Welcome to Gaia! ::

Red walked gently, not making a sound as her paws softly touched the earth and then came back up again. She raised her paws high before taking a step, trying to make as little contact with the ground as possible. She had just cleaned herself, and she had no intentions of taking yet another bath. Well, she couldn’t expect herself to stay completely clean, but helping a Clefairy find Latios and Latias for some pictures sounded like the cleanest mission on the board. It couldn’t be that hard…right?

Blue was at her side, as always, and he seemed the slightest bit annoyed by her way of walking but chose to stay silent. He had already complained about it once in the past, and that landed him on fire.

A pink Clefairy was waiting for them at the entrance of the meadow, and upon seeing them he waved while standing on the tiptoe of one foot. Blue raised a paw and waved back, his claws had been retracted and were hiding their long and sharp bodies, making him look much less menacing than he could be. Red, with the most bored look on her face, did not even stop and wave. She only moved forwards, only stopping once she and Blue had reached the Clefairy.

The pink pokemon looked very eager, practically jumping up and down when he saw the two come. A camera was hanging around his neck, and the tip of the swirl of hair on top of his head was dyed purple. His curled tail also had the tip dyed purple, and the ends of his stubby paws had been-you guessed it- dyed purple. ‘talk about the artist type…’ Red thought, but immediately discarded the thought as pointless.

“Hello-hello! Oh, I’m so excited! I always dreamed of getting a shot like this, and thanks to you…! Oh I’m just giddy with excitement!” The Clefairy said. Blue smiled and bowed, “It’s a pleasure to be of service, sir” he replied. He looked down at Red, just to see she was yawning. He shot her an annoyed look and she looked up at him, over at the Clefairy, and then got a bright spark of life in her eyes that meant something in her brain clicked. She grinned and raised a paw to shake Clefairy’s stub, “Happy to help out”

Blue looked at the entrance for a second and then back at Red and Clefairy.

“Alright, lemme see…we can’t just waltz in there like a bunch of retards and get ourselves killed. I say that, to protect our client the best we can, we come in a formation that- HEY!” the Sneasel cut himself off as he saw that his partner and the client had completely ignored him and already walked in. Groaning, he started to run after them and slowed his pace to a steady walk when he finally caught up. Again, he shot Red a glare, but the Vulpix just waved it off.

Clefairy put his camera up and started taking pictures of his surroundings, trying to get nice shots of all the flowers while Blue and Red gave each other little murmurs every now and then, like a silent argument. Argue, argue, was all those two ever did argue? It’s a surprise they were such good friends.

They reached a spot where there seemed to be an entrance to a deeper part of the forest. “…huh” Red stated, looking at the spot. She looked over at Blue and stuck her tongue out like a child would. “Screw your formations, we made it through the first part without them!” she said. He just sighed and closed his eyes, “…14” he mumbled. Red tilted her head, “14? What about 14?” she asked. “14 more floors. We made it through the first, now there are 14 more” he groaned.

Red looked over at Clefairy and then grinned. “Well then I guess we’ll have to walk faster!” she said, and she began to walk into the second area. Clefairy clapped and followed behind, and Blue just sighed and dragged himself behind the two. This was going to be a long adventure…and he probably wasn’t going to like it.

Belly: -- -- -- -- -


-Floor 2-


“So then the Torchic said, ‘Oh no, I’m just a little chicken!’”

Red started laughing when she finished saying this, but the other two with her just gave her a strange look. She stopped laughing and looked at them, “what? Why aren’t you laughing? Oh, I know! It’s because I forgot to mention they were in a cave! Now it’s funny, am I right?” she added. Blue rubbed his temples and closed his eyes, taking in a deep breath. “Red, you have always been the worst at telling jokes” he told her. She gave him an annoyed look, but only turned away and faced forwards.

It all seemed so calm, just what the team had expected from a place called Peaceful Meadows. Well, calm for now. Unknown to them, they were walking right into a fight.

A patch of beautiful flowers, right in their path. Rather than walking around them, as Blue had tried to, Red ran right into them and started bouncing around in the patch. Laughing and smiling, she barely noticed when she stepped on the orange and yellow striped tail of an annoyed Sentret.

Instead of the usual brown, this pokemon was all yellow with the stripes on its tail and the fur on its ears orange. The usually white circle on its chest, however, retained its color.

The pokemon was standing on its hind legs, arms crossed with an angry look on its face. Instead of outright attacking, though, the pokemon began slamming its tail on the ground and shrieking. Red stumbled back, putting her paws over her ears to shield herself from the horrible noise

"He's alerting all of the pokemon we're here! If he keeps that up we're screwed!" Blue called out. The Sentret stopped shrieking and pouted, putting his arms to his sides as it turned to face Red. "You're ruining my garden! Look, you've trampled all my flowers! I want you out!" He said. Red grinned as she opened her mouth, a small flame forming...only to be stopped by Blue.

The Sneasel stepped in front of her, motioning for her to go back. "You idiot, you'll burn the whole place down! I'll handle this, you just stand back and protect the client" He said. Red opened her mouth to object, but the Sneasel gave her a look that said "you better not". She nodded and took the little sack that was slung over his shoulder with rope, a makeshift bag for their items. Couldn't have all the food get destroyed could you? Walking over to the Clefairy, she made sure they were far enough to not get hurt from the fight

The Sneasel raised his paws up to eye level and the claws extended outwards, the claws or his bottom feet also coming out. They were very sharp, and they gave off the faintest glimmer in the light which showed they were very well maintained. He put one out to the Sentret, "Bring it" he told the pokemon

It wasted no time, and the Sentret first stood on its tail, then coiled it down and used it like a spring to jump high in the air, paw glowing white as he attempted to use Brick Break. But Blue was smarter than that, and in one quick, silent movement he was to the side, beginning to dance as his claws glowed purple, using swords dance to make himself stronger. The glow around them fainted as the Sentret came down, karate chopping the ground instead of his target. He growled and stood up straight, looking down at the ground he had just hit. Flowers, and they had been chopped right off of their stems and crushed. He pointed to the spot, "Look! Look what you made me do to my poor little flowers!" he yelled at Blue. The Sneasel only watched his opponent, smirking. His own paw began to glow white as he jumped into the air, and the Sentret did the same. The both of them were going to use Brick Break at the same time.

Their paws collided, Stuck on each other for a moment before they destroyed each other, the impact making both pokemon get knocked back and fall right to the ground, hurting the both of them at the same time.Blue was the first one up though, as he looked much less hurt than the Sentret but still pretty beat up. The second he was up the Sneasel was already jumping and in the air, paw glowing white as he came down on the Sentret in another brick break. The Sentret, dazed and confused, got up and scurried to the side, just in time as the Sneasels karate chop landed right in front of him

The Sentret saw his chance and grabbed hold of the Sneasels arm, holding it tightly so the Sneasel could not move. Blue looked shocked, but then a painful look came on his face as the Sentret twisted the Sneasels arm to the side, a small crack noise coming out. The Sentret smirked as he raised his paw up, it began to glow white and then came down in a karate chop, right on the Sneasel. The Sentret let go of Blue's arm, watching the Sneasel fall to the ground, eyes closed.

"Blue!"

Red frantically called out as she watched her partner fall. She began to walk forward to meet her partner, but the Clefairy at her side grabbed her collar and held her back. "Hold your ponyta! Look, look!" He said, pointing at Blue

The Sneasel began to force himself to his feet, shaking a little and wobbling from side to side before he balanced himself. The lunatic, he only smiled and wiped some of the spit (or was it blood? He hadn't time to check) that had been knocked out of him off the side of his mouth.

"I have to say, that was impressive. Buts thats fine- I don't need my paws to take you down" he said. His arm wasn't broken, but right now it really hurt and brick break wasn't an option. Instead, he got on all fours and ran right at the Sentret, streaks of white light surrounding him as he jumped. For a moment, it almost looked as if he was flying...as he slammed into his opponent before the pokemon could move and took him down. The Sentret fell down, but did not get up. It was clear who the winner was now

"Game over"

The Sneasel retracted his claws and looked around at the flowers. Destroyed, all of them. A few jutted out of the ground every now and then, survivors. But most of those that remained were missing a leaf or a petal or two.

