Kamina

Being both Fire and Water Type, the flames of the Arcanine would barely scratch him. Because of this, he decided to bear the brunt of his attacks. Charging at the other Fire Type, Kamina used his massive girth to force the other Pokemon to the ground. While the Arcanine couldn't do much damage to him, the reverse was also true; since his only offensive attacks were Fire Type, there wasn't much he could do to harm him. However, unlike the other Pokemon, Kamina wasn't alone. As long as he held the Arcanine, the others could damage it enough to end this fight. "I'll hold him here. Hurry, attack him!"

---
Tini

"Ma'am!? Do...do I really look like a woman?" Tini's father questioned

"Oh it's okay papa, Bonnie just has trouble telling what a person's gender is." Tini reassured his father. Then he leaned in closer to whisper to him (although everyone could still hear him) "in fact, when we first met she had to ask me if I was a boy or a girl."

"Oh, well that's reassuring" his father replied, no longer feeling threat to his masculinity. "But it's just so exciting to met my baby boy's little friends. Ohhhhh, come here!" he flew over the counter and scooped up his son, as well as Bonnie and Eralion into a big hug. Putting them back down, he rushed to get his camera. A few seconds later, he was posing the three of them; Bonnie and Eralion side by side, with Tini wrapped around them like a scarf "oh don't you three just look so precious!" He cooed as he took his pictures

Unfortunately, Celes didn't know where everyone else was.
"That's a real shame." Josh said. He was shivering like crazy at this point. He hoped they would find some source of heat soon.
Celes seemed to be using her badge to try to communicate with their teammates. Either their badges had a function that Josh didn't know about until now, or Celes was completely losing it.
"I didn't know our badges could do that." Josh said.

Hm... I think something bad was supposed to happen.

(...) Well, at least we made peace with Daniel. I still personally felt as if Daniel would... you know, betray us. I think those thoughts just came from this unnatural, demonic forest. It was only minutes ago we were treating our only guide as a minion of our greatest enemy. Yet, we're still missing Celes and the others, and really only Daniel could help get them. Either way, Spruce seemed convinced on Daniel working for us rather than Desia, apologising. I remained quiet, considering I was still catching breath from our last battle with the damned Sneasel. This place was horror, and I could tell that despite how I liked the cold the others didn't. It was my first time experiencing such wonderful weather, but when it made everyone look miserable and shiver, you begin to question how good it really is.

Something was still wrong. This whole forest was wrong, of course. An Arca... well, a fire dog (who probably shouldn't been able to survive in this place) leapt right out of the shadows after proclaiming his supposed innocence, dealing with everyone head on and eyeing me like I was... food. "Oh, for Arceus' sake..." (I NEVER ASKED FOR THIS.) I braced for impact, closing my eyes and trying to hover as high as possible given the amount of time I had before being hit.

And then, it happened. Not once, but twice. Anthony stepped in to block and counter the dog's move, getting slammed right into a tree and thrown to speeds he'd never experienced. That dog seemed VERY bent on trying to eat me or something, something seemingly impossible but very much threatening since he was a damned fire type. Kamina also stepped in, blocking the... Arcanine for long as possible and not giving in to the Pokemon's ferocity.

"Well, thank the lord!" Something I'd probably never say considering I never really liked Kamina, in all honesty. But, I guess what he did previously and now was enough for me to praise something. It was also somewhat wrong since it meant I was just some sitting duck (not a pun) constantly being shielded, but...

Eh. Flying against the wind, I almost struggled to gain some height. However, I needed to do this so that I wouldn't have to shock Kamina just to hit the crazed Arcanine. Rubbing my magnets together, I prepared for a bolt of lightning to burst from my hands, spinning them in opposing directions and letting loose a cascade of electric attacks directed at the Arcanine, before he could try to get past Kamina's long and over-reaching body.

Talon was ready to do another attack when the Litleo was lifted up and then slammed to the ground, that is when it had enough and took off. The Nidoran started talking to the Ralts, before it seemed to remember he was there and thanking him, quickly followed by a question and introductions. Well, she seemed to like to talk, a lot. Still he felt he needed to introduce himself as well, and make it clear he wasn't wild. "I'm not a wild pokemon, my name is Talon." He landed and looked between the two, expecting one or the other, likely Nina, to have something else to say or a question to ask.

“Well,” Rebecca said slowly as the litleo fled, “You’ve got to be less demanding, maybe use your manners a little. I think if you said something like ‘excuse me, we have some questions and we’d be delighted if you could answer them’, you’d seem to be a lot more approachable, you know?” She watched the other wild pokemon run off at the sight of her team, eventually turning to Talon before she began to dig around in her bag for her spare badges.

“For example,” Rebecca demonstrated, referring to Nina before speaking directly to the Rufflet, “We could really use another member on Team Crescendo, and you seem like you’d be pretty good at this line of work. Would you be interested in joining us?” She eventually managed to produce a badge, twirling around once before holding it out to him. She wasn’t quite sure where she kept getting all of those things, but she decided it was probably best to not overthink it as long as she was able to find them whenever she needed to, which seemed to be the case.

