The Children are Hunted. (M)

Welcome to Pangaea. No this isn't a region. This is Earth, trapped in time. This is the modern world. This world has been touched by Pokemon, mysterious and powerful creatures who appeared on the Earth one day god knows how many years ago. No one remembers that is for certain and no one can find any records nearby, so it has at least been a good few hundred years. These wonderful creatures are special. They can speak human speech until they are captured. Basically until they are fully under a human's care, they are perfectly sentient and communicative with us. After that however, it is up to the human to figure out the rest.

The relationship was rocky at first but over time it has become relatively peaceful here on Earth. As humans took on the task of training their new friends, a League formed to keep these people in check and test their skills. Winning the League was next to impossible but an honor in itself. Over time, more jobs formed with humans and Pokemon working together, creating a whole new way of life. It was difficult but now the world was fine.

Right?

Not entirely so.

You see, there are quite a few groups working beneath the surface recently. One is called, oddly, the Knights of Valor. No one's sure who came up with that name. However, they are working to separate Pokemon and humans, for reasons no one is entirely sure of why. They seem to dislike the effects humans have on Pokemon and There are even rumors of an island off the west coast of Pangaea being developed. This organization is mostly made up of humans, but there could be a few Pokemon intermingled as well. For the good of society of course.

Another group is known simply as Dawn. Run by an enigmatic man named Theodore Ebony, on the surface it seems to want to dominate the existence of Pokemon as a whole. However, no one can be entirely sure that's the case due to his lower profile. In fact, the Dawn Organization has been underground for the past seven years, spoken of only in whispers. No one knows much of anything about it, other than simply as a summer camp for "gifted" children. What kind of gifted? You shall see, you shall see indeed.

Also, there have been rumors going through wild Pokemon as of late. There's a small sect of the Pokemon world that is very unsatisfied with the world. They are rather ferocious toward humanity and perhaps even violent in many cases. They will liberate their fellows by force, even if a human dies. It is of no concern to them. They are called the Rebels for the Destruction of Man, or the RDM after all.

As of the past few years, due to the [COLOR=blue !important][FONT=inherit !important][COLOR=blue !important][FONT=inherit !important]actions[/FONT][/COLOR][/COLOR] of these organizations, Pokemon training has declined. Children are being kept indoors, to normal careers, deemed too young to go out in the wild world. That doesn't stop anyone of course but it has lowered the amount of people on the streets. That is about to change.

~~

So... who are you?

You could be one of seven children, a person unknowingly about to embark on a journey that may change the fate of the world as you know it. You have had very strange dreams of the world outside where you live over the past few weeks, perhaps of a creature only whispered of in mythology. Whatever the case, you have decided to face them and see for yourself what the real world holds. You are a very special trainer indeed but what you are may be entirely a mystery. But perhaps you are already aware of a power sleeping within you. Whatever the case may be, some people have the thought that the League might be have ideas on how to bring peace to the world. The only way to reach them is the Gyms. Simple right?

You could also be a member of one of the groups spoken of above, Pokemon or human. You seek to free Pokemon from humans or hold them entirely under your control. Whatever the case, you may take an interest on these seven children, these Harbingers of some sort. Your task is to follow the commands of your leaders, whoever they may be, and possibly follow those children as well.

Well, we'll wait and see.

~~

Rules:
1. All PC rules apply.
2. Please post only IN CHARACTER in the IC thread. Sign ups and discussion go in the OOC thread only. If it is really important to ask in the IC thread, put it with one of your incharacter posts or ask the RPer directly via their profile.
3. Please keep to the 100 word minimum in the IC thread. We want good, in depth posts. If you want to Pokemon battle with a fellow RPer, perhaps joint post. If you're interacting, you don't have to joint post, but make sure to make detailed posts to read.
4. You can have unlimited minor [COLOR=blue !important][FONT=inherit !important][COLOR=blue !important][FONT=inherit !important]characters[/FONT][/FONT][/COLOR][/COLOR]/NPCs. In fact, you can even kill some of them. Be careful just chopping off heads though. They need no SU.
5. Like it is stated in rule 4 keep note of the rating. It is M for violence, swearing, and even romantic hints, but that does not mean go all out on the gore and violence. The same with deaths. Don't go too deep in the dripping blood and whatnot.
6. Captures are automatic and Pokemon found are left to your idea. However, you can't find a Magikarp on the forest floor or a Glalie in a volcano without some very special circumstances. So stick to common sense or ask if you're not sure. Levels are also left to your discretion, but use your head, your level 15 Umbreon won't be able to beat and help you catch a level 50 Garchomp. Captured [COLOR=blue !important][FONT=inherit !important][COLOR=blue !important][FONT=inherit !important]pokemon[/FONT][/FONT][/COLOR][/COLOR] must be near the level of the rest of your team or lower.
7. [COLOR=blue !important][FONT=inherit !important][COLOR=blue !important][FONT=inherit !important]Battles[/FONT][/FONT][/COLOR][/COLOR] are left to your discretion but you can't win every single one. Levels are also left to discretion but one fight does not give your level 10 Bonsly twenty levels in the beginning of the roleplay. Moves are a limit of four per Pokemon. TMs are also non-existent at the present time and the moves are learned naturally, therefore there must be a post about them learning the move, or more than one.
8. Fuyu and Nideous are your co-GMs here so don't be afraid to chatter at us.
9. Have fun everybody!

Spots Open:

Harbingers:

Arceus-

Dialga- Taken by Nideous

Palkia- Taken by Mr.Mammoth

Giratina- Reserved for Fuyu

Groudon- Taken by DeLaMuerte

Kyogre- Taken by Greiger

Rayquaza- Taken by roen52

Other Legendaries may be minor characters over the course of the roleplay.

Knights of Valor

1. Taken by Icy Burn
2.
3.

RDM
1. Taken by Garet
2. Taken by Claire*
3. Reserved for heretostay123

Sign Up Sheets

Harbinger:

Name:
Age: (10 or older.)
Gender:
Appearance: (Images are acceptable but one or more paragraph descriptions are preferable.)
Personality: (How they act, their strengths, weaknesses, flaws, charming points, etc. Two points please.)
Background: (Their life before the dreams, family life, school life, etc. Two Paragraphs at least please)
Legend: (One of the above)
Powers: (Basic idea, but must fit the legendary pokemon of the character, for exaple, the Groundon Harbinger can't use any kind of water or air based power.)

Pokemon (Up to Two)

Nickname:
Species:
Level: (Up to 15)
Moves: (One Egg Move and TM move allowed)
Personality:
Background: (How the human and Pokemon met, grew up, how they evolved if they did, etc)

Knights of Valor

Name:
Age: (15 or older.)
Gender:
Appearance: (Images are acceptable but one or more paragraph descriptions are preferable.)
Personality: (How they act, their strengths, weaknesses, flaws, charming points, etc. Two points please.)
Background: (Their life before they became members, family life, school life, etc. How did they get to this position? Do they have Pokemon? Two Paragraphs at least please)
Position: (Are they Captains, field soldiers, office workers, trainees?)

Pokemon (Depending on their rank, it determines how many Pokemon and their levels, Trainees get one or two, field soldiers and captains get up to five, and office workers get up to four.)

Nickname:
Species:
Level: (Trainees: up to level 15, Field soldiers and office workers up to 20, and Captains up to 25)
Moves: (One Egg Move and TM move allowed)
Personality:
Background: (How the human and Pokemon met, grew up, how they evolved if they did, etc)

RDM Sign Up

Name:
Species:
Level: (Up to 40)
Moves: (One Egg Move and TM move allowed)
Personality:
Background: (How the Pokemon grew up, how they evolved if they did, etc)

(If you would like to be a part of Dawn, please contact myself or Nideous so you can get the sign up sheet. There will only be one or two allowed for this position.)

Accepted Characters:

Stryker the Zoroark (Garet)

Thomas Elias Brown (Nideous)

Mars Artio (Icy Burn)

Francis Fine (Greiger)

Glacia the Dragonair (Claire*)

Jari Hernandez (DeLaMuerte)

Alexander Michael Collins (roen52)

Lars Viklund (Mr.Mammoth)[/FONT]

Jari Hernandez

#1: "The Dreams and The League"

Jari looked over as the weird red creature stood, staring at him, swiping its claws, saying, "You... you are the one that holds them. Them. You know, the powers that you have...!" Jari shrugged. He had no idea what this guy was talking about. "You know, going through things that you wouldn't be able to do normally...," it provided, but it was probably swelled with anger. Jari was mostly trying to see if the magma that was around them could set things on fire. Irritated and rude, it yelled, "are you listening?!" Suddenly, Jari could move the magma around with his mind. "There you go..." the pokemon, in a lighter tone. It was big, and lizard like, and seemed to be able to control the ground... and magma- like he could. "Now turn it into stone." Jari decided now to obey the Pokemon, and he tried. He really, really tried. But he couldn't. He could move stone, but not make it. "Stop being an idiot! We've tried loads of times!" it yelled. Jari couldn't remember when... but that's when the Pokemon said, "Times UP! Leave!"

Suddenly, Jari woke up. That dream... THE dream... it was so weird. Jari couldn't figure out heads or tails of it. One thing was certain, though- he had never seen the Pokemon. Maybe Mama, Jari's grandmother, could figure it out after a vivid description. She was pretty good at myths, and if anything, she would tell him what it was, and why he was seeing it over and over in these strange dreams which had come so strangely...