His eyes caught a bright yellow pansy, standing tall and proud with not a petal or leaf clipped. A soldier, alive. The Sneasel went over to it, looked for a moment, and then carefully scooped it out of the ground- dirt and all- without cutting its roots. He went over to a clear spot of grass and used his claws to scoop out a little hole, planting the flower in and covering the sides with dirt.

"It looked ugly over there. It looks...better now" He said, brishing the dirt off of his fur and claws. Red and Clefairy hurriedly ran over, Clefairy clapping and Red excited. "Yeah! Way to kick butt blue!" She cheered. The Sneasel only smiled at the positive comment and pointed towards the exit. "Lets move on now, shall we?"

Once Red had given Blue the sack back the odd trio began walking, leaving the passed out Sentret behind in the ruins of what used to be his garden and a still standing flower looking up at the sun, proud yellow petals open for all to gaze upon.

Belly: -- -- -- --


-Floor 3-


"Augh! Son of a Bidoof! Blue, you buttface, you got dirt on my fur!"
"I didn't mean to, I just-"
"Apologize!"
"Why should-"
"APOLOGIZE NOW!"
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!"
"When we get back, you are the one who is going to clean my fur dangit!"
"ugh, fine, dang bit..."
"WHAT DID YOU SAY?!"
"Nothing!"
…

“soooo…what did the fingers say to the face?”
“Oh no…”
“Erm, what?”
“Nothing! Fingers can’t talk! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!”
“…”

The trio walked on, One of them laughing hysterically and the other two very confused

Belly: -- -- -- -


- Floor 4-


It was only a speck, or maybe two specks. Two specks of dirt on her fur and Red goes all ballistic on him. He was glad it wasn't three.

Clefairy just stayed silent, he didn't want to say anything to upset the Vulpix...when they came to escort him the pair seemed fine, but he was beginning to question their sanity. Nonetheless, they seemed more than capable of taking him to find Latios and Latias, and thats all he would ask for.

As the trio walked, a nearby bush began to rustle. Red and Clefairy ignored it, but Blue seemed interested for a moment before moving on. Again, the bush rustled, but this time a dark pink leaf stuck out of it. Red stopped in her tracks and bounded over to to leaf, sniffing and pawing at it curiously. Blue, however, was skeptical as usual. "Red, don't you find it rather strange that some random pink leaf pops out of some random green bush?" He said. She turned her head around, "good lord, you never let me have any fun!" she remarked, going back to the leaf. Opening her mouth wide, she bit down on the leaf as hard as she could. The response she got, however, wasn't expected.

"Ouch! Hey, that hurts!" a voice came from the bush. Red stepped back, stumbling on her own paws as her eyes widened. "OH MY ARCEUS A TALKING BUSH!" She yelled. The bush shook again, "Wait- what? No, I'm a pokemon!" it said. Red still held that shocked expression, "HOLY FEEBAS IT ATE A POKEMON!" she yelled once more. The bush let out a growl, and suddenly that pink leaf came out of the bush...revealing it was attached to a Chikorita

It was colored just like any normal Chikorita, the only difference was that his head leaf and neck vines were dark pink. "I heard Uncles shrieks from over here! He told us that whenever we hear that we gotta hide, and in the rare case he cant protect us, then we have to protect ourselves!"

"Uncle is never wrong! I can tell, by you're look, that you are a rescue team yes? I'm sorry but you are going to need to get through me to get to the next area!"

The Chikorita was trying to be brave, but this whole situation made him very nervous. Oh, he just hoped he could beat them...but his odds were against him, as the other team had a fire type and an ice type.

No matter! He would just have to beat them all down himself!

Red looked over at Blue and smiled. "Don't you worry- I got this one! you two just stand there and look pretty...but not as pretty as me!" she said, turning to face the Chikorita. The grass pokemon had formed a silver ball in front of him, and the ball was thrown at Red- otherwise known as Rock Throw

The vulpix was hit right in the chest and knocked over, getting up quite angrily. Scratches from the jagged ball were on her chest now, and she was breathing quite heavily as she got up, glaring at the Chikorita with a murderous look in her eyes. Reds eyes began to glow red as her tails waved back and forth in a hypnotic fashion, and looked right into the Chikorita's eyes. His eyes slowly turned vacant and then began to glow red as well, Hypnonsis. And it had worked.

Reds eyes stopped glowing, but the Chikoritas eyes remained with that faint red glow. "Now, sleep" She commanded, and at that the Chikorita's eyes grew heavy until he collapsed to the ground in full sleep. Now, Red wished they could have just left him their and continued on with their buisiness...but unfortunately leaving him here could just make him come back later. Better to KO him now while she still could.

She opened her mouth, a jet of flames coming out in a Flamethrower as they passed over the Chikorita and pushed him into the bush he had come from. She turned towards the Clefairy and Sneasel, "See? I can fight without starting a forest fire"

She rejoined the group, walking with them into the fifth floor.

Belly: -- -- --


-Floor 5-


Reds stomach gave off a faint grumble, and she looked over to Blue. He was the one managing all their stuff, after all, and she would have to go through him if she wanted any food.

She stopped and squinted, "I'm hungry" she said. Blue looked down at her (He was 3 feet tall, and she was only two, which can sometimes complicate things) and shook his head, "We need to ration our food. Besides, you're always hungry. Always" He said, remembering just how much she ate when they went picking apples. Say they got a dozen...that meant he got to eat three and she got to eat nine. And yet, somehow she was still skinny. He didn't understand it.

"But I'm really huuuuuungry!" the Vulpix whined. Blue rubbed his temples, "If you just wait a little while, we'll eat" he told her. She debated weather to complain again, but decided against it. If she complained one more time she was sure the Sneasel wouldn't feed her...usually she was more demanding than this, but when it came to affairs of the food she would follow the rules. She dragged herself along, head hanging low as she walked with them to the next floor

Belly: -- -- -

((It was a fine mission~ I enjoyed the read! You've earned your Moon Stone and Weather Ball TM as well as a pick of 1 recruit. Feel free to pick from the Ratata or Sentret.

Pardon this being so straight forward. Rather busy at the moment, but someone had to grade it.))

Apollo plucked the message from the board, realizing it was one of the few that had not been claimed. He was a bit ticked that it was a 17 floor mission, so close to being a 20, but not a 20. But then again, he couldn't push him and Todd too far on their first mission, right? He pushed it out of his mind, this was an important mission and he wanted it done right. A Blissey's child had gotten kidnapped, and Apollo would find it. He wasn't even worried. He instructed Todd to go pack up apples and berries, and waited patiently for Todd's return. He found a map and figured out how to get to the meadows, and read up a bit on the Pokemon they might encounter. Todd returned with a satchel thrown over his shoulder, and Apollo nodded and began to lead the way. Todd spoke not, and Apollo lifted an eyelid a bit to peek at him. Apollo didn't mind silence, but at the same time he worried about Todd. Was he ok? He was loyal, so Apollo's doubts began to drift away, and turned to the mission at hand. Rescuing and returning a kidnapped child.


