Pokemon Tabletop Adventures: Team Rocket, Staying Alive

[Arcran]

Last thread. (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=240297)

Artemis's ball captures the Scyther easily.

Will get stats later.

The little healing done to the Scyther doesn't seem to be enough to wake it to conciousness.

[Eshkigal]

Gerald shakes his head.
"I am our weakest strategically and luck wise. Anyone but me."

[IrnBruAddict]

Romeo heals it again.

'I'm out of pokeballs. Up to you guys.'

lose another 100 :smallsigh:, heal 20 more

[Esprit15]

Artemis shrugs. She pockets the ball for later. Could trade it or maybe breed it with King if it turned out to be female. "I'm out too. Could smack it around but that's it." She sits beside Romeo and lets out Scintilla, holding him close to her. She didn't like her family, but to watch half of them be killed right in front of her would be too much. Don't worry, Scintilla. We will take care of you and your brother and sister. She gives him a small kiss on the forehead.

[Eshkigal]

Gerald gives it a shot.
[roll0]

[MesiDoomstalker]

Having watched the proceedings from a slight distance, Ethan takes his own chance at the bound Scyther from a distance.

[roll0]

[Arcran]

Gerald gives it a shot.
[roll0]


Having watched the proceedings from a slight distance, Ethan takes his own chance at the bound Scyther from a distance.

[roll0]

Gerald's ball connects, absorbing the Scyther....


Only to burst open and have Ethan's ball connect, catching it.

Stats to come.

[Eshkigal]

Gerald shrugs, puts the broken bits away, and gets up, calling Glasgow out and holding the little one as Sparky takes a customary shoulder.
"Everyone satisfied?"

[Esprit15]

"Yep. Head to a Center and then find ways to stay occupied until we get called? Everyone on my team has a bit of training to do, I think."

[MesiDoomstalker]

Ethan grabs the pokeball and pockets it. We should head back into the city before something like this happens again.

[Esprit15]

"Seconding that." Artemis recalls everyone but Scintilla and starts toward the Center. "Anyone interested in joining me for finding a tag battle after we get everyone patched up?"

[MesiDoomstalker]

Ethan returns Mjolnir and Quartz and follows Artemis. I'll join you.

[Eshkigal]

"Not for battling, but I'll stick with you guys. Trainers with cash like type boosters, after all. Easy money flow."

[IrnBruAddict]

Romeo takes Fairy Tail out her ball, and lets her ride on his head as they follow. She should stay out while her family were around, it would be good to help her cope.

[Arcran]

Scyther Stats: Give to whoever you choose.
1: Scyther, 13, Male, 4 HP, Relaxed, Technician

2: Scyther, 13, Female, 15 HP, Lax, Hyper Cutter

Those of you who go to the Psychic Pokemon Center soon arrive, no other horrible beasts leaping from the grass to feast on your flesh.

The Pikachu trail behind you, sticking together in a group. They stay close, constantly watching for threats, even when they reach the town.

Whoever goes to the Fighting Pokemon Center arrives without major issues as well.

[Esprit15]

Artemis gets her team quickly healed up before running off to the fighter side to meet up with Romeo, Aquilla and the Pikachu close behind her. "So you want to go looking for a tag battle together?" She rests her egg on her lap as she sits on a bench, looking it over.
Time Check?

[Eshkigal]

Gerald gives Romeo 500 as they go, keeping the pikachu together and heading to the Fighting Center. Sparky tends to go between Gerald and the pikachus, giving them reassuring petting and small coos.
"After Glasgow's healed, mind if I split off for the Psychic Gym for a bit? I'm curious about if they'd part with trial mon that survive the psychics."
He kneels and pets Glasgow, who has stitches on his mouth.
"Would you like to stick with me or stick with your kin? I have an errand to run on my own, and don't want you to do something you're uncomfortable with."

[IrnBruAddict]

Romeo hands Gerald the ball with his Scyther in it.

'Glasgow is welcome to come with me and Arte if he wishes. While you're in the psychic side, see if you can trade this for something like a Woobat. They are more common than Scyther, so you should get a decent offer. Or just anything that beats fighting types and hasn't harmed our pikachu's will be fine.'

[Eshkigal]

Gerald nods, and he takes it.
"I'll keep you posted on offers."

[IrnBruAddict]

'I'd enjoy a battle or two Artemis. Improve Luna. She's the only one outside evolution range right now.' He summoned out Puck and held him next to Artemis's Togepi egg. 'Puck should evolve soon. Then he'll fly.'

[Esprit15]

She sets Puck up to the bench. "Yeah, he'll have to learn to do that himself eventually. So Luna and Scintilla, then maybe Puck and Diluvium? Puck may not be able to do damage, but he can be a nuisance to an enemy. Aside from Metronome pulling out a completely random move, Charm and Growl are good ways for making moves a bit weaker when they hit. He has decent defenses, yes?" She picks up the Togepi and looks him over. I'd float him to get him used to flying, but this is the wrong side of town for that. "If yes, he could possibly serve as a decent wall while Diluvium can pick things off. Sweet Kiss can also hamper attempts to attack him. A fifty percent chance of injuring yourself instead of your opponent can be crippling... Anyways, he's not going to get much experience otherwise. The Gym and Dojo don't really have the facilities for a 'mon like him, sadly." She passes Puck to his rightful owner.

[MesiDoomstalker]

After having Mjolnir and his new Scyther being healed, Ethan joins Artemis and Romeo. Puck's situation is similar to Mjolnir's. Until they evolve they are only good at one thing. Mjolnir may be able to hit hard but only every so often and he hurts himself in the process. I'll join you two. I'll find a singles match or we can do a partner rotation.

Oh, Romeo. Hows that egg I gave you looking? I assume well since its in your capable hands.

Mjolnir was at 38/43. And I'm assuming I got the chick Scyther (who lacks Technician I might add? We should really keep the Tech one, its better, doesn't matter who keeps it someone should). If I got the chick, its at 13/43.

[Esprit15]

"Mjolnir might be a a bit too tough for someone wanting to fight against us, but I guess you could tag along and find a solo battle." Her body language suggests that she's not being exactly honest about wanting him to come along, but she didn't say no. She takes Romeo's hand and walks to a park on the Fighter side, asking for a tag battle. On the way, she asks about the egg she had been carrying with her. "Oh, Romeo, could you take a look at my Togepi egg tonight? It seems to be late on hatching, but it's still warm and Aquilla treats it like it's still alive."

[IrnBruAddict]

'The Elekid egg is fine. I looked at it this morning before the ... incident.' Romeo looks at the Togepi egg, comparing it to Pucks shell. 'It seems fine. How long have you had it? I'll have Puck sleep next to it tonight. His body tempature should be a good match for it.'

[Esprit15]

"Since I left Unova. A few weeks maybe? I don't remember exactly. I keep getting told it probably died but Aquilla keeps treating it like it's still alive, and the Centers keep saying that it's somehow still going."

[hustlertwo]

Paul rolls his eyes at Artemis handing off the Scyther. All you're doing is getting a more powerful and obedient creature later instead of a recalcitrant one now. A surprisingly strategic decision, but hardly humanitarian.

--------------------------------------------

As the party splits, Paul goes up to Gerald.

I'm heading to the Psychic-side park to scare up more battles; after you deal with the mindfreaks, want to come on and try for a little tag team action? Might be good for your new acquisition.

That said, he does as he said and heads off to look for available trainers to muss up in the park.

[Esprit15]

She gives a mischievous smile. Top of my class in trainer school thanks to tactics. And I'm still willing to forego it to help out a teamate. I'd honestly prefer breaking one, but use in battle supercedes fun. We'll probably trade a weaker one off and I'll hand him over to them. Still better than "I don't care if I have the best team, I want it," especially when the gift is coming from someone with a fairly so-so team. With the last word in, she returns to work, severing the connection.
---------------------------------------------------
She looks at Romeo and smiles. "Maybe it just needs to be with its own kind to hatch." She sets the egg next to Puck. Hm, he might have thought of something smart, by accident. See? giving him a chance might have been a good idea. She moves for his hand, but then looks back to the crowd of people. Coward! Am not! Just not in front of Ethan! He'd laugh. How do you know, and do you even care? ... I don't understand you. You are me. Barely. No, exactly. You're just a critical voice I put up to bounce ideas off of. Still me. And yet you're hardly listening to me at all. You didn't even need to create me until recently. Void, I was you up until last night. I was certain about what I thought until last night. What, you **** a guy and your whole world view changes? Please. And that forms connections chemically. My body feels a sort of bond with him. It's not a rational decision or feeling. It's biological and chemical. Clearly he doesn't feel the same bond. He could! Remember, only lying to yourself. I'm not talking to you anymore. You keep saying that.

Artemis begins to lean towards Romeo. Maybe a normal battle would be good for her. Clear her mind, get to a point where she doesn't have all of these emergency hormones running through her body. "Romi, would you mind finding the battle for us? I have a bit of a headache." She tries to pull off the best cute, needy voice she can. And where the heck did 'Romi' come from!? Are you too lazy to pronounce the -o as well!?

[Arcran]

Paul rolls his eyes at Artemis handing off the Scyther. All you're doing is getting a more powerful and obedient creature later instead of a recalcitrant one now. A surprisingly strategic decision, but hardly humanitarian.

--------------------------------------------

As the party splits, Paul goes up to Gerald.

I'm heading to the Psychic-side park to scare up more battles; after you deal with the mindfreaks, want to come on and try for a little tag team action? Might be good for your new acquisition.

That said, he does as he said and heads off to look for available trainers to muss up in the park.

The park isn't very crowded right now. There's a small battle occuring, and a man who appears to be in his twenties challenges you.

"5 meter flight, not digging, three Pokemon, ^2,000?" he says, laying three Pokeballs at his feet.


She gives a mischievous smile. Top of my class in trainer school thanks to tactics. And I'm still willing to forego it to help out a teamate. I'd honestly prefer breaking one, but use in battle supercedes fun. We'll probably trade a weaker one off and I'll hand him over to them. Still better than "I don't care if I have the best team, I want it," especially when the gift is coming from someone with a fairly so-so team. With the last word in, she returns to work, severing the connection.
---------------------------------------------------
She looks at Romeo and smiles. "Maybe it just needs to be with its own kind to hatch." She sets the egg next to Puck. Hm, he might have thought of something smart, by accident. See? giving him a chance might have been a good idea. She moves for his hand, but then looks back to the crowd of people. Coward! Am not! Just not in front of Ethan! He'd laugh. How do you know, and do you even care? ... I don't understand you. You are me. Barely. No, exactly. You're just a critical voice I put up to bounce ideas off of. Still me. And yet you're hardly listening to me at all. You didn't even need to create me until recently. Void, I was you up until last night. I was certain about what I thought until last night. What, you **** a guy and your whole world view changes? Please. And that forms connections chemically. My body feels a sort of bond with him. It's not a rational decision or feeling. It's biological and chemical. Clearly he doesn't feel the same bond. He could! Remember, only lying to yourself. I'm not talking to you anymore. You keep saying that.

Artemis begins to lean towards Romeo. Maybe a normal battle would be good for her. Clear her mind, get to a point where she doesn't have all of these emergency hormones running through her body. "Romi, would you mind finding the battle for us? I have a bit of a headache." She tries to pull off the best cute, needy voice she can. And where the heck did 'Romi' come from!? Are you too lazy to pronounce the -o as well!?

I think Romeo is on the Fighter side. Didn't you go to the Psychic side for the free healing?

[Eshkigal]

(Implied we met up after. Went to fighter side, how much was it to heal Glasgow? Also, who will Glasgow stick with, Gerald or the pikachus?)
Gerald looks at Paul.
"We'll see what happens. Maybe."
Once Glasgow decides on a course of action, he heads to Psychic gym.

[Arcran]

200 to heal Glasgow.

The Pikachu stays slighlty behind you, staying with his pack, but when you leave he races after you, making barking noises to the remaining members of the pack who wave at him.

[IrnBruAddict]

Romeo walks to the park with Ethan and Artemis. Elly was by his legs, Fairy was on his shoulder and Puck was in his arms. This is how a breeder should be, surrounded by happy pokemon.

'Hey, anyone here up for a 3 on 3 triple battle, or a two person tag battle.' Romeo felt bad, he had 3/4 of his team showing, but none were going to be used in this battle, that seemed a little like cheating.

[Eshkigal]

Gerald pets the pikachu, smile on his face.
"Thanks, Glasgow."
He heads up and into the Psychic Gym, to find something to trade for the scyther.

[hustlertwo]

Paul scans the mons of the other battle. No flight, and you've got a deal.

He pulls out the balls for Frondly, Willy, and Buck.

[Arcran]

Romeo walks to the park with Ethan and Artemis. Elly was by his legs, Fairy was on his shoulder and Puck was in his arms. This is how a breeder should be, surrounded by happy pokemon.

'Hey, anyone here up for a 3 on 3 triple battle, or a two person tag battle.' Romeo felt bad, he had 3/4 of his team showing, but none were going to be used in this battle, that seemed a little like cheating.

Soon enough you manage to find some people that will battle. It seems like a boyfriend and girlfriend, and then some random guy they had just grabbed off the street.

"Alright, Triple Battle, no flight or digging, two Pokemon each. Wager ^2,000 for each person, ^6,000 total?" the girlfriend in the couple says.


Gerald pets the pikachu, smile on his face.
"Thanks, Glasgow."
He heads up and into the Psychic Gym, to find something to trade for the scyther.

