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Dark_Hunter-Angelic_Tears Vice Captain
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 Posted: Wed Feb 24, 2016 11:09 am
Frozen Wasteland Predominant Pokemon Types:  
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Posted: Mon Apr 18, 2016 12:37 pm
It was time.
It was a bit of a melodramatic way to say it but that was all in the eye of the beholder. Jessica took her missions seriously. Each one was an appropriately chosen task, each one was carefully prepared for. They would choose a mission suited to their skillset, prepare for it thoroughly enough that there would be no scenario unaccounted for and they would depart only to return safely.
And so it was with no insignificant amount of consternation that Jessica stared at Jeremiah as he held the mission flyer in his hand. "We should do this one!"
Jessica stared, blinked slowly and then posed the obvious question. "Why?"
Jeremiah stopped and seemed to be stuck in thought for a moment. "I've... always wanted to go there." It was the best excuse he could muster with an awkward smile to match it.
Jessica sighed under her breath and took the flyer from him to read it over. "You've always wanted to go to a barren, frozen wasteland in the middle of nowhere?"
"Yes?"
Jeremiah, she had quickly come to learn, was not very good at lying. Still, now that the flyer had been practically shoved into her face she might as well take the time to read it.
For weeks my predictions have begun to center on this person. I suspect that they have killed before, but nothing to the extent that I foresee now. Please, I beg of you to help me. This cannot come to pass, for their sake.
...Heavy. And outside of their skillset, for sure. They were "acquisition specialists", they didn't do things like this. But now that she had read the summary, there was nothing stopping her from reading the mission proper.
An Umbreon has been the constant focus of my visions for many weeks. Without fail she has been central to deaths and sickness in the area. There have been senseless deaths as of late and some have been sick... she must have killed before but it pales in comparison to what is yet to come. This Umbreon's poison is a threat to those around her. In my visions, I see many dying. I see reddened flesh riddled with death-marks and rotting skin. I see many coughing, spluttering painfully. It is here that we rest in the ruins and caves 'neath the ice and it is here that we will soon die should we not be helped.
This was outside of their specialty. They were treasure hunters. This was a hit. They weren't particularly well equipped to handle it in any sense. Jessica was swift and effective but not particularly powerful. Tobias was skillful and powerful enough, but he wasn't so strong as to dominate his opponents. Jeremiah was, in his own words, "I don't fight a lot. But I'm good at finding things and hiding from people and a bunch of other stuff!" None of the three were particularly suited for the task. Numbers alone would probably make up for it; that didn't make it particularly appealing. A job where you got injured was a bad one.
...On the other hand, the matter was pressing. It wasn't a small request and however poorly their team was suited for it, it needed to be handled. And no matter how unequipped their team was for it, there was the uncomfortable truth that there probably wasn't any team that was. Many of the other teams were weighed down by psychics who would find themselves a poor match for an Umbreon. It was an uncomfortable question for her to ask herself. Risking her team, and herself, was something she absolutely did not want to do. But now that she had picked up the notice and read the paper, could she force herself to put it back down?
Jessica rubbed her forehead lightly. "Should I pack for four?"
Jeremiah smiled widely. "It, uh, never hurts to pack extra right?"
Besides, something about it bugged her. She wasn't quite sure what it was but something about it all didn't line up. They would prepare, depart, explore, handle the mission and the itch in the back of Jessica's mind would be scratched in the process. The preparation itself was all as to be expected. Some water, but not much as the snow would handle the issue nicely. Some food, but not an excessive amount as the mission wasn't likely to be long. Warm clothing to resist the winds while they were above ground. The one unique thing she brought was a generous supply of a thin, pink paste with a sweet smell. Pecha berries were hollow on the inside and, unaltered, were a poor choice for a trip. And that aside, the paste had a special purpose.
Preparations were complete. Balerd had been stored away in the careful arms of Team Essence. Everything necessary had been retrieved. Jessica and Jeremiah both were prepared with warm coats and Tobias with his fur. Supplies were ready, they ate lightly and left. The ensuing journey was typical, boring and not particularly unpleasant. The temperature began to drop harshly as the wastelands came into view.
The legends went that, a long time ago, a city had stood in the center of the lands. Their guardian diety had kept them safe until the day that an intruder came and the two had to do battle with one another. The unfathomable coldness that each one contained tore through the air and became the endless winds that still graced the land. The once chilly landscape became almost uninhabitable as clash after clash distorted the weather. Their guardian won the battle but in doing so doomed the land. The invader was slain and its corpse would transform the land forever. The guardian looked at what the battle had wrought and fled in sorrow.
At least, that was the legend.
Jessica was not a superstitious pokemon but there was often truth to be found in a myth. She pulled her coat tight around her body, thankful that she was always cautious. The idea of two pokemon being so unfathomably powerful that the truth could fade to legend before the land could heal was, well, unfathomable. What mattered was the sharp cold that dug into her skin. Something was making the wastelands the frigid place they were, not that it mattered what. Only that they were prepared.
They were prepared in body, mind and spirit. "It's so cold!"
Well, most of them were anyways. "I thought you always wanted to visit the frozen wastelands?"
Jessica wrapped her tail around her body and pulled the flame inwards. The snow crunched under her feet and the wind bit at her exposed tail. She resisted the urge to shiver lightly, knowing that doing so would only make her tire quickly. Jeremiah did not resist leaving his teeth to loudly chatter. Tobias, on the other hand, seemed forever unfazed by the impossible weather and simply slipped ahead at random to scout. The wastelands weren't solely endless fields of white, glaring snow. Many peaks and valleys dotted the landscape, which was perhaps all the worse. Good maps were a rarity and the locals were avoiding them, likely due to the flames. A home field advantage did little to prevent skittishness.
She wasn't worried about it, she was well aware that they could turn around and make their way back easily enough. But they would need help if they wanted to complete the mission and it was help that they would eventually receive.
"Fancy meeting you here. What a coincidence."
"Yes. Yes it is." Jessica rolled her eyes internally. Joshua had, in a predictable enough fashion, popped up in the middle of nowhere to greet them. She had had a feeling that this was all a facade and that Joshua would be the one at the end of it. "Which way is inside? It's cold out here."
"This way, come on." Joshua led them around the snowy mountain to a set of his own tracks that had already begun to fade in the wind. Once he reached the base of the mountain, he simply jumped upwards with a surprising amount of grace only to fall back down into the snow and disappear. "Come on."
Jessica stared at the hole, suddenly very glad that the had "chanced" upon Joshua. Tobias slipped in after, then Jeremiah, and then finally Jessica. Underneath the snow was a rocky entrance that she had to roughly feel out through the snow. It melted against the heat of her hands, water ran down the sharp drop and Jessica quickly tumbled down to the fuzzy surface below. %The belt around her waist clanged as it shook in the fall. "Thanks."
"It is no problem." A gentle push and a careful hand had Jessica back on her feet and, with a deep breath, puffed up her tail flame and surveyed their surroundings. It was a cave with few qualities worth speaking of. At a glance, it looked like it stretched out in every direction at varying angles. She could only surmise that the tunnels popped up near the surface for an opening every now and then, as the downward slant of each tunnel and strange opening above her seemed too willful to be natural. It was still cold, but without the wind it was cozy enough.
