The Shattered Era [T]

[TornZero]

Ken Bala

Ken finally woke up and sat in the same tree he slept in, adjusting his armor to make sure nothing would go wrong later in the day.

"Alright," he started. "Guess it's time to get to the convention center." He grabbed himself a berry out of the branches below him and took a bite. Almost immediately after he finished it and stood up, Ken stretched his arms out and flew through the trees, jumping between branches like they were solid ground. It didn't take long for him to reach the Birch Enclave, either, he just had to slip past a couple Council cities, then he dived into the Birch entrance.

The Knights seem to be slacking off today. There were fewer patrols roaming around, and Ken didn't know they were in their own meeting. Shadow Sneak in, and Ken popped up behind Alex, the taoist Aggron. "So what'd I--" he almost finished asking what he missed when there was shouting nearby. In another room, and by Damon Malruth, specifically.

"...IDN'T EVEN F**KING TELL ME! THESE ARE MY MEN AND WOMEN, NOT YOURS! DO YOU KNOW WHAT WE F**KING GO THROUGH EACH AND EVERY DAY!? DO YOU KNOW HOW MANY TIMES WE ESCAPE F**KING DEATH!? AND YOU WANT TO SEND US RIGHT INTO THE F**KING CAPITAL!? YOU PIECE OF S**T!"

"Nevermind," Ken muttered, "I'll ask later." He shivered when he heard curse words of all kinds, even those that humans likely would never understand. Could've sworn there was one or two known only to Linoone's evolutionary line, too.

Alice

When the head commander finished answering all the questions, he placed his helmet on as carefully as he removed it earlier and commanded us to head out. Right in the lobby were the Council members and the Orator himself. She instantly dropped a knee and lowered her head, rising when the Knights were told to.

"Apparently," Fergo started, "in every enclave there is a map detailing the location of other enclaves. Once you have led your forces inside, Maverick, your chief concern should be finding this map and securing it. It could prove to be an effective way of ending this war." The Absol didn't have any reason to disagree until she started thinking of it. Access to the other enclaves could knock the Mechanists down a peg. However, she knew the Council for being hasty to a fault. "Do not fail us, Maverick." Fergo finished and grabbed hold of an Abra, alongside the other Councilors, and was Teleported away. Matthew remained behind, however.

Until he walked off with the commander, Alice thought of thanking him; the Alakazam was one damn good reason she became a Knight-Commander. That brought up his tact, too. If he managed to get a woman in a ranking position through Maverick, there's no doubt he'd manage to keep the Council's war-related actions under control.

She pulled herself back to what Councilor Joshua, the not-so-likable Breloom, noted: Imprisoning a Mechanist soldier could get them information on slipping Knights in their militia. Quick on his feet but slow on the draw, apparently. Alice eyed a Weavile; Ribibin Triss, and she was clearly ticked by Joshua. At least Fergo had usable information, but Josh did little more than state the obvious. And even without a soldier, it probably wouldn't be difficult to just get some symbol-lacking armor and act like you ditched for the Mechanist lifestyle. She wasn't surprised if that's what a few more knowledgable soldiers were doing right now.

As Maverick led the Knights out of the city, the Absol enjoyed the light of the sun on her coat as her specific group organized itself around her. About 95% of the members in her group were women; should've expected that. Only a masochistic man would accept a woman, let alone one that's only 23, commanding him. Doubtful that many women wanted any of the men commanding them, either.

[Greiger]

Maverick Renos
Location: On the way to the Kanto Enclave

Maverick led his Knights some way from the city until they were out of site and he stopped on the dirt road that led the way to each city. "Knight-Commanders pick your respective Knights to accompany you. Knights... relax." Immediately the Knights broke free from the stiff posture they had been holding and were stretching their bodies or just talking among themselves. Maverick nodded, "It's some time before we'll get to this enclave. For now let's take it at a relaxed pace." Maverick led the group on while the Knights just continued their own social activities.

Maverick turned to Caedmon, "Do you think this one is real?"

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Damon Malruth
Location: Birch Enclave

Damon took in another deep breath and then looked up at Riley with narrowed eyes. "I hate what you did just now. But, if it will help us achieve independence, then I will help. But, I do this my way!"

Riley smiled, "All right, everything you need is up on the podium."

Damon muttered another curse as he walked out of the room and placed his front paws on the podium. Before he could speak every pokemon in the room started to clap. The Linoone flushed and help up his front paws and waited for the applause to die down. "Thank you all coming here today. From this point on there will be no more lies, no more deceit, no more false pretenses. If you don't like what you hear you can leave any time you want. I only want those who want to undertake this journey, not those who are forced to."

Damon looked around and began to flip through the papers before him. "Alright. Like Riley said this plan has been in action for a long time. We've gotten blueprints of the area. Luckily we've been able to teleport psychic's into our spy's house and have used the spy's memories to reconstruct this-" The slide behind him changed to show a blueprint of the third floor of the Council Chambers. "We will be teleporting in here." The area near the stairs was circled in red. "We can't teleport too close to where the Councilors are since there are Knights guarding that area. If we do, then we'll end up teleporting right into the Knights. For those of you who know about teleporting you've heard that psychics can sometimes teleport themselves into a wall, well imagine being teleported to where you merge with another being." He let that sink in before he continued, "The plan looks simple. We'll go in as a group. The inventors have apparently made smoke bombs for us to use. You've all seen the old human movies to know what these do. We'll smoke the group of Knights, rush past them and smoke the Councilors. Once we do we run in, grab and subdue Matthew and meet back up as a group."

He looked under the podium and pulled out a mask, "We'll be wearing these babies. They have-" He looked back down at the notes, "-Heat sensors and... air filtration. Nice. The smoke won't affect us at all."

He put down the mask and looked around the room. "Now, the deciding factor." He took in a deep breath, "I need to know who will come. Know this before you raise your hands!" He said in a raised voice, "Many of us will die. The Knights will kill us in close quarters. There is a very strong chance that half of us that leave today will never see this place again. You will never come back home. But," Damon sighed, "there is also a chance that we can make our world better. That this could be the chance for us to come out of our holes, to find a place for our children and their children! This day could very well be the day we make history! We could show those in the cities who are too afraid to speak up that they can make a difference! This could be the spark for those who disagree with the Council, for those who are discriminated against, for those who live their lives in fear! So I ask you my friends, who will stand with me!?"

[Sir Bastian]

Caedmon Yeonart
On the road again (♫)

It didn’t take long for Maverick to return, and all the while until he had, Caedmon had been glancing around rather idly, enjoying the sights and sounds around him and the other knights, sending occasional glances or smiles to the others.

Now walking along the dirt road, Caedmon kept his walk a rather leisurely stroll, though moving forwards at quite a decent pace none the less, the air of relaxed determination over him as always, even after Maverick had told the remaining knights to relax.

Caedmon strolled alongside Maverick, glancing around himself, his ears twitching a little and his tail wavering in the air behind him rather idly, moving in a rather wavey manner. As Maverick addressed him, he turned his head, raising his brows slightly before looking forwards once more, brows furrowing in slight thought.

“Maybe. It’s tough to say based on rumors and the inane ramblings of a long-since maddened prisoner, but the council –does- seem very sure that this is the real deal. It is a long time since they sent the both of us as well as a couple of commanders towards a possible site for an enclave… so perhaps. Only time will tell.”

He gave a faint shrug of his shoulders, glancing back at the other knights for a moment, catching the Absol, Alice’s, gaze for a moment before looking ahead again, his paws folded on his back. His eyes then gained a faint, blue tinge as he began expanding his telepathic abilities, moving it out towards the nearby trees, bushes and hills, trying to discern whether or not any Pokémon were nearby. Obviously, the further out he moved his search for other minds and auras, the weaker it would become. That, and his attention towards this was only on an instinctive level, focusing on his sorroundings.

