Encounter (Sam, Mod)

[Wolfe]

West Wind city gleamed in the afternoon sun, like a paradise in troubled times. A crowd of people filled the city square, which was composed of abandoned warehouses that had been renovated to serve as shops. The city itself had been built of all sorts of metals, and the skyscrapers in the business district were among the tallest in Aero. Originally, during its founding era, the city had been a hotpot of crime, but eventually, violent crackdowns by the police force had soon forced the criminals and gangs out of power. There was still a ton of officers roaming the streets, so Brendan made sure to be on his best behavior.

He looked back at Rose, who was disappearing in the crowd behind him. Well, he'd brought them all here to challenge the gym, and, well, experience life here. Fang, who had slept the entire ride on the ferry, was now buzzing around like a crazed animal. He seemed excited about the City of Steel, for the electric power used to supplement the city was enormous. Of course, they had switched to solar and wind power a long time ago, in favor over the smoke-spewing coal refineries and the nuclear plants.

Celeste, on the other hand, seemed mildly uncomfortable. No mud, or grass, or a patch of dirt existed here, nothing to burrow into. She ended up hiding herself in Brendan's backpack, only choosing to poke her head out occasionally.

Well, the four of them had already ate lunch on the ferry, and Brendan had already booked two hotel rooms for the night, so now it was time to explore the place. Later at night, hopefully, they would be able to challenge Screech, the gym leader.

Brendan relaxed a moment, then tensed back up. Something was wrong. There. Two people in pristine-white outfits, with a star-gate insignia imprinted on their uniforms. Team Celestial. Brendan shivered. He had heard about those guys, read about them. They weren't good people. He gestured for Rose to come over, and pointed subtly at them, and whispered, in a barely audible voice, "There. That's Team Celestial. We better avoid them. I think they mean trouble..."

[Sam]

Rose had never been in a big city besides Fitzgem City. And that city hadn't exactly been the great City of Steel, like West Wind is. Fitzgem was Aero's Contest Center and all she saw walking the streets were either models with their Pokemon or beggars asking for money. Normal people didn't walk the streets of Fitzgem. West Wind was a different story. All kinds of people were everywhere. She caught the sight of a young girl and her mom shopping through stores, happily, a young boy pressed against a video game shop. A bunch of younger teen girls were giggling over a poster of a male model and a guy, with his nose in a book, was looking at them with regret. Rose wondered why the girls had turned him down.

Isabella and unsuccessfully tried to escape notice. However, a small girl without a Pokemon reached down to pat her head and giggle before running after her mother. Another girl about the same age asked Rose if she could pick up Isabella, but the Phanpy had managed to escape. Fate however, popped right into her place and the girl was more then happy to scoop up the little fox and hug her and stroke her soft, black fur.

After that was over, Rose had to run to catch up with Brendan. He had stopped. The crowd was beginning to thin and there was a strange, dark air about where he had paused. He was pointing to a couple of men in strange white uniforms. Granny had once told her of such people. They had strange ways of manipulating Pokemon, trying to achieve their goals. She, however, didn't know their ultimate goal but, from the stories she had heard, Rose could easily guess them.

Right when she saw them, she tensed as well. Fate and Isabella felt her anxiety and they hesitated as well. Whatever, there was no reason to pick a fight with these strange men. Stepping in front of Brendan, she declared in a soft voice, "Don't provoke them. That's all we need. And what they want." She looked around, to make sure one had heard them, then continued on in the direction of their hotel.

[White Dragon]

From the crowds, a man in a dark coat slunk out of the shadows. No one noticed his coming. No one has ever seen him before. No one knew where he came from. He was here for one purpose. They wouldn't hear him coming. It was a habit of his, to creep on people and surprise them. He found the two people he was looking for. A girl and a boy, stopped near the two Celestial guards. His cloak fluttered behind him as he started forward.

