Headin' down South [F]

[Arzadon]

A split second before Cynaquil could fire its ember attack, Sableye shot out from the shadows as the last of its substitute in front of Joey faded from existence. The shadow pokemon's sharp claws raked into the fire mouse, causing it to cry out in pain. Sableye got four serious hits on the fire pokemon before it finished its powerful furry swipes attack.

The Hag grinned widely in pleasure, as she stared at Joey. "Oh ho ho! Looks like tables have turned! Sableye may have taken a long time to set up its attack, but it seems like you are more gullible then a child! Now Budew hit them with stun spore!"

Budew once again started it's dance, spreading large amounts of stun spore in the area. Thankfully, Cyndaquil managed to avoid the barrage of spores, but Gulpen was not. The poison sack pokemon cringed as it accidentally inhaled a large dose of the spores. Its body twitched slightly, and stopped moving. It's mysterious trainer was silent. Perhaps he was waiting for something?

As Cyndaquil spat out it's ember attacks, Joey could feel his limbs going numb. Slowly his movement became more, and more restricted. The Old Hag, knowing this would happen, could not help but grin even wider.

The ember attack slammed into the Budew. Its body slowly started to shake back and forth. The damage it took was slowly building up.

Battle

---

Budew | Level 11 |

Sableye | Level 19 |

Health : 27%

Health : 75%

Status : Water Sport

Status: None

Cynaquil | Level 13 |

Gulpen | level 13|

Health : 49%

Health : 100%

Status : Normal

Status : Paralyzed

---

[OCC: This thread is reserved by Arzadon. Yes you have to beat ALL of the Hag's pokemon to win Joey. In fact she has four pokemon total, so you only have those two left. Sorry for any errors. My laptop was giving me problems.]

[The REAL Joey]

Joey watched as the battle took an unsuspecting turn. His eyes narrowed as the Sableye made its move and unleashed a relentless assault on Cyndaquil. Cyndaquil stood its ground and still had a fair bit of life in him despite such a savage flurry of blows. The combination of Stun Spore also proved frustrating to Joey. "Grrr..." He muttered under his breath as he slowly tried to flick off the spores. "So i'm the child am I? We'll see... Sableye needs time to prepare so that means I just gotta rush 'em!!" He looked to Cyndaquil and smirked as it would seem he had dodged the restricting spores. "Hey, granny! You're startin' to tick me off." His eyes wandered over to the Sableye and he commanded his next move. "Cynda! You're doing good. Let's shake this up some." The Cyndaquil turned its head to its trainer and looked puzzled. "Fire an Ember at the Sableye! I want to see that little mischievous shadow feel the heat too." Cyndaquil nodded having understood its trainer and spat out a burning Ember directly at it. Joey tore his eyes away from the battle and looked to the Gulpin and trainer. "Yo! You need any help?" Asked Joey inquisitively.

[Arzadon]

"Gulpen is... Paralyzed... It can't move... But if you... Had a... Ditto you could... send it out... And copy one of.... Lyn's pokemon... That would be nice..." The Meek man said from the bushes.

The Hag glared at Joey. The Hag whispered something under her breath "Why hasn't... effect... should be... Damn that kid... so.... stamina..." Was all Joey could catch of the Hag's whispers. "Hurr.. Alright! The prize will be ours my precious pokemon! Sableye fury swipes again! And Budew use stun spore!"

Sableye charged Cyndaquil. During its charge the ember attack slammed into the dark pokemons chest. Sableye continued on, as if it was unaffected by the ember. Once in ranged it started to furiously swipe its claws at Cyndauil.

During this whole process Budew started its dance once again, although it was careful to keep away from Gulpen.

Battle

---

Budew | Level 11 |

Sableye | Level 19 |

Health : 27%

Health : 62%

Status : Water Sport

Status: None

Cynaquil | Level 13 |

Gulpen | level 13|

Health : 16%

Health : 100%

Status : Paralyzed

Status : Paralyzed

---

[The REAL Joey]

Joey bitterly struggled to function properly despite the copious amounts of paralytic spore in the air. His body halted unco-operatively but through sheer spite he managed to function somewhat normally given the circumstances. "I will NOT... Let this HAG do as she pleases. Joey ain't gonna let her!" He glared at his Cyndaquil becoming paralysed again as well as being the centre of the Sableye's assault once more. "Pathetic! You gang up on everyone you come across, oldbag?" He slowly delved into his bag and picked out the first thing in his hand which was luckily a Max Potion. He ungraciously lurched forward and bent over with great difficulty to restore his Cyndaquil's health. "Here, pal! Take it!" Joey watched as the Cyndaquil gratefully drank the contents of the Potion. Before long his stamina increased to its maximum capacity. Joe turned and hurried back as fast as he could, becoming slower and slower having moved closer in to the stun spore clouds.

