Welcome to Gaia! ::

Tsuki heaved in the embassy building they found as a momentary safe house. After having ran the bulk of the journey out of Rusturf Tunnel, he was already winded. If flying was still off the table, and there was no reason to think it wasn’t, getting all the way to Trainer Hill from here was going to push him to his limits. Despite his training and channeling powers, physically? He was still just a regular human teenager. Terra was probably unsafe to ride, Coffee was down, Baja was exhausted from an extended Mega Evolution, Snapdragon was slow as a Sliggo, and Maggie was literally a baby Pokemon. That left Grumps. A barely over five foot tall gremlin of a Pokemon probably couldn’t get him that far. When the shield opened, he’d race alongside the others, fighting down the ironish feeling in the back of his throat. God- It wasn’t like his heart was pounding, it was just beating the crap out of itself over how frustrated he was. He felt like he hadn’t moved at all since rejoining in Paldea, or that things escalated so quickly that he’d never catch up.

So when he saw Agent WHITE going for Tristen’s throat with another of those chimera looking Pokemon, Tsuki wanted to help take a crack at him. “It’s called Snagem, it’s in the frigging name. Maggie: Sunny Day!” He yelled, tossing out a Pokeball from his underhand and releasing his Magby. Not as particularly imposing as a Magmortar, but she had enough training in her eleven years to leverage that. A Charizard using Blast Burn did not need more flame thrown on top, but it could absolutely use the chi equivalent of gasoline.

Maggie raised up her hands and shot out a bead of Fire chi into the sky, exploding it on top of the scuffle between the Type Null and shiny Charizard. As though he wanted to help, the trainer put a hand on his Pokemon and directed what energy he could through his amulet. Everything: his frustration at the situation, his fear about not being good enough, his exhaustion and bitterness, and every little thing that had been making him so angry all of the time. He imagined briefly WHITE, Essentia, and Looker all underneath the attack of Crystal’s Pokemon before burning to ash all together.

Instead of making a quip, or thinking of something clever, Tsuki roared as he drew on more energy than he’d like to out of his partner Pokemon and redirected all of their combined chi into her Sunny Day. The light grew more intense, almost freakishly so despite ultimately being a Sunny Day of all moves. It wasn’t anything so outwardly worrying out of the any moves it could have been. But it felt good, like a scratch that Tsuki didn’t know needed itching. Or maybe he did and he just didn’t want to admit it.

Lykas and Odd managed to make it into the embassy as two of the first inside, ducking and weaving between SWIPE agents that had managed to remain out of their sight within the city. Odd would learn only after arriving that Musette had tapped into an innate power that he wasn’t aware she had in the process. Lykas had to scan her with his SNAG which, thankfully, still had a functional PokeDex despite being disconnected from the SNAG network’s communications system, to discover what that power even was.

‘Psyshield Bash. An attack few Stantler in the modern age are capable of using. A vestigial attack left over from ancient Stantler said to have been capable of evolution.” Lykas had to admit as the information was read off to him that he missed GRAY’s voice. The apparent default voice files for the SNAG was a rather annoyingly monotonous one.


“Looks like your Stantler’s got some hidden abilities you might want to explore.” The hybrid announced to Odd as the Channeler climbed off her back. The others weren’t far behind them so they didn’t get much more conversation than that beforethe embassy’s on-site medical professional was seeing to Freth and then Sub was barricading the door. Neither had seen the embassy’s Dr before so they didn’t know what to expect from her and continued to not see her as it seemed Freth’s carriers had already taken her to the exam and/or treatment room by the time they had arrived.

It wasn’t until Sub was able to retrieve Poe thanks to Laverne and got the door fully blocked off, beginning to explain the plan from here, that the Dr arrived in person and Lykas, at least, was able to get a proper look at her. ‘Well… that’s unexpected.” He admitted, a bit perplexed. Was that a normal human with a Galarian Slowking’s shell on her head or a proper hybrid? He assumed she had to be a hybrid or the shell’s toxins would likely kill her from what little he knew of the variant(he’d looked into them after seeing a Galarian Slowbro for the first time) but that was the only thing he could determine for the time being.

