Tag the Turtwig's Story

Fortunately for Tag, the Diancie spoke in such a proper and pronounced tone that even he could hear her clearly from his vantage point/hiding spot. Unfortunately however, she didn't say anything telling other than her position of authority was absolute to her subordinates...including their newest one, who was acting nonchalant about the affair and trying to play off the threatening words with his own gusto.

He'll find his comeuppance somewhere...the Turtwig thought.

He didn't have much time to think about him as the sudden appearance of the Ace Trainer and the Sigilyph turned into a fight right before his very eyes. He watched the back and forth continue until the struggle ended swiftly and suddenly with the shadowy tornado that he wouldn't even register as any move he knew about, not to mention the shadowy aura it gave off, matching the color of the scenery around them. It told him that they were not only packing some new moves, but some serious power as well.

And then there was the fact that they were merciless. Tag could only stare in horror as the shadowy whirlwind knocked out the Unfezant and proceeded to severely injure the trainer himself. He had to fight all of his instincts not to run into the fray and stop the Sigilyph from winning this fight. He wanted to save the Trainer and his Pokemon so badly.

But he knew what would happen if he did. They were just outside of the queen's castle. If he jumped in, he would be alerting them to his presence and, by extension, exposing the guild members investigating the streets of Castelia City. He might win the battle for all he knew. But he'd be losing the war by giving away their positioning and their general existence to Queen Melaine.

He could even hear Crimson's voice in his head. Not yet. There's no need for a hero right now.

So he stayed put and watched. Even though the fight was over, he could still learn a thing or two by staying put and seeing what they did. Maybe they would take him somewhere.

---

Meanwhile, over at the pier, there was a hidden audience present to the preceding of an interaction between the Taiyou and the proclaimed Grand Champion of Ruula. Several of the Crimson Guild members had witnessed the massive ship rolling into the harbor, defying the battering ram that was the sea as it went. Curious and for the sake of the mission, they stuck around to see what this ship was going to do...and whether they would become allies or enemies.

Presently, they were gathered around the area, all well hidden. Some were outside the protective bubble the Diancie had conjured, but were in safe, covered spots to save themselves from the weather. A few lucky ones managed to find hiding spots in the bubble. A particularly clever Wingull named Lorraine was hiding amongst her own kind, having taken off her identifying equipment and flying among the main pack in order to blending in. All the while, she was keeping an ear down low to the happenings of this meeting of forces. All would not dare to interject or give away their positions, but would rather watch and wait to see what unfolded.

Outwardly, the Taiyou continued to move along the pier, taking up positions behind crates, outdoor furniture, and concrete barriers to quickly establish overlapping fields of fire, and cover. Each Taiyou soldier was dressed for the elements, their faces obscured by metallic hermetically sealed gas masks, with two glowing eyes and a dark green helmet. Their armor was black, worn over some kind of synthetic fabric jumpsuit that too was hermetically sealed.

"Unidentified native creatures approaching... advise." The Sergeant radioed through cybercomm "Engage only if attacked."

"Acknowledged, taking up defensive positions now!"

The group of Pokemon, and their accompanying trainers would come across roughly two dozen men, positioned behind all manner of cover, cold, emotionless, with their gear obscuring their faces, and their glowing red eyes fixated on the approaching party.

The only outward motion that could be gleaned from the pointed weapons were the fingers flicking along the bodies of their weapons, and the click of disengaging safeties.



A sniper perched on the deck of the battleship, behind metal plates near the aft airlock, his weapon, a Seburo C30 with attatched scope would provide effective intermediate range.

The men didn't seem to flinch at the sound of the gong, but their internal communications noted the change in the anomalous weather patterns, the waters seemed to calm in the immediate area, which meant the anchor lines didn't seem to protest against the weight of the battleship much more.

There was a mechanical clunk, followed by a hiss, the sniper briefly looked away from his scope to see the captain, give him a reassuring nod, and then move back to focusing his rifle on the lead sylph like creature before them.

