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Paul didn't even have to explain what was necessary; Zoidberg was no fool. With the minimum possible effort, Zoidberg twisted the air into a shield against the meganium, defending himself, his master, his comrade, and the girl, as well as her pokémon from the poison. Oddjob let out an animalistic hiss, firing a sort of pulse of fire into the cloud of pollen. Anything in light enough concentration will combust, and although Oddjob wasn't really smart enough to know that, his instinctual reaction might lead to a reaction that would end poorly for the enemy involved here.

Paul nodded in approval to his pokémon's actions; he had to negotiate before he could act. Now he felt no fear of reprisal should he resist alongside the girl. Three pokémon against one. Paul's alakazam should've been able to single-handedly bring down the creature, but he was already ether-weary, meaning that the eevee and the charmander would have to put their shoulders into the work completely. Oddjob was small, and he was fast, and his claws and teeth were sharp. It would be dangerous to get too close, and the pollen would have to be eliminated before Oddjob could be in his element, but that wouldn't take all that long. Paul's strategy, then, needed to wrap around what the girl's eevee was capable of, and Paul needed to ask.

"Alright, so I'm here to preserve your sorry backside, apparently," Paul told Juno, making sure the potential foes were unable to hear him. "I need you to tell me exactly what you're capable of. You and your pokémon. Can you shoot a handgun, and can the eevee carry its own weight?" Paul's attitude was calm and level; Paul couldn't afford to intimidate her, and anyway she seemed like a decent sort of person. Paul would have to find out what exactly she was doing here later.

Thankful for the extra support, Elian slowly and cautiously made her way down the dark stairs that led a good distance underground. It seemed as if the decrepit manor was merely a facade to what was the really belly of the beast. Once descended, the multiple hallways stretched before her, the low lighting and ornamented hangings only coming in glimpses as Aislin continued her best efforts to provide Elian some level of vision. Taking a moment, Elian glanced to the Kadabra, and the Starmie, observing their well placed and decorated armor once more. It was interesting, seeing Pokemon so well dressed and so powerful, but it did make sense, overall. The light murmur of the Exterminant member made Elian jump a bit as she turned her head towards the noise, Aislin waking herself up for a moment as she too, jumped at the sound that suddenly broke the rhythm of their footsteps. For a moment, Elian had forgotten what she was to them, too lost in the moment and too disoriented from the trip to gather her thoughts correctly. With a polite bow of her head, Elian continued to move through the hallways, Aislin's attempts at staying awake proving to be more effective from the small scare.

As the Starmie broke off to follow a rather large Machamp and a couple of the cult's members, Elian found the sudden lack of company a little comforting. Even if the Pokemon had no intention of hurting her, she couldn't help but feel that the wonderful creatures would be just as misguided as the members that handled them. It only made sense that way, but couldn't highly intelligent Pokemon sense the flaw in human error? The misguided intellect of a confused, panicked race?

As the rhythm of their footsteps once more served to lull Aislin asleep, Elian closed her eyes, also feeling the weight of fatigue lay heavily on her body. She desperately wished to sleep, just as Aislin did, but her thoughts weighed even heavier in thought regarding her strange journey to the cultist's lair. The creature that swam in front of them, its form hidden by dark shadows as it laid some distance away, stared at them, as if it knew who they were. It didn't seem like an animal, something that would idly continue swimming if it saw something odd, but whatever was there, seemed to study them, and even know what was happening. Its aura was so powerful, almost overwhelming, and so unique that Elian had a hard time pinning the creature as anything from this earth. What sort of beast could cause such a reaction from her?

Elian's thoughts were broken once the group had managed to reach the door to what would be her room. Almost like a lab in a science fiction movie, the door slid open and disappeared into the wall, Aislin now peeking through her heavy eyelids to look at where they stopped. Once inside, the Pokemon opened her eyes wider, and even perked a bit at the sight of the luxurious space before them. Truly, the room was beautiful, and lavish, decorated in fine detail and laid in material that was of the highest caliber. Such furnishings wouldn't have been so strange, back when the world was in one piece, but to see such a sight now made Elian question just how powerful the Exterminant had actually grown. How big of a mess had she allowed herself to stumble into, and would she even be able to handle it on her own?


