the shadow-obscured pokemon obviously having a rough landing mere yards from them. Serenity turned towards her jade-eyed companion, the ruby embedded in Terasu's forehead glowing for a light source.

The younger Trainer was flushing heavily, now sprawled on the ground. With obvious reasoning, a pale haired male having landed on her. Cursing was clearly audible, the young man quickly pushing himself up. Realizing what he had landed in the midst of, he pulled Kazea up as his aquamarine gaze flicked back to the sky.

Another Skarmory was soaring over head, preparing to make another attack. But this one clearly had a rider. The now painfully standing pokemon suddenly roared, causing all but Serenity and the arrival to jump at the brassy bugle. A Salamance.

"Titana, no! You know you can't attack so soon after using Hyper Beam," the young man objected, running towards his Dragon with Serenity at his heels.

The young woman glanced up as well, pin pointing their glinting foe. "Freyr! Give him a Thunder Punch for us!" she called to her long time companion, waving him into the sky. Without passengers, the undersized Dragon was but an amber streak, crackling electricity following him. But was no longer faced with a single foe the night sky, what appeared to be a dozen Rockets now air borne and visible.

 

[Sir Red]

(OoC: Alright, not my best battle scene...but I had to use sixteen pokemon. Anywho, here is my attempt.)

Danger was closing in from all sides, and things were not looking good in the slightest. Yet Alex paid little attention to the Rocket Grunts, he was more focused on the new arrival. To begin with, Alex was slightly peeved by his landing place; and then he nearly blew up when he got a better look at the guy's face. Alex silently fumed in the shadows; he hadn't expected to see his old ‘friend' anytime soon.

The icy-eyed trainer stepped out from the cover of the trees, Serenity's spare cloak still in his hands. He slowly walked towards the new arrival, Demeter at his heels. Alex walked right up behind him and tapped him on the shoulder. When the other male turned to see who had tapped him he was met with a swift punch to the face. The blonde trainer was knocked on his butt; he looked up at Alex, shocked in more then one way.

"Hey Alex…," he said coolly, as he checked to see if he was bleeding. The mysterious stranger started to stand back up, but Alex shoved right back down. "I suppose that's fair…," he said, once more trying to get to his feet. "But shouldn't I get to punch you too? I mean you did leave me to die...," he said nonchalantly. The two stood toe to toe, a mutual dislike shared between them.

Serenity then walked up to the duo and pushed them apart, "Hey! We have more important things to deal with at the moment," the dragon tamer yelled at them, and they both mumbled agreement. Alex looked at Serenity, and she was obviously pained as she watched the sky above.

High above them, a battle waged; streaks of lightning could be seen amidst a dozen or so Skymory. Freyr was in the sky, on his own, fending off the malicious attacks of the metal birds. Before Alex could act; Titana, at her trainer's command, shot into the air. Alex looked over at his rival as he reached for a pokeball, he could clearly see a smug smile on his face. Alex cursed under his breath, angered at the fact that he was being upstaged.

Alex released his flying type as well; a small black bird that oddly resembled a witch flew in circles above the clearing. Alex could hear his rival laugh at Nyx, and it took all his willpower not to beat the jerk senseless. The Murkrow immediately shot into the air to join the other two, and along the way a large Flygon flew up to join it.

Alex looked in the direction that the pokemon had come from, and he saw Kazea walking out from the woods. Alex looked back up, as did everyone else, to see how their pokemon were fairing.

The battle was fast-paced and hectic, wings, talons, and teeth tore away at flesh; fresh blood rained from the sky, although the source wasn't always obvious. Silver glinted across the sky, the occasional burst of color mixing amongst the Skymory. Explosions began to light up the slowly brightening sky; dawn quickly approaching.

Then, slowly, the inhabitants began to fall from the sky; and to begin with, most were Skymory. Then a small black dot began to plummet to the earth, quickly picking up speed as it free-fell.

Alex nearly vomited as he watched Nyx fall; then, out of nowhere Titana swept down and caught her. Alex sighed in relief, but then cursed quietly when he saw who had caught Nyx.

"You can thank me later," Damian said in a polite manner that really got to Alex for some reason. But Damian was right, now was not the time. Back in the sky Freyr delivered another devastating ThunderPunch and his target fell swiftly from the sky. Masuyo shot a menacing Flamethrower which was lucky enough to take out two of the remaining Skymory.

Now there was only one Skymory ridden Grunt left in the sky. Not wanting to end up like his fellow Grunts, he turned tail and flew off into the rising sun. All of those in the clearing took a group sigh, the threat having passed. Now, however, all of the attention was put onto the new guy.

He smiled widely, for the first time noticing Serenity and Kazea. "Hello, I'm Damian," he said, a charming smile playing about his handsome face.

(OoC: I got a bit lazy towards the end…so sorry for that.)

 

[BlackHero46]

Kazea frowned profusely at Damian's greeting. He was obviously trying to sweet talk her and Serenity. A thousand sharp thoughts and more were running through her head, all of which unpleasant and rage inducing. She didn't know why she was so upset with him; oh wait, yes she did, the jerk had knocked her to the dirt and buried her under more then a little awkward a situation beforehand!

Serenity looked to Kazea and quirked an eyebrow at her; the younger female was fuming, so much so that it was surprising that heat lines weren't visible from the anger. With a cool smile and a nod the Tamer said, "You may call me Serenity."

Damian grinned softly, a gentle calm gracing his features. "Serenity... It's a pleasure to meet you." He shifted his misty blueish-green gaze to Kazea, who was directly looking away with her arms wholly crossed. "And you would be, miss?"

The jade-eyed Trainer eyed the young man, sizing him up and getting her point across that she wasn't pleased with him, or his choice of entrances. She closed her eyes before gruffly giving his question a retort. "Sorry, I don't give my name to mysterious flirts."

Kazea's eyes flew open when Damian laughed outright at her blatant insult. He gazed at her with intent as she looked back at him with ire. "My apologies. I didn't mean to come off in such a way. If this is about the whole falling on you thing, I really didn't mean it."

As Masuyo flew down and landed beside Kazea, the Trainer spat a quick reply before finally ignoring Damian all together, her nerves rattled enough. "My name is Kazea Tetsujen... Now will you cease your constant blabbering? It's not like you can just waltz up to us and expect a warm welcome, you could be a Rocket. So don't talk to me." With that she was done, and working on inspecting Masuyo for severe injuries.

Damian's eyes seemed to perk with interest, and he scratched under his chin in thought. "Kazea, huh? What a nice name."

Serenity was the one to interject, though Alex looked ready to lash out as well. "Excuse me if I come off as blunt, but it probably isn't wise to stay in this area. We should press on and find somewhere to rest." The brunette viewed the area and pointed over to a cave in the far-off distance. "That looks about as safe as we're going to get. So let's head over there, further questions may be asked along the way."

The other three Trainers nodded, two a bit begrudgingly, at the Tamer. The Rocket who had gotten away would be back soon with help, that much was inevitable. Serenity mounted atop Freyr's back, and Kazea along with Teto did the same upon Masuyo. Alex stood confused for a moment, and even more so when Titana nudged Alex in the arm with her head. The dark haired youth looked incredulously at Damian. "No, no way in hell am I going to accept help from you!"

The black clad Trainer shrugged nonchalantly, calling out a Ponyta from an Ultra Ball, the horse neighing happily in the morning light. "Wildfire here can keep up with even dragons on the land. Besides, it wouldn't be gentlemanly to force your problem of not having a Pokemon capable of flight on either of the two fair ladies..."

Alex cursed under his breath loudly and walked up to give the cocky elder male a good what for. Kazea's impatient and utterly exhausted voice was the thing to prevent such a fight. "Dammit, Alex we don't have time for useless banter. Just accept his offer and be done with it!"

Alex looked up at Kazea, about to lay in on her for talking to him so out of the blue. But even he was smart enough to fall back after seeing her seriousness, the emotion dripping from her very body posture. With a look of self-loathing, Alex went atop Titana and finally the trip over began.

The three dragons were indeed fast as they gracefully soared through the morning lit skies, but Damian, as he had promised, easily kept up; the speed of his Ponyta astounding. When finally reaching the cave, all Trainers returned their Pokemon; all but Teto, who refused the offer and Freyr, who had been asked to stay outside by Serenity.

The Dragonite, by Serenity's wishes, stayed outside to be on the lookout for any more unexpected visitors... The Humans, and Glaceon, took the initiative and entered the cave, all quiet. Alex immediately went to one corner, refusing to be near anyone, a sulky pout almost breaking though his listless look. Serenity remained near the entrance, rummaging into her bag for things to help with the upcoming trip to Eckrutek, though the goal was, for now, to rest.

