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Choice, a Pokemon Shifters RP

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At first, Rhapsody was entirely concentrated on fighting Valda, and completely forgot there were others involved until Bugface's Rock Slide hit him. Paying attention again, he noticed Valda had gotten hit with something that caused confusion, making her flight erratic and throwing off her aim when she attempted a Draco Meteor that he dodged. And though he could admit being confused was a major pain in the royal ass, she had been the one to ask for a no-sides match, so he didn't hesitate to attack until the other dragon was down.

 

By then, only Z and Zoey remained. Natural, since shifters tended to be stronger than other Pokémon, as far as he had seen. But after Z released a Discharge that took the Purrloin down, after they used Protect to avoid an Earth Power, glitching all the while like they had back at-

 

 

His tail whipped up and down as he flew towards Z, voice rising in volume with each word. "What, the others weren't enough? Also wanted to join in the fun and tell me what to do? Well guess what, none of you are the boss of me and I don't give two damns about what you want so SCRAM OFF!!"

 

The Normal-type looked about ready to cry, but they stood their ground. "N-no, that's not - I wasn't - "

 

 

Rhapsody landed, body tense. Now that they were the only ones standing, he was starting to feel again the nagging frustration he had back then. He was sure he could finish Z off in an instant, but something was making him hesitate.

 

He channeled all that irritation into a glare. "You sure you don't wanna back down now?" he growled, fangs bared as he lowered his heads and bristled his fur. The Pory didn't seem to be even listening, as they just floated there, small parts of them popping in and out of existence in colorful squares.

 

So he huffed and raised his heads. "Fine. My win then," he declared, shifting back to his human form. He didn't want to look at Z for a while, so he regarded the field as a whole, and it really had been pretty apparent there had been a massive fight - some parts flooded, some parts scorched, the ceiling cracked, the floor even more so. Rocks were haphazardly scattered everywhere, some of them still on fire. And, on the background, Pooch, Globbers, and Flooey sat unharmed at a corner, Pooch in particular shooting him a flat unimpressed look. And wasn't Tama smaller before?

 

He regarded Zoey and Valda; the Pokémon were going to be out for a while, but since those two had returned to being human, maybe they were a different story. "Any of you still alive?" he asked with a bit of amusement, placing his hands in his pockets.

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Zoey was highly surprised that at the start of the battle Tama was engulfed in a white light and turned into a much bigger Pokémon. Pyroar if she remembered what Tama said about his mother.

 

"I evolved! Yay!" Tama said excitedly before they all got hit with a move from Valda, Tusk fainting in the process.

 

Poor Tusk never got a chance to attack.

 

As Zoey looked around, she decided to go with an Assist since Globbers was cheering her on and got Recover as Tama used a new move. Well that was good for the both of them but then got hit by a Rock Slide.

 

 

She frowned as she rode out a Surf attack from Rhapsody as everyone else fainted before Z attacked with Discharge. She had to look up to catch sight of Valda before leaping up and scratching Valda on the face, feeling good about that in the process. She wanted to scratch someone for a while now. She jumped off her face and landed gracefully on her feet before Valda could do anything to her.

 

It wasn't too long after that that Valda had fainted and reverted back to being human. It was then she used Assist again and got another Recover out of the deal. Recover? Again? It was supposed to be randomised and she got two Recovers out of it. She then barely hung in there as a Flamethrower hit her.

 

"I'm still in this," she said weakly as she stood on shaky legs right, turning to face Rhapsody before a Discharge hit her.

 

She fell flat on her stomach as she reverted back to a human, groaning slightly as she laid there. She didn't know how long she actually laid there when she barely heard Rhapsody's voice call out.

 

As much as she wanted to sleep, she forced herself to stand up, her hair was a frizzled mess and she tiredly rubbed her eye. "Yeah," she croaked out. "I'm still alive."

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"That's a battle I'll fight another day," Lambert politely declined, relieved that the pokemon seemed to understand.

 

Wasn't that...? in the distance, he made eye contact with a purple shape floating towards them. The balloon pokemon accompanying Valda, right? It seemed fairly excited about something, and beckoned them to follow with a wave of its tassels.

 

Lambert had a bad feeling about this, even though Flooey seemed nothing but happy. He stood up suddenly, motioning for Gaes to come along.

 

They hadn't strayed very far from the Gym or the Contest Hall, and it was only a matter of minutes before he was in the elevator, chasing the Drifloon who seemed to forget that regular beings couldn't phase through walls or ceilings. At least, it seemed to know which floor and which room to go to, and Lambert was sure that if he tried to find the rest of the party himself, he would get hopelessly lost even before pressing any of the 70 or so bright buttons on the control panel. (The roof one was marked Roof, so that was easy to find the first time around.)

 

Since the balloon had already gone through the wall, he was a little uncertain if this was indeed by the right room, judging by the relative silence inside. He cracked the door open, then swung it wide open.

 

He didn't really know what he was expecting, but his crew had made a complete mess of the hall, which was simultaneously flooded but also on fire. Small sparks cracked audibly. The bodies of shifters and pokemon alike were strewn on the cracked ground. Z looked like they were beginning the cessation of their existence as they glitched in and out of reality. Rhapsody triumphantly stood among it all, in human form. Seemed like the battle -- or was it an all out war? -- concluded not too long ago.

 

He used both his hands to rub his face and took a sharp breath in through his nose. He needed a moment to compose himself. Was anger the right emotion to express at this time? All he felt was a sense of defeat and a weariness that was insurmountable.

 

Shaking himself out of his stupor, Lambert fished out Qrow's pokeball and recalled the heap of feathers, all while keeping a hand on his face as if he wished to deny what had happened. These types of facilities weren't supposed to be for unsupervised pokemon and from how Zoey was passed out on the floor with her hair blasted by an electric shock not one of them even thought about the consequences or acknowledging the need for any kind of arbiter in these kinds of rental rooms---!

 

The one with the most sense here was probably Pooch.

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Rhapsody didn't notice the door had opened until a red beam hit Qrow, returning him to his black Poké Ball. He looked over his shoulder and there were Lambert and Gaes, back from the Contest, though for some reason the man was hiding his face as if he didn't want anyone to see it.

 

"Hey," he greeted with a wave and an easy smile, distracted from the last bit of frustration with the Z thing (and amused at Zoey's new Bouffalant look). "Just finished beating everyone to the ground here. Did ya win?"

 

His question was met with a small 'thud' sound somewhere behind him, as a piece of ceiling crumbled to the floor.

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Valda's fur had bristled at the Hydreigon's words, but she was too deeply seated in the bloodlust of battle to really care at this point about snide comments and challenges. Now, it was just power against power until someone-- or all of them-- caved. She was confident it would be her win, of course, and eased into a graceful glide until the rest of their opponents filed onto the battle floor to start. Barely a second went by before the Noivern let out a horrendous screech, followed by massive sonic waves that blasted from her ears in destructive ripples of power. The oddly colored Axew was knocked out immediately, to which Valda clicked her tongue with disapproval. Sadly enough, no one else fell to her attack, though she bared her teeth with smug appreciation that the intensity of her sonic power hit all of them.

 

She saw the Dragon Pulse coming from Rhapsody a mile away. With a snarl, she took his attack straight on, triumphant when it did not knock her down too severely. The Rock Slide following likewise hurt just as badly, but she took the falling stones with a grunt and managed to right herself in the air just before the Confuse Ray popped into her face, disorienting her with flashing lights and shapes. The Noivern wavered in the air, growling and squinting. She needed to get some height, to try and avoid other attacks that might be coming her way while she was incapacitated. Valda lurched higher in the air. The miscalculation hit hard, and the Noivern slammed into the ceiling of the room, punching through the material and raining down some debris on the rest of the battle field. She gave a roar of pain and anger, but found soon after that the Confusion was blinking away from her eyes. From somewhere, a Discharge and a Surf hit her, knocking her lower out of the sky. Pain was aching in her bones. Though Valda was proud she had suggested this battle, she hated that the toll was getting to her this quickly; she could practically hear the Drifloon's voice in her head describing all of her mistakes. She wasn't going to last much longer if she didn't make a real dent in the remaining Pokemon.

 

Valda rose slightly higher in the air on her wings and willed the energy to gather in the pit of her stomach. Just then, the little purple cat-- Zoey, she recalled-- sprang nimbly up to the Noivern's face and raked sharp, thin claws across it, nearly taking out one of Valda's eyes as the claws scratched over the eyelid. Valda bellowed in pain and rage and shook her head, teeth snapping, but the feline was already gone. She squinted through the blur in her sight and twisted around to find Rhapsody. She could make out his form not too far away, and conjured up the energy again. It glowed orange in her belly, and then in her open jaws formed in a bright amber orb. Valda fired the orb toward the ceiling where it exploded into several meteors that crashed down to the ground in a fiery hail of stone and destruction. Rhapsody, however, was nowhere to be found among the ashes, and Valda snarled as she blinked through the haze to discover he remained untouched. As she expected, he did not take too kindly to her attempt, and a ring of sinister energy pulsated out toward her, knocking her from the air. The energy gave out from the Noivern for good this time. As the dragon fell to the ground, her body reverted back into a human, and she crash-landed in a puddle between some flaming rocks, unconscious.