[Discordant Harmony]

Lying on the ground, Chauncey was blissfully unaware of the eyes upon him after his fall. The apple had rolled away from the sleeping Togetic, coming to a rest in the corner. Not so much asleep as knocked out, there were no dreams, just a strange serene emptiness that he didn’t really want to leave. It was like lying in a bed at night, in the dark, just lying there thinking about nothing, and not wanting to move. His involuntary rest was soon interrupted by a kick to the face that knocked him straight up into a sitting position. Grabbing his face, Chauncey still looked out of it from the powder. It took a moment for him to really register what was going on, and he quickly got up, looking embarrassed, “Oh, sorry.” The Togetic quickly picked up the Nanab berries and went back to his seat.

Soon, Riley came back out on stage, and Chauncey looked up. "Greetings everyone! Thank you all for coming out here today. We have a short presentation for you so please hold all questions after we're done." Chauncey quietly watched the presentation as the lights went dark and a projector screen came up. "Many of you don't know the political situation in the cities right now. Three years ago a Alakazam by the name of Matthew was elected to the Council." A picture, presumably of said Council member, appeared. "He is young, very young and holds different ideas from the rest of the Council. Many of his ideas are very close to those held by us. He is considered radical but loved by the populace, especially those discriminated against. He is the pokemon we have been waiting for. Five years ago we sent an agent to infiltrate the city of Markus with one goal in mind. To get close to the Council. He succeeded and for the past two years he has sent us information dealing with the layout of the Council Chambers. This plan has been five years in the making and today we enact it! We have been living in the darkness for far too long. This world belongs to us as well! Our plan is a simple one. None of the Councilors know how we live, they know nothing about us. All they hear are stories and rumors. We need someone with an open mind, like Matthew to understand how we work. If we can get him to understand what we really are like then we can plant a seed. It will take time for him to eventually rise to the rank of Orator, but he will be a great ally once he does! What we are about to do today is going to change history!”

Chauncey was anticipating what came next as Riley looked around. If he’d called literally everyone out here to ‘change history’, there were only so many things he could mean. Bracing himself, Chauncey listened to Riley’s announcement: "We are going to capture this councilor!" The entire room was in a dead silence as it sunk in to everyone. Then, Damon suddenly grabbed Riley and dragged him away. The closed door did nothing to help stop the stream of curses and shouting that began flowing out from the room, and Chauncey did his best to ignore it, nibbling nervously at a Nanab berry. It wasn’t long before Urta went in to intervene, but only seemed to spark a dramatic reading of a very colorful dictionary. When the leader of the Declarum Forces finally emerged from the room, a wave of applause followed. Though he joined in, Chauncey’s sheepish clapping would have been barely audible even in silence. Once the noise died down, Damon addressed the room.

"Thank you all coming here today. From this point on there will be no more lies, no more deceit, no more false pretenses. If you don't like what you hear you can leave any time you want. I only want those who want to undertake this journey, not those who are forced to." There was a pause as Damon looked over the notes on the podium, "Alright. Like Riley said this plan has been in action for a long time. We've gotten blueprints of the area. Luckily we've been able to teleport psychic's into our spy's house and have used the spy's memories to reconstruct this-" The projector displayed what appeared to be blueprints for the Council Chamber. "We will be teleporting in here." The area near the stairs was circled in red. "We can't teleport too close to where the Councilors are since there are Knights guarding that area. If we do, then we'll end up teleporting right into the Knights. For those of you who know about teleporting you've heard that psychics can sometimes teleport themselves into a wall, well imagine being teleported to where you merge with another being." Chauncey shuddered at the idea, rubbing the mark on his face where Urta had kicked him and imagining that only a hundred times worse and with no painkillers. "The plan looks simple. We'll go in as a group. The inventors have apparently made smoke bombs for us to use. You've all seen the old human movies to know what these do. We'll smoke the group of Knights, rush past them and smoke the Councilors. Once we do we run in, grab and subdue Matthew and meet back up as a group."

Damon took out a mask from the podium to display for the gathered soldiers, explaining how it would allow them to function in the smoke. Once he put it down, the leader took a deep breath and the room was quiet, Chauncey shifting in his chair and feeling uneasy. “I need to know who will come. Know this before you raise your hands!" The speech grew louder, and Chauncey could feel the atmosphere in the convention center grow more intense, "Many of us will die. The Knights will kill us in close quarters. There is a very strong chance that half of us that leave today will never see this place again. You will never come back home. But," Damon sighed, "there is also a chance that we can make our world better. That this could be the chance for us to come out of our holes, to find a place for our children and their children! This day could very well be the day we make history! We could show those in the cities who are too afraid to speak up that they can make a difference! This could be the spark for those who disagree with the Council, for those who are discriminated against, for those who live their lives in fear! So I ask you my friends, who will stand with me!?"

Remaining in his seat, the Togetic glanced around at the others as if looking for someone else to take the first step and volunteer. Knowing his medicine and barriers might be the thing that decides whether someone lives or dies, even just one person, Chauncey had no doubt in his mind that he was going. Once at least one other person had stood, Chauncey did likewise; it wasn't in his nature to try and lead. It was humiliating enough to have collapsed in the back of the room, and now everyone knew who he was. 'The guy who fell asleep at the big meeting'. So that it would be visible with his relatively short height that he was volunteering, the young medic stood up on his chair at full height and waited, looking at the ground and trying to avoid eye contact with anyone.

[Red's Hawt Chibi Pelippers]

Ribibin Triss

The Weavile stood still while Maverick announced that they were getting divided into groups now. She then wasted no time in walking over to the Absol Alice's side. The female Knight-Commander was someone who Ribibin certainly respected and even admired to some extent. What she had achieved wasn't what just anyone could do. As a female, that is. Males seemed to think that they could do anything.

"Requesting permission to join your group, Knight-Commander," she said in a formal way when she reached the Absol, and made the slightest bow with her head. She then gave her superior a small, relaxed smile, mostly because there wasn't really any reason why she couldn't do that. It wasn't just because Alice was a female that Ribibin wanted to be in her group. There were other Knight-Commanders that the Weavile respected as well, Caedmon the Lucario for example. But the Absol had a clever mind and if anyone could find this possible enclave, Ribibin believed it would be Alice.

[TornZero]

Ken Bala

Birch Enclave

Damon talked about teleporting directly into the Council's Chambers, (not so) elaborate smoke bombing, and straight-up Pokénapping. The Linoone introduced smoke bombs and a mask to the conference room, notifying everyone of the air filters and heat sensors built in the latter. He took a deep breath, telling people that they may not come back alive. He gave his forces the chance to fall out before they were dragged into something they thought was too risky.

"This could be the spark for those who disagree with the Council, for those who are discriminated against, for those who live their lives in fear! So I ask you my friends, who will stand with me!?"

Ken stood straight, feeling his supply of distractive pellets could be useful, and he raised his arm high for all to see. In his loudest (non-threatening) tone, he uttered, "Count me in."

Alice

Markus to Kanto Enclave

"Knight-Commanders: pick your respective Knights to accompany you," Maverick said. Ribibin Triss was one of the first to approach Alice, and having a clever Weavile under her command was pleasing. Ribibin was notably the faster of the two, as well, and even Alice knew that since Agility one of her strengths, but the Absol would triumph in power. Hard to tell which one would win considering their strategies. She respected Ribibin's self-care, too, which certainly didn't hurt.

