But what strategy could he use? Iris’s pokemon were pretty strong against his own, and his Psychics didn’t have that much experience over her own. Not to mention the type advantage. Sure he stocked up on revives and potions, but his Pokemon would end up struggling in the end.

Was this it? Checkmate?

Timmy wasn’t sure how he could start making leeway on the Polteageist with a Ralts and a Dottler. Could his Dottler do damage to it? But… he could try a totally different approach instead of just trying to attack the Polteageist, right? Or he could wail on it and hope he got lucky.

He took a breath to calm himself, smacking himself a few times on the cheeks. He couldn’t panic. Being panicked and nervous made him do stupid things, like that Beat Up decision. He just needed to think…

He brought out his Dottler to stay out front. If Timmy had to guess, his Dottler could tank a few hits; more than enough time to heal his Zigzagoon. This was assuming Iris didn't land a critical on him, but what were the odds of that happening?

“Okay Dr. Dice, use Solar beam and dodge as many attacks as you can.” He instructed his Pokemon as he grabbed a potion from his bag and brought out his Zigzagoon first to heal him.

Polteageist had already been ready to use Mega Drain again to put Nickit out of its misery, but to Iris’s pleasant surprise, the fight wasn’t over just yet. Or at least, Timmy seemed to actually think of a smart move. The Mega Drain barely did anything to the Dottler, and in return, Dottler was setting up a solar beam in retaliation.

Iris tried to shout for Polteageist to dodge, but her words didn’t make it in time, and her Lovely was hit by the attack directly front and center. The attack itself did significant damage to her Pokemon; so much so, that her Polteageist let out a soft cry before fainting to the ground.

The mother inside Iris was distressed seeing her baby fall, but she brought the Pokemon back into its Pokeball for some rest.

“You did wonderfully, my dear.” She quietly praised the Polteageist before putting the ball back on her belt, looking back at Timmy. “It seems you’ve gotten over your nerves, but the fight isn’t over yet.”

Iris grabbed her second ball and tossed it out to reveal Misdreavus, who broke out of the ball with a battle cry of her own.

Timmy, meanwhile, almost forgot about the Zigzagoon in his happiness. “Way to go Dr. Dice! Nice hit!” He cheered, earning what looked like a smile from the Dottler.

Now Iris was in a disadvantage. She was sure her opponent was healing the Zigzagoon up to start doing bait and switch techniques, but when he had under experienced Pokemon, the type advantage wouldn’t do much to help. Maybe tank some of the attacks, but not much else.

“Sweetheart, try using Confusion.” She instructed her Pokemon.

Timmy seemed finished with healing the Zigzagoon, and so he, more confidently, gave directions. “Dr. Dice, Solar Beam again!”

Thanks to Misdreavus’s quickness, she was able to completely outspeed the Dottler and flashed a white ball with colorful prisms surrounding it at the opponent. Though the Dottler took some damage from it, Misdreavus wasn’t able to land the confusion.

Once more, the beam was charged until it shot at the other Pokemon. Though she tried to dodge, Misdreavus was hit by the attack for about a third of her health.

Iris’s lips tightened a bit into a straight line; Timmy seemed to have evened the playing field thanks to that Dottler. It was a gamble, but Iris was willing to bet money that Timmy didn’t think far ahead enough to buy status restores. If he managed to bring her two very under experienced Pokemon, then he might have overlooked (or couldn’t afford) other potions. She would have to risk it, for her and her Pokemon’s sake.

“Use Confusion again, Sweetheart. I know you can do it.” Iris gave her Pokemon some petting for encouragement, which Sweetheart enjoyed greatly.

Timmy, seeing that the technique wasn’t broken, decided not to fix it. He told Dr. Dice to pull off another Solar Beam.

Misdreavus was able to outspeed the Dottler no problem. She released another white ball with colorful prisms flashing next to it. This time, the confusion hit, and Dottler was left looking around like it had no idea what was going on. Dr. Dice tried to follow his trainer’s directions, but ended up hitting himself in confusion.

Timmy’s face seemed to change from confident to panic again when he realized he’d stocked up on potions and revives, but he didn’t recall ever buying any status restores… Did the Wedgehurst store even sell status restores!?

Great.

But, before he could lose himself again and make bad decisions, he had an idea. He didn’t want to risk Dynamaxing Dr. Dice only for his Pokemon to waste a turn hitting himself because of confusion. Though Zigzagoon was healed up at first to work as a bait and switch... what if he dynamaxed the Zigzagoon instead? He could probably take out one of Iris’s Pokemon with it, couldn’t he?

So, with this in mind, he recalled Dottler into his Pokeball and grabbed Zigzagoon’s ball. The warmth of the Dynamax bracelet’s power was heating his wrist. If he could just not miss an attack, he should be fine to take her down! The Ghost badge would be his!

However, before Timmy could perform his super awesome and cool Dynamax pose he practiced so hard on, the match would, unfortunately, be interrupted.

