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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.”

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."

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.

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!"

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.

((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."

((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.