"Granted, Triss. And... 'Alice', please. You're as worthy a Knight as myself; rank doesn't change that." Of course, the rank didn't do too badly for her self-esteem. Noticing the detail put into the Weavile's armor, though more the symbol of the Knights-- the Oran berry-- on it, Alice thought of something. It was doubtful that The Demon would fail to pick up on this, if he paid attention.

The Mechanists wear armor, too. Quite a bit like ours. Caedmon caught Alice's eye for a moment when he was looking back at everyone, before he turned ahead again to keep talking with Maverick. Other Knights approached her to join her group one by one, most of them women. A few of them were men, either trying to outshine her for her position, or believing they'd get turned down by the other Knight-Commanders. All of the latter were only capable of certain jobs like protecting, healing and hiding, and Alice didn't have a problem with that. She'd make use of them just as well as Famidus made use of offensive Knights.

[Red's Hawt Chibi Pelippers]

Ribibin Triss

Ribibin nodded as a thanks for being accepted into Alice's group. The Absol was a bit annoyingly loyal to the rules, but as a Knight, Ribibin guessed that she should be glad for that. Loyalty and truth were two good things. She did, however, ask Ribibin to call her Alice instead of Knight-Commander. Ribibin only contemplated it for a second, before she nodded. "Alice," she said.

She took a look around at the forming groups and the forest around them. The rooftops of Markus could still be seen some ways away. This close to the city, no enclave would likely be. Means they had some way to walk still.

"I have a good feeling about this, actually," she admitted to the Absol. "It feels like something important is about to happen today. And trust me, madam, I don't get this feeling often. Though maybe I've just been..." She hesitated. She was about to say that she had been bored being stationed in Markus for so long, but maybe that would be to cross the line for what was appropriate to say to your superior, even if you're allowed to call her Alice. "I've been restless lately. It's good to get out of the city and feel the nature around me again. Don't you think?" she instead asked with a calm smile.

[d4rka8isz]

Luna Dyseris

Luna joined the clapping when Damon stepped on the podium, but only clapped three times. She would always do that when someone, no matter who, got up to speak. If no one else clapped, she would still clap three times. This habit has gotten her many interesting looks when she was at school, but she kept at it. After a while, the applause died down and an embarrassed looking Damon started speaking. He started out with what sounded ominously like a warning, then began to explain the plan. When the slide changed, Luna suddenly had a sense of deja vu. I've seen these blueprints before, thought Luna as she listened to the rest of Damon's speech, albeit a little distractedly. Where had she seen them before? It bugged her, but she was still able to focus mainly on the Linoone explaining the plan. He pulled out a mask from under the podium and pointed out its uses. Coolio, she thought when she heard him say air filtration.

The plan seemed, well, simple as Damon had said. She didn't have a problem with the invasion part of the plan, but she did have a little problem with the kidnapping. She still thought that the kidnapping was a bit crude, but if it worked... And how would they convince him to their ways? Plant a seed they said, but what if they plant the wrong seed? Kidnapping Matthew would give him the wrong impression. And unless they're very convincing when they start to try convincing him of their ideals, things can go very wrong.

But there wasn't much time for Luna to ponder her questions as Damon had just asked who would go with him. A Gallade, Ken as Luna remembered, stood up first and volunteered. Not long after, the Togetic who had fallen down before the plan was explained stood up, but very few people noticed him due to his short stature. Despite her doubts about the plan, Luna stood up as well. She'd worry about it after she came back. If she came back.

[Greiger]

Maverick Renos
Location: Kanto Enclave

"Perhaps you're right Caedmon. I just hope the others don't get too mad this time. I don't think any of them would be keen on wasting another three hours trudging through the forest." The group continued forward with Maverick correcting their path every so often. It was a good hour later and the group was almost close to the enclave, or so Maverick hoped. The only good thing about being in the forest was that the trees sheltered them from the sun's heat. Maverick suddenly stopped. He heard something. Suddenly there was a loud click. On instinct Maverick rolled to the side behind a tree as the spot he had been standing exploded with electricity. That must have been a signal because many more clicks sounded throughout the forest as more guns were fired in their direction.

"Ambush!" Shouted Maverick. Many of the Knights quickly took cover behind the trees save for one or two that ended up getting shot at once or twice before they managed to find cover. "Knight-Commanders, lead your troops as you see fit! For those without a Knight-Commander, follow my lead!" Maverick narrowed his eyes as he looked at where the attacks were coming from before he dashed to another tree. As he moved he let out a Screech at the attackers momentarily stunning them.

The bullets stopped flying and Maverick raised his voice, "Knights, act while the time is ripe!" Maverick dashed forward and saw a small group of about twenty Mechanists. Most of them looked pretty weak. Maverick quickly formed a Leaf Blade and slashed the throat of a Croagunk as well as quickly grabbing a Marshtomp and breaking her neck. The Mechanists shook off the effects of his screech and began to fire their weapons once more but Maverick quickly dashed behind a tree.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Damon Malruth
Location: Birch Enclave

Damon looked among the crowd. One hand popped up. The Togetic who had passed out earlier. Then another, a Gallade. Another, this one was a Kirlia. Then a few more hands popped up. Damon counted. Thirteen in all. Thirteen. Damon smiled from the podium, "Thank you all for your participation. For everyone else, you may leave now."

Most of the soldiers got up to leave. Some were talking to those who raised their hands, no doubt trying to get them to reconsider. Others were hugging them and some looked saddened. Damon stood near the podium as the volunteers began to form around him. "Alright, some of you don't have your weapons on you so we'll give everyone thirty minutes. Go out, get your weapons and anything else you'll need. We'll meet right outside the convention center. We'll have the gear there as well so once you come back get suited up. That's all."

The soldiers began to disperse as Urta walked up to him. "So, going in hot?"

Damon nodded, "Yeah."

The two were silent. "Well, let's make sure everything's prepared then."

Damon nodded. There were some boxes in the storage closet that contained everything they needed. Damon just sat on the ground. He pulled out a mask and tried it on. It pulled at his fur, but it would protect him from the gas. Damon pulled it off, "So, how many will die?"

Urta turned away. Damon just sighed again and stared at the floor, waiting for the volunteers to come back, although he wouldn't hold it against them if they stayed away.

[Red's Hawt Chibi Pelippers]

Ribibin Triss

Projectiles started flying around them and somebody shouted "ambush". Ribibin's reflexes made her quickly hop up into a tree. She was surprised to see a Nuzleaf sitting there, but he was just as surprised to see her finding him. Before he had time to react, he was shoved out of the way by a Night Slash attack and fell on his head below. Apparently he passed out in the process. Ribibin shook her head. Clumsy mechanists, didn't even get proper training and yet they went to war. They didn't know what was coming for them.

She glanced back to the place she had just left. Would Alice be alright? Wait, of course she would. She wasn't a princess or something, she was a frigging Knight-commander, probably better in battle than Ribibin were. Well, maybe at least. But the Weavile should stay by her commander's side, if nothing else, to get orders.

Spotting a naughty Bibarel in a bush beneath her, firing with some kind of arms and managing to hurt a Knight, Ribibin decided to give the mechanist the present of an early winter.

"Ho, ho, ho!" she shouted after she had fired her Ice Shards at the beaver. They struck it right in the face, since the pokémon was stupid enough to turn its head when it heard Ribibin's voice. It fell over and panicked from the cold pain, trying to grab the gun it had dropped when falling.

Bibarel found it, but realized that a black foot with big claws was standing on top of it. Looking up, the machinist faced a mischievously smiling face. "You've been naughty," miss Triss said as her Night Slash ended Bibarel's story in a swift move. Ribibin ducked from some bullets and turned around to the clearing where the others had previously been. This was... a bit too easy, wasn't it? Were machinists really this weak?

