The Cycles

The night was dark as a trio of teens neared the lab where a pokemon research center resided. The group mumbled between each other and constantly shushed each other as they made their way towards the window.
"Who's going to go in?" a masculine voice asked.
"I'm not!" A feminine voice snorted.
"Then why are we even here?" another female voice snorted, "If we're found here, we're DEAD. You hear me? My mom is already mad enough to keep me out of the house, do you really think I want another month added on to her anger?" This particular female had the name of Paige, she was medium of size, had blonde pixie cut hair, and two silver studded earrings. The group wore dark clothes and were sneaking about, the other two teens were her friends, Finch and Hinya.

"They have pokemon, and all I-I Mean we, have is a Drowzee and Paige's Froakie,Oshawott, and that black and white thing" Hinya huffed.

"That THING is a Tanussion, and Tawn and the others have names too!" Paige hissed in defense of her pokemon.

"Whatever, just go in and get us some pokemon!" Finch huffed.

"I'm not going in-hey! What are you doing!" Paige began to speak only to be interrupted as Finch grabbed and held her arms behind her, stepping back far enough so she could not back kick him in the groin. Paige looked in front of her, demanding the meaning of this to find a drowzee's hypnotic eyes and chant taking control of her.

Her struggles grew weaker until she stopped struggling at all, and she was under a complete hypnosis. She was a mindless drone now, as she opened the unreasonably unlocked window, maybe the lab was a little TOO trusting, and stepped in. A bag was tossed in after her, and her two "friends" guarded the window entrance for any sign of someone coming while they awaited their minion to get them their prize.

Paige made her way through the lab, searching for the pokeballs that held lab pokemon. She could not control herself, nor was conscious of her actions. All that mattered to this mindless robot was getting the job done by any means necessary.

It was late, as could easily be told by the darkness one could see by a quick glance out of the window, however Reese wasn't yet satisfied enough to leave the room to go and sleep. She had been tidying the laboratory's library for a far few hours now, wanting to do at least something to repay the kind professor for letting her stay here. Professor Maple was a kind female, though she often found herself submerged in her research and as a result, left her rooms in quite a considerable mess and it was almost impossible to find anything in them. When Reese had first entered the laboratory, the library had been the messiest, with it being a chief place of research when Prof. Maple wasn't out in the field.

Ah of course I should explain what Reese was doing staying in a laboratory in the first place. Reese was in fact homeless after her parents had been killed in a freak fire a few years ago. Nowadays she got by on the kindness and generosity of others, finding work wherever she could and living with only her Pokemon for company. It was a simple life, but there were many benefits to it; one such being that Reese's lack of human company enabled her to understand Pokemon more than most other people. And not just her own companions either. Had others known of her existence, they probably would have called her a prodigy, able to communicate and befriend even the trickiest of Pokemon.... and it was likely that the professor had seen her potential when she had offered to take her in. The only conditions were that Reese had to help out around the lab every so often, lending a hand wherever she could, which was why she had decided to try and tidy the library. Reese figured it would be a nice surprise for Prof. Maple in the morning, to find her library as clean as a whistle and with plenty of space for reading and research.

Flicking a few strands of her ginger hair out of her face, Reese picked up another pile of books and began reorganising them back onto the shelves in which they belonged. Her green eyes scanned the titles she had already placed on the shelf, double checking that they were all alphabetized, like a proper library should be. As she finished placing this latest stack of books on the shelf, she stepped down from the stool she had been stood on and glanced at the clock.
"That late already?" she blinked in disbelief. A young Eevee that had been lay at the base of the stool finally looked up, yawning after his rest and blinking brightly at Reese with a small cry of "Ee-Eev!". The ginger haired female scooped the male Eevee into her arms and chuckled. "I guess you're right, sleep would probably be a good idea. I can finish this tomorrow," she whispered to the Eevee, keeping her voice low just in case as, judging by how late it appeared to be, there would likely be people and Pokemon sleeping throughout the lab building.

Being careful not to disturb two Pokemon that were sleeping nearby, Reese gently lay down on the library's couch, deciding that she'd sleep here instead of trying to climb the creaky stairs without waking someone. Ryuu, for that was the Eevee's name, wiggled out of Reese's arms and curled up beside her, keeping her warm with his thick fur as she closed her green eyes and attempted to sleep.

Paige was still completely out of it, as the hypnotized girl sleepwalked her way to the racks of numerous pokeballs. The orders never specified what pokemon to look for, so she began to grab just any pokeball that had a pokemon in it. In the process, she had accidentally knocked over a box of nails that made the smallest sound that a pokemon with good hearing could have heard, yet, not wake this victim from her forced slumber.