When he came behind them, he cleared his throat importantly. "Excuse me. Are you Brendan and Rose?" Without any introduction, he continued. "I was asked to give you these." To Rose, he held out a Pokeball and to Brendan, a small brown sack. He nodded and turned away, disappearing into the shadows again.

You have received...

(Rose)
Larvitar (Male)

Bite | Leer | Sandstorm | Dig

(Brendan)
Thunderstone

As the man left, one of the two Celestial guards saw Brendan and Rose. He nudged his partner. Gesturing in that direction. The other man looked down at them too. His eyes narrowed. Both were young to the Team and were very arrogant and junior. In a very quite voice, the first whispered, "We should stop them. They may want to foil our plans." The other one glanced at him. It was his first day. He didn't really know what to do. So he nodded, rather nervous. The first just wanted to battle someone.

He leaped down from his position, the second following quickly. He grabbed a Pokeball and face the two children. The other mirrored him, afraid of messing up. The first spoke. "Your in the wrong place, kids!" He threw the Pokeball in the air. Out came a Porygon. The second one, still nervous, threw his. It was a Skorupi. The first one smiled. "Battle us."

You have been challenged!

Team Celestial Grunt


Team Celestial Grunt

[Wolfe]

Brendan looked at the mysterious man quite awkwardly. Raines had told him to refuse gifts from strangers before...but..this was...different? He still couldn't wrap his head around the whole thing. Fang, meanwhile, was practically drooling over the man's gift. Well, maybe it was a Pokemon thing. Then he realized. Tynamo evolved into Eelektrik...who evolved using a Thunderstone. He put the stone in his pack, making sure to keep it safe.

Then the two strange men strode over to where Brendan and Rose were standing and challenged them. He snorted at their arrogance, and stepped on the first one's foot. He ground his heel in the shiny black boots, then apologized very, very sarcastically. Brendan then picked up Trapinch from his bag and set her gently on the pavement. Celeste seemed confused as to what was happening, but as soon as Brendan told her that they were battling, she perked up and was raring to go.

At any rate, Brendan was mocking the two men relentlessy from their uniforms to their age and even their haircuts. After all, what was life without humor? Ok, well with all said and done,it was time to get serious. He looked at Rose, then at Celeste, before shouting, "Alright, Trapinch, use Bite on Porygon!" She seemed a bit dizzy until Brendan pointed out the computer-generated Pokemon. Zara nodded, then leapt forward opening her massive jaw and prepared to land a vicious attack on Porygon.

[Sam]

Rose watched with wonder as a strange man came up and offered the two of them gifts. Rose took the Pokeball with wonder, then sent it out quickly. It was a Larvitar. She widened her eyes in surprise. Perhaps it was the same Larvitar from the lab. The one in the fourth Pokeball. Well, it certainly acted like him. He looked at Rose and Brendan, then began prowling around, sniffing everything, as if he was looking for gold. A curious little fellow. Rose liked him and named him Atlas.

When the two Celestial grunts jumped in front of them, Rose thought, for a second, that they were going to be arrested or something. Then they demanded a Pokemon battle and Rose laughed in their faces. This was going to be easy. The second one looked very nervous beside his companion and uncomfortable near other trainers. Obviously, he had never battled before. So Rose decided to make fun of them, just as Brendan had already done.

"Atlas," she called importantly, trying not to laugh, "I want you to fight these two men for your first battle. I decided to give you someone easy." Atlas, not really getting it, jumped in front of Rose, snarling and baring his arms, which made everything even more funny. "Atlas! Use Sandstorm!" Atlas began digging at the stone on the ground, summoning dust and sand to fly around the area of battle. It whipped into the air, creating a hazy shield for the other team.

