(ACE) The MARSH Team

So much shouting. All the noise had Virgil on edge, sure his weak body would be unable to handle another fight. Relectantly, he could only watch as Rhea took her place in front of him, only to be confronted with a terrifying...

Arceus?

The drapion had once again returned, with a vengeance. "YOU BASTARDS! YOU FUCKING SONS OF BITCHES. YOU LEFT ME BEHIND. I WAS OUT FUCKING COLD!!" she roared, but not a moment later, Rhea let out one of her own. She looked to be just as angry as the volitile bug.

"Look you! It wasn't intentional! During your little nap-time that fucking jackass" -she quickly pointed at Seth, to which he grunted, "Fuck you too, bitch."- "tried to kill Virgil. I was a little too busy trying to save my son's life you arrogant shit!" Again, with the "son" bit. The liepard frowned a little; wasn't it a little odd that a fully grown kangaskhan was acting like that? He'd merely thought it a quirk, a nickname for him since they got along like that relationship should, but... this was a little far...

Seth scowled, the entire scene ridiculous to him. "He's not your son, you crazy bitch. He's a CAT. You're a MONSTER THING. No relation. And not to mention he's kind of OLD to be your kid..." He got a glare from Virgil, but the smeargle could really care less. Fuck that guy. He'd off him soon as Crazy Bitch let him have a chance at it. Though, from the looks of it, CB was relenquishing her crown to the purple thing. That chick was nuts.

"It's a pleasure to meet you Martha, as well as all of you," the Frillish said with a smile. "My name is Sadie. It wouldn't be a problem if I stayed around for a bit, would it?" Martha gasped and shook her head vehemently. "No, not at all! We'd love to have you with us! The more the merrier!" She was happy that someone else had come along, especially because she was nice; Seth's arrival had given Martha a more optimistic attitude about any newcomers who weren't intending to kill; anyone who didn't attack in a blind rage was fine by her!

Just then, an enormous bellow nearly sent Martha off her feet in fright. "WHERE ARE YOU?!" a familiar voice screamed. Arceus burst through the bushes and stopped to glare at them all in turn. When her gaze reached Martha, the Flaaffy flinched and started to feel worried; it had been a while since she had seen the Drapion get this angry. "YOU BASTARDS! YOU FUCKING SONS OF BITCHES. YOU LEFT ME BEHIND. I WAS OUT FUCKING COLD!!" Tears welled up in Martha's eyes as she realised that, for all this time, Arceus nor Fynne had not been there.

"I-I'm sorry, Arceus," Martha sniffled. She shook her head and tried not to start crying again. "I-I thought you were behind us the whole time! I ... I d-didn't mean to..." She noticed that Mum's body was glowing, which could only mean that she was thinking of attacking with an Outrage. Martha boldly stood between the two larger Pokemon, waving her tiny arms frantically. "No! Stop! Don't fight!"

"No, not at all! We'd love to have you with us! The more the merrier!" Martha said. Sadie smiled at her words. She seemed kind and was the type of person where it was hard not to be friends with. It just goes to show that happiness is contagious.

Fear and anger were soon all that filled the air. A Drapion came out of the bushes yelling, "WHERE ARE YOU?! YOU BASTARDS! YOU FUCKING SONS OF BITCHES. YOU LEFT ME BEHIND. I WAS OUT FUCKING COLD!!" Sadie began to panic a bit. She could only watch as a fight broke out between the Kangaskhan and the Drapion. It was starting to escalate into something really bad and dangerous.

Sadie noticed that the Kangaskhan's body was glowing. Sadie had recognized that look as a preparation for an Outrage attack. The Frillish saw that Martha tried to stop the fight. There was a good chance that they wouldn't see or hear her, since they seemed too into their conflict. Sadie floated between the two and held up her arms in a calm manner. "Stop." was all she said before taking in a breath. She began to sing a pleasant song, hoping it would calm their nerves.

'You and me are the same
We don't know or care who's the blame
But we know that whoever holds the reins
Nothing will change our cause has gone insane

And these wars can't be won
And these wars can't be won
And do you want them to go on on and on
Why split these states when they can be only one'

She could only hope for the conflict to end...