Kazea, like Alex, went off to her own private spot in the cave, Teto cuddling her side. She was able to sink down and relax at first, though her shivers were still there from the cold. Eventually her eyes shut... and she was about to drift into slumber... only to have her eyes snap open a second later when she felt a warm weight on her right side.

There sat Damian, looking all too innocent as he sat uncomfortably close to Kazea, checking his Pokedex for information on one thing or another. His shoulder was firmly pressed into her own, and Kazea just froze, heat searing across her face. "W-what the hell is wrong with you!? I told you to leave me alone!"

The blond haired Trainer didn't even look up from his Pokedex as he said, "Well, judging from your shivering, you are freezing. It is a scientific fact that adding body heat helps with such things. So here I am, trying to help. Makes up for earlier, right?"

Kazea's blush flared a tad, but she shook it off quickly, Teto growling slightly from her side. "I-I don't want your help, and I don't want you anywhere within this distance of me!"

Finally looking up from his Dex, Damian smiled. "Your own senses disagree with you, look," he said pointing out that she was indeed shivering less by putting a hand to her forehead and testing just how cold she was.

The jade-eyed Trainer shot up, Teto in tow, and walked to another location in the cave across and away from Damian; her cheeks ablaze. She sat and let her thoughts run rampant. "Who does he think he is!? Being so forward like that, I ought to have Teto freeze him over." Her irate thoughts went on like that for quite some time, though you didn't need telepathy or the like to tell what she was thinking at this point.

Damian heaved a disappointed sigh. "Well... I tried my best. Guess this should be expected after that fall. It's too bad."

"You haven't changed at all. You need to wipe off that prissy attitude of yours before it gets you hurt," Alex almost yelled from his corner in the cave.

The other male shrugged off the comment, clearly expecting it and seemingly used to it.

Serenity, from her spot near the opening of the cave, began obvious conversation; things needed to be discussed. "Pardon me, Damian... and don't take this as personal, but you quite obviously know Alex, and there were Rocket Grunts after you. Who exactly are you?"

 

[Moonlight-Zelda]

(OoC: ... This post really sucks, XD. Sorry about the quality of it ...)

Serenity crossed her arms expectantly as she leaned against the rough stone wall, though wincing slightly when the fabric of her tunic rubbed against the many tooth marks. She saw Damian's brow arch when he noticed the still moist blood on her arm, and quickly adjusted it so her good arm covered the injured one.

The aquamarine eyed Trainer continued to watch her, his gaze occasionally flicking to Kazea, though entirely ignoring Alex as he pondered on how to present his situation. "It is sufficient to say I was … press-ganged into their ranks recently. They were clearly ordered to bring me back," Damian said, shrugging. He paused, obviously taking in the brunette's appearance as morning light began filtering past Freyr and into the cave's mouth where she was leaning. The young woman shivered at the cool breeze, though suppressing the urge to rub her arms for warmth. "So, what's your story? I cannot help but notice that all of you seem to be injured in some way or another … And something needs to be done about that wound on your arm," Damian added, starting pushing himself up until seemingly halted by Serenity's calm, almost impassive gaze.

"I ran out of bandages. Its fine," she said shortly, pointedly as well as stubbornly covering the rest of the bloodied area. "And its also sufficient to say that we encountered Team Rocket as well during our stop at Goldenrod. You can see the results," Serenity added, shrugging as she gestured around them.

Kazea shrugged, adjusting Teto in her arms. "It certainly could have turned out better," the jade-eyed Trainer said, though careful not to direct the comment at Damian, clearly still irked at him.

"Well, I can see how Alex managed to get himself hurt, but I'm sure that both of you are more intelligent than him," Damian said, standing. His words earned a menacing glare from the icy-eyed trainer, seemingly bringing Alex to his feet with almost an animal growl. The blonde haired Trainer shook his head calmly, smiling at Serenity as if to say ‘see what I mean?' "We should probably rest now … But let me treat your arm first, Serenity," he said, closing the distance between himself and the petite Dragon Tamer.

Her eyes narrowed at his persistence, stiffening as he pried her injured arm from beneath the uninjured one. "I said, its fine," she said quietly, trying unsuccessfully to pull it from his firm grip.

He chuckled lightly, examining the deep bite. "It certainly doesn't look it … And you obviously need something to warm you up as well," he added, his tone both suave, clearly commenting on the general coldness of her skin. At that, Serenity promptly managed to jerk her arm away, sidestepping.

But before she could lash out at his directness, Alex suddenly cut in. "Just shut up for once, Damian. I may be injured, but I'll gladly give you back to Team Rocket if you keep this up. And I suggest that you cool it with your ‘attitude'. Because I wouldn't doubt Serenity setting Freyr on you if you keep it up … Or Kazea with Teto," Alex added in a drawl, smirking.

"As if I need Freyr to do my dirty work?" Serenity countered, now glaring at both of the male Trainers as she moved next to Kazea, whom had nodded in agreement. And sighed in aggravation when Damian promptly sat down between the feminine duo, murmuring something about body heat as he leaned against the wall. "Fine, fine …" Serenity groaned, reluctantly closing her eyes, the steady pulling of exhaustion almost immediately dragging her into slumber. But paused, when more warmth settled down on her other side.

"As much as I hate to say it, Damian's right on that one," Alex sighed from beside her, before pointedly turning away. "Now all of you, go to sleep. I want to leave in a few hours," he said coolly, his tone unreadable.

 

[Sir Red]

(OoC: Sorry for the really late post (well, late for our recent standards), busy last twenty-four hours for me; better late then never, though.)

The sun rose over the treetops, a cornucopia of bird calls rang throughout the early morning sky. As the sun rose, it slipped into the opening of a cave set into a cliff, the sunlight shone directly onto the bodies and faces of four sleeping teens. The four, two male and two female, slept in a line, shoulder to shoulder.

A dark haired male, who was sleeping closest to the front of the cave, stirred in his sleep. He rolled his head about and then opened his eyes; however, the strong sunlight forced him to immediately close them again. The teen blinked his eyes a few times to try and adjust to the strong light.

Alex turned his head and the form of a petite female sleeping to his right caught his eye. He watched her as she slept, she looked so peaceful and at ease while sleeping. Alex just stared at her, wondering who exactly she was and how she'd become involved in such a dangerous situation.

Well, it was none of his business; and feeling that he'd been enough of a burden to Serenity and Kazea thus far, Alex decided this would be the best time for him to leave.

Alex stood up, using the rock wall as support to steady his still shaky legs. The icy-eyed trainer noticed Serenity's spare cloak lying on the cave floor; he reached down, picking it up and unraveling it. Alex took the cloak and laid it across Serenity, who suddenly stirred in her sleep. This took Alex by great surprise as he jumped back, but she did not wake.

With that, Alex collected his things, pulling a spare shirt of his on, Alex walked out of the cave. The sun, if at all possible, was shining even harder outside. Using his hand as a visor, Alex set off on his own.

As he walked his mind kept wondering, thinking about his past with Damian and how close the two had been as children. And more recently, how things had turned sour between the two; to the point where they even left one another to die.

Damian, however, wasn't the only person that Alex thought of; for some odd reason, he kept thinking about those two girls that he had recently come into contact with. Alex tried to push them from his mind, but for some reason just couldn't. Every time he closed his eyes, he would see them and it scared Alex a little.

Try as he might, Alex had developed some sort of a soft-spot for the two of them. He sighed, stopping in the middle of a dirt road; his bare feet sore from the excursion. Alex toiled with the idea of going back to the cave; but if they were already up, how would he explain his absence?

The icy-eyed trainer cursed himself; he was becoming too soft, too emotional. If he went back it would just end in more pain for him, and that was the last thing Alex wanted to be put through. But, if he didn't go back and something did happen to Kazea and Serenity, it would eat him alive knowing he could have done something had he been there.

Still not entirely sure of what he was going to do; Alex, not really thinking of what he was doing, turned around and started back in the direction he had come from. Dirt began to kick up around his feet as he trudged along, trying to come up with some excuse to use if he would need to explain himself.

Alex stopped, wait, why would he need to explain anything? He cursed, he was becoming soft. Still indecisive, Alex started walking again, still heading back to the cave.

If he needed to explain himself, although there should he no reason for him to, he'd say that it was to keep Damian away from Serenity and Kazea. What scared Alex about that was that on the inside, to at least some degree, it was true. With his mind finally made up, Alex set off at a determined pace.

 

[BlackHero46]

((OOC: Sheesh! Sorry it took so long guys! But as Red always says, better late then never.))

