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boom
The sound of the blast echoed throughout the city when the Explosion TM went off, easily penetrating protective barriers and blowing a large hole through reinforced concrete and steel.

“What the—” The chief clerk of the local bank, a Grovyle, looked up from her work. She got up, slamming the chair against the wall behind her, and headed outside at a sprint. Others had already gathered outside and were watching, dumbfounded, as a Probopass made off with a large sack over his shoulder. “Security! He broke into the vault!” she said, stating the obvious. “He broke into the vault!”
crack
The three members of Team Diamond arrived by teleportation, having heard the explosion. “See to the bank,” Imiti told his team, spotting the thief immediately. “I’ll go after him.”
crack
Imiti appeared directly in front of the Probopass and showed his officer’s badge. “Guild of the Sun! Drop the bag right now; you’re under—uh—” The command trailed off when he noticed the red laser dot on his chest.
crack
The teleport proved ineffective; the laser dot quickly swung to Imiti’s new location before a bolt of electricity hit it. The Alakazam was thrown back, tried to move, and failed.

“Imiti!” Oliver, seeing his leader’s condition, abandoned the clerk he was talking to and, trailed by Chuck, sprinted to the Alakazam. “Are you alright?”

“I’m fine. The thief got away, though.” This was true; while Imiti had been stunned the Probopass had made off with the contents of the bag.

“Doesn’t really matter. The chief clerk’s asked us to go after him. There are tons of witnesses. You can get a view from up high, can’t you?”

“That’s right, isn’t it. Alright, I’ll go up and take a look.”

crack

Imiti, floating above the neighbourhood, scanned what he could see down below. The Probopass had not traveled far in that short time; he was only perhaps half a kilometre away. As Imiti watched, he sent psychic messages to Chuck and Oliver:

He’s on Front Street, heading northward. Turning east onto Orion Avenue. North onto Main Street through the marketplace—what’s he doing there sprinting with a great big sack over his shoulder? So many people’ll notice him—ah, I see. Turning west into Roundabout Alley, knocking on the door of Number 17—and a Gallade’s let him in.

crack

“We should follow him. This was planned in advance. We’ll be able to find out who else was involved, bring them to justice, and return the stolen goods to the bank.”

--

Oliver pounded at the door of the house with his fist. There was a sudden commotion within, but no one answered. He pounded again with a blow that would normally shatter the wooden door, but it was reinforced, probably with some sort of bar or barricade.

“Oliver? Step back for a sec, will you?”

Oliver gave Chuck the benefit of the doubt and stepped back, leaving Chuck with access to the door. The Charmeleon opened his mouth and a ball of blue fire smote the door, splashing across to blacken the surrounding walls. The door was now visibly weakened, possibly only half its original thickness where the blast had landed.

“Now try again.”

The Poliwhirl did so. This time the fist crashed through, sending large pieces of wood flying and leaving a hole nearly two feet wide. Metal bars were revealed, and between them there didn’t seem to be anything. The house had been abandoned.

“They couldn’t have gone out this exit without us noticing. Oliver, can you break down the bars to see if I can find a teleport trail?”

Nine loud impacts later, they were in the house.

“There’s a trail here. We’ll follow it after we report back to the Guild in case anything happens.”

--

crack

They were at a cave entrance. There was no light within, so they’d have to rely on Chuck’s tail; Imiti couldn’t keep up a light for the whole time. The path seemed fairly straightforward; the stalactites and stalagmites were too thick in most of the cave to admit anything larger than an Umbreon. A path had been cleared out that was large enough to fit a Dragonite. Seeing no alternatives, the team followed the path.

They’d traveled not fifty metres into the cave before Chuck’s tail flame became the only light source. Even then, the light seemed suppressed. It was impossible to see anything more than five metres away.

Something broke and fell in the darkness, probably a stalagmite or stalactite. Because it sounded like it had been very close, but could not be seen, Oliver’s knives were in his hands not half a second later.

