Pokemon: The Change [[IC]]

[Preach]

She was caught off-guard. Who was this guy? Then, Mina remembered - the pungent man. He wasn't pungent anymore, though. She listened to what he had to say, before replying, "I hadn't considered the cause of this in detail, but what you're saying makes sense. It most likely was the Tyranitar." Mina studied him - he certainly looked determined. It was unlikely that he would listen if she told him what her Espeon had said, but she did so anyway. "And you're right again, it's probably nothing. This Espeon here is mine, too. Psychic types are good at... Well... Generally knowing what's up." She smiled, trying to be convincing. "He doesn't think this is anything to be worried about, either. Be that as it may, while I am happy to take this Pokemon's word..." A pause, this man was obviously able to hunt down threatening Pokemon, apparently through his own skills and without using any Pokemon himself. Then, Mina remembered how Charizard had acted around him - and glancing down at Espeon, she noticed he was staring, too. She continued, "I'm not sure if you would."

Just then, Nurse Joy re-entered the Center with a few people following behind, sporting their own injuries, or holding injured Pokemon. Mina was relieved - she felt a sense of duty in staying and taking care of any injuries, but now that the Nurse was back there was apparently no need to do so. She glanced over at the person who was passed out on the floor - still no sign of them regaining consciousness. Still, now that Nurse Joy was back at the Center, there was no real need for her to stay.

Mina had taken note of the man's slightly condescending tone, but let it slide. "I'm curious to see what happened too, though. And now that she's back," she gestured at Nurse Joy, "it's not necessary for me to stay and... Take care of the rats." Another pause. "Sure, I'll go with you. Although, honestly, I'm not sure a fight will be necessary. Let's get going." She then realized that he had asked her this without introducing himself - then again, she hadn't introduced herself yet, either. "Oh -we should get this out of the way first. My name's Mina. What should I call you?" She extended her right hand out for a handshake. A slightly outdated gesture, perhaps, but it was a habit from her travelling days she kept and was apparently unable to let go.

[SeoulDancer]

(wrong One sorry delete this post please sorry to bother the wrong chat)

[Tetsuya]

Haru awoke to find himself lying on the floor, Meganium lying at his feet- in fact, his legs were resting on Meganium He slowly reached up and lightly touched his forehead, finding an ice pack- he assumed Meganium had placed it on him, because there was no way Meganium would let anyone near Haru while he was injured.

There was a low, concerned cry, and Meganium finally moved to allow Haru to slowly rise, removing the ice pack as he went.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Haru said to Meganium. That wasn't entirely true- his head was still throbbing, but that wasn't a big deal.

"But what about you? You're supposed to be in your Pokeball?" Haru asked reproachfully.

Meganium simply frowned and stared at Haru.

"I guess I should've known better," Haru said with a sigh. If there was any chance of Haru being in danger, there was no way Meganium would stay in its Pokeball. However, Haru was curious as to how Meganium had obtained an ice pack, since Meganium certainly wouldn't leave Haru unattended. Haru also noticed that Meganium didn't look quite so pale, and it was then that he noticed an empty pouch laying nearby. The only possible explanation was that someone had given these to Meganium, but that in itself was odd- Meganium was not a very trusting Pokemon...

But that wasn't important right now. What was important was finding out what had caused that quake. Judging by its strength and how suddenly it had hit, it had to have been a Pokemon, which was worth checking out. If it did turn out to be a Pokemon, it had to be stopped.

"You think you're up for another fight?" Haru asked Meganium.

Meganium responded with a confident nod.

With that, the two headed towards the door of the Pokemon Center.

