"My name is Damian Grant, I am from-"

"-Okay, wait, no, hold the phone.", Malie interrupted. She took a second to center herself as he continued talking, persumably not having heard her. She flipped down her sunglasses and waited for Sweatervest to get himself settled in.

"...Mind if I catch your name?"

Why are you casually asking my name after accusing me of a crime? Actually, what crime are you even accusing me of? Grand Theft My Own Drink?, Malie wondered. He was definitely some kind of spastic; their earlier "conversation" in the meeting room had made that abundantly clear. How did you deal with these people, again..?

"Oh, well, uh, ya see... My, er, mom told me never to, y'know, give my name to...", Malie squinted behind her sunglasses, trying to find the least offensive way to say 'crazy people', "...the charismatically challenged.", she finished.

Ranger Andrea was gone before Victor could ask her any questions. He supposed she was a busy woman. He had read about Pokemon Rangers. They had several duties each no more important than the last. So Victor understood Andrea's brevity. Sighing to himself he turned to the others and shrugged. "I guess that's that. We've got our mission. Now, to execute. I've read this place goes on for miles. So, if we're going to get anywhere fast I say we ask to borrow a tour vehicle. I can drive, but I have no off road experience. I'm sure we'll be fine if we stick to the paths. Would either of you feel more comfortable driving?" He asked with another shrug. Magnus raised a hand and mentioned there was a lot of off road traffic in Orre where he was from so he was fine driving.

With that settled the trio was lead though the Main gate house to the tour station. There they were given the keys to one of the smaller vehicles and a pack of treats and berries to help lure any pokemon they might be interested in. After some words of encouragement, advice, and thank yous from the employees the trio hopped in their jeep and made way for the northern fences. Once in the safari proper they could see miles of grasslands, sand dunes, and tree groves. They drove past all kinds of pokemon. A horde of Kangaskahn, a herd of Tauros and Miltank, and a troop of Marowak and Cubone to name a few. All were happy and enjoying life. Victor couldn't believe the gall of whoever these punks were that they wanted to ruin that by stealing pokemon.

As they continued toward their destination Victor pulled out his notebook and started writing down his usual notes and thoughts for later reference. Along the way they'd stop and try their hand at bagging a stray pokemon, but to no avail. They either spooked too easy, took the food and ran, or Humfrey got too impatient and scared them away out of excitement. After a couple of hours they finally caught sight of the northern fences. Pointing out a Ranger Station Victor spoke up. "Look we can park there. I say we go by foot from here on out. It would be easier to sneak up on them if we're not on a loud Jeep." He suggested as they approached the cabin. They were greeted by a Junior Ranger and his Bayleef. The trio explained who they were and was told the poachers were usually seen along the eastern edge of the north fence.

Hoping the criminals were stupid enough to stick to their pattern the trio continued on foot. It wasn't but a mile in before Victor had an idea. Remembering something he read once and what the pokedex said when Victor scanned Ralts on the ferry there he turned to Magnus with a excited smirk. "Magnus, have Ralts reach out with her mind and try and pick up on any fear. The stronger the better. A pokemon being chased by a punk with a net is going to be more scared than a pokemon questioning rather it should run or take the treat from the man in the silly hat." He explained as they walked along the northern path. He hoped it worked.

Magnus wasn't that surprised that neither of his comrades could really drive off-road. Considering how good the transportation was in Kanto, they didn't have a reason to learn this. The safari zone itself was quite lovely, lots of pokemon just living life and looking happy. MAgnus could tell his Ralts was also enjoying herself with all the happiness in the air. Heck, considering the safari balls he was given, he might leave this zone with a pokemon if one caught his fancy.

After a fairly decent drive, Victor suggested everyone park at a ranger station and make their way to the mission zone on foot. Magnus agreed, and they made their way. A junior ranger and his partner, apparently a Bayleaf according to Magnus' pokedex. This ranger pointed out where they were, and the trio made their way to that area. In order to find the poachers faster, Victor made a suggestion that Magnus used his Ralts to find them. "Fair idea. Ok buddy, you heard him. Let us know if you find anyone who is scared." Ralts nodded, and after the trio walked for a little while pointed them in a direction. Following where his Ralts was pointing, they snuck up on a biker looking guy with a net chasing down a Farfetch'd.

