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"I don't see why not," Cody replied to Ike's offer. He didn't like being underwater. It made him uncomfortable, even if it was kinda cool. Feraligatr swam up to the surface with Ike and Flygon popped out into the air.

Celebi looked up from its sand castle and flew over to the rest of the team. With a burst of psychic thought from Celebi, everyone flashed a purplish-pink hue for a second. Once the light show was done, Ike couldn't figure out what Celebi just did.
"Uh... thanks?" he said to Celebi anyway. His clothes were still wet and he still felt a tiny-bit tired from the swim... but the first step he took he rose into the air and was able to float like Celebi.
"Oh! Thanks Celebi!" he said with a wide grin this time. The whole team could fly around without the aid of a flying type.
"Follow me!' said Ike, shooting straight up into the air. This was pretty fun.

As Adelle saw Ike fly into the air, she started to rush forwards, in an attempt to help him somehow, but instead was lifted into the air herself. Letting out a panicked scream as she felt herself rising, it was all the more clear that heights were not her thing. She would much rather be surfing through the water, or moving over the land than flying in the air. However, it was clear that she was going to have to get over it to make sure she didn't look like such a moron.

"W-Wait up," she stammered, trying to seem brave as she took off after Ike and Cody, though at a significantly slower pace. If people were meant to fly, then God would have given them wings...that is what her mother had always said.

Cody carefully lowered himself down to the volcano, staying close to Ike as they descended. "What are we doing?" he asked.

"Checking this out." Ike answered Cody's question with a 'duh' response, although it wasn't intended to be one.
Ike didn't go too near the volcano fearing the same things Adie was. The Aquos Island Volcano had always been semi-active. Never before had Ike seen it spew lava in the air, or see any lava flowing out of the crater. This lead Ike to think that this volcano was one of those types that went "boom" instead of just spewing lava. That had made him uneasy for years. This only affirmed his theory.

"It looks inactive." said Ike. Peering over the top of the volcano, there wasn't anything but ash at the bottom of the crater. No lava, no smoke, no smoldering gases, not even pokemon. And judging by how the rocks looked, he began to think it's been awhile since this volcano went "boom". This would make it likely that back in the present, they would have to deal with this violent eruption in the not-too-distant future.

"...I think I'm going to head back to the present now." Ike declared. He and Celebi made their way back to the section of beach the team arrived at and Celebi opened a portal back to the present. Ike landed on the ground and walked through the portal.

(( This is what boredom and lack of sleep does to you... ))

MISSION- The Dragons Awaken
A new team called Team Dragon has emerged and has been trying to rule the world with dragon pokemon. Well they have broken into a museum and stolen a rare dragon scale!
Your mission is to go and retrieve the scale!
(You will fight 5 Peons and an Admin)

Pokemon:
Dratini
Horsea
Bagon
Trapinch

Funds upon completion:
500-2000

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Beep! Beep! BEEP!

Groaning, Adelle rolled over in her bed, her hand emerging from the hodge podge of blankets and pillows covering her bed, and sliding onto the nightstand, where her TADS was all to happy to wake her from Dreamland. Meowth law curled next to her, purring contentedly as Adie found what she was looking for, the light from the small screen seeming to illuminate the entire room as her head poked out from underneath the covers, eyes adjusting as quickly as they could. Slowly, the screen came into focus, and a moment later, Adie was on her feet, pulling on a pair of jeans and a blue tank top. What was it with these other teams and trying to pull off capers they knew they weren’t going to get away with.

“Come on lazy bones,” Adie said to the still sleeping Meowth, who was none too happy to be pulled from her beauty sleep to go into battle against a team who thinks they can steal from a museum and get away with it. Giving a playful swipe at her hand with her paw, Meowth slowly uncurled herself from her sleeping ball, stretching out on the bed as Adie reappeared from the bathroom, toothbrush still sticking out from her mouth as she sat on the bed, pulling her sneakers on.

Disappearing into the bathroom after a moment, toothbrush free, she looked over at Meowth, who gave her one of those classic ‘you are one crazy chick’ looks. Chuckling, she picked her pokemon up, giving it a squeeze of affection before returning her to the pokeball, walking over to her storage drawer, where she pulled out the pokemon that she wanted to take with her on this new mission. Pushing it shut with her hip, Adie pulled her bed head back into a ponytail, grabbing her backpack before stepping out into the lit hallway, heading towards the exit to the outside world.

As she stepped outside, it looked like another beautiful day in paradise, but Adelle looked like a girl on a mission as she grabbed her bike, and started peddling, heading towards the local scientific museum. She remembered hearing about their new exhibit, “Dragons of the Deep”, but she had no idea someone would go so far as to steal from a science museum. What kind of sick world were they living in…

As she got to the beach, she broke down her bike and stashed it across her back before releasing Seel into the water, clambering on top of the pokemon’s back. It was a tight fit, but her pokemon was strong enough to get them to the opposite shore where she could bike to the museum with relative ease. Once they landed, she returned her pokemon to his pokeball, reassembling her bike and hopping on, heading towards the museum.