[Sir Bastian]

Caedmon Yeonart
Kanto Enclave

As the group continued on into the deeper part of the woods, Caedmon continued glancing around, the trees getting alot thicker now, this only causing him to be more alert, his eyes still shining a faint blue, witnessing about his aura-sensing abilities.
After a few more minutes, he raised a paw, signaling everyone to stop. “Wait. I feel something.” He stayed quiet for a little while, and then his ears twitched. A quick glance at Maverick told him that he had heard the same. The next moment, a bolt of electricity slammed against the ground where Maverick had been standing a moment before, Caedmon tossing himself to the side as well, rolling on the ground before diving behind a tree, a barrage of electricity unleashing upon them.

His eyes narrow, Caedmon took a deep breath, steadying himself and expanding his aura-sensing ability, trying to pinpoint where the attackers were. A moment later, he looked to the other knights. “Five in the trees, six to the left, four to the right, and five straight ahead! We need only one for interrogation! Show no mercy!”

Taking a moment to wait for the mechanist’s fire to slow down, Caedmon then tossed himself to the side, two Pokémon seen a fair ways ahead, hiding between some bushes whilst firing their weapons at the knights; A Vigoroth, and a Pansage.
Caedmon wasted no time and bent his armored legs before dashing forwards using Extremespeed to run towards the Vigoroth. Before he even had time to notice the commander rushing towards him, Caedmon had lept into the air, still at extremely high speed, slamming his paw against his chest, sending him hurtling backwards, into a tree.

The Pansage snapped it’s attention towards Caedmon and turned around, firing a bolt of electricity at him. Without anywhere else to go, Caedmon lept upwards, into the trees and made a quick branch-to-branch jump forwards, with the Pansage staring upwards in fear, firing another bolt into the treetops. A moment later, Caedmon lept down and landed behind the Pansage, who only just managed to turn around before Caedmon had grabbed him by the throat, lifted him up and slammed him into the ground. No mercy indeed.

A foreboding feeling suddenly arrived at the back of his head, his aura sensing still active, he only just managed to dodge out of the way of the Staryu, flying through the air, landing a few metres ahead of him. He turned his head slightly, noticing a Machoke behind him. They had both lost their weapons in the heat of the battle erupting all over, which only made Caedmon snort in amusement, the rather calm and cheerful Lucario from before having vanished and let a determined, ruthless Pokémon forth instead.

They stood for a moment, evaluating each other before the Machoke lept forwards, yelling something about Knight scum, but Caedmon didn’t listen. He managed to evade the punch, which hit the ground, spun around and delivered a quick one-two series of punches to it’s chest, sending it staggering back. The Staryu shot out a Bubblebeam, which Caedmon once again dived out the way of. It didn’t make sense to have such weak guards in front of an enclave. Something was up.

After having danced out of the way of the attack, Caedmon clenched his paw shut, a dark-blue ball of energy erupting around it before he swung his arm in a wide arc, sending the orb flying towards the Staryu, who could only watch helplessly before being rammed by the attack, sending it flailing backwards.
The Machoke however, had recovered, letting out a roar of frustration at not hitting his target and grasped a large rock laying next to him, lifting it up overhead and tossing it towards Caedmon. Gritting his teeth at this rather large attack, Caedmon bent his knees and set off in a leap upwards, helped along by Extremespeed, causing him to go through the leaves. The Machoke looked up, ready to punch him square in the face as he erupted again.

And sure enough, he did, not taking the time to land on a branch, he let gravity do the hard work, pulling his right arm back on his way down, collecting the necessary energy. As he made his way out of the leaves on his way down, the Machoke lunged out at him and managed to hit the commander, causing the Pokémon to let out a “Hah! Commander my ass! Couldn’t even dodge a simple punch!”

Caedmon spun around in the air before landing next to the Machoke, seemingly unharmed, his armor having taken the brunt of the hit. And even so, he didn’t even seem phased by it. “Who says I was trying to dodge it?” he said with a rather threatening voice, thrusting his arm forwards, towards the Machoke’s stomach.
He roared in confusion and anger, sending another punch towards Caedmon, but before it could make it halfway to it’s target, Caedmon unleashed a burst of blue energy from his hand, hitting the Machoke right in his solar plexus, sending him hurtling back against the ground, blood spurting from his mouth.

[TornZero]

Alice

Kanto Enclave

"Agreed," Alice answered. It was nice to get out of the cities often, even just for some sight-seeing. An hour passed in a calm silence before a strange clicking rang through the forest.

"Ambush!" Maverick hastily avoided an electric attack. But there wasn't a trail or anything; it had to be a Shock Gun. Then more clicking. Alice ducked into cover and managed to avoid getting herself shocked, watching as the Weavile under her command nailed a Bibarel in the face with Ice Shard.

The Absol lifted herself into the tree she hid behind with one strong claw-dragging, using the other claw to throw out a Gloom with Psycho Cut. However, it got stuck in her claws, so she threw it away herself and into an Oddish that was running around spraying off yellow-orange spores.

Are they really this terrible? she asked herself. They /had/ to be new recruits or something, the Mechanists she read about had extensive knowledge of their weapons and how to fight. The Absol looked at a Ralts and Lampent under her orders and called for them to use Protect, keeping a Chansey from getting hurt while they tended to anyone already injured. She dived down out of her tree and landed clean on a Bidoof that was trying to help its father, who was just slashed to death by Ribibin.

"Triss," she looked to the Weavile in the clearing, "make sure there's no one behind us." Alice ducked behind a tree again and away from a poison gas pellet, running out and cutting through the Sentret that threw it with her own Night Slash, leaving it for dead. Trailing a purplish aura from one paw and pink from the other, Alice had to use Mean Look to keep anyone from trying to get away.

Through a series of mixed Night Slashes and Psycho Cuts, Alice took out a short line of Grass types; even the Oddish from before lost its leaves and a leg. A Bulbasaur got its bulb ripped apart, a Servine no longer has a tail, a Cottonee got picked off, and a Tangela isn't so tangled anymore. And after just that, she came out with just a scrape or two on her legs, and that was quickly remedied with a shake of her limbs.

Ken Bala

Birch Enclave

Thirteen volunteers total, counting Ken. Damon gave everyone a good half-hour to get all their equipment, but the Gallade was already set to go. He passed by the storage closet once he and Urta left, and heard a muffled voice asking, "How many will die?"

He kept walking instead of snooping in, leaving the convention center and waiting outside for everyone else.

[Red's Hawt Chibi Pelippers]

Ribibin Triss - Kanto enclave

"Triss," Alice said to Ribibin, "make sure there's no one behind us."

"Aye, Knight-Commander!" Ribibin said, guarding her superior's back as the Absol made salad of several grass pokémon at once.

A shock gun was directed towards the Weavile, who didn't react in time. She was struck, feeling the horrible jolts going through her body as she fell over. The armor spread some of the electricity out, but she was in pain and rather dizzy when the shock was over. She quickly stumbled up, trying to not fail Alice.

Indeed, the Nuzleaf from before was suddenly seen in a bush some ten meters away. He was taking his opportunity to fire, when Ribibin was dizzy after the shock gun's strike... He fired a bolt from a crossbow at her and the Weavile watched as in slow motion as it came closer. In the nick of time, she put her arm up and let the arrow hit the armor there. It broke without leaving as much as a scratch on the wrist guard.

"Do you take me for an imbecile?" Ribibin tauntingly asked the Nuzleaf, who was clearly freaked out. "My turn." With that, she fired her Dark Pulse directly at him. It was a bit over the top, she admitted that; she normally used her Ice Shard attack much more often. But she was feeling fired up and angry about being hit before. The Nuzleaf got badly struck and was even thrown into a tree, possibly fainting again.

