Idiots Afoot

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His head was high, his eyes were closed, and each step was taken in sheer confidence. The grass around him reached higher than he stood, but the path he followed made sure he had an easy walk. His loud mouth could be heard for practical miles with how little he cared about being silent, "I promise you Em, you're gonna LOVE it here! It's WAAAAAY better than the library. It wasn't even that hard to get to."

The zorua opened his eyes to the world ahead of him, a few rolling hills in the distance caught his eye. A single tree stood upon it, but it looked as if the plant fell long ago. It was such a simple piece of nature, but the prospect of investigating it excited him. With an excited wiggle of his body, he leapt forward and dash towards it. The wind in his fur felt absolutely amazing; This was so much different from boring ol' Grassveil and Shadowhue!

He slowed briefly before he jumped up on top of the log of the elderly fallen tree. He looked on at the expansive flat lands before him as energy that rivaled the static charge that floated in the air around him coursed through his veins. Was this what his father felt like when he went into dungeons? Probably not considering he looked like an alcoholic deadbeat last time Chance saw him, but there had to be a reason why the glaceon became an explorer in the first place right?

"Wooooow, Em come look at this!" he encouraged his sister. He waited to hear the sound of her paws scratching against the bark to hop up alongside him, but he heard nothing. "Em?" His stupidly wide grin faded into curiosity as he turned around to look at his sister for the first time in literal hours. There was no sister in sight. A concerned shout escaped his mouth briefly before he started to look around more fervently, "Em? Emmelyn? Emmy?" he called out for his sister in vain as he turned in circles. He half expected her to simply materialize behind him and ask him to stop shouting, but nothing came.

"C'mon Em this isn't funny!" he shouted, his tone slightly offended that she dared to hide from him. He sprang towards one end of the log and peered into the inside of the hollow innards, effectively looking inside completely upside down. "Em?" She wasn't there. His heart sank. He lifted his head back up while his hind-legs failed to support him. He sat upon the log with lowered ears. "Where did you go?" he asked in a much quieter tone. Did...did she stay back at Grassveil?


Lost, hungry, and most of all desperate. He decided that it would have been fun to visit the one place that seemed friendly to electric types such as himself, but instead he simply became lost for days. The jolteon struggled to hunt in these parts, unable to familiarize himself with the prey and enact proper strategies on top of being unable to find any edible items to fill his stomach.

Fortunately, however, he was given a stroke of luck. As he trudged miserably through the tall grass of the electric field, the shrill sound of someone yelling caught his attention. His bitten ear twitched before his head swiveled in the direction of the source. Yes...it was definitely somebody. Somebody small from the sounds of it. His stomach growled. It was time for the circle of life to continue its cycle.

The electric type lowered his body to the ground and quickly-yet quietly skulked forwards. His yellow color blended in with the golden grass that rose out of the ground higher than he stood. He headed towards the sound of the voice, up a hill and closer until he came across a small clearing at the top of the hill that held the log and stump of a fallen tree. He could see the form of a small zorua at the top of the log who looked a little depressed about something.

Erebus smirked, food. Easy food. Finally, he could get his stomach to leave him alone. He took a step forward, however, hesitated. He could run forth and pounce on the fox the old fashion way...or he could use his new abilities as a Jolteon to his advantage. He had not tried hunting with his powers, but it could not have possibly been any different from average combat. With how weak the zorua looked, he could not imagine it would take more than a single Thunder to deal with it.

The Jolteon's body began to crackle with electricity as he steadily stepped out from the grass, his eyes focused on the dark type. He was behind the zorua, so it did not yet see him. There was no way it could smell him from there either. His plan was simple: get as close as he can to the Zorua. If the prey showed any sign of noticing him, then he could unleash the charge onto them and claim his dinner...

He couldn't remember where he was or why he came here in the first place. Instead he but his efforts into getting his thoughts to slow down. It was difficult, however, especially with Darcy's threat still fresh on his mind. While the others and even his father disagreed with him, he could not help but feel that this skitty was...well, a bully.

Why did she get to decide whether his family would be torn apart or not? Why was she being such a jerk about all of this towards his mother? What had she ever done to the skitty? The questions ran rampant through his mind as a spiteful anger towards the skitty bubbled. He opted to remain silent, however, and keep pace with Senva.

Not far off behind the duo back atop the hill, a little black rat stepped up and gazed down at the back of departing explorers. His whiskers twitched curiously as his gaze wandered over to the injured Jolteon. The creature evaluated the scene for a moment before it came to a conclusion: these guys seemed like fun. It bolted back over the edge of the hill where it came from. If it was going to need help.

Darcy smiled as her sister seemed to start to... enjoy herself was the wrong word. Recover, was perhaps more accurate. As her sister began to recover. There'd been so much going on... and she couldn't imagine that the day had been particularly easy for her either. What with all the violence, and the blood, and the fact that Darcy was the one to get tortured... She knew Alki pretty well by this point. Darcy knew how important she was to Alki... And if she'd been afraid she was going to die... She couldn't imagine that Alki had taken it any better.

In fact, she'd probably taken it much, much worse. But Darcy had been in too much pain to notice... As she looked down at her sister, who awkwardly averted her gaze as Darcy looked over, she felt... guilty. She'd been so reckless... If she'd have screwed up, or if Senya were slightly more demented than it turned out he was, or if she were just a bit less resilient than it turned out she was... She would've died. She would've died and left Alki alone... and her parents would've lost a daughter...

Darcy vaguely heard... something in the background. Probably a response to her own question. But she didn't really mind... She continued to hobble along, supported by her sister's shadow. It felt as though a few tears had come to her eyes, but Darcy wiped them away quietly, without much fuss. There was no need for any more melodrama... For now, she could just be happy she was alive, and feel her sister at her side, and try to forget all this happened...

At least for now. Surely, she'd have to deal with the fallout from all of this at some point in the future... She would investigate Mirage. She didn't want to turn a blind eye completely without knowing the crimes this person had committed... And she'd have to talk to Sova about it too. About Mirage, but also about Senya... and about everything that had been revealed to her through her conversation.

But that could wait... She'd need a hospital, and once she got out of said hospital, she didn't... she didn't want to confront all of this head on. At least, not immediately. She wanted to make sure Alki was alright, first and foremost... She sighed once again.

"H-Hey, Alki, h-have... have you ever had noodles...?" Darcy asked her sister quietly, her voice losing it's earlier cheeriness, and instead betrayed the guilt that the Skitty seemed to feel. The jigglypuff met her gaze nervously, her smile shrinking.

Now she felt even worse... But Alki didn't even to seem fully focused on her...

"Uh... N-No, b-but..." Her sister began softly, but anything else that she might've said was drowned out by the sound of another, completely foreign voice.

~~


Alki was quite content to serve as her older sister's guide on the way home. Well, more like... a cane? Guide's didn't tend to help people walk, usually... Well, regardless. She was just happy to be there, and to help out somehow... She was happy that her sister was allowing herself to be helped. She knew Darcy didn't really need the help, but her sister was kind hearted enough to let Alki be useful somehow... She must have noticed how useless she'd been that whole day... More than useless, truthfully... and decided to give her something to keep busy with?

That'd be nice... and it seemed pretty logical. Darcy was just about the only person in the world willing to put up with her... She was just happy that Darcy was ok. Alive, at the very least... She'd thought she might lose her... But she seemed stable enough now. Stumbling a bit, and she still seemed a bit upset... Alki diverted her gaze as the Skitty turned to look at her.

