Welcome to Gaia! ::

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The Kecleon glanced inquisitively at the Umbreon that entered the store. "G'day miss." Evidently, he used the greeting for everyone regardless of the actual time; it was quite late at night now. Was the store watched 24/7? "What can I do for ya?"

When Zora threw the stones onto the counter, the Kecleon's face went from confused to a look of frustrated recognition. "It's you! It's the brat that took off into the jungles!" He turned over the stones as he carefully examined each one. They bore a slight imprint that was likely used to mark the stones as Kecleon property. "Y'didn't even bring back half th'damn stones! What did'ye do with the rest!?"

The green Kecleon came in from the back and looked at the exchange. "No way in hell I'm givin' you a reward for this! You didn't even half finish it!"

The Green one patted his purple brother on the side. "Hey, hey. Give her the reward." Purple looked at Green with a look of surprise. "What if we get reported? Accident or not, we let a kid take off with a dangerous mission and then we refuse to pay her when she gets back? The guild could confiscate our business license." The two stared at each other for a moment before they both sighed in unison.

Purple pulled out a TM from the register (evidently, he kept rewards handy) and promptly dropped it on her. "Now getoutta here!"

Green pulled a small slip of paper out from under the shelf and handed it to Zora. "Here. Give this to your folks, they should know what to do with it."

Mysteriously, no recruits came looking for Zora. It might have something to do with the fact that she either killed everyone she met or killed their friend.

Mission Complete!
Sucker Punch TM
Thunderstone
Bonus: Dojo Ticket

Reginald and Desdemona approached the message board.
"Alright, since we're going to be a new team and all, it might be best to choose an easy--" Reginald began, but was cut off by Desdemona.
"How about this one?" Desdemona said, tearing off a wanted poster with a picture of a Ninetails on it.
"'WANTED: Ninetails. Last seen in the Misty Jungle. A large family living on the outskirts of town has been slowly losing members. Our primary suspect is a Ninetales they have been at odds with for years; bring her in for questioning!'" Desdemona read, and shrugged, "sounds good to me." She turned around with a swirl of skirts and skipped off.
Reginald just stared as she left, humming a happy tune.
"...Job." He finished, shook his head in bewilderment, and followed behind.

Reginald and Desdemona approached the Misty Jungle. Desdemona grimaced and wrinkled her nose in disgust, “Eww, this place is just… Yuck” she gagged as she glanced at the mushy terrain.
“We can only hope that that’s mud,” Reginald commented with a smirk and strode forward into the jungle, disappearing into the mist. Desdemona’s eyes widened in horror; she shuddered and followed close behind.

Floor 1: 5.0 Belly slots

A little ways into the Jungle, Reginald and Desdemona found a Persian family. Sitting out in front of a small hut-like home, sat two anxious Persians, surrounded by about half a litter of Meowth ranging from infant to teenager. The two Persians’ faces lit up as the twosome approached.
“Oh, thank goodness. You must be the ones to answer to our… request.” The slightly more petit and slender of the two said; she grimaced as she said ‘request’.
“Yes, we are Reginald and Desdemona,” Reginald introduced, stepping forward. He didn’t mention that they were a new team; that might… not be the best impression.
“Of course,” the female purred. “Let me tell you what has happened…”
A year or so back, me and my husband were sitting outside, just watching the children play. The both of us… well… we left one of our youngest in the yard to tend to a quarrel between two of our young inside the house, the rest of the children came inside as well. We sorted things out between the two children fighting inside and then, well… when we came back… our baby was… gone!
By the time she finished, Mrs. Persian was really choking back tears. Mr. Persian put a paw on hers and tried to look into her eyes, she averted them and continued the struggle to hold back tears. Seeing she couldn’t continue, he spoke.
“After the incident, we immediately started searching, asking around, putting up notices and informing the police about it. Still, after weeks, there was no progress. We became desperate; we made sure to keep our eyes on the rest of our young, giving them no time alone. We even made sure to watch them while they slept. From all of the lack of sleep and energy, we grew exhausted and let our guard down. Soon enough, another one of ours was stolen, and another, and another. People started to panic, and not let their children outside. The police searched over and over again for our young, always coming up empty handed. They finally decided that the only one who would do this would be the Ninetails whom we have been at odds with for the past few years. I know it has to be her! Please help us in our time of need, I beg of you, and bring back our children.”
“You can count on us,” Reginald said, looking him squarely in the eye. “Des, let’s go.” He said and headed towards the stairs. Desdemona nodded sharply with all seriousness and followed.

