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Paul put his hand to his radio and reported. "Woman's unconscious, probably a little head injury, in custody. The other one's still dug in. We're working on it." And by working on it, Paul meant lighting it on fire. Again. If they were uncomfortable with machine gun fire in the city...

Paul took a moment to collect the two pokémon Schwartz had dropped, then collected Schwartz herself and moved back forward, indicating that Jeremiah should follow him. He made a short sprint to Mikhail's truck - despite the fire from the machine gun, there was no guarantee nothing would come down from that building - and deposited Schwartz in the bed. To Mikhail he recommended: "Tie her up just in case." Resistance would likely not be a problem, but even someone badly injured might try to do something, and that something could have long-lasting consequences.

A moment of thought, for Paul. The other building would be trapped if this one was. They couldn't move the technical up any closer than it was for fear of an IED or something similar. Approach by sprinting in would be dangerous. A smoke screen, however, could buy them the time they needed... at the risk of making it more difficult to see tripwires or similar traps.

"How d'ya want to do this one?" Paul asked Jeremiah - assuming, once again, that he'd actually stuck with him, and not bothering to check before inquiring.

Juno looked on the chaos having no ******** clue what had just happened. One minute, they were ending the pokemon battle. The next, the kids were watching as Terrian got shot (and failed to be injured God knows how) and the new pokemon begin to burn.

Two thoughts collided in her mind while pokemon were being lit on fire: Is he a pyro? and Oh God the smell. The burning fur and charred beedrill had a very unpleasant odor, and Juno was half tempted to put her bandana to block the smell.

When Terrian left, Juno went straight for Darkwing. Fortunately, she didn't have to go anywhere near the dying guy. He's probably already dead. When she got there, the little duckling was attempting to sit up. Juno sighed in relief and helped him get back on his feet. "You did good," she told the psyduck. "You did really good." Darkwing preened from her praise and stayed to the side of her.

Juno wasn't sure if she cared to listen to the old man with age issues (come on, a ghost pokemon following an old man?). Forgive me if I got a little spooked by everything just now. However, he probably had a lot more experience dealing with Terrian and his brand of madness. As much as she wanted to go back to her room and just sleep the day off, Juno understood that they needed to deal with Jeb's body among other things.

"So...what now?"

Stetson Schraeder watched the fight between their young new-type Pokemon and the ivysaur that Dr. Terrian summoned. If Schraeder had learned anything from their previous encounter with Terrian, it was that Amber was very likely etherically enhanced, and would be able to handle (if not outmatch) the four Pokemon that were attempting to defeat him.

So, Schraeder decided to focus his attentions on the mad doctor instead of on the fight, allowing Antioch the larvitar carte blanche to fight as he would - maybe unheard of in the trainers of old, but this was a new world, a world that required attention to not only the mysterious creatures that could bend the world and deal out destruction if they were so ordered, but attention also to those that had the moxie and ability to give those orders.

And Dr. Terrian certainly had some strange abilities.

So, when the spores exploded, Schraeder's attention was whipped back to the fight, his first instinct being to make sure that Antioch was unharmed. Luckily, the little larvitar had been having serious trouble climbing the jungle gym, being both squat and dense, and so the explosion had thrown him a mere ten feet and mostly forced him downward. Antioch rolled around on the ground for a bit before righting himself, waddling in to attack the tenacious Amber, but Darkwing finished the battle neatly, and Antioch was left to poke at the wounded Amber somewhat tentatively, with an air that said he was mostly making sure the ivysaur hadn't been hurt too badly.

Stetson was a perceptive observer, though, and made note of Amber's speed and trajectory (or lack thereof) when the attack had come. Surely this was another of Terrian's tricks, but -

Some man had entered the room. He had a gun, which was thankfully trained on Terrian. At this point, Schraeder had mostly given up on being surprised, but he was curious as the men had a very drawling conversation. His policy of non-surprise was broken when Dr. Terrian reflected a fired bullet and burnt two Pokemon out of the room - what the hell was even happening anymore?

"I'm sure that you know we have questions, Dr. Terrian," Schraeder called from across the room, projecting his voice and mostly ignoring Juno's question, "but knowing you, we won't get them answered, will we."

Antioch had left Amber's side and waddled quickly over to the beedrill, which had been very badly burned all over its body. It was still squirming, clinging weakly but persistently to life like its more mundane cousins, but it was not long for this world. With a sad look in his eyes, Antioch laid his little claws on either side of the beedrill's head and touched their foreheads together. After a moment like this, Antioch pulled his head back and slammed it down, crushing the life from the beedrill. His grim work done, Antioch came slowly over to Schraeder's side and stood regarding Dr. Terrian with his trainer.

