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True to its grass type roots, Deerling toppled like a tree. Wayne watched, amazed and awestruck as Dali completed his attack. Surely if Hitmonlee, who had fought admirably, dodging devastating Solar Beams and lethal melee strikes before finally being crushed underhoof and flattened into the forest floor, if he could see Dali now he'd be impressed.

Solosis had a Light Screen humming overhead, stopping the rain from splattering into Baker's bleeding burn mark and aggravating the wound. Wayne finally breathed out, observing the battle with bated breath and covered in mud from where he'd had to duck and dive to avoid the crossfire, to see the end was a relief. Leaving the Light Screen, he took steps towards the downed Deerling with a measure of caution that was all but abandoned when he started nudging it lightly with its foot.

"Well, it's dead," he said with finality. Hitmonlee stared upward at the thinned-out, missing trees that were strewn about the battlefield like massive matchsticks canopy. Rain filtered in and soaked him to the bone; he'd battled, been beaten but survived and that was enough. An Earthquake to the face hadn't been enough to drop that deer but he liked to think that it had weakened it enough for Dali's final blow.

Good. Over at last.

"Deeeeeer..." low, guttural and rumbling.
"Oh no."

Hoof quickly smashed into the wet floor, mud bubbling and splicking as the razor talons sunk several feet in, taking the monster's weight and it slowly raised its head.

"Liiiiiing..." breath hot and heavy. Wayne backed off, the enormous monstrosity reanimating like a robot starting up, motor functions returning, mode set to death and carnage. Baker said its technique wasn't ready; anything that stripped you of your sanity, replacing it with bloodlust, definitively qualified as unready.

A mile away, Zack was still fighting, exchanging blows, using his head, avoiding fatal strikes and desperately sending back his own. His opponent, a man who could seemingly recover from death; incineration and broken bones doing little other than slow him down, fighting like a juggernaut, the very picture of futility. But even so, Zack had a chance, a bag of tricks and years experience fighting the toughest ******** you could imagine. He could survive.

Wayne didn't have that. He'd stepped into the jaws of the beast with no lifeline. Dali's sudden burst of power and resolve had fed off his evolution but where was that strength now? Solosis and Petilil were no match, Hitmonlee was broken and Wayne sure as hell couldn't punch the air hard enough to break apart buildings or will explosions into existence. Within his realm of ability, domain of power, he'd come up dry, empty, in the face of this gargantuan goliath; a really lame-looking deer with the strength of titans that had somehow gained the ability to walk upright.

Looks like this is it. End of the line.

"I am so terrified I can't even move," Wayne said squeakily as Deerling drew to full height, towering tall and cutting off what little sunlight they had. He took a step back and Deerling doubled over, bellowing slobber and burning breath and bleeding and being bruised and actually, it really had taken a beating, hadn't it?

So when Wayne threw the red and white ball down the monster's gullet, its body warping into light, twisting and spiraling and wrapping around the opened-up capture device, it was sucked up, trapped and clicked shut. The pokéball wobbled, shaking and vibrating all at once as the monster inside fought desperately to be back out. The trainer watched the process with a stony expression, still too terrified to stand around with an excited grin like you might expect during a capture. The battle ended, not with a boom, but a click, solitary, subdued, a click that sealed Deerling inside the pokéball and stopped the monster's dread assault.

"Huh," Wayne said, picking up the ball and looking through the lid, seeing the shrunken-down and normal-looking Deerling staring back madly at him. He pocketed it, turning back to Eunmi and Baker, raising his eyebrows and saying, "That was easy."

((Sorry i didn't post when i said i would, was busy playing Skyrim, any argument is invalid.))

"Did he now?" replied the muscular youth. inside he was taking mental notes of all the cocky remarks he could'a just made, but kept silent. both Taka and this Henrietta looked pretty worn for the day's events, Henrietta ever more so. any idiot could see that. and neither looked in the mood for any type of humor.