Ribibin reminded herself to finish him off later, but now she needed to stay by Alice's side. That was probably the right thing, because an Ursaring ran out towards them all of a sudden, looking like it was wearing... clothing? What a disgrace to the species of pokémon! It was heading for the Absol.

"Alice, to your left!" Ribibin shouted as she jumped forward and fired an Ice Shard towards the big bear. Ursaring deflected the attack with a strange shield of his. This man could battle, Ribibin realized. Hopefully not as well as her Knight-Commander though.

She landed on her feet and wondered how many they actually were. Had more come after Caedmon had counted them? Speaking of which, in this turmoil, she didn't even see Caedmon and Maverick anywhere. Not that she was worried. It was war and they were very skilled. Chances were that they had already captured a mechanist to complete the mission. This Ursaring was not a good candidate for becoming a captive, anyways. A small, weak pokémon would be best, but still someone who likely had lots of information.

She blinked. Maybe... the Nuzleaf?

[TornZero]

Alice

Kanto Enclave

"Alice, to your left!" Ribibin shouted and fired an Ice Shard at a bear that was creeping up on her blind spot. Was that thing REALLY wearing clothes? Disgusting! Armor, yeah, but CLOTHES? An Ursaring's already got fur, what does it need clothes of all things for?!

Regardless, that thing was still arguably better than the rest of these newbies. Alice leaped back to get a clear view of the big guy, and it was lowering a shield of some kind that it was using to defend. Not even a scratch from Triss' Ice Shard on it. At least he had /some/ kind of intelligence.... Clothes. It only got more deplorable the more she thought of it; she would never degrade herself by hiding her shining fur under cheap fabric.

Alice tried to take a step back before charging in to confuse it, but her paw was stopped by a tree. Even better. "C'mon, ya big lunkhead!" she playfully taunted, her bright blue eyes flashing out a Mean Look and forcing the Ursaring to rush in arms blazing. Focus Punch. The Absol slipped out of the way when the disgraceful bear swung in, letting it knock down the tree and hitting itself in the head with the falling trunk. That would've been trouble. Then she dashed past its back, dragging a purple aura along her nails and across its spine. Falling to his knee in response, the Ursaring got back up and roared as loud as it could, obviously angered.

"GET BACK HERE YA LITTLE B***H!!" he screamed, as Alice climbed into a tree and started to jump between them. "I'LL RIP DOWN EVERY DAMNED TREE HERE IF I HAVE TO!" He didn't answer to taunts or getting slashed in the back well, apparently.

Let's make it worse! Alice thought to herself, speaking to the Ursaring between jumps.

"You'd knock down a whole forest just for little ol' me?~" she oh so innocently inquired. "That's so thoughtful of you!" And when he opened his mouth to charge up a Hyper Beam in nothing but pure, unbridled rage after taking out multiple trees with Slash, there was her chance.

She dived in, dragging a Psycho Cut straight to Ursaring's legs and bringing him face-down to the ground. As lucky 'ol Ursaring tried to shut his mouth before he landed, he managed to scream out a Hyper Beam into the dirt right in front of his eyes. Alice ducked behind one of the fallen trees as the Hyper Beam shined brighter than the sun and exploded, leaving a smoking bear and plenty of charred woodland in its wake. Taking a short breath, Ursaring coughed out a small cloud of smoke.

After that was finished, Alice shook off all the ashes from her fur and looked around for Ribibin and the others.

[Red's Hawt Chibi Pelippers]

Ribibin Triss - Kanto Enclave with a hostage

The Weavile saw her superior engage the Ursaring, not without much trouble. Ribibin considered helping out anyways, but decided to try and capture the Nuzleaf and find Maverick as fast as she could instead. If they had their captive, the battle would be over because they could pull back. Not that the Knights of Oran would want to pull back against the mechanists. Letting them think they won could be a strategical move, but most Knights were likely too proud for it. Maybe her commanders too, even.

These thoughts all streamed through her head as Ribibin ran back to the bush where she had last seen the Nuzleaf mechanist. It had managed to wake up and crawled away since Ribibin hit it with the Dark Pulse. But not far enough. A scream was heard when the Knight grabbed hold on a certain leaf in a bush and pulled the grass type pokémon out. The mechanist was clearly terrified and pretty badly hurt after her several run ins with Ribibin over these last minutes.

Her... yes, Ribibin could clearly see now that it was a female Nuzleaf. She fell down to her knees and shivered, but she didn't beg for her life or anything. It was as if she was waiting for the final blow, waiting to follow where so many of her comrades had already gone today. A green vest was worn by it, as well as a belt where a quiver for her crossbow was fastened. The quiver was empty now. Ribibin felt slightly disgusted by the machinists using clothes again.

"You," she said, still holding the leaf with her claws and making holes in it.

The Nuzleaf didn't answer nor look up. Ribibin felt that this pokémon wasn't really worth looking up at her, but she didn't like how it wasn't listening to her either. She therefore kicked the mechanist down on the ground. It fell onto its back and closed its eyes.

"You!" Ribibin repeated. "Mechanist." She wasn't sure what to say to it now, really. If she asked about the enclave, they would realize that the Knights were looking for it, thereby alerting anyone who lived there. If it existed. The fact that they were ambushed here was a quite big hint to that it actually did exist though. Even though she was usually good at getting males where she wanted them, she wasn't sure about how to speak seducingly or even very threatening to a female. Hm, she had to practice. But not now when it really mattered.

She grabbed the Nuzleaf by its arm and dragged it with her as she made her way through the forest around the clearing where the battle still went on. She was looking for a certain Knight... since they hadn't split up yet, he should still be here. One of the few male Knights that she actually respected somewhat. Sure, he was clumsy quite often, but he was also darn strong and very kind. Even to women.

There he was, under some low growing trees some 20 meters away from her now: Kurgas the Tangrowth. His vines were exactly what she needed now. He was apparently tending to some hurt Knights. Ribibin was more angry than sad when she saw them and didn't really want to turn the Nuzleaf over alive anymore. They had attacked the Knights, not the other way around. The Knights were only trying to keep peace.

"I know what you are thinking..." the Nuzleaf suddenly spoke. "I see it in your stance and eyes."

Ribibin was a bit surprised and turned to look at the mechanist, claws ready to rip of its head if it tried to do anything. Its arm was still firmly gripped by the Weavile's other hand.

"That we are mean, no evil even... It's a surprise. You should know that's how we think about you. You are the oppressing ones-"

WHAM. Ribibin hadn't been able to control herself. Furious, she had smacked the Nuzleaf right in the head, making it pass out again.

"Triss?" Kurgas' voice came from behind. "Are you ok? Shall I strangle that nasty mechanist for you?"

"I'm... fine," Ribibin said between breaths. "Just bind her up, will you? I was only considering it before this, but... she doesn't seem to be one of the most unintelligent mechanists. Maybe she knows something."

Kurgas agreed and did as she told him to, picking the Nuzleaf up and binding it with his vines against a tree while he kept tending to the hurt Knights leaning against another tree. The Nuzleaf was still out. But alive. Ribibin stood there for a moment, staring at it. Stupid, tactless mechanists. If Maverick didn't find this one useful, Ribibin would kill her herself.

[TornZero]

Alice

Kanto Enclave

With what seemed to be their biggest and baddest fighter defeated, not to mention making a salad out of a pack of Grass types, the remaining Mechanists pretty much stayed away from Alice now while she sat next to the Ursaring she felled. Checking up on Triss, she'd managed to capture someone that was still alive. The Absol wanted to congratulate her, but that'll have to be a little later, since she seemed busy.

