Ready or Not! [F]

[The REAL Joey]

The Swablu family tree were world renowned for their dulcet melodies that were able to induce drowsiness in all those who listened. In fact the only Pokemon who could rival such a feat were those hailing from the Jigglypuff line. Nevertheless, as Swablu chirped its calming melody, a line of notes slowly floated their way over to the Cherubi. They brushed against it slightly, fading right into it. The Cherubi couldn't quite get over how beautiful the song sounded. It had just tasted some of the most delicious honey it had ever come across and was now being treated to his marvellous song. Today had been quite action packed and the slumbering song seemed to be inviting it into a deep sleep. The cherry Pokemon agreed with this and it wasn't long before it shut its eyes and began snoring cutely. For now, Cherubi had been totally shut down and could no longer attack back at the Swablu.



Wild Battle

---

Cherubi | Level 15 |
Health : 40%
Status : Asleep; Atk +1, Sp.Atk +1
*snore*

Swablu | Level 11 |
Health : 61%
Status : Normal
*phew* A bit of rest!

---

[Morrigan]

Sharada plugged her ears tightly with her fingertips as Swablu parted her beak. A gently melody flowed through the breeze, even the grass began to sway from side to side, slower and slower. Despite blocking out as much sound as possible, even Sharada's eyes lids were beginning to feel heavy. Letting out a gentle yawn as Swablu's song came to a close, Sharada moved her hands to her eyes, rubbing them roughly to try and wake herself up again. Unsure if she was dreaming, her eye lids blinked several times as she gazed to the Cherubi. It seemed the attack was successful! With Swablu back to worrying about her honey-covered wings, Sharada explored around in her bag for another pokeball. "One aint bad, but two pokemon from this trip would be even better!" With a sharp flick of her wrist, she tossed the ball towards the cherry, crossing her fingers as a light engulfed the pokemon and dragged it into the ball.

[The REAL Joey]

As the Cherubi sweetly slumbered away with its mouth glistening with leftover honey, it unknowingly had no idea it was about to be captured. As Sharada readied her Pokeball, the ball span gracefully through the air as it landed upon the small cherry Pokemon which was an amazing feat in itself considering how miniature the Pokemon was. Despite being nudged with such a hefty hit by the ball, the Pokemon continued to slumber and was eventually enveloped in a reddish glow that absorbed into the metallic Pokeball. It clunked to the floor and gently began nudging from side to side.

---

*CLICK*



Congratulations! The Wild Cherubi was captured!


Please fill out the following information about your new Pokémon:

Cherubi
Name: [choose]
Gender: [choose]
Level: 15
Moves: Tackle, Growth, Leech Seed, Helping Hand
Ability: Chlorophyll
Nature/Personality: [choose]

[img]http://pldh.net/media/pokemon/gen5/blackwhite/420.png[/img]
[b]Cherubi[/b]
Name: [choose]
Gender: [choose]
Level: 15
Moves: Tackle, Growth, Leech Seed, Helping Hand
Ability: Chlorophyll
Nature/Personality: [choose]

---

Victory!

---

Your Swablu fought courageously and has levelled up!
It went up by 3 levels and is now Level 14!
Swablu would like to learn the move Fury Attack.
Replace a move so that it can learn Fury Attack?

---

As the ball whisked itself back into Sharada's palm of her hand, there was a clang at the door behind her. The person that had stepped out into the garden was Joey. He had changed back into his usual summery attire of t shirt and jeans and had changed his fluffy little sleeps with that of his worn biker boots. He made his way over to Sharada with his thumbs tucked into his pockets and began digging at a spot with his foot as he saw how Sharada had been. "Well, your Pokemon look a lot brighter from when I last saw 'em. Same goes for you." He patted her on the side of her arm and gave her a small smile. Noticing the Pokeball in her hand and the wafting smell of honey from tree, Joey realised she had caught something. "Mmm smell that honey. I could go for some on toast right about now. Wait, you caught somethin'? Or ya waiting for something to appear?" He eagerly looked to her for an answer, it had been quite some time since the tree had yielded anything so he was more than curious. "Oh and by the way, everyone's better inside. You might wanna come back in with me so I can introduce y'all properly."

