Welcome to Gaia! ::

((Gonna be mentioning Aura Techniques in a couple of these battles.

Basically both humans and pokémon are capable of using their Aura to create special abilities. Aura was originally used in a war several centuries ago in order to make human soldiers able to fight pokémon directly. Basic Aura abilities (heightened strength, speed and endurance) don't take long to achieve, but special, unique powers take years to fully master.

Meanwhile, Pokémon who use Aura can go beyond the limits of their standard attacks, making unique, often powerful, variations of their natural abilities. There's going to be a later event that will let people start using Aura, but it's being introduced properly now razz ))

"Stand still, you blubbering beach ball!" Leyla yelled frantically as Robby tested the ground with his weight. Ariados' many legs scuttled as it hit the floor, like a set of fingers drumming one after the other.

It hissed when he saw Fried. Big, blazing, bird-like bastards were not the wily bug type's idea of a good time.

"Move!" Leyla commanded quickly as the beefed-up Embers hurled their way. Ariados made use of Agility to quickly zoom to the side and leap through the air. Spitting a strand of silk from its rear end, the spider-mon latched onto a tree, swung around it and made to shoot over Fried's head.

"Net it!" and Ariados launched another Electroweb at its large opponent. Luckily, the web was strong and basically made from electricity. By keeping a sparking strand linking the technique and user together, Ariados would be able to quickly warp the net holes around any attacks that came its way.

--

"It's err-- well, y'know, it's a Deerling," Wayne said quickly as he backed away, "Y'know... cute... happy... a little gay-"

"DEEEER!" the pokémon roared in rage, charging towards Wayne with its head bowed. The hulking monster's increase in size and strength allowed it to walk upright, its heft enough to uproot old trees like they were nothing. Its charge was like a train travelling at high speeds.

So when it stopped suddenly, the slam made the air itself shake. Vespiquen held the monster in a headlock, her wings beating a blur and a million tiny bees swarming around her back as a Defend Order support, helping to secure her, and Mega Deerling, in place.

Mega Deerling stamped its hoof, tearing through the dirt, snarling and growling. It wasn't moving, not yet, but Vespiquen was showing effort.

"Is that Leonarda's...?" Baker said, his forehead shining from where Eunmi smacked it, "What on Earth did you do?!"
Wayne flinched at the high pitch anger in the Plasma grunt's voice and rubbed his neck, "Well, it kept eating Petilil's attacks so... I thought I could make it explode by overfeeding it... I guess it does seem kinda silly in hindsight."

"LIIING!" the monster roared, forcing Vespiquen back as it managed a powerful step forward, the ground shaking as it stomped down.

"Sap Sipper doesn't have an upper limit like that," Baker explained urgently, "but Leonarda was training it using a special technique - to expand the ability using Aura! It wasn't ready for battle yet!"
"It looks ready for battle!" Wayne shouted back, but Baker was swiping his arm through the air, barking an order that Vespiquen put into place immediately.

"Attack Order!" and the bees surrounding the battlefield, the bees swarming about their queen, all honed in on Mega Deerling, striking it from every conceivable angle until it became a gigantic mass of buzzing and stinging yellow and black.

Vespiquen flew back to catch her breath, her technique effective against Grass types. To her surprise, the roaring mass stomped forward, a high whistling sound coming from its head as it reared back.

"Look out!" Wayne shouted, recognising it all too well. If Eunmi wasn't taking cover on her own, he'd make sure to dive into her and drag the girl to the floor. A moment later, the bees were blow away from Mega Deerling's head, an enormous blast of green-yellow solar energy tearing through the air, swiping downwards like a massive sword.

First it struck Vespiquen, splashing off her like water, her typing and multiple Defend Orders shielding the pokémon from serious harm. Less lucky was Baker, stood behind his pokémon, frozen in place by the spectacle. Solar Beam traced down, coming off Vespiquen and striking Baker clear in the chest and blowing him off his feet.

By the time he hit the floor, armor blown away and chest displaying a bloodied burn mark, Vespiquen was falling, wings beating weakly as she fell into unconsciousness. Destiny Bond was a pact they made at the beginning of battle; normally the trust displayed by it made them fight harder, stronger and faster than normal, but this was too much too soon.