[E1Alpha]

Saffron City

Deron was walking down Route 8, his destination lying dead ahead of him. He kept his ears sharp to keep track of his enviroments, or atleast what was left of them. Although his head was aimed at the dry and dead surface he walked over, his eyes soared from left to right, until suddenly, ristling of dead plants echoed across the area. Deron stopped in his tracks and lifted his head up, the dog tag and shell piece hanging from his neck colliding, providing a slight clinging sound. His hands moved out of his pockets, pulling his jacket open as one hand rested on the knife locked onto his belt, the other running along the collection of pokéballs hanging from his belt, dropping his worn-out, black backpack that was hanging over one shoulder on the ground. "I know you're out there... Show yourself and face me like a man!" He called out into the wind, but no response came. Leaving his hands in place on the knife and his pokéballs, he continues forward, continiously shifting his gaze from left to right. Saffron City was right ahead, but whatever was following him wasn't going to let him get there unharmed.

Out of nowhere, it suddenly happened. Two Persians leaped out of hiding, one in front and one behind Deron, growling and hissing menacingly. They were obviously starving and craving a good meal. They circled around Deron as their prey, but Deron didn't even break a sweat, his eyes just coldly followed the two feline pokémon as they circled around him, as his fingertips traced along the pokéballs, picking out one specifically, pressing the button in its middle as it grew to full size, before dropping the ball next to himself, after which it flashed open, causing the two Persians to stumble back from suprise, as a rugged, but rather well-trained Magnemite hovered above Deron's shoulder. His cold eyes met those of the Persian in front of him as he swiftly drew his knife, spinning it in his hand. "Come at me, kitty..." The two Persian collected themselves and rushed forward, claws out as they were aiming mostly for Deron, who swiftly dove to the side, his Magnemite diving to the opposite side as the two Persians smashed into eachother headfirst, dropping onto the ground beneath them, dazed. Deron didn't even hesitate to call out his next words. "Magnemite. Thunder Wave!" The metallic pokémon gave off the metallic sound he always does, as sparks ignite between the ends of its magnets, before electricity surged through the pokémon, letting waves of electricity burst out, striking both Persians at once with it, as their nerve systems would paralyse almost completely. Deron walked over to the two, shaking his head, before raising his hand. "Magnemite. Enough." Magnemite obeyed his command without question, as Deron put away his blade and continued on to the city, the magnemite hovering by his side, as the two Persians were left helplessly, unable to move.

Once he finally stepped into the city, he let out a sigh of relief, taking out the same pokéball as earlier. "Magnemite. Return." And with those words, his Magnemite was returned into its ball, wherafter Deron would put the ball on his belt again, only to be startled by two sudden gunshots in the distance. Knowing it was a bad move, his body disobeyed his will as he started rushing towards the origin of the noises. As he rushed through the streets, he stopped at a crossroads, looking around as he didn't know where to go from there. That was, until he saw a girl come out of a small shop. He narrowed his eyes at her, spotting something that resembled a gun in her hands. Glaring, he reached for his gun as he stepped towards the girl on a rapid pace, before raising his gun, aiming it directly at the girl. "Alright, criminal! I don't know who you robbed or what you just stole. But a smoking gun tells me enough. So make a smart move by putting that gun down and surrendering yourself!" His other hand already had a pokéball gripped between three fingers, pressing the button as it would grow to full size, obviously being aware of the Growlithe that was accompanying her.

[Almost_Blue]

Route 38 / Ekruteak City

Beryl could barely comprehend what he just witnessed, he knew of Onix's species having an evolution obviously from his time before The Change, when he would observe Jasmine and her own Steelix in combat. She was even an inspiration of his when he caught his Onix in the first place, but this seemed to happen a little fast for Beryl. He wasn't quite positive that he was ready for this, hoping his Steelix would continue to hold respect for him in these oncoming days.

