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Natalie pulled her mask over her face and grabbed Dusty off from her place on top of the trainers head. She hugged the emolga close to her body and dropped down to the ground as the bombs went off. Natalie could hear her emolga breathe out a sigh of exasperation.

"Emolll..." Dusty's tail was free, because of this she started to spin it quickly as she used tailwind. It kept the majority of the dust and smoke away. After that, Dusty released a loud sneezed. Augh, if only she had some kind of mask like her trainer...
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Valarie didn't make it so far, her knee was greatly effecting her running. The watcher could feel the ground rumble and she tripped over her own foot. Nice job. she thought to herself as she got up and brushed off her vest. Now her elbows are sore too. Oh well, she's been through worse.

Dusty smiled thankful for the input from Anise. "I will do just that. Thank you." As he bowed with his gratitude there was a loud explosion that brought him to his knees. He instinctively covered his head with his hands. The sudden drop caused his pokeball to detach itself from his belt and roll down the aisle.

Using the shelves to hoist himself to his feet he looked around. "What was that!" His instincts as a trainer had him reach for his now missing pokeball. "My pokemon!" He looked to Anise with a worried look on his face. Then he saw the pokeball that was now at his feet.

He chased after Anise. On foot he was slightly slower. By the time he caught up to her next to the gym there was a loud boom, which spooked him, knocking him back on his butt. This time his pokeball left his belt but the button activated hitting the ground, and his Dodou was soon at his side. "Oh hi Dusty.." he said as one of the birds two heads was focused on him while the other on the debris before them.

@Shina
(Yeah, I think they gathered cattail roots together, at least.)

Anise was glad to see someone coming out from the dust and smoke safely, and she quickly recognized Shina. Though that probably meant there were more people nearby somewhere. She smiled at the caravan leader, then realizing her expression would be hard to read with her kerchief covering her nose and mouth, she waved instead.

Shina's suggestion sounded good probably a way to clear the air, until Anise tried to remember exactly what the move did and found she had no idea. "Clear Smog? I don't think Halcyon learns that," she said. She thought a moment about moves that might also get rid of the smoke, then asked, "Maybe Defog? ...But no, I don't thing she learns that, either." She chewed her lip, trying to wrack her brains for a move that would help, but was having trouble remembering any moves her pokemon might know. She never did pay much attention to any moves that weren't directly useful for healing, preferring to let the pokemon fight on their own if it was absolutely necessary. "...Do you think Haze might help?" she asked doubtfully.

Then she noticed Shina was trying not to cough. She pulled another kerchief and a water bottle from her bag and offered them to the trainer. "Here, rinse your mouth out, then tie the kerchief over your lower face, like mine. If dust is still getting in, dampen the cloth first."

@Magnolia and Shina

And here came another person, Anise was relieved to note. Another person having difficulty breathing, obviously. "Sure, here," she said as she pulled out another kerchief to hand to the new arrival. She only had a one or two more of those, but she had other assorted rags, bandages and towels that could be pressed into service if need be. How many might she need, anyway?

A good question, and one that had wider relevance. "Hey, do either of you know how many people were in there?" she asked. Realizing the purpose for asking might not be obvious, she added, "It'll give an idea of how many to look for, to make sure nobody's trapped in the rubble or anything."

Laurence and Kili's travels were abruptly disrupted by an enormous boom.

"What was that?" Laurence asked the young pikachirisu on his shoulder. "It sounded like an explosion... and close by. We'd better check it out and make sure no one was hurt..."

"Chiri..." Kili responded reluctantly. Her instincts told her to run away from enormous sounds, but there was no convincing Laurence when he thought there might be people or pokemon in trouble. And since he'd saved her life, she couldn't very well tell him not to try to help others...

The middle-aged Laurence hurried as swiftly as he could toward the sound without jostling Kili from her perch. The smog lifted just as Laurence came near enough to spot the large group of caravan-goers.

"Hello?" he called to anyone who would listen. "Is anyone hurt? What happened?"

"That's terrible!" Laurence exclaimed. "If those scoundrels were here, I'd..." but he let his threat remain unfinished. "We need to contact the police." He looked around; it appeared that most of the people there, if not all of them, were no older than teenagers! As the adult who'd just happened upon the scene, he felt that he was supposed to take responsibility for the childrens' safety. But he'd never been much of a leader... Hopefully the group and their pokemon would have things under control if the Rockets showed up again before the police could arrive, because his own Kili wasn't a battler.

Kili wrapped her tail around Laurence's neck like a fluffy scarf and hid her face in his hair. So many new people-- and so much noise! She was nervous.