[Spruce]

Not only was the arcanine's attack countered by Anthony, but, shortly afterwards, he was contained by Kamina, meaning that his defeat was inevitable. I smirked at this, and used void whip on the arcanine, who tried and failed to use another attack against me... he actually failed at attacking so badly that I had no idea what attack he was using, other than the fact that it had something to do with fire, as his mouth was filled with it shortly after my attack. "Hey, thanks, Anthony, and Kamina," I say to the two of them before getting some sort of call on my badge. It was very windy wherever she was, but I did figure out that it was, in fact, Celes. "Guys... ... your ... this, Josh is ... ... at the ..., we are ... a big tree, protecting ... from the ... winds of this .... This ... is so god ... cold... Who the ... would willingly ... to go ... in the ... place ... from ice ..., or maybe ... types," if I were to take the call at face value, given how much of it was cut off, I would be very confused, though, I already knew that Celes WASN'T a tree, they might be hiding behind a tree to protect themselves from the cold... and they weren't doing a good job of protecting themselves from the wind. I send a message over to Celes using the badge, as well, saying, "Er, alright, Celes, we're going to try to find you... we're kinda in the middle of a fight right now, though. Some crazy arcanine who tried to eat me and M. We've got it under control 'cause Anthony and Kamina are with us, and they can deal with a fire type, no problem," while I was talking with Celes, Daniel decided to shadow tackle the arcanine, who still couldn't get a decent hit in on anyone, and was angrier for it.

"BARRY! LET GO OF ME! I NEED TO FIGHT!" the arcanine shouted at Kamina, possibly reminded of his friend. He then added "Barry... I don't care that I stole all the trail mix... I needed that stuff more than you did, alright? You could have told me that you liked the qualot pieces, then I might have left you some! JUST LET ME FIGHT THE FRESH MEAT, I'll even cook them for you!" oddly, he was still talking to Kamina. "Look... they're a rescue team anyways, they KNOW about our little con game back in Allure, they're here to TURN US IN! BARRY, I NEED TO GET RID OF THESE GUYS!" he then switched to talking to a nearby tree saying "Ricky, stay out of this, this doesn't involve you! It involves me, Barry, my trail mix, and that rescue team," the tree swayed slightly in the wind, and he barked at it, and once he finished with that, he shouted "RICKY! I TOLD YOU TO STAY OUT OF THIS! You're supposed to be back in Allure, anyways! GO BACK TO ALLURE, RICKY!" he then started barking at random things, all while trying to use flamethrower on whatever unfortunate tree, rock, or patch of snow that he thought might have offended him in some way, shape or form, all while shouting, and naming each and every one. Oddly, he seems to have almost forgotten that he was in a fight, not that remembering would do him any good, given that Kamina has him completely stuck in place. Out of nowhere, a barboach appears, and uses water pulse on M, probably trying to confuse him. The thing tried to speak, but I couldn't understand what language he was using, at all.

---

[Anthony]

After essentially saving Spruce and M, I try to use bubble, only to use some weird attack that somehow produced a bunch of muddy water, sending that at the arcanine, which seemed to do a lot more than bubble would have. I then tried to tackle the arcanine while Spruce was talking into his badge, but, something seemed different about this tackle, actually, it seemed more like a body slam, which the arcanine didn't appreciate much, as it also seemed to be paralyzed from my attack. Just as well, as the moment Spruce stopped talking to his badge, he tried to attack the arcanine, and might have only succeeded in doing so because the thing was paralyzed. The arcanine started talking again, thinking that Kamina was his lost friend, Barry, who he apparently had a falling out with over some trail mix, and some qualot pieces in said mix... at first, I thought his friend might have also been a gyrados, seems likely, as the arcanine also explained that he was a conman back in Allure, however, that theory was blown out of the water once he started talking to a tree, calling it Ricky, and talking to the tree as if it were his friend, and not just an immobile plant. He got even angrier at 'Ricky' until he started using flamethrower on any rock, dirt patch, or snowy patch of ground that looked at him funny in his head. Thankfully, none of the things he used flamethrower on were M or Spruce, the two things that would be vulnerable to such an attack. Just when I thought that this battle was over, a barboach appeared, and used water pulse on M, and unfortunately, I was too slow to get in the way of the attack.

---

[Bonnie]

I was almost instantly picked up by Tini's father, and posed in some weird way. I would have fought against him doing what he did, but I had almost no energy after getting here. Several pictures were taken of the entire team, minus anyone who might have been around to give it the name of 'Team Green'. Once the pictures were done, I finally asked "So... have you seen Terra's daughter around here? She were last seen heading to this exact restaurant, accompanied by a charmander," I asked the question with all the energy of a rock, given that it was around lunchtime and I haven't had anything to eat, not to mention the running. Well, now I know where Tini gets his excitability from... I think as I try to pry myself from Tini's... er... I guess hug? Again, though, my efforts proved futile, as I really didn't have the energy to do much other than ask that single question. A few moments later, a strange pokemon entered the restaurant, and the strangest part was the fact that he was wearing a trench coat, and some sort of trilby, which covered most of him, her, or it. "Yeah, I'll have the daily special," the strange pokemon said to Tini's father in a very deep, masculine voice. His eyes, the only thing I could really see of him seemed to dart around the place, as if he was searching for someone... or trying to stay away from them. He noticed me, and seemed to focus on my badge before adding "Hey, bub, couldya make it quick? I gotta get outta here, and fast," he said that in a very rushed manner, and, not to mention he sounded very rude when he said that.