5.0

Apollo raised his nose to the air as he paws slowed to a stop. He inhaled slowly, taking in all that wonderous fresh air! Todd watched, but did not mimick. He showed no emotion, showed no interest. No, instead he stared blankly at Apollo, almost like he was looking past him, deep into space. As Apollo exhaled, he lowed his nose. "Mind your feet, don't trample too many flowers. We do not want to bother the Pokemon that live here anymore than we have too." By sniffing in air, Apollo had learned that Pokemon were all about, watching as Team Rapcha trespassed into their fields. They'd have to deal with it, because Apollo had every intention of getting Blissey's child back, and not allowing anyone to get in his way. Todd gave a slight nod, and they began their trek. Todd mostly looked at his front paws as he walked, trying not dodge flowers here and there. Todd generally walked on all four paws, not unlike a puppy, with his ears flapping over his face. Some wondered if he was just too lazy to lift them sometimes, but no one would ever know. Apollo could sense eyes on them, and had narrowed down the culprits down, knowing that where they were, there were only so many places to hide. Apollo wasn't too worried, he was a fire type. He dominated here, and that was a very familiar feeling to our good ol' Apollo. The flame on his back began to flicker, until it bursted to life. Todd noticed, but paid no mind. To anyone who didn't know this strange Pichu, it would really seem like something was missing inside his thick skull, but it just isn't true. Why Apollo had been preparing had become evident, however, as a very cruel Razor Leaf attack slung towards Apollo with so much ferocity and force, Todd was sure Apollo was going to get hit. Todd moved faster than Apollo had ever seen him move, but he himself dodged and collided with Todd, so neither of them would get hit. Apollo looked over his shoulder to where the Razor Leaf had begun. It had been such a strong move, it had mowed the grass from where it had originated, without even losing any momentum. However, it's strength was it's weakness, for it's owners position was now obvious, and Apollo charged. He allowed the flames to gather and burn in his body, and it grew and churned, crawling up into his throat, dying to be released and do some damage. Apollo kept it welling up inside him, he didn't want to release the Flame Wheel attack until his target was in view. A leaf too big and awkward sat on top of the tall grass, but as Apollo grew nearer, the leaf began to move. Apollo had an 'ah-ha!' moment inside of him, almost making him hiccup his fire away, but he restrained, and aimed. He dug his heels into the ground, lifted his front half up, and released the giant wheel of fire all in one swift moment. It rolled towards the Chikorita, with a speed to match the enemies Razor Leaf. Apollo felt proud, but did not dwell in it, no. The battle was not over yet. He began his chase again, and Todd began to run after him too. The Pichu’s speed was immense given his type, and even running full speed after his partner barely looked like he was putting in any effort. While he caught up with ease, the Chikorita raised it’s head over the grass, and called out to Apollo, ”Fools! Trespassing in our land! I am merely a decoy! Everyone is now alerted of your presence!” Apollo slowed to a stop, then looked over at Todd, where were they now anyway? This was a big field…”Excuse me, good sir, but we are not here to harm! We are looking for a child that has been kidnapped.” The Chikorita’s head tilted, ”Ah…I thought you were here for a raid. I’ve heard nothing of a child being kidnapped, that doesn’t really sound quite normal…actually, I did see a stranger Happiny being led around by an Oddish, not too long ago. We all pretty much know each other around here, and babies are very special and taken care of around here. I thought it odd that I didn’t know the little thing, but Jane would just not stop to talk to me. Jane is the Oddish that had it. Ask around. But do not expect kindness, I do not fully trust you either.” Apollo thanked the Chikorita, but the two never closed the gap between them. They just turned and went on their own ways. Apollo looked over at Todd, shook his head, and decided to go North.


4.5

Apollo and Todd resumed walking in silence, Todd still looking at his front paws, trying not to trample any flowers in his way. Apollo began to slow down his pace, and Todd followed in suit, but did not look up to find out why. He already knew why. He could hear the grass rustling not too far up ahead. Todd can be a little know it all sometimes, but no one would ever believe it. ”Excuse me! Hey! Over here!” The two were still padding over to where the rustling was, but the rustling promptly stopped as Apollo announced their presence. ”What do you want, trespasser?” Apollo looked at Todd real quick, than back to the patch of grass that the sound came from. ”I am Apollo. Leader and Captain of Team Rapcha. We are a rescue team, and we are here to rescue a kidnapped Happiny back to it’s mother Blissey. Do you know where we could find an Oddish named Jane? We got a tip that she either has her, or very much knows where she is.” Apollo’s voice had been strong and loud, he had hoped maybe some others were around, and heard his voice. Maybe someone, anyone, could help. Todd however, had a bad feeling welling up in his gut. The silence that followed Apollo’s little speech was deafening to him. He looked over at Apollo to let him know, but Apollo seemed aware already. Todd had gotten quite good at reading body language, even if Apollo was hard to read sometimes. No one was harder to read than Todd, so maybe that’s why he was so good at it.


4.0

”You want to know…where Jane is…?” A bluish green popped up from the grass, revealing a relatively small Bulbasaur. Apollo nodded, and the enemies eyes narrowed. ”You will leave her be. You don’t understand.” Apollo seemed bothered by this, and spoke his mind, just like always. ”Don’t understand? I don’t understand that a mother has lost a child? Kidnapping is a crime, and I will not allow it.” Todd knew that Apollo had fire welling up in his belly, and that he was going to attack the offending Bulbasaur. ”Where is she? I have a feeling you know. Tell me, or I will attack.” The response was a deep throaty chuckling, and that was enough for Apollo. Apollo leapt into the air, and released an ember attack. It had been raging in his throat for a while now, so it’s heat and power did a critical hit on the poor Bulbasaur, who was already so vulnerable to the fire type’s attacks. The Bulbasaur lay on the ground, eyes circling and he was down for the count. Apollo puffed at the Bulbasaur, wishing his attack had not been a one hit. He had hoped for information, not for a faint. Regardless, he signaled for Todd to follow after him once more, only for them to make it about two steps before whips wrapped around Todd’s little belly. Todd had known the Bulbasaur was feigning his faint, but had expected him to be doing it for them to leave. Pretending to be all fainted, so they might just leave him alone. Todd should have known better, and released an electric charge surging down the whips. A thunder shock attack, to paralyze the enemy. ”I apologize, Apollo. I had a feeling he was faking.” Apollo nodded, and looked at the Bulbasaur who was struggling to move. The whips released Todd, and he fell to the ground. The Bulbasaur was too weak to keep the grip, but the whips remained in the air, since he could also not retract them. ”Tell me where she is.” Apollo was nose to nose with the Bulbasaur, daring him. Trying him. ”She took the baby…from the rogues…she saved the Happiny…the rogues…kidnapped and lost her sister…the Oddish Jane…she is very protective of the Happiny…” Apollo understood, but still, had to retrieve the child. ”I need to know where Jane is.” ”I will not let you…take the Happiny…away from her…” Apollo gave a low growl, ”It is not hers. I will be taking it away, and returning it to it’s mother.” The paralysis faded, and the Bulbasaur tackled Apollo. Apollo’s back hit the ground, and the fire on his back met the bottom of the grass, setting some aflame. Apollo kicked the enemy off of him, and ignored the grass that had just set fire, and released an ember towards the Bulbasaur, who dodged last second. The Bulbasaur could not take much more damage, not after the first ember Apollo had used on him. The Bulbasaur backed up, and then charged, going for a Take Down move. Apollo had ample time to get out of the way, and used it. Once the Bulbasaur was on his charge, it was hard for him to turn, so Apollo and Todd got out of harms way. Todd looked over at Apollo, the tiniest spark in his eyes, barely noticeable. Apollo nodded, and Todd turned to go after the enemy. What with his speed, the Bulbasaur almost never saw it coming. The ThunderShock landed and ended the Bulbasaur. Todd let an extra spark go, making sure that this time, it was not faking. Apollo clapped Todd on the back, although they had not learned what he had wanted them to learn. However, a fire was brewing under the grass. Too tiny to really see, but the smell was evident. Apollo looked over at it. Neither of them were water types, and Apollo could only make it worse. After looking at Todd, he realized Todd could only do damage as well, not help. Apollo lowered the flame on his back until it sputtered out with a little 'tft'. Then he walked over to the flame, and sat his rear on it. The fire went out with a little hiss. Apollo's mouth curled into a little forced smile, "Not my better of ideas, but what else could we do?" The fire had not grown too much given the cool light breeze and cool air. It was also deep in the tall grass, where it was still damp from the morning. "Let's go." He began walking in a new direction. Todd followed to his left.


