A Friend in Need and a Mysterious Mirage!

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After joining the guild and taking a nap in her new room, Tally had woken up refreshed and ready to take on a mission! After perusing the various mission boards, the Buizel hadn't found anything interesting to take down, though she really only skimmed them. She looked at the last mission on the Outlaw Mission Board, and then froze. Kira the Riolu, a Pokemon she had traveled with and helped to find a treasure before, had her auction house distroyed, AND the Golden Mask they found together was stolen too! Tally built up with rage and quickly ripped the mission of the board and dashed out the door without another word. She was determined to help out her friend, no matter what it would take!

Defeat Mirage the Zorua!:

Tally, the mission paper in her bag, was at the entrance of Shadowhue Forest. She was supposed to meet her friend Kira around here, and there they'd fight an outlaw known as Mirage the Zorua. To the Buizel's knowledge, Zorua were foxes with the power to make illusions. She would have to be careful and be on the lookout. As the Buizel waited for Kira, she sat on a rock, pinning her new Explorer Badge to her Joy Ribbon. She was on a Rescue Team of one, known as Team Tsunami, and it felt good. Still, Tally was very angry on the inside. She could burst at any moment, as she really wanted justice to be served!

Kira, lacking damaging attacks that were fighting type, thought herself lucky as her foot was set ablaze and she attempted to give the nuzleaf a good kick in the face. The "Nuzleaf" somehow dodged the attack, it was too quick for Kira to see as it seemed more of a flicker of the Nuzleaf's image as it moved to the side. She was startled when yet another dark pulse attack struck her, followed by a tackle.

Mirage watched the kick fly just abover her, she assumed that she must have been a taller looking pokemon. She made use of her feet and moved to the side before unleashing a dark pulse and tackling the pokemon. She growled and the riolu endured her hit, why didn't they just give up? It was obviously futile, they were out numbered even if it was by one.

Tally continued to fight the Poochyena duo. As one tried to tackle her, Tally knocked it away into the other one, and the two dogs were in what one might call a small "dog pile", although neither were ready to call it quits. As the struggled to get up, Tally gave Kira a bit of backup by shooting a Water Pulse at the Nuzleaf. Kira didn't look to be doing that well against her foe, so the Buizel hoped this attack would help, even if just a little.

The Poochyena got back on their feet, and Tally redirected her attention back to them, ready to continue the fight.

The Nuzleaf seemed to somehow dodge that attack as well, up was stuck with a blaze kick that was meant to knock out it's feet. Kira was surprised when the nuzleaf seemed to shimmer and revealed a small black and red fox pokemon. The pokemon growled before turning tail fleeing once more into the bushes, "That was the Zorua!" Kira called, she was about to run after it when she noticed her friend was having trouble with the Poochyenas. She darted close to one, utilizing her quick attack to get close, and used Blaze kick on one.

The zorua screeched in fear as the water pulse flew above her head and the blaze kick smashed into her side. She shook herself and leaped into the bushes, collecting the golden mask and running off with it. She wasn't too happy right then, her illusion was shattered, she felt it. She did not know much of her ability, just how to activate it. Would she be able to use it again?

Kira's attacks knocked out one, and a Water Pulse attack from Tally sent the other one running. It took its partner along with it as it escaped. Without any hesitation, Tally began following the Zorua, though it was a bit faster than her.

"C'mon," Tally said, waving the Riolu to follow. "There's no time to waste!" With that, Tally headed deeper into the depths of Shadowhue Forest, though not at full speed. She wanted to catch the Zorua, but she didn't want to loss Kira either.

Kira kept up with the buizel easily, but the Zorua was fast. She stopped when she saw it seem to disappear to the side in a jump. It would be pointless to keep going when they could not see it, so she waited. She was sure the pokemon did not want to lose them this early, right? The Riolu tried once again to use its ability to sense aura, it failed once more and the Zorua's voice seemed to echo over the area once more.

"Ha, what a pathetic chase scene we had there! You lost me so easily!"

The Zorua had found another hollow log that she used once more to amplify her voice to make it echo and harder to determine where she was. Mirage smirked, feeling clever and victorious as she laid the mask down next to her, "So, what are you? A Rescue team? You sure don't look like one!"

"A rescue team!?" Kira shouted, "Why the hell would I be one of them!? They didn't come to rescue me just because I did not have enough poke! Now come out and give up!"

Tally growled angrily as she lost the Zorua yet again, and yet again it taunted them. She tried not to let it bug her as much this time, but what Kira said about rescue teams left her shocked. This was a surprising thing to hear. Did this Riolu really think that way about Rescue Teams.

"Kira, that's not true! Not all rescue teams are greedy!" Tally said. She knew some were, but she definately wasn't. She didn't even pay attention to the reward of her mission to help Kira. "...At least I'm not."

Kira stopped when she realized that Tally was a team member..."Well...that's true..." she said. She stopped to think for a bit as she processed this information. There were a lot of greedy teams, she had nearly died because none came to save her when she had been kidnapped and about to be brutally murdered by an Excadrill and a gang. She had allowed her dreams of being a rescue team to be shattered because of that, not wanting to be one of those teams. It had never crossed her mind to maybe look for someone who isn't like that or even to just start her own team and accept the first mission on the board she saw. She blinked and mumbled, "I....am....an absolute....moron...."

Mirage was confused...the Riolu had suddenly gone quiet before mumbling something she could not hear. Were they planning an attack? Did the riolu finally use its ability to sense auras? The zorua waited, after all, this was a waiting game.