@Ambra @Solace

Astrid tried to focus on the battle, rather than a nagging worry. "Hmmm... Wasn't Holly supposed to be joining us?" she murmured to Hestia. Being fashionably late wasn't unlike Holly, but she'd missed half the match. Telling herself it was probably nothing, Astrid glanced at the entrance, then back towards the battle, just in time to see Timmy's Dynamax band start glowing. She craned her neck forward. "Looks like our young hero is about to turn the tables!"

Before the Zigzagoon got a chance to Dynamax, however, screams filled the arena as a frantic man burst in. Astrid's stomach dropped. An attack on Postwick? On a quiet, normally low-crime town? "Roger that!" Jumping up from her seat, she hurried after Hestia, who was right on it. "Come on, crewmates!"

Nothing could have prepared her for the scene outside. She stopped in her tracks, mouth open. She'd expected a horde of powerful Pokemon, a few Gigantamaxed ones maybe, but not these... creatures, whatever they were. The beasts snarling in the distance bore a vague resemblance to unusually coloured Arcanines, but as they drew closer, Astrid saw they most certainly weren't. Their faces, contorted with aggression, were those of Nidoqueens and Nidokings. Different species appeared to have somehow been fused together. Beside them, a group of people dressed as if they'd stepped right out of a dystopian cyberpunk show casually strode down the street. "Wow. Is it rich to say someone's been watching too many sci-fi movies?"

The eyes of two creatures locked onto Hestia, who wasted no time in sending out Lazuli. Before the Salamence could land a Dragon Claw, though, one of the hybrids spewed forth a burst of purple flame, outright melting several scales from Lazuli's body. Astrid gaped in horror. She hadn't seen a Pokemon so grievously injured since Pulsar had defended her from that Torracat all those years ago. Her feet seemed to move on their own as she ran to Hestia's side.

"Aries! Eclipse!" Loath as she was to put her companions in harm's way, these thugs and their attack beasts had to be stopped. In two bursts of light, the Ampharos and Rotom appeared. "Ok Aries, Power Gem! Give 'em the pew-pew! Then Light Screen!" Aries stood tall, the orb on his head glowing as he fired a laser beam at one of the hybrids. He spread his arms, a luminous yellow energy field appearing between the gym leaders' Pokemon and those of the attackers to dampen incoming special moves. "Eclipse, Shadow Ball at the other one!" Darting into the air, Eclipse snickered at the opposing Pokemon and lauched a swirling purple sphere.

Astrid cast a frantic look back towards the gym doors. "Mayday! Jennings to Arenas!" she called, adjusting an imaginary telecommunication device. To others, it may look as if she wasn't taking the matter seriously, but keeping up this act even in dire situations gave her a courage boost. "We need some ground types here!" Considering the fire attacks and the venom dripping from their fangs, these Pokemon had to have a significant ground weakness - unless they were absurdly strong enough to bypass type disadvantages. Which, if Lazuli's condition was anything to go by, had more than a slight chance of being the case.

Nordrin had to hand it to the cabbie, the man got him to Wyndon in record time. The ride had been anything but smooth, but in the face of some kind of emergency neither driver nor passenger cared. It was all too easy to spot the scene from the air - smoke and dust billowed upward in curling waves. The flying taxi touched down a couple blocks over. Nordrin ran the rest of the way.

To say the scene at the lab was chaotic would be an understatement. Masked goons were scattered about sending their Pokémon to rampage in broad daylight and succeeding at it if the rubble and unconscious bodies of police officers were any indication. Nordrin couldn't fathom what the attack was about - vengeance, a diversion, stealing some kind of secret lab tech? - but he didn't really care either. His job right now was not to solve a puzzle, it was to help but this battle to it's end. Nordrin released his Pokémon as he got closer to the epicenter of the attack. He hadn't had time to gather all of his Pokémon, but the ones he had on him were more than enough.

He arrived at the action just behind Isiah and Sawyer, giving the two men a sharp nod of acknowledgement. Despite any feelings he had about his fellow gym leaders, it was still good to see more help than just himself had arrived. The only other person still standing by the time the three of them got there was Fiona.

The sight of her toothy grin despite the circumstances was like a breath of relief. If you wanted anyone in your corner, it was that firecracker. He didn't quite smile back at her, it was more of a grimace, but it let her know that he was backing her up and about to get into the fight.

While Isiah went straight to business in tackling the three strange looking Pokémon (Steel-types by the looks of them. They seemed to be Bisharp, but with unnaturally long limbs and torsos that looked like they belonged to a Bug-type. They were weird, dangerous, and unfortunately for the fairy leader super-effective against his team.), Nordrin took a different direction.

"Marquant, Chiot!" he called, the Azumarill and Slurpuff jumping to attention. He pointed toward the other Pokémon that were still causing havoc and their masters, his own Pokémon already running in their direction even before he shouted his commands.

"Use your water gun to put out the fires and deal with those Fire-types while you're at it!" This order clearly meant for Marquant, the Water-type responded with a hearty "Azu!" and let out blasts of water. The lab fires were systematically doused, and any interfering enemy Pokémon were met with the water gun shooting them back.