It took her a good 20 minutes to bike to the museum, and once she got there, the police were in full swing. There was yellow tape everywhere, growlithe sniffing around the area, and Officer Jenny’s asking questions to locals, directing traffic off the area, and looking for clues. True to form, it was not long before she was approached by one of them, who gave her a look of suspicion as her eyes scanned the area, doing her own quick search for clues.

“Miss, can we help you,” the Jenny asked, placing her hands on her hips as she looked at the blue-haired girl before her. Adie smiled politely, sitting back on her bike as she looked at the scene before her, trying to think of a plausible excuse for her being here. Unfortunately, nothing was coming to mind, and so after a moment of awkward stuttering, she turned and pedaled away from the scene to a place she could stash her bike and try to do some digging on foot.

Sneaking around the back of the building, she was going to start with looking for footprints or bike tracks, but was shocked at what she found instead. Ahead of her, hiding in the bushes, was a young man wearing what she could only assume was a Team Dragon uniform. He was watching the Jennys and Growlithes scour the scene for any clues that might point them in their direction, but what he was not counting on, was Adelle.

Stealthily, she managed to sneak up behind the boy, placing her hands on her hips as he sensed a presence behind him, turning around suddenly to see her form standing before him. Gulping, she gave him a small smile, though it was clear that she was going to get whatever she needed from him, whether it was by choice or force.

“Where is the rest of Team Dragon,” she said simply, crossing her arms over her chest as she looked down at him. At first he looked kind of scared, but that look quickly changed to one of defiance as he simply laughed at her, standing to his full height, making him taller than her, and looking down at her with a sneer on his lips.

“I ain’t tellin’ you nothin’. And you ain’t sayin’ nothin’ to those cops neither,” he snarled at her, pulling a pokeball from his belt and releasing a Golbat into battle. Adelle, not missing a beat, pulled Nidorino from her belt, releasing the shadow pokemon into battle. The purple tendrils of shadow emanating from the pokemon made the Dragon Peon look at her a little funny, but he was not laughing as hard when Nidorino shot forwards in a Shadow Rush attack. Shadows collecting around his body, Nidorino sprinted forwards, leaping into the air and slamming all his weight into the opponent pokemon. The attack was successful, causing a critical hit on the Golbat. Unfortuanately, the attack took a toll on her own pokemon as the recoil caused a bit of damage to the pokemon.

“Golbat, let her have it wit a bite attack,” he called out, his pokemon letting out an awful shriek before diving forwards, clamping it’s fanged jaws around Nidorino, who let out a cry of pain. Bucking around until the Golbat was forced to let go, another Shadow Rush was all it took to knock the Golbat out for the count. With a low growl, the Peon was forced to recall his fainted pokemon, drawing a second pokeball from his belt and releasing a Mightyena into the fight.

Quickly, Adie returned Nidorino, who had already taken quite a beating, and instead released Meowth into battle. As soon as she saw the dog pokemon before her, the hair on the back of her neck stood on end, a sharp hiss escaping her. Mightyena responded with a loud Howl, the power of the creature clearly building as it pumped itself up for the battle. This was going to take some skill on her part, but she knew Meowth would pull through for her, like she always did.

“Meowth, slash it,” she called out, her pokemon immediately taking off towards her opponent without hesitation. As soon as she got close enough, the claws came out, moving in a quick, diagonal motion as Meowth made a leap for the Mightyena. The dog pokemon was quick, but Meowth was quicker, the slash missing it’s mark on his face, but still connecting with it’s back as it made to leap out of the way. At this point, it was clear that the opponent was not happy, recklessly charging forwards in a take down attack that sent Meowth skidding back across the ground, though she managed to stay on her feet.

“Hang in there Meowth. That last hit hurt him too! Try a bite attack.” Meowth nodded, summoning the courage and strength Adelle knew the pokemon had as it rushed forwards in a quick motion, clamping her jaws down on the throat of the creature, which let out a howl of pain before slumping to the ground, Meowth leaping back and preparing for another assault. As soon as she realized that the battle was over, the Peon taking off running before Adelle had the chance to come up with a clever response, Meowth started to glow brightly, Adelle shielding her eyes from the light. When she opened them once more, the light dissipating, before her stood a Persian, coat gleaming in the light as her now evolved pokemon gave her a broad grin.

