Welcome to Gaia! ::

Deryx walked into HQ after awhile in his room, "Ugh, how long has it been since ive been out here?" he asked shielding his eye's from the light.

Ike: So I guess you havn't found anyone else... ourside or their's? *Switches the TADS to his other ear*

Deryx sits on the couch and turns on the TV, "Why is it so cold iin here?" he asked, Troy walked out with Pombii right behind him, "I know, you havnt noticed it? Well of course your room is like 100 degrees though." Troy said sweating.

"Yep. I have no clue where they are." Sora walks back and forth thinking to himself.

"Really..." wanders around as he thinks.

"It's because they want something rare don't they?" Sora says as he stops and sits down next Ike. "When Archie was ruler, didn't we do that too? Now, we help others because... well... we understand that helping others is the right thing, isn't it? If we can show the other groups, maybe they will do the same... I guess."

Sora watches as Ike leaves. He then lays on the ground and looks up at the sky.

Mission: Birch's First Break-in
Any Team Aqua member is asked to go to Prof. Birch's lab in Littleroot and steal one of his three pokemon (Treecko, Torchic, Mudkip). You must sneak in at night. But don't get caught by Prof. Birch or his assistant. At some point you must battle the pokemon you stole/are stealing, if you want to catch it.

Pokemon:
Treecko
Torchic
Mudkip

Funds upon completion: 300

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Arin snuck through the grass, her long hair pulled back in one long braid, for once to keep it out of the way. Tonight, she was on a mission. She had been directed to break into Professor Birch’s Lab in Littleroot and to steal one of his three prized pokemon, the ones he gave to new pokemon trainers. Before leaving on the espionage trip, she had done a bit of research on each pokemon. Torchic, the Chick pokemon. Sure, it was cute and could breath fire, but little chickens weren’t really her thing. Mudkip, the Mud Fish pokemon, was next. Again, cute enough, but they were a bit overrated. Everyone LOVED Mudkips, and Arin honestly had no idea why. Plus, she already had Laggy, her beloved Poliwag. Finally, Treecko. The Wood Gecko pokemon. Now that was something she was interested in. She had always liked both lizards and grass type pokemon, so a Treecko was a perfect match.

Arin had chosen to dress in all black for this mission, finding it the best color to least likely be seen in. She even had a knit hat that pulled down into a burglars mask. Yep, she had thought this one through. Finally, she was at the rear of the Lab building. Surveying the area, she was confident that nobody could see her from the road or their windows. Moving along the side of the building until she saw a window a few feet above her, she cracked her neck and pulled a shrunken poke ball from her belt, pressing the button twice to release the pokemon within. Delilah, her Poochyena, stood in the grass and was quite confused.

“Okay girl, I just wanted you to know its me,” she said, pulling the mask over her face. “when I call you out later, alright?” She said, reaching to pat her pokemon. Delilah pulled her head back and eyed Arin for a moment before letting her head touch her hand. Arin smiled and called her back into the ball, securing it to her belt again. After doing a few stretches, Arin jumped and caught a hold of the window ledge, grunting slightly as she pulled herself up. Finally, she got her knees secured on the shallow ledge, and went to work opening the window. Ten painstaking minutes later, she managed to get it open without setting off any alarms. Getting her head, shoulders and arms through, Arin discovered that she could move no further when it came to her hips. Moaning, she continued to struggle and squirm, trying to wiggle her way though the frame.

“Ugh! I knew I shouldn’t have eaten that whole box of donuts before I left..” She whispered to herself. However, it was only a few moments too soon, as she suddenly popped through the space and fell into the room. Getting up quickly, she hid behind a chair near where she had fallen. No sound. Sighing, she stood up and looked around the room.. It didn’t appear as if it had any internal safety devices, just a lock and alarm on the door and main windows. Walking quietly down the center of the main area, she noticed a door marked ‘Lab’ in large letters. Walking up to the door, she jiggled the handle to find it locked, as she imagined. Pulling out the same picks she had used on the window, she worked at the lock until it clicked open quietly. Everything was going to plan.