Floor 2: 4.5 Belly slots

“Dammit, why did we have to choose this job!?” Desdemona exclaimed. Her feet were caked with mud, and arms were covered in scratches. She whirled around and tugged on her skirt which had gotten snagged on a thorn-full branch. The thorns broke off so suddenly, that she was forced to stagger back and fall into more brambles. More cursing was heard.
“I blame you. You picked the job, remember?” Reginald retorted. He daintily lifted a paw and knocked aside a small rock he would have tripped over.
“W-whatever,” Desdemona said crossly, pulling stray twigs from her hair. As you might have guessed by now, Desdemona did not like the jungle one bit. The terrain was mud that sucked at your feet, making you tumble if you weren’t carefulpulling your feet out of the muck, the vegetation was so overgrown that it made you feel like you were shrunk to the size of a mite, thorns and brambles stuck into the path at all directions, and enraged pokemon charged at you like the angry Bidoof charging at them at the moment.
“Reginald, lookout!” Desdemona cried, but Reginald had seen it coming and planted a Bite the charging Bidoof on the nose.
The Bidoof howled in pain but couldn't stop the momentum, as a result it toppled into the wall, carrying Reginald with him. The two slammed the wall hard, unfortunately, Reginald was squished between the Bidoof and the wall. All the air was forced out of him and he dropped limp to the ground, trying to get his breath. Desdemona tapped the Bidoof on the shoulder.
“BOO!” She screamed as he whirled about, Astonishing him. The Bidoof flinched at the scary sight. Reginald was finally on his feet and threw himself at the Bidoof. He and the Bidoof rolled on the ground, snapping and clawing at each other as they toppled. Desdemona put her hands on her hips and rolled her eyes. Boys would be boys, she thought. She charged at the two, twirled around and planted a nice Vice Grip around the Bidoof’s neck. The Bidoof’s eyes glazed over and slowly released its grip on Reginald. Desdemona slowly released its head from her powerful jaws and let it slump to the ground. Reginald got to his feet and rubbed his agonizing neck.
“Thanks, Des. You really helped me out there.” He said and grinned. Desdemona smirked and turned on her heel, leading the way.

Floor 3: 4.0 Belly slots

The twosome continued on the path, unaware of the glistening yellow eyes watching them from the bushes.
“Keheh,” it chuckled and grinned, following stealthily behind, hidden in the vegetation.

Desdemona was walking beside Reginald, she glanced sidelong at him and said,
“So, as a first job, do you think this is a little to… I don’t know…”
“Extreme?” he guessed.
“Well, I suppose you could put it that way…” she shrugged, “I mean; son't you think it’s sort of strange that we take a tough outlaw job for our first?”
“--!” Reginald was interrupted by a face full of mud which was slapped all over his face.
“Keheh, how do you like my Mud Slap?” a Croagunk stepped out of the brush with a wide grin on its face. Its eyes widened, pupils pinpointing, and its face suddenly twisted into a maddened expression, “TAKE THIS!!” The Croagunk’s pouches on its cheeks seemed to bulge and it lunged at the one closest to it, which unfortunately was Desdemona.
“VenOM sHOCK!” it gurgled and hit her full in the stomach. Desdemona didn’t even scream as his fist made contact to her stomach. She flew to the end of the wall and slowly slid down, crumpling into a heap in the corner. Meanwhile, Reginald swiped the slop off of his eyes and crouched down. As Croagunk finished attacking, Reginald flung himself at the Croagunk, eyes red with rage.
“TACKLE!” he roared and pounced, claws unsheathed. The Croagunk whirled to face the enraged Poochyena, just in time to get pounced on. As Reginald bore down on it, one of his claws popped a venom sack mounted on its cheeks. Poison jetted out in all directions. Reginald quickly turned his head, averting his gaze and squeezing his eyes shut, grimacing as he felt the sickening fluids splatter across his coat. Unfortunately for the Croagunk, its check patches were right near his face and stray juices flooded to its eye. Just after they hit the ground, the Croagunk flung Reginald off of itself as if he were nothing. It screamed and screeched as it clawed at its own eye, cursing and swearing. It quickly ran into a wall and knocked itself out, whimpering as the poison spread. Reginald felt the faintest of smirks tug at his lips, then his face clouded with pure horror,
“Desdemona!”
He whirled on a paw and dashed back to her, “Desdemona! Are you alright?” he barked, “Desdemona, speak to me!” his yelled, his voice filled with panic. Desdemona cracked open an eye,
“Stop talking, you’re barking right into my ear.” She moaned and slumped back. Reginald’s eyes softened and he smiled, he laughed out of sheer relief,
“Oh thank god… thank god…”