Soon enough you have two offers; one from an older man looking to buy a present for his grandson, the other from a woman about your age in a cowboy hat.

The elderly man is in a very nice suit; he obviously has money. He is offering you ^15,000 for your Scyther, but no Pokemon.

The woman in the cowboy hat, on the other hand, is offering you an Abra, "bred by the best Arceus Judged Breeder in all of Orre." Apparently the Breeder is her older brother.


Paul scans the mons of the other battle. No flight, and you've got a deal.

He pulls out the balls for Frondly, Willy, and Buck.

"Alright, ^1,500 then," he says, going into the motion to send out his first Pokemon.

Send out somebody.

[MesiDoomstalker]

I'm fine with this. Arte, Romeo how about you?

[Eshkigal]

"Let me check with the owner quickly. He had other business to handle and I was headed here."
He sends a text.
-15,000 or a well bred abra appeal to you?

[IrnBruAddict]

Romeo sends a text back

-get the Abra, and after the match we can bring the man a Scyther, or other way around if the man is in a hurry-

'Sounds good to me.' Romeo selects Luna and Fairy's balls.

[Eshkigal]

-Understood.
He looks up.
"We caught a few earlier, so this one goes to whoever is in the greatest rush, and the other will be along in a little while, or we can go to them if you want. Does that sound fair?"

[Arcran]

-Understood.
He looks up.
"We caught a few earlier, so this one goes to whoever is in the greatest rush, and the other will be along in a little while, or we can go to them if you want. Does that sound fair?"

The man seems to be in the bigger hurry; he gives you the cash, happily taking the Scyther. The woman in the hat tells you she'll be at the Gym all week, just drop by whenever you want the Abra.

[MesiDoomstalker]

Ethan motions to Ollie who jumps in front ready for battle and set down Quatz's pokeball on the ground before him.

Ollie 53/53
Def 12
SDef 5
Spd 4
Quartz 42/42
Def 12
SDef 5
Spd 2

[Eshkigal]

Gerald hands the scyther over.
"Just be careful, it was recently caught so still needs a little work."
He turns to the lady.
"Can I have your number for when they're ready, miss? It'll make it easier if I or my associates can reach you ahead of time."
Sparky nods happily. Progress!

[Esprit15]

"Bit steep, but that sounds good." She lets Diluvium out, and Scintilla hops up and climbs to her shoulder.

[hustlertwo]

Paul sends out Frondly to begin things, and sets up his 'dax to scan the opposing mon.

[Arcran]

"Bit steep, but that sounds good." She lets Diluvium out, and Scintilla hops up and climbs to her shoulder.

The oppossing trainers all let out their Pokemon at the same time. Etahn is able to identify them as a Lillipup, Maractus, and Stantler.

The Stantler moves fast, sending swirling waves at Ollie, but the Phanpy shrugs off the move, trumpeting angrily.

{table]|A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J
1||||||Li|||Ma|
2||||||||||
3||||||||||
4||||||||||
5||||||||||
6||||||||||
7||St||||||||
8||||||||||
9||||||||||
10||Di|||Ol||||Lu|
[/table]

Initiative:
Stantler
Dilumvium
Maractus
Lillipup
Ollie
Luna


Paul sends out Frondly to begin things, and sets up his 'dax to scan the opposing mon.

The man throws out a bird that the 'dax begins scanning immediately. It sends a powerful burst of wind across the clearing, hitting Frondly.

{table]|A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J
1||||||Bi||||
2||||||||||
3||||||||||
4||||||||||
5||||||||||
6||||||||||
7||||||||||
8||||||||||
9||||||||||
10||||||Fr||||[/table]


11 damage after SPDEF.


Gerald hands the scyther over.
"Just be careful, it was recently caught so still needs a little work."
He turns to the lady.
"Can I have your number for when they're ready, miss? It'll make it easier if I or my associates can reach you ahead of time."
Sparky nods happily. Progress!

The woman happily gives you her number.

[Eshkigal]

"Thank you."
He then looks around for a higher up, before realizing they'd all be able to read his mind.
Um...can I talk to someone face to face? I heard a bit about your initiation test, and would like to talk to someone about if you'd be willing to part with a survivor of the final stage. Any chance of that?

[hustlertwo]

Frondly drifts to F9 and blasts bubbles at his flying foe.

[roll0] [roll1] Lowers speed on 16-20.

[Esprit15]

Diluvium
37/37
Def: 9
Sp. Def: 9
Speed: 7
"Diluvium, burn the grass one!" The Castform floats to F6, spitting small flames at the Maractus.
Ember
Fire
AC: [roll0] 2, Burn on 18-20
Damage: [roll1]
If Crit: +[roll2]

[Arcran]

"Thank you."
He then looks around for a higher up, before realizing they'd all be able to read his mind.
Um...can I talk to someone face to face? I heard a bit about your initiation test, and would like to talk to someone about if you'd be willing to part with a survivor of the final stage. Any chance of that?

A man soon walks over.

"That is a strange request. May I ask for what purpose?"


Frondly drifts to F9 and blasts bubbles at his flying foe.

[roll0] [roll1] Lowers speed on 16-20.

The bird takes the hit, only to launch another gust of wind. This one is diverted off Frondly's hide though, doing nothing.

{table]|A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J
1||||||Bi||||
2||||||||||
3||||||||||
4||||||||||
5||||||||||
6||||||||||
7||||||||||
8||||||||||
9||||||Fr||||
10||||||||||
[/table]


Diluvium
37/37
Def: 9
Sp. Def: 9
Speed: 7
"Diluvium, burn the grass one!" The Castform floats to F6, spitting small flames at the Maractus.
Ember
Fire
AC: [roll0] 2, Burn on 18-20
Damage: [roll1]
If Crit: +[roll2]

The Maractus takes the hit witha screech, dashing across the clearing to get revenge on the Castform. It slams a spiked hand into the Castform, sucking the life from it.

The Lillipup joins in on the beatup, dashing across the clearing and slamming into the Castform as well.

25 from Maractus, 17 from Lillipip. Defenses are factored in.

{table]|A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J
1||||||||||
2||||||||||
3||||||||||
4||||||||||
5||||||Li|Ma|||
6||||||Di||||
7||St||||||||
8||||||||||
9||||||||||
10|||||Ol||||Lu|[/table]


Initiative:
Stantler
Dilumvium
Maractus
Lillipup
Ollie
Luna

[hustlertwo]

All right Frondly, keep the hits coming.

Double Bubble trouble. [roll0] [roll1]

[Eshkigal]

"I had...bad luck with pokemon."
He recalls some of the previous events of the past two years. A vulpix put down for rabies it didn't even have, a shedinja destroyed, golbat splatted. Just the start of the list, with hints of more.
"I'm looking into things that have survived things being stacked against them. Lucky or sturdy mon, ones that refuse to die. Figured that anything you have that goes through several psychics blasting it while weak to psychic attack counts. If they'd just be tossed in until they die, anyway."

[MesiDoomstalker]

Ollie, Take Down that Stantler!

[roll0] AC 5, physical normal
[roll1] 1/4 recoil

[IrnBruAddict]

Luna moves to H5 and tries to lick the Maractus. It was their biggest threat, and a paralysis would come in handy.

[roll0], base 2, paralyses on 15-20
[roll1], ghost type damage

[Arcran]

All right Frondly, keep the hits coming.

Double Bubble trouble. [roll0] [roll1]

The bubbles once again collide, nearly dropping the bird.

"Damn it, just hit it!" the boy cries, the bird flying forward to hit Frondly, only to not hit the incorpreal ghost.

"You have a ghost? No fair!"

{table]|A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J
1||||||||||
2||||||||||
3||||||||||
4||||||||||
5||||||||||
6||||||||||
7||||||||||
8||||||Bi||||
9||||||Fr||||
10||||||||||[/table]



"I had...bad luck with pokemon."
He recalls some of the previous events of the past two years. A vulpix put down for rabies it didn't even have, a shedinja destroyed, golbat splatted. Just the start of the list, with hints of more.
"I'm looking into things that have survived things being stacked against them. Lucky or sturdy mon, ones that refuse to die. Figured that anything you have that goes through several psychics blasting it while weak to psychic attack counts. If they'd just be tossed in until they die, anyway."

The man smiles. "Well, we have an Ekans that has been here for what, a year? It's a record holder. If you'll just follow me," he says, leading you through the Gym. Soon enough you're at a room full of Pokeballs. The man searches for a few minutes before releasing the snake.

"Ah yes, here he is. We call him squint, becuase, well, you'll see."

The Ekans looks like crap, to be honest. One eye is completely gone, leaving a red socket. It waves back and forth, likely slightly mentally retarded, and whacks its head into the gorund repeatedly. The other eye is barley a slit.


Ollie, Take Down that Stantler!

[roll0] AC 5, physical normal
[roll1] 1/4 recoil


Luna moves to H5 and tries to lick the Maractus. It was their biggest threat, and a paralysis would come in handy.

[roll0], base 2, paralyses on 15-20
[roll1], ghost type damage

Both enemies take the hits without too much complaint, althought the Take Down seems to nearly drop the Stantler. It retaliates by quickly striking the Beldum, scaring him.

{table]|A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J
1||||||||||
2||||||||||
3||||||||||
4||||||||||
5||||||Li|Ma|Lu||
6||||||Di||||
7||St||||||||
8|||Ol|||||||
9||||||||||
10||||||||||[/table]

Initiative:
Stantler
Dilumvium
Maractus
Lillipup
Ollie
Luna

7 from Take Down.
7 from other hit. Beldum is Flinched.

[hustlertwo]

That's exactly how I felt when I fought this little blue guy, kid. Was so impressed by his spirit, in every sense of the word, that I traded for him on the spot. Take it home, Frondly.

The Frillish shifts back to E-10 and blows bubbles at the bird.

[roll0] [roll1]

[hustlertwo]

Additional damage: [roll0]

[Esprit15]

Artemis recalls the fainted Castform. "Dang, seems he needs a bit more practice. Well, you're up, Scintilla!" First battle, boy. I believe in you. The Pikachu leaps onto the field.
Recall Diluvium, send out Scintilla to A10


Scintilla
23/23
Defense: 4
Sp. Defense: 5
Speed: 11

[Eshkigal]

Gerald kneels down, gently grabbing the ekans's head with his robot arm to keep him from hurting himself worse and to inspect the socket. Inwardly, he wonders how hard it would be to build Squint a new eye or two, and possibly some form of mental enhancement-still a long way away, but a possibility. Once he's looked Squint over, he shifts to scratching him under the chin.
"I can see some of what's wrong. Anything else I should know about him?"

[Arcran]

Additional damage: [roll0]

The bird falls, going down hard. The man sends out another bird this time, one that seems more at home on the ground. It sends out a hypnotic pulse, casuing Frondly to slump to the ground, asleep.

{table]|A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J
1||||||||||
2||||||||||
3||||||||||
4||||||||||
5||||||||||
6||||||Ow||||
7||||||||||
8||||||||||
9||||||Fr||||
10||||||||||[/table]


Artemis recalls the fainted Castform. "Dang, seems he needs a bit more practice. Well, you're up, Scintilla! Shock 'em!" First battle, boy. I believe in you. The Pikachu leaps onto the field.
Recall Diluvium, send out Scintilla to A10
Thundershock on Stantler
AC: [roll0] 2, Paralyze on 17-20
Damage: [roll1]
If Crit: +[roll2]


Scintilla
23/23
Defense: 4
Sp. Defense: 5
Speed: 11

The Maractus and Lillipup move again, preparing to fight.

"Barks, take out the blue one!" one shouts, pointing at Ollie. It dashes across the field, slamming into the small Pokemon.

The Maractus is ordered to grow, and it holds still, body swelling slighlty.

{table]|A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J
1||||||||||
2||||||||||
3||||||||||
4||||||||||
5||||||||Lu||
6||||||||||
7||St||Li||||||
8|||Ol|||||||
9||||||||||
10|Sc||||||||Ma|
[/table]
Initiative:
Scintilla
Stantler
Marctus
Lillipup
Ollie
Luna


Gerald kneels down, gently grabbing the ekans's head with his robot arm to keep him from hurting himself worse and to inspect the socket. Inwardly, he wonders how hard it would be to build Squint a new eye or two, and possibly some form of mental enhancement-still a long way away, but a possibility. Once he's looked Squint over, he shifts to scratching him under the chin.
"I can see some of what's wrong. Anything else I should know about him?"

The snake hisses at you, eye looking at you without focus.

"Slightly retarded, half blind, and likely useless in a fight?" the man says. "That's about it, I think. Now, price. We'll have to go out and catch a new one of these which could cost us between ^2,000 and ^5,000. Since he's half dead anyways, I'll cut you a deal. ^2,000 for the stupid snake."

[MesiDoomstalker]

Ollie, lets try out your new move. Move away from Scintilla first though. Ollie moves to C6 and uses Bulldoze.

The pup didn't move but I assumed he is next to Ollie. He should still be range after the move. If not please move him so he can hit STantler and Pup but not Scintilla.
[roll0] AC 2, Ground, Physical, 3m burst, -1 speed to all targets
[roll1]

[IrnBruAddict]

'Luna, cut up that cactus!'

