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To the roof... Stepping from the van, Mau released his pidgeot and pointed up. Ran looked at him before nibbling on his hat. She might not have been stealthy in apperance, but she was far more reliable then Nuu... Who would probably have tried to drag Mau into the building through the side. The bird flapped it's wings once, twice, grabbed Mau in her claws, and took to the air.

Ran set Mau on the roof before landing beside him as they waited for the others. He tensely fingered the pokeballs of Aki and Nuu while he surveyed the rooftop.

About halfway up, Nadja glanced over the side of her Pokemon to check on those following her. Mau, Nicole, and.. that perverted purple blimp making faces. Good lord. Her mouth twitched to the side and she concentrated on the ascent.

The Metagross crested the top of the building and skimmed over the street toward the museum - a large building designed in classical style, with tall columns supporting a peaked facade over the entrance. The rest of the roof was flat, peppered with small vents. The elite indicated what looked like a raised trapdoor on the west side, and her Pokemon began to descend.

She vaulted off as they neared the rooftop; Talos did not touch down but hovered, waiting. The redhead placed her palm against a steel blue leg briefly before the Pokemon dematerialized into red light. As it did, another one faded into view: a Dusknoir. The red light had been its single eye.

The elite had clearly given her Pokemon prior instructions, because the ghost sank through the roof without so much as a word. Shortly thereafter there was a 'clunk' as the roof access door unlocked.. and after a longer pause, a similar sound from the other side of the roof indicated that one was open too. Nadja lifted the near hatch and motioned for her group to enter.

The hatch was right over one of the side staircases; the floor was marble, glossy from the janitor's rounds, and about ten feet below. A metal ladder bolted to the wall would lead them down into a room of prehistoric art - stylized wooden masks, chipped pottery, and vaguely shaped carvings. The displays were dark, and moonlight shone through the windows. In the next room over, footsteps were fading out. Security cameras blinked in the corners of the room, aimed for the exhibits. The stairwell was a blind spot.

Meanwhile, the ground group reached the loading dock. A dull amber light glowed over the service entrance, illuminating a stocky security guard who had stepped out for a smoke break. Hayes nodded to Nikki and Sam - with ghost types, they were better equipped to take care of this.

The guard didn't notice the Sleep Powder that seeped in from the other side of the threshold - he was barely even aware of the sudden sleepiness that seized his being and soon brought him to his knees. Aila scoffed when she heard the sound of the man's body slump to the floor. Too easy. She swiped the clearance card on the door's electronic lock and entered quietly. She referred to her notes briefly; thanks to her reconnaissance earlier that day, she already knew her route. She bade Fleur lift the guard with her Vine Whip and carefully picked her way down the hall, sticking close to the walls and keeping within the surveillance cameras' blind spots as much as possible.

She made her way to the geology exhibit, which was, by her map, one of the furthest from that of the Blue Orb. At Aila's command, Fleur lowered her parcel to the floor. The thief positioned him carefully so that it looked as though he had fallen after being rendered unconscious. She then drew a small vial filled with a dark red liquid out of her knapsack: fake blood, mixed specially for the occasion. She applied the substance liberally to her victim and the floor around him, ensuring that anyone who happened upon the scene would be too horrified to check the man for actual wounds immediately. Her work done, she started back in the direction she came, slowly and carefully, advancing towards the Blue Orb's exhibit.

Security became tighter, a sign Aila took as meaning that her map was correct and she was indeed nearing her destination. She fell back a short ways and began to climb, bracing herself between the corridor's walls and hiding herself in the ceiling's darkness. Fleur reached to her trainer with green tendrils, and Aila took hold of them, drawing the Bulbasaur up to her body to minimize the distance the bright light of the pokeball would travel. The flash was sudden, but she concealed it enough that it would be mistaken for the blinking of a light on one of the nearby cameras if anyone noticed. Aila made sure that she was far enough out of earshot that her voice wouldn't be too noticeable over the sound that would soon come over the walkie-talkies' speakers, then raised the device to her lips and...

"Back-up, I need back-up! Man down in the geology room! He's wounded - there's blood everywhere!"

She couldn't help but grin at the resulting flurry of activity that shattered all semblance of silence in the museum.

The Elite still on the ground level waited (impatiently as ever) for Leonard and Cal to situate themselves. Only once they started to make their ascent did Kunai also make preparations for her own journey up the building. She tossed the Masterball out, and with a quick burst of red light, a creature that was nearly two feet taller than her appeared. Its large tail swished slightly to one side as it fully materialized, green eyes looking its trainer dead in the eyes. The Elite caught the Masterball back in her hand and quickly put it back onto her belt for now. The Pokemon said nothing and the Elite said nothing.

There was nothing special about the lack of speech.

The short girl walked up to her Pokemon so she was standing right in front it, then looked up to the building. The Metagross was now gone, which meant it was safe for her to join the rest of the group. She didn't say a word. All she had to do was think it. Teleport.