"So. What's the job?"
Jessica frowned internally, knowing better than to let the loose sense of displeasure shine through. She didn't like that Joshua was inserting himself into her team the way he was, but at this point it was too late to do anything about it. Picking a fight here wouldn't help the mission. The brief possibility that it could have all been an elaborate setup crossed her mind, but she shook the possibility before it could take hold. A quick glance at Tobias showed that he wasn't concerned by Joshua's presence which was enough to supplant any fears. She still didn't understand Tobias, but he was... impulsive enough that she half-expected him to lash out if he thought Joshua was a threat.
"We're expecting a mass-murder." "Oh." "There's an Umbreon here somewhere. Apparently her poison is making people sick... an Absol has prophesized that it's going to kill a lot of people. There has been a few deaths already."
"If it's deaths, I know a few. Not sure about the poison thing." Jessica raised her brow and gestured for Joshua to continue. "You'll see what I mean when we get there, words don't really do it justice."
Joshua took point and led the way with Jessica just behind. Travel was slow and tiresome. She briefly considered leading them back out to the snow and taking the direct route but there was no guarantee they would find their way to where they needed to be. Making their way slowly through the dark tunnels was preferable in comparison, no matter how much effort was necessary to navigate the terrain. Or, necessary for her. Tobias, Jeremiah and Joshua all seemed to be handling it just fine.
Having only two legs sucked sometimes.
"So uh, mass murder huh? That's not exactly what I expected. This your usual kind of work?"
"I, too, was wondering. I do not believe this is the type of work that you would usually do though I may be mistaken." Tobias chimed in after Joshua spoke. Normally she didn't like idle chatter on missions but if both of them were speaking, it was likely safe enough...
"Someone strongly insisted we head here and handed me a mission." Jessica looked over at Jeremiah, who laughed awkwardly. "You're right, this isn't the kind of work I like. I'd rather we were hunting for treasure right now. But I don't like leaving this sort of thing alone. Nobody sends out a request for a job they can do themselves. Leaving the request on the board would be the same as saying 'it's okay if they die'. Maybe someone else would've grabbed it. Maybe someone else would've thought the same thing and then it would've been too late. It's not likely that every team would ignore it, but... if there's enough missions, sooner or later it will." Even if it was only a small chance, it would happen eventually. To take that stance was to let someone, somewhere, die for no reason. "The prophecy said that there would be a catastrophe. I don't like gambling on life."
"Hm~"
"I can't say I feel the same way." Joshua wasn't persuaded by Jessica's resolute speech. "But I get what you mean. As long as we're not doing charity work, right?"
"Of course. We help people, we're not heroes."
The only one who responded with unabashed positivity was Jeremiah, whose awkward smile became a genuine one. "That's really cool!"
Jessica nearly tripped over herself. "Thanks." But she caught herself and kept going. Direct compliments were just a little unusual.
Things would lapse back into silence as the team continued navigating the tunnels. Jeremiah would try to start up another conversation but he wouldn't find the words to speak before the team would arrive. Jessica held her tail up as high as she could to cast a bright-enough light around the area. The meaning of Joshua's words became quickly apparent.
They had stepped out of a tunnel into a larger, flat, open area. There weren't any bodies, since they had been long since cleaned up. But there was blood. Blood had been splattered across the walls and the floors in slick lines. "It was a Nido family, I think. Not too strong, but uh... Yeah. Probably not poison, probably claws, but that's just about half the folks around here."
Joshua was right. That much was evident. The blood spatter was too consistent and smooth to have come from any kind of poison. It was rare for a poison type to be afflicted with poison to begin with and this just made it seem impossible. They could hardly rule out the Umbreon from this alone but at the very least whatever had done it wasn't using poison to do so. They might not have been known for it but they did have claws.
Though, taking a close look at the bloodstains revealed a certain oddity to it. Something had disturbed the blood almost immediately after it had been shed. It didn't look like a footprint or the telltale sign of a tail having been dragged through it, but something else entirely. Jessica resisted the urge to reach down and touch it, knowing far better than to touch the blood of a poison type. It was distinctly possible that the strange disturbance in the splatter was the onus for the murders. But it was also possible that it was something else entirely.
It didn't matter anyways. They needed to find the Umbreon no matter what. The predictions centered on her. The job wouldn't be done until they had found her, everything after that was secondary. "We're moving on, there's nothing we can do here."
And move on they did. They had no choice but to wander. The locals seemed to be avoiding them, they didn't have a map and the scene of the crime was too chaotic to provide any useful information. Joshua said he had a "good enough" idea of how things worked around here after having stayed for a few days. Tobias was confident that he could lead them back down the path they had taken if worst came to worst. Wandering around was the only option. Next time, they would have to make sure they had a proper map.
The first sign that they had grasped a thread was Tobias stopping suddenly and gazing into the darkness intently. The heavy breathing came into earshot for the rest of them one-by-one. The soft sound of foot against stone preceded the form of a Sandslash stepping into the light. Every breath he took was a heavy one, as if being alive was an arduous task. His eyes were narrowed against the harshness of the light. %He was covered in... something? Something like a powder or a liquid had stained his stomach a reddish-brown. "Hi."
"Hi."
"Are you looking for something?"
"Yes," The Sandslash seemed friendly enough. "We're looking for an Umbreon in the area, she's covered in poison."
The Sandslash cocked his head and swiveled slightly before pointing off down a split in the tunnel to the left. "If you go that way you will find her. Goodbye."
Just as suddenly as the Sandslash appeared he disappeared. Jessica quickly beckoned to Jeremiah to step over to her. He leaned in slightly to hear her whisper. "Can you follow him quietly?" Jeremiah nodded. "...Go. Go! Remember the path he takes and then come back. Don't let him know you're there."
Jeremiah nearly spoke his confirmation but he shoved his hands over his mouth and ran off into the darkness. His footsteps were soundless in spite of his awkward, irregular gait. He disappeared into the darkness with ease, more at home behind the veil than not. It would take a good eight minutes for him to double back and return. "He ran off really fast and stopped in a room. I came back when he didn't leave."
Her suspicions had been confirmed instantly. "Jeremiah, take point and guide us there. I'll go last. Joshua, Tobias, whichever one of you has better night vision goes second. Stay low, stay quiet, lets find out what he's hiding."
"I believe it would be Joshua who would handle the darkness better."
"Yep." Joshua shifted his body back and then forward to stretch out the kinks brought on by waiting around in silence. "I can't deal with pitch black, but if there's light I can manage."
The march began. Jeremiah went first to guide and the chain of followers stepped around and over rocks as quietly as they could. Jessica held her tail in her hand, keeping the flame low in intensity and verticality. Her light needed, now, to be hidden or else it would give the group away in little time. Slow, careful steps concealed their passing right up until Jeremiah came to a stop. "We're close, he's just inside."