"Now a fairy wind, drive them back and take them out!" The Slurpuff barked and skidded to a halt, doing a quick twirl in place to summon it's own attack. The fairy wind spread wide over the area, dealing heavy damage to the enemies' Dark-types. Chiot held it's stance, ready to let another wave loose at the first opening.

So far so good, but the sheer number of opponents meant that he and his team had their work cut out for them. Beside him, Feefee and Puck shifted anxiously. The Granbull was snapping her jaws open and closed, her eyes darting around at every source of danger. She usually wasn't one for battling, but she'd sensed her trainer's urgency back at the gym and had come along to protect him. She felt Nordrin's hand come down to pet her head once, comforting, and snorted with renewed confidence while keeping guard. Meanwhile, Puck's orders were the next to be issued.

"Fly up and use pollen puff, as wide an area as you can." The Ribombee saluted and flew up high, dodging moves and the flight paths of Fiona's Pokémon. Once he judged it high enough he let the spores loose over the area, the small puffs injuring any enemies they touched and healing any allies.

Sebastien Tomas

Following the other gym leaders out of the stands, Sebastien stepped outside of the arena to find himself in the middle of a battle taking place in the streets of the formerly sleepy town of Postwick; one that seemed a lot more interesting than the one taking place inside right now. Hestia’s Salamence and Astrid’s Ampharos and Rotom were dealing with two Pokémon that he had never seen before and from the looks of things, the strangers were winning.

Why they were fighting, why people were running past them in fear and who the strangely-clad and intense looking trainers were he didn’t know, but when Hestia demanded for help and Astrid called for a Ground-type he moved to accommodate. “On it.”

Sebastien pulled a Pokéball from his waist and sent out Swampert, the large and squat Pokémon’s head swivelling from side to side as it appeared and began taking in the situation. “Murk, hit those two with Muddy Water.” With only two Pokémon in front of him, it was clear who Sebastien intended the Water-type to use the attack on. The Swampert widened its stance before opening its mouth and sending out a torrent of brownish, dark water that swept down the street towards the unknown assailants.

@Ambra@LuckyBlackCat

Mika had been on the edge of his seat as the momentum of the Gym Challenge teetered back and forth. His battling experience always placed him into the fray of the battle, even from the spectator's perspective; he couldn't help but study the contemplative look on Timmy's face, asking himself the same question as if he himself were battling against the boy-- 'What's it gonna be, kid?' It was those split-second moments that fired up the competitive furnace in his chest, almost urging him to get up from the seat and jump right onto the field proper, to sate that thrill.

Unfortunately, it wouldn't be Mika who would storm the breach, but rather, a frightful man with an emaciated look about his face. "Aw, rubbish!" his initial disappointment about the match's sudden interruption brought him to his feet, only for his expression to curl with mild confusion at the shriek for help. "Has he gone mad?" he questioned nobody in particular when the man claimed an attack on the usually peaceful Postwick. But as Hestia and the others were quick to jump on the case, he didn't hesitate to follow along, the droves of civilians running in the opposite direction quickly erasing his doubts.

Something was very wrong, that was certain. Figures clad in some sci-fi wardrobes commanded a legion of mysterious Pokemon, if they could even be called Pokemon. They were some strange amalgamation that disturbed the gym leader greatly, his stomach stirring at the sight. "Let's go, Centurion!" Mika opted to unleash the Krookodile upon the assailants, his stout form manifesting into reality. Centurion stomped each of his feet once, roaring as he raised his right hand up towards the sky and his left hand in the attacker's direction-- his usual pose of flair and arrogance.

In the brief seconds that Centurion wasted, Mika saw that Hestia's Salamence had already taken damage, prompting him to run up to Centurion and gently smack the Pokemon upside the head. "None of that right now, pet," he sighed as Centurion's swagger deflated with a sad groan, crossing its arms back into a normal pose. Pointing in the direction of the twisted Pokemon, the Krookodile set its sights on them.

"Eart- no, High Horsepower!" Mika contemplated the use of Earthquake, opting against the move in fear of causing collateral damage against the civilians and other gym leaders. Centurion's maw hung open as his eyes triangulated on the opponent. His arms came apart, facing the white claws of his hands towards them. With one mighty roar, Centurion took off in a mad dash, intentionally pacing himself for the Muddy Water to strike first before it would attack the leftmost one with its entire body.

Small wonder they'd gone for her Talonflame first. Judging by the number of moves she'd had her Pokemon try on the weird unknown Pokemon, Fiona could surmise that they were probably Steel and Bug type. Fiona scowled at the thought, continuing to command her Pokemon. She couldn't exactly tell who was commanding them, but someone was clearly giving orders, based on how well the fusion Pokemon were moving.

"Nuts tae butts, th' odd fuckers're probably Bug! Definitely Steel! Hit 'em with Fire if ya got it!" Fiona yelled out towards her fellow Gym Leaders while continuing to keep an eye on the battle. The sudden arrival of reinforcements had started to turn the tide, with several of the robbers' Pokemon being knocked out.