(OoC: Song-United States of Eurasia by Muse)

Rhea was satisfied when Arceus kept her mouth shut, though whether it was because she was calming down or because she was so livid she couldn't talk was unclear. Probably the latter, but she still let her attack down when Martha ran up trying to stop her from attacking one of their own. "No! Stop! Don't fight!" Not willing to upset the young female, Rhea forced her rage down and wrapped her claws around her egg almost like a security. Her family needed her, her baby needed her, she couldn't afford to waste anymore time and here she was starting a fight? This was utter nonsense.

As she decided to turn her attention back to trekking towards the gate Seth started running his mouth again. "He's not your son, you crazy bitch. He's a CAT. You're a MONSTER THING. No relation. And not to mention he's kind of OLD to be your kid..." Damn it this kid was getting as annoying as the Charmander! Only difference was this punk could back his shit up, well, most of it. Being bigger still counted for something. She ignored the random, idiotic singing of the floating fish thing and stomped her foot in front of Seth, glaring down at him with a snarl. "Shut up, you annoying shit," she told him, and said nothing else before she walked away.

This whole group was insane, and here she was leading the damn thing.

((OOC: Uh oh. Little does Rhea know that insane people don't know they are insane, lol! Just wait till that egg hatches guys, it's almost time!))

Virgil continued to watch the scene unfurl before him, Rhea's anger now purged -somewhat- as she turned and began leading them toward the gate once more. While Seth just had to speak his mind on the matter, Rhea's response was typical, but still terrifying. She stomped her foot centimeters from him, a dark look in her eye that made Virgil's fur bristle slightly. "Shut up, you annoying shit," she growled, then went back to stomping to the gate. The liepard exhaled, letting out a breath he hadn't known he'd been holding, and gave Seth a slight shake of the head before following. While he knew Seth only stayed to kill him, he still didn't want to see Seth be visciously murdered by the angry mother.

He wasn't really sure what he'd do with that situation...

The scene of Rhea and Seth fighting to the death played across his mind's eye, making him stumble a little. The scenario was likely, which terrified him more. Who would he help, the kangaskhan that had proven more of a friend than he'd known or his brother, who would just try to backstab him? Even if Seth didn't share Virgil's sentiments, the liepard valued his family over everything else... The anxiety clutched at the cat's chest and he silently prayed to whatever Legend would listen that that fight would never happen. Still, he chanced Rhea's mood. "...You ok?" His voice was soft and careful, not wanting to further rouse her anger.

Seth, on the other hand, had only seen a challenge in the kangaskhan's words. He didn't care she had big feet; just meant she moved slower and couldn't get into small places. The shake of his brother's head only earned a snarl from the painter, but reluctantly, he followed, growling at the fish-thing's singing. "You mind canning it for a decade or two, fish face?" he growled, mood obviously sour. "You're gonna bring all the undead right to us."

With all that was going on, and with Arceus getting left behind, Carmen was beginning to feel tired. Too much going on, she only just met these people the day before, and so much was happening, it was too much. Carmen looked at Seth and Mum, waiting to see who would attack first, and who was strongest, she guessed Mum, but she didn't know Seth any better than she did Mum, for all she knew, behind that small body, there could be great strength, like there was with herself.

Carmen grinned, went to speak, then decided to keep her mouth shut for once, unsure whether trying to stop the two constantly bickering Pokémon was a good or bad idea.

Walking to the... fish-thing, Carmen softly said:

"God this group is psycho, all anyone can do is fight, singing won't be any help, I'm the only one that doesn't get into fights, cause I'm the strongest, they're all scared to fight me. They know they'll lose."

She looked at Mum, then at Seth, who she figured would probably attack to kill, with the chance, then back at the Frillish.

"I might break them up next time, seeing as they would listen to me, but it's only if I feel like it."

Carmen smiled, then remembered what had happened earlier, and her smile faded. She was worried that if they began to fight, she might not be able to stop them, perhaps Mum was a little stronger than her, and if she attacked Seth, well, it just may mean that there's one less mouth to feed.

