Re: Pioneers

[Alice Hope]

Alice screeched louder than she ever had before, and it was a stomach-turning sound rooted in great fear. She was so afraid of fire. She had been ever since she was a baby, longer than she could remember. Alice's apprehension on poison-types had not prevented her befriending Sakina, but this was something else. "Shellos? Shellos!" Gael prompted her desperately, nudging the petite girl with his head. What if fell and didn't wake up again? What if she was hurt? Alice pulled herself up, first to her knees and then to her feet. There was the devil, and Team Rocket was real and alive as ever. An inward mystery solved.

When the man addressed her, she felt sick. She was shaking. Gael could sense it, and he recognised the grunt uniform, and the teeny tiny Pokemon stood fiercely in front of his trainer and her friend. Alice was not after a fight. Her mind was reeling. They needed to get rid of this case, and quickly. If someone had a flying or psychic type, or even a ground type, maybe they'd stand a chance. "No, I wouldn't! And it isn't yours!" Alice managed, finally finding a voice, however strained. If she was lucky, this would be a nightmare. Could people die twice?

[Felix Leonis]

The man at the center of the stadium looked straight at Alice when she managed to find the courage within herself to speak up. For a moment there was an icy silence, though without a prior warning, Heinrich suddenly started chuckling, yet he did not lose sight of the girl. "Being so mouthy does not befit a lady of your stature...though perhaps...it does, hmm?"

The old villager from earlier, who had lead the girls to the stadium suddenly stood on the field, his eyes filled with a fiery anger while stomping towards the well-dressed man. "How dare you, how dare you defile this place with your presence!!"

Heinrich noticed the look in the Rocket-grunts' eyes and made a clacking noise with his tongue, urging them to refrain from taking action, letting the man come close to him and the haxorus.

"tsk tsk tsk, old man...know your place," Heinrich Glassner sighed and snapped his fingers, at which point the Haxorus moved at an incredible speed, lashing out at the man with its tail, sending the poor old villager teethering over the ground until he crashed against the wooden walls and fainted. "Now then meine heren und dames, shall we do this in a civil manner or are we going to be barbaric and spill pointless blood over such a small matter?"

[Alice Hope]

Alice's cheeks reddened. Somehow, being laughed at made her angrier than being intimidated, and it was made so much worse by the fact that she was so fucking helpless. She looked to Laura and to their Kanto company, desperate for some kind of support or solution. They couldn't fight this guy, but she couldn't just hand this suitcase over, not if it was so vitally important that he never get it. Then, Alice realised what she needed to do.

And she dropped the suitcase, letting it fall open. "Gael, toxic."
And the papers, and the inside of that fine case, began to melt away.

[Felix Leonis]

Heinrich grinned, knowing he had put the entire bunch of people in a corner. he would get what he wanted anyway, as if anyone was stupid or daring enough to defy him. However, his grin quickly disappeared when he had to witness how the girl who had spoken up suddenly threw down the suitcase and ruined all the papers inside it.

"You verdammt mädchen!!" Heinrich called out, obviously annoyed by this set back. Alas it seemed he regained his bearings faster than any other man and sighed before taking a deep breath. "Very well...this means I'll have to go all the way back to saffron city...ah well, boys do take care of this issue. "

The chubby menace took a pokeball and a small pokegear out of his pockets, using the ball to recall his haxorus, while pushing a button on his pokégear which let out a beeping sound. No more than five seconds after he had done so, a helicopter arrived and rolled out a ladder, which he instantly climber, waving farewell at the people who now had to deal with the Rocket grunts, with a malicious grin on his face, obviously expecting good results.

"Oy you lot, get ready for a good thrashing," One of the grunts yelled, ordering his arbok to use poison sting at the entire group, while the other smirked and ordered his arbok to use dig during the commotion, after which it burried itself into the ground.

stats + battle theme:

[Alice Hope]

Alice visibly jerked when Glassner shouted, sure in those moments that the Haxorus would round on her, too. She was relieved and surprised when he didn't, when he didn't kill them all, but there wasn't time to just watch him fly away. "Shellos!" Gael called, hardening his skin while Alice threw herself to the ground. There was more commotion, and she had to bellow for people to run before some of the more frozen bystanders did.

