Doggo

Milla's heart almost couldn't take it as it appeared the wild Litleo wanted to run rather than fight. But sure enough, it stood its ground. This was it! A proper battle! Rondo charged in even as the Litleo fired its Embers. It was occurring to Milla that her partner was at something of a type disadvantage here. "Rondo!" she called out in concern. The Sneasel was quick but not quick enough in this case and it took the brunt of the attack to its chest, eliciting a gasp from his trainer. But he stood strong and looked back to her which was signal enough to calm down and give him orders. "R-right, Feint Attack!" she declared. An attack that never missed that the Sneasel readied with his claws. Despite the pain from the Ember it delivered a strong blow to the Litleo who, while not weak to Dark moves, seemed a lot more shook up about taking a hit than Rondo did. It backed up some, it was obviously scared to be in this situation. But then it dug in its heels and a serious look took over its face. Leer was incoming! "Taunt it!" Milla ordered her partner, who channeled his ego and beckoned the Litleo to come at it with one hand. This shook up the lion some more as its serious facade dropped. At Milla's command Rondo went in to scratch the Litleo who took the hit and returned with an impromptu tackle. Milla was beginning to worry about Rondo and his ability to take many more hits. The initial ember had done more than he would let on. If the Litleo fired another one she wasn't sure he'd be able to handle it. As if reading her mind, Ember was exactly what the Litleo next readied and the girl almost couldn't look as it went flying towards her partner. It was a blink and you'd miss it moment, which is exactly what she did. "Huh? Rondo where did you...." she muttered aloud as Rondo was no longer where he'd been standing, the embers burning out on the ground where he'd stood. He was now behind the lion pokemon with a face that said it was nothing personal as he Scratched at the thing again. Milla's heart skipped a beat at how cool her little cutie was but also determined this was enough beating on the little Litleo. It didn't seem like it wanted to fight much more so maybe one was all she'd need. She called Rondo off while tossing in a pokeball from her bag. She nearly missed but was relieved as it curved in just enough to tap the Litleo's side. The pokeball did it's work as the pokemon disappeared inside of it but now was the really tense part. Human and weasel stared at the pokeball intently. One shake, no escape. Two shakes, no escape. Both held their breath, the instant stretching out to eternity... and three shakes. Both exhaled and relaxed as the pokeball settled. Litleo was caught! "Rondo we did it!" Milla cheered as she ran over to retrieve the pokeball and her partner. Immediately she grabbed the Sneasel and began looking him over like a concerned mother. He wanted to dismiss her but knew by now this was inevitable. The ember hit was the most important and so Milla withdrew one of the potions in her possession and began applying it to Rondo's chest. The pain was soothed and his usual smirk took over with a more relaxed and normal posture. Now it was time to shift her attention to her new friend. She let the Litleo out of its ball, who, upon seeing Rondo, cowered on the ground a bit placing her paws over her face. "Hey there, it's alright. We're friends now." she said with a beaming smile as she gently pat the thing's head. Milla retrieved another of her potions and began applying it to the visible scratches from Rondo's claws. Litleo perked up as her injuries stopped hurting and got her first real good look at her now trainer. The two shared a gaze for a moment before Milla scooped her up off the ground and held her close in her arms. "You're the cutest little thing you know that? Ohhh what to call you..." she trailed off, her mind turning. "Andante! That's your name!" Milla declared in a burst of an idea. It shook the Litleo in her arms some who then looked up to meet her trainer's eyes. "You like that?" she said softer this time. With a nod the deal was sealed and Andante buried her face into her trainer's chest trying to cuddle her. It seemed like it'd be nice, so long as Rondo kept his claws to himself. On that note Milla decided to let her partner rest for a bit while she got to know her new friend. With as cool a look on his face as he could muster, Rondo waved as he returned to his pokeball, a motion Andante meekly returned from her place in Milla's arms. And now it was time to show her teammates. Or teammate in this case as while Nomi had gone off to do something, Kanon remained close by. "Look at her Kanon!" she shouted giddily as she approached her new teammate with her new friend. "Isn't she just the most adorable little thing?!" Milla exclaimed as she held Andante out at arm's length, the tuft of red fur on the lion's head waving about as she did so. Never did she have more energy than when showing off her pokemon. And as far as interacting with her new team, this would be the most energetic she'd been yet with them. "Andante, this is Kanon. She's gonna be your friend too cuz we're traveling together!" The lion looked at her trainer then to Kanon. She was clearly nervous about this but with how happy Milla was it was hard for the lion to stay overly distressed at the situation.