If Darcy ever died, she didn't know what she'd do... She didn't know how she could live if she ever lost Darcy.

Thankfully, that didn't seem to be a situation she'd have to deal with anymore...

"H-Hey, Alki, h-have... have you ever had noodles...?" Darcy asked her, prompting a puzzled stare from Alki. ...Noodles? Why was that relevant at all...? Was Darcy really hungry...?

On the other hand... Noodles sounded interesting. She'd never had them. If Darcy liked them, they probably tasted good, didn't they...? She knew they were a food-stuff of some kind...

"Uh... N-No, b-but.." Alki began, before being interrupted by a rather loud, flamboyant voice.

"Stop right there, criminal scum!" A voice boomed out from a patch of grass nearby. It seemed so... confident. How did they know she was a criminal...? Come to think of it, how did they know that they were all criminals...? The voice prompted a frightened squeal from the jigglypuff, as she jumped back in fright.

"...H-Hey!" Her sister's voice exclaimed from beside her, before a muffled thump met her ears as a body hit the floor.

"S-S-S-Sorry...!" She said, unsure of whether to direct it at the unknown voice or at her sister, who was just now picking herself up...

Was the voice snickering...? Alki turned to look at him, her face a strange mixture of annoyance and of fear. Even if he had been, the Alolan Raichu's face seemed to be quite... serious now. Come to think of it... They weren't criminals! At the very least, not all of them... Sova certainly was, but the other three... They hadn't done anything wrong!

"No one breaks the law on my watch! This here's a toll road, you see." The Raichu spread his arms wide, much wider than Alki thought a toll road deserved. Come to think of it, what even was a toll road...? "And I didn't see any of you pay the price! Tsk tsk tsk... I'm afraid you're going to have to pay an extra fine on top of the regular price... One thousand Poke, if you please... Each of you."

"F-Four... Four thousand? " Darcy exclaimed. That... was a lot. Alki wasn't even sure if she had One hundred Poke on her... Let alone ten times that!

The alolan raichu smirked at them, seeming to have trouble holding back a snicker... Was this what policemons were like...? She really hoped she'd never get caught by one of them... Her hands covered her mouth in both shock and sadness... Maybe she shouldn't have spent so much money on toys and candy... Maybe she should save the money she stole... The electric type's eyes seemed to drift over the group of Pokemon, looking on something beyond them for a couple seconds, before settling back on the group. This time... On Sova...?

"If your friends can't pay, I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to foot the bill... Roads are expensive to maintain! Especially way out here... I'm sure you'll comply. You seem like the most mature one here." He smirked, glancing at the Skitty for a brief second.

"H-Hey! He is not! "

Senya chose to ignore the zorua huddled up next to him, and the conversation devolving into noodles next to him. He wasn't interested in addressing either of these things, because they weren't for him... Even though Chance was choosing to seek comfort from him, it was acually Sova he wanted. Senya had decided not to push the child away, but that didn't mean he was going to pretend to be a father and try to say something supportive. He also wasn't going to apologize to anyone, nor did he want to talk about noodles... and they didn't want to talk to him either. This was shaping up to be a very boring walk; even someone as asocial as himself still preferred some kind of interaction over... this. It would have been easier without Chance here, reminding him that everyone just wanted Sova.

The interesting conversation with Darcy had been nice... but now that it was over, and she clearly didn't want to talk to him anymore... he wasn't sure if it had been worth it. He wasn't very used to regretting things. Why did it even matter? It wasn't as if he liked talking to people... Granted, he had never tried much before.

His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of an unfamiliar voice. Criminal scum? He slowly turned to see a lone raichu, trying to accost them over... something. His brow raised in curiosity, the only sign of interest through his otherwise unamused expression. Someone trying to get them to pay a toll "because reasons," and apparently looking to him as the one who would be most likely to oblige... Well, the raichu was right about one thing: he had money, and probably enough to pay this ludicrous "toll." He would not be paying, however.

The glaceon chuckled at Darcy's remark, an entertained smirk brought to his face. "She's right... I'm not very mature at all," he started up, stepping forward a bit and speaking with a clear tone, eyes trained on the raichu all the while. He wasn't afraid, and he would not allow anyone traveling with him to be intimidated into compliance by some common hustler. "See, I have quite a temper... I'm not a fan of being told what to do, and I have a tendency to get frisky when I'm annoyed," he continued on, speaking with a sense of nonchalance that could almost have made it seem he wasn't serious. His eyes, however, told a different story... unblinking... locked on the raichu...

But, he was giving the guy a chance to change his tune and walk away. If only for the sake of the company he was with, he was restraining himself just a bit more than usual. He was hoping he would get an excuse to maul something though.

When the voice of a stranger reached his ears, his immediate response was to continue to cower under Senva's cloak...more so than before. Why couldn't Glaceon have a big fluff of hair for him to ride around in? There were many complaints that he had about the biological "flaws" of a glaceon, but this wasn't exactly the time to think them all through.

The stranger's voice grew closer. He could see the alolan raichu look to Senva in particular for payment. He didn't remember anything about a toll booth in this area? The zorua kept quiet as Senva did the talking...though he wouldn't be able to remain quiet. A bout of confusion prompted him to speak, "...What does 'Frisky' mean?" he asked quietly.

The rattata darted around each stand of grass piece by piece. Its movements were silent and skilled. This was not the first time he'd done this and he was certain it wouldn't be the last. His friends were near as well. One was going to stalk from behind, while the other two raichu were going to come in from the side. An ambush while they were distracted with Alolan Raichu.

The rat stalked close and watched the group from the shadows, just off to the side and behind them where he couldn't be seen. The rodent focused on the Glaceon, his form taking on a soft white glow as he prepared for the attack. He just needed to wait for the signal...

[Note: Rattata is using Me-First on Senya. So when anyone attacks, it's basically going to use Senya's move against him. Even if its Blizzard ]

Darcy fell to the ground with a rather unceremonious thump. It hurt, for sure, especially considering her current injury, but she was more concerned with why it was that Alki had bounced away so fast. She'd heard the voice, for sure. Criminal scum...? Had the voice seen the Jolteon they'd left behind? Maybe some officer out on... well, actually, what would a police officer be doing out here...? Although she supposed that if one were out here, it wouldn't be unreasonable to assume that this group had been the one to cause the jolteon such severe injuries. They wouldn't be wrong at all, either, but it was more complicated than that...

Darcy lifted herself back to her feet, slowly and groggily. Something about a toll road...? That was funny... She hadn't seen anything about a toll road back there. It certainly didn't seem well enough maintained to justify payment, either... Still. Better to pay than to cause unnecessary drama or... violence. Especially not Senya's kind of violence... Just as Darcy was going to ask the price, the raichu stated it himself.

"F-Four... Four thousand? " That was a huge amount... Darcy felt faint. She didn't have that much money... And even if she did, she couldn't afford to spend it on some cruddy road! And as if to add insult to injury, this raichu seemed to imply that Senya was the mature one there. Senya!

"H-Hey! He is not! " Darcy exclaimed, in an incredible display of maturity. The Skitty had full intention of expounding on this idea, but she found whatever words she might've stated interrupted by Senya's own thoughts.

And boy... She sure wished she would've said something with more... substance. Darcy's tail and ears drooped as she heard the Glaceon's thinly veiled threat, and took in what exactly it was he was implying. She would've liked to believe that the blood and violence was left behind them, in that little clearing. Of course, that was just wishful thinking. She knew as much, after their conversation.

