Pokémon Legends: Court of Kings

[Marsuru]

The Cave

The air exploded into flame, bright enough to illuminate the dark, gloomy cave for all of a second. When the fire faded, Helena and Ferox would be stood on a stone platform over an inky black drop where running water could be heard gurgling far below. Ferox padded on ahead, her fur glowing white with Flash and illuminating a few feet around her. If Helena wanted to safely cross the natural stone walkway that connected the platform to the rest of the cave, she would have to follow close.

A massive computer screen shone further along, in the cave's main chamber. Beside the monitor's glow, a rigging of lights fixed along the walls kept the cave in a dull gloom. Just enough light to see, not enough to be comfortable. Other hardware littered the floor, including black steel crates. Some were open, revealing an assortment of clothing in some, weapons in others. Everything you'd need for a guerrilla war.

Something shifted to the side. Black, ragged, squirming like slimy flesh as it wrapped into a bundle and stood to its full height. Maybe it was just a trick of the light. Ratio climbed out of his chair near the edge of a long drop, and turned to his new guest.

'Helena,' he said, walking nearer. His voice was almost soft, gentle, nary a trace of the killer who'd crippled the girl's brother. Without his mask, he looked youthful, his skin flawless, but his eyes as distant as ever. 'You decided to come.'  

[Jump Einatz]

Off Route 14

In light of a lack of options and a bleak future for the forest, Cobalion decided to brave the mental uplink. Instantly the thoughts of others flooded their mind, revealing traces of emotions and intentions. There was no killing intent attached from Benedict’s team, just the same uncertainty that would plague any victim of the Stalker’s machinations. Whatever they had come to this forest to do, they had not come to wreak havoc. A tenuous trust could be formed.

Cobalion reared back, about to launch their Close Combat, but hesitated as they tried to branch out a thought for the others. If a camaraderie was to be established then there was no time to lose. Heed my words traveler, the true body of who you seek is-

It could have been chalked up to that moment of hesitation, or the gap in training. Regardless, at that moment, Feraligatr’s Low Kick swept Cobalion off of their feet and onto the ground. They fell onto their side, uttering a single cry of pain that shattered their thought process. Cobalion was barely conscious as roots began to sprout from the ground around them. [You…could have…]

The bark on a tree next to Ferligatr warped, creaking with every turn as it formed what could be interpreted as a mouth. The creak was long and shrill, and after a while it sounded as though the tree was saying “Thaaaaaaankssssssss.”

Roots grappled onto Cobalion. Too weak to fight back, the Iron Will Pokémon could only struggle as the roots forcefully churned the earth to drag Cobalion under in a living burial.

The brush near Feraligatr parted and folded down, turning what had been too thick to walk through into a pathway that led east.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Alexa hopped onto Fearow’s back and Sazerac fluttered behind her. “Don’t fly too quickly, we need to stay close to the others,” she said to Roy while putting a new film cartridge into her camera. She needed as many pictures as she could get from the bird’s eye view of the oil field.

The skyscraper sized tree burst like a volcano, showering another rain of wooden stakes down in the direction of the clearing. Sazerac grit her little Bug teeth, waiting to flap her wings to attempt a defense. Just because Alexa had already been cursed didn't mean the spears were not a danger. It only took one of them to chop off that female trainer's fake arm.

The Curse of Viola had begun walking on the air, getting higher with each step while reaching out to grab onto Alexa. She watched the Curse get on the same level of elevation from over her shoulder. “Now would be a good time to go.”  

[Marsuru]

Off Route 14

[Yes!] Feraligatr roared, punching the air in celebration. [How d'ya like that!]

The Legendary Pokémon Cobalion fell at Feraligatr's feet, gasping for breath as it slipped unconscious. The weird forest roots tried to claim it, but the water type wasn't about to let that happen. It had to go down because it was a threat to the group, that didn't mean he wanted the floor to eat it.

[Oh no you don't,] Feraligatr said, heaving the heavy metal pokémon off the ground, snapping the roots with his powered up strength before they could get a proper grasp. He stooped under the pokémon's half ton weight, and with his boiled blood settling, he could hear the mental link properly.

