Pokemon: Mind and Soul (Retry) [IC / PG / Probably Not Accepting / Co-Hosted by Skaia]

[vivi_]

As the battle raged on between the dangerous duo of Normandie & Shellos against this rude kid's Haunter, the latter resorted to even more underhanded tactics. Stealing Quinn's berry pouch, and taunting Normandie by floating just out of the pokemon's range. Well, two could play at that game. At the same time, though, she didn't want to set a bad example. Fortunately, she just so happened to know someone who almost certainly had no such reservations. With a gentle nudge on its back, Bridget's Shellos turned to her. And once she had its attention, she subtly, very subtly, nodded toward the kid's own snacks. Shellos, for one, seemed to understand the idea, as it began crawling over to the boy's snacks, attempting to steal a few for itself.

Only to be intercepted by Haunter and a big ol' Lick from his big ol' tongue.

But Bridget had at least partly expected that.

"He's at point-blank, Water Gun him!"

At Bridget's command, the Shellos puffed up its cheeks, and released a powerful spray of water. Directly at the enemy Haunter's eyes. Well, she certainly didn't specify that. But she'd have been lying if she said it wasn't at least a bit satisfying.

Edited April 24 by vivi_

[LordCowCow]

JA

Annelise nodded along with Jacklyn. Though she didn't really know herself if Anima was a great adventurer or not if Jacklyn was saying it then it must be true. "She isn't with us but that doesn't mean she gave up. She just..." the girl's voice trailed off. What then? She just didn't want to be with them?

She put her hand to her chin as she tried to think hard on this for some time. She wasn't used to people leaving if they weren't told to by her parents so when she stopped to think about it she wasn't sure how to feel about it now that it was brought up again.

"anyway, what does it matter to you? And what are you all doing here anyway?" 

"It doesn't MATTER to me." Chad said with a shrug and a shake of his head. "I just was curious what happened after a beat her so soundly. Someone like you probably doesn't understand the minds of strong trainers. As for what I'm doing here, do you expect me to stay on that little island the whole time? This is the only place to reach the mainland where the real challenge starts."

"Wait but Chad didn't you say you wanted to 'see what those losers were up to' earlier?"

Chad whirled on Kenta and said, "I did not! Urgh, don't just go saying things like that, right Fuyumi?"

But Fuyumi wasn't paying attention. She was still staring at Jacklyn. "Actually only one of them lost." she said, though the way her eyes narrowed slightly showed she still wasn't sure how it had happened in the first place.

---

QB

The boy reacted first to Normandie's assault on the berry pouch. "Hey don't go stealing my....my..." he tilted his head and narrowed his eyes at the pouch without recognition in his gaze.

The distraction caused him not to even realize that the Shellos had been creeping towards his pile of snacks but Haunter had sprung into action in his place. The boy noticed just in time to see the Shellos hitting Haunter with a direct shot.

He could see that the Haunter was struggling and panic began to set in. "Haunter, Lick..no, wait, get back..." he took a deep breath and shook his head, "we're still winning this! Just keep away and Curse will take them out, don't worry about attacking them!"

Spoiler

Haunter is in red health, one more good hit probably should do it. Vivi leaving it up to Normandie for final blow (but I'd say if you want try and work together to make actually landing the hit more possible)

 

[Skaia]

Jacklyn looked away from Chad as he mentioned that this was the only way to continue forward on the path of adventure, something that was obvious to her. Though, more than that, she hadn't seen any of these three on the boat that they took to get here. This could only mean that either they were all very skilled at hiding or they had gotten here before Jacklyn and the rest of her team. That incensed her more than his implication that she was weak, though that was something she could actually take contention with. 

This was only further supported by Fuyumi's comment, which prompted Jacklyn to give a thumbs up towards the girl. "Yeah! I'm plenty strong and as the team that won more battles, that makes us the stronger team." She turned her eyes away from Fuyumi, feeling oddly threatened by the girl's gaze. So instead she folded her arms and turned herself to face Chad, "not like I'd expect a novice adventurer like you to expect how it works." 

"But as for what we've been doing," the girl's petty spite had just as quickly vanished as her excitement bubbled up. "it's adventuring of course! Anne and I hear just went on some deep sea excursion and found some treasure and..." the girl paused as she had felt wary about mentioning the statue. "And a Skrelp that was like five time the size of a normal Skrelp! My Cherry and Anne's Meredith managed to clean its clock no problem, though." 

As she finished boasting, the girl inched closer to the trio with an eagerness that betrayed any earlier hostility and a genuine curiosity that smothered any braggadocio. "What about you guys? See any cool things? Go to any cool places? Find any neat stuff?" 

[radio414]

Quinn was not exactly happy that Normandie had taken time away from fighting to drag a berry pouch away from the youngster’s hoard, but then again, between the two-on-one nature of the fight and the Haunter’s already defensive posture, it was not like she was ruining their chances. She was just being reckless. It was a different sort of recklessness than the type that would send her flying into the water. Quinn saw the glint in Normandie’s eyes and knew that Normandie already knew. It was also the sort of glint that signaled that Normandie had a plan.

Well, the glint was one signal. Another, more obvious signal, was that she actually let go of the berry bag she was hauling and started chattering up a storm. Despite the Haunter’s Curse weighing on her, her squeaks were as energetic as ever, only this time aimed at anyone who would listen. Bridget’s Shellos was a key target -- who seemed to nod along -- but Normandie also directed some squeaks Quinn’s way, which was more surprising. Was Quinn not supposed to be the one providing instructions? Had they not had that whole bonding moment already? 

But, then again, Quinn considered that trust went both ways. If Normandie had a plan that she thought was worth trying to tell Quinn despite their communication barrier, why should he not listen and try to follow along? Between the occasional running and at least one head nod, Quinn was able to pick up at least something resembling what Normandie wanted. The fact that the chatter stopped once Quinn started moving, inching along the perimeter of the platform, meant that xe was on the right track.

Of course, the Haunter was not blind to all of this. It, too, started to move, clearly hoping to cut Quinn off, but a blast of water from Bridget’s Shellos cut it off in turn. It was a wild spray of water, not even aiming to hit the Haunter, just get in the way and keep it from doing anything more than what the boy wanted from it. With all the water going everywhere, it only followed that Quinn was doomed to get wet too, but Quinn just pushed onwards through it all, until fae and Bridget were on opposite sides of the platform, flanking the boy and his ghostly Pokémon.

Every so often, the Shellos’ Water Gun barrage would be a bit more accurate, meaning the Haunter had to keep its attention on the Shellos and dodge out of the way. It was on one of those dodges that Normandie made her move. She started to glow purple again, but when she ran, it was at Quinn instead of jumping up at the Haunter. But Quinn had crouched down, hands out in front of itself ready to catch the charging Ratffian, and, when Normandie hit those open palms, Quinn stood up and launched Normandie upwards, giving her that burst of extra speed to Pursue her foe no matter how high it had tried to get.

When Normandie landed, it was on top of the boy’s pile of stuff, a triumphant symbol for a plan well-executed, though she immediately started trying to make off with the berries again.