 

Even when the others finished, Valda did not wake. The laceration across her face was not deep, and it did not bleed, but was an angry red that puckered in three very neat lines from one eyebrow, over the nose, to the opposite side jaw. Her breathing was shallow, and several bruises began to form over her temple and arms, likely from the impact of the Rock Slide that had dealt so much damage. She did not stir when the others arrived, or when Flooey floated over to where she lay limp on her back. The Drifloon prodded the woman with a ribbon before bobbing low over Valda's face, inspecting the shifter's somehow peaceful expression.

 

"Well, I think she's alive," the balloon commented idly, spinning slowly around to look at the others.

 

--

 

Dagaz sprang forward, ready for action-- only to be met with flickering, multi-colored lights that dazzled him until he swayed and wobbled on his feet, threatening to lose his balance. Internally, the fox felt like he was using Minimize, too; he wanted to shrink inside himself with embarrassment. First he missed completely, and now he was hit with confusion? Dagaz felt utterly incompetent.

 

Still, though, he had to try. Cass would be disappointed if he didn't. The Fennekin gathered up his courage again (though it took a little longer than he would have liked) and with it the mental energy it required to materialize the orbs of psychic energy around his head. Though he could not see the candle well-- or at all, it really was a blind attack-- Dagaz gave a cry and launched it to where he thought he saw the smallest flicker of violet candlelight. To his amazement, he heard the Litwick squeak as the Psyshock struck its target, and a flare of pride rose within him.

 

Allison remained back from the fighting, observing as a few other ghosts were felled. The child's pokemon, the Skiddo, suddenly evolved mid-fight and rushed forward with a new move. That was when the stranger's voice broke through the clamor of battle, and she turned to see the girl with pink hair holler in her direction. Damn. If only her Aerodactyl were somewhere to be found, she could use him as soon as that Confusion wore off. Right now she was completely useless. What did that girl expect her to do? Allison didn't have any other Pokemon! Sighing, she nodded slightly at the girl, and then turned toward Cassandra and the others. "Cass, finish that fight up now! We need to move before more of them show up!" she called between cupped hands, and the Joltik scurried forward with wild abandon and no regard for his own health at the sound of her voice. Sparks of electricity shimmered in the air as the tiny bug shot a web of golden lightning toward the two Litwicks that Cass's silver Fennekin squared off against.

 

The Pyroar tilted her head to regard Allison's shout. She gave a short growl of acknowledgement, and then turned to face the Trevenant and Litwicks with purpose. To her surprise, Anhew blasted out another Dark Pulse despite under the influence of Confusion, effectively felling the Litwick that had tried so hard to taunt her. Exhilarated by this, Cass threw herself at the ghost tree and sank her teeth into the trunk with a Crunch. As it toppled over, vanquished, Cass looked up at Anhew and grinned around a mouthful of Trevenant, trying not to wince when the hail plummeted down on her snout. "You did great!" she praised, though it was muffled slightly through the bark. She finally spat out what remained of the ghost and said, "We need to finish off the rest of them before it's too late. Have another go at this shrimp over here, would you?" the Pyroar turned her gaze onto the last Litwick of the group and smiled a very sharp, toothy smile.

Edited by Shiny Hazard Sign

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Trevenant got taken down by the lion, making the last Litwick of that group have to jump down. "This... this isn't over yet!" it yelled at the smirking lioness. Its flame started burning hotter than ever, blue fire coming from it and expanding in a devastating stream towards the Pyroar.

 

Maura took the chance and called forth another Ancient Power, sending the rocks flying towards the candle. It hit but wasn't enough to take it down, even after the hail. "Come on, end it!" she encouraged her new allies.

 

 

The Litwick that hadn't used Minimize launched an Astonish towards the Combee with a battle cry, hoping to end the streak of cutting winds. Not a second after it had landed, Khan barreled in, Dizzy Punch connecting thanks to her ability.

 

The other Litwick, panic going up in a crescendo after being hit by both the Air Cutter and Psyshock, cast a third Minimize and tried to look for cover behind the pieces of ice strewn around.

 

 

"We're the ones seeking justice! So stop getting in our way!" The last Trevenant growled, dark energy gathering around one of its claws as it used Shadow Claw against the Doublade.

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Anhew beamed despite the pressure on her head making her fumble around a bit more again. But Cass had praised her! Her very first battle and she managed to make someone​ else faint! Now she had to see if she could make the other faint. Focusing herself, she launched a Dark Pulse at the remaining Litwick on her side of the battle.

 

“Good job Miss Anhew!” what seemed to be the voice of Gogurt praised. “You made the other one faint.”

 

“Mom!” Anhew said happily in confusion. “Did you see that as well?”

 

~~~~~~

 

Regina was starting to get irked as she let loose another Air Cutter at the Litwicks, one flying over the Litwick and into a tree after a giant brownish Pokémon used a Dizzy Punch on the other. When were these Pokemon going to faint already!? Luckily, her question was soon answered as Claws came in and hit it with an X-Scissor.

 

She sighed as it finally went down before she felt her body evolve from the small little honeycomb and into a Vespiquen. She grinned at the panicky Litwick as it bumped into her due to an electric web.

 

She looked down at him with a menacing grin. “Boo!” she shouted at him whichever caused him to pass out with fear.

 

~~~~~~

 

Jack froze as something small and something white launch in front of them to protect them both from the Shadow Claw. It automatically was tossed away like an old rag and Sark could feel the bubbling rage in Jack.

 

Jack stared at the white creature for a moment as it laid face up. They then turned slowly back towards the Trevenant, who seemed to hold no regrets on the matter.

 

“Seeking justice? Seeking justice!?” Jack said with a hateful snarl. “You say you're seeking justice!?”

 

Jack took control once again as they launched an Iron Head at the Trevenant. “You call harming innocent lives justice?” they asked furiously. “You sir are the worst types of ghosts to ever be found!”

 

They paused as they noticed it couldn't attack. A flinch maybe? They launched themselves for another Iron Head. “You are are a disgrace to your typing!”

 

Sark cheered in silently victory as it fainted. Jack turned and floated towards the white Pokémon. “Are you okay?” they asked as they hovered above it.

 

“The maiden can only be awoken by true love's kiss,” the Pokémon said quietly.

 

“You do realise Doublades don’t have lips,” Sark said.

 

“Can anyone give this Pokémon a true love's kiss?” Jack asked, completely oblivious to the fact the Pokémon was trying to hit on them. “Whatever that is.”

 

“You're no fun!” the white Pokémon whined as she stood up.

 

“Is your head okay?” Jack asked a bit baffled as they watch it go into an unnatural position.

 

“It's fine, I just need to repair it later,” she answered, feeling a bit flustered that she was talking to them. She felt her heart race as she felt their ribbon gently wrap around her to support it slightly.

 

"Are you sure?" they asked gently.

 

"It's not uncommon for a Mimikyu," she explained in almost a hushed whisper, making them float even closer to her.

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Dailus chuckled. "As if I'd forget about the money," he reassured, though his inner thoughts were more along the lines of "Caught." "I'll take it out after we finish with the TMs. Wouldn't want to interrupt your fun."

 

That said, he took out his phone while Emil finished teaching some of the moves, and quickly typed 'Tyrantrum TM moves' in the search bar. He'd have offered to help with the Sunny Day move, but since he was the one with wifi he decided to leave that to Sine. "We humans have something called 'internet' that can answer mostly any question, so finding out what moves any Pokémon can learn is a piece of cake nowadays." He tapped on a link that looked promising and the screen showed the entire list of compatible TMs for Tyrantrums. "And there we go," he said while showing the screen to Chompers. "I can read it to you, and if you don't know what one of the moves does you can stop me and I'll clarify."

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He couldn't just turn around and walk away, even if he wanted to. Lambert dropped his arms and finally willed himself to look at the pandemonium. The rocks were still on fire, but they were slowly burning themselves out. He walked forth and kicked some water on each of them to extinguish the flames.

 

He winced when part of the ceiling broke off hit the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust. "No," he truthfully answered Rhapsody with a complete lack of enthusiasm, but that's all he wanted to say about anything.

 

He took inventory of the room while marching across the edge, starting with Z who had calmed down by this point but was still in pokemon form. They made the kid fight? Anger flared in his chest briefly. He convinced himself that he didn't know the whole story behind it. He would deal with the fallout when the time came.

 

Zoey seemed alright, from how she was already back on her feet. She looked entirely exhausted, much worse for wear than Rhapsody did. Her little lion pokemon was now a big lion pokemon, but that didn't stop Tama from getting defeated just as thoroughly any of the other regular pokemon, like Bugface and Tusk who somehow got blown to the other side of the room.

 

Vada looked knocked out cold. He wasn't looking forward to the moment she would wake up and rip out throats after thoroughly losing, but at least she appeared to have died peacefully. Lambert had to do a double take because that was not what she was wearing before and he could only conclude that she stole the clothes from somewhere, somehow.

 

My slurpuffs bring all the boys to the yard...

 

Right. Pokemon couldn't read.

 

By now Lambert had reached the healing machine in the corner. He tossed his Dusk Ball into the first slot. He was conflicted; it would be easy for everyone to sneak out and leave the room as it was because none of them had traceable identities. And if there were surveillance cameras around (not that any would have survived the onslaught), they would be busted anyway if they captured Zoey and Valda getting knocked back into human form. While it wasn't uncommon for these rooms to get trashed, usually trainers would restrain their pokemon before things got out of hand.

