/in the/ Forest |light of| Travel \the moon\

[;AL P H A]

Well, naturally Linoone was hit by the Swift. It sent the ferret back a few paces, and he shook his head to try and clear it of the stinging pain. That had hurt. Then again, he was vaguely comforted by the fact that the Headbutt had quite possibly hurt more. Still, both of them were getting worn down. He'd have to take a bit of a break after this battle. That hadn't been the plan at all, but he had little choice. Back to the same old tricks, then. Lowering his head, the Linoone charged forwards-

"Hey! Hey, look, I found one! It's the little bugger who's been giving us all the trouble!"
A figure burst out into the small clearing. He was wearing dark clothes, and in a single rapid movement he'd scooped up the out-of-breath Linoone and fixed Sulteron in his sights.
"Don't move. Okay? You got that?" Whipping something small and dark from a pocket in his jeans, he pressed it against Linoone's skin. The ferret jerked as a powerful shock jolted through its body. It was a tazer, then. Backing slowly away, the man turned and fled, giving triumphant shouts to his partners.
"Guys! Come and see, I bagged the Linoone! Some sucker'd weakened him up nicely!"

[~/Birdybot\~]

Sulteron gasped in shock as they picked up Linoone as if they owned the forest. She fought the urge to leap at the cruel men and tear furiously at them as her hands curled into fists, but he had a tazer and would probably seriously hurt Linoone if she tried to save it. Once they'd gone, she looked about at her Pokémon. Mizu had come away from the battle, looking horrified. The others all bore similar expressions, and a couple kept glancing nervously over their shoulders in case the men were to come back. Sulteron spoke in a whisper. "I don't know what's going on, but the Pokémon that guards the forest should, er, 'smite' them, but I think we oughta take a look. Even if there is something else to help, I can't just let this happen." she said. Her Pokémon nodded in agreement.

Minati, Prisul and Fiela took off, flying through the canopy as they ran to catch up with the men. Once they were in view, Sulteron and her Pokémon followed them, thankful for the hiding spots the forest offered. Where would the men go? What was their purpose in taking away Linoone?

[;AL P H A]

Eventually, the small band got back together. There were about three or four of them; it was hard to tell with the dim lighting combined with the dark clothes they were wearing, but there seemed to be two or three men and a single woman. They didn't seem suspicious of anything, although one did look back once or twice.
"Psst. Hey. I think we're being followed. Dunno 'bout you, but I'm getting -"
"Heebie-jeebies, yeah. Keep yer trap shut, will yer?"

After a short period of what seemed like going round in circles, one of the company gave a triumphant yell. "Hey! Hey, I think I can see it. Yeah! Come on!"

It was that shack Minati had seen earlier. The vagabonds (for lack of a better collaborative noun at this period in the narrative) were clustering around the door; one plucked a key from somewhere, and the lock turned, and in they went, dragging the struggling Linoone behind them. It was hard to see from where what exactly was in there. Maybe moving a little closer was in order?

(( Also I found out you can't confirm shinyness just by looking @ the dex picture for Mesprit. I have to go find it in the wild and check before I can reset. -.- Headache time. ))

[~/Birdybot\~]

ooc// Poor Alpha.

ic// Sulteron froze whenever any of them glanced back, seeing her Pokémon do the same thing, too. She strained her sensitive ears to try and pick up every word they uttered, and when they mentioned that they had the 'heebie-jeebies', she and her Pokémon remained still for longer than ever before finally moving again once Minati, at the head of the group, began took off from the branch he'd rested on as he saw them enter the shack.

The Starravia landed in front of the shack, and soon the rest of them had gathered before the door, too. Sulteron looked about nervously. "Is this where they went?" she whispered. Minati nodded. She gave a faint, unconvincing smile, nervously fingering her gold locket which hung around her neck. She'd seen them turn a key; had they locked it once inside, or had they thought that they wouldn't get a threat while they were inside? Well, there was only one way to find out. Taking a deep, collective breath, the Espeon 'morph reached out and attempted to turn the handle. If it failed, she would look for another way in.

[;AL P H A]

(( Inorite? ))

The door hadn't been locked behind the vagabonds, and entrance was surprisingly easy. The handle wasn't even a turn handle, in fact; simply a pull. Inside, it was still relatively gloomy, but one of the people inside happened to be holding a flashlight.

