“That….was not what I expected,” a somewhat befuddled Lash stated as she glanced up from the Hydreigon that she had clung onto desperately when an explosion had gone off somewhere near her. Judging by the ringing in her ears, the other probably could not even hear that. In fact, she had to briefly check to see if that lady was still on board.

And thankfully she was. It would have been kind of awful if she had accidentally gotten that one killed in such a silly way. Instead, she had just caused somewhat minor -hopefully – damage to their eardrums and some heavy damage on Hydreigon. The dragon was moving a bit less steadily now than before. But hopefully a visit to the Pokemon Center could sort that out later.

Hoping that it would not be held against her, Lash would simply try to have her Hydreigon fly them both away somewhat unscathed, letting that woman sort herself out as they made for a brief getaway like that.

Johanna Joy

_wfh89Lg

“I guess so. Guess at least we are not sticking around long enough for any of them to get buyer’s remorse while we are there.” Not exactly something that some random kid would say. But she wasn’t that. She had dealt with too many rich people that wanted some kind of ‘wild, alpha male’ member of a species that would complain afterwards that they could not handle them. Or parents that never bothered to at least read the Pokedex entry before ordering a poison type for their child.

She sighed. Guess that was one upside to her current predicament. She did not have to bother with all of that. Then again, she could have just done some kind of career change and gotten the same result. Without all that existential crisis stuff and such.
That being said though, she returned to her Hydreigon and followed suit. Her own riding was almost as professional as Shalin’s in that regard. The girl would not be able to keep up with the hotshot pilot in a race or so, but she could at least keep her cargo secure in a situation like this.


Shalin Nariya

Phew. They had gotten away. Mostly. Looking back, Lash noticed that somehow during all of this, one of the little ones had managed to latch onto Hydreigon. However, despite its sharp edges, the dragon did not seem to be all that hurt by it. None of the heards were even trying to bite it off or throw some kind of beam at it.

Strange. It really have to try to keep hanging onto them without causing damage. Lash decided to take that opportunity to just try and throw a ball at the little one. If she caught it, good. Otherwise she’d just wasted an empty Pokeball.

Or, well, so she thought. Because the whole ordeal had distracted her just enough to not notice the big bad rocket thing coming towards them at high speeds. If she had, she probably would have told Hydreigon not to fire another Tri-Attack before they could collide.

And then, just maybe, there would not have been the huge explosion in the air before them that followed.

- catch attemtp Kartana
- Celesteela gas go boom
- Johanna Joy

One ball left. She had to be picky. But a golden Riolu? How could she not? Even if she did not use it, she knew at least three people that would still buy it off of her, even in her current state. That Pokemon was so scary popular, someone always wanted it.

Yes, her decision was made. Plus, much like the Shieldon before, this guy or girl seemed to already be taking a fighting stance, clearly sensing that she had taken an interest in it. Heh. Good instincts there. There even was a chance that it might be able to swat the ball away, so she took the time for a proper pitcher’s stance. The Riolu could certainly try. Time to see which of them would prevail as she would either let it punch a homerun, or her thrown ball would catch it. Either would work for her, of course.

- Final ball, catching Riolu

A Shieldon. How did that fit in with the other Pokemon she had encountered so far? Lash did not know. And she did not care. That thing was amazing! It could take a lot of hits, as long as they were not ground-typed. Plus, it was quite compact and straightforward. What was not to love?

Well, the fact that this Shieldon had noticed her. Which would not have been that bad a thing if it had not also decided to challenge her. Sure, this one was small – but so was she, currently. It soon started to try and rush her, which really was not something she wanted to test out dodging at all.

Hence, she used one of her last two balls to intercept the little one, hoping that even if it did not get caught, its stride would be interrupted. And maybe it would be so rattled from the experience that it might give up altogether.

- Using Warden's Ticket
- 1/4 balls left
- Catching Shieldon

A Seedot crossed her path after the little chase with the Mimikyu. She thought about capturing it, briefly. It was a decent Pokemon, at least once evolved, but she was always more of a fan of its rival in fight-y plantness, the one that was an actual fighting type. Plus, she did not really like that it had leaves for hands once evolved.

Not that it was a bad one, of course. But it was still only about half-time in this little expedition and she was already down to only two balls. And she just looked like a teenager. She wasn’t actually as impatient as one. Hence, she nodded to herself and decided to move on from the Seedot, to see what else this place had in store for her.

- Using Warden's Ticket
- 2/4 balls left
- Skipping Seedot

Now this, this was more interesting. Maybe she was a bit lucky to run into so many ghost types today, but this one was almost perfect for either conceit, really. On one hand, it was a decently strong ghost with useful abilities. But it was also the kind of Pokemon that would very much fit her current appearance.