Although the comforting shade her eyelids provided for the deep, yet all too short sleep she'd had since the incident in Goldenrod, the pesky rays of the ever bright sun penetrated Kazea's slumber. Little by little, she was taken from sleeps warm embrace and placed back into the world of the waking.

The sounds of late morning were buzzing about, rebounding and echoing off the cave walls. The wind, bird Pokemon, usual morning noise was the verdict. There was, at one point, another noise similar to shuffling and footsteps just barely about the line of audible, but Kazea had filed the sounds as her half-asleep mind playing tricks when the noise quickly disappeared.

Finally deciding to humor the Sun, Kazea cracked open one eye sleepily. Her vision slowly rounded out, the damp cave rock and floor becoming clearer with each blink, until Kazea was at least awake enough to be fully aware.

The white clad female, her mint green hair dancing with the balmy inviting breeze, looked to the side; the warmth on said side catching her interest. Her wandering eye was awarded with the two sleeping forms of Serenity and Damian.

The brunette now had her spare cloak draped over her, reminding Kazea of the real cloak that she was still using. Serenity was much less serious while asleep, making a small smile form on the younger females facade. Kazea really did respect the Tamer, more then she was aware of. Dragon Tamers were people to idolize, at least by her own views.

As hard as she tried not to look, her soft jade gaze shifted upon Damian as well. The light haired youth, while asleep, didn't come off as badly. He looked almost gentle, peacefully content, though not in the way Kazea would expect from such a person; such a flirt. Though, if Team Rocket was after him, he couldn't be all bad.

That's when it occurred to Kazea that Alex was no longer around. Not his belongings, him, or anything. This puzzled the seventeen year-old more then she would have liked. He hadn't been kidnapped by Team Rocket had he? No, that couldn't be it, otherwise they would have all been taken, or killed on the spot.

She lifted herself to her feet, albeit reluctantly due to her just awakening a few minutes ago, and stretched out a bit before looking about the cave again. She decided to go check up on Freyr, Serenity's loyal Dragonite who had kindly stayed on lookout duty for all hours. Before she even took a step to leave though, she firmly moved Damian a few feet from Serenity. One could never be too careful... the male could wake up while she was outside.

Teto slowly woke up as well, stirred and bourgeois by the movement of her Trainer. The small ice fox stood up and stretched before shaking her body off of any dirt from the murky cave floor; small beautiful sparkles of diamond dust glittering and falling from her now unmarked pelt in the morning sun. The Glaceon mewled her name in greeting to Kazea. "Gla!"

Bending down with a adoring smile, Kazea stated, "Morning to you too, Teto. I'm guessing you feel much better?"

Teto nodded confidently, her tail swishing from side to side. "Gla..," the small shiny Pokemon asked in question as she pawed Kazea's hand.

Nodding in understanding, the human replied, "I'm feeling okay. The effects from all that smog are gone. Thank you for asking." With that Kazea gave the Pokemon a good scratch behind the ears and turned to walk outside, Teto in tow.

The forest in this area was truly a sight. Wonderful and evergreen with Pokemon naturally going about their daily routines, despite sensing human presence in the area. Johto was truly a region Kazea was growing more and more fond of, a region worth keeping away from the grasp of Team Rocket. She could see why Serenity had dragged herself into this mess, after seeing this view, anybody could understand.

"I trust you slept well Kazea. I have seen no signs of any activity from our enemies."

Kazea looked up to find Freyr perched at the top of the cave, he looked exhausted from being up all this time. "I slept alright. But y'know, you should really rest after battling and flying all night. I can stay out here and take charge for a bit."

The smallish Dragonite seemed taken aback by her offer, though after pondering it he eagerly flew down and thanked her. "You have my gratitude. Serenity may need protection from that other fellow, if he awakens while she is still at rest. Oh yes, Alex also came by here an hour ago. He appeared to be leaving, but I sense that he is now returning."

Kazea raised an eyebrow at that, but bid Freyr a good sleep with a bow as the dragon-type entered the cave.

Not even five minutes later did Alex abruptly show up, and he stood frozen in place when he noticed Kazea was awake. He indeed had all of his stuff with him, and he looked as though he was a Rattata caught in a trap.

Before he could say anything, the male clearly forcing back his rude yet firm attitude, Kazea raised a hand up in front of her. "It's okay, you don't need to explain anything or give an excuse, I won't pry. What you do and what decisions you make are none of my business."

Kazea's jade stare met an icy blue one, yet the stare wasn't really out of spite, but more out of mutual understanding, or even respect. Alex looked to the cave, something akin to suspicion cloaking his features. "Don't worry, I moved him away from her; Freyr is also in there now, so he shouldn't be messing with anything. Since you're conveniently out here, help me keep lookout."

Alex didn't say anything, he looked torn with himself as he took to an area just to the left of Kazea. For the first time since she'd seen him, his emotions appeared like a kaleidoscope over his face. She sighed as she began talking, though very uncomfortably since Alex wasn't one for conversation.

"Look Alex, I know you and I haven't exactly talked much. No offense, but you're not really easy to openly talk with anyway. Even so, we're comrades now, allies, and even if you don't think so, friends; we all are. We've all winded up in this mess together, so we're stuck together. Showing emotions and feeling for people isn't easy, I know, believe me. But it's okay to let yourself trust. In this situation, trust is key. Serenity, me, even Damian; put up with us if that's the least you can do. But just know, at least for Serenity and I, that you're important. We don't want you to go on your own and let yourself die."

For once, the look he'd usually stared Kazea down with seemed friendlier, and surprised. Many times he opened his mouth to say something, but nothing came out.

So again, Kazea spoke, this time more nonchalantly and less picky about her words. "You don't have to like us, but I respect you for what you've done to help us. Therefore, I will do my utmost to support you. Serenity as well."

Alex chuckled at the fact that Kazea hadn't included Damian, and with a cool relaxed smirk he finally spoke. "Thanks, I'll keep that in mind... Kazea." Then he focused himself, looking more like a brick wall again.

With her own smirk, mostly upon hearing the usage of her name, Kazea also held her attention over the horizon, Teto sitting loyally by her side.

The rest of the lookout watch was quiet, Kazea occasionally talking with Teto about things on her mind and then discussing some other things like past battles and adventures. It was all nice and overall a relaxing time....

Until, of course, Kazea felt two arms sling suddenly around her waist from behind...

"Morning there, my gentle breeze. How's the watch going?," the voice of Damian whispered; his soft breath sending unnerving goosebumps down her neck.

Kazea's face, and whole skin tone really, heated up to a crimson that would rival that of a Scizor's armor. It took her a few seconds, but she opened her mouth, a scream leaving it. Her yell was so loud that a few nesting Murkrow flew away out of shock.

Ripping herself out of Damian's arms and his seemingly innocent embrace, she screeched at him, Teto even putting her paws over her ears as she did so. "You! You pervert! How dare you touch me like that! Have you not learned anything! Stay away from me!

Damian simply shrugged. "It was only a hug. I give good morning hugs to all the cute girls I like. Heh, and you're defiantly cute when you're stubborn like this, my gentle breeze."

Kazea blushed darker, if humanly possible, and was prepared to go up and punch him out. "Stop calling me that! I'm not cute, or pretty, or anything like that! Go bother Serenity, she's the pretty one!"

Damian rubbed his neck, keeping his cool even under Kazea's heated scolding. "Well, you're name is 'Kaze'-a. 'Kaze' means wind. I thought the nickname was very suiting for you."

Serenity and Freyr were now outside and watching the commotion, but even they didn't dare to incur the young females wrath upon themselves.

Kazea looked to her Glaceon, and with a nod she began walking away to the Dragon Tamer so she could return her cloak to her; though Kazea was still visibly red in the face.

The light haired youth looked off in her direction until he noticed Teto hadn't followed her. The little ice fox smiled mischievously before using her powers to freeze the elder male's shoes to the rocky terrain below his feet, leaving him unable to move his feet from the spot on which he stood. Teto only laughed under her breath as she went about following Kazea again.

Damian just stood horrified, trying to free himself from his iced over predicament. "H-hey! Is this anyway to treat someone!? It was just a hug! I'm sorry!"

 

[Moonlight-Zelda]

A small sigh escaped the brunette's lips as warm sunlight hit her across the eyes, snuggling deeper down into the cloak that had been draped over her, pulling it up higher at the same time. She had managed to curl herself into a small ball against the wall, apparently still chilled from the night before. The young woman groaned when the ground faintly started vibrating, before shuddering once more as it stopped.

Humanoid warmth was faintly discernable to her, causing Serenity to stir slightly in her sleep. A feminine shout suddenly caused her to jerk awake, though was met with Freyr's crystal blue gaze as the screeching continued.