Luna uses Fury Swipes

Ac: base 4, stop after first miss
[roll0]
[roll1]
[roll2]
[roll3]
[roll4]

[roll5]
[roll6]
[roll7]
[roll8]
[roll9]

[Esprit15]

"Scintilla, make space and take out the Stantler!" Scintilla runs to the other side ofthe field (A2) and fires off an electrical spark at the Stantler.
Thundershock
Electric
AC: [roll0] 2, Paralyze on 17-20
Damage: [roll1]
If Crit: [roll2]

[Eshkigal]

"You get ripped off. A lucky capture specialist can catch at least ten in the price you mentioned. Besides which, have to be able to afford the thousands in parts to reconstruct the body and mind you broke tossing around a perfectly good bug and fighting type killer around for little valid reason. Fix the mind for me though-restore full cognitive functions, that is, and once I have either the money or equivalent parts to perform repairs for the gym, I'd pay that for a pokemon you're otherwise going to kill."
He looks at the psychic, bored look in his eyes.
"There are other ways for me to get pokemon that fit my requirements, after all. None of which necessarily deal with something that, while I admit I like the species, is something you so callously consider trash."

[Arcran]

Ollie, lets try out your new move. Move away from Scintilla first though. Ollie moves to C6 and uses Bulldoze.

The pup didn't move but I assumed he is next to Ollie. He should still be range after the move. If not please move him so he can hit STantler and Pup but not Scintilla.
[roll0] AC 2, Ground, Physical, 3m burst, -1 speed to all targets
[roll1]


'Luna, cut up that cactus!'

Luna uses Fury Swipes

Ac: base 4, stop after first miss
[roll0]
[roll1]
[roll2]
[roll3]
[roll4]

[roll5]
[roll6]
[roll7]
[roll8]
[roll9]

Ollie's blast of earth misses, but Luna hits the Marctus hard, dropping it to the ground. The girl recalls her, sending out a Happiny. Scintilla misses as well, the jolt of electricity going far wide.

"Prongs, take out the Phanpy!"

The Stantler rears back on its hind legs, slamming down hard on Ollie.

34 to Ollie after Defense.

{table]|A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J
1||||||||||Ha
2|Sc|||||||||
3||||||||||
4||||||||||
5||||||Li||||
6|||Ol|||||||
7||St||||||||
8||||||||||
9||||||||||
10||||||||Lu||[/table]

Initiative:
Scintilla
Stantler
Lillipup
Ollie
Luna
Happiny


"You get ripped off. A lucky capture specialist can catch at least ten in the price you mentioned. Besides which, have to be able to afford the thousands in parts to reconstruct the body and mind you broke tossing around a perfectly good bug and fighting type killer around for little valid reason. Fix the mind for me though-restore full cognitive functions, that is, and once I have either the money or equivalent parts to perform repairs for the gym, I'd pay that for a pokemon you're otherwise going to kill."
He looks at the psychic, bored look in his eyes.
"There are other ways for me to get pokemon that fit my requirements, after all. None of which necessarily deal with something that, while I admit I like the species, is something you so callously consider trash."

"Fix the mind?" the man says, looking at you. "You don't just 'fix a mind,' good sir, especially one as broken as this. But you are right, it is quite damaged. ^1,000 or we see how much longer Squint here lasts in the tests."

[Esprit15]

"Try again, Scintilla!" Focus on your target. Lead it, don't aim where it is.
Thundershock on Stantler
AC: [roll0] 2, Paralyze on 17-20
Damage: [[roll1]
If Crit: +[roll2]

[Eshkigal]

"Trust me. I know. But you're telling me that you have this many psychics and no one has theories how, or would be willing to work with me to find a way how?"
His mind churns with the damage it's taken over the years.
"If the brain can't be fixed, then that's that. Poor guy would be better off dead with what you do to him, from what I can see. But my thing is reconstruction. But if it can...then we begin talking price here."
He looks to Squint, whose head is still in his hand.
"What about you? Fast death, whatever the muk they put you through, or new life?"

[MesiDoomstalker]

Good work Ollie. Return. Ollie zips into his pokeball and Ethan releases Quartz at J2.

Quartz 42/42
Def 12
SDef 5
Speed 2

[IrnBruAddict]

'Get that dog, show 'em why bears are cuter.' Elly looks at Romeo. 'What? I meant cuter than Lilipup, not all dogs.' Elly's bands of Yellow flash. 'Sorry, you're still my number one girl Elly.'

Luna shifts to G5
Ac: base 4, stop after first miss
[roll0]
[roll1]
[roll2]
[roll3]
[roll4]

[roll5]
[roll6]
[roll7]
[roll8]
[roll9]

[hustlertwo]

Paul uses a Full Heal on Frondly.

Be worth it, sport.

[Arcran]

"Trust me. I know. But you're telling me that you have this many psychics and no one has theories how, or would be willing to work with me to find a way how?"
His mind churns with the damage it's taken over the years.
"If the brain can't be fixed, then that's that. Poor guy would be better off dead with what you do to him, from what I can see. But my thing is reconstruction. But if it can...then we begin talking price here."
He looks to Squint, whose head is still in his hand.
"What about you? Fast death, whatever the muk they put you through, or new life?"

The snake makes no response other then to begin licking you fingers with its tongue, something strange for a snake.

"I don't know. Evolution is known to help restore brain function, and maybe with some work you could get him functional. Honestly, we won't put in that much effort. ^800 for him, final offer."


Good work Ollie. Return. Ollie zips into his pokeball and Ethan releases Quartz at J2.

Quartz 42/42
Def 12
SDef 5
Speed 2


'Get that dog, show 'em why bears are cuter.' Elly looks at Romeo. 'What? I meant cuter than Lilipup, not all dogs.' Elly's bands of Yellow flash. 'Sorry, you're still my number one girl Elly.'

Luna shifts to G5
Ac: base 4, stop after first miss
[roll0]
[roll1]
[roll2]
[roll3]
[roll4]

[roll5]
[roll6]
[roll7]
[roll8]
[roll9]



"Try again, Scintilla!" Focus on your target. Lead it, don't aim where it is.
Thundershock on Stantler
AC: [roll0] 2, Paralyze on 17-20
Damage: [[roll1]
If Crit: +[roll2]

The Lillipup almost goes down from the scratches, coming right back to Bite the little bear, clamping down hard and causing it to cry out. The Happiny, ignoring its trainers cries to kill Quartz, simply hugs the stone. The jolt of electricity drops the Stantler. The trainer recalls it and sends out a Charmander.

{table]|A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J
1||||||||||Ha
2|Sc|||||||||Qu
3||||||||||
4||||||||||
5||||||Li|Lu|||
6||||||||||
7||||||||||
8||||||||||
9||||||||||
10|Ch|||||||||
[/table]

Initiative:
Scintilla
Lillipup
Charmander
Ollie
Luna
Happiny

25 to Luna after DEF.
Quartz has ATK lowered 2 stages.


Paul uses a Full Heal on Frondly.

Be worth it, sport.

The Frillish awakes just in time to be Peck'd between the eyes by the bird.

{table]|A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J
1||||||||||
2||||||||||
3||||||||||
4||||||||||
5||||||||||
6||||||||||
7||||||||||
8|||||Ow|||||
9|||||Fr|||||
10||||||||||[/table]


14 after DEF.

[Eshkigal]

Gerald splits some cash off from the bills, takes most of his own and pays the man.
"Done."
He texts the others.
-Got really beat up ekans for myself, needed to borrow a little cash for him, but will pay you back if desired. Mind if I borrow a total of 500 so I'm not fully broke?

[IrnBruAddict]

'Careful Luna, hang in there girl.'

Luna cuts her way through the Lilipup, before dashing away to safety.

Luna uses scratch. Passes from G5 to E5, then up to E1.

[roll0]

[roll1]

-Sure, you just gave me 500 earlier, remember? Just bring the money over here fast incase we lose.-

[Eshkigal]

-Understood. Location? Will be there ASAP.
He looks up at the guy, patting Squint gently with the robot arm.
"Thank you. I take it our business is concluded then?"

[MesiDoomstalker]

"Quartz, take out the Charmander!" Quartz shifts down to J2 then diagonally to G6, and down 1 more to G7 and uses Rock Throw on the Charmander.

That should be in range
[roll0] AC 4, physical, rock
[roll1] Attack is down to 8 from 11 because of combat stages.

[hustlertwo]

Frondly drifts back to E-10 and Bubbles again.

[roll0] [roll1]

So enemy mon has Speed dropped a stage.

[Arcran]

-Understood. Location? Will be there ASAP.
He looks up at the guy, patting Squint gently with the robot arm.
"Thank you. I take it our business is concluded then?"

"Yes, yes it is," he says, handing you the Pokeball for Squint as he counts the bills.


'Careful Luna, hang in there girl.'

Luna cuts her way through the Lilipup, before dashing away to safety.

Luna uses scratch. Passes from G5 to E5, then up to E1.

[roll0]

[roll1]

-Sure, you just gave me 500 earlier, remember? Just bring the money over here fast incase we lose.-


"Quartz, take out the Charmander!" Quartz shifts down to J2 then diagonally to G6, and down 1 more to G7 and uses Rock Throw on the Charmander.

That should be in range
[roll0] AC 4, physical, rock
[roll1] Attack is down to 8 from 11 because of combat stages.

The Lillipup falls from the blow. The trainer throws out their Pokeball, releasing a Rogenrolla next to Luna. The Charmander also goes down hard. The Happiny sits in the corner, pulling in its little arms.

{table]|A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J
1|||||Lu|Ro||||Ha
2|Sc|||||||||
3||||||||||
4||||||||||
5||||||||||
6||||||||||
7|||||||Qu|||
8||||||||||
9||||||||||
10|Ch|||||||||[/table]

Initiative:
Scintilla
Lillipup
Luna
Quartz
Rogenrolla
Happiny


Frondly drifts back to E-10 and Bubbles again.

[roll0] [roll1]

So enemy mon has Speed dropped a stage.

The bird takes the hit, once again Pecking Frondly.

{table]|A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J
1||||||||||
2||||||||||
3||||||||||
4||||||||||
5||||||||||
6||||||||||
7||||||||||
8||||||||||
9|||||Ow|||||
10|||||Fr|||||
[/table]

[Esprit15]

"Scintilla, make some space and shock the rock!" Scintilla runs to F8 before turning and firing a bolt at the Roggenrola.
Thundershock
Electric
AC: [roll0] 2, Paralyze on 17-20
Damage: [roll1]
If Crit: +[roll2]

[hustlertwo]

Frondly drifts to D-10 and uses Absorb.

[roll0] [roll1] -2, since no STAB for Absorb.

[IrnBruAddict]

Luna: 6/31 hp, Def 5, SDef 5

'Luna, scratch and run again.'

Luna once again cuts through the pokemon and runs away.

Luna uses Scratch on the Roggenrola, Passes through to G1, then runs down to G5.

[roll0], base 2

[roll1], normal type

[MesiDoomstalker]

Quartz, get the Happiny! Quartz shifts to G5 and Rock Throws.

[roll0]
[roll1]

[Arcran]

"Scintilla, make some space and shock the rock!" Scintilla runs to F8 before turning and firing a bolt at the Roggenrola.
Thundershock
Electric
AC: [roll0] 2, Paralyze on 17-20
Damage: [roll1]
If Crit: +[roll2]


Luna: 6/31 hp, Def 5, SDef 5

'Luna, scratch and run again.'

Luna once again cuts through the pokemon and runs away.

Luna uses Scratch on the Roggenrola, Passes through to G1, then runs down to G5.

[roll0], base 2

[roll1], normal type


Quartz, get the Happiny! Quartz shifts to G5 and Rock Throws.

[roll0]
[roll1]

The Rogenrolla stoicly takes the hits, waddling towards the group of you. It stomps on the ground, rocks floating around it. It fires them off, but only one connects, hitting Luna hard. The Happiny rushes over, Charming Quartz again.

{table]|A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J
1||||||||||Ha
2||||||||||
3|||||Ro|||||
4|||||||Lu|||
5|||||||Qu|||
6||||||||||
7||||||||||
8||||||Sc||||
9||||||||||
10||||||||||[/table]
Scintilla
Quartz
Luna
Rogenrolla
Happiny


20 to Luna.
-2 ATK on Quartz.


Frondly drifts to D-10 and uses Absorb.

[roll0] [roll1] -2, since no STAB for Absorb.

The Hoothoot follows, pecking Frondly once again.

{table]|A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J
1||||||||||
2||||||||||
3||||||||||
4||||||||||
5||||||||||
6||||||||||
7||||||||||
8||||||||||
9||||Ow||||||
10||||Fr||||||[/table]


13 damage, You heal 3 from Absorb.

[Esprit15]

Hm, don't recognize that move. Must not be normally on them. "Don't let up! Keep your distance and hit it again!" Scintilla runs to J10 and fires again.
Thundershock on Roggenrolla
AC: [roll0] 2, Paralyze on 17-20
Damage: [roll1]
If Crit: [roll2]

[Eshkigal]

Gerald gently scoops the snake up, putting the ball on his belt and holding Squint's head between a couple metallic fingers so he wouldn't accidentally bite (Or not so accidentally). Sparky chirps happily, and Glasgow just looks curiously.
"C'mon little guy, let's get you out of here."
They head out, and head towards the fight the others were at.

[hustlertwo]

Frondly drops.

Poor guy. Looks like he finally...gave up the ghost.

Paul chortles at his own wit, and sends out Willy.

Not sure who is faster.