[White Dragon]

The first grunt yelped in pain when the boy stepped on his foot. He, like an idiot, jumped around, holding it, while cursing and yelling. The second one, who could barely stand it, did everything he could not to laugh. Well, serves him right. Then the insults from the girl came. His face flushed and he glared at her. He turned to the Skorupi. "I want you to use Poison Sting. Don't aim for the Pokemon. Aim for her." He snarled the last name. Skorupi looked up at him with wide eyes. He hesitated. In that hesitation, the grunt kicked the Pokemon and he went flying into the sandstorm. It whipped him around, damaging him. When he hit the ground, he struggled up and reluctantly pounded towards Rose, jumping over Atlas, and jabbing at Rose with a poisoned claw.

When he recovered, the first grunt was just about as furious as the second. He watched as Skorupi was kicked into the raging sandstorm and attack Rose. He decided to do the same with Porygon, then noticing that it was on the ground, recovering from Celeste's ferocious Bite attack. "Porygon use Psybeam!" His voice dropped. "But use it on the human." Porygon sighed, knowing what would happen if it didn't follow orders. So he twisted around and shot a strange colored beam over Zara's head, right at Brendan.

[Wolfe]

Brendan was laughing his head off. Literally. He whipped his head around, his eyes shining, echoing laughter. Trapinch, who had succeeded in taking a big bite out of Skuropi, joined in. He did, however feel sorry for the Pokemon. Porygon seemed...slightly devoid of emotion, but he watched Skuropi get kicked by the grunt and tossed into the Sand Storm. Suddenly he felt mad. Rage was building in his blood. If there was one thing that Brendan couldn't stand, it was a bully.

From his childhood to living on the streets, there had always been something overbearing over him. Whether it was his "boss" or just simply the popular band of kids, there was always, always a bully. He felt his blood boiling, and felt ready to fight. He stomped the ground in anger, then yelled, "Hey Assface, why don't you get a freaking life??!" Brendan, feeling that wasn't nearly sufficient enough, proceeded to make a very rude gesture at the grunts, then yelled out several curse words, which were obviously not meant to be spoken.

He wanted to do more, to help the Pokemon, but that was cut short when the grunt ordered Skuropi to sting Rose. He decided to teach them a lesson. One they wouldn't forget. Dropping his pack, he retrieved a can of tomato soup, feeling its weight. A good two or three pounds, at the very least.

Concealing what he was about to do, he yelled at the first grunt, "Loser! Get a life!" Following that, he chucked the can of soup directly at the other man, straight at his face. There wasn't time to think afterwards, as he himself took a Psybeam to the head. He stumbled, and crumpled like a plastic bag.

The world was turning red. Dangerously red. His vision blurred, but he managed to hold on to consciousness for one more second, tackling Skuropi before it stung Rose. He managed one last laugh before falling to the ground with a loud thud. A red liquid oozed from his head from where he had fallen.

And with that, all hell broke loose.

Fang screamed, yelled, and a thousand bolts of lightning shot out from where he floated next his fallen trainer. Some of them hit electronics and shorted them out, causing even more mayhem. Sirens wailed in the distance. But the Tynamo wasn't finished. Charging himself up as he had never before, he threw himself at Porygon, for doing this to Brendan. He became a yellow bolt of glowing electricity that hurled itself at the Porygon. Celeste, a little slow, took time to examine the situation. It didn't take long for her to see what had happened after Brendan collided with the earth. She roared, and smacked the pavement with her iron head, fragments of asphalt flying everywhere. Some of them flew toward Brendan and Rose, but what seemed like hundreds of tiny pebbles exploded everywhere, towards the grunts. She stood there, protecting Brendan, her friend and trainer.

[Sam]

Rose stared for a second with disbelief as the trainer kicked his poor Skorupi. The little guy tried to recover himself, but it looked like he was struggling in the Sandstorm. There was no way to call of that one now, but she could offer help. She nodded to Atlas to help him, but then, to even more surprise, Skorupi launched himself at none other then Rose herself. She screamed and backed up, away from that poisonous claw. Fate growled and prepared herself to leap at the attacking Pokemon, but Brendan beat her to it. Shock soared across Rose's face as Brendan collapsed on the ground, a trickle of blood on the ground.