"Thank you Solomon, David. We should be fine." Elian finally managed to speak once the shock of her new living space melted. Turning back, she watched as the door closed behind her, and practically disappeared into the wall as if it were never there. Strangely, she started to feel less like a priveledged guest, and more like a prisoner, or a well protected item that was air sealed in a space to preserve her longevity. With a small sigh, she turned her head to look down at Aislin, who was now licking at a damp paw in an attempt to clean the saltwater from her fur. Taking a moment, Elian leaned her head down and kissed the top of the Pokemon's head, Aislin pausing her task to tilt her head up and lick Elian's nose.

"If anything happens to us... I..." Elian thought to her Pokemon, Aislin suddenly purring loudly and nuzzling her master's cheek.

"We will be okay. Together."

Smiling, Elian gave a small nod, and glanced around at the room once more. The pair was still damp, and a shower would be needed eventually, but Elian didn't know how long she would have before the estate's "Master" would arrive. Deciding that sleep came over vanity, Elian gently placed Aislin down and moved towards what appeared to be a closet. Upon opening it, Elian nearly cringed, seeing the expensive, beautiful, and lavish clothing that laid in front of her. Not only did Elian believed that she deserved no such thing, she also realized how much the Exterminant knew about her, or at least, how much time they took to prepare for her.

Then, her vision went dark, and Elian knew that Aislin must have fallen asleep, or became distracted with something. "Oh God... What are we to them, Aislin?" Elian glanced back at the Pokemon, who had taken the moment to sniff lightly at her new bed. Hearing her name, the Pokemon perked her head up and looked to Elian, taking notice of the clothing as Elian's vision returned. The pair were warned of their position regarding the Exterminant. Terrian had made that all too clear, but the reality was overwhelming. With no other choice, Elian looked back to the closet, and gingerly took one of the more reserved outfits. In her younger years, before tragedy struck, Elian was used to jeans, lots of jeans, and lots of shirts that did nothing for her frame or her appearance. She lived on a ranch! What use was there for things like dresses or whatever it was Terrian had packed in her suitcases?

Once Elian had cleaned herself up, and managed to put on the new outfit, she glanced down at herself, blushing lightly as Aislin let out a quiet meow of approval.

"You think?" Elian asked in response, turning herself around before letting out a nervous sigh.

"Well... We'd be rude to say otherwise."

Taking a third glance around the room, Elian noticed the monitor, and the heavily armored guards that stood outside her door. Truly, she felt like a princess locked in a castle, the entire experience feeling more like a story or dream than reality.

"Ok... Then..." Elian said nervously, then, looked to Aislin before moving over to her bed.

"We should try and sleep..."

Without any disapproval from Aislin, the pair curled up in their respective beds. Sleep came harder than they realized it would, but after a short period of simply laying there, the two fell into a heavy, and much needed, sleep.

Amazingly, the two subsequent hits from Gerard's rock and then pokéball captured the poliwag. It was transformed into its component energies and sucked into the ball with a click and a blip! followed by a bell that signified the capture was successful; the indicator light turned on.

Meanwhile, Justice was losing strength, and fast. Only one poliwag was still fully functional, and this one pressed its small advantage over the ether-weary larvitar. One was totally out of commission near the riverbank, but the other two were slowly recovering. Their vision blocked from the dirt, they had some difficulty locking onto their opponent, and keeping wild, fearful eyes on Gerard, moved to join their comrade in combat.

-1 AP: unlikely aim (high-speed opponent)

---

The meganium roared in angry pain as the pollen combusted around it in the dry heat of the day (+2 AP: first use of pollen-based attacks as kindling). Luckily, the ethereal nature of the flame meant the small fires that ignited its petals were short-lived, but it was clearly badly injured, with burns pock-marking its neck and head. In retaliation, it summoned a storm of leaves around its person and sent them spinning at the new threat, the razor-sharp leaves moving with more force behind them than just the wind.

As it did this, the petals on the creature's neck could be seen to very, very slowly heal themselves. The meganium was passively absorbing the sun's rays to replenish its energies and repair the damage done to it.

Battlefield:
-----Glenville South Exit----
-------------------------
-------------------------
---------P---------------
-------J--M--------------
-------------------------
---------E---------------
Key: P = Paul; J = Juno; M = meganium; E = Exterminant

---

The woman cried out and was hurled back against the lockers, her thin frame surprisingly light. But she was not about to be out and down with just that. She leapt again, trying to entangle the girl and beat her to death with her bare hands. Lexi caught a glimpse of a radio attached to the wild woman's torn blue jeans. Who had trusted her with that?

