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He wondered why they weren't dead by now.. though if not now, he was sure it would happen soon, the long hours of silence, the other rockets, tired, beaten, dirty.

Whatever sleep Jerome had been managing to get, was interrupted very abruptly by and explosion of noise.
The door opening was reason enough to get on guard, but the startled gangster jerked up (regretting it instantly as he was slapped with sore pain)
a wave of cold from the ice beams washed over from the attacks, but before Jerome could fully understand what was happening, there was a large purple face in his, wide, familiar green eyes.

Jerome's breath caught in his chest, wondering for a few stunned moment if he was seeing things. Before the Gengar grabbed Jerome a little roughly and buried himself into the man in a tight embrace.

**********************************************************

Faleen entered the room swiftly as TRP's orders, hurrying over to the cell to make sure that their Rockets were okay.
"Everyone here?" Yes, they were, she counted everyone.
Her chest clenched at the state they were in, but they seemed alive at the very least.

Hazel eyes found the one among them that looked most like Hayes, a couple of seconds and there was no doubt.
"Oh my gosh." Faleen gasped, letting out a breath of relief, finding their tech lead, the boss' brother alive, finding their team mates alive, finally! after a month of looking!

Absol remained, standing over the bodies of the guards with a light growl, making sure they stayed down.

With the combined teamwork of Pinkie and Koios, the cell door was ripped off its hinges.

Lore took hold of the bars and hauled himself to his feet. "I don't mean to complain, but we put in an order for Exciting Rescue at least two weeks ago. Does this mean we get a refund or..?" He was smiling as he said this.

TRP smirked and entered the cell, summoning Furin along the way. The little chimecho hovered beside her. "Heal Bell."

"Chime." Furin nodded and emitted a soothing sound. The ability was meant to cure pokémon, but could at least help refresh some of the injured Rockets without healing them.

"We'd have been here sooner, but your address was a little hard to find. Who can walk?"

Charmant padded quietly around the refuse of the very short confrontation, snorting in dissatisfaction. That wasn't vengeance. That was just... sad. The Arcanine lingered outside the cell with her head low, awaiting further instruction.

Arcadie peered into the cell curiously and was horrified by the sight with which she was met. "Bonté divine," she murmured, summing up the state of their teammates. She knew they would not fare well, of course - who would expect a group of people captured by an enemy faction to be found in pristine condition? - but she hadn't imagined the damage would be to such an extent.

The Heal Bell thing the little wind chime did was interesting, but it was no substitute for good old fashioned first aid. "Is there time for some rudimentary treatment? Just some wrapping, or..." Her hand wandered to another of her pokeballs, this one with a little spider sticker on it. The Spinarak could produce some fairly decent bandaging on short order, after all.

Aulus sat next to Alex with his back against the wall and his head bowed in a half doze. His shirt had been turned into bandages ages ago, leaving his battered and bruised torso bare. He was cold but not really aware of it anymore, in pain but not paying attention; what little will to do anything at all he had left was being carefully saved for the next time they took him and Alex out of the cell and hurt one of them. It was only a matter of time before that happened, and he didn't know how many more times he could remain silent, how many more times he could bear to hear Alex scream. It was hopeless.

When the commotion started Aulus jumped to his feet, and then had to lean against the wall for a moment as a wave of giddiness washed over him. When his vision cleared he wondered if he was seeing things. Familiar pokemon attacking the Galactics, and two very familiar pokemon amongst them. The battle was so brief that he was still just standing there in shock when it ended and TRP gave her orders. The rescue party was here. Their team had come to save them.



Hayes had kept his shirt; dirty from the start with long-dry splashes of blood, it was fit only for a last-ditch set of bandages more likely to infect than protect. After weeks without washing it was wrinkled and dirty, a lackluster garment draped over the equally lackluster blond.

Once his contacts came out, other senses started going; they couldn't bear to stay. Sound, smell, taste - he was still working on pain, but maybe by the next time they came around.. and here they were.

Or maybe .. not.