She had not expected it to, but it seemed that Martha's opt for peace had worked. Mum calmed down and seemed to hug her egg for comfort. Ever since she had first seen the Kangaskhan, Martha had been wondering about that egg, but after she had seen her react so angrily to Carmen about it she'd thought it not a very good idea to ask. But she was starting to think that maybe she could do it now without being shouted at.

As Mum snapped at Seth and stomped away towards the gate, Martha quickly trotted after her. She wasn't sure if Arceus was still angry with her or not so she decided to stay out of the Drapion's way for a while and let her calm down. Arceus was her best friend and she didn't want to make her angry.

Toddling beside Mum as she and Virgil spoke, Martha watched as the egg wobbled out in Mum's pouch with wide-eyed curiosity. She could only wonder what it would hatch into...

The Drapion's fun was ruined almost immediately. Mom did not take kindly to Arceus' entrence, and she reeled back in shock as the normal type was clearly ready to fight back. Hurt and pain flashed in her mind's eye, but there was no time to dwell on that. Arceus rose her neck up high, staring at Rhea with a pain fueld rage. SHe was no longer wishing to have fun. She now wanted blood. It was in no way fair for her to act that way.

A roar built in the back of the Drapion's throat, about to emerge with the clear prospect of a fight, but then something happened. As if lightning from within her skull suppenly exploded outward in a vane try in escape, Arceus cried out as the injury she only just received proved to be more trouble that she originally thought. As everyones' attention suddenly turned from her, the duel type found herself panting with the effort to simply stay awake. Blotches danced past her vision and she felt as if the ground could reach up to meet her any second.

Arceus could not speak. A soft, fruustrated groan of pain escaped her finally. The tall Pokemon fell, her two right legs bending as she half threatened to fall right back on the ground. The Drapion panted with the effort, her broken and blurred gaze searching desperately around for the others. The message writen in her eyes was more than clear despite being unable to vocalize them.

Help... me...

Sadie was heartbroken when she foound out nobody in the group really liked her singing. The Kangaskhan, thinking her comment was toards her and not the Smeargle, called her an "annoying little shit". The Smeargle told her to "can it" because it's going to bring the undead right to them. And the Charmander basically called her worthless because "singing isn't going to help". However, it was encouraging to hear that she might break up the next fight in the group. Might teach them a lesson or two...

Trying to shake off the hurtful comments, Sadie continued on with the group. So far, it seemed as though Martha was the only kind one here. The Frillish wanted to sing, but she knew it would just anger them even more. So instead of singing or making any form of music, she just remained silent as she floated beside Martha. Her mouth had no expression, but her eyes had a deep depression inside of them, like a slow blues song. She sang to keep the memories of Kurt away. And now that she was silent, images of Kurt's suicide came to her.

She slowly lowered her head, looking down at the ground and trying not to cry. Sadie wrapped her arms around herself for self-comfort, since she wasn't really going to get any of that from anyone else. "Why Kurt?" she whispered to herself, "Why did you have to kill yourself?"

((Skipping Virg))

Seth paused as the fish floaty thing began to talk to itself, distracted by an odd thunk that had sounded behind them. No one else seemed to notice quickly, and Seth, ever on his toes, was the first to see the giant purple bug simply fall over. Frowning, he went to her, his face lacking empathy or concern. He knelt down, looking her over, trying to see what was wrong. The strong, raging, crazy-ass bitch was reduced to a silent, panting mess. He tilted his head, unfazed by this new development. "The hell's wrong with you, Crazy Bitch No. 2?" he muttered, reaching to poke her leg.

Carmen saw Seth take an interest in Arceus, as the bug seemed to be in pain. She saw a hurt look, as if she was calling for help, in the Drapion's eyes, but decided to overlook it. She also saw the Frillish begin to speak to itself, with it's arms wrapped around it. Deciding that she would rather speak to the Frillish than help psycho-bug, she walked over to the Frillish.

"What's your name again?"

Carmen asked, then, in a softer tone:

"What's wrong? I'll give you a warning, it's easier to talk and get over sadness or pain than to dwell on it in this world. Even a bit of weakness, and you can be killed."