[Arcran]

Gerald gently scoops the snake up, putting the ball on his belt and holding Squint's head between a couple metallic fingers so he wouldn't accidentally bite (Or not so accidentally). Sparky chirps happily, and Glasgow just looks curiously.
"C'mon little guy, let's get you out of here."
They head out, and head towards the fight the others were at.

You soon arrive to you see your friends mopping up a fight.


Frondly drops.

Poor guy. Looks like he finally...gave up the ghost.

Paul chortles at his own wit, and sends out Willy.

Not sure who is faster.

You.

[hustlertwo]

Willy aims a swipe of his claws at the bird.

[roll0] [roll1]

[IrnBruAddict]

Romeo returns Luna. 'Good work girl. Fairy, looks like your up. Go help your brother.'

Fairy runs into the fight, heading to I10.

[Eshkigal]

Gerald finds a spot to sit, putting Squint next to him. He scratches the little serpent's head as he scans what's out.

[MesiDoomstalker]

Quartz, attack and retreat. Quartz chucks another rock at the happiny and moves to J10.

[roll0] physical, rock
[roll1]

[Arcran]

Hm, don't recognize that move. Must not be normally on them. "Don't let up! Keep your distance and hit it again!" Scintilla runs to J10 and fires again.
Thundershock on Roggenrolla
AC: [roll0] 2, Paralyze on 17-20
Damage: [roll1]
If Crit: [roll2]


Romeo returns Luna. 'Good work girl. Fairy, looks like your up. Go help your brother.'

Fairy runs into the fight, heading to I10.



Quartz, attack and retreat. Quartz chucks another rock at the happiny and moves to J10.

[roll0] physical, rock
[roll1]

The Rogenrolla takes the hit, but doesn't seem to be in the greatest shape.
It creeps forward, hardening its defenses.

The Happiny easily takes the rocks, not even flinching. Its skin seems to harden afterwards, becoming more rock like.

{table]|A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J
1||||||||||Ha
2||||||||||
3||||||||||
4||||||||||
5||||||Ro|Qu|||
6||||||||||
7||||||||||
8||||||||||
9||||||||||
10|||||||||Fa|Sc[/table]

Scintilla
Fairy
Quartz
Rogenrolla
Happiny


Willy aims a swipe of his claws at the bird.

[roll0] [roll1]

The bird takes the hit, almost going down, but then releases a mighty hoot, one that knocks Willy backwards.

{table]|A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J
1||||||||||
2||||||||||
3||||||||||
4||||||||||
5||||||||||
6||||||||||
7||||||||||
8||||||||||
9||||||Ow||||
10||||||Wi||||[/table]

26 to Willy.


Gerald finds a spot to sit, putting Squint next to him. He scratches the little serpent's head as he scans what's out.

Just add what's been used.

[Esprit15]

"Move away from Fairy and hit him again!" Aquilla jumps around Fairy and moves to C10, firing ANOTHER Thundershock.
AC [roll0] 2, Paralyze 17-20
[roll1]
If crit: +[roll2]

[Arcran]

Before you can hit the other team cries out.

"OK, OK! We give!" they shout, handing you the money as they recall their injured Pokemon. "You guys are good."

^6,000
2780 XP
3336 to Arte,

[hustlertwo]

Try to finish it, Willy.

[roll0] [roll1]

[Esprit15]

"Aw, it was just getting fun though!" She puts her arm down for Scintilla to climb up on. He looked somewhat happier after the fight. See, you just have to win one. Might even have impressed Elly a bit. She nudges him a bit, but he ignores her. Hm, too soon to be making jokes it seems.

"Hey Romeo, think breeding Scintilla and Elly tonight would be a good idea? Or the Scyther, for that matter? Could get you one that wasn't responsible for killing a Pikachu and myself a strong Flying type that isn't normal. Probably can't put them off in a corner of the room though like we would Elly though..."

[Eshkigal]

"Or pick up an abra with a good lineage for one."
Gerald gets up, Squint coiled up on his metal arm, Glasgow running over to his kin to talk, Sparky on her customary shoulder. He hands Romeo the 14.5 grand.
"The money you got from the sale. Thanks for the loan."

[MesiDoomstalker]

It was a good match. It was smart to forfeit. Save you mon some trauma. Ethan hands Gerald his Scyther and takes his cut of the payment as well as what Romeo had owed him from earlier.

Am I the only one who doesn't spend their profits immidiatly? he asked somewhat jokingly.

[Arcran]

Try to finish it, Willy.

[roll0] [roll1]

The bird finally goes down. The man releases one more, this time on the far side of the arena. It seems less elegant that the others due to its clumsier flight as if it can't see. It sends of screeching wave of sound at Willy, but it doesn't hurt hte Sandshrew.

{table]|A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J
1||||||||||
2||||||||||
3||||||||||
4||||||||||
5|||||||Ba|||
6||||||||||
7||||||||||
8||||||||||
9||||||||||
10||||||Wi||||[/table]

[IrnBruAddict]

'No problem Gerald, that's us even now. I'll have a look at your new Ekans tonight, see if there is anything I can do.'

He hands Ethan his 10,500 share. 'And now we go see what a well bred Abra is like.'

On the way to the Gym, he looks at Artemis. 'It's funny how you shouted at me for suggesting an open relationship with Jessica, yet you encourage Elly.' He gives a cheeky little laugh. 'Well, we'll just have to see if the Pikachu stud can win her heart over Ollie, won't we? But I'll need to think on the Scyther. It could only breed with the female Scyther right now, I wouldn't trust it with Sim. But breeding could also help with breaking, it does wonderful to calm a pokemon down, I mean look at Hardcase.'

Elly and Scintilla, the two Scyther ... maybe he could try one more tonight. It would depend what pokemon they needed. Maybe Sim and either Mjolnir or Prolios?

[hustlertwo]

Hang in there, Willy. They didn't make a play about your kind for nothing.

Willy moves to F-6, swiping at the mon.

[roll0] [roll1]

[Esprit15]

"Not all of us are rich or just walk into money.

She gives Romeo a friendly punch. "She's a mon. It's different. Besides, I think they'd make an adorable little Eevee."

[Arcran]

Hang in there, Willy. They didn't make a play about your kind for nothing.

Willy moves to F-6, swiping at the mon.

[roll0] [roll1]

Willy drops the 'mon in a single blow.

The man walks over, handing you the ^1,500. "Guess you know what you're doing then."

1608 XP.

[Eshkigal]

"Spent mine on the arm, and will have to find a room tonight. Besides, haven't competed...ever, really."
He tucks the Scyther ball away and walks with the group.
"To be fair, you could just breed Squint here to deal with fighting. Poison beats it."

[hustlertwo]

Frankly, no one is more surprised than me about that. Good fight, good night. Or day, as it were.

Paul heads to the Psychic center for some healing. Along the way he texts the others.

Getting healed up, heading to Psychic mart. Anyone needs me, that is where I am.

[MesiDoomstalker]

Gerald, I know you are an intelligent man. But I fear you are incorrect. The poison type resists fighting type moves, yes. But poison type moves are not effective against fighting types. Not anymore than Normal type moves.

[Arcran]

Frankly, no one is more surprised than me about that. Good fight, good night. Or day, as it were.

Paul heads to the Psychic center for some healing. Along the way he texts the others.

Getting healed up, heading to Psychic mart. Anyone needs me, that is where I am.

You soon find yourself at the Psychic Mart. They seem to be pretty empty at the moment.

[hustlertwo]

Paul heads into the Psychic mart.

Hi, I was here yesterday. Back again to buy more chemicals to pump into my mons for good time fighting fun. Y'all being a Psychic place, I imagine there's a Psyshock TM in stock, right?

[Arcran]

Paul heads into the Psychic mart.

Hi, I was here yesterday. Back again to buy more chemicals to pump into my mons for good time fighting fun. Y'all being a Psychic place, I imagine there's a Psyshock TM in stock, right?

"Of course," the man says. "That would be ^2,900. Will you be needing instalation services?"

[hustlertwo]

Yeah, might as well. Pump her up, yo.

He sends out Zoophy and hands her to the clerk.

[Arcran]

Yeah, might as well. Pump her up, yo.

He sends out Zoophy and hands her to the clerk.

"Thanks," the man says, taking the Pokemon in back. "It'll be about two hours before she is fully stable. Come back then," he says, charing you ^3,900.

[hustlertwo]

Paul waves goodbye to Smoochum.

Hope we finish up with everything soon. Daddy needs him a little...special treat. Perhaps you know what I mean.

He goes to sit outside on a bench and await word from the others.

[Eshkigal]

"Really? Could've sworn otherwise..."
He flips through his dex, and finds the type weakness chart.
"Huh..."

[Esprit15]

"Paul will be in the Psychic side. How about we head to our prefered area for healing our mons and then meet back at the Café near the Dojo?"

[Eshkigal]

"Away from Dojo, to avoid suspicion or spotting, but we could find a spot."

[Esprit15]

"Good point. Then again, it doesn't much matter. We can meet him anywhere in town."

[IrnBruAddict]

'Gerald, here's 1600. I'm going to go get Luna patched up. Can you whip up a normal booster and make some modifications to my cane while I do that?'

[Arcran]

As Romeo heads to the Pokemon Center, he gets a call.

"Hey, this is Jordan. I'm willing to accept your deal. Meet me outside the Eastern Gate by 5."

There is a click as he hangs up.

Currently 3:30. Perception.

[IrnBruAddict]

Romeo flips his phone away and glances around.

[roll0]

[Arcran]

Is it just you, or did the kid sound scared? Terrified even? Something's up.

[Eshkigal]

"Sure. Give me an hour, maybe hour and a half if you want both ready, twenty for the normal booster."
While mon get healed, he gets the supplies and finds a spot near the center to build the boosters, starting with the normal booster.

[Esprit15]

"I'll be back shortly and bring Paul to the meeting site." She motions for Scintilla to climb off her shoulder. Well, are you going to go? Thinking. Well you should hurry up, because you look like- She gives Romeo a kiss on the cheek before blushing and running to the Center to get Diluvium patched up. Once he is treated, she talks to Paul about Romeo possibly breeding King and the female they caught after King is broken a bit. Should help with breaking him more quickly.

[IrnBruAddict]

Romeo goes back to getting Luna healed. While he does so, he sends a text.

-Meeting at 5, Eastern gate. Something was wrong, meet up ASAP. Need planning.-

[Eshkigal]

-Just outside Center, Romeo. Working on your surprises.
He continues work on the necklace for Elly-fairly classy looking, while keeping the circuitry close enough to her body to take effect.

[Arcran]

-Just outside Center, Romeo. Working on your surprises.
He continues work on the necklace for Elly-fairly classy looking, while keeping the circuitry close enough to her body to take effect.

You are done with your creations by 4:15.

[hustlertwo]

Paul reads the text and goes back into the mart.

Gotta step out for a bit, gents. Just give me a ring when my girl is done, or if any problems come up.

He switches his phone to vibrate, in case they call during an inopportune moment. He then heads out to the gate once 4:30 rolls around, making sure he will arrive in plenty of time.

[Esprit15]

Artemis foregoes her chat with Paul and heads to the gate quickly after getting the text. "What was wrong?"

[Eshkigal]

Gerald heads there, and tosses Romeo his cane, freezing humidity in the air.
"Didn't have time to make a new one, so I just upgraded yours. I call it Melting Heart, considering your specialty."
He pulls out the necklace and puts it on Elly.

[IrnBruAddict]

Romeo goes and grabs a Shadowball TM from the pokemart, then gets Luna healed. He would apply it to Puck later.

Assuming 2700 for it

Then heads off to the meeting point where he explains he thinks something is up and grabs his stuff from Gerald.

[Esprit15]

"So what do you think we should do? I don't think they'll be too impressed if we ask for help. Could ask Jess or Taylor as friends and not co-workers, but they're none too fond of you, and with my current mental state that could backfire terribly if they still have a grudge, which they would."

[Eshkigal]

"I could ask, and sometimes the best thing to do is know when you need backup to ensure success. At the very least, I could pick up a special piece of equipment, possibly."

[MesiDoomstalker]

Ethan rushes to the Center and get's Ollie healed up and arrives at the meeting point with the rest.

So he sounded terrified? Something isn't right. We need to be prepared. Artemis, theres no harm in asking the girls. At worst they say no. More psychics nearby can help us scout.

[Esprit15]

"There could be in my asking if I can't focus my thoughts... Feel free to ask then. You might even be more convincing than I can be. So I and maybe some Psychics scout. Then what?"

[Eshkigal]

Gerald gives a mental image of a sniper rifle that he's disassembling and reassembling.
Plan B.
"Mind if I ask at Silph?"

[hustlertwo]

So....what am I being disguised as? A male model? A professional bodybuilder, perhaps?

Paul strikes a pose. He will not be passing for a professional bodybuilder.

[IrnBruAddict]

Romeo looks at Paul. 'Sorry, I didn't think to bring a girdle.' He gives Paul a quick haircut, and a large jacket, trying to make him look like a Silph Security guard. He gives Gerald a large leather jacket and puts his arm in a cast. That arm suck out, and needed to be hidden. A quick dye job for both and the look was complete.

'We ready for whatever is going to happen?'

[hustlertwo]

Works for me. I might keep this jacket after all is said and done, though. Roomy, yet still snug in all the right places.

[Eshkigal]

Why do I suddenly have the urge to say come with me if you want to live?
He feels a pair of sunglasses in a pocket, and moves his new arm slightly.
"This breaks easily, right? Was planning on supportive fire if things got muked."