Hiba scratched the back of his head awkwardly, "So uh, why dont we go to the center, you two look pretty beat up." Hiba stated in his husky voice. From there he would reach over and snatch up Takamaru, sitting the youth on his left shoulder. "Wh-what are you doing!?" questioned a slightly startled Tk. "Shut it, your beat. and besides you loved riding around on my shoulder back in olivine" This quieted any more protests from the youth. "Did you plan on heading over that way, Henrietta?" He asked using her name.

((Usually.))

The interaction between Hiba and Takamaru implied their closeness. Like they were family. Henrietta looked it over, growing colder with each passing second. A breeze was like ice to her soaked form. So when Hiba asked if she was going she nodded.

"Y-yeah," she spoke through chattering teeth before clenching her teeth to keep them still. With no hostility and the only person she could worry about being herself - though this didn't stop her from worrying about those still in the forest - Henrietta turned toward the center.

The walk to it would be a long one. Not like, hours, but when you're drenched and freezing, it felt like that. They'd pass through the doors with a ding and Henrietta would quickly hand her Pokemon over, hands shaking as she handed over each ball.

Then she'd turn to Takamaru and Hiba. "I-i'm gonna go get cleaned up." With that said, she'd start toward the room when a thought caught her. Twice now she'd been attacked by Amber. A nurse at the Pokemon center. She looked toward Takamaru and Hiba, but she couldn't ask them to keep guard, could she? She didn't know them well enough for that.

But the woman had a shot gun.

Still, Takamaru looked like he was probably gonna freeze to death, too. After all, she was just as soaked as she was. Or so she thought. She didn't know Hiba well enough.

So the shivering girl stopped. "O-on second thought, I'll wait for my P-pokemon first."

***

The museum was pretty museumy. It wasn't closed due to the attack. There were no police to investigate, because they were all dead. Well, that's a ludicrous statement, police don't all hang out at the station waiting for dispatch. There were a two, one squad cars worth. They'd taken the information they needed and were just milking it until their lunch break.

Lorena and Shery would have disappeared in the meantime. Probably also Elizabeth. Leaving Luka to get only the answer 'she went to get her injuries checked out.' Of course, Luka, if he pursued that knowledge, could go look for her but everyone knows they don't normally let random people into other people's hospital rooms without like, permission, or being family, so the observant Luka would probably find this route to be silly.

Hopefully he'd remember that his Pokemon were totally crap beaten by Albert earlier and he should go get them healed.

Gorm had the ability to regenerate, which brought up an interesting dilemma. Artemis wasn't the type of warrior that Zack was. Despite having history with the man, her fighting style didn't aim to kill. She resolved, then, that she had to step up her game - she couldn't possibly kill someone who could regenerate, but maybe something she could do could at least knock him out.

While Zack exchanged blows with the sage, Artemis had disappeared from the fight. Or at least, the ground. Artemis' signature technique wasn't that unlike Zack's ability to explode things, but instead utilized a different element, usually generating slices of wind that were thin enough but powerful enough to cut like a blade. Her control over air didn't stop there - by delicately changing the flow of air around her own body, she could manipulate it to do a lot more than just slash something in two.

She could fly.

Not only that, but the main contributor to how wind worked was pressure based. Controlling the amount of air was more difficult - probably the most difficult, and having been out of commission for over five years, and not seriously fighting for years longer than that, the woman wasn't quite sure if she could do what she was about to attempt. She had her hands held out in front of her, suspended high above Zack and Gorm. She had to be careful, because if she miscalculated even a little, it could have disastrous effects. She was thankful that Gorm hadn't seemed to think of her as much a threat.

Slowly, as she began elevating one hand, she lowered the other, but at such a slow pace, it looked as if she were actually struggling to move her arms. The sky began to darken, the air whipping around her as she struggled to contain it - to dictate her control over it.

"Please let this work."