So it had all started about 3 months ago, before he had even discovered his powers of the earth and heat. At first, it was just a silhouette or a extremely unseen watermark in a dream. But after the fire which had killed his parents and made him homeless, his dreams suddenly were occasionally solely about this Pokemon. At first, he didn't give it much thought- hell, doesn't everyone get weird dreams sometimes? But then the dreams were more and more common, until... he knew there was something wrong. Walking into town, Jari was happy he didn't have to go to school. He learned at his own pace via textbook, and when state exams came, he just went to where they were being held- in other words, he home-schooled himself.

Hawaii wasn't as cracked up as everyone else made it out to be. They had been in tourist attractions, though. Jari LIVED in Hawaii. Not to mention that both his parents were dead and that he practically had to fend for himself. Blaze, his Monferno, was walking aside with the same mood, cold and nonchalant. That particular day, Jari wasn't expecting much to happen, except a explanation of his dreams, which were sure to be just simple little things, anyway. All he had to do was walk in, get supplies, see grandmother, and go back to studying fire until testing started again. As Jari walked, Blaze looked around, as many people tried to keep away from the Pokemon. Since the rumor that the fire monkey had started the flame that had destroyed Jari's home, many were afraid of not only Blaze, but of Pokemon in general. The Knights of Valor claimed this was a certain sign that Pokemon and Humans were not meant to be together.

Jari began this long walk towards the home in the distance, he wondered how his grandmother was. She was very likely sewing or something. As he rapped on the door, he heard a old voice. His grandmother, oh so very fond of her grandson, opened the door. Oh, hola, what are you doing here? Grandmother was his source of money- since she didn't 'need' it, supposedly. It was from the government, (you know, social security), and he just took a little, since grandmother got food from her crops in the backyard, anyway.

"I needed to ask you about something."
"What happened?"
Jari proceeded to sit down, tell her about his dreams, and his powers in real life. He also described the Pokemon.
"It was a big, red, giant lizard thing. It had spikes on its sides, and it had awesome powers, similar to mine, but more powerful. It had markings and grooves all over its body... and it was so... amazing. It seems a bit rude, though."
"Sounds like..." she began.
"Sounds like who?!" Jari leaned forward in his chair in anticipation.
"Don't remember." She frowned. Mama digested the information, and said, "I think I once knew, but I don't remember anymore."
"OK... I'll see you later, then."
------------------------
Jari was approaching the more touristic side of town, where tourists spent their time in spas away from the local, darker neighborhoods, to find some groceries. Although they were more expensive, he usually got better quality and more food. As he approached, a kid reminiscent of an Ace Trainer (you know, green hair,) approached. "Oh no, not this guy again...," Jari thought. His perfect, green hair swayed in the breeze. He was one of those kids who could get away with any chick. And today, he decided to bully the homeless orphan. Again. Why bully him? Why can't you just go make out with one of those chicks who follow you around all day with their perfect swimsuit bodies and little puppy eyes? But no, get all tough-like on the kid who probably has it worse than you. As the kid approached, he began to speak in a cool voice- It would've been cooler if he wasn't to try to make himself seem superior.

"Hey guys, do you know what this guy is?" he said casually to his cronies who followed him like the lapdogs they were.
"Oh yeah, a small little wittle homeless person." Inaccurate. He was actually as tall, if not slightly taller, than the kid was.
"Yes, but do you know what else he is? A big loser!" Inaccurate again. He had won in many different things, and he was a very skilled battler. No matter, he still got a punch to the face.
"Hmph. Whatever. Why don't you leave and do something else, like something that, I don't know, has a legitimate purpose besides wooing the ladies and making your little soldiers proud." Jari kept cold, waiting for a reply, but he was pissed.
"Shut your mouth, peasant!" the kid snapped, smacking him across the face. Obviously, rich kid didn't know that they were in civilization, not acting for a movie about Ancient Rome. Keep your cool, Jari, keep your cool.
"And your mangy little monkey thing can go to hell, too!" As the kid raised his leg, however, so did Jari's fury.
"You can do whatever to me, but nothing to my Pokemon!" When the kid's foot came down for a kick, a wall of magma came up out of the sidewalk. As the kid burned his toe on the seemingly magical wall, Jari scooped up Monferno and carefully put it on his shoulder, and quickly cooled the magma into stone so that the kid's shoe was stuck in it. The monkey felt safer on the teenager's shoulder as it was, anyway. Then, Jari left. Feeling proud of himself, he remembered that this was what he had try to accomplish in the dream. He looked forward to sleeping again. Was it rage that made it cool, though? Or was it something else?

When the idiots ran away after the magma's appearance (one with a shoe stuck in a newly wall) and the eating of a candy bar to replenish energy, Jari walked by the store full of televisions. Normally, Jari would just keep on walking. But now, something caught his eye. It was an advertisement for the Pokemon League. And as Jari thought about it, maybe as he beat this League, he could try to find out the weirdness behind these powers and these strange dreams. As he continued watching, he saw the applications and testing for Hawaii were being held tomorrow (so that you could receive a Trainer Card that made you an official Pokemon trainer). Jari wondered. This mysterious League was something he heard about in school as a child. They said they knew many things, and that only the strongest trainers who beat the eight gyms would be able to challenge them. Jari decided to apply, and he went back to the cave that he was residing in for the moment to come up with strategies and train.

When he fell asleep later, the first thing he heard was "good job, kid."