Jessica would make the first real mistake of the mission in letting her tail down. The entrance to the room was well-formed and there was a clear light source inside. Shelves and tables were visible, even glancing in from the side in order to avoid being seen. Jessica let go of her tail as she approached, letting it swing back behind her and along the ground.
Fire. Much more than just her tail, the ground around her lit up in a flash and stopped just as quickly. She swung around in surprise, resisting the urge to cry out in surprise, but as her tail trailed the ground it would cause the ground to suddenly flare up in flame and then die down again in an instant. Thick, acrid smoke rose from where the rocky tunnel had burned and quickly filled the air. It was heavy and it burned, not with heat but with something else entirely. The smoke tore at the inside of her nose and throat until she couldn't do anything but cough and stumble out.
A pair of fur-covered paws suddenly grabbed her under her shoulders and yanked her out of the smoke. She dropped to her hands and knees, her body was racked with coughs and tears as it tried desperately to cleanse the invading substance from her being but Tobias did not, could not, wait. "He is attempting to escape. What do we do?"
"Go. I'll catch up."
Tobias nodded, leaving Jessica alone as the rest of her team ran after the Sandslash. Jeremiah was the last to go, looking back hesitantly as he left their team leader, but he too ran along with the rest.
Somewhat carelessly she stuffed her hand into one of the pouches on the belt around her waist and pulled out a thick glob of pecha paste. With the grace expected of someone who was sick, she shoved her hand directly into her mouth and swallowed the paste off her hands and fingers. The relief was nearly instant and Jessica managed to get back up to her feet and look around uneasily.
She was alone now, utterly and completely. It wasn't a comforting thing. The layout of the tunnels was foreign to her and she had only the barest recollection of which way Tobias had run off. The moment was a blur amidst the pain and instinctual jerking of her lungs. The plume of smoke had been dense, but ultimately small and it had dissipated quickly. With the area clear and empty, she had ample time to look around. Her team would, she reasoned, realize that she wasn't catching up and return for her. There was no chance for her to catch up at this point, at least not in time for it to matter. Even if a direct fight broke out, there was no way she would catch up to it before it ended. No, for now she would stay put and do what she could without leaving the area.
The first thing, of course, was to look around for whatever the hell it was that she had inadvertently set on fire. With her tail held high in one hand, she combed the ground with her eyes and eventually claws until, with a slight feeling of disgust, she realized that they had been turned a reddish brown. She stared at her the claws on her free hand with trepidation. Uneasily, she extended a sole finger to the flame on her tail and it lit up with a flash. The sudden explosion of heat and smoke was unpleasant but, for her fire type body, not dangerous. she shook her hand roughly to dispel the flame and, very carefully, stepped into the room.
Two beds were in the middle. The shelves and tables held a variety of things, including some surprisingly sophisticated vials. A tarp had been rolled up above the entrance and pulling it down to glance at it revealed that it meshed well with the walls. A barrel sat in the corner. It had been clearly used as a living area but it hardly looked like one. Unfortunately, she thought, most of the room was useless to her; she could only guess as to the purpose of the vials. She cast her eyes to the beds first to examine them and found that while one was quite normal, the other was unpleasantly sticky. A thin layer of... something was present on the top of the straw pile and the substance itself had soaked through it. She tried to flick it off to little avail and began to find, much to her displeasure, that her hand began to itch fiercely in little time. A stray scrap of cloth was pulled from a pouch and used to wipe off the gunk and then a small amount of pecha paste was applied. The last thing to investigate was the too-tall barrel. Jessica bent over and picked up a stool from the nearby table, set it down near the barrel and popped open the lid to look inside.
"s**t."
All that was left to do now was wait.
Eventually, her team showed up to find her sitting outside of the Sandslash's home. Tobias was the first to speak. "What is wrong?"
"Joshua, Jeremiah, I need you to find us an exit to the surface." Jessica ignored Tobias's question to broach her own. "What happened during the chase?"
Joshua bit his tongue. Jeremiah was visibly confused and asked, "Is everything alright?" but a sideways glance from Joshua hushed him. Tobias, alone, remained and spoke. "Are we leaving?"
"No, we just need to go outside for a minute. Now what happened with the Sandslash?"
Tobias seemed to contemplate speaking for a moment but he quickly acquiesced. "It seems that he is with the Umbreon. It is likely that he was already preparing to flee when we were heard, as it is unlikely that he would have reacted so swiftly otherwise. Unfortunately though I am quite quick it is difficult for me to keep pace in the tunnels as they are much too dark and much too twisty. He carried the Umbreon in his arms, I do not know why but I believe she may be sick. We were cut off when he struck the wall of the tunnel at a particularly small area and it collapsed. Jeremiah began to pursue but Joshua called on him to return."
She was possibly sick... That didn't make things any clearer. Was she a victim, a perpetrator or something else entirely? The only good news is that they, probably, wouldn't have to fight both of them.
There would be time to contemplate it later. Jeremiah and Joshua returned quickly and the group set to work under Jessica's lead. The barrel was sealed tightly and lifted up by the entirety of the team except for herself. She stayed off to the side, keeping careful control of her tail to provide light without risking safety. The exit was thankfully an easy one to manage and the barrel was carried out and then, once more at Jessica's orders, rolled quite a distance away.
"Back up." Questions had been both voiced and unvoiced as they had carried the barrel out. Tobias clearly had them and wished to ask them. Jeremiah asked them but never received a solid response. Joshua had them, but knew best of them all to wait. Each question was answered as Jessica breathed in deeply and spat a concentrated stream of fire at the barrel.
For a brief moment, hell came to earth. The flash of fire shot upwards from the barrel in a column as if the land were waging war on the sky. The light from it was bright enough to strip their vision from them temporarily and the heat could be felt even far away. It died down in seconds until it was little more than a glowing, flaming pile of red but the most horrifying part of it would stay until the wind swept it away. The thick, painful smoke that Jessica had breathed in earlier shot into the sky.
"I don't know what that Umbreon is doing but it's not a disease that's going to do it. It's this. They're going to smoke out the caverns and kill everyone."
The team watched the pillar with expressions of both dread and awe. All except for Jessica, whose mind was racing. If it had just been a disease or even a normal poison we could have fixed it after the fact but there's no chance we'll fix this. This is too fast. She felt her throat carefully. It still hurt. It would heal, but she had only been exposed for an instant. Now that he knows we're here he'll probably set the stuff off sooner, there's no way to tell how much he has but we can't afford to risk it. I should've had everyone ready to pounce when we moved in instead of just... No, no. Jessica mentally slapped her cheeks. This wasn't constructive. We need to find him as fast as possible even if it means taking on risk.
"We're moving back in. We're going to risk it and try to find someone who can help us. I'll start calling out to try and get someone who can help us to come find us. Lets be ready for a fight." They were interlopers. Only those ready for a fight would confront them and chances are there would be more looking to fight than to help, in all likelihood.
"You sure this is a good idea?" Joshua stared right at her as the team took back into the tunnels.