Reinaan's bid to keep the roc's eyes on him had worked. The shine to his scales had seemed to prove helpful in that effort. This was good. Every attack it made at him was something the others didn't have to worry about and he had the most experience with these sorts of things. The pillars he was standing between were just tall enough that as the bird passed over to rake its talons in on him the boy was able to avoid them by dropping himself to the ground face first. While a bit close for comfort, what mattered was they didn't find their mark. Reinaan got up but stayed crouched as the bird made its way to the larger pillar not too far up from where the draken was currently. Reinaan was ready to charge forward but saw the thing start to flap its wings. At first he simply thought it was to keep them from firing on it again. But then wind struck the dirt near him, kicking it up into the air. Clearly there was some magic to this, and the hunter didn't fancy feeling it head on. Thankfully the pillar was holding fast as cover for him so he could observe for a while. Eventually Reinaan darted out from behind his pillar to move up one. He dived and rolled a bit to speed up the process, barely avoiding being clipped by the gusts. As he'd thought there were gaps in the attacks he could predict based on where the things were in the flapping motion. This game of wait and move he repeated twice more until he was in the gap immediately in front of the Roc. At this point the large pillar rose to a height of roughly twenty feet. Not feeling up to scaling it, Reinaan readied his crossbow again and fired a bolt at the abdomen of the creature. This halted the flapping, opening up Ryia's way forward. But now the bird was ready to move. Reinaan readied another bolt and fired again on the wing he had struck earlier and yet he couldn't stop it from taking off. The bolts were clearly hurting the creature but not impairing its movements yet. "Dammit... I'll have to get on top of it at this rate..." he muttered to himself, thinking about how to damage the wings enough to ground the thing. The reptilian hunter kept his eyes on the bird and was sure to shift relative to it to stay in its sights. As needed he'd take some steps away from the pillars to keep the sun shining on his scales. He was the only thing it needed to look at.

Nomi must have had some idea of what Blackthorn City was like. It's dragon-type focus was pretty well known so her asking if Rondo was a dragon could have been a subtle reference to that. It was almost enough to make her giggle in response. But the way it was asked, Milla had to wonder if it wasn't just an honest question. Rather than assume it was a joke it seemed better to clarify. "He's a weasel... but wouldn't he be adorable with little wings?" she said as she looked lovingly down at her partner who was walking at her side. He flexed in response though whether this was to say he was cool enough already or was him pretending what it'd be like to have them Milla couldn't say. Her attention swiftly shifted to Kanon as she explained she was from Fortree City in Hoenn. "That sounds lovely. The constant white noise in a picturesque forest..." she mused aloud as a tune for another city she'd never been to came to mind. It sounded like it would be a very comforting place. Where one could do a lot of deep thought and reflection with relative ease. The heat was continuing to rise which only made any attempt at deep thought here harder. She followed her new teammates in like fashion and removed her long outer jacket, fully revealing the white top she had on underneath. It left most of her shoulders and neck uncovered but it did ultimately have sleeves that helped hold it up. With her coat put away with some neat folding into her backback, Milla flicked her rather long hair off her neck and back a few times before untying the yellow ribbon on her head. She gathered her together into one hand and tied the ribbon around it to form a singular large ponytail to help let in some air for her back. As she did so Kanon asked her if she'd ever ventured off the beaten path in her time while pointing to the desert in the distance. "The last time I did I found this cutie." she said with a small laugh while reaching down to ruffle Rondo's head. She was all for going through the desert, it would be a whole new experience. "I say we go for it. But first..." she trailed off while taking in the route they were currently on. It felt like time to add to her team. Rondo and Sonata were but the start. She needed another friend. Though as she and Rondo set off in search, it was quickly apparent she wasn't going to be finding ice-types here. She was somewhat disheartened. Fire-types weren't exactly her thing and that's mostly what was around. With her Sneasel ever close by she moved about and sighted a few fletchlings. Maybe her feeling had been wrong. Maybe the desert was where her new friend would be. But then it came into view in the grass. Something so adorable it might even give Rondo a run for his money. A wild Litleo appeared! "That's gonna be our new friend!" she declared triumphantly to her partner who was already charging in to begin the battle.

With the snake dispatched, Reinaan remained alert as Ryia administered treatment to Kloqah. The lizard hissed a bit through the process but due to the numbness setting in she couldn't actually feel much so the protest was minimal. Ultimately, she let the Earth Chosen finish and after a bit of a time sensation returned to her leg and the group was able to continue onward. With a quip from Geoff about cutting the grass ahead of them they were off again without much incident. This was due to both chosens of water and fire staying focused on look out duties to avoid other unexpected run ins, snake or otherwise. The boy hadn't thought much about it until the grass started getting higher, but in trying to be considerate to Keres in their riding arrangement, he'd made it so rather than lean into him she now had to be nearly hugging him the whole time. He berated himself mentally a bit for not thinking about it more but at the same time he couldn't argue that, to him at least, the touch was welcome. It was something of a reminder of home. As the group progressed, the tall grass became the even taller grass. So much so that eventually it began reaching over the heads of the mounted Chosen. The draken hated having his visibility this much reduced and was beginning to think Geoff had the right idea earlier. Cutting all of this down was feeling pretty appealing. Kloqah too seemed irritated with not being able to see where she was going but continued on all the same until it all began thinning out again. As they finally pushed through the grass, a strange structure came into view. A cross of spaced out pillars of descending height from the center. Even here the blood trail continued to the middle of the monument. Reinaan's eyes widened as a large bird monster came into view. Another reminder of home, but this one most unwelcome. "Get the mounts back into grass!" he called out to the group as he nearly leaped off Kloqah's back, dragging along Keres in the process if she had yet to relinquish her grip. He hurried Kloqah back into the taller grass while readying his cross bow and halberd. He then had her sit down and told her not to move which she seemed mostly compliant with. From the edge of the grass the hunter readied the crossbow and took aim at the roused Roc. The important parts to fighting winged beasts was always having cover, and taking out the wings first. Once they were grounded, birds often found it harder to fight back as well. With such a large target the boy found little issue in aiming and sent a bolt sailing through the air into one of the roc's wings. The creature screeched at the attack but ultimately seemed largely unaffected by it. "We can't be out in the open against this thing..." he voiced to the others while taking note of the rows of pillars. "Try to get to those," he said as he motioned to the structures. "Always have something between you and it." he said as he finished giving out instructions. Having injured the creature Reinaan assumed he would be its first target and so when he was ready began running as fast as he could, with crossbow and halberd in hand, northward to the row of stone pillars. He reached the gap between the second to last and third to last pillars in this line but wasn't planning to stay for long. He wanted the creature to see him for the moment so the others could get to cover safely too.