Almost perfect. Lash decided to ignore the fox for the time being and instead quietly follow the ghost she had seen shuffling alongside a path, apparently following a shadow cast by the clouds above. Frankly, she had no idea what that was about. But she knew that it was distracted by instinct, so she closed the distance somewhat while preparing the ball.

However, the exact moment that she broke through the foliage and readied her throw, the wild one suddenly turned its head almost 180 degrees to face her. That did give her a bit of a jumpscare but fortunately, the movement was already decided upon, so she subconsciously finished the throw.

- Using Warden's Ticket
- 2/4 balls left
- Attempting to catch Mimikyu

A Nickit. A Pokemon for thieves, in her experience, or those who liked to fashion themselves as such. Prooobably not the best kind of Pokemon to carry around when she was trying to fly under the radar. That much was for sure. Or maybe she was overthinking it. Either way, after picking up the Yamask for the time being, she had seen something moving in the distance. It was an off-colour Nickit, from what she could see from afar. The pelt would probably fetch a decent enough price, but that was not why she was here at all.

After all, who knew if these ones had been marked in some way? At the very least, she had not come for parts today. Lash had never been a butcher, after all. She just sold Pokemon, but she always done so with live animals. In her current state, she could not exactly break from that, either.

But judging from her own standards for the time being, she decided to just, well, leave this little one be. There was probably going to be something better for her. She already had decent enough dark types, after all. Even for her new team.

- Using Warden's Ticket
- 3/4 balls left
- Skipping Nickit

Oh, nice. A Yamask. Those sold decently well on the black market, in her experience. This one was….yes, the Galarian variant. The better one in that regard. Or even if she wanted to train it herself. The evolution of it was decently strong, after all. She figured that this would be a decent trophy to take home for certain. The rest of the balls she could use more sparingly, but this one seemed like a decent idea for the time being.

Hence, she nodded to herself as she prepared herself in the small brush she had hidden in the moment she had heard rustling herself. It did not carry a lot of leaves yet, but for a distracted ghost like this, it had proven good enough. Hence, she burst from it, throwing the ball at the Yamask as she did, hoping to catch it on the first attempt.

- Using Warden's Ticket
- 3/4 balls left
- Attempting to catch Yamask

It had been a while since she’d last come here. In fact, she had not been to the zone since long before the incident. It wasn’t that someone had caught wind of her poaching and given her some kind of life-long punishment or so. But she had always figured that someone that she might have run into during those off-the-books working hours could have ended up working here. Plus, when you knew the thrill of hunting in the wild, this kind of controlled environment could get boring.

But since she could not get to that sort of work in this form and someone had gifted her a ticket after a match in that weird tournament, she really had no reason not to go. Even though she had to roll her eyes at some employees asking for her guardian, they had at least allowed her in once she had presented enough outdoorsy gear and an understanding of the rules.
Lash sighed at the thought of that, as she climbed up the path. It really was a struggle to be like this, wasn’t it?

- Using Warden's Ticket
- 4/4 balls left
- No actions yet

Fortunately, the other did not know how Lash had gotten the worst out of her Hydreigon. A poacher had her ways, after all. It certainly had not been the kind of training one would have expected from someone looking like a kid. But that was not exactly new. People would not take her adult form for that kind of person, after all. She was very used to being underestimated in that regard – and to capitalize on it.

Not that she needed to much here. Instead, she took her time for a bit, sorting through the eggs until she found one for this place. It was only when she actually approached that house that she put on her ‘professional’ face – i.e. a bright smile and way too sunny attitude. “Hello there! Egg-cellent delivery here just for you. Don’t break it though,” she offered with a cheery attitude towards the old lady opening. There was some additional candy exchanged too, so she waved momentarily as she walked off back towards the dragon guarding the eggs.

It was only there that she dropped the act again, quickly. “That should take care of mine. Customer service is always a bit of a hassle, but what can you do.” She tossed one of the pokeball-shaped candies towards the others. Not for a particular reason.
Lash just was less of a sweet tooth than people took her for, was all.


Shalin Nariya

Smart girl. And yes, she knew how weird that would come across said by someone of her size. But that was why she did not say it out loud, of course. That would be silly. And distracting. She was just getting the lady onto her Hydreigon, after all.

Fortunately, that Flutter Mane could just fly alongside them, so that was not a hassle to get on board or anything like that. Instead, she would immediately nudge her Hydreigon to stop trying to beam into the horde, but instead to take off again. “Don’t mention it. Especially when we aren’t out of the roughs yet.”

After all, they still had an angry swarm after them. The ice and fire would not deter them for too long once the dragon showed them its back. Hence, they were darting diagonally towards the sky, trying to get both distance and altitude quickly in order to get away. Those small ones probably could not fly too high, she figured.

Johanna Joy

1 Warden's Safari Ticket for 150 pd, please