The look Hayes as he raised his head was one of dull confusion, unable to comprehend the commotion immediately.



Once he was sure that this was really happening Aulus' attention and concern switched back to his partner. Kneeling down beside him he squeezed his shoulder gently, meeting his eyes and hating that almost dead look in them. This was his fault. He'd done this to him. He had had the power to make it stop but he hadn't. Their allies were here to save them now, but he should have saved him in the first place.

"Alex, c'mon," he murmured softly, "we need to be ready to move. Just stick with me, alright? I won't let you get left behind." With his partner's vision as bad as it was without glasses or lenses he could easily trip over something if he wasn't looked after. He would look after him now. He would do right by him. He wouldn't fail him again.



The shoulder squeeze elicited a reflexive smile that had lost any reassuring quality some time last week before his eyes strayed past Aulus' shoulder to.. something pink? Well, they'd been badly fed. Maybe he was hallucinating; if so, technicolored Ponyta weren't out of the quest-

'Oh my gosh.'

Hayes blinked. "Fal?" he voiced faintly, unsure if the experiment was worth the effort, but his feet were already rising beneath him and his eyes were locked on a shade of blonde that seemed familiar from ages ago.



As Alex stood up Aulus pushed himself back to his feet too, grimacing as his battered ribs made themselves known. "It's her," he affirmed in an undertone to his partner, hovering just beside him rather than walking out of the cell. No way he was getting split up from him.


"No way."

He would rather have stayed with Xander, but there was work to do. Frost nodded to Star and headed with him to the door, pausing to assure Xander; "Shan't be long," before stepping out into the hallway.

Personal was not the same as important.

Xander would have preferred Frost to stay with in sight but at the same time he would be glad to have his girls back. He still watched Frost until he was out of the room but then looked over as an oh so familiar Eevee was released. Said Eevee almost bowled him over in his haste to get over to his trainer. "Glad to see you too." Xander said with a low chuckle then pushed away from the wall to take Zack's pokeball from TRP with a thank you.

Then he moved over to help Tambrey out, at this point Star's voice didn't even register.

Faleen had entered the cell when the doors blew open, like the others to check on their team mates. Faleen made her way briskly toward Hayes and Aulus, a weak smile on her face, happy to see them, but the state they were in... It made her upset they couldn't come sooner.
"Sir- Hayes, it’s good to see you alive." She breathed, with genuine relief.
She didn’t get much time before she was being called on again to continue with her duty.
Glancing over at Star, with a sharp nod, she looked to Hayes and Aulus once more, reaching for a case on her hip.
“Here, you’ll need these I assume.”
A case, with Hayes’ glasses were placed into the Elite’s hand.
Once she was sure he had them she gave one last smile, then turned to hurry back out, leaving the rest of the Rockets to help their injured team, and go with Frost, Inigo and Star.

She paused once before going though, walking over to the dark man with Tattoos, being helped to his feet by the Gengar that that been tailing them.
“These are yours.” She said to him holding out a hand with three pokeballs.
“And please make sure this one gets to Shadow.”
she said with a gentle nod, and then turned to hurry out.

“Absol, come on.” She told the dark type, who quickly bounded over to her heel as she walked over to Star.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Heal bell was certainly a welcome gesture, Jerome had no idea it could be used that way.
While he still hurt all over, there was a wave of relief that the move offered, and he was feeling a little better.

He had taken his time gathering himself, having to ask Bro to calm down, since the Gengar wasn’t being too mindful of his injuries. Though Jerome honestly wanted to embrace his pokemon back, the Gangster couldn’t have felt more relived to see his best friend again.
For a moment Jerome’s eyes looked a little watery.

TRP’s question earned a nod from him. He could stand, and he could walk, though not nearly as easily as he would like.

A blond women, that Jerome recognized as Izaya’s partner walked over to him, and handed him three pokeballs. Two he knew were his.
He blinked at them, glancing up as her as she hurried off.
He scanned the other rockets wondering if Furs had come along with his partner, but didn’t see the man.