"You! You pervert! How dare you touch me like that! Have you not learned anything! Stay away from me!" Kazea's voice rang out, trembling in rage and possibly embarrassment.

Serenity's brow arched, quickly standing when she noticed Damian's absence. As well as Alex's and Kazea's, apparently. "They wouldn't happen to be outside would they?" she queried, stifling a yawn.

"Yes, they are. Did you sleep well until that disruption?" Freyr inquired, cocking his head slightly in concern.

The brunette nodded, stretching as she walked to the cave's mouth. "Thank you for keeping watch, Freyr," she added, smiling slightly. Especially when she saw the scene unfolding before her. It seemed that Damian was getting quite an earful, despite his quiet protests and attempted defenses.

A slight blush appeared on Serenity's cheeks when she heard Kazea's counterargument, glancing questioningly at Freyr. That, she had not heard before. The undersized Dragonite simply shrugged, though looking on with interest at Kazea's scolding of Damian.

"She has quite a temper, does she not?" Freyr observed, highly amused by the fair-haired Trainer's steady but unhelpful attempts to calm Kazea. "Hmm … Kindly remind me not to mention anything of this subject to her," he added, watching Teto calmly freeze Damian to the ground as her Trainer strode towards them. He nodded in greeting to the jade-eyed female, crystal blue eyes watching her.

"Shouldn't you be sleeping, Freyr?" the mint-haired young woman asked, cocking her head when she reached them. Concern was visible, which caused a dragon equivalent of a blush to spread across the Draonite's face, his amber hide briefly turning a coppery color.

"I shall rest in a little while, Kazea," he returned quietly, quickly assuring her.

"Okay, then," she said, nodding. "Oh yeah, here's your cloak, Serenity," Kazea added, shedding the midnight blue material and handing it to the Dragon Tamer.

Serenity nodded, smiling. "Thanks," she murmured, tossing the cloak over her arm. "Out of curiosity, how long will he have to stand there?" the brunette added, smirking slightly at Damian's now pleading expression as she listened to his secondary attempt to redeem himself.

Kazea shrugged, nonchalant. "Until we have to go."

* * * * *

Damian sighed, seeing that Kazea was now ignoring him. The pretty mint-haired maiden was apparently holding a grudge now. A shame, really.

The aquamarine-eyed Trainer awkwardly shifted his weight, shoving a hand in the pocket of his black jeans. His fingers curled around an oddly warm pokeball, far hotter than the other five minimized ones shoved in it. He smiled as he withdrew it, maximizing the fully scarlet painted pokeball in his hand. Though the metal was almost to the scalding point, the same standard red beam of light lit the ground in front of him.

"Flar!" the Flame Fox greeted, black eyes twinkling mischievously. His sleek scarlet coat shimmered in the morning light, poofy yellow mane and tale swaying with the breeze like a lazy fire. The Flareon glanced at the ice that was restraining his human friend, cocking his head.

Damian sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck, chuckling. "Yeah, I'm in a bit of a predicament. Care to help me out, Kumara?" he asked, smiling slightly.

The Flareon cocked his head, as if tauntingly saying ‘Let me think about it'. It flicked its thick tail after a moment, giving the equivalent of a shrug. Orange-red embers began glowing at his mouth, aimed at the rock directly next to the ice so he didn't deep fry Damian's legs.

"Thanks, Kumara. What say I introduce you to a Glaceon and Espeon after I thaw out?" Damian offered, smiling. It had been a while since Kumara had met other evolutions than his siblings, so that'd be entertaining for the Flareon. Kumara's response was to kick up the power on his Ember a notch, almost melting the rock now with the ice. Damian chuckled. "I'll take that as a yes, then?"

The Flareon paused as he looked up, nodding. Damian chuckled, the ice cracking as he shifted his weight again. "Good enough," he said, now trying to step forward. The rest of it broke off, leaving his jeans and boots coated in the slick but melting substance. Kumara immediately bounded forward, his jaw closing around the hem of Damian's jeans as he jerked him forward. Causing his Trainer to land flat on his back.

Kumara began purring audibly, playfully standing on Damian's chest as if to say ‘What are you waiting for?'

The fair haired Trainer sighed, picking up his almost steaming fox pokemon. "… Why are you always trying to do this to me, Kumara?" Damian asked dryly, and received the Flareon's nose turning to the air in response.


(OoC: I love the ending to this post. ;D And, yes, Kumara still wants to meet Teto and Terasu.)

 

[Sir Red]

(OoC: Ugh…I apologize for this post in advance. Not my best work by far.)

Alex sat atop a rough outcropping, his bare feet dangled below him. His petite fox pokemon, Demeter, sat curled up in his lap. The dark haired trainer absent-mindedly scratched behind her ears as he surveyed the horizon. All seemed calm in the late afternoon sky; there was little activity in the area. They had chosen a good spot to hide out for the night.

After an eventful night and morning it was surprisingly nice to just sit back and relax. Albeit, Alex was off by himself again, but that was just the way he preferred things. Alex had, for some time now, been wary of others. Which, after all that had happened to him, was completely understandable; it'd be understandable based just off of his past with Damian.

Alex scooped a loose rock and tossed it in a high arc, it landed amongst the wilderness and sent a flock of Pidgey fluttering into the sky. Alex watched as they flew off into the sun, there forms quickly disappearing from the bright light behind them. The brightness of the sun forced Alex to close his; he took a deep breath, for the first time in a long time at ease.

But that peace was suddenly disrupted by a loud scream that seemed to shake the very cliff. Alex cursed softly and climbed to his feet, Demeter hoping to hers as well. The two set back off in the direction of the cave.

As they neared Alex could make out the flailing figure of Damian, who happened to be stuck in ice. Alex took a seat to enjoy this little scene, but sadly it was cut short as Damian used his Flareon, Kumara to free himself.

As Kumara stood victorious atop Damian Alex walked forward. Alex walked directly past the two without even giving any indication that they existed, Demeter doing much the same. However, as she walked past Kumara looked at her happily, but was discouraged as she ignored him.

Alex walked into the cave to see Kazea and Serenity talking; he stopped a few steps in and watched them with an expressionless mask. It was a moment before they noticed his presence, but Serenity noticed him out of the corner of her eye. She turned and scrutinized him, "So, where have you been?"

Alex sighed, "I was on look out." He stood there awkwardly for a few moments; nobody in the cave said anything as the three exchanged awkward glances, but at the same time tried to not meet eyes.

The moment, oddly enough, was saved by the reappearance of Damian. He and Kumara came waltzing in to cave, a care free expression on Damian's face. "Hey, why's everyone so quiet and awkward looking?" He asked bluntly, which made the others feel even more awkward.

"Who said you could come inside?" Kazea asked, still clearly angry at Damian for all of his recent actions. In response he simply shrugged his shoulders and bent down to scratch Kumara.

Alex stared from Kazea to Damian, having clearly missed something, but he decided to let it be. "Let's get going. I believe we're supposed to be heading towards Ecruteak…," Alex said, to nobody in particular as he headed back out of the cave. Alex walked back out into the open and started off, much as he had earlier; though this time he stopped after a bit to wait for his new companions.

 

[BlackHero46]

Kazea was surreptitiously grateful when Alex had taken the party's prior initiative and began to act on it by traveling a little ways on the path to Ecruteak. This already gauche gathering of people, namely a certain fair haired male, was beginning to get flat out taxing on her precious patience. Since Serenity and Damian were still drinking in the suggestion of heading out, the jade-eyed Trainer was the next to follow suit, though not without throwing a firm, yet placid, remark over her shoulder.

"He's right you know. We've been here long enough, and delaying this trek any more then we already have will just make us sitting ducks for Team Rocket. If you recall, one of the Grunts did get away last night, and I'm sure he's not going to keep quiet about it."

Not even a second after she'd said that did she hear the footsteps of her other companions mixing in with the light trotting sound of Teto's paws. A small smile dawned on her face for some reason, a reason she couldn't place.

Alex had, uncharacteristically, waited for the other three to catch up before they all began a serious walk ahead; taking an uncharted route through the forest, hoping that their travel path would throw off any trackers that could so suddenly show themselves. It was for that very reason that they even had to walk in the first place, for flying on the backs of Pokemon in broad daylight would be more foolish than waiting around for Team Rocket to catch up with them back at the cave.

It had been a good three hours since they had set off now, judging by the position of the sun, although it was hard to tell for certain since Kazea could barely see the flaring orb through the forest's brush canopy and treetops. Everybody was beginning to feel the effects of walking for so long. After all, they hadn't exactly rested properly beforehand.

Alex was still leading ahead the group, but even he was showing signs of exhaustion. Damian, in contrast, was in a middle line behind the dark haired male, along with Kazea and Serenity; who were carefully off to the right of the black clad Trainer.

