The Children Are Hunted

Amber and Espore

Amber was suddenlt pinned to the ground. She could probably get loose if she tried, but at the moment she didn't feel like it. Esper slowly regained his senses and she let him go when he began to fight. He scrambled away and looked her over with a wary eye.

"Ow... Don't push me out of trees anymore," He said as he shook his head. Amber giggled and looked up at Garet.

Of course he wants to come with me! Master is in trouble, and only Esper-" Amber began, but Esper cut her off.

"My name is ESPORE!" he said with a growl. Amber wasn't the slightest bit intimidated. She giggled and looked at him. She shook her head.

"ESPER is the only one that can fix him!" She said. She pushed herself to her feet and then leapt to the side, getting herself out from under Garet's paw. She gave him an appraising look.

"How do you know Master?" she asked innocently. Esper was watching her closely, his eyes narrowed and his tail flicking with annoyance. She glanced back at Garet and the others. She probably could escape, but she wasn't going to leave here without Esper. He was the only one that could help Master.

Trigger

Trigger was in a deep sleep, but hearing the rustling branches woke him up. With a small sigh he pulled his head out from under his wing and tried to see who was in the tree with him. They were still moving, and he could hear them perfectly.

"I'm blind at night, not deaf. Whoever you are, come out into the moonlight so I can dee you or say something so I can identify your voice," he said tiredly. He blinked, cursing his lack of night vision.

Quin

Quin looked up in wonder. The eight year old little girl had somehow flown up and was now perched on his Venomoth. He shook his head and tried to focus again. He tried to think what he knew of morse code. Not enough to translate what Poly had said.

"Oh, I was staring? Sorry. Anyways, I'm just taking notes, making sure your ok. There's never been a pokemon like Poly before. That's why Draco and I were sent. Draco wants to take Poly back to the scientists, which would probably make them very happy. I, however, feel no need to seperate a pokemon from a good trainer. So, I'll ust take some notes and keep an eye on him," Quin said truthfully. He went back to his note keeping after a moment. Draco stirred in his sleep, mumbled something unintelligble, and continued to sleep.

Marcus, Winny, and Robby

Robby grinned at Cynthia.

"Man, it's been years! Wow, this brings back memories. How's it going? You remember me?" Robby said hppily. Marcus glanced at him with an annoyed expression. Winny looked at both of them like they were nuts.

"You taking us to find Van?" she asked skeptically. Marcus looked at her. Was Van all she cared about? Probably...

"Robby, you went insane here, remember?" Marcus pointed out. He smiled and looked at Cynthia.

"..." was all Robby had to say as the three of them began to follow Cynthia.

Van

Van ignored Morty as he faded through the wall. He let out a tremendous Flametrower at it, but nothing happened. Honestly, what had he expected? He growled and snarled, but nothing was happening. there were tears running down his face as soon as Morty had left, but they evaporated before they could go anywhere. He was in a terrible state. He turned and walked down the stairs, not caring where he was going. It was completely dark, save for the warm glow he was putting out. He heard a voice in his mind. One he didn't quite recognise. But then again, how should he? The only people he had ever spoken mind to mind with were Esper and Winny. This wasn't either of them.

"Zor? He's not here. No one is here. You're trying to trick me by giving me a false hope! I'll never help you!" He shouted back. But he didn't bother putting up mental shields, in the off chance he was wrong. Instead, he turned the heat up a little more, leaving small embers wherever he stepped.

Thomas

Thomas nodded and walked away from Lucien. He dutifully found the doctor.

"I was told you were supposed to examine me," he said flatly and left it at that.
 
"You are wrong," Dora stated gently. "There are many people here. Here's proof." She closed her eyes and let Zoran project his message. The boy chuckled sadly.

"I'm hurt Van," the boy said playfully. "Denying me again? That pierces my little black heart really." He kept walking through the hallway. "I'm definitely here Van and Winny is too. She's really worried. I'm surprised she hasn't started calling for you yet." He spun a bit as he came to the door he was looking for. He was close to Van, but not quite. "I have to go buddy but Dora's looking for you now. I'm off to doom humanity to extinction and tear down walls. Yes I walked through the front door. Buh-bye."

He cut the link as he pushed the door open. "Hi Mister Theo!" he greeted. "I'm here like you asked."

~~

Morty silently followed Van through the walls, being very careful. If one of the prisoners woke up... well, it wouldn't be pretty. There was a strangled moan and Morty reflexively released a hypnotic pulse toward it, calming it for the moment. "You should be careful," he said softly, continuing to watch.

~~

Day listened to the beeping again and nodded. "Poly understands. But are you going to use the data for good things? If not he says he will destroy your brain and the loud one too." Day nodded a bit at this, wrapping her arms around her Oshawott, who reappeared.

Ash listened quietly to this and nodded a little, Alyss' aura soaring over her head. Zaria was quiet, in deep thought. She didn't think Quin could see her but wasn't going to check.

~~

Cynthia shook her head. "I'm taking you to Thomas. I do not know who Van is or where he is." She smiled at Robby now. "Yes I remember you very well, crazy hero." She kept walking, her Togepi chirping softly. "There are good and bad memories to every story," she said wisely, headed toward the medical wing.

~~

THe doctor nodded without looking up. "Any soreness in your limbs? A pain in your head? Experience your backlash recently?" He rattled off these questions coolly, writing on a clipboard. "If so, you are required to rest for a day at the very least, lest your power rebounds on you physically instead of on your senses. That will break your bones all over again."
 
Meanwhile Kai just sort of watched wth interest as a Leafeon tried to drag Espore off, almost as if there weren't a whole group of pokemon watching. He glanced behind her and caught Kimiko and King engaging in what looked like a staring contest. ...Okay, so maybe only Shu and her out of the group of mapmakers were watching, but at least Legend had an excuse. Being... y'know, blind. Either this Leafeon wasn't the brightest tool in the shed or she didn't seem to think anyone would care. Kai was aware of Garet watching though, so she didn't feel the urge to say anything. Chances were Garet had some sort of training here whereas she would've mostly just improvised in his place. Given, improvisation tended to go well for her, except for the rare occasion where she wandered into a battlefield and got hit with a natural disaster.

Kai (Bulbasaur): "..."

She did find herself amused when Garet finally decided to put a stop to it though.
 