It took a couple of seconds for Rose to register what had happened. She turned to Fate. "Get in there and teach those assholes a lesson." Fate, all too happy, leaped straight into the battle field, Illusion coming into play. She glowed and her body stretched. The color setting at blue and she never touched the ground. A great ice Pokemon stood where her little Zorua once was. The Cryogonal raised her huge, freezing head, creating a spiky ball of ice mid-air and launched an Ice Shard directly at Skorupi. Meanwhile, Atlas, recovering from his shock at seeing Fate change before his eyes, launched himself, at Rose's command, with a Bite attack at Porygon. Meanwhile, Rose rushed to Brendan's side.

"Brendan, are you okay? Seriously, say something!"

[White Dragon]

The first Celestial grunt smiled as the Psybeam hit...and didn't notice the can hitting him right in the face. He was knocked backwards, unconscious before he even hit the ground. The second grunt looked backwards horror and fury now circulating through his veins. He turned back, his inner emotions lighting his face. Then he saw his Pokemon. Skorupi was suffering some major damage from Cryogonal's Ice Shard and his companion's Pokemon, Porygon, was falling back from a super-powered Spark attack. He had always been taught to judge what was going on before taking the next step. His partner was already unconscious and he was open for an attack too. His Pokemon wasn't working hard enough, that was for sure. And he'd rather not have to get into the battle himself. So he ran to his companion's side, grabbed his Pokeball and returned the Porygon. He threw the Pokeball with disgust as the first grunt's side, then ran over and snatched Skorupi out of the way. It wasn't to help him, it was to punish him by not letting him have the luxury of being in his Pokeball. So he turned and fled, leaving his partner behind. Skorupi, unable to breath, looked behind at the two trainers with something like remorse. If he ever escaped this human, he would find them again. Not as if he had a chance.

After a minute or two, the first grunt opened his eyes. Looking around he realized that his partner had fled already, leaving him behind with a big red circle on his forehead. He looked back at the two trainers, suddenly very scared, and got up unevenly and ran after the second grunt, abandoning his pride and arrogance. And also leaving Porygon's Pokeball.

[Wolfe]

He was in the darkness again. Not trapped, but still caught in its embrace. Brendan did remember, though, hitting the ground, Fang becoming enraged, Trapinch roaring and striking the ground. Farther than that, he didn't know. What he did realize, though, was that the police would be here soon. And, hopefully, they would catch those brutes, and perhaps, let their Pokemon free.

In reality, sirens wailed and the alarm in the sector of the city sounded. The officers would be here soon, and hopefully with a ambulance. Fang stared sadly at Brendan, who lay on the ground, broken and not moving. He was scared. What would happen?

But Brendan wasn't about to die anytime soon. He opened his eyes ever so slowly, his vision still blurred. The stench of blood wafted into his nose. Looking at Rose, he somehow managed a grin. "Rough day, huh?" Red spots went into his vision, but he got up, wincing with pain. Fortunately, he wasn't hurt too bad. He sat there, grunting from the effort. Trapinch fetched him a cloth, which he promptly bandaged over his bleeding forehead. He looked back at Rose, thinking of what to say. "Fetch me my soup, will ya?" was all that he could say. Humor was the best cure for everything, supposedly. That was Brendan's policy.

He just noticed out of the corner of his eye, a Pokeball, left behind by the grunts. He wondered whose it was, but didn't have the strength to get it. Brendan looked around, then noticed that the surrounding area looked like a battlefield. Fang had, apparently, shorted out every electronic device with a radius of fifteen feet. A crater was in the ground from where Trapinch had smacked it. Brendan sat there, not sure what to do next. He wanted to go after the grunts, but was in no condition to do so.