Knowing that he may be digging his own grave, Damian tried to appear preoccupied with the scenery whilst at the same time inching away the distance between Kazea and himself. Once he was close enough to do so, he opened his mouth to speak, probably to sweet talk, while slowly moving his arm out in preparation to put it around the mint haired female's waist.

Before his arm came into contact with her lithe frame, Kazea spoke, her tone dry, and almost toxic. "Touch me at all with that arm, and you're going to lose it faster then you can say, ‘oops'."

Damian's face twisted and paled just from the sheer attitude Kazea had addressed his, attempted, action with. With a sigh, he relented and fell back from the pace the two females had smoothly going. When he was positive that the younger female couldn't see his face, he let himself sulk, undoubtedly saddened that the girl within his interest was clearly appalled by him.

Another good ten minutes went by, and still the destination was far. Demeter, Alex's Eevee that he had kept outside for the walk, abruptly sat, her Trainer not even noticing at first due to his attention being hooked on walking. The little Eevee panted and her fennec ears drooped down. The poor thing was clearly struggling to keep up.

When Kazea and Serenity met the spot where the Evolution Pokemon sat, the younger of the two Trainers stopped walking. "Alex, I think Demeter needs a rest." When the male looked back to examine his Pokemon, she added, "How about you let me carry her for a little while? It'd be unfair to deprive this little one of the fresh air."

Alex looked uncertain, as well as uncomfortable with the request, but he eventually fell to the offer and marched on. After all, he couldn't well deny that Demeter had been cooped up in her Pokeball for a long time before this. Teto was, after all, the only other Pokemon walking along with them, Freyr and Kumara had been returned into their own Pokeball's earlier.

Demeter mewled in surprise as Kazea scooped her up into a snuggly embrace; the Eevee accidentally nestled in her arms as the human began to walk again with the others.

Not used or keen on strangers, Demeter nervously flailed and cried out from Kazea's hold on her, the fit she presented was directed at the fact that Kazea was not Alex. But when the white clothed female reached up with a free hand and ran her fingers soothingly behind the fennec Pokemon's fuzzy ears, Demeter was quelled.

Kazea looked down at the Eevee with a comforting smile, her jade eyes softened and warm. "There now… it's alright. Go on and rest, I've got you."

Demeter blinked at the human, her own eyes staring straight into the boundless green pools above her. The Eevee, after only a few minutes of being with Kazea, was soon purring and nuzzling her head into the young woman's snowy cloak, a grin visible on the Pokemon's face. Soon, Demeter was out like a light, asleep and cuddled up in relaxation.

Not long after that did Serenity make a questioning noise, unmistakably spotting something that interested her.

Kazea turned to ask, but the brunette was already offering the thought. "Over there, I see a small pond and a clear area to take a break."

There was indeed a hidden modest area ahead, a smallish natural pond bordering the outside of it. It looked free of wild Pokemon, and free of obstructions that prevented a preferred repose. None of the group members seemed to disagree that they needed a small rest stop, so they welcomed the new spot with open arms as they finally came upon it.

After quietly giving Demeter back to Alex, the passing of the sleeping Pokemon awkward to handle, Kazea suggested the first thought that came to mind. "Well, we might as well let our Pokemon come out for air. They haven't eaten for a long time either, I can only guess. We should see what food we have available to us."

With that, Kazea took to her Pokemon's spherical containers and opened all five of them, different colored flashes all lighting the ground before bursting away to reveal the Pokemon inside. Kazea greeted each one of her partners, telling them all to go relax in any way they wished, as long as they stayed in the area.

Yoru, being the typical Swampert that he was, dove into the pond without a second thought, a pleased grin surfacing at finally being able to go for a swim.

Hadaki and Masuyo were more lax in their choices, the Arcanine and Flygon moving under a few trees and getting ready for a good respite in the shade.

Byakuya wasn't as active in the daytime, being an Umbreon that was not hard to believe. He shyly padded over to Teto, his face red and rings glowing brightly in his version of a blush. He obviously wanted a nap, but not alone.

Teto, after blushing herself and looking up to Kazea for permission, and then easily getting it, nodded to the Dark type, the two quickly proceeding to curl up together in some fluffy grass over under another tree.

Saisuke was the only one to stay with his Trainer, bowing in his usual routine before his calm voice resonated through Kazea's mind. "Master, is there anything you need assistance with? I can regain rest on another occasion."

With an intent smirk, she replied, "Actually, go see if Serenity needs help with anything, since she tends to be the best at setting things up. Oh, and see that guy in the black jacket? Keep an eye on him for me… But Saisuke, you're just as deserving for a break as anybody else. Don't think that you always need to work."

The lupine Aura Knight made a surprised sound that echoed telepathically, though he soon bowed again in dismissal, a hint of affection for Kazea breaking out a bit. "Thank you Master, I will ask Lady Serenity if she needs any support."

The seventeen year-old nodded as he left, though she was really more focused on sitting down. She decided to take a spot next to the cuddling forms of Teto and Byakuya, the two Eeveelutions welcoming her company with a few purrs.

Doing nothing to prevent the yawn that escaped her, Kazea let her eyes half close, observing the others and their Pokemon as they called them out.

((OOC: Yeah, Kazea is very good at soothing Eevee and its many forms. It's just one of the skills I gave her. *smile*))

 

[Moonlight-Zelda]

Serenity paused when cool water splashed onto the lush turf, glancing up when a vivid blue Swampert remerged at the pond's surface. Childish glee was visible in its brownish-black eyes, before vanishing underneath the surface again.

It would be good, to let them all have fresh air and rest out in the open. She removed three of the four specially glazed pokeballs from her belt, reluctantly admitting that letting Leviathan out in the open - As large as he was - would probably not be a wise idea, before releasing her most of pokemon companions one at a time.

Freyr appeared in a thin flash of vivid red light, the undersized amber Dragonite glancing at the high noon sky in mild surprise. He turned after a moment, cocking his head. "Is everything alright, Serenity?" the amber dragon queried, his tone curious as he walked over to his mistress.

She smiled, nodding. "Yes, Freyr. We're just relaxing for a bit, before we continue to Ecruteak," she said quietly, opening Terasu's pokeball.

"Good. You need to rest for a bit, rather than taxing yourself to such extremes. And do not deny that you have been," Freyr added, moving under the shade and promptly plopped down against a sturdy tree. The trunk shook slightly at the bottom, though causing the top of the tree to start waving in the sky. Cooing Pidgeys and Spearows loudly protested, entire flocks lifting into flight. His crystal blue eyes suggested something of a contented smile, touching his ‘clawed' hands together over his chest.

The feminine Espeon turned, the noise of the bird pokemon somewhat offensive to her sensitive hearing. Her pale lavender coat shimmered under the sunlight as she slowly laid down to bask, the jaw marks still indentions of scarlet against her sleek pelt. Terasu's slender, forked tail slowly swished back and forth as she laid under the sun's full blaze, thoroughly enjoying it. She raised her head after a moment of listening to Serenity looking through her bag, glancing at the Dragon Tamer. "Freyr is right, Serenity. Rest. We shall be fine. If I feel, or hear anything, I shall alert all of you," the fennec-like feline assured the brunette, resting her head on her slender paws, curling her tail around her legs after a moment.

"Fine, I will. Stop badgering me," Serenity said good-naturedly, smiling as she released Nieth for some fresh air as well.

The sapphire blue and white Dragon nodded in greeting to the brunette, before quickly joining Yoru in the pond. Though Neith was not telepathic like Terasu or Freyr, whom admittedly came from a somewhat odd clutch, it was obvious enough that the somewhat standoffish Dragonair cared for her companions.

Serenity turned, noticing the Lucario that had silently padded up next to her. "Oh, hello, Saisuke," she said, turning to face the Aura Knight. "I didn't get a chance to thank you for your assistance at Goldenrod," Serenity added, extending a hand to him.

Saisuke paused, somewhat confused. The brunette flushed, realizing what was wrong. It was the same concept with gaining the trust of an unruly dragon, except under different circumstances. She stepped back, briefly bowing to the Lucario in a revised greeting.

"You're quite welcome, Lady Serenity. I can easily see why Lady Kazea requested that I assisted you," Saisuke murmured telepathically, his calm voice resonating in her mind. "Also, Lady Kazea has entreated me to assist you further if need be," the Aura Knight added, watching the clearly still wearied Dragon Tamer.

Serenity chuckled, shaking her head. "I've got everything covered. Please, go enjoy yourself," she said softly, smiling at the Lucario.

Saisuke bowed once more, before straightening. "Thank you. I shall," he said reassuringly, a pleased smile ‘touching' his tone. He turned, silently walking back to Kazea.