As he stared at the Leafeon, Leo finally connected her appearance with that of the one he'd seen by his plane when he and Garet had attempted - attempted because an AAPM human had interfered - to capture one of the CTs and his two companions. Not sure how significant that is, Leo thought to himself, turning his attention to the apples. "All of you should be eating something," he said to the Mapmakers in general, tossing most of the dropped apples towards them.
Glancing at the Dratini and Buneary, Leo shook his head. "Are those two always like that?" he muttered to Kai, crouching beside her and nodding at Kimiko and King. He was still following the conversation between Garet, Espore, and the Leafeon.

'Fix him'? Garet stayed where he was, watching both Eeveelutions. Espore's retort and the Leafeon's words revealed a bit more about what was going on. "It doesn't matter how I know Thomas," Garet answered. If the Espeon really believed he was Espore, RDM Deviser, and had been through some sort of conflict with Thomas, then, as Garet's reasoning was going, it probably wouldn't help anything to try and get Espore to remember the past week or so...yet. Garet still remembered Leo's warnings just earlier that night.

Still staring at the Leafeon, Garet had a sudden thought. "I want you to deliver a message for me," he said to the Leafeon. After a few moments, he hesitantly added, "Could you do that?" Need to remember that this Leafeon isn't under my command, he thought. It still rankled him a little, though, that he had to ask such a question. The white Arcanine was not used to it.

~~~~~

"I'm blind at night, not deaf. Whoever you are, come out into the moonlight so I can dee you or say something so I can identify your voice."

Karib lost his grip, startled, on the branch he'd been about to pull himself on, falling several feet before landing on his back on another branch, a few feet below the Staraptor. Ow. "Karib ShadowHider," the Sableye wheezed; his breath had been knocked out of him. After getting it back, he added, "I was heading for that fruit up there. TruthSeeker's order to gather food."
 
Amber and Espore (OOC: She really has a one track mind. :D)

Amber considered the Arcanine's request. Then she stuck her tongue out at him.

"Mama told me never to talk to strangers! Bye-bye! Come on Esper! Let's go!" Amber said. She flicked her tail at Garet and trotted over to Esper, who hissed at her. Her reason for denying Garet was simple. He had told her no. So she would tell him no. Esper yowled at her as she came closer.

"Back off! I told you I'm not going back!" Espore shouted at her. She ignored him, and he fired a Shadow Ball at her. She leapt to the side and rushed in with Quick Attack, firing a good deal of Razor Leaves at the same time. Both attacks hit him and he went rolling along the ground.

"Ow..." Espore said as her jaws clamped around the scruff of his neck again. Amber began dragging him again, this time keeping clear of Garet.

"You started it!" Amber said, her voice muffled a bit by the fur in it.

Trigger

Trigger closed his eyes again. He was deep in thought. Something didn't feel right to him.

"What is the situation?" he asked Karib. He didn't mean about the food, and Karib would probably catch that in his tone. He was curious as to what was going on.

Van

"Stop tormenting me!" Van barked as he fired a Flamethrower at the wall Morty had spoken to him from. He shook his ead and glared at the wall, his mind racing. He still had no idea who Dora was, but that had definately been Zoran's voice.

"Wait! Zoran!" he yipped out when Zoran spoke to him. Then he fell silent. He sat down and began whimpering. Everything was going wrong. This was not right. His best friend had abandoned him now, and who exactly was this Dora person? What was she supposed to do for him? He would have been afraid of getting sick from the dank air, but he didn't much care. And besides, he had grown so hot that any illness that he caught would burn up and die. So, he simply lay there whimpering, the air growing thinner with each frantic breath.

Thomas

"... I just recovered from falling a few hundred feet from the air and crashing into a tree. I'm lucky I was half light at the time. So yeah, my limbs are sore. As for my head, I'm fine. Just the usual head ache a concussion brings. And as for the Backlash, no. I just recovered from it. But before that my powers had been super charged by something, so I think I'm ok now. Anything more..." Thomas said as he began sensing a very familiar darkness. Zoran was here? Rat bastard must have followed him... Still, it wasn't his concern. Unless he got ordered to do something about it. Then it would be his concern. He turned his attention back to the doctor.

Winny, Robby, and Marcus

"Then you are useless," Winny said cruelly to Cynthia. She extended her senses, as limited as they were, and began trying to find Van on her own. She frowned when Robby picked her up.

"What Winny means to say, is that Van is a Vulpix... Recently caught by Thomas. She's here for him, not Thomas. Don't ask, it'll only make your head hurt," Marcus said as he followed behind Cynthia. He couldn't even remember being here. Yet he had been. He was only a baby at the time though. Wow, the fact that he had visions even as a baby made Marcus a little bit uncomfortable.

"No, if that was what I meant to say then I would have said it!" Winny said stubbornly. Robby sighed and the Swellow on his shoulder chirped helpfully. He levitated Swellow's pokeball and returned him before putting it back on Marcus's belt.
 
Kai just sort of turned her head up at Garet and nodded thoughtfully in response to him.

Kai (Bulbasaur ♀): "Kimiko is a bit of an instigator..."

Kai didn't seem too concerned with this, as if she had just gotten used to Kimiko's antics. Given, was that really too hard to believe? She only worked with the dratini almost constantly. Unfortunately Kai couldn't say for sure why Kimiko was the way she was. Meanwhile, Kimiko didn't seem to notice what Kai had said, or if she did she didn't show it. Kai sat down on her haunches and silently continued to observe what was going on. Observing was just something she liked to do when there was nothing better for her to be doing at any particular time. Meanwhile, King crossed his arms and seemed to shun Kimiko, rather fed up with her antics. Legend had been deathly silent for some time, occasionally looking around sightlessly. For the moment, Kimiko seemed to have given up teasing King. She looked around occasionally but did not seem to find anything else worth doing. Shu was as watching silently, as usual. What exactly he was thinking was also a mystery, as usual.
 
Zoran felt Theo's displeasure a mile away, yet ignored it. He had a feeling he had not satisfied Van's concerns, though he honestly doubted he could. He was so tired and scared and he didn't quite understand where the fear came from. There was no fire and the others were nowhere near him. The chill trickled down his spine and he opened the link once more. "Dora's my Gardevoir," he said simply, clenching his small fists where he stood. "She was my Ralts. You can trust her Van. Please. Trust her." His mental voice was starting to shake. Not good, definitely not good. He had to calm Van down not freak him out. "She's almost there Van. Hold on just a little longer okay?"

Zoran took a shuddery breath, ears ringing and and the world seemed dimmer. His chest was hurting and he honestly felt like he was going to vomit. What had Theo done to this room? "Van..." he said quietly. "Whatever happens, whatever you see, whatever you hear, whatever you feel, even if I don't come back, get out. Get to Ash and Alyss. Get to the campground, stay with Dora, just get out of here. Please." The dark boy didn't understand where his desperation came from for a minute... then he did and shook his head. "I...I'm really sorry.' He cut the connection, almost all of them. He didn't cut Zaria, he had never tried. Neither had wanted to.

"You took a long time," Theo mused quietly, barely surprised at the seven-year-old behind the desk. "Writing your will?"

"Last I checked you took everything I could give away," Zoran commented gently. "By the way you've done some interior decorating," he mused, glancing at the formerly sparse room now littered with little black boxes. "Playing God?"

"I thought that was your job."

"If so then god has a seriously sick sense of humor," the boy replied, walking closer to the desk. "Now, shall you get on with the tongue lashing or are we going to banter all night?"

"Tongue-lashing?" Theo repeated smoothly. "Oh no, I'm afraid we're skipping that portion of this meeting." He rose from the desk and Zoran tensed a moment. "I'm afraid I have to give you a sorrowful announcement."

"I know about Alyss," the boy said civilly, eyes flashing violet. "Get to the point."

Theo smirked a little bit. "Boy, you of all people fell for the distraction? No no, I was after you."

Zoran nodded. "I'm well aware," he said quietly. "Theo is more transparent than he thinks."

The man smiled dangerously. "And you're more vulnerable than you pretend to be." He snapped his fingers and Zoran jolted, collapsing to the ground. He coughed heavily, an intense pressure threatening to crush his body.

"It took me years," the man commented casually as the boy on the other side continued to cough and wheeze loudly, weakly. "Years, my little Dawn Child, to figure out how to conquer you. There was no mental way, you were too clever by half, and you never let yourself be alone. You were Amrita's pet project, her wonderful, almost perfect monster of a son sent to keep me in line. And a part of you knew that didn't it?" Zoran didn't, couldn't answer, the pain forcing painful breaths from his nose. "I have my doubts. You were but a toddler, a precocious one, but still young. There was no emotional way, you were already far too broken for that, haha. But physically, ooh yes, even you knew pain. And the best ways to give it to you." He smiled at the boy, the expression the genial love of a father. "Well, those are something you keep quiet aren't they?"

Zoran hissed violently even as the violet left his eyes. The shadows lunged, only to fall when Zoran convulsed, biting his tongue and coughing painfully. "You've lost all of your manners child. Don't interrupt." Theo smiled again, silver red eyes flashing. "surprisingly," he continued casually. "You are not weak to light, rather you two are neutral to each other. However, you're weak to fire, that little fear of yours and you're weak to something else, adorably useless against it." He chuckled a bit. "Aura."

Theo knelt and placed a hand on Zoran's forehead, the helpless form still convulsing from the waves pulsing from the boxes all over the room. "Ironic, isn't it?"

~~

Cynthia smiled at Winny. "No problem. I've heard it before." The words were careless, casual. "And you ought to be a bit more thoughtful," she sang out sweetly. "If Thomas caught your friend, wouldn't it stand to reason he'd be with him or if not, he knew where he was?" She shook her head.

There was a quiet huff, one made of many voices. "A hypocritical creature that. Caling you useless because she is herself. Hah!"

"Behave Spiritomb," the girl hummed, still headed toward the infirmary.

~~

The man still didn't look up. "Get in that spare bed, shut up, and sleep. The wounds need to heal a little longer. Hurry up."

Lucian smiled menacingly from the other side of the room. "I love you whitecoats and your fear we have some disease."

"Quiet!"

~~

Day looked up, staring in the direction Zaria was. Could she see her? No. She knew there was something there though. The ghost was silent,floating above Alyss' head as Poly made acrobatic movements through the sky. Ash was apparently meditating, her breathing slow and eased.
 
Leo grunted at Kai's reply, still watching the scene before him. "All of you really should be eating those," he repeated, indicating the apples. "My Healing Pulse doesn't cure hunger, you know."
Garet's words were the ones that decided Leo's next actions. The Lucario stood and focused his power into creating a dome-shaped Aura-barrier that was meant to enclose the Leafeon and Espore. They were too close together for him to separate. Leo then stalked around it to stand in front of the Arcanine, arms folded. "I want answers," he started, talking in a low voice meant only for Garet's ears. "What's with you lately? You've been acting like you have something in mind, but you haven't told me. You also haven't told me exactly why the RDM is after the CTs."

As Leo drew breath to continue, Garet growled, "I'll tell you why the RDM is after the CTs, once we meet up with Hawkeyes again. He wants to know the same thing. And yes, I do have something in mind, but I want to be able to tell you and Trigger at the same time." He hesitated, glancing at the Leafeon, then added, "Telling you what I know will be betraying someone's trust in me. It's also something that should not become general knowledge."