"You are both so... so stupid!" Darcy exclaimed, unsure of who to direct her frustration at. As a result, she simply puffed herself up and yelled out as loudly as she could manage without harming her chest even more. "First off, this road is barely a road! It's just a dirt path! There's a difference! A big difference! Second off, Senya you literally ripped a hole in your own chest a few minutes ago. You should NOT be trying to pick fights right now!" She stomped her bloody paw onto the ground for emphasis, glaring in turn at the Raichu, then the Glaceon, then back to the Raichu. "We will PAY! Alright?"


"Ohohoh! Glad to hear it, missy!" The Raichu said with a lighthearted laugh. Of course, it was hard not to laugh. These folks were all so... colorful. The Skitty and Glaceon seemed so different from each other, that he had a hard time imagining why they'd want to travel together. Not that it mattered. So long as they had money! And the Skitty seemed willing to pay up! Great!

"...Darcy, we don't have money." The voice said.

"That doesn't matter!" Darcy said, her voice edging closer and closer to full panic mode. This situation was spiralling out of control in the most ridiculous way possible, and there was nothing she could do about it. It'd be almost funny, if it weren't for the fact it was soon going to turn into something out of a horror-play.

"Y'know, considering my one demand was money, I'd say it matters quite a bit..." The alolan raichu said, shaking his head. This skitty clearly had something wrong with her, and she wasn't worth dealing with, even if she did have money. Her round friend with a functioning brain had said they didn't have money, so that only left... Mr. Tough guy glaceon.

Darcy remained silent, her last ditch effort at avoiding a confrontation seeming to have failed. Now what...? Well, obviously, it was time for Senya to do his thing... This obviously wasn't a policemon. It made no sense for there to be a toll road way out here, so that made this a shake-up... Even so, she was willing to overlook that for the sake of a peaceful resolution, especially after Alki and Chance had seen so much violence already.

"...Alright. Well, I would certainly say you're the most mature one here, Mr. Glaceon." The alolan raichu turned towards Senya with a chuckle. "Of course, that doesn't mean you're actually mature. Especially considering your tone of voice... I mean, do you even know who you're talking to...?" The Raichu reached into a small, cheap looking bag before producing a very unofficial looking badge that had the words 'police' etched on to it. "...Basically? Kinda a big deal!" The raichu let out a goofy laugh before stuffing the badge carelessly back into his bag. Suddenly, his demeanor became much more serious itself, much to Darcy's chagrin. If he'd just keep being goofy, then... maybe Senya could justify letting him off the hook. But if this was how they were going to play it...?

"Hmmm..." The raichu let out, surveying the three potential opponents. There was the idiotic Skitty, and the hotshot Glaceon. Both of them seemed to have suffered some previous injury, judging by the dried blood on their chests. The pink orb with cat ears didn't seem like she'd be much good at anything in a fight... Yes. He quite liked these odds... "...But, if that's how you want to play it, I can get frisky too... Trust me. I'll give you guys three minutes. Starting... now." He clapped his hands twice as though... celebrating something?

"...YOU'RE BOTH SO DUUUUUMB!"

~

What the hell did Darcy mean they'd pay...? What about their parents...? Between that, and their own needs, they barely had any left over! One thousand for the each of them...? And if Sova didn't want to pay, that made it four thousand for him and Chance... Alki's ears twitched in confusion as she looked between both the skitty and the raichu.

"...Darcy, we don't have money." Alki said quietly, tapping her hands together. The outburst that followed was... far from expected. The balloon pokemon's eyes widened as her sister suffered from a very out of character outburst. Money... sort of did matter, actually. Wasn't that why Darcy was a guild member...? For money? For their parents...?

Alki chose not to say anything. She was probably missing something obvious... She shrunk back shyly, just wishing they could ignore the Raichu and walk on home. But of course, given Sova's fanaticism for glorious, pointless violence, that hardly seemed to be an option...

The jigglypuff remained silent as events unfolded before her, unsure of what to do, or if she even wanted to do anything about all of this. She watched as the raichu presented his... well, it actually seemed to just be a piece of cardboard that said 'police.' Did... He expect them to fall for that?

"...That's not..."

Alki's speech was cut short by a much more serious claim from the raichu.
"Hmmm....But, if that's how you want to play it, I can get frisky too... Trust me. I'll give you guys three minutes. Starting... now." Then he clapped his hands twice. Why would he do that?

Three minutes... What was going to last three minutes? Them? ...Oh. A fight. That... wasn't good. Darcy's cry made her jump, as she looked up at the raichu. What was he planning...? She didn't want to get involved... She wasn't a very good fighter... But she supposed she wouldn't have a choice.

Senya's eyes widened as Darcy suddenly began to berate him like a child, speaking to him as well as the antagonistic raichu. He stumbled away from her in surprise, giving a stare that was shocked, but not in a fearful way. Part of him was... impressed, but the rest felt an odd way about this scolding from someone who by all means should have feared him by now. It wasn't even particularly hateful like he would have expected, just... frustrated. He had never gotten this kind of treatment from anyone before, though to be fair he had gotten very little treatment of any kind. Still, it was actually... nice; endearing in a way, almost enough to make him comply.

Almost. Unfortunately, he wasn't willing to submit to some common thug, and he certainly wasn't going to let her submit. Besides, while he knew Sova had money, that didn't mean it was all on him! And if the rat wasn't willing to go away peacefully without being paid, then he was going to do what he did best and commit excessive violence, regardless of how it made anyone feel. His demeanor shifted back to the sly, casual way he had of carring himself as he sighed and shook his head at poor naive Darcy. "I'm not picking a fight for no reason. Someone like this..." his gaze turned back to the raichu, "He won't take no for an answer. And if he's confident, he's either very strong, very stupid... or he has friends. Let me deal with this." His words were hushed just a bit, so as to speak to Darcy and the others specifically and not announce his reasoning to the world.

The glaceon stepped further in front of the group so as to ensure he would be the center of attention. He hated having to look out for others, but oh well. Three minutes... He stared at the raichu in idle contemplation for a moment before deciding that was far too long to wait. The temperature around him spiked as his fur flash-froze into needles; he spun and whipped his tail forward to send icy needles flying at the raichu... but just as the motions began, similar shards of ice suddenly smacked into him from the side, piercing his cloak and dropping him to the ground. He lay there, limp and motionless, with needles of ice sticking out of him... unresponsive.

Then a guttural sound like some combination of a hiss and a growl came from his collapsed form as he slowly picked himself up. His demeanor had suddenly shifted, and he now moved almost like a puppet supported and pulled by unseen strings. "This thing was expensive..." he muttered as he raised his head just enough to glare at the raichu from under his hood. He would probably be blamed for the damages to the cloak, but more importantly, he had just been humiliated.

Fortunately, the attack was far too weak to actually hurt him, especially through his frozen quills. Without warning, he rushed toward the raichu, ignoring whatever had attached him from behind and whatever else he now assumed was lurking in the area. He swung his tail once more, but this time only after closing into beating range, and he had no intention of being caught off-guard and knocked down by some love tap this time. His tail did collide with something, but instead of the feeling of his quills cutting through flesh, he felt them... shatter. He spun on his heel and lunged back to gain some distance, and a look of confusion broke through his glare for a moment.

There was a green barrier surrounding the raichu, but more importantly, it had gotten... shorter... fatter... It just stood there, staring at him with an annoying, lifeless smile. "The fuck..." he spoke aloud as he tried to figure out what had just happened.

Raichu couldn't evolve as far as he knew, so was it... an illusion? A different pokemon? In that case, where was his target now, and where had this buffoon come from??