3.5

Todd felt bad, and was keeping his eyes on the horizon, instead of his feet. Although this just seemed normal, Apollo noticed, and felt kind of bad. "You didn't do anything wrong, Todd. No one is perfect. We're still a team, and neither of us got badly injured. We've got a mission to do, focus on it." Todd did not nod, instead he returned his gaze to his two front paws. He watched and treaded with care, glad he was on all fours, so his weight was distributed. He didn't even want to harm the grass all that much. He would not make the same mistake again, he would always make sure an enemy was down for the count, not just faking. A small anger was in Todd for some reason, and he tried to cool it. An inner turmoil would do him no good, nor his team. A strange sight made him stop in his tracks however, and he made a low grunt noise, getting Apollo's attention. Apollo padded over. "Finally, a lead." It would seem all of Todd's ground gazing had paid off. A splotch of blood had been revealed to Todd as he put a paw on the patch of grass, and it bent forward from his weight. Todd let his little pink nose sniff in the scent, and found that more grass had more blood on it. A trail, something to follow. It was fairly recent, and in this peaceful place, Apollo and Todd knew it had to involve the rogues and the Happiny. As the Chikorita had said, everyone here knew each other, and even a friendly battle would not result with blood. Apollo hoped the blood was not Jane's, nor the baby Happiny's. Apollo helped with the sniffing, making sure his flames were as low as possible at times, not wanting to ignite another fire. They got lucky last time, but they might not be so lucky next time. Even though Apollo was helping, Todd was doing most of the sniffing, and Apollo was mostly looking out and keeping his nose out for enemies, giving the appearance like he was just as distracted by the blood trail as Todd. It didn't take long for a slightly off colored Turtwig to call out to them. "OI! I heard about yous two. Whatchu doin' in dee's here parts, hmmm?" Apollo scoffed and looked directly at the strangely spoken Turtwig. "Pardon? Us two? We are Team Rapcha, and we are here to rescue a baby Happiny that was kidnapped by some rogues." By the black scarf wrapped around the Turtwig's neck, and by the slacked off and slurred language coming for the Turtwig, Apollo had no doubt that this was in fact, a rogue. The blood trail had led right to him, but Apollo had a feeling it wasn't him. The smells didn't match, and the Turtwig did not seem injured. No, instead it charged right for Apollo. Apollo braced himself, welling up some fire in his throat. It burnt and tingled, but not in a way that hurt Apollo. No, just in a way that made him make more. It affected him in a way that he wanted more, more power. It had seemed that the Turtwig was just going for a normal Tackle, but this wasn't the case. No, at last second he turned. He redirected a Bite attack on Todd. Todd had just been sniffing the grass and slowly making his way on with the trail. However, Todd being so fast, had had some time to react, and get in a position where the Bite attack could do a little less damage. The sharp teeth were quite painful, but they were lessened by the awkward shape of the Turtwig's genetic jaw, and also because of how Todd had angled himself, giving the Turtwig a meaty part of his body. Todd twisted and let out a Thunder Shock, making the Turtwig fly back and fall on his back. The turtle like pokemon flipped and flopped his arms and legs around, trying to get back up, but eventually grew tired. Not only had he fallen on his back, but he had landed in a hole about the size of his back, and because of the force of the fall, he had snugged his way in. Apollo padded over, and looked at the rogue. "Why were you over here? Answer or you get a face-full of fire." Apollo was getting quite sick of this wild goose chase, but it didn't matter. He had quite a long journey in front of him.


3.0

The blood was getting a little more fresh as Todd kept them on track. Apollo was proud of him, and proud for him not giving into temptations, and charging after it. Apollo was strong, but his speed could never match that of his electric-type partner's. Apollo reasoned that getting a balanced team was important, but him and Todd were already making a good team. Apollo didn't want to just let anyone in the team, and recruiting from missions wasn't going to be easy. Anyone who went against his team...if they could defeat them, were they worthy? How would he know if they were loyal? He'd have to use instinct, and Todd would have to have input. Apollo nearly scoffed, getting input from Todd would not be easy, but he was sure he would get a yes or no, regardless if it were in words or not. It was then that Apollo realized a strange sound had been following them for a while, and it was finally getting a tad louder. "Clefairy!" Apollo and Todd both stopped and looked back to look for the source, but could not exactly find it. The tall grass was covering the culprit, but Apollo had a feeling that the grass moving towards them was indeed their suspect. Just as the moving grass reached within arm length for Apollo (which yeah, is a very short reach), Apollo put his arm out and down, and felt a soft smooth head under his paw. He got a grip and lifted the poor thing above the grass. It was a soft pink Clefairy, but not a normal one, oh no. Not at all. It had no tuft of hair on it's head, it's ears were lower and horizontal to it's head, something strange was happening with it's feet, and it's tail came to a small point, no loops, no poofs. Apollo glared intensely at the poor little thing, "I am Apollo, this is my partner Todd. We are Team Rapcha. We are a rescue team, and are looking for a baby Happiny. She was captured by rogues, but we hear that an Oddish named Jane has this Happiny, or at least might know where the Happiny is. Could you help us?" Todd, if he had a different personality, would have rolled his eyes at Apollo's speech. He had heard it so many times now. But, he was well mannered and showed no sign of even noticing Apollo talking. His eyes slowly, ever so slowly, drifted towards the Clefairy in question. He noticed the strange spherical shape of this particular Clefairy, and wondered for a moment if it would bounce. Like a basketball. He pictured it covered in orange paint with black lines, to mimic said basketball. Of course, Todd showed no signs of such thoughts, and no one would have realized his strange thoughts, had this story been narrated by anyone else."Clefairy!"