In essence, Artemis was forcibly rising colder winds into the air, while keeping the warmer air suspended and in place. The two air fronts would clash, building up pressure, the pressure that she would try to condense. The resulting effects, however, would cause a storm to brew, and as she continued to move her hands, the sky grew dark and low rumbles were only additional indicators that the pressure continued to build. Artemis was too high up to feel the rain that started to fall, but high pitch streams of wind prevented her from noticing much else anyway.

Once her hands were level with one another, she slowly rotated her one palm to face downward. Her eyes darted, as if able to see the air she was containing, analyzing it. After a moment, she seemed to come to a conclusion, or perhaps she was just at her limit of control, before she forced her palms down, sending the wave of pressure crashing down.

The mass of condensed pressure coned down, like a drill or a spike. The weight of it all was bone crushing, and the dense mass shot like a huge bullet towards Gorm. Artemis could make small pressurized bullets like this that she prided herself in never missing with (unless deflected), but because of the sheer size, it was much more difficult to control. She desperately hoped it didn't miss, and furthermore, that she didn't hit Zack in the process.

The pressure of a small bullet would leave her finger tips tingling, but the after effect of the huge spike of pressure on Artemis' body was enormous. She felt like all the energy drained from her body. A moment after she had forced the wave down, she lingered in the air for a moment, dazed and her shoulders slumped as it appeared she forgot or could no longer keep the remaining air around her strong enough to keep her body afloat. She started to slant to the side as she fell downward.

"Get up, stay up. You're falling." Her mind shot back awake, but her body didn't react. Her eyes would have widened in shock if she could keep them open. Instead, they clenched closed as the sharpness of the air struck at her body as she descended at an alarming rate towards the ground.

((I don't know if this is descriptive enough. =O=;; ))

[Meanwhile, in Castelia City…]

From the distance of Castelia City, the fire in Pinwheel Forest was barely noticeable. Sailors in the harbor spotted wisps of smoke in the distance, but even they did not know that the true size was enormous.

But the news came to them through the media. On almost every advertising TV monitor in the city was different coverage of the nearby event. Most people stopped to look. Sentiment of worry grew among them. If Plasma was this close, could Castelia be next?

Well, not everybody was worried.

While the citizens in the streets looked up at the giant monitors posted to the sides of buildings, Jump looked down on them from the top of one. The Game Freak Building was among the tallest skyscraper in the city. From here, Jump could see almost all of the skyline.

“Can someone please tell me what’s going on?” Hexum asked. The Lucario wore a wrap around his eyes because he was blind. Although Aura let him “see”, he could not make out fine details like writings or what was on screens.

[Pinwheel Forest is up in flames,] grumbled Kiedis, standing up straight at Jump’s side with an air of dignity. It wasn’t often that the Teddiursa was able to look down on people like this. [It was those guys we were after. Team Proto? Team Plasma? Team Peta?]

“Team Panda,” Jump stated matter of factly, not taking his eyes off of the news feed.
“Hmm…wait, I think it was Team Plasma.”
“Yeah? Whatever, they’re all the same.”
[I said Team Plasma. I just said that.]

The Interpol Agent’s long ponytail waved in the breeze created from the high altitude of the skyscraper. Jump ran a hand through his spiky black hair and squinted one eye into the horizon. The forest fire still couldn’t be seen from here.

“This looks pretty bad, I should probably get going.” Jump stretched his legs, jogging in place in a meek attempt to warm up. It was mostly for show, although it didn’t really entertain either of his pokemon.

Hexum folded his arms across his chest and then rubbed his chin. “Is that in our jurisdiction? Or is this a job for the Pokemon Rangers?”

“No clue.” His goofy grin was plastered all over his face. “Plan 1 is to trust my instincts and get reckless.”

Kiedis let out a short laugh, but it sounded like a snarl. He cocked his head to the side, cracking his neck. [Plan 2?]
“Uh, the same deal. So on and so forth. If it doesn’t work by the time I get to Plan 50, I’m probably dead.” Jump put his hand up as a visor to block out the sun and peered into the distance. “Think I can make it in a straight shot from here?”