Vespiquen's bees dispersed harmlessly and Mega Deerling staggered, scratched and scuffed and angrier than ever.

"Great... now what?" Wayne muttered tiredly, but then the shadow stood in front.
[Aren't you forgetting someone?] Hitmonlee said, cracking his knuckles, [I've been wanting a real challenge for a while now,] he walked towards Mega Deerling, ready to meet it head on, [but since none's around, you'll have to do.]

--

They didn't have time to even breathe. Gorm was already bearing down; Mienshao's assault would have crushed any normal humans dead, but in this case it was only serving as a distraction. Artemis' Aura technique, her wind shield, was enough to stop the immediate force of the Sage Pokémon's attack, but it was through Xen and D-Vee taking Mienshao away that they'd managed to survive it unharmed.

Or as unharmed as you could get when Gorm was after your life. Zack hadn't seen him move, but then he didn't have to. The training he'd received at the World Government had honed his senses, his instincts, to the point where incoming attacks were simply understood and his body reacted accordingly. It allowed him to fight speedsters and avoid deathblow after deathblow, but like Artemis, he hadn't fought properly in at least 10 years.

Unlike Artemis, he'd spent his slow days at Village Bridge keeping his Aura sharp and ready. He swung a fist as he turned around, concentrating the movement on his core for a hard, fast strike that met Gorm's attacking palm dead on. The two blows struck, and Zack used his own Aura Technique, building power into a single point, converting it into heat and force.

As Gorm and Zack's attacks met, the resulting explosion created enormous rings of fire that shot out across the forest for a mile in every direction. Zack himself was shielded from the blast, his Explosion Ability being ineffectual against his own body. Gorm, however, was less lucky.

His skin was burned black as ashes, eyes boiled and robes tattered and torn. Zack breathed out sharply, having long gotten used to the smell of burning flesh; it didn't please him, not at all, but the stench no longer held an overpowering aroma. Then Gorm grinned; his incinerated muscles contorting into a nasty smile.

The charcoal hand span and locked into Zack's wrist, dragging him forwards at the same time as Gorm's other hand grabbed him around the neck. Zack was hoisted into the air, Gorm's powerful grip threatening to snap his neck, crush his throat.

Zack drove his foot to strike Gorm's jaw, snapping the bigger man's head back at a bad angle and releasing him from the tight grip. Zack landed on the ground and leapt back, throwing his hand forward, generating another explosion in his palm that blasted Gorm sharply and threw the user away. Zack touched the ground briefly, flipping back to his feet with considerable distance between him and the Sage.

"This is gonna be troublesome," he said to Artemis as Gorm's broken neck fixed itself, his head cracking back into position. The man's blackened and burned skin was hissing now, the crispy flesh dropping away in fragments and revealing clean, perfect skin beneath it. "He can regenerate."

The surrounding area was desolate. Talls trees toppled and set ablaze by the fire-shockwaves of their initial blows. The clearing had become a small wasteland, grass gone and replaced with burned and cracked dirt, the sky filled with smoke from the burning trees lying around them. The smell of burning plantlife hung heavy on the air and any pokémon too stupid to have fled the battleground would have been engulfed in flame.

From above, it would look like the forest had suddenly gained a huge, blazing crop circle of flattened, flaming trees. They battled at the center, far away from everyone else.

--

Mienshao twisted as Xen collided with him, mid-air. The Zangoose grappling him didn't matter, not in the slightest. He grabbed on with a paw, locking them in an airborne struggle that spun around as D-Vee launched his attack.

Pathetic. Xen was caught by the Shadow Ball instead and it vanished wastefully on the Normal Type. Now at close range and with one paw free, Mienshao generated an Aura Sphere and drove it into the Zangoose's face.

Xen was sent crashing to the ground just as Zack and Gorm's wave of fire engulfed the field. Mienshao planted both feet on the top of a tree as it fell, standing on its tip like a surfer. Running down the bark, the leaves around it igniting, Mienshao made his leap.