The clap sounded. That was the signal. The glaceon made a move, but the rat was prepared. Icicle spears formed alongside the rattata before they shot out towards the Glaceon. The air above him was disturbed, but he did not panic. He stuck to the shadows as the Raichu that was originally behind him jumped into the fray with an electrical crackle surrounding it. The raichu wasted no time before the the surge of energy intensified and began to spread out. The energy didn't harm anyone, however, as instead the current traveled through the air and formed barriers around the other raichus and the rattata in hiding. The energy faded into a transparent shield as the Light Screen was put into place.

Raichu2 on the other side acted in unison with the first, though the shield it put up carried a peculiar blue tinge with it as a reflect was set up. The raichus smirked as they looked to the smaller fry of a wounded skitty and two children.

The rattata, meanwhile, decided now was a good time to give its own little hand in the set-up. The rodent saw that its attack did nothing to the glaceon, which meant that his allies might need a bit more than just the defensive properties the raichu siblings provided. The rattata sunk farther back, away from the group, before he began to...dance. It was actually a cute little shuffle all things considered, but as he did the clouds above began to rumble and crackle to life. Water began to pour down onto the field.

Chance, meanwhile, was frozen to the spot again as his father ditched him to go pulverize a rodent. The fox's tail tucked down low while he shrunk in the spot. The sudden roar of thunder above rendered him paralyzed for a brief moment, while the sudden appearance of the raichus encouraged him to back away towards Darcy and Alki. He was at least knowledgeable enough to know to stay out of Dad's way when he was fighting. He's heard a lot of things about what his father could do to those who stood too near...

Darcy had so much to say. This was such an ill advised fight... For no reason at all! Maybe he wasn't picking a fight for no reason, but whatever his reasoning might be, it was bad! Horrible! The Raichu was either very strong, very stupid, or he had friends. Alright. What if he was all three...? Strong, stupid, and he had a lot of friends...? Strength was... hard to gauge, but Darcy had a hard time imagining someone stronger than Sova... Er, Senya. Stupidity... They were equal on that front, but the most concerning aspect of this whole deal was that... Well, if he did have friends, then... What did that spell for Darcy, Alki, and Chance?

She certainly couldn't fight... and even if she could, she'd never been much good at it. She was... passable? Maybe? Pathetic next to Sova, that was for sure... With her injury, it'd be a miracle if she got a hit in at all... Chance was tiny, and he was terrified. She couldn't expect anything out of him... Nor did she want to expect anything out of him. He was a child... So was Alki. But if worst came to worst, she'd have to expect something out of her sister, wouldn't she...? At least until Senya won his fight.

...And if he didn't...? Well, if he didn't, Darcy didn't have much hope for any of them... She could still salvage this! She just had to think of something clever, or smart, or... defusing to say! She really didn't have anything in mind, but she never got the chance to say anything at all. Senya stepped forward, towards the Raichu.

"Oh-hoh! You're approaching me? Mistake! Ginormous mistake! I am abso-posi-lutely perfect! Strike me! Hit me! I dare you! " The Alolan Raichu let out a hearty laugh, smiling as the Glaceon prepared a move. Oh, the stupid fool. The poor, dumb, stupid fool. He watched as his own move struck him on his flank, and he fell over.

Was it really that easy...?

He couldn't wait to see how much money he had. How much money they all had. This was going to be easy... He felt himself moving, rapidly, switching places with his ally. This was all going so well already! He laughed again, emerging from the grass and appearing behind the pair of normal raichus.
The Glaceon was up again, but even so, the Alolan raichu had a hard time forcing himself to be worried. He seemed like a joke, the kind of pokemon who acted stronger than he actually was.

"Mr. Glaceon!" The Raichu said, feigning shock. Truthfully, he'd heard much worse swear words, but he was going to have some fun before beating these people into an unconscious pulp! "Can't you see there's children here...? Three of them? Don't say swears, or that's another five hundred Poke!"

"I'm almost as old as he is!" Darcy exclaimed, looking at the three raichus. It was beginning to rain. Why...? It didn't seem like it should be raining at all. It'd been pretty dry before-hand... A move?

"Act like it." The Raichu smirked, staring the skitty in the eyes. Her injury seemed just as bad as the glaceon's, but she was a much smaller species. Smaller... weaker? They were all small... It almost made him feel bad!

...Almost.

This was bad. This was going to be disastrous, actually. Darcy stepped forward, unsure of what it was she was going to do, but at the same time, she felt it necessary to do something! If only for the children's sake.

However, her sister beat her to it. Alki stepped forward, staring up at the trio of rodents... She hoped she'd be alright. But there was very little she could do until Senya came to help them... She'd just have to wait for an opportunity to see where she could help...


~~

Alki watched with dismay as Sova started to get his ass kicked in record time. Some guild member...! There was probably some other way out, but truthfully, Alki didn't see it. A fight seemed like the only way out of this one. As Sova entertained himself with the raichu, Alki stepped forward to at least buy some time with the raichus.

She wouldn't last long in an actual fight, but... well, if she could delay the fight from starting for as long as possible...? Then that might work... Sova didn't seem to be doing so hot. But what did that matter to her...? If he lost, there was nothing she could do... She could only operate under the assumption that he won. There was no point in anything else...

"S-So... You three are p-police officers...?" Alki asked, playing dumb. They were treating her like a child, so she was fine with acting stupid to buy some time. It wasn't that much of an act anyways...

"Yep! Badges and all. Here!" The raichu whipped out his cardboard police badge in record time... Was he actually proud of that...? Alki feigned interest in it, watching it, taking in every awkward fold, the messy hand-writing that said...something, and the wear and tear that the cardboard had taken. He'd shown it off a lot...

"C-Cool." She said simply, nodding. What next... She wasn't very talkative... "Umm... Well, I'd h-hate to go against actual p-police officers, y'know. So... It's ok. You can stop fighting. Y'hear that, S-S-Sova...? S-Stop! Alright?" As she spoke, she unslung the bag from her shoulder. Sova had already been knocked over, and judging from the water that was falling, there had to be some other, unseen enemy... Or one of the raichus had used the move before appearing. That was possible too...

"Smartest person on the road, aren't ya...? Say, what's your name, little girl?" The Raichu spoke with faux approval. He was, of course, a bit suspicious of this whole thing. Hadn't she been the one to say that the Skitty and her didn't have any money?

"I've been saving up my allowance, y'know." She spoke idly as she rifted through the contents of her bag, carefully... Looking for an apple. Someone had told her that the apple worked as a sort of... weapon? If thrown? That it blew up? That sounded like bullshit, but if she was going for a distraction, even if that wasn't the case, which it quite likely wasn't, it still had some value. "I-I just... d-didn't want t-to give it up, b-but... I-I don't think I have a choice..."

"Well done! Entrepreneurial little girl without a name! There's a place for you in our little group y'know, for someone as hard working as you! 4,000 Poke...? What a hard worker!" He said, stepping forward, towards the balloon. This was going on quite a while... Had she gotten everyone's attention...?

"No thanks... I'm already part of a club of sorts, y'know. I'll just pay y'all... G-Give me a second, I'm... disorganized." Alki took out the small, so-called explosive apple and set it aside, on her left. As she did so, she pivoted her left foot backwards, focusing on collecting her shadow with it instead of her arm. She'd kick the apple over, and hopefully the shadow would help give her a bit more control... As she did so, Alki continued to rifle through her bag, searching for the money that didn't exist.