The petite Dragon Tamer sighed after a moment, stifling a yawn when she noticed Alex glance in her direciton. It was bad enough Alex seemed to think her weak, she didn't need him thinking she was fragile too. Serenity paused when her hand brushed the pocket of her trousers, stiffening.

She had forgotten about giving Bill the data.

"Serenity. Go rest. Worry about that later, or I may have to put you to sleep myself," Terasu warned from her place under the sun, the ruby in her forehead shimmering slightly.

The young woman sighed once more at her companion's persistence, before joining Freyr under the shade as she leaned against another tree. At least the clearing was small enough that they were all somewhat near each other, her fellow travelers also resting against near by trees now. If all else failed, they could scatter into the sea of trees if found.

With that thought firmly in mind, Serenity slowly slid down the rough bark, eyes closing.

* * * * *

Damian shrugged, before nonchalantly letting his own partners out as well. A sudden wave of heat burst into the clearing when Wildfire and Kumara appeared, though dimmed down after the initial release when they were accustomed to their surroundings.

The mare nickered softly, her diamond-hard hooves leaving indentions in the somewhat moist turf as she trotted over in greeting. Damian smiled, rubbing his palms on her velvety cream colored muzzle. "Go graze, Wildfire. It's time to relax. Look at the others," he suggested, meeting her liquid brown gaze. Her flaming mane and tails swished with the cool breeze, seemingly picked up by it.

She offered a short whinny by way of response, before moving over to join the slender Espeon in the sun. The fair haired Trainer shrugged, before releasing his other companions form their storage spheres.

Electricity sparked when a vivid yellow and white Jolteon appeared, conducted by the moisture that naturally appeared around his littermate's sleek blue scales. The Vaporeon calmly swished her finned tail, taking in her surroundings with both of her brothers.

"Alright, Aurora, go swim if you want," Damian sighed, speaking to the usually difficult water evolution of his female Eevee.

Her response was to simply flick her tail once more, her somewhat soft black eyes calmly watching Damian. She daintly walked past Kumara, holding her small black nose in the air. The Flareon lunged playfully, aiming to tackle his sister to the grass where Wildfire had made a muddy spot from tearing it up. Cold water quickly formed around Aurora's tail as she whipped it at him, catching her brother in the face.

Damian chuckled, shaking his head at Kumara's now startled expression. "I'd think you'd learn eventually, buddy," he said, smirking. Kumara sneezed the water out of his nose, before shaking like a soaked Mightyena.

He paused, noticing that Nimbus had already vanished. The black-clad Trainer turned, glancing around for the male Jolteon. His brow arched when he finally saw him, somewhat puzzled that the electric fox was now snuggled up next to Kazea. He hesitated, before striding towards the mint haired young woman.

With any luck, now she had enough time to cool down and not snap at him. "Hey, Nimbus," he called, causing the Jolteon's ears to perk towards him.

"Jol?" Nimbus queried, cocking his head both in curiosity and in satisfaction as Kazea began rubbing behind them.

Damian paused once more, before deciding to speak directly to the jade-eyed maiden. "Do you mind if I sit here for a while?"

Kazea sighed, before waving him down. "Keep your hands to yourself, and we'll do fine," she said bluntly, though smiling down at Nimbus as he crawled onto her lap for a better rub.

"Yeah … Sure," Damain said, sheepishly rubbing the back of his neck. He quickly loosed Nero, his Feraligator, and Titana. The fair haired Trainer lowered himself to the ground once he was sure his pokemon companions were within eyesight, lounging next to Kazea.

"So, how long are you planning on tagging along?"

(OoC: Wow ... This is the longest 'idling' post I've done yet. And, Damian is still allowed to come along. Kazea is just making an attempt at conversation without threats. ;D)

 

[Sir Red]

The warm afternoon breeze played about the clearing, creating ripples in the pond and blowing hair and clothing around. Alex brushed his hair out of his eyes, absent-mindedly touching the scar above his right eye. He ran his fingers over it, remembering the incident that had not only scared his body, but also his soul.

Alex noticed that his new companions were releasing their pokemon; deciding to follow suit, he pulled out his remaining five pokeballs. He paused, and put one of the balls back, thinking it best to keep Loki away from others. Alex released his four other Pokemon, each appearing in a flash of white light.

Alex's partner, the Volcano Pokemon, Helios let out a playful roar, flames erupting on his head and rear. Helios ran about and eventually curled up next to Wildfire and quickly fell asleep. Alex sighed; Helios, for all of his energy, took more naps then a cat.

Baal immediately ran up to Alex and touched his lightning bolt crested tail to his trainer's nose, his usual playful greeting. Alex smiled at the polite little electric mouse, "We're just relaxing for now Baal." With that, he ran off in search of a new playmate.

Alex watched as his giant wooly ice pokemon lumbered off into the near by forest alone. Alex watched him go; Boreas had always been reclusive, something Alex could relate to.

The last of Alex's Pokemon, Nyx, flew quickly into the shadows and perched herself in a tree and dozed off. Alex watched as his Pokemon went there separate ways; all except Demeter, who was curled up next to him.

Alex looked about the clearing, taking in the various situations before him. Soon his eyes fell upon a pairing that made him turn a bit hot in the face; Damian was sitting continually closer to Kazea. Alex, in a slight rage, nearly stood up and dragged Damian away. But he thought better of it, not wanting to involve Kazea in his quarrel with Damian. Alex, did however, make a mental note to make sure Damian didn't try anything.

Alex then turned his attention to the resting form of the small Dragon Tamer. Once again she looked so peaceful; Alex found it so weird that she seemed so serene when asleep, a contrast to what Alex had seen of her awake. Alex continued to watch her as sleep, for the second time that day. Just watching her like this, Alex could tell that she wasn't always as wary as she is now. Alex wondered how she had become wrapped up in all of this, she was after all, barely older then him.



As Alex sat there lost in thought, a playful little Flareon sauntered about the makeshift camp; observing what was going on with the others as he walked. Kumara soon noticed two fellow Eeveelutions cuddled up together; he stopped and observing their closeness, decided that he wanted to have that two.

So Kumara set off in search of a friend to cuddle with, and he soon spotted another fellow Eeveelution in Terasu. The Espeon was curled up, by herself, and Kumara quickly ran up to her gleefully. He pounced towards her, but was stopped in midair. The Flareon flailed about in open air, clearly taken by surprise.

"Do you mind? I'm trying to rest," Terasu said impassively as she used Psychic to send Kumara tumbling across the ground. Kumara pulled himself back to his feet, not willing to admit defeat yet he set off in search of a cuddle buddy.

Kumara soon spotted his brother, Nimbus, cuddling up to a mint haired trainer. Kumara, slightly jealous, ran over in there direction. When he got there he tried to shuffle his way up to Kazea, but suddenly a hand got in his way. Kumara looked up to see Damian looking down at him.

"Hey, Kumara, could you not play any pranks right now? I'm kind of busy," Damian said as he shooed his friend away. Kumara, dejected, shuffled away; his mischievous ways had cost him a chance to cuddle. Then Kumara spotted the Eevee he had seen earlier, the one who had ignored him.

Wanting to make her notice him, Kumara ran over to the resting form of Demeter. He was able to get up close behind her and even was able to curl up without her noticing. Kumara closed his eyes and slowly scooted his resting body closer to the older female. But he soon found that he was scooting farther then he though he'd have to. Kumara opened one of his eyes and took a peek to see how close he was to Demeter; much to his dismay, she wasn't there. Kumara stood up and looked around; he soon spotted her resting in the lap of a rather scary looking trainer.

Kumara, feeling unloved, lumbered off in search of anyone to cuddle with. He looked about the clearing and saw that everybody, but him, had somebody to cuddle with. Then Kumara spotted his sister, Aurora, lying by the pond. The Flareon whimpered lightly, but seeing as he had few other options, he walked over to his sister.

Kumara stretched out and then curled up next to his sister, but as soon as he lay down, she walked off. Kumara now felt completely alone as he lay on the shore, his eyes shut tightly to stop from crying. Then he felt something gently tap his nose. Kumara slowly opened his eyes and saw a smiling Raichu smiling back at him.

Baal tapped his nose again in a playful manner and ran off. Kumara watched him skeptically run off, assuming that he was once more being left. However, Baal stopped and stared at the Flareon; he waved his arm, telling Kumara to come play with him. Kumara, over-joyed, hopped to his feet and ran after his new play-mate.

(OoC: I suppose we could get back to the plot about now. XD)

 

[BlackHero46]

"I'm not sure, actually," Damian replied softly in response to Kazea's earlier question. "Since we're all together, I might as well stick around for a while... Do you mind?," he added, his question dripping with an emotion that was too puzzling to truly understand.