He looked to the other trainer and tried shrugging but gasped as his body refused to do so. "Damn... Damnit... I'm not using him yet!" He barely clenched his fist and continued speaking. "Cyndaquil can still do it! I believe in him! So no matter what, he can keep going. This is how is thief operates. Believe your utmost in your partner's abilities." Cyndaquil bounced up barely in appreciation to its trainer and eyed its opponents with a boosted morale from his trainers speech and the recovery of health. "Cynda! Blast out some Embers towards the Budew! We need to thwart the source of these spores!" Cynda nodded and slowly fired off a burning hot coal of Ember.

Joey's eyes narrowed and he turned to the trainer slowly, having regained some movement from spacing himself from the centre of the battle. "Wait, "Lyn's?" You're telling me you know this old fossil?" He looked at his supporting trainer with some suspicion but decided to focus back on the battle unfolding before his eyes. Things were reaching crisis point and it was no time for idle speculation. The Ember slowly soared through the battle arena aimed at the Budew.

[camtoniac]

Seemingly oblivious to the chaotic battle occurring around it, a disgruntled Delibird slowly waddled out of the grass behind Joey. The Delivery Pokémon itched its face with a vibrant red wing, recoiling from itself as a tumultuous sneeze overcame its body. The penguin had not expected such a large amount of traveling through Johto's hazardous grassy patches to be required of him, when he agreed to transport this delivery.

Disregarding the symptoms of his infuriated hay-fever, the Delibird forced a pleasant smile onto his face; afterall, he had a service to promote - customer service must be upheld for fear of losing business to the recently established Pelliper and Abra Delivery Agencies. While passionate about his job, the tentative bird did not fancy his chances amongst the battling crowd he suddenly noticed before him.

"Dellliiii~"

The call was clear and crisp about the sound of the battle. Catching Joey's attention, the Ice-type waved from a distance. Delibird removed something round from his sack, beckoning towards the Trainer, indicating his intentions. Upon further inspection, the object seemed to be an Egg! However, at this distance, the harsh glare of the sun's rays obscured the colour from sight; Joey focussed on the Delibird and his gift, attempting to identify the hue of the Egg wrapped in the Pokémon's digit-less arms..

... what colour was the Egg?

[The REAL Joey]

The sudden shrill cry that pierced the air immediately caught Joey's attention although it didn't seem that way as his body didn't move an inch. He resistibly turned his head and narrowed his eyes off into the distance to try and see what was crying out to him but thanks to the amount of spores circulating in the air shrouding visibility, he couldn't quite make it out. It almost looked as if Santa Claus himself was beckoning Joey towards him. A sudden shift in the harshness of the sunlight managed to give Joey enough leverage to actually perceive his mystery caller. "A Delibird?!" He paused for a moment. Why would a Delibird being standing in the middle of a field on a hot sunny day away from its much more suited cooler climates? A second later an idea started to become tangible in his head. "Oh I see..." He looked to the hag and through gritted teeth yelled to her. "This better not be some dumb trick of yours like with that Budew!" He was going to raise his fist but was unfortunately prohibited by a certain bud Pokemon's paralytic stun spores.

Deciding it would be unwise to ignore the Delibird, renowned Pokemon for their reputation of being gift bearers. He trudged over incredibly slowly with his joints barely moving and eventually made it to where the Delibird was. In it's flippers was a rather extraordinary Pink coloured egg. "An...Egg...?" He paused but smiled knowingly. "Ah I think I get it." Joey raised an eyebrow and deduced that anything of such a pristine colour couldn't be linked in with that nasty old hag. Before he accepted the egg, his arm stiffly reached into his pocket and produced a small tissue to which he handed to the Delibird in exchange for the egg. "Here, it's just a tissue. I know what it's like. Hay-fever an' all." He smiled and nodded to the Delibird with the egg safely tucked under one of his arms. "Now best get outta here. I'm gonna mop the floor with the old fossil over there." He turned 180 degrees on the spot and robotically moved his way back to his spot. He inspected the egg and grinned to himself. Before long, he realised it may be a good idea to tuck it away from the spores and of course the hag's insidious spit attack. He tucked it away into his bag safely and focused his attentions once more, back onto the fight at hand.