Luckily, Desdemona wasn’t poisoned and was back on her feet a few minutes later.
“Let’s go” Reginald said, and they were off.

Floor 4: 3.5 Belly slots

“Des, you’re still badly injured. Use me for support,” Reginald said, turning to his companion.
“No, I’m fine.” The Mawile said through gritted teeth. “The sooner we catch that Ninetails and get the heck out of here, the better,” she muttered crossly.
“Seriously, you took quite a beating back there. You’ll stress out your leg muscles and won’t be able to continue at all” he argued, with a serious tone.
“No, really, I’m fine, I assure you!” she said and tripped. She grabbed a hunk of his fur, to prevent herself from falling flat on her face and steadied herself.
“Uh-huh,” the Poochyena said, sarcastically, eyes half closed.
"S-Shut up!" Desdemona snapped. Reginald had already cleaned most of his fur of all the dirt clots and poison. Flicking an invisible speck of dust off of his fur, he said, “Oh, no! I really do believe you!” his voice was dripping with so much sarcasm it could bend spoons. The Mawile hastily let go and blushed furiously, biting back a rude retort. As they turned the corner, a Mankey bumped into them.
“Ooh, now I really have to kill someone!” it hissed. Clearly it was already pissed off, but now its short fuse had reached its end.
“Ah, crap. Not again! Not now…” Reginald growled and spread out his limbs in a ready stance. The Mankey screeched and started to use Fury Swipes at his face.
“Oh forget this!” Desdemona said furiously. She cracked her knuckles and punched it square in the nose. The Mankey staggered back a few steps, clearly dazed. It shook its head and let out another scream.
“Ooh! You’ll pay for that! Low Kick!” The Mankey ran toward Desdemona and shot out a leg, swiping her feet out from under her. Desdemona landed on her petit rump with a thud. As she struggled to her feet, Reginald attacked the Mankey.
“BITE!” he howled and chomped down on its arm. The Mankey screeched into his ear and Reginald was forced to let go and slump to the ground, in a daze. That was perfect timing, because it gave Desdemona enough time to get up on her feet, twirl around and clamp her jaws firmly on the Mankey’s face in a Vice Grip. She waited until the struggling ended and let go, not turning around to see the Mankey's mangled body drop to the floor.
“C’mon,” she said to Reginald, not turning, “Let’s get out of this godforsaken place.”

