Pokemon: Expedition Acahra [IC/PG-16]

[LordCowCowCowCowCowCowCowCow]

~OOC Thread~

 

 

 

~Pokemon: Expedition Acahra~

 

~A Zai RP~

 

~Hosted By: Zai & Lord CowCow~

 

 

BGM: Waters Rising

 

It is but a mere three months since the world nearly saw its end at the hands of Kalos's ancient and terrible superweapon. The world of Pokemon is still reeling, frightened of what other great dangers may lurk below its surface. In this time of fear and discovery, eight intrepid individuals prepare to set out on the adventure of a lifetime. Incredible locales, ferocious creatures, and a treasure more powerful than anyone could have ever imagined await them down this road of danger and discovery. Though the journey may be long and the trials along the way nearly impossible to overcome, excitement and anticipation nonetheless fill the air. The next great chapter in the World of Pokemon is about to unfold!

 

 

“Welcome welcome, everyone!” The overly excited greeting came from a tall and thin middle-aged man standing in front of a small plane, with the Devon corporation logo splashed on it’s side. The group before the man was a strange assortment of many different kinds of men and women. Young and old, large and small, rough and soft, these eight seemed to only share one thing in common. They all were trainers.
The man didn’t seem to find anything odd with this group as he continued. “My name is Henry Gherkin and I was picked by the president himself to oversee your journey to Acahra.”
He took a deep breath and gave a big, cheap, smile. “You all have been chosen for this expedition based on your individual and unique skills. We have placed our trust in your ability to complete this mission and we are sure you will prove our choice was the correct one. Now, if you will follow me into the plane we can get this started.”
~~~
“Under each of your seats you will find information on the goal, as well as some description on the regions layout. Though, I’m sure it’s not nearly as good information as Miss Yoal could give us of course.” Henry smiled at the youngest of the females in the group, a dark skinned young lady, with a nod.
“Now.” Henry clapped his hands together. “If you need anything, I will be up front with the pilot. Get to know one another, you’ll be relying on everyone on this plane in the days to come.”
~~~
“Don’t look like much eh?” The pilot said quietly, glancing up for a second as Henry walked in.
“They should do just fine. If not we can always try again. Acahra isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.” Henry leaned back and let his smile drop as he plopped down on the seat beside the pilot with a grunt.
 

Zack was excited. He had a very very good feeling about this journey. He was sure he’d find a clue about Sein’s whereabouts, or maybe even Sein himself, soon.
Mr. Gherkin was a strange man, very friendly but also uptight. Weird combo but Zack was sure he was an alright guy.
The group looked like it could be a lot of fun. Most of them were older than himself, which he had expected. But several were near his age. They had had a basic introduction before arriving at the plane but he’d have to make sure and get to know them better as soon as possible.

The plane itself was small, but comfortable enough for all of them to fit inside. Zack glanced at his feet, where he had set his bag, and smiled. Part of him wanted to send out Yang to enjoy this flight with. But Zack had a strange feeling the curious Bug-Type would find some way of messing things up.

Mr. Gherkin had said something about information but he would get to that later. For now he turned to the person on his right and, with a grin, said “Yo I’m Zack, treasure hunter extraordinaire, you?”

[Dad]

Timothy

 

T.J. was admittedly a bit uncomfortable on the plane.  It was very lavish, plush, and, well, fancy.  This wasn't the type of thing he was used to.  Coming from the more broken streets of Orre, this was a serious upgrade.  Being in and out of old, dilapidated warehouses was embarrassing compared to this.  Taking the time to rub his fingers on the fine upholstery and examine the lush carpet, T.J. was admittedly taken aback.  He shook his head slightly, thinking to himself, "Devon Corp must be loaded".  Then, Mr. Gherkin spoke up again.

 

“Under each of your seats you will find information on the goal, as well as some description on the regions layout. Though, I’m sure it’s not nearly as good information as Miss Yoal could give us of course.”

 

Mr. Gherkin directed the group's attention to a dark skinned girl who was quite young, as far as T.J. was concerned.  She had long black hair and a pretty white dress.  Unfortunately, with where this group was going, it was likely to get dirty.  Apparently, she would be able to give the group better information later.

 

“Now, if you need anything, I will be up front with the pilot. Get to know one another, you’ll be relying on everyone on this plane in the days to come.”

 

After that, Mr. Gherkin disappeared from sight, into the pilot's cabin.  T.J. quickly reached under his seat to grab a white pamphlet, with Devon Corp written across it in bold letters.  The general tidbits that were written inside were just brief mission details.  Information about the Acahara region, details about something called "Mewite", and naturally, a short write-up of Devon Corp. itself.  He did his best to memorize what was in the pamphlet, before sliding it neatly into one of the side pockets of his Trainer Bag.  He sighed, just as a young man to his left turned to him.  

 

“Yo I’m Zack, treasure hunter extraordinaire, you?”

 

He was a bit skinny, and had a fairly gentle look in his eye.  However, when he said he was a Treasure Hunter, T.J.'s opinion immediately changed.  Zack's hair was also black, but not very long.  He seemed to have a fairly solid build on him, and probably was good at what he loved.  "Treasure hunter huh?" T.J. thought.  "Me and him are gonna get along just fine."  T.J. extended a hand, before getting to his feet.  "Uh, my name's Timothy Damascus Green Junior.  But, uh, T.J. is cool, and preferred honestly.  Nice to meet you all," he said making sure he took the time to look each other individual trainer in the eye.  He refrained from mentioning that he was a street thug attempting to change his ways.  Mostly because it wasn't a good look for a first impression.  After shaking Zack's hand, he turned to his right and offered a handshake to the next trainer in the half-circle of seats.  Of course, when he went to shake the other trainer's hand, an orange and red fur brushed against his palm, and a pair of eyes met T.J.s own.  Helios was just waking up, as he had fallen asleep on the floor beside T.J. as the plane took off.  

 

The Arcanine sat up, looking around the plane.  It stretching its paws into the carpet, before moving to the front of T.J.'s seat, and sitting down proudly at T.J.'s feet.  "And uh, this is my boy Helios.  My closest friend and comrade."  Helios looked up at T.J. at the mention of his name.  "Helios, speak," T.J. said pointing to the other trainers one at a time.  Helios went to each individual trainer, as T.J. pointed, and sat before them, lowering his head.  After returning to T.J., Helios leaped, and forced T.J. back into his seat.  He licked T.J.'s face, but Helios was so big, that T.J. had to have him sit down after a short time.  "Calm down," he said trying not to laugh too hard.  "Helios.  You're not a lap Growlithe," he whispered to the Arcanine.  Helios licked T.J.'s face again, before laying its head back in the carpet.  Taking a rag from his pocket, T.J. wiped his face.  "This is gonna be interesting," he thought.

[Sethera]

When she had stepped onto the plane, Sophia Joy hadn't had any particular expectations for quality. Sure, it was Devon sponsoring this trip, but that didn't mean much. She had learned enough from listening to her relatives complain that rich people could be stingy bastards as well. Though they are paying me enough for this...venture. The prospect of adventure had been the reason she had glanced at the recruitment poster. That and the mixture of greens and browns which had screamed "exploration." The money was a nice perk though. Nursing supplies didn't drop from trees, after all.

 

The pink-haired woman glanced around at the interior of the plane with interest. Normally, a bush plane would be the kind of aircraft used for an expedition (though their destination at the moment was a city, and not the wilderness), but their ragtag group had a few too many people to fit on such a thing. Instead, Devon had commissioned a larger plane (though still smaller than commercial models) that was decked out in all the fineries one should expect from a top-of-the-line company. The woman had nodded in satisfaction. No matter how much they were getting paid, they were risking their lives. And lives were priceless.