Things were bad, and it sounded like they'd get worse if Feraligatr didn't get back to Roy. He looked around for a path forward. Luckily, one had been prepared.

[Thanks, tree,] said Feraligatr to the warped bark, soldiering forward with Cobalion across his shoulders, each footstep leaving a deep indent in the forest floor.

---

'What, is it close?' Roy shouted over his shoulder. The curse could've been anywhere. He was relying on Alexa to help him help her stay alive here. Of course, the exploding tree was also a concern.

'Fearow, listen to Alexa,' Roy said. He couldn't give good orders if he couldn't tell what the other side was doing, after all.  

[Spinne Biss]

The Cave

Helena sucked in a gasp as they teleported to the cave. Normally, she would be used to the sudden changes in her environment caused by teleport, but after having her senses played with like they were toys just minutes before, the sudden change was a shock to her.

Catching herself on her left foot as her right foot gave way, Helena looked after Ferox who started forward.

Planting her foot firmly, Helena would push forward, following the fire type in all of its glowing, majestic glory.

Helena was anxious about what came next. As the cave gave way to Ratio's hideout, crates and technology everywhere, she sucked in a deep breath. Everything was darkness, but Helena wasn't afriad of it.

Even as she caught sight of Ratio, Helena did not feel the same terror that she felt when confronted by Jean-Pierre, nor the same terror that she had felt when the teen had first witnessed Ratio.

It was the same darkness, gloomy lighting giving a luminiscient glow to the room that gave an idea of what was there, but not a full understanding of it. However, instead of fearing what lay in that darkness, Helena felt comforted by it.

Ratio had come for her. Even if he had an agenda, Helena knew one thing for sure, Jean wouldn't get her here. For a short period of time, she was safe. With Tyrant's ball in her bag, and the pokemon still untrained, she was also sure that Ratio had no intentions of forcing her to join him, at least not yet.

You're safe.

Helena sniffed, and rubbed one of her eyes. It was sore, raw, from crying. A hint of the memory of pain lingered, and she tensed, and looked to the man cloaked in darkness.

"Yeah." She brought a hand up to the side of her neck. It had started bleeding again when Jean had departed. Helena kept pressure on it just in case. "Uhh, thanks for the invitation." Helena doubted that Ratio had come for her just to protect her, he probably also wanted something. Still, the timing lead Helena to her question. "Who was that? He said he killed you."  

[Spinne Biss]

Off-Route 14

An exploding tree was not a problem. At least, not when your biggest ally was size. Bridgette was riding Kabutop's head as they moved toward the location of their attacker, completely moving around the Curse.

I'll bet that if we had a teleporting Pokemon we could send that thing into space.

Bridgette let out Drifblim as the curse rain got close, and he knew what to do, using Substitute.

Then it was Baton Passed as Bridgette released her "World's Strongest Punch Version Two!" Wailord moving to Earthquake the tree and all of its escaping bits, protected by Substitute.  

[Klarp Glornharm]

Francis used whirlwind, as planned, to redirect any extra spears that came Ben's way. Which was good, because Cobalion fainting at such an important point in his warning made things even harder.

"Alexa!" Benedict called to the sky, though it was unclear if she'd even hear him really. "Do you have any revives on you?" His pace picked up, to keep up with the others, and he considered trying to have Francis carry him like that Fearow was doing for Roy and Alexa. But then, maybe life or death situations weren't the best ones to learn if your pokemon could fly with you on their back. At least while it was still safe to walk.

Manny, meanwhile, kept a focus on where they were going. Because he was apparently the only one there who could find a crazy tree-controlling thing.  

[Jump Einatz]

((Mars said I should take control of Roy and Fearow while he's out for a few days. My rule shall be firm but fair I think I'll do alright))

Off Route 14

As Feraligatr hustled towards the east, he drifted farther and farther away from his trainer and the others who were heading north, stepping outside the range of Manny's Telepathy.

The path ahead of him twisted, turned and looped, while the underbrush resurfaced behind him and covered the way he once came.

