OOC: Sorry about the long wait...
IC:
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--Volca Island--
There was a Pikachu, Raichu, and Quilava that had decided to stay on Volca Island, and were beginning to formulate a plan to defend the other Pokemon on the island from the erupting volcano and from any Rockets that might be approaching. Around the island, embers and lava spurts rained down, and a thick aroma of smoke filled the area. On the volcano, there was an avalanche of fiery rocks, and a thick black smoke was descending on the surrounding area. However, this area was in the centre of the island, nowhere near where the Quilava was standing.
Seconds later, a stray ember flew out into a forest near the coast of the island, setting a tree on fire. This fire began to spread, until it engulfed a few other trees in flame. Pokemon cries could be heard all over the island--whether they were Geodude upset from their sleep by falling rocks, Spearow fleeing from their burning homes in the forest, or water Pokemon rushing to the sea to escape. There were lots of Pokemon running or flying all over the island, some in a panic.
Not too far away from where Avanarti was standing, a geyser shot out from a crack in the rocks--right underneath where a Vulpix was standing. The Vulpix cried out as she was shot into the air, drenched with boiling water. Then she fell to the ground, shaking herself off and wincing at the burns caused by the heat of the water. Such burns were some of the only burns possible with a fire Pokemon such as this Vulpix. It was a tough time in Volca Island, but these kinds of eruptions did periodically happen (though they were often a couple of months apart at least).
All of a sudden, a couple of Squirtle that had fled the island landed back on the shore again, jubilantly running towards any Pokemon they could find. The first ones they spotted were Avanarti and the burnt Vulpix.
"Guys, you won't believe this!" one of the Squirtle announced excitedly. "Shakahani's coming!"
The two fire Pokemon looked at each other, and Vulpix looked rather surprised.
"Here?" asked the Vulpix. "But why?"
But by the time she finished her question, the Squirtle had run off again, spreading the word further. One of them got hit by an ember from the volcano, but kept going to continue this announcement.
A wave of cool water washed ashore, drenching the Vulpix and narrowly missing the Quilava sitting there. Normal ocean waves never washed up on the hot springs unless they were tidal waves... And if this was a tidal wave, the Pokemon would have been able to foresee it by noticing the ocean receding (which it didn't). Even more mysteriously, after the wave splashed on the hot rocks, it seemed to glitter amongst the steam and the smoke. And after all was done, the Vulpix noticed that her burns were healed.
A large shadow passed over the two fire Pokemon. Some of the Pokemon in the vicinity looked up, to see Shakahani floating there, surrounded by a blue glow. Those who were further away could see an Alakazam riding on her.
"Halt!" shouted the Alakazam. He held his hand out and pointed the spoon towards the falling rocks on the side of the volcano. All at once they stopped mid-fall, then crumbled down into dirt and fell gracefully on the sides of the volcano. Stray lava that flew out was directed to areas containing no Pokemon and fell to the ground like large raindrops.
Shakahani flapped her fins and glowed green. As she did so, the Alakazam teleported and reappeared on the ground, near Avanarti and the Vulpix. He was still focused on Shakahani though, still using his Psychic attack to hold her up in the air. Meanwhile, any lava rocks that fell on or near Shakahani shattered and seemed to vanish into thin air. The Alakazam kept moving Shakahani around, to an area that seemed to contain more Pokemon.
Seconds later, Shakahani squirted a stream of water at the burning forest to extinguish it. The flames in the forest fizzled out into nothingness, and the trees and ground were dripping wet afterwards. After doing this, she squirted a second stream of water into a lava pool near the top of the volcano. Steam spewed out everywhere, but the lava hardened and became plain rock. Then Shakahani landed in the pool of water she had made.
"It is curious that Mt. Kito is behaving like this at this time," said the Alakazam, after releasing Shakahani from his psychic control.
"So you work for Shakahani then?" asked the Vulpix.
"Lustre, actually--these special times call for special missions," the Alakazam answered. "I'm glad you are all okay... mostly in the least. You probably don't like being wet, don't you... Well, I'm mainly here to help ensure the safety of everyone here during this eruption, as is of course Shakahani. Anyways, may I introduce myself as Myrrh. And who might these precious Volca citizens be?"
"Umm, I'm Vixen," said the Vulpix.
--Doma Island--
On the cratered beach in the centre of Doma Island, there were several Pokemon relaxing amidst its gentle waves, cut off from the rip and roar of the surrounding ocean. A group of Krabby wrestled with their pincers. A few Sunkern and Oddish gathered together to gossip. A Dratini sat and watched the Wingull circling above. And some Seel in the water played catch with a curious-looking red and white ball.
All was light and happy--until all of a sudden, Lustre and Frankincense the Alakazam appeared on the beach amongst all the Pokemon. Most Pokemon that noticed this froze.
