Another sigh. What a silly woman. All League people were like that, weren’t they? Then again, looking at this person, Lash could not really think of her as a League person. Yeah, she looked derpy to her, but that probably due to their current dispositions rather than any actual factors. She looked vaguely familiar. But right then, Lash was too preoccupied with their current situation to really care much about that.

“And why not? Because you say so.” She shrugged, exaggeratedly. “Please, Alex, that’s just stupid. It’s just an island. And if there is some distortion or wormhole or whatever, then everyone has a right to check it out. I mean, what else are you going to do about it? Protect me by attacking me up in the air? Now that’s just flawless logic.” She sighed again. That name felt natural. Maybe she had met this one before. If she had, it had been a while. “Besides, for all I know you could be a criminal trying hide criminal evidence. So get off your high horse there.”


Yuina Higashi
- wormhole

“Mur…krow?” The little one cocked his head in seeming confusion. It seemed to understand the human to an extent, at least enough to know that it was being addressed there. But it did not seem to properly understand the question. And why would it? It had only recently been caught and thus had a lot of wild energy left within him. As such, a lot of the nuance in human language still were a mystery to it.

Instead, it cared a lot more about the weather – it was getting a bit cold, after all – and the simple instructions it had been given. Establish eye-contact with the guard, get his attention. Then, once that was done it briefly acquired a glint in its eyes, as if smirking.
Then it released a wing attack, firing a blade of wind at the ground in front of the guard as if trying to say ‘is that what you were asking for, human?’.


- chills
Laurence Anderson

Oh, so he was not speaking as an adult? Now that was something. Almost gave her the chills or something like that. Well, probably not, really. It didn’t matter at all. Sure, he did not appeal to the authority of an adult, but rather to that of a League Captain. Which was about as bogus an argument as the adult one, really.

Hence, she sighed, but did not stop, still. “Yeah, because League Captains just guzzled wisdom by the gallon and now disperse that,” she replied, clearly annoyed. “Besides, what kind of backwards logic is that, anyway. For my own safety you want to use force against me? That’s just dumb. I can look after myself, I don’t need the protection of you or the League. Not like it’s ever there when I actually need it.” Lash added a pout but stood firm in her decision. The argument was lame, after all.


- chills

Guillermo Marceliño

A little Murkrow was on the prowl. It was a field test, but the Murkrow just enjoyed being both useful and do what it was basically born to do. Which, in this case, was to scout out a location. Lash had sent it out ahead of herself towards the random store she’d picked out for the exercise. And why this one? Because there was a guard.

That was what it was all about, after all. But for now, the Murkrow was simply flying about, casually landing on the building opposite of the store all while Lash herself sauntered down the street already. There were some other pedestrians, of course, and for now, the Murkrow simply decided to try and catch eye-contact with the guard from afar for a good minute and then some. Well, it continued to keep eye contact of course, but after a random amount of time, Lash herself arrived and entered the store for the time being, just in order to look around a bit, while the suspicious Murkrow remained outside, unflinching.


Laurence Anderson

Oh, great. More people contesting the airspace. Of course, she’d known. That was what her contacts had spoken of, after all. Though anyone trying to stop her outright was probably league. Those guys as always decided that they had the right to do whatever they wanted. Well, Rocket too, but the League was who acted all high and mighty about it. Like that guy.

She remembered him from the crater. He was the one guy that was lovey-dovey with the scaredy cat. Well, at least that was her impression from their brief encounters. She hadn’t really learned his name, it was an annoying one. Best not to try and butcher it from memory. “Oh, hi there. Kind of seems like I am, so you are wrong again already.” She sighed, having understood what he meant already. But acting difficult about it was just in her blood.
Still though, he could fly alongside her if he wanted to, but she was not going to stop without a proper reason to. And no, ‘the league says so’ was decidedly not a reason. “There might be a distortion here, so I have to investigate. When Hoenn gets weird, those often appear. I don’t need a babysitter. Or anyone who just tells me I can’t do things.” She did have it to about there with people that treated her like a kid, after all.
Guillermo Marceliño

Well, at least they did not attack immediately. That was good. Well, for them it was probably bad. An aerial blockade really did not work if you tried to stop someone with words. Even now, Lash was not going to just stop, really. They were not going at full speed, no, but she would still pass between the two of them unless there was some actual intent to stop them. She only slowed down a bit so that she could actually hear what that girl was saying.

That voice did sound vaguely familiar, after all. Just blazing through would probably be more likely to lead to a fight. As was, that person could at least follow the dragon. “I’m Lash. And I am flying,” she replied, casually and with a bit of a smirk. That was a perfectly valid answer to the question, after all. So, she would have liked to just leave it at that.