Clasping his hands behind his back, Nuurumi surveyed the pier for a moment, he didn't exit the ship until it was safe, and even then, a pair of soldiers in similar gear to the ones on the pier, these two men wore attire that was similar, but different than the soldiers on the pier, simple round eye goggles, a round filter where the mouth was supposed to be, and an expressionless, featureless mask.

The Captain started first down the ramp to the pier, and the two men followed, it was clear this creatures intentions were to parlay in some way, first changing the weather, and then waiting for the captain.

Kei continued to walk, keeping his pace slow, while he weaved through the entrenched soldiers, stopping just behind the front lines, his great coat whipping in the wind, but his officer's cap was firmly in place.

"We come in peace." The Captain called out.

As the skies cleared slightly, a darker, unsettling hue encapsulated the city. The late afternoon sun was now out and about, casting it's own shadows around the place, only now it was accompanied by the glow from the west, a vibrant purple from the new castle location reaching out across the shores and across the ocean to touch the skyline of Castelia. The clouds above seemed to mimic this as well, giving this ethereal sense of beauty and lingering dread that hung in the air.

All hope was not lost, despite this. At least, not for the Crimson Guild Members who had regrouped back underneath the bridge. Everyone had played their part perfectly. From casual surveying of the scene to recognizing the people and Pokemon to obtaining some information about Queen Melaine and the strange power she controlled. They were all discussing these things below, sharing knowledge and catching up on experiences.

"So Melaine can speak to humans?" Lilly the Lapras asked.

"Sure can," Lorraine the Wingull was filling her in, "She spoke to that foreigner with pretty clear intentions. And he didn't seemed confused. He was angry, though. I bet he's not used to being talked to like that."

"Well, if there's a plus to her reign, she does seem to deter a lot of foreign trouble."

"Yeah...or attract it," a Lopunny named Beaux butted in, "If it's been anything like the previous incidents, they could bring more destruction on the people here. More problems for us to deal with."

"So we let the queen wield her mighty hammer or whatever and push them away," a Phantump rationalized, "She made that mess herself."

"Yeah, but at what cost, Cristi?" Beaux turned back, "Have you seen that crazy whacko smile she's got? That is a Pokemon who does not care for lives. Everything will be collateral damage to her. Even the planet."

"Not if she wants an empire to rule," a small Spewpa joined the small group, "Can you run humans who don't want to be run?"

"If you scare 'em into it," Beaux crossed her arms, "That's what she seems to be doing right now."

Tag the Turtwig suddenly zipped down below to the gathered party. "Has the Gallade shown up yet?"

Everyone turned and gazed among themselves before shaking their head.

"Hmm..." Tag paused, trying to think, "We may have to leave him."

Eyes widened in shock at the mere though.

"What?! We can't do that!"

"Why though?"

"That Gallade is one of us."

"Not true," Tag was quick to interject, "That Gallade is a friend to Crimson and a friend to me, but he is not a Guild Member. It is his wish that he doesn't have that label attached to him. He also said he could take care of himself. I know that he has powerful allies to help him if things go south. He will be fine. He knows how to get back to us. Right now, it's important that we take what we know back to the Guild and start getting a plan going. We may have to help take this beast down."

"Isn't she a human problem, though?" the Spewpa called out.

"I wish I could believe that, but no," Tag shook his head, "She want to be in control of all creatures. And her power that she controls is hurting the environment and the wildlife. If we don't do something soon, she might become too powerful to stop. And you all know how powerful she is already. This is everyone's fight."

There was silence as Tag trotted towards Lilly, "Everyone hop on. We're leaving."

One by one, with a little less optimism than they had previously, they all piled onto the back of Lilly. With a lingering stare towards the top of the bridge and a heavy breath, Tag watched as he felt his weight jolt underneath him, then the shoreline growing smaller and smaller with each passing second. The waves were no longer choppy. The weather was no longer evil and painful. But somehow, he felt worse than when he'd arrived. It was a tough decision to make.

Please be alright, Radegast... the Turtwig thought as he turned around towards the gaping ocean, heading back to the Guild.

"Did you make a turn somewhere?"

"What do you make me for? I know the ocean like it's the back of my fin."