She looked at the Frillish. She had never really been an emotional kind of person, emotions were useless, except for pride and happiness. What was the use in being sad? It's a weakness, and so Carmen had always overlooked most emotions, never talked about them, and when she had gotten sad, she would try to get over it as quickly as possible, but she felt that this time, just getting over it would not work. For some reason, no one else ever saw things Carmen's way, which was ridiculous because her way was best. Other people always needed to talk about feelings, and this was one of those times where Carmen thought it would be best to talk, even if she didn't want to.

Besides, at least she would have a reason to have ignored the Drapion, she could just say she was talking and didn't notice the stupid bug. A small smile flitted across Carmen's face at that, but it quickly faded as she returned her focus to the Frillish.

As Martha walked with Mum, a loud cry of pain from behind frightened her out of her wool. She turned to see Arceus looking in a very bad way. Concern and fear pounded its way through Martha's heart as she watched the Drapion lean to the side and give them all a pleading look.

"Arceus!" Martha thought that she was the first to get there, but apparently Seth had been a little quicker. "The hell's wrong with you, Crazy Bitch No. 2?" the Smeargle asked, not a single ounce of concern in his voice as he poked Arceus's leg. Martha's face turned pinker than it already was as she puffed her chest out. She could stand insults to herself but never, ever to her friends, especially not special friends like Arceus. She stomped straight up to the Smeargle, stood up on her toes and shouted, "SHUT UP!" into the canine's face.

Glaring at Seth and silently warning him to stay back, Martha quickly made her way to Arceus's side and gently stroked her neck. She felt the tears returning as her best friend's terrible condition began to frighten her. "A-Arceus, are you OK? W-What's wrong with you?" Sniffling, she turned round to the others frantically, silently pleading them to shed some light on the situation. "M-Mum, Virgil ... what's happening to her?!"

(Skip. I don't think I'll have the time to come up with a decent post, so just say Sadie was mumbling to herself and didn't hear Carmen.)

Stubby limbs flailing wildly as the portal formed by Teleport dumps the tiny Skorupi back into reality Akira flies like a rock and soars magnificently into a pool of stagnant water overgrown with straggly weeds.
He lands on his back and his segmented shell sticks in the mud as the thick slimy and muddy water washes over him.
The Bug/Poison type chokes as the water sweeps into his mouth and he flails wildly until the motions of his tail manage to unstick him and the normally cave-dwelling pokemon half scurries half swims out of the pool as fast as his legs could take him.
The gooey remains of the undead Alakazam that had thrown him here thankfully have subsided to the bottom of the murky pool thanks to his improved bath and the sudden splitting pain in his head is now blissfully receding.
Akira unsuccessfully tries to find something to cower against.

This place is huge. A never-ending bog as far as his eyes can see; full of deceptively deep pools and clinging purple mud and tiny spindly trees.
He trembles. This place was almost as bad as the desert, although at least here the air was cooler on his plates.
"Hello?" He ventures nervously, chewing on the end of his right claw then hurriedly spitting at it is still encrusted with water-weed.
What is he going to do now?

Rhea turned to growl at Seth for stalling the group and for insulting Arceus, only to see her passed out on the ground. 'Oh shit...' She turned back to check on the scorpion when Martha came up beside her. "M-Mum, Virgil ... what's happening to her?!" Rhea gave the small lamb a sympathetic look, checking Arceus over before rubbing the back of her head in confusion. "I don't know baby girl, I really don't." By the looks of it the bump on Arceus's head hadn't been that bad so the female suddenly passing out was a concern.

She took a glance at the rest of her group and motioned for them to take a break while she tried to figure out what to do with Arceus when a plop and splashing came from behind the reeds near the group. Eyes narrowing and a snarl building in the back of her throat Rhea stomped over to investigate, fully intent on ripping into any creature that might threaten her kids, when a small sound caught her attention. "Hello?" Oh damn it.