Apollo's Flamethrower scored direct hits in the sides of all three of the strange Pokemon, their pained reactions definitely revealing that they were at the very least, weak to Fire-type moves. Unfortunately, this also gave Nordrin's Pokemon more to deal with as they were putting out the fires. As the rest of the criminal Pokemon began to fall and the odd ones were further weakened by stray attacks flying back and forth across the street, the thugs began to panic slightly. Just then, however...

"Damn it, you're all useless. A few people that can actually battle worth a damn show up, and you goons start falling apart. Hell, even the party favors don't look so hot. We can't afford to lose the prototypes to these idiots. Boss'd have my ass, which means I'd have every single one of yours." A male voice boomed, its owner stepping out of the lab with a steel briefcase in hand. A heavy coat, a hood, a high collar, and a cap all served to obfuscate any noticeable feature the man had, and he casually pulled three Ultra Balls out of his coat pocket, recalling the three mystery Pokemon. "Fall in and rally behind me, we're pushing out-" He was cut off by Felon's roar, and the apparent leader of the group tilted his cap up towards the Mega Salamence, seeming to start for a moment before staring straight at Fiona. "...You."

"What, do I know ya?" Fiona raised an eyebrow, even as she commanded her Gliscor to sucker punch a few Pokemon who were turning away to rejoin the main group. "Don't think I owe ya money...fuck it, just get on wit' it. Who tae fuck're ye?"

"Someone whose property you stole, bitch." The hooded man snarled, fishing another Pokeball out of his pocket and releasing an Alakazam.

"Wait, wha-"



The Alakazam gripped its spoons tightly, snarling and drooling slightly in a disturbing fashion. This species...wasn't supposed to be that animalistic.

"Wide-range dispersal." The apparent admin commanded, and the Alakazam actually howled as it smashed its spoons together, black tornadoes forming around the entire street as they ravaged through friend and foe alike. By the time it was over, whatever the attack had been did a number on nearly every Pokemon in the street. No matter their Type, every Pokemon staggered like it had been hit by a super-effective attack, knocking out even Pokemon on the criminals' side that either had already been weakened or were just fragile enough to be unable to take a hit.

On Fiona's side, she gaped for just a moment as half her team was knocked from the air, having already sustained enough damage from the ongoing battle to knock them out. Of her team, only Raptor and Felon remained conscious.

"Crazy fuckin' bastard!" Fiona snarled as she recalled her KOed Pokemon. In the confusion, the thugs started to disperse, recalling their Pokemon and running every which way. "Dammit, let th' coppers get after 'em, we gotta take this one!"

"Come on, assholes!" The hooded man screamed back, releasing an equally vicious-looking Steelix as backup for his Alakazam, briefcase no longer in his hands.

At least they'd figured something out, that the weird looking bug-like creatures were weak to fire. Isaiah waved a vaguely apologetic hand in Nordrin's direction since his team were trying to put the fires out. They had far more important things to worry about at the moment, the damage would be assessed when they had kicked these weirdos out of the city. His team was doing mostly fine from what he could tell, though his up front brawlers had clearly taken a beating already. Thankfully they were all bulky in their own right, or he would've had to pull them back that much sooner.

He went to command Apollo for a second flamethrower when the so called 'prototypes' were withdrawn. Whoever this overdramatic shit was he appeared to be the leader in some capacity. His mention of a boss gave Isaiah a brief pause. Obviously these were at least somewhat coordinated attacks, but that all but confirmed that there was something bigger going on here. What that was, he had no idea.

Whatever conversation the 'leader' was having with Fiona went entirely over his head as he ordered Roswell to Lash Out at the retreating enemy Pokémon. The Alakazam he released was worth his attention though as his brow furrowed in confusion. "What the hell did they do to it?" He muttered under his breath more to himself than anyone else. He could handle a psychic type though, his whole team was effective against them and wouldn't be touched by most of its attacks. Or at least that's how it should be, but the black tornadoes that tore through indiscriminately didn't seem to care about that.

"Shit," that wasn't what he'd expected as he recalled half his team, the sheer defense of his other team members being the only thing to keep them up. "Shanni back to me," he called out to the Tyranitar as the Steelix was thrown out. He couldn't Earthquake in the middle of the city and the last thing he wanted was for her to her hit with a massive steel attack. That left Roswell and Zhanna to try and deal with these things along with whoever else was still up.

He just hoped that they were still weak to the usual since the attacks these Pokémon had access to didn't follow the rules. "Zhanna Dark Pulse again, aim for the Alakazam!" He didn't wait to see if she followed his order, he knew she would, and turned to Roswell. The Obstagoon was looking worse for wear after that hit, but still looked determined to fight. "Roswell, Brick Break on the Steelix, but keep light on your feet, don't let that thing hit you!"

The turnaround of Timmy's performance was something Iris was hoping to see. Winning was nice, but if the challengers lost, then they'd come back to fight her again and again until they won. Not only that, but Iris only had so many Pokemon she could keep on her league team before they became too strong. Then came the mess of catching more...

Before things could get interesting, the battle was interrupted by the sounds of screaming. Immediately she was on high alert, but not just because of the intruders. The audience wasn't as big as the later gyms, but there was still plenty of people. If they weren't careful the group could end up trampling someone in their panic.