"Er-hem," Lustre began. "Greetings, Doma Island citizens. For those of you who don't know me, I am Lustre, the main guardian of Silphy Island. Why am I here, you ask? I would really hate to disrupt your playtime, but strange creatures called humans have been coming to the islands recently."
"Oh, so that's what they are," said one of the Oddish. "We've just been talking about some weird two-legged creature that was wandering about. He didn't look at all like he could have been a Pokemon."
"Yes... Currently not even I know exactly why the humans are here. They don't seem to be causing too much trouble, but I've talked it over with the other guardians, and we've decided we should not let our guard down, just in case. For all we know, they might be a threat, but it's probably not a good idea to just kick them off the islands. There's also the chance that they're just explorers, just wanting to know what's here. There was even a couple of humans on Silphy Island that decided to engage in a friendly battle with some of the civilians."
"Battle?" asked one of the Krabby. "You mean they can battle too? How?"
Lustre laughed sweetly. "They don't battle by themselves. They seem to befriend Pokemon, then have them battle. Maybe, in the land where the humans live, they have Pokemon as companions."
"You mean like friends?" asked the Dratini. It was a hard concept to imagine.
"Yeah..." a Sunkern commented. "Come to think of it, recently I thought I saw a human walking around with a strange Pokemon he called 'Weavile'. I've never seen a Weavile before..."
"Maybe they live on one of the other islands," Dratini guessed.
"Weavile... I've never seen one either. Maybe they don't live anywhere around here--maybe they live only where the humans live."
"One thing we also know," Frankincense added while watching the unattentive group of Seel, "is that humans usually keep Pokemon in these contraptions called Pokeballs. They look like... Hey! You there!"
Frankincense saw one of the Seel throw the red-and-white ball into the air. The group of Seel looked back at him, some of who were surprised to see Lustre there.
"That ball, the red and white one you were playing with," Frankincense called out to the Seel group. "Could I borrow it for a minute?"
"Hey, just because you work with Lustre doesn't mean you have the power to get anything you want!" one of the Seel shouted.
"Would it matter if that ball was potentially dangerous?" Frankincense noted.
The Seel that made the previous remark frowned at the Alakazam in disbelief, and another held the ball and looked at Lustre in surprise.
"Please," Lustre said in a calm voice, "there are things about that ball that involve a curious arrival by the humans. You may have it back after we are done discussing it, which shall be shortly."
"Okay..." the Seel holding the ball obeyed, diving underwater and resurfacing at the shore.
Frankincense telekinetically carried the ball closer, and balanced it in the spoon in his hand.
"This," Frankincense indicated, "is a Pokeball. Notice how it opens..."
He tapped the top of the Pokeball with the other spoon, and it opened.
"Usually, there's a ball of red energy that comes out and materializes into a Pokemon. When a person wants the Pokemon back in the Pokeball, he or she holds the ball out..."
Frankincense held the other spoon on top of the Pokeball, so that both spoons were holding it in place.
"...the small round window in the front emits a red laser beam. This beam turns the Pokemon back into the red energy mass, which goes back inside the Pokeball through the window."
"What's it like inside a Pokeball?" the Dratini asked.
"Well, I..." Frankincense started--but he was interrupted...
Just then, a few peculiar sounds came from the forest. A cry that sounded like it came from a Dragonair. An explosion. A metal object breaking. A Weavile shouting. Another Dragonair cry. Rustling leaves.
This may have been the disturbance I sensed earlier, Frankincense thought, as he and many of the other Pokemon watched the forest in anticipation of what would happen next...
--Silphy Island--
"All aboard!" Lassie announced--she was now resting on the beaches of Silphy Island. Only a few feet away were the two Rockets and the bunch of Pokemon sitting there or engaging in battle.
"Whoa, look, a battle!" Pocchi noticed as she and many of the other Pokemon dismounted Lassie and wandered onto the sandy shore. Pocchi then started walking cautiously towards a Wobbuffet that was standing there doing nothing.
"Scy!" Meanwhile, Boko the Scyther blocked Cacnea's Pin Missile attack with his scythed claws. Then he prepared to slash at the Cacnea.
"Cac!" Cacnea jumped to avoid Boko's attack.
"Use Leech Seed!" James commaded.
"Cac-nea!" Cacnea then shot a single seed at the Scyther who was steadying himself again. But before he knew it, the seed hit him in the shoulder and sprouted. Thin vines began to wrap around Boko's body.
"Scy..." Boko knew what to do. He started extending his claws, making to cut the vines apart.
"Oh no you don't," James threatened. "Use Stun Spore!"