Now what'll happen? Chances are there aren't many Mechanists left, at least not enough to put up a fight. They must be going after the others, and they can all handle themselves. The notion of the Mechanists' armor crept into Alice's thoughts again as she polished her own with her fur. The plan she kept coming up with had multiple benefits.

Maybe I should've kept that char on. Who knows? She'd find a way to look good in black. She looked at where Ribibin was, walking over to her since she finished up with the Nuzleaf and a Tangrowth she apparently knew.

"Very good work, Ribibin." The Weavile didn't even leave a mark, aside from a few holes in Nuzleaf's leaf. Trusting Ribibin's judgment, they had a valuable asset here. Alice looked to Kurgas and nodded at him in thanks, dismissing him to return to his post so the two could talk in private. "I have an idea to get the map," she started. "But you can't let anyone know, even the head commanders." As she told Triss about the thoughts in her head, she was undoing the strap on her front left greave, the one with her gem stuck in it.

[Greiger]

Maverick Renos
Kanto Enclave

There were only a few Mechanists left, and then there were less, and then there was only one. Maverick looked around. The area was filled with the corpses of the weak Mechanist ambush force. Maverick turned his eyes to the Kurgas and saw that the Tangrowth had a Nuzleaf squirming in his tentacles. Maverick held up a hand, "Everyone, cease everything. We have a captive. We're not proceeding until we learn the current state of the enclave."

Maverick walked over and had Kurgas free the Nuzleaf from his tentacles. He looked her up and down. In all honesty she didn't look like much. She wore a bandanna around her neck as well as a band of cloth around her right arm. Maverick narrowed his eyes and grabbed hold of the cloths and ripped them off her body. He let them fall to the ground and proceeded to put his feet on them and rub them all over the ground. "How your kind sleeps at night I have no idea." He muttered. He looked over the assembled Knights, "Ludo, take your group and position them throughout the forest. We won't let another ambush take us."

Ludo simply bowed and directed his Knights to move around as he too disappeared into the forest. Maverick dragged the Nuzleaf over to a tree. "Kurgas, if you would be so kind?" The Tangrowth chuckled and wrapped the Nuzleaf to the tree extra tight. Maverick stared down at her, "Now, you will tell us what security is around your enclave as well as where your map is."

The Nuzleaf stayed silent. Maverick sighed and nodded at Kurgas. The Tangrowth let one of his vines wrap around her neck and began to squeezed. The Nuzleaf gasped and struggled in the vines. Kurgas pulled his vine away. "Kurgas will continue to squeeze your neck for longer periods each and every time you do not give us the information. Now, tell us." Once again she shook her head and cried out as the vine squeezed her neck once more.


_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Damon Malruth
Birch Enclave

Damon waited. Only eight showed up, one of the being the Gallade from before. Damon looked around and stood up on his hind legs, "Thank you for coming everyone. We... have less here, but that won't stop us! We have all the supplies you need right here. Just grab a mask and you'll be good."

Damon and Urta put theirs on and waited for the others to do the same. "We have one way to get in. Our psychic here, Brian, will lead us in and get us out." The Alakazam stood next to Damon and nodded to the group. "Remember, our only objective is to get Matthew. Don't worry about fighting the Knights. Just distract them." Damon looked over them once more. "Many of us will die. Let it be for a good cause!" The Mechanists nodded and Damon gave the signal to Brian. The Alakazam's eyes turned blue and suddenly a bright light enveloped them.

Location: The Council Chambers

The light dissipated and Damon saw they were in a hallway. Just on the other end was a small group of Knights. Damon didn't know why he moved first but he did. He grabbed one of his smoke grenades and threw it into the Knight's area. Instantly smoke filled the area, "Push forward!" He shouted as he ran right into the smoke. Being small he could easily move forward and not worry about running into someone when he could just move in between their legs. Urta ran in as well and punched the first Knight she came across. This seemed to knock the Knight's out of their haze as they immediately began to unleash attacks in the Mechanists' direction.

[Sir Bastian]

Caedmon Yeonart
Kanto Enclave

As the battles quickly ended, very much in favor of the knights, Caedmon ended his current fight against a Flaffy with a quick twist of his ankle, his paw pressed against it’s neck on the ground, which resulted in a nasty crack, and the Pokémon falling silent.
His eyes shone with their light-blue glare as he activated his ability once more, his consciousness reaching out to scour for more mechanist auras, but as he only found one that he did not recognize, he simply assumed that this was the captive he had asked for them to catch.

He moved out of the undergrowth and through the small clearing they had wandered into, not caring which of the corpses he stepped on, though looking a little surprised to see an Ursaring in the middle of it all, his brow raising a little.
His black and blue armor was spattered with blood, and had only received a couple of small scratches in the fights, Caedmon himself having sustained no damage at all.

After a short walk, he returned to the remainder of the knights, only a fair few having sustained serious injuries, though they were tended to. He walked over towards where Maverick, Alice and Ribibin were standing, giving them all a faint nod, glancing towards the Nuzleaf. He moved over to stand next to Ribibin, and without wanting to disturb Maverick’s interrogation, he murmured under his breath, just loud enough for her to hear.
“I noticed you taking care of this one earlier. Am I wrong in assuming you managed to capture this Mechanist?”

He glanced towards her after having asked the question, his arms folded across his chest, clearly not minding the blood spattered over his armor, and partially over the fur where it was exposed, his expression a rather business-like one, seemingly not caring much for all of the Pokémon who had just lost their lives in a seemingly needless effort.

[d4rka8isz]

Luna Dyseris
Birch Enclave

30 minutes to get ready to invade a heavily guarded fortress. It wasn't what Luna thought would be a walk in the park, but then again, who said it was? She walked out of the building and looked around. There were Mechanics running around everywhere. Who knew what they were doing? Where they were going? Being underground made Luna feel a bit claustrophobic. She missed the outside, but she still knew better than to just walk out into plain sight. Spying an empty bench, she strode over and sat down to just think for a moment. How were her friends doing? Had they become knights yet? She wondered how she would react if she saw one of her friends as a knight fighting against her. Would she even be able to bring herself to face them, let alone attack them? Especially Sahil, since his family had been the one who had adopted her when her mother died. "Why am I thinking about this?" she suddenly hissed in frustration, "I'm a medic. I'm not going to be fighting." She got up to walk back into the building, but then sat down again as she admitted that she was lying to herself. "Even if I am a medic, everyone on this hit-and-run team will have to see battle. Would I help Sahil if he's there? What should I do?"

Instead of going back to the room, Luna teleported herself on top of the building and laid down. "Just a little nap," she told herself, and fell asleep. Moments later, she was awoken by a blue light emitting from inside the room. "Overslept," she joked dryly as she jumped off of the roof and ran inside. It was too late, however, as Brian the Alakazam had just teleported the group away. "Shhh-" She cut herself off and went over to put on a mask. "This is going to get rough," she muttered and started to visualize the Council building and where she wanted to go. She's seen pictures of it and was able to construct a decent vision before emitting a minty green light and disappearing.

Council Chambers

As her vision came back(a side-effect of her imperfect teleportation), she saw that the area was already full of smoke. Good thing I decided to put on the mask beforehand, she thought as she looked around. Behind her were the knights guarding the Council and in front of her was the entrance to the chamber. Uh... Oops! she thought and turned around to find the Mechanists fighting with the knights. Damon was zooming past the knights as fast as he could. A medic wouldn't be much help in this situation, thought a nervous Luna, before realizing that she could help with her pellets. She grabbed a few pellets off of her string and chucked them into the crowd of knights. The effect was instantaneous as some knights fell asleep while others cried out in pain as their eyes started burning. "Score!" Luna whispered.