I look over to Eralion, and whisper "I think that's our guy... did you see the way he looked at my badge? Not to mention his clothes... he's very suspicious," obviously, given our proximity, Tini heard that, too, but, it didn't seem like our suspect heard a single word of what I said, even if he seemed to glare at me for a moment before his food came. Afterwards, he simply dashed, not even bothering to pay. "AFTER HIM!" I shouted to both Eralion and Tini, though, Tini's father most likely heard that, as well. I then finally got out of Tini's latest hug, and managed to dash off towards where the mystery pokemon was fleeing to. Oddly, he seemed a bit unbalanced on two legs, and stopped that act altogether after dashing for a few blocks. I eventually make it to a warehouse, at the edge of town, where the villain seemed to disappear into. I look around to make sure everyone was here, and, if they weren't, I simply called them using my badge and told them where I was, and why I was there. I then waited to make absolute sure that everyone was there, and after everyone was gathered up, I entered the warehouse, where a skuntank wearing the same trilby as the mystery pokemon, a koffing, and a zubat can be seen talking to a treecko that had to be Terra's daughter, and a charmander, both of whom were too scared to move. I tried to sneak by them, and managed to attack the koffing from behind with frustration, knocking him forwards, and causing him to shout "HEY, BOSS! We're under attack!" the other two turned to see me, and the skuntank laughed for a bit, and said "I knew you were going to be trouble... but, because you're all alone, I guess we just got ourselves another hostage, boys!"

---

[Nina]

From Rebecca's example, I figured out that, yes, I was being way too loud, and a little too direct with the wild pokemon, a few of whom still feared my team for some odd reason. She then gave Talon, the rufflet a badge of his own. No matter what, he'll probably contribute more than our previous team members did. Heck, it seemed like all they did was get lost, or just somehow disappear forever. Odd, then, that I was the only one who didn't, well, other than our leader, Rebecca, that is. I continued my search for wild pokemon until I finally came across a group of them, a buneary, and a mareep, both of whom were just wandering around. I approached them slowly, and, in a much kinder tone than before, asked "Would you two wild pokemon be interested in answering a few questions?" they looked at each other... until the buneary answered with "Yes, what are your questions?" I looked back at Rebecca, wondering if she knew what I was supposed to do after this. I never got this far in this before. It quickly became apparent that just looking back at my team wasn't going to help me at all, and I eventually asked "So... I've heard some reports about wild pokemon... um... do you see weird things that should be there?" the buneary gives me a look as if I've just grown wings, and takes a few steps back as if I was a complete loon. The mareep had since wandered off somewhere, and after a few moments, the buneary started looking for her possible teammate, or possible friend. "Uh... what's that look for?" I asked the buneary who started to run off, and I started chasing after her.

A quick run through the plains later, I manage to catch up to her, again, and she says the weirdest thing... "IT said I should be quiet about it, I can't tell anyone! I WON'T TELL ANYONE! If I do... IT will do.... whatever IT does to its traitors. You know... I heard that the litleo you were fighting used to be a mareep... a female mareep. I don't WANT TO KNOW WHAT WILL HAPPEN IF I TELL!" now it was my turn to take a few steps away from the loony bin, and, thankfully, I managed to hit the record button on my badge before this weird conversation started. "Uh... just calm down, relax a bit, and if this "IT" you're talking about attacks, I'll be here to help, okay?" that seemed to calm the buneary down a bit, and had her continue "I see it... I hear its voice... IT... looks like a bunch of weird squares that fade in and out of my vision... its voice tells me to attack anyone who comes near me, even now I hear it telling me that you're a threat, that I should attack you, or pay the price," she then uses pound on me, and I finally stop recording, though, I feel a little conflicted attacking back, given that I now know the exact reason, that this buneary is no longer in control of her own actions, or, at least, has less control over her actions than the average pokemon who's a part of a rescue team. I then looked around for my team, and realize that I've left them behind again, well, at least I got some information on this... whatever it is.

Celes tried to hear what Spruce was saying, but was having trouble hearing it. "
Er..., Celes, we're.... find... kinda... fight right ....arcanine... eat me... We've ... control ... Kamina ... us, ... deal with... type, no ..." was all that she could hear from the badge. She frowned and shivered a bit more, hoping for all in the world that they would finish whatever fight they were in and come try to save her and Josh. This cold was really getting bad. She then though about something... She opened her bag and smiled. Her old shadow light suit was still there. She took it out and then started to go and put it on, aiming to cut the cold up a bit. Well, no use hiding that she had this or that she was Shadowlight. At least that suit would protect her slightly from these dang winds and snow a bit.
"Can't believe I have to wear this dang thing again." she says. It had a rather tight fit to say the least, but at least she was less at risk of tuning into ice.

---

Eralion was a bit surprised by the sudden hug from Tini and the photo's from the father, but soon Bonnie noticed a shady person entering the restaurant. When she yelled that this was our suspect, Eralion ran full speed to fallow, before stopping at the werehouse, and looking at it. Well, this was it. As he enters, he saw the treecko that was probably Terra's daughter and a charmeleon. He quickly used bullet punch on the skuntank, before using the back force from the punch to flip in the air and land.
"Do you really think she is alone?" he says, in battle position right there. It was time to fight these dang crooks. A skuntank, a koffing and a zubat. Well, if only someone in the team could use psychic attacks, this would have been easier. Oh well, he knew they had to do with what they had.
"Picking on childrens and taking them as hostages. Shame on you! Shame!" he says, ready to take a attack and use counter at the moment. If he could annoy them enough, maybe they will try to attack him.