However, she sighed, knowing that she would have to elaborate a little more. “I got business on that island. No intention of fighting anyone but I can’t afford to let a chance slip me by.” If there was even a chance that the distortion rumours were true, she had no time to waste. Hence, she would fly on, picking up speed once that one had a chance to reply or whatever she wanted.

Yuina Higashi

“Hmm, not particularly. But I don’t much mind it, either.” In the past, she had seldom celebrated it for a very simple reason: it was too good a distraction. Halloween in Hoenn could get weird and wildfast. The rangers usually had more to do on an evening where Pokemon just randomly got mega evolved and might pick fights for the entertainment of others. That Mienfoo and her Houndour were fighting comparatively peacefully, so that Toxicroak would be enough to keep them under control in the end.

But, yes, it was a good time to go out and do her job, usually. But being put in a body like this, she still had trouble actually convincing people that she was who she claimed to be, so that was less of an option. Hence she instead had come here, now. “But I guess that’s what makes me different from you. If I decide to do something, I commit to it. Not like it is difficult to do.” After all, she had found this ensemble in a store with only minor adjustments needed. Due to that, it had been quite easy for her to dress up.

But that did not mean she was all too special in that regard. Lash briefly tilted her head, clearly thinking. “See, it would be easy enough for you, too. Your usual style, from the looks of it, lends itself to some easy enough costumes. Like, just add a lot of fake blue fur to the neck and where your hands come out of your sleeves and with a bit of makeup you could make a decently good were-lycanrock.” Lash tended to not go for the all-too-easy sexy-XY routes. And not just because she was trapped in that kind of body. “Sure, you would look a bit less pretty, but that is also what this day is about. That not everyone has to go out dressed to the nines in order to bring something flavourful to the streets.”

Why was the air so full of people this day? Well, probably more of a rhetorical question. Lash knew the answer. People were trying to stop one another from reaching the island and the potential distortion within. Well, she probably was the only one who cared all that much about the latter. But, by now she was used to people trying to bar her entry into those anyway. Given the situation, she had outright assumed that the league would at least try to do so. It was in their nature. She would say that she did not fault them for that – but she very much did. So, she didn’t.

Instead, she simply bet on the fact that both sides in this dumb conflict were notoriously disorganized. As she flew into the airspace of the island on top of her Hydreigon, she simply assumed that no one would be able to tell friend from foe at a distance anyway. The League would probably be prone to letting her go anyway and she had good reason to not trust any of them either way. Hence, the one still looking like a middle-schooler continued onward at full speed, even as she spotted two silhouettes ahead of herself. “Get ready to dodge whatever, just in case,” she ordered hr mount while steering straight into the gap between the two fliers. If she could just leave them behind then that would serve her just as well, be they friend or foe.

Phew. Back in the saddle. Well, kind of. Either way, she was back on her dragon for now as she started to properly assess the situation. Hydreigon was evidently still trying to find its underwater foe, but to no avail for now. While it did monitor the situation, two heads started to fixate on some other newcomer came walking up on the shore.

Some kind of old weirdo. Ugh. Immediately on edge, Lash shook off the lingering effects of the shock and instead went into a more serious mode. Especially when that man drew nearer and had the gall to bring out handcuffs for some reason. Nevermind the fact that those evidently would not fit her wrists anyway, she immediately jumped up on Hydreigon, as if trying to get further away from him.

“What the?! So, you are behind what just happened? Just attacking someone without warning, then wanting to abduct them.” She immediately crossed her arms in a big X. “And that’s without going into how you are a creepy old man trying to do that to a young girl. That’s just wrong. No one should ever agree to that!” Granted, she wasn’t a little girl, not really. But he would not believe her age anyway. Hence, it was perfectly possible to play that card.
Well, aside from it being true, too. That guy definitely was a creep. “Besides, it is never against anyone’s better judgment not to slaughter a child. Anyone who even has to consider that is just scum!” Once again, she made an X. Then, noticing that he had another Pokemon out, she released her own Metagross. As the metal monstrosity appeared floating between them, Hydreigon tried to use that distraction to at least leave the water, seeing Lash having to balance on its back once more. At least she was used to that.

“Now you stand down, villain!”

Phew. They managed to land, somehow. Did it even count as landing when it was on the sea? Lash didn’t know, Lash didn’t care, she was just glad that they came to a stop and let out a sigh of relief. And now they could – what was that glow? And why was the sea coming from the side now? Also, what was that numbness?