With Cobalion passed out, the wild Pokémon that had been afraid to hunt became fierce again. Rustling would sound around the Water Type from all sides. Soon, that rustling would lead to battle cries, and that would lead to another swarm of off route monsters going in for a kill.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Wailord was thrust into the base of the titanic tree, sending a tremor that vaporized half of it and caused the rest to burst faster than before. The whale's Substitute took the scratches that Wailord's huge body soaked up, rendering it unharmed. By the end of it, the Substitute was gone. The rest of the shrapnel that flew out in an erratic pattern was blown away by Francis and Sazerac.

"I can't hear you!" Alexa yelled over the flapping of Fearow's wings. Realizing the same probably applied to Benedict, she tapped the side of her forehead, trying to get the point to him that he was ready for the mental connection now that Ben and Manny were no longer Confused.

Two large vines ripped up from the ground, right underneath the feet of the two active Curses. Although they could not be moved by the volition of someone else, the vines had no trouble taking the Curses for a ride. As they grew, the one carrying Bridgette's Curse slithered to the ground right behind her and the one carrying Alexa's went sky high.

"It's on the vine!" Alexa yelled, and Fearow took on evasive maneuvers, veering off in a sharp turn to try and lose the chasing vine as the Viola Curse groped out to grab at Alexa.

Ahead of the grounded travelers, fat branches extended off the trees ahead. As they grew they became thorny, and intertwined together to create a spiked wall. It was a clear sign that they were getting too close for the Stalker's comfort, but also that the power of their foe was greater the closer they got.

At the same time, everyone would be able to hear the rumbling of off route Pokémon closing in on them from all sides, undeterred now that Cobalion had been bested. Two stray Energy Balls were shot from the east, skimming bushes on their way to Benedict and Bridgette.  

[Spinne Biss]

Off-Route 14

Drifblim broke off from Bridgette as he was released once Wailord was put away. Drifblim would create a Substitute, and then begin to use consecutive Calm Mind.

Kabutops, meanwhile, as Bridgette clung to his head, shot forward with the first of what was intended to be three Rock Polishes. This would allow the Energy Ball to miss the two of them entirely, instead flying off wildly into the forest

"Don't worry!" Bridgette shouted, though likely nobody could hear her, "I'll end this in five minutes!"  

[Klarp Glornharm]

Benedict saw Alexa tap her head and got the hint. After a quick scan to make sure the cursed ones were not threats, Everyone was invited to join mental link as Manny started on using calm mind again to help handle the influx of minds. Everyone started with Alexa, who would receive a repeat of the question from Ben.

Revives. Have one?

Benedict, meanwhile, took the time to rethink his previous assessment of not wanting to suddenly test Francis ability to carry his wight when the Pokemon saw the incoming attacks. Francis made the decision to quick attack towards him, and give him, and Manny, time to hold on before taking off again. Essence was, of course, clinging to Ben.

For anyone who joined the link, an awareness of the aura would come into their minds.

Magical leaf flew out from the grass type, striking at the vine that pursued Alexa, since Bridgette seemed fine.  

[Jump Einatz]

Orrean Desert, About Three Years Ago

A single shiver coursed through Salieri. It had been around a year since she started training in this country and the nightly temperature drop still got to her. A land where the days scorched barren ground and the nights froze it over, Orre was the closest thing to hell on earth.

Exhausted from walking through soft sand for hours, Salieri cleared the top of a sand dune and looked around. Zero light pollution gave her a clear view of the stars, something always gorgeous no matter how harsh her environment was. Over the bend she saw the sand puffing up in erratic lines. The teen tied her bandanna tight around her forehead, took out of switchblade and licked her lips.

Dinner.

Gravity let Sal skid down the dune to where the sand was being upturned, and when she stopped she stood still and ready. From underground rose a purple cobra, waving in the air and flicking its tongue at Salieri. The Arbok shimmied, displaying the hypnotic pattern on its hood to distract her.

What worked on the few wild Pokémon in Orre would not work on her. Salieri clapped her hands over her head, kept her elbows wide, and shimmied in a similar fashion, cautiously imitating the Arbok like her teacher had taught her to. She felt ridiculous doing the snake dance as Arbok watched her, easing up with every second.

She wasn’t sure if it was working, but Arbok carefully slithered towards her. If she kept it up and drew in the cobra, she could launch a cheap shot and knock out Arbok on her own. But if the element of surprise was not in her favor, the Pokémon superior reflexes could render her easy prey.