Stryker the Zoroark
SRI International, Menlo Park, California

~~~~~

Well. This was an interesting turn of events.

He'd been watching the main entrance to the technology division building, waiting for this man to come out. The human was known as one of the scientists for SRI's technology divisions, and he wasn't real remarkable if you considered his appearane alone. He was average height, average looks, straw-colored hair and glasses, seemed a little on the skinny side. From what Stryker had gathered, this human was particularly cruel with the few Pokemon under his command, even if those few were enough to indulge in the occasional battle and ward off past attempts on the man's life or possessions.

After learning that Stryker was hanging around near Menlo Park, some days ago, the local RDM had approached him with the task of...relieving this man of his Pokemon, with assistance available upon request. It was mostly after observing and, after a brief brush on the sidewalk, bugging the human that Stryker had learned about some interesting gadgets and technology in this particular division of SRI International. Of course, the priority was to liberate the human's Pokemon, but Stryker had expanded his reconnaissance to include tracking the man and learn what was inside the building.

It was night, a few hours after the sun had set, when Stryker spied his target leaving the building. He'd actually planned to act tonight, but he paused as he realized that...the human was arguing with another man who'd accompanied him outside.

"--sider doing such a thing! I thought you were smarter than that!" That was the second man, red in the face as he was shouting at the first, who followed almost like a loyal Houndour.

"Are you even listening to me, Travis?" the first, Stryker's target, shouted back. "The Knight I talked to had a very good point, and I didn't really need to keep any useless Pokemon around!" He trailed off with a comment that Stryker couldn't quite hear from his position.

Travis whirled around to glare at the other man in disgust, letting loose some words that Stryker winced at. "That's the problem, Zach!" he exploded. "Why anyone would release their Pokemon for money is beyond me! Especially when we work here!" The scientist through out an arm to point at the building the humans had just left. Travis then turned on his heel and marched away, fuming, while Zach shook his head and walked back inside. The man didn't bother to look up at the Noctowl, partially hidden in the tree's branches and shadows.

Interesting indeed. So someone of the Knights of Valor was around. Stryker turned his head to follow Travis for the next few seconds, confident that neither human would suspect his illusion. He'd been sitting in this tree for the past few hours, after all, and no one else had tried to bother him. Moments after both humans had disappeared from view, Stryker spoke to the Pidgey sitting above him. "Need ya to keep an eye on things while I'm inside that building. Once I'm out, report back to your superior that Mr. Zach has an accomplice, Mr. Travis, who might need to be watched."

"Yessir," the Pidgey answered, bobbing his head. Unlike the Noctowl that Stryker appeared to be, this was a real bird, and a less-experienced member of the RDM. The Pidgey then opened his wings and flew out of the tree, easily keeping an eye on Travis as he stalked away on the sidewalk. Stryker turned his attention to the building that represented one of SRI's main divisions on this campus, checking that no other human was coming out.

A brief wave of magenta energy flowed over the Noctowl as he left his branch; moments later, Travis the human was striding away from the tree, brushing off the sleeves of his brown overcoat. Stryker didn't understand what the scientist thought about wearing such a garment half the time he'd seen him, especially since it wasn't winter. Still, it was an excuse to hide his tail under the illusion of the coat...assuming that the tail had decided to be visible this time around. Stryker hadn't quite perfected hiding his tail in his illusions.

He pulled the door open and walked through, looking as if he was supposed to be there. The few humans in the building hardly glanced at him as he found his way to the elevator, where Zach was waiting for the doors to open. The human was openly surprised when he found Travis standing beside him. "Travis? Why're you back in here?" he asked, still a little angry.

"Forgot a couple things," 'Travis' answered in a grumpy tone, not looking at Zach. As the doors opened, and the two of them entered, he watched Zach press one of the buttons before asking, "Have you been feeling well lately?"

Zach blinked, surprised again. "I guess," he said, "but wh--" His eyes widened slightly before shutting as his legs gave out from under him. 'Travis' caught the human easily, hiding his Toxic claw underneath at the same time while it still glowed a deep purple. In the seconds before the elevator doors opened again, Stryker had grabbed Zach's ID card and forced a dose of antidote down the human's throat. He didn't need to leave dead, poisoned bodies lying around, and the human had seemingly released his Pokemon already...though someone had beaten Stryker to the punch.

It was a matter of minutes before he found the lab-room with all the technological stuff he was after. No one else was in the dark room. Stryker cast out an illusion over the room, mimicking the entire layout. He eased his backpack off his back and began grabbing what he needed, noting that his illusion held. The camera in the room would show 'Travis' stuffing objects into a backpack...yet those same objects appeared to be on the tables still.

Some of it looked interesting, some of it looked boring, and some of it looked like what a friend of his - another Pokemon - had been looking for. Stryker didn't feel any qualms about stealing from humans - stealing Pokemon's freedom and sentience was commonplace for them. Still, he didn't take more than what he would use himself or give to his friend. After doing his job, he nodded to himself before turning to stare directly at the camera, smirking as he let his appearance flicker, showing the Zoroark underneath for a half-second. It was surprisingly easy to leave the building as 'Travis'. The illusion that everything was still in the lab would remain for the next fifteen minutes before disappearing.

Some time later, in an abandoned house, Stryker was sorting through what he'd stolen when he heard a chirp from the broken window. Looking up, he saw the Pidgey, who said, "They wanna know your report."

"Just that my target was already persuaded to release his Pokemon," Stryker answered, standing and stretching. "Sounded like a Knight got to him first. They know about my target's accomplice?"

"Yes," the Pidgey chirped. "Message for you, too, from your own superiors. They have someone they need you to keep an eye on. Top priority."

Stryker frowned, his eyes narrowing. It wasn't often this happened. "Where?"

Thomas Elias Brown

All time to begin and a time to end.

Thomas tossed and turned in his sleep, restless. It was happening again, that feeling of helplessness. Being watched by something you couldn't even begin to percieve. He opened his eye and reached up to touch whatever it was, his had brushing against cool, metalic scales. Was this real? Was he dreaming? There was no way to be sure. He stared up into the large eyes of the creature he had touched, not knowing what exactly it was. It was very strange and a little intimidating... Yet at the same time it was closer than his family. Closer even, than Esper. What was it? It was so maddening! He could not figure it out. When it spoke, it was with a wise, gentle tone of voice, though it did not move it's mouth.

"It is time... Your time, Thomas."
"Wh-who are you?" the teen said, sounding very curious and not at all scared. He looked the creature over again. Oh yes, it was VERY hamiliar.

"When you learn that we shall meet face to face, not in this dream."

"I meant you name." Thomas said softly. The creature seemed to chuckle.

"My name is of no importance. Besides, you already know it. In time, you will remember that you know it. When you relearn the knowledge you know you have forgotten, then all shall be made clear."

"The hell are you talking about? Why do you speak in riddles?" Thomas said sarcastically.

"Because it would be no fun if I gave you all the answers."

"Of course not D-"

Thomas jerked awake. He was shivering, and when he turned arounf he could see his bed was covered in cold sweat. He could hear yelling downstairs, followed by a door slamming and was in a foul mood because of it. That dream... Again... Always the same. He'd get so close to saying D's name, then he'd suddenly wake up. It was frustrating! He had to know! He had to find him! Thomas closed his fist, and punched the bed, breathing heavily. Sunlight was streaming in his window, and when he looked at the clock he sighed. He was four hours late to school. Oh well. School... Did not matter. He had other dreams. He rifled through his bag and smiled before putting it on. He felt a gentle touch in his mind and smiled at the joy he felt spreading through the connection with his espeon. Esper was his name, and he was the best friend Thomas had. He pulled out some pampklet's with the Pokemon League logo and walked downstairs.

"It's about time you got your lazy ass out of bed!" his father roared. Thomas gave him a flat look. Well, someone was drunk. He could smell the booze from where he was, and several bottle were scattered on the ground. His father was in the kitchen, standing over ssome boiling grease, frying something. He had a long beard and longer hair. A typical drunken redneck. Well, Thomas was sick of it. He was sick of this life. He rubbed his arm and glared at the man, throwing the pamphlets on the table.

"It's about time some drunk bastard shut the hell up." he said. His father stopped and glared angrrily.

"What did you ust say?" he said. Thomas clenched hif fists and grabbed a full bottle off of the table and hurled it against the wall. The bottle shattered and left a huge splash of beer on the yellowing paint.

"I said I'm leaving. I'm going to go and collect the badges and challange the pokemon league." he said. His father went livid at this. He roared at Thomas, calling him a moron, and saying no son of his was going to travel with stupid animals and a lot of other nonsense that the boy tuned out. He clenched his fists and snarled back, walking right up to his fatherand poking his left hand in the man's chest.

"I guess I'm not your son then." he said angrily.

Esper looked up and meowed with concern as Thomas approached. The cat knew something was wrong. He knew it. Thomas pulled the glove up on his hand and grimaced, then pet Esper with his right hand.

"We're leaving now. Come on, let's see where the first Gym is." he said softly. Esper had an odd gleam in his eyes, but thankfully he was incapable of speech. Esper padded along silently next to Thomas as he began to walk back towards town. Things... Might be looking up. Not too far away, a shadow was sitting in a clearing.

"Hm... Could be him... I'll have to report back though..." the young male voice said, and whatever it was darted off, a small red blur behind them.

Zoran Nishant

The hill was a secret place.

No one came up here, no one jeered in her ears. No one needed to be made to understand. It was refreshing, it was amusing. But it was also very lonely. The girl brushed strands of long hair from her face, shaking her head free of any distraction from the rising sun. It had been another night of tossing and turning for her, more dreams her mind was not making up on its own. Dreams of a dragon, dreams of red eyes that weren't simply red. It wasn't all that scary, simply distasteful. The creature whispered in her ears all the time, much like her own mind. Little of it made itself coherent, but the young girl never let her curiosity well up enough to explore it.

Not until now.

Rumors had been surfacing, rippling through the gossip of her hometown. That man was seen around the area recently, being friendly with townsfolk and appearing on the news. Zoran lifted a hand over the rising sun, the sun that reminded her of eyes, of a pointed stare on her shoulder blades. She shook her head and stretched her legs onto the grass. "They'll be awakening soon," she said softly. "And so will you." Zoran then chuckled, mischief rising onto the corners of her mouth. "Ah... what a mess hey?"

There was no immediate reply, until there was a sudden, low rumble by her left hand. The dog beside her, blissfully asleep, let out another pleased as punch snore, drooling from the side of his mouth. She scratched behind the dog's ears. Silly as he was, he was a rather old, experienced pup. He deserved his rest too. Zoran closed her eyes to the oncoming wind, trying to remember her dreams, the odd dreams of a calling...

You shouldn't try to force events that won't happen.

Zoran only smiled at this, ignoring the utter insanity that would soon rise from the morning sun. "I wonder..." she murmured. "I wonder what people are worth to this world... that people like us exist... Are we toys?" The teen giggled to herself. "Hm... we probably are!" This exclamation was unintentionally loud, making her Houndour snuffle and whine, yawning himself awake. "Oh... sorry Doom." The dog merely yawned, stretching.

Zora.

Zoran smiled and didn't turn. "What's the matter sis?"

Down floated a young girl, her small, transparent face tight with a deep anxiety no child had naturally. She was the teenager in adorable miniature, barring the long rip down the back of a dress and the purple gleam in bright eyes.If we're leaving, we should go now. There's some weirdo driving by here. Zoran giggled and the other pouted. Oh honestly, could her big sister just take threats seriously? That was why she was always hit in the face. Zora!

She waved the girl off almost dismissively. "It's fine, perfectly fine. We like a challenge you know? Well then..." Zoran rose to her feet, wiping grass and dirt from her rear without any decorum whatsoever; There were a lot of things that she could do, many places she could head but... the place she need to go first... was east.

New York, she thought quietly. I have to warn them... before everything starts up again. "Come on Zari," Zoran encouraged aloud. "We're off now! Dreaming is fun, but playing is more interesting~"

Zaria sighed and floated after her down the hill. She would not change would she? That hopeless big sister...

Behind their backs, ashes floated away.

Jari Hernandez

#2: The Influence of Anger and The League's Entrance Forms and Exams

"Alright, next thing. First, solidify the magma, like you did before."
"H-here?! Um, okay...." Jari moved the magma with his mind. It thickened slightly before falling back down on the ground with a sizzle.
"Huh. Of course I would get the dumb one."
"What?!"
"Well, my friend got a smart human kid, but no, of course I get the one with no brains."
When it said that, the next actions were impulsory.
"Well then, I'll show you who's the boss!" Jari stuck his hand in the magma. As it solidified around his hand, his fist was made out of the stuff. Jari, with his fuse blown, threw a solid punch- but it never made contact. Time seemed to stop all at once.
"I like your determination kid, but this is my realm, not yours. Good thing you finally figured it out, but I never thought of making a fist of rock before. Nice! Now, down you go." Jari slumped to the ground. He remembered the setting. Cavern. Magma.
"Now seeing that your powers are activated when you're angry, what makes you stressed?"
"Well, I, uhh-"
"Damn it! Why now! Kid, times up. Gotta leave."

Jari woke up on a bed of leaves in a firelit cave. What did make him angry...? He then pondered about what he was supposed to do today. "So... where was I? Oh, right. Blaze! It's time for the test!" After a training exercise to which Blaze took no resentment, the pair walked towards the admissions test. As the Monferno took a snooze in a PokeBall (Jari felt that it needed more rest to be ready) Jari began to fill out the form. At some points he had to ask about how he was homeless, and how he had no mailbox, etc. It wasn't simple, but he filled it out after a while. The written tests were extremely simple, at least for him. Many other people were banging their heads on whether Ice type moves were super effective on Dragon type Pokemon. However, it was when it came to battling when he began to have a challenge.

"The battling tests begin... NOW!" the announcer boomed over a loudspeaker. Everyone was given a slip numbered 1-20, and Jari got 20. "The way the test is organized is that each person that has a certain number (for example, the number one) will be pitted against a League Certified trainer. Every person with the same number will be paired with the same trainer. For example, every one with the number 1 will battle the same trainer. All number ones will go first, and then twos, and so on until we end with twenty. Each set of numbers will take about half an hour. For those of you with high numbers, you may come later. Refer to the chart near the entrance to know when you must come. If you miss the entire session, you will have to wait for another few months until the next sign up. After this, we shall make your Trainer Cards. To be fair, number 20s will get their Trainer Cards first. For your information before your battle, all matches will be one on one."

Jari was scheduled for 10pm that evening. He didn't want to miss, so he went out for lunch and came back chomping on a 1/2 pound burger. He watched the battle intently, and then noticed it was the same idiot from yesterday. Jari watched the intense battle continue while the burger in his hand was devoured.

The announcer's voice boomed. "Mike, the ace from Honolulu!" Fangirls swooned all over the place. "Versus Chan, the challenger from China!" Even more fangirls. "Let the battle begin!"
"Ni hao, Mike!" Chan said smoothly.
"Don't get cocky..." said Mike. As the battle began, he sent out a Pikachu. Jari felt like the Pikachu was getting too much praise from the people around him.
"Go, my Pokemon! Excadrill!" Jari saw Mike wince as the Pokemon came out of its PokeBall.
"Pikachu, Iron Tail!" The move did very little damage.
"Excadrill! Fissure!" Chan's Excadrill used that one move and the match was over as soon as Pikachu collapsed from the attack. The referee raised a flag. The announcer did his job and gave the victory to Chan. As Mike left, Chan offered his hand. Mike ignored it angrily and stomped away.

---About nine hours later---

Jari held his PokeBall as he jumped down from the bleachers. His named had been called, and he was ready. He had noticed what had gone on, and he was scheduled to go against Beth, a woman who had mostly electric Pokemon. She was using a Magnemite. Jari was sure it would go down easily. Then again... others hadn't fared very well. She had only revealed three moves- Supersonic, Magnet Bomb, and Thundershock. What was the fourth one...?

Jari got up and took his Pokemon out. How would he fare? As the Electric type lover waved to her fans, Jari began to get extremely nervous. He clenched the PokeBall even tighter. It was time.

"Hello, I am Beth. Will you bless me with a good battle?" The woman gave an innocent smile.
"You better believe it!" With a wicked grin, Jari listened to the announcer giving the battle its opening statements. Then, a bell rang throughout. As Jari took out Blaze, the Magnemite stared intently with its one eye.
"Let's hit em' hard, Blaze! Blaze Kick!" The monkey jumped high in the air and landed with a kick cloaked in flames. As the Magnemite was hit, Jari spotted Beth. She had something up her sleeve.
"Now, Magnemite! Supersonic!" The fire monkey spun in a daze. "And now, use Electroweb!" Jari's eyes widened. That was impossible! As Blaze was stuck in the electric web, the Magnemite began a barrage of Magnet Bombs. Jari knew that this wasn't fair. Beth waved her hand dismissively. "Move Tutor, hun."
Jari was pissed. He threw his Pokemon a Persim Berry. "Blaze Kick on the web! Hurry!" As Blaze snapped out of it, he used the move and tore through the web. However, Blaze had been hurt a lot my the Magnet Bombs. "Now, Blaze, use Ember!" As the flame engulfed the small robotic creature, Blaze was recovering slowly from the damage he had sustained.
"Use Thundershock, Magnemite!"
"No! Blaze, use Mach Punch and finish the job!" The Magnemite was hit extremely quickly, and was never able to finish its attack. The announcer gladly gave the win to Jari.

---That night---
"Kid, you haven't figured it out?"
"Well, actually, no..."
"You freaking idiot!"
"Oh hell-"
"Yep, my hunch was right."
"What?"
"You get pissed when people act better than you or outsmart you. Or when you're called an idiot or something like that." The red lizard scratched his head. "Use that to your advantage."
"Well what are we learning today, boss?"
"Well my name is actually- oh wait, times UP, KID!"

---That morning---

Jari woke up and went to his grandmother's house.
"Mama, have you seen the mail?"
"No, get it yourself!"
"Fine." Jari opened the mailbox and retrieved the mail. A blue card slipped out of the mail. Jari picked it up and squinted. Was it really here...? He changed clothes with those that he kept over and his grandmother's place and loaded a book bag with supplies. The T-shirt and the cargo shirts were perfect, and his sunglasses were kept on top of his black hair at an angle. Perfect.

"Bye Mama! I'm going to travel the world!" He flashed the Trainer Card. Mama smiled.
"Ok, just don't kill yourself!"

Thomas Elias Brown
Time wasting.

Thomas tapped his feet. Esper meowed gently up at him and flicked his tail boredly. The lady behind the counter was still rifling through the papers, which erked him even more. This is maddening! He had turned in the papers a month ago, where was his Trainer Card? He couldn't go anywhere without one, as he didn't have the funds to travel. So, here he was sitting in the Department of Trainer Services, trying to get his Trainer Card, and he was livid about having to wait for so long.

"Espeon?" Esper said, looking at the door. Thomas blinked and looked over, having the oddest feeling of deja vu. He saw a slight red blur near the ground and sighed. Great, now he was imagining things... He continued staring for a moment.

"Sir? Sir?" the lady said, sounding annoyed at him when he didn't react at first. Feh, she could wait. He'd been waiting for an hour already.

"SIR!" she said angrily. Thomas snapped back to look at her.

"What?" he said boredly.

"It'll be $25 dollars." she said. Thomas rolled his eyes.

"I got this waiver from school... Um..." he said, handing it over. Actually, he hadn't gotten it, he had stolen it. But that wasn't the point. He was going. The lady nodded and punched it in, then handed him the trainer card.

"Your card is good for five years, then you need to renew it. With this card you are identified as a pokemon trainer world wide. That will allow you to travel to and through other countries without a passport, as long as you are accompanied by pokemon. Here are your pokeballs, and pokedex. Pokeballs allow you to catch pokemon, and the pokedex ives you more information on the pokemon we have recorded in it. We aplogize, but the pokedex is incomplete. You'll have to update it in the future. Good luck on your journey." the woman said. Thomas nodded and pocketed the dex.

"Thanks. Bye." he said, walking out of the building. He smiled and pet Esper as a very old car pulled up. Great... Not this crap. His father stumbled out and advanced toward him. Esper hissed and stood in front of the boy.

"What do YOU want?" Thomas said angrily. His father stopped and looked taken aback. Thomas rolled his eyes and rubbed his arm, his fingers passing over the glove.

"I have nothing to say to you. Esper, Psychic. Get him out of my way." Thomas said. Esper meowed softly and refused to do it. Thomas felt a deep sorrow in his mind and sighed.

"Son... Come with me... I'm sorry." the man said.

"I'm not your son, remember?" Thomas spat bitterly and he walked past him, Esper trailing at his feet. His father stood there and let him pass. Thomas knew this would never change if he went back. Things would be the same, the cycle would continue. Someone had to break it. And Thomas was not going to look back. He was going to live his life, free from the past. He knew his future. He had to meet that strange creature in his dream.

Stryker the Zoroark
Hawaii