The sharp though quiet 'tink'-ing of the nails scattering across the floor woke a bird pokemon that had been sleeping nearby, perched out of view on the top of one of the shelves in the room. The bird was rather small and had mainly dark blue feathers, with white markings on it's head, chest and wings as well as a partially white tail. It was a Steapie, a magpie Pokemon famed for it's compulsive stealing habits and skill in doing so. That being said, Steapie didn't like to be stolen from, hence why it was such hard work to attempt to train or even keep such a pokemon as a pet; once it had stolen something from you, it was nearly impossible to get back without angering the creature. Of course, Steapie didn't appreciate being woken either, which is why this one swiftly flew down and began to peck at the hair of a certain hypnotised female that was grabbing at the pokeballs.

The young magpie Pokemon realising that this person had been attempting to steal from the laboratory, the Steapie began to chirrup and call out in it's birdlike voice, quite loudly I must add. The angered chirrups easily did their job, waking Reese from her light slumber in the next room over.

Waking with a start and hearing the chirrups, Reese leaped up from the couch she had been lay on and quietly made her way towards the door that lead to the other room. Peering around it, she spotted Aerona(the Steapie) attacking what appeared to be some kind of thief.
The continuous sharp chirruping had served to wake not only Reese, but Ryuu and two more of Reese's Pokemon too; a Panzumi and an Elesagi. These three Pokemon then decided to join Reese near the doorway, the latter two yawning quietly.
"I think she's trying to steal from the lab," whispered Reese quietly, informing the three of the situation. Almost immediately, they seemed to be snapped from their half awake state and glanced up at Reese, awaiting her decision on what to do about it.
"Come on," she smiled quietly, her confidence in dealing with the thief rising with the support of her Pokemon. She quietly pushed the door open, stepping into the room. The Elesagi and Panzumi, whose names were Isolde and Aiden respectively, took a protective position in front of their human friend, in case the thief would attempt to attack or something.

The thief looked roughly the same age as Reese herself was, though she still wasn't sure why someone would break in only to steal what appeared to be a few pokemon. Most of the pokeballs in the girl's arms Reese recognised, and they all had Pokemon that could easily be found and caught in the city. It didn't really make any sense. After a small pause, Reese made a few short clicking sounds, which Aerona heard. In response, the magpie pokemon quickly fluttered over to the ginger-haired female, landing on her shoulder.
"Put those Pokeballs back!" called Reese, electricity crackling from the cheeks of both Isolde and Aiden in warning, whilst Ryuu appeared to begin charging a Shadow Ball in front of his nose.

(I'm linking appearance the first time I state a pokemon's species name, so click the name the first time you see it for a pic x3)

The hypnotized victim looked at the defender of the lab, without surprise other than a dull look. She released a hand from a pokeball and lowered it towards her belt, picking out three pokeballs. The pokeballs burst open to reveal a Tanussion, a Froakie, and a Oshawott. The three pokemon stood protectively in front of their own trainer, unsure why their trainer was doing this and not realizing that she was hypnotized. The two water types and the normal type growled at their opponents, seemingly trying to ward them off through intimidation rather that fight them.
Paige simply turned and went back to collecting pokeballs, the hypnosis commanding her to focus on getting the pokeballs.

Isolde and Aiden glanced at one another, their cheeks continuing to spark with blue and yellow electricity respectively. With a nod from Reese, the duo quickly leaped into action using Quick Attack. They crossed paths in swift, synchronised movements before aiming a Thundershock attack at each of the water type pokemon. Blue electricity swiftly shot towards the Froakie, whilst yellow electricity headed in the Oshawott's direction.
Reese looked to her Eevee and nodded once more, giving him the signal that it was okay to initiate battle with these Pokemon. Ryuu unleashed the Shadow Ball that he had kept charging in front of him, the dark ball of energy heading straight for the Tanussion. As it did so, Ryuu prepared for an incoming attack by using Double Team.

The super effective attack missed the Froakie as a screen of smoke shot up, the pokemon using smoke screen. The froakie's smoke didn't go far, but made it difficult to locate his exact spot. The froakie hid himself within the smoke spending what little chance he had to attack moving around in his small area of smoke. He was still able to see the other pokemon, but he himself was hidden.

The oshawott was struck with the attack, but instead of freezing in pain, it grabbed its shell and darted forward to use Fury Attack on Aiden. The anger from being attacked with such an attack fueled her as she attempted to strike the pokemon.

Tawn, the Tanussion, laughed as the Shadow Ball struck her and had no effect. The small normal type smirked, its own shadow ball developing in its hand. Its ears were folded back in a cheeky grin as she launched the ball of darkness of the after life towards Ryuu. Behind her, her trainer was simply ignoring the occurrence of the entire battle, the pokemon acting of their own accord.