"Well yeah, but...we're still lost, aren't we?"

"It was the stupid weather. The waves must've threw me off course."

"Hmm...maybe...but what do we do now?"

The Lapras sighed, "I don't know, I..." her voice trailed off as she struggled to think. Of all the times to get lost in the place she should know the most, it was when the world was at the worst stake she'd ever seen it while transporting potentially the only crew of Pokemon that maybe knew how to stop it. Worse yet, she had no clue on how to find out where she was and where she needed to go. It was the ocean. There were no landmarks in the ocean. Just land masses that weren't visible to their naked eye.

At least the other Pokemon weren't complaining. Most of them were lounging around on her back, waiting things out while their leader sorted this out.

"Okay..." the second in command of the Crimson Guild was thinking aloud. For a young, stout Turtwig, he didn't look like much of a leader from visual appearance. But some would consider that his greatest kept secret and greatest trump card as he had more than proven himself on several occasions. Better than that though, it was his unwavering spirit and optimism that was keeping them afloat in this current predicament. It was probably what was keeping the other Pokemon on board from panicking.

"So Lilly...what if we kept going in one direction until we found a beach? Would you know where we were then?"

"Depends," the Lapras replied, "If it's an island, probably not. Several of them exist, y'know. If it's bigger and has humans on it...then yeah."

"Sweet," Tag whooped, "Then let's do it! Pick a direction!"

"So if we got blown off course...then we'd need to correct that by going opposite. We were travelling South...and probably got pushed West...so we'd need to head Southeast!" The Lapras shifted her angle and started heading in the direction she suggested.

After a half hour, Lilly was already grinning as a massive land mass grew in front of them.

"See? Land. Looks like a large patch of it too. I can get my bearing from here."

But as they approached, the grin of relief turned into a confused stare as the were soon within sight of the beach.

"This is...not right...where are we?" the Lapras started scanning the coast for anything significant.

Tag chuckled, "I was just about to ask you that. I assume you don't know?"

"No, I don't. It's...I've never been here," Lilly shook her head, "This is definitely larger than an island. It looks like a continent. But I've been to every coast off of every continent and I've never seen one like this."

"And it looks like humans occupy it," Tag pointed out, gazing towards a young-looking brunette with a Vaporeon by her side, "So it's definitely got some inhabitants."

The Turtwig's eyes widened in epiphany, "Hey! You think this could be the Beya Region Team Razor was talking about?"

"Don't you dare suggest that," Lilly suddenly snapped, "I spent months riding those idiots all over the world trying to find their precious, make-believe continent. I swear if they're right at the end of all this, I'm gonna lose my mind."

"Well, nothing's impossible," Tag continued, warm as ever, "The idea has to stem from somewhere, right? They didn't just dream it up. Maybe you don't know the ocean like the back of your fin." He added that last bit jokingly, nudging her long neck playfully with his shoulder.

The Lapras was not amused, "I'm fixing to buck you off here in a second."

As Nicole continued her walk she noticed in the distance what seemed to be a Lapras and a...Turtwig on its back. But she didn't think much of it.

In all her years as a marine biologist, she'd seen wild Pokemon do some rather impressive things. A while back, she recalled seeing a pod of Wailmer working together to push a sinking ship back to the port, saving all of the passengers and crew.

Unaware just how sentient the creatures were she and her Vaporeon continued onwards, looking for any signs of humans that could possible help them. "Hello?? Anyone out there??" she called out.

"Poooor!! Poooor!!" Aqua cried, trying to help her trainer in getting anyone's attention.

"Oh great. Just fucking great. As if it's not bad enough that someone wants to take over the damn world, I'm out here looking for Dhelmise and who knows where the fuck I am?" A foul mouthed woman in coveralls and a life vest was the closest thing to help that Nicole would probably get. Her arms had the thickness and oil stains of one who worked on machines for a living and being a Trainer was more of a side gig, but there was no mistaking the unflinching hardness of her stare. The best Trainers had an uncanny sense of how strong a potential opponent was, almost as if they could sense aura...and this was an incredibly powerful source of it.

