Welcome to Gaia! ::

It seemed at this point where we would catch at least a break, but it almost felt like it was far too late. As the lot of us were carried off by the Steelix, I couldn’t help but to look back behind us making sure that everyone was hanging on as the massive mega evolved iron snake carried us off on this detour. I would then look down at Freth who was in my arms still out from her fight. But what worried me more was that cut down diagonally across her torso. I don’t know if this was Kess was trying have some sort of restraint or trying to make a point, but whatever the case, I really wanted to kill that woman now. A line crossed too far. I was absolutely livid right at the moment. And once again, feeling powerless to do anything about it.

Tristen, further up on the Steelix, nearby Sub, listened to the Snagem leader. Tristen would nod. “Thanks, Sub.” Tristen said. “I’m already ahead of you. I am really going to need to figure out what this thing is actually about. I mean…it was wanting to heal that really big guy and all…and…didn’t seem to know a whole lot. Ion Deluge seemed to messed it up real badly where it just only could use X-Scissor…just what is this thing?” Tristen asked.

“Sub!” I’d call out from down the snake. “I hope whatever you got planned here is going to work out in the end, because we cannot get into another fight like what we all were just in. Freth’s not doing hot at all and I’m not sure if she’s going to make it with that massive slash that Kess gave her! Kess messed her up something fierce and without medical attention, we’re hosed here! What about the rest of you?” I then asked the others. Tristen couldn’t help but to grimace a little, looking back at the Snagem leader, hoping that he did have some sort of answer. A lot of futures were at stake.

"I hope so too, Blizz." Sub said in response to Blizzard, letting out a sigh as he thought about everyone who had been injured, especially Freth. "If we get to Laverne quick enough she should be able to get us help for Freth. If we can meet up with the other group soon though that would help, I believe Terashi has his Gardevoir and Brian has his Lucario, both of them should be able to at least give Freth a Heal Pulse and help stabilize her." Sub continued, watching as tree after tree broke under the force of Kuat. A strange feeling would needle at him causing him to look down at the Steelix and then back at Aile, realizing what she was doing, giving her Steelix some of her own energy. "Be careful, Aile." Sub thought to himself, not wanting to say anything to Aile, knowing it would do no good to try and dissuade her.

They would travel for several minutes more until Kuat finally plowed through one more tree and revealed a section of the woods that was far more open than the rest. While not completely clear it was filled with numerous stumps but no fallen trees. The land here was also covered in shrubs, stunted saplings and other weeds as the removal of the towering trees opened up the canopy just enough to let some light in but the competition among the place was so fierce that nothing really took off here. Unfortunately the darkness that was setting in now made it hard to see all that much. Seeing this clearing Sub called out to Aile. "Hey! Have Kuat stop!" He implored her.

Once Kuat did Sub would slid off the Steelix and glance around the area, taking his SNAG out and using its flashlight, right now that's all it was good for. Sub took a few steps forward before stepping on something smooth but solid. Looking down and brushing some plants away he could see an old rusty saw on the ground beneath his foot and realized what this was. "Huh, a logging camp...but why here?" He said aloud. He'd then look to their south and noticed a large rock formation covered in vines and other plants. "Is that the outside of Rusturf Tunnel?" He asked no one in particular.

Monique was awakened by the arrival of one very large Steelix conveyance. She blearily arose and realized that there was not going to be room for her to board without Snagging this Tauros. She shuffled through her bag and pulled out a Poké Ball, going through the now-familiar motion of Snagging a Pokémon. Of course, this now put her in violation of the time-honored commandment that "thou shalt only carry six beasts at a time", but there was nothing she could do about it right now. The computer system that would allow her to offload her Toxicroak or Alcremie or whoever was simply out of service. And besides, at this point, what's another charge in the long list of criminal fabrications that SWIPE was sure to produce? She fell asleep again, tired enough not to notice where she was being stowed.

With Moltres no longer out, the sheriff of New Po felt a lot less sapped, though still a fair bit tired, as the massive Iron Snake Pokémon rumbled through the mountains. She couldn't see where she was going, however, as she was in the equivalent of an exceedingly dark cavern, one with rock and steel teeth that doubled as the mouth. Every time its Trainer commanded it to Autotomize, it felt like a vibration. Monique didn't know it, but every time, it was shedding metal.