 

Still. It might be best to at least try to move the rocks aside and iron out the floor. Somehow.

 

"Pokeballs, now," he commanded. "We'll need all the help we can get to make this place look less... bad. Before we go."

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Zoey was puzzled as to why Rhapsody gave her an amused look the she had barely heard Lambert and Gaes come in until Rhapsody started talking to them. She finally took a look at the battlefield and noticed the flaming rocks, the puddles of water, a ceiling tile on the floor.

 

The made a real mess of this room, didn't they?

 

The thought almost made her laugh but judging by Lambert's expression, she resisted the urge (and the fact it would probably hurt to do so) and she quickly fished Tama's Poke ball out and retrieved him before slowly moving through the pain and fumbled a bit to put her poke ball on the healing machine.

 

"Darling, you look awful," Globbers pointed out as he moved over to her, causing her to give him a deathly glance.

 

She looked over at Valda who was still passed out in the middle of the still burning rocks. Zoey frowned and thought about leaving her there. She's been nothing if unpleasant to be around. It irked her to some extent.

 

However.

 

Is that what a gym leader would do? Zoey sighed and rubbed her eye again before picking up Tama's Poke ball and let him back out and was instantly with an overgrown lion.

 

"Hey!" Tama said joyfully as he ran around the room. "I evolved!"

 

"Tama!" Zoey snapped sharply as she moved over to Valda, her little balloon Pokémon was hovering over her. "Help me pick her up."

 

Tama was a bit startled as he walked over. "Why?" he asked, flicking his long tail. "She's scary."

 

"Would you like to find out how scary she can be if we leave her laying here like this?" Zoey asked irritably. "So lower your dang body so I can get her on you."

 

"Someone's moody," Globbers laughed, earning another glare from Zoey.

 

~~~~~~~~~

 

Chompers squinted at the the tiny little machine as Dailus shower it to him. What was he even looking at? "Could you please?" Chompers asked somewhat embarrassed that he needed help. He never needed anyone's​ help before, he could sense that little piece of knowledge in his mind. He need to learn how to decipher this language so he too could read one day. "I'm really interested in the Dragon Tail one however."

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Z had expected some kind of start signal, like in the Gym battles they'd witnessed, but in retrospect they should have known that Valda wouldn't wait for one. They instinctively used Protect at Valda's screech and by some miracle the shimmering shield held - but now what? They looked frantically around the battlefield, but drew a blank. They should be attacking someone, right? Using a move? But which -

 

Their Protect dissipated just in time for them to see a wave of water crashing toward them.

 

The rest of the battle was... kind of a vague haze, and now that it was over and they were lying safely in a puddle of water, that bothered them almost as much as the reason they'd agreed to this battle in the first place. They had... attacked someone? Probably, considering their memory logs showed them using Discharge. The room was ruined, too, and they winced at the sparks amid the wreckage. Hopefully the cleaning services mentioned in the pamphlet would be able to handle this.

 

Well, this was a disaster, and if given the opportunity to go back and make that choice again they definitely would stay out of it, but for some reason they felt pretty good nonetheless. Maybe it was just relief.

 

Rhapsody cheerfully greeting someone at the door snapped them out of their thoughts. They turned - or tried to, at least; their limbs didn't seem to want to cooperate, so they settled for swivelling their head around. Lambert and Gaes were here (apparently Contests didn't take nearly as long as they'd imagined), and neither seemed nearly as content with the situation as they were.

 

Right - cleanup. They made a second effort to get up, but only managed to wobble a few inches into the air before collapsing back into the puddle with a splash. "I - I don't think I'm, uh... I may need some help."

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Rhapsody raised an eyebrow. After Gaes had been so confident about the Contest, they went and lost? The woman herself didn't seem frustrated or angry, but without any idea of what went on in those things he couldn't really try to guess what happened.

 

So he dropped the subject, returning Bugface and Tusk to their balls and handing them to Lambert like the man had requested. "Why're we cleaning anyway? People at the desk said we could battle in here," he asked, not really getting why Lambert and Gaes had looked like they had found actual bodies when they entered the room. Zoey was as fine as she could be after a battle, her lion already out and bouncing about, and Flooey had said Valda was still breathing, so where was the problem now?

 

 

Pooch padded up to one of the puddles and sniffed at it with a grimace, summoning the heat of Sunny Day to see if she could make it disappear faster. Near the middle of the room, Z was making an attempt at movement, so she carefully approached them, mindful of not doing any sudden barking that could get them to disintegrate any further. "Need something to lean on?" she asked, her new size meaning she had to crouch down a bit so they could hold onto one of her horns if they needed it.

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A jet of blue fire shot out and struck the lion in the chest. After a brief moment, Cass glanced down at her chest fur, where the tips of it were singed a slight blackish color. "...Uh, wow, that...hurt so badly," she commented lamely, raising a paw to the non-existent wound.The Pyroar grinned as the last candle was taken out by another of Anhew's Dark Pulses. The battle was basically over; the remaining two enemies would surely be knocked out within the next turn. The ghosts were outnumbered and out powered, but Cass couldn't help but beam with pride at the young Deino as she shifted back into human form. She stretched an arm over her head just as Anhew exclaimed excitedly,

 

"Mom! Did you see that as well?"

 

Cass blinked. Suddenly, it wasn't the forest she was looking at, but an open field encircled in a large, wooden fence. Sunset was creeping dusty purple and pinks over the tree tops in the distance, but the warm glow of sunlight still draped over the grass. It illuminated two faces on the other side of the fence as Cass raced up to them.

 

'Mom! Did you see me? Did you see, sis?'

 

A woman with braided black and pepper hair smiled down at her. Beside her, a young girl of maybe ten years was leaning over the top railing, her feet dangling over the post as she reached for Cassandra. The girl had braids just like their mom, but in dark pigtails with green beads woven into the hair that resembled the color of her eyes. Her smile was missing a front left tooth.

 

'I saw! I saw! That was your best time yet!'

 

Cass grinned when she felt a velvety nose snuffle at her hair, and she looked up to see the face of a Ponyta looming over her as its lips brushed across her forehead.

 

With a sort of dazed look, Cassandra gave her head a small shake and gazed down at Anhew. The poor dragon was still confused; crouching low, Cass smiled and reached out her hand to stroke the Pokemon's furry head. "Yeah, you did good kiddo," she said, trying to swallow back the distant sound to her voice. For some reason, her throat felt thick, and there was hotness in the back of her eyes. But Anhew was sweet, and getting called 'Mom' made Cass blink back whatever moisture was gathering and smile wider as she enveloped the dragon in a tight, quick hug. "And so did Gogurt! He evolved in the middle of the battle!"

 

 

Allison folded her arms and scowled at the fighting Pokemon. Thankfully, it seemed to be ending as the numbers of the ghost pokemon were whittled down to two. She paused, however, when the Trevenant that the Doublade fought spoke up. Justice? Slowly, Allison glanced over at the stranger and the little girl she was protecting. Something must have provoked the ghosts into attacking, then. Perhaps what Dreimen said wasn't true. Perhaps there really was a cause for all of the trouble. Her gaze narrowed slightly, but she said nothing. Joltik skittered back up her pants leg and settled back onto her shoulder, visibly vibrating with his excitement from the battle.

 

Cassandra on the other hand, stood and frowned over at Jack and Sark as the last blow landed and the Trevenant was felled. "Justice?" Cass echoed, turning to finally assess the newcomers. "What was she talking about? Justice for what? Did something happen?" She placed a hand on Anhew's head as she regarded them. Though she was thankful that they were able to help during the battle, she wondered what exactly got them into that mess in the first place.

 

Dagaz, fired by his pride for having hit the tiny candle through his confusion, stood stiffly as he attempted to locate it again. He would show Cass just how great of a battler he could be! His silver fur erupted in writhing flames as soon as he saw a shadow of his target. He dashed forward, certain to strike the Litwick with a dazzling display of a Flame Charge, only to suddenly smack his head into something large and sturdy and most definitely not made of wax.

The Fennekin yelped and stumbled back, the flames dissipating with the moves's failure. Not much later, the sway in his vision and the unsteady rocking he felt in his limbs melted away, and he remained sitting back staring at the tree he'd slammed into. A small scorch remained on the bark at a height that aligned perfectly with his nose. His tail drooped.

 

A large shadow rippled across the open tree tops, and Allison looked up to see Arrow gliding back over to perch on a branch close by. She made a tch sound of irritated disappointment and leveled the Aerodactyl with a dark look. He yawned, ignoring her.

 

--

 

When the Mimikyu darted out to help the Doublade, the small Pumpkaboo followed suit, dashing out from the bushes like he was charging down an enemy of his own. He flashed the little lights in his pumpkin in rapid, angry strobes to declare himself an official participant. The small ghost came to an abrupt halt, however, upon realizing that the remaining ghost pokemon had already been defeated.

 

The pumpkaboo have a final, definitive flash-- almost like an indignant "HA!"-- and wandered over to where his poor friend was lying on the ground. He peered down at her, curious, and then flashed twice as if to inquire that she was okay. That was shortly answered, however, as the Mimikyu stood and addressed the other ghost. Pumpkaboo regarded the swords carefully, saying nothing and keeping his lights dim.

Edited by Shiny Hazard Sign

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"Good one, sis!" Maura exclaimed as the Deino finished off the second candle. On the other side of the field, Doublade and Vespiquen finished their fights so she relaxed, making the hail clouds thin and disappear.

 

The Pyroar suddenly got shrouded in a white light, and Maura was surprised for all of two seconds before the pieces clicked. "You can switch, too?" She asked with a lot of curiosity and a smudge of excitement. "And you can even fight properly!"

 

 

Two more Ghosts came out, but these didn't seem to be hostile; one of them even protected the swords Pokémon, allowing it to deal the finishing blow to the tree it was fighting. The lioness going back to being the trainer from before also meant Daniella might not be as concussed as she had previously thought, which was always a plus.

 

She let the kid down, still wrapped in the oversized coat, sighing in relief as the burning in her arms lessened. Note to self: try not to run for one's life carrying 20kg of child in the foreseeable future. "Thank you all for your help. I was starting to think we'd never outrun those Pokémon," she said with a grateful nod, willing herself to move her arms again to return Maura and Khan into their Poké Balls. Maura had already pretty much uncovered her small secret, so when the red-haired woman asked about the tree's words, Dan didn't bother with feigning surprise or shock and merely answered. "That is a very good question I would also like the answer to. I can tell you all we know, but could we start going back to Taismog while we talk? I think those ghosts were targeting Cheira here, and if we get surrounded again we might not be as lucky."

 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Another day, same routine. Wake up, float around, fight a bit with the other trillion Gastlys in the tower, find something to eat, lose against passing trainers, stare at the wall or the ceiling aimlessly, go to sleep. Rinse, repeat. Until the end of time.

 

He was tired of it all. He wanted adventures. He wanted excitement. At the very least, he wanted to wake up and not known what the day would bring. But reality had other plans. He couldn't leave the tower. It wasn't forbidden or anything; he just didn't know how to survive outside it. He was bored, not suicidal. And, if he was honest with himself? He was too weak to say 'screw it' and wing it. The only offensive move he had was Lick and, let's face it, it wasn't very powerful. If he found a Normal-type that could attack him, it'd be Game Over. Thank you for playing, good luck on your next life, try not to reincarnate as a ball of gas this time.

 

Sigh.

 

He had played with the idea of getting a trainer before, but he couldn't let himself hope too much. He lived almost at the top of the tower, so even if some humans that actually wanted a Gastly got there from time to time, they all had already caught one in the lower floors by the time he met with them. And he really didn't want to go to the lower floors. There were tombs in there for Mew's sake. Some humans didn't want to get bothered while visiting their friends, and he didn't want to be rude enough to confuse one of them with a trainer and ruin their day.

 

Siiiiigh.

 

Footsteps? Oh, someone else must be looking around for dropped items. Oh well, time to go and lose against a kid again. If he guessed the type of the first Pokémon he'd go and pick a fight with a Haunter, see if he finally learned Shadow Ball. A treat a day keeps the boredom away, or something along those lines.

 

 

"Boss!"

 

Red eyes snapped open at the yell. "This better be important," the Gengar complained, rising out of the shadow of a tree. Ugh, he hated it when he dreamed about the past. He had standards now.

 

The Haunter stopped, giddily rubbing her hands together with a slightly unhinged grin. If he could, he'd bet all the berries he had that she was going to snap one day and go in a crazy rampage, but at this point he couldn't give less of a Rattata's ass. She was strong and she followed orders, and that was all that mattered. "We found her. We found the child with the Occa locks."

 

"The what."

 

"She was just as you described her!" The Haunter squealed, voice rising and lowering in volume at random intervals. "The hair, the eyes, the age. With a terrifying horned beast with a broken ear."

 

That got his attention. He straightened up immediately, floating towards her. "Where? Where is she!?"

"Trevenant's group went after her. I, I came back to inform," she giggled, fingers in her mouth.

"Get everyone who can fight," he commanded. "We're ending this today."

"But Boss, if we all, all, gather together, what about the ones who don't want to? Someone needs to keep an eye on them, to convince them if necessary, or they could poooooof."

"I don't care about those weaklings anymore. We needed numbers before, but if we finish this?" He grinned, the smile of his species that chilled the blood of his prey.

 

"If we finish this, we win."

Edited by Puredark006

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“Thank you, whoever you are,” Anhew said as she stumbled around. Why was that new voice calling her sis?

 

Anhew eventually relaxed as the pressure in her head eased up and went away as Cass touched her head. She smiled up at her, or at least she think she did. It was hard to tell. The Deino tilted her head as Cass mentioned Gogurt had evolved.

 

“So, does that mean he got bigger?” she asked curiously.

 

“That's right Miss Anhew,” Gogurt said as he watched Cass hug Anhew who seemed to revel in it. She shifted into her human form shortly after and started to pat Gogurt as he lowered himself so Anhew could get on.

 

“Wow, you did get bigger!” Anhew exclaimed in surprise before grabbing his horns. “And your horns changed!”

 

“That I did!” Gogurt chuckled.

 

“You battled well Miss Anhew,” Berry said as he walked over. “I am glad to see no one had fainted.”

 

Anhew smiled at his praise as Gogurt started to walk over back towards the group. Anhew felt the happiest she's ever been. She felt a bit stupid for calling Cass her mom when she really wasn't. “Um...Cass,” she said quietly. “I'm sorry for calling you 'mom’.” She paused and buried her face in Gogurt's neck, making him look slightly at her sadly.

 