What he stumbled into was certainly not what Ulysses had expected: a dead man and a teleporting Terrian. It took him a second to even grasp what the physics-bending man had been blurting out just before disappearing so overloaded were his senses.

First things first, though: that body had to go. With a simple press of a button, Junior appeared. Despite the gruesome odor emanating from the corpse beside him, his expression was as dull and passive as ever. "Take him far from here," Ulysses bid the young psychic, and the pair disappeared.

Next he explained to the children the cavern he had discovered and its contents- specifically the flashdrive and its value. He ordered them all to put their pokémon in their respective pokéballs for the time being that they might rest for however brief a period. When Ulysses finished speaking, Junior had returned and was successively embalmed in ether for the trip back to his red and white tomb.

Before they were allowed to ask their questions, Ulysses revealed to them the six pokémon that had fallen into his possession and said they could each take one. They were mankey, meowth, electabuzz, ekans, pinsir, and sandshrew. When everyone had made their choice, Dr. Shonevsky scooped up the sixth (and unconscious) child. He requested that any and all questions be asked while walking, and in hushed tones lest they alert more villains ahead. As if to emphasize his point and ensure he was taking every precaution for the children's safety, Gloria was also summoned and spearheaded the advance alongside Djinn.

They proceeded in that fashion, the two pokémon leading, Ulysses behind them, and the five children behind him.

"Alright, want us to bring her back?" Paul responded, as he picked through what he had expected to be a death trap. He still didn't intend on going up the stairs. "You might want to keep people out of this part of town," he added into the radio. "And maybe send some firefighters to make sure this doesn't get out of control." The fire would likely have been spotted sooner or later. Paul figured it probably wouldn't burn hot enough to ruin the girders, so there probably wouldn't be a complete collapse, but some parts might come off, and they might spread the fire if nobody was watching for it, and that could just go and burn the entire city down. Not actually a desirable outcome.

As Gloria and Djinn swung around a bend in a particular corridor, indicating it was clear thus far, Ulysses answered Schraeder's question. "Clearly not. We have men breaking into the city for the sole purpose of capturing or killing your children. They know the back doors, and what's worse they knew exactly where to find you. Terrian is probably the only reason you're all alive... then again, he was probably the reason you were exactly where they went looking. He's trouble, children, and don't you dare tell him a thing you don't have to, but ALWAYS follow his rules. A man who can bend ether like origami is not a man to contradict. I don't mean to scare you with any of this, I just thought you would all like to know the truth. I know when I was your age I preferred the truth over sugar coatings."

Other adults would probably say he told too much or provided fuel for nightmares, or something else pedantic. Ulysses had explained himself though and hoped they would understand. Because when s**t hits the fan, anyone seeing less than the whole picture was, begging your pardon, plainly ********.

If there was something Juno wasn't good at, she would probably consider playing nice with others her age. Schraeder, however, made her look socially savvy. We just saw bullets bounce off one man, the death of a second man, and an explosion. And all you've got to say is "Is all well?" As nice as he probably was, he had some issues that she was not prepared to handle.

Dr. Shovensky's words made Juno weakly smirk. She appreciated the bluntness, and told him so. "Thanks for the honesty." This was a man who knew Terrian for a long time, and he'd been upfront about everything with them (which was more than what she could say about other people). The doctor was also very much on the children's side in terms of keeping them alive, which meant that he was an ally. "Got a question for you. Terrian mentioned a name, and when I asked him about it, he seemed to forget he said it." Juno paused, wondering if it was alright to ask. Terrian hadn't really been open to talking about it, which made her wonder how much trouble her snooping would get her into. But perhaps it had been an honest blunder from a crazed man. "Maybe it's nothing, but does the name Lucas mean anything to you?"

Juno shrugged. When she realized he wouldn't see the inaudible gesture, she said, "I think he was arguing with Beatrice. Saying something like he and Lu--" she paused. "Actually, I can't remember if he said Lucas, or Luke, or Luca. I just remember it starting with 'Lu.' Anywho, he said something about how he and this other person needed to do something, and it sounded like Beatrice was telling him he couldn't do it. He was pretty angry about that."

The young girl felt bad that she couldn't be more specific. "Sorry, wish I could tell you more." She looked at the other kids around her and asked, "do any of you remember what he was yelling about?"