Floor 5: 3.0 Belly slots

Reginald and Desdemona traveled in silence for a few minutes.
“So,” Reginald started, “what do you think of this whole Ninetails business?”
Desdemona’s brow furrowed, “I don’t quite know,” she admitted, “it all seems quite serious, but, I can’t imagine what a seemingly nice family of Persian could have done to make Ninetails steal their children. What do you think?”
Reginald was quiet for a few moments, “Do you think that Ninetails once had children of her own?” he asked.
“Well, considering that its chidren she kidnapped… her own young could have died and left a gaping hole in her life and so she stole the Persians’ children to replace them, and never got along with the family anyways,so...” The Mawile continued, beginning to connect the dots.
“Although, this is just a hypothosi--“ Reginald stiffened, his fur standing on end.
“Hmm? Whats wrong?” Desdemona said, stopping a few feet in front of him.
“I smell Glameow…” he growled. Ooh, he did not like Glameow. At. All. As if on cue, a perky looking Glameow skipped, which was quite remarkable since she had four legs, she nearly bumped into the two as she rounded the corner.
“Come play with me~” she purred, trotting in circles around the two, which was quite hard since they were in such a narrow passageway. Desdemona tore her eyes off of the playful-acting Glameow and shot a sidewise glance at Reginald. He was doing his best to stare straight foreward. His tail was tucked tightly under a leg and he was fidgeting. If she focused really hard, it looked as if he was sweating. He was trying terribly hard not to leap up and chase the cat Pokémon around and around, it being natural instinct.
“Uh, we’re in a hurry right now,” Desdemona said nervously, the corner of her mouth curling into a concerned smile. The Glameow froze in spot and slowly turned around. Desdemona flinched as she saw her blue eyes thinning to crescent moons like a Meowth. The Glameow barred her fangs and gave her a creepy open-mouthed smile,
“Then DIE!” she hissed and leapt at Desdemona’s face, thorn-like claws jutting out of her dainty paws.
Reginald gave out a happy yelp of sheer joy, and leapt to his paws. Now he had an excuse of chasing. His tail sticking straight out and wagging like windshield wipers on drugs, he leapt at the Glameow. The Glameow took one glance, mid-leap, and desperately tried to stop her motion and run the other way, madly clawing at the air. Desdemona turned and opened her jaws wide as if to engulf the cat whole. The Glameow mewed in panic and landed with all four paws clawing straight into the upper jaw. The jaw snapped shut on the fluffy end of the tail and she screeched out in pain. She tried desperately to scramble away, because Reginald was still pursuing her but her tail was still firmly clamped between Desdemona’s jaw teeth. And so the Glameow ran in circles around the Mawile while the Poochyena was hot at her heels.
“This may take a while,” Desemona sighed. The chase was on.

Floor 6: 2.5 Belly slots

The twosome walked in silence. Desdemona had the face of pure annoyance, while Reginald was grinning widely with a bounce to his step. More silence.
“Did you have fun?” Desdemona said bitterly. Reginald had chased that Glameow for a good 25 minutes before she collapsed in exhaustion. Suddenly, Reginald got the feeling that he was neck deep in trouble.
“Ye-es?” he said cautiously. He looked at her face, and quickly averted his gaze. His expression was now the one of when the students realized that the teacher was really angry this time.
“Okay, look. Its instinct of all canine-related Pokémon to chase whatever runs, alright?” Reginald said.
“Uh-huh,” Desdemona said nonchalantly, in an ‘I don’t believe you’ tone. They came to a strange area where there was a boulder with a hole in it, like a home. Around the rock hut was a deep line dragged through the mud, and the nearby vegetation were wilting.
“Well this is… interesting,” Reginald commented. There was no room to go around the large circle unless if you wanted to get acupunctured by the many thorns that waited in the brush. Reginald shrugged and stepped across the line. As soon as he set foot on the turf, a hotheaded Pincer stormed out of the boulder hut and shook a finger at him as he burbled what can only be referred to as ‘remarks’. It was not a very nice finger. Desdemona blushed.
“What the bleepity bleep bleep are you bleepin doing on my bleepin blip property!?” It blipped, screaming with rage. “I bleepin’ suggest you bleeping get the bleep off of my blipity blip property. That is a FINE LINE sir, a FINE LINE. And this is MY area! My territory!” The Pinsir’s voice cracked occasionally from all the blips. Reginald was quite shocked about how sudden all of it happened. Desdemona was blushing a very deep red and looked about to faint from the heat pouring off of her burning cheeks. A nearby flower grew brown and shriveled up as the Pinsir bleeped on. “I always THOUGHT I made it clear this was MY TERRITORY, MY LAND!!” The Pinsir turned as if talking to the vegetation around him. “But No-o, someone has to come over here and cross the line!” It said in a very annoyed voice but was soon back to screeching at the top of its lungs, “Well, siree, I am bleepin SICK and TIRED of it!! SESMIC TOSS!” The Pinsir lifted Reginald up with its fork-like horns and tossed him high into the air.
“AAAaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAUGH!” Reginald yelled as he was thrust high above and plunged back down to earth. Some vines caught him and slowed his fall slightly and he slammed into the ground. Desdemona was so busy watching him go up that she didn’t notice the Pinsir sidle up to her and use Bind, wrapping its lengthy arms around her, it felt as if it was squishing the life out of her. She screamed, but soon ran out of breath. Reginald slowly got up to his feet and shook his head. His brain felt like blah and he was hurting all over. He growled and crouched down, “Hey, you!” he called and bit it on the arms. The Pinsir howled in pain and let loose a few more swear words, loosening its grip slightly. A bead of sweat dropped down Desdemona’s neck as she continued the fight for breath.
“Let go!” he yelled and Tackled it. The Pinsir lost its grip on Desdemona and, due to the force of the Tackle, stepped back a few steps, trying to catch its balance. As she hit the ground, Desdemona gratefully swallowed a few mouthfuls of air. As she caught her breath, Reginald closed in on the Pinsir and clamped its jaws shut on its leg. The Pinsir yelped and fell on its back from the Bite, sending mud flying in many directions. Reginald let go and stepped back a few paces.
“Is it dead?” Desdemona asked, cautiously approaching the body.
“No… it just won’t wake up for a while.” Reginald said and dragged the fainted Pinsir by the arm, through the mud back to its rock hut.
“Well I’m glad that’s over with,” Desdemona laughed. She didn’t like that Pinsir very much.
“We still have a lot to go…” Reginald looked ahead and started to move on. “Come one. Let’s keep going.”