[Discordant Harmony]

Chauncey Parks
Birch Enclave

As he stood with the other volunteers, Chauncey did his best to repress the anxiety over what exactly he was volunteering for. There were only thirteen Pokemon, thirteen Pokemon to invade a fortress and kidnap a member of the opposing government. A few of the Pokemon next to the Togetic tried advising him to stay back. Nevertheless, Chauncey knew that sooner or later one side of the conflict was going to do something bold; if the Council acted first, a great many would die. And besides, with so few going they’d need all the help they could get.
While the others moved to get their gear at Damon’s instruction, Chauney sat back in his chair to wait, making sure everything in his pouches and pack was in order and where it should be. Seeing all was as ready as he could get, the tiny medic followed outside to wait for the other volunteers. When the time came to go, only eight of the volunteers returned. It seemed the others had been convinced to reconsider. He looked over at Damon as the Linoone thanked everyone for showing up and distributed the masks. Putting his own on, Chauncey had little time to acclimate to the headgear before the group was starting to move. Brian, the Alakazam, was to take them there and take them back. If anyone was missed when the time came to leave- Chauncey tried not to think about what the knights would do. As the psychic’s eyes lit up and the area exploded with bright blue, Chauncey flinched.

Council Chambers

In a flash they were there. Chauncey opened his eyes, seeing the hallway. Barely having time to act before Damon smoked the knights, the medic tried to bring together what focus he could under the stress of the situation to manifest a Reflect. A thin, blue, bubble-like membrane spread out over the Mechanists’ skin- or exoskeleton, or fur, or whatever each Pokemon happened to have. Opening his eyes, Chauncey saw the Kirlia from earlier had appeared in the hallway with them while he was concentrating. Thankfully, the effect had reached her as well. With the mask and Reflect as protection, Chauncey ran through the smoke after Damon and Urta. He was bumped into by a falling knight who’d been hit by the Kirlia’s sleep pellet, and smacked into the wall. Ducking around a knight crying out in agony due to tear gas, the medic was smacked in the back with one of their flailing limbs and knocked forward out of the smoke. Getting up, the Togetic looked for the Forces’ leader, or any wounded Mechanists, in the confusion of smoke and fighting.

[TornZero]

Ken Bala

Birch Enclave

Ken grabbed a mask when advised and placed it over his face. A little tight, but otherwise it fit well. He picked up a few of the smoke bombs available from what was brought out, not wanting to use up just his pellet supply for this kind of thing. Their only objective was to get Matthew, Damon reminded them, and he clarified that the Knights only need to be distracted.

Sounds like a job for me, then. All the more reason not to use any poison pellets. A bright light soon encompassed them all, and they were gone.

The Council Chambers

Immediately, Damon threw a smoke bomb and surrounded the Knights down the hallway, passing through them and out the other side. Urta the Blaziken followed behind and punched whatever she could. Fun gal, ain't she? As the Kirlia and Togetic ran ahead, Ken noticed he was covered in Chauncey's Reflect. He followed behind the latter of the two, dropping one of his special Boom Pellets between the Knights that they all just passed.

*BANG* Followed by screams of pain, he heard a few thuds from the effects of a close-range sound bomb (and amplified by wearing metal helmets of all things, not to mention from Luna's tear gas). It knocked them off balance long enough to make sure everyone could get through them easily enough. Flinging a smoke bomb combined with a tear gas pellet ahead of Damon and Urta, he managed to blind another group of Knights in the next area while getting the attention of the others.

[Red's Hawt Chibi Pelippers]

Ribibin Triss

Suddenly when Ribibin were standing near the Nuzleaf, pouting, Alice came up to her. Apparently she had managed to finish off the Ursaring without getting much of a scratch herself. That was just like her knight-commander, Ribibin thought and smiled with relief at her. But Alice wasn't done yet; she had a plan which she told Ribibin about. When she was done talking, Ribibin's eyes were wide with disbelief and in her hands was a piece of the Absol's armor. The Weavile nodded, promising to be loyal to Alice's plan, no matter what she really thought about it. It sounded dangerous... but then again, everything was dangerous in a war. And a war, they were in.

The fighting seemed to have subsided, finally. The forest grew quiet again and Ribibin heard some Knights say that all the mechanists had actually been killed. She doubted that; someone was bound to have escaped and run back to its home like the non-courageous scum they were. Maverick barged forward to the captive mechanist and tried to litereally squeeze info out of her with the help of Kurgas' vines. The mechanist woman didn't seem to want to budge easily though. Ribibin snorted. They would break through her soon enough and she wanted badly to be there when it happened. She didn't like the proud attitude that this Nuzleaf had kept up.

“I noticed you taking care of this one earlier," a voice suddenly said quietly into Ribibin's ear and made her twitch. Not jump - she was well trained not to panic from surprises. But twitch. "Am I wrong in assuming you managed to capture this Mechanist?”

Turning her head slightly, she saw that it was Caedmon. The Lucario Knight-commander with nerves of steel but a heart of... hm, well who knew? This man never really showed much of his feelings but he wasn't a cold person just because of that. Maybe that was what made him such a good Knight-commander; even Ribibin had a level of respect for him.

"Your assumption is not wrong, knight-commander," she said with a hint of proudness in her voice. She reckoned she was allowed to be proud; if she didn't show it then maybe the males wouldn't even recognize that a woman had done something important. "I can't promise you that she'll really be useful though," she added with a dark wrinkle in her forehead. "This machinist is stubborn."

She glanced at the Lucario's bloody armor and suddenly felt a tint of worry. Why? She never really worried about others, unless it was a woman or kid that was being bullied by some males. Caedmon was neither. "You're not injured, are you?" she asked him anyways, trying to sound casual and hid her worry but maybe failing. Her own armor didn't have a single stain of blood on it, but it was rather dirty with mud and green smear from squashed leaves.

[Sir Bastian]

Caedmon Yeonart
Kanto Enclave

Caedmon continued looking down at Triss, even as she twitched ever so slightly. A lower-ranking knight might not have noticed it, but Caedmon had. He had learned to look for the small things in what makes a person tick. Mostly enemies, or when interrogating of course, but it was a skill that was hard to put away and not use.

"Your assumption is not wrong, knight-commander. I can't promise you that she'll really be useful though, This machinist is stubborn.” She replied, looking rather steeled. Caedmon couldn’t help but nod a little in acknowledgement, though he, as usual, didn’t show any more emotions than a brick looking kinda happy.

Looking back to the captured Mechanist that Maverick was currently in the process of ‘having a chat’ with, Caedmon responded to her, standing as rigid as he always had. “Very well. Don’t worry Triss, Maverick has a way of getting people to talk, so we should simply leave things to him until he asks for our assistance.”
Pausing for a moment, he sent another glance to her, giving her a firm nod. “Good job, Triss.” His voice sounded earnest, and not a thing about him seemed to say that he was just telling her what she wanted to hear, or that he was regretting to tell a woman that she had done well.

A few moments passed before Triss spoke again. “You're not injured, are you?”

Caedmon’s ears twitched ever so slightly, turning his head again to glance down at her, his expression looking somewhat mildly surprised, before he glanced down himself, at his bloodied armor. He gave a shake of his head, waving a paw dismissively. “No, no. None of them as much as put a dent in my armor. They were patheticly weak, not at all suited for guarding an enclave… there may be more behind this than we’d like to think. They might’ve been a diversion.”

