6936/Say Alola!

Say Alola!
Date of Scene:	15 December 2019
Location:	Route 1, Melemele Island, Alola
Synopsis:	Guzma steals an entire bus stop (with help), to the distaste of several hero-types.
Cast of Characters:	Guzma, 7151, Lory Thumper, Alexis, 6928, 7047

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Guzma has posed:
HAU'OLI CITY, MELEMELE ISLAND, ALOLA
AFTERNOON

In the largest city in Alola, there are several bus stops. One of them has a bench and an overhang. People sit at it, waiting for the bus to come by, playing with their Pokemon and listening to the sounds of the city bustle. It's a cute little city, straight on the edge of the wilderness, connected to Route 1, which leads to the Trainer School and the greater wilds nearby.

A pair of punks with bandanas and skull caps on, swagging as they walk, lead a giant fuzzy bull towards the bus stop. People gawk, a little, but say nothing - Ride Tauros are pretty common around here. It's when they take out a big spike, move to chain it to the ground near the concrete line, take a hammer, and just /plunge it/ into the concrete that people start freaking out. One of the grunts leaps onto the back of the Tauros, as the other smacks it on the rear, angering it and causing it to go berserk. It starts pulling the spike...

The Tauros /rips/ the concrete out of the ground, bench, bus stop sign, and overhang all intact. People leap off it, or fall to the ground, as the concrete is spun around by the strong animal, smashing into a car that promptly has a heavily dented door. The grunt barely ducks out of the way of it, as he starts running alongside, but he can't keep up with his female friend and her Tauros.

"Ride, dang it, ride!" He shouts, as it heads down to Route 1 and the warpgate past the Trainer School.

Guzma has posed:
TRAINER SCHOOl, ROUTE 1, MELEMELE ISLAND, ALOLA
A FEW MOMENTS LATER

Ilima has called Selene to the Trainer School for her Island Trial. She's been invited to bring any friends she wants, as they'll be learning about the various pokemon in the nearby wild, as well as earning herself a Z-Crystal if she succeeds.

Ilima, the dark-skinned pink-haired young man, stands outside the front, and as Selene eventually approaches, would greet her. "Welcome, Selene! Our trial will begin now. Let us just..."

The Tauros starts down Route 1. The concrete is being dragged along, making a horrible noise against the trail. Ilima can hear the car alarms going off down the trail and towards the city, just faintly.

"How dare they...! I need to get to the city urgently and help any injured. Please, deal with this!"

As Ilima starts to run off, there's a firm tough voice walking down the road. A man with short, messy white hair, golden glasses, a black jacket with zig-zag stripes, a white undershirt, a golden chain with a strange symbol as the head, a golden watch, and multiple bracelets. He juggles a round sphere, yellow and dark grey. He waits to see who comes down and around from his call. And then, he speaks.

"That Ilima thinks he's so smart, because he has a fancy badge. Well, the hated boss who beats you down and beats you down and never lets up again is here to teach all of you who'd heed his words a lesson. But who's this, you're asking yourselves..."

He flashes a grin. The ball is clicked, and thrown out. A blue and white giant bug, with large arms and a heavy shell, goes out.

"That's right. It's ya boy, Guzma!"

Selene (7151) has posed:
Selene has plenty of friends! She's just not sure what most of their names are what with being a new face to the whole Multiverse thing. She might not have invited anyone in particular to join her, but she's certainly not going to object to anyone coming along when she hears that a certain dealer is announcing the unveiling of his own bus stop.

When she arrives at the Trainer School, she's still got her eyes peeled for suspicious activity as she approaches Ilima with a broad grin plastered on her face and Torracat sitting atop her head. "Hi, Ilima! Alright, let's-oh!" She points at the Tauros as it that awful screeching grows louder, watching it pull that mass of concrete and squinting slgihtly as she hears a familiar-ish voice coming from further down the road.

"It's that guy! Hey!" Breaking into a run, Selene doesn't even seem to mind her fire cat latching onto her head for dear life. The giant with the shell gets a long look from her, an amused 'oooooh' coming from Selene for several seconds until she remembers to actually address Guzma himself.

"You finally did it, huh? So what're you gonna do now? Bring it back to your..." She pauses for dramatic effect, then points at Guzma at the end. "SECRET BASE? And then run a competing bus service to drive the city's out of business?!"

Selene strikes a pose, and the cat leaps off her head to strut around the chicken hatted trainer. "Or are you going for something... BIGGER?" She looks like she's hoping for the latter, mostly.

Lory Thumper has posed:
     Lory wasn't really here because anyone asked her to be. It was probably closer to say that a few people had asked her -not- to be here. But, when an officer hears about a crime in progress, they have an obligation to check it out. Not to mention Lory kind of wants to steer this Team Skull away from such activities.

     So, she was in town when the team appeared, and her sharp bunny senses quickly led her to the scene. Not that you need sharp senses to hear a bull pokemon dragging a concrete slab covered with a bus stop. She takes off after it, and once she is close enough she uses her grapple gun to latch onto the stop and starts pulling herself over. "Alright, that's enough of that! I told you guys I wouldn't just let you get away with this!" she calls out to the two thugs guiding the Tauros. And blinks as she sees the guy in the bling. "...so that's Guzma?" she says softly as she basically skiis behind the bus stop. "Sorry Guzma! No time to deal with you!" she calls out. "But I'll be happy to arrest you later!"

     Of course, with the Tauros running and her grapple line still reeling in, it would be easy to cut or otherwise dislodge right now.

Alexis has posed:
As it turns out the people from Alola that were talking it up the other night weren't from the Alola from -her- pokemon world. So any of the information trolling Alexis had her Porygon-Z do was most likely invalid, and once she figured that out she was about ready to kick herself for jumping to such sloppy conclusions. Seriously, she should of known better with how long she's been involved in the Multiverse.

Oh well, that just gave her all the more reason to go check out this iteration for herself. Of course, you don't visit Alola without having a malasada or two. Can't go exploring the wilderness on an empty stomach, so that was the first place in Hau'oli Alexis was going to head.