Floor 6: 2.0 Belly slots


“Ugh, when will it end?” Desdemona sighed. “We’ve already gone through, what, a bazillion floors? Where’s that Ninetails?”
“Six floors,” Reginald corrected, “Stop complaining, we’ll find that Ninetails soon enough. Be patient”
“Be patient?!” she exclaimed, “How can… I… be…” she trailed off into silence, staring straight ahead.
“What?” Reginald’s eyebrows furrowed and he followed her gaze. It lead to two catlike eyes staring from the bushes. The eyes widened and hastily disappeared with a rustle. Desdemona pointed to where the eyes disappeared, “Could that have been--?”
“The Persians’ missing Meowth?” Reginald said, with the same quizzical expression as her. At the same time, the two ran through the bushes, getting hair and fur tangled and caught in the thistles and pokey branches. Reginald’s heart raced. Could this be it? Would they just find the kid who was just lost for a long period of time, not kidnapped. Guiltily, he found a part of him hoping that it was still kidnap. Just as he finished his thought, they burst through the bushes into a clearing. What have they stumbled into? Reginald and Desdemona looked around at their new surroundings. The terrain was no longer slurping mud, but thick and rich soil and wood chips, the rain overhead had been reduced to the slightest of drizzles by palm leaves put together in the shape of a dome, there were flowers of almost every shade of color and shape and size imaginable planted in clumps, and unfortunately, Reginald and Desdemona were standing in one. A Roselia who had been singing a rather pleasant tune as she tended to her flowers pirouetted around and saw the two mud caked and fur tangled visitors standing amidst one of her precious flower beds. She gasped in horror as she saw their disgustingly dirty feet breaking the flowers.
“Oh, my precious flowers!” she gasped daintily, bringing her rosy hands up to her mouth. Reginald spied movement in the grove, a blackish blur speeding away.
“Look, there it went!” Reginald exclaimed, pointing with his muzzle. The two headed to where the blur was but the Roselia blocked their way. She held her rose hands spread out to the sides,
“I cannot let you pass! Not until you pay for what you did to my flowers!” She exclaimed, a tear in her eye.
“We’re sorry for what we’ve done to your flowers, but you must understand it was an accident!” Desdemona explained desperately, her eyes lingering at the spot where the blur fled. “Please let us pass, we are in a hurry--!” But the Roselia’s mind had closed.
“’I’m sorry’ will not bring my precious flowers back to life! Growth!” The rosella cried and planted her feet into the ground. The soil around her seemed to become a lighter brown as all the nutrients were sucked dry from them. Her body seemed to swell and grow slightly larger and she seemed to be more alive than she was earlier.
“But, truly, it was an accident!” Desdemona tried to explain.
“Her mind has closed, Des. I don’t think talking is going to help us now.” Reginald said, spreading out his legs in a fighting stance. He bowed for a moment and then raised his head high and Howled. His blood rushed faster and he felt more energy build up inside of him, more power at his fingertips.
“Me first!” The beautiful Roselia cried out angerly. “Absorb!” she hastily took her roots out of the ground and rose her hands out to Reginald. Reginald felt a blob of energy come out of him. It was green and shiny, speeding to the Roselia and resting under her skin. Reginald rushed forward and used Tackle, knocking her over easy.
“I… refuse to take part in this battle…” Desdemona said and then had an idea. “Sweet Scent!” she exclaimed. There was a faint hint of cherry blossom in the air, hoping that the scent of flowers would bring the Roselia back to her senses. Reginald realized what she was doing.
“Keep going!” he exclaimed as the Roselia got to her feet and flung out her arm, “Poison Sting!” she exclaimed as the barb flew toward Reginald’s flank. He yelped as it hit him, whirled around and planted a firm Bite on her arm. She screamed in pain and tugged her arm as hard as she could.
“Let’s try this again,” Desdemona said, “Sweet Scent!”
The smell of cherry blossom thickened. Roselia, in mid attack, froze as the scent overwhelmed her.
“Please try to understand,” Desdemona said.
****
“Ah, I see,” The Roselia nodded, “You were in pursuit of a missing child when you stumbled across my grove.”
“Yes, and we both are terribly sorry about your beautiful flowers,” Desdemona said.
“Thank you for explaining. I worry that I might have destroyed my flowers along with you. You may pass,” the Roselia stepped aside, clearing the pass.
“Thank you,” Desdemona said and hurried on past with Reginald trailing behind her.