No other soul was around to watch, yet Salieri felt her face flush red with embarrassment. The façade she gave off was silly, no matter if it was effective. This technique would never do her any good in a real battle. The trip to Orre was meant to increase her training and combat skills. It was time to test that out.

Prematurely, Salieri dropped the act, flicked open her switch, and moved in on Arbok. The cobra wised up to her trick as soon as it was over with and lunged, fangs wide open and shining in the moonlight.

Sal dropped low and Arbok dove over her. She grabbed at the snake with one hand and stabbed into its side with the other. The knife drew a shallow cut into the serpent’s side, and before she knew it, Arbok had turned around and lunged at her again. This time Sal predicted the motion and thrust a high kick to the side of its face, knocking Arbok off course and giving her time to scramble away.

At least, she thought it would, but Arbok was quicker than that. It went back around and knocked Sal to the ground with a slap of its tail. Sal hit the soft sand hard, and Arbok wrapped its tail around her body, constricting her tightly.

The last thing she saw before she passed out was the purple venom sizzling from its mouth. Now she was the one who was dinner.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The moon was still up when Salieri stirred awake, laying down on her familiar sleeping bag. A campfire illuminated her immediate surroundings. Over it was a mostly skinned Arbok, spinning on a spittle.

“Dinner,” came a voice from the other side of the campfire. The only part of her teacher she could see were his huge calloused hands illuminated by the fire. His voice was soft but gravely, like what she imagined a speaking mountain might sound like.

Sal lifted up her shirt. The spot where the Arbok had been crushing her ribs didn’t hurt at all, and was free of bruises. “Rosario patched you up.”
“Where is she?”
“Getting more dinner.”

She propped herself up. In the light of the fire she could see their hoverbike, a standard Orrean model with one stabilizing wheel and a sidecar. “Your stupid trick didn’t work. I would’ve been snake food.”
“You didn’t do it right.”
“Yeah?” Sal was hot with impatience. “What’s the right way?”
“Patience.”

Sal threw a palmful of sand to her side angrily. “I didn’t come here to learn patience, I came to learn how to fight!”
“You know how to fight.” One of her teacher’s large hands turned the spittle. The meat sizzled.
“I need to know how to win!”
“You win with patience.”
Sal growled and folded her arms, pouting. “I’m not getting anywhere with you.”

Her teacher sighed. She could hear the sand shift as he adjusted himself. “Then why are you still here?”

Salieri opened her mouth, expecting to have a zippy response. She had nothing. “You know…that’s a good question.” The girl watched the flames waves in the air. It didn’t matter how badass her teacher was if she wasn’t learning anything she could use. “Maybe I’ll leave, then.”

He said nothing as he pulled off a piece of the grilled Arbok with a fork. She heard him chewing. “Did you hear me? I said that maybe I should leave.”
“Okay.”

His indifference made her frustrations flare up. Hastily, Salieri got up and packed what little she had into her bag. “I’m gonna do it.” Again, he said nothing. “I don’t need you!” When she was finally done, she glared angrily across the fire at the silhouette of his face. From what she could see, it was the same as ever. Tired and sad.

Her stomach rumbled. Salieri debated walking away then and there, but she wouldn’t make it far on an empty stomach. Quickly, she took her own fork out of her bag and ripped off a piece of the meat. “Now I’m leaving,” she declared with a mouthful of food. “Which way did Rosario go?”

The teacher pointed south. Her Lucario would be able to sense her location with Aura. They’d meet up soon enough. Salieri walked over to the hoverbike and heaved it into upright position. “The bike stays here,” her teacher told her firmly.
“I’m the one who found it.”
“And now it’s mine.”
“Where are the keys?”

She heard them jingle around his neck, along with the other, ancient key he wore at all times. Sal held her hand out. “Give them to me.”
“Come take them.”

Salieri thought long and hard about that challenge. Her hand dropped in decline. “Alright, then that’s it.” She shuffled off.
“Where will you go?” he asked as she turned.
“There’s somebody else in Orre that can teach me what I wanna know, and he actually wants me around.”
"You mean the pirate."
"Yeah, the pirate."

