Shion gave him a confident smirk. "Of course not. I was just wondering if you could keep up." Once more focusing on the battle, she lifted a hand and snapped her fingers.

This was a signal for Arashi; at once, his body cloaked in fire once more and lunged at the Lucario, this time at an even faster speed.

This time, Sen jumped just as the Quilava was about to collide with him, placing one hand upon the pokemon's head and blasting down with a ball of aura. The fiery creature speed past him after the impact, and the Lucario had to shake the flames from its paw. The boy simply stood and watched these events take place, waiting for the next move, if there was one.

Hayrum sat down in the viewing area, looking down on the arena below. [Huh. Lucario. Don't see those much. Wonder if he's got.....yep, and there it goes.] Aura Sphere. As he unwrapped the hamburger from the concession area and took a bite, he noted that they'd left the lettuce on again. A few moments of digging into the sandwich and he had freed it from the unprocessed vegetables, resuming eating.

On the rooftop, the Mightyena sprang up to its feet and growled ferociously. "What is it, Yasha?" asked Tribel, concerned at her Pokemon's sudden and bizarre shift in mood. She turned her head to follow the Pokemon's gaze...

...and found herself staring in two different-colored eyes. They belonged to a boy who looked to be in his older teens, wearing lots of spiky black clothing, with pale skin and black curly hair on his head. The way he stared at her was almost soulless, though his eyes definitely sought hers as if looking for something past them...

"...no, you aren't a Tracker," muttered the young man, appearing mildly annoyed. "You're just a grunt, working for Metamorphosis. Pitiful."

Tribel rose to her feet and faced the boy with ire on her face. "I'm a little busy here, so just back off, and I won't sic Yasha on you."

The slight frown reversed itself, and he smirked at her. "A challenge?" He pulled out a Pokeball from his jacket pocket, and grew it to full size in his hand. "You stand no chance. I'm not interested in playing games, so you had better be prepared...for trouble."

He tossed his Pokeball out, and as he did so, Tribel saw the red letter R on the T-shirt under his jacket. But suddenly a Crawdaunt popped into existence, glowering at the Mightyena and clicking its pincers together as it gurgled in the back of its throat. "Yasha, go! Use-"

"Bubblebeam," commanded the boy as he pointed, and Crawdaunt opened its claws toward the charging Mightyena to unleash a powerful barrage of forceful bubbles, concentrated into twin streams. Though Yasha struggled to get out of the way, it was too late, and the Mightyena flew backward and crashed through a skylight down into the building itself.

"Yasha, no!" cried Tribel as she rushed to the edge of the skylight to see the fate of her beloved partner.
* * *
Inside the arena, the battle was heating up...until a Mightyena crashed through the skylight and fell amidst a shower of glass with a thud against the floor between the two combatants, knocked unconscious and drenched in bubble suds. Delano Vargas looked down through it and scanned the faces of the trainers in the arena.

"Looks like it just became double," said Delano with a slight smirk as he saw the number of Trackers below. "Crawdaunt, engage."

The Crawdaunt hopped down from the skylight and landed heavily next to the downed Mightyena. It clacked its claws and eyed its opponents in the arena, as if seeing who to attack first...

OOC:
Name: Delano Vargas

Age: 18

Gender: Male

Affiliation: Independent

Hometown: Lavender Town

Region: Kanto

Personality: Delano lives - or rather, exists - to get revenge on the trainer who killed him. He has surrendered much of his human emotion to his Ghost Pokemon, and his demeanor is usually cold and quiet. As a result, it's difficult to truly shock or surprise him, but he also cannot get enthused about anything except for the driving need for vengeance. There is still a spark of humanity inside of him, and he is only interested in killing his murderer - though he will not hesitate to use full force against anyone who will get in his way.