Jessica grit her teeth. "No. But it's the only option. If we do anything else we run the risk of letting something happen before we can respond. Unless you'd rather we did?"
Joshua glanced over at Jeremiah who was largely oblivious to the meaning of the exchange. "Not particularly. But I'd rather not gamble away my own life."
"I don't plan on it."
It was a pointed conversation that would involve a proper discussion later on, but not now. They were deep enough into the tunnels now. The area was fairly wide and open and they had a straight run back outside if it was needed; it would have to do. She made sure her team was ready and then, with a deep breath behind it, began shouting. "Hey! We're looking for someone to help us out, hey!"
She kept shouting for a solid minute, then drew back towards her team. They stood back to back and waited until, sure enough, eyes began appearing in the darkness. Clumsy chaos took the area by storm as pokemon began to storm in looking for a fight. Ground types and dark types together came looking for a fight, spurred on by a joint awareness of the team. They had brought on every lone pokemon that had avoided them all at once, and all those who had been gathering their friends to seek out their team. Harmless smoke filled the area courtesy of Jessica and a clumsy battle began.
The one thing they were blessed with was weak opponents. The Frozen Wastelands were hardly a "kill or be killed" environment. Only stupid kids actively sought out combat for no reason and, for the most part, they were drunk on their own fights. They had never had to fight a team of any variety. Shadows whipped around the area as the sole source of light spun around rapidly. Jessica's tail smacked into countless weaker pokemon as Tobias bounced around with impunity, taking advantage of his larger size to simply trample over most of his would-be opponents. Joshua similarly threw his weight around, knocking over anyone who would approach him. Jeremiah did very, very little besides claw at whatever was in front of him.
The fight shifted rapidly as Jessica suddenly felt a suddenly burst of force against her back and a bit of pain lancing down her thigh. She fell forward but rolled over quickly to find Tobias standing between her and a Weavile who had sprung in too quickly for anyone else to react. Blood dripped down his claw and Jessica knew it to be hers.
But just as quickly as he arrived, he left. With a swiftness that was hard to follow he darted over to a fallen pokemon, picked it up and repeated until he had grabbed as many of the injured ones as possible. And then he ran off as fast as he could.
"Stop fighting and follow him!"
Jessica spat fire for the first time, bringing a sudden flash of light and heat to the room that briefly shocked the senses of the natives. She half-stumbled as she dashed forward, but only in pain. The wound was shallow. It hurt, it bled, but the muscle was untouched. Tobias was the last of the four to sprint after the Weavile, having stayed long enough to attempt to slow down any pursuers, but he was the first to catch up. His steps, abnormally quiet by even his own species' standard, carried him into a leap that would catch the Weavile by surprise. Claws lashed out at Tobias in desperation while Tobias, in turn, tried his best to suppress the Weavile.
"Tobias, stop! We need his help!"
Like a switch had been flipped, Tobias jumped back off of the Weavile leaving him to scramble back to his feet in obvious confusion. The injured pokemon he had been carried were still on the floor near him, having been dazed by the fall. "You need my help? Why are you here?"
Jessica breathed a sigh of relief. She had guessed properly. "An Absol that lives here sent a request for help. He said that an Umbreon was going to be at the center of a catastrophe and that everyone in the tunnels would die if it weren't stopped."
The Weavile's disposition changed in an instant. Gone was the caution, the belief that the team might have been there to do harm. He stepped forward suddenly and grabbed the much smaller Jessica by the shoulders. "Absol? What happened!?"
The aggressive growling of Tobias had the unnamed Weavile recognize what he was doing and step back. "We came looking for the Umbreon. We found a Sandslash who tried to misdirect us. We followed him and he ran off with her. He has something that burns into smog and I think he's going to use it to smoke out the tunnels."
"Dammit!" The Weavile nearly clawed at the wall out of rage but held back his arm. "Alright, you wanted help you've got it. My name's Joseph, tell me what I can do to help."
Jessica nodded. "We need to catch up to him. We burned what we found outside but there's no way to tell if that's all of it, we need to catch up to him and stop him before he can do anything. Do you know the tunnels well enough?"
Joseph nodded. "I do. Lets go." With both hands he picked Jessica up and held onto her in front of him so that she could see where they were going. "Just tell me where he was before."
"You don't need to carry me I can run fine on my own!" Jessica squirmed against his grip. Fighting was one thing, she was sure that through fire and fist she could put up a fight, but Joseph was much bigger and stronger than she was otherwise. She had no chance of breaking free.
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Posted: Mon Apr 18, 2016 12:39 pm
"This is faster and we don't have time to waste."
"...Fine. Tobias, take point and get us there as fast as you can." She didn't like being carried, it was humiliating, but they didn't have time to fight over it. The team dashed through the tunnels as quickly as they could, driven on by the sense of urgency their leader had. There wasn't time to waste and they all felt that.
What they stopped at was a small, collapsed hole in a wall that would have been just barely large enough for them to fit through even had it been unblocked. Tobias turned to Joseph to explain between heavy breaths. "He escaped through here and collapsed the tunnel. We could not follow him because of it."
Joseph looked at the rubble for a moment before putting Jessica down and running off. "Wait here. I'll be back in a minute."
With little choice other than to do so, they waited. It was in a sudden and panic-inducing moment that an Excadrill suddenly crashed through the ceiling, having bored through the stone in order to arrive. Joseph fell down shortly after and landed on his feet. The Excadrill righted herself and took a look at the collapsed passageway. "Now what kinda a*****e does that? Do you know how long it takes to make a little thing like this stable?"
"We need through it as fast as possible. Even if it collapses. It only needs to hold for a few seconds."
The Excadrill raised an eyebrow as she looked around. "The hell is going on? This important?" Joseph nodded. "Alright but only since you asked me nicely. You're giving me an explanation for this later." The Excadrill took a few steps back and gestured for everyone to get out of the way before leaning forward on one hand. "You'll only have a few seconds to get through kids, after that I can't guarantee it'll be safe."
She bolted forward with a surprising amount of speed for her heavy body, jumped into the air and began twisting rapidly. In a single motion she punched a hole through the wall much larger than what had been there before. Awe was set aside in favour of necessity as team Robin ran through the hole and made it out only moments before it collapsed.
"Thanks Mar', I owe you one for this."
Mar' huffed. "Damn right you do. I expect a good explanation whenever you finish doing whatever the hell it is you're doing."
Mar' left the group to their own devices. Joshua, against expectations, was the one who took point. "This way. I can smell her."
"What can you tell us about the two of them?" Jessica, this time, was on her on two feet. She could keep pace with Joshua just fine as long as he had to stop for the trail now and then. "Anything could help."
"Trevor and Maddie have known each other since they were kids. Trevor was never dumb but he wasn't a genius either. He left one day saying he wanted to see the world and he came back a lot smarter, things were great for a while." A while. The words stuck out. "He helped some people but he started acting weird around the time Maddie got sick. I've always been a bit worried but I never thought he'd do something like this." Joseph bit his tongue and paused his speech for a moment. "No, I always thought he might end up hurting somebody. He got really protective over Maddie after he got back, I just never had the time to keep an eye on him."
