The Hypnosis idea worked. She had half expected it not to. But sometimes luck did decide to help. However, Isaac’s next challenge would surely prove to be the hardest yet.

She couldn’t leave the battlefield, but with this amount of Pokémon going against Haunter, there was no way for her to succeed in the mission without calling for backup. But Kevin was out of commission, and with this many opponents, she had to obscure their vision.

Assuming SHADOW TAG kept them nearby obstructing their mission would be the best way to deal with a group. She quickly retrieved two Pokéballs and summoned them, figuring that releasing enough to match his number might be defeating the point of this battle.

A Houndour and a Pallosand appeared by the Haunter’s side. Their attention immediately turned to their opponent.

“Anna Smog! Hughleikr Earth Power!” Johanna commanded while she stepped a bit away from the battle. Surely it’d she did not wish to be caught in the crossfire.

The Houndour spewed forth SMOG in a wide area obscuring the vision of anyone who might’ve been looking their way. The Pallosand joined in, its little red Head-shovel spun quickly as it gathered the energies of the earth beneath the enemy’s last known location, before cracking it up in an upwards direction.

But Haunter wouldn’t be staying still either. It floated behind the Pallosand readying a SHADOW BALL for whichever one of the opposing Pokémon would try to get through the SMOG.

Not told that she was going to collaborate with another, eh? Johanna thought. Well, she certainly sounded stuck up. They were both Grunts. If this girl thought herself better then she’d be sorely mistaken. Unfortunate Johanna had dealt with enough stuck-up rich people to know that arguing such a case would avail her nothing but headaches. And so she let the comment slide.

“Yeah, we are going to deliver some goods.” She gestured towards the Trubbish whose bag was filled with Stolen Pokéballs and the Pokémon within. With how the League seemed to be cracking down on crime, she had figured hiding the stuff among the trash would be safest.

The Trubbish beamed a smile at the young girl and held up its bag for her to see. The sound of trash moving about proclaimed that the bag was indeed full.

“But before we begin, Do you have a name, nickname, or secret identity you want me to use? Because it’s going to be a bit of a bother to call you ‘Piplup-girl’ ” Johanna asked. Consciously focusing on appearing confident and strong. Knowing full well that if she gave in, then this person would be walking all over her.


OOC Mission thread for POKÉ-TRAFICKING
LOCATION SLATEPORT BEACH -> HARBOR

@angelicaaxton

She gave him a nod in response. Familiarity with Mt. Pyre would certainly be useful if not now then at least in the future.

Anyhow, the conversation moved onto the Drakloak she now held in her arms. It seemed frozen, shocked. She wondered if it had decided that she didn’t mean any harm, or perhaps it was wondering where its life took a U-turn.

“Oh, you think so?” Johanna asked, looking down at the Dragon/Ghost, it was clutching her hair. “I think you are right.” She knew she should nudge it with a Pokéball, but she didn’t want to startle it, so for now it would stay in her arms.

“Hmm, I wonder what I should name this little fella? Do you have any suggestions?” Perhaps Mars wasn’t the right person to ask for a name, perhaps it was yet another example of being too casual. Whatever it was, it certainly would keep the awkward silence at bay.

Meanwhile, the OMINOUS WIND of Mt. Pyre carried a Drifblim upon it. Half asleep given the time of day, it had lowered its altitude as it felt destiny calling it toward this particular area. Perhaps there was a person or two here that might be interesting?

Alas before it could bob into either Johanna or Mars, it felt the spongy head of a Shiinotic caressing one of its arms. It looked down waking slightly from its half-asleep state.

The Golett and Shiinotic had been busy having a conversation about building and art in general when the Drifblim came in unannounced. Still, as two enjoyers of the finer thing in life, they dragged the Drifblim into the conversation since it made the mistake of showing even the slightest bit of interest in what they were talking about.

Perhaps the Drifblim would be caught in this conversation forever? (Shiinotic certainly tried to push the Join the Joy #JohannaForBestTrainer2022 Agenda)





OOC: Trying to catch Drakloak
LOCATION: MT. PYRE.

So this is supposed to be a haunted house, right? Johanna thought as she walked through the first hallway. The place was unusually well-lit for such a place. The smell was rather decent as well, and the honestly couldn’t hear any screams or some such as she had expected.

She was mildly confused about this as her memory returned to the waiver she had signed. Why would they have us sign something like that if it was THIS mild? She continued into the next Hallways. She looked around. Nothing unusual to see. A few mementos, some pictures, just a copy of the other hallway, right?

