Taunted, burned, hexed, Zarude curled in agony around its stomach with hands like arcade machine claws. Sap dripped in rivulets from one wrist, a remnant from the sample Killian Decker had taken. Those would grow back. They would sprout anew, like the forest after flame.

But there was no replacing some things.

In the shadow of the watchful Aegislash, pain spiritual and physical racking its body, Zarude tried again— as it had over and over since the Inferno— to use Jungle Healing. Not on itself, but what it carried.

Anything.

Nothing.

Anything. 

It wouldn’t work. Nothing worked. The sight of the human chryssa glasgow howling tauntingly through the air flashed through its mind and the Zarude snarled at the hateful face crawling towards it, throwing out its injured hand as if to halt her in her tracks.

The ground heaved and buckled with GRASS KNOT, roots arching up through the soil and seeking to ensnare the feet of everyone in the area. Zarude saw the girl faceplant in her forward progress, though the impact seemed lighter than it would have expected. 

“NOBODY GETS CLOSE,” the monkey hissed, though it sounded just like animal sounds to the human trainers. Its chest heaved, its red eyes locked on the nasty, intimidating presences of the Haxorus and Luxio. “I WON’T LET YOU TAKE HER.” 

Raindrops that stank of stale lakewater began to fall, splattering its face and snuffing out stray sparks. Thanks to Elaine Highland , the rain grew stronger, bringing welcome cold to soothe the monkey’s terrible burns. Zarude shuddered again, clutching its bundle closer. 

The tiniest whimper came from its hands.

There was a reason this Zarude had been slower than the rest— easier to separate from the safety of its pack. 

THE BABY ZARUDE had been clinging to the back of its parent’s neck when the Inferno struck— it had escaped the Hex which now plagued the larger Pokemon, but its frail body was weak. Too weak.

Please. Please let me—

Gnashing its teeth, Zarude bowed its head over its child, protecting it from human eyes and smoke. Jungle Healing. Just once. Please...

Nothing happened, nothing happened, nothing happened.

• Zarude repeatedly tries to use Jungle Healing, but fails due to Taunt (which prevents the use of status moves). It continues to take recurrent damage from Hex+Burn.
• Zarude is intimidated by Luxio ( giona ferrara ) and Haxorus ( Killian Decker) and yells at them to stay away.
• Zarude uses Grass Knot to stop Chy-T from approaching, and also uses it to try and bind the feet of everyone in the area.
• As the rain ( Elaine Highland ) begins to fall, Zarude reveals a severely injured Baby Zarude that was riding on its back. 

[attr=class,absolute-holder]

[attr=class,bulk]
"Cover Smeargle!"[break][break]

She barks an order to her Charizard. The beast bellows, a guttural noise that comes, deep-rooted, from her belly. While the tar shot had landed successfully, it didn't stop the Haxorus from retaliating. Fortunately, the dragon's movements are slowed enough that there is a window, albeit brief, to prepare. [break][break]

But there is no time to protect them all. [break][break]

Adrenaline and desperation enable Stormy to at least protect herself. Given how close she is to the Smeargle and the rolling thunder beneath her feet, she finds herself in a tricky situation. Sehkmet proves faster in the race to catch the painterly pup, pulling the Smeargle out of harms way before the earthquake can meet her.[break][break]

Stormy, however, soon realizes that she, too, is flying. Fiery wings have burned holes between her shoulderblades, burning away at her shirt. What remained beneath was a fire-proof sports bra designed to withstand the heat, but her coverup is immediately turned to ashes. Her feet dangle above the upturned earth, wings flapping to keep her airborne. [break][break]

Once the earthquake has all but settled, Sehkmet sets the Smeargle down. What attempt had been made against the Aegislash and Zarude is indistinct, given the sword and shield Pokemon could very well have been caught by the grass knot the Pokemon had used earlier. Regardless, it is evident that the Pokemon was not able to defend well given the onslaught of attackers on all sides.[break][break]