Like several Trainers she had a Pikachu, which was sitting on her shoulder... Unlike most Pikachu, this one was wearing a red rocker jacket and tiny tight leather pants, and that was probably enough to place the brightly haired tomboy as a tourist. It's also said Pikachu that notices the Tauros stomping down the street while Alexis is checking out the flavors menu. "Chaaa?" Zapette nudges Alexis with her tail. "Yeah, what is i--" Alexis stops partway through the comment as she looks up, watching the Wild Bull pokemon storm off after ripping up the entire bus stop. Not just a sign, or the bench. The Whole. Damn. Thing.

Cue facepalm. "Rayquaza dammit, that guy was serious?!" "Pika." "Yeah, local delecacy is gonna have to wait." Alexis kicks her heel against the curb to deploy her rollerblades, and promptly skates off after the expedient Tauros, likely catching up with other arrivals in the process.

Riku (6928) has posed:
    Normally when there is a situation, Riku is there looming on a building, looking down with the kind of anticipation one might imagine Batman having when looking on an incipient crime spree.

    This time, he's on the roof of a nearby building, his body covered in bandages from severe burns. Even his face has some of them covering his looks, but he'd made sure to keep his eyes and mouth clear. He doesn't cut so much of a figure here, but he has his pride... And other reasons. His gaze moves along, following the path of the Tauros. "Well... Here goes." He sighs to himself, and a Corridor of Darkness opens up.

    While the Ride Tauros is basically bludgeoning its way past all obstacles, the other end of that hole opens up near the Trainer School, Riku walking slowly out of it, walking slowly past Guzma as his gaze turns to the giant bug in the way.

    With the slowness of the injured, Riku turns his head to Guzma and simply says, "Get out of the way." The fact that Selene's there jazzing next to the Team Skull leader doesn't seem to really make an impact on him right at the moment.

Sylvi (7047) has posed:
There's a LASS on Route 1. She's just standing there, hoisting up and down a Pokeball! In fact she seems extra bored, with her classic hair flower, and white collared shirt, and green skirt. She just stands there...

Hoisting the pokeball. She looks extra bored, waiting for a trainer to meet her eyes. An unsuspecting trainer to accept her SOCIALLY REINFORCED MUGGING OF CHILDREN!

Right as a Tauros tears down the path carrying an entire bus stop. And SELENE starts jazzing with the Team Skull grunts she feels a dark, tangible presence. A fear-effect?!

The LASS drops a hand on Selene's shoulder, leaning in to the chickenhat's shoulder and whispering in her ear. "You're supposed to lock eyes with me. Then Pokemon Battle. Right? Isn't that right?"

Selene can notice that the LASS is seizing a RED AND WHITE COLORED ROCK in her hand. It's barely circular.

Guzma has posed:
A bunch of people show up! Guzma replies to Selene. "Heh, you want to know what we're gonna do? We're gonna make this bus stop real legit. Give Po Town her very own. But first..."

As someone else wlaks up to Selene, since she's not fronting on him, he ignores her, letting the COMPLETELY NORMAL LOCAL LASS deal with her. Hey, it's Alola, she's following proper conduct.

Instead, Lory ignores him and tells him as much, Riku disrespects him, and Alexis is collateral damage for what comes next. "Did I say you can just /ignore me/ and go wherever you want? Did I give you a permission slip, officer? Did I say you can just walk past me, boy? I don't think so. You're gonna be playing with Guzma tonight. Let me teach you a lesson in respect." He tenses his fist, and then speaks as Golisopod tenses with him.

"Use First Impression."

Golisopod moves way too fast for a big man-sized bug. One of its giant two-clawed arms moves out, to strike into Riku's gut, knock him back, and hopefully towards Lory and the Tauros coming past. As it gets into range, Golisopod moves the other claw to grab Lory in the same superhuman burst, jab into her, and tear her line. Alexis is right nearby, rollerskating along...

When she'd be right in the middle of that, the giant bug ramming into her without a care of her safety. The Tauros is going to keep on moving past towards the warpgate, though a little slower thanks to the former carry-on.

"Now then. Can you gamble with the Dealer of Destruction? Let's find out!"

Riku (6928) has posed:
    The bandaged teen looks back to Guzma, finally looking directly at him. "I don't need your permission for anything. And you're Guzma? That big bad guy on the radio? Well, that makes this easier."

    Despite the bold words, Riku's reaction is slow. He leaps backwards only to be caught by the claw-arms, the impact sending him flying tight into the mess with Lory, crashing into the ground with a yelp of pain. He tumbles along the ground and comes to a stop, pausing there as lancing, intense pain rolls across his body. "Gggh..." He breathes, trying to steel himself... And forcing himself up. He can't fight this with his body... But he has another option.

    He holds out a hand, his eyes hardening as he draws upon his Heart. "No one's gambling here." He replies... And his shadow surges forward, the Darkside-like Eidolon emerging from the blackness to surge forward to clash with the Golisopod, the dark creature lashing out over and over with the clawed hands to harry the bug before it brings its hands up in an axehandle blow intended to smash into the Pokemon with intense force.

Selene (7151) has posed:
Selene places a hand on her chin while propping it up with her other hand, and Torracat mimics that motion as best it can despite the lack of human-shaped bone structure. After a few moments, she holds a fist out to Guzma, turns it slowly, and...

Gives him a big thumbs up. "Infrastructure's important to a deveoping town! That's an important step towards stimulating the local economy or something like that!" She doesn't quite get what it is that Lory's going on about not letting him do that, but... Eh.

Laws are hard. Besides, it looks like things are starting to get a little more hectic between her trying to stop the Tauros, Alexis chasing it, and Riku (who gets a not-so-subtle knowing nod) doing that thing with the door.

She has other things to worry about! Namely, the completely normal LASS approaching and making things a little weird. Not because Selene didn't notice her earlier, but because of her approach.

That hand on the shoulder. That whisper in the ear. The closeness of the LASS. A certain grunt's words echoed... "You put your hand on the wall, tilt your head down, and say 'hey'."

Except this LASS is taller than her. Unless... Are the roles being reversed here?! There's no time to doubt those sage words of wisdom, though, and Selene musters up her courage to lock eyes, tilt her head down slightly, and utter a low-pitched "Hey." to the LASS.

It's not until she sees that very normal POKEBALL (thanks to the power of her brain filling in the blanks and ignoring the important details like it being rock shaped) that Selene realizes her mistake. "..Oh! You wanted to battle. Right, let's do it! Although I'm pretty sure I was supposed to be doing something else at the school.."