Snapping another Pokeball from her belt, Iris summoned her Shuppet to work alongside her Misdreavous. The Shuppet let out its usual League cry, anticipating an opponent, but was surprised to see there were a panicking crowd in front of him. He looked at his trainer for answers.

"Shuppie, work with Sweetheart to make sure the crowd gets out safely! Protect anyone that might get trampled! Hurry!"

With a cry of confirmation, both Pokemon flew quickly towards the doors. Iris was certain the rest of the Pokemon in her gym challenge heard the screams and, dare she say it, wouldn't resist coming to see what mishap was happening.

At least she'd have more Pokemon in her control for these damn intruders.

She moved to follow her fellow gym leaders, but Iris was stopped by a hand grabbing her wrist, making her fall behind. It was Timmy.

Iris had been half paying attention to him thanks to the adrenaline and the frantic need to help her comrades, but what she did catch was "want to help."

“You can help by leaving!” She responded. “Go! Follow Shuppet and Misdreavous to the emergency exit! Now!”

He seemed dissatisfied with her answer but did as told, running away with the rest of the screaming crowd. Iris rushed to make up the lost ground. Hestia had her Salamence, Astrid with her Ampharos and Rotom, Sebastien with his Swampert, and Mika with his Krookodile.

Iris had to bite back vomit due to the foul odor that emitted from Salamence's wound, not to mention the site of it hurt Iris to her core. She could only imagine just what Hestia felt seeing her beloved Pokemon in such a state.

Iris herself didn't have many ground types, save for Golurk. She had Earthquake on him, but with so many allies nearby, there was no way she would use it. So, she grabbed one of the six Pokeballs from her main team lineup and brought out Cutie, her Gengar. The Pokemon didn't even get a chance to let out a battle cry before Iris was already giving him orders.

“Cutie, use Confuse Ray on the strange beasts! Then set up for Night Shade afterwards!”

Cutie the Gengar gave her a nod then charged up his attack, directing it at the two strange beasts. A flaring white that flashed multiple colors in an attempt to assist the allies in being able to subdue the opposing Pokemon.

It was going so well. Timmy was finally making progress in battle. So who's bright idea was it to attack the town at a time like this. Bianca visibly flinched when the frightened man shrieked out his pleas, flailing into the arena in desperation. Then he composed himself just enough to tell them was was going on. Her eyes went wide. Bianca and Weiss tailed Hestia and the others to the entrance. The cries of terror that sung out when they made it out, oh how they tore at her heartstrings.

Then there were the culprits, and their...

Oh no...

With everyone else following up Hestia's pokemon, Bianca lagged behind not out of fear, but of focus. Those pokemon she was fighting acted first with a fire-type move, but somehow it managed to take out one of Lazuli's wings. Astrid thought they could be weak to ground types, but something caught the ice-type leader's eye. Their heads and colors were not unlike a Nidoking or Nidoqueen's, but their bodies were like an Arcanine's. Either this was some bullshit regional variant they haven't seen before...

Or these people, whoever they were, were creating hybrids.

Papa needs to know about this! Was it even possible to have a tri-type pokemon? That could explain why it was strong against a dragon type. There's also the chance it could have inflicted poison onto Lazuli but she's stalled herself long enough. "W-Weiss, follow Cutie up with Icy Wind!" The Froslass flew after the Gengar. Once he had fired the Confuse Ray at the beasts, she'd soon conjure up a chilling, cutting gust of wind aimed at their adversaries.

It may have seem unorthodox, but Bianca took a quick photo of the enemy pokemon (if you could even call 'em that. Eugh.) for evidence. No doubt her father will spread the word about these creatures. She was almost tempted to send out Nyx too, but if they could overwhelm them or find their weakness...

@Ambra

Astrid's hand flew to her mouth as the beasts turned on each other, piercing and tearing flesh. As much as they needed to be stopped, nobody deserved this, and she doubted the Pokemon were even at fault for the attack on Postwick. These thugs had to have done something to them, to make them so crazed. Just in time, though, an Icy Wind from Weiss stopped their would-be fight to the death.

Overwhelmed, the terrorists retreated in a matter of seconds. Exhaling heavily, Astrid turned to Hestia and shook her head. "I'm ok, but..." She pressed the buttons on two Pokeballs. One burst of light turned into Caelum, a Vikavolt who buzzed around as he took in the attack's aftermath. Another formed into a Magnezone, Pulsar, with several dents in their left side from where a Torracat's Flame Charge-strengthened claws had partially melted the steel many years ago. Living proof of how dangerous Pokemon could be in the wrong hands. "Both of you, there's been an attack, please search to see if any townspeople are hurt. Eclipse, join them."

With a respective buzz and beep of acknowledgement, Caelum and Pulsar took to the air, followed by Eclipse. Fingernails digging into her palms, Astrid hoped they'd find no casualties. Enough damage had been done. "What even were those creatures?" she muttered, wondering aloud rather than asking. "I've never seen anything like that outside of films and TV."