~~~~~

Karib pushed himself to his feet, thinking through his answer to Hawkeyes' question. "Well, first off, TruthSeeker has not acted altogether like the Deviser whose reputation I know. For one thing, he took the Wynaut to another place. I thought she was supposed to remain our prisoner. After that, as you know, TruthSeeker sent Carrie QuickDigger and me to get food, and we're all supposed to rendezvous near Venice. Er, what's left of it."
Karib took a deep breath, then continued, "It was close after that that Carrie and I heard a sort of gunshot. QuickDigger continued after the deer we'd been chasing, while I went to investigate it. I ended up going around the campsite of the humans near here, which had a few humans I did not recognize. I found out that another human had been shot and was being taken into the camp, and the Wynaut, Winny, teleported one of the humans to...another place." Thinking back to check for other details, the Sableye added, "Winny said something about some Thomas capturing Van."

This was so often one of Karib's duties: to move in hiding and check on certain places or situations, then reporting back to someone that ranked above him.
 
Amber and Espore

"But, but, but... I LOVE secrets! Come on! Please tell me! Pretty please!? With all the hugs in the world! I promise I won't tell!" Amber said. Espore groaned and pulled himself away from Amber.

"She's starting to get on my nerves," Espore said privately to Leo. Amber walked to barrier and pawed at it.

