[ti]event[/ti] BOUNTY IN THE STEPPES

Sarah Lee's Duraludon stormed down the canyon, its steely footprints shaking the walls of the canoyon and sending showers of rock and dust tumbling down onto the poachers. "Hold it right there," Sarah said, from her saddle on the back of the metal monster.

"You've got something I want." Her eyes glinted at the sight of the little Mareep trapped in the pen. She'd been tracking that damn sheep for days now, and even paired up with manish she hadn't had any luck. "I'll be taking one of those now. And I can assure you it'll be as easy as Primeape." She grinned at the play on words, which worked much better than Piloswine.

Duraludon reared up, and Sarah clung to its neck one-handed, hurling a Pokeball like a grenade into the midst of the bounty hunters. It exploded in a cloud of choking smoke (smokescreen) and whirling flame (fire spin), engulfing the tro. "Take out that Whirlipede, Ron!" Sarah called. The ring of flames tightened around her for, burning closer and closer like a sizzling lasso.

Sarah laughed, high and presumptively victorious. This was going to be easy. Talk about a Showdown at the KO Corral!

Whirlipede burst out, rolling straight over Ron and puncturing him with a dozen poisonous barbs. He roared, bloody jaws slamming shut in a gout of pain and flame around the wheeling foe, holding it fast (fire fang). Sizzling fangs bit deep and held fast. There was no way the bug was getting free now.

Flame Spin built around the pair, and as the fire licked higher Charmeleon unleashed a flamethrower, the jet of crimson split by the bug still clamped in his mouth.

SPOILER: Click to show

{BREAKDOWN}
Charmeleon (164/250) Active
Damaged by (opponent) for (36 HP)
Damaged by (action) for (50 HP)

Pignite (250/250)
Duraludon (400/400)

"There they are," Momo said as they crested the ridge and looked down over the corral of snorting, jostling wild Pokemon. "No wonder I didn't see anything out here but you..."

She was riding the Doduo she'd met on the Steppes, the fuzzy bird Pokemon's twin heads just below eye level as they surveyed the Bounty Hunters' operation.

<It's easier for Pokemon with herd mentality to get rounded up like this,> said Kusa, creeping onto her shoulder. Momo tried not to shudder at the feeling of the gecko's sticky feet. <Doduo are kind of loners.>

<I-I suppose we are,> said the Doduo. It seemed restless, shifting from foot to foot. Momo could still feel the static from the Giant Shrine tingling along its body where its feathers brushed against her. <Oh! Look, some other people are attacking too!>

Momo followed where the head was pointing. A massive, shiny steel beast she'd mistaken for another one of the periodic spires was tromping towards the enclosure. She could just barely see a teenage girl (Sarah Lee) on her back. "A true warrior," Momo said after a moment of reflection. "So... how do we get down there?"

<I can just... you know. Jump.>

She raised her eyebrows just as Kusa let out a wail of horror. <No! Are you crazy? You'll break all of our skulls! I'm too young to die! Did I mention it was my birthd—>

The next moment, the world dropped out from under her. Momo snatched for the closest head as the Doduo leapt from the rim of the canyon, plummeting down clawed feet first. Air rushed around her ears, blowing back her avatar's dark blue hair. Someone screamed— it couldn't have been her, it was far too feminine and girly—

—and then they landed. Ka-thud. Neatly, as if the Doduo was used to doing feats like that all the time. I did read it was a Flying-Type... She'd been bemused it had had no wings, but was this what the Pokedex had meant?

<Aas;ldkfjas;ldkfjslkdjf> said Kusa, swarming down her back and across the field. <Nggh! Must... heal...>

The gecko wrapped itself around a strange, humanoid Pokemon like a little devil (currently in combat with manish's Venusaur). Contorting himself around Ryan's poison spores, the sticky lizard glowed a bright green and absorbed, drinking in the other Pokemon's energy as if he'd been wandering through the desert and found a hidden oasis. The Morgrem yelled and tried to tear him off, falling to the ground in the process.

"Kusa, stop! It surrendered," Momo said, listening to the Morgrem's yells. "The fight is over."

<I-I wouldn't trust that if I were—>

Too late. The devil's hair, which Momo hadn't noticed, suddenly animated with a life of its own. It collected into a scorpion's sting and buried itself in Kusa's body. The lizard let out a shriek and tumbled to the side. Momo rode past, one of Doduo's heads reaching down to scoop the Treecko up by the tip of his tail.

On the other side of the fence, the wild Pokemon watched fearfully, unsure which humans to trust less— the Hunters, or the newcomers.

SPOILER: Click to show

{BREAKDOWN}
Treecko (267/300 HP) Active
Damaged by Morgrem for -23 HP
Damaged by Charge Atk for -10 HP

Doduo (100/100) On Standby

"We need backup!" Momo heard Sarah Lee shout. A hard look came across the teen's face, her mouth arranging itself in a harsh line.

"I can fight my battles myself," she said grimly.

Momo slipped off Doduo's back. Nobody was going to help Kusa but her— as his teacher, it was her responsibility for sending him in before he was ready. It builds strength, she thought, but couldn't escape the pang of guilt that came along with it. Either way, it was time for her to interfere.

<What are you doing?> Doduo ventured to ask as Momo closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and pointed her feet at the struggling duo of Morgrem and Treecko. <I thought we were going to—>

"You free the Pokemon," Momo said, wrapping one hand in a strip of leather from the reins. "I'll help Kusa."

She let out her breath, then took off, throwing rocks behind her like a track athlete on a dirt track. Morgrem's surprise attack had turned badly on Kusa—his attempts to Absorb the other Pokemon's vitality were hampered by the fact his own HP was draining away into the dust after having fallen victim to the dark-type's surprise attack. It was a dirty trick.

Momo tackled it head-on.

Boom. A palm-strike to the forehead. Morgrem's head rocked back as Momo seized one of its spindly arms and threw it, ripping its stinging hair from Kusa's body. <AIEEEEEE!> screamed the gecko, scurrying backwards on all fours. <I quit I quit I quit! That's it! I'm never battling again!>

Momo paid it no mind. She circled the Morgrem, giving enough distance to allow the other attacker (manish's Venusaur) room to throw the next blow. She would never dream of stealing an opponent, but it had been necessary for her to rescue her Pokemon.

Meanwhile, Doduo bunched her legs and sailed over the enclosure with the grace of a flying-type, landing with a thud in among the many Ponyta and Blitzle. <Wait!> she cried as a group of electric-types began to charge up power defensively. <D-don't you guys see? This is our chance! These humans are here to help us!>

She whipped around with one head to look at manish. <Right...?> she asked the man outside the fence, feeling timid.

The chorus of honking from within the pen of captive Pokemon soon abated as Doduo seemed to convince a few to take a chance at freedom. Lifting the smaller ones on her back, she began to try and lever some of the Pokemon up and over for manish to catch on the other side.

SPOILER: Click to show

{BREAKDOWN}
Treecko (234/300 HP) Active
Damaged by Morgrem for -23 HP
Damaged by Charge Atk for -10 HP

Doduo (100/100) On Standby