He looked ahead again, as if thinking, for a couple of moments. It was tough to say if he had heard the faint worry in Triss’ voice, and he didn’t seem inclined to share if he had or not. A couple of seconds later, he looked back to her. “I was forced to dispose of some fleeing Mechanists rather swiftly, so they wouldn’t be able to report back to the enclave, if it is indeed here. And when you do something rushed, you get… imprecise, I’m afraid.” He gestured down his armor before his lips twitched up into a smile.
“But thank you for the concern. I take it you came out of it all without much difficulty as well?”

[Greiger]

Maverick Renos
Near Kanto Enclave

"You're quite stubborn, I have to give you that."

The Nuzleaf was panting heavily. The torture had gradually evolved from simply choking her every so often to bruising her body and now there was blood smeared on her body from the various cuts Maverick had inflicted onto her with his sharp leaf blades. The helmet that shielded his face blocked the frown he sported. This Mechanist was quite skilled. Most of the Mechanists that were picked up usually screamed out whatever they needed to say within the first hour or so. This one was different.

Suddenly the Nuzleaf began to chuckle and soon burst into giggling laughter. Maverick frowned, apparently her mind was starting to crack, and not in the way he wanted. If her mind broke now into insanity it was highly possible that they would have to spend the rest of the day trying to seek out this enclave.

The Nuzleaf looked up with a bright smile, "You don't get the joke do you?"

Maverick crossed his arms, "Never crossed my mind that there was a joke in being captured and interrogated."

The Nuzleaf coughed up some blood and just laughed, "Why do you think we were waiting her for you?"

"Waiting?" Maverick echoed, still not sure what the Mechanist was insinuating.

Her smile grew wider, "Yes, waiting. How could we know you all were coming? How could our enclave have send out soldiers as weak as us unless it was for something else? And how could I and the other pokemon I fought with be so well trained for interrogation? You know... you were wasting some time here..."

Maverick's arms fell limp to his sides as he realized what the Nuzleaf was saying. "...Traitor..." He whispered softly. He quickly turned to the Knights. "Knights, on the double straight ahead now! Kurgas keep the prisoner!" He didn't wait to see his orders followed out as he dashed through the forest at a breath neck speed. His legs burned as he headed to the area right where the Council had said it was at. He slid to a stop as he saw the large hole right in the ground. There were no sentries at the hole entrance, that couldn't be good. Without waiting he dashed right inside. The tunnel wasn't that long but he suddenly the tunnel opened up to a huge cavern. There were buildings... lights... everything that was evil was in this place!

The area itself looked deserted however Maverick could see some movement up ahead. As he charged up he quickly ducked behind a building as a electric bullet shot past him.

Two soldiers in the Declarum Forces had been busy evacuating another building but had to stop when they spied Maverick. The Pinsir clicked his radio, "Sir, Knights incoming!"

The radio buzzed, "Keep them there Randal! We haven't finished the evacuation yet! Only half of the city is out!"

The Dewott smiled at Randal, "Let's make sure these Knights know what they're dealing with!" Both begin to fire rapidly at the building Maverick had hidden behind.

Maverick kept his back against the wall as he spied the Knights entering through the tunnel, "Ludo! Get your men and circle around! Slay any you see! And for Arceus' sake find that map!"

The Mienshao led his men down another area of the city. "Caedmon! Help me take these two down! Knight-Commanders, get your Knights anywhere you can! Stop these evil scum from leaving!"

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Damon Malruth
Council Chambers

The air was thick with smoke and it was taking all of the speed Damon had to dodge all of the feet and legs that threatened to stomp him dead. It was hard being small, but it did have it's advantages, such as being able to sneak up on others whenever they are blocking his path.

Damon launched himself at one such Knight in his path, a Marowak and headbutted him right in the side. Normally, Damon would have tried to hit the stomach, but that armor would have given him a serious concussion. The Marowak wasn't even fazed and tried to hit Damon with his bone, but the Linoone dodged. The Marowak swung widely and managed to slam his bone into Damon's head. Damon groaned and fell onto his back as he saw stars. His vision began to clear up as he saw the Marowak standing over him raising the bone up high. If that bone hit him then it would be over. In his desperate state of mind a plan quickly came to Damon's mind. In a split second Damon raised his tail and swirled it around the Marowak's armpit, which luckily was not covered in armor. The Marowak burst into laughter form the Tickle and happened to drop his bone as he wrapped his arms around his chest. Thank you Arceus! Damon thought as he stood up and launched another headbutt right at the Marowak's chest, managing to knock the Knight back a bit, but hardly damaging him. Damon quickly moved back into the smoke as he looked around trying to get his bearings back and dashed forward.

He had to get the Council itself quickly, at this rate the Declarum Forces would be decimated.

"Push through!" Damon shouted as loudly as he could.

[TornZero]

Alice

Kanto Enclave

"That's insane...."

"Triss, I'm leaving you in charge of my squad until I return." Alice trusted the Weavile enough to leave things in her care. Speedy and resourceful; few people better for the job when something like this comes up so abruptly.

Dirtied up and without a scout from the fight to be seen, Alice had stripped the rest of her armor near the enclave's entrance, hidden in the holed-out trunk of a tree. She acted as innocent as a newborn, like a Mechanist or average refugee that had a bit of roughing up before getting inside, struggling to walk and all.

This place is amazing... she thought. Pictures and drawings from Smeargle in the Council cities aren't enough to showcase the construction put in this marvel of Pokémon adaptation to humanity's influence. They made out an entire civilization, and even appropriated artificial light, all underground. Even though she'd never smelled it before and it was a kind long gone, Alice could sense there was a stench of H. sapien about. Then, as soon as she noticed someone seeing her (who'd actually been watching for a short time), she fell to the ground, making sure for it to be a convincing passing out by... well, knocking herself unconscious by hitting the ground with the side of her head. Kind of silly and plenty stupid, but it must have worked, because she wasn't dead yet.

"She's stable now, doesn't seem to have any injuri--"

"They're charging in!" She was transported to a clinic in the enclave within a few minutes of her hitting the rocky pavement, and the Knights must have made it in just a moment ago. There were attacks flying; she could hear them hitting walls of buildings and Pokémon alike when she started to become lucid again.

"Get everyone remaining out through the emergency exits, go!" Next thing she knew, or at least from what she was hearing, Pokémon were shuffling around. Her body was being moved, and everyone was escaping from the clinic, Alice brought along with injured Mechanists, both civilian and Declarum. When she opened her eyes to look around, the Absol was being carried through a different area of the forest by two Pokémon holding opposite ends of a stretcher. The stench of Mechanist was on them....

"W-what's going on...?"

"Guys, the new girl's awake!" one exclaimed.

"Drop her a sleeping pellet," another told them. "We can't have her moving around before we can get there, she'll slow things down." The Pokémon carrying the back end of the stretcher popped a bead full of sleep spores over Alice's face before she could fully wake up, covering his mouth immediately to keep from getting affected by it himself as they ran through the trees.

Ken Bala

Council Chambers

Ken caught up to Damon and Urta without much trouble, dropping a small quantity of pellets on the recovering Knights to keep them down as he passed through them. Sliding sleep and tear gas pellets into his hands in pairs, the Gallade spread them amongst the Knights. One, a Gallade as well, managed to break through more or less unaffected, crossing swords with Ken using Leaf Blade against Psycho Cut.

"A mask?" the Knight asked in the middle of things. "What a disgrace!" and he threw himself away.

"What works," Ken muffled out through the gas protectant as he popped a sleeping pellet into his hand, "works!" He threw it at the Knight, covering him in a cloud of the fast-acting spores and knocking him out. He called for Damon, passing the Linoone the not-yet-activated smoke bombs he had left before going back to flinging the pellets he had in his current supply.