What was interesting though was when the Farfetch'd got to a tree, there was this weird plant/insect looking pokemon by the tree trying to challenge the poacher. Using his pokedex, Magnus was told this new pokemon was a Fomantis, and that apparently this one was much bigger than what they were normally. Either way, while it was courageous, the man mostly ignored it and went after the Farfetch'd. Soon after, two more poachers came from out of nowhere and started to shake trees to knock down the pokemon inside them. "OK, we have the element of surprise. Anyone got some ideas? I could probably beat one of them up fairly easily, but we'd still have two to deal with." Magnus whispered to the group.

---

The pair had walked throughout the inside of Mount Moon, spotting a vast array of pokemon along the way. Given the situation they were in they decided that after they had stopped the people they were looking for, they'd start looking at pokemon to catch. Neither said it but they were deeply scared by their situation, who wanted to be in a cave when there was a chance an explosion could go off? Well certainly not Celeste or Sully.

"I'm going to be straight with you, I am slightly concerned by what...well rather who might be waiting for us." Sully spoke while staring at the ceiling of the tunnel they were in, it was entirely covered by resting Zubat. He had heard the jokes growing up that there was nothing but Zubat in Mount Moon, but actually being there he could see there were thousands. "I mean we could be looking at a total nutcase who would rather blow the cave than be caught." Celeste turned her body and launched a short, sharp jab into Sully's arm. "Don't say things like that!" The raising of the decibels caused a stirring above them. "It's bad enough knowing someone could be here with explosives! I don't need you telling me they could be crazy!" As the torrent of abuse continued Sully caught sight of the roof visibly moving and slowly he crouched down putting his hands over the back of his head. "Get up! I haven't even started to tell you off y...What's that noise?" A mid-sentence pause made for a change from abuse to a muted question. The sound of rustling and high pitch squeaks had gotten Celeste's attention. She slowly craned her neck upwards before letting out a horrifying howl.

The thousands of Zubat, once sleeping soundly, had been disturbed by her tirade and were now awake. They descended from the ceiling en masse replying to Celeste's screams by bumping against her as they headed towards the cave entrance. "They're in my hair!" She cried, much to the amusement of Sully who laughed hysterically from his crouched position. It only took a few moments for the Zubat to clear the corridor they were in but the damage was done. Sully rose to his feet to see a look of sheer terror on Celeste's face. Her body was locked stiff with her arms outstretched at her side. The hair on her head which was once perfect without a strand misplaced now looked more like the nest of a pidgey. Her lips were moving but no sound was coming out as Sully's cheeky smile was lit up brightly by a nearby light.

"Well that was an experience," Sully laughed as he spoke, raising a finger to point at Celeste's hair. "You may want to brush your hair..." His sarcastic mocking snapped her back to reality and she lunged at him with both hands, taking a tight grip of his collar. She spoke with a deep, gruff voice sounding almost demonic in nature. "This is all your fault." He eyes were wide with rage and it looked like she was starting to foam at the mouth. Sully raised his hands in the air, "Ok ok...I'm sorry." Celeste stared at him silently for a few moments before releasing her grip. Turning around she crouched to the floor and began to root through her bag. After a brief moment she was standing back up with her hair in perfect order and a smile back on her face. "Ok then let's get going." The girl turned and continued on to where they were meant to wait. As she walked off Sully looked entirely bemused by her sudden switch of personality, going from sheer rage seemingly happiness in the space of several seconds. I think i'd rather be here with the demolition team...