"Er..., Celes, we're.... find... kinda... fight right ....arcanine... eat me... We've ... control ... Kamina ... us, ... deal with... type, no ..."
Spruce's voice kept getting cut off. Josh assumed that he was in a fight against an Arcanine, and Kamina was with him. At least, that was what he assumed based on the few words that he could understand. Whatever it was, they would probably be occupied for a while before they could start looking.

They had to find a way to stay warm. The tree blocked the wind, but that wouldn't be enough. Building a fire would be their best option.
"Hey Celes, we need to build a fire, or something." Josh said. "It might take a while for the others to find us, and besides blocking the wind a little, this tree isn't doing much."
He began looking for weak branches in some of the trees nearby. "Try to find something that'll burn. We'll need something to light it with, too."

After combining our efforts at keeping the Arcanine at bay, we were finally able to fell him as we began to do another head count. "Yeah, thanks all of you." I said, following Spruce's move to thank everyone currently with us. I was still wondering what was to become of the rest of our group, stretching and yawning after that fight. I was surprised when Spruce managed to actually get a call on his badge - mainly because my badge was worn and probably broken from a short circuit. I could probably fix that by sending enough voltage through it, though now wasn't exactly the time to do so.

Actually... why is that Arcanine still alive and kicking? I thought I just saw him... Oh no. This forest was starting to play on our minds, as if it already hadn't done that. My dark thoughts were now replaced by false ones... which may say more about me than what I'd like to admit. Oh well, so long as I don't mention my thoughts any longer... "I think it's time we start leaving, 'cause we're gonna get swarmed by these psychopaths!"

Sure enough, that Arcanine was so crazy that he started fighting his own mind. Oh, if only we had a psychic around to calm these things down... no matter, simply beating them into submission was good enough. "Woah, Arceus!" I didn't know what it was, but I clearly feel from the rush of air that something BIG was going to impact me. I turned around to see Anthony falling on his face while a huge blob of water knocked me down onto the snow. "Oh, for..." Thankfully I was able to recover from that, but I was facing off against a... Barboach, whatever it was called. But, here's the scary part: that thing's immune to most of my attacks. "Guys, I would appreciate some backup here, please!" All I could do was start slimming down and stretch once more, this time so that I'd have a chance to dodge a majority of his attacks.

Kamina

Kamina could clearly tell that this was a case of mistaken identity. However instead of using it to his advantage, he cleared it up right away "listen, I have no idea who this 'Barry' is, but I'm not him. We also aren't here for you, we're here to save the world. So, how about we all calm down and try to talk this out like reasonable people!?" Kamina loosed his hold on the crazy Arcanine, just a tiny bit. Not enough for him to escape, but more of a show that he was serious about talking things out. "I also don't know who 'Ricky' is, so he's not here either" Kamina told him in hopes that it would help him calm down.

---
Tini

Ahhh...pictures always were fun; both to take, and to look back over. However, the picture taking was interrupted by an obvious bad guy entering the diner. Bonnie leaped into action, rushing after the fleeing criminal, with Eralion and him not far behind. Once they reached the generic shady hideout, they found two other criminals. Then one of them started talking about...something (Tini got board pretty quickly after he started talking, and he didn't pay much attention). So once Eralion made his dramatic one-liner, Tini spoke up "did you really think that scum like you would get away with this? That we wouldn't find you? Well you were wrong, dead wrong. There's a special place in hell for encyclopedia salesmon like you three, and I'm here to send you there myself" as he finished speaking, Tini realized that he didn't know the way to hell, so he had no way of sending them there himself.

Talon looked at the Ralts, then the badge, and back. "So you're a rescue team?" He thought about her offer for a moment before he gave his answer, "Sorry, but I want to start my own team so I can be a good leader, like my pops. So I have to say no." He felt bad about rejecting the offer, it was noticeable on his face, but like he said, he wanted to join a guild and lead a team 0of his own, one that maybe be known throughout the world. The Nidoran had wondered off, probably to continue their mission. "I can tag along for now if you like? I'll follow you back to the guild once you're both done here."

“Oh,” Rebecca said, feeling slightly down about not having another member on the team. “Well, if you change your mind, we’d be happy to accept you. Even we can’t have an orchestra of conductors, you know?” She shrugged, deciding not to judge Talon even if she didn't really understand his reasoning, and looked around for Nina, realizing that she’d left a little while ago. Why could none of them try to stick together, especially in a place as strange as this?

“But yeah,” Rebecca continued. “We should go find Nina. Splitting up in this creepy place seems like an all-around terrible idea.” Making sure that Talon was actually following her, she tried to follow Nina’s footsteps, proceeding in the same direction that her friend had left from. Hopefully she would end up running into Nina rather than a hostile pokemon, an eldritch horror, or some other bizarre team.