"Salieri." Sal looked over her shoulder as the silhouette of her teacher stood up. He was without a doubt the largest human she had ever met, standing as tall as a Seviper was long. His great size made his soft tone even more jarring. "He's only trouble."
"Yeah, well. I think trouble is what I need right now."

He stood in quiet defiance of her logic before sitting back down, turning the spittle with a weary sigh. "You're young. Sometimes, the best way to learn is from mistakes."

Shalour City, Present Day

From her stakeout perch on a drugstore rooftop, Salieri watched Skarada lazily pick his nose down in the northern cove through her binoculars. She stuck out her tongue, disgusted. “I can’t believe I looked up to this guy, Biz.”

Her Chesnaught had a wooden cannon formed around his forearm, keeping it level and trained on Skarada. It was a precaution in case the pirate was really up to no good. One of his eyes was closed while the other peered through the Scope Lens monocle taken from Faust. [Eh, I can see why.] Biz planted his foot on the raised edge of the roof. [He looks kinda badass.]
“I was, what, fifteen years old? So impressionable. But soon I’ll be eighteen and my stances on everything will totally be the same forever.”
[Yeah, totally.]

A single, loud scream sounded off from the pier. Both Sal and Biz looked in that direction, then at each other, trying to make sense of it. “It’s probably nothing, keep steady,” Sal told him.

It was probably something. Curious, Salieri moved her binoculars to watch the pier, but her angle from the rooftop was no good. Not that it mattered, since she wouldn’t be moving from this spot. Ska was slippery, and could disappear at any time. She had to stay.

“Do you think there’s trouble?” Sal asked Biz, who shrugged in a way that said ‘Yes’. She ran her fingers through her hair. “If it doesn’t have to do with Ska or Flair or Ratio or nobles then it has nothing to do with me.”

Sal put his binocs back on Ska. She fidgeted with her toes, and pursed her lips together. “…we’ll check for just a second,” she said, feeling Matheson channeling himself through her conscience.
[Yeah, just a second,] Biz agreed immediately, already deactivating his arm cannon and taking off the Scope Lens. He handed it to his trainer.
“And then we’ll be right back here, and he’ll still be here, and there ya go.”
[Yep, super easy.]

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Helena had just left with Ferox by the time Salieri got to the tiny pier. There was no one else around. Salieri was ready to head back when she saw a patch of blood on the sand. She leaned over to inspect it, and saw a trail of blood drops leading underneath the pier. They stopped soon after.

“Rey,” she said, releasing her Vaporeon. “There’s no one under there, right?”

Reynard twitched her nose, annoyed she was degraded to being a scout, but checked the water anyway, lifting up the shallows bit by bit with her hydrokinesis. As she checked and found no one, Salieri felt her attempt at a good deed slipping to waste. At least she felt like Helena’s naggings about her selfishness were less justified.

“This was dumb.” Salieri was already going back to the stakeout. She returned Reynard and ushered Biz Marquis to follow her. “C’mon, let’s hustle!”

When they got back to the top of the cove and Salieri looked down below, Skarada was gone. Her mouth hung open, flabbergasted until she kicked a garbage can on the side of the road next to her. “Merde!” She huffed and scanned around, looking for any sight of the pirate king’s beanie or longcoat or Murkrow. There was nothing.

“Back to square ******** one, stupid piece of trashy, emo haircut babyman dingus-“

Salieri continued to blab a string of bizarre insults born of frustration as she stomped back into town.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After Salieri left, Skarada exited the drugstore that she had been perched on the roof of. He decided to hide there in plain sight when she abandoned her stakeout, a decision that served him well on two fronts. One was that he had shaken her tail with ease and now he could wait for Zack to exit to Tower of Mastery in peace. It wouldn’t be long before the Sablenite was his.

“And now we’ve got snacks, Keasbey,” he told the Murkrow on his shoulder, taking the wealth of candies, chips and other goodies he had stolen from the store out of his pockets. He passed a piece of beef jerky up to Keasbey on their way back to the cove.

“Brawwwk! Snacks! Snacks!” Keasbey squawked.  