Catriona could only smile and turn her attention away from Lucine as the wolf girl sarcastically thanked her and expressed her lack of interest. An easy tease just like she had thought. But ultimately there was little genuine enjoyment to be had in the experience. But that was just the way it went with other Jaeger. In a group of humans she'd be the eye of the entire room's focus but here everyone had their eyes on Jekyll and the information he held. Though that wasn't entirely true was it? One pair of eyes in particular had lingered on her a touch longer than the others. The taller man who had been first to arrive. The cat woman overheard him assert he was in fact not a Jaeger and Jekyll referred to him as Dragon Slayer. Now what was a human man who had bested dragons doing in a group like this she wondered. This was a new object of curiosity, one that felt worth pursuing. But before she could play her little game, the good doctor invited the group to sit and eat while he began explaining things to them. Words of new teammates, a disgusting thought with most of the current group, and a deposed prince. An image of the fahlyn and statement of their group's goal to eradicate the monsters that had claimed an entire kingdom. And so the others began asking questions as he had invited them to do. But Catriona had a different objective in mind for the moment. She picked at the food presented to them, never seriously committing to eating anything. Her eyes wandered to Sieg and there rested a moment, just long enough for the man to perhaps notice if he was paying attention, before shifting them elsewhere. This she repeated some few times, hoping he would play her game and begin staring back in kind while trying to avoid eye contact. Before long she lowered the hood from off her head and with an elegant motion of both hands flipped her hair from behind the shawl and lowered hood to flow freely behind her. Every movement was calculated, aimed at captivating the man like they had scores of others before him. Of course, she couldn't be too obvious about this. And there was always the off chance Dr. Jekyll was falling for her as well. Regardless it felt appropriate to pretend to be on task and ask a question. "What the boy said." she said pointing to Lachlan. "What's little old me supposed to do about these scary blurry picutres?" she asked in a blatantly faked cute voice. More important was in calling attention to herself by speaking that she casually shifted in her seat to give Sieg a better view of her.

The group had come to the beginning of what looked like something of a trail of tall grass. The blood Reinaan had been tracking led into it but something was off. Nothing they'd just fought had fled this direction and then there was the blood itself. It looked like it had been dripping from some distance up. It was a shape the Draken boy had seen often due to the many winged monsters that called Blagos their home. Could something like that be here? He shuddered at the thought without a dozen or so of his fully grown Draken brethren to back him up. But still, the Chosen were by no means a weak group. So long as it was a solitary monster he imagined their chances would be pretty good. After discussing what to do about the trail, the group decided it was worth pursuing. But not everyone was exactly in the best of shape to immediately go into potentially more danger. Reinaan intended to ride Kloqah in at the very least. Ultimately the group split up with Reinaan and Keres riding Kloqah into the grass, accompanied by Ryia riding the mule and Geoff with his buffalo. Pyrrha and Lindow would remain behind so the girl could recover. No doubt the Thunder Chosen needed some time to recover himself after the healing he'd been doing. The Fire Chosen was hesitant to split up the group but felt confident the two left behind would be safe. Lindow was a quick thinker, he'd get them out of danger in a flash if something happened. And so the lizards with accompanying human girl led the way into the grass. Reinaan sat in front of Keres, knowing she would be uncomfortable with the situation regardless, figuring she might feel somewhat better to not be leaning back into him. This of course had his own tail directly in the way of her spot to sit but he'd try to keep it out of the way for her as best he could. They had been travelling for nearly an hour and still the grass continued. How far they would have to go or how long the blood trail would continue no one knew. But the boy was determined to track it so long as he could. But something soon caught his attention as Kloqah hissed in pain as her pace dragged to a halt. A large snake had bitten one of her hind legs before moving ahead of them in the grass. "Snake! Don't let your feet down too close to the ground!" Reinaan called to the others once the group had sighted it. His halberd was ready to be used but seemed ineffective for the task. Jumping off Kloqah to fight it directly seemed foolish. If there were more it was inviting himself to get bitten. And no doubt there was poison in this thing. No, the weapon for the job here seemed to be the crossbow she still had with him which the boy readied to fire while tracking the snake's movements. It was going to be a touch tricky given the height of the grass, but this wasn't Reinaan's first rodeo when it came to hunting less than perfectly visible prey. The bidepal reptile fired his bolt after taking aim which lodged itself into the limbless reptile. More than that it seemed to pierce through into the ground as the creature was wriggling in place but not running away. "Do we have something for poison?" Reinaan asked of the others, not entirely sure what everyone had bought in town. He was only assuming the snake was poisonous of course. But the fact Kloqah wasn't moving the bitten limb or putting weight onto it seemed to indicate well enough that it was. He readied another bolt and kept the crossbow trained on the snake while waiting for the reply. If there were others he wanted to be ready but he also didn't want this one suddenly getting free and attacking while they attempted to treat his mount.