[Morrigan]

Cherubi
Name: Cherubi
Gender: Female
Level: 15
Moves: Tackle, Growth, Leech Seed, Helping Hand
Ability: Chlorophyll
Nature/Personality: [choose]

[img]http://pldh.net/media/pokemon/gen5/blackwhite/420.png[/img]
[b]Cherubi[/b]
Name: Cherubi
Gender: Female
Level: 15
Moves: Tackle, Growth, Leech Seed, Helping Hand
Ability: Chlorophyll
Nature/Personality: updatelater

Also, I'll go to our update thread myself, will probably be replacing Growl with Fury Attack. :3

- - -

As the pokeball wobbled to a halt, Sharada let out a cheerful cheer, rubbing Swablu affectionately on the head as she jogged past her to retrieve her newest member. It seemed she had borrowed a bit of Joe's 'lady luck' or whatever he kept mentioning when they met, capturing both Ekans and a Cherubi aswell as making it out of his warehouse alive. With a happy grin, Sharada secured the ball in her bag before turning to the golden bird. "Good job Swablu!... Hmm?" she paused for a moment, watching Swablu still finding difficulty with her wings. Bringing out a small water bottle, Sharada approached the glittering bird and began to dowse it with water carefully, washing away the clumps of sticky honey. Shaking violently at the touch of the water, Swablu's once honey coated wings eventually fluffed back into their cotton like ones. She tweeted happily before nudging herself affectionately against Sharada's hand.

The sound of a door creaking open caught both of their attention, watching cautiously as the person emerging through the gap turned out to be Joe. At the sight of the familiar face, Swablu began to tweet happily, giving away their position in between the blades of grass. As he moved towards them, Sharada stood to her feet, replacing her water bottle with the pokeball of the newly caught Cherubi. With a gentle grin, she waved it in the direction of Joe, "I rubbed a bit of honey on your tree and a little Cherubi popped out!... I hope you dont mind." Even though it was a wild pokemon, it was still technically on Joe's grounds, but she doubted it would bother him too much.

Hiding the pokeball once more, Swablu decided to take a chance herself. The friendly bird had usually been Sharada's partner when meeting Joe and she didnt try to hide her fondness of him like her trainer did. Fluttering her wings, she hovered in the air for a short amount of time before perching herself comfortably on Joe's shoulder, rubbing her face affectionately against his cheek. "H-H-Hey now!" Sharada stammered, her cheeks gradually becoming rosier at how close she was getting, "Make sure his Meowth doesnt catch ya doing that, I'm sure you'd look mighty tasty to him." Sharada's tease made Swablu fluff her wings out playfully but decided to carry on rubbing her beak against his stubbled face regardless.

With no sign of her stopping, Sharada let out a small sigh. She knew that it was pretty much time to be reacquainted with Joe's gang members, but she still felt incredibly nervous and guilty for what had happened. Joe would most likely drag her back inside by the scruff of her neck if she tried to escape now, though. Forcing a smile, she nodded weakly to him, "Alright... I'll give it a go." Before actually following him back inside, Sharada remained still in the same place, just looking up to him calmly. "I'm really sorry again... I was hoping to make a better first impression."

[The REAL Joey]

The Pokeball being shaken about at him only made him all the more interested in what she had found. "So you actually bought some honey, huh? Well, no worries. My gang and I used to rub honey there all the time to see what kinds of Pokemon popped out. Just sat there watching them lap it all up. That was some time ago... Heh." He started scratching the back of his neck as a sign of uneasiness. "We kinda ran out of honey when our stock... *cough* stolen stock of honey ran out." He looked at and shrugged in case she looked to him with a glare of disappointment. "Hey c'mon! As unbelievable as it sounds we took down this weirdo who was using a massive supply of honey to goop people with." Joey laughed awkwardly as he recalled the memories. "We were out and about on our bikes and this guy who was standing over a walkway bridge dumped a huge wad of honey on top of Eightball. Man, was he pissed." The very mention of that seemed to remind Joe of something. "Which reminds me, don't talk to Eightball about honey." He paused before selecting his next words very carefully. "It's bit of a... Sticky issue for him." Trying to hold in his laughter at his own terribly bad pun he turned his attention elsewhere.