Details, details. "How many rounds? I've got enough forrr..." She pats the shrunken multi-colored orbs on her bag's strap. "...Three!"

Lory Thumper has posed:
     Lory offers a small wave to Selene even as she skiis past. Then, her ears perk and she suddenly ducks down and slides through the dirt...just as that claw from the giant bug pokemon comes sailing over her head. This keeps her from taking a direct hit, but her grapple line is caught and it snaps loose from the bus stop before she gets pulled backward with the attack headed for Alexis and Riku. She manages to kick off the ground as she gets dragged and backflips to land...and ends up headed right toward Alexis. Although the bunny isn't that heavy, it certainly can't feel good to have some 80 lbs of bunny cop land on you. Somehow the bunny herself seems fine after the landing, and immediately hops off the trainer. "S-sorry about that!" she says and helps Alexis up if needed.

     Riku speaks...and Lory's ears twitch. "...your voice. It sounds really familiar." she says, her expression darkening. "You were there yesterday, weren't you?" she adds after a moment. Her fur bristles a bit, and in a rather serious tone she says. "After we deal with this guy, you are next. Got it?" she says before turning to Guzma and the big bug pokemon. "I guess that -was- kind of rude, not asking for your permission." she says, voice dripping with sarcasm as she smirks confidently and reaches to pull some yellow discs from her belt. "But then...I guess I just don't have much confidence in your teaching abilities!"

     She throws those discs, and they explode on impact around the bug to unleash a blast of foam that rapidly hardens to a pretty tough material. It is obviously meant to help slow down targets for ease of capture.

Alexis has posed:
Alexis comes skating along, most of her attention on chasing down the Tauros. "When we get close enough slow it down with a Thunder Wave." "Pika!"

Unfortunately they never get to put that plan into action. Alexis sees the Golisopod at the edge of her vision, she hears Guzma shouting something, but First Impression being one of those moves only a certain pokemon has leaves her with lack of experience to know it, and the bug using it, are going to move disportionately fast to it's appearance.

She lets out a curse and ducks under one of the swinging clawed limbs... But its twisting motion slams one of the smaller arms at it's side right into her face instead. Recoiling from that unexpected appendage gets the bunny cop slammed into her, and momentum does the rest as her legs are throw from under her and skidding across the ground. Zapette tumbles the other way as she's dislodged from her shoulder, rolling off to the side in a daze. "Pikaaaa..." Spinning dizzy eyes and all.

It takes a moment for Alexis to get dislodged from Lory and the pair pick themselves up. "Eh. Use to being in the right place at the wrong time." Road burn is going to be a bitch, but there's no time to worry about that. She squints at the towering arthopod. She doesn't have time to yank out her Pokedex, but she can guess that's most likely some kind of Bug pokemon. And Zapette's out of it from the fall.

As much as this Guzma punk needs a beating, yanking out something like Talonflame or Hawlucha would being a bit overbearing, and not much of a challenge. What's the point to a Pokemon Battle if there isn't some challenge? So she grabs a different ball from her collection, opting to make things a little more interesting. "Tag in, Turnbuckle!" The brief burst of light from the ball consolidates itself into a large blue beetle with a long pronged horn. "Heracrsss!"

"You want to throw your weight around? Then we'll just do the same. Use Horn Attack!" The Heracross pops open the back of his shell and buzzes his small wings, using them for just enough lift and thrust to hurtle towards the larger Golisopod, head and rhino beetle horn leading the charge.

Sylvi (7047) has posed:
Selene turns to the LASS with the crazy eyes and the pleasant flower placed aromatically in her hair. Locks eyes with the other 'trainer'. Lowers her voice, as the taller girl's hand rests firmly on her shoulder, and returns the attention with a low 'hey'.

The LASS's whole face brightens with the covetous smile that splits the corners of her mouth with mild surprise and clear 'reception' of...

Well it may not be exactly what Selene wanted to convey, but whatever message it is the LASS has her own conclusions about it.

"Yeah, let's go a few rounds. I'm sure I've got the stamina to keep going as long as you can stand." The LASS practically purrs, her shoulder hand unmoving and immutable.

Her words become almost supernaturally sense-making. "Tell you what. If I win, we'll go to my place. If you win, we'll go to your place."

Without waiting for the acknowledgement of the stakes, the LASS picks up Selene - by the shoulder - and tosses her bodily into the Tauros, a literal start-of-battle bully shove...

With extra spice.

"Come on, girl! Show me your best monster, and maybe I'll show you mine!"

Guzma has posed:
As Riku tries to dodge and Golisopod intercepts, Guzma grins. He's excited to fight this punk, finally. But the first hit knocking the injured kid back has him a little disappointed. Is this all the kid's got?

Riku summons his Eidolon in response, and the shadowy beast moves in on the pokemon. "Golisopod, block it!" Guzma shouts, right as the clawed hands come down and the axehandle blow moves in on Golisopod's head. Sweeping its arms around sideways, showing a plate-like shell, Golisopod intercepts the blow, being knocked backwards and having its arms battered but avoiding any vital hits.

"Poison Jab."

The claws suddenly are charged with a purple energy, as Golisopod lunges in with an arm to smash into the Eidolon and channel that poison through it into Riku, or hit Riku himself if he's closer. It's not as blindingly fast as the last attack, but the sheer blow, if it impacts, is enough to induce rapid toxins, making it harder to aim accurately.

Lory insults Guzma. Guzma just laughs at her as she smirks. "Then I'm gonna have to beat them into you. Let's see what a little buneary can do." As the discs go flying, though, they impact hard material around Golisopod, getting it stuck. It grunts, as it tries to break out, stuck for a few moments...before it suddenly barrels through towards Lory, slower than before.

"Go for the ears."

Buneary ears are pretty sensitive, so Guzma logics that hers are, too, especially with her hearing abilities. Golisopod takes both claws and moves to hammer into those ears, yanking them around, pulling them, and also just plain smashing into Lory's head if it gets a hit, trying to make it harder for her to dodge by upsetting her balance and hearing.

Alexis sounds out her Heracross. Guzma didn't even notice her at first, but, what can you do? She's a brat too, in his eyes. "You're a trainer, huh? Bug-type. Well, you've got good taste, but bad form." And then the horn impacts Golisopod.