The younger female thought about his inquiry. Personally, she wasn't too keen on him, or his so called attempts to 'charm' her. Yet, at the very same time, Damian was such a help to them thus far. It'd be pointless to just go ahead and ditch him in the woods, or even afterwords. The fair haired male couldn't be all bad, and... he certainly liked her, for whatever reason that was.

"My opinion on you being around shouldn't matter. Stay, if that's what you want," Kazea finally said after a minute, though she was now fixated on Nimbus and his absolute liking of cuddling. The electric fox was sound asleep in her lap, contented by the way the jade-eyed trainer was brushing her hand against his ears and flank. For a Jolteon, Nimbus had very sleek soft fur, though Kazea supposed this was only because he wasn't battling.

Damian seemed to take notice of her new found affection for his Pokemon, and he eagerly took to its advantage and scooted ever so closer to Kazea. She seemed to get tense by his movements, so he quickly saved himself from another tirade, "I'm not trying anything. I'm just very pleased to see Nimbus so happy. He doesn't usually turn into a such a cuddle-bug on a first glance. Though, you seem to have an attractive quality when it comes to Eevee and its forms, seeing as an Eevee owned by Alex already loves you."

Kazea felt searing heat forming on her face, but not from embarrassment... no, this wasn't like that. The blush unnerved her, she didn't like it. Why had such a compliment caused a blush? The mint haired young women shook her head on it, trying to shake it off before Damian could see.

"T...t-thank you, I guess. For some reason, I've always seemed to have a way with Eevee and its evolutions. I don't really know what it is... Perhaps being with Teto all my life has rubbed off on me," Kazea stated, looking over to her Glaceon and Umbreon as they nestled with one another.

Damian had looked in the two Pokemon's general direction as well, and a smirk was his only comment on the Eon-couple's snuggle.

About a second later Kumara showed up, the Flareon looking to Kazea with sweet eyes, wanting to replace Nimbus on her lap. The white-clad trainer laughed at the fire-type and moved to pick him up, but Damian threw a hand in front of her before she could.

"Hey, Kumara, could you not play any pranks right now? I'm kind of busy," he said before shooing the Eeveelution away.

The fire fox looked completely depressed as he bounded away. Kazea felt for him a little, and couldn't help but ask, "Why did you send him off? He wasn't doing anything bad."

She heard a grunt leave Damian's lips before he dryly responded. "He's not one to stay angelic. I don't want him playing a trick on you. Not when we're finally getting along."

Kazea blinked slowly and prepared a small thank you, but the male interrupted. "So why are you in this whole thing? You seem foreign to Johto. You do have Pokemon I've never seen."

She was taken aback by his question, it even made her pause in her petting of Nimbus. Damian didn't really expect her to open up just like that, right? After all, they had just been introduced, and she wasn't a fan of his thus far. Kazea turned her head, his face looking straight into his face. Damian's facade was slightly silhouetted by the gentle shade of the tree, and his aqua eyes were sincere. For some reason, it made Kazea feel compelled to share a least the basics with him.

With a sigh, the youngest female simply told him that she was from Hoenn, that she was here to visit her cousin, and about the events back in Goldenrod where she had first seen Serenity pinned upon the wall by that Grunt in the alleyway.

The black-clad trainer listened intently to her words, not ignoring or disregarding a single one, and taking in the utmost detail of what she was willing to share with him. Kazea was obviously being careful, but she was at the very least talking to him without her angered and acid tone accompanying her serene voice.

The two sat in silence for a little while after that. Saisuke had found numerous Oran Berry plants amongst some of the bushes, and he was now gathering them in the middle of the clearing, placing the berries into small individual piles for each of the Pokemon.

Once he was done, most of the Pokemon stopped their playing and napping to eat, even Terasu, Byakuya, and Teto getting up to munch down on the sweet berries. Freyr and Nimbus were the only two to stay put; Freyr asleep and Nimbus too happy to move.

Serenity had awoken from the commotion, and she was now in deep work planning the rest of the walk ahead to Ecruteak, a large map spread across her lap.

Alex was still alone in his little corner of the wood, though that was typical at this point. Damian hadn't moved to get up either, still sprawled against the tree, his shoulder just inches from Kazea's.

Said trainer could tell that the break would end soon and they would have to get moving again. It was a shame really, she both wanted and needed a few hours to just do nothing.

"Thank you letting me get to know you a little, Kazea. I'm happy that I was able to at least have one real conversation with you before we depart," Damian pronounced suddenly out of the blue, his voice clipped.

She turned her head to observe him, he had a smile on his face again, but this time he didn't look as though he was saying things to only sweet talk.

Kazea found herself dawning her own small smile, her pulse unexpectedly quickening as she formed a proper thing to say in return. "As long as you keep off that ego of yours, I'd be glad to talk with you more often... Damian."

His head whipped around to her, shocked, he seemed, by what she had said. Upon seeing her face, and her vibrant jade eyes that had an almost warm appeal to them, a small steak of red lined the eighteen year-old's cheeks. Damian seemed to take note of his flush, which rarely ever happened to appear on him, so he quickly looked of in the direction of nothing in particular.

This was, after all, the first time Kazea had used his name.

This was, after all... the first time he'd seen her smile.

((OOC: I was really tired when I wrote this... so I'm sorry if it's pathetic. The only thing I could think of doing was a sappy fluff scene, since well, that's just what I live for. I also thought it best that Serenity be the one to kinda get everyone moving again, and back on the plot; though I also wanted to leave her room for anything else Moon wanted to add for the break if she had any other ideas. Lolz, I gave Moonlight a good beginning for Damian's PoV, that's for sure. ))

 

[Moonlight-Zelda]

Serenity glanced over, pausing when she saw almost their entire Eon family now frolicking on the turf. A small smile touched her lips as she looked back at the map she was holding, glad that Terasu was enjoying herself. Nieth was now sunning herself just outside of the shade, her many crystals shimmering.

Her pale cerulean gaze fell back to the grid map once again, running her fingertip down the thick sheaf of colored parchment as she considered one of the two trails she knew about, lost in thought. "Since you have a map, where are we going next?" a masculine voice queried, startling her.

The young woman jumped slightly, before glancing up. Icy blue eyes calmly bored down into her own, passively curious. Serenity shrugged after a moment, before motioning him down. "You may as well sit down for a little bit, because I'm still working on that," the brunette said quietly, her tone nonchalant as Alex reluctantly lowered himself to the shaded viridian turf. She continued to consider the two different paths, pondering silently. "… Is something on your mind?" the young woman inquired, noticing him also glancing over the map.

He glanced back to his pokemon companions, watching them. All but his little Eevee were either playing or munching on the round, bluish oran berries. "Not really. I just think we've been in one place to long," Alex mused, his tone equally nonchalant. The female fennec paused, noticing Alex had moved, before trotting over to him. Her liquid brown gaze passed over Serenity briefly as she crawled onto the ebony-tressed Trainer's lap, purring loudly. The young man chuckled, before rubbing behind Demeter's fuzzy tan ears while she began swishing her thick beige tipped tail back and forth in satisfaction.

"Well … I cannot say that I disagree," Serenity returned thoughtfully, pausing after a moment. "And I think, to answer your earlier question, we shall be taking this path," the brunette added, holding the map out to Alex so he could observe without having to disrupt Demeter.

His icy blue gaze quickly traveled over it, seemingly tracking the thin line that Serenity had bent into it to mark the general area. "It would work, then," he said after a moment, still stroking Demeter. The little fox pokemon's purr was all the more audible, clearly anticipating seeing more of the surrounding area. Though the path was sparse, it appeared to be thickly provided with tree cover. A bonus, for their goal at least.

Serenity nodded, pushing herself up as she folded the map and put it back in her bag. "Well … I guess we better gather them up," she said, referring to their pokemon companions.

"Yeah, we might as well," Alex shrugged, gathering Demeter in his arms as he stood. Serenity smiled slightly, bemused. "What?" the icy eyed Trainer asked, brow arching.

"Nothing," the brunette said quietly, before calling Nieth and Terasu to her. Despite Alex's attempts, his pokemon alone made it clear he was somewhat friendlier than he appeared to be. That alone was a reassuring fact, judging from the little Eevee. Oddly enough, some erring thought was playing about the back of her mind; seemingly suggesting that their group of four wouldn't be parting any time in the near future. Simply because of the past few days, perhaps? If anything, time would be the surest, but slowest answer. "Well, it's time for us to go," she murmured, maximizing Nieth's and Fryer's glazed storage spheres as the amber colored dragon noticed the now continued movements.