~~~~~

Well, he was here now, after an...interesting journey from the coast of California. Stryker shuddered as it came to mind. The Lapras that had agreed to pick him up off a secluded spot on the beach had, partway through the journey, turned him over to a Wailord for transport. Then, for some reason Stryker hadn't quite figured out, the Wailord had dived briefly, for food maybe?, so he'd had to abandon ship for a few minutes. While in the water, a stray Tentacruel had mistaken him for food, until Stryker made her change her mind with a few blows. For the rest of the trip to Hawaii, he'd been on the Wailord, trying to dislodge the image of being wrapped up in tentacles--

Nonono, don't think about it. Stryker turned his attention back to the house he was watching. Good thing I'd had my backpack delivered here by air. Some advantages to being in the RDM. Anyways, to all appearances if someone bothered to look, a Pidgey was perched on top of the house, keeping an eye on the front yard. He was sure to come out sooner or later. Stryker wasn't too worried about any other doors, since he'd enlisted other small birds - all with some connection to the RDM - to assist. Someone would see the boy leave.

According to what the Vaporeon he'd met had told him, Stryker's new priority task from his superiors was to watch this kid. Nothing too special about his appearance - brown skin and eyes, short black hair, average height and looks, a pair of sunglasses. Among other identifiers, the kid had a Monferno with him, as well as a PokeBall for him, no surprise. The only thing that made the boy stand out was a Rattata's report of him "raising lava from the sidewalk". Somehow, Stryker happened to be one of the 'truly reliable' agents relatively near Hawaii, hence his assignment.

Raising lava from the sidewalk. Stryker found it almost funny. What sort of human could possibly do that?

From the information he'd been given, and had gathered himself, the boy was preparing to set out on some journey concerning the humans' Pokemon League. Stryker reviewed what he knew of that. There were...eight? Gyms. The closest ones were in Japan, China, and Russia to the west, and the Carribbean and New York to the east. The remaining three were in Egypt, Italy, and Israel. There'd been no indication as to where the boy would go.

Stryker's attention focused as the boy left the house, but he shortly realized that he was just getting the mail. The boy then went back inside, leaving the disguised Zoroark to settle back down.