Golisopod moves for a block, but the sheer forn of the horn attack breaks open its arms, allowing the horn to impact its chest. It slides backwards, dazed, before attacking again. "Pin Missile."

From Golisopod's back, little green-energized needles fire from Golisopod's back straight for Heracross, moving to jab into it. They move for the horn and the arms, trying to stagger and make it harder to aim or hit well, as well as doing raw damage.

Meanwhile, Selene is being thrown backwards at the Tauros by the incredibly strong Lass. If that impacts...it's gonna hurt a hell of a lot for Selene, but drive the Tauros slightly off-course, making it take longer to get to the warp gate!

Selene (7151) has posed:
The challenge is accepted, and Selene's beaming expression grows even brighter! Figuratively. She's pretty sure she's missing something here, but it's probably nothing to worry about if she can make a new battle friend and actually put a name to a face for once. "Heh, right! A Trainer can't just stand around for the whole fight, though! I mean, it'd be easier to show you what I mean duringt he fight, but..."

She looks at that hand on her shoulder. She does't shrug it off, but it really is kind of hard to pose properly with the LASS' hand there.

And then her eyes light up at the notion of hanging out. "Oh? Cool! Alright, let's-er. Wait, but I'm out of sod-aaaAA?!"

Aaaand she goes flying. The LASS proves to be much stronger than expected, and Selene goes sailing right into the Tauros, bouncing off of it and letting out a loud hoarking noise before landing. She groans painfully while the Torracat, having leapt off the trainer's head, starts hissing and spitting fire and vitriol at Sylvi.

Literal fire, even. It does not seem happy, and it only relents when Selene rolls over. "Guh... H-hey, cut that out! She's just roughousing a little... No harm done!" She jumps onto her feet with her hands on her hips, another broad grin, then topples right over with another groan and clutching of her back.

She'll be back up soon.

Riku (6928) has posed:
    Using your heart as an avatar to strike has its benefits. One's will is often much more potent than the flesh of one's body if you are strong enough to be a Heartbrand in the first place.

    However, Riku's been heavily weakened as it is. Pride and circumstance has driven Riku to face Guzma in a state that he normally wouldn't. His body is weakened, pain running through him constantly as he works to sustain himself... And as the Golisopod jabs in and stabs the dark creature with his claws, the poison seethes through it, purple bubbles rising up from its flesh to pop in a classic tell. The Eidolon slows, and Riku grunts in sympathetic pain as the shadow-entity begins to disintegrate slowly. "It's not over..." He grunts. "I'm not going to make this easy on you!"

    The misshapen spectre twists, slamming a fist sidewise. There's no callout of the attack, this thing isn't a Pokemon even if it could blend in. The dark thing gets stuck in with the Golispod, trying to brawl with it and slam its fists together, a rush of black flames bursting outwards as it slams them together preferably with the Golispod in between!

Lory Thumper has posed:
     Lory lets out just a bit of a laugh as Alexis speaks to her. "I guess I have kind of the opposite thing. The wrong place at the right time." she says, then blinks in surprise as Alexis throws out a big bug of her own. She looks over at the dazed pikachu, then back toward the golisopod. Just in time to realize it is headed right for her!

     The ears are indeed sensitive. Which is why Lory works /extra/ hard not to have them torn up. The Golisopod swipes at her, but with each swipe she ducks or backflips or sidesteps nimbly, just barely avoiding each one. Her ears even join in, flopping this way and that and finally laying flat against her head. "Good plan, but bad execution!" she says as she finally darts forward and in a swift motion pulls her pistols from their holsters and leaps back, doing a single somersault before aiming the weapons at the bug.

     She flips a switch on the gauss pistols and a high pitched whine can be heard that is obviously a capacitor charging with electricity. Prongs pop out on the front of the guns before she fires them. The prongs sail through the air, trailing thin wires. Should they find their mark in the big water bug, they unleash a full stun charge into it.

Alexis has posed:
"I like having options," Alexis replies as she steps over to pick the still dazed Pikachu up so she doesn't get stomped on as attacks start flying around. Truth be told she came with pokemon more intended for exploration and scouting than a killer competative team, and it's showing a bit. Not that it's going to stop her from facing the challenge. "Brace for impact!"

Turnbuckle hunches down, tucking as much of himself beneath his carapice as he can. But even so the Pin Missiles hit hard, digging through the tough exterior and doing some debilitating damage. "Heraaaaa." Eyes clench shut for a moment, rasping through unseen mandibles before he starts to slowly lift himself back off the ground under the barrage pounding down. Finally reachs up to grab one of the needles jabbed into his shoulder and yank it out.

Alexis nods as he's up and still willing to fight, then rubs a finger thoughtfully at her chin. "Looks like I was wrong.. Guzma was it? You've got the stuff to back up that bluster of yours." She digs a heel into the ground as the rollerblades retract again, clenching her fists. "But we're not gonna back down just because you're tough! That'd be rude to a challenging foe!" "Heracross!" "And it sounds like Turnbuckle agrees. So let's show them how we do it in Hoenn." She flicks her ponytail out over her shoulder and then does the dramatic point. "SEISMIC TOSS!"

It's the Heracross' turn to move faster than one might expect, diving towards the Golisopod but coming in low. To get his big horn under the larger bug, slam his limbs into the ground to push, and heave up. The beetle's stout build was immensely strong. Enough so to crash over trees and throw things much larger and heavier than it is.

Like now, as he attempts to catch the larger arthopod with his horn and swing up, flip over and slam Golisopod into the ground again like some kind of suplex throw.

Sylvi (7047) has posed:
'Rough-housing'. That's a way of putting it. The LASS goes back to hoisting her poke-rock and waiting for a reprisal immediately after the advanced (actually-a-throw) shove - and she's not waiting long. A two foot tall fire red angry muscle cat starts spitting fire at her!

The LASS raises a hand to shield her face as she just eats the torrent of fire, the blaze consuming her in a cloud of red-hot fury and immolation.

It looks like Selene just killed another human being, because weaponized animals with superpowers are DANGEROUS MEANACES TO SOCI-

The Lass stands, smoke curling from her exposed skin and darkening the whites and greens of her clothes. The only two parts of her outfit that the fire consumes are the wonderful red flower in her hair (now a blackened bit of char) and the paint on the rock she had held.