"Caged again..." she said as she hung her head. Then she turned back to Espore, who hissed at her. She charged at him, only to be lifted into the air and held there.

"Not this time. Leo, would you please let me out of here? I'd rather not have to babysit her," Espore said, a note of annoyance in his voice. He shook his head and blinked slowly as Amber giggled in midair.

"But I love to play Esper! Come on! Let's play some more!" she said. Espore sighed at her.

"Sorry. As much as I like playing, this is grown up stuff. Not time to play right now," Espore said. Amber fixed him with a pouty frown. Belatedly, Espore leapt to the side. He was slammed into by the Solar Beam and flew into the Aura barrier. That Solar Beam was very strong. Espore didn't see if it broke through the barrier or not. He was too busy blacking out.

:It's ALWAYS playtime Esper," Amber said seriously as she dropped to the ground and began charging again, this time aiming right for Leo, the one that had made the barrier.

Trigger

Trigger frowned. Why would that human do such a thing? Thomas would have known Van was claustrophic. And that he had a deep fear of being captured. He needed answers. Winny teleporting one of the humans... That was probably the other CT. Something big was going on. Garet, despite their disagreements, still needed to know something was happening.

"Karib, would you be able to spot Garet and the others from the air?" Trigger asked. He stretched his wings and sighed. Why had Karib not thought Garet might want to be the first to know something was up with the CTs? Anyone in that group catching Van was so out of character for them. Something was wrong.

Van

That desperate plea from Zoran seemed to snap Van out of it a little bit. He howled and got back to his feet. He sniffed about him for a way out. He had to get to Zoran. He just had to. He turned toward where the freshest scent of air was coming from.

"DORA!! Where are you!?" Van shouted out with his mind... At least, he hoped he did. He was beginning to regret not learning that Psychic type move now. He began to walk towards it, hoping it would lead him to Zoran. The boy had sounded very scared. Zoran didn't get scared, so this must be very bad.

Thomas

Thomas wordlessly walked over and lay down. He should have been upset, but he wasn't. Again, thanks to not having feelings. As he lay down and relaxed, he began to extend his senses. He could feel Zoran plain as day, err, night. But that wasn't all. A few other familiar beacons of light were heading his way. Not that he cared. If he could sense them, someone else could as well. But there was just one thing. He wasn't tired. He didn't need sleep. So, he simply lay back and rested, trying to recover some more energy.

Quin

Quin was still pondering what Poly had said. He looked up at Zaria, realising she wasn't a hallucination. After he had taken that horrid medicine, she was still here? Must be real then. Or he needed another dose. Oh well.

"The loud one... Draco? Heh, it would make my life a lot easier, but no. You don't have to destroy his brain. Or mine. You see, my group collects data on all the different kinds of pokemon, for research. They are currently putting together a sort of... Um... A high tech enclepedia (I can't remember how to spell that word). That way, people that have one of those can just take it out and see what kind of pokemon they are looking at. But it's not finished yet. Is that good enough for you?" Quin said happily as he resumed his note taking. Draco gave a feeble stir, but slept on. Logana must have gone all out. She was still happily fluttering around with Alyss and the ghost girl. Quin waved up at them.

"You know, miss ghost, I thought I was imagining you before, but I don't think that anymore. What are you? Who are you?" Quin said. He always was the inquisitive type.

Marcus, Robby, and Winny

"Shut it!" Winny said, having overheard the Spiritomb. She shook her head.

"Think about this. Thomas was the one that captured Van. So even if he knows where Van is, why would he tell us? Thomas doesn't give a damn about any of us anymore!" Winny said aloud. Marcus nodded. He knew that Thomas wasn't exactly going to go down without a fight. But they needed to get him back to the others. Or get Esper up here. He just hoped that they had gotten Esper back to normal too. Or this would all be for nothing. Robby looked at the ground.

"So... How are Morty and Brie doing?" he asked finally. Marcus nodded and looked solemn, having been too young to remember any of the other Dawn Children except the ones he met recently.
 
Dora heard his reply and gave a little smile as she appeared. "Here Van. Hurry." she glanced where Morty stood and quickly teleported Van and herself away. Morty didn't react at all. Instead he walked down the stairs into a room. The girl hung there limply, body engulfed in a Psychic glow.

"Don't you touch her," the male voice cracked on the last word, still twistedwith puberty. The dark-haired male threw a stone at the Ghost user, only fo it to pass through harmlessly.

Morty sighed softly. "I didn't mean to Darach."

"Sure you didn't," the male muttered. "Yes of course I'll believe you. I'm not that naive."

The blonde shrugged. "Suit yourself."

--

Cynthia frowned slightly and sighed. "Ah Lucian," she mused gently. "I always knew you were a trickster." She kept walking. "I am sorry but I am not fully aware of the events that have occurred in the past few hours. However, I am vaguely aware your friend Van is safe now. But... I'm rather surprised. You don't want to take revenge for him. You just want to go help him when you will likely cause harm. Ever think or others?" cynthia's tone never wavered or rose, she didn't even sound bothered.

She glanced back at Robby. "Morty is well, depressed as always. Brie... Ah, I do believe he hasn't been well in a long time. I suppose that will happen."

Spiritomb snorted. "Can't you think of anything better to say?"

--

Day nodded. "Think that's okay," she decided with a tiny smile. "At least for now."

Zaria glanced up. "Zaria," she said simply. "My brother brought me back by accident." she shook her head. "I don't know how sorry." her whole body seemed to slump and she shrugged a little.

--

"Hurts doesn't it?" Theo mused, picking serenely at his fingernails. "It can end soon, if you just let go."

"I won't give it to you..." Zoran whispered weakly.

"Oh but why not?" Theo hummed. "You can handle this I know, but..." His fingers clicked and finally Zoran screamed. "Can you handle that?"

"Won't..." the boy wheezed.

"Oh, you want to die don't you?" Theo laughed. "Too bad. I still need you alive, at least for the moment. So... Since you won't willingly let go, I need to persuade you just a little bit better." Something clicked and a Ninetales padded into the room. "Your mother would be sad to see this. Ninetales Extrasensory." it obeyed and began to destroy the boy's mind and heart, destroying the son of the woman he had once called friend.

Zoran let out a pain-filled scream and then fell very quiet, honey-colored eyes dimming until he stared blankly ahead the desk, even as his body convulsed on the carpet.
 
