/Compromise/
Hailey wasn't compromise's biggest fan. The fact of the matter remained however that sometimes you needed to work with your enemy to get what you wanted. Band together with your enemies to take out an even greater enemy. It was arguably the reason, or at least the only reason she could accept, that she allowed Arcea to follow her around and work with her. She couldn't just
roflstomp end everything in sight the moment it crossed her vision! She'd get herself killed! Restraint and devious planning was required for a job such as this. She knew it. Maybe even Tim knew it. She suspected he did anyway. Why else would he have been such a heckler? A hundred dead kids here or there to change the world. Was that really such a big deal? It didn't seem like it to her, but perhaps she had misjudged him. Perhaps there was more to him than she had assumed.
That being said, she had eventually decided she needed his help, at least for the time being. There just wasn't any way around it. It was more compromise than she was comfortable with, but this was not a job for those who were afraid to leave their comfort zones.
It was a deal then. Hailey would give them a chance to evacuate the children. She had pursued Tim not long after their initial conversation. They would continue the mission on his terms. To this end, the group had made their way out towards Eterna City. One way or another, Hailey would see that today proved to be a milestone in the purification of this world.
"We'll just need a few minutes to get all the kids out." Tim stated.
"What if the adults hear you? Aren't they why we're doing this in the first place?" Hailey replied, somewhat skeptical. She'd kind of prefer if this plan... didn't blow up in their faces and fail, y'see.
"I can make sure they stay in the city." Tim didn't account for the fact that the adults would probably start scattering all over the place, or if some of the kids actually liked a certain adult, or had a parent, whatever. His parents sure didn't keep him after he got a Pokémon, so why should he care about what happens to them? Not like he was going to kill them, but it gave him a reason; it seemed like enough of one to make him not give a crap, too.
5 Minutes Later
Okay, so it was taking longer than a /few/ minutes, but don't get fussy about the details. It gives you worry lines. Tim can't really tell time all that well anyhow, so deal with it.
"Make sure you get the other kids out, but don't let the adults know." Dragon Rush up after telling the kid, and... just barely missed a roof. Fall. Crash. Ouch. Gonna have to work on this flying thing.
"Tim? What're you doing back here? I thought you went to Children's City." The voice was familiar, but the child whom it belonged to certainly wasn't — at least for a couple seconds. Aiden looked different, but Tim knew better than to laugh... externally.
"What are you doin' wearing a flower?"
"Long story, but it ends with me getting a new Pokémon spirit."
"I'm here to get rid of the adults."
"By yourself?"
"No, I've got some help, and now I'm thinking you might wanna... uh..." Why didn't he notice it sooner? "There are girls following you... why?"
"What? Crud." Aiden grabbed his pal and ducked around a corner and into the building on said corner, almost panicking. Almost. "Did we get away?"
"I... don't know. What's up?"
30 Minutes Earlier
Leaves rattled; trees shook in the face of Aiden's Hyper Voice. There was also a shrill shriek coming from one of the trees, with others joining soon after.
"What's the big idea you—" interrupted as she saw his face. Like a thousand butterflies regurgitating from her stomach, the Leafeon wielder was hit right in the eyes by a pair of hollow hearts, clouding her vision intensely. At the same time, a heart imprinted itself on the wrists of Aiden's sleeves. "Hhhhunk...?" The other girls followed suit, beginning a chase through the trees and sky, and then the city where more joined in.
Oh... oh my. This didn't happen with my last wielder.
"What?" Aiden asked, fleeing from the scene.
Well, I have Attract, but you must be something special if you can use it without even thinking about it. The Hydreigon cackled, happy to see more kids in distress.
