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!

Tally was happy that Kira was okay. Apparently Mirage had fainted, but they still had the mother Poochyena to deal with. The best thing to do was to just stay away from the pup, but then they'd leave Mirage here....

Wait.... Tally thought, realizing something. "K-kira! Mirage doesn't have the mask! If we escape from this Mightyena we can look for it while we have the chance!" The Buizel began to slowly back away, as she didn't want to look likd she was attacking the baby. She signaled Kira to do the same. If they stepped away from the mother Poochyena and her baby, maybe it would stop attacking!

Kira swallowed and slowly back away, following Tallulah's lead. When she was reminded of the Golden Mask her stance changed to one of determination. "SCREW THESE GUYS IMMA LOOKIN FOR MAH MASK"
She looked to the mightyena, which seems to have lost interest in her at the moment and was tending to her small pup. The riolu turned and darted into the bushes before frantically searching about for the mask. She could not find it! The Zorua must have hidden it well, would they need the zorua to find it? She wondered.

Mirage was still unconscious.

Tally watched as the mother Mightyena began to tend to her pup. It was a relief that that battle was over and both the mom and her pup were safe. Now that Mirage was KO'd they could look for the mask in peace. The Buizel began searching for Kira's stolen treasure, too. As she scanned the dark forest floor, she found nothing. Where was it?

During Tally's search, she found a log, and when she studied it she saw tiny shed hairs from black and gray fur. Was Mirage around here? "Kira, I found something interesting!" Tally called. Although she just wanted to show Kira the shed hair, when Tally shouted her voice was amplified, like how the Zorua's voice was earlier... Tally thought she might of figured out part of what was going on.

Kira was startled by the sudden voice, and so was the mightyena and her pup. The mother grabbed the pokemon by the scruff and took off with the small pooch safely in her jaws. The riolu was able to pin point the sound more accurately this time, and found the log that the outlaw had been using with Tally just beside it.
"What is this?" she asked. She would have waited for an answer if she hadn't spotted a certain gold glimmer under some dead leaves nearby. She launched herself at the pile and found her golden mask, "WHOOHOO!" she yelled as she was reunited with her treasure. She held onto it with seemingly hungry eyes and turned to the buizel, a bit embarrassed by her actions now, "Th-Thanks!"

Mirage woke to find herself alone. She was still sore and hurt, but she could move. She heard the buizel and the Riolu nearby, and decided that it was time to leave. She had had her fun for the day, the dose was not as sweet as she wanted it to be. She just hoped that the pokemon would let her go, after all they got their stupid mask back...

Tally smiled as Kira found her Golden Mask. "Heheh, no problem, Kira," the Buizel replied. "I'm glad I could help."

The Buizel remained silent, thinking about sonething. Kira seemed to have a change in heart about rescue teams, or at least a new idea about them. Tally was still in a team of one. Having a partner might help, and Kira would be her first choice out of the Pokemon she had met. Still, it was Kira's choice.

"Hey, uh, do you have anywhere to stay after this? The mission said Mirage destroyed your Auction House..."

Kira finally remembered that she had no place to stay, "er...No I guess...Before I lived there, I just slept wherever I was, in a safe spot..." She shrugged, holding the mask in paw, "Yeah, I have nowhere to go but a wrecked building...how the dang thing wrecked it? I don't even know..." The Riolu sighed, slightly sad that she did not have a place to sleep, but glad that she got her mask back at least.

A certain Zorua stopped limping away and looked back. Mirage huffed, beginning to bare a grudge. SHE was supposed to win, SHE was supposed to have the item, SHE was supposed to be the one on top. Where was she now? Limping along like a wounded and lost puppy. She snorted and decided to limp back, camouflaged under her illusion ability, but this time under the appearance of a swadloon once more, using to be camouflaged and unseen as she eavesdropped.

Tally frowned. She wasn't able to see Kira's auction house before it was destroyed. Still, the Buizel wanted to help.
"Well, do you want to... join Team Tsunami?" Tally asked, and then added, "That's my team, by the way. It consists of me and only me. We can do good and you can have a place to stay and keep your treasures at the same time. It's really not a team unless there's more than one person."

The Buizel, although usually preferring to go alone, knew she needed a teammate. She really hoped Kira would understand. Even Tally knew she couldn't do everything by herself.

Kira paused, the buizel had offered her to join her team...The riolu thought back to when she had once dreamed to be a rescue team member because the team had decided to save her. Then she had learned the truth the hard way that rescue teams were only in it for the rewards. The Buizel was not like that though, Kira and her could become a role model for teams like that. She could show them that they were wrong to ignore jobs just because they had no reward, and she could be with one of her friends! She smiled, "Sure, I'd gladly be a part of Team Tsunami!"