[Esprit15]

"That would be great, but only if things turn ugly. And do not hit the kid. He appears to be on our side. Wait, how are you going to give supporting fire with a pistol?

Ethan, if you're going to ask for some Psychics to help us, please go do so. We are approaching our deadline.

Otherwise I think we're good to go. I'll head out and see if I can feel an ambush. Hopefully the kid was just nervous."

[Eshkigal]

"I was going to request an upgrade."
People hate snipers.

[Esprit15]

"Could work. Seems a bit too much firepower to lend to new recruits, though. They didn't even want to give us a weak Pokémon, so a high power rifle may be pushing it."

[Eshkigal]

"If I had ten hours, I'd make one. Guns are easier to replace than pokemon."
He recalls most of his team for now, letting Sparky find a small spot to hide on him.

[Esprit15]

"Well, if there is nothing else that I am needed for, I'm off to scout ahead. Hopefully it's nothing. Have the girls send a thought my way if they're coming or not." Please Kyurem, Giratina, let things turn out well here. She gives a sign wishing good luck, and heads to the gate, feeling for minds ahead of her. Scintilla and Diluvium follow her.

[Arcran]

All
By the time you reach the gate it is closer to five thirty then five; between disguises, gear, and walking across Saffron, it takes awhile. That and being forced to stop occassionaly for Romeo, who is still suffering splitting headaches.


"Well, if there is nothing else that I am needed for, I'm off to scout ahead. Hopefully it's nothing. Have the girls send a thought my way if they're coming or not." Please Kyurem, Giratina, let things turn out well here. She gives a sign wishing good luck, and heads to the gate, feeling for minds ahead of her. Scintilla and Diluvium follow her.

As you leave the gate, the guards wave to you, quite amiable to a fellow Psychic.

You have to walk almost a mile before you catch anything other than the minds of rats and small birds. You get the mind of the boy, obviously terrified, the woman that Romeo was flirting with, and one other mind that seals itself behind a steel wall before you can penetrate it.

[Esprit15]

-Guys, he's with two people. One is the girl that Romeo Romeo had flirted with earlier, the other I can't identify. The boy seems to not be here willingly. Bring backup if possible. Respond via text.- Artemis just waits quietly, silencing her phone when they send a message again.

[Eshkigal]

-Going to have to be more specific on the first part.
Gerald tries stealth, following Arte.
[roll0]
(Did I get a rifle?)

[Eshkigal]

He tries to spot the likely assassin (money on Muscleman), and get into a good ambush position.
[roll0]
[roll1]

[MesiDoomstalker]

-Roger. If its a big guy with a large duffel bag, keep your distance. He's dangerous.-

[hustlertwo]

Paul sends out Willy, and keeps the ball for Buck handy.

Hopefully it won't come to a fight, but I want to be ready if it does.

He stays close to Romeo.

[Arcran]

He tries to spot the likely assassin (money on Muscleman), and get into a good ambush position.
[roll0]
[roll1]

You manage to creep forward as silently as death itself, getting behind a convinient tree, able to easily see Jordan and the woman Romeo was talking with. She has a gun to his head.

"You said they'd come. Where are they?"
"I don't know...." the kid whimpers.
"You have five minutes. Either get them here, or we use the Slugma as bait ourselves."

[Eshkigal]

-Move fast or kid gets a hole in the head.

[hustlertwo]

Buck joins Willy out alongside Paul.

Super. What we really needed was more complications.

[MesiDoomstalker]

-try to stop her if we don't get there in time. No useless bloodshed-

Ethan looks over at Romeo. C'mon, we got to move. Ethan picks up his pace, nearly a full run.

[Eshkigal]

-Understood. Will do something stupid in 3 min. Going silent, tell Arte to help.
He turns off the phone before moving away, counting in his head. He pulls Sparky out of his coat, hushes her, and points to the lady and making a slitting throat motion. Sparky nods, and goes into a different tree. She moves into spider web range for this, as Gerald gets ready to run for the kid, getting his gun out.
177...178...179...180.
Sparky launches herself onto the kid's back, before shooting a sticky white substance on her in copious amounts (Spider Web, the fighter girl's now stuck in place, no miss chance). Gerald then bolts towards the kid, gun in hand.
"If you're acting, I swear to muking Void I'll shoot you myself. C'mon!"
He grabs the kid with his off hand, and begins running.

[Arcran]

Sparky manages to web the woman, but before you can reach the kid there is a gunshot and a burst of blood from the kid's head. He slumps to the ground, dead. You continue to dash forwards, only to be left standing very awkwardly in front of her.

The woman grimaces, struggling against the webbing.

"Damnit! Look what you made me do!" she shouts angrily, struggling against the web to train the gun on your chest. "Now we have to hide the body, and all this paper work.... Lucky he was a fighter. Makes this a whole hell of a lot easier to clear up," she says. "What interest did you have in the damn kid? Whatever, that doesn't matter. You have two choices now. Let me out of this web, or get shot. Your choice."

{table]|A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J|H|I|J|K|L|M
1||t||t||t|||t|||||||
2|t|t|t|t|t||t|t||t||||||
3||t|t|t||t||||||||||
4||t|t|||t||Wo||||||||
5||||||||Sp||||||||
6|||||||||||Ge|||||
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8||||||||||||||||
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17|Ar|Di|t|||||||||||||
18|Sc|||||||||||||||
19||||||||||||||||
20||||||||||||||||[/table]

The rest of the party is 20 meters past 20. It'll take you two turns, with Double Shifts, to arrive.

[MesiDoomstalker]

Muk! Gunfire! Romeo, Paul lets move! Quickly! Ethan goes into a dead sprint. He starts screaming in his mind. Artemis, where are you and what the muk happened?

[Esprit15]

****! What was he thinking!? Gerald, this is why sticking to the plan is a good idea. I'm not risking my ass until I have backup or sufficient reason to save you... KYUREM! What were you thinki- Wait, I have an idea. If you keep them distracted, I might be able to get the Pokéballs over here. Then we just have to worry about saving you. She holds her hands over her two Pokémons' mouths as they begin to get unnerved by the gunshot.

She sighs in relief quietly as she feels the others. Guys, Gerald just attacked one of the people. The woman shot the boy and is webbed up. One person is still mobile. They are armed. Don't do anything stupid yet. That's already happened and I'd prefer as few of us to die as possible.

[Eshkigal]

Admittedly, this is my first time on the non-taking side of hostage negotiations.
"Thought you had better trigger discipline."
Sparky hisses and he levels a gun at her head.
"Lesson one of hostage taking: You aim for the head only if you definitely want to kill them. Aim for limbs otherwise. Less likely to have a mess then."
He keeps the gun on her, as he seems to be edging to a side to keep her from being able to hit both him and Sparky.
"However, I noticed your friend in the woods, or at least the movement there. Didn't get a good view of them. Is it Mr. Flamethrower, by any chance? Anyway, trying to take each other hostage is really pointless, so we may as well try calming down instead. Drop your gun and explain why you wanted him, and I'll drop mine and cut you loose. If we wanted him for the same reasons, I'll confirm."
He pulls out a box cutter that he stashed away, gun still pointed at her head.
"Deal?"

[IrnBruAddict]

Don't do anything stupid yet. That's already happened and I'd prefer as few of us to die as possible.

'Sorry, but for me those two don't work together. I keep my friends safe by doing stupid things.' Romeo rips off his fake beard, and runs his hand through his hair, trying to look as much like himself as he could. Then he and Elly dash away from Ethan and Paul. 'You guys go help them. If this person is after me, I'll lure them away so you can grab the slugma and get out of here.'

Instead of rushing straight forward, Romeo runs diagonally, planning to run past the girl and lure away the unknown person. If they were after him, he could make sure he was the only one going to get hurt.

[Arcran]

Admittedly, this is my first time on the non-taking side of hostage negotiations.
"Thought you had better trigger discipline."
Sparky hisses and he levels a gun at her head.
"Lesson one of hostage taking: You aim for the head only if you definitely want to kill them. Aim for limbs otherwise. Less likely to have a mess then."
He keeps the gun on her, as he seems to be edging to a side to keep her from being able to hit both him and Sparky.
"However, I noticed your friend in the woods, or at least the movement there. Didn't get a good view of them. Is it Mr. Flamethrower, by any chance? Anyway, trying to take each other hostage is really pointless, so we may as well try calming down instead. Drop your gun and explain why you wanted him, and I'll drop mine and cut you loose. If we wanted him for the same reasons, I'll confirm."
He pulls out a box cutter that he stashed away, gun still pointed at her head.
"Deal?"

"Me? Yes, yes I did. I just thought you were actually somebody of consequence, not you," she says. "My friend in the woods doesn't have to get involved. Now, you've made your argument, I'll make mine. You cut me out, or you lose your ability to reproduce and I call in my partner. Understand?"

[Esprit15]

No. We need you here. Have you seen the rest of us speak? You're the one who prevents things from turning ugly when things start to go like they are. Think about what you're doing. Think about what will happen to Elly if they catch you. If it's the guy who is trying to kill you, maybe we could pay him off. She speaks as powerfully as she can into his head, looking for anything to help her talk him out of it. If nothing else he would collapse to the ground before beig able to go through with his suicide mission. You are not the worst member of the team. I used to think that, and then I saw how much better ending things with words rather than violence works. If you die, we all probably will. Back when we were talking to the boy? You were the only person who could have convinced him probably. We'd probably end up trying to beat him up and end up with the cops after us.

Please, don't do this.

Wait, the woman was distracted. Okay, focus on the Pokéballs. Undo the latch, let them fall quietly to the ground. Good, now roll them over here through the grass.

[Eshkigal]

"I made an arm, I can make testicles. Counter argument, we talk reasonably or things get messier for everybody. You have me at a disadvantage, but you're aiming in the wrong location for a deterrent. Anyway, what you should be asking-oh muk it."
He shatters the cast on his arm, revealing the metal below.
"What you should be asking is who I work for. Now, we agree to talk civilly, or we begin shooting each other, but know that it takes a LOT for me to not just open fire with a gun in my face. We both toss them, you still have the advantage before your friend gets involved and I cut you loose, and I'm in melee range, which is best for you."

[Arcran]

"I made an arm, I can make testicles. Counter argument, we talk reasonably or things get messier for everybody. You have me at a disadvantage, but you're aiming in the wrong location for a deterrent. Anyway, what you should be asking-oh muk it."
He shatters the cast on his arm, revealing the metal below.
"What you should be asking is who I work for. Now, we agree to talk civilly, or we begin shooting each other, but know that it takes a LOT for me to not just open fire with a gun in my face. We both toss them, you still have the advantage before your friend gets involved and I cut you loose, and I'm in melee range, which is best for you."

Everyone else, you're on the map now. Row 20.

"I think you may be slightly deaf," she says, shifting the gun slightly higher so it's aiming at your stomache. "You know a little about guns it seems. You know how much bleeding out slowly, your entrails hanging out is. This is your last chance. Stand down, or I start shooting," she says, pulling one hand off of the gun to reach down to her belt.

[Eshkigal]

"And you know little about joltiks. Sparky can make a web that electrocutes you if you continue. Me? I've been there. I've had to hold them in, had to stop my own bleeding. Been through shock, can probably handle it again."
He lets the Scyther ball drop into his hand, box cutter dropped.
"Maybe you're deaf too, though. It's been drilled into me too hard to keep my gun in my hand if there's one pointed at me, and the deprograming hasn't happened yet. I LITERALLY CAN'T DROP IT IF YOU LOOK READY TO SHOOT ME. We both stand down, or we both start shooting. Up to you."

[Arcran]

The woman looks at you. "You really are an idiot, aren't you?"

She lets out a shrill whistle, and there's a rustling from the trees as flamethrower man rushes out. She spikes the Pokeball she had been reaching for, releasing a humanoid creature.

"Drop. Your. Gun."

{table]|A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J|H|I|J|K|L|M
1||t||t||t|||t|||||||
2|t|t|t|t|t||t|t||t||||||
3||t|t|t||t||||||||||
4||t|t|||t||Wo||Po||||||
5|||||Fl|||Sp||||||||
6|||||||||||Ge|||||
7||||||||||||||||
8||||||||||||||||
9||||||||||||||||
10||||||||||||||||
11||||||||||||||||
12||||||||||||||||
13||||||||||||||||
14||||||||||||||||
15||t||||||||||||||
16||t||||||||||||||
17|Ar|Di|t|||||||||||||
18|Sc|||||||||||||||
19||||||||||||||||
20||||||||||||||||
[/table]

[hustlertwo]

Paul hustles as fast as he can, making it to F-10. He has Willy go ahead of him, Burrowing his way up to F-5.

Stupid slag, making me run. Gerry, if this turns rough, please give her a solid pop in the funbags for my poor chafing thighs.

[Eshkigal]

"I keep telling you the condition! You have me outgunned as is, outhit as is, and outmonned as is! YOU CAN AFFORD TO BACK DOWN SLIGHTLY TO BE CUT LOOSE, YOU TWIT! Also, thanks for letting me look at your flamethrower earlier."
He waves a metal hand to Mr. Flamethrower, gun still on her.
"Find something about your target? I was just here because of a job."