~~~~~~

 

Jack and Sark, however, were preoccupied with their new ghost pals to talk with the rest of the group for a moment. “So what are you two supposed to be?” Sark asked. “You look like a Pikachu, but you're not a Pikachu.”

 

“Not a chu,” Jack teased.

 

“I'm a Mimikyu,” Mimikyu responded, not knowing if she should be offended by Jack's teasing. “And my friend right here is a Pumpkaboo, and I do thank you for your concern my friend.”

 

“Pleasure to meet you,” Jack and Sark said simultaneously at the Pumpkaboo.

 

“Ah, he can't talk,” Mimikyu said hurriedly as she tried to explain. “I can mostly understand what he's trying to say through the flashing of lights.”

 

“Oh I see,” Jack said. “Well, anyhow, it was lovely to meet you two, but we need to get going.” With that, Jack and Sark gave Mimikyu one last pat with their ribbons before moving towards the others, shifting back into their human form, making Mimikyu gasp in surprise. This Doublade was full of surprises, aren't they?

 

“I'm also concerned about this justice as well,” Jack spoke as the woman offered to talk as they returned their Pokémon. “It highly concerns me that they target children and they seek justice against them? Something about what Dreimen said isn't adding up.”

 

Mimikyu looked at her friend before looking back at the group. This could be their only chance out of here! “Wait! Please let us come with you!” Mimikyu begged as she followed them. “We want to escape this place!”

 

Jack froze before looking at the Mimikyu. She seemed to be staring up at them sadly. “What do you mean by 'escape’?” they asked.

 

“I swear we were going to disband!” she said in a soft voice.

 

“Start from the beginning,” Jack ordered as they picked up the Mimikyu in their hands, Sark listening closely.

 

Mimikyu took a breath before she started. “Alright so word had gotten around that a Haunter and a few others had gathered in these very woods to pull pranks on humans. My mom disapproved of it while my father had mixed feelings but eventually agreed with her. It was really fun when I got here but after a while we all started to get bored.”

 

She took a quick breath, taking a sneak peek at her friend. “We all were going to disband, but then, a Gengar came. He said if we don't do as he says and stay here to trick humans that he'd kill us! So the group split into two. The ones who actually wanted to stay threaten and rat us out to him is we try to leave! Pumpkaboo and I just want to go home!"

 

Jack was now frozen with unimaginable rage. “He threatened you?” Jack asked in a low and dangerous voice.

 

They looked at the Mimikyu before looking back at the rest of the group. They were torn. They so desperately wanted to stay and fight now, but they would be outnumbered and they were thinking this Gengar wouldn't be so nice and allow them to have a one on one battle.

 

“Cass, Allison, Anhew,” Jack said, still holding that low and dangerous tone. “I want to know if you'll have my back once we re-enter these woods. This just got more serious than ever if this...this Gengar is threatening the lives of both children and other ghosts.”

 

Anhew looked up warily at Jack. Their voice sounded like there were no words that could describe what Jack was feeling towards that particular Gengar. If she didn't battle well with those two Litwicks, she would have buried her head in the ground and just cry, but she didn't. She didn't like the idea, in fact, as she absolutely hated the idea of fighting again.

 

”Ignore the weaklings. I bet fluffy-neck is too scared to do anything but cry for its mama."

 

The bully Litwick’s words echoed through her mind. She sure proved him wrong. However, that one word, mama. Something about it hit her hard. It was such a simple word but it filled Anhew with extreme sadness that she spaced out as she rode Gogurt.

 

She was alone in darkness. She didn't know how long she'd been sitting there waiting for her. She was scared of being left alone. Scared that her mother wouldn't find her. She remembered the fighting clashing between the two Pokémon known as Durant and Heatmor in the caves a couple days before.

