Exploring the Jungle.

[Seth Galloway]

Seth saw Ignus walk away and became a little concerned. Even with the proper Pokemon types, it wasn't the smartest thing to go out alone in a place with a lot of risk.

Suddenly Weavile made a loud cry and began scratching at the air fitfully. "Weavile what's wrong?" Seth asked, making sure he kept his distance. Those claws were nothing to mess with.

"Vile!" it cried out crankily, trying to cover its ears. It wasn't as upset as the Vibrava were, but it was still being bothered.

"We must be getting close if it's bothering you..." Seth whispered, then felt his chest tighten. He held his breath until it passed, a dull ache left from where it had tightened.

Weavile, though still fidgety, became concerned and tapped Seth gently. He smiled, and pat its head. "I'm fine buddy. Now it might get uncomfortable, but we've gotta help these guys out. You okay with that?"

"Weavile!"

[Brooke Verity]

"We can use this to track down the Vibrava and Flygon I have collared in this area - and see if it's got any bearing on that signal you've picked up Brooke!"

Brooke nodded, "Sounds like a plan, we can correlate the collars tracking and see if there's any relation to the signal I've picked up." She turned to hear Seth ask how many Gym Leaders there are here, she smiled at him, "There are five here in Kansai. They don't go be elemental themes, instead our Leaders go by a certain stat; Tamsin here is our Defense leader." She notioned to the red headed woman, taking the chance to make sure she was still alright.

"Well I've been in the Terrafell Mountains for the past few days, and there have been no problems. I'm guessing it's restricted to the Jungle."

"That's interesting... Perhaps this signal only stretches out over the jungle, whoever's done this, it seems to me as if they're doing it as a sort of test run; we need to be vigilant."

"Eheheheh, sorry, Brooke, sometimes I tend to get carried away. Just...felt like I wanted to commit to the team...nevermind." Brooke turned again and saw as Ignus announced he'd go and take a look elsewhere, "Wait Ignus, that's not a good idea!" Too late, he was gone. Brooke slammed a palm to her forehead, and only a few moments later Seth's Weavile was getting agitated. "Is he okay?"

Finally, Brooke unleashed a new pokeball. Revealing the large shark Pokemon, Sharpedo; which sort of air swum, because Pokemon seem to be able to do that. "We're facing dragons, help Charizard and Grumpig okay?" She informed the shark which bellowed in return. Grumpig kept itching at its ears, Charizard seemed unphased for the time being. The signal on Brooke's monitor seemed to be getting closer...

"We're pretty close I think... Careful now."

[Ignus Draco]

Meanwhile

Ignus was resting in a crevice, trying to make sure that none of the Vibrava could see him. Clutching the briefcase in his hand, he opened it, and took out a headlamp, lighting up the little passage he stuck himself in. Tch...I just hope that Nexus can relay my message to the others... Clutching a fallen branch next to him, his mind reverted back a few minutes ago...

"Is everyone alright?" Ignus said to Typhon and Arashi, the Zebstrika trying to keep standing on his four hooves. Ignus reached for the Nest Ball, and had Arashi return, saying to the Pokeball, "You did okay, Arashi. You too, Typhon. Get some rest." And with that he had his Piloswine return as well. He then looked around. Dozens of Vibrava were lying around unconscious, all of them with the same look of "knocked out". Sighing, he reached for one of the Pokeballs in his briefcase, a Luxury Ball with a multi-colored shadow imprint on it, and in a flash of bright light, released his Zoroark Nexus, which he found in Unova. The black furred fox Pokemon looked around, and noticed Ignus, which he then relaxed and laid one of its arms around Ignus' shoulders, which Ignus responded to with his glare. "Now is not the time for relaxation, Nexus." Which the Zoroark responded with putting both its hand appendages in front of it. Ignus sighed, and said, "We don't have much time. I would like you to go to Brooke and the others. They need to know what's going on, and where they should find me should they want to keep tabs on me. And if any of them want to put a tag on you..." Nexus tilted one head to the side in confusion. "Then let them. It's the price I have to pay for separating myself from the group. Also..."

He then reached into his coat pocket, and took out the binoculars, which he then handed to Nexus, the Zoroark looking curious. "Show the picture on those binoculars to Ms. Brooke. She'll be leading the team. When you do that, point them in the direction of this spot. Got it?" The Zoroark nodded in reply. The fox Pokemon knew all too well that Ignus had a "gut feeling", and that feeling wouldn't go away no matter how hard he tried. "Okay...maintain your disguise of me until you get them to this clearing. Understand?" The Zoroark immediately activated his Illusion ability, taking on Ignus' body and physical features, right down to the strand of fire-red hair and the scar on his right eye. The fake Ignus then saluted Ignus, who nodded, and Nexus (in disguise) set off, while Ignus turned to the cave...