“What’s wrong?” Odd asked, curious what had perturbed his husband.

“It’s nothing. Just another unexpected ally, is all.” Lykas replied, waving off the confusion over the Dr’s state of existence.

As Sub explained the plan, he began to hear the sounds of battle taking place outside. Then Sub explained more. And he heard more battle outside. And Sub explained still more. By then, it sounded like all-out war within the city. “I know we’re trying to escape here but… was this the best plan we had?” He asked, looking out through Poe’s already damaged Protect shield.

“I don’t like putting the people of the city in harm’s way for our sake…” Odd commented, certainly sensing the animosity all over the city at this point.

“I don’t think it’s the people that are in real danger. Aqua and Magma hate each other’s ideals but they both agree on not involving innocent people if it can be avoided, usually.” Lykas pointed out. “As long as the townfolk don’t get directly involved in their conflict, I’m more worried about the damage they’ll cause to the city’s infrastructure. This city’s basically just a massive multilevel shopping mall with apartments.”

Odd thought about that for a moment before nodding. “Good point. They usually leave people alone unless they just can’t.” He admitted. ‘Let’s get out of the city as fast as possible, then, so we don’t add to this chaos any more than we have to.” The bumps, thumps, bangs along with the crackling of both fire and lightning as attacks were traded by Pokemon on all sides.

“Agreed!” Lykas noted, looking to Musette. “Think you can follow me again to keep Odd safe?” He asked the Stantler. She nodded and grunted in agreement. Odd had taken to riding her around a lot while outside HQ ever since losing his vision and she took her job quite seriously.

The pair prepared to depart once again as everyone else did the same, Lykas taking up a position ahead of Odd so that he could easily lead Musette. “If anything happens and I get stopped, follow the others and I’ll catch up as soon as I can, ok?” He told his partner and his mount.

“Got it.” Odd agreed, nodding as Musette grunted and did the same.

The pair bobbed, weaved, jumped and ducked attacks from all sides as soon as the barrier was dropped and the team began to rush again, hopefully for the last time, before reaching their safe haven. Musette jumped over the gnashing teeth of a Mightyena, landing on the back of a second and leaping off the Aqua Grunt’s Pokemon as he shouted at her for it. “Hey! Stay out of our fight!”

“Sorry!” Odd called back. “You should be careful who you’re attacking!” Odd retorted with the friendliest wave he could manage in the grunt’s direction.

Lykas ducked the claws of another Aqua Grunt’s Crawdaunt attempting to hit a Magma grunt’s Pokemon with Vicegrip, sliding under it on his knees and jumping back up as he got to the other side. “That was… kinda cool, actually.” The Crawdaunt’s trainer muttered to himself, shaking his head to clear away the distraction and focus back on the battle at hand as the Magma grunt’s Zangoose tried to hit Crawdaunt with a Crush Claw.

Continuing on their path to escape, they headed North, continuing to dodge attacks flying through the city. Odd managed to get to the North exit as Lykas found himself stopped along the way. “Keep going!” Lykas ordered as the SWIPE agent threw out a Pokeball. “Oh, you idiots finally got some Pokemon on you again?” Lykas asked, reaching for a Moon Ball at his waist. Tossing his own Ball out, Noelani appeared before him, the Amaura stretching herself out as she appeared. Across from her, a Pokemon Lykas didn’t recognize at first appeared, though it did get his attention right away. A canine Pokemon with green and white fur that appeared to be wearing a a fancy vest and top hat. “Frou!”

“What Pokemon is that?” Lykas asked, scanning it with his SNAG’s Pokedex feature.

“There was an era when aristocrats would compete to see who could trim their Furfrou’s fur into the most exquisite style. Trimming its fluffy fur not only makes it more elegant but also increases the swiftness of its movements. Historically, in the Kalos region, these Pokémon were the designated guardians of the king.”

“Furfrou, huh?” He asked. “It’s definitely elegant, for sure…” He admitted to himself, giving the Pokemon a look. “I think I’ll take it.” He decided, grabbing a Moon Ball from his bag and preparing himself ahead of time.