[Jump Einatz]

Off Route 14

No self respecting trainer traveled without healing Items, but Alexa could hardly be considered a trainer. She had prioritized packing up journalistic equipment, something that was coming to bite her in the a**. "Roy! Do you have a Revive?"

Magical Leaf cut the vine chasing Fearow. The detached half fell far below, and the half still bound to the ground continued to grow rampantly, catching Alexa's Curse without stopping its pursuit. Fearow barrel rolled away, but didn't create much distance.

"Just this one!" Roy shouted back to Alexa, handing her a standard Revive. She passed it on to Sazerac, who darted her way to Francis for the delivery. Who's it for? she messaged to Ben through Manny.

Her answer would probably be delayed, as the off route Pokemon finally arrived. Four Haunter flew up from the treetops and tossed Dark Pulses at the two groups in the sky, as well as Sazerac on her way to Ben.

The ground below Kabutops and Gogoat gave way, melting away into mud that made running quite difficult as three dopey eyed Quagsires emerged from below, Digging their way up to slam into the travelers.

Gogoat tried to slow down in light of the spikey wall of branches ahead of them. The twins pulled his reins, veering him off to the side at the last minute to narrowly avoid being attacked and to go the long way around the wall. Bridgette had sped up instead of slowing down, and so she would slip and slide right into the thorny wall with the Quagsires right behind her.

And through all of this, the Stalker would make sure they were known. Tall pillars of bark erupted from the ground into the sky, creating obstacles for the fliers to navigate around while they contended with the Haunters. And on the ground, strips of bark peeled off from the trees to lash at Bridgette and the twins. At best, they'd make more Cursed scratches, and at worst they could slice off a limb.

All the while, Manny would know just how close they were to the Stalker. Just a bit farther...  

[Spinne Biss]

((Did Bridgette get an invite?))

Off Route 14

"Too fast, too faaaaast!"

Bridgette was lost as the two slipped and skidded through the mud, Kabutops slamming into the vine wall as Bridgette picked herself up from the gunk.

Below ground was Drifblim, who phased to the surface as he saw the Quagsire, moving faster only by the fact that he had no resistance to stop him. He'd grab Bridgette, lifting her up and just enough above the attacks to toss her to safety, one Quagsire heading straight toward Drifblim's Substitute instead as the Ghost type used his second Calm Mind.

Kabutops, meanwhile, turned himself into a propeller, firing at the wall with a combination of Rapid Spin and Aqua Jet, speeding up the spinning blades, and turning them so that they'd come at an angle - it would then become a coincidence for the bark that it was likely to be split asunder by Kabutop's blades, as well as any emerging Quagsire would be at an angle to literally lose their head if they charged him.

That was when The thief arrived, having finally caught up with the crowd. Bridgette rested on her hand and knees, trying to pull herself from the mud, and looking particularly out of it.

The thief would take Wailord's ball from her, finding it easy, not just because she was particularly tiny and easy to move about, but because she was too disorientated to fight back in that moment.

"Hey!" she did manage to call, "thief!"

"Not thief," he said, moving to pull her to one side with one arm - the bark whips barely missing them, as he aimed Wailord's ball that half of the rest.

When Wailord emerged, it would topple the trees, ripping them all apart and taking away The Stalker's fuel. It would only take a couple of seconds for him to recall the whale and point the Pokemon at the other side of the path, to rip the trees away from there as well.

"The name's-"

"I don't care."  

[Klarp Glornharm]

(I mean, originally, but I guess it makes more sense to do it one by one just to make it more dramatic.)
Off Route 14

Ben started to feel the rush once the news that the revive was on its way became available. A potential ally. He responded mentally. Sazerac was on their way, and things seemed like they might start working out. All they had to do was get past the trees, evade the wild pokemon, and somehow reach whatever this thing called a body.

Also not die. That was a pretty important part.

The mental link went out to Bridgette and her pokemon next. An invitation if they wanted to join. Meanwhile, worry seed went out behind him. Normally, this attack would only be able to hit one of their opponents, but again that was where Benedict's dumb plans came into play.

The swerving motion, as Francis avoided new obstacles and moved to get to Sazerac sooner, with the plan to help the pokemon along in avoiding attacks, would become a twister meant to catch up the seeds and carry them above the dark pulses, if possible, and scatter them enough to let them hit all of the haunters, and ground the buggers.