They would find another one, wouldn't they? It seemed like ever since she found Virgil she had been a magnet for random living to just pop up, and if this one threatened her egg to she was just gonna squish it now and save herself the trouble. It was another scorpion, and she already had an injured one of those so she decided to just growl at the smaller one and go back to Arceus. As she came back out of the reed only to find they were minus a party member. "Uh...guys...?" she asked as she looked at all of them. "Where did you put Arceus?"

Seth was pretty surprised when the little fluffy girl just came up to him and screamed in her face for him to shut up. Though he knew she meant to intimidate or something, she really only succeeded in making him laugh. Some fluffy git thinks she can make him shut up when even the two crazy bitches couldn't? Who the hell did this little chick think she was?

Still, he only watched as the others fretted on the crazy scorpion, unconcerned with her fate. If she lived, whatever. If she died, then good; they'd be rid of at least one of the crazy ones. Still, he glanced at his brother, who was wrapped up in the concern of the crazy one and rolled his eyes. Strange that asshole couldn't be as concerned for his own damn family than this bitch right here--

Where the fuck did she go?

Virgil scanned the small area they occupied, unsure of where the wounded drapion could have gone. His tail lashed, echoing the chaotic state his mind was in. Did something else carry her away? Was there another predator nearby? The arrival of the new little scorpion did little to catch his attention, as he was concerned with finding the pokemon he knew first. Still... He glanced up at the sun, which was already beginning its descent.

He hobbled to Rhea, nudging her lightly with a paw to gain her attention. "...R--Mom, we need to go," he began, stuttering over her name, deciding it might be best to keep her name a secret for her own state of mind. "We only have a few hours now to get to the gate..." He looked around once more, hoping to see a glimpse of Arceus or her strange friend. When he saw, nothing, he glanced back up at her, waiting for an answer.

Carmen decided to give up when she noticed that the blob wasn't listening, and so decided to focus on the annoying bug-Arceus. Looking up, Carmen began to get confused. Where had Arceus gone?

Carmen looked around, expecting to see someone trying to carry her, but could see no trace. She had disappeared. As the thought sunk in, Carmen's eyes quickly widened. What if it had been an undead, or something else? It had taken the unconscious Arceus stealthily without anyone's knowledge.

"Guys! I think there's an-"

Carmen was cut off by a plopping, splashing sound. Maybe whatever had taken Arceus had fallen over in a puddle? Running towards the sound, Carmen was dismayed to find a small bug which resembled Arceus. A Skorupi! Carmen looked uneasy. At first, she wondered if somehow Arceus had... de-volved, but quickly shrugged off the idea. It wasn't possible in the known Pokéverse.

It wore a pair of black glasses, which confused Carmen. It looked frightened, and appeared to be shaking. What a pathetic weakling! Carmen bent down to try and pick it up and remove it's glasses, unsure of what the Skorupi's reaction would be. Carmen didn't really care, it's poison would not be powerful enough to kill her, she was Carmen the all-powerful! Nothing could kill her.

"I don't know baby girl, I really don't," Mum answered, rubbing the back of her head with a confused look on her face. The fact that no one could offer an explanation to Arceus's condition only frightened Martha further. The Flaaffy looked around hopefully at the others to see if they had anything to say, but some of them seemed rather distracted by something in the bushes nearby. Martha stood and watched Mum simply growl at whatever it was before marching back over to them. The Kangaskhan then stopped dead and looked around. "Uh...guys...?" she said, glancing at them all in turn. "Where did you put Arceus?"

Martha frowned at tilted her head. "Huh? She's right-- OH!" Upon turning round and seeing that the Drapion nor Fynne's Poke Ball were in sight, Martha started to panic. "A-Arceus? Fynne? Wh-Where did you go?!" She toddled around the clearing for some time, calling her friends' names repeatedly and starting to cry.

She spotted Virgil limping over to Mum and nudging her with his paw. Martha walked a little closer so she could pick up what they were saying. "...only have a few hours now to get to the gate..." she heard the Liepard say. Martha knew what they were talking about immediately.

"B-But we can't go yet!" she cried, flailing her tiny arms in frustration and panic. "We need to find Arceus and Fynne!" Silent tears began to fall from her eyes and her bottom lip trembled. "We can't just leave them here..."