"How.. ...How do you feel?" He questioned, stuck kneeling down on the grass, as his ankle wasn't back to being one-hundred percent after the thundershock it endured. His Steelix lowered his head down to the ground directly in front of its trainer, in a manner of proving it knew who was still alpha in this relationship. Beryl smiled, reaching out to pet the cold steel pokemon with his gloved hand and bare fingers.
"Now, how about that ride to Ekruteak?" Beryl inquired, tilting his head as he stared into Steelix's eyes.
The long iron snake pokemon lowered its head even more in a nod, turning to the side to make it easier for his trainer to climb onto. Beryl, once securing his backpack, grabbed ahold of the tiny horn-like feature on Steelix's skull, to use as assistance to climb up, and sat rather comfortably on the back of his head, hanging on.
"Let's try to stay as covert as we can, alright?" He offered, petting his Steelix on top of the skull before continuing to speak; "Even though I'm positive you could take down anything in our path~" Beryl offered in an attempt that would boost the ego of his newly evolved pokemon, gambling a bit as this could also lead them down a path of trouble if their relationship were to ever sour.

With a low growl, Steelix moved itself through the trees with ease, leaving less noise as it traveled along, than it would as an Onix, having less friction in this new form. Many of the wild pokemon in this area that witnessed this massive Iron snake traveling along would purposely avoid getting in its path, in fear of being erased from their own lives.
As the three [Kakuna is still hiding in his bag] emerged from the trees they discovered a new path that lead directly to Ekruteak, in fact Beryl could see the gate to the city from where they were. This good news put a smile on his face as he leaned over to relax on Steelix's skull, this was the first time in a looong time that Beryl had felt completely safe in the wild, which seemed to lift quite the burden off of his shoulders.
As they approached the gate their speed slowed down. Beryl leaned forward and pointed to one of the few benches in Johto that hasn't been destroyed by wild pokemon or humans looking for materials.
"Lets rest there for a while, now that we've arrived, alright Steelix?" Beryl commanded.
Complying, Steelix lowered its head as he drew closer to the bench, obviously those from Ekruteak who still lived near the gate of the town could see the Iron Snake from inside the actual town; including those who guarded the gate, though Beryl wasn't a stranger here, he'd been coming to this town for supplies among other things for weeks now. Beryl carefully; for the sake of his ankle, climbed down from his Steelix's neck, limping over a few feet to the bench, and removed his bag before sitting down onto the wooden seat. The immediate thing he did was open up his bag to remove Kakuna from the depths, wiping off a few dust and dirt particles that lingered inside the old bag. "And you're alright too? I'm sorry that you had to ride in there.." He confessed, while smiling down to the Kakuna that wasn't quite his own pokemon just yet.
Not a very verbal pokemon, Kakuna blinked upwards toward the male a few times, letting off as nice of an expression that a Kakuna could, that really only a person who was close to a pokemon could understand. Perhaps Beryl saw the gratitude in its eyes.

[DuskingMorning]

Saffron City

Dusky was stunned as she watched the man approach her. What had she done? Why was he calling her a criminal? But at the mention of the gun in her hand, she realized why he had accused her of such a thing as stealing. The gun in he had pointed at showed her this was no joking matter, and her face paled. So, not wanting to get shot, she laid the gun on the ground. She wasn't much for weapons anyway (aside from her knife, anyway). Slowly, she returned her hands to her sides, fighting the urge to scream. Her heart was pounding, and Growlithe was growling lowly. He wouldn't attack unless Dusky commanded him to do so, and it was obvious he was waiting for her to say anything that sounded like a command for him to fight the man.

"I-I didn't st-steal anything," she stammered. She cursed herself mentally for stuttering but continued to explain. "I live here, and I was just out getting some meat for my pokemon and myself. When I was in the shop, some guy came in and tried to take my pokemon-"

As if on que, Pichu (who had a habit of breaking out of his pokeball at the worst times), just happened to burst out of his pokeball, cheering happily about who-knows-what.

"Pi! Pi! Pichu!" he sang, jumping up and down. Then he saw the man with the gun and quickly fell silent as he took cover behind Dusky's legs, whimpering in fear.