Meanwhile, the houndour whimpered and backed itself against a corner. It was hard to tell whether or not it belonged to the woman. However, it did have a collar on, it seemed, and a tag with the same "X" as on the woman's forehead... although it was not exactly a distinguished design. Someone had clearly known Lexi would be headed this direction, and left these two to make sure she did not continue in that direction.

---

The two guards posted exchanged glances and looked in the direction of the man confronting them. It was a surprise he had gotten here at all; with no lights, they were relying entirely on sound. The entire period of his approach, they had had guns trained on him. One flipped on a flashlight and checked the offered ID, but they had no reason to trust him. The other one swiftly wrenched Abe's hands behind his back and immobilized him.

The guards had received orders to let no one in the Oracle's room. Or out, for that matter, but in all honesty, no grunt was going to deny the Oracle her wishes. "You do not need to enter the Oracle's room. She is never more secure than in this situation. We will detain you until the blackout ends to confirm your identity."

Meanwhile, Elian slept peacefully amidst the chaos of the base. Lines were checked, prisoners were corralled, and stations were investigated with flashlights. Eventually, it was discovered that only one post had been abandoned - that of one Abraham Renwald. An order went out across the guard's headsets to arrest him, and Renwald was immediately marched into a holding cell, alone. Within minutes, the lights came back on to reveal that he was in fact not alone. A mr. mime with gray spots rather than pink stood between him and the only door, its normally placid face set in a rigid grimace. A grizzled, hardened man sat across a table from him. That man got directly to the point.

"Mr. Renwald, we should kill you right now, and you know why. But tell me why I shouldn't kill you. Tell me why you attempted to enter the Oracle's room through subterfuge. Come, Mr. Renwald." An invisible force felt like a hand closing around Abraham's throat, slowly, just barely constricting his ability to breathe. "You may want to speak quicky."

---

In her dreams, Elian was at peace. She dreamed of the legend she had chanced to see; of its awesome beauty and power as it patrolled the seas that were its charge; of its deep quietude and calm significance. The feel of it soothed her troubled mind, giving her cause to relax.

As her subconscious watched the massive creature swim in soothing almost-patterns, a subtle scent wafted into her nostrils. Still asleep, a change came over her. Rather than the misty, nebulous world of dream, she seemed to be conscious... at least partially. Aislin was there, too, although only in mind; Elian could not even see herself, in this dream. The gently floating image of Lugia faded slowly into blackness, and Elian was left with just her espeon.

Even more slowly, she became aware of points of... something. Almost like dim lights, shining underneath translucent water, but it wasn't light, and there wasn't water. Somehow, she was feeling these... presences. Yes, that's what they were. Here, they were warm, and friendly - many were even reverent. They weren't fully aware of her, but the general feel of the connection with them was positive.

There was one in particular that was dimmer than the others, and smaller. It pulsed faintly in the darkness. In looking at this source, Elian discovered she was fully lucid, and felt even mobile, floating in this strange realm of astral nothingness, and somethingness.

---

Back at the hospital, the sandshrew seemed more willing to accept Thomas than Thomas did to it, but at least they had not clashed. Bogdan taught Thomas a few things about how to handle pokémon, about the latent third-type that had been programmed into the creature, and about the mission to Riverdale that now had to take place. And then he received a phone call, again from Sigmund.

"Andrej? Hi, it's Sigmund again. The defenses are being as effective as can be expected, but I needed to take this time to tell you: the Exterminant has Elian. She went willingly, and I personally witnessed them valuing her own life over theirs; as far as I can tell, she is safe, at least for now. I know nothing of their goals. I have to go now; the battle has progressed deeper into the city proper. Juno is on her way, but having difficulty; please make haste north, with Thomas. Bring the flash drive with you; it is best to keep it on your person."

As he said his farewells and hung up the phone, Andrej heard a distant explosion, from the region of his house. Like the one Ulysses had experienced, this one seemed muffled, somehow - and as with Ulysses, Terrian was suddenly there. "I'm sorry, Andrej; they did they same thing to Ulysses. I've minimized the damage to your home. No casualties; I hope nothing too important has been lost. You're just lucky they're not sick enough to detonate the clinic, although it'd surprise me if Beati hadn't tried." He turned to Thomas, looked him up and down, and quickly said, "You can't trust me, kid, but you look like you've been through enough hell to be ready for this trip. Anyway. I have to leave now; I think I can intercept the last one." He disappeared again, with no more warning than that.