Floor 7: 1.5 Belly slots

“Well that was brilliant,” Reginald commented with a tone that suggested it wasn't brilliant at all.
“What do you mean?” Desdemona said, wrinkling her brow. She thought everything went fine, “I convinced that Roselia to stop fighting with us and she allows us to go on without further interruption. What’s so wrong with that?”
“Well, for one, we lost that Meowth, I almost had my arse handed to me and nearly got poisoned,” he said, pulling out the barb from his flank and spitting it on the ground. Desdemona sighed,
“Sometimes you have to look on the bright side,” she said, giving him a clout alongside the ear hole.
“Ouch! Hey, why’d you go and do that?” He whined and shook out his fur.
“No reason,” she said and grinned. Reginald rolled his eyes. The two entered a small clearing in which a Corphish was sulking in a puddle underneath a large nanab leaf sprouting from a very small nanab sapling which acted as a sort of makeshift umbrella. The sapling had a thin dead branch tied to the base with a bit of twine. He glanced out from under his nanab leaf, spotted the two and leapt out.
“Hey, you can’t be here! Get out of here, you crazy kids.” He shouted over to them, waving his claws wildly. Reginald trotted up to him, “Sorry for trespassing, but have you wouldn’t happen to have seen a black Meowth pass on by would you?” The Corphish scowled and shrugged, turning away,
“Some Pokémon ran past and trampled my sapling as it went, the clumsy footed sod, but I don’t know if it was a Meowth, the thing was so darned fast.” It sniffed and crawled back underneath the sapling-umbrella,
“’Ere, I’ve provided you with some information; now skedaddle.” The Corphish crossed its arms and sat down, facing away from them. The two did so, rushing past the Corphish and onward to the set of stairs beyond.
“Geez, what a cranky Corphish!” Desdemona whispered hoarsely as they passed.
“Ah heard that!” A rough voice came from behind her. Desdemona jumped and put some extra spring into her step. Reginald just chuckled, calmly following behind.

Floor 8: 1.0 Belly slots

“Ugh, we’re going to starve if we don’t eat soon, seriously,” Desdemona moaned, clutching at her tummy as it made a loud gurgling sound.
“Des, stop complaining. You’ll just make yourself hungrier.” Reginald said sensibly, shaking his head.
“Why do you seem so cool about it? We haven’t eaten since this morning!” Desdemona said and gasped, “Hey, have you been eating our apples while I wasn’t looking?” she asked suspiciously.
“Pff, no. I’m just used to it.” Reginald shrugged, looking away. Desdemona’s jaw-like horns did an amazingly dramatic jaw-drop.
"Used to being hungry?" she gaped.

