Chapter One: Time to go Adventuring~!

[Birdybot]

Vulpix grimaced as Snark used Leer. It was so scary. It felt as though her blood had chilled below freezing point, glazing over inside her body while adrenalin was somehow squeezed painfully through the gaps. Her heart felt a stab of cold fear as though the Fire type was being held under a dry waterfall, the drips leaving traces of scarred emotions, scattered and torn in the gentle breeze. The glare on the Houndour's face was that terrible. Vulpix whimpered, trying to wrench her gaze away but finding herself rooted to the spot, all four legs made of lead rather than grace and flexibility.

The next thing Vulpix knew, the stabbing emotional pain in her heart became psysical, as Snark's teeth sank into her velvety flank, sending jolts of pain in the form of electricity through her body. She knew that electricity tried to find a course to the ground, and lifted her legs off the ground. It didn't seem to work. They were planted there. The Vulpix felt weak as Snark let her free. She let out a feeble Swift, the stars even more disfigured than the first time.

[xxninja]

Lee gritted her teeth. She truly did feel sorry for the Vulpix-- the look on her face, pure torture-- but she decided she'd have to get over that if she wanted to be great. That was what trainers did. And this battle was coming to an end.

"Alright, use Ember on the stars like before, then chomp down with Thunder Fang!" she instructed, realizing all the more that she was causing this pain upon the poor little fox. Snark, however, didn't seem to see it that way. He had a brave heart; besides, Pokemon could recover from simple battles like this! Izara, feeling her tension, morphed the red on his Plusle body to blue and became a Minun, snuggling up to his human. A tiny smile crawled over her lips and she felt just a bit stronger.

[Birdybot]

The Swift attack was so weak it would probably have been useless anyway, but the Ember burned it all down to nothingness. Vulpix gasped, unsure of what would happen now. She had been fairly sure that she would have been able to win! But she supposed it was her first ever battle, after all, and even though she knew that that move that had failed had been her only hope, she faced the prospect of becoming stronger with a new trainer and a Shiny Kangaskhan as a foster mother. She relaxed a little, still bracing herself for the impact she knew would come, anyway.

Snark's attack send a sharp jolt of electricity through Vulpix. The young fox squealed in pain, then she struggled before falling still altogether.

Vulpix was defeated! Snark gains two levels!

[xxninja]

Snark let out a victory howl, jumping over to his trainer and tackling her to the ground! Izara jumped to his paws and became a Poochyena, giving her face a severe licking.

"H-hey!" she cried through uncontrollable laughter. "No fair! Two against one!"

"Well then..." Iza growled, turning his attention to the Houndour, "I guess we'll just have to even the odds!" He wagged his tail playfully in the air before human and daemon ganged up on the victor, dog piling on top of him. Everyone ended up laughing until tears streamed down their eyes and their sides began to hurt, but eventually Lee dragged herself to her feet and walked over to the Kangaskhan and fainted Vulpix.

"Well," she began, unhooking two Pokeballs from her belt, "I suppose if we're going to be traveling together I should capture you...?" She wasn't quite sure how the new foster mother would feel about this, but she'd defeated the fire fox fair and square; she enlarged the capsule and gently tapped it on her side. The Vulpix was sucked inside immediately-- Lee just hoped her first capture would be successful... Iza, ever the curious creature, sniffed at the Pokeball while it wiggled and wobbled on the ground. Snark trotted up to Lee, sitting at her side and fixing Kangaskhan with a look that clearly said 'Well? What's it gonna be?'

[Birdybot]

Kangaskhan looked back at Snark, trying to figure out what his expression said he wanted from her. If it was... her opinion on whether Vulpix should become his teammate or not, there was an easy answer to that. She smiled. ~Well done, trainer. Well, a deal's a deal, right? You defeated Vulpix, so we shall both come with you.~[/color] she nodded. At the same time, Vulpix's Pokéball emitted a soft ping and fell still.

Yay! Vulpix was caught!


