"Hey, uh...you haven't seen any weird pokemon down here, have you?" Why on earth he's asking the stranger is beyond him. If they had seen Registeel, their pace wouldn't have been leisurely, and they definitely wouldn't have started by returning Derek's greeting.

But judging by their attire, he must've frequented the underground. Fabric covered his face where dirt and dust would otherwise be breathed right in. "I doubt it, but I'm a bit desperate for a lead at this point."

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"Oh, them? Yeah, it was part of a litter hatched by the rangers while I was still one of them. But sure, we'll take the help." While answering, the Zeraora began to growl towards, well...nothing.

In reality it could smell the Kecleon, but it'd never done this before. Derek wondered what was wrong and, after it attacked the air, decided it must've been confused somehow...

Returning it into the pokeball, he waves a hand towards Gerard dismissively. "Sorry about that. They aren't exactly the most domestic pokemon for a trainer to work with." With that said and done, the two were able to be on their way in search of wild pokemon.

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"Yeah, that's true." Derek remarks about the fact it wasn't their first time being growled at by a pokemon. The sort of thing was rather commonplace, wasn't it?

What wasn't so common was the fully grown Aggron that rounded the corner just ahead of them, immediately laying eyes on the trainers and growing aggressive. A gnarly roar and some kicking at the dirt floor was it's idea of intimidation.

But Derek and his Machamp weren't buying it. "Go ahead, Randal." The muscular pokemon loved fighting almost as much as he loved flexing his muscles. Battling too, but when it was a wild pokemon that's what really made it a fight.

The bulk up Randal employed prepared it to catch the Aggron as it charged. Wrestling it by the horns with both of it's left arms after it's failed headbutt, the Machamp let loose a critical dynamic punch that left the Aggron incapacitated, stumbling and falling to the floor.

Likewise, after a job well done, Randal turned to Derek for a high-five, noticing movement around his clothes. But there wasn't a draft in here...curious.

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It wasn't until something was pulled out from one of the pockets on his jacket that Derek realized it wasn't just the dimly lit cave making him thought he saw or felt things that weren't there. Weren't happening.

Because they were.

"H-hey, HEY!" Watching his badge case slip out, Derek tried ripping it from the invisible clutches of whatever had grabbed it. But he failed, and it began to scurry away, putting distance between them.

"Get back here you little-" Obviously in full pursuit, Derek and his Machamp were quick to turn their backs on Gerard while trying to keep up with whatever it was they were chasing.

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Though they couldn't very well see the thing, it was obvious something had just shot at them. While Derek stopped in his tracks, Randal leaped forward, both intercepting the psybeam while it launched and also lashing out with his own attack.

The revenge for even daring to attack his trainer would surely hurt, though it wasn't as well-placed as he'd have hoped. While Machamp spilled onto the ground, there was no telling how good he got the Kecleon. It seemed like they might've missed completely. As such, Derek resorted to something else.

Lobbing forward another pokemon, the Starmie that came out took no issue with his command. "Rapid spin up ahead!" The Starmie launched itself, gaining momentum and propelling itself off of every surface, ricocheting around until it eventually hit something it didn't even realize was there.

The only confirmation of something being there was that face, and also the badge case it spit out after being hit in the gut.

Gerald was quiet all the while as they closed the distance, and neither did he sent out any pokemon. Were his pokemon a little big for fighting inside the cave? Nah, he wouldn't be down here if he was defenseless... So why wasn't he helping?

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Let alone the embers of suspicion burning in the subconscious of his mind, what appears to be blatant betrayal takes places right before his eyes. Struck by a confuse ray mid pursuit, Derek points back with his hand to redirect the Starmie's attention. The psychic type seems to recognize the problem as well, promptly using a multi-purposed hydro pump. This both pushed the stranger and their Froslass away while propelling the Starmie towards Derek, hitting him and then sending them both even faster towards the Kecleon.

It was reckless, and definitely inefficient. But still, it seemed pretty effective by the end of it. They appeared to have ran into the pokemon, falling over one another and making a pile on the ground. Machamp came running past and didn't stop, instead face-checking the wall.

Funnily enough, they were right by the exit. The cave wall was more shallow, and the pokemon in all it's muscular fitness managed to punch a hole straight through in the shape of it's body. Struggling with the Kecleon under him, Derek eventually won the tug-of-war and quickly picked himself up to make a run for the exit.

Well, the exit Randal, his Machamp, had made for them.

When they got outside it was easy to tell the pokemon hurt himself quite a bit doing that stunt, as he was rolling around on the ground rubbing his head, which appeared to be bruising already. Maybe worse.

Maintaining a sprint, the badge case was tucked away in the first pocket he managed to open in order to quickly whip out two pokeballs. Retrieving both his Machamp and Starmie, the gym leader then showed a third pokeball. This one released a Garchomp that quickly got them out of there before Gerald could raise another hand against them.

Derek hated to think he just ran away from a fight as a gym leader, but he wasn't trying to get caught up in something so petty as common theft right now. His worries were focused on more pressing matters, so this retreat was mostly inconsequential. At least until someone found out about it, which he really hoped wouldn't happen.

END OF THREAD

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