As the battle raged on, Nordrin's team continued their work. For the most part they kept up their original orders: the Slurpuff focused it's Fairy Wind on any stray Pokémon, overwhelming the enemy while Azumarill kept up with damage control and the occasional blast of water to an opponent's face. Over all of them Ribombee flitted around raining down attacks.

Speaking of rain, they could use some of it right now since the continued onslaught was making Marquant's work essentially useless, new fires blazing in as fast as he could put them out.

"Fuck's sake," he grumbled, giving his Azumarill a sharp nod when the Pokémon looked back him for permission for a Rain Dance. With it granted, Marquant went about summoning the rain.

It was about that time that the three mysterious Pokémon were recalled, and a new stranger entered the scene. The man was dressed from head to toe with nary a hint to his identity, but it was clear he was the leader of this operation. And he seemed to know Fiona? Trust her to be involved in some mess without even knowing it.

The Pokémon he released was the most messed up looking Alakazam that Nordin had ever seen. More bewildering was the attack that it unleashed though - furious twisters carved paths through the area, endangering everyone in their path. Chiot and Marquant were flung away from the battle, pained from the heavy blow.

Ribombee, which had been pulling double duty healing all of the gym leaders' Pokémon while steadily stacking damage on the enemy with it's Pollen Puff, was completely caught off guard by the attack. It cried out and fell unconscious from the air, enveloped in the soft red light of it's Pokéball's return feature before hitting the ground.

"What the bloody hell was that?" That wasn't a move that Nordrin was familiar with. The dark winds had cut through and managed to deal a lot of damage so quickly, and to everyone around. One of the tornadoes had even gotten close to the back line where he stood with Feefee, and he could feel the biting wind threatening to rip at his skin and clothes. Okay, so the situation had just gotten even more serious.

Out of the four Pokémon that happened to be with him, he was now down to two and a half. Chiot had taken a heavy blow, and the fact that he was still standing was commendable, but it looked like one more attack like that and he'd be out of commission. The Slurpuff was already beginning to use it's Fake Tears, but Nordrin stopped it by issuing a different command.

"Chiot, Wish!" he said, and the Fairy-type pup let out a yip and did just that. That move would hopefully buy some extra time either for Chiot or any other Pokémon that happened to be around when it came true.

As for Feefee and Marquant, it was time to go on the offensive and make sure these feral Pokémon were taken care of.

"Feefee, you're going to have to get out there," he said. The Granbull puffed herself up and stepped forward, ready for whatever orders came her way. She didn't wait long. "Split up and get close! Feefee, on the Alakazam with Crunch. Marquant, you take that fucking Steelix on with Aqua Tail!"

He earned an affirmative cry from each of his Pokémon as they moved in. Granbull used Hydreigon's Dark Pulse as a cover in order to move in with her fangs barred. Meanwhile as the rain of Azumarill's earlier dance finally began to drizzle down for real, Marquant boldly rushed toward the Steelix. Out of all of Nordrin's remaining Pokémon, he was least concerned about the Azumarill - and the sooner that Steelix was taken out the less he had to worry about his Fairy-types. Still, that move Alakazam had used bothered him. What the hell was it, and how had it been so strong? He had second thoughts about splitting focus between the two opposing Pokémon, especially if the Alakazam was that strong, but taking back his words would not only confuse his team but also be shameful. He committed.

"Alakazam, Protect!" The hooded man cried out as attacks surged towards his two Pokemon. "Steelix, tank it and then Earthquake!"

"Are ya fucking insane?!" Fiona shot her eyes wide open in horror at the order. Earthquake in the middle of a crowded city? Even with modern construction being rated to take the attack, it was still going to shatter windows and ruin vehicles at the most inopportune of moments. "We're in th' middle of Wyndon, eejit! Yer gonna kill someone!"

"Sure hope it's you!" The man shot back as his Alakazam's Protect barrier rendered it safe but immobile for the moment, even as his Steelix took a Brick Break and an Aqua Tail, followed up by a Body Press from Fiona's Corviknight. Meanwhile, her Mega Salamence howled in fury as his Outrage was repelled by the Protect, sending Felon back into the air. However, the pain of the attacks given to the admin's Steelix seemed to render it blindingly furious, and it disregarded the orders it was given to charge forward, a black aura surging around it as it rammed into Raptor. The Corviknight squawked as she took yet another brutal attack, seemingly on her last legs as she touched down in a Roost.

"Shadow Rush? You little shit, I didn't order-" The Steelix's trainer started angrily before pausing, as if realizing something. "Oh, fuck. Reverse Mode." He glanced around the streets, seeing the last of his grunts managing to get away from the immediate area. "Right, bought enough time, screw this." He murmured quietly before raising his voice once more, recalling his Steelix as he moved closer to his snarling Alakazam.