 

Large blue eyes settled on the man next to her. The nurse had chosen this spot for the view outside, but she didn't regret the inside view either (oh man, that sounded so wrong). But she couldn't help it. His skin...was the exact same color as peanut butter. She had seen people of all kinds of skin tones on her travels, despite the rather Asian slant most of those from her home region of Kanto had. She had seen those whose skin reminded her of rich chocolate, of a smooth espresso with a hint of cream, and others who looked like they could be the next Peach Boy. But peanut butter...well, one couldn't deny its deliciousness.

 

Her stomach grumbled, jolting her from her stupor. Ah, she was hungry again. Well, it had been only two hours since her last meal. She patted her stomach ruefully. It was unlikely that she'd get any food until they reached the city.

 

Oh, had she been drooling? That was embarrassing.

 

Wiping her mouth discreetly, the pink-haired nurse forcefully tore her gaze from her peanut buttery neighbor, craning her neck around to glance at the other passengers. The seats were arranged in a half-circle with one front row and one back row, like a double smile. An aisle split down the middle of both rows like a scar splitting down the center of the smiler's face. And the people sitting in the seats...well, all she had to say for that was diversity central.

 

The woman turned her neck back around when it started to hurt. How obvious had she been? Very? Oh well. She turned to the window, attempting to distract herself from hunger by the view outside the window.

 

Yes, she had gotten the window seat. Right side, front row. Best. Spot. Ever. She smiled, glancing down at water below. It was getting harder and harder to make out details as the plane rose. Soon they'd be over the clouds. The woman preoccupied herself with that for a while, smiling like a loon as she shifted in her seat. Traveling...was always nice. So much more fun than staying in a stuffy old Center shooting Pan Am smiles at a bunch of brats who wouldn't know how to properly care for their Pokémon even if she slapped them in the face.

 

Her attention diverted from the window at a cheerful exchange to her left. The young, black-haired boy whose eyes glittered like black coins had introduced himself to her neighbor as Zack. The neighbor had then proceeded to introduce himself as TJ to everybody else. He had even made sure to glance at them all in the eyes respectfully. She nodded when his dark eyes had met hers. Thankfully, they didn't remind her of food, so she was saved any embarrassment on that end. When he went to shake her hand, he was distracted by the Arcanine at his feet.

 

The pink-haired woman grinned at the sight, nostalgia sweeping her up for a second. This was a familiar Pokémon from home, though its pre-evolutions were more common, often seen running at the side of the various Officer Jennys.

 

"My name's Sophia. Sophia Joy," she greeted both her neighbor and the boy next to him, though she glanced around at the others as she did so. "Nice to meet you."

[Ren✧]

Maks was feeling a bit nervous when stepping onto the plane. He wasn't a huge fan of confined spaces and the idea that this confined space would be hurtling through the air wasn't exactly a welcoming thought either. "Tota!" Sid urged from atop Maks' head, dramatically pointing onward as he encouraged his trainer further into the belly of the aircraft. Taking a deep breath, Maks found a seat on the plane and listened to Henry briefly address the group that had been assembled for the expedition before disappearing towards the front of the plane, presumably going to sit with the pilot.

 

Sid, meanwhile, had already gotten a hold of the envelope of information that Henry had mentioned, plopped himself down on Maks' lap and went about tossing the various pieces of paper every which way. "SID! Stop that!" Maks chastised the water type Pokemon, furiously scrambling to pick up the papers that now laid strewn about the cabin of the plane, his face growing a bright shade of red as other members of the expedition stared. After collecting all the papers, he quickly shoved them back into the envelope and laughed nervously.

 

"I'm Sid," Maks incorrectly introduced himself to the nearest person, which just so happened to be the woman that Henry had said might have some information about Acahra, "I-I-I mean...I'm Maks! This is Sid." He corrected himself, his face turning an even brighter shade of red. He couldn't quite meet the woman's eyes, and instead settled for looking over her left shoulder as he offered her his hand.

 

"Off to a great start as usual..." He thought to himself.

[Asriel Dreemurr]

Doctor stone paid little attention during Gherkin's spiel.  As far as he was concerned, he already knew everything he needed to concerning the journey itself and the information Devon Corp. had to provide them with, and so the talk was uninteresting at best.  What was interesting was his position as the oldest member of their little group.  It wasn't hard to pick out that those around him were much younger than himself, they wore their youth upon their sleeves.  On the one hand he was amused, as the thought that most of his fellow adventurers, my that was an overly romantic way to think of them wasn't it, were still in grade school while he was working on his dissertation was a bit funny.  On the other hand, he was bemused due to his apparent need to play the part of the chaperon.

 

In any case, the pre-flight talk was finished up fairly quickly and they were given some time to get to know each other.  The others seemed eager enough for the moment, and so the archaeologist decided to leave them be.  He took a moment to remove a small leather-bound book from his pack, and opened it up.  While the others were relying on the reliability of Devon Corp.'s sources to learn about Acahra, he had managed to acquire a source of his own.  It was a copy of the journal the first outside explorer had taken when entering the region, and it contained a number of wonderfully detailed illustrations of temples and accounts of meetings with the natives.  In fact, it even made mention of some of the temple sites which were still in use!  It also had a rough, hand-drawn map dominating a large page which folded out of the back, on which those discovered sites had been marked.  Of course the fact that it was a copy, and the fact that the original had been somewhat deteriorated at the time of the copying, left a great deal unmarked.  All the same, it would serve its purpose.

 

A map of the region was found in the supplies they had been provided with, and a pen was quickly taken out to begin making the necessary modifications.  The region was still largely unexplored, so this journal he had with him was the best bet they had.  Using the map where he could, and references in the text to landmarks which were near the various sites, he began marking down the areas in which the sites could be located.  He didn't expect that their guide would know the locations of them all, so he put down what he could.  He was especially interested in a pair of temples.  

 

The first was the largest site described in the journal, and which the associated sketches told him was a place where the ancients had worshiped Mew.  This was especially interesting thanks to the accounts of Pokémon being brought there and evolving during rituals performed by the natives, with one or two accounts of seemingly permanently Mega-Evolved Pokémon acting as temple guards.  That was an especially interesting tidbit.  The second was a notably smaller site which, at the time of the original exploration, had fallen into disuse.  It would not have been worth investigating if it were also dedicated to Mew, but it was dedicated to a legend which Stone knew personally.  Furthermore, this small shrine to Celebi bore some resemblance to the one in Orre's Relic Forest.  At least it did if the description was to be believed.  Unfortunately, those two sites were also the ones with the least detail with which to guess at their location.  Both were deep in the jungle, and essentially impossible to see until one was upon them thanks to the thickness of the brush.  The original explorer had been lead to the large temple by a native, and they had more or less come across the shrine to Celebi by accident.  Finishing his marking the map, he put both the journal and his now annotated map away and looked around to see that the others had a number of their Pokémon out, which brought a smile to his face.

 

"You know," he began as he spoke to all those around him, "I would let my own oldest friend out, but then the rest of my team would get jealous and want to come out too.  I doubt this plane could handle a Steelix coming out to play."

[Dad]

Timothy

 

Another younger boy spoke up, speaking to the girl that Mr. Gherkin had mentioned earlier.  He had clumsily introduced himself as his Pokemon, before quickly correcting himself.  That must have been embarrassing.  He responded as "Maks", and his, who T.J. assumed to be, signature Pokemon, Sid.  The young lady next to Maks introduced herself as Itzel, and her good friend Palli.  Palli was a Golett, while Sid was a Totadile, neither of which T.J. had actually not come across before.  This fascinated T.J. because of the few Pokemon he had come across already, but excited him at the same time.  Meeting new Pokemon was always fun, and he was sure to do so on this journey. This journey, which would possibly decide the history of both Pokemon and humans alike, was the first time T.J. had done something selfless in a long time.  