In the darkness and rockiness of Kuat's mouth, Monique had time to think. Everything had been a blur, a puzzle that clearly came without all its pieces fitting together out of the box only to be tossed like in a massive stir-fry. The accusations. The sudden hostility. The claims that fit with nothing she'd ever experienced of Snagem as an organization. And the smell, ooh that smell, of something rotten yet commanding in the presence of SWIPE.

There would still be shocks to come, of course. But they would come when Kuat's mouth opened and the light of the hostile world shone upon her again.

“Laverne?” I spoke up. Well, at least that it was good to know that we still have allies somewhere. But then it left me to wonder who she would be able to get us to for medical attention and recovery. Our main go-to was Doc Owl, and he was stuck back at the headquarters, given his whole jack of all fields position that he ended up developing as long as he has helped us all out in Snagem. He’d know everyone best. “Hopefully…” I would then end up conceding to Sub. I’d then look back for a moment, seeing Ogerpon lament about Freth. Was Ogerpon…feeling regretful? Then overhearing Cera with Sol, I shook my head. “No, Sol, we had the chance. We blew it. Though with all that said…did you honestly at one point complain to Kess that she kicked you in the ribs?” I then asked Sol in rather disbelief at that.

I looked up towards the skies then shook my head for a moment. “At any rate…Ogerpon, as for you, no one is blaming you for any of this. I saw you trying to help; it was all we could ask for. Really, if anyone should be blaming anyone, I’m blaming myself right now…”

“Probably not for the reasons you’re probably thinking.” Tristen then spoke up.

“What do you mean?” I said, looking back at Tristen.

“Blizz, think about it. You, Sol, and Freth all went in on Kess. And out of all of you, you were sandbagging.” Tristen said. “You always do.”

“Well, its not like I’m out to kill anyone.” I said. “And for that matter, I don’t think I need to explain to you about collateral damage.”

“And Kess has no such restraint.” Tristen said back. “So, say you held power back to just enough to be only a bit over Kess, only so much to not cause out right collateral damage or something like that. And it was her and you three. She still put you all at a stalemate; in fact, it was probably the reason why she right now is not back to hunting us down already and it’s just the smaller SWIPE guys for the moment.” Tristen said. “Its no different than what you had me doing before I went off to school.”

“She practiced skill. Power came secondary.” I said. I couldn’t really argue it; Tristen actually had me on that one.

“That’s not to mention, you mentioned it yourself, you were trying to reach higher and higher levels of power as a deterrent so anyone that went after you or anyone you cared about would remain safe. Blizz, no one cares!” Tristen said. “Certainly not Kess! Never mind the rest of SWIPE! They came after everyone here knowing good and well what they were up against! They banked on you holding back!”

“Now, hold on!” I started to speak up. “Where are you going with that!?”

“You know good and well, Blizz. Even if that fight couldn’t have been avoided, it would have had a lot different outcome if you didn’t hold back like you did. I know you did. I didn’t jump in the fight with Kess because I would have thought that fight would have been over sooner than later with the three of you. But here you are on a Steelix back lamenting while Freth is right there close to dying in your arms right now!” That one, I couldn’t even begin to justify. Not because I couldn’t, but I rather would not say something that would make things worse in this situation. Though not going to lie, that honestly rubbed me the wrong way. Badly. And given that we were all in this situation together and still on the run, all I could do was stay silent…and slowly simmer in my irritation to just let this pass.

It was eventually we managed to rendezvous with the other half of the team finally and perhaps not a moment too soon. The ones that made it into the tunnel saw the condition of all of those who were on the back of Aile’s Steelix, Darts being the more prominent one who noticed we were all manner of messed up. “Kess ended up catching up to a couple of us and we ended up having to stand our ground. It didn’t turn out as hoped. As for the others…well, they had their own issues.” I said to Darts, irritation present still from Tristen’s scathing assessment. Though frankly, in Darts’s position, it probably could be dismissed to the aforementioned brawl with the Zapdos hybrid mercenary. Hearing then Amaranth asking about how far it was to Mauville, I shook my head. “We’re about half way there now at this point. And considering that it took us all afternoon and on into the evening to get here? Yea, it was probably going to take us until morning to get there with what we got going on now.” I told her.