He is but one shield.[break][break]

However, the Aegislash is able to retaliate, snapping back and forth across the field. It is incorporeal, slashing out at the Luxio with a shadow sneak before attempting to return to the Zarude.[break][break]

Smeargle, on the other hand, sees the opening the sword and shield had made and begins to scribble. There is something peculiar in the way the Zarude moves its hands, flexing fingers as if trying to pry open the earth itself. And yet there is no rage in it, but desperation. Without orders, Smeargle acts, attempting to replicate her sketched jungle healing.[break][break]

And in the background, behind the fire and the flames, Stormy's pendant burns bright with unlocked potential. Both she and her Charizard begin to glow. More agile, more sleek, Sehkmet comes out the other side faster and stronger. The newly mega-evolved Charizard turns her attention to the tar-shotted Haxorus with the intent to douse the Pokemon in flames with a flamethrower.[break][break]

Jungle healing takes effect, albeit slowly. As if the move needed more practice or was not quite perfect. But Smeargle tries and tries and tries until it works, because it has to.[break][break]

Vines unfurl beneath the earth, knocked loose from the earthquake. It moves like something alive. The fur on Smeargles back stands up on end. Whatever power this move holds, it is exhausting. But it manages to reach the Zarude, coating the two of them in mossy green.[break][break]

Elaine Highland's explanation does not go ignored, but the elite's attention is otherwise preoccupied with driving off the criminals cornering the Zarude. [break][break]

"What are you doing? Is this what living 'free of fear and worry' is? Is this what 'peace' looks like?"[break][break]

Stormy, still airborne, looks down upon Killian Decker and giona ferrara. Her expression is one of conflict and rage as she gestures to the burning forest. What commotion has occurred with the illusioned Zarude, the missing Chryssa, the broken rope bridge and the two people above, still fighting in the trees is temporarily ignored because the woman's attention is on the forest floor.[break][break]

"I didn't believe the lies Rocket spewed about Kanto living peacefully. This isn't success, this is your deception, your disregard for human life, your dishonesty. Look at what you have done!"[break][break]

---

[break]

tldr: stormy uses her fiery wings to evade the earthquake[break]
charizard flies, grabbing smeargle to protect them both from the earthquake[break]
aegislash is hurt by backlash from grass knot into earthquake and wasn't able to wide guard in time. uses shadow sneak on luxio before returning to zarude.[break]
smeargle sees the zarude + child trying to use jungle healing. uses sketch followed by jungle healing to heal the zarude + child.[break]
charizard mega-evolves into charizard-y. uses flamethrower on haxorus[break]
stormy brings up several points that declan walsh stated during his rocket announcement in accusations of accountability

[attr=class,ooc-notes]

Stormy Silph, Elaine Highland

Near the Zarude, but far enough to escape its ire. Luxio was caught up in not only the ensuing earthquake, but also a surprise Shadow Sneak from what looked like an immobile Aegislash. The cat barely stood, and Jonah rushed to dig out a pokeball from his pocket, withdrawing it with a red beam.

Wanna, wanna watch your eyes

The heat was unbearable. His Rocket tights underneath wicked away any sweat below his collarbone, but he felt like he was gonna pass out in his yellow padded jumpsuit. It was now or never. He unzipped the jumpsuit fully, and stepped out of it. He stood there, in the kohl-black tights with the candy-red R across its chest.

Dip them in a honey glass

Once again, Killian seemed surrounded 2 to 1. He crouched next to his tattered jumpsuit and dug through the pockets, pulling all of the pokeballs into the pockets on his sweatpants. He stamped out the little embers catching on his jumpsuit's pantlegs from the scattered burning tinder surrounding all of them. He clenched his teeth, sucking air past them with discomfort.

Mirror mine, Roll them high

While Luxio was out of commission, he had to choose. Injured Manectric, or a Torchic that could do little more than buy time. It was now or never. He chose Torchic. Perhaps, if he made the flames all the more dire, they'd all have to run their separate ways. After all, Killian already obtained a vine sample.