Appearance: Delano has pale skin and curly black hair, with a somewhat lanky frame. Delano's eyes have heterochromia; his left eye is a pale green, while his right is a deep blue. He usually wears steel-toed black leather boots, torn dark blue jeans, a loose black T-shirt with a large red R on the front, and a heavy studded black leather jacket. He also wears a number of short metal spikes on a pair of belts around his waist, on kneepads, on the toes and ankles of his boots, on a pair of fingerless black gloves, and on a collar he wears around his neck. Sometimes, his shadow appears to move on its own, or isn't there at all...

Pokemon Team:
Haunter: Shadow Ball, Confuse Ray, Hypnosis, Nightmare, Dark Pulse, Lick
Spiritomb: Dark Pulse, Sucker Punch, Hypnosis, Dream Eater, Ominous Wind, Shadow Sneak
Houndoom: Flamethrower, Crunch, Faint Attack, Fire Fang, Odor Sleuth, Smog
Crawdaunt: Crunch, Guillotine, Crabhammer, Night Slash, Bubblebeam, Protect
Mr. Mime: Reflect, Light Screen, Psychic, Mimic, Substitute, Doubleslap

(OOC: Must...post...SOMEthing...)

IC:

Silence and her Abra watched the battle with mild interest. Silence didn't really care to battle much herself...but she knew that sometimes situations required it. It was for the greater good that she was a trainer. She prefered missions that involved rescuing pokemon from bad situations. Many of her team were from rescues.

When the Mightyena came crashing through the roof, Silence stood up in alarm, immidiately concerned that it might be hurt, Motioning to Tace, the two left the specatator stands and approached the downed mightyena.

TBC

(OOC: Meh. Better than nothing I guess.)

"Arashi!"

Shion had immediately started scrambling towards her partner. There was no way he'd still be standing after taking two Aura Spheres.

She had almost reached him when the Mightyena fell from the roof, causing alarms to blare around the field.

"Warning: Security breach in the Training Facility," an automated message started to play over the loudspeakers. "Analyzing threat... analyzing threat..."

A shout from above further derailed anythoughts of the battle, as the trainers arriving to the scene below looked up to see a girl clad in black calling for the downed Mightyena.

"YASHA!!"

"That explains the alarm," said one Tracker.
"What's a freaking Meta* doing here?!" another shouted angrily.

"What are you standing there for?"

A large man had entered the traing facility now; he appeared to be in his mid-thirties. His brown hair was tied back in an single ponytail, and he wore a leather jacket with a white t-shirt, raggedy jeans, and motorcycle boots. He already had a Pokeball at the ready.

The trainers turned to face this man. "Wylde**!"

"Don't just stand there," Wylde snapped, "notify Master Fayte*** immediately!"

"Right!" the trainers ran off.

Wylde was one of the senior members of the Trackers, guiding the younger trainers and often leading missions. He was not someone to be crossed. He reached the scene of the commotion in five steps, keeping a short distance from Silence and the others. One look at the Mightyena, then another at the girl above, and he turned to the group.

"Riker, get that girl down from there and keep her detained. Lander, you help her out. Emberson, I know you were in the middle of a battle with Desmond just now, but I'll need you and your Pokemon's support here. Desmond, I'll need you to retrieve Coppersmith from wherever he is; you'll only get in the way as you are now." His gaze hovered around for a moment, he thought he'd seen another trainer around, but they seemed to have disappeared.

"R-right," Shion said as she recalled Arashi to his Pokeball and got to her feet. She took another from her belt and tossed it, calling, "Spirit! I need your help!" The ball opened and a Togetic appeared in front of her, floating effortlessly and gracefully in mid-air. After scanning his surroundings, he turned to her, awaiting further instructions.
"Spirit, go find Hayrum and bring him back here," the bespectacled girl said. "Hurry."
"To-chikku!" The small flying Pokemon nodded and soared ahead, spotting the balcony view area and making a beeline towards the glass panels.

Wylde took out a Pokeball of his own and tossed it in the air; at once, it opened, and a Tyranitar materialized in the flash of light and roared, apparently ready to fight.