 

Her mom had told her to run and that she would look for her, telling Anhew to stay put so her mom could find her much faster. So, Anhew stayed put, patiently awaiting her mom's arrival, but she was too hungry to stay out any longer. She let out a small whimper as she knew she was disobeying her mom's orders and that she knew she was never see her mom again.

 

Anhew snapped out of her thoughts, or was it a memory? Either way, she couldn't help but wrap her arms around Gogurt and start crying into him, alarming both him and Berry.

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Kim

 

He stumbled over a root, uttering a hiss through his teeth as he caught himself against the tree. "Remind me again, why are we doing this?" he asked.

 

Behind him, Ralts spoke softly. "Because you wanted to find out what the white-haired woman knows. And she went into the forest."

 

"Right. Thanks for re-motivating me," Kim quipped, rolling his eyes. Frowning, he trudged through underbrush and around tree roots until Ralts spoke up again.

 

"There's a sign," Ralts pointed.

 

"'Do Not Enter. Restricted Area,'" Kim read out, frowning.

 

"I think we should turn back and just wait until she returns to Taismog," the Pokémon cautioned in response.

 

"Peh!" Kim huffed, disappearing in white light. Changed, the Infernape smirked and moved towards the sign. "Restricted my butt!" he protested. Examining his claws, he took his index finger and started scratching into the wooden post. 'That's not what your mom said last night' was scrawled into the face, obscuring some of the painted lettering. Snickering, Kim shifted back and brushed a fiery strand of hair out of his face.

 

Ralts frowned at her trainer. "That's very mature," she commented dryly, clearly not amused by his sense of humor.

 

"Come on. Let's keep going," he said. "There's no one here to stop us, anyways."

 

They continued walking for what could have been forever until the faint sounds of a commotion caught their attention. Ralts hummed softly before gasping. "Please, return me to my ball. I don't like these emotions!" she whimpered.

 

Rolling his eyes and sighing, Kim did as she requested and stuffed her ball back into his pocket. "Wuss," he muttered.

 

Pushing through the line of trees, he staggered out into a small opening, hesitating when he was met by a rather large group of humans and pokémon. "Whoa...," he breathed. Spotting the woman from the Center, he grinned triumphantly. "Oh! I found you!"

 

Gaes

 

When Flooey had found them, Gaes was not expecting the mess she saw. Lambert clearly wasn't pleased and it looked like he was trying to keep himself composed as he covered his face. Wincing when a chunk of the ceiling crashed behind Rhapsody, she paused at his question about the Contest. For a moment, the emotions came back and stabbed her chest but she forced herself to remain passive.

 

Fortunately, Lambert answered the question for her and Rhapsody seemed content enough to not press further. Nodding once in agreement to Lambert's passive order, she pulled out Bree and Annie's Poké Balls. Releasing the two, she clipped the balls back onto her belt. "Let's get started on this before someone comes in and notices," she stated.

 

None of her Pokémon (or her human form) were exactly strong enough to take care of large debris but, at the minimum, they could help with the smaller and finer details.

Edited by Narvix

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Cass kept by Gogurt's side as they came in closer as a group. At Anhew's soft apology, Cassandra smiled and leaned over to place a small kiss atop of the young girl's hair. "Call me whatever you like," she said warmly, though her smile faltered slightly as the clips of her new memory replayed in her mind. She had a mom, and a sister. A little sister, maybe? That might explain why she felt so protective over Anhew. She wished the memory could have shown her more. Clearing her throat slightly, Cass blinked away the wetness in her eyes and gazed over at the others with a brief smile. "Well, glad to hear I didn't out our secret to the wrong people," she said, acknowledging the Amaura's comment with a wink. She glanced down at the girl, and then the young woman holding her. "You must be the shifter, then," she said, raising an eyebrow slightly at Dan. The little girl seemed far too shocked at Cass's reappearance into a human to have been aware of it beforehand. Cassandra bent over until she was more or less eye-level with her, smiled, and added, "Hi there, Cheira. I'm Cassandra. You can call me Cass, if you want. I'm glad you're not hurt." She grinned up at Dan and added, "and same for you, too."

 

Allison regarded the strangers carefully, though she couldn't help but twitch when all three of her companions returned to human form in roughly a span of fifteen seconds. She wasn't even going to bother to be mad about it anymore. (That didn't stop her from momentarily shutting her eyes and releasing a short, sharp exhale of thinly veiled irritation.) It wasn't until Jack and Sark-- or was it just Jack now that they were human?-- spoke up about the ghosts that Allison held up a hand to halt the conversation for a moment. "Hold on," she said firmly, looking from the Doublade shifter to the ghosts and the finally over to Cassandra. "We didn't come here to go looking for problematic ghosts. Maybe you did, Jack, but Cassandra and I have a mission to complete. We've suffered enough set backs already."

 

Cass frowned over at Allison. "They need our help, Allison," she said with disapproval. "If the Gengar and its lackeys are as bad as these Pokemon say they are, we can't just let them go off alone. Especially if they get ambushed by another nine ghosts, or more."

 

Allison wanted to point out that it wasn't their problem-- their purpose in this forest was to get to the Helix facility and that alone-- but between the glimmer of wistful sadness she'd glimpsed on Cass's face a little earlier and the strong note of reprimand in her tone, Allison felt herself grow quiet for a minute. She glanced down at Anhew still clutching to her Gogoat's neck, and said, "Then what about Anhew? You're really going to take a child to face a murderous ghost Pokemon?"

 

"Absolutely not," Cass shot back sternly, gripping Anhew's shoulder. She looked down at the girl, and then over at Allison, clearly caught between her desire to help and her need to keep Anhew safe. "Maybe-- maybe when we get back to town with our new...allies, you can stay with Anhew until Jack and I--"

 

"I am not going to babysit for you, Cassandra," Allison cut in, holding up a hand. "We had a plan. It's bad enough we have to backtrack to Taismog now because of this."

 

Cass huffed a breath with impatience. "Then just go with us," she said, looking to Jack for a brief moment. "If you protect Anhew while we take care of the ghosts, then we can take care of the ghost problem altogether and then get to the Helix building without any more trouble. We're safer in numbers."

 

Allison's face darkened with the retort that jumped to her lips. But again, she stopped. She gazed at Anhew and then the other small girl that accompanied the pink-haired woman. The last thing that Allison wanted was to put anyone in danger, but she also was not interested in all of these continuous delays. At this rate, she felt like they would never reach their destination, and then her memories would remain out of reach forever. Allison bit her lip and then placed her hand over her eyes before pinching her fingers over the bridge of her nose. "Alright, fine. Fine." She looked over at Dan and the girl. "We'll go," she said tersely, glaring back over at Cassandra, "But as soon as you're--"

 

"Oh! I found you!" Allison turned sharply at the voice. Her eyes landed on a young man with fire-like hair, and for a split moment she had no idea who she was looking at. But then she remembered the Helix members from the PokeCenter, and the unfamiliar boy that accompanied them.

 

"You were with Team Helix," she said, mild surprise coloring her voice. Was he looking for her? Why would he be looking for her? Her blue eyes narrowed slightly. "What are you doing here?"

 

Cassandra looked between Allison and Kim, confused. She didn't recognize him, but she also hadn't really looked at anyone but the Helix folk when they were in the center. "Who's this?"

 

"Great question. I have no idea," Allison responded. Arrow took this chance to swoop down low from his branch and land with a loud thud behind her. She clicked the button on his Quick ball and he was returned into the capsule in a stream of red light. Glancing over at the others, she tried not to let the annoyance show in her face as she said, "Alright, let's go. The sooner we get back to town and drop of the girl, the better." Then under her breath, she muttered, "When we find that Gengar, maybe I'll just beat the answers out of him myself. He ought to know something about Helix." Her gaze turned to Kim. "You. If you know anything about Team Helix, I suggest you come with us. Unless you'd like to take your chances against a swam of ghost Pokemon on your own." As much as it pained to her keep adding more members to their party, if this kid had information on Helix, she was going to keep him close.

 

Cass startled slightly at the sound of Anhew's sudden cry. She dropped low beside Gogurt and placed her hands on the girl's knee, giving her a gentle squeeze. "Hey, kiddo, what's the matter? You can tell me," she said softly.

--

 

Pumpkaboo flashed a two-beat Hello at Jack and Sark in response to their greeting. He inclined his head slightly, though the motion seemed a little stiff. Mimikyu might have trusted and liked them, but this strange Doublade was still a ghost. Or a human. Or...whatever it was. Whatever the three-- four now? Five? people really were. Pumpkaboo honestly had no idea what was going on, but it was new, and they certainly were a force to be reckoned with. He didn't want to offend them, but he knew first hand what it meant to get in league with powerful Pokemon before knowing what he was getting into.

 

He floated solemnly beside Mimikyu as she explained their situation. Occasionally his pumpkin would light up with affirmation to her statements, especially when she pleaded to leave the forest with them. That gave him pause; he wanted to get away from the other ghosts, but leave the forest? He was born in this forest. Could he leave...? It didn't take long before the Pumpkaboo gave a final, strong flicker of determination. Yes, he did want to leave! And he would help these bizarre people if it meant those awful ghosts would stop harassing and hurting others.

 

Pumpkaboo circled sternly around the Doublade shifter, flashing his lights in quick succession as if he were giving off a battle cry.