EDIT: The Pink Egg has now replaced Doopliss the Ditto in my party.

[Arzadon]

The Hag looked down in sorrow as the Delibird arrived. She knew it would be over for this poor fellow, and he would get his prize. The Hag reached into her pockets and withdrew a pokeball. "Return Budew!" She shouted as a beam of red light shot out from the pokeball, hitting Budew in. As Budew was sucked in to it's pokeball the old Hag said, "I wouldn't want you to get hurt now my precious Budew.." She said, although her voice was completely diffrent. No longer was her voice old and archaic, it was now soft and gentle; something that would belong to a young woman.

Meanwhile Dooplis' pokeball was given to the Delibird, so that it could be sent to Professor Elm's lab. Before the delivery bird could fly off, it collapsed to the ground. Paralyzed from the stun spore in the area. "Now Gulpen! Suck in that ditto's pokeball!" The voice from the bushes shouted.

Gulpen opened his mouth as wide as he could, and began to suck in the air around him. He cringed in pain as most of the stun spore was taken into his body. Slowly the ditto's pokeball rolled over into the sack pokemon's mouth. Gulpen clamped his mouth shut, as the voice in the bushes began to laugh maniacally.

[OCC:This thread is reserved by Arzadon. Joey, you WILL be getting Dooplis back at the end of the story. I am not that evil.]

[The REAL Joey]

The dramatic turn of events lasted only a mere number of seconds but through Joe's perspective it seemed to last an absolute eternity. He was about to make an exclamation towards the sudden withdrawal of the old hag's Pokemon but was interjected immediately by the sudden change in tone of the old granny's voice. "The hell...?" Before he could even think of what to do next, another change in voice could be heard from over in the bushes. Joey turned with an indignant stare and noticed that the man's Gulpin was now targeting the Delibird and by extension, Joey's Doopliss! He tried with every single bit of stamina left in his body to try and block the Gulpin's inhaling but it proved to be fruitless. The stun spores had truly taken affect. "Damn this...!!" Yelled Joey under gritted teeth. "Whoever the hell you are, I am gonna curbstomp ya!" His body shook violently but to no avail, he was paralysed fully.

Cyndaquil, obvious to his master's plight also did its best to try and secure Doopliss' Pokeball. It turned on the spot defiantly but as soon as it tried charging forward, it froze, motionless. Unable to do anything and with the inescapable effect of gravity, it fell on its side. Joey yelled out loud. Never before had he been so powerless to act; the very feeling was soul destroying. His eyes gazed upon the Gulpin who had now swallowed the Pokeball through its impressive attempt at inhaling. However, the very act in inhaling the air around them meant that the stun spores had been sucked into the Gulpin. "YES!" Exclaimed Joey as his body was only just starting to be able to move of it's own free will. "Best start running because when I get you..." His speech was now more fluent as his jaw began to move from the amount of anger apparent in Joey's words.

[Arzadon]

With in seconds the man emerged from the grass. A wicked grin was on the man's face, as he proudly stuck his chest forward. Showing off the large red R on his chest. The Rocket closely examined his Gulpin as he picked it up. "Hmph. Useless piece of trash, can even stand all this damn stun spore. Ugh, and it smells like damn magikarp," The man said, as he held Gulpen out infront of him. Pinching his nose to block the smell.

The Hag held her head low, unable to look at Joey. "Joe... I'm sorry I betrayed you... Again..." The Hag whispered, just loud enough for Joey to hear. Her voice was oddly familiar. As if he heard it a thousand times before.