As the wave of fire passed, and if D-Vee and Xen were caught in it, they'd be burned, Mienshao jumped off the tree over the top of the flame, landing on the burned-out ground, the fire on the grass being blown out by the force of the shockwave, leaving behind dirt and hair-like husks of grass blades.

He'd immediately go into the next phase of his attack, bringing his arms back and launching another Force Palm forward with sheer, crushing force, this one aimed solely for D-Vee.

--

[Event Post]

The enormous circle of flame erupted from the battle with Gorm, turning the center of the forest into a living, fiery hell. The fights against the Plasma grunts were occurring outside of the initial blast zone, but thanks to the strong winds created by such a wide-spread explosion, the fire was blown onto the undamaged, neighboring trees.

With the forest fire creeping, it wouldn't be long before everyone would be battling in the midst of smoke and fire, the canopies becoming orange and red sweltering ceilings.

In addition to their opponent, they'd also have to contend with the flames of the forest and weak trees crashing down on top of them.

Robby was slow. It was a fact. But ridiculousness had also proven that there was more than his normal movements. This woman was getting in the way of his delicious prize. And he wasn't gonna stand fer it! The obese lad rushed the woman, moving at the speed he had before, against that one other guy in armor. He was closer to the ground, and if she didn't notice him for some reason or another, he would tackle at her, aiming to wrap his arms around her, squeeze, and drag her to the ground to take his weight.

Fried, meanwhile, had his own dilemma. He didn't want to hurt the opponent, but he wasn't in the mood to be hurt or eaten either. The combusken moved, running from the webs of electricity as he fired an ember behind him. The attack was aimed above the spider, more to get it to move or stop attacking than to really harm it. The giant was probably dangerous, but he was absolutely not willing to harm the opponent. Not unless necessary. Just scare it a little...

Henrietta hit the floor and quickly scrambled to her feet. Black smoke rose in the distance, the temperature of the forest rising. Her eyes focused beyond the red tinge at the inner edge of her vision. Quickly she tapped the button on a Pokeball, releasing Melty. A wince accompanied it, but she didn't have the time to figure out where it came from.

The ground split before her at a distance and, adapting, she jumped to the side to avoid it. Her hand that remained attached to her shinai clenched the handle - accompanied by another wince. It became apparent without looking that the first swing had done more than split her face and weapon, it had but across her fingers as well.

Melty, who had also avoided the splitting ground, looked ahead. He could feel the fire, like a homely warmth, and his lips curled into a grin.

The woman was approaching, much faster than Henrietta would have wanted, but she had no options. The forest was wide, an obstacle course of trees and trip hazards.

"This is bad," Henrietta said. Wasted words she'd regret later, the woman didn't seemed inclined to give her a semblance of a chance to do much else. If she was going to give commands, that would be all she'd have time to do. Or so the theory dawned on her.

Still, Henrietta moved into action, running to the side to avoid being caught in the direct path of the woman.

Frate made to catch up from behind while Melty stared down, waiting for the woman to be in view. At that point he'd launch a Fire Spin attack, aimed to swirl around the woman, trap her in a circle of flames that would scorch her attempts to break free, and burn her harshly if she opted to simply dive through. The circle wasn't wide, but it would take up enough space for the purple colored flames to light up the trees directly surrounding the Plasma Grunt.

Squirt stopped his Aqua Jet, forcefully stopping a whole lot of momentum. Quick Attack, which literally did not give you time for anything, would then crash into Squirt before he could think to do two things in a row.

If Squirt wanted to use Ancient Power, that was fine, but he'd have to deal with the previously mentioned Shock Wave coursing through his face and, less than a second later, the rest of his body.

Blitzle would use that time that he'd created to escape the attack by dodging away from it.

Krookodile, meanwhile, would use his catching prepped arms to catch Kai's first round of Arm Thrust, instead making to twist him through the air and slam him upon the ground with his own momentum in a show of Foul Play.

Tayla, finally, would find her razor leaves decayed before they could gain the distance to split to really be a problem, blasted with Acid Spray, her own self put in the line of fire as well. Trubbish stared with a toothy goofy look.