 

And speaking of history in his brief time at Phenac University, T.J. was lucky enough to study a bit into Pokemon History.  He learned about the various types of Pokemon that existed across the world, and how you would nearly always discover new Pokemon, wherever you went.  One of the last lectures T.J. had attended was a look into Pokemon Shrines, with a dissertation by an older gentleman.  From what T.J. could recall, his name was Stone.  When an older man spoke up shortly after Itzel and Maks, T.J. recognized his face.  It was the same face as the one plastered onto the presentation of the dissertation of the Relic Shrine.  T.J. didn't want to make things awkward, and hesitated at first.  Fortunately, T.J. was able to brush off that moment of hesitation, and spoke up.  "Say, old man," he said as politely as he could.  "Ain't you that Professor or Doctor or something or other who did the uh, dissertation on the Relic Shrine?  Over at Phenac Uni?  Stone, right?"  Helios raised an ear when T.J. mentioned Phenac University, but kept his head down.  He was too busy moving his eyes between watching Totodile enjoy itself, and quietly observing the curious Golett.  Keeping its head low, Helios closed his eyes, but perked up his ears, carefully listening to the sounds around him.  

 

The excited grunts of Totodile, the silent fumbling of a map by Golett, the nervous heartbeat of Maks, and his own trainer speaking with another.  Helios enjoyed listening to his surroundings, and it soothed him.  It reminded the Arcanine of sitting outside of T.J.'s bed, back in Orre, and listening to the crickets chirp.  The cars would zoom by, and the occasional bark from another Pokemon were natural to him, but this change was almost as nice.  Meanwhile, T.J. motioned over to Doctor Stone.

 

Offering a hand, T.J. spoke up.  "Timothy.  Uh, you can call me T.J.  Hell of a paper you wrote.  I wasn't at Uni too long, but that was a good read," he said shaking the Doctor's hand.

[LordCowCowCowCowCowCowCowCow]

Seemed everyone was starting to get to know one another, this was good, very good. Zack couldn't help himself from grinning like an idiot. He had been traveling alone far too long and had forgotten how good it felt to have a group around.

The thought brought to mind an old friend who, looking at the several pretty women on this plane, Zack was sure would've loved to be in on this. It's too bad he couldn't come with, a familiar face would help.
Only thing to do about that was meet some new faces. If there weren't familiar faces around, he would make some instead.

"So, you're a Joy then? That's cool. The Joy's have always been nice to me no matter what region I'm in. Good to meet you. Course...I suppose...might have met you before. Er, no offense but you all kinda..." Zack decided to stop talking before he made it any worse. "A-anyway, nice to have you on board." Laughing cheerfully to try and make the situation less awkward, Zack looked around at the others.

It seemed everyone had their partners out and about, so Zack decided he'd do the same. But which one...Yang and Jingle were a certain no. He didn't feel like dealing with their hijinks while flying above the water. Requiem might just scare some of the others and Fiesta would be better suited to a larger location they could strut their stuff.
That left Kit or Fern. There was always trouble with male Pokemon when Fern was around, so until he figured out the gender of his allies it might be best to keep her in the Ball.

Kit could do with some interaction anyway. "Alright Kit come out and say hi to everyone." The red light flashed and his Pokemon was released from the ball.

But it wasn't Kit, it was Requiem. The large Ghost type filled the walkway in the middle of the seats, staring at everyone with an unintentionally imposing look. Even Zack got shudders sometimes when the Dusknoir was around, he hoped it didn't startle anyone.

But why...Oh right. "Kit we're not in a battle you can go back to normal." Upon hearing his words the Dusknoir shimmered and in its place was a much smaller Zoroark.
She looked at Zack with a panicked expression and ran over to him, cowering at his feet.
"Ah, sorry girl. I forgot I was getting these fixed." He hurried into his bag and pulled out Kit's Blackglasses. As soon as he put them on her, she straightened up, looking around at everyone with a cocky grin on her face.

She was in "superhero" mode now, which would make it much easier for her to talk to the other Pokemon.

Zack would leave her to that, he was on a mission. There had been a couple others who hadn't introduced themselves. Zack couldn't have that. They had to get to know one another to work well together. So he went over to the nearest one and held out his hand to shake. She was a young woman with dark hair and glasses, looked like some professor or something. Something seemed strange about her, she looked more...mature than her young looks would imply. Curiosity nagged at him but he figured it’d be best to avoid prying for now. "Name's Zack, seems we're about to have quite the adventure hey?"

[Sethera]

"So, you're a Joy then? That's cool. The Joys have always been nice to me no matter what region I'm in. Good to meet you. Course...I suppose...might have met you before. Er, no offense but you all kinda..."

 

Sophia bared a sharp-toothed grin at the boy. It was kind of cute, how he tripped over his words. Yes, her family all looked alike, but the woman liked to think that she looked a bit...different. Or at least gave off a different atmosphere than her milder relatives.

 

The boy attempted to recover from his stumbling. "A-anyway, nice to have you on board."

 

"Thanks, and same to you," she nodded and smiled, a nicer one this time.

 

After this, the boy released what looked to be a Dusknoir, staring imposingly at everybody. Sophia felt a shiver of fear run down her spine. She absolutely hated ghost types. Well, it's not that she hated them really, but hated how normal-type moves couldn't affect them. Sure, it was a two-way road, but that didn't stop her from fearing what they could do to her team. Back when she only had the one Pokémon, she had had more than a few unpleasant encounters with them, and had been unable to retaliate. Panacea only knew the one attack move, and it was normal type. For that reason alone, she had made sure to have her other Pokémon learn a non-normal move.

 

Even now, she couldn't face a ghost without her hands twitching, the only sign of fear she allowed to show beyond the dilating of her pupils.

 

When the air surrounding the Dusknoir shimmered, and a fearful gray fox appeared in its place, the woman couldn't help her sigh of relief. Hopefully nobody saw her loss of composure. She prided herself on her professionalism. The fear remained, however. If it weren't for the fact she was worried about what too much extra weight would cause on the plane, she would send out one of her own Pokémon--ah screw it. She needed the bright energy of Apples right now.

 

Taking out a ball, she pressed the button, and with a flash of white light, a Wigglytuff appeared, bouncing on the balls of its feet cheerfully. "Wiggly!"

 

Taking comfort in the presence of her beloved Pokémon, Sophia rubbed her soft pink curl. "Hey, Apples. Why don't you go introduce yourself to the others?"

 

With a nod and another bounce, the Wigglytuff started hopping from one person or Pokémon to the next.

 

Feeling a bit better about the situation, the nurse reached for the pamphlet under her seat and started reading. Now that the moment of fright had passed, her hunger returned, but she steadfastly ignored it. Unless this plane had food, she was going to have to grin and bear it. In addition, she should probably read up on the situation they were going into, though she knew a little already from chatting with the interviewer.

 

Flipping the packet open, she scanned the lines slowly, taking care to absorb everything she could. Not that she was going to rely on memory alone. After she finished, the pamphlet was going into her bag.

 

Done reading, the nurse put the packet away and looked out the window again. Having a window seat meant less chances to be sociable, but she didn't mind. They were going on an expedition after all, so there was plenty of time to get to know the others later.

[Ren✧]

The girl introduced herself as Itzel, a bit of an unusual name. Of course, it wasn't like Maks could judge on that aspect, considering that his first name was Maksim and the idea of spelling out his last name was a daunting task for anyone. Itzel then gestured to statue-esque Pokemon that Maks hadn't noticed before. A Golett, he noted. The Golett, whom Itzel had introduced as Palli, was studiously surveying a map of what Maks assumed to be the Acahra region. If only Sid could be that disciplined, he thought, as the rambunctious Totodile clambered on top of Maks' head and playfully pulled at his hair.