“Noelani, start with Mist!” Lykas called out. The Amaura’s gems on her sides quickly released a burst of subzero air, rapidly chilling the water vapor around her and creating a thick veil of mist that spread across the area.

“Furfrou, use Sand Attack!” The SWIPE agent called to his Pokemon.

“Noelani, use Powder Snow! Blow the sand back!”

Furfrou spun around in place and kicked at the ground, throwing up dust and sand on the mall-like street of Mauville, aiming to blind the Amaura. Noelani inhaled and blew a supercooled gust of wind full of dry, powdery snow across the space between them. The mist-filled air around the Pokemon helped carry the chill and the snow as it caught much of the dust kicked up, turning the snow a muddy brown before it hit Furfrou. The dandy Pokemon shook itself violently, trying to dislodge the muck and grime from it’s countered attacked.

“Furfrou, try using Rock Smash!” The canine nodded, dashing into the mist in an attempt to disappear and make its attack harder to avoid the harm from.

“Noelani, use Water Pulse!” Lykas called out, watching for the green of the dog’s fur to reappear. The white bits of its fur would blend in too much to see, after all. “Try and hit it as soon as it shows up.” He instructed. Noelani nodded and the pair’s eyes roved across the misty landscape around them in search of any shadows, movement or out-of-place colors to warn that Furfrou was coming.

“Frouo!” The Pokemon barked as it darted out of the mist, spinning as it did and attempting to slam its back legs into Noelani with Fighting energy infused into its paws. Noelani jumped at the bark, spinning to face the direction it had come from, forming an orb of violently churning water before her as she did. She wasn’t fast enough to avoid the attack, hit hard by the Fighting energy-infused kick but releasing her not-quite-fully-formed Water Pulse as she was. The incomplete Water-type attack struck Furfrou as point-blank range, washing the muck from it’s fur but doing very little in the way of damage.

“Furfrou, use Wild Charge!” Lykas paused at that call. Why in the world would they call for a move like that while it was soaking wet and not an Electric-type? Furfrou was likely to hurt itself with such a move.

“Don’t do it!” He called to the dog. “You’ll get hurt for sure.” He warned it. “Noelani, use Freeze Dry!” He called to his own Pokemon.

The Furfrou heard Lykas’ warning but, trusting in its trainer, it began to shake, rubbing its fur against itself to build up a charge. As the energy built up and it began to form a cloak of lightning around itself, it began to wince and howl. That hurt! Why was its own move hurting it before it even used it?! Noelani ran toward the canine and with a quick flex, the ice crystal on her side burst forth with a huge surge of sub-zero air absent of moisture. That dry cold latched onto the moisture in Furfrou’s fur and in a matter of seconds, it was encased in a Furfrou-shaped block of ice.

“I warned you!” Lykas told the Pokemon as he loaded his Moon Ball into his Snag Machine and gave it a throw. As the Poodle Pokemon was struck with it, it was drawn inside. With the Pokemon frozen solid as it was, the ball shook slowly once or twice before calming down. It didn’t ping right away as the Pokemon continued resisting, even if it couldn’t physically fight against it. Finally, it pinged just as Lykas rushed over and grabbed it, recalling Noelani along the way. “Oh, hey! You’re Shoulder Twink, aren’t you? From One Island, right?” Lykas asked as he rushed toward the SWIPE agent, preparing to knock him out.

“I have a name, you know!” The agent shouted back, angrily.

“I know. I also don’t care. Take care Shoulder Twink.” Lykas replied before delivering three punches to the agent’s gut, one with his left fist and the other two with his tentacles. The guy hit the floor a moment later, barely able to breath. “By the way… weren’t you with Dim Sun last time we kicked your butt?” Shoulder Twink groaned in response. “Too bad… I liked you.” The hybrid took off from there, making a note to mention it looked like SWIPE might have had their own double agent within Dim Sun’s ranks. The real question was whether that was true and if so, were they investigating Dim Sun or were they there to alert the rest of SWIPE to Snagem’s arrival? Hard to say at the moment.