Boko only had time to cut a few vines apart before a strange powder blew over him, paralyzing him in an instant. The rest of the vines continued wrapping around him like mummy bandages, till the trapped Scyther fell to the ground.
"Hello there," Pocchi said to the Wobbuffet. "Could you tell me what's going on here?"
"Um..." said the Wobbuffet, scratching his head as he spoke, "I'm not really sure... I don't know why everybody's... battling..."
"Do you know these humans?" Pocchi asked. "Or do you just live here?"
"I, um... live here..." the Wobbuffet answered.
"THAT WOBBUFFET IS A LIAR!" Boko shouted from the flurry of vines. "OF COURSE HE'S WITH THE HUMANS!"
"Okay Seviper, use Haze!" Jessie commanded. Seviper sprayed smoke from her mouth, shrouding herself, Ruku, Kory, Boko, Cacnea, and James in it so that they couldn't be seen. But a few seconds later, Jessie became visible again--she was walking towards Wobbuffet, getting a cross look of her face when she spotted the Pocchama he was talking to.
"Wobbuffet!" Jessie shouted. "Why are you socializing at a time like this? Why don't you battle like everyone else?"
"Wobba...?" Wobbuffet looked confused--he didn't know any attacking moves! He and Pocchi just stood there, staring off into space. Jessie shook her head in shame.
"Ohh, why me..." Then she turned to Chimecho, who was floating around to keep his guard.
"Well, why don't YOU help out?" Jessie asked Chimecho, in her usual harsh voice.
"Watch it, Jessie!" said James' voice from the smoke. Soon after, he emerged as well, holding a Pokeball in his hand. "Don't do anything to harm my darling little Chimecho! I'll take things from here!"
Jessie turned to look at James.
"Oh, and by the way, I got the Scyther as well," James continued in more of a whisper, so only Jessie and Chimecho could hear. "And Mime Jr. and Cacnea are handling things by themselves with the Rukushio. If you hear them cheering, it means Rukushio's down too. If they're complaining, the poor things, it means they fainted..."
"Oh, excellent!" Jessie said with a giggle. "Now, I think we should take care of these other Po..."
"Careful, not so fast!" James interrupted. Again, he whispered to Jessie. "We can't just barge in and attack them. They outnumber us! I think we should try to gain the Pokemon's trust first, then surprise them at the last minute--that sort of thing. We shouldn't be so violent about this--that's why we just kept on blasting off before!"
Jessie said nothing--she just frowned.
"If you really want to fight," James continued, "why don't you help out Cacnea and Mime Jr and Seviper?"
"Oh, all right..." Jessie grumbled, heading back into the haze.
James walked over and sat next to Wobbuffet. Chimecho accompanied him.
"Hello," James introduced. "Don't mind Jessie--she's just--a little aggressive. We're just here to visit--to find out what's here. Really, I didn't even know these islands existed until a few days ago!"
<"Yeah,"> Chimecho agreed. <"it really is a neat place. You guys really are lucky to be living here in peace.">
<"You should see Volca Island,"> Pocchi suggested. <"Right now the volcano on it's erupting, but there are these really nice hot springs there--I find them really relaxing.">
As Pocchi spoke, she had a hard time keeping her eyes off of James. She had never seen a human before. And, she remembered a conversation the Pokemon had back on Volca Island. One particular Quilava was not pleased with the humans at all, and had rambled on about how dangerous they were. But this one seemed at least to be friendly... Pocchi was confused. Uncertain, she quickly turned around to ask Rosie and Lassie about it.
"Rosie? Lassie? Do you..." Pocchi stopped short when she saw that Rosie and Lassie had disappeared... Everyone that was previously on Lassie's back was now on the beach as well. Anyways, Pocchi turned back to Chimecho and shrugged.
"Never mind."
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OOC: Yeah, not something I'd normally have Team Rocket do, huh?
-Heh, Chishio could find quite a bit of a surprise when she gets to the beach...
-Blizzard... it seems you are the only person with a Pokemon that has met Shakahani. Now, Shakahani knows about the humans, but doesn't currently know their purpose here. Myrrh is the same way. Keep that in mind if you want to talk to him. (Myrrh is kind of a NPC, so you can)
-I am not posing any limits on what the Pokemon on Silphy Island can do at this point (this includes the new arrivals). Battle, talk, whatever.
-The reason why I'm bunnying Boko is because Pokehunter56 left the RPG. I won't kill him off or anything, but he will still play a role in this RPG...
--Current NPC's:
-Gold, Frankincense, and Myrrh (the Alakazam that are now with the legendaries on each island)
-Vixen (the Vulpix that is now with Avanarti and Myrrh on Volca Island)
-Everyone on the Doma Island Beach except Lustre
**Note that Rosie and Lassie aren't on the list, because they have other things to do...