As Jump estimated the trajectory of his Jump, Kiedis began to get more attentive to the screen. Now, the faces of the two people fighting Gorm were being shown with clarity. First came Zack. [Oy, Zack’s gotten into this?]

“Hm?” Jump’s ears perked up and he turned to the TV. Sure enough, there was Zack in his familiar battle attitude. Jump hadn’t seen it in a while, but it felt like it had just been yesterday. The Interpol Agent became at ease. Zack was there, and it looked like he had backup too. Jump started thinking that he might not have to get involved too. He had known from past experience that the combination of their individual fighting styles often led to destructive results. It could possibly get worse.

But Zack didn’t looked like he was in the best of shape. The camera angle on his partner begin to shift so her face could be shown. If it looks like they’re in trouble, maybe I should show up. I don’t wanna just hijack Zack’s match, though. Ugh, this is haaaard. Decisions decisions.

“Huh. Why is he just messing around? This guy should be extra crispy by now.”

And then Jump saw who Zack’s partner was.

Hexum’s eyes widened behind his blindfold. A massive surge of Aura had just spiked up from nowhere. There was no time to lose. He had to react.

[Is that Arte-]

Kiedis’s sentence was cut short as Hexum tackled him to the ground, holding the two of them tightly to the roof. The Teddiursa hadn’t even blinked, yet he missed Jump disappear.

Where he was just standing had become the hypocenter for a surge of vibrating force, blasting outwards from the center. The roof cracked like glass, threatening to shatter at any moment. Kiedis and Hexum were almost blown off by the sheer explosive force.

Hexum sighed in relief. He didn’t feel like getting blown off of the roof. It would be an annoyance. From under Hexum’s grasp, Kiedis growled and sharply exhaled.

[He could at least tell us before he does that.]

*****

((EDIT: Rereading this, I just realized that this block is unclear, so I added some more description. Sorry guys!))

No later than three seconds after Jump had disappeared from the Game Freak Building’s rooftop in Castelia, a small speck high in the sky above where Gorm was battling Zack and Artemis. It began to get larger as it rocketed towards the earth.

It was moving too quickly to be seen by the untrained eye, and even the trained one would see it as a blur. The blur was about to make contact with the ground, pulsating with speed from it’s heavenly fall.

And then it landed, but not in a huge impact that left a crater in the ground as it would have appeared. A vibration wave that would send tingles up the spine of any individual would spread throughout the ground from the center of Jump’s landing, blowing up the dust that the ground had been burned into.

He hadn’t landed on his feet. Instead, the Interpol Agent had dropped from clouds into a coin drop, spinning around on his back in a stylish breakdance move. The momentum of his body flowed to get him back onto his feet in a standing position, and he put his hands into his pockets in a laid back manner.

((It's this part smile ) The move had also deflected Gorm's blow. Jump's momentum shifted the force of his landing into his coin drop, letting him land safely while also charging a powerful vibrational force into his foot. The kick knocked Gorm's leg aside, probably forcing his leg onto the ground.

Jump was in between Artemis and Gorm’s raised foot, crinkling his nose. It smelled like burned flesh, burned forest, burned earth. Burned everything. Like a barbeque gone wrong. The Interpol Agent’s stomach rumbled at the thought of ribs cooking on the grill-

But now was not the time. Jump and Gorm were now face to face. Zack was a short distance away and looked like hell, but Jump knew he was still alive. He had seen Zack go through worse before.

His back was to Artemis, and he wanted to turn around to make sure she was okay. Before he could do that though, Jump had to make formalities.

The Interpol Agent, grinning as usual, took a finger out of his pocket and wagged it at Gorm’s face. “That’s no way to lay down a finishing move, dude. C’mon, you don’t have any cooler way to end a fight? Or are you just out of juice?”

A brief pause later, and Jump’s expression hardened a little bit. It was still a confident grin, but not as playful as before. His other hand stretched out behind her, as a block between Artemis and Gorm. “The next step you take better be backwards, big guy. I don't like it when things I care about get stomped on.”