Name:
Species: Vulpix
Gender: Female
Level: 5
Attacks: Ember, Tail Whip, Swift
Personality: Vulpix is a very useful Pokémon to have. She is loyal, determined, and strong. She had been toughened up when he parents both were killed, and now has a shing Kangaskhan as her foster mother.

[img]http://pokemonelite2000.com/sprites/dpmfa/dpmfa037.png[/img]
[b]Name:[/b]
[b]Species:[/b] Vulpix
[b]Gender:[/b] Female
[b]Level:[/b] 5
[b]Attacks:[/b] Ember, Tail Whip, Swift
[b]Personality:[/b] Vulpix is a very useful Pokémon to have. She is loyal, determined, and strong. She had been toughened up when he parents both were killed, and now has a shing Kangaskhan as her foster mother.

[xxninja]

"She says she wants to come with us!" Iza interpreted to his human. Lee Ann smiled and nodded before unhooking another Pokeball and tossing it at the shiny. After that she stopped down to retrieve her new Vulpix's ball.

"I'll call you..." She trailed off, wondering what name would best suit her new comrade. This little fox was quite a brave girl; not only did she decide to fight with Snark even though she was clearly at a disadvantage, she survived on her own after the loss of her parents. Not to mention that Swift attack!

"Maybe... Flame?" she wondered, but Snark quickly shook his head. "Right, too predictable. Ember? No, no, that would get confused with the attack... Oh! I know!" she cried, a grin spreading onto her face. "Aspen." The Houndour cocked his head to one side, pondering the name, before barking in agreement. Having settled that, Lee pushed herself to her feet to wait for Kangaskhan's ball to stop as well.

[Birdybot]

ooc// Kangaskhan was a Giveaway Pokémon, so you don't have to lose the Pokéball.

ic// The Pokéball containing Kangaskhan barely twitched, suggesting that the kangaroo Pokémon inside was doing her best not to struggle or move, or anything else which might make her escape. She knew that Lee had made a deal, and the deal was a deal. She couldn't go back on her promises, after all. Therefore, it would be wrong not to go with Lee and Vulpix. Besides, she was growing quite attached to them, and was sure she would miss them if they were separated, and considered it an honour to be allowed to foster Vulpix. They were so kind to her. Most trainers would have told her to stop being a whimp at the loss of her child. Her last thoughts were of how much she would learn as Lee's Pokémon, then the Pokéball made a soft ping and she was caught.

ooc// You know the stats.

[xxninja]

((Is that blue starting to hurt your eyes too? This any better?))

Lee couldn't believe her luck. She'd just started, and had already captured two amazing Pokemon! Izara seemed to share her exuberant feelings, having changed back into a Wingull to circle above her. Even Snark seemed deeply proud of himself, standing tall with his chest out and his tail erect. After retrieving her new team member's ball, she turned and looked from her starter to her daemon.

"Ready to head on?" she asked, though she already knew the answer and was reminded so with an enthusiastic cheer. "Alright, lets see what else Mother Nature can throw at us!" With that the trio headed deeper into the woods, Lee not the slightest bit wary while Iza flapped ahead, acting lookout for any and all things dangerous.

[Birdybot]

ooc// The blue? No, not really. But if it was hurting your eyes, then by all means keep it different if you want.

ic// A flock of Pidgey all turned their beady black eyes on Iza as she looked for danger. They were not dangerous, of course, just interested. The flock seemed fairly relaxed, twittering and playing with each other, so there couldn't be too much danger about. Pokémon were always very good to be able to tell when there's something about, because they called out to one another in warning, panicked, allowed themselves to be seen by humans to save their lives and so on. So that meant that all was well- oh. Almost.

Another flock, this time a large black cloud of Starly, rose from the trees swiftly, cawing in warning. The Pidgey all looked to it, and some shifted nervously on their feet and a few, namely the parents and their young, flew off altogether. A roar sounded from the centre of the Starly's fleeing, and Pokémon started to dash past Lee every now and then, not caring that she was a human or so on. The roars continued, and the Route was full of screams, cries and caws.

Something's scaring all the Pokémon in the entire Route!!! Investigate, or ignore and let the Pokémon suffer?