"Uh . . . sorry about that," she said quickly. "Anyway, as I was saying, he tried to take my pokemon, and that gun," she said, pointing to the gun that lay on the ground, "was his. I tried telling I didn't have any, but he saw my pokeballs and demanded I gave them to him. When I told him 'No', he was going to shoot me, but the store owner, Frank, shot him first and killed the man. Then Frank told me to take the meat I had come in to purchase and the man's gun and head home."

She drew in a deep breath, now shivering from fear. This had been the second time within maybe a few minutes that she had been held at gun point. Needless to say, it hadn't been a good day. Still, Dusky tried to steady herself and she looked the man dead on. As she looked at his eyes, she saw there was just a trace of sadness, and if it hadn't been for the fact he had his gun pointed at her face, she might've asked him what was bothering him. But Dusky knew this was no time to be courteous to a stranger who was trying to debate whether to shoot her or not. The growls coming from Growlithe were becoming more and more menacing by the second, and Pichu's whimpers were becoming more pitful with each one he made audible to those standing around him.

"I swear," she breathed. "You can go in there and ask Frank yourself." Her voice was smooth and even as she said this, and she could only hope he believed her. She wasn't ready to die.

[E1Alpha]

Saffron City

Deron narrowed his eyes even further, gripping the gun tightly as he listened to her, his eyes darting to the pichu as it popped out, before looking back at the girl, dropping his own pokéball now, as it would flash open and reveal a Kadabra, which seemed to be pretty worn himself, obviously requiring some rest soon. "Kadabra...Do you think this girl could be a criminal..." The pokémon glanced over to the three thoughtfully, stepping closer to them, holding his spoon up as he observes them closely, walking up until about a meter away from the three, before turning and shaking his head.

At that, Deron, nodded and lowered his gun, putting it away. "Hand her her gun again." Kadabra nodded, using his telekinesis to carefully let the gun levitate and hover to the girl, before Deron would call him back into his ball, speaking up in a serious but somewhat gentler tone. "My apologies for falsely accusing you... I just arrived in town and came over here because of the gunshots. But if my Kadabra believes you to be a honest girl, then so shall I." He'd then look down at the Pichu. "No need to be scared, little one." He'd then turn his attention to the girl again, eyeing her over. "Freezing up like that won't help you if you come to face someone less kind. You need to be a bit more self-assured." He then let out a sigh, obviously fairly exhausted himself as he looks around. "Can I perhaps ask you to point me in the direction of a pokémon center? My pokémon need some rest." His sorrow-filled eyes gazed down at the girl, most likely being a fair bit taller than her as he wasn't one of the shortest.

[DuskingMorning]

Saffron City

Dusky let out a sigh of relief as the man lowered his gun and she took her gun in her hand. She was quite relieved he hadn't shot her (who wouldn't be?), but her heart was still racing. Growlithe was standing very rigid and protectively in front of Dusky, a few low growls still coming from him. Pichu was still shaking behind her, so she knelt down to pick him up in her free arm.

"You'll be just fine," she told the shivering pokemon. Pichu, clutched to her arm before quickly making his way to her shoulder, grasping onto the sleeve of her shirt. Growlithe had now ceased his growling but he still was looking at the man warily. Dusky turned to the man and nodded slightly.

"Thank you," she said, "you know, for not shooting me. I didn't mean to freeze up, but after being held at gun point twice in one day . . . well, that's never happened to me before," she explained, letting out a bitter laugh.

Growlithe was surprised to hear Dusky sound so calm as she spoke. Usually she would have been hysterical after something like that happened, but some how she was so . . . pulled together.

"There is a pokemon center nearby, and I can show you the way if you want," she offered. Dusky needed to stop by there anyway, to check on Nurse Joy and a few other things that went on there at the center.

"By the way, I'm Dusky," she said, offering him her hand to shake. His eyes seemed to fill with more sadness and sorrow the longer Dusky looked up into them, and she had to look away from him, as she began to feel sad just by gazing at them. It was obvious he had experienced some kind of pain, but what it was, she wasn't sure.