All of Aile’s attention would be put into helping Kuat keep this form, but Kuat would still listen to Sub, slowing down to a stop in a way that wouldn't just throw everyone off. Aile would notice this finally, opening her eyes and frowning, until Sub jumped off at least. Her gaze would follow him, tilting her head when he bent down and tried to dust something off. And then the rock wall would bust down, revealing Darts and the other Snagems that had actually made it into the tunnel before the entrance collapsed. “Well. That’s a sight for sore eyes.”

Kuat would look up at his trainer while they were stalled, lowering his head to allow his maw passenger out if she wanted. No one else seemed to have left yet, so he wasn’t about ready to shake his trainer off, but he was concerned for her as well. He could tell she was trying to help him keep this state, and this couldn’t be good for her. He’d wait for a point when everyone would get off, and then he’d force Aile off, for her own good. This would just depend on what everyone else did, though.



Crystal would wait until everyone else was out, then head out through their new entrance as well, deciding not to put any more energy into maintaining it. It could last longer than usual without her trying to focus on it, but at the end of the day, it was still subject to the limitations of Reflect and Light Screen. Eventually, it would fade, and well… If it was unstable from that, hopefully there wasn’t anyone following them when it collapsed. The hybrid would bring a hand to her mouth when she saw the ragged state of everyone, especially Freth. Her ears dropped when she heard the explanation of what had happened to them, looking down at her hands once more. “Perspective,” she muttered under her breath, now thinking that her issue was extremely minor comparatively. Crystal hoped Freth could make it through, but she looked down at her Pokéball belt. Apolla, Demon Wing, Kairos, Hepa, Cassidy, and Donne. None of them capable of healing anyone else. “Hey, does anyone have Pokémon on their person capable of at least stymying that wound,” she’d ask, looking around to the others. “None of mine are capable of helping, but does someone else here?”

While anyone else might go up to help Freth, Crystal looked up at the starry night sky, sighing. She needed to get better. All she was was a one trick Ponyta, right now, and probably not a great one. She could go fast on her light boards, even with people, but with it being night, they could easily be tracked. So she still felt fairly gimped, even if she could make them again.

Crystal’s gaze would next fall onto Aile and her Steelix, tilting her head at them. The Mega Steelix was staring at his trainer, and Aile seemed like her attention was elsewhere… Light, she was doing something which concerned the iron snake. Outside of a couple glances elsewhere, his attention was all on her. Hopefully they could rest once they got to this emergency base. …Did she have any malasadas in her bag at the moment? At the very least, maybe Aile and her Steelix could use something to eat. Walking over while digging through her back, she’d look up at the ground channeller. “Oi. Aile. You’re not looking so great yourself, and I’m not meaning attitude.”

“Huh?” Aile’s attention would be brought down to Crystal, who had her hands on her hips. “I’ll be fine, we’re just waiting for the order to move out again.”

“And you won’t be any good to us knocked out from exhaustion.” Crystal would toss up a wrapped malasada to Aile, unwrapping another to give to Kuat whenever his jaw was available again. “And you shouldn’t be pushing your Pokémon so hard either.”

The woman frowned as she caught the pastry, sighing. “Maybe if we weren’t running for our lives and freedom.”

“What good is doing this if you burn out your Pokémon?” Crystal shook her head, pinching the bridge of her nose. “This is pushing both you and your Steelix to your limits, probably past them. If you get some sort of permanent injury from this, what are you going to do? Yeah, you got a lot of us out, but then you’re dead weight as well.”

The human shook her head. “Mauville. Once we get to Mauville, I’ll recall Kuat and let him rest, and bring Dagobah back out. That’s-”

“Are you trying to prove something? Aile, we have one member dead, another on death’s door! We don’t need a third to join that rank!”