All the same, if this is top priority, then where will it lead?

Mars and 3 of his Soldiers in training were in a dark room, hidden in the deepest corner of the earth, not even he knew where they were. They had been transported from the regular HQ to here, where they had no information of where they were. Mars' thought was that it was some kind of secret base for the highest Ranks of them all. He could see nothing, but he then heard a booming voice coming from in front of them.

"Right then, you 'orrible bunch of gorilla's," the booming voice rudely shouted, "you all have a mission. And no, it is not one of your regular missions, this one is a High-Rank Mission. It will not happen yet, but it will be happening soon. We can not tell you much, but you will have to arrive at the far east of Pangaea."

"But, isn't that one of the most dangerous areas in Pangaea?" one of Mars' trainees, Parkins questioned.

"Yes, is there any problem with that? I thought you were meant to be fearless, brave. Are you sure this is the best job for you? Being in Knights of Valor isn't some walk in the park, you will be put in danger, and yes, there is a possible of death."

"I'm sure I can do the job, sir." Parkins mumbled, he sounded embarrassed.

"You will now be escorted back to the HQ, please stay still in your chair, you will be taken shortly." and the mystery man slowly walked away.

Mars thought something wasn't right. Why was it so dark? Why didn't he tell us who he is? He thought something was slightly suspicious. But before he could say anything to his fellow Soldiers, they were being pushed back into their transport, a van, which is a bit ... second-class for a Captain, a private jet or something would be far more first-class for someone like him.

Jari Hernandez

#3 Hawaiians on a Plane

That was scary. OK. The plane lumbered in front of the windows of the airport, and it was frightening that Jari had to go on an airplane. AN AIRPLANE. Jari had lumbered out of his house with Blaze on his shoulder, who then went running on the sidewalk. If he had not been so eager, he might've noticed a slight blur nearby- but he wouldn't really take much notice, anyway. Noticing the time on his watch, he scooped up Blaze in his hands, and ran, not minding the fire at all. But then he arrived, and the plane landed right in front of the windows. It wasn't that, though, that scared him. It was the fact he was going to go on one of those- worst of all, into the sky. As his flight was about in an hour or so, he told Monferno to wake him up when the flight came, and took a quick snooze.

"Kid, get ready."
"Why?"
"You're going to be in the sky. Your out of protection, out of my range of control. In other words, there is no land to save you now. You'll still have your powers, but be careful."
"Hey, I might be scared of planes, but I'll live."
"You looked sleepy. It's a nine hour flight. Try not to fall asleep."
"Why?"
"Can't explain. You're about to be woken up. And whatever you do, don't fall asleep.

Jari rubbed his eyes, picked up his Monferno, (who had successfully administered a gentle slap to the face) and walked toward the entrance, stalling as much as he could.

"Are you Jari?"
"Yes."
"Ok. First Class, flight to Tokyo, Japan."
"Really?!" Jari had known, for a fact, that on planes you always felt better in first class.
"Yes, free lunch, free drinks, the whole kit and kaboodle."
"Awesome!" Jari shifted the weight of his backpack. A man greeted him at the entrance to the plane.
"Please be seated. A representative from the League will be here shortly."

As Jari got comfortable and fastened his seatbelt, he gave the empty seat next to him to Blaze, who sat and crossed his fingers. Jari chuckled and told him he didn't have to do that, and Blaze suddenly kept his arms out comfortably. Jari looked over afterwards as the representative walked in with a sign language translator. The representative stiffened up and began to speak in a somewhat formal manner.

"As you may notice, all of you have been accepted to the League. We will make this as brief as possible so not to interrupt your flight to ." He picked up a cellphone-like device and showed it to the entire plane. "This is a phone. It has been fitted to suit both your personal and travel needs, complete with a flight planner and a prototype Pokedex. The Pokedex will be used to record data on Pokemon, however, you will probably have to record the data yourself many times during your adventure. Each one of you shall be given one. If you lose this or break it, it is on you to buy a new one. Each one costs about $600 dollars, and trainers will often times pay you about $60 each. There are other ways receive that money during your adventure. This phone will not be monitored, so feel free to do what you feel like doing with it." Then, the representative put the phone down. He instead stretched his arms wide, his palms parallel to the ceiling. "We will only pay for your flights before you win your third gym badge. The ones proceeding those will require you to pay or find another route of transportation. Thank you for your time. Any questions?"
"Well, I heard we would be getting a form of on-ground transportation, like a bike or a skateboard or something."
"You will be informed of that at your destination. Any other questions?"
"Do you guys pay for the hotels, dude?"
"Yes."
"Do you provide transportation to ALL gyms?"
"Yes, until you've earned your third badge." The man was now slightly annoyed. To his luck, the rest of the passengers were silent, except for the odd one playing his air guitar. The phones were given out, and the man left.

Jari decided to read a book, and began to immerse himself in the next edition of Scientific Pokemon. The flight began shortly afterwards. Lucky for Jari, he hadn't noticed until he got bored of the magazine two hours later. His Monferno was taking a nap, similar to many other people and their companions on the flight. A Pokemon hopped around, giving people drinks. Jari was ashamed of the pilots, those lazy bums using their Pokemon like waiters! However, he knew it would be rude just to refuse, so instead he offered to do the Sentret's job for her. It was quick and simple, handing out sodas to those in first class and giving himself some. As he popped a Coke, his eyes led him outside. Jari would have pissed his pants if he didn't have a sense of pride. His face gradually became green until he asked to switch with Monferno, who obliged, sitting on the seat nearest the window without a care in the world. Jari had gotten about 5 sodas, gone to the bathroom, and yet after an hour he was still sleepy. They were 4 hours into the 9 hour flight. He tried to stay awake at the five hour mark, but fell asleep.

"Why are you here?!" Jari was in a dream. But it wasn't the lizard speaking. Instead, it was more of a flying green serpent.
Jari stammered in his response. "W-well, u-u-uh, I'm sorry!"
"I don't know who you are, but I don't like intruders."
"B-but, I..." Jari was frightened. Suddenly, he spiraled down into the ground, into the cavern again, creating a hole in the ground in the process. "Hey... man..." Jari was happy to see the lizard again, but he was woken up right then and there. A voice boomed over the loudspeakers. "We are stopping on this here island for an hour to get gas. Please remain in your seats. There is still another three hours that we must spend flying." Jari groaned and went to sleep so he could get that out of his system.

"WHY'D YOU MAKE THAT GIANT HOLE!?"
"Well, I'm sorry! You're not the one who was blasted from the sky into the ground just now!"
"Sooooorrrryyyy! At least be grateful that was a dream! You could've died!"
"Whatever, let's fix that's hole. We can talk while we do it."
"You're doing it. You ARE my pupil, after all."
Jari began sealing the hole with hardened magma. "How do you suggest I stay awake? I don't want to confront THAT thing again."
The big, red, giant lizard thing looked his way and said, "confront your fear."
"What?!"
"You are going to sit on the window seat and look out the window. Constant fear will envelop you and you will not fall asleep."
"No, b-but, t-t-t-thats insane!"
"Why, my pupil?"
"Because! I'll be staring into the eyes of death." Suddenly, the giant lizard (let's call him L, you know, lizards, for now) looked wise beyond his years.

"No. You will be staring into the eyes of the sky, Ray-" The line was cut off as he woke up.

He glued his eyes to the window after he switched seats with his Monferno (he was really good at waking him up, wasn't he?), and began to gulp. It was nauseating and disorienting. Looking down into the ever shifting sky, the land moving and the clouds shifting into other ways, and then the constantly changing sea, waves crashing on itself, and then just clouds, too high to see anything. Jari could've sworn he saw a sliver of green once- almost like the one in his dream. He looked intently, his eyes burning through the skyline below. He never spotted it, but he wasn't as scared as he was before of the sky. He kept looking, thinking, which Pokemon had a name that began with Ray-?He couldn't think of one. He continued to down at the sky. Still a bit frightened, however, he tried to take breaks. He walked around the plane occasionally, or read a book he had packed sometimes. He didn't fall asleep, but the serpentine creature was in his thoughts, even as the plane finished its descent into Tokyo.

Jari walked out, almost disoriented as the ground felt so solid. When he was finally out of baggage claim, he walked towards the League representative stationed outside.
"You will be given three different options for ground transportation. Please choose wisely." The woman's beauty infiltrated his mind for a second.
"Uh, what?' Jari said dumbly, then, noticing what she had asked, replied, "what are my choices?"
"Well, we have a bike, a pair of rollerblades, a motorcycle, and by popular demand, a skateboard."
"Is there anything else?"
"We can supply shoes for running, if you prefer."
"Nonono, that's fine. Just a bike, please."
"Here you go! There is no need for a helmet, by the way. It has technology that prevents it from falling over." Jari tested it out, and it was accurate- the bike did not only lean a bit but stay still without support, it also ejected a iron bar when things like that happened.
"Ok... so I'll leave for the first gym. Can I get a map?"
"Sure. Have a good time!"
"Sayonara!" Jari hopped on his bike and began his ride to the gym.

Zoran Nishant

"Why's it gotta be you?"

"Mickey your mum will get mad if you sound like that," she chided, taking the money from his outstretched hand without a look back. At least she had the decency to not put in down her shirt, Mickey reflected, watching her rezip her bag back up with a little shrug of the shoulders. The blond scowled at her, glaring at the carefree way her Pokeballs swung off a strap. He couldn't believe her; truly he just could not.