Odd and Musette had continued running as Lykas dealt with the SWIPE agent, Musette following those Snagems she could see. Neither caught sight of Tristen or WHITE making an appearance, somehow too far away from them when the beast of a man appeared again. Odd did see someone approaching Tristen but he couldn’t sense much energy from them and assumed it was an ordinary passerby wanting to ask what was going on. Most people didn’t give off much energy, after all, so why would he assume a random soul without a strong energy coming off them was a threat from this distance? Lykas, however, did witness the man’s return. He also saw several people jumping to Tristen’s aid and after his multiple screw-ups today, he was afraid to try offering any more assistance of his own, choosing to ignore WHITE and keep running. He hated making that choice but the fear of making this worse for the third time today was very real in the hybrid’s mind this close to freedom.

Keiko was the first to enter the embassy - her Agility-powered, quadrapedal racing carried her ahead of the team by a wide margin. By the time Reno and I made it to the Embassy, Keiko was sitting near the entrance looking like she'd had some time to rest. I approached her to check if she was okay, only for her to toss something my way. I grabbed it before I saw what it was - a new hoverboard. "Found it in a utility closet in the back," she smirked. I put the new device in my bag. "I'll have to endeavor to take better care of this one," I said with a smirk of my own.

Keiko and I waited together for the rest of the team to arrive, with Absinthe among the final group and Blizz and Sub taking up the rear, the latter calling for an emergency procedure that resulted in a massive barrier preventing SWIPE entry to the embassy temporarily. The barrier had even started to take damage before SWIPE was distracted by some interlopers - Teams Aqua and Magma from what it sounded like. SWIPE got what they asked us not to provide - a city full of civilians turned into a battlefield, and not by our hand. ...well, not directly, anyway.

Keiko and I stood up as it became clear we'd have to run again. Upon reaching the entrance, Keiko lowered herself into a position one might see on a racetrack. What I didn't notice was that she was pumping her body with Agility in anticipation of a continued run. While she did that, Samurai let himself out of his ball - his body language making it clear he intended to ferry me the rest of the way. I could sense a shift in his emotional state, too. It seemed he'd decided to take the rage he felt at evolving against his will and point it at SWIPE. I couldn't complain about that, but it became evident fairly quickly that riding Samurai would NOT be easy. Every part of his shell was sharp, and his scales were so slippery I could barely stay on him at all. How I didn't notice this before was beyond me.

"I asked Fluffy if she'd be willing to carry both you and me, but she outright refused. Sorry," Absinthe called out to me, apparently not oblivious to the problems I was having trying to stay on Samurai's back. I ultimately decided to recall Samurai, promising the Samurott that I'd call on him if I needed help so he wouldn't turn his rage on me. It was sweet that he was concerned about me despite his rage, though. Instead, I took out the hoverboard Keiko got me. I wouldn't be able to keep up with Keiko like this, but with Samurai un-ridable without a saddle he'd probably be unwilling to wear anyway and Sparrow still injured (and Kess still out there - I did NOT want to be hit by her Thunder a second time, thank you very much), this was the only option available to me.

~*~

Keiko was nowhere to be seen in the battlefield. Thanks to the rest she managed to get while waiting for everyone else to reach the embassy, she was in top form. She used the Agility stacks she got hwile waiting for the barrier to lower to launch herself upward, leaping over the crowd immediately outside the embassy. When gravity eventually brought her back down to the ground, she was bobbing and weaving around people, Pokemon, and buildings at such a speed that nobody that saw her realized what they saw until it was too late. Her speed carried her out of the city and toward Trainer Hill, once again at the head of the pack.

Absinthe didn't have to worry about speed. Whether it be SWIPE, Aqua, or Magma, one look at the massive Bewear the young Deathrage was riding on and any would-be challengers immediately second-guessed themselves and looked away. Absinthe was free to ride on to Trainer Hill without any harrassment whatsoever, though she stopped within eyesight of the battle WHITE was embroiled in. The temptation to attack him for ignoring her earlier was VERY STRONG, but here were already a crazy amount of Snagems vying for his attention in battles, which made joining the fray herself not worth it, but just barely. She WAS able to pick up that Tristen snagged one of WHITE's Pokemon, and she suddently felt a MIGHTY URGE to do the same. But as sweet as that payback would be, there were still just too many people fighting him again, and she didn't want to get ignored a second time. Ultimately, she gave up on the idea and proceeded toward Trainer Hill.