It wasn't particularly impressive. Cages were stacked against the walls, with all manner of Pokémon in. A Starly was nibbling on a bar in an attempt to get free; there were a couple of Wurmple crammed into a single cage looking very sorry for themselves, and even a small Eevee throwing itself up against its container, skin bruised from the repeated bludgeoning. Linoone's limp body was thrust into an empty cage one size too small, and the ferret gave a soft wail as its limbs were bent into unnatural and rather painful positions. If one peered closer, however, and outside the glare of the flashlight, they would see that several shiny objects were present in the shack. Quite a lot, in fact; a veritable treasure hoard. At the moment, two of the dark-clothed strangers were packing some of the clearly valuable whatever-it-was into sacks. A third placed their hands on their hips, glancing pessimistically around.
"Hey. How're we gonna transport all these cages? Some of those little blighters look heavy, you know. No way can we carry 'em all."
"I've had enough hard lifting." a female voice chimed in. "Hey, boss, you promised this'd be a quick and easy job. When do we get to the quick and easy bit?"
"Quiet, you lot." The individual now speaking seemed to be in charge. "I reckon that there Linoone was the last of them troublemakers. In theory, now we should be able to snatch all the little pokermans we want, and not a soul will get in our way. I think we should stay here a little longer. Could be... profitable."

[~/Birdybot\~]

Sulteron gasped in horror as the terrible sight met her eyes. All these Pokémon, trapped, hurt... it was inhumane. They deserved more, much more. They deserved the freedom they were born to exercise. It seemed that the vagabonds had an interesting taste in what to capture; the rarest Pokémon here was the poor bruised Eevee, and even they were fairly common in the forest. No, what was more interesting was how they'd managed to capture all these Pokémon. Surely the legendary who guarded over it would want to stop this, right?

The other Pokémon were also looking horrified, except for Fiela. She was staring at the Eevee. He was pretty... she sighed. Mizu nudged her, and she instantly blushed, trying to do her best to look alert.

Sulteron had to do something, but what? What hope was there? Well, she could hardly just stand there, right? She could at least try. The person had said that not a soul would get in their way. Well, they were about to see that this was one Espeon Pokémorph not to mess with. With a deep breath, she did her best to hide her fear, trying to appear confident. Her Pokémon did the same, fur and the like rising to make themselves appear bigger.

They stepped within sight. "Hey, morons! I wouldn't do that if I were you! The legendary guardian of the forest is sure to make you pay!" she called in the strongest manner she could manage, although there was a slight edge of fear to the child's voice.

[;AL P H A]

(( S'not that horrible, really. The cages aren't that cramped, so you don't have to feel overly sorry for the Pokémon. Think dog-crates. ))

Several heads looked up in unison.
"Hey! How'd you get in here?"
"I told you mate, I told you, I said 'lock the door, I think someone's following us' but noooo, you NEVER listen to poor old me, do ya?"
"Shaddap."

The leader stepped forwards. A taser was held nonchalantly in his left hand, and now he pulled a small pistol into his right from his belt. "Well, well. If it isn't our little friend from before. John told me all about you. We owe ya one. I don't know what all this 'guardian of the forest' crap is about, but I thought you had more sense than that. Why don't you join us, eh? We could do with a smart girl like you. 'Course..."

He nocked the neck of the gun, flicking the safety off and raising it to eye level. "Just because we owe you doesn't mean we're gonna let you try and run away, now, does it, love? You know better than that."
A few of his comrades still appeared on edge, but most seemed heartened by the fact that he had a gun (albeit a small one) pointed at the intruder-freak's cranium. If she tried anything funny, he could blow her brains out... right?

The attention of the Pokémon, too, had been captured by the new face. Many had never seen a gun before, but some had, and were quailing against the walls of their cages in case they themselves should be shot at. A Larvitar tapped against the bars of its cage with an expression of naíve curiosity on its face before its cage-companion, a Treeko, ushered it to stop. The Teddiursa next to them cooed quietly; a soft murmur ran around the collected Pokémon. One of them stuck its tail through the bars of Linoone's cage to try and prod it awake.