With both girls agreeing to her joining them, Milla found herself with a team once more. Her journey could continue after all! The next time she called home it would be to happily report on her progress rather than tell her parents she was coming home. Kanon seemed to be the leader of the two new teammates and she led the group on towards the next route to the next city. Rondo stayed happily in Millas arms for a few minutes before wiggling about some; basically he was asking to be let down. This Milla complied with and the Sneasel walked alongside her, though ever so slightly ahead of her as he ever wanted to be the first to jump into action. It was cute to his trainer so she never protested. She was surprised however when one of Nomi's pokemon, a Rhyhorn, emerged from its pokeball. Nomi seemed to want to either nap on it or ride it, or perhaps both. Regardless, there was something cute about it all. Milla found it interesting to learn where the Rhyhorn-rider was from. Laverre in the Kalos region. The only detail offered was that there were lots of mushrooms. A melody floated into the girl's mind as a scene of a town sitting atop a forest of massive mushrooms came into focus. She didn't have long to focus on it as she realized it would be her turn to answer the question. "Oh... Well it's not than interesting a place. Or is it interesting places." she said voicing her own thought process on the matter. There was an obvious answer but then several less obvious from when her family had moved a lot during her early childhood. Was any of that interesting? She very much doubted it. What was a boring old city full of dragon-type trainers to a magical mushroom kingdom? But they would be expecting an answer no doubt. "Um... home's Blackthorn City, in Johto." she finally said after wondering if there were any extraordinary details to add to it. "But more importantly, where are you from Kanon?" she asked with a genuine curiosity. She hoped it was another fantastical sounding place. It would serve to distract from the ever increasing heat as they progressed along into the route.

Not a pup. Of course she wasn't. She was a big strong girl this Lucine. Catriona couldn't help but giggle at the clear display of frustration as the wolf girl asserted she was a cuter pup than Catriona was a kitten. She couldn't have asked for a much better reaction. She could already tell this was going to be a fun ride picking on the touchy puppy but there was a lot going on in the room. Other Jaegers were arriving, introducing themselves or otherwise speaking among themselves. Alexandre's as well as Lopt's introductions made much less impact on her than what followed shortly after. Her eyes departed from their joviality as a fire of irritation took hold as they set their focus on Jekyll. Even after all this, all the weeks of boredom, the man still wasn't entirely prepared to get them on out of here. The nerve of some men. It would be one thing if she could play with him more often but he rarely directly approached her during her stay past these briefings. The moment of disgust passed as a boy named Lachlan introduced himself to the group. A real ball of nerves this one seemed to be. Catriona could already tell that a simple breeze might knock him over let alone her usual teasing. But thankfully the blessed lad had given her everything she needed. Lucine had no intention of simply refuting the word pup and calling herself cute. No she intended to fire back. The poor fool. "You'll have to do a few things before you get to put a collar on me." she began, leaning in toward Lucine while holding a arm across her chest to accentuate certain features of her body. None of this was made any better by her wardrobe of course. But it didn't matter to Catriona, she loved how uncomfortable she could make some people. "But if you put in the work, you can call me an-y-thing-you-like." she nearly whispered in a jokingly seductive tone, emphasizing each syllable of her last few words. To cap it off she shot the wolf girl a wink before giggling to herself some more. But she wasn't done, oh no. She raised a finger to her lips while closing the eye she'd winked earlier. The ear on the same side lowered some to add to her playful posture. "Most settle on 'Mommy' after a while. I'm sure you'll come around too puppy dog." Still no sign of her name. In truth, Catriona had no intention of revealing it to any of them present. Friendship with other Jaeger held little of her interest. Only Jekyll truly had her attention in this room as yet.

So distracted was Milla mentally that she could hardly process was Kanon and Nomi were saying. She had to blink a few times and look back to the blue-haired girl. What had she just said? They were her new team? One of theirs had left? That seemed impossible. This was the impossible scenario she'd determined wouldn't be happening for her. Rondo couldn't have possible known this and led them to her intentionally either. None of this seemed plausible. The girl had to shake her head and really process it all again. "R-really? You'd have me along just like that?" she asked softly, almost shying away from it. She didn't want to build up her own hope in the event she'd misheard. But she knew what she'd heard. She'd played it again in her head enough times she had to believe she'd heard it right. "Thank you so much! You dont know what this means to-" she cut herself off. For one, she doubted they wanted to know too much about her. But another thought crossed her mind. However impossible it seemed, Rondo must have been trying to get them to come help her. She released the Sneasel from his pokeball and as the creature appeared he stood there with his arms folded, eyes closed and head turned to the side. No doubt he was still upset. "Rondo! Thank you!" she cried as she scooped him up to some initial protest and gave him a big hug. He tried to stay upset but gave in before long and returned it. With trust between partners restored he stayed happily in her arms as Milla turned her attention back to her new teammates. "I look forward to travelling with you." she said with a soft smile. She made no indication of a next move. They had been kind enough to have her she would leave it to the more senior members of the team to decide where they were headed.