Finally, there as Luka. Albert was not a big, slow, hulking monster of a man. So he actually wasn't slow because of his nature. Luka probably just saw him that way or some such silly nonsense.

That said, Albert's kick would hit the tree, Luka only dodging because of the weight of the steel slowing Albert down. He gave the boy a sidelong glance and cocked a brow. "That was dramatic," he said.

"Isn't your group the one with that little pre-teen in it? You guys killed one of us first, so it'd be fair. Besides, if you're thinking a kick 'n a punch is 'attempting to kill'..." he trailed off.

Squirt used Ancient Power at no particular person, apparently, so Blitzle wasn't worried because like, Squirt didn't aim or something. So the attack would either be given a target(made a proper attack) next post, or fly off harmless to knock over a tree or something.

By now, the area was filling with thick smoke, trees burning in the distance. It was coming closer on a draft, temperature rising.

Blitzle simply fired another Shock Wave. If Squirt had to use Protect, it meant he had no other ideas for dodging. Which meant he was screwed if the attack was used consecutively.

Krookodile, who was a third stage Pokemon, could take an Ember point blank without stopping his actions. So, Kai would be slammed into the ground with Foul Play, having exchanged a blow.

Now with Kai on the floor, he could release Smog, which was fine. Still gripping Kai's arms, Krookodile would place, or make to place, a single stomping foot upon Kai which would activate an Earthquake underneath him with the force of it or something, causing Kai to be hit directly with it if he could not escape.

Tayla, who's momentum from her original swing had apparently not ended, managed to dodge again. After all of that, it was closer to impossible that she could dodge the next hit by swinging without a tree to push off of. So, while she dangled, probably struggling for a tree to push off of, Trubbish would time it. If her momentum ended, she'd be hit by a Gunk Shot. If she made for a tree, she'd be hit by a Gunk Shot the momentum before she came in contact with it, slamming her into it.

Unless she could dodge some other way.

"Don't ask me. I know Olesya is dead, and he did it. I saw her, bled out, him not even flinching at it. Just going off after more of my team."

Albert then looked down the forest, the rising smoke in the distance. "After we managed to leave, your guys collapsed the Dream Yard, too. Willing to bet this forest fire is your fault as well. Everywhere you guys go, you completely eradicate Pokemon environment." His eyes narrowed.

"I won't ******** stand for it."

Except Shockwave can't be dodged. Squirt being fried had given Blitzle the timeframe he needed to dodge up onto the rocks, over the Earth Quake(Squirt dodged it around this time too, keeping the start of the next move at about the same time) before making to Quick Attack into Squirt, to keep him off course.

Krookodile, meanwhile, released Kai, letting him roll down his back, and into a Dragon Tail, one Kai wouldn't see what with his curled position removing his ability to effectively see in front of him.

Trubbish, meanwhile, dodged right and left to avoid anything fired at him. Tayla was moving, Trubbish watched the little thing zip and go. However, there was an easier way to deal with this. This time around, he waited for Tayla to attack.

Albert frowned. "Of course. We left the Dream Yard, your people were still there, then he collapsed and it's our fault. Do the math. Doesn't take a ******** genius to figure it out."

He was arguing with a child. "We don't do everything bad because your deluded little mine had pegged us as the bad guys. That's not how real life works." Albert cracked his knuckles.

"Now I gotta deal with you and then save this forest."

"Fufufufufuuuuuu..."

The Plasma Grunt's eyes peered through the bushes on the path of the Pinwheel Forest as he cackled to himself, completely hidden by the leaves. Watching the path ever so diligently, waiting to spring into action at the sight of an enemy. It was his first day on the job, and he was going to prove his worth to Plasma.

"Fufufufufuuuu...when the next one comes down the path, I'll jump out and make them wish they never got out of bed this morning. Yeah, that'll show 'em." He continued to cackle as he rubbed his hands together. "Team Plasma will get the Dragon Skull for sure! Fufufu-"

Upon being struck hard on the top of his head by a large rock, the Plasma Grunt's eyes rolled back and he passed out, falling to the ground in a heap.