[Nina]

I try to make sure she doesn't get poisoned, and say "Please... calm down. I'm not here to hurt you, I just want some information... there's no need to attack me," this, oddly enough, works, and the buneary ends up responding with "I...information... well... IT won't like this but... I have no other choice, IT already hates me, now... I've always heard from... it, that... it's ....u....p... a...b..-" she suddenly stopped, as it was getting harder for her to say it by the letter, and she attacked yet again, though, I managed to dodge. "Please, fight that thing's voice in your head, I know you can... you've done it before," I turned off my badge's recording function and she continued to fight, though I managed to dodge the attack, and tried to calm her down again with "I won't hurt you... that thing, though, it will... who do you trust more, me, or that voice in your head?" She finally stopped attacking, and gave me some time to rest, though, she didn't want to say anything more about her 'friend' or, rather, the voice that she kept hearing, but, she seemed to manage her urges to fight me, and started hopping around the place, picking flowers. I didn't really feel like joining in, as I felt like I needed to be on my guard, at least until Rebbecca gets back, that is. I then look behind me to see her approaching, as slow as usual, but at least I didn't need her here right at this moment. That all changed when I saw something forming behind the buneary.... something otherworldly, something sinister.

YoU aRe NoT wElCoMe HeRe... LeAvE tHiS pLaCe... that voice, interlaced between the words 'kill' and 'die' just randomly invaded my head, and, considering Rebbecca wouldn't play that kind of joke on me, I had to look around the area to try to find the source... what I found can't be described as anything biology would ever make, even if it was drunk. It looked like a whiteboard someone doodled on, and then took a perfectly rectangular bite out of, and it was tall... I looked like an ant by comparison. The buneary, still unaware of the thing, looked at me with a confused face, as I was just frozen to the spot, overcome with fear. "What's wrong, Ms. Nido?" she asks me, making me just point behind her. She looks back, and instantly runs away. "REBBECCA! WE GOTTA GET OUTTA HERE!" I shout to Rebbecca, still unable to actually flee just from the sight of the thing. Of course, that was just when I figured out how slow this thing was, and then I finally convinced myself that I'd just be able to outrun it, easily, so, I did just that, running back to Rebbecca. I then try to use my badge to teleport away, but... something seems to be messing with it... I pressed the button, but nothing happened, save for the sound of static. "What... IS that thing, Rebbecca?" I then ask her, still scared and confused at the grey, pink, red and white monolith that was somehow both alive, and ready to attack us... worse, still, the thing started to glow, meaning it was probably preparing some huge attack... something I didn't want to stick around for.

---

[Spruce]

"Right," I said to M, knowing that I had a huge type advantage against the barboach. I then ran up to the thing, and tried to use vine whip against, it, but, just as I did, the wind kicked up again, and flung me off to my right, making my attack miss. The thing then used ice beam, of all things, against me, somehow managing to actually freeze me in place... that's no good. The Arcanine was still spouting craziness from his mouth at every opportunity, but he laughed as if he was a hyena rather than a dog as soon as I got frozen. Getting frozen is, honestly, the absolute worst thing possible. You can't move, and the only thing you can feel is the oppressive, frigid cold ALL over your body, not to mention, you can't even scream for help, or teleport out of here because, again, you can't move an inch, no matter what you're trying to move, or how you're trying to move it. I tried to call for help, but, again, I couldn't move anything, I couldn't even manage a simple noise, not even a hiss, thanks to the block of ice that I was frozen in. Worse, still is that I can see EVERYTHING, and that I'm still conscious through this whole thing. The barboach just floated there, laughing slightly at what he's just done, and, knowing that I can't do anything, he starts taunting me, or, at least I think he was taunting me, as it was pretty difficult to hear anything in this block of ice, though, I'm not sure that HE knew I couldn't hear what he was saying, as he just kept yammering on to someone who he knew couldn't talk back to him... which made me a little afraid for his mental health.

---

[Anthony]

Pretty much the moment M asked for some help, Spruce rushed in to try to hit the barboach with a vine whip... which would have knocked the thing out were it not for the wind conditions making him miss his attack. What happened after that was ten times worse, as the barboach managed to not only hit Spruce with an ice type attack, but freeze him right on the spot. I then used muddy water on the barboach, though, it didn't do nearly as much as I thought it would, all things considered, barboach aren't supposed to be that strong. No, all it did was get him to laugh at Spruce, and then talk to him... even though he was frozen, and likely couldn't hear a word that the barboach said. "Oh... aren't you the best ice sculpture that I've made? Yes you are, my pretty..." he said to Spruce, who couldn't say anything back, but was probably annoyed somehow. "Uh... hello?" I ask the barboach, who simply ignored me and continued talking to the ice block that Spruce was frozen in. "You're just the prettiest thing... I think I'll call you Emily," that... was almost enough to confuse me, as in, actual confusion, as in, stumbling around and shouting 'POMEG' confused. These lost pokemon were really starting to hurt my sanity. Maybe I just needed to learn to ignore their incoherent ramblings, and just focus on actually fighting them. The arcanine just seemed to fall asleep in Kamina's grip, which was strange, as he was more pumped up than a mankey who's eaten an all-chesto breakfast and lunch just a few minutes ago... but now he's just sleeping as if it was nighttime... which I honestly hoped it wasn't.