Meanwhile, a fair distance from town Hailey and Arcea stood near each other, seemingly watching the other intently. The two ladies were actually already hard at work though despite what it seemed like. If one drew closer, they'd find that Arcea was actually moving, although it was hard to tell from a good distance. She was doing stretches, contorting her muscles and then relaxing them. These weren't /just/ stretches though. She was /coiling/ her body repeatedly, including her rather large tail. She was prepping hard for combat with exercise enhanced by her Pokéspirit powers. Coil was a rare move among Pokémon, and an extremely powerful one at that. Her senses became sharper, her body tensed in anticipation of more stress, and redirected energy where it was needed. Hailey meanwhile appeared to be completely still, however upon closer examination her eyes were closed and an aura of power was radiating from her body, growing slowly larger. She was using calm mind to strengthen herself mentally. Both were too distracted by their work to be aware of Aiden, Tim, and the other's approach. Finally, both Hailey and Arcea stopped.
"Mmm--I think I'm finished!" Arcea said, matter-o-factly. For one reason or another, she appeared to have enjoyed the exercise. Hailey smiled lightly at this, but for her own reasons.
"Perfect... Let's..." Hailey started, drifting off mid-sentence and opening her eyes. All of a suddenly Hailey's body seemed to tense, though it was difficult to observe under the robes she wore. She seemed different though. Her presence was more commanding, and a visible aura hung off her body. She also seemed slightly bigger for one reason or another.
Hailey, do you even lift? She had just used psych up, tricking her own body into emulating Arcea's coil. She testily moved her arms around and nodded in a satisfactory manner. Perfect... Arcea's talents complimented her own in a terrifyingly effective manner. Now she just had to wait—Or perhaps not. She detected a presence, somewhat familiar, from nearby. Looking over she squinted her eyes in an attempt to figure out if her suspicions were correct. Arcea followed her gaze in a much more casual manner.
"So your new Pokémon makes you a chick magnet, and you don't know how to turn it off?" Tim, nearly winded from all the skulking around to get away from the annoying pack of crazed girls, pondered over this information. He almost couldn't hold back his laughter this time, but he managed to stifle it. He also remembered another kid — fourteen now — who would've loved having that happen to him. "Think we got away?"
"I can't hear 'em."
"Good thing we lost them out here; these are the friends I was talking about." A Gabite wielder that was with Tim in Children's City flew in on a Dragon Rush to join the growing posse, having made sure the adults were rounded up in one place.
"All clear, Tim." Anonymous Gabite Wielder #1 went to charging himself up, mustering all the power he could out of his Hone Claws so Hailey could copy it like she did Arcea. "How strong are you supposed to get before you can make a giant bomb that'll demolish a city block?"
Aiden, his Hydreigon asked with its voice almost incomprehensible due to how fast it was talking,
who are these kids, and why haven't you bothered to kill them or something? Are they your friends? Ooh! I like friends! My last wielder hated
'em. Don't know why. Maybe they could hear me or something, 'cause I always talk trash about 'em if they make me mad. Wait, did he hate friends? No, that wasn't it. Friends hated him! That's right!
Shut up already, Dragon. Yay! Froslass to the rescue!~
Why? I'd talk trash about you, too, if we weren't occupying the same body. Thankfully, the boy in the body shut them both up.
For Hailey the coast seemed clear. No attacks being launched, no warning signals to jeopardize her mission. Besides, who in their right mind would approach her in this condition? She was prepped to do a lot more than destroy a couple of spirit wielders. She gave the others a simple nod as they approached, acknowledging their presence non-verbally. She then proceeded to copy their own boosting moves, She was so intent on doing her job well, in fact, that she wasn't aware of something... interesting, happening.
Arcea had become distracted by something. At one moment she was just hanging out, trying to enjoy the whole not being dead or eaten thing. The next, she was feeling a sort of pull towards a specific figure in the group. He was unfamiliar, but Tim seemed to know him. Who the heck was this guy? He appealed to a part of her mind she hadn't used in a while—Y'know, the part that was totally into gossiping about cute boys
or if Hailey obsessed over anything other than killing people. A small part of her was a bit confused. Normally, she didn't obsess over boys because well... Let's face it, she had more important things of higher priority. Now, despite that fact, this was a complete /lie/. The truth was that she actually did obsess—She was just mildly good at keeping it to herself usually. This was different though. It was as if some sort of higher power was compelling her to run over there and /glomp/ him! Her hands went up to her chest and she cupped them there as if trying to still her heart.