It looked like it was time to go meet Miss Galledeigh.

((There will shortly be a detailed map of Riverdale up; hopefully by tomorrow afternoon.))

The crazy woman’s nails scratched at Lexi’s neck as the girl sent the stranger flying. She was surprised her shove worked that well, but the pressure and the ringing in her ears was gone and that was good. The space gave Lexi a second to get partway to her feet and get her first good look at her attacker. An X was burnt into the woman’s forehead…like a gang mark?...and she had some kind of radio…was she part of some sort of organization? Did it have something to do with what she had shouted?

In the few intervening seconds, she heard both a confused caw from Phoenix, who was waiting for an in on the fight, and the houndour’s whimpers. She was glad she didn’t have to fight both the woman and the pokemon--they had so far been rolling around on the ground too much for Phoenix to really be much help--but she didn’t like that she might be scaring the dog pokemon…

The second time the woman attacked, Lexi was ready and dodged quickly to the side, thinking that she might be able to pin the woman against the ground, as it seemed that she might be the heavier of the two even if she wasn’t the taller. She could see the madness in the woman’s eyes, but she didn’t want to hurt her if she could help it…this woman wasn’t like the a*****e back in Glenville, and she couldn’t be completely mindless if she was cooperating with others. At least maybe Lexi could find out what made the woman attack her.

"Zoidberg, broad defense! Oddjob, feet hot! Prepare to D and C!" Paul ordered. Through actions, his meaning became clear. The maelstrom of wind protecting Paul and his pokémon became stronger; again, Zoidberg paced himself carefully, forcing each leaf to divert or simply stop. To those that would not, if any would not, Zoidberg fired what amounted to an ether pulse, strong enough to sever any connection the meganium might hold to the leaf at that distance. At that point the leaf would be slowed enough to be inconsequential to the human and the pokémon in the danger zone. As the defense took effect, the counterattack was prepared and executed. A dart of air into the ground beneath the growing maelstrom broke up the dirt, which was cast into the air by the wind, creating a small dust storm between the meganium and Paul. Oddjob suddenly leaped forward, uncharacteristically silent, or as silent as he could be. Disappearing into the dust cloud, the little pokémon rushed for the meganium, his course wild and unpredictable, his feet moving as fast as he could. Upon reaching his target, he jumped onto its leg, his claws and teeth equally useful for climbing (and attacking), his tail primed to burn flesh. At this point, the meganium would have to notice the tiny pokémon; this was where things got interesting.

Zoidberg, dropping his defense, primed an attack of pure ether, aiming it for the distracted meganium's head, hopefully powerful enough to blow the creature's brains out the back of its skull. The plan was simple and devastating, and with any luck would result in absolutely no significant injury to either of the attacking parties. Paul remained expressionless. If his pokémon came into danger, he wouldn't hesitate to start shooting.

There is a particular sound effect used in movies and some sound tracks that, due to the ardent work of animal rights activists, is difficult to legally reproduce. Eventually, a brilliant mind discovered one solution, and a second discovered the other. Brilliant mind the first: take in hand one stalk of celery, and one carrot stick; hold them near a microphone; break both of these simultaneously. Brilliant mind the second: soak a roll of paper towels with water; drop said paper towels on a microphone.

Gerard needed neither paper towels, nor vegetables, nor recording equipment to register the sound he heard when he defeated the last of the poliwags. With red, slimy blood staining his hands and much of Justice, the two were finally able to rest from the odd encounter. It is not every day that one is assaulted by nearly a half dozen foot-high tadpoles. The larvitar was badly injured by this time, though not physically; he was mentally weary. Time in the pokéball would help him recover faster, Gerard knew, but just time resting would be good for him.

---

The madwoman still clung to Lexi, but due to the girl's shift, her grip wasn't too great. Lexi easily got her to the ground and pinned her arms to her sides; as she did so, she could see the needle marks on the inside of one elbow. The woman was foaming at the mouth and flicking occasional glances to the hellhound a few feet away. "You must be destroyed! We must begin the Journey!"

As soon as it was clear its master was in danger, the dog let out a dangerously low growl that soon grew into a weak bark. It mustered its strength and threw itself at Lexi's back, teeth bared. Somehow, though, it seemed more sane than its mistress.