If there was a way to manage it with minimal risk, Benedict would attempt to receive the delivery of the revive of Sazerac, and direct the pokemon to dive with them as Frances started some fancy flying that would eventually turn into a dive to get away from the dark pulses in the nick of time. Unfortunately, he wouldn't exactly have time to make the pokemon's decision for them.

As they dove, Essence would make another try at that vine, this time using magical leaf to attempt to bisect the vine from the top down, effectively attempting to split it so it could no longer really support the pokemon. And when the vine would attempt to adapt, another magical leaf would strike closer to its base to cut it as she had before, in order to delay it longer. They couldn't after all, afford more difficulty with the curses.

Besides, if he let Alexa die, all of this would just be some crazy conspiracy nuts with no credibility.

We're close. If anyone knows tailwind to help us get ahead of these guys, now's the time to use it.  

[Jump Einatz]

((So close guys, we're soooo close))

Off Route 14

In the air, Fearow and Francis swerved and veered side to side, weaving through the spiky pillars of wood as they rose into the sky. The Twister dispersed a small shower of Worry Seeds above the Haunters. Three of them could see it coming and dodged with their own fancy flying, but one other was stung by a seed and plummeted far below. "Haaaauuuuunnnntttttteeeerrrrrr!"

The remaining Ghosts continued their chase, splitting up Francis, Fearow and Sazerac between them. Each one followed their new targets like TIE fighters, swiftly coming up behind and firing Dark Pulses when they got the chance.

I'm on it! "Tailwind!" Alexa yelled to Sazerac, who was having plenty of trouble dodging the Haunter tailing her. The Vivillon's wings fluttered and suddenly, as well as the rest of her allies in the air, would be twice as fast. Those on the ground were too far to receive the temporary boost. With her new speed, she twirled in daring barrel roll, one which Haunter followed. What the wild Pokémon did not know was that Sazerac was leading it right into a wooden pillar.

After the collision, one more Haunter fell down and Sazerac watched her handiwork's results. Now free of her pursuer, she tried to make her dive to follow Francis. As she did, a branch extended off a pillar in front of her. By the time she saw it, it was too late to dodge.

Thinking quickly, she tossed the Revive down, where it would hopefully end up in Ben's hands. The impact on the branch knocked the little Bug out cold, sending her falling in a tailspin below. Alexa stood up on Fearow and watched Sazerac fall. The tree pillars were in the way of her Pokéball's recall beam. There was nothing she could do except scream "NO!"

Anyone still connected on the mental link would feel Alexa's panic at watching her best friend fall into the death trap of a forest. Ben, do something! Alexa asked mentally when she get a hold of herself, as he was the closest one to Sazerac.

While Roy directed Fearow to fly around the tree pillars and shake the Haunter behind them, Essence's Magical Lead bisected the vine holding Alexa's Curse with extreme precision. It split in long halves that withered to the ground as they were disconnected from their base. The Viola Curse fell, still emotionless, and was caught by an extending branch on a tree pillar. It watched Alexa fly away. No doubt it would chase her the moment it got a chance.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

On the ground, the same tree pillars that bothered the travelers in the sky became obstacles here. Gogoat pranced side to side with all their effort just to avoid running into them as they grew rampantly like geysers of bark, making their path north very indirect. To make matters worse, another Pokémon was upon them now.

An Escavalier was hovering behind them, using its steel lances to jab at the twins anytime it got close enough while felling the trees that were in its way. With all the side to side jumping Gogoat had to do, and Escavalier traveling on a relatively linear path, they would be caught soon.

"We need some help, here!" Noel yelled out loud to anyone who would listen, gripping tightly at the reins as Liam threw off the media equipment to make them lighter and hopefully trip up the jousting snail.

At the same time, Bridgette and her Pokémon were still under assault. The Quagsire who missed with their Dig on Drifblim stopped on the ground, opened their big mouth, and barfed out a Muddy Water, a thick stream of dirty liquid that spread wide to damage and blind the balloon. The extra defense of Calm Mind would not do much to deter this opponent, as Quagsire remained selectively Unaware.