 

"Everyone here was brought in because they're good at something, right?  How about you; what are you good at?" Itzel inquired, making Maks a little uncomfortable. He hadn't put much thought into who he introduced himself to, but now that he had, he realized that he probably shouldn't have chose a girl, especially one as pretty as Itzel. His heart twittered with anxiety as he briefly met the dark-skinned girl's eyes before quickly focusing on the spot over her shoulder again.

 

"I'm, uh, pretty good at surfing...I mean surviving!" He corrected. "Err...what I mean to say, is that I've spent many years exploring the various regions. There isn't much that I haven't seen." Maks clarified, just barely touching the edge of boasting. "So, uh, what about you? Why'd that Henry guy say you might be able to tell us a little more about the Acahra region?" 

[Tesability Black]

Bored.

 

Bored. Bored. Bored.

 

A woman dressed in simple black clothing was looking out the window near her seat, her elbow resting on the edge and her chin resting in the hand on the same arm. She looked out through the window and onto the white, fluffy clouds outside, wondering if clouds could even be felt by human skin.

 

A click sounded right next to her, followed by a brief flash of light that became a larger one after only a moment. She didn't need to turn her head.

 

"Hello, Tayla."

 

She already knew what that light was.

 

"Hello, Rna," the woman, Tayla, responded to the newly-formed human now beside her, the note of boredom extremely-obvious by now. It would be strange to see two of the same person on the plane, though the strangeness reduces slightly when one realizes that Tayla had on her person a Ditto.

 

"Bored again," she heard the double teased before feeling a finger poke into her shoulder, prompting a low growl to leave the huntress' throat.

 

"I've never been one for flights," Tayla simply responded, never once moving from her position still.

 

"Suit yourself," she heard before seeing what looked like a double of herself leaning forward and looking out the window with a confused look. "Is that Cysero outside?"

 

At the mention of the artificial Porygon-Z's name did Tayla jolt up, looking in all directions beyond the window next to her to finally catch a splotch of pink and blue flying next to the plane, for now doing really nothing...but she could see the grin from there. The space duck had a scheme and Tayla did not want to find out what it was.

 

"Cysero, get back in here now," she ordered of the Porygon-Z outside the plane, seeing it make a motion that could be seen as an equal to snapping its miniscule fingers before flying back towards the plane, digitizing itself through the wall to get itside...

[LordCowCowCowCowCowCowCowCow]

“So that’s the plane then? You are sure correct? We don’t want any mistakes.”
“Yes that’s the one. They wasted no time gathering a new group to send to their doom, kekeke.”
“They shall see how foolish their endeavors are soon enough.” The figure released a Pokemon, A large and imposing beast, and the next moment a hail storm formed around them all. Gesturing at the plane, they spoke one word. “Blizzard.”

Turning to the other person nearby they said, “Send some of our people to stir up the wild Pokemon in the area. We’ll leave it to them to rid ourselves of these vermin. I have other matters to attend to.” They returned the massive Pokemon and left, not even bothering looking to see the damage their command had caused.

[hr]

How Zack hadn’t realized he had been speaking to a Ditto, with the real trainer next to it, he had no idea. But he easily laughed off this mistake. Explained why she hadn't responded.
Before he could correct himself and speak to the trainer herself, the plane shuddered violently. He was thrown from his feet and tumbled to the other end of the plane. He was able to, quite literally, roll with it and was back on his feet quickly.
However there was obviously something wrong, as the plane now seemed to be spiraling out of control.
Mr. Gherkin stumbled out of the pilot’s cabin. “E-excuse me folks there seems to be a slight, that is, well...we seem to have hit a freak hail storm and the plane is now...crashing. So I’d advise you all to...abandon ship as it were.”

“Wait wait, aren’t there supposed to be some supplies for something like this?” Zack asked, struggling to stay on his feet.
“I hadn’t expected...this stuff never happens...I had to cut some corners with spending...and well...”
“You cut the parachutes, of all things!?” Zack shouted.
“Yes well, I don’t think this is really the time to debate my choice...now if you’ll excuse me...” Gherkin ran to the doors on the left side of the plane and threw them open, leaping out while sending out a Pokemon. “Elgyem, Psychic!”

“Er...right. Okay let’s get outta here!” Zack called out. He returned Kit and sent out a different Pokemon. This time it was the real Requiem.
This Dusknoir was able to take a Garchomp’s Dragon Rush, Zack was sure he could handle the crash landing. “Requiem here can hold two people inside of himself and keep them safe. I know, sounds weird, but trust me it’s not as bad as it sounds. Anyone who doesn’t have some way of getting outta here safely just go with him.”

Requiem gave Zack a worried look. “Don’t worry about me big guy.” He wasn’t about to bail unless everyone else was safe. The plane was going down fast and they all needed to figure something out right this instant.

[BANZAI!!!!]

Despite all of the commotion and conversation near the front of the aircraft, Zane Scalind sat mostly silent in one of the rearmost seats while his Charizard, Tobias, stared at him with a concerned face. There was a slightly crumpled letter in his hands, the contents of which put a rather noticeable frown on the ace trainer’s otherwise bright face. A concerned reptilian growl from over Zane’s shoulder caught his attention.

“I know Toby. I’ll be fine, don’t worry.” Zane put on a forced smile and patted his Charizard on the snout. It wasn’t like him to let something like this get him down, he realized, and a glance up from his seat quickly reminded him that this wasn’t the best way to make a first impression. Were these normal circumstances, Zane would be up at the front chatting things up with the group, and Toby would surely have indulged himself in whatever physical affection he could milk out of the other trainers. The thought of it took the fake-ness out of Zane’s smile; the dragon behind him still acted as if he was a Charmander, attempting to look as cute as possible to get his head scratched or petted by any passerby unfortunate enough to interact with him and not know what they were in for. He was a sweetheart, for sure, but Toby could get a little pushy when he was in a good mood, and being as big as he was now that didn't always work out for the best.

“I guess you want us to go introduce ourselves, huh.”

The Charizard’s eyes brightened up a bit. As if Zane had needed to ask. After stretching a little, Zane stuffed the letter back into his jacket pocket and stood up. By this point, the man at the front, who Zane had barely heard introduce himself before as one Mr. Gherkin, had finished speaking, and the other seven trainers up front and their pokemon had gotten to talking. Before Zane and Toby had made their way all the way up to the front though, Mr. Gherkin appeared once again.

“E-excuse me folks there seems to be a slight, that is, well...we seem to have hit a freak hail storm and the plane is now...crashing. So I’d advise you all to...abandon ship as it were.”

“Beautiful.”

 

It was a stroke of good luck that had got the trainers to this point.  Things went awry very quickly, unfortunately.  Before Timothy could conclude his conversation with the old man, Mr. Gherkin came bumbling into the room just as the trainers were getting to know each other.  He had something along the lines of, “we’re all going to die in a diving metal storm of hell”.  Not in those exact words, but the plane was crashing.

T.J. froze.  Crashing?  "What the hell do you mean 'crashing'?  What's with this bird?  Didn't you armor it!?"  He was used to the thought of putting armor around vehicles and self, what with all the burglaries and robberies he would witness.  This was shocking to him.  He straightened his face right away, staring at the emergency exit.  Gherkin was already making a run for it, using his Pokemon to escape.  T.J. could see the others preparing themselves.  A Charizard groaned behind its trainer, while a Dusknoir offered a ride.