She hoped she got Sova's attention. For that matter, she hoped she got his opponents attention too... She hoped that Sova would realize she was buying time. She hated him. She hated him for what he did to Darcy, but if a fight was inevitable, then this was... it allowed him to get a sucker punch in. That could help, right...?

"O-Ok... I-I'm sorry I took a w-while, b-but... Uh..." She glanced at Sova for a second, hoping he knew what she wanted to do. "Here it is." Alki kicked the apple towards the trio of Raichus, and waited for whatever might happen next.

Senya growled in frustration at the more annoying version of his previous target that had replaced it. This thing was trying to keep him at bay with a barrier instead of actually fighting him... Smart, but did it really think its little shield would withstand him for long? He took a few more steps back in preparation to ram the protective field, figuring he would just break through it... and then he heard the raichu's obnoxious voice again.

On second thought, it was definitely still the more annoying one.

Senya whipped around in the direction of the voice to see that the others were... communicating, namely the balloon. She was offering to pay it... despite having previously mentioned that she did not have enough money to afford the toll... Something about that seemed off, especially since she had previously seemed so much less pacifistic than Darcy. Either way she was clearly trying to do something, so Senya decided to pause for just a moment and let her try. In truth, one thing he begrudgingly agreed with Darcy on was that he wasn't in a very good condition to be fighting, especially against foes who were using indirect combat tactics. He had hurt himself just to prove a point earlier, and the damned ribbon was already starting to make his whole body burn.

The fat not-raichu seemed content to sit and watch as well, but he wasn't sure if that was because of the apparent surrender or just because sitting there was its job. Regardless, it wasn't attacking him, and even he could see that the smart decision was to at least wait and see what Alki was trying to accomplish. He didn't actually like the idea of giving these lowly rats any money, but he got the feeling that might not be what was about to happen. She could surely tell the cardboard "badge" wasn't real; even Sova's child noticed this, pointing it out as the jigglypuff rummaged through her bag and dropped a seemingly irrelevant apple on the ground. And sure enough, she did seem to have a plan, which was... to throw the apple.

Wait, that was it? She was just going to throw an apple at- OH OKAY A BOMB. Senya was genuinely a bit surprised when the apple exploded, but he didn't get long to process this turn of events before a blinding flash of light cracked down through the sky above and enveloped him. He grit his teeth and suppressed a pained yowl, managing to quell it to more of a growl; he struggled to keep from collapsing under the feeling of the burning electricity coursing through him, but he managed it. The attack was over in a flash, fortunately, and he quickly pieced together what had just happened when the smoke from the explosive apple cleared and he saw the same damned chubby raichu-lookalike standing in front of the others with the protective dome still around it. Which meant...

Senya turned and lunged at at whatever was behind him, assuming it was now one of the raichu. Sure enough, that was exactly what he saw when he turned to attack, and that was what had just dropped the massive bolt of lightning on him. The raichu flinched and recoiled from his immediate reaction, presumably having expected him to just drop from its attack. Unfortunately, it didn't need to react; as Senya lunged for the raichu, its annoying little counterpart suddenly teleported into its place again and he slammed straight into the green barrier around it. "MOTHERFUCKER!" he exclaimed and rammed the barrier again, breaking his quills against it. Pain shot through his body, telling him to cease this "strategy" of trying to break the barrier... but he had no intention of listening.

Now choosing to ignore everything except the not-raichu and focus on mauling it so it could no longer protect its friends, Senya stumbled back, his quills reforming. A shadow ball materialized in front of him and blasted into the barrier... then another, and another, in rapid succession. He wouldn't give it a chance to do pull another trick like switching places with its allies. Before the smoke from the shadow balls exploding could clear, he rammed into the barrier again, shattering the icy coating around his body once more... but the force field finally began to crack as well. "Can't you do anything else!?" he questioned in a fit of rage, receiving no response but the same blank, empty smile on its face.

Another shadow ball began to form in front of the glaceon... but it suddenly dissipated as he visibly recoiled in pain, nearly falling over. With this accursed ribbon, he was growing less and less certain by the second that he would be able to break through the barrier before his body gave out on him.

The rattata returned to watch the throw-down from the safety of the grass. The two raichu were sufficiently being protected by the fat-not-a-pikachu from both the exploding apple and the glaceon's wrath. Each one smirked with a glance to their alolan counter part. Raichu2 held up a paw to the raichu with some sort of signal. Without waiting for a response, the air around the raichu began to crackle. Almost as if he were about to unleash a thunder bolt, the electricity discharged around him. The yellow wave didn't hurt, however, as instead the ground beneath everyone became super-charged with electric energy. It seemed as if they would need the Electric Terrain, seeing as that one Thunder didn't seem to do much against the Glaceon.

The Rattata didn't want to reveal himself just yet, but he was running out of things to do from the shadows. Still, he had one more thing he could do from here. The rodent took in a deep breath before he bellowed in the direction of the battle. A dark wave shot out with the intent to strike the foes, while it passed harmlessly around its allies. The rattata was quick to move away from the position it fired from in attempt to avoid any potential retaliation.

----

Alki caught the attention of the Alolan Raichu. The critter presented their badge, which prompted a curious reaction from Chance. He could hardly understand what was going on, far too fearful to question much of it. He just didn't want to get hurt again at this point. The moment he witnessed the badge, he couldn't help but speak up, "That...doesn't look like a police badge?" He should know, he saw them frequently back at Grassveil.

His contribution to the riveting conversation was ignored as the Jigglypuff tossed out an apple that promptly exploded. A new fear of apples was instilled into him as he backed away. The fear was amplified as each pokemon was revealed to be unharmed as the dust cleared thanks to the Dedenne. Chance could hardly control his own breath as his heart practically jumped out of his chest with each beat. He was shaking. He was out in the open. He didn't feel safe.

When the ground was electrified, he could feel his muscles tense up in reaction. The zorua couldn't take this anymore. He turned away from Alki and Darcy and...ran. The zorua wanted to get out of this situation as quickly as possible, he could hardly even think straight. He didn't get far, however, as the dark pulse from the Snarl slammed into him. The zorua was knocked off of his feet and sent rolling into the tall grass, his small form disappeared into it in the blink of an eye.

Darcy watched quietly as her sister spoke. She didn't want to watch whatever it was Alki had planned. Whatever little plan she might have was certainly worth trying, especially considering the lack of success that Senya was proving to have a few metres away. Besides, Alki never gave herself enough credit! She was smart, and maybe she could manage something to... at least give Senya an opening to do something! Anything! Because truthfully, as much as she loved her sister, she had a hard time seeing her winning any fights... Or really, making much impact on these four. Nor did she want her doing something like that! She could get hurt!

Of course... That was far too much to hope for. Darcy watched in helpless, petrified fear as her little sister chucked an... apple? At a trio of pokemon far above her weight class... And the apple exploded...? That was not good. Especially considering it had no effect...

"Alki, no, w-why would you do that...?" Darcy stammered, staring at the pieces of apple flesh on the ground. Under most other circumstances, she would've asked where her sister had found explosives in the first place, and then had a very stern talking-to to whoever would be willing to sell explosives to a child, but right now... there were more pressing matters on her mind. Like the Raichu who was marching towards her sister, snickering all the while. Alki, meanwhile, collected her bag and held it tightly against her stomach.

"Why would you do that?" He walked up non-chalantly, as if about to lecture a child in a classroom, but truthfully, with what was going on with Sova off to the side, she felt... like Alki was in more danger than it might seem. "You all are a curious bunch, wouldn't you say? It's like... It's like you four share an IQ point! Just... take it down, pass it around, take turns being the smart one, y'know?" He laughed heartily as the ground turned electrified, and the Zorua turned tail and fled the scene.