Now it's just a rock. The Lass's hand flexes and the stone crunches into pebbles and powder. "That was cute. Love the little pet. It's got a good heat to it." The Lass notes, before thrusting forward her rock-crushing hand full of chunky dust at the Torracat as a painful distraction, taking two steps forward, and punting the cat hard enough to spike the red fire-type into the Tauros like a feline bullet.

"But I said show me your STRONGEST monsters! Come on, I can taste the fire in you!"

The Lass draws up, cupping her elbow with one hand and bringing up her free palm to yawn into, nose upturned with a derisive sneer painted across her face. "Or is that fear I taste? Is that all the innocent children of this place are? Tamed? Tamed, like their toothless partners? Show me something worth seeing, beanie-head."

Guzma has posed:
Riku says he's not going to make it easy, and Guzma laughs. "Show me what you've got, then! I can whoop your butt all day!" The Eidolon swings black flames as it tries to brawl with and slam its fist between Golisopod, and it hits on-center, burning into the bug for a super-effective hit and sending it reeling back. Golisopod responds on its own, Guzma trusting it, as it creates a massive water blade around its claw-shell, and moves to slash it straight into the Eidolon, trying to drive it back and cut it up.

Lory says bad execution, and Guzma grimaces. "Yeah, we'll see about a bad execution once you're under the guillotine." It was the cleverest thing he could think of, but it's gonna be backed up shortly, as the gauss pistols stun into Golisopod with another super-effective hit, stunlocking it with a surge of electricity. It growls as best as a bug can, and rams forward, moving to strike both claws into Lory as precisely as possible, trying to hit weak points that'll stop her form moving as reflexively.

Heracross keeps saying its own name. "Trainer girl, are your pokemon stupid? They keep saying their own name." A pause. "Like, they sound defective."

Heracross responds by slamming it straight into the ground with a seismic toss, hurting Golisopod bad, damaging its shell. As it rubs the sore shell, it head butts the Heracross, and then tries to chop into it with a karate chop as Guzma shouts. "Brick Break."

Hopefully, the karate chop does major damage, as the Tauros keeps trying to get away, and Pokemon keep getting slung into it and off of it. It's slowly taking damage! That's not good, it's supposed to be on a heist.

Lory Thumper has posed:
     No one can dodge forever, and finally Lory is caught by those big claws. It isn't as bad as it could have been, since she manages to slip free before being totally crushed or something. She flips and lands atop those claws, then rears back with both pistols and aims to box the bug creature's...well, if it had normal ears, they'd probably get boxed!

     She leaps back after that, but winces and falls to a knee upon landing, the two bleeding gashes in her sides slowing her down. "Nnng...better." she says before getting back to her feet. "But you're still fighting a losing battle here. Even if you somehow manage to beat us, there's a big drag mark leading right to your town, now." she says, motioning to the road.

Riku (6928) has posed:
    Facing down Guzma is proving to be agonizing even trying to keep things on a Battle Creature basis. The Golisopod is basically a murdertank. "Where the hell does a bug that big come from? What do you /feed/ it?" Riku asks, even as his stance shudders and falters under the assault on the Eidolon. It continues to fall apart, Riku trying to invest it with more and more of his will even as it sloughs away. The water blade shears one arm clean off of the creature, the limb vanishing into shadow as Riku staggers and falls to one knee. "Not... yet." He says.

    In the meantime, the pseudo-Heartless horror takes on a new strategy. The moment it gets a chance, a yawning portal of blackness opens beneath it and the Eidlon slams into it, crashing through and forcing the bug through the spatial warp.

Some distance above, the other side opens, the Eidolon continuing to drive it down through the Corridor and use gravity to crater it into the ground!

    "Who says he needs to hide it?" Riku grates. "He wants people to know it's there."

Alexis has posed:
Alexis laughs briefly at the radio conversation, but doesn't let it distract her from the here and now. That's a difference between worlds to note for later though.

Guzma's attitude is annoying her. Especially with the fussing over her Pokemon acting and sounding different. But that Golisopod? Is pretty damn impressive. It's got three people attacking it, it took being Seismic Tossed into the ground like a champ and still got up for more. Somehow it's hurt but not nearly as much as it should be. Whereas her Heracross is dishing it out just as much, but they're still on the back foot.

Yeah, right now she's probably got more respect for the Pokemon than it's Trainer. She'd be even more impressed if she knew how much of a Magikarp/Gyarados situation that evolution was.

Heracross holds up his arms in a cross-over, using them and his horn to shield against the attack. It kind of works. Golisopod's arm slams into his arms, slamming them down into himself as he struggles against the attack. Eventually he manages to push to the side and throw the arm off, redirecting the force enough that it doesn't completely obliterate him.

"Now, Arm Thrust!" Turnbuckle plants his feet and heaves, thrusting one arm at his opponent like a piston, and then the other, and so on in an alternating fashion multiple times.

Selene (7151) has posed:
It takes Selene a fair few moments to pick herself up again, still reeling from that big toss courtesy of the LASS. Luckily, she's seeing figurative stars in addition to the also-figurative stars since... Well.

It's not every day she sees someone capable of casually tossing someone so far in action. Or capable of getting melted down by a-wait a second "TORRA NO THAT'S NOT HOW-uhhh."

She's okay. A little singed-looking, but okay. Selene's brief moment of panic turns into an excited giggling spree. First that strange knight, and now this seemingly normal MEGALASS? One that's standing toe-to-toe with the fearsome elemental prowess of a fire-breathing housecat?

Of course Selene's going to get hyped up over that. "That was awesome! How'd you learn how to do that? Are you some kinda science project? A really smart Ditto? A-" She pauses in mid-sentence as the Torracat, having been blinded momentarily by that dust toss, gets punted into the rampaging Tauros. It catches itself on the significantly larger Pokemon just in time to not bounce off of it, but it lands rather awkwardly and seems to be having some trouble standing up.

The fear that the LASS senses is likely that of the Pokemon itself, mixed with frustration and indignance. Noticing her cat's hesitation, Selene crouches down briefly while holding her hand out to stop it from stepping forward again.

"You want strong, huh? Alright... Let's give you something a little different!" Standing back up, Selene lifts one leg and rears her arm back not unlike a pitcher winding up. "Let's put some BUTTER on your popcorn!" She completes the pitch, throwing a fastball with a light blue Pokeball that bursts open as what looks like a whale-like beachball the size of a small car pops out and hurtles right at the LASS.