Floor 9: 0.5 Belly slots



Reginald and Desdemona froze in mid-step as they saw what was in front of them:
A Ninetails sitting on a large rock whose top was flattened and was at water’s edge. Her tails were smooth and silky, resting curled at her sides and back. The Ninetails was smoothing a young sleeping black Meowth’s fur tenderly and lovingly. A few smaller Meowth were curled up and sleeping around her as well. She didn’t even have to turn around. “I knew someone would find me, eventually.” She said. Her voice was beautiful and quiet, as not to disturb the sleeping Meowth. She gracefully stood up and turned around, her tails swirling behind her like an elegant dress.
"Give her back, Ninetails." Desdemona said, clenching her fists.
“She is mine. I found her. Her parents don’t love her; they even left her alone in the yard. They are not responsible enough.” Ninetails said, her red eyes blazing bright as fire
“Ninetails, this is not right. A crime’s a crime, the law’s the law. Taking what is not yours is wrong.” Reginald called out, taking a step foreward.
“You want the Meowth? Well, you’ll have to go through me first,” Ninetails snarled, her beautiful face twisting into a scowl, and leapt head first at Reginald, “Zen Headbutt!” Reginald was about to spring away but was too late. She hit him head on and he was sent flying backwards, crashing into Desdemona.
“Hey, watch it!” Desdemona cried. By the time they untangled their bodies, Ninetails was up for another round, “Swift!” Her mouth opened wide, revealing many pointy teeth, and star-like shapes sprang out from deep within her throat and sped toward Reginald and Desdemona. Reginald quickly leapt out of harm’s way but Desdemona couldn’t get away in time. She gave out a scream, each piece of flesh stinging from the blows.
“Desdemona!” Reginald cried and tuned to face the Ninetails with a growl. He tilted his head up and Howled a solemn tune, feeling his blood rush faster, and the tips of his paws tingled as adrenaline release into the blood flow. “Catch me if you can!” he said and darted around to her side. Ninetails scowled and, with one powerful sweep of her paw, sent him sprawling. He hit a nearby rock head-first and lie there, the world swirling before his eyes. As Ninetails was busy dealing with Reginald, Desdemona had a chance to run up to Ninetails and clamp her jaws shut on one paw in a powerful Bite. Ninetails yelped in pain and with a swirl of her nine tails, sent a purple colored wind at the Mawile. The Ominous Wind tugged Desdemona away from Ninetail’s paws and sent her flying upwards, away from the battle. As she was blown away, Reginald, still confused, was trying to Tackle his own tail, which was physically impossible. Desdemona was finally freed from the wind and plunged downward, into the pool of water. She quickly swam to the surface and gasped for air, sputtering water all over the place. Reginald snapped out of his confusion and charged at the Ninetails, Tackling her. She was pushed back a few yards and skidded to a halt, digging her claws into the ground.
"GGRaaaah!" she yelled as she sent a fire spin at him. He leapt into the air and twisted his body juuust enough to avoid the flames. In turn, he ran up to her and tackled her once more. Meanwhile, Desdemona had swam up to shore and shook herself out, sending water drops this ways and that. She charged toward Ninetails, spun around and Bit her sharply on the snout. Ninetails gasped and tumbled, hitting the far wall. She gasped and slumped,
"I never did have a child of my own," she whispered hoarsely and raised a shakey paw to the young Meowth, still sleeping peacefully on the rock. Her vision blurred and filled with purple spots, "She was my last chance," she gasped and blacked out. Reginald looked sadly at the stiff body and pulled out his badge, ready to send the ninetails back to base. Desdemona had walked back to the rock and shook the young meowth's shoulder.
"Hey, wake up," she wispered. The young Meowth opened her big soulful eyes "but where's--" she looked around and gasped, spotting the curled up and bruised body of Ninetails.
"All she wanted was children to call her own..." The Meowth mumbled sadly.
"What is your name?" Desdemona asked.
"Mona," she mumbled shyly and picked up one of her sleeping sibilings by the scruff of the neck.
"Well, its time to go home now, Mona" Desdemona said, picked up two armfuls of sleeping Meowth and lead her over to Reginald.
"Thanks for rescuing us." Mona said graciously, though she looked sorry for the Ninetails.
"All set," she said, and the group dissapeared in a flash of bright light, teleporting back to base.