"Y'know, it's always the quiet ones that are the smartest! Shame on all of you! The kid has more brains than you!" He watched with amusement as the Zorua ran into the tall grass, where his Rattata companion was currently helping the group. That... was not going to go well for the kid, was it? Of course, he wasn't in any huge amounts of danger. They weren't heartless! They wouldn't beat a child senseless... At least, he hoped.

Darcy turned to look at where Chance had been to find... nobody there. That was... Well, that was bad! Horrible, actually! But... Darcy couldn't take care of both of the kids, and Chance... He'd come back, right? A horrible sense of dread seeped into Darcy that she'd try to ignore for the time being. There was nothing she could do!

Well, why worry about that now? Don't worry, be happy!

"Little-girl-who-never-gave-me-her-name." The Alolan Raichu said with faux sternness. He didn't care that the girl had thrown the apple, really. That wasn't a big deal, considering there had been no true harm done. However, she was a threat. A small one, of course, given her size and demeanor and... thus far, the ability she'd displayed. She was clever, he supposed. The Apple trick might have worked under different circumstances. But that was just about it...

"Don't take this personally, alright? This is just business! And like I said earlier. I am abso-posi-lutely perfect! Never lost a business deal!" He laughed once more, before whipping his tail back in preparation to Slam the jigglypuff.

"Mr., don't do it..." Darcy let out, but it didn't matter. The Raichu swung, and met... air?

~

The Raichu spoke, and stepped closer and closer to Alki. She watched. She was... actually, pretty fucking terrified of these electric types. She'd thrown an explosive at them, and there was hardly a scratch! Sova was struggling some distance away... Yelling... Obscenities. Weird ones, anyways. What did a mother have to do with the word fuck? Wasn't that just a mean word? Alki's thoughts drifted aimlessly, her mind in a calm before a storm. Truthfully, there just wasn't much to think about.

It was simple. She was scared. Really, really scared, and if it were just her, she'd give up her bag, and her possessions, and honestly, just... she would've submit at the drop of a hat if she were alone. But Sova had made this choice for the four of them. A shitty choice, but it seemed there was no taking it back anymore... And if she gave up, then that'd just give them a free pass to hurt Darcy and Chance... Darcy was hurt. Really badly, and Chance was smaller than she was...

So that just left her! Could they hurt her badly? Yes! Could they probably kill her if they wanted to? Probably, also yes! Did she care? Not at all. Honestly, she wouldn't even entirely mind... At least she'd go out doing something useful. And she'd protect her sister... And Chance too, she supposed.

"Little-girl-who-never-gave-me-her-name." The Raichu said, his tone turning much more... serious. He wore his emotions on his sleeve, didn't he? So to speak, of course... She watched out of the corner of her eye as Sova collapsed. That was really bad... But she couldn't give up now! That just meant there was one more person relying on her to...

Do... something.

'Oh Arceus this is going to be bad...'

"N-Name's Alki." The girl mumbled, but the Raichu said something shortly after, drowning her out. It didn't matter. He was going to attack her. Which limb? Was it maybe something like a Shadow Ball or Water Gun or some... Electric-type Equivalent? Watch carefully...

The tail! Was the teleport perhaps too early? Maybe... Maybe. But Alki was too chicken to play that close a game of chicken! She landed in between the Alolan Raichu and the duo of normal Raichus. Sova's opponent had done nothing but block so far... So really, she just had to worry about these three! Right? Hopefully?

'Shut up! Doesn't matter!'

The Raichu let out some Darcy-level-obscenity in response to this unexpected development, as his momentum proved difficult to stop. It was a powerful move, then... Alki heard Darcy say something, but it hardly mattered. She was probably telling her to stop, but... Then that'd just mean they'd target Darcy! Being the bigger one of the two, and the more impressive one... Alki was fine with taking one for the team in this case! Of course, her team really only consisted of her sister...

Alki kicked at the Raichu's feet with her hidden power, just like she'd done with the apple earlier, hoping to knock him off balance. In this, at least, she succeeded. That was... Good? Wasn't it? That was the first hit they'd gotten in as a group! At least... She thought. It was a very weak hit though... and he was already getting up...

No, that wasn't good. If that's how bad the fight was going... That was really, really, not good. Alki hurriedly reached into her bag and extracted an apple. Truthfully, she only had one exploding apple. And she'd already used it. That was... Well, she wasn't going to pay a Skiddo for multiple explosive foodstuffs! Especially considering they looked so similar!

So... It was just a normal apple. But after the last one... It'd work as a bluff, wouldn't it? After all, why wouldn't they believe it to be an explosive? The Raichu was coming at her fast... Still! If she was going to probably kill herself against a bunch of angry electric mice, she could at least manage to have a bit of flair about it! And he was still a few meters away... The jigglypuff managed a smirk on her pale-as-snow face, before winking at the Alolan Raichu. She lobbed the normal apple at the Raichus, more or less where they were, before teleporting off towards the Glaceon, a few meters away.

That is, if she was fast enough...

Senya had chosen to tune out everything but the fat little not-raichu, partly out of rage... but he wasn't stupid. Sure, Sova was the tactical one, but Senya could still see that this rat wasn't going to let him murder any of the other rats as long as it was conscious. Unfortunately, that was about where his tactical prowess ended, and the only solution he could find to this problem was simply to try and overpower its defensive capabilities. It couldn't swap out with any of its more aggressively competent allies safely if he didn't give it any chances to, and its little shield wouldn't hold out forever. He just had to hold out longer, and he was certain he could, because this was what he was made for.

He gave a harsh, ragged huff and rammed into the barrier once more, to no avail... He stumbled back and settled in a crouching position, his damaged quills reforming and thickening into spiked armor; the plate on his forehead seemed to extend into a mask as ice coated his face, leaving only his piercing eyes visible. He then bashed his skull against the barrier, causing the cracks to spread outward in a spiderweb pattern. The glaceon repeated the process, stepping back and ramming into the barrier once more, and finally it shattered. He wasted no time in rushing it down, lifting himself onto his usable front leg and into a cartwheel before bringing his spike-coated tail down on the not-raichu...

Alas, with his rage came inattentiveness, and he failed to notice just how ready it had gotten itself for this. With a charge forming in its right hand, the dedenne stepped back, a mirror-image left in its place that took solid form almost immediately. It hurled the ball of electricity upward as it did this, arcing it over the decoy.

Senya's tail cut through the substitution with ease and it melted into a putty-like substance before fading away. Having his target cave beneath him with such ease took him by surprise, and he fell unceremoniously to the ground on his side, having put a careless amount of effort into the attack. Pain surged through his body, warning him that he was pushing himself beyond what his form could handle, but he didn't care. Ignoring the warning the pain presented, he dragged himself back up to his paws... just in time for the parabolic charge to come crashing down on him. He was enveloped a bright aura as electricity ran through him, bringing him to a kneeling position. He slowly, shakily pulled himself once more, his body screaming for him to stop...

And before he could even attempt to attack, the rat charged right at him, reeling its left hand back and slamming it into his cheek. He was launche back by the sheer force of the impact; the mask over his face cracked and the left half of it shattered, and much of his icy armor broke away as he collided violently with the ground. He rolled and skipped across the ground, right past a certain jigglypuff who had just teleported near him, and came to a stop in a battered heap. Blood was leaking through his broken quills in several places, mostly around his self-inflicted chest wound which he had successfully managed to reopen.