He tilted his head, cracking his neck on both sides. "You don't wanna find that out the hard way."

****

Before Mienshao's Force Palm could land, a tree sprouted from the ground in front of the Fighting type. It grew at insane speeds, becoming fifteen feet tall at the moment the attack collided with it. The Force Palm was diffused as the tree splintered from the force.

Behind the tree and in front of Xen was Virizion, head held high as it looked up unnervingly at Mienshao. With a swipe of it's head, it thrust it's horns forward at the weasel pokemon. The Sacred Sword attack produced a pointed shockwave, not unlike a stabbing blade, that flew at Mienshao with the intent to pierce through him.

And as this happened, Virizion balanced itself on it's forelegs and used it's hind ones to kick back at Xen with a mighty Double Kick, which would leave huge hoofprints in whatever it slammed into.

“Damnit, where is this skull!?”

In the northern end of the forest, the fires had been put out in many places thanks to Pokemon Rangers armed with Panpours and their evolutions. Scattered patches of flames still rested on some trees, and most of the canopy was scorched, but the northern end had not been burned beyond to the ground.

While running to avoid the Rangers so they didn’t see her in Plasma gear, Salieri and Salem continued on north until they found a spot to hide in the bushes at the northern entrance. If Plasma was going to escape, they’d have to go through here eventually.

But after hiding for a while, there was no sign of the skull or Team Plasma. Salieri was beginning to get frustrated, and Salem was starting to feel uncomfortable about her temper.
“I mean, come on! You think that they left already? Or if they’re still in that fire…agh, this is ridiculous-“

“Are you the rendezvous point?”

Salieri spun around and faced a lady in Team Plasma gear, holding a crimson parasol against her shoulder and the Dragon Skull underneath her other arm. Her face was cold and expressionless, but her facial structure made her look like a model. The lady’s hair was blue, cut short in stylish locks that draped to her ears.

She didn’t look like any Plamsa Grunt she had seen before.

“Uh…”

The lady snorted, and Salieri couldn’t help but feel insulted. It was the air that the lady had about her. As if she was above it all.

“We’ve really made a mess of things this time, haven’t we?” Salieri, who was still a little too stunned from the surprise to respond right away, said nothing while the lady looked back to the burning horizon.

“So many homes lost. These pokemon have no where to go now. It’s ironic to think that we fight for their survival when we end up causing all of this harm. Hasn’t Gorm ever heard of subtlety?” She looked down at her outfit. “And these uniforms? Tacky. I didn’t sign up for any of this.”

Salieri stood up and straightened out her back, standing like a soldier. “Uh, I am the rendezvous point! Yes, that is me! I am her! These uniforms are so tacky! I’ll take that skull now!” She held out her hands, gulping afterwards.

Salem’s eyes widened. Had she been this bad of an actress this whole time? Totally unconvincing. It looked like espionage was not one of Sal’s strong suits.

The lady let a pause settle in as she eyed Salieri up and down, only making her more nervous. Finally, the lady sighed as handed the skull off to Saleri. “No offense, but I don’t like the way Gorm runs things here. I’m going back to Bronius’s unit now.”

Bronius?

“Uh, okay then.” Now all that was left was to end the conversation. How did these guys do that? “All hail Team Plasma, right?”

Salem shut her eyes and took a deep breath, preparing for Salieri’s cover to get blown. But the lady just chuckled and turned away, walking back into the forest. As soon as Salieri was sure she was gone, she looked down at the skull.

The Battle Girl smirked. “I’m a genius.”

****


Interpol’s base of operations was a large fortress of an island located in the ocean north of the Sinnoh region, aptly named Interpol Island. The Interpol officers in Nacrene had their message transferred to the central command building on the island, Castle Hall. When the severity of the issue had been discovered, the message was once again forwarded to the Commander of Interpol’s Forces.

The commander in question stood at his office’s balcony high up in the skyscraper that was Castle Hall. The purple haired man looked down at the city before him through sleepy eyes. Interpol Island was almost big enough to be called a state.