Edited by Shiny Hazard Sign

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When did Pooch learn Sunny Day? Seemed like Rhapsody managed to maneuver the TM shops just fine. Good on him. Lambert at least felt a little pride over that.

 

With the harsh sun making quick work of the water and everybody's teams pitching in to help clear the rubble, the room was brought to an acceptable level rather quickly. As long as the cleaning crew didn't look up and see the cracked ceiling where some unfortunate pokemon slammed into during the battle. (Lambert didn't really want to know who, or how. Some things were better left unexplained.)

 

Honestly, it was hard to stay angry. Most of them used to be pokemon, whose rules were sometimes wildly different from humans'.

 

Glancing at the clock in the corner of the room that was miraculously still intact (although it would have been nice to have a watch), Lambert announced his satisfaction. "Thank you everyone. I think this is good enough. We still have about twenty minutes until we have to meet back on the roof, and I was planning on taking a look at the move tutors and TMs in the building. You're welcome to come along, or wait upstairs."

 

"Moves, moves!" Qrow squawked. Since he was the trainer's only pokemon, it was clear to him that he was going to get some new attacks. "TM Embargo, TM Torment!"

 

"You're already a torment..." Lambert muttered with a sigh.

 

~~~

 

He already had an idea of the TMs he wanted to get, so it didn't take very long; however, he had to carry his Honchkrow firmly under his shoulder to make sure the pokemon didn't fly off and shoplift. In his other hand he carried the Heart Scale Gaes handed to him earlier while they were tidying the place up, and if he was lucky, and it reminded him that the Move Reminder might be able to take them as currency.

 

He considered briefly the option of upgrading his own moves based on the talk earlier in the park, though he had to be in pokemon form for that and the six he had access to worked well together.

 

Lambert had planned on getting Protect as well for Qrow, but HM Fly was a lot more expensive than he thought it would be. The plan to exchange the destructive TM46 for something nicer broke down as well, because he just found out that it was missing from the TM pocket -- replaced by a couple of bottlecaps.

 

Repeating 'pokemon have different rules than humans' in his mind like a mantra while wondering how he went wrong, Lambert confronted Qrow about it, then negotiated that sure, he'd let the bird keep the move, and the TM, even, if he'd stop trying to ruin the human's life.

 

The bird promised nothing, but agreed to make a conscious effort to stop the usual dark-type tendencies.

 

Lambert was banking on the fact that HMs were hard to unlearn when he taught Fly over Wing Attack. He visited the Move Reminder more out of curiosity. He ended up exchanging the scale for Tailwind over the recently learned Night Slash since Qrow was set on keeping Thief. The move carried a hint of nostalgia with it, on top of being extremely useful in doubles.

 

His shopping done, Lambert kept a lookout for Rhapsody so they could see if the specialty tutors would be willing to teach Draco Meteor.

Edited by TehUltimateMage

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If Rhapsody remembered Pooch's explanation right, 'cleaning' was supposed to be something beings with set sleeping places did, to not lay down to nap surrounded by filth; why clean a room no one was living in, then?

 

"Humans are friggin weird," he thought as he let out Bugface and Tusk after Lambert healed them. Bugface immediately went to work, flying towards one of the rocks and trying to eat it. Which didn't work what with the tiny mouth she had now, making her look at the others in confusion to see how cleaning worked for species who couldn't just up and eat anything that fell down on their pit.

 

"What are we doing now?" Tusk asked, eager to help but not knowing what he was supposed to do.

 

"Moving stuff around, I think," Rhapsody answered with a shrug. He still didn't really get what the big problem was, but he guessed he could try to help out. After all, traveling around with humans was useful, with all the weird contraptions they created and used, and that meant trying not to frustrate Lambert and Zoey into leaving.

 

At least until he got one of them to do the 'tutor' thing.

 

---

 

It didn't take that long until Lambert declared them done, and Rhapsody made a mental note to not train indoors again. Aftermath was too much of a pain.

 

What he did was return Bugface and Tusk (Pooch was left out due to being on Z-carrying duty) so he could shift into his Hydreigon form. He got the floor tutors were at from the kid and set off.

 

Granted, he couldn't read the numbers in the elevator and had no idea which floor he was currently at, so he had to go outside, fly until the correct one, and enter through a window. But he did get there.

 

 

When he finally spotted Lambert, it hadn't been long enough for Rhapsody to get bored and leave; but enough time had passed for him to decide sitting around doing nothing was too sedentary, so he had started to munch on some of the decorative potted plants. The Hydreigon had uprooted and eaten two and had been about to finish biting through the bark of some kind of small palm tree when he interrupted himself to fly down towards the man, small chunks of earth falling from his mouths like bread crumbs.

 

"About time. What do we do to get Draco Meteor?" he asked, right mouth finishing chewing and swallowing a couple of leaves.

 

 

He followed Lambert until they stopped at one of those places with a human behind a desk. In this case, an old man with white hair and giant glasses, who greeted them warmly. When Lambert asked about the move, the old man hummed and looked at Rhapsody, who raised his heads and stared right back; the staring contest went on for a couple of second before the man looked at Lambert again, making Rhapsody huff in satisfaction at winning.

 

"I can see your Hydreigon likes you quite a bit. However, you two still have the potential to be an even greater combo. I'll be looking forward to your return when that time comes."

 

"Do I bite him until he changes his mind?" Rhapsody asked, eyes narrowing at the tutor.

 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

"...That was still kind of reckless," Dan pointed out when Cassandra mentioned revealing her transformation. "But I'm glad no one in your group got hurt, too. I'm Daniella," she introduced herself.

 

Cheira stared at Cassandra as if she had pulled an entire herd of Tauros out of a hat (or as if she had transformed into and fought as a Pokémon, which was understandable considering the woman had done exactly that). Her eyes traveled from her to the white-haired woman, then to the small dragon who turned into a girl, and to the person in Johto clothes that had been two swords three seconds ago. As the two women began to argue about what to do, Cheira looked at the man with the ponytail, eyes sparkling as she breathlessly asked, "Are you magical girls."

 

Okaaaaay. Not going to comment on that one.

 

As a teen arrived and joined the group, wearing clothes that were doing nothing to disprove Cheira's theory, Dan finally felt the need to speak up. "Look, we don't want to be ungrateful, but the longer we stay here the bigger the chance of more ghosts finding us. Do any of you have a tame Flying-type we can use to get the kids to the town?" She purposefully didn't mention the Aerodactyl from before since it didn't seem to be trustworthy enough to entrust a pair of kids to, leaving in the middle of a battle and all. "Or you can point me the way and I can take them there and wait in the Center, if you all want to stay."

 

The new arrival seemed to know something about Helix, but at this point Daniella didn't care for it very much. Better to get out of this mess alive and miss a potential clue than stay to find out and get killed by more sentient trees with chandelier delusions.

 

"I, I need to stay," Cheira declared, first hesitatingly but then filled with determination, taking a few steps forward to face Daniella. "I promised Gastly I would help."

 

"Cheira, your murder beast is down and none of our Pokémon are strong enough for this kind of horde battles," Dan tried to reason.

 

That made her pause, but then she defiantly turned towards the pink-haired man. "You said you want to fight," Cheira argued; she hadn't understood the Mimikyu, but she had heard the man mention a Gengar threatening ghosts. She could put two and two together. "You are angry, and you want to fight. My friend was hurt and I want to fight too!"

Edited by Puredark006

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Lambert glanced at the clock again; they still had time. He wasn't gone for long but it seemed like Rhapsody had gotten bored already from how the Hydreigon was literally chewing the scenery. He didn't know if that was a normal thing for his species or if he was just stressed or impatient or otherwise minerally deficient. Lambert didn't chance asking, only mentioning on the side that "Despite what Gaes might have told you, humans keep plants around for beauty, not as a food source."

 

At the tutoring desk, the elderly man somehow looked exactly like Lambert expected. He asked about Draco Meteor, and got a straightforward reply. There was a bonding requirement.

 

He was understandably disappointed, but... also happy that he was making good progress. Seemed like the tutor could tell that they just met a week ago (Damn, he was good.).

 

Reaching out an arm as a sign to stop the dragon from roasting the old man, he politely thanked him with an unreadable expression. Lambert knew that other than training and grooming, both of which would normally take a couple more weeks at the very least, there was one other way.

 

Once the man behind the counter was out of eyeshot and earshot, Lambert pulled out the gym pamphlet again.

 

"We find the juice bar." Already, he was scanning the list for the place that he thought he saw when he gave the paper a once-over the first time. "There are, uh, berries that make pokemon more friendly. I'm uncertain if he'll buy it, but it's worth a shot since I have a little cash left over."

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Rhapsody huffed, but followed Lambert away from the old man. "So what now?" he asked, tail flicking to the side.

 

He had no idea what a bar was, or how the hell a few pieces of berry could mess with his mind, but Lambert seemed pretty sure about this. Or maybe it was just the stoic face. But hey, even if it didn't work, he'd get easy food, so he saw no downsides in this plan.

 

"How 'bout I get as much juice as I can, fly off, turn human? Then you could keep your leaves."

 

---

 

For some reason, Lambert was adamant about paying for the juice, no matter how much Rhapsody reassured him that after only one battle he still had ways to go before exhausting his Pokémon form. Something about stealing being bad in human society, which didn't make sense at all since with the shifting he'd never be found.

 

Pack species. Their priorities were screwed.

 

He was soon distracted when they reached the food section of the building and the scent hit him full force. The plants from before should keep him going for a while, but smelling so much food was making him hungry again. He almost lost Lambert a few times when seeing something particularly appetizing, but that jacket of his made locating the man extremely easy even in the middle of a crowd. So it was without any major incident that they reached the stand they had been looking for.

 

The place was more colorful than a herd of season-confused Sawsbucks and smelt strongly of berries (no surprise there). The back was littered with transparent containers of some sort that held different juices inside, and as they approached, they were greeted by a young woman who handed Lambert something called a 'menu'.

 

Rhapsody tuned out most of the talking (something about 'nature' and 'effects' and 'duration' and some other things he didn't care about), moving to the side so he could get a good whiff at the berries on display. Some of them he recognized, like Pechas, Custaps, or those cursed Iapapas that he couldn't eat without getting confused, but most of them were ones he couldn't think of names or flavors for. Honestly the 'eat all you can and fly away' option was looking more and more tempting, and he might have gone with it if it weren't for Lambert's order arriving just as he had begun to seriously consider it.

 

The juice was red and didn't smell like anything he'd tasted before. Rhapsody eyed the bowl cautiously, extending his right head so he could give it a tentative lick.

 

Holy Kyurem did it taste good.

 

The next second he had all three heads lapping away until all the liquid was gone. Not content, he tried eating the bowl.

 

"Don't worry, they're non-toxic," the worker reassured with a tone that said this wasn't the first time that happened, as Rhapsody had to spit out the part he had torn off because of the bad taste.

Edited by Puredark006

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Jack sighed as the ladies started arguing. If they weren't so peeved, they would find the Pumpkaboo circling them and flashing his lights in what seemed to be a war cry, as the Mimikyu described it, rather hilarious.

 

“Okay, let's say we never got involved with the ghosts. How many hours would we run in a stupid circle because of them?” Jack asked testily to Allison. “You really think they're going to let us waltz through their territory and find that building?”

 

Jack paused as Allison made a rather good point. They were furious and Anhew had battled so well that they had asked in a fury. Please don't make the kid fight again, Sark begged.

 

“Cass,” Sark said, taking over slightly. “I-I’m mad a-at the G-Gengar as well, but I-I a-agree with you. We need to l-leave Anhew out of this.”

 

Indeed, the blind girl seemed to be trying to reach out for Cass.

 

“I moved!” Anhew sobbed. “I moved and she lost me!”

 

“Who lost you Miss Anhew?” Gogurt asked quietly and carefully.

 

“Mom!” Anhew wailed. “There was fighting a-and mom told me to run and find a safe place to stay put. But I moved!”

 

Gogurt looked at Anhew before looking at Cass highly concerned. This was concerning news to him. Berry stayed silent, not understanding what was going on.

 

Jack took back over, feeling guilty that they had asked Anhew to fight. The poor dear lost her mother, probably a little too early to actually be separated, and that Anhew seemed to be taking this too hard.

 

They then focused on Daniella and Cheira. “Murder beast?” Jack asked curiously as they moved towards them closer. Mimikyu gave a startled cry as they suddenly moved. “What's the murder beast?”

 

Jack then sighed and rubbed their face. “I admire your enthusiasm,” they said. “But for now we do have to get back to town. What would happen if the ghosts find Anhew sobbing her heart out? It'd be a feast for some of them. Another good point would be to heal your friend so we'd have a better chance of holding our own against the ghosts if all of us were fully healed. And most of all, I'm tired from the battle. I don't know what would happen if I got knocked out in my Pokemon form. That's a chance I'm not about to take.”

 

They looked back over at Daniella. “We do know the way back to town if you do care to join our little group."

 