Trust. That was usually part of the issue whenever Garet was around. Leo turned to look at the Eeveelutions when Espore asked to be let out. Good thing he did.
The Leafeon's Solar Beam had broken the barrier, sending the remaining energy back into Leo, who narrowed his eyes as the Leafeon charged another attack. "Cover me," he relayed to Garet immediately as he charged up an Aura Sphere.

Garet dashed forward with ExtremeSpeed, aiming to hit the Leafeon and disrupt the Solar Beam that was most likely on its way. Leo, meanwhile, took a few seconds before he threw his Aura Sphere at the Leafeon.

~~~~~

From the way Hawkeyes said those words, the fruit suddenly didn't seem so important anymore. "Sure," Karib answered, now climbing quickly to the Staraptor's branch. Feeling brave, he added, "How could anyone miss a big, white Arcanine?" Standing on Trigger's branch now, the Sableye hesitated. He wasn't entirely sure how Hawkeyes wanted to go about this.

~~~~~

Carrie dropped the deer to look up at the sky. It was very close to moon-high. "They better be there," the Gabite growled to herself, moving onward with the deer in tow. Maybe she'd eat the deer herself if no one else was at the rendezvous point. Of course, that would be risking the wrath of TruthSeeker, if he had any.
 
Amber (OOC: It was only a matter of time before she did something epic. :) )

Amber giggled and crouched low, letting the large Arcanine pass harmlessly over her. That was one of the benifits of being small. It was harder to hit her. She finished charging up her Solar Beam and fired it at the large, blue and black mass that she had identified as Leo. Unfortunately, she couldn't see him that well, so the attack went wide, striking a tree several feet to the right of him. As she pouted about missing she got hit be the Aura Sphere and hit the dirt.

"Ow... Meanie!" Amber said as she pulled herself to her feet. She began sparkling with green energy, and her wounds healed themselves. Ah, Synthesis was a great move. She was so glad Master had taught it to her. She glanced at Esper and saw he was still knocked out. Then she charged atthe closest target with Quick Attack. Which happened to be Garet.

"I'm not going to let any of you stop me!" Amber shouted gleefully.

Trigger

"Someone that is blind at night," Trigger replied as he stretched his wings and took off. He spent a few moments getting above the trees before gliding in the cool night air. Another problem with night flying? No thermals. No precios updrafts to make his life easier. Thankfully, Karib was very light, and easy to carry.

"Ok, we're up high enough. Now, could you look down and see if you can spot Garet. And try not to pull out too many feathers... But it should be easy to spot him. How can anyone miss a large white Arcanine?" Trigger said as he flew through the air, having no idea what awaited him.

Van

Van and Dora appeared outside an office. Van could smell Zoran inside, along with a powerful Ninetails and some other human he didn't know. But before he went rushing inside, he gasped for air. That basement had been suffocating him. But now that he had relatively more air, he was feeling better. He almost could sense the powerful psychic attack being used. He growled and rushed at the door, setting it on fire as he slammed it open.

"Leave him alone you bastard!" Van barked as he charged the Ninetails. He opened his mouth and blasted a Flash, as he ran.

Winny, Marcus, and Robby

"Revenge would accomplish nothing except more problems. Right now, I'm only worried about Van. You say he's safe? That's good. Now what?" Winny said evenly.

"Now we make sure Thomas is safe..." Robby said. Marcus smiled and shook his head.

"Thomas is safe. We're going to try and help him return to normal again," Marcus said. He had an idea. Between his visions and Robby's telekinesis, the two of them had a shot at doing the impossible. It wasn't as sure as if Esper did it, but they could try. It was why Marcus had dragged his cousin along with him. Robby nodded, still not quite understanding what they were supposed to do.

Quin

"Of course. It's a pleasure to meet you Zaria," Quin said. His phone beeped at him and he stood up.

"Excuse me. I have to go deal with the fallout from Draco's idiocy," Quin said as he checked his phone. He stood up and stretched out. He was sure someone would follow him. He didn't much care. It was Draco's fault anyways. He returned Logana and put her pokeball on his belt.

"I'll be back in a moment. Would you be so kind as to keep Draco from following me, should he wake up?" Quin said. He smiled at the group before dashing off through the trees.
 
Kai resisted the urge to make a quip about how her synthesis /did/ cure hunger. It didn't take much thought on her part to realize that'd be taken with mild annoyance at best. Regardless, she looked over at King and Kimiko, who probably hadn't eaten. Did Shu even eat? If he had, she hadn't seen it. Kai moved over to Legend, who seemed pretty frustrated by her inability to see what was being offered to her and picked up an apple with her vines, handing it to the fire chicken. At first this seemed to startled Legend, yet after a moment she seemed to realize what was being offered to her and bit into the apple in a voracious manner. Given her small stature, the apple was probably going to be more than enough to fill her up. Kai then turned her head to Kimiko and King.

Kai (Bulbasaur): "You heard him, guys. These pokemon are RDM devisors, and we're going to be helping them however we can when we're done here."

She spoke in an informative tone, causing both Kimiko and King to appear somewhat surprised at the information they'd been given. Oddly enough though, neither of them commented. King moved over to retrieve an apple, which he promptly lifted with his ear and began to eat. Kimiko just sort of looked over at an apple and it slowly rose via telekinesis, floating over to her so that she could eat as well. Shu did ... nothing. Kai looked up at the ghost pokemon. Did he need to eat? It was a strange thought that he might not. For once, she decided to pry.

Kai (Bulbasaur): "Hey Shu, don't you need to eat?"

She sounded more curious than anything. Shu promptly replied though.

Shu (Yamask): "Yes... I eat gold."

He sounded rather depressed as he elaborated on his answer. Kai just sort of gave him a mildly concerned look. What, he ate /gold/? As in, nothing but? She certainly hadn't seen any gold laying around in the time she'd known him. A part of her was tempted to ask if he was going to be okay, but the other part of her trusted him not to let himself starve to death. I mean, seriously. She didn't have to worry about that, right?
 
Ash nodded cheerfully at Quin. "Can't promise I won't kill him but I'll keep him here!" she said, watching Kira begin to train. As he left, she glanced at Day's quiet form. She saw the girl's Aura shift and frowned. Ash pressed her mouth in a thin line and remained solemnly quiet, watching Zaria curiously. Her aura was strange, suppressed almost. A flash of longing filled her chest, recalling the one time she had actually experienced sight. Most of the time she really could care less but use of Aura vision made her aware of what limits it had. It made her forget what things actually were, like Zoran. She wanted to see his face again rather than the shadow that filled her blue vision.