"Guess I'm stuck here until I can make some fucking repairs. Hmm. Gonna need some parts." Then she looked up and saw the younger woman in the blue tank top with a Vaporeon. "Hey, skinny bitch! Which way to the nearest town? I didn't exactly wreck, but she ain't sea worthy either!"

Emiko Touko landed, wheezing from the rush. "All right, Unfezant, return. Now to give Burgh his marching orders. Knowing him, he'd likely favor Sticky Webs so our guys can safely unload on them from a distance."

Where else would Touko be? Still directing traffic and giving orders, this time barking into her Xtransceiver at an old friend.

"I don't care if you're having the shits right now, get your ass to Virbank and help Roxie, I am not having some of my best backup bottled up!" She was clearly channeling her inner boss bitch as she shouted at the troops to start moving up to gain ground and engage the NRE forces, who had brought knives to a gun fight...and the UPL had orders to shoot to kill, forcing the enemy Pokémon to choose between protecting their Trainers and being effective combat units.

"Burgh, get your big boy boots on, let's show them they picked the wrong side in this fight!" After giving everyone their marching orders, she moved to hold the Skyarrow Bridge, the gateway to the eastern part of Unova. The Striaton leaders were strong, but not as strong as the Shadow Triad...and she couldn't bear the thought of the enemy getting all the way to her home town.

Touko biked quickly across the Skyarrow Bridge, retreating to Pinwheel Forest to establish a command post deep in the woods. The stage was set, now everyone just had to play their part and hope she started her first war on the right foot.

Emiko Touko couldn't believe it. Her side was...winning? "I guess that's what happens when you put all your eggs in one basket! Melaine may be amazingly strong, but everyone else is a PUSH OVER! Fire teams, move up, they're just about to break!" Then something came on the monitor in one of the Nacrene warehouses where she had set up her command post, getting a good view of the action as well as directing logistical traffic and protecting the east end of the Skyarrow Bridge from a surprise attack. "Wait, no, not the fact that they're flying in using super strong birds, I can get Skyla to worry about that. I'm talking about the dude by the ice cream shop, he's way too calm about this. Get a team over there, assume hostile. I want him alive."

Stay calm, Touko. It's just like a normal battle. You've got this, she repeated to herself, one hand on her chest as she rode the edge between exhilaration and over-stimulation.

Emiko Touko was positively giddy, watching the glorious sight of victory unfold! "Burgh. They're retreating. Mop up any stragglers, take captives if you can. James, grab Allen, you two are with me. I'm going in after them. We have a chance to end this war right here before more people get killed."

Wren's ears perked up at the comment, causing him to turn around from the path he was walking. What was this war the stranger was talking about?

Ahem, excuse me. What did you just say?

he inquired, lifting his hand to his chin in puzzled repose.

Touko skidded to a stop on the bridge as some random citizen asked her about some sort of war going on.

"Wherever you've been, you'd better get back there. Some Diancie went all power trippy and established her own freaking Diamond Domain right over in the harbor there, and recently declared war on us. If you're a strong Trainer that can take out the Shadow Obelisks that have popped up and are juicing her up to where not even I'm a match for her, that's great, but for now I have holdouts to mop up and capture. I'm trying to rendezvous with a couple of my friends so we can strike at the enemy territory, so with all respect..."

And then she just gave Wren a hip check out of her way before continuing to the Castelia pier to meet up with James and Allen.

"Ah, James, it's been a while. Good to see you've been well. Who's your friend and why does he look like he wants to battle me? We do not have time for this, we can't just let the NRE retreat to lick their wounds and prepare for the next attack. I managed to catch them by surprise this time by having the troops use guns in addition to their Pokémon, but they won't fall for that again."

Wren Harrington stood in surprise, stunned by the sudden interposition. Not quite an experienced trainer just yet, he stepped back a bit as the commotion unfolded.

Yes! Well, thank you ma'am!

he stammered, unsure of which direction to go. Looking eastward, he turned on his heel and shouted over his shoulder,

Thanks for the tip! I'll be back soon!

came his echoing response before he disappeared off into the wilderness.