Mickey gave her a look of imperious exasperation, slouching with a pout. "I ain't the one runnin' off wit' her tail between 'er legs am I?" She raised a thin eyebrow at him as he continued. "He don' scare you don't lie. You ain't even freaked by his creeper eyes. You don't do anything without a reason Zora and I am not seein' a good one."

Zoran only smiled at her best friend, unperturbed. "Well, maybe you'll figure it out Mr. Mouse. I'm going whether you want me to or not. We have a mission to do. She'll thank me for it... and so will you." At her side Doom barked in joy, eager to move if they were moving, eager to leave if they were doing so.

"You aren't helping," he told the dog, disgruntled. Unconcerned, Doom licked his fingers. Mickey chuckled and sighed. "There's no helping it huh?"

"Well no..." she told him slowly, pulling a card from her pocket. He cursed and Zoran laughed. "I make up my mind when I make up my mind," she informed him. With that, she opened the lage front door of her friend's home, returning Doom with a flourish. It would save a lot less staring with this. The Pokeballs were bad enough. "Bye bye Mickey~"

"What about Zaria?"

The ghost formed slowly, appearing next to her sister with a tiny tilt of her head. What about me? At his expression, a pout rose on the tiny girl's faceDid you think I wasn't going too? Of course I am! I gotta! Or else who knows what'll happen to her?

"Then you keep 'er safe kay Zari," Mickey grumbled through his palm.

His reply was a swish of fabric and a sound of footsteps.

~~

Once you got out of the city, walking sure was boring. It was certainly better than trying to get a ride off of some weirdo... but there wasn't all that much to look at.

Zoran sighed and looked at her Pokeballs. "Sure is windy out here..." At least it was quiet.

It was quiet enough in these grasslands to think. However, she didn't want to think. She knew why she was out here. She was here because of red eyes and more whispers. She was here because they were all in danger. The grass shuffled and Zoran paused. "Hello there!" Whatever made that little noise couldn't be too bad... could it? Eh, like she would be bothered by it.

Out hopped a Buneary, its beady brown eyes glittering with dismay. "Yah-Yah ain't gonna get me!"

Zoran tilted her head. "Why would I want to?" Aside from how adorable you are...

It sneered. "Don't all of yer kind say the same thing! Ya wanna catch me for fur or kids or something! I ain't goin'! No way, no how!"

The girl shrugged. "Well, okay. You sure are a cute thing though." Zoran walked on, semi-oblivious to the sputtering of the small, semi-innocent creature.

"I am a boy!" hollered the Buneary, glaring at her backside.

"Boys can be cute too," Zoran called. Zaria giggled, not that the Pokemon could hear it. "Bye bye~"

The creature's face colored. "H-Hey, wait up!" To his surprise, Zoran did, pausing to look down at the tiny creature hopping in her direction. "What's the matter with you?"

Zoran laughed happily, reaching down and poking the creature's nose. "Lots of stuff. What's wrong with you? You aren't running away." The bunny huffed, crossing stubby arms.

"That's cause you're dumb," explained the Pokemon as if to an imbecile. "Any normal human woulda slapped a Pokeball or whatever you call those natterin' things by now. Maybe you're a defective human or something. I'll have to check." He proceeded to hop on top of Zoran's arm and climb her head. When Zoran didn't move, he groaned. "Yeah you're a defective human. AIn't ya gonna freak out?"

"But you'd fall," Zoran protested. The rabbit huffed.

"The only one who'd get brain damage from that is you. Now get up... do... human stuff. Go, go, go!~"

Zoran shrugged a little and returned to her full, miniscule height. "Only if you tell me your name little bunny." He growled at her, glaring.

"...It's Edmund."

Stryker the Zoroark
From Hawaii to Tokyo, Japan

~~~~~

It was an easy matter to follow the boy at a distance, as long as the birds made their flying look more natural and less like they were following. Stryker abandoned his Pidgey disguise for that of a mangy-looking Poochyena, focusing on covering his tail with the illusion as well. Not many people paid attention to a dog that appeared to live on the streets and stayed away from humans. It was all going fine, too...until he realized the kid was going to take an airplane trip.

Snap! What to do?... Stryker could go by water again, but he wasn't anxious to repeat his last trip. Despite all his acquisitions, money for an airline ticket was not one of them. He preferred more natural means of transportation. If he was lucky, he could probably find a Psychic Pokemon that could teleport him to...where? So it seemed like he would have to find a Pokemon to fly him over, following the kid's plane. A flying Pokemon with a passenger would get tired after a few hours, of course...

Stryker changed his appearance again as they arrived at the airport, now an average-looking human teenager with a backpack, following the boy through the halls and crowds. He looked just often enough to keep an eye on the boy's location and direction, and once he noted the location the boy was looking at, Stryker looked away again and found a seat some yards away. Tokyo, Japan. Several hours away by airplane... He glanced up as a woman in a simple green-and-white dress took the seat next to him, but didn't bother to look again until she turned to him and said, "Something must be up if I've found you here, Stryker."

Stryker looked back, eyebrow raised. "I'm afraid I don't recognize you at the moment," he replied. He resisted the urge to look down and check his illusion; no one else was acting as if they'd just seen a Zoroark with white highlights. Besides, if she'd just called him by name, then she was probably--

"Of course you do," the woman commented lightly, "I know you're not that dumb. After all, we've worked together over the last two years. I had to rescue you from those nasty people in Phoenix, remember?" As she talked, her appearance flickered once for a half-second, showing a Gardevoir, before resuming that of a human. "You didn't have the sense to match your appearance to that of the locals, and I ended up knocking those Hitmons unconscious."

Stryker rolled his eyes. "That was almost two years ago, Diana," he retorted, folding his arms. This Gardevoir had a tendency of locating him by mind. "I was new to the desert. I could ask you, too, why you're here. Haven't met anyone else in our group that doesn't despise gatherings like this." He waved a hand at the surrounding masses of humans.

Diana giggled. "A little birdie told me." Her tone then turned serious. "I was informed of your current mission, so naturally, I came to assist, as long as it doesn't interfere with my own agenda."

"Well, no order to interfere so far, and I need to get to Tokyo without falling too far behind. He's taking a plane."

Diana perked up. "Perfect! My next duties are taking me to Japan. I hope you don't mind an airplane full of people."

~~~

"I know you like using humans' money and IDs for travelling, though I'm not sure where ya get it from, but how can you stand being in the middle of all...them?" Stryker indicated the humans seated all around them, before looking back out the window. It was coincidence - wasn't it? - that Diana had booked a seat on the same plane as the kid, and she'd been able to acquire a ticket for Stryker. He didn't ask how. At least he wouldn't fall behind now.

"Oh, stop it," Diana replied lightly, relaxed in her seat next to him. They both still had their disguises as humans, so there wasn't alarm. One could say that, among all of the RDM's field agents, Stryker and Diana and a few others were pushing it when it came to using human technology and resources. After all, why would they need them if humankind were somehow destroyed? "Why don't you sleep or fiddle with those gadgets of yours?"

~~~

The darkness turned into light, then cleared as he found himself in the hotel room his master had rented for the week, whatever that meant. He'd always caught snatches of his master's words while inside the PokeBall. They'd already gone to the Gym, then some place where he and the others were healed up after their defeat. This wasn't a suitable training place, so why--

He loosed a cry of pain as a whip found his back. "You imbeciles." As he scurried a few steps away and turned, he saw his master's arm fall, striking the Stunky that had been on the same team. She immediately scurried to the other side of the bed; she'd been relatively new. "I catch you, I feed you, I train you." His master turned his whip on the Weavile, who flinched but stood his ground. One of the 'veterans', like himself. "You give me victories before. So why not now?!" The whip left a mark on the Seviper, who hissed in pain from his coils on the bed.

"You!" He turned his attention back to his master, who was glaring at him. "I expected you, at least, to succeed!" What, with the way he'd been treated? "Your failure was the worst. I will make you pay!" The arm drew back in preparation for another flick of the whip.

Enough. The three of them - Zoroark, Weavile, and Seviper - had had enough. It was time to--

~~~

A slap to his face brought Stryker back awake and hand up to-- "We're here, sleepyhead," Diana stated. "Honestly, I thought you were going to fidget yourself to death for the last hour."

As they arrived in the baggage claim area, Stryker turned to the disguised Gardevoir. "Well, thanks for the assist," he said, grinning. "Sure saved me a lotta worrying."

"It's what I do." Diana shrugged. "Now I get to ask you for a favor in the future. Ta." With a wave, the 'woman' turned and disappeared among the humans.

Stryker settled his backpack on his back before finding the boy again and following him outside, where he casually waited near a bench as he waited for the kid to pick his mode of transportation. On the road again.

Thomas Elias Brown
A new friend?

Thomas sighed and leaned against the wall of the bus terminal. Bah, waiting for the greyhound to take him to Florida so he could catch the boat and reach the gym was so annoying! Soon, he was called up and the people examined his ticket, and his Trainer Card. He gazed at them with disdain matched by the look on their faces as Esper sat next to Thomas, his tail flicking.

"Sir, you have to put your pokemon in it's ball on the trip and store it in your bag."

Those words made Thomas furious. How dare they copmpare Esper to a piece of luggage! but he played it off as cool as he could and smiled. He would get them to do it right. He was not going to trust anyone to look after his pokemon but himself.

"I'm sorry. I can't allow that. Esper doesn't respond well to other people handling his ball, even in the bag." he said cooly. Esper, right on cue hissed at a nearby person that had strayed too close."Can I please keep his ball with me?" he added, smiling warmly. He reached down at patted Esper gently. Esper purred and rubbed against his leg.