Alyss landed beside her. "Is okay Asha," she said softly, sadly as she watched Brie's harsh, deep breathing. "It's okay."

"You're not missing much," Zaria added, guessing what she was thinking about. "Your ex isn't nearly as attractive as he thinks."

"Princess, I could have told her that," Bryan said happily. They laughed, ignoring the departing Day. They knew she'd be back. Zaria was very quiet, twiddling her fingers. Why wasn't her brother answering? It was being repelled somehow...

Day's pace was slow, deliberate. As she walked, a smirk curled on her lips, eyes darker red. She casually returned Poly and let her fingers rest on another Pokeball. She stopped just feet away from Quin, watching him casually. "Hmm... Day seems to trust you." She smiled. "Well, she always has been desperately optimistic. However," She sauntered forward until she was only inches from the male. "I'm not that hopeless." The girl examined him carefully. "My~" she purred playfully. "You're a handsome one aren't you? And with such a bright heart... I'm almost jealous." She laughed. "Almost."

~~

Cynthia glanced in the medical room. She had tuned out the people behind her quickly, preferring not to get involved. Spiritomb was very quiet, the spirits listening casually to the hallways. Lucian nodded at her as she entered. She didn't invite the party behind her to come inside, figuring they would enter on their own. She sat on Lucian's bed and a barrier formed around them. They had an idea of what was coming next.

"So how's being shot?" she asked casually.

"Like seeing you," he replied. "Painful and takes years off my life."

"Don't take my sarcasm from my head," Cynthia hummed. "It's impolite."

~~

If Theodore Ebony was anybody else, he would have been surprised and angered by the loss of his office door. He would have been concerned by the angered Vulpix attacking his Ninetails. He would be unsettled by the glare of the Gardevoir in his doorway. However, because he was Theodore Ebony, he pardoned himself from doing anything of the sort. Instead he raised a greying eyebrow and sighed as his Ninetales closed his eyes and released a wave of raw heat. It likely got no reaction from the Vulpix but the human below was quite the opposite. Zoran began to moan and thrash weakly on the ground, trying by the looks of things to move away.

"My, my, uninvited guests," Theo commented casually, reaching down to rest his hand on Zoran's head. The moving shadows seemed to shrink away and Zoran coughed painfully. "I'll have you know that door was an antique. It was rather rude of you to set it on... fire like that. You've scared the poor thing." Theo almost would have believed his own words, had Zoran's eyes sparked with emotion again. They remained as blank as ever, causing a small chuckle to leave his lips.

Dora was silent as she concentrated. "Worthless human," she hissed. "How dare you harm my master."

"I wouldn't try that," Theodore advised with a smile. "If those machines explode, the waves will grow much stronger. Even if it's for a few seconds, I can assure you it will finish the job quite nicely. I'm certain neither of us want that do we?" Dora clenched her teeth. "Good girl."

Zoran had stopped moving now, as though thinking it were a lost cause. He stared blankly to the side, the events around him causing no reaction. Ninetales briefly turned away from Van and used the Psychic attack a second time, causing him to jerk and whimper. Theo laughed. "Repentance is painful isn't it? It's too bad Asha is not here right now. But she'll get her turn I suppose." He walked toward the boy and knelt. "Unless you at least, be a good boy." Zoran's gaze didn't flicker. "It's too bad you can't hear me anymore. But I'm certain you'll know all about this." Ninetales' eyes flashed pink and finally Zoran reacted. His breath quickened and his pupils dilated in fear.

"Fi...re..." He then let out a terrified, shrill wail, scrambling back despite the waves coursing still into his body. Zoran was trying to leave, to get out, but the fire was everywhere. He was burning. Zoran whimpered and then screeched in raw agony as he was mentally burned. Though as far as he was concerned, he was burning alive. He saw Van vaguely in the fire and instead of going toward him, shook his head painfully in hurt. "Whuh-Why... I... you were my..." Why was Van doing this? He knew, didn't he?

Or maybe he didn't care. Maybe Van still hated Zoran, always had, and had only stayed for research data. Maybe he was done and wanted to kill him. Or maybe Thomas had ordered him to. That would almost make sense even though Van took orders from nobody. Maybe even that...

Zoran kept moving back until his back hit the bookshelf and a blast of raw pain entered his system.

"Repent child," he heard suddenly, softly. "Pay for your sins."

"Which ones?" Zoran couldn't help but ask weakly, fearfully. "Would repenting take the fire away? Please?"

The voice tutted sadly. "The same one as everyone else. Being born."

It was too much for even him to handle. Zoran finally lost consciousness and Theo laughed. "Good boy." He walked over and finally turned off the machines. Picking the child up, he placed him calmly in the telepathic grip of his Alakazam. "I must thank you," he told the Vulpix. "You broke him for me. Excellent work. Now be a good opponent. It's been years since Ninetales here had a good fight." Dora wanted to attack but the room was too small for two battles.
 