"Some Gym Leaders you dipshits are! See my hands?" He held his arms out mockingly. "That's right, no briefcase! Should've gone after one of my boys instead! Too late now, though! See ya, suckers!" A flick of his wrist, and a cylindrical object slid out of the man's jacket and into his hand. He pulled the pin on the smoke grenade and hurled it to the ground, surrounding himself and his Pokemon in thick smoke. Through the haze, the admin's voice could be heard one final time. "Bird bitch, I'll be back for MY GOD DAMN PROPERTY soon enough. Alakazam, Teleport!"

"Seriously, I don't know who tae shite ya are, ye fuckin' bampot!" Fiona yelled back as Felon swooped down and began flapping his wings to clear the smoke, revealing empty space where the man and his Alazakam used to be. The Flying leader scowled at the sight, pulling her goggles back up off her eyes. "Dinnae what I was expectin', really." Fiona looked back at her fellow Gym Leaders, sticking her hands in her jacket pockets as she sighed, surveying the damage all around.

"Thanks fer th' backup. An' no, I got nary a damn clue what he was on about wit' me in particular. Last thing I ever stole from someone was..." She trailed off for a moment, murmuring to herself as some sort of clues seemed to piece together in her head. "Since he was usin'...oh. Ohhhhhh." Fiona looked back up, now even more resigned. "Alright, I think I got an inkling of an idea of what's going on here, but only on my end. Why those wankstains decided tae raid this place, I still couldn't tell ya. But otherwise, aw, fuck, this's probably gonna take a meeting wit' everyone an' the Chairman. Really didn't need actual bloody work today."

"Fer th' record, though, I totally did rob his arse, an' he had it comin'." Fiona rallied, grinning proudly even as the owner of the lab emerged from it, a blank expression on her face and a cigarette in her hand as she strode over towards the group.

"Well." Professor Hawthorne blew out a puff of cigarette smoke, looking more tired than anything else. "That could've gone worse. Good job not destroying the entire block, at least. The lot of you, go get your Pokemon to a Center. I'll go call the Chairman's office and report this in. Considering I was robbed, I'll have to be sitting in on this meeting of yours. Oh, and for the record? Even though you all lost my bloody research, you made the correct decision prioritizing that psychopath. Now run along."

Sebastien Tomas

With so many gym leaders grouped together and the numbers advantage reversed, the battle was over almost immediately; the strange hybrid Pokémon were assaulted from all sides and turned against each other and the mysterious assailants soon recalled their Pokémon and made to escape.

Sebastien made to chase after them, breaking into a run with Murk loping behind him once the frenzied Pokémon were recalled, but when they mounted their Pokémon and began to ride away he was forced to give up on that idea; none of the Pokémon he had on hand were particularly fast, not on land at least, nor designed to carry a person comfortably. Frowning, he watched as the strangers disappeared into the distance before turning around and walking back to the others.

“What was that about?” It wasn’t a question he really expected an answer to, but as Sebastien angrily waved an arm in the direction he had just come he didn’t bother to hide his frustration over their attackers escaping. The battle had ended in their favour, if you could even call that mess a battle, but given that those people had got the jump on them, caused a lot of havoc and then got away scot free afterwards he couldn’t help but feel like this was their loss. Especially since he didn’t even know what their objective was in the first place.

He would have asked more, but he knew no one would have the answers he wanted and taking his anger out on them wouldn’t help matters. Besides, other people were already asking them. Astrid’s question told him that he wasn’t the only one in the dark as to what those Pokémon were and the fact that she hadn’t even called them Pokémon at all meant he also wasn’t the only one who thought there was something… wrong about them. They had been vicious in a way that no Pokémon he had ever seen had been, almost feral in the way they tore into each other and the damage they had done to Hestia’s Salamence meant they were stronger than normal too.

“What were they after? Why here? There’s nothing important in Postwick other than the gym.”

The Pokémon attacking each other was still very clear in her mind even after the thugs decided to abandon ship and run off. Iris wanted to follow them and figure out where they came from. She wanted to know just what the hell they did to those Pokémon, but alas, she had her town and her friends to take into account. She needed to make sure the people of Postwick were safe and everyone who had been in her gym didn't sustain any injuries in their panic. Then there was checking the town to see what sort of damage they did...

Bastards... Absolute bastards.

Iris was silently fuming as Astrid and Sebastian were speaking. They both raised good questions though; who were those people and what were those creatures by their sides?

Still, she let out a sigh.

"I can't imagine they came to kidnap me or take anything important to this town, so perhaps they came to send a message that trouble was brewing." She answered Sebastien. If they were able to kidnap Ryker, of all people, why would they try to take the first gym leader instead of the second strongest? "And as much as I hate to admit it, they succeeded."

It still left a lot of questions that begged for answers, such as the creatures. Answers that she hoped they would get soon.

"I'd like to thank all of you, truly. Without you being here to help fend of those... things, I'd hate to imagine what might have happened to my Pokémon and my gym."

Most of the Pokemon she took in were babies with only a select few being retired from battling. Those monsters, as strong as they were, would have torn her happy little home apart.

"Looks like they u-underestimated how many of us are h-here." Bianca spoke up as the hybrid pokemon and their masters fled for the hills. She felt no sympathies for them, but this only gave the group even more questions. Weiss smugly waved the thugs goodbye before floating over to comfort Iris. This was her base of operations after all. Her town and people. The froslass patted the ghost type trainer's back, giving her a sympathetic look.