"Hm... I'm sorry but those are the rules." the man said, a soft look on his face. He stood up and nodded. "Hm... I'm going on break now. My replacement will be here shortly. Please have your pokemon inside it's ball and in the bag before I return."

"Ok." Thomas said, sighing a bit as the man walked away. Was... He giving Thomas a chance to hide Esper? Maybe maybe not, but Thomas was going to take it. He pulled the ball off of his belt and returned Esper, pocketing the pokeball. He looked over and spotted another boyy with a leash, tied to an elektrike.

"We have to do better. When we get on the boat you will learn to listen to me." the boy said, scowling at the pokemon, who growled back defiantly.

"Electrike!" he growled.Thomas walked over to the other trainer. He didn't like the way he was speaking to his pokemon. Bah, oh well. He would have to do something about it when things weren't as crowded.

"Hey, wassup?" he asked with a smile.

"Who are you? Get lost punk!" the boy said. He was a couple of years older, and a lot more sunburned. He spoke with a northern accent. His clothing was slightly torn, like he had been wearring it a while, and he smelled bad. Like he had been sweating a lot. Thomas smirked at him.

"Why? Mt espeon is way tougher than your elektrike. I bet I could beat you in a battle. But not now. You have to return your pokemon and put the ball away or you can't get on the bus." he said smugly. The boy stood up and glared at him, even though he was shorter.

"Wanna bet!?" he scowled.

"Chill dude! We'll battle later! My name is Thomas! I'm heading for the gym. And I will win it." Thomas said soothingly. The boy kept glaring at him.

"Randy." he said. Soon, both of their tickets were taken and they boarded the bus.

Jari Hernandez

#4: A Pokemon?

Jari's bike skidded to a halt as he arrived at the gym. After half an hour of riding a bike, Jari was exhausted, and just hope that the gym battle would be easier than the traffic he had to go through. He read the sign in the front. Pokemon Steel-Type Gym. Leader: Jasmine. Jari walked into the gym with his Monferno on his shoulder, as usual. As he walked him, a man approached.

"Hi! You see like a newcomer! Here, take this as a souvenir!"
Jari received a Fresh Water!
"Ummm... OK..."
"This heals your Pokemon. Anyway, my name is Clyde, and I introduce most challengers- unless they refuse it." Clyde's facial expression seemed to hint at the fact that refusal happened often. "This is Tokyo's gym, which is a Steel-Type gym. Anyway, the leader, Jasmine, has a..." Clyde took a glance at his clipboard. "A Steelix and a Klang."
"Thank you, I guess."
Jari checked his Pokedex app on the phone he was given earlier. Steelix was ground-steel, while Klang was pure steel. "Normally, she has a Pawniard, but it is currently being trained."
"Alright," Jari replied. "Let's take down Jasmine!" Clyde looked at him strangely. Soon enough, Jari was into the main part of the gym.
"You have too much enthusiasm, kid..." Clyde said. He motioned for Jari to wait there as he fetched the gym leader.
"You must be Jari," she said, keeping her cool. "Good evening."
"Hey! I would like to challenge you to a battle-" Suddenly, Jari thought logically. "But, I think I'll do it tomorrow." Jari figured he couldn't take on the Steelix easily with a Monferno. As he left for a hotel, Jasmine gave a strange look, but calmed her expression and awaited more challengers.

<That night>

"Hello again. Seeing green?" The lizard mocked him.
"Maybe. After that flight I feel like crud. Seriously. Crud."
"Well, try and, erm, sheesh, I dunno... what should I teach you next?"
"You tell me! I don't know the extent of my powers." Jari frowned.
"Well, fine. Hmmm, I guess I should explain the extent of your powers. You are only limited to so much magma before you hit fatigue. About, ummm... a sphere with a diameter of eight feet-ish. I think that's the correct measurement for you humans... You can also move stone, but only so much. I'd give you, meh, 10 ft diameter sphere. And both of these, strange enough, is only in presence of another..."
"Another wha-"
"TIMES UP KID! GET MOVIN!"

"Prrrrriiiiinggg! Prrrrriiiiinggg!" The alarm on his phone woke him up at the hotel. With a yawn, Jari got up and shut it off. Monferno was still sleeping, so Jari put him in his Pokeball to sleep more. He didn't want the Pokemon to be disturbed by a ringing phone or something. He would have to catch his first Pokemon himself. Jari ran towards the forests near Tokyo afterwards, willing to catch any Pokemon that would agree to come along with him on his quest to arrive at the League.

Jari began his trek through the forest in the early morning. He avoided trails and common walking spots, knowing Pokemon would only be found in the actual woods themselves.
"Hello? Anyone? Anything?"
Jari decided to manipulate the earth to his advantage. He used a piece of rock to raise him up to the top of a tree, then slowly got onto it and looked about. He saw a small crowd of Pokemon, but he didn't want a stampede, especially with reports of Pokemon being more violent than usual. Jari then heard a yell.

"Use Rock Slide, Gigalith!" It was Chan, the guy who had faced the idiot, Mike, in the admission exams. A Rufflet ran away from him, fast enough to evade a lot of the Pokemon's attacks. Jari sat down. That Rufflet was amazing, but it was soon hit by a boulder. However, the force was so large that the bird fell to the ground.
Jari hurriedly climbed down and moved the boulder, pretending to push it as to not cause suspicion. Then, he picked up the Rufflet. It seemed to be unconscious, but still alive. "Damn, it's hurt... I should treat it."
"My name's Chan, nice to meet you." He suddenly flashed two badges. "I have these for my skills in battling."
"My name is Jari. What were you doing to this Pokemon?" he interrogated in a sort of police-like way.
"I was going to catch it to cover my weaknesses. This Gigalith and my Excadrill are my only Pokemon, so I wanted to cover more types."
"Oh... so you were planning on catching it, I see. I'll take this Pokemon to rest, though. Catch a different one."
"What the hell, man?! Why?!"
"The way you injured it. It's not going to like you. Unless..." Jari shook his head. This guy wouldn't have a Luxury Ball. "Never mind. Good bye."

With Blaze back on the bed, Jari decided to put Rufflet on the couch. He got an ice pack from the kitchen downstairs and then put it on the Pokemon's wing. He watched over it carefully, until the point where it woke up.

"Who the hell are you, and why are you with me?"
"You were injured. It was only right to keep you here and help you out."
"Well I'm as fine as I'll ever be now, so I'm leaving, bud." The Pokemon began to flap his wings, but then he fell back down. "Dammit..." he whispered.
"Don't worry, I'll get you some medicine or aspirin or something." He requested a painkiller or something that could heal the Pokemon at the front desk. Thankfully, he got both.
"Here you go. This is going to take about a day to heal you, so you may want to rest up."
"Hmph. I can do it myself. Most humans try to catch me, but you're caring for me. You can't possibly be human."
"So you're saying I should a) put you in a PokeBall or b) throw you out the window?"
"Stop being such a smart ass."
"Stop being such a smart mouth. And I prefer the term 'intelligently sarcastic' or 'intelligently sarcastic person,' for your information. Or even smart alec."
"Shut your mouth."
"What a great relationship."

Stryker the Zoroark
Tokyo, Japan

~~~~~

As the boy began riding away on his bike, Stryker waited a few seconds before leaving the airport area, keeping his target in sight as he walked in a hurry. Need to bug him sooner or later, 'cause I can't run without attracting attention, and he has a bike. For now, though, he needed another way to track the boy. Lucky for him, his friend was based here in Tokyo and was one of those RDM agents that made use of human technology. Yes, there were the mundane objects that some RDM Pokemon used, like tents and chairs and rope, but Stryker and his friend went beyond that.

Stryker stopped a moment to pull a cell phone out of his backpack, then jogged for a few moments until he caught sight of the boy again. He dialed a number and held it up as he followed his quarry. After a few seconds of ringing, the other end was picked up. "Yello? Who's this?" The mildly high-pitched voice spoke in English with a pronounced Raichu accent.

"You gettin' enough calls that you hafta ask who I am, Surge?" Stryker asked, smirking to himself. The smirk left as the traffic blocked the boy from his view, and he hurried a few steps.

"Stryker!!" The volume made the 'teenager' wince and hold the phone a few inches away from his ear. "Long time, no see, buddy! Where ya callin' from this time? L.A.? Phoenix?"

"Tokyo, actually." Okay, he was back in view. "Got a new priority task, and I'd appreciate it if you could help me out for a bit." Before the Raichu could answer, Stryker added, "I got some new stuff for you to look at."

"Coolioes. Whatcha need?" Surge was always interested in anything new that anyone could bring him, so long as it was technological.

"I haven't bugged my quarry yet, and sooner or later he's gonna be too fast for me to follow on foot. For that matter, I'm havin' trouble keeping him in sight right now." Stryker gave Surge a description of the boy before asking, "Does he have somethin' for you to track, or will you need to hack th' cameras?"

"Lemme check." Some moments later, during which Stryker lost sight of the boy again - he was about to get a little too far ahead - the voice replied, "Yeah, a phone of sorts. From a brief scan, it might be one o' those things human Trainers have." Stryker noted the disdain in Surge's voice at the mention of humans. "Mind you, if your target leaves Tokyo, I can't track him for ya. See ya tonight?"

"Tonight." Stryker ended the call before checking the tracking app on his phone - Surge was a genius at times - then stopped hurrying. He could keep track of the boy now. For now.