"Laura! Help get everyone out of here, protect the older people and those without Pokemon!" She reached for a second Heal Ball, and this one released a flurry of hearts and smoke before Sakina once again appeared. Shocked at the scenery, she immediately fired off a round of poison gas into the wall. "Sakina, I need you to help me beat these Arbok with Gael, just like we practiced! If you don't, people could die, Pokemon could get stolen! We have to!"
There wasn't much time. An Arbok was still buried beneath them.
"Please!"
"S-- Stunky...!" Cautiously, the dual type nodded. At least she wasn't fighting alone, after all. Alice looked frightened, too. She couldn't let this girl, who had taken her in, get hurt. Alice took a deep breath, still shaking like a leaf, before calling out her orders. "Okay, Sakina! Focus your energy, and then use feint! Gael, harden and then ice beam!" She pointed at the only Arbok that they could see.

((Just saying, but with their higher levels and massive movepools as it is, adding a TM in there is overkill imo, nevermind whatever the question marks are.))

[Felix Leonis]

"Yes, right on it," Laura yelled, as she used shellder to keep the fires at bay and made sure people could get out. The village head helped her by having his meowth slash away any falling timber. "Are you going to be fine on your own?"

Jiro in the meantime made sure that he and his comrades were kept safe from the poison needles by letting his skitty use protect.

"Oy girl, you sure are cocky," The first rocket member yelled, ordering his arbok to turn its attention towards the stunky. "Thinking you can take us both on."

Ordering his arbok to use wrap, the massive snake pokémon slithered across the floor towards sakina while it was still focusing it's energy, yet before the arbok could wrap itself around her, Sakina managed to use her feint move, vanishing from sight in an instant, forcing the arbok to look around, until it got smacked on the side of its head by the stunky's tiny paws. For a moment though, things seemed to go awry, when the second arbok suddenly burst through the ground, opening its maw to bite the little stunky, but in the nick of time Gael's icebeam hit the arbok, sending it reeling backwards.

"We need to take this little missy seriously," The first rocket grunt sighed, while the other gritted his teeth in anger after seeing his arbok getting hit by the ice beam. "Let's finish this little twerp right here right now, bro."

The two arboks quickly slithered back to their masters' side, their ferocity no joke from the looks of it. Without a doubt Alice was going to have her hands full, especially since all those who could help her in this battle were already busy with aiding the people from getting out of the stadium safely.

"Arbok, use glare at that shellos and follow up with a screech!!" the first rocket member yelled loudly, his arbok quickly glaring intensely at the shellos before letting out an ear piercing screech.

"Arbok, use dig and follow up with a thunderfang," The second Rocket grun roared, his arbok in turn vanishing under ground and reappearing behind the stunky, ready to plunge its crackling fangs into poor Sakina.

stats + battle theme:

[/quote]

[Alice Hope]

"Close your eyes, Gael!" Alice called, and her Pokemon did so, although it was hard to feel safe doing so. This was a chaotic first fight, hard to keep focus and manage two strong opponents and her own team at once. "Endure the screech with harden! And then follow up with another ice beam! Sakina, send that Arbok flying with hidden power!"

As another line of ice went for the first Arbok, Sakina defended herself from the thunder fang by firing its fairy hidden power straight into the opponent's crackling maw, hoping to send it off balance and strike hard in close range. Alice knew it wouldn't be very effective, but it was the defense of the move that counted. "Sakina, use your smoke screen to hide, and then batter that Arbok with your iron tail! Gael, use return!"

[Felix Leonis]

The shellos was luckily fast enough to avoid the arbok's menacing glare and counteracted the screech as best as it could with harden, though in the end it more or less cancelled out each other, with the screech obviously gotten the win, as Gael's skin no longer had the usual shimmer which it used to have after at least a single harden. the icebeam flew crashed upon the screeching arbok and seemed to freeze it, only to have alice and shellos notice that they had only frozen a shed skin, though nonetheless the arbok seemed quite shaken up by the direct hit.

Sakina's Hidden power on the other hand had little to no effect, as the arbok broke through the attack and managed to graze the stunky, though luckily just slightly, as Alice was fast enough to go on the defensive. Before the arbok could actually truly chomp down on the stunky, a cloud of smoke burst out of the tiny pokemon's maw, envelopping not only itself and it's opponent, but also the shellos and her opponent.

Now it was getting interesting, with all three trainers barely able to see anything. One of the rocket grunts ordered their arbok to use Scary face on the shellos while in the smokescreen, while the other rocket grunt yelled out for his arbok to use wrap on the shellos as well. If there was one thing Alice had not thought about, Arbok's were snake pokemon and even with their eyesight slightly hindered by the smoke, their other senses were extremely sharp.