[xxninja]

Lee Ann cupped a hand over her eyes, gazing up at the sky. It had suddenly become dark, and something was blocking out the sun... Was it about to rain? Upon closer inspection the girl realized it was a large flock of Starly, not a storm cloud at all. They seemed to be cawing in alarm, warning all the nearby Pokemon of... Of something. Izara, clearly disturbed, swooped back to his human. Beak turning to snout, feathers morphing to fur, and talons becoming paws, the daemon swiftly transformed into a Furret and wrapped himself around her neck, eyes as wide as dinner plates.

And then it happened.

A blood-curdling roar that boomed through the woods, hammering against the young girl's eardrums and filling her with a feeling of dread.

Pokemon everywhere scurried about. Birds took to the sky, rodents retreated to their holes, and creatures of every shape and form flocked to their dens in a frenzied attempt to get away. Suddenly the entire route was alive, a dramatic chorus of Pokemon cries and the horrendous, terrifying, awe-inspiring roar.

"W-what in the world is going on?!" Lee cried, a horrified grimace etched on her features.
"I don't know!" Iza wailed in reply, pulling himself closer to her body. "But I don't want to find out! Lets get out of here, hurry!" he urged, leaping to the ground. But Lee wouldn't budge. "No," she insisted, stubborn-ness mixing with sheer curiosity to make her willpower blossom. "We've got to find out what is making all these Pokemon scared! Now, are you with me or against me?"

That caught Iza off guard. What was he supposed to do now? Follow his instincts, or go with his human? Of course, he really didn't have a say in this, especially when Lee took a determined step down the path. At first he wavered, but after one more step he let out a cry. "Alright, alright! I'll go!" He slinked back over to her, trying to ignore her victorious smirk. "But I won't like any second of it."

Lee offered out her arm and he reluctantly clambered up it, resting once again on her shoulders. "Works for me. You ready, Snark?" The hound didn't need to be told twice-- he was already by her side, tail thumping the ground impatiently. "Okay," she breathed with just a bit less confidence than before. "Lets go."

[Birdybot]

Another roar, and a scream of a Poochyena in pain echoed through the forest. Before Lee was a clearing. Near her, a man stood. He looked as though he was in his late twenties. His features were screwed up in concentration, a smirk on his face. His wavy light brown hair was looking messed up, and his black clothes with a large 'T' printed on them were unkempt and in need of a wash. In his hands, he held a device of some sort. It seemed to be a remote control, but with many more dials and joysticks. A complicated device, but the man seemed to be working it fine. The arial pointed at...

...the source of the roaring. A giant Arcanine with a silvery metallical sheen to it. It held a struggling Poochyena in it's jaws, although the puppy was weakening, as though it would fall unconcious soon. It's jaws held insanely sharp teeth, and the dustbin-lid paws had claws with points so sharp they were barely visable. The robotic monster was brutally and mercilessly swiping Pokémon after Pokémon, defeating them in a single blow and tossing them like rag dolls into a Pokémon-proof transparent crate. There were the limp forms of a huge variety of Pokémon in there, some of them rare and a few even evolved. It seemed that the robot Arcanine had been around Route One a while, doing this.

[xxninja]

Yet another blood-curdling roar resounded through the forest. Lee swore she could feel her bones rattling around inside her. With a gulp, she realized she must be getting closer.

Izara had become a Poochyena again, seeking the comfort of his human's arms and practically shaking out of his fur. Lee, beginning to regret ever wanting to investigate, hugged him closer to her. With every step her legs seemed to grow heavier, as if she was plodding through a swimming pool of cement rather than water. The higher the depth, the harder it became to walk. And the longer it took, the faster the cement hardened.

Suddenly a wail of pain boomed into her head. It was the most heart-wrenching, pitiful sound she had ever heard. Stifling a gasp of horror, she crouched behind a nearby bush to scope out the area. Iza reluctantly nudged out of her arms, poking his head into the underbrush for a better look as well.