2.5

The little ball of pink squirmed and wiggled, and Apollo narrowed his eyes at the creature. "Did you understand anything I said?" The Clefairy nodded fervently. Or at least as much as it could, given the fact that Apollo still had a firm grip on it's head. "Ok. I'm going to put you down now. Can you take us to Jane?" The Clefairy again nodded fervently. Apollo put the runt down, and it took off. Todd looked at Apollo, and Apollo nodded. Todd took off, full speed, after the little pink blur. Well, it wasn't really a pink blur. Todd only had the moving green grass to look for. However, he was also small, and this was getting more and more difficult as he went. Eventually Todd stopped. The grass had stopped moving. He sniffed and searched, but eventually scowled and turned around. He ran back to Apollo. "We should just follow the blood." The Clefairy couldn't have outrun him, no. Instead she had doubled around, and was back behind them. Further, so she may go unnoticed. Todd, who had been going too fast to notice, was just chasing a slight breeze curling the grass over. Todd sniffed around, re-finding his blood trail. He had barely gotten started before a bad feeling began to well up inside of his belly. This meadow really wasn't so peaceful, and it sure seemed to want Todd to show SOME kind of emotion, but it wasn't to be, nope. Instead he jumped with all of his might off to the side, narrowly missing a horrifying attack from an enraged Chansey. It lifted it's hands to go for a double slap attack, but Apollo intervened. "Whoah! Excuse me, why are you attacking my partner?" Todd was sure that Apollo's question would not stop this evil Chansey, that had cheeks so red he could swear steam was rising off of them. She did however give Apollo a chance, and looked over at him. This gave Todd no comfort, since her paws were still raised, just waiting to come down and smack Todd all around. Of course, Todd looked comfortable and laid back. I can only really imagine that this would just bother all opponents, and perhaps not help him in these kinds of situations, but what is a narrator to do? "This rogue was chasing that poor Clefairy! Surely he was chasing after her to steal her, just like all the others you've stolen! What have you done with them, huh?" The paws lowered, but Chansey only advanced on Apollo. "You look like the leader, not that poor little thing. Perhaps it is not too late for him..." "You've got it all wrong, ma'm. We're here to find the rogues. We're actually here to rescue a Happiny that the rogues took. For a Blissey. We're Team Rapcha." The Chansey would have none of it, "You're here to take back what you lost? That Happiny has been recovered by our good Jane! She will care for it plenty, rogues." With that, the Chansey charged after Apollo, rage fueling the mother, her feet pounding into the ground with meaning. Todd swore he could feel vibrations in the ground. He took the chance to get up, and charge up a Thunder Wave attack. Perhaps the Chansey could help them? But the Chansey landed a heavy pound attack on Apollo, laying on the hurt. Apollo groaned as once again his back met ground. How had he let this happen again? He found no motivation to fight this battle. He did not want to harm this Chansey, she seemed like she may have lost a child to the rogues too...but then...wouldn't she have seen them? Perhaps they didn't know how many rogues there were? Either way, the Chansey hadn't waited for Apollo to react in any way, no. She was coming back, full charge, for a Take Down attack. Apollo swiftly rolled and leapt off to the side. "I repeat, we are not rogues! We are Team Rapcha, here to help!" The Chansey didn't slow, she didn't even give visible notice if she had heard or not. Todd chased after her, sparks fizzling on his cheeks. Once he got close enough he release the wave of electricity, and watched it 'krtch' and 'zzt' until it reached her, and hugged around her form. The Chansey slowed, and parts of her body, muscles underneath, twitched and spasmed. It was not enough to halt this hell seeker mother. Apparently she had a vengeance or something, because she was harming her own body to get to Apollo. Even though the attack was not enough to stop the behemoth, it was enough to slow her down. Apollo took the chance to try and reason with her, "Please, calm down! We mean you no harm! Has your child been taken too? We can help!" Again, no response. Had she gone into a blind fit of rage? Realizing that nothing good was going to come of this, and that it was just a waste of time and energy, Apollo stopped dodging, and began battle. Apollo welled up the fire in his throat, wanting to release another Flame Wheel attack. Would it be enough? He wanted it to be quick, one hit. He had a Happiny to save, and didn't have enough time for all this crap. Deciding to have an excuse to get in close to the Chansey, he bolted towards her, going in for a Quick Attack. He knew his speed was no match for Todd, but against Chansey? She couldn't get away from him! The Chansey braced herself, getting in a defense curl while digging her heels in the ground. Little good it would do her, from a close range Flame Wheel attack, right? Apollo thought Chansey was getting ready to take the hit, but this wasn't the case. Chansey knew what it looked like, for a fire type to be getting his flame on. She whacked out her arm and hit Apollo in the upper chest area, knocking the breath out of him. Also, making him cough up poofs of smoke and innocent, harmless flames. Apollo's head went blank for a moment, before he could inhale again. His mind and vision had gone blurry, but it happily welcomed the oxygen, and thanked Apollo by going back into focus. Apollo twisted and landed on his feet. He was quite sick of being on his back, even though laying in the meadow and cloud gazing seemed like a nice way to enjoy the day...for a panzy. Not for our hero and leader, Apollo! No, instead the little bugger danced back. He knew he couldn't go close range for a fire attack, but it was his best bet to end the fight quickly. He stole a glance over at Todd, and remembered the Chansey had been paralyzed. Apollo only needed to make it worse, perhaps than she would be stuck, and he'd be able to get closer and release some serious heat. Apollo went in with some Quick Attacks, getting the Chansey to strike and lash out, making her move in the same ways, over and over again. He let his paws hit the ground, he let them propel him at great speeds. He wondered what it felt like to be Todd, and be able to out-race anyway. But while Apollo kept his repetitive set up going, he realized he hated this tactic, and would have preferred strength over speed. Landing one great hit was much better than wearing an opponent down, bit by bit.Perhaps it was just because he was a fire type that he felt this way. He certainly did not appreciate the cool breeze on his fire-less back, oh-no. Either way, his plan worked. As soon as the Chansey lost some steam, the paralysis took over. Apollo, panting a bit from all the running, stared at the Chansey. "I gave you ample opportunity to talk to us, and be rational with us. If your child has been taken," Apollo stuttered for a moment. He was kind of out of breath, so welling up the fire in himself was a bit harder than normal, although the heat was very much welcomed. The fire welled and spun and churned inside of him, making it's way up to his throat. As he spoke, a small flame escaped his mouth, and the Chansey watched with anger in her eyes, knowing this would be the end of the battle. "Then take it to the guild, or even right to me, and I'd be glad to help. However, I'm on a very important message, and you've slowed me down immensely." The fire sputtered and raged, wanting to escape Apollo's body, wanting to lick and burn it's enemy. Apollo leapt up a bit, and released a large wheel of burning hot orange flame, tiny highlights of blue could be seen if you gave a hard enough look, and Chansey did, oh yes. Chansey's eyes opened wide, and saw the scary monster that had no solid form roll towards her. Apollo turned, not really caring enough to watch his attack land. Todd watched, but he soon met Apollo's gaze. "Back to the blood traill, hm?"


2.0

Of course following blood got boring for Todd. It was a strange smell, and they seemed to be getting no closer to their culprit. Whoever was bleeding was obviously not bleeding from a fatal injury, because they had made a severely long journey for someone losing so much blood. Once or twice when the trail had a weird hiccup in it, Todd wondered if more than once Pokemon was bleeding, but wouldn't their be more than one trail? Were they walking one behind the other? He could only smell one strong smell...but didn't all blood smell the same? The questions were eating away at our poor little Todd, but his face showed no sign of it. Perhaps if it did, Apollo could console him. But who am I kidding? Apollo isn't really the consoling type. Either way, it didn't take long before Todd's nose left the grass, and was sniffing the belly of a rather large Sentret. The Sentret had some strange coloring, but I don't have any time to ramble about it, since the Sentret had a black bandanna around it's neck, signifying it's rogue-ness. This also means Apollo immediately released an ember attack, and you see? The action started in the blink of an eye, and your missing it by my rambling! Anyway, Todd jumped backwards, doing a nice little back-flip and landing on three paws, the fourth as a front one, pointed upwards into the air. His eyes were narrow, and he was certainly resembling a familiar character in green to anyone watching. And the only one 'watching', is a strange pink ball of a Clefairy, not too far behind. Apollo lifted himself and stood on his two front paws, "I am Apollo of Team Rapcha, and I am here to rescue a kidnapped Happiny." The Sentret snickered as he raised himself up on his tail, "We've got a few of those." "So you admit you're a rogue?" "If I was trying to hide that fact, would I be wearing this very obvious bandanna around my neck? No, I don't think so." Apollo nodded at this, very reasonable indeed. "Well then, to be a bit more specific, all the information we have on the Happiny in question, is that she was recently picked up by an Oddish named Jane." The Sentret scoffed, "You mean to say an Oddish got away with one of our captives? I doubt it, we're a goodly built team, strong and we don't just hand away our prizes." Apollo's head tilted, "Unless this Oddish is rogue, then you may have very well lost a prize." The Sentret looked outraged, and decided to take it out on Apollo, all the while letting out a line of sailor curses that I will not repeat, for the sake of not wanting to ruin any innocent ears and eyes. The Sentret hit the ground running, and went in for a Quick Attack. Apollo used some extra time to curl up and focus all of his energy on raising his defense. After uncurling, he had just enough time to go into a Quick Attack of his own, and go head to head with this Sentret, who may very well be the leader of the Rogues. Todd watched with interest as the two collided and a blinding white light flashed as the two heads met and hit. Todd's ear flicked however, and he knew he wasn't alone. He turned around to meet the gaze of a Zigzagoon, blood flowing slowly, but consistently, out of the poor fellows ear. Todd took a fighting stance. Now, I know what you're thinking, Todd's going to take on a bleeding and wounded Pokemon, what isn't even threatening him? Oh, but I left that part out. The Zigzagoon also had a gnarly grin with blood stained teeth, and a crazy look in the monster's eyes. He was also dragging one paw across the ground, front to back, lifting it and repeating. Not unlike a terribly angry Tauros what just saw red. Todd showed no signs of disgust or worry, but his brain was kind of wondering what to do. Not fretting, he was quite calm even in his own mind. Perhaps because the Pokemon was indeed wounded. Whatever the reason, Todd waited for the other to make the first move. Which did not take long, no. The Zigzagoon took off, running lopsidedly, but fast, right towards Todd, mouth open and looking like he was about to sink his teeth in deep into Todd's poor throat. Once he was close enough, the Zigzagoon took a quick dip down, and then leapt, mouth agape, and aimed right for Todd's strangely exposed throat. Strangely, because Todd is known to be on all fours. Strangely, because you think this fast little bugger would have moved by now! But I'm sure you want me to stop rambling and tell you what's going to happen to our colorless friend.

Anyway, Apollo had a ball of flame waiting in his throat. It was burning and itching to get out, but he wasn't getting any good shots. Apollo and the Sentret were pretty matched in speed. The only difference was the Sentret was cursing up a storm, and Apollo remained silent. He had noticed Todd looking at something, but did not have enough time to evaluate and figure out what had happened.