---

[Bonnie]

I started the fight by trying to use agility to improve all of my allies' speed, just to make sure that we could at least outrun them. I then used an extra attack, a dizzy punch on the skuntank, who looked somewhat more important than the rest of his team. The boss started stumbling around for a moment, which made the koffing say "Uh... boss? Aren't we gonna use our special attack?" of course, the boss just shouted "FLORIDA!" and left it at that. The koffing just sort of kept floating around, not really knowing what to do without his boss, and the zubat decided it was about time to try to confuse Tini, as the very first thing he did was try to use supersonic on him, saying "You girlies and your man aren't going to stop us! We're unstoppable! Not even heroes have defeated us, before," I then looked around for any other female pokemon, wondering why he used the plural for that word, but, I was just stumped. I then notice Terra's daughter and the charmander trying to escape, with the charmander trying to secretly burn the ropes, and Terra's daughter trying to use vine whip to untie them. Soon enough, with the thugs distracted, they manage to escape, and the charmander uses ember on the skuntank, causing him to explode thanks to his explosive poisons, fortunately for us, the explosion didn't hit any of us, but unfortunately, the skuntank was still somehow still alive thanks to the blast, and he was mad... almost mad enough to break through his confusion.

Celes, hearing what Josh said, nodded, before starting to use her ribbons to grab multiple small branches, as well as digging in the snow and getting some leaves... that were unfortunately wet. She squeezed them hard using her ribbons, leaving them crumbling, but drier at least. She then put them on the pile, and continue to grab sticks. She was shaking right now.
"Now for fire... Let me remember... We need... friction. Thats it... friction." she says, before starting to rub 2 sticks together on the pile of sticks and leaves.... only for the branches to break. She frown and look at Josh.
"This is gonna be hard... if only... if I remember... my mom told me of a certain kind of rock that could make sparks... What was it... what was it.... Flint!" she says, before looking around, frowning.
"We might need to dig and try to find some or find another way to get fire." she says frowning.

---

Eralion saw the Skuntank suddenly get hit and get confused, and he smiled at this. This might end up easier then he though it be. He then suddenly rushed and used bullet punch on the zubat, trying to possibly knock him out and stop the supersonic quick know. He just hoped this would work, cause if Tini was confused.... then things might get even more freaken weird then normal. I mean seriously, if Tini was weird in his normal state for how he acts, in his confused state.... Eralion shivered a bit. It felt like it might end up liek a division by 0 here... He then moved back.
"You fool! You do not know what you are doing!?!" he then yells. He hoped that Tini would resist... or even better yet, not be affected at all by the confusion effect. Cause the last thing he needed was Tini possibly attack the group by accident trying to use his power of 'friendship' on the enemy. He shivers a bit at what the possibility would be. Lucky he was not evolved yet, cause he knew how fairy types were... God... his mom was scared of his father before they met. But fate did have a strange way of doing things.

Kamina

"Did...did his just fall asleep?" Kamina asked no one, as he felt the Arcanine sleeping in his grasp "did I do this?" He wondered to himself. A part of him was worried that it was a ploy to get him to let go. However a more rational part of him (which did, in fact, exist) reasoned that he was too insane to think tactically. His decision was made when he saw Spruce frozen solid "oh no!" Rushing to his friend's aid, he flicked the Barboach out of the way with his tail, he then coiled around Spruce to warm him up with his body heat. "Don't worry buddy, I've got your back"

---
Tini

Having never encountered a move that inflicted Confusion before, there was no way for Tini to resist it. However, the effect it had on him was something that no one could have guessed;

In Tini's Mind

Tini found himself climbing a misty mountain. At the top, he found a small hut that looked like it was made of bamboo. It also had a strange front door; as it wasn't pushed or pulled open, by slid open. Inside, he found an old looking Dragonite. "Ah, you have finally arrived" for some reason, his voice didn't match with the movement of his lips

"What is this place? Who are you?" Tini asked the strange Dragonite

"This place has no true name, it is a realm stuck between dreams and reality. As for me; I am the Sage Of All Things. This is not what I truly look like though, as I have merely taken on a form you are comfortable with in order to communicate with you"

"Oh..neat"

"Yes, indeed it is. Now young Tini, you have achieved something that many spend their entire lives trying to obtain, only to fail; oneness with existence. Although some prefer to call it 'enlightenment'. However in your case, this state is only temporary, because of the method in which you reached it."

"Cool. So...what does oneness with existence do?"

"That is something you must discover for yourself. I believe that our time is up. Go now, young Tini, and use this new power to halt the forces of evil"

"I will strange old man!" And with that, everything went white...

Back in the waking world, Tini's eyes suddenly shot wide open. "I shall not allow you to harm anyone else" he said is an unnervingly calm voice. Acting quickly, Tini grabbed the nearby Zubat with his tail and threw him at the Koffing. Causality was warped (maybe?) and the throw become a mere formality, as the Zubat had already it it's target; one of the Koffing's holes. The Zubat's head became stuck in the Koffing's body, and the Koffing was weighed down by the Zubat.

Before the Barboach (who was eyeing me as I squared off against him) was able to land an attack on me, Spruce was able to interrupt the Barboach by taking one of his attacks... rather brutally, unfortunately. He became a damned statue, frozen intact while the Barboach began examining him like a lover or something. "Feeling somewhat disgusted, I-" wait, was I talking as I narrated? Just thinking about that forest made me realise how insane that place was, and here I am slowly dying from that giant bastard Arceus.