Mission complete

xxx
Lars & Autumn

The small little Corphish was looking at Autumn with extreme interest, a fire clearly in his tiny little shrimp eyes. Autumn glared over at Lars. Lars smiled and shrugged, feeling completely awesome and on top of the world. Who else was as smart as him? Then his ears drooped a little as he remembered he wasn't all that smart to begin with. Autumn looked at the two love birds with disgust. She never liked them to begin with, and why did their team have to be their fallback? Blegh. She looked at Lars and decided to let him decide. He awkwardly recieved the rewards before speaking, however. Since what he was about to say was probably going to hurt the soon-to-be-couple's feelings. "I...uh...we're going to take the little dude. The rest of you are already well off." Autumn punched him lightly in the arm, but it was still enough to make the awkward Sentret stumble a little. "What? It's true. We're on the rise, and this little dude will grow up to be big and strong. But not without a...a uh...uuuhm..." "Push? Lars nodded and smiled wildly. Good ol' Autumn. She made a 'tsch' sound and crossed her arms, putting all her weight on one foot and looked off to another direction.The Corphish scuttled over excitedly and the rest were quietly dismissed, the Roserade comforting the Roselia. That made Lars feel quite a bit better. He sighed a giant sigh of sighed relief. Then shook his head for being a weirdie. He smiled brightly at the Corphish, "Welcome to Team Management!"


[[The Croagunk was just kind of a random thing xD This was my first mission, and definitely a shot in the dark. I also wrote it out of order, which I will never do again xD I will work on my descriptions, and if you noticed I tried it just now, in taking the rewards and recruits xD Thank you so so much for your criticism though. I was a bit lost at what to do, but now I know what to focus on. Again, many thanks x] You were very direct and clear.]]

Reginald happily accepted the reward from officer Magnezone and turned to Desdemona.
"Well? I suppose we could use another member," Reginald said and smirked,
"Desdemona, what do you think?"
Desdemona looked at him and beamed, "Welcome to the team," she said, turning to Mona. Mona squealed and clasped her paws together in a girlish fashion,
"Oh, thank you! I won't disapoint you!" Mona smiled widely and continued, "But Mona is just what my family calls me. My real name is Anastasia. Anastasia Mona Meowth."
"So, that's settled then," Desdemona said and began to walk off with Reginald. Anastasia stayed behind and sadly wached officer Magnezone take Ninetails away. Anastasia and Ninetail's eyes met for a split second--
"Hey, you coming?"
Anastasia turned around to see Reginald staring cooly into her eyes.
"Yeah..." she said and turned back around only to see that officer Magnizone, along with Ninetails, had already left. She shook her head and raced over to Reginald and Desdemona,
"I'm coming."

Chuck created a small ball of flame, not much larger than his thumb, in his hand when the Bug types approached. Selecting a Parasect, he shot it forward, scoring a direct hit. Then another one. And another, after a lesser interval as the Parasect accelerated towards him at a somewhat worrying rate. It took two more to take the Bug-type down, and by that time the Parasect was two inches short of melee reach.

Celsus grinned, at least in the sense that all his teeth were visible, when the Bug-types approached. A short burst of magical energy turned his roar into a powerful blast of sound, taking out a Weedle and a Beedril almost immediately.

Oliver gave a barely audible sigh when the battle began. Every single time, the target attacked on sight. There was never even a chance of negotiations. Well, given the Guild's record these past few months, not bothering with diplomacy could safely be considered a form of suicide. With that in mind, he walked up to the web and slashed at it hard.

Imiti took to the trees when the attacks started flying and watched the battle. Spotting a suitable group of enemies, he threw a fireball at them, taking some out of the fight immediately. Then he went up through the canopy because he'd just revealed his hiding spot.

(Bug types: -1 Ember spam, -2 Hyper Voice, -2 Fire Blast; Web -1 slashy)