"Well, he's got one good idea at least," he mumbled over the roaring winds.  "Helios, return!" T.J. called.  "Sorry buddy.  But you can't get hurt."  Fumbling over his belt, T.J. grabbed his third Pokeball, and tossed it out.  Out popped a Milotic, in all of its beauty.  She swirled around T.J., suddenly cautious at the trainers around her.  "Mickey.  Everything will be okay.  Right now, we need to get off of this death trap," he urged to the Milotic.  She whined, but she understood.  Mickey was a lengthy Pokemon, but by no means fat.  She could very well carry one additional trainer on her back, at most 3 if she forced herself.  Quickly, he began counting heads silently, just as another Trainer, who had apparently been hiding in the rear of the plane, made his presence known.  With him, came a Charizard.

There were seven others besides himself, that T.J. now knew of.  Surely a number of them had Pokemon who could float, fly, or hover.  Counting the now present Charizard, Dusknoir and Milotic, that secured six of eight people in total.  “I can take one more with me, as well,” he said mimicking Zack.

By this point, Zane and Tobias had made their way to the front with the rest of the expedition, having almost fallen over once or twice as the aircraft pitched and wobbled, its pilot surely trying to keep it airborne as long as possible. quickly, he spoke up, loud enough so that he could grab everyone's attention.

“If you guys need more room, Toby here can take someone down.” Zane fumbled with his bag for a moment, fetching a greyish pokeball with blue orbs covering its top half from his pocket: a heavy ball. Clicking the button in the center to increase the ball’s size, he dropped it on the floor, causing a Skarmory to appear from inside. “I can hitch a ride down on Kayra here, so don’t worry about me. Does that cover all of you?”

“So he speaks,” T.J. thought silently.  “That should about do it,” he said agreeing aloud with the newly appeared trainer.  “All we need to do now is confirm who’s who, so we know who to look for on the ground.  So if everyone could verify who they are, we can get the hell out of here.”  T.J. looked to Zane now, who he hadn’t seen until the terror that was now unfolding, happened to occur.  “How bout you my dude?  What’s your name?”  T.J. fumbled through his bag for a notebook and a pen, preparing to write down names.

“Yeah you know... take roll, do a little show and tell, then jump out of a plane. No big deal.” Zane let out a nervous laugh before responding to T.J. “I’m Zane. sorry I haven’t introduced myself yet. Pretty weird way to meet people, jumping feet first out of the sky.” Zane added, making yet another half-hearted joke in an attempt to help defuse both the tension and his own fear.

“We can take care of the formalities later.  I just wanna know who’s here, keep a head count of anyone who may end up getting lost in this s*** storm we’re about to go through.”  T.J. took down Zane’s name, and added Zack’s who he already knew.  He pointed to the darker skinned girl who Gherkin had mentioned before.  “Didn’t you say your name was Itzel, or somethin’ like that?” he said adding her name to the list.  Then he pointed to Doctor Stone with his pen.  “You.  I’m just gonna make sure I have Doc Stone on here,” he said with another stroke of his pen.  He went over now to the Joy, and the remaining trainers to get their names.  

“C’mon, no time.  Gimme your name so we can dive.  Let’s go,” he said trying his best to remain respectful but keep the urgency of the matter real.  “Once I have your name, find a way off this plane.  We’ll rendezvous on the ground.”

[Tesability Black]

Both the false human and the original began to look at each other before looking out towards the window to see the sudden storm outside.

 

"Well, someone thinks they're the master of weather, a lesson is about to be taught," Tayla remarked before looking towards her apparent twin. Both of them were ignoring the person that had approached the pair once the emergency began, though it could be understood later on as Tayla handed to her new double a Pokeball. "Rna, you and Battery get as many as you can to safety. Now."

 

"What about you," Rna belted out in shock towards Tayla, who turned to face her once more with a grin on her face and another Pokeball in her hand

 

"You think I haven't done this dance against Articuno?" With that did the real human run off, leaving the false one to shake her head and plant her hand under the fake glasses.

 

"Sometimes..."

 

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

 

The door was thrown open, causing her to become cut almost instantly by some of the shards of ice that was blowing around, which netted both an aggravated groan and shudder. "This can't be natural," Tayla muttered to herself as she enlarged the Pokeball in her hands, her black clothing doing nothing to block out the cold. "Predict, summon forth the sun with Sunny Day!"

 

Throwing the orb out of the plane, it released the tiny white Pokemon within, the little white cloud who opened her eyes to the ice-covered world around her.

 

And she didn't change into a form fitting of the icy weather around her, which caught the trainer's attention quick. Instead, a confused look appeared on the little Pokemon's face as it she tried to make sense of what she felt in the air before finally taking on an icy form fitting of the moment. Closing her black and beady eyes, the orb within the little Castform's body began to glow brighter and brighter before releasing it around her in a brilliant flash.

 

Tayla saw a fair number of stars upon that flash for a few moments before seeing a continued flurry of ice flying around despite the brilliant sun her Pokemon had now become and the light and heat that came from her.

 

This wasn't a true Hail, but a manufactured one.

 

"Use Weather Ball to defrost what you can with heat, I'll check how Rna and Battery's doing," Tayla shouted to the little Pokemon, whom made a quick salute with her clouds before getting to work on such a task...

 

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

 

"Battery, we've got a problem," the false Tayla belted out as she tossed up the Pokeball, revealing from within a large metallic Pokemon. The magnets to either side of the new Pokemon began to spin as it analyzed its surroundings, sensing the strangeness around.

 

"Conflicting phenomena detected. Both ice and fire detected in close proximity," the big Pokemon blankly remarked about the situation.

 

"She's already got Sunny Day go---wait, ice and fire?" Turning to face the crowd of trainers as they gathered into each other, the false human in black clothes sighed as she pushed her glasses up before clearing her throat. "If anyone needs a lift still, Battery here can lift a couple of people to safety," Rna shouted before hearing footsteps approaching her, the disguised Ditto's turning to reveal the real Tayla running up to her.

 

"Something's trying to wreck the plane," the human belted out. "Predict's Sunny Day didn't negate this storm!"

[Asriel Dreemurr]

"Say, old man,"  that caught Stone's attention, given that he was the only one on the plane who could qualify as old.  "Ain't you that Professor or Doctor or something or other who did the uh, dissertation on the Relic Shrine?  Over at Phenac Uni?  Stone right?"  That was a pleasant surprise.  Someone on this expedition who was actually familiar with his work?  He turned his gaze to the source of the voice, and found a young man who looked to be about the age to be finishing up an undergraduate degree.  Of course his choice of clothing was something to be considered, the man looked like a thug.  Not that that was uncommon in their homeland, even without the man having mentioned Phenac U he could tell he was from Orre.  Something about the place just stuck to all of its sons and daughters without fail, and to someone who could recognize it they stood out.  In any case, Stone took the young man's hand and his introduction.

 

"Pleasure to meet you, T.J.  It's always good to hear my work is appreciated."  Once the handshake was done, stone folded his hands back on his lap and just looked the younger man over for a bit, trying to get a sense of him.  He didn't get the chance to speak, however, as the plane was suddenly rocked by turbulence followed by the announcement that the plane was going down.  All the doctor did was sigh, this wasn't the first time equipment had been unreliable for him.  Nor, come to think of it, was the first time a plane had gone down with him in it.  In any case, there was no reason to panic.  Panicking would solve nothing, and it already seemed that many of the trainers present had methods of getting multiple people off the airplane.  That was good, as there was now enough available transportation to get everyone off.  The Pokémon that couldn't fly could go back in their balls, and now that Stone thought about it he should probably have brought one along that could fly.  Well, that's what he got for assuming things would go right for once.  There also proved to be a woman, a researcher by the look of her lab coat, that was running around and proclaimed that the plane was being brought down by someone attempting to destroy it.