The sound of something metallic hitting something rather hard was obvious, followed by a weak shriek and a loud hiss. When the smoke finally cleared, Gael was caught by one of the arboks, as it had wrapped itself around the shellos and was squeezing pretty tightly, the other arbok on the other hand, had a large gaping cut on the side of it's face, with it's eyes glowing in an almost unnatural purple light, with Sakina practically cowering before it. With her pokémon in a bind against these relentless opponents, how was Alice even supposed to get on top?

OOC: srs...I'm putting some extra tension in here just to make the battle more enjoyable xD

stats + battle theme:

[Alice Hope]

It was true that Alice had not thought of the Arbok's senses, but their opponents still looked worse off than her own team mates. Now that she was in the heat of such a crucial fight and deadly moment, the young woman was thinking fast and strategically, "Don't panic, guys, we've got this! Sakina, feint on the glowing Arbok and then screech while you scratch! Go for the eyes! Gael, confuse that Arbok and free yourself with water pulse, and then use mud sport over the field!" With her team so close, she at least had to lower the power of that tricky thunder fang, especially for her little Shellos.

[Felix Leonis]

The arbok with the glowing eyes couldn't react in time to sakina's feint, as the tiny stunky vanished from sight and lashed out at the snake pokemon an instant later, hitting it right where it had been hit earlier by that same stunky's iron tail. With a loud hiss, the arbok smacked against the ground and seemed to have gotten quite a temper from all the pain it was enduring.

"Arbok, don't let that stunky get to you so easily," The rocket grunt in charge of arbok #1 yelled, obviously noticing that his pokémon was having trouble with the small and nimble pokémon. "Don't let up, give it a glare and follow up with a thunder fang."

Sakina's scratch 'n screech tactic had a tremendous effect, landing severe blows upon the poor arbok, but even so the rocket's pokémon did not give in that easily, giving the stunky a menacing glare before launching towards it with its fangs crackling with electricity.

The other arbok seemingly had less problems with the shellos, managing to squeeze it tightly until it and its trainer heard what Alice was planning. "Arbok, let that runt go and dig!!"

As said, the snake pokémon managed to avoid getting blasted with the water pulse, by sneakily digging into the ground. Gael's mudsport though, turned the field into a slippery place and that combined with Sakina's still dissipating smokescreen, made it a rough place for a pokémon battle.

"Arbok, surprise that shellos and use acid" The arbok who had dug itself under ground, reappeared right before Gael, releasing a spray of potent acid towards the tiny shellos. "I hope you don't think we're some kind of pushovers, girl?"

stats + battle theme:

[Alice Hope]

"Close your eyes and take the attack, Sakina, then iron tail and scratch straight to the face!" Alice commanded, the small skunk squealing out in pain and surprise as the crackling fangs bit down on it, but not before it tried to take advantage of its position. She made sure not to look at the menacing pattern on its stomach, at least, before trying to wail on it and finish it off, surprisingly doing a better job at this than the stronger Gael seemed to be. At least mud sport had lessened the crackling fangs just a little bit.

Gael was, naturally, doing much better now that the battlefield was easier for him to navigate, but it meant there was no way of evading acid. He looked disgusted and felt hurt, but Alice wasn't put off. "It's okay, Gael, use that momentum and hit him straight with return and then ice beam!" She watched her starter launch itself at the enemy with determination, also charging a special attack. Alice could only wish that her enemies were pushovers. These grunts were thoroughly terrifying in real life and did not go down easily.

[Felix Leonis]

As Alice ordered her, the stunky braced itself when hearing the devastating screech, followed by the pain that came along with the electrically charged fangs sinking into her fur. The electrical effect may have been lessened by Gael's supporting mud sport, but caused massive damage nonetheless. Yet, driven by the desire to overcome the fear she had and the eagerness to please her trainer, Sakina did not let up, scratching the already seriously wounded arbok in the face before ending it up with an iron tail that smacked the arbok down to the ground, causing it to faint and be recalled into its pokéball by its owner.

The other arbok wasn't having a better time, being beaten back by a skillfully executed return, before being frozen by an ice beam that caused it to be infuriated, but unable to move. To ad insult to injury, it seemed that Alice's friends had managed to get everyone out safe and the remaining arbok was now surrounded by Sakina, Gael, shellder, the head villager's meowth and Jiro's skitty. "Come back Arbok, we're outta here!!"