Her eyes fell to the dog tag around his neck, and she saw what appeared to be a piece of shell was strung on the chain next to it. She decided just took study the shell instead of looking into his eyes. Dusky wasn't sure how to react to all that sadness.

[Jacogos]

Route 7

The trio of man and pokemon didn't meet many ferals, thankfully. Route 7 was rather barren nowadays, more so than most other areas... He didn't understand why. Some of the people in Cerulean thought that waste from Saffron had ruined the environment... Shaun didn't agree or disagree, but it seemed like a valid excuse. Anything to blame the mega city.

While lost in thought, Shaun almost walked right into an Ursaring, only Houndoom's sudden Roar alerting him to the intruder. However, the large bear did not flee, instead immediately using Hammer Arm at the offending dog Pokemon. Houndoom dodged easily, allowing Magmortor to spit a Lava Plume at the feral. Ursaring roared in pain as the Fire attack rushed over him, but it seemed to only infuriate it more. It began to Trash, aiming wildly at the two Pokemon that harassed it, both with Flamethrower when the other was being targeted. Eventually it went down, covered in Burns. Shaun moved up to the panting bear, then brained it with one shot from his shotgun. He sighed heavily afterwards. He never liked having to do that. He might allow small ferals, like Rattata or Pidgey, to live after fainting, but Ursaring were far too dangerous as ferals...

Shaun heard growling and turned to find that Houndoom was looking at a tree nearby, hair on end as smoke trickled from its nostrils. Teeth bared, he was growling rather loudly, though not attacking meant only one thing...

"Whoever's back there better come out before Houndoom decides to loose an Inferno on you," Shaun said calmly. He had no idea who was behind the tree, but most likely it was either someone waiting on the Ursaring to beat someone so he could steal the poor sap's stuff, or whatever that Ursaring had been hunting before Shaun had stumbled upon it. He was betting towards the latter, as if it had been the former, they would've hightailed it as soon as it was apparent that there was no way that lone Ursaring would have been able to beat him.

[E1Alpha]

Saffron City

Deron nodded, forcing out a slight smile as he brought his hand up to meet Dusky's holding it gently as he shook it. "Deron. And I would be glad to have you accompany me to the pokémon center." He smiled, nodding as he looked down at the Growlithe, smiling, before he'd follow Dusky if she were to head to the pokémon center.
The fact that she was looking at his dog tag would not go unnoticed to him, though, and he rapidly brought his hands up to pull his jacket together again, closing it up to hide the shell fragment.

While they would be walking, he'd try to spark yet another conversation, though. "A very bold Growlithe you have. It's not hard to tell that he would not hesitate to catch a bullet for you. Deem yourself lucky with a pokémon like that." The tone upon which he was talking her earlier when he still had her at gunpoint had almost completely vanished, and was replaced with a strong but kind voice. "Again, I'm sorry for startling you like that earlier. But lately you have so many thugs running around, you just can't be careful enough. But you'll need to learn to be able to handle situations like those much calmer, otherwise you're a sitting Psyduck for those who have bad intentions."

As the two would be walking through the streets, however, a small gang of about three men walked out of a nearby alley. They were dressed in rugged leather jackets and looked anything but friendly. The three men stopped in place as they saw Deron and Dusky walk, their eyes seeming to lock on the Pichu and Growlithe as they grinned to eachother, stepping forward to cross their paths, as one of the guys would speak up. "Well, well... Out for a romantic walk, are we? But for a romantic walk, there should be only two of you... So why don't you just hand over your pokémon..." The three grinned, pulling out knives, and the central one who spoke up also pulled out a gun, obviously being the leader of the bunch.

As Deron's eyes met the three that blocked their path, he pulled himself to a stop and laid a hand on Dusky's shoulder to make her stop in place aswell. He realised that these people would not let the two of them go without a fight, but he alone wouldn't be able to single-handed take on three, especially seeing as most of his pokémon needed rest.