 

"That's well and good to know, but right now you need to be getting the hell off this plane."  He stood up from his seat, and promptly shoved the woman onto her own Magnezone just to make sure she wouldn't be killed by her own need to bring up useless information.  Following that, he looked around at the Pokémon and promptly noticed the Charizard.  Approaching the large draconic creature, he gave a slight bow to him.  "Toby, yes?  Would you be so kind as to get me to the ground?"  Of course, he turned to look at Itzel and Maks.  "Unless of course you two are in more pressing need of this fellow's abilities."  In the mean time, he reached up to gently scratch the fiery beast on the top of its head right between the two protrusions at its back.

[Sethera]

Sophia Joy had been taught to not panic. It was part of her training as a nurse. Others were allowed to panic, perhaps, but she couldn't.

 

That was why, when she heard the plane was going down, the first thing she did was go around and check for injuries. She was fine, but injuries on any of them could be disastrous later. She also held back the part of herself that was running around like a headless Dodrio squawking: I don't have any Pokémon that can help me out here!

 

First thing she was doing after this. Catching herself a flyer. Something big and strong that could handle a storm of this magnitude. She had never needed anything like that before, but then again she had never been in a downing plane before.

 

Thankfully, the others didn't seem that injured, just in shock. A lot of them were already releasing their own flying or water Pokémon, and Mr. Peanut Butter--no, TJ was taking names on a clipboard. The pink-haired woman allowed herself to be impressed for a second before she inspected the available Pokémon. The Dusknoir was out of the question. No ghosts. Perhaps she could hitch a ride with the Charizard, Milotic, or Magnezone. It'd be quite unfortunate if I ended up stranded here without a ride, she thought sardonically, and her lips quirked into a smile. At least her sense of humor hadn't been lost in the panic.

 

With my luck, I'll have to choose between the ghost and death with the plane. Hmm...that's a hard one.

 

But more than saving her own skin, she wanted to help the others. The only problem was she might just be in the way at this point, when the main goal was to get everybody off as soon as possible.

 

"Perhaps it's best I just look for a ride off," she muttered to herself, and then approached the Magnezone. She remembered hearing the brunette in glasses talk about if anybody needed a lift. Well, she was one such person. "Hello, there, is it possible you could take me down as well?" she asked it.

[Ren✧]

Itzel's reply was cut short as the plane suddenly shook with such tremendous force that he was knocked off his feet. "Dammit."  He cursed, having to once again gather the papers that he had just managed to pick up. "Now what in Arceus's name was that?" He wondered aloud. Instinctively he gestured for Sid to climb on to his shoulder, Maks sensed danger and he didn't want the Totodile to be too far from him if things started to get out of control. 

 

Gherkin emerged from the pilot's cabin, his eyes clearly conveying panic. "E-excuse me folks there seems to be a slight, that is, well..we seem to have hit a freak hail storm and the plane is now...crashing. So I'd advise you all to...abandon ship as it were."

 

Maks wasn't sure whether he wanted to laugh or cry. The plane was going down? And they were expected to jump out of it? Things just got better as Gherkin revealed that they didn't have any parachutes. How was no one else freaking out? Was this a common thing for people to through? For Arceus's sake, he had been around the world several times and never had he had to jump out of plane. 

 

Several of the passengers began to step up, offering transportation to the ground. Still rattled, Maks merely shook his head when Doctor Stone addressed him. He was fairly confident that Leonidas would be able to navigate him to the ground with minimal damage. It would be a rocky descent, but he didn't want to trust his wellbeing to these people. It wasn't that they seemed to be an untrustworthy lot, it's just, well...he had known them for a total of half an hour. 

 

Grabbing the Great Ball from his belt that held his Scyther inside of it, he brought out the humanoid insect. "Scyther." Leonidas said nonchalantly, appearing totally at ease with the discord all around him. "Alright, I need minimum Taurus-shit from the two of you." Maks said, addressing Sid and Leonidas. "Sid, get in your PokeBall." He commanded. Immediately the Totodile began to protest, but Maks caught him off. "In. Now." Grumbling, Sid retreated into his PokeBall.

 

Noticing that someone seemed to be taking roll call before they prepared to jump, Maks stepped forward. "Maksim. Maksin Chmerkovskiy." He stated, trying to remain calm. "What more are we waiting on? Let's get off this screaming metal death trap!"

[LordCowCowCowCowCowCowCowCow]

It seemed that everyone would be fine, thankfully. And none of them would have to travel via Requiem. Probably for the best, it wasn’t the most fun way of travel. Most people tended to have some...issues upon exiting the Dusknoir-mobile.
Seeing as people were just about prepared, Zack figured it would be good to go first, so he could make sure everyone landed safely. “Oh, names. Zack Ultin. Now if you fine fellows would excuse me, I believe it’s a good time to head off.”

Looking at Requiem with a weak smile (he didn’t like this method of transportation much himself) he said “Alright buddy. You can handle a little drop right?” Requiem gave him a look that was part “Of course, are you serious?” and part “This is such a pain, you owe me one”.
“Course you can. Well, open wide.” He called to the group “Don’t worry about what you’re about to see, I swear it’s safe.”

 

The strange mouth-thing on Dusknoir’s body split, and opened up into a gaping hole. Zack always trembled upon seeing it, despite knowing it was safe. All that could be seen was a pitch blackness. A void that seemed to stretch infinitely. One that felt as if it were pulling him in...Though it really was only an area large enough to hold two people.
“Requiem, once I go in, get off the plane and brace for impact. If you need to, use Rest after you hit. Even if I’m still inside.” He paused just a moment for his Pokemon to nod in understanding and then he crawled inside the void.

Darkness surrounded him. He could hear vague and muffled noises around him but for the most part, he couldn’t sense anything. No smell, no sight, no touch, no taste. Just dark.
He felt a sudden impact, and knew that they had landed. There was nothing for a short while after and Zack worried that something went wrong.

And then he was launched out of the void and into a nearby tree. Zack flinched from the pain, but it wasn’t severe enough for any serious damage.
He was out of the plane but where in the jungle he had landed, he had no idea. Looking up he saw the plane, and could see the damage that was inflicted upon it. The entire wing was coated in a layer of ice. It couldn’t possibly be natural...

He saw a speck moving closer, from the plane. One of the passengers? No...the pilot! Zack felt a sinking in his stomach as he realized he had forgotten about the pilot. Luckily it seemed they had transportation of their own.
They were clutching a long steel pole. Which was held aloft by, of all things, a pair of Wingull. Zack watched in amazement as the improvised glider carried the man slowly towards the ground for a short while before turning his attention to Requiem.
 

“You okay?” It seemed that the fall hadn’t done any major damage. Zack was lucky to have such a bulky companion. That trade sure had been a good idea, all that time ago...
Stopping himself from reminiscing too much, Zack turned his attention back to the plane. He had to try and see where everyone landed.

 

An idea came to mind. “Requiem, use Will-O-Wisp up into the air, maybe that’ll give them some idea where we are.” It wasn’t the best plan but it was something. Now he could only wait and see what happened...and hope the wild Pokemon didn’t get to him before his companions did.

 

 

 

Unfortunately it may not be up to Zack. Even as Requiem used his move, eyes were watching them. Watching, and waiting, ready to attack at a moment's notice...

[Ren✧]

The owner of the Dusknoir was the first to make the jump. Having the Dusknoir open up its body to reveal a void of nothingness, its trainer, a boy named Zack, jumped right into it. A shiver went down Maks' spine. He was glad that he hadn't taken the offer to ride down with him. Being inside the Dusknoir definitely would have triggered his claustrophobia. Just thinking about it was making him nauseous. Or maybe that was the continuous pitching of the falling plane. Figuring that there was no sense in waiting any longer, Maks turned to Leonidas. "You ready for this?" He asked the Scyther. "Scy!" Leonidas nodded, trying to instill some confidence in his trainer. He would get them both to the ground safely. "Then let's go."