It wasn't long before they were at the bottom level of Mount Moon and fortunately or unfortunately, they spotted a suspect pair of people at the far end of the corridor. The normla looking couple were manicly rummaging through a bag before pulling out what looked like a small box. "Do you think that's them?" Celeste squinted to try and see better but it was useless. "Only one way we will find out...let's go." The pair of new trainers broke into a hurried sprint, their footsteps echo carrying down to the end of the corridor. The suspect couple at the end of the corridor turned their heads at the sound of footsteps but before they could react Sully and Celeste were ontop of them.

The couple were roughly the same age as Sully and Celeste. The young man with a bowl hair cut and thick rimmed glasses was joined by his redhead, freckle faced partner in crime. "Stop what you're doing!" Turning his head only slightly towards Celeste so he didn't break his view of the couple, Sully spoke once more. "Celeste...the phone." Looking along the wall Celeste quickly spotted a phone drilled into the wall a few feet away. She quickly made for it, taking hold of the receiver. Before she could speak the phone went dead with the sound of nearby crash. Celeste looked to see a male Nidoran fall from the wall, it's small horn had severed the telephone cable on the wall leaving the device useless.

"You two have made a big mistake! Fiona and Dave sweat nobody!" Sully grinned in the corner of his mouth at the young man talking about himself in the third person. "Well Dave i'm sorry but you are not blowing up anymore of this tunnel. Too many pokemon live here for you to be destroying it." The bespeckled man laughed in response. "We're sure there is gold here and it will be ours!" Dave reached into his pocket and pulled out a pokeball, throwing it in the space between the two pairs. "Machop go!" Fiona looked at the Nidoran and called it to her side, "Nidoran to me!" Machop emerged almost directly next to the Nidoran, both pokemon taking a fighting pose looked directly at Sully and Celeste.

"I guess it's time Celeste." He turned to look at his companion, the two exchanging a smile. "Lets do it." In almost perfect unison the pair drew back their arms and threw out their pokeballs. "Go Axew!" Sully felt a warmth over his body as threw the pokeball, it was something that he had waited for after the longest time. "Rhyhorn let's go!" Celeste had much the same feeling. She had the appearance of someone who you wouldn't assume wanted to be a trainer, but if anything she probably wanted it more than Sully.

With the light of both their pokeballs faded, Axew and Rhyhorn stood side by side. Both let out a loud cry before locking eyes with their opponents. Axew was opposite the Machomp, the fighting type having a slight height and weight advantage. Sully wasn't concerned, from the research he carried out when travelling to Mount Moon he found out that Axew was quite quick for a first evolution pokemon. There was a brief period of silence before Dave eventually broke it.

"Machop use karate chop!" The Machop launched forward with intent to hit the Axew. In the corner of his eye he could see the Nidoran lunge forward at Celeste's Rhyhorn, but he was too focussed on his own situation to pay it much more attention than that. Watching on Sully saw his Axew sidestep the incoming blow, the Machop's hand cutting into the soft ground below. "Axew use slash!" As the Machop turned to follow up on it's attack it took a small claw across it's face, causing it to stumble back. "Hit it with seismic toss!" Lunging forward the Machop took hold of Axew as it tried to dodge once more. The larger pokemon began to rotate in place, spinning Axew around and around. As it let go Axew barrelled towards the wall hitting it with a large thud. Dropping to the floor the dragon type slowly got to it's feet rubbing it's head, grimacing at the pain. "Axew...scary face!" Before Axew could do it's move Dave was already barking orders to his Machop. "Hit it with low kick!" The Machop closed the distance to Axew and drew it's leg back for it's attack. It stopped suddenly as it saw the face Axew pulled, the smaller pokemon able to contort it's face into one of pure horror.

"That's it Axew! Dual Chop!" Axew seemed to smile as it leapt at Machop. First swinging it's left hand it caught the Machop firmly on the chest before the follow up right caught it square on the neck, knocking it to the ground. The fighting type was slow to rise, the damage done by Axew's attack was clearly significant. "Come on Machop! What are you playing at?! Hit it with karate chop!" Sully saw how hurt the Machop was and called to Axew. "Axew counter it with slash!" The two pokemon ran towards each other and in unison thrust their arms forward to attack. Both hit at the same time with the pokemon falling to the ground. For a moment they were both motionless, before one slowly rose to it's feet, standing as the victor. Sully felt an uncontrollable smile across his face as he saw Axew stand over the unconscious Machop. "Axew you did it!" The pokemon turned to Sully and ran into his arms, the pair exchanging a hug. "I'm so proud of you!"