Of course, Adelle could not keep her high-pitched squeal of excitement contained, and after a brief glomp and hug of her new pokemon, the two took off after the Peon, hoping that he would lead her to the rest of the Team so she could get that scale back. Persian close on her heels, Adelle managed to traverse the trees and exposed roots with relative ease before she skid to a halt upon seeing the Peon approaching a small group of Dragons, who looked at him, running like a madman, as if he were crazy. If Adelle was going to get more information, then this was sure as heck going to be her time to get it.

Clearing her throat, Persian walking alongside her she started to approach the group, going unnoticed until she was almost right on them. It looked like she might be able to jump on one and take their uniform the old fashioned way, but instead a young, redheaded woman saw her, pushing the wimp she had already taken care of out of the way so she was chest to chest with Adelle, snarling in her face.

“Just who the heck do ya think ya are anyways? We dun take kindly to other teams beatin’ up on our members!” Adelle smile smiled at the girl, rocking onto her tip toes so she was standing a little taller than the girl before her. Growling lowly, the redhead gave her a great shove, pulling a pokeball from her belt and releasing a Metang into the area between herself and Adelle. Persian looked like she was ready to go back into battle, but Adelle held her hand out, releasing Seel instead, who flopped into the battle with a rather determined look in his eye.

“Mettie, metal claw attack,” the woman called out, throwing one hand forward to give her pokemon the push it needed. Speeding through the air, the pokemon’s claws gleamed as they came straight down on Seel, giving the Steel pokemon an attack boost, while Seel was slammed into the ground with an incredible force. However, her pokemon got up once more, and following Adelle’s orders, pushed off the ground and flipped into the air, an ice beam attack shooting from the horn on his head to connect with the opponent pokemon, encasing it’s entire bottom half in a glistening ice cage. Thinking that she would now have an advantage since the pokemon couldn’t exactly move, Adelle grinned, only to have it wiped from her face as a confusion attack emanated from the chilled pokemon, causing Seel to flop on the ground in obvious pain. That wasn’t something she expected.

“Seel! Aurora Beam,” she screamed out, panicking for a moment that she was about to lose this battle. The girl may be annoying but she had one heck of a pokemon out right now. Seel looked like it was about out for the count, but managing to cut through the confusion around him, no pun intended, his horn glowed a bright shade of pink before releasing a rainbow colored ray of energy towards the Metang, shattering the ice holding it to the ground, but also knocking it back to the ground with a critical force. Metang was down for the count, and the woman before her looked like she was about to slash Adelle across the middle.

The rest of her friends had already taken off towards a small ship nearby, and so she knew she was going to have to find a way on that ship if she was going to get that scale. These goons looked like they couldn’t fight their way out of a paper bag, so there was no way the scale was with one of them. No, she was going to have to find one of the higher ups, who would for sure have what she was looking for. The challenge was going to be getting there.

Grabbing the woman and pulling her behind a small thicket of trees, several screams and thuds could be heard before Adelle emerged, wearing the woman’s uniform. It didn’t fit like a glove, by any means, but at least it wasn’t completely obscene. Running towards the boat, her hair tucked under a blue bandana, she returned Persian before jumping over the railing of the boat just as it was about to pull away from the shore. She did her best to look like she belonged there, as the men on board gave her a rather quizzical expression.

“Who was that bimbo fighting Red,” she asked, leaning against the rail of the ship as it pulled away from the shore, heading towards a small island in waters rumored to have Dragon fossils and even some living pokemon still living in them. Making a mental note of this in case she thought about going fishing once she got rid of these buffoons, it was becoming increasingly clear that the men were not completely convinced of her act as they pulled up to the dock on the island after a short ride from the shore. Adie started to get off the boat, lingering as she pretended to be looking through a stack of rope for something as the rest of the men filed off the boat.

As soon as she thought she was alone, Adelle turned, whistling a soft tune to herself before she bumped, literally, into a burly man wearing a Dragon uniform, who picked her up by the collar of her shirt, so she was eye-level with him. Despite his menacing appearance, when he spoke in a slightly high, squeaky voice Adelle did not expect, she snorted as she tried to hold her laughter back.

“I know yous ain’t one of the Dragons. Dragons ain’t as scrawny as yous is,” he said, dropping her so quickly that she was unable to catch her weight on her legs, and crumpled onto her butt with a thud. Standing once more, she started to try and walk past him, looking as if she knew nothing of what he was talking about, only to be pushed back, the man reaching for the pokeball on his belt.

“Machoke! Lets show her a lesson and bring her to the boss,” he shouted, the muscular form of Machoke appearing before her. Adelle knew that this was one battle she would not be able to rely on strength for, and two of her pokemon had already been through some tough battles. Seel was out of the question, and so she chose the next best thing. Releasing Squirtle from his pokeball, the only pokemon that had been with her through everything she had gone through, he looked up at the mass of pokemon before him, his eyes widening slightly as he glanced back at Adelle with a questioning look. Had she completely lost her mind?