[OCC: This thread is reserved by Arzadon | Egg Count: 734/1500 + 2/5]

[The REAL Joey]

Joey still felt the lasting effects of the Stun Spore but was beginning to enjoy the freedoms of movement once more having been so forcefully paralysed. His eyes became ablaze with hatred as he observed the man from the bushes coming forward and proudly displaying his affiliation with Team Rocket. "The Rockets... Pah... What a despicable group... Once i'm done with this guy i'm gonna hasten my efforts to crush them pathetic weasels...!" The amount of loathing and resentment in Joey's face was now becoming largely apparent to everyone in the nearby area. His typically cheery grin was now replaced with a disgusted sour look. It was almost as if Joey had transformed into someone else. "You deceptive piece of..." Joey tensed his muscles and staggered forward slightly towards the Rocket member. "You best be sure you got an entire legion of Rocket grunts to back you up because by the time i'm done wit' ya..." He paused, leering crazily at the member. "You're gonna need your face reconstructed back to how it was!"

He clumsily stepped forward once more but lost his balance slightly over his seething rage and the after effects of being so drenched by the spores. That was not the only reason for Joey's sudden misstep. The faint whisperings he heard from the old hag tickled his ears. In his bout of rage he had almost totally blocked out the foul smelling stench of Magikarp and her dreadfully bad smelling aroma. He craned his neck round, still full of anger and eyed her up. "You... Why do you..." He paused, his rage now becoming a fleeting emotion. "No way... That voice is familiar!" Echoed the thoughts within his mind. Just where had Joey encountered this woman before?

[Arzadon]

The Rocket laughed at Joey's statement. "You think you can beat me? Now that's a good joke!" The Rocket said, as he wiped a tear of joy from his eye. The Hag's soft sobbing could barely be heard over the Rocket's laughter.

"Now if you don't mind me I have to leave," The Rocket finished. He held Gulpen, it's mouth pointed at Joey like a gun. He pushed the pokemon's cheeks together, sending a large cloud of stun spore towards Joey. As the stun spore enveloped Joey, he could feel himself fading from conciseness.

---

It wasn't long until Joey awoke, to the bumping of the wheel barrow he was now in. The Hag was pulling the metallic wheel barrow behind her, wheezing as she pulled the fully grown man down route 32. Her newly evolved Roselia sat with its legs crossed, on one of the handles near Joey's face. Roselia rested it's head on one of it's rose hands, carefully observing Joey. The Roselia tilted it's head, wondering if it should alert it's trainer to the newly awoken thief.

[OCC: This thread is reserved by Arzadon | Egg Count: 1,025/1,500 + 3/5
Sorry bout the tid bit of God Modding, but it made the story far more interesting. Plus, nothing horrible happened.]

[The REAL Joey]

The Rocket's arrogance was cataclysmic, pushing all the right buttons of Joey's anger. "Shut your goddamned face..." He took a couple of steps forward before yelling maniacally. "...BEFORE I SHUT IT FOR YOU!" He began charging but the Rocket's little trick involving the Gulpin froze Joey in his tracks fearfully at the repercussions of
Not expecting his day to take any more turns for the worst, he froze in fear at the implications of all the Stun Spore vacuumed up in Gulpin's mouth. "If he blows that all at me..." He gulped and narrowed his eyes apprehensively. "...I'm gonna become paralysed full stop. There won't be any coming back from that..." However, his worst thoughts were confirmed as the Rocket mercilessly forced open the Gulpin's mouth and sent out a stream of spores. Joey's eyes immediately became heavy and were weighed shut under the inescapable effects of unconsciousness. "No... Not like this... This isn't how it was supposed to end...!" Faintly murmured the last remaining thoughts circulating through Joey's mind.

Lady Luck herself seemed to have other plans for the intrepid thief. His eyes stuttered open as his head banged continuously against some unknown object. Was this place heaven? Or even hell? His eyes were still unadjusted to his surroundings. He groaned quietly to himself and blinked his eyes a few times to help his eyes concentrate. However, what he had imagined to see was far, far different from the reality that was before him. A lone Roselia was starring intently at him. He didn't quite know what to make of this but a touch of confusion ran through his head. "Did that old hag mop the floor with ME and evolved her own Pokemon...?" He paused thinking it over. That didn't seem quite right. In fact, he had an accomplice, that man in the bushes... "THE ROCKET!" Joey sat straight up and snarled to himself. "I'm so gonna get that sonofa..." He paused as he realised he was in motion. "Wait. What?" He looked around and almost fell out of the barrow to see him being pushed along by what appeared to be the old fossil.