It was hard for him to admit. He had let it slip by him because he didn't think it was going to happen; he had ignored the truth.
The dash forward came to a sudden stop punctuated by a chain sneeze. "I'm stopping here, this isn't worth my nose. Me and Jer' will wait here, she should be just ahead. If she's not you'll wanna hold your breath soon."
Jessica stepped forward to take a proper look at Joshua, only to step back in surprise. Between his watering eyes and running nose it was clear that he wasn't speaking in jest. Jessica paused, realizing for the first time that she had been breathing through her mouth. The rush of air she pulled in through her nose washed through her senses in an instant, putting her through an experience she hadn't wished to endure twice.
But, still. "No. Jeremiah comes with me, Tobias will stay here with you."
Joshua furrowed his brow, his lips pulled back and the subtleties of a growl hung on his voice. "Why?"
"Do you really think the two of you can take the Sandslash on your own if you run into him?"
Joshua opened his mouth but quickly shut it. Jessica was right, of course. Joseph and Tobias were the strongest ones there. Jeremiah probably couldn't outrun the Sandslash if push came to shove and Joshua wasn't strong enough to stall for time. "Alright."
"I also believe that such an arrangement would be ideal." Tobias, showing little awareness of the tension, agreed wholeheartedly. "The smell is also beginning to bother my own nose and I do not believe I could fight effectively if it were to get much stronger."
Tobias's agreement shut down any lingering debate. Jessica unclipped one of the pouches on her belt and pulled out a strange, dull stone. Holding it to her tail brought the colours and shine to life, quite literally; the stone quickly began to glow gently with a soft, orange light. She handed the gem to Tobias. "This will stay lit for a little bit. If it starts to get too dark to see, head for the source of the smell."
Tobias stared at the stone curiously but nodded all the same. The groups split apart. Joseph and Jeremiah both were aware of the tension and the latter voiced that fact. "Is everything okay with Josh?"
Jessica nodded. "Me and him are going to have a talk when we get back, that's all. We just need to come to an understanding on something and things will be fine."
Jeremiah nodded in return, pleased to know that things were apparently just fine and that they would be easily resolved.
It was in good fortune that they would find a similar room to before. The tarp had been pulled down but, with a slight tug, it zipped up revealing the insides. It was identical to the previous room, with two key differences that caused Jessica to swallow her own thoughts.
The Umbreon, the foretold doom-bringer of the area, was lying on the bed. And this time there wasn't a barrel sitting in the corner. No, this time there were at least half a dozen. Trevor was conspicuously absent but he couldn't be far.
"Hi."
"Hi."
"Anything you need or are you just shining that light in here because you feel like it?" The Umbreon had woken up with a yawn and a smile of sorts. She looked tired and, aside from being a bit bothered by the light, was amicable to Jeremiah's greetings. Was she a victim after all...?
"Hey Maddie, sorry about the light. Do you know where Trevor went? We're looking for him."
Maddie brightened up in recognition of her friend. "Joey~ Trevor said he'd be back in a bit with my medicine. He said I'm going to get better really fast soon~ Isn't that nice? We'll be able to roam around again."
"Yeah, that's great." The words were strained. Maddie's ears seemed to flick slightly in recognition, but if she had noticed she didn't say anything. "How about you go back to sleep for now and we'll talk later, okay?"
"Sure, sure~" Maddie could only respond dreamily. A yawn punctuated her agreement as she quickly drifted back into sleep. "I'll see you in a bit then."
Jessica and Joseph both half-stumbled out of the room as they distanced themselves as much as possible, with Jeremiah walking out casually behind them pausing only to pull down the tarp once more. The possibility that his distinct, ghostly biology played a part in his lack of reaction sat in the back of Jessica's mind for a moment before being pushed out by more pressing matters. Even if she tried to breathe in through her mouth, the smell still burned the back of her nose and the air was painful on the way down. She quickly shoved one of her hands into the pecha pouch and pulled out some of the paste, while doing the same with her other and offering it to Joseph. "Here."
"Thanks." Joseph wasn't much better. The pecha paste soothed the body and the throat after exposure to poison. It could never undo the damage that the poison had caused but when relief was what you needed there was almost nothing that beat it. Joseph didn't say anything else but his slow blinks and downwards gaze spoke of the thoughts he was lost in. His voice was a quiet whisper so as to be kept from innocent ears. "The last time I saw her she wasn't that bad, not nearly."
"Jeremiah, go get Joshua and Tobias. We're going to prepare for a fight." Jeremiah, with some unease, nodded and ran off back down the hall they had come from. Jessica cast her gaze to the conflicted Joseph but she didn't stop in her preparations, even as she spoke. "Are you going to be able to do this?" A second stone, almost identical to the one before, came out of a pouch and was popped into her mouth to be subjected to the heat of her body. Evolution stones took well to elemental energy and depleted ones were cheap. Cheap enough to keep a spare, at least.
"He owes me some answers."
Joseph's resolve would be tested.
Jessica would barely have time to cast the stone from her mouth and spew her flames before Trevor crash into her full force. He had had a vial in his hand that he had cast aside and a fresh bandage on his arm. The faint traces of the powder would catch in an instant, destroying the composure of both combatants and turning the leaping strike into nothing more than a clumsy tackle. Both would be sent tumbling across the ground in pain. The strike winded her; the instinctive breath in poisoned her as she drew deeply from the wisps of smoke clinging to Trevor's body.
The only fortune to be had was that, even as she desperately tried to regain her composure, it didn't really matter anyways.
Joseph tore into the fight, swinging his claws wildly to force Trevor back. "What the hell are you doing!?"
"I'm protecting her." Trevor lunged forward, thrusting a pair of finger-like claws straight for Joseph's chest.
"Protect her!?" Joseph half-stumbled, half-dodged out of the way. Trevor was open before him, but he didn't strike. "What the hell are you protecting her from!?"
"Everyone." Trevor hopped into the air, curled and began to spin. The moment he hit the ground he took off, sending stones flying in his wake as he rocketed forward towards Joseph. He missed, barely, but turned and continued.
Jessica was being ignored, a fact that she could only thank Arceus for. But this wasn't going well enough and it wasn't going to go well. Joseph, if the fight kept going the way it was, was going to die and she would be next. Running meant leaving him to that fate. Jeremiah had only barely left. It would take time for him to come back with the others, meaning that the two of them were alone. Did he wait until Jeremiah left...? There wasn't much she could do. Physically she was far from adequate and, more pressingly, her flames would do more harm than good. They wouldn't hurt Trevor much, but they would hurt Joseph. All she had was her environment and the two TMs she had used in the past, but lacked the strength to properly take advantage of. Joseph was dodging the repeated Rollouts but they would get faster and faster.
As the plan formed in her mind, she knew it was a bad idea. But this entire mission had been a bad idea. If she was going to rely on Joseph to win the fight, she would place her bet on him in full. She waited until the moment after Joseph dodged to dash in. She only had one shot at it, one shot to give him and opening. One shot to force his hand. Joseph had an edge if he was willing to use it. He just needed the push.