[MesiDoomstalker]

Muk it all! Ollie! Lets go! Ethan keeps running forward releaseing Ollie who dashes in front of him. Ethan reaches D15 and Ollie D9

[Esprit15]

Artemis picks up the Pokéballs and puts them in her bag. Guys, I have the Pokéballs. We can probably save Gerald reasonably safely now. She runs back to Romeo (assuming C or D column), shaking him awake. "Sorry, I couldn't let you run off and get yourself killed. The team needs you too much for that. The others are saving Gerald right now. The guy wih the flamethrower is there, but the others are trying to trying to handle it." She sends a command to Scintilla to run forward and act natural. He does so and finishes at A10, pretending to scavenge some berries or something.

[IrnBruAddict]

Romeo was collapsed in D-20. Elly rushes over to E-10.

'Hey, your target is over here, helpless and down. Come get me. You let the others go, and I'll come with. Stacey gets paid, you get your target, the guys get the Slugma and I die. We all win.'

[roll0]

[Eshkigal]

Gerald hears the others arrive, and grabs Sparky's ball.
"Sparky, return. Only hostage they need is me."
She gives a confused chitter as she disappears.
Have I said I'm sorry yet? Because I'm sorry this happened.

[Arcran]

The woman turns the gun from you to the Pokemon to the left. The flamethrower man revs his flamethrower, turning towards you.

"Stacey, do I burn?"
"Not yet. I'm willing to cut these dumbasses a deal. Do you know the current location of a man named 'Romeo?'" she asks, looking at the group of you. Then she hears him yell and grins, looking at you all. "Here's our deal. You guys give us to him, and I don't have the big guy turn you all into charred crisps, alright?"

The big man chuckles. He pulls out a Pokeball and releases his Hariyama next to him. Ethan can identify Stacey's Pokemon as a Gurdurr.

{table]|A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J|H|I|J|K|L|M
1||t||t||t|||t|||||||
2|t|t|t|t|t||t|t||t||||||
3||t|t|t||t||||||||||
4||t|t|||t||Wo||Gu||||||
5||||Ha|Fl|Wi||||||||||
6|||||||||||Ge|||||
7||||||||||||||||
8||||||||||||||||
9||||Ol||||||||||||
10|Sc||||El|P||||||||||
11||||||||||||||||
12||||||||||||||||
13||||||||||||||||
14||||||||||||||||
15||t||E||||||||||||
16||t||||||||||||||
17||Di|t|||||||||||||
18||||||||||||||||
19||||||||||||||||
20|||Ar|R||||||||||||
[/table]

[Esprit15]

Artemis feels the girl's mind to see if she is lying.

[Arcran]

She's sincere, if you hand over Romeo, you'll all survive.

[Eshkigal]

"Any chance at all that includes Romeo?"
Don't like this. They'll kill him.

[Arcran]

"Any chance at all that includes Romeo?"
Don't like this. They'll kill him.

"No, we won't kill him," she says.

The big man looks at her in suprise. "He said to make sure he never touches his daughters-"
"That doesn't mean you have to kill him. Just snap his legs or something, that'll teach him a lesson."

The big man's mind is unreadable, but the woman seems serious about not letting Romeo get killed.

[Esprit15]

"Romeo, they don't seem to want to kill you. Hurt you and make you pay for what you did to some guys daughters, but not kill you." Guys, call off your Pokémon. Romeo will be back with us in a few hours.

[IrnBruAddict]

'I accept, now let Gerald go. The guys hold onto my pokeballs, and I'll come with you.' Romeo returns Elly, and gives Arte her ball, as well as the rest of his team.

'I'm a grown man. I accept what happens to me for what I've done. You guys take the pokemon back to Silph Co. I'll probably turn up in the fighter hospital in an hour or two, minus a hand or two and with my knees going backwards. Now return your pokemon. Everyone return your pokemon!' As soon as everyone recalled all their pokemon, and Arte got off him, he'd go with them.

[Esprit15]

Artemis recalls Scintilla and Diluvium and walks Romeo over to the people, constantly scanning their thoughts as though there was anything she could do about them if they decided that they changed their mind. She asks if she might scan the two Pokémon they had out, and apologizes for Gerald's rash actions.

[Eshkigal]

"...If I disarm fully, will you let me make sure things don't get out of hand? I'll drop him by a Center afterwards."
He looks to El Fuego.
"There'll be rocket boots in it for you once I've figured out how to make a working pair if Romeo lives.

[Arcran]

"...If I disarm fully, will you let me make sure things don't get out of hand? I'll drop him by a Center afterwards."
He looks to El Fuego.
"There'll be rocket boots in it for you once I've figured out how to make a working pair if Romeo lives.

"Yes, you can watch," she says, an evil grin on her face. "Remember this as a lesson on why not to mess with the Fighters."


'I accept, now let Gerald go. The guys hold onto my pokeballs, and I'll come with you.' Romeo returns Elly, and gives Arte her ball, as well as the rest of his team.

'I'm a grown man. I accept what happens to me for what I've done. You guys take the pokemon back to Silph Co. I'll probably turn up in the fighter hospital in an hour or two, minus a hand or two and with my knees going backwards. Now return your pokemon. Everyone return your pokemon!' As soon as everyone recalled all their pokemon, and Arte got off him, he'd go with them.

As soon as the other leave, they begin.

The big man pushes you against a tree, hard. He pulls out a large knife, handing it to Stacey, who, after nearly twenty minutes of playtime, is done.

Then the big man gets his turn. You fall unconcious after he snaps your legs at the knee with his bare hands as if they were dry twigs.

You wake up a few hours later in the Fighter Hospital. Apparently the big guy's duffel bag fits flamethrowers and small scrawny men. Both of your legs are shooting pain, and your entire torso is on fire from hundreds of small gashes. Your left hand seems to be missing its middle finger, but besides that you feel fine.

You see Artemis and Gerald sitting in chairs, concerned looks on their faces.

[Eshkigal]

"Hi. Apparently fighters suck at warnings."
He lost an arm over a question once. He's entitled. He pulls a small red orb out.
"Apple?"

[IrnBruAddict]

'I'd prefer some nice painkillers, but what the hell. After an amazing night like last nigh, I should have figured Karma would kick me in the ass. Twice.' Romeo rolls over, not wanting to look at either of them just quite yet.

'I guess I won't be walking way from this one for a while yet. You guys head on over to Silph.'

[Esprit15]

Artemis repeatedly smacks Gerald with the apple until it's a fruity mess on the floor. "Your stupid stunt got him here." The others will get a swing or two in when we meet up with them. You're lucky we don't kill you now. Rocket will probably take care of that, actually.

She turns to Romeo and speaks more calmly. "I'll tell the doctors on the way out. We'll call you with any new information. Just rest right now." Those scars will look nice when they heal up. She forcefully grabs Gerald by his real wrist and pulls him out of the room.

As she passes the front desk, she relays Romeo's request for painkillers.

[Eshkigal]

Yes, probably. Thought you guys would just ditch me. Didn't expect him to do this. Can I at least make him a new finger?
He notices the pressure, but doesn't seem too perturbed by it. Just...confused.
I apologize for my stunt, and...how do you apologize for getting someone stabbed and kneecapped? You and the others are within your rights to finish me at this point, but just let me make him whole again.

[Esprit15]

We wouldn't just like you to. We expect you to. Romeo is a liability if he screws around with the wrong person. You on the other hand can't be trusted DURING A MISSION. At best you're going to be a lackey building things for those of us who can be trusted to not abandon the mission. At worst... Let's just say you'll be looking back at the time you lost your arm with fond memories.

[Eshkigal]

Gerald detaches each of his poke balls and hands them to Artemis.
For Romeo, if they decide they're better off with me as a corpse. If I live, he gets a new finger. If they torture me or kill me, disengage finger here and give Ethan my notes and arm.
He detaches that as well, undoing the links to the nerves.

[Esprit15]

Judge it, leave the poor guy alone. Look at him! He's already resigned himself to death. You're not as heartless as you like to pretend you are. Bothering me about Gerald too? Seemed necessary. He was in the wrong in shirking the plan, but his intentions were good. And his results put Romeo in the hospital. He was doomed to end up here anyways. Remember, they knew he was in town. If not here, elsewhere. His stupid plan might have actually saved Romeo. That man was going to kill him, clearly. Stacy just limited it to bodily damage. That's! ...true. Hm.

Gerald... I was thinking. Look, I may have been a bit hasty, actually. You said the man was going to blast Romeo with a flamethrower, right? But he's only in the hospital now with cuts and broken legs. That's bad, but far from dead. You might have actually saved him. Stacy could have been mad enough at your attacking her that some of her anger that would have normally been directed at Romeo was instead directed at you. Just a thought.

[Eshkigal]

Doesn't change things. First person in years to be nice to me, and I get him in the hospital. Got the kid killed by being hasty when I heard he was on a short time frame. You only saved it because of the fact you have telekinesis, and they had me dead to rights anyway. I have been nothing but a detriment this whole mission-I was mugged, I paralyzed a starving kid beating up a poochyena, I was distracted by my arm, and I tried to save the kid when I should have held position and gotten Romeo out instead. I have not helped, I have not been of use, and I have not left a good impression.
His inner voice sounds fairly indifferent. He moves on, towards Silph.
I leave it in the boss's hands, pure and simple. If I die, let him know I didn't mean for him to get hurt.

[Esprit15]

She just pats him on the back. I know you didn't. We all know you didn't mean it. It was a fluke thing.

[Eshkigal]

Doesn't change what's probably going to happen. Be sure everything gets where it needs to if this goes anywhere like what I expect it to.

[Esprit15]

Artemis gives up. Any attempt at empathy is just going to end in the same response. She continues to the Silph Co. building in silence.

[Eshkigal]

Gerald, meanwhile, calculates possible worst case scenarios. For the amount of times he jeopardized the mission, compared to the help he gave, minus ways to deal with him effectively-cutting things off is likely figured to not work well on someone who recently built a way around that-burning, electrocution, waterboarding. Forcing him to kill...his...pokemon...
He turns white, and looks to Artemis.
"We need to get the pokemon back to Romeo. His and mine."
He imagines what's likely about to happen. Imagines having to run Sparky through, or kill her other ways. Images of being forced to make her suffer for his failures.
Won't do it, won't do it they can't make me I'd kill myself first before that no I won't kill my pokemon!

[Esprit15]

Why? She looks at his mind. Take the kid's mons and take them to Silph. I'll stay at the hospital with yours for safe keeping. She hands him the kid's Pokéballs and takes Gerald's before turning around and returning to the hospital. He's pretty paranoid. It's justified to a degree. I suppose. I would personally go for something more physical. Killing his Pokémon would be too crippling. "Thanks for the reminder about returning Romeo's mons to him."

[Eshkigal]

Thank you.
This is the one time he's actually looked afraid that you've seen. He runs to Silph.

[MesiDoomstalker]

Ethan walked into the hospital. His eyes were somewhat puffy, as if he was crying. Almost. He approaches Artemis. How's loverboy? His voice was cold and emotionless. His mind was blank, though more from lack of thoughts than anything else. It was moronic of him to do that. We could have taken them. Artemis gets a feeling that he's surpressing something. Regret? Remorse? Could he honestly feel bad about what happened?

[Esprit15]

"Ethan... are you crying?" She didn't want to sound ridiculing but that was the only way for it to come out. Concern was the intended emotion. "Romeo's fine. Bruised up, cuts everywhere. We won't walk for a while unless you and Gerald feel like building him some new legs." She begins to suppress laughter as he actually talks about laughter. "Please, the man would have shrugged off Thunder Wave and would have probably burned us alive. I was only stopping them because I was worried they would- because I figured they they would kill our only decent speaker." She finally begins to analyze how Ethan is actually acting. "Are...are you okay, Ethan?"

[MesiDoomstalker]

I wasn't crying. A speck of dirt irritated my eye and triggered the tear reflex. Simple as that. No its not! I'm fine. Romeo is the one who needs our concern. You are definatly not fine....Crap. Artemis?

[Esprit15]

You're lying a a psychic. Very poorly. "What's wrong? I promise I won't laugh." She puts her hand on his shoulder. "If it's about Romeo being here, don't worry. I saw him. He's just glad they left his face with only a few scars and that he still has his favorite organ intact." Or was something else bothering you?

[MesiDoomstalker]

Its not just Romeo getting hurt. Or Gerald's screw up. Its that I didn't stop them. That I didn't have a plan, that I couldn't finish this job safely. I...I failed them.

[Esprit15]

"You couldn't have stopped it. None of us could have. He was too far away from me to even hear. I couldn't even have told him it was a bad idea. We had a plan, he got anxious and abandoned it. It's not Paul's fault, not Romeo's fault, not my fault, and certainly not yours. And Romeo would have wound up here anyways. It just happened to be during a mission as opposed to in the middle of the night. Gerald is dropping the stuff off right now. We can worry when he gets back."

[MesiDoomstalker]

Ethan goes wide eye for a moment. You let him have the Slugma and told him to take it to them alone!? C'mon! Ethan grabs Artemis' wrist and tries to pull her with him but she doesn't budge and he is jerked back. We shouldn't let the Slugma be with just one person. What if he gets ambushed?

[Esprit15]

"Go with him then." I can't go with you. You have Mjolnir and Ollie though. He's worried they'll make him kill one of his Pokémon or something stupid like that, so I have to hold onto them here. Keep him safe though.

[MesiDoomstalker]

Please? Ethan attempts to make Growlithe eyes but he just looks pouty.