“We’ll have to rely on speed,” she called out, Squirtle giving a nod, though it was clear he was not completely convinced. This might just be her toughest battle yet. Lunging forwards, the opponent pokemon brought his powerful hand down in a swift Karate Chop attack, which Squirtle just managed to roll to the right of, his hand slamming into nothing but splintered wood instead.

“Squirtle, Skull Bash,” she called out, her pokemon listening immediately and tucking his head into his shell, preparing for the blow to come. Unfortunately, this left enough time for the Machoke to get in another blow before the time for her attack would come. Lumbering forwards, the muscle pokemon picked up Squirtle’s shell, leaping into the air as it started to wind up like a softball pitcher. Adelle let out a small gasp as Squirtle was suddenly sent hurtling towards the deck of the ship, crashing through the wooden floor with a loud thud. Thankfully, his shell was able to absorb most of the impact, which was probably the only thing that was keeping her in this game at the moment. Jumping from the hole, Squirtle re-tucked the head and came down at a diagonal towards Machoke, slamming full tilt into the pokemon’s chest.

As he was knocked into the railing of the boat, a small group of deck hands was starting to gather on the dock, whispering among themselves as they watched the battle in progress. By every standard, it looked like Adelle didn’t stand a chance, but she was never one to give up – especially when the odds were not on her side. Getting his balance back, it seemed that her attack had taken a lot out of the opponent pokemon, but not quite enough as it landed a low kick attack on Squirtle’s shell, sending it spinning back across the remains of the ship deck.

“Come on Squirtle, Rapid Spin,” she called out, the turtle pokemon disappearing into his shell, which started to spin quickly, before launching at the muscles pokemon, who was not fast enough to catch the oncoming attack before it slammed into his gut, knocking the wind out of him. It seemed that the pokemon was going to remain standing, however, as Squirtle came out of his shell once more, looking a little dizzy. These hard hits were not getting easier for her pokemon that was for sure. However, she was saved from having to go another round with the hard-hitting creature as it slumped to the ground, unable to battle anymore.

Returning Machoke to his pokeball, the big man before her looked like he was going to try and he ran off towards the base, while Adelle was staring at her glowing pokemon. For the second time today, she was able to witness an evolution, as Squirtle moved into the next phase of his growth – Wartortle. There was little time for celebration, however, as she jumped over the side of the boat and onto the dock, pushing her way through startled onlookers as she started running towards the base, hoping to get into the building so she could start looking for that scale. The sooner she found it, the sooner she could go home.

This time, at least she managed to get to the door, where her way was blocked by a guard, who looked at her with a rather skeptical look. Her Dragon hat had been knocked off her head during the last battle, blue hair cascading down her shoulders, which was completely uncharacteristic of the rest of the people around her. Of course she would stand out like a sore thumb…this would be too easy otherwise.

“Look, I’m real interested in joining. Can’t I just shakey-shake in there and see what I can work out with your boss,” she asked, trying to look as innocent, yet serious, as possible. Glancing down at Wartortle next to her, who looked more than ready for another battle, it seemed the doorman was more than happy to oblige as he took a pokeball from his belt, releasing a Seadra. Sighing, Adelle was really starting to get peeved at these guys for not believing her lies, but at the same time, she was having fun now that two of her pokemon had taken their next steps in evolution. Soon, she might even have a Blastoise!

“Alright Wartortle, let’s try this out,” she said with a grin, realizing she might as well use a water to try and negate some of his more powerful attacks. Thankfully, her opponent did not have the same kind of strategy Adelle had, and ordered a water gun attack right off the bat. Countering with his own Water Gun, which connected with his opponents, the two struggled in what seemed to be a stalemate for a moment before Seadra stopped his assault, floating in the air slightly as it glared down at Squirtle. Looked like they were pretty much even so far as that attack went. This was going to be an interesting battle.

“Doodles, let’s focus,” he said simply, the pokemon’s eyes closing as it used focus Energy to raise some of it’s stats in preparation for the next turn. For a moment, it occurred to Adelle that she should do the same to try and keep themselves pretty evened out, but that was going to make their stalemate longer. No, she was in this to win it.

“Alright Wartortle, bite attack,” she called out, Wartortle taking advantage of the pokemon’s moment of peace to launch forwards, sinking his teeth into Seadra, who let out a small cry of surprise. Releasing the opponent pokemon from his grasp, Wartortle landed on the ground once more, just as Seadra began to use its twister attack, summoning a large vortex, which slammed into Wartortle, drawing it into the air, where he was hit with several shards of floating debris before falling to the ground, where he landed with a thud. Things were not looking good, but Adelle knew he would get back up. He had never been defeated in the past, and she was certainly not going to start with this goon.