A forceful cough interrupted the shared moment of joy. The trainer and his pokemon turned to see Celeste tapping her foot with her Rhyhorn next to an unconscious Nidoran. "Took you long enough!" The Axew poked his tongue out at Celeste, causing Sully to laugh. "Cheeky little thing." Celeste was clearly unhappy with Axew, thinking his reaction rude. She didn't have a chance to respond as a familiar, bellowing voice boomed through the corridor.

"Sully! Celeste! Is that them?" The hulking figure of Adrian flanked by two other mountain rangers came into view as the pair followed the voice. The rangers arrived to see the result of the battle, Dave and Fiona reduced to tears and on their hands and knees. "I guess you didn't need our help after all." Celeste looked at the three confused for a moment. "How did you know to come here?" The hearty laugh of Adrian beat the ears of everyone in the corridor. "Well when you pick up a phone here it automatically connects to the main line. I heard the phone ring but when I answered it there was no sound. I just assumed it was you two finding this pair of scum." Turning his glance to Dave and Fiona, Adrian instructed the other two rangers to take them away.

"Word's cannot truly reflect how grateful we are that you managed to catch this pair. You have done a great job." Sully and Celeste couldn't hide the joy that they had succeeded in their task. "Honestly went better than I expected." Celeste scoffed and was soon overcome with an air of arrogance. "Well I knew I could do it." Suddenly Celeste caught a look of fear on Sully's face, the young man slowly backing away. He slowly raised his hand to point over Celeste's shoulder. "Zubat!" he yelled. Celeste let out a cry and began to flail her arms and legs wildly in fear. As the laughter from Sully and Adrian filled her ears she stopped still, slowly raising her head. The demonic face and voice returned. "You're dead!" Sully with Axew now perched on his shoulder turned and began to run towards the Mount Moon entrance. "I'm going to kill you Sully!"

Sully and Celeste ran all the way to the entrance with Adrian not far behind. As daylight hit their skin they both fell over onto the ground, exhausted from the chase. Rolling over onto his back Sully led next to Celeste. "Come on...you know you deserved that." Celeste scrunched her face together knowing he was right, it didn't stop her driving her elbow into his arm though. The two shared a laugh as the heavy footsteps of Adrian approached.

"Right then you two, thanks again. I really do mean it. Oak gave me these two tokens to pass onto you. They allow you to purchase a single TM or allow you one visit to a move trainer, so make sure you don't lose them. They'll come in handy i'm sure." The pair stood up to their feet and each took a token from Adrian's monstrously large hands. "Thanks" Thanking Adrian together, Sully and Celeste placed the tokens in their pockets and bid him farewell.

"So where too next?" Sully rubbed the back of his head as he thought. He was still on a high from winning his first battle and felt like he could take on the world. "We could head back to Pewter City and take on the gym?" Celeste laughed mockingly. "You want to take on a gym with only one pokemon?" Rolling his eyes Sully spat back. "Well obviously I intend to catch some more. Route Three is meant to have some pretty tough types." Celeste took a second to think before giving her response. "Ok that sounds fine to me. Let's get going." Leaving the Mount Moon behind Sully and Celeste began to make their way along Route 3 towards Pewter City.

---

Eddy shook Samantha's hand with a smile. He was glad the cues of the artiste held true for the reporter as well. Carrie, on the other hand, had finally run out of potatoes, the spoon still continuing the motions.

"Eh, she's probably just high-strung. But yeah, my uncle does independent films. I know a lot about handling the artsy types. Vanity and artistic integrity, those are what you hit 'em with. Oh, right, uh, introductions."