“Who’s there?” he demanded, looking this way and that.

“Oliver, behind you!”

“Wha—ugh!” As he’d turned around, a ball of dark energy had hit him in the side and knocked him off his feet.

“Hey guys, look, more visitors! It’s like someone keeps sending them or something!” Another shadow ball came from a different direction, splashing across Chuck’s back. A brilliant white light pierced the darkness, courtesy of Imiti, and revealed a Gengar and three Haunters. The Gengar cursed, firing another bolt at Imiti. A sword of psychic energy cut this one in two, causing it to disintegrate and disperse. One of the Haunters, deciding that the Alakazam was the primary target, charged and went for a heavy punch with an empowered fist, but the blow hit a barrier and stopped there. Chuck, seeing the creature’s guard dropped, rushed in and whipped at it with his tail flame. The Haunter recoiled and was struck again by a jet of blue fire; it disappeared in a cloud of purple gas.

Imiti blocked another shadow ball with the barrier, then chopped at the Gengar that had sent it with a psychic blade. The Gengar, having no such protection, was split in half by the blow and gas poured out, but it managed to reform before it was completely dispersed. The dark pulse that issued from it now ignored the barrier entirely, hitting Imiti and slamming him against a stalagmite.

Oliver tried slashing at a Haunter with a knife, but cut healed almost instantly. He sprang back to avoid the shadowy fist, then further back to dodge a shadow ball that had come in from the side. He put his knives away, broke off a great piece of stalagmite, and blocked another shadowy fist with it. Then he smashed the first Haunter with the makeshift club, sending purple gas everywhere, and fired another great burst of water at the second, scattering it.

The Gengar, moving in for the kill, failed to notice Chuck until a fireball hit it from behind. It turned to engage the Charmeleon, a poor decision. At this point Imiti had recovered from the dark energy, and just as another shadow ball began to form in front of the Gengar, another psychic sword appeared in Imiti’s hand and he bisected it. Before the creature could recover Imiti slashed it again, quartering it. When the ghost-types showed no more resistance the psychic sword disappeared. Imiti told his team, “They’ll recover. We’d better get going.” And so Imiti allowed the light to wink out, leaving Chuck’s tail flame as the only light source, and the team continued onward.

--

They didn’t have far to go before they noticed a room with a light source. Imiti motioned for the group to stop and scanned the room with a psychic probe.

The room’s got a bright lamp in it, which is where the light’s coming from. There’s our Probopass friend, sitting on the floor, resting. There’s also a Poochyena, a Houndour, a Sneasel, and a Gallade—uh, who appears to have noticed me.

“We’ve been tracked down. Time to go,” came a voice from within the chamber. By the time the team entered the room, their quarry was gone with the bag. Another bright light on Imiti’s part revealed them fleeing through the other side of the room. The Gallade cursed and the Probopass began firing glowing white stones at their pursuers. One bounced off of a hastily made barrier, and Oliver dropped to the ground to avoid another, which brought down several stalactites. Orange and blue fireballs were shot back; one of them hit the Sneasel, who tripped and fell. The others kept going.

When they reached the Sneasel Imiti stopped, bent down, and used his exploration badge to send her back to the palace. Any Guild official to happen upon her within the next hour or so would receive a telepathic message stating that she was a probable accomplice in a bank robbery.

The team then continued the chase. Fireballs of different colours, water, and psychic blades flew one way; telekinetic bolts, chunks of rock, and lightning bolts went the other way. A large piece of rock shattered against a barrier; another one tumbled just over the suddenly prone Oliver to create a trail through stalagmites. A psychic blade was parried by the Gallade and dispersed; the Probopass weaved left and right to avoid jets of water. Chuck was hit by a telekinetic bolt that felt like a heavy punch to the stomach; Oliver grabbed him and carried him until he recovered about fifteen seconds later. The Probopass shot more gems at the team, this time above their heads to dislodge stalactites onto them. This would be of little consequence, except that there had also been a colony of Zubats living among them. Chaos spread throughout them, and like hornets they attacked those they believed responsible, namely Imiti, Oliver, and Chuck.