Squirtle withdrew into his shell, attacking the Seadra with a powerful rapid spin attack that seemed to do the trick. Knocking the opponent pokemon completely back through the door, Adelle did not stop to even look at the Peon as he tried to tend to his fainted pokemon, Wartortle sprinting after her as fast as his little legs could carry him. When it became clear that she should give him a rest, after all, he had just been through two really tough battles in a row, she returned him to his pokeball, managing to fool a few of the stupider peons into pointing her way to the Boss’ office.

“Here it is,” a small girl said as she showed Adelle to a hallway, where a man was sitting in a chair in front of a large, wooden door. There were several symbols carved into the wood, each one Adelle knew stood for a different, legendary dragon pokemon. What was it with these people and their fascination with dragons? I mean, sure they were cool and all, but Adelle was not about to go around trying to dress like them and worship them and what not. These people were weird.

Heading straight up to the guy sitting in the chair, working on some sort of sketch that Adelle could tell was another dragon pokemon of some kind, he glanced up at her for a mere second before looking down once more.

“Sorry, we’re not interested,” he said without a second guess. Adelle was already reaching towards her belt, where her pokemon were waiting to teach this rude little man a lesson, but instead, another idea struck her. Maybe she could fool this guy to the point where she didn’t have to bust down the door with his head and then have to immediately turn around and fight her way out of here once she got that scale. Strategy Adelle, it’s all about strategy.

“Look, surely there has to be something I can do to show my skill, anything! You name it, and I guarantee I can get it done,” she said with an air of confidence in her. He simply grinned as he looked up at her, flipping his sketchpad around to show that he had been working on a picture of a dratini.

“Fine. You catch me one of these and I’ll arrange a meeting with the boss. Now get outta my light,” he said, the momentary moment of kindness fading from his eyes as he started on his sketch once more, leaving Adelle standing there, looking like a moron. Just how the heck was she supposed to catch one of those, when she had no idea how to even catch one! Turning on her heel, she was seriously considering going back there and just challenging him to a battle, but this was good practice. If she caught one, maybe she could catch another one for herself? Did they come in pairs?

After all that work to get into the base, Adelle walked back out, a sunken look on her face. The little girl from before came up to her, giving her a bright smile before asking what was wrong. As Adelle told her the predicament she was in the girl looked around before taking her hand and dragging her through the backdoor of the base, where there was a small wooden boat tied to the dock.

“Here, take my boat. There is a small cave around the back of the island. I heard there are some Dratini that live in that cave, but it might just be a rumor. It would be so great if cool girls like you could join the team,” she said, instantly offering a reason for her help before Adelle even had a chance to ask. Thanking the girl a thousand times, seeing as she was really grateful for reasons she could not explain to the girl, Adelle clambered into the boat, untied it from the dock, and started rowing as she followed the shoreline of the island around.

At first, after what seemed like hours of rowing, she thought that the girl had been lying to her from the start, but after a half hour, she saw the cave that the girl had described. At least the cave she hoped the girl had been talking about. Rowing inside, she looked at the glistening crystals that lined the mouth of the cave, reflecting her shocked expressions as she passed through, looking into the crystal clear and eerily still water around her. For some reason she got the image of a Sharpedo leaping from the water and snapping her head clean off her shoulders, and a sudden motion in the waters right below her seemed to confirm her fear. Snapping her head back into the boat, she was almost scared to look before she saw the unmistakable shape of a Dratini leap from the water a little deeper in the cave.

Paddling with a new vigor, she emerged into a spacious cavern, Dratini lining the walls, some of the frolicking in the water and splashing around with friends. The excitement and awe in her eyes said it all as she pinpointed one beautiful specimen, who looked at her curiously, swimming up to the boat and gently nudging it with her nose. She hated to try and capture the pokemon, who looked to be so at home in the wild, but she needed to get that scale back. Reaching over the side of the boat, the pokemon instantly shot under the water, causing a small frown to grace Adelle’s features, but after a moment, she returned, pushing her nose into Adie’s hand.

“You’re a good girl, aren’t you,” she said soothingly, running her hand gently over the pokemon’s long body as it dipped through the water, seeming happy that their interaction was so smooth and gentle. Laughing as the pokemon slashed some water at her, the pokemon made a sound that was similar to laughing.

“I was supposed to capture you so I can get back something some real jerks stole from a museum…probably a scale from one of your ancestors, right girl,” she said with a small laugh, looking a little surprised that the pokemon looked as if she could understand everything that the girl was saying. Bringing her other arm out over the edge of the boat to stroke the Dratini over the head, she felt a small pang in her heart at the thought of capturing a creature as sweet as this by force…not to mention if she did so and the rest of the family wasn’t too happy about that, she was facing certain annihilation.