 

Leonidas embraced Maks, supporting him by lifting him up by his underarms. Without any warning, the Scyther leapt off the plane, his trainer letting out a cry of surprise as the cold wind and ice from the blizzard suddenly engulfed the pair of them. Fortunately, that didn't last long as the escaped the cloud of frozen death. Still, the wind whipped past the two of them as they descended, causing Maks' eyes to stream with tears. Leonidas furiously beat his wings, straining every muscle to support himself and his trainer. 

 

"Come on buddy, you can do it." Maks encouraged, but most of what he said was swallowed by the wind that continued to tug at them. The ground was approaching faster and faster, and suddenly Maks realized that he didn't know where to land. He would just have to make it to the ground and figure it out from there. 

 

"SCY----THERRR!" Leonidas gave one last effort to slow their momentum before they finally touched down. It was a rough landing that sent Maks crumbling to the ground. Rolling end over end, he groaned in pain as he finally stopped. He felt like he had just fallen a thousand feet...which of course, was pretty close to the truth. His entire body ached, but at least he was alive. 

 

Looking up from where he had landed, he checked to make sure that Leonidas was okay. The Scyther stood body, his eyes closed as he casually leaned up against a tree. "As usual..." Maks muttered to himself, "Always gotta look cool, don't you?"

 

Dusting himself off, Maks attempted to stand but yelled out in pain as he did so, falling to the ground again. His ankle now screamed in protest as he tried to put wait on it. It must have been injured in the landing. Whether it was sprained or broken, Maks couldn't tell. Regardless, he wasn't going to be able to walk on it as it was. 

 

Looking around, he noticed that they had landed in some jungle-like terrain. That was both good and bad. Good because it meant there was a lot of resources to fashion a splint. Bad because it also meant that there would be a lot of wild Pokemon in the area that could prove to be a danger if they were threatened. He would need to get moving. Grabbing some nearby sticks, he fashioned a make shift splint to keep his ankle stable by adding some bandaging from his pack. 

 

Tentatively trying to stand, he still winced in pain. Hopefully he would be able to treat it better once he joined up with his companions. However, he needed to get moving.

 

"Leonidas, return." Maks said, recalling the blade-armed Pokemon into the its Great Ball. Reaching for his belt, he selected another Pokeball. "Come on Brutus." He said, revealing the huge, lumbering form of a Bastiodon. "I need your help, bud." He said, clambering onto the Pokemon's back. As he did so, he spotted purple flames being launched into the sky. It appeared to be a Pokemon's Will-o-Wisp attack. "That must be one of the others." He said. Their signal didn't look like it was too far away. Getting situated, he urged the ancient Pokemon onward. Maks wanted to get to the others as soon as possible. 

[Tesability Black]

Tayla had to resist the urge to flip off the old man of the group for pushing her onto the top of her Magnezone and instead settled for glaring daggers at him.

 

"Hello, there, is it possible you could take me down as well?"

 

Thankfully, another had disturbed her string of mental swears to bring her back into the dark reality she was in.

 

"Um..." She looked towards her twin, whom had her hands on her hips in impatience. "Rna, take on Battery's form and take this lady down to the ground." With this did the human look back towards the Nurse Joy, missing her double crossing her arms at her. "She's very intelligent compared to most Pokemon. I wouldn't be surprised if you don't even need to order her around."

 

A flash of light entered her sight before she turned towards the source, seeing a formerly-human shape shrink at first into a small size before reforming into a larger size similar to another Pokemon nearby. Before Ms Joy could even object, the false Magnezone swept herself under her feet and began to take the pair down safely down to the ground, followed closely by Tayla on top of Battery as the human gave precise commands at almost every moment in quick succession...

[Sethera]

"So...um, how's it going?" Sophia asked her ride awkwardly. She was still trying to get over the fact that she was riding a giant Magnezone who wasn't really a Magnezone but a Ditto who she had thought was another human being. Yeah.

 

The hail was still pelting around her and the pink-haired woman winced every time one of the golf-ball sized ice shards hit her. It actually hurt quite a lot. She was sure she'd have bruises in the morning. Her head was the main problem, though. She held her arms over her head as a form of protection. Good thing I'm not wearing my nurse hat, she thought. It would've been blown off by now if I had.

 

"I hate hail," she grumbled, trying desperately to think of something else besides her precarious situation atop a Magnezone that could turn back into a Ditto any second--"Hate, hate, hate. At least rain doesn't make you wonder if you're going to get knocked unconscious by giant ice balls." Need to breathe, concentrate on...something. Something besides panic. "Why can't this blasted storm have hit somewhere else?" Training never prepared me for riding a Ditto! What do I do in this situation? "Like, I don't know, Goldenrod City? Little Miss Perfect Joy deserves it too." A small pink blob won't be nearly big enough to carry me or stay afloat and then I'll fall to my death. Wonderful. "'Oh, Sophia darling, you really must put a rein on your temper. We can't have you embarrassing the family now, can we?' Stupid, bratty second cousins..." I am calm, I am zen...

 

By the time they reached the bottom, Sophia had gotten a rein on her panic. The Ditto hadn't turned back into a small pink blob and she hadn't fallen to her death. All was good. But she was never riding a Ditto again, if she could help it. Just in case. Still, she turned to her ride. "Thank you for carrying me to safety," she bowed professionally, as if the whole panicked babbling scene had never happened.

 

The pink-haired woman looked up, catching sight of not only the Ditto's owner on her Magnezone, descending as well, but a pale violet fire that lit up the cloudy sky. She blanched, recognizing that fire. Ghosts...not good. Unless it's one of the others, but still... Every instinct in her body told her to run away from that direction, far away.

 

Instead, she waited for the other woman to land. It was best to stay together, even if they had to go toward the ghosts. Especially if they had to go toward the ghosts.

[Dad]

T.J.

 

He watched the rest of the group bail out, one by one.  The only ones who remained were T.J. himself, Doctor Stone, and Zane.  Having tracked everyone, T.J. put away his notebook and things, as he prepared to jump himself.  With Milotic at his side, he scratched the back of her head.  "Ready, girl?"  She slithered under T.J., and forced him onto her back.  He nodded, turning to Stone and Zane, who would likely be carried by the Charizard.  "See you guys on the ground," he said as Mickey whined, and dove out of the plane.  He could hear the plane shattering as it lost altitude, sending scraps of metal whizzing past his head at incredible speeds.  Mickey dodged them flawlessly, as she floated carefully to the ground.  A few hundred feet below, he could see a Will-o-Wisp being fired into the air, likely being used as a flare.  "Mickey, there!" he called over the roaring air.  She acknowledged her trainer, and changed course towards the fireball.  As they fell, T.J. could feel the ground approaching faster and faster.  Though Milotic was strong, she was still heavy.  The duo would have to brace for impact.  "Mickey!  Safeguard!" he called to the Milotic.  She reacted quickly, as a powerful aura began to surround the Milotic and her trainer.  Narrowly avoiding some trees and slithering through branches and debris, Milotic landed as softly as she could.

 

T.J. rolled away from Mickey just milliseconds before impact, to ease the burden of her landing. Luckily, Mickey reacted, and coiled herself tightly, catching T.J. as she landed before him.  This saved them both a lot of pain, and a lot of damage. T.J. however hadn't expected Milotic to catch him, as he looked up at Mickey from the ground, wrapped by her tail.  "Thanks, Mickey.  You rest up now," he said with a smile.  Mickey rubbed her head against his face, directing his attention to Zack.  T.J. got to his feet as fast as he could, rolling his shoulder as he made his way towards Zack.  He raised a Pokeball from his side, and turned it towards the Milotic.  "Mickey, return," he called as he now stood behind Zack.  She would need to rest after this ordeal, brief as it may have been.  "Hey," he said placing a hand on Zack's shoulder.  "How did you fai--ah shit," he said looking forward in the same direction as Zack.  Dozens of eyes were staring right back at them, and T.J. was clueless to tell who or what was behind them.  And so, his only logical reaction was to ready a Pokeball in his right hand.  "Well.  Nothin' like entering dangerous territory and comin' up on locals in a bad way, right?" he said sarcastically.

