Prologue to Disaster (PTA) IC

[CosmicOccurence]

The pineco wakes with a start as Jakob's potion finally starts to take effect. It spins until it finds Drake and hops at his new trainer chattering angrily. It jumps up and down in front of Drake's face with a sour expression all the while making a racket.

In the background, you hear the ding that signifies a successful capture.

[Arcran]

Jakob starts as it spins out of his hands.

"Hey! Wait! Are you okay!" Jakob shouts, chasing after the Pokemon and trying to scoop it up.

[Major]

Amber looks behind her at the new guy she didn't know, "Name's Amber. I'm more a breeder than anything. I take it you are from the village?"

[Arcran]

"Village?" Jakob says, confused, trying to hold back the Pineco.

"Oh, that village," he says, comprehension dawning on his face. "No, I'm from New Bark. Just traveling, you know? Get out and see the world," he says with a smile.

"Breeder you said? You must know a lot about Pokemon then. Is it... normal for these things to go around blowing themselves up?"

[Major]

"It's...a defense mechanism. They kinda go bomb taking a temporary knock out to hurt people. We had to be careful back at the breeder's to not startle them while mating." Amber says with a chuckle, "Cause...yeah it's bad. But it hurts so it is usually as a last resort and they get pretty upset when ordered to blow up."

[Arcran]

"It's...a defense mechanism. They kinda go bomb taking a temporary knock out to hurt people. We had to be careful back at the breeder's to not startle them while mating." Amber says with a chuckle, "Cause...yeah it's bad. But it hurts so it is usually as a last resort and they get pretty upset when ordered to blow up."

"It must've thought it was in a lot of danger from those slime things to blow itself up like that," Jakob says, amazed that something would nearly kill itself like that.

[Kantolin]

"Ken." The short man's very thick hand dwarfed Jakob's, but the shake was quite gentle.

Ding? He turned around - oh geez, he'd honestly forgotten about that gulpin. Boy was it clear that he couldn't control two pokemon at once - he could barely do two of anything at once. He quickly retrieved the pokeball, before stepping back into the conversation.

"Well, it's not a wild pineco - Drake caught it in the forest." He responded, to Jakob's comment.

[Arcran]

"Wait," Jakob says, looking at Drake. "You ordered it to explode? To fight off these things?" Jakob says, looking at him like he was an idiot. "What sort of a monster are you? Here you are calling your friend an idiot while you order your Pokemon to blow up for no good reason? What kind of double standard is that? You could have killed it!" he almost shouts. "You aren't even fit to talk to this thing, much less be its trainer," Jakob says.

He gives a small nod at the man he had battled earlier, recognizing the face.

[Kantolin]

"Jakob, uh... well, part of the point of it is that it's a temporary knock out for the user." Ken attempted to interject. Sigh, there were already two people arguing; there didn't need to be three.

"The pineco was not in danger of dying - remember, they learn the move naturally." He scratched the back of his head. "Now I mean... the pineco looks pretty annoyed, but that's between him (her?) and Drake. After all, it wasn't like we were playing around here. They had knocked out Iragore, and a lot more blasts would have been incoming, so that definitely helped reduce the number of incoming hits."

Ken sighed. "And... and we really have to step back, so we can get moving."

[Arcran]

Jakob just shakes his head.

You're protecting the behavior? he asks, amazed. "What if your.. he says, looking at his Pokedex, Machop could explode to take out a handful of Pokemon that we were obviously winning against. Would you even consider it? Would the thought cross your mind? Jakob says, completely amazed that he'd defend the trainer.

Here, let's settle this like Pokemon trainers. You're not fit for the Pineco. We'll battle for it Pineco. Winner takes it. Deal? Jakob asks, glaring at the trainer.

[planswalker]

Leon does not say another word, knowing that if he says anything more, it will be words along the lines of "I don't have to put up with your ****." and walk off. Such a decision was best not made in the heat of anger.

Spoiler

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okay, y'all chewing out Leon like this is really killing the fun of this game for me. If y'all are just going to continue ragging on him like this for things he didn't have control over, I'm quitting.