By now he had gone numb to the pain and his head was spinning; the sounds of his surroundings dulled under a ringing noise in his head, accompanied by a splitting pain, but he still insisted on trying to stand...

...He couldn't.

Senya's eyes widened at the realization that his body had stopped responding to him. This had never happened before... He had effectively crippled himself in the past, sure, but this... It felt as if he was being... pinned... held down... Was it a move? Some power of the hellspawn rodent?

No... He felt a presence. For a moment, he thought it was Sova, finally returning.

It wasn't.

[Note: Durrdenne's moveset - Ally Switch, Protect, Substitute, Parabolic Charge, Giga Impact]

Either the Snarl hadn't affected the Jigglypuff and Skitty or he'd somehow completely missed. The rattata wasn't sure. What he was sure of though, was that the zorua was getting away. Oh no, he wasn't about to let that be their down fall. The last thing they needed was a kid running off to get help. With a sharp intake of breath, the rattata bolted off after where the zorua disappeared to.

----

The two average raichu's seemed to enjoy the fact that the glaceon was having so much difficulty with the Dedenne, even taking a few brief seconds to relish the scene. They knew not to spend long like that, however, as they started their move to act against their enemies. The sight of a bright shiny red apple rolled into their sight. Both of them cried out with an attempt to brace for impact, but precious seconds were wasted before they realized it either wasn't going to or failed to explode.

Outraged by this, a quick paw-movement signaled to each other before one of them pointed towards the teleported Jigglypuff while the other pointed towards Darcy. The one that pointed towards Alki shook their head before nodding towards the grass. Raichu1 quickly understood before bolting off past the injured skitty without a response.

Electricity crackled around Raichu2 as its attention turned back to Senya and Alki. The electric charge from the ground seemed to soak into the rat as the cheeks sparked and crackled with the dangerous charge. With a hate-filled cry, Raichu2 released a power-boosted Thunder towards the duo with a quick look to the Alolan Raichu, expecting him to do the same now that he was both faster and stronger in the electric terrain. Surge Surfer be like that sometimes.

----

Chance ran as fast as his paws could take him. He stumbled and tripped on just about everything, sometimes even over his own paws. He didn't know where he was to go, but it was certain to him that he shouldn't be there with that fight. His lungs felt as if they were going to collapse just a second before something tackled right into him from behind. The zorua was tossed and tumbled in the dirt again with pained and fearful cries.

He managed to throw the pokemon off and found that he was faced with a strange looking rattata. What the hell was that thing?! Despite how easily the rat caught up with him, he was quick to turn and attempt to run yet again. He found that he was cut off, however, as a much larger rodent seemed to drop in front of him from nowhere.

"Oooh no you don't," the raichu spoke up.

"Can't have ya goin' off and blabbin," the rattata hissed in a significantly more hostile way.

Chance seemed to almost shrink in size as he found himself stuck in the middle of them. He needed to think of something. Do something...but he was far too afraid. His lung struggled for air but the urge to cry made it difficult to breathe.

"Awww look at him! He's terrified!" The rattata laughed mockingly.

"Oh come on now, you can't blame him. He's just a kid. We should probably take him-" The raichu rolled his eyes as he approached the small scared child with the intent to pick him up. A mistake. Acting on sheer instinct, the zorua's claws glowed a bright white and extended as he lunged into the raichu's face an began to claw away at it.

"OW-FUCK!" The raichu cried out as he tried to pry the zorua off.

"HA!" the rattata burst into laughter, "It's what ya git!"

"GET HIM OFF ME OH ARCEUS IT S T I N G S!" the raichu exclaimed.

"Just give em a shock y'idiot! You shouldn't have even come out here! The others needed ya!" the rattata huffed.

A shock Chance received, seeing as it certainly felt as if all he had left to do was swipe away at this raichu's dumb face as much as he could. He certainly left a flurry of bleeding red scars on the electric type before a powerful shock forced him to fall off and drop onto the ground.

Darcy watched with bated breath as her sister teleported forwards, closer to the enemies, while the Raichu completely whiffed his own attack. It was relieving, to say the least, but... The threat was far from gone. Jigglypuff weren't a particularly speedy species, and her sister was certainly no exception... Teleport could make up for that, to an extent, but Alki had confessed to her that she often felt ill if she used it too much... How unfortunate to have a weakness like that! Especially now... Darcy's eyes flitted back and forth between Senya and Alki. She wasn't in any shape to be fighting, but she felt horrible to be unable to do anything...

Alki knocked the Alolan Raichu to the ground, while throwing another apple at the pair of normal ones. Darcy bit her lip, wondering if her sister was somehow even more impressive than she'd been giving her credit for. For a brief moment, Darcy felt as though this was a very little possibility. As the duo of normal raichu braced for impact, she expected to hear the same Boom she'd heard from the most unlikely source just a few moments ago. Unfortunately, she didn't. The Apple landed with a wet plop onto the ground, rolling a bit before coming to a sudden stop. It was bruised.

Alki was gone. Darcy cried out in a panic, before noticing her sister some distance away, closer now to Senya than to her. Darcy braced herself to run towards the Alolan Raichu and do... something. She wasn't sure what, yet, but in the end, it didn't really matter. One of the normal Raichu sprinted past her, moving quite a bit faster than she could manage, at least in this state. Darcy stared stupidly at it, wondering for a second why it was running away when they clearly had the upper hand in the fight. He was turning it into a three-on-two instead of a four-on-two...

"C-Chance!" Darcy blurted out loudly, before diving for the Raichu's tail. Unfortunately, given her injury, she wasn't nearly as agile as she would've had to be. She missed, diving into the now-wet mud from the rain-fall. She felt filthy... She was filthy. Would her wound get infected? It hardly mattered.

"L-Leave him alone!" She cried out even louder, skidding as she began to dash towards the Raichu, hoping she wouldn't lose him. If she did... They seemed like thieves, not murderers... Certainly not child murderers. But she couldn't trust in the goodness of a gang of criminals... She'd stood up to Senya! Surely she could stand up to some gang member... He wasn't even the leader! She thought...

~~

Alki watched as a battered and even-more-bloodied Sova skidded and rolled past her, coming to a stop a couple meters away. ...Already? She turned to look at his opponent, a small, smiling Dedenne, staring after Sova, seeming to ignore her completely. It seemed unharmed. Had Sova even gotten a hit in...? Alki wasn't sure who to focus on completely, but the Alolan Raichu seemed like he had something more to say.

"Good show, good show! You hit me... What was your name again? Akju, was it? Eh, doesn't matter! You hit me! Good job! Knocked me down from Abso-Posi-Lutely Perfect, to just perfect..." He leaned in, smirking from a few meters away. "Y'know, between you and me, I was more worried about the cat and the dog, and I didn't even notice the scaredy-fox, but you... You hit me. It's been a while. I won't forget that." He laughed again, watching as his partner's thunder was let loose. A different, albeit identical balloon entered his field of view, but this didn't surprise him in the least. The kid seemed to have tricks up her sleeve, but it didn't matter at all if she didn't have any bite. And he was getting bored. This group hadn't been nearly as fun as he'd been hoping...

The girl dodged his partner's thunder. It paid to be patient sometimes! He frowned as he directed his own thunder at the second balloon. Double team didn't work very well if you were trying to dodge two attacks now, did it? This was a waste of time. The jigglypuff didn't fight back; she was too busy trying to dodge, and the glaceon had already lost.