They flooded the hallway behind the team, biting and launching blades of air. Imiti was able to ward off the air cutters with his psychic abilities, but the Zubats themselves were not to be deterred so easily. Three assaulted Oliver at once. The first and second were blocked by his knives; he had to jump back in order to bat the third out of the way. A fourth nearly had its teeth around Oliver’s arm; its jaws closed on empty air with a very loud snap.

Chuck shot fireballs at two Zubats before they reached him, then lit his claws on fire. After he batted the first one out of the air, three more appeared in its place. Realizing that he couldn’t take them all on at once, he slashed the air, leaving a trail of flame to block the creatures coming after him. It wouldn’t last, so he continued onward while he could.

Due to the whole “psychic” thing, Imiti was doing noticeably better than the others. Two that had been headed in his direction were slowed enough that they dropped out of the air. When another one got around his telekinetic attack he teleported back behind it and slashed it out of the air with a psychic sword, then turned around and did the same to another. Having dispatched his own attackers he turned to Oliver and applied a shoving force to the area, disrupting the bats’ flight just enough that they crashed into walls or fell to the ground. Oliver was also knocked down, but he recovered much more quickly. A barrier was put up to stop the bats from coming any closer. “Chuck has the right idea. Let’s go!

They had lost sight of the criminals, but Imiti could hear the stalagmites breaking up ahead and the trail was clear. The fact that they had to clear through the stalagmites meant that they were moving more slowly than the team was. They knew they were close to their targets when they heard, quite clearly:

“Let’s get Dan to rob a bank, you said. No one’s ever going to catch us, you said.”

“I didn’t know he would bloody alert half the city with an explosion and get the Guilds after us!”

“Hey, you shut up!”

“Let’s hide in here, you said. It’s not like anyone else has the guts to go in, you said.”

“It’s not my fault these guys are stupid enough to follow and lucky enough to actually get this far!”

“Why don’t we just teleport out, then, and leave them stuck in here with all the ghosts and stuff?”

“Because they’ll follow us, you idiot. That’s how they got here, and all teleporting’ll do is make me weaker.”
“Yeah, but at least we won’t be—”

“Shut up.” There was a yelp, and soon afterwards they came upon the Poochyena sprawled on the ground. Imiti sent him back to the guild much in the same way as the Sneasel. They turned round another bend and saw the thieves as shapes in the darkness up ahead. The Probopass stamped the ground, and their footsteps were suddenly drowned out as the cave ceiling fell in ahead of them, creating a barrier.

The three of them skidded to a stop in front of the wall of rocks. Imiti gave it a telekinetic shove, but it did nothing but dislodge some of the rocks.

“It’s no use. It’ll take far too long to get it out of the way. They’ll have long since escaped.”

“Can you teleport us to the other side?”

“Nope. I tried earlier to catch up to them faster. This cave doesn’t allow teleportation by normal means. I had to use the badge to send those two back to the Guild.”

“I’ll get us through.” Oliver stood in front of the wall of rocks, studying it. Each rock he could see, he inspected carefully.

“Hurry up. They’re going to get away.”

“Not a problem. They’ve trapped themselves inside. I can hear the Gallade shouting at the Probopass.”

Oliver punched the wall. Rocks flew.

--

When the dust settled, the Probopass, Gallade, and Houndour were revealed, watching them. Behind them was a dead end.

“You’re an idiot, Dan.”

“You led us this way.”

“Shut up.”

“Well, guys, behind you is a dead end. This cave doesn’t let you teleport, so you can’t run. You’ve lost two people already; we’re still fine. D’you want to come quietly?”

“Screw that.”