(what do you guys think, huh? Good backstory, right? Sorry about leaving the team, but eh...I have my reasons )

Ignus then was brought back to earth by the buzzing sound. Smirking, he then took out a pair of earmuffs out, and placed them over his ears, blocking out the sound. Sounds like whoever started the first wave...is about to start another one...hope the others are safe... He then gripped the wooden branch tightly, and looked out, seeing that the coast was clear, and then shifted out of the crevice in the wall and started walking.

"Whoever's behind all this...is about to get a wake-up call. Like we're really going to kick back and let this all happen...yeah, right!"

[Lorna McKinley]

Lorna frowned as she watched Ignus break away from the group and shook her head. The young man was very headstrong, she could've guessed he might want to splinter off and go his own way. She turned to Brooke and nodded as she plucked out several pokeballs of her own and tossed them skyward.

In brilliant flashes of white light her Ampharos and Typohlosion stood next to Dragonite. It was risky using a fire and an electric type against Vibrava and the Flygon because of their ground-type abilities, but they were two of the strongest pokemon on her team and would have the best chance of dealing out clean knockouts along with Dragonite. The biologist switched on her radio tracker and held the reciever high above her head as she stood next to Brooke, holding up the radar screen next to the laptop so they could compare the images. "Look, the pokemon are forming a kind of circle around the fringes of that signal Brooke."

[Seth Galloway]

At the sight of the circling Pokemon ahead, Weavile and Seth became more alert.

"Whatever's happening up there it's making Weavile agitated. Those poor Pokemon are probably miserable."

He approached the gym leaders and asked tentatively, "If you want, I can go slightly ahead, I have an Ice-type and can scout out the area if we have to climb or anything."

[Ignus Draco]

Ignus stopped when he noticed the circling Pokemon in the sky. A little worried, he looked back into the cave, clicked his tongue in disgust, and made his way outside. Even though Brooke and the others were experienced Trainers, he had a feeling that the artificial jungle was more dangerous than it looked. He then noticed Nexus, still disguised as him, returning back to the cave, and then relinquished the disguise upon returning.

Ignus then walked up to the black fox Pokemon, and said, "Well, Nexus, any luck?" The Zoroark nodded its head "no", and Ignus sighed, looking up at the circling Vibrava. "Whatever they're planning, I don't like it. Nexus, return." Ignus returned Nexus to his Luxury Ball, and then returned the Pokeball to the briefcase, and then took out a Pokeball from his sash, which also looked worn, the red paint scratched in a few places. Ignus then tossed it into the air, which released his Blastoise Baron, the giant turtle Pokemon grunting a hello to his Trainer and long-time partner. "It's good to see you Baron, but right now I need your assistance."

Ignus then began walking towards the circling Pokemon, his Blastoise lumbering not too far behind. "I just hope that the others are okay...knowing them, they'll probably be heading this way as well. Keep your guard up, Baron."

[Seth Galloway]

(whose turn is it?)

[Brooke Verity]

(It's Tamsin's, I've texted him so we should see him soon!)

[Tamsin Shale]

(Sorry guys! I've been pretty busy with revision and what not.)

Tamsin wasn't sure what to think. She'd never known Pokemon to do this. All she knew was that if anyone was going to sort it out, it was this squad. They were all top of the game. She kind of felt sorry for the Vibrava, until she remembered the blinder of a headache they'd given her. They deserved to be knocked out.

"This may be a bad idea, but maybe we should split up. A couple of us take to the skies, give information to the others that move forward on the ground." She directed at Brooke. She flicked her wrist and a beam of white revealed her Cloyster. "I can stay on ground level with this guy and our Ice Pokemon?"

She smiled at the young man. "I'm really sorry, what's your name?"

[Seth Galloway]

Seth liked the idea of splitting up, but he'd leave the final decision to the Champs.

He gave a slight start when he realized Tamsin was speaking to him. "Seth Galloway, Johto Trainer and future Ranger," he said while extending his hand.

"And this here is Weavile, I caught her as a Sneasel about a year ago." Weavile was off trying to talk to Cloyster.

[Brooke Verity]

"Look, the pokemon are forming a kind of circle around the fringes of that signal Brooke." Brooke leaned in to see both screens on her laptop and Lorna’s radar, she hummed softly to herself; trying to come up with a solution to it. ”Then that must be it, with that kind of perfect radius; no gaps, nothing, it must be a man made transmitter in there.” Brooke sighed, who would do such a thing? Did they even realise what they were doing to the Pokémon? Or… Was it something much more malicious than that? Brooke dared not to think too much into the fine details, they would find out when they got there; all machinery has some kind of marker on it to show who it belonged to. Stay calm, be patient.