The two rocket members used smoke pellets to give them some time to get the hell away, leaving alice's pokémon bruised and battered, but decisively victorious.

"You alright Alice?" Laura would yell, running straight for her friend and wrapping her arms around her. "You did it, you did, you won!!"

(Gael gets 20 exp, Sakina gets 20 exp, each earns 20 Happiness. Alice you may update your tracker or ask Absol, I guess xD)

stats + battle theme:

[Alice Hope]

Alice was worried for Sakina especially, but there was a sense of victory brought on by the defeat of the first Arbok. "You're brilliant, Sakina, you're amazing! Let's keep going and finish this!"

Of course, there was no time for that. The Rockets were retreating like the cowards they were, something that left dissatisfaction and frustration in her gut. Of course, nothing could be done, and it was better to just let them flee than rile up Team Rocket further. Alice jumped when Laura embraced her, for of course she was tense, but joined in the celebration by huggling her friend back. "No, no, we did it! You should have seen them! My Pokemon were so, super cool!"

The two creatures chimed their names as they returned. The adrenaline obviously had the poisonous one rattled, and Alice cooed, scooping them both up and hugging them closely. "Aww, my poor babies! You did an amazing job. We'll get you all patched up and rested, I'm so proud of you! Our little saviours." Alice kissed them both, ruffling fur and petting minute shell before putting them back in their spheres. Gael, especially, needed to recover some hydration if she wanted to safely let him out for the night. It was then Alice addressed the group as a whole, "I'm sorry for burning the stuff in the case but I really had no idea what else to do but give into him. I thought it was the safest option... Is everyone else okay, though?"

[Felix Leonis]

"They really did great," Laura laughed, looking with a smile on her face at Alice as she pet her pokémon and called them out for doing a great job. However, her smile quickly faded when Alice asked if everyone was okay, quickly averting her eyes and looking at the village head.

the man and his wife seemed quite distraught, when it became apparent that the old man who had gotten smacked aside by the black Haxorus earlier, was rushed to the village doctor on a stretcher. "The stadium is ruined, some people are in need of medical attention and we had to have Jiro call for some help from the other islands to make sure our people get the treatment they need."

Jiro and the two people from Kanto did seem to be ok, even if the contents of the briefcase were destroyed, this was still just a part of the research and Oak from Pallet Town was the one who had all the copies though, so everything was fine in their eyes. Though somehow the old man and all the others around Alice seemed to feel that this was just a small cog in something much larger. "Why would HG reveal himself now...it feels as if he knew something and with Team Rocket mixed in all of this, I fear that there's something bigger going on."

[Alice Hope]

Alice's expression faltered, falling when she heard about the severity of the situation. While she knew that she would feel tired later, adrenaline still surged and she knew sleep would be a chore anyway. "Is there anything that we can do to help? I have a Pineco, and I can run errands myself, too!" She suggested, though her attention also geavitated to the discussion at hand.

"I wouldn't be surprised. Of course it is. It all sounded dramatic enough." Alice replied, "But surely we should just try to warn who we can and put an alert out? Let Professor Oak and Silph know for example. We did our part, we shouldn't let targets sit on our back for the sake of it."

[Felix Leonis]

"Just to be curious though," Jiro asked before leaving with the others of the group back to the village, where they all would be treated for some food and drinks and a place to sleep in honor of their efforts. "What will you be doing after having visited Golden island here, we could bring you to your next destination. It would be my honor to bring you to whatever island you want to go next.Don't worry about what you can do for me, but worry about what we can do for you."

Laura did want to say something when she heard the old man's offer, but thought it best for Alice to decide, so she kept quiet and hugged her shellder tight when they arrived back at the village.

"You both are welcome to rest at our home," The village elder spoke up, pointing at his wife and the meowth who seemed to be very keen on spending the night with the savior of the town.

[Alice Hope]

Alice was glad for the drinks especially. Battling was thirsty work. She was still trembling from the adrenaline, that had yet to subside, but petting the cute and powerful Meowth was soothing as well. "Well, I'd like to go to Navel Island. I wanna try out for the gym there, although I'll need to practice my hiking and climbing skills first. I don't know what Laura wants, though." The young woman looked to her friend. If she wanted to part ways somewhere else, Alice supposed she couldn't stop her, but the idea of being alone without human company in this new world was daunting as well.