Or, it had been. As soon as Arin walked into the room and shut the door behind her, she tripped on a stray broom the assistant had left out. With a loud ‘Oof’ she fell flat on her face. Something crashed to her side, and something else shattered. Three loud ‘clunks’ hit the floor near her head just moments later. Rushed footsteps could be heard down the hall and someone burst through the door. Luckily, Arin had managed to scramble behind a counter and into the supply cabinets below it. She heard two muffled voices and some movements, broken glass scraping on the floor as it was swept up. It felt like and eternity that she was stuck in there, cramped and overheated. Finally, nearly half an hour later, the Lab door closed again. Arin wiggled the doors open, and tumbled out onto the floor again. Brushing herself off, she watched her step as she stepped towards the center counter, looking at the three shallow semi-circles where the pokeballs appeared.

Each circle had a symbol next to it- a water droplet, a leaf and a flame. Each circle already had a pokeball sitting in it, a streak of orange, blue or green running across the little button in the center of the ball. Narrowing her eyes to see the symbols better, she picked up the ball with the green streak. Grinning at a job well done, she quickly headed back out to the main lab area, straight for the front doors. Pulling the mask back over her face, she rushed for the front doors. No use trying to climb back out the window and risk waking the professor or his assistant again- instead, just set off the alarm but get away on the bike waiting outside.

That’s exactly what Arin did. Or at least, what she tried to do. After breaking into a run, she was almost at the doors when she tripped, again, on another broom. Swearing loudly, she fell head over heels into the doors, pushing them open and setting off the alarms. Two doors down the hall flung open, and the professor and assistant were running into the main area just moments after Arin had stood back up and started running off. At first, they took off after her but as soon as she hopped on her bike and was riding away fast, they gave up and locked the doors extra tight, not having caught sight of her face in the dark and with the mask on.

After ten or fifteen minutes of hard pedaling and swerving off the road into a thick forest, Arin could go no longer and merely fell off her bike, which crashed into a tree before retracting back into its portable form. Arin lay in the grass for a long time before she was awoken by something pulling her sleeve. Groaning, she turned and blinked, trying to clear her vision. It was still dark out, so only the moonlight streaming from between the branches let her see. Standing less than three feet from her face was the Treecko she had stolen from the lab. Regaining her composure as quickly as possible, she sat up and reached for her belt, calling out her Poochyena.

“Delilah, you need to work with me..” She said, seeing that the original pokeball that she had stolen was snapped in two, likely broken when she had fallen off her bike and fainted. She grabbed an empty pokeball and readied herself, seeing that the Treecko was getting ready to fight as well.

The Treecko realized what was happening, and jumped to action. Using Pound, it rammed its body into the unsuspecting Delilah. Recoiling from the damage, she returned the attack with a vicious Bite, causing the Treecko to jump back and squeal.

Arin watched the fight with wide eyes. She wanted to jump in an break it up, this being her first battle- she found she didn’t like the Pokemon getting hurt. It had to be done, though.

Feeling only a little damage from the Pound, Delilah quickly used a Leer, lowering her opponents defense. The Treecko doubled back with Absorb, orbs of bright light floating from Delilah’s chest and into the Treeckos, who looked a bit less tired. Growling at this, Delilah braced her legs and Leered again, lowering the defense.

The Treecko looked a little confused that she wasn’t attacking, but hit with another Absorb, making it so Delilah’s stance faltered just a bit. After he was done with that, she launched forward with a savage Bite, surprising the opponent at the change in action. Now it finally knew why she had been using Leer. The lowered defense of the pokemon made it more susceptible to damage, causing it to become weaker faster.

Recoiling from the Bite, the Treecko flinched, and Delilah attacked with another Bite. This attack was most likely to get her to win quickly. Again, the Treecko was injured, now holding its arm close to its body. It used another Absorb, though the attack didn’t restore much of its own health. The damage on Delilah was still noticeable, though, for she was struggling to keep a heavy stance.

Arin, meanwhile, had an empty pokeball all ready to catch the pokemon, when it seemed tired enough. Delilah used Tackle this time, not wanting to risk fainting the pokemon, and now the Treecko was so worn out, Arin had tossed the ball and everything just before it got enough energy to use Absorb.

The ball opened with a flash and plopped in the damp grass. One wiggle. Two. Three. Ding. The light on the button faded and the Treecko was successfully caught. Arin sighed, dropping to her knees before gripping a wiggling Delilah in her arms, giving her a quick hug before returning her to her ball.

“Ah. Time to go home.” She said, her voice weak. Standing and walking to her compact bike, she unfolded it and tested the wheels, happy to see nothing was bent or broken, and hopped on.