[Arzadon]

The Hag stopped walking, and turned around to look at Joey. After examining him for a few seconds, she reached down and picked up her Roselia. "Good job Rose," she said as she her spit soaked everything in front of her. "Now.." The hag said as she reached down, and lifted half of the wheel barrow up. Causing Joey to fall to the ground.

"You gotta walk on yer own now, I can't be carrying you everywhere like some kind of french maid." The Hag said, as she turned around, and started to walk off. She paused and looked back at Joey. "Come on you whipper snapper, I'm gonna help you get yer blob thingy back," She said.

[OCC: This thread is reserved by Arzadon. | Egg Count 1.382/1,500 + 4/5]

[The REAL Joey]

Joey tumbled out of the wheel barrow rather ungracefully and hit the floor with a heavy thud. He reeled around on the floor for a few minutes, still groggy from the effects of the Stun Spore, before sluggishly getting to his feet and letting out a rather dismayed grunt. "Urgh... French Maid?" He shook his head and slapped his cheeks in an effort to wake himself up. "Hey wait!" He staggered forward to catch up with the hag and placed a firm hand on her shoulder. "Just who the hell do ya think you are? Carting me around like some prized pumpkin or something...Ow!" He instinctively comforted his head having raised his voice in volume. Obviously he was still feeling rather disorientated from being knocked out cold.

He let go of his grip on the old woman and as his headache subsided his eyes gazed over here suspiciously. "You know... When you speak properly you sound awfully familiar. I can't quite put my finger on it but... There's a feeling of remembrance there." He was about to question her further when she dropped word of his ever troublesome Doopliss. "Oh for..." He shooks his head and let out an exasperated sigh. "Right. That Rocket Grunt ran off with him... Wait up a second..." His hand darted into his trainer bag and retrieved a map of Johto. He studied it hastily and grinned. "Heh, he can run all he wants but there's two notable things about Route 32." He folded up the map and shoved it away unceremoniously. "It's hellishly long AND continues directly to a dark, dingy cave."

He pounded his fist in the palm of his other hand and grinned. "That's where we'll get the drop on him." He paused, having said the word we and jumped slightly. "Wait, why am I saying, we?" He pointed a finger to the hag as he marched as fast as he could to keep up with her. "Not ten minutes ago you were ambushing me outta nowhere and trying beat me into submission and free load all my Pokemon." His logic continued onwards. "And then that man appeared. That Rocket peon. How do I know you're not helping him out and you're leading me into another trap?!" Joey blew out air from his mouth upwards so the small strands of his hair flickered out of the way. "Pft, Doopliss does need saving... Even if you do try anything funny, i'll take on you and Grunt at the same time." He finally caught up with her, having now got past the worst of being unconscious for that short span of time.

[Arzadon]

The Hag dusted her self off after Joey tumbled to the ground. She kept silent as he talked, not particularly caring about what he had to say. She already knew exactly where the Grunt was going, and what route he will be taking. Although the Hag knew she needed Joey.

The Hag examined the determination in Joey's face for a few moments before speaking. "Joey, you shall be fighting the grunt alone. I can not face him. You see he took some one precious from me. So that I would do his bidding. If I fight him, Team Rockets will kill him." As the Hag talked she kept pace with Joey, she seemed like a much tougher woman then she originally appeared.

"Roosee..." The pokemon cried, feeling it's trainers pain. The Roselia now sat on the Hag's left shoulder, soaking in the sun.

"But there is nothing stopping you from saving my Grandson. I apologize for asking this of you, especially after how I helped the scum earlier. But I need to go some one to go in my place." The Hag said as the two approached a pokemon center. The Hag paused as she looked over the building. Nowing that Joey could heal his pokemon in a matter of minutes the Hag purposed, "If you go alone, you're current skills may not be enough. Please, let me pass on my skills to you. Perhaps it will aid you in you're journey."

---

The Hag has challanged you to a battle!

---

[OCC: This thread is reserved by Arzadon. | Egg hatching has been postponed.
Ah, one battle left. I want to have this story go on for a while, if you don't mind. I am thinking it will last until Goldenrod.]