(( GUN GUN GUN WAHAHAHAH

PEOW PEOW ))

[~/Birdybot\~]

ooc// Golly, Sulteron's Pokédex is pretty full!

ic// Sulteron froze. Oh, Arceus. This was not good. Why oh why had she made that move? It had been so reckless. It seemed there were more caged Pokémon; Larvitar, Treeco, Teddiursa. Larvitar, Treeco, Eevee and Linoone were the rarest of the Pokémon she'd seen so far in here. But she had a more pressing matter currently to attend to; there was a gun pointed at her. That was, without a doubt, a threat. But would the man actually dare shoot or even kill her? And wouldn't the legendary Pokémon said to live in these forests help her if that happened? Was there even a gaurdian?

No. She was being silly. Of course there was a gaurdian, it was just unable to reach her for some reason right now. Panic was settling in, but she oughta get past that. Reach past the panic. Her heart rate slowed down ever so slightly. Think. She might not be able to do much, but her Pokémon could. The man couldn't shoot six Pokémon and a human at once, after all. The gift she hated actually came in handy for once. +Guys, he can't point the gun at all of us at once. Keep moving, keep away from each other, and try to disarm him.+[/i] she told all her Pokémon at once.

They instantly obeyed, moving at their varying speeds. They circled him, then moved in to try and knock him with such force that he dropped his weapon. Sulteron smiled. Once that was done, she'd find it easier to free the Pokémon.[/size]

[;AL P H A]

(( Yeah.

Protip. Don't imagine that the only Pokémon here are the ones I mention. Think of loads of Pokémon. Like, nearly all the ones that can be found in the forest. Multiples of some. I'm simply too lazy to list 'em all. ))

The man tutted in the back of his throat.
"Shame, almost. Well, if that's how it's going to be..."

He lowered the tazer, sweeping it in a wide arc across the air. Short bursts of static lanced out, leaping at any Pokémon that got close. That wouldn't work, then. Lowering the gun for a second, the man eased a lazy shot at the retreating foot of one of the Pokémon. It missed, of course, but the sharp crack it made wasn't quite as loud as expected. Guess all those years of Bond movies lied to you, huhn? The shot actually made a sizeable hole, or at least a hole that didn't correspond with the size of the bullet. The wood had splintered under the impact, and there was a hole about two inches deep to the ground. From what was visible, the shed was risen a little way off the ground, with a hollow space in between the earth and the floor. Why was dubious; possibly for heating, possibly to keep out the damp; but there it was. Maybe you could use that?

The man stepped forwards. Another shot barreled into the wood at Sulteron's feet, splinters flying upwards. It seemed he didn't want to cause any harm just yet, and was toying with the girl. The wood creaked as he stepped forwards. Didn't he realise he was taking out the supports with every wasted shot? Apparently not.
"It's not too late to give in and say yes." The gun was pointed lazily over his shoulder, but his tazer was at the ready. "We could use a young gal like you. Who knows? You could become rich. Very... rich."

The other vagabonds (who I shall now dub as a collective the evil Team Vagabonds for narrative ease) were chatting amongst themselves.
"Who's this, like, 'guardian' she was going on about?"
"Sounds rare. Think we could catch it, make mega moolahs?"
"I wouldn't get your hopes up, guys. I heard Team Vex got to a legendary Pokémon that was living 'round here."
"Oh, well that settles things. If Vex got their dirty mits on it..."

[~/Birdybot\~]

Sulteron was pretty scared now. The man wasn't just having the gun as an empty threat; he would actually shoot her, as he'd demonstrated with the warning shots. She heard the other vagabonds talking. Team Vex had stolen a legendary Pokémon around here? That might be this gaurdian she'd heard about, which would explain why these people hadn't been stopped already. It also meant there was nothing to save her now. And one of them was armed, and... and....

No. She mustn't panic. Panic and she'd loose. She shook her head at the man's request. "No. Never. I could never take money if it were earnt by harming innocent Pokémon." she said, sounding much calmer than she felt. The supports seemed to be being taken out with each time he shot at them. That gave her a chance. If her quickest Pokémon could dodge out the way of the gun, then more and more supports would be destroyed until... well, the building would fall. +Mizu, Minati, dart about on the ground. Try and get him to shoot but miss, and thus take out the supports.+[/i] she spoke to the Starravia and Buizel through her mind.