"eeeeeeEEEEEEEEE" Alki screamed, feeling electricity coursing through her body. She'd... She'd double teamed! It wasn't fair! The water seemed to make everything worse, and any further thoughts or complaints she might've had were drowned out by the sheer volume of electricity that she felt going through her. It was just a moment, but it was the worst moment of her life... Well, second worst... At least this wasn't happening to Darcy.

"Like I said. You hit me." The Raichu stepped forward, towards the balloon, a smile on his face. It seemed... colder. "And I won't forget that. Of course, I'll make this offer to you, like I've made it to others in the past who've managed the same. You can join us, y'know. You're... Well, you're clever. That second apple? Good play! Maybe if your friend there played along, you could've made something happen! You really had me worried there for a second! Wanna join?" He bellowed out a laugh, glancing back at the apple, then at Sova, before shaking his head. He stopped right in front of Alki.

He was big. He was very big, and very strong, and Alki felt so small, and so weak... There was nothing she could do... She couldn't summon the energy to teleport, and if Sova hadn't even made a dent, then what hope did she have...? Alki whimpered, unsure of what to say, and that's when she felt a paw land on top of her head.

" Brnnnnngh, Sorry, time's up! That's a penalty!" He said, laughing again as he Sparked the girl.

"AYEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" She cried out again, louder than the first time. She was crying now, unable to stop them from falling completely. Was he just going to keep doing that...?

"...Awwwww...  What? You gonna cry? You gonna cry now...?" He frowned, looking at the two Pokemon left in the clearing. The Skitty and the Zorua had run away. It was just these two left now, wasn't it...? "And to think, despite how stupid you look, you almost seemed... cool to me. Tsk Tsk..."

Alki felt horrible. The first time had been bad enough but the second time seemed to amp it up even more... Even still, she felt... guilty. She'd barely lasted any time at all... What kind of guild member was she...? She'd lost... Weren't the good guys supposed to win?

Then again, she wasn't really a 'good guy', was she?

Alki managed to gather enough energy to use disable on the Raichu, unsure of which move, exactly, she was disabling. This effort seemed to take even more energy out of her, and it was greeted less than amicably.

"...You don't know when to give up, do you?" He wished she'd stop. As long as she was a threat, he'd have to make sure she'd stay down... It's not like he enjoyed it. Of course not! Of course not...

He grinned from ear to ear in her face, before leaning in, close to her ear. The jigglypuff didn't attempt to move. It was as if she was... accepting this? It didn't matter. "Bitch." He whispered into her ear, before promptly drawing his tail back, preparing himself to use slam once more.

This time, he didn't miss.

Alki felt herself rolling across the ground, unable to even find the energy to scream once more. She simply grunted in silent, forced pain. He'd kicked her in the stomach... Kicked? Slapped? Whipped? She didn't even know... All she knew was she could hardly breathe. It's like the air was gone... It was like he'd kicked out all her air and now she was choking, gasping for air...

She vaguely felt herself come to a stop abruptly. She gasped for air, like a fish out of water, unable to find any. She was dying, wasn't she...? Alki began to cough, softly, strangely, before something red came out... Blood?

He'd kicked the blood out of her... Alki felt her vision blackening, dimming... She shifted her gaze to the reason she'd halted, and saw... The Dedenne?

~~

Darcy heard screams behind her. She tried to fool herself into thinking they weren't her sisters. But she knew they were. She was crying at this point. She could only be in one place at once, and... And she might've just gotten her sister killed. She heard another scream, louder than the first.

...If she was still screaming, she was alive, wasn't she?

Darcy let out a sob, tears clouding her vision. She couldn't let them get away with Chance... She'd committed. And she wasn't going to fail twice...

If she was screaming, she was still alive!

She heard an obscenity, a few meters to her side. Who else could it be? Without really thinking about it, Darcy sprinted-slash-stumbled through the grass, towards the voice, before finding herself before the Raichu she'd seen moments before. She didn't even know if Chance was there. She didn't even bother concentrating on a move. The Skitty burst out of the grass, tackling the raichu, before biting the first thing that came to her mouth, which just happened to be her arm.

She tasted blood. It was sickening. She bit down harder. This was the reason she'd had to leave Alki. The Skitty's ears flattened against her head as she searched for another place to dig her claws into the Raichu.

Her sibling might have died. She'd never even imagined how she might react, but... But now... She was still crying... She probably wouldn't stop crying...

Darcy pawed at the Raichu, as though attempting to scratch him. She didn't have claws. She didn't care. She just wanted to hurt him, somehow, and it felt... She felt...

Alki...

His heart was still beating, eyes still open, and yet try as he might, Senya couldn't bring his body to move. Normally this would be the point where he would accept himself as a true failure, having lost pathetically to some mock-raichu with virtually no offensive capabilities; no, worse, he'd lost to himself, unable to handle this damn ribbon Sova had decided to get them both stuck with. However, the one thing bothering him was that he knew his limits quite well, and he should have been able to get back up. He was to the point where that was about all he could do, and he knew now that he wasn't going to win and could possibly get himself killed by continuing to try... but he still wanted to get up and fight. It was what he was supposed to do, the only thing he could do...

And someone was stopping him. Someone who wasn't Sova, which only left...

Violence isn't the only answer, you know.

The voice felt like it was in his head, but suddenly there was a figure standing over him. His eyes trailed up to face what appeared to be a leafeon, and instantly he was filled with rage for a whole new reason. It wasn't Sova wresting control from him; it was the abomination his mind had created. What was it going by now... Lu?

"Not by my own choice... a-and... that's not nice," the abomination responded to his thoughts.

This time its voice seemed to come from the form he was staring at, but he knew it was all just an illusion. He knew his way around their shared psyche well enough to know how it worked, and he understood that there wasn't actually anyone there. It was all in his head, literally... but unfortunately, that didn't make the thing before him any less real. No less real than himself, at least. On the bright side, nobody else could hear it.

"Now look here, I've left you alone and tried my best to please you, but this is where I draw the line," it spoke once more with a more judgmental tone, its brow furrowing into an annoyed look. This look persisted for only a moment before softening as it continued in a softer voice, "I'm... just trying to stop you from getting Sova killed..."

The cowardly thing couldn't even stick to its conviction to berate him. It disgusted him that he had to share a body with such a cruel joke, concocted all because Sova missed his mommy. And worse, this thing somehow had so much sway over him that it could just come in and lock him away!

"I'm not trying to do that, I just want to stop you from getting hurt any more," it tried to assure, but this felt the same as what Sova had historically done to him.

He wished he could hear something, anything else through the ringing in his head, but the voice was the only thing that pierced it. Couldn't it at least have had a different voice? Why did it have to be so similar to... to Esprit. Of all the things Sova could have made to oppose him, why did it have to be this?

Well... he wasn't going to let it win control over him without a fight. His functional front leg twitched, then with shaky motions, he planted it on the ground and struggled to pull himself up. The force fighting against him wasn't like a weight holding him down, but rather, like something trying to rip him out of his body. He fought it still, and dragged himself to his paws, locking his eyes on the mouthy raichu that liked to speak so much. It was distracted with Alki... hurting her... Maybe now was his chance-

Alas, he felt his body stop responding and go limp. The glaceon toppled over on his weak side and collapsed to the ground, though it felt more from his perspective like he'd just been yanked back. He heard the voice of "Lu" once more.

"Please... d-don't... don't hu-... hurt her... anymore..."

The only problem was, this time... the voice was different. It was his- or Sova's, but different: lighter... more feminine... and it wasn't in his head. The abomination had completely taken control from Senya, and he was now forced to watch as it pleaded with the raichu.