"You need to fight, Joseph. You don't have a choice. We're the only thing between him and Maddie."
"But--"
Part one was done. Part two came in the form of a distended, awkward water pulse. The move was both foreign and natural to her and was the product of a TM she had been given by the guild. It was one she intended to make good use of. The sphere of water that shot out was sizable enough and meager in its normal function; the attack was unique in that it held sonic waves that hurt rather than actually striking the target with force. The waves could toss the balance center asunder. A strong one that hit dead on would leave the victim stumbling helplessly for ages.
Jessica's wasn't strong enough for that, not by a mile. But that's not what she wanted, though any distortions were welcome. What she wanted was the water which impacted firmly against Trevor's spines and did far more to distort his path than any loss of balance ever could. He slipped wildly in a vain effort to correct his course. All that was left for Jessica was to try to dodge.
In vain. She couldn't dodge out of the way, she knew that from the start; unless she got lucky, the best she could do was mitigate the damage. Trevor was too fast, too large. She was too slow and too physically awkward. Her species was strong rather than swift but it was a strength she hadn't come into. The pain came with a sudden crunch as her bones shifted under the weight of impact and she was sent flying across the battleground. There was a dim awareness of a heavy smash as Trevor collided with a wall, having had his ability to turn and stop wrested from him. She could still move, still struggle, but the pain ripped such complex notions from her mind as she had expected it to. Not unconscious, not dead, but out for the count.
It hurt far more than she hoped it would but it was the second and final step of her plan. A dangerous yet careful plan that put her life on the line. A plan that would force Joseph to act. What other options did she have? Leave Joseph to die? Risk the barrels being set off before anyone arrived? It was a plan of desperation, the sort she hated. Breaking Trevor's pace was all she could do. That Joseph would fight was all that she could hope for.
"Hey...!" Joseph tried to call out, but they'd never had a proper and complete exchange of names. There had never been time. He tore himself from the appearance of the crumpled Charmander and looked instead at Trevor. No... Whatever this was, it wasn't Trevor. At least not the Trevor he had known. Stupid, sure, but never violent. Not like this.
Joseph would have to seek his answers by force.
The fight that transpired would ultimately be an awkward and messy one. Joseph was rarely hit, but those strikes that landed dug deeply into his flesh. Those strikes of his own that landed were many but weak. Whether it was a real fear of hurting the Sandslash before him or if it was simply the creature's tough earthen hide. But the fight wouldn't end in a draw. Exhaustion would set in for Trevor first, not by virtue of skill or strength but by simple biology; he wasn't made for an endurance contest.
The end of it came with Trevor slumping back against a wall. The lights had dimmed, from the weakness of Jessica's tail and the fading light of the depleted fire stone. A moment of clarity and understanding marked Trevor's expression. "We were all such good friends..."
"Trevor?" Joseph stepped forward quickly. Trevor's voice was soft, weak. It was hard to hear him. Joseph needed to be close. "Are you back to normal? Trevor?"
Trevor leaned forward slowly, weakly. "I knew you'd try to take her from me. I should've killed you first."
"Wh--AH!" Pain and fear both gripped Joseph's body as his once-friend lurched forward and bit down as hard as possible.
Joseph acted only out of instinct. He was going to die. His body knew it and rejected the protestations of his consciousness. His hands, claws pointed, came forward and pressed. They pressed, dug and scratch until it all came to an end. He felt the warmth going down his own chest and he felt the warmth as each pointed claw punctured and tore. The horrifying wetness of it. He had killed before, all Weavile had. But never had he stared into the mouth of death.
A sharp splattering of blood marked the end. The grip loosened. At first he didn't know what it was, but his desperate attack nicked the carotid artery. The fresh, warm spray of blood covered his eyes and his face as Trevor collapsed to the ground.
"s**t... s**t!!!"
The cavalry arrived late. The journey's speed had been dictated by a sense of urgency that was somewhat lesser than had been necessary. Tobias and Joshua were too sensitive to navigate once they got too close and too ill-informed to know where to go after they reached the source of the smell. Jeremiah's appreciation of the situation was ultimately inept, a fact that struck everyone but Jeremiah himself the moment they caught up. A bloody, crying Weavile. A crumpled captain. A dead, or dying, Sandslash.
Tobias was the first to run forward. "Jessica! Are you injured?"
Jessica tried to prop herself up in an effort that proved to be a poor choice. Her injured side slipped out from under her. "I'm... I'll be fine. Nothing is broken." It hurt like hell and it felt like hell, but her body still "worked" even if it refused to obey her. "Check on Joseph. He did most of the work." It hurt to breathe and it hurt to move, but pain you could recover from was hardly pain at all.
Joseph was the worse off of the two of them. There had been no great blow to remove him, just innumerable slashings and a near-fatal bite. The risk would come later in the infections that would be sure to follow. Tobias looked the Weavile over from afar but didn't act. He just looked back to Jessica. "What is it that we must do?"
What did they have to do... "Treat Joseph, deal with the body, figure out if we need to do anything with the Umbreon." Jessica rolled over onto her stomach. Her tail gave better light this way anyways. "There's some medical supplies in the back two."
She could feel the pouches shift slightly as Tobias opened them and withdrew the contents. As far as she knew he wasn't an accomplished medic, but he was certainly capable of reading instructions and doing his best. It was better than nothing. She relaxed, complacent in action but not in thought. There were no immediate concerns, only problems that had to be dealt with sooner rather than later. "Jer'." Maddie would probably need some kind of support, which could fall on them. It was nothing more than a guess but there was the expectation that the Umbreon was somewhat lacking in social aid.
Her thought process would be rudely interrupted by a finger being shoved into her mouth. "Eat this, it'll help."
She wasn't sure what it was that Jeremiah had just shoved into her mouth, but it was sweet and almost plasticky in feeling. In spite of how unpleasant the feel of it was, there was something about it that compelled her to chew on it. "Jer'." Whatever it was, it was hard to resist. And maybe it was just the exhaustion having worn away her caution, but she didn't really feel the need to do so. Jeremiah was trustworthy enough. Not exactly smart, but not dangerously stupid either. Compulsion aside it wasn't the most pleasant thing to eat. As she chewed down on it it stuck to her teeth, getting trapped in the grooves of each one until she swallowed.
Very suddenly, Jessica rolled over and sat up. The relief had been instant. She felt good, even, considering everything that had happened. Sitrus...? It felt sort of like a Sitrus berry, but there was no way that was possible. While they weren't rare, so to speak, the area was both too cold and arid to support them. They didn't tend to last the longest of times either and a quick glance around showed that no one had arrived to help. It's not like Jeremiah, who lacked in pockets, could have brought them himself. Whatever it was, it looked like he had just given some of it to Joseph.
"Jeremiah!" Joshua's voice, which had abandoned its quiet warning and changed to an almost angry shout, pierced her idle thoughts and brought her mind back to the people around her.