[Asdfth]

Drake looks at his pineco "Forgive me it was a desperate and rushed decision I had made in a haste. Drake looks at the stranger "After my Pokemon and I are healed then we shall fight."

[Arcran]

I'll meet you outside the Pokemon Center in an hour, Jakob says, turning and heading back to town to get Squint patched up.

[Kantolin]

Ken was... more than a little surprised, but he shook his head.

"Uh... guys, we don't - well, first of all there isn't a pokemon centre in town. We have to go find Medina - and hope she doesn't want any other tasks that take very long. And then, guys, we're on a mission here - can't this battle wait? We need to speak with Medina and get moving, not speak with Medina, do a battle, speak with her again, and then get moving."

[Arcran]

Jakob remembers the lack of the Pokemon Center.

"Right. Here, how many healthy, non-exploded Pokemon do you have?"

[Major]

"Ya know...I've been studying up on medicine in order to help provide medical attention, but if we constantly have unnecessary battles, especially among each other, it's going to use our supplies." Amber said with a sigh as now two more people were fighting over a pokemon.

[Asdfth]

Drake returns the pineco. "Yes you are right Amber and Ken we should see if Medina would heal us and be off. Unnecessary is wasting time and the scientists might be in trouble. Sorry stranger the battle will be postponed.

[Arcran]

Drake returns the pineco. "Yes you are right Amber and Ken we should see if Medina would heal us and be off. Unnecessary is wasting time and the scientists might be in trouble. Sorry stranger the battle will be postponed.

No, we won't postpone this any longer than it takes to get you healed.. How long will a battle take? Two minutes? Maybe three at most? How urgent is this mission that you can't spend three minutes in a battle?, Jakob mutters, turning to head back to town, leaving the party behind. Man was both a coward and a bad trainer. He needed to get that Pineco from his for its sake.

[CosmicOccurence]

Anyone Looking for a Healer
Medina is nowhere to be found if you look for her, but the female psychic (that Jakob already knows) offers to fully heal your mons for $100 each.

Spoiler

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2400 exp split how you like among active mons.

Plans gets another 210.

As always this is before modifiers.

[Arcran]

Jakob waits by the healer until Drake arrives. He did technically owe him. He'd healed his Pineco for him.

Hey, I need two Pokemon healed. That's 200. Guess how much a Potion costs? he says, looking at the trainer with not an ounce of respect.

[Kantolin]

"Okay!"

Ken abruptly hoisted his very surprised machop into the air, patting him on the head. "Way to go, Kleid! You bulldoze'd with the best of them!"

He gave the machop a noogie, elicting laughter as he set his pokemon down. All was forgiven... for now. He'd put extra effort into his next victory dance.

Ken then knelt by Solvering. "First battle, Solvering. Not too bad?"

"Phan!"

Ken returned the two of them, patting Viktor. "Thanks for being there, buddy. Always a helpful anchor."