With a grin, Mizu gave the man a shove before darting about. Hopefully he'd be angered. Minati blew a loud, rude raspberry, before dashing about too.[/size]

[;AL P H A]

(( Um, question? How exactly does one blow a rasperry without any lips? XD ))

The man readied his gun.
"Well, in that cas- gah! What?"

Buizel's sudden shove caught him totally unawares. Stumbling backwards, the gun went off and blew a copious hole in the cieling. Cursing, he took a quick potshot at the Staravia as it barreled past him, before remembering he had a taser. Snarling, he levelled it and moved forwards threateningly.
"I've had enough of your games, little gir- gah!"

Forgetting there were several large holes in the floor, he yelped as his foot went into one. Squirming, he winced as splinters dug into his flesh. The gun had been flung backwards, and went off again, hitting - how lucky - the lock of one of the cages. The bird Pokémon that had been pressing themselves against its sides (mostly a small flock of Starly, though a few Hoothoot and a Spearow had been shoved in as well) now burst out in a flurry, and several vagabonds threw their arms over their heads in an attempt to protect themselves against the oncoming battering of wings. In the general confusion, one of their number threw themselves to the floor, and was rather pleased to find the gun next to their hand. Straightening up, they aimed it carefully.

Byebye, freak girl. Tehehee. They pulled the trigger.


...unfortunately, as it was small, the gun had only been loaded with five bullets. Whoops. An expression of cold horror creeping onto the woman's face, she pulled the trigger a few more times to make sure than nothing was going to happen, then threw the gun onto the floor. Their boss was still trying to get his foot free.
"Hey! Hey! Ya jerks, help me out! Nggh..."

The men that had tazers drew them out, but they appeared to have lost much of their enthusiasm. This would be a good time to attack... using an electric-type, maybe, to neutralise their electric offense?

[~/Birdybot\~]

ooc// 'Cos he's AWESOME! I dunno. Also, Hoothoot make me lol. I dunno why either.

ic// Sulteron's eyes widened in fear as the woman picked up the gun, instinctively shielding her eyes with her arm, not that that would be of any use. She braced herself for the end, for her death. She'd gone this far, now it was all over. All for nothing. She watched behind her arm as the finger squeezed the trigger...

But no impact came. She saw the woman hold a look of horror, and toss the gun aside. She lowered her arm, sighing in relief but too scared to smile. Seemed like they had used up all the bullets. She wouldn't die today. Well, at least, not yet, anyway.

The boss person had his leg caught in a hole. Ha. Served him right. However, as Sulteron moved to slip towards the cages, the men were in her way. And they had tazers. She could do with an electric attack to stop them, but unfortunately Denkou was in her PC right now. If only she had him with her; his Thundershock or Shock Wave would soon put an end to that. True, Prisul knew an Electric attack; but Thunder Fang was a psychical attack. She needed a distanced move.

Well, there was one move. Zen knew Thunder Wave, but would that be enough? The weak current usually paralyzed opponents, but would it be enough to stop the tazers? Well, it was worth a try, and if it failed, then maybe the men would be paralyzed. "Zen, Thunder Wave. But careful with all these birds around." she said. The Dratini shot a wave of electricity at the men from her mouth, waiting with her fingers crossed- if she'd had any.

[;AL P H A]

(( Not... really what I meant. I meant sending out an electric-type, or something that was resistant to electricity. Hence why I didn't say 'electric-type move'. Feh, guess this post will just go in a slightly different direction to what I was expecting. ))

Thunder Wave had a rather... un-desired effect. As the current made contact with the tazers, they sparked violently. One or two of the people carrying them held their nerve, but the rest dropped them in alarm. Electricity crackled along the floor. Their boss got a nasty shock (as the damp wood was stuck right into his leg), but most of the current was directed towards the most conductive thing in the room; the cages.

Loud squeals could be heard from most of the occupants as sparks crackled up their metal confinement. A few didn't mind; a Cubone was sitting morosely in the corner of his cage, wondering what all the fuss was about, and a Pikachu and a few Pichus that were crammed in together seemed to be quite enjoying themselves; but the rest weren't very happy. With a screaming cry, a Fearow battered its wings against its cage, and the Pokémon in the cage above it gave terrified squeals as they were shaken from side to side. Eevee was back on his feet again, ramming his head hard against the bars - also this time, there appeared to be more of a rhythm to it. Back, forwards, back, forwards... the cluster of Ratatta in the cage behind were mimicking him. In fact, a lot of the cages seemed to be shaking, though not all to the same beat.