She moved on. The same hallway. This was getting annoying. She had signed up to be scared, and this was disappointing. Wait, was there a door there before? She halted in front of a new door that had appeared in the hallway. She knew the answer was no. She finally looked at the pictures and mementos that she had been ignoring in favor of growing frustrations. All the things were warped with depictions of various terror-inducing imagery of violence and gore.

Tch, disgusting.

Johanna moved through what she assumed would be the correct door. Another hallway yet again, but now with another door. Sounds of scratching, and quiet wailing came from each separate door. Johanna gulped. She tried to think of this as all silly games, reminding herself that this was a horror house. But something wasn’t adding up. She had been going in a straight line all this time. How many hallways had she gone through in that time? And it hadn’t been small ones either.

Something was off, the sheer size of the house shouldn’t accommodate this many hallways. She walked through the next hallway, but instead of going in a straight line, she took the door to the left. For a brief moment she had expected something different, maybe a jump scare.

But no… Just another hallway.

“What have I gotten myself into…”

uuyriGRE

RESOLVE: 50
LOCATION: MAUVILE CITY -> OSCAR'S HAUNTED HOUSE

@tag

So, she was supposed to traffic Pokémon from Point A and transport them to point B, which seemed easy enough.

She approached the meeting point between her and @angelicaaxton. Clad in a simple black attire made up of an off-brand black jacket, a pair of simple pants, and a generic black bandana mask hiding her identity should they run into law enforcement. The long twin braids of her blue hair in swayed in the back with each step almost in tandem with the tuft of hair at her front.

Though her smile was hidden, she would approach the little lady with it all the same. She gave the girl a quick greeting wave as she said. “Hey, I presume you’re my partner for the job?” Now that Johanna finally got a good look at the person she couldn’t help but wonder just how old she was… Not that it mattered a member of Team Rocket was a colleague regardless of age.

Behind her, a Trubbish trudged along hauling with it a bag of an unknown assortment of goods.

OOC Mission thread for POKÉ-TRAFICKING
LOCATION SLATEPORT BEACH -> HARBOR

@angelicaaxton

She was getting closer. She had to be, she wasn’t running in the wrong direction, right? No, she pushed the doubt away. Yet the knowledge that Genesect was on its way still lingered.

She hurried onward until she reached the generator. But as she stood before it she felt powerless. Her head was empty though whether it was because of the pressure of danger or failing memory, she did not know. She knew not how to fix it for she could not see the immediate problem. But she had to try. She began with the steps that Ethan had performed on the first Generator. But it didn’t seem to be the same issue.

She whispered a curse, she could really use Ethan right now. Fuck, why did he have to go and get caught? She tried pressing some buttons, pulling some things, and all in all just hoping that if she did enough random actions then perhaps it would magically start working.


7ig0_Bvc

@bishop oscar clayton Cillian Quinn

Oh no, he is smirking. Did I offend him? Am I being too casual… WHO ARE YOU? Her inner thoughts were in turmoil as Mars continued the excruciating psychological torture. Luckily for her, she was adept enough at keeping her façade up that it might look like naught but common nervousness.

He responded. The normalcy of his response put her somewhat at ease. Perhaps she was outside of the danger zone. Then he turned her attention to the little Unown-X on the leafy ground, her twin-tailed hair gently swayed in the process. The Unown-X waved at her. She waved back at it, even beamed it a smile. It was kind of cute, in a nerdy way.

“Oh, I am just seeing the sights and getting to know the area. Nothing interesting really.” Johanna replied, though now that she thought about it, perhaps she had subconsciously decided to come here due to the developments that happened during the Sootopolis Meeting. Oh well, no need to voice that thought.

Meanwhile, A Drakloak slithered along the ground distressed searching for something or someone. If one looked closely it was without the small companion that so often followed it. Alas, it did not or could not find what it was searching for. But it found something else, something blue like itself. Perhaps it was a weirdly long very thin pair of Dreepy?

It slithered on the ground over to the pair. They smelled suspiciously much like humans, never mind the pair of legs they hovered behind nor the man who stood in front of it. The Drakloak was surprised he hadn’t noticed it. But it supposed it was just THAT good at stealth.

Anyhow, the Drakloak placed the pair of Dreepy upon his head for a brief moment. Only for them to swing away. It looked up and saw that the human had noticed it and turned around. Well, it had to act fast. It had to save the Dreepy’s from this human before they got caught. It lunged at the two suspiciously hair-like Dreepy, caught them in its arms, and hugged them tightly, only for it to be caught in the human’s arms and lifted up.

But the Drakloak didn’t waver, its hug was tight but its eyes were in shock at the audacity of this human. How dared she simply pick him up? And yet, it could not let go for it sensed the twin Dreepy would get crushed if it did.