The Elesagi did not hesitate as the smoke billowed from the Froakie's mouth, hiding his position. She used Icy Wind, the cold winds blowing the smoke out of the way and revealing the Froakie's position. Continuing her Icy Wind, Isolde's ice type move attempted to damage the Froakie whilst lowering the temperature enough to cause a state of freezing. Isolde didn't particularly want to hurt the Froakie, she just wanted to stop the girl from stealing Professor Maple's Pokemon.

Aiden used Quick Attack once more to dodge the Oshawott's frenzied movements. The anger the female felt made her easier to predict as it was a more primal emotion that was fueling her attacks. The Panzumi then retaliated with an Ember from behind, purposefully using a weaker move so for similar reasons to Isolde.

Reese chuckled at the Tanussion's laughter as when the Shadow Ball dissipated from view Tawn would be greeted by multiple Eevee as Ryuu had used the ghost move as a diversion so he could set up Double Team. The Tanussion then retaliated with her own Shadow Ball, which Ryuu and his copies deliberately leaped into, the move having no effect. Ryuu then proceeded to use Swift, generating a group of star shaped projectiles that headed for the Tanussion.

Reese meanwhile had turned her attention away from the battles going on around the lab. Each of her Pokemon were trying to keep them small so that nothing would be damaged, and she had confidence that they would be able to win even with such limitations.
"Alright Aerona let's see if we can get those pokeballs back," she whispered, dodging around the battling group of Pokemon to confront the thief.

The froakie was surprised by the smoke becoming useless. It jumped out of the way in time, only to jump back into it on purpose. The froakie obtained damage from the frosty cold, but opened its mouth to a wide gape as bubbles shot forth at full speed. The bubbles became frozen as they charged towards the Elesagi, the froakie waited for the results. She had been experimenting. She hadn't known what the bubble in ice would do, but she was curious. Would it grow harder and do more damage or would they just pop after a while?

The oshawott was struck by the ember attack, and cried out in pain as it sustained a burn. The oshawott turned with its mouth forming into a small "O" as a jet of water sprung from it and headed straight towards Aiden. This had no longer become a matter of protecting her trainer any more, but a matter of winning. The oshawott loathed to lose, and so began to fight harder, at least she thought that was what was happening. In reality it was just her ability activating, Torrent.

The first bit of the swift attack struck Tawn, but she used quick attack to get away and get near the eevee. She opened her gaping mouth as her fangs glowed, attempting to chomp down into what she hoped was the real Eevee's fur with a Super Fang.

Paige paid no heed to the other female, instead collecting a final pokemon. Her task was almost complete, she would just need to make the delivery and then...what? Paige had begun to question her actions, but the hypnosis took over her once more and her consciousness was slipped back under the rug once more.

Isolde couldn't help but marvel a little at the Froakie's creativity, however this did not stop her from continuing the battle. Knowing that this would be an unexpected move, the Elesagi's cheeks crackled with blue electricity once more, small jolts of the electricity dancing across the ground to touch Aiden's tail. Knowing the signal well, both Pokemon leaped into action, using Quick Attack to switch places, tapping each other's paws as if to hand over a baton as they switched places.

Without even thinking, Aiden skillfully took in the situation before using a quick Ember, splitting the controlled flames into small balls and shooting one at each of the ice coated bubbles. Now having a frozen outside, they were slower than usual, allowing the Panzumi enough time to perform these actions. As the flames collided with each bubble, they partially melted the outside, reaching the inside and disrupting the bubble's structure. This caused each bubble to burst and shatter, causing the remains of the icy outside to drift to the ground in diamond dust before being melted in the water that now lay in small puddles across the laboratory's floor.

As soon as she switched places with Aiden, Isolde also swiftly reacted to the oncoming attack. As the Oshawott's Torrent infused Water Gun shot towards her, she used Icy Wind again, freezing the blast as it came nearer. As the ice crept up the blast, Isolde halted her icy move in favour of Thundershock. The electric type move blasted through the tip of the frozen water, shooting through the still liquid insides and back towards the Oshawott. As this was happening, the pure energy from the electric type move created a similar effect to that of the bubbles that Aiden had burst and shattered with his Ember.

As luck would have it, Tawn's Super Fang did in fact grasp the real Ryuu's fur. He had attempted to dodge with a last minute Quick Attack, but hadn't been fast enough enabling Tawn to grab a hold of his bushy tail. Ryuu lost his calm at the sudden pain of the Tanussion's sharp fangs and whipped around to fire a close range Swift attack.

Reese had caught up to the person stealing the pokeballs, but they appeared to have not noticed her as she got closer. Gently petting the Steapie's head she whispered, "Astonish."
Without even so much as a nod, Aerona fluttered upward a little before letting out a sharp, shrill cry that ended as soon as it started. It made even Reese jump, and she had known it was coming.