It has mask-like face paint on the top half of its face, of course.

Guzma has posed:
"You're overestimating the police here. You think they're gonna come into my town? As if. They know exactly where it is." The Golisopod gets hit in the head, staggering backwards only briefly, as Guzma speaks, staggering backwards. "News flash, girl. They don't care, and aren't competent enough anyways!"

Golisopod is still active, as Riku's Eidolon slams Golisopod through a portal and into the ground. It creates a small crater in the process, shell cracked even more, as Alexis's Heracross Arm Thrusts it, smashing through its defenses and straight into its face.

Golisopod staggers backwards towards Guzma, and takes an offensive position, before...turning around, and looking up to him. "What's that, Golisopod? These people are /so/ boring that you're done with this?"

Golisopod grunts, and then disappears back into its Pokeball on its own. Another Pokeball activates, releasing another large bug. This one's gray, with a massive pair of pincer-horns on its head.

"Pinsir. Weaken their defenses. It's time to wrap this up."

Pinsir charges them, using sheer power at each foe to smash into them. The Eidolon, Heracross, and Lory all get hammered by the might of the bug, which isn't as strong as Golisopod, but is still fearsome. If it hits, their defenses will be shattered by the sheer power, weakened heavily and probably bleeding from it.

Lory Thumper has posed:
     The bunny cop is starting to look tired. It isn't easy to take on such powerful creatures, even with all her training and skill. But, that determined look remains. Lory blinks in surprise as the Golisopod 'gets bored', then again as another giant bug is called out. "...aren't there any like...butterflies or something?" she says as it charges at them.

     She pulls her shield from her back and hops, trying to use the impact to send herself upward. It works...but that defense breaking impact shatters the bulletproof shield and sends her higher than she was expecting! She flips upward through the air, fighting to get her balance back.

     But, as she does, discs start droping from the sky as well. They fall all around the Pinsir, some black, some white. Then, she covers her eyes. Hopefully her allies follow suit, because as those disc grenades start exploding, the white ones turn out to be flashbang grenades! Mixed in with the more traditional explosives that are the black grenades, she is hoping to weaken their new opponent similarly to how it tried to weaken them. And as she comes down she aims to land on top of the Pinsir. That's how you deal with bugs, right? Step on them?

Sylvi (7047) has posed:
The LASS is praised for her amazing fireproof... everything, and her sinister look turns friendly once more - if still with maddened, wide eyes. "I was born to win. Born the strongest. Born to burn the world to cinders and swallow the ashes. But that doesn't mean I didn't train, either."

Casually extending her hand with fingers cupped into claws, a dark purple flame bursts into life with a strain at her wrist that vibrates through the muscles of her palm and digits.

"I've been practicing. And beating up all kinds of people, and creatures? That's just the best kind of training. I hear it's legal here. To just see what I want, and take it."

Selene rears back and throws, and the ball expands into a massive beach-ball containing a six-foot tall whale with a big doofus grin on its front and a facepaint mask.

Incredible.

With a quick flick of her wrist and discarding sweep of her hand, the purple flame snaps out of existance and Sylvi brings both hands to raised ready positions. "That's more like it!" She calls, with a wicked laugh, as she digs her toes into the earth and sets herself.

And then the titanic boom, and peal of forcefully ejected air splits a furrow into Route 1 as the LASS recieves a Wailmer right to the chest, right into her waiting arms, after being projectilely summon-ejected from a magic beachball. The ground gives way beneath her, shattering under her bare heels, and the sheer force drives her back in to two deep trenches.

The 'oof' she heaves out as her lungs are smashed into pales in comparison, and she laughs and laughs some more.

"I love it! BUT YOU KNOW WHAT THEY SAY!"

With a heave, the Lass with planted feet, swings the enormous-yet-fairly-light enormous car-sized whale on her chest up.

And then back. And over her body. Right into the ground behind her.

Spinning around to get her knees out from under her, the Lass leaps into the air a dozen feet, rotating with a full body heave to align her elbow with the center of the upturned whale.

"AFTER A DROP, YOU LAND BUTTER-SIDE-DOWN."

Alexis has posed:
Turnbuckle hisses as he wobbles back his assault. That thing was a monster offensively, and he's feeling the strain from the effort. And the beating. Definately the beating. But the Golisopod is retreated from the fight, regardless if the 'bored' was really a reason or not.
And a Pinsir is released. Roaring directly into the fight as a replacement, plowing through the opposition, and hitting like truck with no brakes. The impact sends the Heracross rolling backwards several times, each bounce on the ground as hard as the last. Really roughed up, with several visible bruises and gouges in his own carapice.

"Oh, no no no. Not good!" Alexis... actually panics a little, not something she does very often, as she grabs for her Pokemon's ball. A Pinsir. Why did it have to be a Pinsir?!

I don't know about Alola. But in Hoenn, Heracross and Pinsir are almost as bitter rivals as Zangoose and Seviper are. Not as predator and prey, but as competators for territory, food, and in general both being physical powerhouses.

Barely having the strength left to get up doesn't stop the Heracross from doing so, the beetle suddenly seething with rage at seeing his counterpart in the Badass Bug category. Enough to be completely ignorant of how hurt he already is. "Turnbuckle, no!" But it falls on deaf... whatever bugs hear with.

Pain is forgotten as the Heracross lunges at the Pinsir. There's no strategy to it, no regard for his own safety and defense. Just a savage release of the beetle's remaining strength, swinging wildly with arms, horn and everything else he's got left.

Selene (7151) has posed:
Selene ohhs and ahhs with intrigued nods as the LASS gives her life story (kind of), the vagueness doing wonders for holding the teen's attention even as her miniature whale surges forward with that big dumb smile on its face.

The flame effects certainly don't hurt.

"That's the way it is with Pokemon. You gotta take 'em out to fight everything so they can get strong and you can teach 'em right!" The legality of it all isn't something that Selene seems all that concerned with, and she crouches down to give the Torracat a gentle pat on the head. "Take Torracat here. I've only had him for about two weeks, but he's already evolved once because we've formed a strong bond and fought every day and night!"

The cat, meanwhile, seems content to lay there. After that kick and being dragged around so much, it's fine just taking a break for the rest of this fight.