"But Josh..." Jeremiah's voice was low, pleading and almost a whine. Joshua was standing in front of him, blocking his access to Trevor. "Its only been--"
"You promised me." Joshua's voice had dropped back to its normal volume but the authoritative tone hadn't dissipated at all.
Jeremiah's mouth opened and closed several times with his body moving all the while as he seemed to struggle to find the words he needed. Finally, somewhat crestfallen, he gave up. "Alright..."
Jessica stared at the exchange between the two of them but boxed her thoughts away to be dealt with at another time. Plumbing the depths of their personal drama would have to happen eventually but it was a rather inopportune time. Other problems were much more important and much better dealt with first. Joseph needed to be tended to on levels other than physically. The barrels needed to be dealt with; there was no way to tell how sensitive they were and if something set them off by accident then there would be no point in... anything. Maddie needed to be dealt with, because doing otherwise likely meant leaving her for dead. She seemed to be as much a victim as anyone else.
Joseph had to be first. He was no longer sobbing and they could at least speak to him now. There were too many barrels for them to deal with on their own and they had virtually no information to work with. No help, no aid. Joseph was the key to it all. The most she could do was walk in front of him and lower herself enough that they would be in eye contact in spite of his downward gaze. "Joseph, are you calm enough to talk?"
"Ye... Yeah." Barely. Joseph was dangling on the edge and he would be for a long time. They didn't have a long time.
Jessica nodded, feigning affirmation. "I need you to take some deep breaths and listen to me. We need to deal with the leftover barrels and I need to know if there's anyone that can take care of Maddie. Is there anyone here who can do that?"
"Oh god, Maddie... What'll--"
"Deep breaths, Joseph. We'll make sure it's taken care of, we just need to know."
Joseph choked back a sob and tried carefully to take a few deep breaths in and out again. His voice struggled to stay even but he tried to keep a cool, even tone as best as he could. He tried to be methodical. "If it's the barrels I... I can probably get Mar' to help move them but there's nobody who can--Maddie's poison is too much and she doesn't have any..." A pause, a swallow as he held back the word "friend". "Anyone to take care of her."
It was pretty much as Jessica suspected. Maddie had been isolated. Joseph was probably the only friend she had left and he wasn't capable of taking care of her.
"Okay. We're going to clean you up, and then we're going to go talk with Maddie. My team will take her back with us and we'll make sure she's put somewhere that will take care of her, alright? We need you to hold it together just for a moment, okay?"
Joseph nodded roughly and Jessica set to work. The blood had to be washed off and the bandages had to be removed and reset. Tobias had done a decent enough job with it, but she could do better. She quickly set to work stripping the bandages off and then set about to washing the blood off with a cloth and a small amount of the drinking water she had brought. Blood was wetted and scrubbed off gently and... that was it. She had to stop and marvel; there wasn't anything worse than a scratch on his body. She had missed most of the fight, but it hadn't been so lopsided had it...?
She shook her head slightly. This was good. She didn't need an explanation just yet, she could figure out what happened later. Having him in a decent state would help when they entered the room. "Take a minute to calm down and we'll go talk to her. Just take deep breaths, focus on your breathing."
They couldn't disperse, but the team waited. Jessica gathered and stored everything. The two fire stones were retrieved from the ground, one having been dropped by her and the other by Tobias in his rush, and all the supplies were stored as best as possible. Then she waited.
Tobias and Jeremiah both were quiet, the former having locked his gaze on the latter. Neither of them moved very much.
The only one to move at all was Joshua, who filled the idle time by wandering around and examining the scene. His eyes and his nose gathered a great deal of information, simply because something to do was better than nothing to do. Smells and sights were vivid to him, even in the darkness. He recoiled suddenly as he drew near Trevor's body, the smell of the open wounds having filled his nose. The only other thing to investigate was the vial on the floor, and so he did. He sniffed deeply of it, pausing only to glance around as he wondered if the smells of the area had mixed too much. "Blood...?" Freshly familiar blood, at that.
"Come on, Joshua. We're moving." Not that it really mattered anyways. He just wanted to leave.
They quickly found themselves in front of the tarp that sealed the entrance and exit with Joseph taking deep breaths. "I can do this. I can do this." He pressed his hands against his face as he tried to ready himself against the flood of emotions he would inevitably experience. He needed to hold on just long enough to talk to Maddie, that was all.
"Um, Jessica? Do you have any more of those cloths from before?"
"Uh, yeah. Hold on." She always kept a few with her to wipe things down. Mainly her tools but being picky never helped anyone. She flipped a pouch open quickly, pulled out a cloth and flipped it shut in one smooth motion before handing it to Jeremiah. "What do you need it for?"
"Well I wanted to... Oh!" The brief exchange was cut short as Joseph marched into the room ahead of them, effectively pushing Jessica and Jeremiah in as well. Joshua and Tobias were standing at a distance with their noses pinched for their own safety.
The room and the encounter was much the same as it had been before. Nothing in the room had changed at all and the greetings shared were the same in everything but intent.
"Hey Maddie, how are you?" Joseph sat down in front of the Umbreon in order to be at eye level with her.
Maddie yawned as she woke up but greeted Joseph with a friendly smile. "Joey~ I'm good, how are you?" She paused to glance around. "Is Trevor not--oh, oh. Oh my, that's not bad~"
Jessica watched with a certain degree of apprehension as the conversation began to unfold, only to have it suddenly interrupted by Jeremiah beginning to run a cloth up and down her body. "Is that okay?"
"Oh, goodness yes. That feels wonderful~ Keep going." Jessica frowned as she watched the cloth slowly turn a tar-like black until it became totally unusable. Jeremiah awkwardly handed it back, to which Jessica responded by simply pitching it over towards the barrels and handing him a fresh one. There was no chance she was getting it clean enough. "Anyways," Maddie returned, somewhat dreamily, to the matter at hand. "Is Trevor not back yet?"
"No, no, uh... That's the good news." What. "Trevor said you're going to get better real soon, right? This is how, he brought this team here and they're going to take you somewhere you can get looked at properly." No, no, no, no, no, no, no... "They've got really good doctors where they come from. The best." Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
"Oh~ That's nice... I always wanted to travel so that sounds like fun." Jessica absentmindedly handed Jeremiah another cloth. All of her focus was going into maintaining a straight face. "When are we leaving? It'd be nice to say goodbye first."
"Trevor already left, you know how he is with uh... parting, and stuff. He said he wants to go back to traveling and learn some more while you get better. You remember how he got when he left before?" Joseph's eyes had slowly started to water. "He didn't want to be around to do that a second time."
"Aw." Maddie was a bit disappointed at the suggestion. "Oh well~ We can watch him cry later." Maddie stood up slowly and began to stretch out her body. "I guess we can get going then?"
"Here." Jeremiah scratched at his chest with one of his fingers until a small piece of the gem came away looking like some sort of sticky red gelatin. "This is medicine, kind of. It'll make you feel better for a bit!"
"Hm~ That's a bit strange but if you say so..." Maddie leaned over slightly and took the gummy off of his finger and ate it. Jeremiah stepped back, slightly out of her view and held up an index finger in front of his mouth as is if to gesture "sh" at Jessica. "This isn't bad. It's a bit weird that it came off your chest, but I feel pretty good so I'm not gonna complain."