Before he could the welcome diversion of Sharada's Swablu came over to greet him as it chirped away happily as if trying to tell Joey all the things that had happened to it and Sharada since they last spoke. With an affectionate nudge to his cheek Joey grinned happily and gave her a little nudge back with his finger bent on the side of her face. "Cute little thing, ain'tcha?" He laughed at how upfront Swablu was and gave it another petting. Joey also wavered Sharada's concerns away about his Meowth getting jealous. "I'm not sayin' he wouldn't try something but fer now the cheeky little cat is napping on my bed. He's got the weirdest sleeping patterns." Joey realised that he too had been having a rest and double back on what he said. "Eheheh, guess he takes after someone, don'tcha think?"

With them now done outside in the grassy patch, Joey put an arm around Sharada and guided her back into the warehouse. "You have nothin' to worry about. They're all fine now and back on their feet. Erik came out the best as he was frozen in time or somethin'. As soon as Smeargle was neutralised he came back to life." This bought Joe to his next point. "Dat Smeargle of yours... Somethin' else ain't it? I don't think i've ever heard of such moves having that much power to them. Whatever your Smeargle is, it's like an ace in the hole that's fer sure." As they stepped back inside and walked along Joey laughed and bought up Merton. "I think the only one who's steamin' is Merton. That lob back from Smeargle ruined his..." He stopped talking in his usual voice and put on a very forced exaggerative theatrical voice. "...OOOOO~~~OOOOH SO BEAUTIFUL VISAGE~!" He burst out laughing and shrugged. "He's a bloody fruitcake he is." They came to the door that led to the main interior. It was time they were introduced properly.

OOC: I was hoping to introduce them all in this post but its late and whatever, sue me. If you can maybe squeeze out something to reply to this then by all means or I could just append it tomorrow when I get up. Your call hunnybuns.

[Morrigan]

The talk of honey made her nod slowly, "Yeah, I got hold on some honey a while back, it's just tough trying to find the right tree to rub it on." A small smile crept over her face as she continued, "I was a little surprised to see you had one here. Sure, it looks like it has been through the wars but it can still do it's job~" Listening to Joe quietly as he recalled his memories of the times between the tree and his gang members, she looked back over to it herself. Shooting him a look as he confessed about the stolen honey, she began shaking her head from side to side. Out of all places, here wasnt a good place to argue with him about stealing. Especially if his partners in crime were practically a wall away. In fact, she had pretty much got used to his ways by now, "Then... If I get hold of more honey, could I bring it back here again? And next time, I'll just watch instead of catch." She didnt regret catching the Cherubi at all but she felt any future attempts at visiting just for merely catching something from his tree was perhaps a tad rude of her.

Receiving enough love from Joe, Swablu gave him one last playful nudge before fluttering back over to her owner, noticing her shoulder was lacking a particular fluffy bird. As the familiar cotton like wings comfortably sat on her shoulders, they began bouncing slightly due to Sharada's sudden laughter, "I wouldn't expect less of either of you, cat naps are always nice afterall." Steadying her Swablu, she decided it'd be best to withdraw her since they were now heading back into the warehouse. Having clumps of dust and dirt in those pretty wings wouldn't be very nice. "Alright Swablu, say bye bye to Joe for now." As Sharada prepared a Pokeball, the Swablu began tweeting a happy song towards the thief before being engulfed in a red light, "Haah... She can be a little cheeky sometimes."