He picked up his Abra, who blinked twice and went back to snoozing.

"I'm Eddy, and this little glutton is Carrie, she did special effects back on the Trauma lot."

@King Cosmos

Interacting with: @Menhir@Jerkchicken

Damian tried his best not to blow up on the girl again because she at least tried to ease the pain somewhat. "let's just put that behind us, if you don't mind. Let's at least get acquaintances with each other." after some time has passed since the altercation he has given some thought to
His reaction. He let off some of his gathered steam on the girl.

"I'm sorry for reacting that way and taking your drink. It was out of character. he beckoned towards Lance who was pretty far away.

"I'm pretty sure all of us wants to rid the island of those bandits as soon as possible so let's develop a plan, the sooner the better."

After a long, vigorous and rather exorbitant amount of exfoliating of the skin, Reporter Rebecca Pierce had finished her all inclusive and exclusive investigation of the Oak Institute's washroom. The interiors were sterile, lifeless and over all not a very welcoming place for a wash off. But the pressure was sufficient and the temperatures were solid. All and all the facilities warranted a passing grade.

Of course using those showers was not the only thing provided to Reporter Rebecca Pierce at this time. A fresh change of clothes were also provided. She received a clean skirt, blazer, blouse, tie and pair of heels which were more or less identical to her previous garments which were being thoroughly cleansed at this moment.

Relaxing in a chair, keeping an eye on the PokeDex waiting for when she felt like calling in to the others, Rebecca smiled at the cosmetologist who was busy with the foot file. "By Kyogre you don't know how long its been since I've had a proper one..." But the cosmetologist didn't seem to care for conversation at this point in time.

All the while Whismur was sniffling and trying its darnedest not to move. Being a footstool wasn't exactly easy and the creature didn't want to experience what would happen if it failed in this task.

Living on islands surrounded by canals his whole life, Mark had only had a couple of driving lessons, seeing as everything was pretty much within walking - or swimming - distance. There was no way he would be able to drive off-road - there wasn't even any off-road areas to drive on when he lived in Alto Mare! Magnus, however, had considerable off-road driving experience from his upbringing in the Orre region. After they drove most of the way into the Safari Zone, Magnus, at the suggestion of Victor, had his Ralts search out for any frightened pokémon, which had led them to their current situation - a Farfetch'd up a tree, with three poachers trying to get it out.

Mark thought for a while - how could these top these poachers? Then he had an idea, and told it to Victor and Magnus. "What if Lotad goes out there and uses astonish?" he told the two other guys, "Then, Ralts can teleport in and use confusion, and Humphrey can attack too?"

Lotad made a slightly scary face, clearly practicing for the event that Mark had suggested, growling quietly, "Lotad."

---

@Bigg Slamm@Archmage MC

Lance who was partway asleep on the ride simply went "Yeah sure." to Damien who wanted to apologize. He guessed it was a good start, but honestly it should've been more oriented on the girl. After all it was she who he had started this dumb spat with. But whatever, better that then him being a jerk over nothing.

The boat ride was pretty smooth as Dr.Aquarius piloted the boat well enough. Things were fine until his radar started acting nuts and the boat was slowing to a crawl. He tried to put the engine in reverse to avail. Something was immobilizing the boat. He stepped out to see what was going on and it made itself immediately obvious. A whole swarm of tentacools and frillish immediately surged up from the water and bobbed silently in the surf with smug faces.

Then in front of their ship a large object breaking the water approached. It was a wailord with a crudeky painted flag attached to it with some harness. On it's back were a surprising amount of kids. They were dressed like pirates and were all armed with plastic neon swords and remoraids in their hands. Suddenly they all set free a handful of octillery from their pokeballs sitting side by side on the wailord. "Ready. Aim. FIRE!" A voice chirped out. A volley of ink came raining down on portside.