“Alright, I have a favor to ask. And I know it’s a big one,” she started, looking at the pokemon, who she was sure knew everything she was saying before she continued.

“Will you come with me? I need you to help me get this rare dragon scale back so I can return it to the Museum. I promise, I’ll take care of you. I won’t let these idiots keep you,” she said with an air of promise in her voice as she looked at the pokemon, awaiting an answer. She pulled an empty great ball from her bag, holding it up to show in a pictorial way what she was talking about. The pokemon slipped under the surface of the water, which Adelle thought would mean that it was not willing to do what Adelle asked. Not that she was surprised.

Sighing slightly, Adelle thought about trying to convince one of the other Dratini’s in the cavern, but just as she was about to get back into her boat and thing of something else, the Dratini appeared once more, pressing her nose to the pokeball and disappearing inside, Adelle’s hand shaking with the pokeball until it stopped, a shocked look on Adelle’s face.

“That…was easy. Wait, that was easy,” she asked, thinking back over the missions she had taken part in for Aqua in the past. This might be the easiest one she had been on since she started…of course after that last escapade in the grocery store, she should have guessed that things would always seem easy in comparison – even capturing a rare pokemon. Setting the pokeball gently in her lap, she rowed her way out of the cave, forming a plan in her mind as she headed back towards the dock, getting ready to put her plan into action. As soon as she tied off to the dock, she was on her way back to the hallway, waltzing straight up to the man sitting in a chair and thrusting the pokeball into his face.

He looked up at her with a small tilt of his head, reaching out to grab the ball, which Adelle quickly snatched back.

“You arranged that meeting,” she asked, allowing the man to take the pokeball with a greedy glint in his eye. As soon as it was in his hand, he let out an excited, albeit evil, laugh, parading around in a small circle as Adelle headed towards the door, fully intending on getting that pokemon back before the end of this whole escapade. The Peon released Dratini, who looked at the man, staring at her with a strange, covetous glint in his eye before looking at Adelle. She tried to ignore it for now, instead attempting to focus on the task at hand, but those innocent, emotional eyes were just too much for her to bear. She promised Dratini that she was going to keep her safe, and there was no doubt in her mind that she was not going to leave her with this maniac. Pausing as her hand lingered over the doorknob, she turned to see him releasing a pokemon from a pokeball on his belt, releasing Shelgon into the hallway.

“You jerk,” she muttered, though this was just the opportunity she had been waiting for. She didn’t know much about Dragon types, but she knew that she wanted to keep this thing from moving as much as possible. It looked like it was going to be a hard-hitter with that thick shell covering it. She knew that Seel had been through a lot, but if she could use the same technique she had been with her last battles, she knew that Seel would be able to take care.

Releasing Seel into battle, it seemed to be a little more rested from it’s last battle, and as soon as it saw the pokemon before him, his look hardened, prepared for battle. This Peon and his dragon pokemon was going down. Shelgon ran forwards in a quick fashion, releasing a powerful blast of dragon breath in his direction. Seel was knocked back by the potent blast that came his way, though he was ready to retaliate with an ice beam attack, which rooted the pokemon to the ground. At least she was going to have that to her advantage for the moment.

“Shelgon, show this blue-haired bimbo what you can do. Ember,” he called out with a sinister grin, as his pokemon released a blast of fire towards her Seel. He managed to get most of his body out of the way, the very end of his tail slightly singed. What was worse, the ice she had used to trap the pokemon was melted by the fire, even if the ice seemed to have quite an effect on the pokemon.

“Seel, no chances. Try to root it down again,” she called out, Seel sending another ice beam in the dragon pokemon’s direction. This time, she managed to encase the entire pokemon in ice, meaning that there was nothing the opponent pokemon could do. She could see the Peon’s eye twitch slightly as he clung to the pokeball Adelle had given him, Adelle sneering slightly.

“Finish it,” she said simply, Seel rushing forwards in a powerful take down attack that not only shattered the ice encasing the pokemon, but it also threw him back into the Peon, who was unprepared for the weight of the pokemon as it slammed into him, knocking him to the floor. Both were knocked out, Adelle walked over to him and prying the pokeball from his grasp as she turned to the wooden door. Returning Seel to his pokeball, she congratulated him, showing her appreciation for his hard work before she pushed open the wooden door, walking into the spacious office of the Dragon leader.

“That sounded like quite a battle. You are here to join our team,” the man said with a slightly southern accent as he reclined back into his chair. Adelle smiled, starting to nod before her smile dissipated into a serious expression.

“No. I’m here to get back that dragon scale you stole,” she said simply, crossing her arms across her chest to show that she was not going anywhere. At first she thought he was just going to have security escort her from the building, in which case she was going to have one heck of a battle on her hands, but instead, he simply laughed, standing up and walking down a few stairs til he was on the same plane as she was, standing across the room.