~~~

Strangely enough, Stryker's target didn't spend enough time in the Gym to have had a battle...unless the boy had lost within seconds of challenging the Gym Leader. Stryker made a face as he watched the boy leave from across the street; by that time, he'd changed his appearance to that of a Japanese teenager. If he put the Monferno in a hopeless battle, that would be a great reason to free his Pokemon. Still nothing about interfering with him, though. That was what puzzled him about this getup. Top priority, they had said. Yet they hadn't sent word to move in, and Stryker had seen nothing to suggest any supernatural abilities like raising magma.

When it became evident that the boy had settled for the night, Stryker made his way to a nearby neighborhood, which had a little-known alleyway. When he'd checked that no human on the nearby street or on the rooftop was watching, he pulled a loose brick from the wall at the end of the alley and looked into the space. The hidden retina scanner flashed as it scanned his undisguised eyes before confirming access with a beep. A small section of the wall opened for Stryker, who ducked in and waited as the wall closed behind him.

When his eyes had adjusted, he walked down the dark staircase to a sealed door with a keypad. He typed in the seven-digit code, which opened a panel underneath with a deep, narrow space. Stryker shed his disguise, revealing the Zoroark as he stuck his arm into the space, finding the three deeper spaces for his claws. As his claws slid into the lock, he felt something inside the hole pull a few hairs from his arm - something about a DNA analysis, he'd been told. He still didn't understand as much about technology and science as Surge. This was a unique lock meant to deny access to anyone but Stryker; Surge had his own method of getting into his lab.

As the door opened long enough for Stryker to walk through, a Raichu looked up from one of his gadgets on the far side of the basement. "Lose any fur lately?" Surge asked, grinning as the Zoroark walked around the tables of wires and pieces of metal.

"Only 'cause of you," Stryker answered. "I'm asking again. Do you really need something that complex?"

"Ah, you know that we can't let any humans in here," Surge muttered, attention back on the small device before him as his paws worked on it. "'Sides, you know I have other enemies. There, done with that. Whatcha have?"

A few night hours passed as Stryker showed him what he'd grabbed from the SRI International lab and Surge did some more of his genius work - well, genius compared to Stryker, who had never grasped everything about the concepts of technology - the Raichu proudly showed off a piece of headgear. It looked like a cross between goggles and glasses with an earpiece attached on the right side. The framework was slightly bulkier than normal, with small buttons on the side.

"Been workin' on this for a while," he said, satisfied with his work, "and what you gave me helped complete it. You'll still need that phone of yours, but this'll free your claws of a couple things. I made it to fit you specifically, in your natural form-" Surge stood on the table as he slipped the headgear onto Stryker's head. "-and it can do a few things beyond the normal human stuff. The main feature-" He demonstrated as he talked. "-is that it should replace your phone when tracking someone. The lens show a map with the signal given off by whatever you have bugged, though right now it's synced to what I'm using to track your target. See? Once we set it up, you can also use this as your phone for calls and such, if you ever need to make or take one. That's what the earpiece is for, which has its own battery and can be detached if needed. I find it amazing that, dumb as they are at times, humans found a way to fit information into small packages. There's also a chip in the earpiece that serves as a limited database that you could plug into other devices."

Stryker was intrigued by the idea, but he had a question. "Won't it run out of energy at some point?"

"Yeah, but that's what long-lasting rechargable batteries are for," Surge answered immediately. "I wish I could've made them and the whole frame a little smaller, but it doesn't work that way. Sad thing that you don't have your own electricity." The Raichu studied Stryker for a moment, a thoughtful look on his face, before brightening. "Oh, yeah, I just remembered. The back ends of the frame can actually extend and connect to each other if you ever need to use those as goggles in, say, a sandstorm or snowstorm." He helped Stryker set up his phone to connect with the new device and settled the last few questions and doubts Stryker had. "How'd you get to Tokyo, by the way?"

"Airplane," Stryker answered. His grim look was ruined as he let out a yawn. "Tired me out, somehow. Could you make sure there aren't any bugs in this while I sleep here?" He handed the headset back to Surge. "We've had trouble with that kind of thing before."Time to sleep.

Thomas Elias Brown
Randy Greyson Jr.
Time to fight!

Thomas got unboard the bus and sat in his seat, feeling Esper's ball in his pocket. To his surprise, Randy followed him! Randy sat next tto him and simply glared at the person that he took the seat from, a slightly older boy. The boy shrugged and moved on, and Thomas gave Randy a quizical look.

"What was that about dude? It was his seat." Thomas said questioningly. The answer he got was not the one he wanted, but pretty much what he expected.

"So what? If he wants it he can try and take it back!" Randy said. Typical bully. Thomas nodded along, filing this fact away for later use.

"Ok... Why not just take the seat that was assigned to you?" Thomas asked curiously. This was kind of fun, learning what kind of person the other boy was through his reactions. And boy, did Randy react.

"Because, I don't have to. I'm a trainer, I'm special. If ypou simply roll over and accept what you are given you'll never go ahywhere in life! You have to stand up for yourself and take what you want!" Randy said, actually sounding proud of this. Thomas wanted to smack the smugness off of his face. What a moron!

"Even if it's as trivial as a seat on a bus?" Thomas asked with a shrug.

"Especially then. The small things add up, and if you can't take it from when it's small, then you won't be able to when it's big!" Randy said, Thomas supressed a chuckle, but the person behind them did not. He chuckled and Randy turned to glare at him.

"What are you laughing at, punk?" Randy asked. The person laughing turned out to be the one Randy had stolen the seat from! He was a tall young man of around sixteen years. His fiery red hair was wild and tangled, and fell to his shoulders. He was wearing a green polo shirt, with a chain around his neck, a cheap steel dragon charm on the end with blue glass eyes.His eyes were a mild brown color, and he has a slight scar on his face. His skin was tanned, like he had been in the sun for a while. On his right index finger was a large ring, like a class ring, with a sapphire on it, and an odd looking crest on either side of the stone. He was wearing simple blue jeams and heavy work boots to complete his ourfit. Despite his humble appearence, Thomas felt he might be someone that would be involved a lot in the future.

"I'm sorry, was what you said not meant to be amusing?" the boy said, his voice thick with a British accent. He smiled charmingly at Thomas and Randy, the former of whom smiled back.

"This is a private convosation pal!" Randy said with a scowl.

"Shut up Randy. I'm Thomas, and this guy is Randy. Wassup?" Thomas said, extending a hand to the boy.

"Oh jolly good to meet you! I am Quincy!" Quincy said, shaking hands. Thomas smiled as the boy gripped his hand firmly. He applied equal pressure and smirked a bit.

"Yeah, a pleasure." Randy said angrily.

"Charming as it was, I have a question for you to ponder about your view on things. You take what you want and care about nothing else, correct? And you do this with the pokemon you possess. What about your pokemon, do you care about it? Either of you?" Quincy asked. Thomsas nodded vigurously, feeling Esper's ball in his pocket.

"Ha! I took this elektrike too!" Randy said.

"I beg your pardon?" Quincy asked, sounding shocked.

"You stole your pokemon? No wonder he hates you dude." Thomas said with a scowl. Stealing pokemon, how low could you get! Quincy appeared to share his sentament. But Randy wasn't done. "Yeah, this guy was way more badass than my rattata. So I made this stupid punk trade me him. Hah, best deal I ever got!"

"I see. A word of advice then Randy. There are forces at work that would destroy you if they found out this fact. Do not boast about it." Quincy said warningly. Randy smirked.

"Hah! If they come after me I'll just beat their asses!" he said.

"Oh please... The way you were talking to your pokemon you would lose. The bonds that build strength are from the heart, like me and Esper." Thomas said with a shrug.

"No, the way to get strong is to take it! Train hard and take it that way, or just take some other idiots pokemon, it doesn't matter! As long as you get stronger!" Randy said. Thomas closed his eyes. This guy... Was such a moron. If you didn't earn the respect and trust of your pokemon they wouldn't want to return that trust. Without that bond, there was no room to grow. When the bus stopped for a slight layover to give the driver time to refuel a car pulled up. Thomas, Randy, and Quincy were all sitting on a bench nearby, enjoying the cool night air, Randy smoking a cigarette.

"We are the Knights of Valor! give up now trainers!" the leader said. He looked young, and kind of stupid.

"Give up? As if!" Randy said. Thomas sighed.

"How would you know there are trainers here?" Quincy asked, giving the three an appraising look. Thomas shook his head.

"Easy! All the busses have a log recording how many trainers used their service! I know there are a few here, and we have come to make you release the pokemon you have wrongly taken from their homes!" the man said. Randy and Thomas both stood up.

"Oh yeah! I'll kick your ass so hard your mama will feel it!" Randy said angrily.

"No one is taking Esper from me. Not if he doesn't want to go!" Thomas said. Quincy sighed and shook his head. The duo of trainers, both pulled out their pokeballs.

"Hah! The two of you can't beat us!" the leader said. Thomas smiled.

"We'll see about that! Randy, you take this idiot, I'll beat the other two myself!" Thomas said.

"Hell no! I'll take two. A wimp like you can't even handle one." Randy said. Quincy sighed and pulled out a pokeball as well, shaking his head.

"There ARE three of us. Honestly, you two need to stop bickering if we are to be victorious!" Quincy said, and Thomas tossed his pokeball, revealing Esper. Randy sent out his Elektrike, of course. And Quincy tossed a pokeball, revealing a small green lizard. Thomas pulled out his pokedex and learned that it was a Treecko! A rare pokemon from a far off land apparently. It looked lean and mean, and ready to fight! Esper sent Thomas a questioning thought, purring at the men, who each had pokeballs of their own.