Dr. Aquarius let out an amused smile as he ducked down to avoid getting coated in ink. In the time everyone finished trying to avoid getting splattered with ink, the wailord had made its approached and spat out a plank connecting it to the boat. There were kids rushing to the boat. One kid with a fancy hat and eyepatch began speaking to them as he flourished his sword, "Yard, you wretched landlubbers made a big mistake crossing paths me, The Dread Pirate, Cap'n Blood and the notorious Cinnibar Raiders. We're coming to take your ship and any booty. Don't try to fight back, you'll only get cut or blasted!"

"First mate Reuben! take the men and make sure our prisoners don't do anything funny."

"Aye aye sir." Another kid said.

"Heeeeeey I wanted to be captain!" Another voice rang out. "You promised we'd trade places."

"BUT I WANTED TO BE CAPTAIN EARLIER. I got a Chatot which makes me more captainer" Yet another voice whined out.

Disorder broke out as they started arguing about roles as the current captain tried and reign them in telling them they had prisoners to take back and make their slaves. Eventually the council of pirates convened that the kid with the chatot should be captain because he captains always have a pet and the other kid didn't. They quickly swapped out hats and the new kid stepped in as he taunted the deposed captain. "Don't worry Cah-meel," he said mockinly, "You can be our swabbie."

"Hey Camille is a manly name! It comes from a great great pokeknight!" He said greatly annoyed.

The new captain ignored Camille and said to his hostages, "Already, I'm the new captain here! Do anything funny and you'll get it!" He made an exaggerated throat slitting motion to both the hostages and the pirate crew.

The chatot helpfully elaborated by shouting, "CHOP THEIR BODIES INTO SHARPEDO FOOD!" As it began making all sorts of noise and started rocking its head spastically.

“I hope you’re right. I just don’t want to have to be stuck with someone who needs to be handled to make them bearable.”

Samantha was glad she seemed to be starting things off with the right foot with one of her partners at least. She was hoping to make a few friends along the way on this adventure and it would be a pretty bad sign of things to come if she couldn’t even get along with the people she was supposed to work with.

She smiled at the Abra in Eddy’s arms, the little Pokémon dozing away as the Psychic types always seemed to be. Turning towards the food table she raised a hand and beckoned Terry to come closer, the adorable Grass type trotting over curiously and finding himself suddenly lifted into the air and placed on his trainers lap. “This is Terry; I just got him from the Professor.

“So should we get out of here and take a look around town while we wait for Miss evening news to get cleaned up?”

----

@clanjos

Malie drifted out of another cat nap to find both her and her Slakoth soaked head to toe in ink. Not an unusual occurrence, but this was the kind of thing she had hoped to get away from on a vacation. Tilting up her sunglasses, she took stock of the situation, noting that the good doctor had ducked behind the door of the ship's wheelhouse and was, for his part, completely dry. Almost as if he had known this was coming.

"Hey doc, this happen often around these parts?", she asked, wringing out her hair.

"I was hoping to explain before we reached the islands. These, Team Red-"

"-Team Snakewood-"

"-These, Team Snakewood, are the, ah, bandits we've been having trouble with."

"You're joking."

"Oh no, I'm quite serious."

Doctor Aquarius stepped out of the wheelhouse, now covered head to toe in a heavy-duty rainslicker, and continued his exposition.

"These children have been plundering smaller vessels for the better part of two months, and we're still no closer to actually tracking down their hideout. I guess you folks are a good luck charm!"

He turned around and raised his arms, shouting so the children could hear.

"OH NOOOOO, THEY'VE GOT US GOOD! I GUESS WE'LL JUST HAVE TO SURRENDER TO THESE DIRTY LOW-DOWN SEA DOGS, NOTHING TO BE DONE ABOUT IT, NO SIR!"

"Brycen-Man, eat your heart out...", Malie muttered under her breath.