I wasn't so lucky, but I WAS able to use the chaos of the battlefield to my advantage. My low speed actually helped to keep me out of the crossfire of any battles going on in the city itself. Once I'd broken away from the crowd, Brunor let himself out of his ball and followed me on-foot, using his Psychic might to save any civilians that were getting caught in the crossfire. SWIPE weren't the only ones that could play that card - hell, the reason I joined Snagem in the first place was to use the team to make the world a better place!

By the time I'd made it to the outskirts of the city, however, my new hoverboard came to a stop and refused to budge. My attempts to force it forward were interrupted by what sounded like something being launched. When I turned my head toward the sound, I saw Brunor with one of his arms extended downward, and two halves of a cut collar around him. And that's when I saw the duo responsible. A SWIPE agent - one that didn't look any older than Absinthe - and an Inkay that looked like it REALLY didn't want to be there. I couldn't sense its emotional state, but the way it looked gave me a bad feeling that made me lock in on the spot.

"Dang, I was RFALLY hoping to run into that Lopunny hybrid," the teenager spat as the hefted his collar launcher on his shoulder. "Eh. A criminal's a criminal. Don't want the higher-ups whining about me 'not doing my job' again." With that, he harshly patted his Inkay's back. "Go be useful," he urged.

Everything about this kid was pissing me off. His intentions with my wife, the way he abused his Pokemon, even the way he begrudgingly viewed his employment. The urge to punch him like I used to do in my early days of Snagem was hard to resist, but I settled on viewing this as 'going on a rescue mission'. I let Samurai out of his ball - I had a promise to keep, after all - and both Pokemon glared at the human whose Pokemon they were about to battle. The Inkay had sent a Psychic signal to Brunor's mind, letting the Gallade know exactly what it was going through, and Samurai was already going thorugh something, so both were happy to blow off some steam.

I, on the other hand, preferred to end this quickly if I could. "Fury Cutter. Megahorn." were all I said as I placed a Pokeball in my Snag Machine, and my two Pokemon were off, peppering the poor Inkay with quad-effective moves. To its credit, it somehow managed to stay afloat after all that, but it was too hurt to attack back, which its trainer didn't appreciate in the slightest.. "Pfft. If you can't handle a 1v2, what good are you. Here, come back and I'll send out a REAL Pokemo-" he griped, cut off by a Snag Ball striking his Inkay before he could recall it.

The kid lashed out, letting out all kinds of expletives before Brunor silenced him by grabbing his throat. I only gave him a single response: "I'm a member of Team SNAGEM, dumb~/~. It's literally in the name," I declared, staring daggers at his helpless body. Well, mostly helpless - he was reaching for another Pokeball. But he wouldn't get the chance. Brunor might not have Rala's telekinesis, teleportation, or Future Sight, but he could sense what I wanted him to do and when, which my ability as a Psychic Channeler may or may not have been playing a part in.

"Oh, one more thing. My wife is off limits."

With that, Burnor used Hypnosis, putting the cringe-inducing adolescent to sleep. Sure, the move may fail have the time when used against pokemon, but it's effectiveness against humans made it quite useful as a last resort. Not that I was using it as one here, but... well, what did that matter? I watched Inkay's new Pokeball fade away and felt the urge to switch it tinto my party and let it out on the spot so I could tell it that it wouldn't have to be afraid anymore. But not only was that impossible thanks to the organization its former owner belonged to (and maybe still did it wasn't any of my business really), but I needed to get back on the road. Fortunately, my Hoverboard had returned to working as Sub (or whoever invented it) intended, and I was able to contiue skating toward Trainer Hill with Brunnor and Samurai at either side of me.

Yeah, Samurai didn't want to go back into his ball after that 'battle'.