“And I suppose I am also catching some Pokémon…” Johanna returned her attention to Mars, now holding a shocked Drakloak in her arms, a Drakloak which for some reason hugged her twin-tailed hair tightly.




OOC: Trying to catch Drakloak
LOCATION: MT. PYRE.

Her pale cheeks suddenly felt warm, if she had had a mirror she might’ve even noticed a light reddening. But that might very not have been all that noticeable in the face of her beaming bright smile growing perhaps tenfold. “Thank you.” She replied, her voice timidly hit by a bout of shyness.

Luckily before things got awkward the Scrafty and Shiinotic joined them. Ethan delighted in the truckload of candy that the Scrafty had acquired. And the same did Johanna, albeit not as audibly. And with such celebrations finished the group continued on.

It didn’t take them long before their stroll resulted in filled candy vessels, and a bit of thievery performed by Ethan. Johanna had decided to not do so, trusting that her Shiinotic would share with her the spoils if she asked nicely. With their vessels filled Ethan suggested heading back to the sub. However, his Scrafty was of another opinion.

Their debate was a short-lived one. Johanna and Shiinotic simply kept out of it, as they had both decided to just go with the flow. And the flow demanded one more shop.

And a shop they found. A tiny Boutique that seemed to focus on hats. It reminded her of one that she had visited so long ago, back when she had to look fancy and presentable for the masses. However, the shop owner seemed less inclined to more visitors. Though she had been summoned to the door and proclaimed the place closed, the sign still said open.

Ethan looked at her. She sighed. Guess he wants me to take this one? She thought. “Oh, it’s just that your sign said you were open. But we apologize for the inconvenience.” Perhaps it wasn’t what Scrafty nor Ethan had expected of a Rocket member. But she wasn’t the bloodthirsty sort. If anything, she preferred kindness to threats.

Shiinotic was of the same mind, kind mushroom eyes turned to the owner of the store. It would not press on if it was a bother to the woman.

OOC Mission thread for Tricking or Treating
LOCATION: SOOTOPOLIS CITY
COSTUME FULL COSPLAY

@bishop

Uncertainty was certainly a specialty of hers. But this time it was not hers that chained them to the metaphorical rocks, but Haunters. But Isaac had yet another test they could do.

He summoned a Jolteon, a rather speedy one it seemed. Even Johanna could see that it would be no easy task to hit the Electric-type with a ranged attack. Haunter confirmed this as it fired off a series of Tiny Shadow balls, trying to tag the Jolteon, but all of them missed.

Frustration was clearly growing within the Haunter.

But Johanna had been watching the Jolteon, as well as her own Haunter. Yeah, they wouldn’t be hitting the Jolteon with that attack if they continued as is. She gestured for the Haunter to come closer before she would whisper into its ghostly ear.

The Haunter nodded, and then returned to trying to hit the Jolteon with Shadow Balls.

But each SHADOW BALL that was sent flying was but a cover as a thin barely noticeable red line appeared around the Haunter’s eyes. Though weakened by the subterfuge of trying to hide the move the Haunter would beam waves of HYPNOSIS towards the Jolteon while the barrage of SHADOW BALL continued. Hopefully, the Jolteon would not notice until it was too late.

Eyes went wide as Ethan left her with his Scrafty, which from her mere glance she could see was a fair bit tougher than her own Shiinotic. Perhaps it was more accustomed to the thug life? Either way, she tried to appear secure in front of the little fighter as they awaited Ethan’s return, moving quietly along as the line grew smaller and smaller.

By the time Ethan returned the two Pokémon were just about to be handed their candy. Each ULTRA BEAST would supply both Pokémon with ample amounts of candy compared to the last place, at least a hundred percent more.

However, Johanna’s attention moved to Ethan, who with a grin on his lips proclaimed his arrival. She smiled, even chuckled a bit though the mask tried to hide both well. But then surprise took its hold as Ethan handed her a pair of Espeon ears.

“Oh, thanks, you shouldn’t have.” And yet he had. She would surely remember this kindness. She gently pulled down the hood of her costume, revealing her blue hair, before taking off the plague doctor’s mask. She took a deep breath of the fresh air as she was released from the stuffy prison. Then she gently placed the pair of Espeon ears upon the top of her head, carefully making sure that it was placed there properly. “So, how do I look? Is it too much?” She beamed a smile toward Ethan.


OOC Mission thread for Tricking or Treating
LOCATION: SOOTOPOLIS CITY
COSTUME FULL COSPLAY

@bishop