The large feline head could have nodded. Could have. Yet it didn't. It had heard the command, and rather than acknowledge this fact with simple motions, it simply wrapped its arms about the girl, and then within the blink of an eye, the pair phased out.

When the pair phased back in a split second later, they were on top of the building. Despite being the last ones to leave the ground floor, the pair reached the rooftop before the two grunts assigned to Kunai did. The Pokemon released its hold of its trainer and took one step back, waiting respectfully for the next orders. As it waited, its eye seemed to flicker over the small screen it wore over the left eye.

Kunai's grunts were easily greeted with a sharp glare, as if asking "What took so long, Grunts?" Once the two had situated themselves on the roof, she led the way to the second roof access door. It had already been unlocked thanks to Nadja's Pokemon. Kunai lifted the hatch, then motioned for her team to follow. The green marked Pokemon remained towards the back, as if holding the rear in case of emergency. It was somewhat eerie how silent it was.

The second hatch led to almost a mirror image of the first hatch, complete with its own side staircases, elegant and cleaned floors, and metal ladder bolted to the wall. However, once passing the mirror image and making their descent down the ladder, they ended up in a Pokemon Egg art room. Various Pokemon Eggshells that had never been cracked save for a single point where the yolk had been blown out, leaving shells as a canvas for the artist. In Kunai's humble opinion, it was a waste of a perfectly good Pokemon in the name of art.

Unfortunately, Kunai's group was not alone as they arrived. There was a tune being whistled by what they could assume to be one of the guards on duty. Kunai's own descent grew slower, as if waiting to time things perfectly. When the whistling seemed to grow quieter, she finally allowed herself to carefully step off of the ladder and into the room. Hopping off would have made too much noise. It would have drawn guards into the room like flies to sh*t. Once situated on the floor in the exhibit room, she signaled for the others to come down quietly.

Leonard was surprised to see Kunai already on the roof... with a shiny Mewtwo? That must be her one and only Pokemon, and now that he saw it in person, it was a lot more intimidating that he had imagined. Of course, he didn't expect the Elite to have something cute and fluffy either.

He kept Weatherby out, since one could never know when a quick escape was needed. But he would be useless in a battle, so he also had to send out his Banette.

Before she could float off, he grabbed his Pokemon by the arm. Since he didn't want to risk talking, he nodded towards her and then drew his finger over his throat. Leonard never was very good at pantomiming, but this should get the message across. If she felt like screwing things up for him, she was going down along with her trainer.

Leonard, along with his two ghost Pokemon, followed Kunai down the ladder, trying to be quiet about it. But his heart was pounding so hard by this point, that he was sure everyone else could hear it too. When he heard the whistling, he stopped his descent almost immediately. He stayed there, frozen in place, until he noticed that Kunai dropped down already and signaled them to come along.

Leonard was a little impressed by the egg art exhibit. He was always a bit too busy to visit the museum, so he never saw this before. Yet, this wasn't the time for gawking, he knew that. Though his Pokemon visibly displayed interest in the eggs, staring at them while waiting for orders.

Without missing a beat, Nyx took a pokeball out, covered it with her other hand, and blocked as much light as she could with her body as she released the perfect pokemon for this situation. Except for her ears and tail, Beaker was covered in black paint, much like the chikorita clinging to her trainer's head.

Nyx tapped Mau and Nadja, pointed to the guard. Beaker quickly spotted the offending fire-type, and shot her most powerful water gun attack at it.

In the meantime, an invisible Newton had eaten whatever cameras he could find that were between Nadja's group and the offending guard. Mmmmmmm security cameras. The Drifblim's fondness for devouring most anything he got his little 'hands' on seemed to have come in handy.

Sam nodded; she had this one. A quick series of hand gestures sent her two pokemon gliding down the hall, already faded out of sight, ready to chew and claw their way through the offending cameras.

In spite of the severity of the situation, she still spared a thought for whoever had caused this unforeseen snarl in their plans. She really hoped it didn't devolve into a fire fight like the one she'd heard about. Sam really hated guns.

There was a slight poof, and then Teru reappeared. She bobbed up and down; that was the sign. Gespenst had finished with the last of the cameras in the hall. Take the surveillance room and hold it. Oh yeah, baby, here we go. This was gonna be fun.

Crap, they ran into a security guard already. No surprises, they said that there was going to be tight security. But then Leonard had to be the one to take out. Not Kunai and her fancy Mewtwo, though they were working on the cameras already.

Though he nor his Pokemon were telepathic, so he had to hope that they got the gist of what his gestures meant. He mouthed their commands and jerked his head in the guard's general direction, and off his Pokemon went.

Seance used the shadows to sneak up on the guard, her dark blue coloring working to her advantage. When she was close enough, she charged forward and aimed a Sucker punch at his head. Meanwhile, Weatherby drifted towards the ceiling and blew some dark energy towards the guard below. If he was still on his feet after Seance's attack, the Ominous Wind should be more than he could handle.