The zorua heard the name, "Team Tsunami" and frowned. She would remember this Team Tsunami, she would have her revenge against them. She would grow stronger, more tactical, and tear them apart both in body and in mind. She would just have to be patient, after all this was a waiting game, as she had thought before.

"Aw, sweet!" Tally said, smiling once again. "Just don't hold me back!" she joked. The Buizel's eyes darted to Kira's Golden Mask, which was one of the reasons she was here. That made her think. "Hey, should we go back and apprehend Mirage? She is an outlaw, after all. Even if she isn't officially deemed an outlaw, she stole and vandalized your property. If that doesn't make her a true outlaw, I don't know what does."

Tally hoped Mirage was still unconsious. She'd be easy to turn in that way, and leaving some one like her out there really wouldn't be good. Tally wanted her locked up, just like any other outlaw she had heard of.

The riolu nodded, the zorua should be locked up for her crimes. In Kira's opinion she should be locked up and shackled for life, but that was her biased opinion. She returned to the scene of the fight to find that the zorua was gone! She huffed in annoyance, "She must have woken up while we were looking for my mask..." The riolu sighed, but at least the buizel was able to technically complete the mission since the goal was to retrieve the mask.

Mirage heard of them coming to search for her and retreated into a bush, remaining still. She was not about to reveal herself just yet, and running would attract attention. If she was spotted she would act like she's innocent and have to guess what pokemon she was and act like one.

Tally nodded and follpwed the Riolu back to where the Zorua was defeated. "That STUPID Zorua!" the Buizel shouted angry while punching a tree. A block of the tree popped off, leaving part of the tree floating in midair. All that was left of the punched part of the tree was a small, slowly spinning block that looked like a tree trunk, and the block was attracted to Tallulah and ended up disappearing inside her

The Zorua was gone. Did that mean she failed the mission? Tally was worried, but her client was right next to her. "If she's gone, do you wanna keep looking for her, or end the mission here? You got your mask back, but it seems Mirage is still at large..."

"Well, the main reason I made the mission was to get my mask back, so I say Mission Complete! We'll have to keep an eye out for Mirage though, it's getting late but she's probably out of this place by now and hiding..." The riolu spoke happily when she spoke of completing the mission, and spoke seriously when she changed her topic to the Zorua. The riolu looked up at the sky, was it this late already!? She looked to the buizel, "Erm..how do you sign up at the guild anyways?" she laughed nervously.

Mirage listened, not speaking or moving. The pain of the wounds was bearable but still was an annoyance. She waited for them to leave, not wanting it to be known she was still hidden in the bushes. Shadowhue was a good dark forest, perfect for a zorua...could she live here perhaps?

Tally let out a small "Woo!" Her mission was complete, and she got a potential teammate out of it, too! Still, she wasn't able to catch Mirage. Tally didn't want to let her go, but Kira was probably right. By this time the Zorua had probably escaped or was hiding away. Even if she was still here, it was getting dark and so Mirage had her element on her side. The Buizel vowed that one day she'd apprehend that Tricky Fox, but it would not be today. She'd have to let this one slide.

Now was the question of being able to sign Kira up for her team. "I just went in the guild and straight to to Guildmaster's quarters, and she signed me right up. Her name's Faye and she's really nice... She called me 'Sweetie' and 'Dearie' a lot, but that's the only bad thing I can think of. To add you to Team Tsunami, I'm guessing you just have to come with me to see the Guildmaster and get you added, but to be honest I'm not really sure," Tally said with a shrug.

"Well what are we waiting for!?" Kira spoke happily. She suddenly evolved into a lucario and looked down at the buizel "uhh...." She spoke again, "Can you lead? I kinda forgot the way..." she laughed nervously and hid behind her golden mask slightly as she spoke. She blinked as she waited for the buizel to respond.

Mirage glared at them grudgingly before slinking away. She would have her revenge soon enough, she would just have to wait. Wait for the right moment, when tensions are high, when they are about to break. Mirage decided that she would first attack their friendship, if she were to meet them again...

"Well, uhh..." Tally mumbled. Where was the way back? "We're not too far in, so we probably won't get lost, but really I dunno." The Buizel looked around. It was getting late and Shadowhue forest was reall dark, but Tally was able to guess which way was the way out. More light could be seen from the trees in one direction, and less could be seen from all the others. "This way, I guess," Tally said, pointing to the more lighted up part of the forest. "Be careful though, I don't want you to trip in the dark. "