The other two Quagsire plopped themselves onto their stomachs, narrowly avoiding the sickles of Kabutops as the ancient shellfish plowed into the wall of trees. After a few seconds of grinding through the layers like a buzzsaw, Kabutops would make it through the wall-

Only to be face to face with Drifblim. This Drifblim was not the real thing, but a Curse given to Kabutops when it was scratched by running into the spiky wall. It floated over towards Kabutops with arms spread wide for a hug. "Bliiiii~"

The two remaining Quagsire picked themselves up from the ground. One dove at Kabutops, sliding on their belly on the mud to Slam their head into Kabutops' legs. The other sought out Bridgette, and when they saw her standing with the thief, regurgitated a Mud Bomb that was fired in a parabola at them.

Wailord's first emergence crushed trees equivalent to the space their body took up, and then it was returned. When the Wailord was released a second time for the other side of the path, the Stalker was ready.

The trees where Wailord was to land bent over as if they were supposed to be flexible, creating a small clearing that Wailord became crammed into. Returning and releasing Pokémon took a turn a notable time during battle, and so before Wailord could be returned again, the trees all sprang back up to their upright position, only they were curved around the whale's massive body.

The result was that Wailord was now caged by all the trees surrounding it, unable to move except for squirming. The trees were so closely intertwined that the Pokéball's recall beam would be blocked as it had been for Alexa in the sky. While more trees grew up to fortify this cage, the trees surrounding Wailord on all sides started growing small prickly branches to scratch into the immobile, "beached" whale.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Though their progress was again stalled, the travelers were still on their way north. Just a bit father north, all the Pokémon would be hit by a wave of a noxious chemical. For the wild Pokémon it would be unbearable, but for those who were trained it would simply be an annoying scent in the background.  

[Spinne Biss]

When Bridgette snatched back Wailord's ball, both of them were thrust into the chaos of the situation that they were in.

And neither of them noticed the scratch.

It started with both trainers diving to escape the Mud Bomb. Bridgette's vision turned to Drifblim, who evaded the Stream with a combination of Acrobatics and Fly, moving into the air where he could more safely begin to prepare for the trials ahead.

Benedict's offer was in her head. She accepted.

As Drifblim rose, he'd notice Sazerac falling and move to catch her, utilizing his Acrobatic skills to reach the bug type and rescue her from The Stalker's clutches. Preparing was the thought that he'd held on to, but it became quickly obvious that he wouldn't have that chance. Instead, Drifblim would use the shadow created by Sazarec to Phantom Force his way to Gogoat, having seen them from above. Drifblim would appear, a few seconds later, to slam into the Escavalier, with enough force to hopefully off-set its path.

Meanwhile, down below, Kabutops heard the Quagsire in the mud, not stopped at all by the Drifblim trying to hug him. It was unsettling, but its appearance made logical sense that it was fake. Instead, Kabutops would jump over the Quagsire, and bring a blade down to 'scratch' him as he past. If it worked, it would mean that his Curse would disappear, and Kabutops would use that chance to Aerial Ace toward Wailord.

While he was worried about Bridgette, he knew simply that Wailord was a goner without them. Bridgette followed after him, shouting to hurry up. Kabutops would slam two blades into the trees that binded Wailord, and pry to open up a hole, it didn't have to be big, it only needed to be wide enough for Bridgette's recall beam to reach.

Which she would try to do.

Whatever this thing is, it's gonna get its butt kicked! Bridgette thought into the mental link. By the way, are we thinking at the speed of thought, or how fast we can form words into our heads, or at about how fast we normall talk?

The thief, meanwhile, was frustrated by all of this madness. He'd face down the Quagsire that had tossed a Mud Bomb at them, revive that he'd stolen from Bridgette at the ready. She hadn't even noticed, he mused, as he brought one of his Pokemon back, ready to join the battle ready fighters.

From a Pokeball emerged Leafeon, still littered with a few injuries here and there, but she came out swinging, firing a Magical Leaf at the Quagsire.

"That's right, I'm back in the game!" shouted the thief. "The name's Dennis. Dennis Tarver." He didn't notice his Curse. Not one step of the approach. Not the green where he'd been scratched by Bridgette in their struggle, or anything. He'd be dead by the time he announced his presence.