“But—”

“Shut up.” The Gallade charged headlong at Imiti. His elbow blades popped out and glowed green. The first attack hit a barrier; the second was blocked by a psychic sword. Imiti struck back with a downward slash that was stopped dead by one of the elbow blades while stopping another attack from the other blade. He stepped back to give the Gallade a telekinetic shove, but his opponent did a backflip and landed on his feet. The Gallade charged again and went on the offensive, forcing Imiti to rely on his psychic powers to know even where the attacks were coming from. He began to backpedal, parrying and dodging attacks left, right, up, and down. Eventually, seeing an opening, he shoved at the Gallade again and sprang backwards.

Chuck swiped at the Houndour twice, missing once and grazing him the second time. The Houndour retaliated with a bite attack, and Chuck shoved his head aside to deflect it. Taking advantage of the opening he tripped the Houndour and used the badge to send him back. The Houndour wouldn’t come with a telepathic message, but they’d probably get the idea.

Oliver, rather than taking out his knives, shot a blast of water at the Probopass, who recoiled from the highly effective attack. The Probopass responded with a powerful bolt of electricity, which missed. Oliver drew one knife now and charged with a strike not unlike the one he’d cleared the cave-in with. The Probopass wasn’t exactly a haphazardly constructed wall of rocks, though, and Oliver hadn’t had time to properly study his weaknesses. The knife glanced off the steel body. The Probopass suddenly staggered forward, though, when flaming claws raked it. Oliver tried the strike again with his fist and sent his opponent flying and effectively out of the fight.

The Gallade closed the distance between himself and Imiti again, taking the offensive. Imiti found his back suddenly against a wall, and ducked a blow that would’ve taken his head off. Another strike buried the blade deep into a wall. Noticing this, Imiti grabbed hold of the Gallade’s arm, used psychic power to pull the blade free, and telekinetically hurled him in the direction of the other two.

“Catch!”

The Gallade flipped around in midair and turned his predicament into a leaping strike at Chuck. His arm was suddenly yanked backward, though, and he landed awkwardly on the ground.

“We’ve subdued the others. You’re the only one left. D’you want to come quietly yet?”

“Screw you.” The Gallade got up and charged yet again at Imiti, but this time he traveled not five feet before Oliver tripped him and he was once again prone.

“Nice job. Let’s take him back.”

(Gonna take the Thunder and Inferno TMs and the...object)

Beth &

Stephanie

The reunion was sudden and noisy and not at all an unexpected scene, nor one Skye would find herself unaccustomed to. Beth quickly became the sobbing mess that she seemed to find herself in constantly as of late, though this time it was for a much different reason than before. The mood in the team room was little if not joyous as visible relief most likely swept across the present members of Team Stormcloud; after all, both daughters had returned safely from a rather perilous place.

It was obvious though that no one was as happy as poor Beth, who had plucked her daughter from Skye as quickly as possible and now held her. The Happiny quickly sunk into the front of Beth's elastic body as the Chansey hugged her daughter as tightly as she possibly could. Her body both shook and shifted as she moved around, as if all the joy and excitement in her body simply needed a way to express itself.

And, after a few seconds, it became apparent that it had found one as a pale white light began to take over the Chansey's form. The light slowly grew as Beth's form was obfuscated, though she herself seemed oblivious. How was it that Chansey evolved again...?

Ah, yes. Of course. Happiness.

After a seemingly exaggerated period of hugging and crying Beth the Blissey finally became aware of the fact that she had evolved, not that she took much time to note it. The added, wing-like bits around her arms and body shook slightly at her own will as if she was flapping them to see just what her new evolution held. Beyond that, most obviously, was a massive increase in size; Beth had rocketed up almost a full foot and she was over a quarter taller than she was before.

This only made it easier for her to put down her own child and then pick up and hug Skye in completely uninhibited joy. "Thank you, thank you so much..."

(What's that there's no rewards, deal with it. I'll send them later. :V)