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Robby gave his accounts of the situation to those that asked him as he left the forest, but they didn't seem to take his information as all that useful really. But his pokemon being in a battle had led them to let him pass and head to the pokemon center, even if none of them were really that injured. As a result, the obese lad had made his way towards the pokemon center and, apparently not really noticing anyone there as he focused on turning his pokemon in, gave his tired emergency food a chance to heal and rest. So Robby would proceed to stand around, as if waiting for something.

((Seems a little cheap to reserve posts))

Henrietta simply looked at Takamaru as he passed by. She couldn't unwind, she found. Couldn't relax, because it still felt like she had a million things to do. She hadn't properly checked on Eunmi or Wayne and Salieri had gone looking for a fight. Sitting here on the sidelines... It didn't feel right.

Hiba approached. Big, strong man. But she didn't know him. Didn't trust him. So she looked at him when he spoke and down when he finished, her only response a quiet "hum." She'd seated herself at the edge of the lobby and placed her hands in her lap, head tilted downward.

"Ms. Avalite?" spoke someone soon after, likely before Hiba could pursue his questioning. Henrietta's head lifted and she found herself looking at someone dressed in red. He looked at her like he was trying to make sure who she was. He'd take a paper from his pocket and look it over. "Pink haired girl," mumbled the bellhop dressed kid.

The bellhop would look around a bit, not seeing anyone else on his list that he could make out. No, wait, "brown haired kid," he read as he looked at Luka. "Really fat guy," as he looked at Robby.

With a sigh he turned back toward Henrietta, mumbling something about pictures and stupid old fat ladies.

"Y-yes?" Henrietta asked the young bellhop.

"Got something for you," he said as he reached back into his pocket. The look on the young man's face said he'd rather be doing homework than running around the city chasing kids with obscure description for minimum wage. After a few seconds he'd produce a badge. The Basic Badge. "Ol' lady said something about team work and a forest fire. Guess you were in it? Tough mess there. Ah well, you're alive so you get this for surviving that. Lady said she figured it must've taken some kinda team work to survive."

Henrietta took the badge and looked it over. Confusion bleeding away to realization was oncoming when the bellhop said, "ah, look, I don't have all day for this and I'll get yelled at if I take overtime to wait for some brat to pick up shorts for his dumb mom again, so you wanna do me a favor and just give your friends theirs? Save me some time."

Henrietta blinked and took a moment to fully comprehend what he had said before replying, "s-sure."

So, the boy would fish through his pockets again and then he'd produce an plastic ziploc bag full of the badges. One for everybody.

"Thanks a bunch," the bellhop said as he handed them over and then, with a tip of his hat, he was off.

Soon after this the ding sounded for her Pokemon, because healing was based on how many people were in front of you, severity of wounds and a million other factors that let you bullshit how long it takes to get your pokemon treated.

So, Henrietta would slip passed Hiba without giving him a chance to speak again and she'd move to the counter and retrieve her Pokemon.

"C-can you give this to Takamaru please?" she'd ask Hiba as she made her way toward the hall and by him, offering Takamaru's Basic Badge. If he took it, swell, if not Henrietta would give it to takamaru when he got out. Regardless, she'd head to her room to change, leaving Frate outside the door to keep watch.

Jump's eyes suddenly turned wide when he heard his own name. For just a moment, he didn't look so cool anymore. His face lit up, and he struggled to not smile too much. The pitter patter of the rain was dull compared to when she spoke to him. His name felt right coming out of her mouth. Say it again.

He took a deep breath, exhaling softly. His sight did not shift off of Gorm, but when he next spoke it wasn't to him.

"Of course," he said to her softly. Now he couldn't help but have a goofy smile plastered on his face. He couldn't see her with his back turned to protect her, but he still could picture his old friend right behind him. Jump let out a small laugh.

"You didn't think this was it, did you? That I wasn't coming to save you?" The hand he was using the block her from Gorm's path turned to a thumbs up. "The fastest man on the planet is never too late to save the girl."

"Oh cool, it evolved," Wayne said, looking at Dali as he pocketed Deerling's pokéball. He'd figure out what to do with the grass type later on.

"Saved our collective a**, y'know, like something out of one of those comic books." He made his way over to Baker and knelt down over the man's body.

"You're not going to be evil again if we help you to the hospital, right?" Wayne asked, though he wasn't sure what he'd do if the answer was 'yes', or 'yes, mwahaha'.
"Shut up, kid," Baker wheezed, "I'm not evil. I just have different views to you. Freakin' bigot."
"Do you want help or not?"
"...yes, please."

Wayne grinned and recalled Vespiquen on Baker's behalf. He grabbed one of the man's arms and pulled, barely lifting him off the ground and onto his shoulder. He felt something twinge in his back and spoke really fast.

"Eunmi? Err, little help carrying this guy? Oh god, oh Jesus Christ. Why armor, man? What's the deal with that?"
"It's a fashion statement."
"Statement? Are you serious?" Wayne shuffled his feet, trying to find an angle that didn't feel like Baker was crushing his bones. "Fashion question, more like."