Karib swept his gaze over the ground below them from the vantage point of Trigger's back. Seeing nothing that stood out, besides the humans' campsite, the Sableye opened his mouth to ask the Staraptor to head further southeast when a beam of light caught his attention. "Over there," Karib stated, indicating the direction the beam had been in with one hand. And almost losing his grip, which he tightened after the brief fright. The brief beam had been in the direction he'd seen TruthSeeker and the others head in.

~~~~~

What was with the Leafeon's aim? Leo hadn't had to dodge at all, though he had been ready to be hit once he saw that Garet had missed. The Lucario noted the green energy with which the Leafeon healed herself. Synthesis...that would make this fight a little more difficult. Leo fashioned a stick out of Aura, easily twirling it as he headed toward the Leafeon.

Garet had skidded to a halt and turned, only to stand his ground as the Leafeon charged at him with Quick Attack. After taking the hit to his front, the Arcanine brought a forepaw down on the Leafeon, pinning her with more force this time. It wouldn't be so easy to squirm out now. After looking down at the Leafeon for a moment, Garet bent his head to whisper, "Here's a secret for you. Esper has amnesia. He doesn't remember everything about his past, if anything at all. So, we're going to help him remember everything, but Esper needs to stay with us for a while." Bringing his head back up, Garet added, "Unless you know a better way, Esper's staying with us. It will only get harder on you if you keep trying to drag him away."

Reminds me of myself, Garet thought. Being a young Growlithe on the plains, he had been just as playful as this Leafeon had been just a minute ago. He wasn't sure if he had been that way on the day everything had changed for him. In any case, odds were that this Leafeon would probably tell her friends the "secret" anyway.
"Keep that handy," Garet said to Leo, who now stood a few feet away with Aura-stick in paw. The Arcanine then took his paw off of the Leafeon, though his inner fire stirred. A fight was a fight, as long as this Grass Pokemon kept fighting.
 
Amber and Espore

Amber flew through the air, but was suddenly slammed flat on her back. The blow had knocked the wind out of her and she gasped to catch her breath as Garet talked. Before she even had a chance to ask what amnesia was, Garet told her. Oh! So he didn't remember her ot Master or Volt or any of them? Well... She'd have to make him remember. But first she had to get this big white paw off of her chest so she could move some more. She squinted and looked at the big white blur on top of her. But before she could do anything, he removed his paw. Amber scrambled away.

"He doesn't remember Master? But... He's the one that broke Master! How could he forget that!?" Amber said innocently. Esper blinked and groaned. He got to his feet slowly.

"Ugh... Man, that Solar Beam hurt..." Espore said groggily. Amber walked over to him with a big frown on her face. Espore hissed and backed away. She then turned to Garet.

"So, if Esper is broken, how are you going to fix him?" she asked, curious as to the answer.

"Fix me? There's nothing wrong with me!" Espore protested as he walked back to the other Devisers.

Van :7:

Van growled as the events unfolded around him. He turned to Theo.

"You will burn for this!" Van said. He focused a moment and set himself ablaze with pure white fire. He blasted past the Ninetails, knowing he had caused damage straight for the Alakazam, knocking it over.

"Dora, if you get a chance, get Zor out of here! I'm about to show Theo why he should be afraid of fire," Van said with his mind, hoping Dora was still listening to him. Van turned and let loose a white-hot Flamethrower Theo now. He must have been out of his mind. To attack all three enemies at once. But then again, he was a very powerful pokemon.

Thomas, Marcus, and Robby

"Thanks Cynthia," Marcus said as he entered the room. Robby followed him in. Thomas looked up at them.

"Well... Took your sweet time getting here," Thomas commented. Marcus grinned. Thomas got to his feet.

"You know Thomas. I really looked up to you. I really did. But after you just gave in like that... I don't know. I-" Marcus began. Thomas cut him off.

"Spare me the speech, Marcus. It won't effect me anyways," Thomas said simply. Marcus shrugged.

"Swellow!" Marcus said, his eyes beginning to glow as he sent out the pokemon. So, it was a battle he wanted right now? Thomas had been sure it would end up as a contest of power. But then again, how could Marcus fight with his powers. Robby could, but that boy wouldn't stand a chance.

"Ok, if that's what you want. Volt!" Thomas said as he called out his pokemon. Thomas knew that his team was likely stronger. However, with Esper, Amber, and Vulpix not here, he only had four pokemon to fight with. Draco, Volt, Razor, and Deluge would have to be enough.

Zara

Zara was aware of Day following him but said nothing. He had been stopped, but he was back now. He had taken over. Delilah was going to regret coming out here. He smiled at the person infront of him. The person that was not Day.

"Desperately optimistic isn't the way I would put it, sister. She's a bloody idiot like Quin. Now, take a few steps back," Zara said. He was trying his best to be nice. Quin liked this girl. And it would make his life hell if he had to put up with Quin *****ing at him for killing her. But he wanted to kill someone.
 
"Correction," Leo cut in, watching the Leafeon warily. "He doesn't remember everything before the obliteration of Venice. There are...certain things he does remember. With Espore's permission, I'm going to take him to an acquaintance of mine." Looking over at the Espeon, he stated, "You have a good reason to disagree, but I believe it would help if you remembered everything." It was chilling to even think of the memories Espore had shown to Leo. However, when he compared it to what he knew of the Espeon and Garet's words and reactions, it didn't completely add up. Leo also knew that Garet had something in mind.

The white Arcanine considered the Leafeon's words. She had said that Espore broke 'Master', or Thomas, assumingly. It had to have been very recent, sometime between their meeting in the RDM base and now, most likely after Espore's bout of amnesia. And if one of the CTs was 'broken', then Garet's plans had just become a little more urgent.
"All you really need to know," Garet said to the Leafeon, "is that Espore...Esper, if you prefer, is going to stay with us for a while longer. So why try to fight?" The Arcanine then turned to look at the Mapmakers. "Time to go, everyone."

~~~~~

Carrie dropped her load again, groaning to herself. Almost there, very close to moonhigh. Why was she doing this for the others, anyways? Why not just eat the deer here and now and let Mr. High-and-Mighty TruthSeeker catch his own dinner?
"Stupid RDM training that keeps me from direct disobedience," the Gabite growled, continuing on her way with the deer. Would one even be enough?
 
Meanwhile, Kai just sort of watched the 'fight' go on. It looked pretty one sided to be called a fight though. She was honestly surprised that Garet wasn't wrecking that Leafeon harder. One would've thought using a solarbeam to down one of his companions would've ticked Garet off. What did she know though? She was still a relative stranger to the group, still learning how they operated. It seemed pretty apparent to her that Garet was a calm sort by this point, or at least that's what she perceived anyway. Had Legend not been blind, Kai was sure she would've wanted to help out somehow. For once, she was actually grateful Legend couldn't see. She was pretty confident Legend would have difficulty with anything short of a milk run. Ignoring the fact that Legend would fail an actual milk run horribly due to having no way to pick things up. The point was, she was not a well trained fighter, and her getting into a fight could only end with relief at best. Meanwhile, Kimiko, King, and Shu seemed to be watching somewhat less intently. Judging by Kai's inaction, they had assumed they weren't supposed to do anything. It was pretty much default for them not to engage in a fight. Only when exceptional circumstances occured would they actually do so.

Kai (Bulbasaur): "..."
 