Brooke cleared her throat as Seth asked if he ought to go ahead, which then Tamsin suggested splitting up. ”Seth, Tamsin, you two will remain together down here with Weavile and Cloyster; scout ahead. Lorna, you and me will take Dragonite and Charizard and the others up into the air. Grumpig can hold onto me, Sharpedo will be able to keep up.” Brooke dug into her bag, drawing out two small black walkie talkies; she handed one to Tamsin and kept the other to herself. ”We’ll communicate via these, I’ll be on channel 2. Be careful though, depending on how strong that signal is we may be cut off.”

She then also remembered Weavile’s response to the signal, agitated. She looked over her own Pokémon, Charizard was still unphased; but he was old now – still powerful, but not quite what he used to be, he could be deaf to the signal, she’d find out. Grumpig looked twitchy, he kept rubbing his ears and Sharpedo kept looking like he was about to go belly up! Brooke pulled a concerned look, ”As we get closer to the signal, I think we’ll have to return our Pokémon. Before we get too close however, we need to try and knock out as many Vibrava and Flygon as we can so that it’ll be easier to disconnect the transmission. It’s in this direction, so keep that line and we should run straight into it.” She pointed in a north easterly direction and then turned to Tamsin and Seth, ”It also means that you two will be on your own for a little while when we get really close. Dragonite and Charizard might not be able to fly so close; so we’ll have to circle back and continue on foot. So it may be down to you…”

Brooke did one last look around the group, satisfied that this plan will work; ”Understood? Okay. Good luck everyone. Let’s shut off this signal.” She turned, grinned at Lorna and mounted Charizard who was awaiting take off. Grumpig jumped up in front of Brooke and sat there and Sharpedo followed as Charizard took off. Brooke waited in the air just above the tree canopy for Lorna to join her, before continuing to follow the signal.

[Lorna McKinley]

Lorna nodded her agreement and withdrew Typlosion and Ampharos. If she was in the air Dragonite would be the only pokemon worth keeping out to cleanly battle the Flygon and Vibrava. Climbing up onto the orange dragon's back with radar still in hand she gently pressed her heels against his flanks. He growled softly and took to the air, leveling out next to Brooke and her Charizard.

So far her Dragonite had only shown mild signs of agitation - she doubt the others would've even noticed if they didn't know what to look for. He was swishing his tail back and forth, a sign she'd come to recognize that meant he was upset about something. She could feel him tense up beneth her and she patted his spiked head affectionately. "It'll be okay buddy, I promise."

[Ignus Draco]

Ignus kept walking northeast, noticing a Charizard and a Dragonite fly that way, Brooke and Lorna on their backs. "Looks like they found something, Baron..." The Blastoise grunted in reply as he took down another Vibrava with a Brick Break. Ignus motioned to the Blastoise to follow, and it did, until after a few paces, when Baron twitched his ears a little, grunting to Ignus, causing him to look at his old partner. "What is it, Baron? Stomachache?" The Blastoise nodded no, and pointed at its ears, which had Ignus remember something: Tamsin said she heard something before she fell unconscious.

"I see...alright then, Baron, return." He had the Blastoise return to his Pokeball, out of worry that the Blastoise would lose his hearing if he stayed out much longer. Great...just what is going on? Hmmm...maybe I should return to the group...although, the Professor might deafen me before the Vibrava could, since I left the group to go on my own... She is definitely gonna talk my ears off...oh well, its a price I gotta pay...but first...

He then took out another Pokeball, not as worn out as Baron's, and tossing it into the air, released his Gallade Garet, who helped him with fighting lessons should he need them. "Garet my friend, you're getting your wish granted today." The Gallade sharpened its blades with excitement, and the two ran in the direction the Charizard and the Dragonite were going, the Gallade too excited to have problems, though he twitched every now and then.

(Note: from here onward, all of Ignus' dialogue will be in black. Thought of testing it out.)

[Tamsin Shale]

Seth huh? Well, if he was training to be a Ranger then he'd have to get used to this sort of stuff. Tamsin had heard that they get up to all sorts. Best of luck to him though, he seemed alright. He'd need to be good if he was going to have Tamsin's back, though. Who knew what was going to happen in there?

As the two Champions launched into the sky Tamsin grinned at the kid. "We need a team name!" She joked, winking. If Cloyster had arms, he would have facepalmed, but instead he gave a look that simply said Why?

[Seth Galloway]

Seth laughed at Tamsin's idea of having a team name, but did agree it would be a fun idea.

"That's not a bad idea," he admitted, this time giving Weavile a chance to facepalm. "Uhh... we've both got Ice Types, we could be team Ice Pops!"

Weavile fainted in the background, horribly embarrassed at her trainer.