[Esprit15]

"Then who will keep an eye on Romeo? Think of it as a different plan. You guard Gerald. You two seem to get along very well anyways. You can protect him fairly easily with two mons that know Take Down. Just stay out of alleyways." Otherwise we're leaving his Pokémon with an unguarded and crippled Romeo. I need to get his Pokémon back to him anyways.

[MesiDoomstalker]

ok... Ethan dashes off after Gerald, texting him he was on his way. Didn't want to freak him out any more than he was already.

[Esprit15]

Artemis goes to check on Romeo. "Hey there, Mr. Hero. I believe you would want these back? One in particular?" She holds Elly's ball out to the injured young man. "You know, that was really brave what you did back there." She give an awkward smile to him.

[IrnBruAddict]

'No it wasn't.' He reaches up with a weak hand and takes Elly's ball. 'It was my fault. They were there for me. They killed the kid to get to me. This was my responsibility.'

He doesn't look at Arte, still not wanting to make eye contact with anyone just yet. He felt ashamed about what he had done. Instead, he just kept looking at Elly's ball. 'Sorry girl. We got a new job, and new team members. And then I cause this to happen. Well, at least you are okay. And luckily Gerald didn't get hurt either. I know you don't like being in there, me and you have always been together since you were born. But I can't let you out here.' He looked absolutely crushed. He knew from what little medical training he had that it wasn't hygenic to be around pokemon with open wounds like his, yet he wished more than anything that he could see her. Elly was his best friend. She had gotten weaker, while Romeo had only weakened himself.

[Esprit15]

"I meant giving yourself up like that. However, I'm not going to argue with you on the merits and failings of what anyone did while you're in this condition. I will say that Gerald caused the kid to die, however. Not you. Had he waited, the boy would have lived. Everyone on the team is beating themselves up for the wrong reasons right now." She pats his back. "You want me to get her some fresh air, if she hates being in there like that?"

[IrnBruAddict]

He passes back the ball, still not looking at her. 'Yeah, she'd like that. Just promise me that you and the guys will look after my team for me. Elly isn't used to being in a ball, and Puck is sill a baby. Luna still isn't a 100% used to the idea of being a trainers pokemon, but she's getting there. And Fairy Tail will be fine if she's with her family. And promise me one other thing Arte.'

Romeo slams his good hand against the wall. 'Get me that Abra! It wasn't really me, or even Gerald. Stacey killed the kid! She killed him cos she was bored witm me, and wanted paid. And I don't want to lose any body else to the fighters. The kid seemed a good guy. Jordan just wanted what was best for his Slugma. You never know, we might have been friends had we got to know him. So get me that Abra so the Fighters won't take anyone else away from me.' Tears were going down his face, and he was still confused emotionally. But the one thought in his mind was getting that Abra to stop the fighters from hurting anyone else.

[Esprit15]

She laughs. "You talk as though you're going to die. Broken bones heal. Even faster when we have the team mechanical experts just build you some new joints. Gerald was thinking about trying to make you anew finger even. But yeah, I'll get her some air. Your cuts should close up in less than an hour or so, so you'll be able to have her keep you company."

Artemis's voice gets serious. "Romeo, he was a good kid, but you seem to have missed the point of the breaking your bones and carving you up like an Unfezant. You messed with fighter's and this happened. This was just for screwing the wrong girl. If you went out of your way to kill one... You're angry right now. We'll get her later, but right now, you just need to rest." She turns him over and gives him a hug and a kiss on one of the few not cut up parts of his face before walking out of the hospital and letting Elly out. "Don't worry Elly, Romeo is just a bit bruised up right now and can't be around Pokémon. As soon as his cuts heal you'll be able to see him." She pets the Umbreon.

[Arcran]

Most of you
You all soon arrive at Silph Co, minus Romeo and Arte of course. You use the special keys to go to the Rocket floor.

When you arrive, you get a few looks, but there aren't many people left. It's almost eight.

The head woman is still in her office, packing stuff up as she prepares to head out for the day. When she sees you, she looks at you tiredly.

"So, you got the Slugma," she says, her voice emotionless. "Good work. Mr. Slate, would you please care to inform me in what way you managed to aquire said Slugma?"

Arte
It's almost an hour before you can go back in; when you do Romeo is lying on the hospital bed, barely concious.

Romeo
As the others leave a nurse comes in, hooking you up to a drip that slowly numbs your entire body.

You wake up an hour later. You can feel stiches pulling at the large majority of your cuts, but you don't feel any pain from it. You also can feel thick casts on your legs.

[Eshkigal]

"Through the work of the others primarily, where their quick thinking saved the mission despite my stupider choices. I apologize for my actions, they were rash, poorly thought out, even more poorly executed, and ended with a hitman after Romeo putting a bullet in the skull of the owner. If it weren't for Artemis capitalizing on the confusion my appearance created to steal them away from the corpse while they were focused on me, we would likely have lost our chance and Romeo would have ended up in the hospital for even less reason. I...I focused on the wrong things this mission, and that caused performance to suffer greatly."
He pulls out his pistol and puts it on her desk.
"I do not know exactly how far the consequences go in Team Rocket. But I know what they were with my previous group. If you seek my death, all I ask is that it is quick. If you seek my suffering, all I ask is that it is inflicted solely upon me."
In his mind, he's running through the likely scenarios. He hopes they don't have the kind of people who think in terms of wounds being art forms. Those people suck.

[Esprit15]

"Well they seem to be doing a decent job fixing you up. Think your body is sealed up enough for Elly to come out, or do you just want to sleep? She seemed to really miss you." She hands him the ball and pulls up a chair besides the hospital bed.

[Arcran]

"Through the work of the others primarily, where their quick thinking saved the mission despite my stupider choices. I apologize for my actions, they were rash, poorly thought out, even more poorly executed, and ended with a hitman after Romeo putting a bullet in the skull of the owner. If it weren't for Artemis capitalizing on the confusion my appearance created to steal them away from the corpse while they were focused on me, we would likely have lost our chance and Romeo would have ended up in the hospital for even less reason. I...I focused on the wrong things this mission, and that caused performance to suffer greatly."
He pulls out his pistol and puts it on her desk.
"I do not know exactly how far the consequences go in Team Rocket. But I know what they were with my previous group. If you seek my death, all I ask is that it is quick. If you seek my suffering, all I ask is that it is inflicted solely upon me."
In his mind, he's running through the likely scenarios. He hopes they don't have the kind of people who think in terms of wounds being art forms. Those people suck.

"I didn't ask for an apology; I asked for what happened," she says in an annoyed voice.

[Eshkigal]

"The first day of the time frame, I found a likely candidate for the target-in this case, a 16 year old named Jordan. The second day-today, that is, Romeo and Ethan disguised themselves and after confirming my suspicions about the kid with a third source-later found to be one of the hitmen-Romeo sold him on a very compelling lie that Artemis, Ethan, and Romeo came up with to get the kid to give the slugma over. After that was waiting until a few hours ago, when the kid called. Due to strain in his voice, it was determined that it was heavily under duress, so we plotted to try and keep bloodshed to a minimum. For the record, during all this, Paul was kept as a reserve in case things did not go according to plan in such a way that his capabilities would be useful.

This is the point I apologize for. We approached the meet sight, confirmed two hostiles and the kid and his mon as hostages, and closed in. I overheard the girl talk about ventilating the kid's skull if no one arrived in a short time limit, and moved to prevent it. Instead, I accidentally caused it, and then in the ensuing clustermuk kept both assassins focused on me while Artemis used her powers of telekinesis to save the mission while I used their attention to keep them from noticing. It was her quick thinking then that saved it, and Romeo's willingness to sacrifice his wellbeing to save me that lets me report to you."
He stares straight ahead as he talks, replaying the past two days in his head.

[IrnBruAddict]

Romeo points the ball at the floor and lets Elly out. Then he pets the side of the bed and she jumps up next to him, laying her head on his stomache. It took a few seconds for them both to get comfortable.

'I guess I still need to get used to how big you are now. Listen, while I'm in here, your job is to look after everyone. Except for King, you are the strongest they have. So can you look after Arte and the others till I get out?'

Elly sits up and looks him in the eyes. 'No, come on girl. Don't be like that. This isn't anything serious. A few days of bed rest and flirting with nurses, then I'll be better.' She tilts her head. 'Okay, fine. It was stupid of me to think I could hide anything from you. Yes, I did get hurt badly. I just did what I had to do to protect my friends and my pokemon. What if the Hariyama had fought you? Me living without you is just as hard as you living without me. This was the best way for us to make it out unharmed.' Elly bashes her head against Romeo's skull. 'Oww. Okay, okay, won't happen again. Now come here and hug me better.' Trainer and pokemon embrace each other.

[Esprit15]

Artemis makes an "Ahem" at the comment about the nurses, but smiles and rolls her eyes. "Just remember our deal, lover boy. Don't think because we're postponing treatment you get to go fooling around with some nurse. Actually, seeing as you're bedridden for now..." She makes a scissors sign with her hand. "Less time you're stuck in bed, the better. Love you or not, I'm not getting myself knocked up for-" Wait, did you just say that? Just pass it off as a slip of the tongue. What sounds like the word 'love?' 'Like,' maybe? No, still has a similar meaning after that. "I mean..." She starts blushing, waiting to see if this blows up in her face.

[Arcran]

"The first day of the time frame, I found a likely candidate for the target-in this case, a 16 year old named Jordan. The second day-today, that is, Romeo and Ethan disguised themselves and after confirming my suspicions about the kid with a third source-later found to be one of the hitmen-Romeo sold him on a very compelling lie that Artemis, Ethan, and Romeo came up with to get the kid to give the slugma over. After that was waiting until a few hours ago, when the kid called. Due to strain in his voice, it was determined that it was heavily under duress, so we plotted to try and keep bloodshed to a minimum. For the record, during all this, Paul was kept as a reserve in case things did not go according to plan in such a way that his capabilities would be useful.

This is the point I apologize for. We approached the meet sight, confirmed two hostiles and the kid and his mon as hostages, and closed in. I overheard the girl talk about ventilating the kid's skull if no one arrived in a short time limit, and moved to prevent it. Instead, I accidentally caused it, and then in the ensuing clustermuk kept both assassins focused on me while Artemis used her powers of telekinesis to save the mission while I used their attention to keep them from noticing. It was her quick thinking then that saved it, and Romeo's willingness to sacrifice his wellbeing to save me that lets me report to you."
He stares straight ahead as he talks, replaying the past two days in his head.

"So, what I'm hearing, is that you were competent enough to find the kid, and that's about it. After that, you mishandled a hostage situation, causing the deaht of the target, needlessly endangered your team, and finally sacrificed your own team member due to your own incompetence," she says, looking at you with disgust.

"Well, you are a failure. Here at Rocket, we rarely give second chances. Please, hand me your Pokemon," she says, pulling a hammer from her desk.

[Eshkigal]

"Please don't kill my pokemon!"
He actually cringes at that before recovering. He knew it, he muking knew it....
[C.OLOR="DarkOrange"]"Given to Romeo in hopes he can use them better if I die. He sacrificed himself, without prompting. I still do not understand why, as I expected them to leave me to die."[/COLOR]
He picks up his gun, preps it (since certain words don't work) and points it to his own temple.
"I failed to help my team and have been a hindrance. My pokemon are still more competent than I am. Is this an acceptable alternative to their destruction?"

[Arcran]

"Please don't kill my pokemon!"
He actually cringes at that before recovering. He knew it, he muking knew it....
[C.OLOR="DarkOrange"]"Given to Romeo in hopes he can use them better if I die. He sacrificed himself, without prompting. I still do not understand why, as I expected them to leave me to die."[/COLOR]
He picks up his gun, preps it (since certain words don't work) and points it to his own temple.
"I failed to help my team and have been a hindrance. My pokemon are still more competent than I am. Is this an acceptable alternative to their destruction?"

"Don't be a child," she says, rolling her eyes. "Until such a time as you can bring me your Pokemon, you're off this team. If they aren't here in 24 hours, well, we'll have to teach you a more personal lesson."

[Eshkigal]

Gerald looks confused.
"More personal? Miss, getting parts of me torn off is less personal to me than harming them intentionally. Killing me would be less personal to me. You need to explain. Also...off the team until I bring them? You mean I am not cut entirely?"

[Arcran]

Gerald looks confused.
"More personal? Miss, getting parts of me torn off is less personal to me than harming them intentionally. Killing me would be less personal to me. You need to explain. Also...off the team until I bring them? You mean I am not cut entirely?"

"No. You have proved you have some worth, as little as it may be. Until such a time as you have brought your Pokemon to me, you are cut. If they are not herer within the next twelve hours we will hunt you down as if you were a defector. I expect all four of your Pokemon on my desk tommorrow, your ass in that chair, all by eight o'clock tommorrow morning. Understand?" she says, sliding the hammer into her desk.

[IrnBruAddict]

'Yeah, getting the snip while I'm in here makes sense, not like I can be in much more pain.' When Arte mentions the L-word, Romeo almsot falls out o his bad, and sends Elly tumbilng off. If his legs weren't strapped in, he'd have fallen right off. He pulles himself back onto his bed by the blankets. 'What was that Arte? I mean... ah, never mind. I think I'm still a bit trippy from the drugs.' If Arte tried to read his mind, she'd feel confusion and uncertainty, as well as a little bit of happiness, imagining what it would be like if Arte really did love him. 'Sorry, just ignore me, I'm just stupid old Romeo. Look, can you take care of Elly till I get out, she trusts you, as do I.' He gives her his big heart-breaking smile.