[LordCowCowCowCowCowCowCowCow]

Zack was happy to see that people had responded to his signal much faster than he had hoped. He grinned at the pretty Acahra native. Who was the first to arrive by way of giant badass bird. "Hey there, Itzel right? Exciting start so far I'd say. Hopefully the others...oh hey T.J."

 

The first person Zack had met also happened to have been the second to arrive. He wasn't riding a badass bird but he looked pretty badass on his own to make up for it. Ironically he was riding down a Milotic, a Pokemon known for its beauty, while the young girl had been riding the most hardcore non-steel-type Pokemon Zack could think of at the moment.

 

 "Well.  Nothin' like entering dangerous territory and comin' up on locals in a bad way, right?"

He couldn't spare much time to admire the scene and respond to T.J. before the man seemed to notice something amiss. Zack abruptly spun to face whatever threat that was heading their way. As soon as he did a massive flaming projectile came out of the trees towards the group. Requiem immediately took action and moved in front of them. He took the attack, obviously a Fire Blast, square in the chest. Even the bulky ghost type seemed to take quite a bit of damage. And what's worse, the attacker seemed to score a lucky Burn.

 

"Dammit what are...Oh." The enemy made themselves known after the attack as six, no seven, Pyroar came into the clearing. "Requiem, Rest!" The big Ghost-type closed its eye and immediately started to snooze. That wouldn't be enough obviously, he had to go on the offensive as well.

"Return!" Zack brought his Pokemon back to its ball and quickly sent out a new one "Alright let's do this Kit!" Zoroark appeared once more. As she was called by her own name she knew to appear in her normal form. No time for trickery here, he just needed a Pokemon that could handle a Fire attack or two.

"Okay guys keep your eyes open; there's probably more and we do not want to get surrounded. Now Kit; scatter em' with Focus Blast!"

[Dad]

T.J.

 

Before he could gather his bearings, T.J. was startled by a new Pokemon, the likes of which he had never seen.  It had the appearance of a lion, but moved in a very effeminate manner.  They were likely all female Pokemon.  However, they were aggressive.  Judging by the number of them that had appeared, T.J. could assume that their current location was one of two things:  a hunting ground for these Pokemon, or much worse . .  .their nest.  Zack was quick to react as a Fire Blast attack came bursting from the shadow of the forest, revealing the total number of attacking Pokemon to be seven.  After ordering his Dusknoir to Rest--who had courageously stepped into the line of fire--Zack got right on the offensive, as he called out a Zoroark.  

 

"Okay guys keep your eyes open; there's probably more and we do not want to get surrounded. "

 

"Sounds like a plan," T.J. said quickly.

 

"Now Kit; scatter em' with Focus Blast!"

 

"And that sounds like an even better one," T.J. said as he mimicked Zack's movements.  He tossed the red and white orb from his hand, and watched it burst open in mid air.  Out of a red glowing light, an ally emerged, and immediately ran to T.J.'s side.  The ball returned to his hand, and T.J. greeted the Arcanine with a pat on the head.  Helios gathered the situation quickly, and turned his full attention to the Pyroar that were surrounding T.J. and his comrades.  Naturally, Helios was Intimidating, snarling viciously at the Pyroar that threatened them.  "Easy pal," T.J. said not wanting to jump right into battle.  "Zack already made the first move.  I dunno what these things can do, so I'm not about to jeopardize every Pokemon's health.  Focus Blast has good range, so Zoaroark should be able to measure what these things want without being too at risk," he thought to himself.  For now, T.J. sat back, and Helios paced carefully back and forth, guarding its trainer.  Fortunately, Itzel was also present, so if worse came to worse, there was a third trainer to keep things tightly knit.  Now, what was the deal with these Pyroar?

[Sethera]

Sophia had still been waiting on that other woman to land (How long does it take to land? Geez...) when a flash of fire came from the area where she had last seen the ghostly fire. Oh great, another safety hazard, she thought. And coming from the same direction as the ghosts...wonderful. To go or not to go...that was the question. But it was highly likely her fellow expedition-people were there, and in trouble. Not that she'd be able to help much with that. Still, I can heal, so there's that. She was currently wearing a hiking backpack, and inside were a number of items, not least of which her nurse's tote. And inside that tote was a valuable, highly expensive, "Portable Pokémon Center" or PPC as they called it. In another pocket, close at hand, was the giant syringe she used as a prop (the other giant syringe that she used on giant Pokémon was tucked away).

 

So, she had to go and check out the source of that fire, at least. If only it weren't hailing, but raining. Rain was much better for putting out fires. And as they were in the middle of a forest, there was a definite likelihood of a forest fire. "Which means, even if there are ghosts, I should go and check it out," she muttered reluctantly and started to run, glancing back once at the still-floating Magnezone and the figure perched on top. The pink-haired woman felt a bit bad at leaving her behind. Oh well...not like she doesn't know where to go, right?

 

When Sophia entered the clearing, she couldn't help gasping in shock. At least half a dozen female Pyroar ringed what looked like three of the people from the plane. Zack, TJ, and a young girl with copper-colored skin and long black hair with two braids that whipped the air as she moved. Hadn't Mr. Henry Gherkin mentioned her by name? A...Miss Yoal if Sophia remembered right.

 

Whoever she was, that didn't matter at the moment. What mattered was helping out without drawing the ire of the Pyroar on herself. They were already fighting, so calming down the large lions wasn't an option. Sophia wasn't much of a fighter, but damn was she a good healer, and they might need someone like that. Without a second thought, she dove recklessly into the fray, coming up in a roll and bouncing on her feet. The nurse had learned to automatically avoid Pokémon attacks during the course of her work. After all, not all Pokémon liked to be healed, especially wild Pokémon, and most of her patients had been wild Pokémon for the past two years.

 

"All right," she brandished her giant syringe with a mad grin. "Who needs healing?"

[Tesability Black]

Sophia would soon get her answer to that question as both human and proper Magnezone finally descended, the former giving rather-precise directions to the latter, almost mechanically-precise...

"Oy, vey," Tayla finally stated as she hopped off the metallic Pokemon, patting it before pulling out a familiar orb. "Time to recall," she remarked before releasing the red beam towards it, turning towards where the nurse was...

...or where she should have been.

"Arceus-dammit," she swore before pulling out another Pokeball and releasing the being within, revealing a Rapidash that started pawing at the ground already with a hoof, his eyes on the fire in the distance. "Easy, Ferdinand," she whispered, then decided to trace his gaze and spotted the growing blaze in the distance. "Well, that's not good."

"I detect multiple lifeforms amongst the flames, humans included," Cysero remarked, his gaze also on the flames, though he was moving his 'tail' from side to side in boredom.

"Cy, you're not gonna be able to fly fast enough to keep up," she remarked before pulling out another Pokeball. He made an attempt to bolt and get the hell out of there, but she managed to hit him with the beam, prompting the Porygon-Z to reveal the full extend of his French as he was recalled in. "...dammit, boy."

Hopping onto the back of the racehorse in spirit, Tayla nodded before giving her orders. "Chain Agility, then Flame Charge whatever is causing that blaze."

With this did the Rapidash zip forward, the pounding of his onyx hooves increasing in pace and volume as he ran...