The pair headed back to town, to be healed.

~~~~~~~~~~

Ken inhaled, and exhaled at Jakob's statement, but shook his head.

"Luxury balls cost 1000." He stated to the psychic, holding it forward. "Will this work to heal all our pokemon? I don't think we have ten who were hurt."

He bit his lip; he'd spent a lot of effort getting that luxury ball, but well... this was more important. They had to get moving.

[CosmicOccurence]

The psychic happily takes the luxury ball from Ken and heals all the pokemon that need it. Don't forget to stop by if you come back this way. I can always use buisness, and its sure to go down now that the pack is gone. Sadness flashed in her eyes, there were always hurt people when they were hunting.

[Kantolin]

Ken opened his mouth, and shut it.

Stared at her for a few moments.

Open his mouth and shut it again.

Did another stare.

Then turned around. "Okay!" He said, more forcefully than he probably needed to, fists clenched tightly. He nodded to Leon, Amber, and Drake. "We should get moving, then."

[Arcran]

Jakob looks at the bulky man with new-found respect.

"Thanks, Ken, was it? Thanks for that, he says, glad that his team was healed. I owe you one.

Now you! he says, glaring at Drake. Let's do that battle.

[Kantolin]

Ken sighed. "Jakob, we really don't have time for another battle - we have a job to do that could be hurting a wide array of people and pokemon during this spent time. We don't even know what further complications we may end up running into - and can't afford to heal our pokemon /again/."

He shook his head; his voice was a bit worn, but not really angry. "I'm sorry that you're upset, but we really have to get moving. Thank you for the help against the gulpin, though."

[Arcran]

What the hell is so important that you can't spend two minutes on a battle?

And I'll pay for healing either way, so that's out of the way. You'll need a better excuse than that.

[Kantolin]

Ken placed one oversized hand on his forehead.

"We're Devon employees." He said, keeping his voice level. "There have been a series of problems therein which have cut off the power plant from the outside world. All of the scientists therein are in questionable states of health, while from the sounds of it, the pokemon therein are causing a localized problem of greater magnitude than even the pack. Every living thing near the power plant is likely to be in danger, and whatever is driving these pokemon into a frenzy could be even worse."

He shook his head. "Thus. We need to go. You can have your battle when we're done, as we need to go, and now."

[Arcran]

Ken placed one oversized hand on his forehead.

"We're Devon employees." He said, keeping his voice level. "There have been a series of problems therein which have cut off the power plant from the outside world. All of the scientists therein are in questionable states of health, while from the sounds of it, the pokemon therein are causing a localized problem of greater magnitude than even the pack. Every living thing near the power plant is likely to be in danger, and whatever is driving these pokemon into a frenzy could be even worse."

He shook his head. "Thus. We need to go. You can have your battle when we're done, as we need to go, and now."

Jakob lets out a low whistle. That sounded bad. Pretty damn bad. But, can't give something for nothing. That kid was different. The kid had been nice initially. But these two? One was a whiny kid who couldn't handle a fair battle, the other an abusive trainer. Helping these people? He'd need payment for that.

Sounds like you guys are up for some trouble. How'd you like a highly skilled Capture Specialist on the team? For the cost of a short three minute battle you can have one, Jakob says, leaning back.

Or if that's too much work, just give me the Pineco. Consider it my share of whatever money you guys are earning. Do we have ourselves a deal?

[planswalker]

Volta really learned from the brutal workout the fight put her through, granting her all sorts of new insights. Leon will forgo paying someone else to heal his 'mon and instead have Nicolai use his charged-up sparking moves to heal her.

Leon will stay silent over the whole "battle for the pineco" thing. He was currently pissed off at Drake and still smarted at the dirty tricks that new guy pulled in a "friendly" battle. He didn't care who ended up with what, but he also thought Ken's insistence that two minutes mattered was absurd. It'll take them six days to get there. It's not like stopping for a two minute battle is actually going to matter. If they feel the need to make up the time, they can always just... you know... walk a little faster or eat an extra meal on the go.

[Major]

A sigh escaped Amber's lips as she finished reading the medical instruction kit, "On the upside I think I get how this medical kit works so I can provide some basic healing." She states trying to change the subject. "On a side note, I realize that my saying this probably doesn't matter...especially with a capture specialist who wants to catch them all and a trainer that probably feels the same way, but perhaps it wouldn't hurt to let the Pinco decide...It did chose to listen and despite it grumping at Drake it hasn't run off. While trades and friendly teamwork are one thing, it seems a bit wrong to battle with a pokemon on the line as if it is some sort of prize with no regards to its feelings..."

Amber holds up a pokeball, "For example, a trade. I happen to have two Ledian who are both friends. As such, since we are traveling together, I figured it'd add a bit of a connection in the sense that as our pokemon get along HOPEFULLY we can as well. So, anyone want to trade a Ledian for something? Or, alternatively, Mr. Capture Specialist, how about I let you hold onto my Ledian, you can see if the Pinco even WANTS to leave, and if not you can come along and make sure the Pinco is treated fairly."