1.5

The Sentret had finally tripped over on his own tail, and landed on his back. He had knocked the wind out of himself, so Apollo had enough time to jog over, and place a paw over the Pokemon's belly, and another on his throat. Although they were matched in speed, they were no match in size if you didn't consider the Sentret's tail into the equation. They were also not quite even in strength. That's right folks, Apollo has once again found himself with the upper hand in this situation. "Who are you?" The Sentret, quite confused, struggled to free himself before he realized Apollo had him pinned down. You see, the Sentret Pokemon is quite round in general, and laying on their backs makes it so their head and eyes are quite low, and he's look up and back, more than any other direction. However, he can see part of Apollo's arm now the one coming up from his throat. He can also see Apollo's face, which Apollo has promptly stuck in his vision. "I am Patrice." I know have a bit of time to ramble about this critter's coloring, which is black with yellow stripes. However, one of the middle stripes on his tail is white instead. Back to the story now, "And are you the leader of these rogues?" Patrice attempted a shrug, not really feeling like talking, but Apollo waited him out. "Ugh...I kind of am. Our leader is not a very good one, so sometimes I give orders. Not everyone listens though." Apollo nodded to his honesty, and thought he'd make a good leader. Perhaps in a different profession, however. "You realize stealing people's children isn't a very good idea, right?" Small flames sputtered out of Apollo's mouth, and landed a good deal on Patrice's face, making him squirm. "Well...it didn't start out that way. It started out by saving kids from bad parents, or picking up abandoned kids and give them to people who couldn't have kids. It all changed one day after a boy named Charlie in our operation stole a kid, and waited until someone posted a reward, said he took the kid away from whoever had taken it, got the reward, and told the rest of the group about it. Soon, everyone started to do the same, and the purpose of our whole team was lost. I stayed because a lot of my family is in that team. They've got a lot invested in it, and leaving means a visit from the real leader. So I protect their hides." Apollo was liking Patrice more and more as he spoke, he only hoped he could truly trust him. "So...I'm going to get off of you. How about you take us around, you must know this land better than I. Todd and I are here to rescue that Happiny, I'd like your help." Patrice snorted, "You want me to help? Help recover a piece of the team's prize, and give it to you? If you were offering a reward, it'd be a bit easier to agree." Apollo growled and got in real close to Patrice's face, "The reward is your life." Apollo had no intention of killing anyone, but he could scare the Sentret into think so, right? "Alright, I'll help you. But I think your partner is the one that needs the help right now, ok?"

You didn't think I forgot about Todd, did you? Where'd we leave off...oh yeah, teeth meets throat! Well, of course that didn't happen. Todd ducked at last minute, and as the Zigzagoon that may as well have rabies glided over our little hero, the little Pichu delivered a punch to the Pokemon's gut that was infused with sparks and thunder and all that jazz. The Zigzagoon went flying up a bit, and landed about 25 feet away. Todd began to run full speed towards the creature, and tackled him, releasing a Thunder Wave of the ages. Sparks and lightning rippled over the grasses, and Todd sat on top of the rabid Pokemon, panting. He grabbed the Zigzagoon's ear that was wounded and bleeding, "I am Todd, of Team Rapcha. We are here on a rescue mission to save a kidnapped Happiny, do you know where we might find her?" The Zigzagoon smiled, giggled, chuckled and snorted. "Can you even understand me?" A heavily breathing Zigzagoon chuckled a few more times, and then lifted his head a bit, a crazy eye searching wildly for a target, before finally landing on Todd's eye. Todd felt a strange vibrating feeling go through his body. Like his fur was getting all ruffled...and then he felt like he had melted...he felt like he had melted and was being wiped away by a giant towel or something. His eye sight went blurry, and then his mind went blank. Everything came back to him in tidal wave form, rushing his senses and sight back into full functionality. He shook his head, and stared at the Zigzagoon, which hadn't moved. It had just used Odor Sleuth on him, even though he wasn't a Ghost Type. Something was wrong with this Pokemon, and it clearly wasn't going to understand or help Todd, so Todd released a Thunder Shock move, which enveloped both of them, and both of them went for a joy ride of shocks and jolts. Todd thoroughly enjoyed it, but the same could not be said for the Zigzagoon, who was trying to use Flail all the while. Whether to harm Todd or just throw him off, I can't say. Well I could, but it's better this way, I promise. The Zigzagoon finally lay still, and Todd stood on top of him, emotionless, and sparks still flickering on his cheeks.


1.0

"Hm. I don't think Todd needs my help in the slightest, but thank you for your concern, Patrice." Todd did not look over at the two, but knew they were there. He got off the fainted Zigzagoon, giving his eyes a second glance. They were spiraling and he looked down. Ooze and drool dripped from his mouth, and a river of blood was carving it's way into the Zigzagoon's mountains and canyons of sticking up fur. It was like watching history on fast forward or something. The red color got to be too much though, and he turned to Apollo, and waited for an explanation as to why his battle enemy was still up and moving. Although he knew the intensity of the explanation might make it a speech instead. "Now, Patrice, this is my partner, Todd. Todd, this is Patrice. He told me a lot about what's going on, and I think you'd be interested. The whole idea of their team in the first place was not unlike our own, it got corrupted however, and Patrice is just in it for his family. Or so he says, but I believe him." Todd was surprised that Apollo had summed it up, and not fully explained everything. His eyes slowly drifted over to Patrice as Apollo had spoken, and Todd took to looking over his details. This made Patrice feel very strange, cause it strongly felt like the colorless Pichu was staring at him, but when he looked him in the eyes, he swore he was looking right over his shoulder or something. Patrice tried to shake it off, but he was having a hard time with it. "Yes well, either way. In exchange for my life, I have given my word on loyalty for this mission. I shall help you find out what happened to the Happiny, and help you find Jane." Todd gave the slightest nod. So slight that Patrice rubbed his eyes a bit, his eyes hurting from straining. Apollo noticed Patrice's discomfort, and wondered just how well the two would get along.


0.5

"What was wrong with that Zigzagoon?" Patrice had gotten the lead, but Apollo couldn't stand to feel like he wasn't the Alpha, so was walking side by side with Patrice, with Patrice on his right. Without a blood trail to follow, it was mandatory to keep Patrice on their side of the team. He had to hope he wasn't just leading them to their doom. "Well...I'm not too sure. He got attacked by something last night, and he's been struggling all day. I kept telling him to take a break, slow down, but he didn't listen. He finally broke when you guys showed up." Apollo nodded, wondering what thing could have done that to him. It was then though that in almost perfect unison, Apollo and Todd's stomach betrayed them, and let out a loud, short growl. Apollo raised a paw and patted his belly. "Hold up a second, Patrice." Patrice listened, and looked wide-eyed while Todd unslung a bag from his shoulder, and extracted from it 3 juicy looking apples. He distributed the apples between the three of them, and Patrice looked big-eyed at them. "Really? Wow...thanks." Patrice chowed down on the apple, enjoying the taste. It wasn't too often he munched on an apple. It was mostly berries. Apollo and Todd finished their apples and munched on some berries, just to make sure they had just enough to make the whole mission. They wouldn't want to over-eat. and waste supplies. Patrice finished his and cleaned off each finger individually, savoring each one. "Yummy. My thanks again, Team Rapcha." Apollo lifted a lid just a tiny bit as they began walking again, giving Patrice a good size-em up look. Apollo closed it again and went onward, following Patrice but not allowing it to look it. Todd's eyes were down, no longer looking for blood, but to make sure not to step on any flowers.