Before them was a clearing where the trees bent over the ground like a big umbrella. Directly in front of her was a man in pitch black clothes, fumbling with some sort of device. It reminded her of a video game controller, only much more advanced. He had an ugly, smug little smirk on his face as he controlled what seemed to be an enormous, deadly, machine-like Arcanine. Clamped in its razor-sharp jaws was a Poochyena.

It couldn't do anything to stop the brutal beating it was receiving.

None of the Pokemon could.

There were countless creatures in the reinforced crate. A Pokemon prison. She recognized some to be rare, others even evolved. All had wounds of some sort; many had fainted. And some might even be dead.

Lee began to feel tears prick at her eyes. She realized her jaw had been agape the entire time, and she clamped it shut, biting back a ballistic raging scream. What kind of twisted, evil, maniacal, horrible, selfish, cold-hearted, diabolical, rageaholic person would do such a thing?! Iza, nearly blown over by her intense emotions, leaped back into her arms and pointed with his snout back to the man. Printed on his shirt was a large 'T'.

"Team Tsuasa!" Lee realized, voice hardly a whisper.

She had to do something. She had to stop this madness, stop it right now. But what could she do? She was a newbie trainer, with only three unseasoned Pokemon. If they faced the mechanical Arcanine, they would only be crunched up like the rest! And she herself would no doubt be murdered, or held captive or something.

By now, tears were streaming down her cheeks. Iza, at a loss just like she, could only press his face to hers in an attempt to calm her down. They sat like this for an unmeasurable amount of time. Just a girl and her daemon.

But Lee wasn't going to give up that easy. She lifted her head, a plan beginning to come into place.

"Okay, Iza," she murmured, voice wavering, "we're not going to let this go on anymore. He controls that monster with that device, right? So... I'll distract him. And then you become a Pelipper, swoop down, and take it in your beak."

Now it was Iza's turn to gasp. "There's no way in the world that will work!" he insisted, hissing into her ear. "And besides, how do you intend to save all those Pokemon?!"

Lee bit her tongue, racking her mind. "Well... If he can't control the Arcanine, then it will just sit there. With the combined powers of Snark, Queenie, and Aspen, I'm sure they can destroy it."

Iza just shook his head. "But what about afterwards? Won't that guy just, I don't know, call up the headquarters or something and get backup? There's only so much you can do, Lee."

Her entire body was shaking now, a chaotic mixture of fear and hate and determination. "We have to try. Please, Iza. I won't just sit here while all those Pokemon suffer to death. Please."

The daemon was silent for a moment before sighing again. "Alright. But if we don't come out of this, I'm going to kill you. And then I'll dance all over your ashes."

If she wasn't so upset, Lee would have smiled. "Okay. Now, here's the plan: You sneak over to that tree, climb up, and sit there as a Pelipper to wait. When I give the signal, dive for the remote and scoop it up. Wait for me back here. ....Ready?"

Iza hopped to the ground, becoming a Nincada. "Ready as I'll ever be. And, Lee... I know we can do this." he reassured. But before she could answer, he had already begun scuttling away, crouching low beneath the various foliage to prevent detection. Using his new pincers he clambered his way up the bark of the said tree, inching his way up and up and up. In moments he'd found himself a nice, half-way concealed branch; scales became feathers, legs were lost until he had only two webbed feet, and where his mouth had once been a large orange beak protruded. Now he just had to wait for the signal...
'Wait... What was the signal again?' he wondered. Ohhh! Lee was such an idiot! Ruffling his feathers, he sat back to wait.

~~~

She had begun steeling her nerves. She knew what she had to do, and she was going to do it. Lee gulped, knowing that if she didn't act now, she never would. Standing up very slowly, she took a few steps until she was directly behind that creepy old man.

And then she screamed.

Throwing herself out of hiding, she made a dive for his legs like her brother had taught her. If all worked out as she'd planned, the Tsuasa member would topple over and Iza would swoop down and steal the device.

~~~

Izara, realizing that must be the signal, gave a mighty heave of his wings and threw himself from the tree, enormous beak wide open! In a blur of white and blue and orange he dived straight for the man, aiming to grasp the remote as planned. At first he'd been sulking about how horrible this scheme was... But then he began to realize that it took a whole lot of courage for Lee to want to do something like this, rather than maybe run back to the professor for help. This mere thought kept him going, for she had already begun growing up.