~~~~~~~

 

Zoey had Globbers help clean the mess up using his Psychic as best as he could before painfully following Lambert to a floor before deciding to lean against the wall next to the elevators. She was still exhausted from the fight and all she wanted to do was wait on the helicopter and sleep. Tama was still standing next to her with Valda still passed out on his back. She could tell the Pyroar was containing his excitement to run around happily.

 

She looked back to see if Lambert and Rhapsody was coming back at all, but no such luck. She sighed and rubbed her temple. Tama noted his trainer's predicament.

 

"If I wasn't carrying Scary Lady," Tama said. "I would lick your face all over!"

 

Zoey gave Tama a look as his tail wagged happily. She let out a small 'You must be joking' under her breath causing Tama to straighten up more to listen to her. "Eh?" he asked as he moved forward.

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There is something just within reach, she thinks. She can't see it, or hear it, or touch it, but it's there. A pressure in the forefront of her mind, weighing down on her like a dam ready to crack open. Somehow she can sense it just beyond the unfathomable barrier that blocks her from remembering. It is frustrating to have it so close. It builds in her bones quickly, a righteous fury, until it bubbles up so strongly within her that her eyes fly open.

 

It takes Valda a solid minute to recognize what she's staring at.

 

The ceiling is plain, but tall, and the depth of her vision disconcerts her for a moment as she blinks away the lull that buried her so deeply in unconsciousness. The first thing she realizes is that her head is pounding; a wicked headache drums mercilessly at the sides of her temple, and she is almost convinced someone is actually chipping away at her skull with a rock when something beneath her moves suddenly, and she lurches forward, nearly falling off of what she'd been lying over.

 

There is fur, and heat. She grasps a large plume of red and gold hair that falls within reach and hisses with surprise when it nearly singes her hand at the touch. Her vision is quickly correcting itself, and now the pain in her head becomes more localized to a long, neat line over her left eye. It stings like a poisoned Skorupi bite. Valda blinks. The sight in her left eye remains slightly more fuzzy than the right, and it is at this point that she remembers the free-for-all battle she'd instigated back in the training room. And how she lost.

 

She lost.

 

As Valda gathers her bearings, she realizes that she's been laid over the backside of a Pokemon. It looks familiar, and she recognizes it as a Pyroar before she realizes whose Pyroar it is. When she finally notices the young girl leaning on the wall near by, Valda pushes herself gracefully from the Pokemon's backside-- perhaps a little rough on the push-- and regards Zoey with a calm that looks a bit strange on a face otherwise accustomed to rage or disgust. She tilts her head slightly, considering her. A simple scratch to the face had cost Valda the entire battle. She might have taken Rhapsody down, or at a least by a few notches, had she not missed with her final move. Surprisingly, Valda does not growl. Or twitch. Or so much as frown. It is as if the rage she'd carried around within her for the past week had simply vanished.

 

Within a single stride, Valda crosses the space between them and slams the edge of her hand into the center of Zoey's face like a whip. The girl crumples to the ground on impact, knocked out. Valda looks down at her hand with a mixture of mild surprise and gratification.

 

Nope. It's still there.

 

"Oh, no, you're awake," says a familiar voice, and Valda glances up from lightly rubbing her hand to see the ghost balloon drifting through a nearby wall. The Drifloon had taken to wandering the rooms again in the absence of the conscious Noivern shifter. Nothing else was as remotely interesting as the battle royale, though, and the balloon doesn't make a point to hide the pleased note to her voice at Valda's recovery. Or, well, partial recovery. The giant scratch over the side of Valda's face and the woman's otherwise extremely unkempt appearance is not necessarily what Flooey would consider medically recovered. The Drifloon wonders what it would take to get Valda into a Pokemon Center as a human for regular human-approved treatment. It is unlikely that climbing over the desk would result the same way as before.

 

Though, the balloon thinks, it probably would be fun to try.

 

Valda looks over at the lion Pokemon. She almost forgets again that he belongs to Zoey, and make a noncommittal wave at nothing in particular when an odd silence forms around them. "Get your human," she says, though it sounds more like a suggestion than a demand. There is something particularly limber about Valda now. She seems less tense, less ready to murder the closest living thing. Well, despite the unconscious girl at her feet. Valda decides to chalk that up to her loss of the battle-- whether or not Zoey was deserving of retribution, she had been the nearest outlet for Valda's mounting frustrations, including those that had nothing to do with the battle itself. Besides, Rhapsody wasn't there, so Zoey would have to do in the meantime.

 

Flooey regards Valda with a strange look (or as strange a look as a Drifloon could give) for a long moment before floating over to Tama and Zoey. "We should be leaving soon," she says lightly, passing through the Normal-type lion without so much as a blink as she re-emerges on the other side of his head. "Do you need help with your trainer?"

 

Valda is uninterested in the small group. She looks around, noting that they are the only ones still in the hallway. Zoey must have been waiting for the others. It seems like an utter waste of her time to sit around waiting, so Valda moves closer to the elevator, intent on taking it back up to the roof where she can let herself loose again. But when she gives shifting a try, the light does not emerge, and the exhaustion that settles deep within her muscles serves as a reminder that she has limited time and energy to inhabit that form. This revelation finally brings forth a growl from Valda's chest. She'd forgotten about that particular drawback.

 

Her finger hovers over the call button for a moment. Several seconds tick by before she slowly retracts it and then fully turns away from the elevator. It would be pointless to stand up in the wind with no wings to enjoy it by. Instead, she returns to where Zoey and Tama are, and folds her arms over her chest the way she'd seen many human women do as she gazes down at them both. "She's not as terrible of a fighter as I thought," she comments idly, though the corner of her mouth upturns very slightly at the thought of obliterating the human in one-on-one combat. Perhaps later she would have a chance. An eye for an eye, as the humans say.