3.5

It didn't take long after that for Patrice to put a paw out, halting Apollo and Todd. Apollo didn't like this, but said nothing about it, instead he looked ahead, trying to figure out why they had been halted in the first place. Patrice leaned in, spoken in a hushed and rushed voice, "Alright. Right up ahead is our main base. It's underground, but I don't need to go in to get information. It's best if you stay over here, while I go try to figure out where this Jane may be, or at least the Happiny." Apollo wanted to protest, but the Sentret vanished before he could. The sun was beginning to set, giving the meadow a pinkish-purple tint to it. Where the Sentret was headed was a patch of wood, it seemed. There were some tiny tree's and some big bushes, something the team hadn't really seen. There also seemed to be a pond not too far off. While Apollo was taking in their surroundings, Todd pulled on his arm. Apollo looked over, and saw Todd looking forward, into the distance. Nothing new, right? Apollo attempted to follow the gaze, and what he found was two Pokemon, headed right towards them. Apollo lowered himself a bit, very very slowly. Todd didn't need to do this, since the grass was so tall. Seeing no reaction from the two coming towards them, he had a feeling they hadn't seen the team yet. They would walk right into them soon though, so Apollo glanced at Todd, and whispered, "Ambush." Todd made no reaction, but Apollo had a feeling he understood, and just did not want to risk giving away their position. The one headed right for Apollo was a big looking Rattata. The one headed for Todd was a Treecko, not much bigger than Todd himself. Todd tried to keep the sparks from erupting from his body, not wanting to make any sounds. Not that it mattered now so much, the pair were not more than 10 feet away from them! Apollo let his fire erupt on his back, so Todd decided to stop trying to hide as well. The Team leapt into action, both of them tackling their opponents to the ground. The Rattata shrieked in fright, and the Treecko grunted, barely showing any real emotion...Hey, wait a second! That makes him almost a perfect match for Todd!

Apollo first. The Rattata was surprisingly huge for it's kind, and got Apollo off of herself in an instant. "What are you doing here?!?! This is OUR territory!" Apollo growled, "YOUR territory?! I believe it belongs to the Pokemon of the Meadow! Not you!" The female Rattata went in with mouth open, fangs glowing. Apollo knew it would be a hard hit to take if he got bit, so he fidgeted out of the way, narrowly missing a Hyper Fang attack, but the Rattata hit the ground hard and turned on her heel as fast as possible, launching herself in again, and sinking a Bite attack on the back of Apollo's neck. Apollo let the flames on his back grow with intensity and engulf his opponent. The heat eventually proved too much for the Rattata, she pushed off and snarled and spat. Apollo turned, facing his opponent. "Give up now, for I will win." The Rattata's eyes squinted and she leapt into the air, paws outstretched and flailing them around, her claws waiting to meet flesh. But flesh they would not find, since Apollo slid to the side, and then jumped, putting a paw on the back of the Rattata's head and slamming her into the ground. He released an ember attack to her backside. It was a direct and close hit, so the Rattata squirmed and went limp, but she was not done yet, oh no. She wiggled again, this time getting out of the way of Apollo's second ember attack, just narrowly missing the flame, although she could feel the heat licking at her cheeks. She turned and ran a bit, growing a gap. She put her paws together and closed her eyes, focusing her energy. She was going to feign a sucker punch, and go on in for a Hyper Fang attack. Could she pull it off? It was a big switch...However, Apollo had the same idea. He was going to go in with a Quick Attack, close the gap, and give her a face full of fire. Once again, a flash of white occurred as the two opponents met in the middle. The Rattata's Hyper Fang had landed, and a sharp, large, shark-like tooth dug into Apollo's neck, it looked vaguely familiar to a Vampire attack, but it did not last long, as Apollo let his fire blaze up on his back, and once again the Rattata could not take the heat, and she let go. Her mistake was pushing off of Apollo, as this put her right in front of him. Apollo let out an Ember attack, his flame getting her mostly in the face, but her whole body was pretty submerged in the attack. As The Rattata found her feet again, she staggered. Her eyes were dulling, and she was getting dizzy. She tried to focus on Apollo, but ended up tipping over with a sigh, hitting the ground with a small and graceful 'thwump'. Her tail gave a twitch, and that was the end of that. Apollo looked up and around for his partner Todd, but what he found was a Team of Rogues, all riled by the sound and smell and sight of battle, and staring at Apollo with pure rage.


3.0

"You ready?" Although you may have perceived the Treecko's words as cold and harsh, I assure you they weren't. He spoke in a dull monotone, not unlike our own Todd. Also, don't mind the pink. I was running out of colors. Todd answered not with words, but instead with a Thunder Shock attack. It wasn't strong or on target, it was just meant to signify Todd's readiness, and that even though it looked it, Todd was not taking this battle lightly. No, instead he began charging in, and Treecko followed in suit. What was it with this mission and head on collisions? Either way, their heads never met, instead Todd charged up his lightning, and let out a Thunder Shock when the two were close enough. He had jumped into the air to release his move, and it cracked and fluctuated and hit its target, and I swear a sound not unlike bacon sizzling in a pan is what could be heard when the lightning hit the Treecko. The Treecko was unable to pull-off his own little maneuver, since the two never collided. Had they, the Treecko would have been able to land a sturdy hit to slow Todd down. He would have pounded his whole body into Todd, and got him on the ground. Had Todd gotten the wind knocked out of him, the Treecko would have ended it with a slam. The two are quite evenly matched however, and the next hit goes to Treecko, who made up for his lack of a landing attack last round, and charged after Todd once more. Todd needed a chance to recharge a bit, but this ended up being a weakness. Todd was fast, but he was slowed down as his electricity was building up once more. The Treecko took the opportunity. His paws pounded the ground as he went into a Quick Attack. As Todd regained speed however, the Treecko executed a Mega Drain attack. This caught Todd off guard, his breath was taken from him, and he felt as if he was being caught in a whirl wind…like all his limbs and flesh were being pulled away, not fast, but hard. Perhaps this was what it felt like to be flushed down a toilet? Trying to swim away but the rest of you still getting sucked and pulled one way by a very strong force…Todd reckoned being flushed down a toilet was a good analogy, as he tried to suck in air and could not. Even his air was being pulled away from him. Finally the grasp on him lightened, until it faded all the way away. He fell to a knee, and put a fist on the ground. He huffed and puffed, trying to get his air back, but it didn’t take long before the Treecko landed his Quick Attack. Just as Todd had re-gathered himself, a green body collided with him, flying him into the air a bit, until he spiraled down. The Treecko was wiping his paws, staring at the patch of grass Todd had landed in. Satisfied with his work, the Treecko turned around. He began to walk away, and as he was closing his eyes in pride, a certain little Todd stood in front of him, chest puffed out and static on his cheeks. The Treecko didn’t see him however, and the two softly collided, lips locked. Of course Todd had not planned this, and both of the Pokemon’s eyes opened in pure surprise. Suffice it to say, this is the most emotion you’ll probably see from either of these two Pokemon. The kiss lasted a bit longer than it should have, but eventually the Treecko and Todd parted, and Todd watched as his opponent staggered and faltered. He tried to use another move, but Todd and I are both unsure of what he tried to do, since it looked like nothing other than a retarded jig. However, the Treecko hurt himself in the confusion, and Todd realized what had just happened. One of the moves Todd had, and had never tried, was Sweet Kiss. Giving the slightest, barely noticeable shrug, Todd ran forward, tackling his opponent to the ground and using Thunder Shock. The Treecko attempted to fight some more, but only kept hurting itself in it’s confusion. Not being able to snap out of it, Todd looked around, and saw that Apollo had already finished his fight. God how he hoped (on the inside, mind you. No signs on the outside) Apollo had not seen the kiss between him and the Treecko. He followed Apollo’s gaze a bit faster than normal, still not very quick for Todd’s too cool for emotions, and found a band of rogues watching them, and making their way over. Oh god, what if they saw? Todd looked back to the Treecko, and gave him a slap to the face. Why? Well…I have no idea.