Wanna make them, Drip away

Jonah made his decision. He picked the pokeball that held a Torchic, and bounced it off his slate-grey boot. As the restless bird stared down Aegislash, Jonah growled. He put two fingers to his lips and sicced the bird on the blade arrangement. It used Flame Burst, a wide gout of flame that'd hit something and explode regardless of if it made struck Aegislash, given all the tattered trees in the vicinity.

But, something was bothering him, distracting him even. He looked up at Stormy Silph , making her proclamations  about 'securing peace' being a lie. A vein between his collarbone and chin stood up, but with his body beet-red and his face drenched in sweat, it could be hard to notice. "I didn't need to believe their little seminar, I needed to stop 'skipping' lunch. I don't know about him, but I did this because I don't know what I'd do if this didn't work."

TL;DR: Exhausted, and down to either an injured Manectric or a Torchic that was clearly no match for Charizard. Jonah stalls for time yet again by getting in an argument.

[attr="class","morhuman-big-img"]

[attr="class","morhuman-1"]

[attr="class","morhuman-bot"][attr="class","th th-pencil"]

[attr="class","dangerhead"]

[attr="class","dangerbody"]

[attr="class","dangercredits"]cyan of pixel perfect

At long last, Chryssa's feet touched the forest floor.

She was entirely soaked, her hair in waterlogged dregs, her blue dress clinging tightly to her skin. Steam evaporated from her in ghostly waves, entwining her in mist. Despite the healing rain which had fallen upon the city, dampening the blaze, the air remained searingly dry.

"You'll be happy to hear I've finished evacuating the civilians," she said lightly over the Rocket earpiece, brushing ash off her shoulder.

It was the first thing she'd said over the comms in a long time, and it was blatantly untrue. Most of them were lithe, able-bodied, used to scrambling up and down rope ladders and across rope bridges with uncommon speed. Perhaps their homes had been in danger, but the lives of those on the outskirts were never in peril.

Chryssa herself was another matter, however. 

She had known Rocket would be here. She had known they would come into conflict with the Rangers on duty, herself (or her stunt double) included. She had not expected that conflict would turn into a forest fire, or for that natural hazard to threaten the city itself. She'd suggested bringing the conflict closer to the city because she'd thought the League would hold back.

Without eyes or ears on the battlefield, Chryssa had no way of knowing which party had started the fire. But it had become clear to her, as she struggled with her walking cane across burning rope bridges and down fraying, smoldering ladders, that she was walking a dangerous line. 

"Sorry about the radio silence. Things were heating up here, so to speak. Anyway, the fire marshall's headed your way now," the girl said, changing the subject. The sound of helicopter blades in the distance was growing louder. It was an uncommonly fast response, all things considered. "If you guys have got the sample, it might be a good time to retreat."

So what possessed her to take that first step into the trees, grinding ashes beneath her boots?

• Update on Chryssa! The civilians are fine, everyone's fine, Chryssa saved herself and is totally drenched, Elaine Highland 's rain put out the city without too much damage. 
• Chryssa tells Rocket ( @lev giona ferrara Killian Decker ) the fire brigade's on its way and suggests a retreat.

[attr=class,absolute-holder]

[attr=class,bulk]
"Then prove it and help me fix this. Call off the taunt and let the Pokemon go. For all of your talk of this being inexcusable, I still see you as nothing but a lowlife shit picking on the defenseless. This is a Pokemon, you absolute piece of shit. What could you possibly need with it that was so important you resorted to violence and torture? That is inexcusable."[break][break]

She is seething, her emotions so blatantly obvious by the temperature of her skin. The woman is molten, flaming, a blaze of blinding rage. This man professed pretty words but they were empty and meaningless. They were a way to distract and dissuade her. But it wouldn't work because she was more focused, more driven than he might ever be.[break][break]