Reinaan had been ready to wrestle with the worg if needed but found Lindow was effective in dispatching it after he had clashed with and and been pushed back. He looked on as life left the creature's body and breathed a sigh of relief as he dismissed Ziiyol from his body. The Fire Spirit formed at his side, seemingly confused at how short a time they'd been together. With the area safe for the moment the boy planted his weapon's shaft into the ground and leaned on it for a moment to catch his breath while the Thunder Chosen approached. He couldn't help but smile at the man's comment. "It's something of an art form. Don't get mad if you're bad at it for a while." he fired back while Lindow went off to offer healing magic to the others. Reinaan for one didn't want to take from the man's stamina. For all they knew things weren't as over as they seemed at the moment. It occurred to him that they had potions on hand for such an occasion as this and so he slowly made his way back to Kloqah and the Mule who had managed to stay safe through the conflict. After rummaging through the mule's supplies some the boy found one of the healing potions and hesitantly chugged the thing. As he did a somewhat familiar sensation of his wounds beginning to supernaturally close set in. Maybe it wasn't as fast as the light magic, but from what he could tell he'd be fine in a few minutes. "Well, what do you know?" he said voicing his surprise that people had managed to make such effective medicine. In the process of looking himself over he realized he'd like to clean up a bit while the others got patched up. He managed to produce a rag from among the things packed on Kloqah's back and used some of the water stored to wet it to begin cleaning off the dirt and blood. To his surprise it slid off rather easily. The polish was doing it's job and the Draken was happy to see that the shine of his scales was relatively intact after he cleaned them off. It took a while and some stretching to make sure he'd gotten every bit of himself but before long he was relatively clean and shiny again. His chest puffed in confidence which Kloqah huffed at before he went about searching the battlefield. There was little he found interesting among the gnolls. They had little in the way of equipment he wanted to use and nothing hiding on them that they weren't immediately fighting with. For that matter the carts had nothing but vegetables in them. It was a touch disappointing to be honest. Regardless he made sure to retrieve the crossbow he'd dropped part way into the battle and securely stored that away among Kloqah's load. With halberd still in hand and eyes still scanning the area, Reinaan made his way back to the group. Pyrrha had regained consciousness which was a good sign. Ryia too seemed to be in better shape for all the injuries she'd taken while the boy was off fighting the rank and file gnolls. They had found no trace of the necklace the woman had told them about in the bodies from earlier and similarly found no trace of it here. But the Earth Chosen had noticed something that she pointed to while advising they keep looking. Following her finger the boy saw blood which at first he thought might have been from one of their fights. However, he quickly caught on to the fact that it seemed to look like a trail, leading away from the area. "I'll give it a look." the boy announced as he set off in the direction of the blood. With the potion doing its work he felt it smartest for him to go for it. Lindow would be able to react quickly to anything that might attack the group behind him but tracking trails like this was his element. His eyes focused on the ground and his nostrils flared as he began trying to take everything in while advancing.