"Alright. I'll come visit sometime, okay? You be a good patient for them." Joseph began to hurry the goodbyes along.
"Sure, sure. I always am, you know?" Maddie nuzzled Joseph gently and he petted her lightly in return. "I'll see you when you come by."
"Yeah." Joseph coughed to clear his throat. The poison was getting to him and Jessica both, but they endured it as best they could. "That favour you asked for, we'll uh... Me and Mar' will take care of that, okay?"
"Sure." There was no need to clarify on any of it. "Just make sure to do it in a nice open area and one at a time, okay? No mistakes."
"Yeah. Goodbye."
Joseph's retreat from the room was just a little too quick but Maddie didn't seem to be running at full strength. She was too... "sick". Jessica grimaced internally. Joseph had saddled them with an enormous burden on multiple levels and if she ever saw him again she was going to turn him into a puddle. But that could be dealt with later, she could scream her head off whenever it was appropriate which was not now. For now she would take Maddie back to the rest of her team and they would go home.
"This is Tobias, Joshua, Jeremiah and my name is Jessica." She gestured to each of her team members in turn. "We're team Robin and we'll be taking you back with us."
"Hello everyone~ My name's Madeline, but most people call me Maddie. I'll be in your care."
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Posted: Mon Apr 18, 2016 5:44 pm
Claudius Team Robin would arrive safely back at the Guild to find Claudius awaiting them. The Aurorus would raise an eyebrow at the sight of the two additional Pokemon traveling with the Team, but would be quick to notice the severity of Maddie's state and was quick to summon a proper set of medics for the case. A Zangoose and Nidoqueen arrived in due order, and collected the Umbreon on a stretcher to carry her to the infirmary. There wasn't much conversation between them, but the Zangoose spoke to the Umbreon in soft, precise questions, collecting what medical information he could from the feverish Dark Type as they left the Guild, headed for the city's hospital. It wasn't until they were gone that Claudius commended the group for their endeavors and provided them with a rather heavy bag that the Absol had left as their reward. "It seems that your client was quite pleased with your work," the Aurorus remarked. "While he wasn't keen to show his face directly, he informed me that his visions had shifted. It seems the Umbreon you've brought to us will no longer be the cause of any tragedies in the near future. " Claudius would direct the group toward the Guilld's infirmary, suggesting it was best they didn't take any chances after such close contact with Maddie's potent poison, and departed with a parting nod thereafter.
Rewards!
-Recruit: Poochyena
-Fire Gem (Type Item)
-Dark Gem (Hold Item)
-Choice of Dig TM, Rock Tomb TM, Smog TM
-A healthy sum of PokeDollars
Bonus!
-Memento TM
It seems that Trevor had this stashed beneath his bed sheets. He must have been planning to use it for something, but what? After finding it, Joseph sent the TM to Team Robin in gratitude for having Maddie taken care of. ((Well written! Work on avoiding pronoun vagueness and anticipating your narrative. Nothing too major (we talked about most of it already) but there were a few confusing points. Still your structure was good and it arced nicely enough, you explored important conflicts in your characters and maintained a good level of tension throughout. Let the Puppy-Ghost adventures commence!)) Yes, you can have two recruits and take Maddie too because I know you want her desperately thanks to a couple of helpful people, but next time you should express that to me--I was originally planning to write her away to some nice comfortable place where she could recover and deal with her fever madness in peace.
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Dark_Hunter-Angelic_Tears Vice Captain
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Posted: Wed Apr 20, 2016 5:38 am
Robin
Jessica & Tobias & Jeremiah & Joshua & Madeline
The trip back had been an easy one. Maddie had a decent enough time walking thanks to Jeremiah and, by the same hand, smelled much better than she had previously. Joshua still insisted on maintaining a healthy distance but it seemed as if much of the smell that had clung to her was a build-up of sweat and oil. The difference was enough that Tobias endured walking near her without complaint, something he did due to his passenger. He had strongly insisted that Jeremiah ride on his back at least part of the way home, which Jeremiah eventually acquiesced to.
It was a helpful time for Jessica to sort things out in her head. She had a lot to figure out. Joseph had told some lies that, in any other case, would have been utterly inexcusable. But because of Maddie's state, Jessica had to wrestle with the idea that the lies were for the "best". There was also the complicated matters of Jeremiah and Joshua.
When they arrived, Jessica was surprised to find the rewards had beaten them back home. It made sense, she supposed, that someone who could tell the future would know the outcome but it was just a little eerie. "That's good." No more tragedies, the client was happy, everything was great. She took a peak into the bag and immediately shut it. It wasn't the time for that. She needed to stay serious and stern. Serious. Stern. Both of those things. Focus, Jessica.
"Oh? Oh? Okay then, goodbye~ I'll see you later, Jessica!"
"We'll see you later, Maddie." Later, once proper tests had been done. Her team needed them too, though the versions they would undergo would be done in a flash and with good results in all cases. Some had been trapped here and there in the fur and, according to a somewhat sarcastic nurse, Joshua's "sniffer" would be on the fritz for a bit. That was the extent of it and it was over quickly, leaving Jessica to once more take control of things. "Jeremiah, why don't you go with Tobias to pick up Balerd? Take your time on the way back, me and Joshua are going to have that chat now."
Jeremiah and Tobias agreed, the former oblivious to any drama that may have been about to unfold.
Jessica turned the lock on the door the moment Joshua was inside of the team's room with her. "I don't have room on my team for someone who fights me on a mission."
Joshua yawned somewhat lazily and laid down, his body close to the floor but not stretched out. "Tough s**t."
"You can follow orders or you can get out."
"Jeremiah would quit with me."
"Good." Jessica snorted as something she said finally got Joshua's attention. "You think I want you around if you won't follow orders? I'll kick him out and you can go off on your own."
Joshua's eyes narrowed. "Bullshit. You're bluffing."
"Oh yeah? What happens if I'm relying on you and you hang me out to dry? I'd rather run than risk dying."
Joshua held his jaw shut, passively grinding his teeth. "Two terms. I'll listen to you but if I say no, I mean no. You two seem nice, I'm not here for that. If Jer' wants to be here I'll be here to keep an eye on him."
Jessica didn't nod or make any sign of agreement or disagreement at all. Her poker face was well trained, it had been for a long time. "And the other?"
"You ever had a free lunch?"
Her instant reaction was to say "yes", of course she'd had a free lunch at some point. But that wasn't the meaning of the question. "Nothing is free."
Joshua nodded. "Don't let him use it. Don't even let him near someone dying or he'll put himself in a damn coma."
"...Alright. I agree, but at the first sign of you breaking the agreement I'll kick you both out."
Joshua scoffed. "If you do something stupid enough to cause that you won't get the chance." He got up onto his feet, walked towards the door and unlocked it easily. "I'll be back in a bit. I'm getting some air."
Jessica didn't say anything. For the time being it dealt with one of their problems at least.
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