---

As planned, the leaves were, for the most part, diverted. Pound for pound, though, Zoidberg's ether simply did could not stand up to the attack; a few made it through, delivering surface cuts to the trio. As the dirt kicked up to cover Oddjob's attack, it had the unwanted side-effect of smothering its tail; though not ether-based, the oxygen deprivation weakened what would have been a successful hamstringing at best.

In response to the sudden pain of two small creatures climbing its legs, the meganium reared up and roared in outrage, throwing the two of them off towards Paul and to the ground. As it came down, Juno used the opportunity to try her daring stunt, and swiftly learned how difficult it was to hang onto something with as muscular and mobile a neck as a meganium. Somehow, she managed to cling to it and slice off the first stamen (+2 AP for ID of a weak point). The dinosaur bellowed in pain and whipped its head around as Zoidberg prepared its blast, sending Juno flying to the dirt. The added psychic blow, not quite as powerful as expected from the alakazam's ether expenditure, combined with the loss of its stamen, knocked the beast off balance and to the ground, making the earth shudder with the impact. There, it began struggling again to its feet, as wild as ever. Zoidberg could feel it using ether to defend itself as it rose again.

Juno was lucky to have not broken any bones from the impact; she and the two pokémon were bruised from their fall, but none were seriously injured. The girl would remember her attempt through the bruises on her right shoulder for weeks, though, she imagined.

Isa : -2 AP: Actually hanging on to the meganium's head
Bayer : -1 AP: Lack of significant injury

((Angilis and anyone else I missed, I'll get to you later tonight ^^))

Juno was proud of getting one of the stamen off, but the next thing she knew, she was flying. Or perhaps falling with style. Shitshitshitthisisgonnahurt-- Fall she did and with that fall, she landed painfully on her side. She dropped the knife as she hit the ground. Owww. Her shoulder hurt the most. She scrambled up to her feet; she was still facing a crazy meganium and she couldn't let her guard down. She picked up the knife on the way up and then tried rolling her shoulder. Oh ffffffffffudge nuggets. This will hurt for a while. But thankfully, it wasn't dislocated or broken.

Evie meanwhile had gotten knocked off and landed close to Paul. She was able to catch her balance and land on her feet, facing the falling meganium. It was apparent that she wanted to keep fighting the larger pokemon, but after seeing her human fly off, she immediately ran towards Juno. She whimpered at her fallen comrade and paced next to the blond as Juno checked her shoulder.

Juno stared at the fallen beast with a little pity. It was having trouble getting up - though it was powerful and huge, that cut into its speed. Not to mention, the awkward shape made it difficult for that type of pokemon to get up quickly. It was flailing about, but was not yet up. It had shallow leg wounds, a raging headache, and a cut appendage. That was bound to take its toll on the meganium. "Still need to finish the job," Juno muttered.

She ran up to it and grabbed the second stamen. Ignoring the pain in her shoulder, she quickly cut off the second stamen. She was lifted in the air a couple of times and dragged across the ground, but she was determined to finish her task. "Done!" She held the cut stamen in her hand before dropping it and running like hell away from there.

While Juno ran to Paul's side, where she knew she'd be safest, Evie kept trying to fight the meganium by tearing at the neck. It's neck was thick, but that didn't stop Evie from biting and clawing at the neck - the meganium could not do much but get up as fast as it could to escape Evie's bite.

Gerard gave Justice an approving nod, which the weary larvitar returned with a "Lar." and a sigh. Remembering his sister's gift, Gerard withdrew the Potion from his bag, shook it up, and sprayed the life-giving mist on the little pokemon. Justice began to feel stronger, better, and it was with a grateful cry that it returned for a brief stay to its pokeball.

That accomplished, Gerard strode over to the pokeball lying in the grass by the water. He bent and lifted it, regarding the bi-chromatic orb thoughtfully. What to do with this guy? Gerard was out of potions.

Wait. He was only a little a few minutes away from the shop. He still had his bike. And now, with a water pokemon, he could go back and do something about the fire. In addition, he could pick up a few more potions, which would be infinitely helpful.

That decided, he jogged to his bike and roared back up the road. As he rode, he tried to think of a name. His pokemon were what made him strong as a man; he knew this. Justice, the most important element of what made a man, was done. What else was necessary?

He thought of the makeup of the pokemon and smiled as he decided. Guts.