"-cast a fricken' storm of damn lightnin'!" What did I do? For one, I started to slur my speech and continued being a little more edgy than usual. For two, I ended up missing the Barboach, instead hitting a tree behind the thing. However, If I recalled correctly, it was possible to make a tree explode... so, being a little more disturbed than usual, I ended up letting a current run through all the splits and branches of the tree. It was only seconds until the tree began to expand before literally just popping in half, tearing itself apart as a violent explosion of air force a large branch onto the helpless Barboach, and the other part of the tree flying into an empty patch of snow for all I cared. "I'm feelin' lucky, don't I?" I said, unaware of what I did earlier while we began to clean up our business around here. "Okay... can we go now?" I asked, weaker than usual from having spent all my energy on making a tree explode. Splinters and the odd smell of burning sap filled the air, while the snow storm only seemed to get worse.

Josh added a few branches that he found to the pile that Celes made. Now they needed a way to light it, and since neither of them had an Fire-type moves, they would have to find another way. Celes suggested that they try to find flint, but that would be pretty difficult with everything covered in snow. Josh had another idea, though. If he used Thunderbolt, it would create sparks and possibly light the fire. It was worth a shot. Worst case scenario, it fails and they go with Celes' plan.

"Before we go digging around in the snow, let me try something." Josh said. He used Thunderbolt on the pile of branches, which ended up sending them all flying. That wasn't quite the result that he wanted, but a few of the branches were smoking a little, and one had a small flame burning on it. He used his psychic powers to pick up this branch, and began picking up the others that had been scattered around.
"Let's gather these back up quickly, before this burns out." He said.

Rebecca just sort of paused when she came across the monstrous aberration that lay before her and her friends. A bizarre series of noises similar to but not quite radio static ran through her mind from what she supposed could be considered a Pokemon, even though she made no attempt to read it’s mind. In fact, she wasn’t even sure if it even had a mind in the traditional sense, though she had no intentions of finding out herself. She shook her head, snapping herself out of her trance, and grabbed Talon by the wing, pulling him along towards Nina, who seemed to have a very good plan in mind.

“I have absolutely no idea,” Rebecca said quickly as she grabbed Nina’s paw. “Maybe it’s some sort of Pokemon or swamp gas or someone spiked the berries or someone’s playing a prank on us, or maybe Lovecraft was right all along, but what I do know is that I do not want to be here when that thing finishes whatever the heck it’s doing right now.” The Ralts quickly pushed the bizarre series of noises out of her mind for a moment and attempted to teleport. Though she felt a bit sad about not having enough arms to take the Buneary with the rest of her team, she didn’t particularly care where she ended up, just as long as it was very, very far away from this... event.

[Nina]

What would normally have only been a few seconds seemed to pass by as if it was hours... the thing started somehow flying towards me, with a glowing, fiery phoenix-shaped aura, I shouted in surprise, thinking that I was going to get hit by the attack, and the buneary, curious as ever, ran back to pick up a flower she had dropped, and the thing approached both slowly and quickly at the same time, it just didn't really make sense, but, that being said, logic and physics seemed to take a break whenever THIS thing was around... mere moments before I got hit with the attack, two things happened, one, the buneary either stupidly or bravely got in the way of the attack, and two, I was suddenly enveloped in a white light, and taken far away... The light faded to reveal several bright crystals surrounded by a bunch of dark rocks. "Ugh... hey... where the heck are we?" I then have a flashback to when I was almost a bloodstain on the plains and shiver at that thought. "That... thing... whatever it is, it's clearly NOT natural," I end up thinking out loud. I then have that same flashback again, though, unlike last time, I actually paid attention to what move it used... it looked a bit like how I've heard Sky-Attack looks, which struck me as odd, but, otherwise irrelevant. I take a look around to see if I could find any sort of exit, but, unfortunately, we were teleported somewhere in the middle of the cave, and our badges, while probably operational again, were in 'emergency' mode for whatever reason, which, of course, means that we'd lose every pokedollar we were carrying, as well as most of the items we had in our bag... this place seemed much less dangerous than, well... IT, so, I figured that we could at least TRY to find our way out of here if it will keep us from losing almost all of our stuff.

I then wondered exactly why it was in emergency mode when we weren't under attack, I mean, sure, there were probably wild pokemon just waiting for us around every corner, but it's not like it would really require THAT much more energy to get us a few feet further than if we were outside of the dungeon... unless, of course, emergency mode had something to do with IT. Out of nowhere, during my train of thought, a rock decides to throw itself at my face, or, rather a geodude, who I only found after getting something thrown at me, decided to use rock throw from across a narrow hallway, apparently knowing that I had no real ranged attacks, and, I actually hesitated to attack the thing, because now I knew it was under ITS control, that the geodude's actions were a direct result of ITS effects on wild pokemon. I do manage to get closer to the geodude, who decided to throw his next rock at Rebbecca, even then, I seemed to have trouble attacking him. It must be pretty horrible to have someone else control your body like that... to not want to fight, and have someone else just pull a few strings and force you to... I think as I try to come up with some sort of solution, some sort of way to get the geodude to stop attacking us, however, even when I asked him to fight the mind control, even when I tried being kind... well, it all just fell on deaf ears. Wait, did geodude even have ears? Well, either way, diplomacy has proven itself completely ineffective, once again, which meant that the next logical step was plain and simple... attack, fight, and win, but, I hesitated, I held back, and even if it was an effective attack, my double kick didn't seem to do much due to this.