================
OOC:
-Brief profiles and notes-

Tribel
Affiliation: Metamorphosis
Age: 17
Info: She's not exactly one of the Elites, but she's not much of a battler to begin with. Hacking is more her thing, but she loves the company of her Pokemon
Team: Mightyena (Yasha) - Currently out of commission. Other team members are unknown.

* Meta: a general nickname for a member of Metamorphosis. A Metamorphosis Grunt is called a Meta Grunt; an Elite is either called an Elite or Meta Elite.

**Wylde (full name Roland Wylde)
Affilation: Trackers (Senior Trainer)
Age: mid 30's
Info: He's a trainer still in his prime, and stronger than the current group of Trackers present. He's an authority figure and a teacher, and also the right hand of the Tracker's leader.
Team: Tyranitar - Wylde's loyal partner. Other Pokemon on his team are unknown.

***Fayte
Affiliation: Trackers (The head of the organization)
Age: Unknown
Info: Master Fayte is the head of the Trackers organization. Their gender hasn't been revealed yet!
Team: Unknown

Feel free to control Tribel and Wylde. Tribel is easily spooked, but Wylde is always about serious business. More on the Metas' end to come next post.

A few miles away from the building, Sarah stood leaning against a tree.
"Efficient as ever, Vega." she told her Kadabra. "I've no idea where I'd be without your Teleport." Sensing trouble when the Mightyena had fallen through the ceiling, she'd decided that discretion was the better part of valour in this instance, and had quietly let her Kadabra out of its ball and given the escape order.

Granted, it had cost her some intelligence gathering, such as how the trainers present dealt with a crisis situation - but at such a time as that, she felt it better to not be around. After all, if the cause of the trouble were her current employers, it could sour relations to have to fight with them.

Her current employers. They'd want her to report.
"Well. No time like the present." she mused to herself quietly as she took out her phone, dialling the same number from before. "Let me talk to Harold Smith." she said, once the phone was answered. "Tell him it's the invisible woman."

Hayrum pressed his face against the glass. "Looks like something big's going down out there. Besides the Mighteyena....hey, it's the chief! AND he's getting ready to battle.....alarm sirens... FRANKY!" Grabbing and readying the Heavy Ball from his holster, he held it up as it popped open. "Door's too slow, break the glass then get ready to Magnet Rise!"

As the silvery light shot out from the ball, Hayrum put on his goggles. "Show time!" The Metang that materialized reared back with one, star-marked arm and punched out the glass in front, the safety glass shattering into millions of fragments as its trainer leapt on top of it. Electricity arced between Metang and the ground as it banged its arms together and shot forward, climbing in altitude before he noticed the Togetic flying up....right in their flight path! "Franky!" Hayrum grabbed the spines along the back of the Metang. "Barrel roll!" The world spun as the Metang rolled around the Togetic before righting itself, parking to a halt next to Wylder. "Hi, chief. Party without me? I'm hurt."

Wylde frowned at the young man. "That was quicker than I anticipated. I'll need you on standby." His gaze shifted to the Togetic returning to Shion and sighed. "Desmond, try not to get anymore of your Pokemon hurt."

Shion had just recalled the fairy-like Pokemon to its ball, looking at the senior trainer with a half-puzzled look. "Um... okay."

========

Harold picked up the phone immediately. "Sarah?" he questioned. "It's a little late than usual for your report. Quickly, tell me what's going on? Have you been discovered?!"

He looked towards the youth with the suitcase, nodding towards a button on the far side of the counter.

"I can press it?" The Meta Grunt looked almost giddy at the thought of mobilizing the troops.

Smith shook his head, holding up a finger. Translation: "Wait a minute, you impatient fool."