 

--

 

Allison's eyes are steady as she watches Jack. Or perhaps now it is Sark. As the Doublade shifter speaks, she can see the minute differences in their mannerisms, in how they hold themselves, as the transition from Jack to Sark and back again sweeps through their shared body. It is a wonder, really, and for a moment Allison lets herself be curious about it. Her thoughts threaten to fork off into multiple tangents before she stops herself and addresses the issue before them. She turns her eyes back to the path they have slowly taken to following.

"Jack is right," she says simply, giving off none of the annoyance that briefly sparks within her to admit it, "We're not going to get very far without patching up first." She makes no effort to hide that she is displeased with the entire situation, but she seems to accept it, albeit reluctantly. She doesn't acknowledge their other comments.

 

When Anhew dissolves into tears, Allison tenses visibly. She doesn't like the sound of crying-- not only because the sound is grating to begin with, but the emotion behind it rattles her in a way that she isn't expecting. Allison turns away from Anhew and stares pointedly at the road ahead of them. She tries to ignore Cass behind her, but something is stirring sluggishly in the back of her mind, prickling in her brain.

 

 

Cassandra curls her arms around Anhew's shoulders and holds the young girl tight. She's murmuring the first things that come to mind, such as "don't worry, I've got you" and "shh, it'll be alright," and each phrase rolls off her tongue with a practiced ease that makes her head spin a little with the familiarity. She can't help but think of her own memory granted just a few minutes prior. There is something cruel about the parallel between her and Anhew, Cassandra thinks. Why give something happy and pleasant to herself, but heart breaking to a child? She wonders about the first memory she received. The pain. She wishes desperately to save Anhew from it, but what good are her powers in a situation like this?

 

"Breathe, Anhew," Cass says softly, against Anhew's hair where she has rested her cheek. "It's only one little puzzle piece. Who knows, maybe you found her later on, or maybe she found you. Try not to beat yourself up about it too much. Everyone gets scared sometimes. I bet your mom knew that. It's not your fault."

 

As much as Allison tries not to hear them, she does. Cass's voice is ringing in her ears, laid over the sound of Anhew's tears and sobs. Her fist clenches at her side as she strides onward, her pace slightly faster than it had been a few moments ago. With a start, she realizes that a sudden anger is festering in the center of her stomach. A burning, sour anger that tastes like bile. Her teeth clamp together until a dull ache throbs in her jaw.

 

Why is she so angry?

 

It's like a crack in the ice. A vision clouds her sight momentarily, and she falters slightly when the only thing around her is a grimy alley way and several overfilled dumpsters. The air is rank, and she remembers recoiling from it sharply with every inhale before attempting to stifle it through her sweater sleeve. The sleeve is wet against her face from crying.

 

"This again?"

 

There is disdain in that voice. A sneer. It doesn't surprise Allison, for whatever reason. She feels herself turn slowly toward the person who emerges from a steel door that leads into the brick building she leans against. It's a woman, and Allison knows her immediately by the rush of emotion that floods her system at the sight. Which emotions exactly, Allison can't tell-- it's like all of them are struggling against each other, and the chaos of it gives her a headache. Whether she's supposed to be happy or miserable that the woman has appeared is difficult to tell.

 

"It's getting old," the woman says to the silence that Allison gives her. She sounds impatient and annoyed. When the woman steps closer, the orange light of a nearby street lamp rolls across her face, and Allison recognizes her from the first memory in her dreams. The excitement of that dream seems trivial and distant now. "You're not thirteen, Alice. Get over it. Honestly? This is ridiculous."

 

Allison is surprised at the intensity of her own response to the woman's words. It's like an iron spike has been driven into her chest, and each word wrenches it in deeper. She feels her shoulders shaking as more tears leak into her sleeve. It's not so much despair that is trembling within her and wetting her sweater, but a rage that doesn't seem to have a source or purpose. It clashes against the desperation and attraction that muddy her thoughts and chokes her of a response.

 

The woman's lip curls. "Stop with the drama already. You know I can't stand it."

 

"Eloise, please," Allison hears herself, in a rough voice that cracks clearly from the tightness in her throat. It sounds so alien to herself now. "You're not helping."

 

"I'm not trying to."

 

The rage spikes in her blood. Without warning, Allison lashes out and slaps Eloise hard across the face. She doesn't know why she's so goddamn angry or why she can't seem to get a grip on it. Why why why. The question itself only makes her angrier.

 

When Allison blinks and refocuses on the others, she realizes quickly that she's been staring at Daniella for a good minute. She tears her gaze away and exhales a harsh breath. Whatever that was about, it's left her reeling with emotions she had no idea were lurking anywhere below the surface of the wall between herself and the memories that were locked away. She didn't know she was even capable of feeling that much about a person. She hopes she never does again.

 

Cassandra, oblivious of Allison's episode, looks at the two new additions to their group. She, too, is intrigued by the mention of a murder beast, and lifts an eyebrow in Dan's direction when Jack questions them. "Okay, so sounds like the plan is to recoup at the Pokemon Center first. Sorry, Cheira, but if you want to be of any use to your friendly Gastly, it'll be at full health and in fighting shape, and no less. I'm sure Gastly would understand." Or she would make him understand, if she had to. No way was Cass going to let some kid wander back into the forest without a fair chance. With a wink, she adds, "Besides, we're totally magical girls. We ought to be at our best to help you out."

 

There still remained the issue of what to do about Anhew. Cass combs her fingers lightly through the girl's chopped hair as she considers their options. Taking Anhew with them seems overall like a bad idea, and Cass agrees with Jack. Too dangerous. But to leave Anhew behind? What if she remembered something else, something even worse? Should she stay behind with Anhew and wish Jack good luck? Maybe Allison would take her place in helping fight the ghosts. It seems a more likely scenario than Allison staying behind to watch a distraught child.

 

But, then again, Allison doesn't know much about Pokemon battles-- and that's just as a trainer.

 

Cass bites her lip. She can't decide.

Edited by Shiny Hazard Sign

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No matter how many times Lambert explained that one does not simply take another human's belongings, the Hydreigon didn't seem to understand the concept -- but at least he was cooperative this time. He took it as a sign that he was getting through to the pokemon, slowly but surely.

 

The juice bar was buried deep within the food court, near the supplement shops. All sorts of consumables dedicated to honing a pokemon's attributes for battle. In his opinion, vitamins were no substitute for hard work, and on top of that, vitamins were expensive.

 

He had to make sure he didn't lose Rhapsody again. When they finally got to the juice bar, there weren't many people standing in line but quite a few people and pokemon sitting around. The logo and decor were Flareon-themed, in eyecatching shades of tan and orange.

 

"How may I help you today?" greeted the clerk with a smile. Lambert took a look at the menu and scanned the effects. He found what he was looking for in an insert, under Buddy Berry Boogaloo. He took an educated guess at Rhapsody's nature and taste. Definitely not sour, so perhaps something sweet? It lined up with the trainer's observations.

 

"Pomeg Pecha Pummeling," he chose. "...Yes, I know the side effects," Lambert continued when the lady let him know. Pomeg berries tended to reduce stamina, with the upside of friendliness and to allow a pokemon to allocate effort to other attributes, in case anyone wanted to retrain a trade. Those things grew everywhere in tropical climates.

 

"The initial effect lasts about an hour," she added while they made his order. "It'll be ready in a second!"

 

Taking a seat at the bar beside the dragon-type, Lambert was pleasantly surprised that the Hydreigon had this much self-control, although it looked like all three heads were drooling a little.

 

He retracted the thought when, after drinking the juice, Rhapsody tried to eat the bowl it came in. The man shrugged. "I can imagine it happens."

 

~

 

The clock was ticking down until takeoff, meaning they only had one shot to impress the old tutor. The juice seemed to be working, judging by how the dragon stuck close to him like a magnet.

 

Back downstairs, Lambert casually had his hands in his pockets and asked about Draco Meteor again.

 

 

~~~~~~

 

Emil didn't take too well to her jab and answered her sarcastically, and she had to stop helping Chompers to prove flower-neck wrong.

 

The argument quickly descended from a logical misunderstanding to yelling insults as they bickered, until Emil decided to be the better man by not responding to Sine's comment comparing him to a green bean. Or maybe he did. Sine didn't know.

 

Something in the heat of the moment must have had triggered her memory and her expression went blank.

The pokemon center stopped existing for a moment, replaced by a classroom, desks set in neat rows, and girls and boys in uniform. Every pair of eyes was looking at her, and she turned her attention away. Out the window were a dozen townhouses and recently built apartments, and in the distance the distinct silhouette of a traditional tower. It was a nice day outside. She sat back down slowly, scooting her chair forward so she was properly seated at her desk. Why should she care what others thought? The moment she stepped into this new classroom she committed social suicide. She didn't mean to shout or say mean things, even if the other girl had to be proven wrong. It just... happened. The door slammed, the room went dead silent. She pretended nothing happened.

 

If she could've relived her first day, there would have been so many things she would have changed, but this was the moment that she knew would keep her awake at night.

 

Sine felt the heat in her face and squished her cheeks with her palms to hide the embarrassment.

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