---

[Spruce]

The arcanine continued to snooze even after Kamina released it, and... from some sort of miracle, the ice around me melted, and I found myself within the coils of Kamina, who probably used some sort of inner fire to melt the ice. The barboach seemed really ticked off at this, but a tree quickly put an end to his rage, and just as quickly knocked him out. "Whew... thanks, Kamina, and thanks M," I said to my group. Unfortunately, the arcanine woke up from that, and shouted "JERRY! You were supposed to wake me up at SEVEN, NOT NINE! YOU HAD ONE JOB, JERRY!" He then viciously bit into... a rock, which, being a rock, didn't respond in any way, shape or form. I tried to take advantage of this by using void whip on him, but he quickly turned around, and knocked me back with a flame charge attack, shouting "YAY! Bob's back, and I can play again! WHOO! I'm so excited that I'm burning up!" I... had no clue what he was talking about, but he used his increased speed to try to use flame charge on M, who may or may not see it coming a mile away. "TIM! I haven't seen you in years!" yet another unidentified pokemon possibly affiliated with this insane thing, and, he was so determined to attack 'Tim', that even a shadow charge from Daniel didn't dissuade him from so much as changing his course slightly so he'll miss... what in the HECK was wrong with this guy? "So... any ideas on what the heck we should do with these lost pokemon? I mean, we could teleport them back to Allure Town, but... they seem a little... er... crazy... then again, they could have families and friends who miss them..." I was a little conflicted on this subject, mainly due to the fact that they attacked us out of nowhere, yet, trying to tell their families that they'll never be seen again might be, well... just bad.

---

[Anthony]

Kamina finally melted the ice containing Spruce, and the barboach seemed as if he was about to go on some sort of rampage, however, he was knocked out handily with a tree that got hit with one of M's attacks. Thankfully, a fire didn't start up in the forest, even if I would welcome it, I know at least two pokemon in our current team wouldn't appreciate it that much, at all. Speaking of fire, the arcanine stayed asleep for just a little bit longer, and once he woke up, he yelled at a rock he called 'Jerry', and bit into that exact rock. Spruce tried to take advantage of this, but the arcanine just flung him back and then used flame charge to deal some serious damage to him, and increase his own speed... which he promptly used against M. I tried to use muddy water on the arcanine, however, he just continued running as if my attack didn't even work against him, even though I know fully well that my attack should have done at least SOMETHING to the fire-type... maybe he was so lost in his own little world that he literally didn't notice my water-type attack? That just didn't make any sense whatsoever, but it was the only theory I had running that didn't involve the arcanine being completely invincible. Spruce then, apparently at a loss as far as what he can actually do at this point, as even Daniel's shadow charge attack didn't so much as accidentally veer him to his left, and he started talking about what we should do once we're done with these guys... it was honestly a pretty good question, we couldn't really just leave them here, as they're not quite wild pokemon, and may have friends and family, however, their insanity would make it difficult for them to fit into a place like Allure or Treasure town, not to mention Scale City...

---

[Bonnie]

The zubat somehow took Eralion's bullet punch attack, and was even knocked back into... Tini's tail!? It seems like confusion had the exact opposite effect on Tini, who right now seemed uncharacteristically calm, collected, and, well... SANE. He took the zubat, and threw it right into one of the koffing's holes, weighing down the koffing and causing the zubat to become stuck, and possibly even start choking just due to the fact that there's no way the inside of a koffing is breathable to ANY living thing. Some muffled speech came from the zubat, and the koffing ended up saying "B...boss? I can't stay above the ground anymore... we have to use our special attack!" the koffing then tried and failed to use sludge, failing simply due to the fact that he couldn't move into a position where it would hit anyone, let alone Tini, who was across the room from him. The boss shouted something, and took an ember attack from the charmander, who finally managed to escape his bindings alone with Terra's daughter, who couldn't really seem to think of any attack she could use that was even remotely effective against the thing, and she simply ran while the trio was either immobile or confused, making it out of the building successfully, and somewhat easily thanks to Team Skull's current state. I finally contributed to the battle by attacking their boss with another dizzy punch, of course I knew it wouldn't make him even more confused, but that doesn't mean it didn't hurt. "PECHA BERRY SOUP!" the boss shouted as he tried to use flamethrower on the wall... I can only guess that he was aiming at either me, or Eralion, but thanks to his confusion, he missed by a mile and a half.

The Barboach was quickly put down, and I felt a bit relieved when we seemed to be controlling the current situation. "Who the fu-" My expression turned to shock when I was faced with a barrelling ball of fire, steadying myself and bracing for impact. Even Daniel was surprised by the Pokemon's sudden blood-lust, unable to catch up to the Arcanine.

I can still remember the impact of that attack. I felt an implosion of sorts on my entire body, having the wind knocked out of me as my vision went dark. One of my magnets threw flew into the sky and down, knocked off my body. A wicked cackle of embers followed afterwards, as I did a backwards somersault into the air, making a whistling noise through the blizzard. After experiencing slow motion and an endless amount of time in the air, I slammed onto a rough patch of snow. Unresponsive and still, I'd imagine. I felt both hot and cold afterwards, like I had a fever or something.

Annoyingly, I was still alive. Back then I was, but now... not really. I ended up spluttering bits of metal fillings from my eyes, rubbing the rest away. I looked back to see the Arcanine in its frenzy state, while I was dazed and trying to refocus my vision. To my left, I noticed my magnet which had landed on a small bundle of broken branches. "Arceus... damn it..." I took a few deep breaths as I reattached my magnet back to my body, making myself inconspicuous in the blizzard.