“I’ll tell you what. You show promise, so I will make you a deal. You defeat my pokemon, and you can take the scale. If I win, you will join our team, and work for me,” he said simply. Adelle thought about it for a moment, not sure if she would be able to take on more dragon pokemon. Seel was exhausted, and while he might have a few more ice beams left in him, but it wouldn’t last very long. Not to mention, she had never battled with Dratini, and she was not sure if she would be able to handle such a powerful pokemon. All things considered, however, she was out of options.

“Fine. Two each. Let’s do this,” she said simply, thinking that at least this would be a very good opportunity to test out her true battle skills. Maybe she would even have something to brag about when she got back to base. She followed the Admin towards the roof for the battle, taking sides on the arena as she glared across at her opponent, ready to do this. She had to do this.

The Dragon Admin released Gyarados into battle, the pokemon giving a ferocious roar as it looked at Puny Adelle before him. She gulped softly before pulling out Wartortle’s pokeball, hoping that his defensive shell and speed was going to be an advantage. Again, her pokemon looked at her as if she was crazy, but she was quick to try and reassure him.

“Gyarados, let’s start things off with a twister attack,” he said with a confident air in his voice, as his dragon pokemon released a wild vortex of wind towards Wartortle, who protected himself with a withdraw attack into his shell, where the debris and harsh winds slammed into the shell and knocked him roughly into the ground.

Squirtle popped out of his shell, the damage he took from the attack significantly reduced from the time he had been attacked, though the strain had been a lot on him, Adelle could tell. Upon her orders, Wartortle released a powerful Rapid Spin attack, slamming his whirling body into Gyarados’s “neck” which caused the pokemon to let out a pained cry. Wartortle leapt back from the dragon pokemon as he lunged forwards, crushing his teeth around Wartortle’s shell with a powerful force. The pressure was clearly painful to her pokemon, but thankfully he was able to break away, lowering his head as he started to prepare for a skull bash attack. Gyarados was starting to show a little wear from the battle, but it was clear that Wartortle was on his last leg. These dragon pokemon were quite the challenge for her.

Gyarados used the time Wartortle was preparing for the attack to his advantage, swaying and dipping in a rhythmic fashion as it pumped itself up by using Dragon Dance. It was a sight Adelle had never seen before, but she thought it was beautiful. Someday she would own a Gyarados…and she would train it to be just as ferocious as this one. Once Squirtle was ready, it launched forwards, slamming his body straight into Gyarados’ face, sending the pokemon to the ground from the attack.

For a moment, Adie thought she won, but the pokemon got up once more, just barely, as it slammed his tail into the ground, Dragon Rage sending a series of shockwaves through the ground towards Squirtle. He leapt into the air, managing to miss the first one, but as he landed, a second shockwave slammed into his body, knocking him to the side, where he moaned, barely managing to push himself into a standing position once more. Running forwards, he slammed a well placed tackle attack into the hanging head of the Gyarados, which sent the pokemon backwards, Ko’d.

Both trainers were forced to recall their pokemon, Gyarados fainted, and Wartortle exhausted to the point he was barely able to stand. He deserved a long rest after that last battle, but right now she still had one more pokemon to take down before she could grab that scale and get out of here. Admin released Altaria, the beautiful pokemon taking to the air on it’s wings as she pulled out Houndour, one of the latest additions to her team. She had never used her in battle before, but as far as she could tell, she would be a good choice for her.

Altaria took the attack first, singing a beautifully sweet song that began to lull Houndour to sleep. It was so soothing that even Adelle began to feel a little drowsy, contemplating a nap before the song ended, and she shook her head to get any traces of drowsiness out of her system. Altaria, seeing Houndour sound asleep in the arena, soared into the air before diving down in a powerful peck attack, which caused Houndour to skid across the ground of the arena, still asleep at the moment. However, where most pokemon would have been out for a while, her Houndour’s early bird ability meant that she woke up again in half the time of normal pokemon. This was a good choice after all.

“Houndour, show him your flamethrower,” she called out, hoping that she was not going to over-battle her new pokemon on their first time together. However, one this she recognized in this pokemon was her love for battling. That had become apparent in the way she attacked Seel before Adie had managed to catch her. She was really a spitfire, and that became all the more apparent as fire burst from her mouth towards Altaria, who was not able to get out of the way in time. The fire singed her wings and blue feathers, though the pokemon, obviously tougher than her cute appearance, managed to stay afloat in the air.

“Altaria, show this mutt what you can do. Fury attack,” he said with a smile on his lips as Altaria’s razor-sharp talons gleamed in the fading light as it dove towards Houndour, who did her best to avoid the hits, but to no avail. Four quick slashes of the talons before Houndour managed to get out of the way, Adelle’s heart starting to break slightly at how tired her pokemon were getting fighting these creatures. Maybe she had tried something too hard too soon, but then again, she was never one to quit.