"Ah, I see we're ready, then?" he queried, nodding in greeting to Demeter and Alex as he stood.

"Pretty much," Serenity said, glancing at the still semi-relaxing forms of Damian and Kazea. They were getting up now, so they'd apparently noticed. "You can rest in your pokeballs, Nieth and Freyr," she added quietly, though nodding to Terasu. The Espeon nodded, before trotting off towards the other duo. Her sleek lavender pelt shimmered in the sunlight, her slender muscles visibly rippling underneath it, the late noon sky beginning to fade to a cooling evening one. Nieth invited herself back into her storage sphere without further comment, though Freyr paused, walking closer.

"Be careful, then," he said quietly, his tone unreadable.

The duo paused, even Alex hesitating. "What is it, Freyr?" he asked after a moment, his tone withholding a mild curiosity.

"I am not sure. Just exercise caution," the amber Dragon murmured, before vanishing into his pokeball.

* * * * *

Damian's aquamarine blue gaze trailed over the clearing, though a sigh escaped him when he noticed the petite Dragon Tamer and Alex were recalling all of their pokemon. "Not all," a feminine voice interrupted his thoughts, causing the startled Trainer to glance down in surprise. "Serenity has requested that you and Kazea finish preparing, as we are to leave momentarily. Rather like Teto and Demeter, I shall also be accompanying Serenity outside of my pokeball for the time being …" the lavender fox said quietly nodding to the Eevee behind her at a distance, and the nearby couple of the Glaceon and Umbreon.

"Sure … Is there anything else?" Damian asked the telepathic fox-feline, mildly confused as to why she was telling him such.

The female nodded, though glancing at Kazea as the mint haired Trainer continued to rub Nimbus's now exposed stomach. "If I tell you to stop, there is a reason for it. So do not ignore motion signals," the Espeon added, having clearly transmitted to both of the duo since Kazea was nodding.

"All right, then. Thank you for telling us, Terasu," the jade eyed Trainer murmured, though her gaze was now focused on Serenity and an oddly pensive Alex. The lavender fox paused, noticing the hardened sheen on Damian's stare. She audibly sighed, flicking her forked tail impatiently at the suppressed hatred.

(OoC: ... Yikes ... Sorry about this post, but I can't get anything to come out right, or make it any longer without ruining it's already unsteady quality ...)

 

[Sir Red]

(OoC: Well, here's the edit of my last post. Hopefully this one will be better. I apologize in advance if somebody seems out of character, but I didn't have anybody to proof read it for me. )

Alex finished tying off his makeshift shoes, which he had constructed from a spare shirt of his. The icy eyed male inspected his handy-work, tired of walking around bare-foot. He stood and exhaled deeply, looking about the clearing. Exhaustion easily visible on the faces and postures of everyone, the long night and constant travel taking its toll; they obviously would have preferred to sit in that clearing all day.

Current circumstances, however, didn't allow for such leisure. Thus, the four travelers set off again. Alex, once more in the lead, began following the trail that Serenity had shown him. The trail was a rarely used, roughly hewn path that bent and curved to follow the wilderness landscape. The seemingly random path greatly slowed down their progression towards Ecruteak. They were forced to work their way through the wilderness that had begun to overtake the path.

Large, ancient looking trees towered high above, creating a canopy that blocked out much of the sun. As they walked, Alex cleared away as much of the brushwork that littered the path as he could; Demeter aiding him in any way she could. Alex looked over his shoulder, checking to see if everyone was keeping up with his pace. Alex's two new companions, and his long time rival, were steadily keeping up with the tempo he'd set.

"So…how much farther are?" Alex heard a masculine voice ask from the back of the group. He turned and saw the smiling face Damian looking up at him expectantly. Alex chose to just glare at him and turn his attention back to clearing the path. "Well, if we don't get there soon, we should take another break. I mean, we don't want these pretty ladies getting exhausted," Damian said, thinking that it would earn him some respect and admiration from Serenity and Kazea. Instead, he received two icy glares from the women; Damian simply hung his head and whimpered slightly, his attempted nice deed getting him in more hot water.

Damian, still trying to get on the good sides of Kazea and Serenity, tried to stir up some conversation, "So, seeing as I gave you guys the gist of how I came into conflict with Team Rocket, you wanna tell me how ya'll got involved in this whole debacle?"

At first nobody replied to the light-haired male's question. "Well, I was more or less pulled into it when I decided to help Serenity," Kazea said after a time. She looked up at Serenity, who was walking in front of her, and it was obvious that Serenity was trying to ignore the conversation going on behind her. "By the time I showed up, Serenity was already actively fighting Team Rocket. So, Serenity, how did you get involved with the resistance?" Kazea asked prudently.

Serenity didn't answer or give any indication that she had heard them for a long time, so long in fact that Damian asked the question for a third time. This time she relented, letting out a defeated sigh she said, "Does it really matter? I want to stop Team Rocket from taking over Johto." Her tone sounded drained, "Now can we just focus on getting to Ecruteak?" She said it more as a command then a question, the female dragon tamer still working on incredibly little sleep.

"What!?" Damian yelled from the back of the group in an exacerbated tone, "You make me tell you my whole dark past and in return all I get is this ‘for the good of Johto' garbage!" Damian was not in the mood to be blown off, sleep deprivation making him, and everyone else, a bit on edge. "How is that fair?" He complained, and Kazea voiced her agreement, although in a less rude way.

Serenity, clearly taken aback from the sudden anger from the usually calm Damian, had no immediate reply. As her exhausted mind tried to come up with a reasonable reply, she was saved from an odd source. "Would you shut the hell up!!" Alex roared from the front of the pact. "I swear to Arceus Damian, if you open your damn mouth one more time, I'll cut your tongue out," Alex's threat immediately halting the retort that Damian had been preparing to say. After their history and how things currently were between them, it was all too possible that Alex would follow through on the threat.

The group continued to walk as the day turned into dusk, and eventually night; the whole rest of the trip taking place in a tense silence. They did finally take a break, at which time they rested and ate. The group sat around their makeshift campsite, trying to relax as much as possible before setting off again under the cover of night.

Alex slowly walked amongst the trees, scouring the area to make sure they wouldn't be taken by surprise in case somebody had been tailing them. Demeter silently padded along next to him, her head barely reaching her life-long companion's shin.

Demeter had, for as long as Alex could remember, been right there whenever he needed her. The, usually, stern faced Alex looked down at his devoted friend, knowing in his heart that Demeter would be by his side no matter what. Alex stopped, bending down; he scooped Demeter up in his arms and hugged her gently. She made a soft purring noise as she cuddled against his chest.

As Alex completed his second sweep of the area, Demeter resting in his arms, he saw a tall, skinny frame slowly approach him from the side. The sluggish male turned as quickly as his dull reflexes allowed and saw the somber face of Damian appear out of the shadows. The slightly older male had a nervous, almost fearful look on his face, something Alex wasn't used to seeing.

"What do you want?" Alex asked shortly, not in the mood to be near, let alone talk with Damian. The childhood friend didn't reply at first, instead he walked nearer Alex and bent down a bit to take a closer look at Demeter.

Damian let out a soft laugh, "I remember the birthday that you got Demeter's egg from Gabriel. You were so ecstatic to be getting an egg from him." Damian stepped back, a wary smile on his face as he remembered better days for the both of them. "Do you remember how we used to sit around with it and wonder what would hatch from it? And we'd talk about how we'd someday battle each other at Indigo Plateau in the Pokemon League Championship…" Damian trailed off, lost in the memories of days long gone. "What happened to us Alex, we used to be there for each other all of the time?"

Damian asked, compassion and care in his voice, "Can't we just forgive and forget? You have no idea how sorry I am for what I did to you, and I forgive you for what you did in turn. I just miss being able to talk to you…" Damian looked away, all of the pent up things that he had wanted to say having just been said; his emotions had taken control of his rest-ridden mind

Alex stared at his long time rival and friend, not really sure of how to respond to his comments. All of what he had just heard had hit him like a ton of bricks; that had been the last thing he had ever expected to hear. The icy eyed trainer, for the first time in a long time, was at a loss for words. A rare, soft expression appeared on Alex's exhausted face. He knew in his heart that to some degree he had missed his friendship with Damian too. But Alex also knew that this was not the time to be soft, there was still far too much that needed to be done, and friendship would only prove a weakness.

His mind made, Alex turned away from Damian. "Well, you should have thought of that before you betrayed me for Team Rocket…" Alex said coldly over his shoulder as he walked off, leaving a stunned and saddened Damian alone in the dark wilderness.

(OoC: Kazea, I think it'd be best, story-wise, if neither of the guys acted like this happened. Anywho, I hope this gives you something nice to work with.)