[Esprit15]

Artemis jumps as Romeo falls out of the bed, partially catching him as he falls before the sling on his cast acts more like a noose. She helps him back into the bed. Thank Arceus he was fairly light.

Well, tell him that it wasn't misspeaking or hearing? I want to but... You have the perfect out if you don't want to. Did I take that last time? Nope. Then why would it is time? "N-no, you- you didn't mishear. Your body wouldn't have reacted that strongly to something that it only may have heard." Well, you've made your bed now. Judge it, why do you always say the worst saying possible? "I- I think I-" She looks at what he was thinking for guidance, quickly. It would just be a small jolt of pain added to what he was already feeling. Hardly noticeable at all. He is open to it. Possibly as more than a fling, by the looks of it. I thought lying to myself was bad. The emotions are too complex there for it to be that simple. True. Then she notices the smile, and hugs him. "Why do you have to be so- Gah, I can't even think of the word!" She holds onto him for a while. "Not a problem. I'll take good care of her."

[Eshkigal]

"...Understood. Am I allowed to leave?"
Sullen at what will likely happen, he hangs his head low. In the back of his mind, he wonders if it would be better to end it now to spare his mon. He waits for approval to be dismissed. Once he gets that, he leaves directly for the hospital, no stopping.

Meanwhile, another part of his mind pulls the boy's poke balls off his belt and puts them on the table.

[IrnBruAddict]

As she hugs him, Romeo pulls her face gently over and kisses her. Not a passionate tongue kiss, just a quick kiss on the lips. 'Look, Arte, I haven't eaten all day. Not since Copycats. Why don't you go grab us some food from the cafateria, and me and you can have dinner together. I think you'd like that, I know I would. There is nothing you can do till you hear back from the guys, and nothing I can do for the next few days. I'd like a nice chance to calm down and relax.' He lets go of her.

Romeo glances Eastwards out the window. 'Did I tell you I grew up in Lavander? I left travelling for some excitement. I think this was exciting enough, I could use a little bed rest after all that's happened these last few days.' He seems to be in a much better mood now.

[MesiDoomstalker]

Ma'am. What are our orders? Ethan had watched patiently. Despite how much he wanted to protested against Gerald's self-damnation, he knew better to interrupt either him or the boss. But she had not adressed anyone but Gerald, who seemed to be a special case.

[Arcran]

"...Understood. Am I allowed to leave?"
Sullen at what will likely happen, he hangs his head low. In the back of his mind, he wonders if it would be better to end it now to spare his mon. He waits for approval to be dismissed. Once he gets that, he leaves directly for the hospital, no stopping.

Meanwhile, another part of his mind pulls the boy's poke balls off his belt and puts them on the table.

"Just go," she says, waving you away.

You soon arrive at the hospital. People are heading out, leaving their loved ones for the night.


As she hugs him, Romeo pulls her face gently over and kisses her. Not a passionate tongue kiss, just a quick kiss on the lips. 'Look, Arte, I haven't eaten all day. Not since Copycats. Why don't you go grab us some food from the cafateria, and me and you can have dinner together. I think you'd like that, I know I would. There is nothing you can do till you hear back from the guys, and nothing I can do for the next few days. I'd like a nice chance to calm down and relax.' He lets go of her.

Romeo glances Eastwards out the window. 'Did I tell you I grew up in Lavander? I left travelling for some excitement. I think this was exciting enough, I could use a little bed rest after all that's happened these last few days.' He seems to be in a much better mood now.

Between almost falling out of bed and the hug, some of your stiches have reopened, and even the painkillers can't mask the pain across your chest and in your knees. You almost fall unconcious, then look down to see blood seeping through your shirt. A nurse rushes in.

"Stop moving so much!" she says angrily. "We're going to have to ask you to leave," she says to Artemis, looking at the blood stains on the shirt in disgust. "We can't have you putting so much stress on this man's body," she says, wheeling him out, likely to fix his stitches.


Ma'am. What are our orders? Ethan had watched patiently. Despite how much he wanted to protested against Gerald's self-damnation, he knew better to interrupt either him or the boss. But she had not adressed anyone but Gerald, who seemed to be a special case.

"For now? Go. Rest somewhere, relax. We understand that Romeo is currently in the hospital. I will send somebody their to give you your rewards at approximately ten o'clock tommorrow. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have things to do," she says, sweeping the boy's Pokeballs off the table into her briefcase and heading out.

[Esprit15]

"Sorry!"

Hunger finally became noticeable. Had she eaten since Copycat's? Not much even there. Gods! Was that only this morning? Should have eaten something before the second meet up. She reluctantly let's the woman pull him away from him and heads down the hall to get them some food.

Something light and good for them. Nutrients to help Romeo recover. She saw the usual options for food that she had seen all the way back in Unova: tomato soup, grilled cheese sandwiches, a skimpy salad bar, and a near unifentifiable dish that was always swapped out daily, and a few more local choices. She got two bowls of the soup and two glasses of milk, and a large Ganlon fruit to split between them. Should be something they both can enjoy. She takes her time thinking of what to get. They had to fix up his stitches. It will be about half an hour at least. She pays for the two meals and returns to Romeo's room, only to find it closed. She sits on the floor by it, preparing the fruit to eat.

[Eshkigal]

Gerald sends a quick text to Arte. One word.
-Location.
He continues on his way, ignoring any possible attempts from Ethan or Paul to get him to stop.

[Esprit15]

-Romeo's room at the hospital, trying not to further piss off Fighters. I can't win with them! Things go well at meeting?-

[Eshkigal]

-For most of us. Ask Ethan for details. Need team back ASAP. Repairs happen tomorrow.
Once he gets there, he practically sprints up the stairs. All the way he dejectedly thinks of his current options and assets-run, die. Ship self, die later. Scatter pokemon to different boxes, trackable with their resources, all die. Suicide, they die too. Go, get put down like a houndour. Go, little life expectancy. Mon lower. Best chances for them.
He's still plotting them out when he gets there.

[Esprit15]

"You want your team back now that everything-" And then she sees his thoughts. Normally she'd be mad about him interrupting her, but his panicked thoughts tell her that this is just a tad more important. After being sure that no nurses are present, she floats the Pokéballs to him without a word. Be strong. Don't do anything rash.

[Eshkigal]

Will do my best.
"Sorry to interrupt. Thank you. Both of you enjoy."
He then exits in a path that leads him out and away from likely paths Ethan and Paul would take, working his way back towards Silph as best he could without running across either.

[MesiDoomstalker]

Ethan follows behind Gerald in silence. He wasn't the best with words. Or feelings. He would only make things worse. He lets Gerald talk with Artemis undisturbed and avoids eye contact as he leaves. He approaches How's Romeo?

[Esprit15]

"He's fine. His stitches opened back up, so they had to fix them. He should be back soon, hopefully less drugged up than before. You should be able to talk to him while he eats." She dips a finger in the tomato soup to taste it. "They have some good food in the cafeteria. You should get something to eat while you wait."

[MesiDoomstalker]

I think I will. Ethan grabs some food, not paying much attention to what he grabs. He returns and begins eating outside with Artemis.

[Eshkigal]

Gerald finds the closest center to Silph Co and pays for basically being stuck in an old janitor's closet. He does not send out any of his team, instead setting up several different alarms to wake him up at 7 the next day.
Of course, that assumes he slept. 2 hours. Better than nothing. He goes directly to Silph, team on his belt, at exactly 7 AM.

[Esprit15]

"So did things go well at Silph? Aside from Gerald's fears appearing to be true?" She attempts to talk casually. She'd just speak with telepathy, but she was trying to focus on the air above the soup, holding it (and thus the steam) down to keep the meal warm. It wasn't working very well. Fluids were always more complicated to move than solids. They flow when you apply a force. It was like trying to block a hole with jello.

[MesiDoomstalker]

Aside from Gerald? Nothing really. She took the kids pokemon and told us to go home and rest. He takes a look towards Romeo's room. The rest I'll wait till we can talk to Romeo as well.

[Esprit15]

Artemis nods quietly. After a few minutes she just groans. Muk it. It's like blocking a dam with jello... So, you were never really specific about why you actually joined Rocket. Might as well find something to chat about while we wait.

[MesiDoomstalker]

Ethan smirked. A burst of complex scientific thoughts rush through his mind, too quickly for Artemis to interpret properly (though she could probably understand them if she had time to study them). I have ideas. A pet project of mine. But not everyone saw it in the same light as I do. Artemis gets a general feeling of superiority emanting from him. And a bit of egotism. He obviously wanted her to ask to explain. Ethan was back at least for now.

[Esprit15]

A fair amount of the ideas that she gets make sense and are familiar. Physical laws, things she learned when just mastering her powers. Others are just not familiar, most of them more specialized things that you don't learn except from a biology book or another similar text. He feels laughter in his head, and Artemis visibly smirks. Want to show that brain off? Okay, I'll humor you: What was the project about? She could already see the idea in his head, it being the main thing that he was thinking about. She could almost read it in his face, even.

[MesiDoomstalker]

A smile. A real genuine smil spread across his face, larger than anyone thought he'd be able to do so. Have you ever wished Aquilla was just a bit faster? Could hit just a bit stronger? Spot a target just a bit further away? Thats what I wanted to do. I had what others called 'unconventional' and 'mad' ideas on how to do it. Ethan flexed his bionic arm, the floursecant lighting reflecting off the exposed finger tips. This is similar. Gerald's arm is actually closer to what I want. Bionic enhancments. Pokemon cyborgs. I was at the Pewter University prior. But the faculty and Silph who funded my lab did not like my approaches. They shut me down and kicked me out. His smile quick turns into a disgusted smirk. He was shut down by short-sighted fools. And he didn't like that.

[Esprit15]

More accurate certainly. Don't know how I personally would feel about mechanically altering him. More of a personal preference though, not an entire ethical issue. It's just mechanical surgery, though. If he was injured I'd do it in a heartbeat. Short sighted fools. Okay, that was a bit harsh, but people who didn't understand. Where had she experienced that before. Didn't like the approaches? What was wrong with that?

[MesiDoomstalker]

It wasn't simply adding mechanical parts ontop like my arm. It was replacement. Remove a limb, give it a cybernetic one. Faster, stronger, more resilient. All around better. They didn't like purposefully 'maiming' pokemon. But it WASN'T maiming! They were always under heavy anesthetic, in a safe medical enviroment. Controlled conditions. Better than the alternative. If we waited for a pokemon to get hurt, loose a limb, then it be maiming. And we have so few candidates for testing. Each case would have been different. Parts customized for each individual injury. It wouldn't be efficient. There would be too many variables. It would be more strain on the pokemon. Having to loose their limb and live throw it, just to go through surgery and recovery with a new prosethetic. Artemis feels a mixture of emtions. Anger, annoyance, cold logic and just a hint of empathy.

[Esprit15]

Your method was way safer than what they suggested. If they were injured, then there is a time limit. There is further damage and strain as the injury has to be properly shaped for the replacement. People just can't stand newer ways of thinking. My parents flipped when they found out I wanted to learn to be a trainer.

[MesiDoomstalker]

They were close minded. I heard that TR didn't question their scientists methods so long as they do good work. I started snooping around and I suppose I caught their attention. Ultimatly I would like to use thier power, resources, facilities and lack of 'ethical concerns' to complete my work. I'm sure they know about it and is at least partially why they were interested in me. Ethan pause his internal dialogue though his mind didn't stop. An image of a metal plated pokemon, something that looked similar to Ollie but bigger. I don't think I heard why they are interested in you. Care to share?

[Arcran]

Romeo's Friends, and Girlfriend
In about another half hour Romeo is wheeled back into the room. He is unconcious.

"Unless you guys are related to him, you'll have to leave now."

Gerald
You manage to make it to the office before she does. The door is locked. About fifteen minutes later, she shows up.

"Mr. Slate. Early. Earning yourself whatever points you have left I see," she says, opening the door.

"Please, take a seat," she says, her voice a little too nice. "And set your Pokeballs on the table while you're at it."

[Esprit15]

Not entirely sure. Seems like they'd have been better of recruiting my older brother if he wasn't such a goody. He at least finally took after the family tradition of rotting one's mind with Hexing. Not me. I prefer my health. I think just having a bit of variety in me was of interest. Someone who has been taught to be a trainer and graduated top of their class, and is a Psychic on top of that. Sounded disappointed though when I said that I detest Hexing, though, so I think one large selling point of mine vanished with that comment. Artemis gets up as she sees Romeo. "Fiancée." Eh, close enough.

[Eshkigal]

Gerald pauses, and considers the question that ate at him since she brought it up in the first place. It's cost him dearly before, but...well, if he's right, he has little to lose he wouldn't already, and it'd be nice to die with a reason. He puts the balls on her desk.
"Why, Miss. From what you told us the first time we met, you only wanted me as a hitman. But there are people more mentally stable and reliable than I will ever be. As you said, Team Rocket isn't big on second chances, so why are you doing this? I could have gotten the others killed for my stupidity and incompetence far too easily."
He sits, hoping for an answer. Probably just a bullet, but there's always some hope...or maybe it was sleep deprivation. Maybe.

[Arcran]

"Why?" she says, looking at you. "Well, that arm is impressive. You were quite the hitman back in Fuschia. If you don't start acting like one thoug, we'll have to, step in." she says. "Now, put your Pokemon on the table."