Brian and Rachel would arrive with the rest of Snagem, Amber already waiting there since she'd gone ahead with Cera and the others. The Froslass hybrid was relatively unharmed, albeit annoyed that SWIPE was still after them. Sure, they viewed Snagem as criminals, and in some cases, they had acted as such, but this time, there was absolutely no reason for this. They were completely innocent of the charges these charlatans were trying to bring against them. Still, they were going to have to run for their lives again, until they were at their new temporary HQ. When Sub gave the signal to move out, Brian and Rachel both watched as Amber once again phased into invisibility, Rachel a little unnerved by the show. Brian didn't seem to be bothered by it, having gotten accustomed to it ever since finding out the Froslass hybrid had the ability.

While Amber ran by her teammates and anyone else she could avoid, Brian and Rachel were on Ace's back, the Rapidash once again being their means of transportation since he was the fastest Pokemon either of them had that could be used as a mount. The Fire-type didn't seem to mind carrying his passengers; his last owner hadn't even bothered to ask if he wanted a rider, just assuming he would be fine with it since he was a Rapidash. Despite how the two had met, Ace seemed to be much happier under Brian's ownership. Brian was surprised to see both Aqua and Magma here, knowing how much the two hated each other.

As they ran, Brian kept an eye out for any grunts, be it from any of the warring teams that weren't Snagem, that tried to get in their way. Ace was more than capable of protecting his riders in a pinch, but he didn't want to stress the Fire-type any more than absolutely necessary. At one point, a Houndour from one of the Magma grunts shot a Flamethrower at a Poochyena and a Herdier owned by an Aqua and SWIPE grunt respectively, but the Dark/Fire-type had no control over the flames, apparently being quite young, so the attack went wide. Unfortunately, part of it went right toward Brian and Rachel on Ace, but as the two humans braced for the impact, Brian noticed something. The fire wasn't striking him and Rachel; instead, it seemed to be drawn toward Ace's mane, which flared with new energy. "Haha, this is great!" he laughed, gaining Rachel's attention. "Ace, ye beautiful, wonderful Rapidash, ye've got Flash Fire!"

"Wait, he's got Flash Fire as his ability?" Rachel asked, surprised by this information. Brian gave a nod. "Ace, let's put that to the test, shall we?" he asked. The Rapidash gave an answering whinny, eager to test his new power. "Use a widespread Ember on those Alolan Sandslash in front of us, make a path so we can get through!" Brian ordered. The Fire-type didn't answer, instead opening his maw and spewing extra-hot orbs of fire at the trio of Ice/Steel-types that had moved to intercept them. The three quickly found just how much hotter Ace's fire was when the Ember engulfed them, causing them to cry out in agony from the 4x effective attack. This caused them to roll on the ground, trying to stem the pain they were in, leaving the path open for Brian, Rachel, and Ace to get through. They were careful to avoid any citizens they came across, quickly using Bounce to avoid a small group of normal citizens they encountered in the middle of their path. Once they reached the city limits, they didn't encounter any other civilians or enemy team agents, leaving them free to finish reaching their destination unhindered.

The Dragon Tail and Blast Burn converge on their two targets, with the Flamethrower pitching in alongside to create an entwined trio of attacks, Tristen's Magmortar's Solar Beam looking like it was going to be the attack that 'split the uprights' and smashed into WHITE directly.

And it all would have, had it not been from intervention from a very unlikely source.

Darts rushes into the midst of all the attacks, waving his arms. "Hold on, stop! You're going to hit me!" He shouts, before a grin crosses his face, his red eyes twinkling upwards. "Psych." The image shimmers and vanishes, revealing Essentia in her Expansion Suit, her arms crossing as all of the energy from the attacks slam into the armored fabric. A cobweb latticework of circuitry would reveal itself, as the suit not only seemingly blunted the effectiveness of their energies, but redirected it. Astute Snagems might remember something similar happening back in Unova a long time ago with Zekrom, it looked like there was another technological blast from the past. "I think it's time we leave, Agent WHITE, you were supposed to be in the infirmary." She growls at him. Finally, despite the bravado, Tristen and the others would see the picture clearly as Agent WHITE collapses to one knee, breathing heavily as he stares up at the team past Essentia's shoulder. He was not an unstoppable machine, he was an ordinary man who had fled medical treatment to pursue Tristen, and from the grimace of pain etched underneath his visor he was paying the price.