[LATER, AT THE SECRET BASE]

Well, it was official. Team Topaz (co-starring Doc Aquarius) had been captured by a gang of small, annoying children. That being said, it was a pretty swanky secret base. They had been blindfolded on the way there, but it was definitely some kind of sea cave. The smooth, naturally-carved walls pulsed with a faint blue light, supplemented by a number of imported Alolan tiki torches. Decorative plushes originally bound for the Celadon department store littered the floor, along with several crates of novelty pirate costumes, toy swords, and approximately half a ton of Rage Candy Bars. The current captain lounged atop a halfway-assembled jungle gym, Team Topaz' pokemon having been thrown into a makeshift cage and guarded by the kid's Chatot. As for Team Topaz themselves, they sat cross-legged in the center of the cave, hands bound together by the finest of boy scout knotsmanship.

"Brilliant plan, doc."

"We made it in, didn't we?"

"Look, I'm gonna be straight with you: If this ink stains my favorite shirt, these kids are gonna be the least of your problems."

---

Victory in his first battle had filled Sully with a confidence that he had not felt before in his life. In his heart he knew it was all Axew but he still couldn't help but feel a sense in pride at defeating his opponent in his first battle. Celeste was much the same, albeit taking confidence to the realms of hideous smugness. While the pair walked along route 3 it was very much a case of Celeste talking and Sully trying his best not to listen. She spoke of how she was going to dominate the pokemon battle circuit and become the greatest trainer of all time. 'All this after one battle against a nobody.' The thought grounded Sully a bit as he realised his first battle hadn't been against anyone of consequence either. Still, it was a good place to start and he knew he had to keep himself focussed.

As the path bent around rocky outcrops and a spattering of trees Sully caught a glimpse of a pokemon. He pulled out his pokedex and watched as it brought up an image and description of a pokemon called Pawniard. 'A dark and steel type pokemon...could be handy.' Thinking to himself Sully decided that he was going to try and catch Pawniard as his first self caught pokemon. He turned to walk towards Pawniard but was distracted by Celeste as she continued talking and walking off. Sully whistled at her causing her to jump and overreact once again.

"Why do you keep doing this to me?!" Her face was contorted with anger but it didn't bother Sully anymore, he had grown accustomed to her unique way of dealing with situations. "I've found a Pawniard over there, I'm going to try and catch it." Celeste stood on her toes to peer over Sully's shoulder at the small pokemon. "He looks weird." Sully raised an eyebrow, "You look weird." Ducking down to a squat Sully avoided an incoming open palm slap from Celeste. "Not weird ugly you idiot. Weird as in something doesn't seem right." Sully turned around and moved in closer. As he neared it became clear that the small pokemon had gotten one of it's arm blades stuck in a tree.

Approaching the Pawniard he tried to speak in a calming voice. "Hey there Pawniard, you seem to be stuck little guy." The pokemons head swivelled quickly and it began to aggressively yank it's arm while trying to free it. Sully could make out a sincere fear on it's face as it struggled. "Hey...it's ok...i'm just going to help you." The Pawniard let out a cry as Sully approached, it was clearly scared.

Reaching into his jacket Sully summoned Axew from it's pokeball. With a muted voice he spoke to his pokemon. "Axew please try and convince him to let us help. He's clearly in trouble." Axew nodded and approached keeping arms length distance. The two pokemon conversed for several moments before the Pawniard turned and stared at Sully. After a couple of seconds the dual type pokemon nodded and it's posture lessened. Sully smiled and approached, taking hold of the small pokemons trapped arm. "On three...one...two...three." With a sharp tug the pokemon was free from the tree, landing on top of Sully as he fell over from over exertion.

The Pawniard stood up on Sully's chest and aimed his bladed arm at his face causing the human to hesitate in getting up. It's expression was difficult to read until Sully saw what he could only interpret as gratitude in the pokemons eye. "How long have you been stuck there? I bet you're hungry ain't you?!" Pawniard nodded aggressively, it must have been stuck for quite a while. "How about you come with us? We can get you a nice big bowl of food. Then afterwards you can come with me and Axew and see the world?" With what could only be described as a happy squeal, Pawniard agreed. The small pokemon leapt from Sully's chest to allow him up.

As he stood to his feet Sully looked down at the pokemon with a smile on his face, "Welcome to the team!"

---