"Sehkmet, channel the flames away from the village. We need to control the fire before it spreads any further."[break][break]

Fortunately, help would arrive shortly in the form of the fire brigand, armed to the teeth in water-type Pokemon equipped to deal with a disaster like this. [break][break]

But not before the fires had already swallowed whole countless trees in the immediate area. Sehkmet has all but used the remainder of her mega-evolved form to beat back the fire and keep it contained. She looks to the man's Houndoom for some degree of aid, regardless of who's 'side' they were on.[break][break]

"Don't you even think about laying another hand on this defenseless Pokemon."[break][break]

As if on cue, Aegislash reaffirms his position with a sheen of iron defense. The Smeargle who had attempted a jungle healing earlier seems to have bbeen effective in her task. The Zarude and child remain weak but are stabilizing, wrapped up in the earth that the Smeargle had manipulated to protect them. [break][break]

Stormy, now rain-soaked and defiant, feels her wings sizzling with the rain as she moves to fly over and hover above the Zarude. She is challenging in her stance, and the message is clear:[break][break]

Rocket best leave, or at least lend aide.[break][break]

---

[break]

tldr: stormy uses her fiery wings to evade the earthquake[break]
charizard flies, grabbing smeargle to protect them both from the earthquake[break]
aegislash is hurt by backlash from grass knot into earthquake and wasn't able to wide guard in time. uses shadow sneak on luxio before returning to zarude.[break]
smeargle sees the zarude + child trying to use jungle healing. uses sketch followed by jungle healing to heal the zarude + child.[break]
charizard mega-evolves into charizard-y. uses flamethrower on haxorus[break]
stormy brings up several points that declan walsh stated during his rocket announcement in accusations of accountability

[attr=class,ooc-notes]

Stormy Silph, Elaine Highland

[attr="class","morhuman-big-img"]

[attr="class","morhuman-1"]

[attr="class","morhuman-bot"][attr="class","th th-pencil"]

The woman towered above either of the men. Smoldering in every sense of the word, commanding broad wings of fire that could even hold her aloft. She barked at Killian, with the intense “you should be ashamed of yourself” energy of an adult confronting some teen hellion going too far. However he responded, Jonah shuddered with anticipation. It was abundantly clear that he was faced with a power he couldn’t match or comprehend.

Wanna, wanna watch your eyes

The heat was still unbearable. The tights held firm and wicked away any sweat, but if he pushed his luck any more he’d faint. The fire had already swallowed much of the immediate area.

Dip them in a honey glass

Furthermore, she didn’t even pay any mind to him. The radio earpiece buzzed and clicked to life after a long period of inactivity; the fire brigade was on its way. In other words, the local authorities were on their way.

Mirror mine, Roll them high

With the news of the fire brigade on their way and Stormy putting her foot down, the only thing left to do was pack up his belongings, without making any sudden moves. He bent down and pulled up his yellow jumpsuit, slipping it back on but not zipping it up yet. He then took a knee, and scooped up the Torchic into his arms, obscuring the candy-red R somewhat.

Wanna make them, Drip away

They’d already collected a sample, and the opportunity to capture the Zarude had slipped from their grasp. He did all that was left, Torchic in his arms. He turned in the other direction and hauled ass. With the mix of actual smoking foliage and secondhand smoke attacking his senses, he’d try to look like a scared civilian as he ran away.

But, something couldn’t go unacknowledged. Jonah folded his arms to hold the Torchic under an arm as if he were an american football player, so as to fiddle with his radio headset. He tapped the button, and tried to address the group, having never learned their names. "If I stayed here, I would slow everyone down. Not to mention, the mission is effectively over, until we can actually fight that thing. If we need to regroup, you can find me in Mauville."

TL;DR: Exhausted and truly out of options, Jonah retreats, without shame or guile.

[attr="class","dangerhead"]

[attr="class","dangerbody"]

[attr="class","dangercredits"]cyan of pixel perfect