[Sam]

Rose sighed in relief. Something that had happened opposite not too long ago, she remembered. Stupid curse, following her around everywhere and making other people hurt too. Well, nothing she could do about it. Well, maybe she could, but surely not now. Whatever, there were more urgent matters. First was that Brendan was still laying on the ground, bleeding. She considered calling an ambulance, but she could already hear them coming. The second was that Atlas had begun to go into hysteria. The third was the small Pokeball laying, abandoned, on the ground.

"Fate," Rose called to her Pokemon, who was now back to normal, "can you get Atlas for me?" She nodded and grabbed his flailing arm, dragging the screaming Pokemon back to Rose. When he was in front of her, she grabbed both side of him and forced him to stare her in the eyes. "Calm down, Atlas. It's all right. Brendan will be okay. The Celestials are gone. I'm sorry you didn't get to battle too much, but you did really good." Atlas's struggles were dying down now. His wild eyes were dimming. Soon, he fell over and began snoring, right in Rose's arms. She laughed and returned him to his Pokeball.

Then she stood up and walked away from her friend and picked up the small Pokeball. She knew that the Porygon was inside, unaware of the drama outside. She brought it back to Brendan, grabbing the soup on the way, and held the Pokeball up for him to see. "The grunt left the poor Pokemon behind." She then threw it into the air. Instead of red light, a burst of green spark blew from inside and Porygon came out. It looked around, then sped off into the streets of West Wind City.

[White Dragon]

The police were coming around the corner on their motorcycles, an ambulance roaring right behind them. The lead officer followed in pursuit of the two men while the second stopped near Rose and Brendan. The ambulance came to a stop and a man rushed out to Brendan with a stretcher. Once they had him on there, they set it down and gave him just a normal checkup. The doctor checked for head trauma, concussions, and all kinds of brain damage, but couldn't find any. So, he quickly stitched up the cut and placed a large band-aid over it. He offered some pills to both of them, giving them a small container and a bottle of water. Then he took the stretched back to the truck and the ambulance drove off.

Now, the police man stepped down from his cycle and took out a note book. "Excuse me, can you please explain to me everything that happened, what these men looked like, their Pokemon, everything you know about them." He placed the pencil on the paper and looked up expectantly.

[Wolfe]

Brendan, his wits revived by the pills the doctor had given him, intended on giving the officer a complete and full response. Of course, the only purpose of that would be to further humiliate the two men and maybe even Team Celestial itself. And maybe help that Skuropi...

But anyway, Brendan brushed off the gravel from his clothes and spoke to the policeman. "Well, there were two strange men, both in awkward clothes, with ridiculous haircuts that made their head look like it had just been set on fire." He paused, held back a laugh, looked at Rose, and continued. "They were complete idiots, acted like them, talked like them, well, you get the idea. They had two Pokemon, a Skuropi and a Porygon. The Skuropi was out of its Pokeball, but Porygon ran off somewhere." He cleared his throat, wondering if there was punishment for Pokemon abuse. Brendan nodded to the officer, then turned to his Pokemon. He picked up Celeste, placed her in his pack, then patted Fang on the head. "You did well, buddy."

Looking back towards Rose, he grabbed her hand and said, quietly. "Let's get out of here. The sooner we're out of sight, the better."

[Sam]

Rose walked back over to Brendan and waited for the examination. She took a pill, though nothing really hurt, she was just in total shock. She nodded to the policeman and was going to speak when Brendan starting talking. She waited, patiently, without humor until it was over. Guilt was washing over her. Why? Why did she have to harm everyone around her with that stupid curse? Why did she even have the curse? Why was her life always in danger?

Then came the realization of the night before. She knew what the dark figure in her dreams was. She knew why it had come. She knew that it wasn't joking. She could easily die any day if she wasn't careful.

When Brendan grabbed her hand, she nodded quickly, starting to feel a bit sick. This journey was already not turning out to great. Even though she had already caught a Pokemon and received a gift, she had brought on major trouble to Brendan. And he was taking hers as well. Except for the dream. What would happen tonight? Would she see the dark Pokemon again? And worst yet, what more did he have in store for her?

END THREAD