Sadie looked up from where she was to find that the Drapion was gone. In Sadie's opinion, she didn't care. The Drapion seemed to only cause problems within the group. She heard the Liepard mention something about a gate, but the Frillish wasn't really paying attention. However what did get her attention was Martha, wanting to go find the Drapion. Sadie crossed her arms and shook her head. Though she was nice, Sadie did speak her mind about people contradicting themselves. This was one of those times. "Do you really wish for her to come back? After all the conflict she has caused?" she asked not only to Martha, but to the entire group as well.

(OoC: Sorry for the short post.)

Arceus above where did this pokemon come from?!
Akira steps back, his short caraparced legs sinking firmly into the wet marshy ground as the fire-type approaches.
He was weak, he knew he was weak and the memories of other Bug Types being burnt alive to a pile of glowing charcoal ashes turns the skorupi's stomach and tears of terror spring to his eyes.
It sees him!
It sees him!
The dual bug/poison type instinctively tries to flee and splashes backwards into the cloying puddle he had just pulled himself from. 'Was death by drowning really worse than death by burning?' Akira wonders as the orange fire-type reaches towards him with sharp clawed fingers.
The shreik of terror that tears it way from the Skorupi's throat sounds like ripping sheet metal as the tiny bug type's entire body stiffens in fear. In fact his tail stiffens so much it almost seems like a layer of metal has coated on it as Akira smashes the Iron Tail into the Charmander's jaw.
The move isn't very effective but it doesn't need to be because with its power it is the equivalent of being hit in the face with a crowbar.
The fire-type's claws have hooked one wing of his dark glasses and for a second Akira's vision is blotted out by an unbelievably harsh flare of light.
The agony of it hits him like a hammer blow and fills his ears with the sounds of a thousand caged voices screaming in unison and he adds his to theirs without knowing it.
He is blinded by the light and staggers drunkenly as he loses all sense of direction in the pain and flees as the glasses slip back into place and leave massive voids of darkness blooming across his vision. Then he flees as fast as his tiny legs will take him, paying no heed to direction in his desperate flight and repeating under his breath so fast the words flow together his mantra of madness.
"Everything'salrighteverything'salrighteverything'salrighteverything'salright..."

((OOC:permission for Akira to attack Carmen given by Discord))

As Rhea made her way back to the kids Virgil's soft voice made his way to her. "...R--Mom, we need to go. We only have a few hours now to get to the gate..." Before she could even say anything Martha's panic quickly surfaced. "B-But we can't go yet! We need to find Arceus and Fynne! We can't just leave them here..." Martha's tears were too much for the Motherly Pokemon, and Rhea couldn't help but kneel down and try to comfort the child. "I know little one, I'm worried about her too. It breaks my heart to not have her here, but if we go looking for her we could get trapped out here one more night and...and I can't risk losing any more of you..." As she smiled sadly at the little lamb another voice caused Rhea's smile to fall into a frown.

"Do you really wish for her to come back? After all the conflict she has caused?" Shooting a glare at the Frillish Rhea stood up and puffed out her chest, a growl slowly building in her throat. "I would want ANY of my children back to me. Arceus was a gigantic pain in the ass but she was still one of us. So yes, I would certainly want her back." She wasn't trying to be mean to the ghosty fish thing but the female had no idea about what their group had been through and losing Arceus felt like losing one of the only sources of protection the group had.

Before anything else could be said or done a terrible shrieking started coming from the tiny scorpion she had left behind. The Kangaskhan roared and covered her ears, the noise far too loud for her, and shot a glare at the bug. It seemed Carmen was the one causing all the trouble, as usual, and before she could go over there and drag her unruly toddler away the Charmander got sucker punched by and Iron Tail and Rhea was suddenly way more pissed at the bug than Carmen.

"CARMEN!" Roaring with anger she charged after the scorpion but it was long gone, so she had to tame her anger to check on the Charmander. Standing over the female the Kangaskhan blocked the high noon sun with her head so that she could get a better look at the damage. Iron Tail could be a bitch if it was strong enough, and Carmen was no where near as powerful as she liked to claim, so naturally Rhea was worried. "You okay kid...? That was quite a hit."