"I haven't been discovered." she replied. "Tribel has though, as far as I saw. I hope you realise, this is going to make life more difficult for me."
And more expensive for you. It wasn't said, but it was certainly implied.
"Oh, and as for what happened. Tribel was attacked. One of her team has been knocked out - not by a Tracker, either." That was something she'd found interesting. "Whoever it was that attacked her, they aren't affiliated with them or you. Shortly after her Mightyena fell through the roof, another pokémon followed. A Crawdaunt. It looked hostile."

"So what's happening now!?" Harold asked.
"I don't know. When the trouble started, I made my exit. To remain invisible, you have to not be seen. I'll wait until the trouble dies down and then head back."
"Hmm..."
"And when I do, I can assess Tribel's predicament." she added. "The less trouble that comes their way, the easier my job is."
Perhaps there was a silver lining here. This organisation would definitely want back their talent, or so she hoped.

Tribel had not only been discovered, but one of the best friends had been hurt. She turned back to face Delano, but found that he was no longer there - even though he had been there just moments before. Where had he gone?
* * *
Delano emerged from the shadows inside the Tracker facility, and ran down one of the hallways. His shadow rose against the wall nearby, and it grew glowing green eyes and a monsterlike shape. "Very clever, bringing attention to that other human like that," rasped the shadow, spots of green and purple floating in its swirling eyes. "Though I must question why you left Crawdaunt behind all the same. He will be terribly outnumbered."

"He is serving a purpose, and he is very strong," answered Delano as he approached a set of double-doors with the words GENERATOR ROOM written at the top. "I will collect him after we are done here. I intend to draw out only the strongest Tracker...the one who is responsible for the way I am now."

Delano put out a hand to the crack between the doors, and he suddenly became two-dimensional and shadowy. He slipped between the cracks and entered into the generator room. Though it was designed to receive backup power from Electric Pokemon in case of an emergency, there was no one this deep inside the base now. A perfect opportunity.

He picked out another Pokeball and threw it. Out sprang Houndoom, who howled with a bone-chilling noise that rattled through the room. "Houndoom, Flamethrower," ordered Delano.

Though the generator equipment was designed to withstand some sabotage, it wasn't really meant to be attacked head-on - and the Houndoom sustained its flames long enough to overheat and melt vital equipment in the technology-bound room. Soon enough, warning sirens added to the cacophony in upper levels of the facility.

"Oh no!" cried the nurse as power was lost to the medical wing. "Quickly, get the backup generators working!"

Fortunately, the Tracker HQ was more than well-prepared to ensure that the important medical equipment was kept functioning. A few loyal Voltorb provided power in that section of the facility, but they weren't enough to provide energy for the rest of the complex - more Electric Pokemon would be needed for that.

Delano recalled Houndoom, then stepped into the shadows once again. "My murderer won't be able to ignore this...I'll find him soon enough."
* * *
Crawdaunt wasn't particularly smart, but it knew it had been deployed for a reason, and it wasn't about to fail its master. With a ferocious gurgle, it lashed out at the Tyranitar with a claw glowing with aquatic energy - Crabhammer.

Wylde's face grew grim as the lights flickered and went out,limited-power red emergency lights coming on as sand whipped up around the arena due to Tyranitar's special ability. Hayrum zipped up his jacket to protect his body and, covering his mouth, looked to his Metang, which....seemed to be taking it all in stride, really. "Rexitar! At these quarters...counter with Thunder Fang! Coppersmith! Get to the generators and find out what happened!" The aquatic glow would be joined by a fearsome electric-yellow one as the Tyranitar bore down on the main source of light, its teeth crackling with electricity, seeming to go for catching the Crabhammer in said voltage-charged teeth!