A deep sigh. A groan of frustration. How many miserably boring days had she spent here already Catriona thought to herself. She lay in her bed provided for her, tossing herself about every few minutes as if hoping to pull some form of entertainment out of the air. But there was nothing to be found here. Ever since that man, Jekyll he had called himself, had abducted her she'd had next to nothing to do. Agreeing to his deal seemed the fastest way to get back to the open air and yet here she'd been for weeks now. There was only so much a girl could take before acting out. She had settled on a position for the time being. Her stomach was on top of the mattress, legs in the air and kicking about, arms up and holding her head in a slightly raised position. Her ears and tail twitched about as she imagined what she might first do when she got out. "I think I know just the thing..." Catriona mused aloud to no one but herself. Thoughts came rushing back to her last night of freedom. It had been a night like any other. The King of the Cats had meandered into another small town, her beauty immediately attracting attention before her more animal-like traits changed the context of it. Having eyes trained on her was nothing new. She dressed to encourage it after all. She felt nothing off then when a particular set of eyes took special notice of her. It made no initial move and so neither did she. Catriona's movements were always whimsical in nature. The main place she wanted to go was the local tavern, ever a goldmine for one such as her. Things started as they always did. Her entrance to the small establishment drew attention then disgust. But it was clear that at least for some, her being a Jaeger did little to subdue the raw sensuality of it all. Those who looked longest were the easiest starting points. She went and stood near one man who never once took his gaze off her while ordering a drink. The bartender started to raise an objection before the man she had her eyes on assured him it was okay. "Aren't you the gentleman." Catriona teased as she sat beside him. "No reason to deny spirits to a willing customer is all." the man returned, though unconvinced of his own words. "Awfully dogmatic of you.." she replied, a smile curving the edge of her mouth every so slightly. Saying the dog word even as simply parts of other words always sent a shiver running down her spine. The movement of which the man seemed to notice. She wanted him to take in the image of her body. As her drink arrived the two continued to exchange small talk but what mattered to her was his gaze and where it went. She could tell she was slowly reeling him in. As tension continued to build she waited for the perfect moment to speak of love. Nothing so noble as a prolonged devoted relationship of course. No, she only ever had raw passion in mind when she spoke of it. Simply hearing the word wrapped the man around her finger and as she stood and teased him off to follow her the man escorted her to his home nearby. Catriona had experienced it all too many times before but the prospect of a new partner always had her excited. She had begun undressing when all at once the excitement stopped. Something had struck her neck. She reached and felt a dart which she grasped and removed. Already she could feel her sight wavering and her consciousness slipping. "You..." she hissed at her would-be lover who seemed afraid of her now. She turned behind to see the outline of another man. One when she next awoke she would learn to be Jekyll. "I'll go get him back." Catriona continued airing some of her thoughts to herself. Upon being informed of where she was and what A.R.C.H. was she was also informed she had been set up. Apparently her methods were well known and the man she had attempted to seduce had actually been paid off to assist in her capture at her most vulnerable. She had to applaud the effort really. It was so unlike her to get taken for a ride that it was almost refreshing. So she had agreed to humor Jekyll for outplaying her so thoroughly with the expectation of being released soon. All that said she still wanted to go back to that village and pay her dearly beloved another visit and claim her dues. Thankfully, the dear doctor's voice soon sounded calling for her and the others to gather together. "Well it's about time!" she yelled as she darted to her feet. The cat woman quickly placed her shawl over her head and situated her sash about her arms and back before running off. It was only upon arriving in the conference room that she realized what the words spoken had meant. He had spoken of a group of Jaegers. Others like her. Another long sigh sounded as she reluctantly entered the room. Others had arrived before her and would trickle in as time passed. No doubt they too were bored out of their minds so there was little reason to dawdle. It was quite a varied group but then Jaeger came in all sorts of shapes and sizes just as humans did. Some of the other girls introduced themselves to the group while the men present either remained silent or in one case seemed incapable of speaking due to a gag in place. It was likely less fun than she was initially imagining. It still bothered her to even be here among so many other Jaeger but that seemed like little reason to refrain from playing her usual games. Lucine in particular seemed particularly worth teasing. "My, my aren't you all just adorable!" Catriona said, layering as much sugar into her words as she could while approaching Lucine. "I didn't think Jekyll would be one to keep pets. Are you house broken yet little pup?" she continued while looking down what she could on the tall but still shorter than her wolf girl.

Milla was surprised to see a second girl walk up to them as she had been trying to get Rondo to behave. The girl the Sneasel had grabbed she called Nomi, and she introduced herself as Kanon before asking for a name in return. Nomi meanwhile had seemed altogether unaffected by what Rondo had done. It was curious how she assumed that simply by his being a Pokemon she naturally wouldn't be hurt. That was far from the image of wild animals Milla held in her mind. From some of the information she'd heard about different Pokemon she had to imagine it would be only natural to assume an interaction with them would end up in being injured. Though in a city like this perhaps she simply assumed every Pokemon she encountered to be owned by a trainer. That made more sense. But while this thought process was weaving itself through her head, Milla's mouth needed to start fumbling through social interactions. "N-no, Rondo's my Sneasel." She started a bit unsure of where to begin with these two. "I'm Milla. A rookie trainer here... well..." she trailed off. Until recently she'd been a new trainer in the region. But with how things were looking it didn't feel right to still call herself one. "I was on my way to make a phone call when Rondo ran off on his own. I should be thanking you for putting up with him and getting him back to me. But I don't mean to trouble you any further so I'll just be on my way now." Milla spoke as her eyes seemed to move past the two she was currently speaking with. Her lips trembled slightly as she concluded, having to remind herself that being on her way meant being on her way home. An adventure cut woefully short. She was so in her own head that she didn't realize there were only two people in front of her. Surely their third was only a corner away she reasoned. But she couldn't get what Rondo had done out of her head either. Why had he gone out of his way to drag Nomi to her side?

Reinaan stumbled back a step or two as the worg released its bite on his body. Only now was his brain processing the pain of the attack as his own blood started freely pouring down his side from the several holes left by the fierce teeth. Lindow had managed to hit meaning the boy's gamble had mostly paid off despite all this. Now it scanned the group while backing up itself, as if considering fleeing. How many more gnolls might there be he wondered. If it was left alive it would surely come back for them at some point. It seemed in everyone's best interest to kill it now. The boy readied his weapon anew in both hands, the movement spurring on more bleeding which caused him to stagger for a moment. However Keres was soon at his side, and before he visually registered what she was doing the pain in his side had subsided some and the bleeding had stopped. "Thanks..." he managed to grunt out to the girl as he was able to resume his proper stance due to her aid. He locked eyes with the warg for a moment before speaking again. "But you should see to Pyrrha and Ryia before me." Reinaan told her. It was clear enough he intended to keep the fight going and wanted the others treated before him. He looked then to LIndow, to see if the man was on the same wavelength as him on all this. Geoff was still in fighting shape of course but the Thunder Chosen was the one Reinaan most trusted on the battlefield. Their cooperative efforts before were the reason either of them were still alive. This time wouldn't be any different. But however they went about it this next interaction needed to end things. "Ziiyol, let's go." the Draken said calmly. The spirit nodded and disappeared into his body, causing sparks to beging dancing off the boy's scales. He didn't produce the signature flame claws yet. That needed to remain a last second surprise for one so quick as the wolf. With his halberd ready Reinaan charged the wolf again. He would do his all to create a fatal opening for Lindow this time.