2.5

After walking over to Apollo, the rogues had pretty much closed the gap between the two teams. The difference in size was quite a big one. "Patrice told us you two want to join the rogues." The Pokemon talking is in fact, a Chansey. She is of normal size, but her pink color is dull and she's got two black lines under each of her eyes. She looks like she's about to go into an intense game of capture the flag. Her black bandanna isn't around her neck, but instead around her belly area. She looks pissed. Apollo of course, looks kind of confused, but he snaps himself out of it. "Where is Patrice?" Apollo gave a quick glance around, and saw Patrice sneaking around some Pokemon in his way. Most of the Pokemon in the group, Apollo was just noticing, were segregated. Rattata's all together, Treecko's all together, Zigzagoon's all together, etc, etc. They were each in tight circles and a few feet apart from opposing circles. Apollo found this odd, and also learned that this Chansey was the only of her kind in the group of rogues. "I am right here, Apollo. I have informed this Chansey that you seek a prize that was taken from you, and that we'd like to help." The Chansey nodded, and looked over to the group of Bulbasaur. She grunted at them, pulling her head towards Apollo and Todd. The Bulbasaur hobbled over, two black bandanna's in his mouth. He dropped them at Apollo's feet, making a 'puhh' sound while doing so, letting Apollo know he did not approve of them, and found them disgusting. Perhaps because they were not citizens of the meadow? They were still technically trespassers. Apollo picked up a bandanna and handed it to Todd, who wrapped it around his head. Apollo smiled, and Todd looked at him, emotionless. He looked quite like a ninja, and Apollo decided just cause it didn't seem it, didn't mean Todd didn't have a sense of humor. Apollo did it traditional, and wrapped his around his neck. He didn't feel comfortable doing this, but how else were they going to be able to track down the poor little Happiny? The pinkish purple tint over the meadow was gone, it was growing dark, and fast. "Patrice has volunteered to take you around. I have given him permission, but Willy will also be accompanying you." Once again she nudged her head forward towards Apollo and Todd (grunting while doing so), and Patrice and an Oddish went forward. The Oddish was normal in color in size, but the leaves on her head were strange. Apollo couldn't place it, but I can, and there were 7 leaves, and they were positioned quite differently, and the leaves had ragged edges. Looked strangely like a pot leaf, to be honest. Patrice took the lead, just like before. Also, just like before, Apollo caught up, and took his place on the left. It took a long time for them to reach a point where they were out of sight of the rogues, who watched them off, for whatever reason. All the while, Willy talked nonstop, and Apollo found him incredibly odd. Todd knew it wasn't a boy, but of course, said nothing. He also showed no signs of anything, and didn't even try to hint to Apollo what he knew. Perhaps it was because he thought Apollo knew? Or was Todd's mind still just on that kiss? Really, he seems quite worried that Willy might speak of it, especially if Todd insulted him. Or her, rather. "Welp, sure are glad to be out of THAT joint for a while. Git me some air." (Haha, get the word play?) "Yes well, try not to lose focus on our mission, hm? You generally don't get to go on any, for the lack of attention you seem to have." The Oddish scoffed, "Well at least I'm not a freak like you! And it's not cause I lose focus, it's cause I git in trouble! That's me middle name, after all. Anyway, you. Flame boy. Whatchu lookin' for again?" Apollo didn't really want to talk to the rogue, or tell it any information. Especially because there was something about the rogue that he didn't like. "Did Patrice not tell you?" "You think I listen to a word that comes out o' his mouth? Pssha." "Maybe you'd get more assignments if you started listening, Willy." The Oddish scoffed again, but this seemed to bother him(or her) into being quiet. He was quite mad now. Patrice looked over at Apollo, and then back to the Oddish. Apollo understood, and the three Pokemon ambushed the Oddish. They weren't going to get anywhere while a real rogue was among them. With a Flame Wheel attack, a Thunder Shock attack, and a Fury Swipes attack, the little guy didn't even have a chance. Of course, it didn't happen in that order, but Apollo prefers it goes in order by rank, so...

Anyway, this is what happened. Patrice got into a bit of a playful banter with Willy, which ended up with him being real confused and frustrated. Patrice took the opportunity to go in with claws extended. Willy was caught off guard, and while Patrice executed this move 4 times, Apollo and Todd charged themselves up with thunder and fire. Combined, the move was powerful enough to have taken out a good deal of the group of rogues, but they used it on Willy and he was done. Out for the count. KO'd. Finished. The three reasoned they probably didn't have to be so harsh on the Oddish, but it was too late now. Too bad they had just knocked out Jane. Mary Jane. Haha, get it? But if Jane was with the rogues anyway...where was the Happiny? The Oddish probably could have helped, but he wasn't going to help any time soon. She, sorry. But the trio did not know this, and so held up a bit of a meeting.


2.0

"Now, that big ol' Chansey you saw is the leader of the whole operation. Her name is unknown to us, so she tells everyone to call her Big Hoss. And that is all I've ever known her as. She did not trust my story about you guys, and that's why sent Willy to go with us. She gave me a lead though, about the Jane you guys described. She's supposedly not too far from here. That's why I didn't want to get rid of Willy until we were close to where we wanted to be. No reason to cause suspicion, and we may have been followed for a while, since Big Hoss didn't seem to trust me." Patrice got up and walked over to the Oddish. He grabbed up some leaves, and started walking. "We're taking him?" Patrice nodded, "If we leave him, and he is found, she'll have my hide for it. At least if we bring him and get caught, I can just say he lost in a fight. Happens all the time. Another reason he doesn't usually get to work the field. Big Hoss said he's part of this case somehow though, so she was partial to sending him with us even though I protested." Todd's ears flopped, he didn't really want to speak up, but it seemed important now, "That's a girl." Apollo and Patrice stopped in their tracks and looked at Todd, and collectively asked 'what?' in rather astounded voices. Todd pointed at the Oddish. Apollo and Patrice closely inspected the Oddish, and found out indeed the Oddish was female. Her voice wasn't manly, but it certainly had been more male-like than female-like. It was also bigger in size in the muscle areas, causing a very masculine look(and voice). Patrice fished out an Oran Berry out of his bushy tail, and looked at Apollo, "Should I give it to er...it? Wake it up?" Apollo looked skeptical, but waking up this Oddish may lead them right to their Happiny. Apollo gave a nod, and the deed was done. Patrice pushed it into the Oddish's mouth, and grabbed it by the chin. He made some chomping motions happen by pulling and pushing of the Oddish's chin, and soon it's eyes fluttered open, making Apollo and Patrice exchange glances. The two had taken the liberty of grabbing a leaf and a leg each of the Oddish, knowing it was about to freak out a whole bunch. "OHMIGOD OHMIGOD! LET GO OF ME!" Apollo and Patrice held on, without too much struggle, "Calm down and then we'll talk, and maybe think about letting go." It took a good long while for the Oddish to calm down. The moon was nice and high in the sky by the time she exhausted herself. "Ok. Now, thanks to Todd here, we've discovered your true gender. I'm guessing your name isn't Willy?" The Oddish spat and struggled again for a moment, before the heavy panting set in again. Todd padded over, and let a charged up hand touch the Oddish right near to mouth, shocking the Oddish. "We'll paralyze you, if we need too. We took you out with ease last time, we can do it again." The Oddish stopped squirming, and waited until her breathing returned to normal before speaking again, "No, my name is not Willy. It is Jane. Mary Jane." Patrice spat at her feet, "Then you are who were are looking for. Where is the Happiny?" Mary Jane smiled, and spat right back at Patrice's feet. "You color me stupid, fool. I did what I had too. This guild is all about stealing and framing and making money. I'd steal kids, get the rewards, and take them right back. I acted under alias', I gave the kids to me instead, get double to triple the reward for the same kid. That little Happiny though...quite the handful, and a talker, more than the others." Apollo had a fire burning in his throat. Oh did he want to harm this Oddish, and oh could he. A fire type attack could end this grass type with one hit already, but the fire in his throat was enough to take down the whole meadow! Not that he really noticed, he was too focused on the Oddish to notice. "Tell me where she is, Mary Jane." Jane had a smirk on her face that would be ear to ear if she had them. "And what do I get, as a reward?" Patrice chuckled at that, "Reward? I don't tell the others about what you did. How you were scamming them, keeping whole portions to yourself." This made the Oddish's smile fade, and quick. "That seems quite fair, actually." "So you'll take us to the Happiny then?" The Oddish nodded, and Apollo let go. Patrice let go of everything but a leaf, "Lead the way." Mary Jane grimaced as Patrice pulled the leaf taut, and began to walk, it seemed like she knew where she was going. Though how could Apollo be sure it was right into an ambush instead? The rogues must have camps set up all over...right? But Patrice would know of them, and know they were being led to one. And Mary Jane sure didn't want her trick to be revealed to the others, because then she wouldn't be able to do it anymore, she'd be out a lot of money. She sure wasn't as stupid as she made Willy out to be.