Hayrum nodded. "Right! Franky!" Soon, the halls were lit with the yellow light of Magnet Rise as Hayrum once again air-surfed on the Metang. If it was a software issue....Metang weren't as powerful as a Metagross, but still worked faster than most tech departments he'd seen. Somehow, as the smoke became visible, the pit in his stomach that said this was in fact a very nasty hardware issue grew bigger and bigger. Inputting his own access code, he walked in as the doors ground open on the same power as the emergency lights in the arena. [Hope Chief has something with Flash...] It was dark in here, aside from the glow of molten metal cooling, the two red rings that made the Metang's irises in its eyes and the fire in one of the generators. "Ohhh good," he commented as the water from the automated sprinklers fell on his head, making him quietly thankful that the soles of his boots were rubber, noting some wires on the floor. He held up the Heavy Ball and whispered. "Franky, come back." He'd have to be careful here, this place had gone from power plant to one giant hazard on at least three sides. Clipping the Heavy Ball to his holster, he called out. "Anyone here?"

"Tch, just great," Harold growled as he hung up the phone. He turned to the teenage youth standing by and said, "Tribel's been found, and the enemy wasn't a Tracker. Send the message, Davis. I want Tribel out of there, no matter the cost. Crush anyone that gets in the way; that girl, bumbling as she may be, is one of our best hackers, and we need whatever she may have uncovered."

The Meta grunt called Davis nodded, his smile brimming with glee, and pressed the button on the counter.

=======

Somewhere around the vicinity of the Trackers' main building and training facility, the Metas who hadn't been found out yet recieved the signal from Headquarters. There were, of course, silent complaints about Tribel's apparent incompetence, but order had been laid out for them.

The only thing to do now was execute it.

OOC: Ok...here goes. I still don't know what I'm doing, but...

IC:

Silence exchanged a glance with her Abra. Tace nodded and aimed a blast of Psychic toward the Meta on the roof.

TBC

(OOC: Short post. x_x)

Tribel found herself lifted into the air by the unseen force from the two Psychic Pokemon below and slowly lowered to the field down below. Before she could even have a chance to rush to her Mightyena's aid, Togetic cut her off with his tiny arms held out. "To-chiikku!"

"Ah!" Tribel stumbled backward into Travis, who was right behind her with the Lucario by his side. "Please, I just wanna see Yasha!"

"You are being detained, since you're a member of Metamorphosis," Shion explained.

"Aw, you Trackers are no fun!" The other girl pouted. "I was only doing my job, can you blame me?"

======

OOC: More to come. If someone posts after me, it'll be the next thing I write.

Travis shoved the girl away, pulling a small spray bottle out of his bag. "Your kind can be accused of a great many things. Stupidity being one of them." He began to apply the spray to Sen's injuries.

OOC: Ok, so yeah... I'm a little stuck here...

OOC: Such a lack of compassion to Tribel! I'm sure that anyone in the games would at least let her see her Mightyena when it's obvious Yasha got hit hard =(

But yeah I'm giving you a bad time XP

IC:
"No, nobody is here," came the answer to Hayrum's voiced question as a figure stood in the darkened, damaged power room. Even in the dark, Delano could see very well - maybe it was a side-effect of his condition. That said, the light outside was often harsh on his eyes by comparison.
* * *
Crawdaunt saw the Thunder Fang coming, and averted the Crabhammer, deactivating it - and instead caught the bite from Rexitar as it engaged a glowing field of energy that absorbed the impact of Rexitar's blow entirely, despite how utterly strong it was. But that came at a cost, as close-quarter combat with a Tyranitar would be dangerous. The Crawdaunt decided to use the remainder of the Protect field to struggle and break away from Rexitar's fangs, recklessly roughhousing around the arena floor with no regard to who was near the battle.

Hayrum chuckled. "Well then, Mr. Body...or should I call you Noh?...either way...let's have a better look at you, shall we? Chuck! Shed some light on our new friend!" Letting both hands fall to his sides, Hayrum undocked the Great Ball from its holster and threw it, palming another ball from the opposite side. "Spotlight time!"