Bianca glanced over to each person who spoke an inquiry. "I-I believe the rest of us got lucky. Overwhelmed t-them we did." She answered Hestia first, giving her a sympathetic smile as Lazuli was recalled into his pokeball. She would've tossed her one of her potions, but she didn't know how well it'd help. The ice type trainer then answered Astrid, crossing her arms in thought. "Hybrids. O-Or fusions, either way. Nidokings and Nidoqueens with the bodies of Arcanines. T-That must be why a fire type move manages to be that s-strong against a dragon." As she offered her hypothesis, she was sending the photo of the mentioned hybrid pokemon to her father, telling him what happened. Then to one of the other gym leaders who was busy elsewhere. Hopefully they were doing better...

Iris answered Sebastien before her, though that still got her thinking. "Seems strange that they'd attack a whole t-town just to send a warning. Unless t-they're that stupid..." Bianca sighed. "Unless this was to c-cause a distraction. For what, I don't know. But it's e-either that or, hell, they j-just wanted to take the hybrids on a test run. We'll just have to f-figure it out later. For now..." Shaking her head, Bianca called Weiss back into her pokeball and walked up to Hestia.

"Let's get Lazuli to a Pokemon Center." She was sure that bad of a wound the Salamence took will scar its wing. Wasn't the first time she saw something like that happen to a pokemon.

All three of Zhanna's heads grumbled angrily as the Alakazam protected itself from the onslaught that came it's way. Even so the Steelix was still Isaiah's bigger concern now, especially when the hooded figure ordered it to Earthquake in the middle of the damn city. For the first, and only time, this battle he was grateful that the Steelix seemed to be more feral as it disregarded the order. Didn't mean Roswell was happy as he got clipped by it's next attack and nearly sent sprawling into the dust.

As the last of the goons scuttled off Isaiah huffed out a single irritated breath as the admin continued to taunt them. He had no idea what was in the briefcase, but this guy sure seemed smug about getting his hands on it. As the smoke grenade hit the ground a growl left Roswell as the Obstagoon went to leap into the haze earning a sharp, "Stop!" from Isaiah. "Get over here," he called to the rest of his team as the smoke was dispersed by Fiona's Salamence.

Thankfully it didn't look like Zhanna or Shanni were much worse for wear, though Roswell looked scuffed in a few more places. "Great job, get some rest," he gave each a quick pat before withdrawing them. He'd get them to a center shortly.

He turned his attention to Fiona. "Professor might have an idea since it seems like they stole something of hers." The explanation about how the flying type leader and the hooded figure were connected would probably come out in whatever meeting they were going to be forced into. As would what was stolen, hopefully. They'd had far too many problems come out of the past few weeks. First Ryker and now this. The pessimistic side of him, which was most of him a lot of the time, said that they were just getting started with whoever these people were which meant more problems for them. Lovely.

A subtle roll of his eyes was the only response she got to her comment. Hawthorne got a nod of acknowledgement as she stepped outside, confirmed, that some kind of research got taken, and ordered them to the Pokémon center. What those assholes wanted with it was another question. Those seemed to be piling up and Isaiah didn't like it.

"Keep me updated," he generally spoke to the other gym leaders there, "I'm going to help with the mess." There were still police officers either finding their feet or unconscious in the dirt and he was a doctor before anything else.

With the raid coming to a decisive close, Mika resisted the urge to send in his full squad and pursue the town's attackers when they pulled out from the conflict that they abruptly started. He was slow to congregate with the others, opting to reconnoiter their immediate surroundings before joining the circle of gym leaders. "Whatever it is, none of it's obviously up to any good, that's for sure," he caught the tail end of the questions which arose from the attack, crossing his arms with a hard look on his face. Centurion arrived soon thereafter, flanking his trainer with a small whine; the Krookodile had suffered an injury, but unlike Hestia's Lazuli, it was far incomparable to the severity of the acrid flame that seared the dragon.

"Here, here," Mika comforted his Pokemon as a hand rummaged through his pack, revealing a Hyper Potion and spraying the restorative compound over Centurion's wound. Returning him to his respective Pokeball, another of his collection soon replaced the gap from Krookodile's departure. Excadrill stood at just under half of Mika's height, the tips of its blade-fingers tapping together in frustration over being removed from its preferred home in the Pokeball. "I know, boy. Give me a moment."

While he had just as many questions on his conscious as his colleagues did, there would be time to consider them soon enough. "Challenger and I will secure the premises and make sure there's no stragglers runnin' about," Mika informed the other gym leaders, looking to Iris in particular. "I'll also fill in the bloke about what's gone on here, and give a shout if more of 'em come around."

He gave all of them a weak smile before wheeling around and setting off down the road alongside Challenger, scrolling through the contacts on his phone before bringing the device to his ear. In a few short rings, Cane's familiar voice answered on the other line. "Oi, Cane," Mika spoke straight to the point. "Put Chairman Hyacinth on the line. Something's come up."