(( .... Okay, I took that WAY too seriously. I always get over dramatic in scenes like this. xP ))

[Birdybot]

ooc// That is the longest post I've seen!

ic// The grunt made a sound of surprise as he heard a scream. Had a human intruded on his work and screamed in their horror? He hoped so. He grinned, forcing Arcanine to throw another limp Pokémon into the crate, but wishing that he could get the jaw working. He pounded the controls, but that only made Arcanine wobble around. He rolled his eyes, then got back to work.

"Oof."

A simple phrase accompanied the satisfying image of his shocked face as he fell to the ground in a heap. He groaned, looking around to see what ignorant moron had done this. It seemed that it was... a child? A little girl? He was knocked over by a little girl? Oh, he'd be in so much trouble. But... they would never find out, would they? He'd just been knocked down, he still had the mission, the Arcanine...

Speaking of the Arcanine, where was the remote? He knew he had it somewhere...

~Lee, I've got it!~

He looked up to see a daemon in Pelliper form holding his remote in his beak. Dang it! He couldn't get it back; the great taboo prevented anyone from touching another person's daemon! And he had left his Pokémon back at base, being advised not to take them for he had Arcanine.

This was such a bad ending for the grunt. He smoothed down his uniform, got in a little van, then drove off in what seemed like a false direction. At least he was still making sure no-one followed him back to headquarters to get help. And punishment, probably.

Meanwhile, as soon as the remote was no longer being working upon, Arcanine simple froze. Poochyena was close to the ground in it's current position, and it seemed that only it would have any effect at all on the crate.

[xxninja]

(( Heheh, yeeeeeeah. I wasn't sure what to do... So I went crazy. Okay, I'm totally saving that to word xDDD ))

Lee Ann staggered to her feet, quite a shocked look on her face. That had been.... Pretty easy, actually! Maybe she should do this for a living, or become a professional wrestler! However, when she and her daemon were instantly together in a warm embrace, she became a little girl again, nothing more.

Izara had changed into a Growlithe, spitting out the device that reeked of evil and crouching over it as if it might get up and walk away. Lee leaned over as well, examining it cautiously like it might explode any second. Looking back at the mechanical Arcanine, she realized it had simply froze; without a controller to guide it, it could do no more evil. It was only a machine.

"Well," she said, unhooking her Pokeballs, "better finish the job."

A Vulpix and Shiny Houndour and Kangaskhan were all released. They instantly noticed the crate full of Pokemon, letting out horrified gasps.

"Don't worry about that right now; focus on that robot Arcanine. I want you all to attack it with everything you've got. Ready? Snark and Vulpix, use a combined Ember! Queenie, when they've got it heated up, beat it down with Comet Punch!" Lee instructed. But now she just had to think: What about the Pokemon? Some of them were probably too badly hurt to be released back into the wild, and they must be far from any Pokemon Center... Maybe she could just wheel it back to Professor Pine's lab? One thing was for sure, she did NOT have enough Potions for all of them.

[Birdybot]

As Snark and Vulpix's attacks washed over the Arcanine, it seemed to do barely anything. A lot of work and expenses had gone into this machine, but if that was the case, why would it be used for something as simple as Route One? This was a bit of a mystery at the moment, but perhaps all would be revealed later. How later? Would it be too late?

Queenie's Comet Punch now had it's turn on the robot Arcanine. A metallic thud rounded, ringing with a sort of annoying sound. The entire machine had a thourough shaking, but it seemed that this method, if it would ever work, would take hours, days, to do so. It would be far easier to figure out how to work it, drop Poochyena, smash it's paw or something into the crate and then make it beat itself up.

But what about how to get the Pokémon in the crate to safety? There was no-one around, and the grunt might come back with backup if too much time was spent! As Lee moved, her phone nudge her from her pocket. Three buttons were needed to call the police, 999, and three to call the rangers, 888. That would be some help, surely, and would get the news of this out to the world.