The woman chuckled. "But why~" she purred. "I want to see you better. You're so interesting now~" She snorted then, breaking the mood. "Hardly. If I wanted a serial killer, I'd have stayed at the prison cell." She did step back a bit now and smiled demurely at Zara. "And I'm rather offended. My Day isn't stupid. Spastic yes, naive a possibility, but hardly an idiot." She flicked her fingers around a Pokeball. "My name is Mare by the way. I believe someone called my Nightmare at one point but I don't pay too much attention to titles of the sort." Mare rested her fingers in her pockets, ignoring the shaking of Poly's Pokeball on her belt.

"By the way~" she sang out, looking him up and down. "That's some beautiful killing intent right there. Care to try proving yourself? I can assure, we aren't that easy to kill."

~~

Lucian chuckled. "Isn't brainwashing entertaining?"

"It seems like it backfired," Cynthia mused gently, smoothing her black jacket creases. "Doesn't his power rely on his emotions? That's what the report said. And Alyss is usually accurate on such things."

Lucian shrugged. "I just did what he wanted me to."

"You should have known better," she scolded mildly. "You know where it's gotten you."

"It hasn't concerned me before," he replied coolly, flipping through the notebook. "It certainly will not now."

"Even if Theo dies," Cynthia asked quietly.

"Especially if he dies," he told her.

~~

"Van! Don't! It doesn't work!" Dora cried. It was too late. However, Dora had expected the fire to reach Theo and vanish. Instead Alakazam rose up and threw Zoran telepathically toward the fire. Dora almost screamed but Adler shreed and flew down, wrapping the boy in a Protect. He caught his unconscious human and flapped his small wings to carry them both away.

"Don't do that in this tiny room!" the bird chirped at him angrily.

"You aren't known for your brains are you?" Theo asked the Vulpix casually. "This battle will not go very far... Alakazam Teleport our little combatants." Stay here with our unconscious one. THat bird is young, not a fool. Alakazam's eyes flashed pink and Theo, Ninetales, Van, and Dora were transported to a large, empty room. Ninetales barely waited to hit the ground before moving in a Quick Attack behind Van.

Meanwhile Adler placed Zoran on the chair again. He stared defiantly at the Alakazam. It smirked. "What, are you thinking of attacking me?"

"No," Adler replied, spreading his small wings. "I'm thinking of beating you!" The Alakazam snorted and moved to attack, only for a violet covered talon to scratch his face. Adler cawed irritably. "Don't you get all cocky with me! I'm definitely gonna win! Haha!" Adler divebombed the Alakazam. "FOR LIBERTY!"

Zoran almost stirred.
 
Amber and Espore

"Mama said not to let my friends go with strangers!" Amber sang out. These guys were RDM, right? Well, she had special training from before she had met Master that was geared specifically to beat guys like this Arcanine. Training she would put to use right now. Before Esper could reply to the Lucario, Amber had pounced on him and blasted him with several Razor Leaves.

"What is with everyone attacking me today!" Espore said annoyedly as he got back to his feet. He blasted a Shadow Ball at Amber, which she took right on the nose without moving. He realised what she was doing and leapt to the side, only to be hit with the wildly fired Solar Beam.

"Wow! Lucky he moved! That would have missed if he stood still!" Amber crowed delightedly as Esper once again hit the ground. That Solar Beam was wickedly strong. Shame that she couldn't see what she was shooting at if they were more than a few feet away. Having terrible vision sucked. Amber ran over to Esper and crawled under him so that his unconcious form was draped over her.

"Nya nya nyanya nya! Can't catch me!" she shouted playfully before tearing off into the woods. She glowed as she used Synthesis, restoring her lost health.

"Let's see that Arcanine sniff me out now!" she mumbled to herself as she ran. She smelled like the grass again. It would be very tough to track her by scent. She turned southward, unaware that she was heading away from the others and toward the beach.

Trigger

Trigger came to a landing shortly after Amber had left.

"Garet! You must hear... Where did Espore, or Esper, or whatever the hell he's called now go?" he said tiredly as he kneeled down so that Karib could get off of his back.

"... Tell Garet what you overheard Karib!" Trigger said after a moment.

Van

"NO!" Van yelled as Zoran was moved into the path of his fire. He had just killed the one human he still cared about. Luckily, Alder appeared out of nowhere and shielded him. He was so shaken that he didn't pay much attention to Theo when he spoke. After effects of being caught and what amounted basically to torture and all that. But he did notice when the room shifted and he was hit from behind by Ninetails. He growled as he got to his feet.

"You will burn for this!" Van shouted before setting himself on fire and charging at Ninetails. First he would take out Ninetails, thenhe would kill Theo.

Thomas, Marcus, and Robby

"Volt! Discharge!" Thomas said. Volt growled and blasted electricity at Swellow.

"Swellow! Move to the right a bit and use Peck!" Marcus called out a half a second later. Little brat was using his powers to cheat! Swellow did as ordered and slammed his beak into Volt's head, dodging the Discharge entirely. Thomas scowled but said nothing. It's not like he could do a whole lot about it right now. But Volt sure was pissed.

"MAN!!!" he shouted in irritation as his jaws closed on this air where the Swellow had been.

"Volt, calm down and focus. Use your Zap Cannon!" Thomas called out. As he could have predicted, Marcus had an answer for that.

"Dodge to the left!" Marcus called out. But Swellow never got that chance. Thomas blasted a brilliant light that made Swellow cringe and shriek. Marcus yelped and fell to his knees and Robby turned away. The blinding flash worked, as Swellow didn't change his course. He was hit by the Zap Cannon and hit the ground. That would teach him.

"My eyes!" Marcus whimpered. He was clutching his head in agony. Thomas was nonplussed.

"You ever going to send out your next pathetic pokemon? Or do I get to finish you off now?" Thomas said calmly. Robby knelt down next to his blind cousin and glared at Thomas. Things began to lift off of the ground and float at random.

"You... SON OF A *****! I'LL KILL YOU!" Robby shouted before he was blasted by what amounted to a Solar Beam. Everything that was floating clattered to the ground.

"Humph. Whatever," Thomas said. Marcus whimpered again and fumbled for his pokeball. He sent out a Magmar. Clearly evolved from the Magby Thomas had watched him catch.

"Magmar! U-u-use Flame Punch!" Marcus said, still in pain.

"Volt, dodge it and use Double Kick," Thomas said evenly.

Zara

"Nah. I've got more important people to kill. Like that ***** that just got here. You aren't worth the effort right now. Maybe I'll kill you later. Arcino! Double Time!" Zara said. He called out the Sceptile, who picked him up and sprinted away.
 
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