A last loud clang and the wall of cages began to collapse. The circuit was broken, for the most part; several flying-types sighed in relief as the current ebbed away. The vagabonds shied away as cages crashed into the floor. Some of the locks bust open, and more Pokémon rushed out to join the flapping, squeaking, screeching crowd that currently filled the room. The boss had seemingly managed to get his foot free, only to be mown down by a small horde of rampaging Caterpie. The remaining tazers were crushed under many feet; and now unarmed, the vagabonds were slowly edging back towards the door. They appeared to be trying to decide whether the freak-girl with her trained Pokémon, or the many wild Pokémon (that were even now attempting to free each other from their cages, although with dubious sucess) were more dangerous, and were taking their chances with the freak-girl. Poor, poor fools...

(( Yeah. It's ASS-WHOOP TIME! ))

[~/Birdybot\~]

ooc// Sulteron doesn't have any Electric types on her anyway.

ic// Sulteron winced as the electrical shocks ran through the cages. She felt sorry for the Flying types among them, but at least there was one positive effect; they were being freed from the cages. They seemed to be freeing their fellows, but without opposable thumbs, they probably wouldn't manage to get far on latches designed to be worked by humans. She should help. However, the vagabonds appeared to have judged her, once again, a target. Who knows, perhaps they thought she'd be easier to take down than the wild Pokémon. Well, her Pokémon were trained, so they could combine brains with brawn, but the wild Pokémon had sheer numbers and adrenalin on their side.

Well, no time to ponder on a silly matter like that now. She needed to ward of the vagabonds long enough for her to free the remaining trapped Pokémon. That done, they could all attack together to drive the vagabonds out. Well, first things first. Hold off the vagabonds. Thankfully, she was a trainer. Thinking up a quick, simple strategy, she spoke clearly, "Fairo, Smokescreen!"

The golden Charmeleon sucked in a deep breath, inflating his lungs as much as was comfortable, and felt the air inside him grow hotter with his own power. He breathed out, a thick cloud of dense, dirty black smoke coming from his jaws. It hung between them and the vagabonds, a large barrier. Hehe. Them being unable to see should hold them off for enough time.

Sulteron hadn't dared wasted any time looking back to see what the move had been like. The Espeon Pokémorph rushed over to where the cages had fallen, moving through the escaped Pokémon to help free the others. Would she manage to free them all before the Smokescreen wore off?

[;AL P H A]

(( Yeah, I realised that after I'd posted. Whoops. x3

It all worked out in the end, anyway. ))

There was a bout of general panic as the Smokescreen attack was used. Not being able to see just added another element of fear to the already-shaky vagabonds. Rushing around like headless Torchics and bumping into one another, one of them finally found the door and they fled into the morning light with wild cries of terror. They'd even left their tasers. Their boss was currently consumed in a mass of stringy silk threads and covered in bugs. You could deal with him later.

The cages worked with a relatively simple mechanism, and they only took a few seconds each to unlock. The remaining Pokémon left their cages as they opened; a Hoothoot was happily reunited with its parent Noctowl; Eevee clambered out of the wreckage, looking a little worn-down; but Linoone still seemed to be in a pretty bad state. Opening its eyes slowly, it soon decided it wasn't worth the trouble and closed them again, drifting off to sleep. Most of the captured Pokémon were trickling out of the open door, though a few stayed, gazing at Sulteron in awe.

< Woww. You were awesome, big cat lady! >
< Pretty sweet, if I say so myself. >
< Yeah. Awesome! You're so awesome! >
< Feh, it was okay, I guess. > The Eevee was proudly sat licking his paws and trying not to wince every time he went over a bruise. The Pokémon next to him, a Ratatta, seemed shocked.
< What are you talking about, dude? She, like, totally saved us all! Way to go, trainer dudette. Put it there. >Raising itself onto its haunches, the rat held up a paw. < He's just saying that 'cos he wants to appear all high and mighty, ya know? >
< I am not! >
< Are too, dude. >
< Am not! >
< Are too! >
< Am NOT! >
< Are too-ooo! >