"It's not a matter how strong I need to be—Rather, it's a matter of how fast the city will fall under the barrage." Hailey replied to the gabite wielder, still not really... aware of what was going on. This could not last however as quite frankly Arcea's self-control was melting like a popsicle in an oven... over an erupting volcano... on the sun. The other girl got this strange look in her eyes,
It looked sort of like her pupils had changed into large CGI hearts. and before Hailey had figured out something was wrong Arcea left her side and abruptly burst into a sprint. Now, Arcea wasn't all that fast a runner by any means, but seeing as the others were very close and she wasn't exactly a munchlax wielder she promptly reached Aiden and just sort of... halted to a stop directly in front of him, reaching out and wrapping her arms around him in an overly affectionate manner. Careful Aiden. This one's trying to /cuddle/ you to death. Needless to say, she had this semi-dorky smile on her face that was completely inappropriate for the situation at hand and leaned her head against him in a slightly lazy manner, as if content with the world.
Aiden was... less than pleased. He couldn't get away fast enough, and when he tried Arcea had already gripped him too tightly. He almost fell over trying to get in the air.
"Please let go of me...." He was almost begging, finding himself in the very predicament he was trying to avoid. Arcea tried to find an excuse not to let go; she couldn't bring herself to tell the truth about why she was hugging him in the first place, let alone so lovingly.
"I'm stuck."
"Y-you're stuck?"
"Yeah." Aiden tried to pry her off. First, her arms, which didn't budge an inch; then her head, which was decidedly snug against his shoulder despite his attempts. She didn't have to pry the last girls off, but he hoped none of them would ever be this damn resilient. They may have been all in his head like the Hydreigon laughing to the point where a normal person would fall unconscious, but Aiden could swear he was going to break out in hives. Arcea wasn't going to move, and it didn't look like she was planning to (unless it was to get even closer). She couldn't find the strength to let go as she nuzzled into Aiden's neck with one side of her head. Aiden, obviously, was struggling to maintain his composure.
GETITOFFGETITOFFGETITOFF! Wait!
"Tim! A hand, please!" Surely the big strong Rhydon wielder would have the strength to pull her awa—nope. Even a powered up Tim and Gabite wielder weren't enough to remove Aiden from Arcea's cuddly grasp. Then a development happened! Obviously, she didn't let go, but Arcea found herself just lightly nibbling on Aiden's shoulder!
Love bugs don't bite figuratively. Aiden only managed to notice when he fell over with Arcea on top, unable to move. Her love paralyzed him. Or maybe that was the biting.
Meanwhile, Hailey just sort of watched with an aggravated look on her face as if she couldn't be bothered to deal with this. What in the world was Arcea /doing/? She didn't understand. Aiden's 'attract aura' also didn't seem to be having an effect on her for one reason or another. ...Or perhaps she was resisting it? That would explain why she was irritated. Or perhaps watching her best 'friend' get down and cuddly with some dude they didn't even know was the cause. Either way, she looked positively frustrated, and just sort of scowled at the two. I have no words, Arcea. Secretly judging you though. Yeah.
Arcea? She didn't care, or perhaps didn't realize. Her head was filled with images of
cuddling Aiden for ETERNITY whatever her exceedingly modest and currently clouded definition of romance was. It probably involved sharing a meal and... y'know, cuddling. A lot. Now, to everyone around her it probably looked something like a cavewoman had just come along and dragged Aiden off to be her husband. Except, y'know, minus the cave. Congratulations Aiden, you're now Arcea's property, dubbed 'personal cuddly boy-toy'.