“Houndour, Smog,” she called out, the pokemon opening it’s mouth and starting to release the same purple, noxious gas she had emitted when Adelle first encountered her in the cave during their training mission. Before long, the entire area around the roof was consumed in the gas, Altaria succumbing to the effects of the poison, which might be the only thing that was going to keep Adelle in this fight. Unfortuantely, it was not over yet, and Altaria responded to the attack with a take down attack, suddenly appearing through the smog and slamming it’s full body weight into Houndour, who was knocked back across the roof, almost out of bounds.

Between the recoil of the attack and the effects of the poison however, Altaria slumped to the ground, unable to continue the battle. Adelle rushed into the arena, now that the battle was done, kneeling next to Houndor and picking her up, cradling her with a motherly affection as she sang the pokemon’s praises.

Looking up, she saw the Admin approaching her, looking almost as if he was going to slap her across the face. However, instead, he extended his hand, the large, glistening blue scale extended to he as Houndour growled at the man.

“I’m a gentleman of my word. Though, I do wish you would come work for me,” he said with a small grin on his lips as Adie reached out, taking the scale as she returned Houndour to her pokeball for a well-deserved rest.

“Thanks, but I have my own team. Don’t go around stealing from anymore museums, or you had better bet I’ll be back here,” she said with a stern expression on her face as she reached out, shaking the Admin’s hand. She wondered how much trouble he was going to get in for this, but quickly realized she just didn’t care. Escorted by the Admin to the docks once more, the little girl from earlier was sitting in a boat, waiting to take her to shore.

“This is it? I thought you guys would be really pissed at me and everything,” she said, looking around as if she was expecting a trap to be sprung at any second. However, the Admin simply laughed at her, shaking his head before explaining that they really weren’t bad people, and she had more than proven herself since that first battle in the woods. After extending another job offer to her, which she had to refuse considering how she was already working for the Aquas, the little girl and herself departed to the shore, which they reached in just under an hour considering they were now in a row boat.

“Thanks for everything,” Adelle said with a smile, waving as the girl heading back towards the island. Starting to head back towards the museum so she could deliver the scale, she quickly turned, releasing Dratini from the pokeball she had captured her in, giving the pokemon a small smile as it looked around, a little confused.

“I told you I would take care of you and bring you back. But I do feel bad about everything that has happened. You can go if you want, I won’t stop you,” she said, giving the Dratini a bright smile. Of course she wanted the pokemon to come and be a member of her team, but at the same time, she wanted it to be her choice, not an act of necessity. However, to her surprise and relief, the Dratini moved forwards, nuzzling Adelle’s cheek with her own nose. Laughing, she hugged Dratini tightly, obviously thankful that the pokemon was going to stay with her. Eat your heart out Aquas.

“Then let’s get going,” she said with a smile, returning Dratini to her pokeball before she headed back to the Museum, where the Jennys were busy delegating suspects to each other. Adelle approached the one she had talked to before, somehow able to distinguish her from the rest, though it was clear that lack of sleep and probably lack of time for dinner was making everyone crabby.

“What are you doing back here kid,” she asked, crossing her arms in front of her chest as a Growlithe came up, sitting next to his master as it growled lowly at Adelle as a warning. Quickly, she produced the scale, handing it back to the Officer with a quick explanation of the day, though with a few minor changes in details to try and protect the exact location of the island as much as possible. They weren’t all just jerks…

Once she was able to leave, after extensive questioning from the police, she was so tired, the mood starting to climb in the sky, that she just wanted to crawl in bed and sleep the night away. Talk about a party. Once she got to the opposite shore, the walk taking a bit longer than she remembered this morning, she released Dratini, who was more than happy to give her a ride back to HQ. Clambering onto the beach, Adelle returned her new pokemon, all smiles despite her obvious exhaustion as she walked into the Lobby, seeing it deserted for the moment. Tossing her mission onto the table, she drug herself into bed, Persian forcing herself out of the pokeball to sleep next to Adelle as she did every night. Maybe it was time for her to get a bigger bed…

[End Mission]

Note: The evolutions of Squirtle and Meowth were already approved by Ginji. Just thought I would do it in a Mission setting...lol

After traveling to the future yesterday, Ike wanted to know more about the volcano that inhabited Aquos Island. A LOT more. Over today he and his partners traveled up to the volcano to take a few rock samples. However boring it sounded to Scizor, though, Ike put his steel claws to good use by cutting rocks to be taken back. Needless to say, Scizor returned with Ike to the HQ that evening tired and wanting to be repayed for his work. Ike would think of something later, but for now he took his rock samples back to the lab to examine them.