The Wailmer, meanwhile, has energy to go for quite a bit! The LASS' counterattack in the form of grabbing it and slamming it around leave it with little room to evade at all, but it's a tough bundle of meat! The slams against the ground leave sizable cracks in the pavement and impact craters in the dirt, but the whale keeps smiling all the while and making odd burbling noises. Even when it's spitting out water mixed with chunks of fish it had for lunch, it keeps grinning that same dumb grin!

Its face is shaped like that. It knows no other expression despite getting elbow dropped and wedged firmly into the ground.

"Come on, Butter! Get out from under her and give. Her. The. JUICE!" Selene claps in time with the last four words as she starts stomping to psyche her Pokemon up. The whale's insides start to churn while the entire Pokemon starts vibrating, and it opens its mouth. It clamps its mouth mostly shut as it sneezes, sending a sludgy mist up arund itself and the LASS.

The real meat of the technique, though, is the force of the sneeze sending it into the air, with or without the LASS in tow. Once it's up, it starts blasting water out of its mouth at random intervals, bounding off nearby buildings and trees to try confounding the LASS before rocketing towards her again, opening wide to try and chomp right down on top of her!

Riku (6928) has posed:
    The police aren't coming. Guzma is in control here. There's nothing they can do but solve this with their own power. And it might not be enough.

    The Golisopod and the Eidolon brawl with each other through the darkness, cratering into the ground. It gets a moment to recuperate when it is knocked away... But the Pinsir comes in The smashing strike crashes into the dark being, the toxic nature of the bug withering the Eidolon and making Riku waver there even on one knee. "I'm not... going to say it..." He hisses, shaking as if being wracked with a fever... But at the same time, he knows he's on his last legs. "I'm going to finish you.... right now!"

    He saw what the black fire did to the last bug beast. Maybe more of it will help. The Eidolon surges with a wave of black-purple flames, Riku channelling all of his remaining power into a decisive attack. The beast emits a soundless roar as its one arm claws the sky.... And it descends like a meteor to crash down upon Guzma's Pinsir! If he can clear it out of the way...

Sylvi (7047) has posed:
Rolling off the whale after delivering her elbow-drop, the LASS turns and gets up, ready to point at Selene and demand a third challenger before seizing the trainer to take back to 'her place' for further Extreme Mean Girl actions (most likely: Xbox), the Wailmer makes a weird noise. She doesn't look.

She annihilated that stupid flying whale.

So that's when Wailmer barfs on her. Covered in sludge that drips from her long tumbling hair and pools at her feet, the LASS remains standing there, sliding the side of her hand across her eyes to clear them. When she does, her eyes flash in a glimmering of yellow-green with slit ophidian pupils. "I'm going to break your pinata fish in two, you know that, right?"

Wailmer has all the time in the world to fall, baleen-white FREAKING TEETH first down on her.

And, for a moment, there's a crash and a wet *crunch* as six feet of whale meet five-something of LASS.

And then comes the laughter again. And Wailmer rises. Up and up. Lifted by two olive sets of fingers, then two olive arms, and then a slimy collared shirt and green skirt.

The LASS raises the Wailmer by the gosh darned teeth up over her head, spins once as if aiming to hammer toss, and releases in a full-body-torque professional toss not just 'at' the Tauros, or Selene, but off darn near to the horizon line fit to twinkle as a big stupid doofy smiling idiot set of stars.

"You might wanna get your third out." The LASS announces, as if she didn't just heave a whale into the air on pure armstrength.

Selene (7151) has posed:
"And there goes. The. JUICE!" Selene cheers her Wailmer on as it completes its vile maneuver, although there is a brief moment of worry when it actually bites down onto the LASS. The laughter that follows brings her several confusing feelings, somewhere between relief and dread at her opponent being made of some freakishly tough stuff.

And then the LASS starts spinning Butter around like some kind of professional athlete at a sporting event. At first, she's watching him sail off into the sky in awe of the LASS' physical might. Next, she realizes that he's not coming down yet, and might not for a while.

And then she realizes that she'd have to CHASE the Wailmer down if she waits for him to land somewhere off the island. That's when Selene finally scrambles for the dopey whale's Dive Ball, raising it high to fire off those telltale red beams into the sky that signify someone trying to actually recall their Pokemon. "Oh crap oh crap HEY BUTTER TWIST A LITTLE!" It's only then that she actually manages to catch the giant with one of those beams, pulling it back to safety.

And then Selene collapses in that standard bow-legged sitting position, grunting tiredly from the adrenaline rush wearing off. "Oh geez, that was close... Eh? Number three? That would be..." Tapping her fingers against the mini-Pokeballs on her bag, she counts them out before grinning her dopey grin at the LASS.

"Afraid that's all I got! Slunch is still recovering, and Torracat here's..." It hisses, but quiets down when the chickenhat trainer ruffles its head a little to get it to calm down with a light wince. "Can't really compete with all that. But we gotta do this again sometime, and you gotta show me how you got that beefy!"

Guzma has posed:
Guzma doesn't respond to Lory, who stomps on top of Pinsir. Her sheer agility and powerful attack stomps it down, unexpected. Pinsir wasn't as durable as Golisopod, either...

Heracross swinged wildly at it, and the Pinsir's eyes lit up. A Heracross, huh? Arch-rival. It went at the Heracross, too, but the rival got in all the attacks, no hits by the Pinsir, and swung it back. Well, it's looking pretty weak, and it hasn't even attacked yet.

The Eidolon comes in for the Pinsir. Like a meter, surging with a wave of flames, roaring soundlessly, and smashes straight into it. There's a dust cloud. When the smoke fades...

Pinsir is KO'd, clearly in its eyes. Guzma returns it to the ball. He considers grabbing another ball, but that was a /painful/ defeat. One round. He's lost this. He can feel it in his bones.

So, he slicks his hand through his hair, and turns, unharmed himself, but exhausted and with weakened core pokemon. He takes out some loose change and throws it to the ground. "Your reward. I'm bored of this, and my team's already far down the route, so I'm going home. Next time, maybe you'll deserve a taste of one of my stronger Pokemon."

As Guzma leaves, turning completely away from the group, he grimaces in anger. Time to go home.

Time to smash another trophy.

Meanwhile, the bus stop...