[Felix Leonis]

While sipping from a glass of juice, looking at the pokemon eating their food happily, Laura looked up when she heard Alice mention her name. "Don't mind me, as long as I'm having fun and excitement...I wouldn't mind travelling a bit more."

Jiro in the meantime looked at the village head and his wife and smiled. "I don't think it'll be a problem for me to bring you to Navel Island...that is if you want me to, of course."

[Alice Hope]

Alice's face evidently lit up when Laura confirmed that they would be staying together for at least a bit longer. Perhaps if she was able to earn such a physically demanding badge, one that required such strong teamwork from them all together, she would feel confident and comfortable enough when Laura did finally depart. "Yeah! That would be really great, thank you so much!" Alice replied with a grateful bow of her head, "We both have water-types, but they aren't big enough to ferry us and I don't know how great the ship connections are, so that'd be really convenient and helpful! Thanks!"

[Felix Leonis]

"Alright then, I'll be picking you guys up tomorrow," Jiro laughed, greeted everyone and left the girls to their own devices. Laura in the meantime yawned and grabbed her shellder to snuggle him.

The other pokemon seemed quite exhausted and tired as well, which was to be expected from such a long and stressful day filled with adventure.

"Girls, I will be heading to bed as well," The village head excused himself and pat his meowth on the head before leaving for his room.

[Alice Hope]

Alice waved the other guests off as they left, glad that she had a roof of her head and a proper bed after all. She refilled her water bottle before settling down herself for the night, snuggling with the Meowth for comfort. Remembering the sight of the ferocious Haxorus, and facing Glassner, was making it difficult to settle, so she was glad to get a long rest when her mind did finally drift from those thoughts.

In the morning, she awoke as late as possible, as Alice was wont to do. She was not an early bird. The young trainer checked on the incubated egg first before getting up to stretch, slipping on her shoes and bag, and venturing out to find some food. Alice would nap on the way to Navel Island, too, no doubt. The Pokemon world was tiring!

[Felix Leonis]

While Alice, sleepyhead as she was, finally managed to come downstairs after a long deserved and comfortable sleep in a decent bed with enough fluff and filling to make her doze off seconds after she hit the hay, she would notice that 'as late as possible' basically meant being the last to actually wake up.

Around a large table, all the people she knew were sitting, laughing and talking about a variety of stuff: Jiro and the head villager about the legend of Meowth, the head villager's wife and Laura about what they thought to be the cutest pokemon they had ever seen and the two assistants of Jiro were talking about what they'd do if they'd meet Oak.

However, when they noticed Alice was up and awake at last, Laura waved at her and pointed at a seat she had saved. "Hey, you got to eat before we go...there's plenty of food, for the pokémon as well. Get in gear girl, today we're travelling again!!"

[Alice Hope]

Alice groaned, visibly blushing when she realised just how late she was. "Damn. I don't know whether to be grateful or peeved that nobody woke me." She remarked with some humour, taking the seat saved and releasing her trio of Pokemon, encouraging them to play and eat while she tucked into her own food. The cold juice was especially valued. "I know, I will. Did everyone sleep well?"

[Felix Leonis]

"Like a log," Was Laura's reaction, while the others simply laughed at Alice's earlier remark. It almost seemed as if the atrocities of the earlier day had not made the mood go sour at all. After all, it could've been much worse and thanks to Alice and the others, that luckily wasn't the case.

When her pokémon noticed that there was food and other pokémon to socialize with, they hurried towards the others. Even Sakina, who was probably the most shy pokémon around seemed to be in a good enough mood to meet and greet the other pokémon.

"So Navel Islan, Alice," Jiro mentioned calmly, looking up from his cup of tea. "You think you're ready for what lie ahead of you?"

[Alice Hope]

Alice was glad to see that Sakina was beginning to thrive. She wondered if doing so well to save the chalet and the villagers through battle might have boosted her confidence and reputation some. Farren was easygoing anyway, and when Gael wasn't acting enviously he was great, too. "To be honest, I have no idea." She replied frankly, laughing off her confidence, "But I want to at least give it a go. I've always loved the idea of doing the Orange League. I honestly can't climb very well so I'll have to train, but if I can get past that, then I think we'll be just fine! What about you guys? What do you all have planned?"

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