Lunar 2: Eternal Blue Complete

Milla had long since become winded from chasing after her Sneasel. She'd lost him fairly quickly because of how much faster he was. Whatever it was he was trying to do, she wasn't going to be able to stop it much as she disliked the idea. Running around in circles about town felt less than helpful. The girl paused a moment, hunched over, and tried to catch her breath before standing up and looking all around. Rondo couldn't have left the city by himself. Wherever he was running to he had to be coming back. She believed that much anyway. Though she generally disliked doing so, Milla began asking passerby if they'd seen a Sneasel running past. After a while she finally got a positive answer and was soon on her way to finding her partner. Before long her Pokemon came into view, tugging at the sweater of a girl that was following him. He was ushering the person forward. "Rondo! What are you doing?" Milla called out in a panic as she ran up to Naomi. "I'm so sorry, he's usually much better behaved than this." she began while trying to pick the Sneasel up. This much he allowed but he didn't release his grip on the girl's clothes. Milla tried tugging a bit to get him to let go to no avail. "Rondo, stop it! What's wrong with you? You shouldn't bother people like this." she tried scolding him but still nothing. The behavior was frustrating her enough that she reached for his pokeball from her pocket. She didn't want to force him like this but he had to behave somehow or other. Right before being drawn back into the ball Rondo gave her a look and motioned his head toward Naomi which caught her off guard. The Sneasel was now back in his ball which freed the sweater he'd been holding onto so stubbornly. "Sorry about all that. He's never done anything like that before. He didn't hurt you did he?" Milla asked of Naomi, finally focusing her attention on the girl Rondo had dragged her way.

Chrono Cross Final Fantasy IX

If She Breathes

A deep sigh sounded to accompany shuffled steps. A girl with long white locks bouncing about behind her as she moved was walking around Skrelp Harbor, her head angled ever so slightly down. Not that there was anything interesting on the ground. She simply couldn't be bothered to lift it any higher at the moment. In her arms was a Sneasel who seemed content to be there, at least so long as no one was directly looking at him. He would wriggle and fuss whenever he could notice someone looking at the duo but the girl's arms held on well enough. She wandered about without any real aim before sitting down at a bench. Her shoulders slumped and her grip on her friend loosened, allowing him to move about more. Despite this he did little more than sit on her lap, looking up at her face. There were no tears as yet. How long that would last was anyone's guess. But what mattered was she definitely looked down in the dumps. "Well Rondo... It's just us now. And Sonata of course..." she said softly while raising a hand to pet her Pokemon's head. This was Milla Reuter, one of many beginning trainers that had come to tackle the new region. But now she found herself without a team. Getting by with two other trainers to help had already been somewhat challenging at points. But they'd had some experience by now. Surely the teams were just to help everyone starting out she thought. "Maybe we can do it by ourselves?" she asked with doubt clear in own voice. Whatever thought process she ran through in her own mind couldn't get rid of what she already knew. She was going to need a team. And that would require some other team or teams falling apart like hers. Rondo as she called the Sneasel turned about to look her in the face. He seemed more than confident and tried brandishing his claws as if to say he could handle it all himself. This elicited a small laugh but ultimately didn't lift Milla's spirits. This troubled Rondo who began looking around the area. The two sat for some time like this, Milla not knowing what to do, Rondo looking for anything to help his trainer. "I should probably call Mom and Dad... Going home might be for the best..." Milla spoke after a lengthy pause while sounding even more dejected. Giving up was something Rondo couldn't allow and the weasel popped up from her lap. With swiftness he hopped down to the ground and began running off to who knows where. "R-rondo wait for me!" Milla called out in a panic as she took to her own feet and began trying to follow her partner. He was a lot faster than she was so she'd need him to stop running if she ever wanted to catch him. But still, he never did anything like this. What had gotten into him?