--

"Took you long enough to show up," Zack grunted, holding back a grin as he rolled his head. "Got me dying of old age," he wound up coughing and retching, sliding over and shifting his weight onto his elbow. Zack staggered to his feet, fragile like a leaf in a gust, steadying himself against a tree.

Gorm's foot struck the ground at his side. Another one of the potential threats had arrived and this one was fresh, relaxed and overconfident.

"That won't be necessary," Gorm said quietly to Jump. His face fell into a grave stare and he suddenly whistled high pitch without moving a muscle. In an instant, three black-clad men with ice-white hair seemed to materialize out of thin air. Even Jump would have to admit that they were damn fast.

"You called, my Sage?" they spoke in unison, heads bowed past their bent knees.

"We're leaving," Gorm told them, turning his back on Jump, "mission accomplished; there's nothing to gain by staying here."

The middle man stood up tall, clad like a ninja with his face obscured by a mask that showed only the whites of his eyes. His hands formed a finger seal and suddenly smoke began to hiss out of nothingness. Just like at the museum, when Gorm went into the smoke, he became naught more than an indiscernible shadow.

Before his face was covered, he looked back to Jump with a confident smirk. "You're welcome to stop me, if you think you can," his eyes traced down to the broken Artemis and his grin deepened, "But I'd hate to see any more needless bloodshed. Your call."

And unless Jump made to attack, Gorm would step into the smoke and fade from view with his comrades. After a few seconds, the smoke would thin and clear, leaving nothing but dust.

--

Mienshao sensed Gorm's retreat as Virizion arrived. The tree used to intercept his Force Palm was vaporised and the early detonation gave Xen enough time to flee.

With Sacred Sword speeding his way, Mienshao brought his paws together with a double Force Palm that met the point of the attack head on and by swiping his paws apart, he destroyed the Legendary's technique, swirling and slashing and grinding the forest floor either side of Mienshao as it died out.

Xen was surprised by Virizion's double kick on his way past but managed to react. He jumped, spinning and weaving between the pokémon's legs as they kicked out and landed when they retracted and carried on running. He was happy to let Mienshao take on Virizion solo, more than happy.

So he made to grab D-Vee on the way out of the battlefield and drag the Smeargle back to where their trainers were. Hopefully the Legendary wouldn't try to trap them before they could leave.

Years ago, Jump would have taken Gorm's words as a challenge. But with age came wisdom from experience, and he knew better then to press his luck when the Sage's backup appeared. And if he was going to follow them, then he would have left her there. That wasn't an option.

Pretty quick on their toes, Jump noted, interested but not fully impressed. Still, he made a shooing motion with his hand as Gorm faded away into smoke, and before he knew it Team Plasma was gone. As the smoke cleared, Jump looekd over to where Zack's voice came from. True to his intuition, Zack was already back on his feet, even if he was shaky.

"Old age? Old age doesn't throw down like that. Looks like you got beat up." Jump winced his eyes at the sight of Zack's fatigue, but still grinned. He couldn't help himself. It looked like he was having all sorts of reunions today. "I knew you'd get back on your feet. You never cease to disappoint me, bro."

Soon after, D-Vee and Xen came into the mix. Jump waved over at the Smeargle. "Long time no see, bud! Didn't expect to run into all of you guys today."

And now Jump turned to face Artemis. She was doing worse off than he had thought. Immediately, Jump kneeled down to her side to help her sit up straight. Delicately he tried to shift her body into a sitting position, holding her up to let her lean on him if she felt weak.

"C'mon, don't tell me you're 'urgh'. Tell me something else, something good," Jump told her, looking at her face with his mismatched ones. He joked, but there was some concern in his voice as well. Seeing Artemis hurt so bad wasn't how he had pictured their reunion. He couldn't help but worry a little about her. "Tell me anything. Just try not to move, okay?"

Jump looked her over. Zack had been able to at least stand up, but Artemis couldn't even get up. The Interpol Agent slowly picked Artemis up from the ground, carrying her on his back and letting her arms drape over his shoulders. Knowing her, she'd probably protest if she had the energy. But unless she could move on her own, Jump planned to bring her to the nearest medic.

As he walked with Artemis held for a piggyback ride, Jump walked over to Zack. "I'd get Kiedis and Hexum to bring my car here, but they can't drive. Guess we're gonna have to walk." The Interpol Agent grinned up at his friend. "I don't have to carry you too, do I?"

****

"Decapitated? Maybe." Salieri spun the skull around to look at it's face, then contorted her own in mild disgust. "It's kind of creepy." She looked over to Wayne and saw that he was hoisting up a Plasma Grunt over his shoulder. For a second she thought about how holding a skull wasn't so bad.

"You're still looking your D-Vee? That Smeargle's pretty fast." She recalled that the Smeargle knew a move called Extremespeed, said to be even faster than Wukong's Mach Speed technique.

"I'm pretty sure Plasma's gone, so we don't have to worry about this getting stolen anymore. Let's go find your pokemon, we've got plenty of time now."

((There we go, feminists, straight from the horse's mouth: women don't care about politics or morality, their heads are filled with love and kittens!))