It was clear that the police massacre in Nacrene needed looking into. The agents in Nacrene had also sent in the video tape that detailed what Luka had told them. Watching that while having the news channel on the TV in his office report the news of the Pinwheel Forest Fire was exhausting. Yet all in a day’s work.

In Commander Tackey’s hand was his xtransceiver, a pocket watch model that was held in his palm. He leaned against the balcony’s edge, resting lazily on his elbows while speaking into the screen.

“Has the Esper Unit member answered the call yet?” the distressed secretary asked from Tackey’s screen.
Tackey shook his head. “Haven’t you been watching the news? There’s not a chance Jump would answer my calls now. I haven’t even tried.”
“…sir, this is a serious issue-”
“Ugh, can you just calm down? I’ve given him a signal with the report. He’ll get it when he checks his xtransceiver. He can get to anywhere he needs to go, but he can’t be in two places at once.” Tackey ran a hand through his hair to scratch his head as he yawned. “Trust me on this.”

“Very well, sir. Can we at least send in units from the Western Base?”
“Let’s not be…mmm…hasty. We still need to investigate this further. No need to….mmm….cause an international incident.”
“Sir, are you falling asleep?”

Tackey sat against the balcony’s edge, curling up his knees to his chest. “No, I’m just…”

The snoring began. Through the speakers, the last thing he heard on the phone was his secretary cursing out his narcolepsy and ordering agents to go and wake him up.

"No no, go ahead and get some dryer cloths on, the half drowned look aint for you" Hiba said putting down Takamaru. "You too little man. i already got us a room for the night. Number Three"

"O...ok" stammered Tk, his small stature'd body already at a loss for heat. the soaked silver haired kid walked past Henrietta towards the rooms. "Don't worry, H..he may not look like it but he's pretty reliable. He'll pi...pick up your pokemon." he said looking back, own teeth chattering. Tk didn't know Henrietta's reasons for wanting to wait for her Pokemon. He just figured she didn't want to leave them alone. Hiba on the other hand had other reasons for standing out in the lobby while they changed.

Takamaru walked off with out Henrietta.

Hiba walked over to the still present and still very damp Female. "Whats wrong? ill get your Pokemon if that what your worried about." Takamaru was off getting changed and Hiba was tall, strong, and Dry. If she wanted some one to watch the door then all she need do is ask.

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

"R..room three..Room th...three" repeated the silver haired kid until he located a smooth wooden door with a brass number "3" attached to said door. With out hesitation the youth turned the nod and walked right in. the Room was pretty basic. It had a twin bed 'Looks like me an Hiba are Bunking together' He figured that what with the pinwheel forest on fire and Robby pretty much unstabilizing the only hotel in town, most traveling trainers hadn't much else to go. Aside from the bed the room had a dresser which atop sat a large mirror as well as a TV, a window, a small table, a night stand with a lamp, a bathroom, as well as a closet.

Takamaru took quick notice to the table at the center of the room, on the table laid his Silver and Black backpack. 'Hiba must have picked it up from the front counter earlier' he thought already removing his shoes, Jacket, socks, and cargo shorts and shirt. Leaving him in his Boxers. the boy would Rummage around in his backpack noticing that it had been re-stocked by none other than his own mother. aside from the basic traveling equipment was his Ipod, some more Heavy balls made by none other than Kurt of Azalea as well a nice little gift from his mother. there was also a second pair of cloths and a set of night time attire which he chose to dawn after drying himself with a towel he'd found in the bathroom.

"so much better" the youth said along with a sigh of contentment. he laid down on the bed, now in a pair of knitted Pajama pants that where Black and silver as well as a grey sleeping top. the boy would lay there staring up at the ceiling for a little while, organizing his thoughts. a lot had happened today, the museum, the skull, his battle with Boaz, the forest fire, his time spent ferrying the plasma grunt to the hospital, his encounter with the corpse -which still made his scalp prickle- as well as Hiba's arrival.

the youth would spend a little time organizing his thoughts.