Lots of questions rushed through Lash’s mind as she, struck by residual discharge, started to slide off of Hydreigon sideways. Then, she hit the water’s surface, immediately drenching her and causing her to experience a brief gag reflex. Fortunately, one of Hydreigon’s heads had already recovered well enough to notice and dove into the water after all. Biting down on the collar of her shirt, it managed to pull her free of the water.

Resurfacing and feeling returning to her body, Lash immediately spurted out seawater, knocking on her chest to try and push out as much as she could before it could run down her windpipe. In the meantime, that one head tried to put her back up on the dragon’s back while the other two searched for the perpetrator in the water, while still threading it. Fortunately, it had not taken too much damage from that yet, so Hydreigon was trying to retaliate, ready to unleash an underwater Dragon Breath if they found any Pokemon nearby. Just in case said Pokemon were the perps.

Heh. She had not expected that kind of response. But it was good enough. After all, she got candy and something akin to a moral victory. That was probably as good as this got, really. Hence, she took the candy. “Eh, anything is fine, really. I just like things being straight-laced, really,” she replied before stashing it away for now. It certainly would be shared, later, but right then she was still in the collecting stage. The loot would be distributed and consumed once they knew what the haul was, not any earlier. That was true for poaching Pokemon and gathering candy alike.

With the Mienfoo returned and it seeming like the humans were fine with it, Houndour did not waste a moment and simply charged the other head-on for the moment, trying to bite down on the enemy. “I take no responsibility for this one though. I haven’t really trained it much, yet.” Her other Houndour was much more well-behaved. This was the new one she had recently caught though, and it was still relatively wild. Not like that woman over there could complain much, given that she let her Pokemon wander off like this, of course. “Why aren’t you dressed up, though? I mean, you either ignore the occasion or you go all in. Just having a bit of decoration isn’t really enough either way, if you ask me,” Lash added, focusing entirely on the stranger instead of the fight in the background.


Mika Nakayama

On second thought, for once, maybe bringing a less imposing flier would have been the better call, really. Not that she could help it on short notice, of course. The only reason she was even trying to reach the island was because one of her Rocket contacts had spoken of some kind of strange energy being in play. And since the league was evidently not going to even let someone who looked like a child anywhere close, well, she was working for the R this time.

Well, working for. Sure, if she found anything of import she would sell it of course. If she found a cure for her condition, she would keep it to herself, obviously. But it was always better and easier to work for Rocket. No qualms, no red tape, no need to play nice with everyone. Just get it done. But at the same time, flying in on an Hydreigon was probably a bit too much on the nose. Lash did look behind herself. No trace of the Pidgeotto that had randomly attacked them already after shouting her a warning to keep away.

Phew. That was why they were flying at such breakneck speeds after –
She barely had time to brace herself as Hydreigon, flying somewhat low to the water, started to abruptly try to stop as the island suddenly appeared way closer than it should be, hoping for the best as that rushed entry threatened to become a crash landing, Rocket or League be damned. Not that either would likely help with that, either. The dark type was attempting a water landing for sure, but that would not be a clean one for certain. Still better than flying over the island without scouting it out first. They both had good enough sense to know that.


Nikita Sokolov

Technically, she was too old for this. She certainly felt too old when watching these younglings running around in crappy costumes. Yes, she had done that too at some point. But she had had the strength of character to grow out of that kind of foolishness.

Only now she had been brought back down to size. That one distortion had helped her grow at least some, but a few years were not enough. At least she was not some kind of toddler anymore. But she was still a far cry from being a proper woman. Which blew. Hence, she had decided to spend this night abusing the heck out of her current form. And no, she did not censor herself because of her youthful looks. She was just too classy to use more colourful language. Again, she had grown out of that juvenile enjoyment from just saying dirty words.

Well, for the most part. At least she would like it if people did not treat her with kid gloves. Like that Mienfoo. That one didn’t care at all how old she looked. It just wanted to fight. Lash could accept that, her own Poochyena already being ready to accept that challenge.

But then mom had to swing by and ruin the fun. Booh. Lash was almost as dejected as her Pokemon, which decided to instead kick some nearby stone.

Lash, in the meanwhile, turned towards the newcomer. Wearing an impeccable little black and red devil’s attire, complete with horns to accentuate her oddly-shaded hair, Lash could tell that she had already put more effort into this than Ms. Fake Pumpkaboo. And since she was a devil, she just had to see what she could get there. “I wouldn’t mind an apology at all! But you look like the kind of lady that would have given me candy anyway, right? Then that would not mean much as an apology, if you ask me.” Lash crossed her arms, lightly pouting. Though she also just knew that she was correct anyway. On this of all evenings, she would not be a saint that simply forgave, but a devil collecting her dues.


Mika Nakayama