Sylvi (7047) has posed:
The LASS is gloating, now, still covered in Wailmer slime. She doesn't seem bothered by the odd, viscous bile at all, wiping it off with crisp flicks of her fingers across her arms and face. Her eyes remain in that odd oscillatory color between yellow and green and ophidian-slit vertically.

Walking right towards Selene, she unmistakeably struts with mean girl confidence, sweeping steps that crunch in a line of the previous foot, the distance between the LASS and selene disappearing in heartbeats. She looms, and her smile is a line of shark-like toothy white.

"What shall I do with you... Your money? Just... take you? You were so amusing!"

Selene's reaction, her absurd purity, causes Sylvi to throw back her head and laugh, wiping her hand off on the unhitched Tauros behind Selene, then offering it to the girl to help her up.

"Love the spirit, though. Sure. Some other time. Your penalty game is: I won't be taking you to play Xbox in Hel!"

She pronounces it "Hell". It's an easy mistake.

"But I need to help that stupid idiot, so..."

Leaning over towards the shattered slab of earth the Bus Stop had fallen to rest in, right in the middle of Route 1, the LASS rolls her arm as if winding up, using her other hand to roll up her sleeve as she...

Grabs the lip of the earth and with a heave, one-hands to entire bus stop chunk on Route 1, Sign, Stop, and all, into the air over her head. "I'll be taking this as my prize!"

Hey, at least now it's not in the middle of a major Route!

With that, the LASS crouches, and, with a springing pump of her legs...

Leaps away into the distance.

With the bus stop.

Riku (6928) has posed:
    The Pinsir is defeated... But not without incident.

    In the aftermath of Guzma throwing down his change and walking off, Riku does not make any commentary. There is no smug response. He doesn't even step forward to grab the coinage.

    The Eidolon dissolves away back into his shadow, his will no longer capable of sustaining it as he wavers and simply slumps back, his back against a tree as the injured, bandaged boy sits there half-sensate. His body and mind are both burned to their limits, Riku just sitting there with a hand on his face, his senses turned inwards.

    Maybe he's hearing something other people aren't.

Alexis has posed:
The last-ditch rampage somehow paid off. At least enough that Riku's... whatever that is put the Pinsir out of the fight.

That was not a fight she would of won alone, and Alexis is painfully aware of it. Both from the collision abrasions and being as emotionally drained as her pokemon is physically.

Speaking of which, she's quick to recall the exhausted Heracross now that he's done venting before Turnbuckle tries to do anything else wreckless. "I could say the same thing," she mutters, but isn't going to acknowledge Guzma's Big Bad Boss attitude by shouting after him. Instead she just growls mentally at herself. Next time, she's bringing more of her big hitters and not holding back for the sake of a challenge.

Team Skull's attitude may be obnoxious, but their Leader proved he can back that attitude up. Numbers is the only reason he had to retreat.

The pokeball is tucked away, and the money is eyed. Didn't think this counted as a competative fight to require a payout, but there it is.

No one else is collecting it so Alexis scoops down to do so. "Officer." As no one else seems to want it she passes it to Lory. "Not enough to replace the bench, but the city should probably be compensated for the loss, yeah?"

Selene (7151) has posed:
Selene snickers at the Tauros getting beslimed by the LASS' hand in that 'oh ew gross hehe' sort of way. Indeed, despite her age, she's still kind of deficient in other aspects.

Mentally. She's dumb. Pure, but dumb. Still, she suspects nothing whatsoever as she takes Sylvi's hand to get up, wobbling a bit in the process. Just how out of shape is she?

Yes.

"Alright, sounds good! Wait. In He-Your parents let you have an Xbox?! All I've got is this chunky tablet thing..."

She misheard that hell part, right? Probably. Or it might just be an exaggeration. Either way, it's enough to have Selene laughing even as she hands over a neat... Ten credits or so's worth of currency.

She hasn't been mugging enough people. "The heat's not that bad, is it? It's the humidity that really sucks, but if there's no breeze..." As she mulls over the possible ventilation issues in the LASS' home, she snaps out of her daze long enough to remember something even more important. "Oh! What's your na-aaaah?"

The bus stop is gone. Once again, those stars return to her eyes. Even being lightheaded and falling over from getting up too quickly can't stop that.

Lory Thumper has posed:
     Lory takes a few moments to catch her breath a bit, and to assess the still bleeding gashes in her sides keeping her from going after Guzma like she usually would. Her ears perk and she looks toward Alexis as she is offered the money, then nods and takes it. "I'll make sure it gets to them." she says. Aaaand...the bus stop is really gone now. Lory is left staring wide-eyed as the LASS just picks it up and leaps away like some anime character or something. Which she totally doesn't watch in her spare time or anything.

     This at least leaves her free to level a glare at Riku. "..." And wordlessly she pulls out a pair of handcuffs. "Now for you." she says, making her way toward him.

Guzma has posed:
As Sylvi escapes with the bus stop from the spun around Tauros (who is fine) and the grunts. One of them has already escaped after Guzma did, and the other, riding the Tauros, is now unable to control her Tauros. So...

She rides it into the warpgate, in a completely random direction, and is going to be lost until Team Skull can pick her up. And return the Tauros to where they stole it from, probably.

Alexis has posed:
And then the cop goes after the shadow boy. Alexis just asumes it's got to do with the Big Things that happen last night. Not her problem. Sometimes it's nice not having to deal with Faction Issues any more.

"Yep, that's my cue to leave." She starts walking back towards the center of town, to get her hurt Pokemon over to the Pokecenter.

Riku (6928) has posed:
    Riku continues to sit there, saving his energy, marshalling it for the time it will be needed.

    That time comes sooner than he expected. Fresh from Guzma leaving, Lory turns to try to arrest him. "No." Riku says. "Not this time." A Corridor of Darkness opens up behind him at that point, and Riku tumbles backwards, rolling into it despite the pain.

    Looks like he's making his escape!

Lory Thumper has posed:
     Lory's pace quickly accelerates as Riku speaks up. "Hey! Get back here!" she exclaims as he rolls. She dashes and leaps, trying to get through that portal before it closes. She has no idea how dangerous the darkness is, or what awaits through that portal. Or even the rules to keep herself from falling off the path. She just sees a criminal getting away, and hears a challenge that supposedly she'll just get lost in there. "Like I am going to listen to you!"

     And with that, she goes sailing through the air toward the portal, and right through it!