It seemed Arceus disappearing was much more of a pain than Seth had originally thought.

Sure, he knew the others were attached to her, but this? Crazy Bitch No. 1 was all about reaching the gate of this place, and yet she kept distracting her with her "kids". The sound of it nearly made him gag. Since when would a perfectly capable pokemon risk their own lives for a kid? His own parents were shit, so what made the other parents so damn fantastic?

Still, even with that thought, what good did this bitch think she was doing by delaying them further? Even Virgil had already tried getting them to move, and yet she still tended to the others, wasting more damn time. He glanced to his brother, who seemed more exasperated than anything, and groaned. "Good God would you can it so we can hurry up?" he growled. "If they can't handle themselves, then they shouldn't fucking be here, should they? Come on, Mother Goose, I thought you wanted to get to the fucking gate."

Virgil shot his brother a glare and growled. "She's going to break your little neck if you keep talking like that, Seth," he warned, earning a sarcastic "I'm so fucking scared" from the smeargle. His fur raised with his irritation; he'd forgotten just how annoying his own flesh and blood could be... However, all he could do was wait for Rhea to lead the way.

As Carmen removed the bugs shades, a sudden screech that was almost deafening appeared. Looking around to find the source, Carmen began to get confused, till she realized that the screech was coming from the now shadeless bug! As she looked at it, astounded by the fact that such a small creature could make such a BIG noise, a sudden pain flushed through her body. The bug had used an Iron Tail on her, hit her right in the chin!

As the thought of what happened dawned on her, the pain flared up to an incredulous amount. Carmen's jaw began aching, and felt as if it would fall off. As Carmen began to get sick, she noticed the bug run from her, and another scream echoed around her.

"CARMEN! You okay kid...? That was quite a hit."

Carmen vomited, then stood up. The pain had not eased at all, and Carmen's head was spinning. She took several steps, planning on chasing the bug, but then stumbled forward and fell over. Her vision began to grow dark. It was impossible, wasn't it?

"It... it can't be! It just knocked me out!"

Carmen said, giggling hysterically, unable to believe something like this happened. Her vision completely faded as she began her frantic fit of laughter.

Carmen had been knocked out!

"I would want ANY of my children back to me. Arceus was a gigantic pain in the ass but she was still one of us. So yes, I would certainly want her back." The Kangaskhan stood over Sadie, and it made the Frillish realize that she was weak compared to the other one. Sadie was scared of how strong she was and she backed up away from Rhea. This group didn't seem all that great to the Frillish. The only one she could consider a friend would be Martha, the only nice person out of the group.

"I'm sorry for ever saying anything..." Sadie said. "If you want me to leave, then I'll do so. The only reason I'm willing to stay is..." Sadie's eyes began to form tears as they fell from her eyes to the ground. "...is because I have no family anymore..." And it was true. She lost her brothers and sisters back in Unova, she ran away from home, and lost Kurt, the only person who understood the Frillish's feelings. She felt so close to him that the thought of him made her cry a little more. Silently, she turned away from the group, hoping they don't see her like this.

Alone and terrified by every sight and sound that reaches his ears the Skorupi screams and screams and screams, scuttling back and forth without direction.
He is blind!
Blind!
Clawing desperately at his face, his ivory white claws bouncing off his hard shell the tiny Scorpion Pokemon screeches as he tries to flee further away but only ends up going comically in circles like a broken wind-up toy.
The clinging mud sucks at his legs as if trying to swallow him up entirely.
His perception of distance is completely wiped away as Akira curls himself into a tiny sobbing ball of shell and closes his eyes tightly.
The darkness inside comforts him until his frantic screams become softer and softer.
He trembles on the spot, his navy blue shell smeared all over with the thick marsh mud.
"Everything's alright..." he tells himself with a sob, trying to distract himself from this hellhole of a place he seems to have landed himself in.
"Everything's alright..."
Very slowly his vision starts to return.