Hayrum had done a few Contests in his time as a way to figure out how his team could more effectively work together. As such, he knew how to use more aspects of his pokemon in battle than just how hard they could hit. For instance, right now his Skarmory was circling high above at increasing speeds, catching flashes of light and firelight in its steel wings and angling its flight just so, so that all the light it caught was beamed straight down onto the mystery man!

Hayrum clipped the Great Ball back onto his belt, then cracked the knuckles in his free hand. "Hrm...I don't recognize your face, and I make it a point to remember faces. Mr. Body, you'd better have a good explanation for being here."

Rexitar was driven back a couple of feet, which said something about the Crawdaunt despite its smaller size. Wylde dove out the way of his partner's tail to avoid being hit.

"All of you, get out the way!" the man barked at the younger trainers, and they didn't need telling twice.

Even as they shuffled a safe distance away from the escalating battle, Tribel continued to pout. "You know," she started, "You all shouldn't be so hasty just to keep me from going anywhere. Any minute now, your whole place is gonna be overrun."

"A lot of talk coming from someone who can't battle," Travis snapped irritably, resuming his treatment of his Lucario's wounds.

Meanwhile, Wylde had gotten to his feet as the Tyranitar let loose a booming roar. "Ancient Power," he commanded, his expression determined.

Almost at once, Boulders and rocks that were strewn around the field rose into the air and sped towards Crawdaunt!

======

*CRASH!*

Glass shattered at the entrance to the training facility as Metamorphosis trainers, stormed the place, catching passing trainers off-guard.

At the forefront as a bald man clad in a long black coat, a trademark of a higher-ranked Metamorphosis trainer. He simply reached into his pocket and tossed a Pokeball, which opened to reveal a lunging Seviper crashing into another trainer's Zangoose.

"We've got our orders," the man barked. "Storm the place. Retrieve Tribel, and whatever we still need, take it by force and by any means necessary. Of course, this also means helping yourself to any Pokemon you need."

======

Meanwhile, a young woman in her early twenties hurried along a corridor on the back of her Arcanine to a certain door at the end of the hall. As the canine Pokemon came to a stop beside that door, she scrambled off, nearly falling in the process, and knocked on the door.

"Master Fayte! This an emergency," she squeaked out, half-terrified. "It's Metamorphosis!"

When there was no answer, the woman knocked harder. "Master Fayte!"

"Calm down."

The trainer froze as the door opened, revealing the person called Fayte on the other side of the threshold.

Fayte Cameron, the head of the Trackers, was a woman in her late twenties with long, curly black hair and violet eyes. She wore a short white jacket over a cream-colored blouse and denim straight-legged pants, the bottoms of which were neatly covered with white knee-high belted boots. Behind her, an Alakazam levitated a couple of feet from the floor in a cross-legged position, its expression one of intense focus.

"I'm aware of the situation," Fayte said casually. "There seems to be another source of our chaos... Mystery?"

The younger woman and Arcanine jumped as a Mismagus' head popped out from the wall behind her. It gave a low cry in response before floating over her head and stopping beside its raven-haired trainer. Fayte rested her fingertips on the side of its face for a moment before nodding, as though she understood it.

"I see. So that's what it is," she said calmly. She turned to the rattled trainer before her and said, "You. Inform Wylde that there is another lone intruder in our midst."

"What are you going to do?"

"The answer is simple, don't you think?" The smallest hint of a smirk graced Fayte's expression before the Alakazam opened its eyes, and, in a flash, it, Fayte, and the Mismagus had vanished.

======

OOC: The leader of the Trackers enters the fray! She's another NPC. However, her two team members do not have nicknames! Here's a profile update:

Name: Fayte Cameron
Age: Late twenties
Gender: Female
Affiliation: Trackers- Boss Lady
Hometown: It's a secret!
Pokemon Team:
Alakazam (Male)- Teleport; other moves unknown
Mismagus (Female)- moves unknown
Other Pokemon on team unknown

I'll be constantly thinking up ways to try and tune up the action bit by bit, so keep a look out for it... on the new board! XD