Salieri dropped the rock onto the ground and dusted her hands off. She rolled her eyes as she dragged the Grunt's body away by the ankles. Idiot.

~~~~

Now clad in a Plasma Grunt uniform, Salieri examined herself in a pocket mirror held up by the floating Chen Zhen. The man’s sleeping body was tied to a tree with vines, naked save for his underwear and socks.

She remembered that the only Plasma Grunt who had seen her at the Dreamyard was Bill. And Plasma hadn't seen her at the Museum because Gorm had knocked her inside. Since Bill was tied up in a forest somewhere, that meant the rest of Plasma didn't know who she was. Or at least that's what she assumed.

Because of that, she opted to have her hood down for maximum comfort. Still, Sal felt the need to change her appearance somewhat. So her long hair was tied into a Chinese style braid, and her bangs draped across her forehead.

"The outfit is so stupid." She furrowed her brow as she examined her reflection. "And this armor is kind of heavy, too. I'm not at my maximum agility this way." Extra protection was nice, but she didn't want to sacrifice speed for it. Discarding the armor would raise questions, though.

“I just have to trick the grunt with the skull into handing it over, and then double back to Lenora. The problem will be blending in.” Sal stepped back and looked to her Pansage. “Try to look like a self righteous a*****e.”

Chen Zhen rubbed his chin. This would be tricky. He stood up on his Air Balloon and cleared his throat.

And then the Pansage threw his head back and laughed maniacally with his arms crossed. “YAAAAAAAPAPAPAPAPA! YAAAAAAPAPAPAPA! YAAA-“

Salieri held her hand flat out in front of her. “Stop.” Chen Zhen shut up, his mouth still hanging open mid laugh. She shook her head regretfully. “Chen Zhen, you are too cute. You have failed me.”

Chen Zhen’s face alternated from ashamed to complimented rapidly. Salieri laughed as she returned Chen Zhen, releasing Salem instead. Immediately upon seeing Salieri dressed up as a grunt, the Eevee had to stifle a giggle.

“Sh-shut up!” she stammered. “Look, we’re in disguise. I have to get back a dragon skull from these Plasma guys…it’s a long story. Just try to look like a self righteous a*****e for me, please?”

Salem nodded and cleared her throat. Then she stood up with her head held high, not even giving Salieri the courtesy of eye contact as she looked away with disinterest. She glanced at Salieri, shrugged in indifference, then looked away again. “Hmph. Vee.”

“Oh, very nice.” Salieri gave Salem a small round of applause, causing her Eevee to drop the act and return to her cutesy routine.

“Now let’s get going. I want to be back at the gym to get that badge within the hour. This whole thing is just a pain in my a**, it has to end.”
“Vee vee!”

The two ran out of the forest and back onto the path.

And screwed they were. Squirt ceased the Aqua Jet just before he hit Kai, they tumbled and were struck by the Shock Wave. They stayed where they were, panting, trying to keep themselves going.

Luka glared at Albert. "I'm not saying it is Team Plasma, you ********. I am merely pointing out a possibility. There is an equal possibility that the other teenagers who were at the Dream Yard caused what happened there. Right now, I think it'd be impossible to make a sound conclusion. The museum on the other hand is a different story. And they aren't my ******** party! If I was teaming up with them I wouldn't be running through the forest on my own, would I? I merely want to get back what belongs in the Museum."

Tayla abandoned the tree and landed on the ground. She'd avoided the toxic and the fire, but now she was in a really bad situation. Three highly levelled Pokémon against just her. She chirped out as loud as she could to grasp Luka's attention.

Luka whirled around to see his Pokémon injured, defeated and in danger. He had felt something going wrong but couldn't tear himself away from the 'fight' with Albert. He plucked out his Pokéballs and returned his Pokémon before they could be hurt any more. The flames were now too close for comfort. He needed to leave. As much as he was certain that this guy was the murderer of his sister, he had no proof other than a memory of a nightmare and as much as he wanted to kick the guy's a** into next week, he wasn't strong enough, his Pokémon were injured and he had to go. His survival instinct was screaming at him to run. So that's what he tried to do: Escape the burning forest before Albert caught up to him and beat the ever-loving crap out of him.