Tally waited as Kira thought things through. Both her current partner and her enemy were silent, along with the Buizel herself. Throughout the forestvthe sounds of wild Pokemon could be heard, and it made Tally think. Wasn't she a bit greedy by skipping over all those other missions? She was sure it wasn't. Tally wasn't even looking at the rewards, so it was okay...right? The Buizel began to feel a bit guilty, but pushed those thoughts away quickly as she did pick a mission with the intention to help, and not to get a reward. If she remembered correctly, the slip of paper attached to the outlaw board didn't even have a reward on it!

Then Kira spoke. Tally could barely hear it, but based on what she heard, she figured the Riolu seemed to have a realization of sorts, though calling herself a moron was probably not the best thing to do. "No you're not," reassured Tally. "It's some of the rescue teams that are. Only a moron would act like that, would only take missions with good rewards. I'm not like that, and I'm sure you wouldn't be either."

Kira listened to the buizel as she spoke, she was about to thank the buizel for helping realize that, but was rudely interrupted, "I'M STILL ALIVE OVER HERE DAMMIT! STOP IGNORING ME! WHAT ARE YOU TWO!? THE MAIN CHARACTERS OF SOME KIND OF STORY!?"
It was Mirage. She had figured out that she had been completely forgotten about, that wasn't fun at all! She huffed in annoyance.
"CAN'T YOU SEE I'M HAVING AN EPIPHANY OVER HERE!? THE MAIN CHARACTER NEEDS TO HAVE EPIPHANIES EVERY NOW AND THEN!" Kira shouted back
"WHY ARE YOU THE MAIN CHARACTER!? WHAT ABOUT ME OR YOUR FRIEND!? THIS IS A ROLEPLAY, NOT A STORY!" Mira spoke back.
"I'm the banned species character here! Of Course I'm the main character!"
Kira looked around again, searching for the source of the voice in vain, "O-Of course i'm not!" She spoke, trying to regain her dignity. The riolu looked about once more, happy that the buizel had helped her come to the realization. She COULD be a rescue team member, she could be a role model for those bad teams...she won't look at rewards, she'll just accept. Any pokemon in trouble, deserves to be saved, rich or not.

It felt good to help Kira realize that she could be in a pure of heart rescue team, but the happy feeling was lost as Mirage shouted. Arceus, she was so annoying. She was a criminal, an outlaw, and yet the Zorua still treated her life like a game! "SHUT UP!" Tally yelled back angrily. She didn't even bother commenting on the main character thing. She wasn't going to bother with the game related things that Zorua said. "If you want us to focus on you so badly, why don't ya just come out and fight?!"

Mirage was silent as if she were contemplating it, but in reality she wasn't even hesitant on the decision. She did NOT want to go out there, "Nah, I like it here better. Oh~ I know. How about a game of hide and seek? I hide and you try to find me?" Mirage took a step back from the log as she felt her ability kick in she picked up a nearby rock and tossed it out over the clearing with the riolu and the buizel into a bush, disturbing some pokemon she had seen there foraging berries earlier. She laughed and darted around the pokemon to join the wild ones.

Kira saw a rock fly over them and hit something in a bush, causing it to rustle more than it should have. She flinched when three pokemon emerged, each looking difficult and strong. Her momentary flinch changed into anger, how dare this pokemon take her stuff and make fun of her friend like that...this pokemon was going to pay with a Blaze Kick right in the face!

This dice is not existing.

Tally growled at Mirage, and stopped as she heard a canine's whine... And then a dark shape came into view near where the previously thrown rock landed. It was a Mightyena, and behind it was a tiny Poochyena with a bump on its head. It was hurt, and the most likely situation was that the rock Mirage threw must of hit the puppy and its mom thought either Tally or Kira did it. Now it was going to attack!

Tally didn't want to hurt the mother Mightyena. She had a kid to take care of, and if she and Kira won the fight against it , who would care for it's baby? As it was about to attack Tally, the Buizel dodged.

"I don't want to hurt the Mightyena," Tally said to make sure her current teammate knew. "I want to make sure it can take care of its child?"

Kira was also confused about this situation, the mightyena did not look happy...She was unable to dodge a Bite attack that struck her right in the midsection. The mightyena picked her up and tossed her into a bush, not knowing which one of the two did it, but determined to punish whoever hurt their pup. The riolu's head popped out of the bush and shook the leaves off of it, before seeing a swadloon jump into the fray.

The swadloon WAS about to attack the explorers, but the mightyena had turned on it as well. The swadloon was actually Mirage in disguise, so she yelped in fear. She was unable to use pokemon attacks of pokemon she illusioned herself to be, so she couldn't simply string shot the beast into a large ball. The zorua screeched as the strong pokemon picked her up, causing her camouflage to dissipate, and tossed her against a tree.

As the Mighyena attacked the Swadloon, Tally watched as the supposed bug Pokemon turned into a Zorua... The very Zorua she and Kira were persuing! Tally wanted to check if Kira was okay, but if she went to do so Mirage could probably escape. The Buizel was torn between helping her friend or letting the outlaw go. Tally was very unsure. She could go after Mirage and then help Kira, though by the way she popped her blue and black head out of the bush she seemed okay...

Tally decided to not do anything. She didn't know if Mirage was going to escape right away nor if Kira was okay. "You okay Kira?" Tally called over to the Riolu in a bush, just in case.

"I-I'm fine!" the Riolu called back. She leaped out of the bush and landed next to the poochyena, who looked at her and gave a startled yelp that attracted the attention of the mightyena. The mother howled and attempted to tackle Kira, but the riolu moved away just in time.

Meanwhile the Zorua had been knocked out, not able to move much since she was temporarily unconscious.