Wistful Harmonies

Reinaan had succeeded in holding the gnoll leader mostly in place as Ryia reengaged it. Thought both Chosen were taken aback as the thing spoke, begging them to stop and that it would leave the food. After all this it had some gall to expect them to let it live just so it could attack people again. Nevermind the damage already done to the group. The draken's anger was steadily boiling yet he was surprised to see the same reaction in the Earth Chosen. In fact it seemed more intense as the boy had not known her to ever really be visibly angry, at least not to this extent. He watched with admiration as she struck her mace into the thing's back several times, causing it to go nearly limp. He held it in place though, not wanting the girl to have to exert herself that much to beat it down. But as it went on it became clear the warg was on the move and before either Chosen had time to react teeth had sunk into Ryia. Still sensing some strength in the gnoll leader's arm, spent largely on retaining the ax in its hand, Reinaan moved to quickly dispatch it. The last thing he needed was an ax in the back while dealing with this beast. With his readied halberd the boy made a decisive chop into the leader's neck. The blade sunk well enough in and upon removal life had all but already left the hyena's body. He quickly dropped it and readied his weapon again to see that Ryia had managed to get the warg off of her. How he hadn't entirely pieced together but he didn't need to. Now it was his turn. Running in front of the girl he charged the wolf, reading his ax for a repeat of its most recent kill. The beast raised a paw to swipe at him which he deflected with the shaft of his weapon. But this didn't stop the creature from moving in to bite at the boy's side. The spear of his weapon pierced the wolf's chest at nearly the same time the wolf's teeth bit deeply into the boy's side. At least as yet he wouldn't start bleeding out. "That's right, eyes on me!" he snarled back through ragged breathing as he looked the warg in the eyes. One hand held his weapon firmly in place while the other reached for the face biting into him. Reinaan began clawing at it, reaching for the uninjured eye. Whatever damage he could do he didn't care. He just needed to hold it in place. The others would be able to get more sure hits in like this. And he knew Ziiyol was nearby, she'd been following him since his tussle in the wagon. He'd keep the ace up his nonexistent sleeve for as long as he could.

Definitely curious, also will await further infos.

There seemed to be something to this gnoll's position as leader of the pack, as it managed to dodge not one but two of Reinaan's attacks. It had managed to pull it's arm back out of the way as the boy approached and his halberd swung down on thin air. The creature then with a weapon in each hand attempted to attack both the Fire and Earth Chosen to which Reinaan readied his weapon to ram the spear into the thing's gut, only for it to manage to shift out of the way in time while staying true to its attacks. The halberd thrust into nothing and the gnoll's ax landed a hit on the Draken's chest though didn't manage to go in very deep through the magically reinforced scales. The thing immediately pulled back like it hadn't intended to follow through on either attack and called out to the giant wolf the others were fighting. "Get back here!" Reinaan roared as he grasped the gnoll's right arm with his own left hand and pulled on the limb as strong as he could. With only the one hand it wasn't quite the limb removal the boy had been secretly hoping for but it was enough to not only stop the creature's retreat but bring it back Reinaan's way and making its footing unsure. In the process the Draken boy spared Ryia having to take direct action against the attack against her. It still attempted to stab out with its free hand but to no avail due to nearly tripping over himself. Reinaan dug his claws deep into the thing's forearm and began twisting the limb. He'd keep going til the boss gnoll managed to escape his grasp, died, or something snapped; whichever came first. The reptile raised his halberd with his right hand to prepare to intercept any other attacks but was more intent on keeping the thing anchored in place for Ryia to get easy hits on. But every bit of pain he could put it in would make the fight easier. With a deep breath Reinaan released a stream of fire at the creature's head. A distraction and overall unpleasant experience if ever there was one.

"Me?" Reinaan returned Keres' question with an admittedly puzzled response. His vision was fine as it happened and she was completely unharmed where he'd been injured in a few places. He blinked a few times realizing he may have gone a bit overboard for all this. But aside from needing a bath he didn't feel too particularly bad. "Yeah I'm fin-" he started as Keres interrupted herself and took her attention to the remainder of the fight. The boy's body tensed up again, knowing he still had something left to do when he saw Pyrrha on the ground and not moving and the others fighting off the Gnoll leader and his mount. He hadn't been able to see much of the fighting going on the other side with the number of opponents he'd been scrambling with. But even from a ways away both the Earth and Wind Chosen seemed to be in a bad spot. Geoff and Lindow both seemed fine though they had the large foe to deal with. Getting the leader off Ryia and Pyrrha seemed like the priority for the moment. "Keres!" he called to her as he took off running. "Follow me but don't get too close. When I've pushed him back some try to get Pyrrha out of there!" Reinaan yelled out his plan. He hadn't noticed the girl freeze up but hopefully his words would stir her to action. The draken ran as fast as he could, which was never all that fast compared to others in the group. He watched every exchange between Ryia and the Gnoll, attacks and successful guards and dodges. As he got closer he saw a spear plunged into the girl's chest which sparked angry flames escaping the edges of his mouth as he continued moving towards them. He readied his halberd, holding it overhead. As he got close enough to engage he moved his arms further back to more fully wind up and swung down with all his might as he leaped forward to attempt bring the ax of the weapon down upon one of the gnolls arms. He'd made sure to approach such that the swing couldn't hurt either of his companions on accident. At the least he needed to get it off of Ryia and take over the fight for her.

Archers dont use guns silly. Well this one does actually. I do like to think myself clever sometimes. Okay but it'll be a big one. There's an obvious choice to be made here. And in a way I'll make it but befitting the holiday at hand. That's just what the archers want you to think. Even your very own archer here will help mislead you into this false belief.

Ash to ash, Jeanne to Jeanne Get outplayed tbh. Damn right they do. According to fate, girls in bikinis or edgy nameless boys. But for you, a silver fox.