"You all should consider yourself lucky that Aqua and Magma stepped in, or we'd have given you all the justice you have coming. Best not close your eyes Snagem or we'll SWIPE you from your beds in the middle of the night..." With that parting remark, Essentia slams her fist into the ground. There's a brilliant flash of light as the combined energies of the four attacks erupt all at once as a supernova of sorts, creating an enormous sphere of light that illuminates the night around them for an instant. Once the blinding light was clear there was a crater where the SWIPE agents had stood, but Agent WHITE, Essentia, and the Type Null(s) were nowhere to be seen.

Darts and Ogerpon are nearby, both with furrowed brows as they look at each other. "Was she me?" He asks, dumbly.

All Monique and Kalama could do was watch Essentia at work and seethe. They'd had their shot to bring WHITE down... and it was taken away by a rival illusioneer? With, apparently, the ability to store the energy of attacks.

She found herself staring at the crater as the massive flash of light abated, revealing they were all gone to who-knows-where. All that was left was Trainer Hill, her fellow Snagems, and an ominous threat. Not to mention the weight of everything else that had happened today, which was starting to wear down the Zoroark hybrid. She shook her head to refocus, her mane swaying for a few moments.

"Well, I know I'm sleeping with Kalama out tonight... Gosh, I haven't done that since I was in New Po," she added, thinking back to when being sheriff meant if something happened, she had to be awakened. Back then, of course, she had three Pokémon that didn't need to sleep, two Ghost-types and a Komala. Now, she had exactly one. The one that meant the most to her.

Lykas and Odd would be some of the first to reach the Trainer Hill location, looking around at how overgrown and blocked off the building was, trying to determined how to get inside as the others caught up. "Looks like this place has just been completely ignored for the last 20 years..." Lykas remarked, noticing the plants that had grown over many of the boulders. "But some of this mess looks pretty recent." He added, walking closer to them and beginning to inspect the natural blockade.

"That bad, huh?" Odd asked. "Sub did say Trick Master helped get this place set up. I'm willing to et whatever it looks like is partly exaggerated to disguise it."

Lykas nodded in agreement. "I was thinking the same. Trouble is figuring out what's Trick Master's work and what's not. He's not called a 'master' for no reason." He responded as Musette stamped her hooves in frustration at it all.

It was about that time that STAK appeared, dropping the ruse of one of the larger boulders to reveal a way inside and calling out to them. Lykas had to assume the tiny walking turret wanted them to follow it as it made it's way back into the building. "The way's open! Hold on tight!" He told Odd as he began to run after STAK before the way could be closed up again. Musette followed immediately after, causing Odd to rock in place and wrap his arms around her neck for stability.

As they entered and heard GRAY's broken, staticy voice, both heaved a heavy sigh of relief. "I never thought I'd be so happy to hear that voice again." Odd remarked quietly. "I'm pretty sure that was a 'welcome back'." He told Lykas.

"Thanks, GRAY... It's good to be home. Even if home looks and feels like it's falling apart at the moment. That can be fixed later provided we end up staying here long enough for it to matter." Lykas replied to both Odd and GRAY. Both would wait for the moment to see who else joined after them but Blizzard was already asking questions.

"You make good points... But right now, I think we can afford to leave one or two people awake to watch for them while everyone else gets some sleep. We can't keep running on no rest no matter what happens and if they find us here, it's not likely to matter how many of us are awake and half-dead from exhaustion with those damnable suits making them pretty much invisible to even the most perceptive of us." Lykas replied to the Articuno hybrid's comments. "Odd's the most likely to see them, I would think, and one of the few who can live without much sleep. I'm sure he and his Ghost-types would be fine with keeping watch for a while. And I think Amber has a few that can help out, too, if she doesn't mind?" He suggested.

"Yeah. I'm happy to stay up and keep watch. Can't say it'll do much better here than it did on Mt. Silver but at least this time we'd know they're coming and be watching for them." Odd responded, turning toward Blizz to offer his services.