The weight lifted from Wayne's shoulders and Baker started kicking and complaining. Solosis rolled on by with a bored expression as his Telekinesis lifted Baker effortlessly into the air. Wayne blinked.

"Oh yeah, I forgot," he said with half a laugh, "Thanks, Solo."
[Meh,] the psychic would've shrugged if he had the anatomy for it, [Whatever]

"This is degrading," Baker muttered but knew better than to fight back. At least he didn't have to walk.

"Sal, we need to get out of this place: forest fires, monsoon rain, big, massive, huge Deerling? This place is crazy. We're pushing our luck just by standing here. We can find Smeargle-man later; he's a pokémon, he'll know how to stay safe."

--

"I'd appreciate it," Zack said dryly, "but it looks like you've got your hands... full..."

He trailed off as the sappiness intensified and just let them pass. D-Vee barked up squeakily and gained Zack's attention. The man frowned and said, "Y'know, I still can't understand you."

Moving was a pain in the everything. Soldiering on, Zack got a few steps forward and slowed down. He stopped, staring at nothing like a man contemplating the biggest decision of his life. Then he turned to D-Vee and asked meekly, "Think you can sketch me up a stretcher?"

[It doesn't work like that,] Xen told him.
"I can't understand you either."

The rain in this area had gone thanks to Artemis' pressure attack. It was quiet bar the crunching of footsteps and whispered voices and you could hear the chopper's hum a mile off. The big black bird circled and set down in front of the three. Its side was emblazoned with a white WG logo and the hatch lifted up to reveal a spacious interior with enough room to lay injured people down or hold a unit of agents as they readied for deployment.

Hold was empty this time though, empty aside from Jacqueline and her niece, who was sat on the opposite bench and staring at her feet until they landed. Her face lit up when she saw her father and she managed to dodge Jackie's outstretched hand and run off onto the ashen wasteland.

"Daddy!" Katelyn raced into Zack's stomach and nearly bowled him over. He staggered with an oof and simply looked shocked.
"Hey, whoa, what are you doing here?" he addressed Jacqueline, "What are you doing here?"

"This situation has been classified as an Incident. World Government needs a representative to be on hand and make sure Interpol don't muck it up." She glanced to Artemis and Jump but looked back in time to see Zack's frown. "And I volunteered."

"You brought my little girl to a battlefield?" If he didn't look so ruined, he might've seemed threatening.
"I had faith that you could handle it. Just barely, it seems," she inspected Artemis, compared it with Zack and then saw that Jump was perfectly fine, "I was right."

She spoke to Jump and Artemis, "Get on board. I'm going to drop you off near the medical unit in Nacrene City. There wasn't just a handful of trainers in the forest when it ignited," she glanced over to Zack, "more than a few people were injured."

"What about Wayne?"
"I don't know," Jacqueline smarted, "You'll have to find out when you get to the medical tent, won't you?"

Zack was quiet but soon felt small hands tugging at his tattered vest. "You're bleeding, daddy," Katelyn's tiny voice wavered. First time she'd seen Zack with so much as a papercut; she didn't think it was possible for her dad to get hurt. Reality struck and brought tears to her eyes.

"It's fine, don't worry," he said, eyes on her and cutting out the rest of the world, kneeling down even if his bones screamed and placing a hand on her head with a smile, "I just had to beat up some bad guys. Didn't you know your dad was a superhero?"

Katelyn blinked, silent. Zack felt like he lost ground but was committed.

"They call me, uh... Fire...Man," he trailed off and Katelyn carried on staring. Zack's face dropped and he shot a glance to the others, "What are you looking at?"

((Pretty sure the world would collapse if we needed love for governments to function))

"Yes, I came to the conclusion that ponytails are ridiculous," Jacqueline said dryly and she pushed past Jump, keeping her arms folded until she got to Zack. Grabbing his shoulder, she effortlessly wrenched him to his feet and held him there. He looked at her sideways, tired.

"This was Plasma, wasn't it? We have intel that they're working with the FLF," she said in a subdued tone, "Between this, the aborted bombing at PokéLand and the Dreamyard Incident, it makes three attacks in as many days."
"What do you want me to do about it?" Zack frowned. He checked on Katelyn, her attention fixed on The Comet and Nightingale.
"Could use the firepower. You fought today, how did it feel?"
"I'm not coming back, Jacqueline."

Zack broke away and scooped Katelyn into his arms. Bit of rest, Aura recovering. Felt a million times better. Katelyn looked over his shoulder and met her Aunt's eyes, Zack saying: "I have other commitments."

Jackie's turn to frown. "All right, everybody shut up and get on the helicopter."

Ushering everyone on, she'd get in last and pull the door shut. It'd be a short ride to Nacrene City.

--

((She's been knocked out and left to rot like the scum she is as far as I know))

"D'yeah, I mean, it was and well, still is, I err..." Wayne fumbled his words and eventually just took the pokéball out, "It looks normal now, I guess. But it had a-err- Baker, what did you call that thing?"

"Experimental Aura Technique," said Baker, but floating the wrong way and apparently speaking from his a**.

"Yeah, right! Anyway, basically whenever it eats grass it becomes a giant killing machine."