The Froakie merely turning in attention towards the sound of the shriek. The Oshawott had screeched as well, but in pain as electricity coursed through its body. The oshawott fell to the ground, bouncing once before being drowned in darkness. Tawn was also hit by the swift attack, and was sent flying into a rack of pokeballs, smashing into it, but not quite toppling it over.

Paige dropped the pokeballs to cover her ears, the pokeballs clattered on the ground, disturbing the pokemon inside, but not to the point of them forcing their way out. The covering of her ears didn't help the pain, but it did help in returning her back to normal. When the attack ended she turned and glared at Reese, her arm held in front of her as if she were about to fight herself, "What the f*ck was that for!?"

Paige stopped, looking around, "Shit." she whispered, she looked to see Tawn getting back up, Oshawott KO'd and Froakie looking at her, confused. Paige returned Oshawott in a swift movement, but allowed the other two to stay out, "Run!" she yelled, heading for the open window. Tawn and Froakie followed, still confused about their trainer but willing to obey.

She didn't know what she was doing in there, but she had guessed that it was the handiwork of her so called friends. She always knew they were trouble makers and had considered herself one as well, so she hung without them. She had never thought they would have gone as far as this. She darted over to find that the window was now closed, and locked-from the outside. Paige pulled up at the window frantically, swearing inwardly at both herself, her friends, and the world.

Isolde and Aiden had regrouped after the Astonish move subsided, both waiting for their friend and trainer's next move, but also keeping an eye on the Froakie that had not been knocked out. Ryuu had padded over to Tawn, not to attack again but to make sure the Tanussion could not help it's trainer in continuing the theft.
Reese crossed her arms as Paige covered her ears, not flinching at her threatening stance shortly after. She stayed where she was stood as trainer and Pokemon proceeded to run towards the closed and locked window, thou Aerona followed her, hovering above her head lest she try something stupid.
"Personally I think stealing someone else's Pokemon is rather a good reason to hurt their ears a little bit," commented Reese. Though she was not moving from where she was stood, her stern gaze and stance would tell anyone that she was rather angry. Isolde, Aiden and Ryuu took up protective stances in front of their trainer whilst also cornering Paige by the window, lest she try to run. She had attempted to commit a crime as far as Reese knew, and she wasn't about to let this girl get away with it.

Just as this was happening, footsteps could be heard echoing quietly as someone wandered downstairs. That 'someone' ended up being professor Maple, who looked around searching for answers as to what had happened here and why she'd been woken by Aerona's loud chirp.
"Sorry for waking you, professor. I caught this girl trying to steal pokemon from the lab," explained Reese in one short sentence.

Tawn and Froakie were standing in front of Paige protectively. Even though they knew it was most likely hopeless.

Paige cursed once more in her mind and turned around, to see that the professor was here. Great. She was going to get in trouble for doing something she couldn't stop herself from doing. Just fan-f*cking-tastic.

She decided to try and argue her point, but this had happened before in other situations, having to argue for her own innocence, but it always ended in being judged guilty and sent to the police, and from there to home. It was to her surprise that she hadn't been sent to juvenile hall, but this was sure to land her in there, she spoke, "I didn't WANT to steal them."

Tawn's fur was fluffed up and she was slightly bruised from the swift attack, while the Froakie seemed to be okay still. Paige had no idea on the condition of Oshawott, since she hadn't been able to get a good look at her before she was retrieved into the pokeball.

Reese blinked at the thief girl's words, confused. She didn't look or sound like she was lying, and yet why would someone break into a lab and start gathering up pokeballs if they didn't want to steal them?
"I'm not sure I understand what you mean," Professor Maple had spoken up, voicing her own confusion. Her previously tired state had quickly dissipated and been removed with a more curious ones, "Care to explain in more detail?"

Reese blinked and looked to Prof. Maple before shrugging slightly to herself. The professor was known to be at least a decent judge of character, perhaps she thought there was some truth to the thief girl's story.

Isolde, Aiden and Ryuu meanwhile continued to guard their own trainer, with Aerona hovering above them all in the air, ready to act with another Astonish should it come to that.

Paige hesitated, wondering if the would actually believe her honesty. After all, wasn't "I was hypnotized" a stupid and commonly used excuse? She decided to at least give it a shot, "I was hypnotized by someone's drowzee..."
She wasn't a snitch, a rat, a tattle tale. She wasn't about to tell on her friends despite their abusing of her. What would other people think of her if they found out? Paige awaited a response, being honest, but not telling just who had forced her into a slumber and convinced her she absolutely HAD to go in and steal the lab pokemon that were kept here only for research and perhaps be given out to an aspiring trainer one day.