Prove something?! At last check, Aile wasn’t the one sulking around and running off on small missions to make herself feel better after ruining the festival at Kitakami! Ooooh, that was rich. “I’m not the one trying to prove s**t with a mangled ego! I’ve seen how many of the Shadow Pokémon missions you’ve offered to go on before my training kept me away from HQ for longer! You’re trying to prove that you’re actually worth the weight you slam onto the ground every time you take a step!"

“But I’m not the one trying to kill herself and her Pokémon by extending a form well past its prime,” Crystal snarled back. Taking a deep breath, she was starting to see how this was possibly going and needed to take a figurative step back, trying not to cause a scene this time. “Your Steelix looks exhausted, you look exhausted,” she continued, much calmer this time. “Yeah, sure, I’m probably the figurative dead weight overall.” Almost certainly, she thought, but she wasn’t going to admit that out loud right now. “But I can still move and function. Someone burning herself at both ends is going to become literal dead weight fast, though.”

Aile scoffed and looked away, shaking her head. Dammit, the galactic furball was right. But, how many of them were able to move quickly? “...Mauville.” She wasn’t going to budge, she couldn’t. This would leave Crystal to just shake her head, annoyed about how stubborn Aile was being.

When I overheard that Freth was close to death, Samurai broke out of his ball and appeared beneath me, popping the bubble Ulla had me in and causing me to land butt-first on his back. This was a bit of a cause for concern - Samurai was still livid from what I could tell, as my ability to sense emotion was greatly dulled due to me leaving Rala with Yuna and Serena back at HQ, and I never really took the time to teach him how to carry me on his back, or any riding skills. That said, if Ulla's attention needed to go to anyone right now, it was Freth.

"Ulla, focus your energy on Freth. Keiko and I will be okay, now," I told her. Keiko relaxed her hold on her ears, and couldn't hear any more screeching, so she looked to Ulla. "Papa's right, sweetie, Freth needs your help."

"I did, and..." A pained grunt came out of Sol before he could get himself to resume. "Tell me, have you fractured a rib before, Blizzard? Because if not... it hurts like hell. Barely want to breathe- ngh- from the pain. But underhanded kicks aside... we blew nothing. That fight was as fair as a 3-on-1 against a Zapdos hybrid could be." He looked like there was more he wanted to say, but when Tristen spoke up and called Blizzard out, he decided not to. No need to poke the frozen hornet nest further.

Cera would be quick to give herself a moment as Brian's Lucario and Kirlia used Heal Pulse, studying and feeling out the energy so she could Mimic it. After another moment, she'd repeat the move herself, trying to aid in stabilizing Freth. She'd avoid saying anything to Blizz, picking up on the mood and overhearing the other conversations anyway. "...look, maybe Crystal isn't the best one to bring it up right now, but she has a point. Mega Evolution's a lot of stress for the Pokemon, and it's not unheard of one to go berserk if they're under it for too long. Especially if they don't have someone to keep them grounded. I know we gotta keep moving, both for Freth's sake and our own." The Mew didn't bother looking towards anyone in particular, apart from Freth on account of the pulses of restorative energy she continued to emit. "Once Freth's stable, I could transform into Dagobah and you can get some rest, too."

Sol continued to listen in relative silence, if only so he didn't overexert himself, but there were more and more thoughts churning in his head after the last while. Without Doc Owl to rely on, situations like this one were going to be much worse for everyone and being so focused on offense wasn't going to cut it after that fight with Kess... he'd let himself go more than he realized after Ein was dealt with. To say nothing of his thoughts over the last year and that encounter with the Ziton when it went after Aden. "...to protect the treasure of life and let its fire burn bright..." He thought to himself, keeping an eye out behind everyone just in case.

"Halfway and it's already getting dark, and Freth..." Amaranth closed her eyes and sighed. Apart from her own mind's turbulence in the moment, she wasn't sure if Freth would survive the trip even with any stabilization. Or if Kuat could keep going long enough, though that was already addressed. "If it was safe, I'd say about letting me run ahead on Swift with Freth and get her to Mauville, but..." Now that she thought about it, she wasn't sure if she knew exactly how to get there from here, even with her Dodrio's speed. Much as she wanted to ask the questions increasingly on her mind, this wasn't the time and she wasn't even sure how much help she'd be right now.