The party had been reunited at last! It wasn't like the separation had been terribly long, but they were at the heart of the enemy's turf. Spending as little time as possible split up like that was probably for the best. And speaking of what was best, Gene & Marshall had plenty to say on ideas of what sort of strategy to employ in the pursuit of the villain in charge. Marshall's explanation made perfect sense. Gene's a bit less so, owing mostly to Abby not being much of a video games girl overall. She understood what he meant, at least, and that was what counted. And then there was the one that she understood the most. "The plan is the same as it ever was. We find the leader and take him down. If anything tries to stop us we take them down too! If you guys got a plan then say it, otherwise I plan to go find my way to the person we're here to fight and fight him. And win!" "We shouldn't do anything reckless, but she's got a point. It's worked out pretty well so far, right?" Conjuring forth the image of her trusty hammer, and taking a mock swing at the air near her, Abby further elaborated. "We've got a lot more going for us than the local baddies do, numbers aside. And no matter how you slice it, we'll have to fight something at some point. Might as well get it over with, yeah? So I say we go in swinging, but be careful not to recklessly endanger ourselves."

To his credit, Arthur had indeed bitten the Malamar. He did as good a job at it as one could do a job at biting something, Bridget liked to think. However, that did not make up for what happened next. Her little orange friend was sent up into the air, and then tackled, sending him flying! Bridget had an idea, though. She took out Arthur's poke ball, and popped it open, causing it to return the creature to its spherical break room. Usually, this would be the part where a trainer sent out some other pokemon. This was not the case today. Instead, Bridget opened the same poke ball again, causing Arthur to once again be immediately in the fray and ready to go. Followed by some much-welcome moves on the part of Quinn and Nathan. “Gust! Now! Apologies for that too.” “Blegh! Thanks, bud! Really needed that! I’m good now! Peat, we gotta pull our weight too! Bubble!” "Well, let's not get shown up, eh? Keep on Biting!" Thus did Arthur do as commanded, swinging open his jaws once more and not relenting in the chomps of violent intent against this unusual specimen the team had suddenly been met with.

hi 1. local but am fine with non-local too 2. fakemon 3. darker, but i don't love anything dark just for the sake of it