Feeling an arm wrap around her shoulders, Sharada looked on ahead wearily as she was led back into the warehouse corridor. The conversation of the Smeargle made her sigh with guilt, "That Smeargle... Where do I start..." Deciding to sum up the story of how they met to Joe, she continued in a soft voice, "Remember when we first met? I was leaving the Poke Center and I bumped into your back? Well, I was sticking the Smeargle in my PC Box back then." She paused as they drew ever closer to the interior warehouse door, "Either way, she accepts my company somewhat but she reaaally doesnt want to listen to me in battles. She acts all high and mighty all the time, I doubt I'll ever be able to control her." Despite her apprent upset about not being able to control the small canine, even she was forced to laugh at Joe's amazing impression of the mysterious Merton. It was so good it almost brought a tear to her eye, or atleast, it lightened the mood, "-AHaaha ha ha ... W-Well..." Her laughing came to an immediate halt as they were literally fingertips away from the door, she gave Joe another sad glance before slowly nodding to him, "O-Okay. Just dont leave." Reaching a hand out, she clutched onto Joe's shirt, using her other hand to carefully push open the doors.

OOC: It's alright, sorry if mine is short though.

[The REAL Joey]

With the entry doors now wide open and creaking as they revealed Joe and Sharada to the rest of the room, the rest of Joey's gang were seen to be all standing up and considering the circumstances, could have been a lot worse for wear. Joey stepped forward briskly, not inhibited by the same worries that were plaguing Sharada's mind. As he walked up to his motley crew and greeted them all with a big grin and a nod of his head. "So! Seems like you guys all got off on the wrong foot. Let's reintroduce ourselves, shall we?" Joey stretched out his arms and slowly turned around on the spot as he looked at each of his gang in the eyes. "This little lady here is Sharada. Some of you may remember me referrin' to a girl I have met a few times when I was frolicking about in Johto. Well this is her." He pointed to Sharada and nodded as the group all said hello in their own little ways.

He walked up to a rather imposing bald headed man. Joey smiled to him as the ruffian gave a curt nod. "Shar, say hello to Rocko. You could say this guy's the brawn of the group. Sheer force is what this guy does and what he does best." Rocko grinned happily at his praise and smashed his fists together in a delinquent manner. "I like smashing things." Joey laughed out loud and gave him a pat on the side of his arm. "Me and this lug go pretty far back. He's also from Kanto and we used to both be in the KBF." Rocko sighed somewhat nostalgically at the thought of KBF. "Dem were the days. Roaming like the wind and takin' no shit from anyone! Of course we got set up by them lousy Rockets and the police disbanded us all. I had it in for 'em ever since!" Rocko seemed to be getting quite aggressive to Joey calmed him down and moved on.

The next person awaiting them was the tall, slender and shifty men who had tag teamed with Rocko earlier. He was still sporting his cap, shades and dust mask. Joey held out his hand and he and the man had a little grapple and a pat on the back of one another. "Now this guy... Oooh boy, this guy. He has pocketed more things than this warehouse has holes in it. If you want a master thief this guy is your best bet. I even learnt a few tricks o' the trade from him. Alright Dusty?" Dusty gave a quick nod of his head and adjusted his glasses at the two of them. "Not bad, not bad. Head's pounding hard but i'll get over it..." He quickly changed his tone and saddled up close to Sharada, swooning over her Pokemon and clutching his hands together tightly as he shook them about. "Oh please, please, please, please give me your Pokemon! I've never seen so many rare 'uns and shinies in one place!" Joey sighed and shook his head. "Pft, that's not like you. Ya normally just take 'em." Dusty shrugged and laughed. "Eh, can't help it. You know what i'm like when I see somethin' rare. These's shades only make things worse." Joey went into his history a little. "Dusty's fairly new to the group but he's already proven to be an asset. Master skills and some cool tech make him indispensable."

Joey and Sharada moved on and were now face to face with another hulking imposing figure of a man. His dark eyes stared at them both narrowly as he let out a deep laugh. "What's up Joe?" Joey laughed and pointed to the floor. "Y'think I should be askin' that. Especially after you got beat so bad." They both laughed and Joey went on to introduce this man. "Say hello to Eightball. This guy is our mechanic genius. I dunno how but this guy just knows how engines and machines tick. Give him something he's not familiar with and five minutes later he's already got it sussed out." Eightball shrugged and leaned against the girder with his arms crossed. "Just got a knack for it I 'spose." He looked to Sharada and gave her a nod. "Hey miss, I should be thankful. Your Smeargle wrecked by bike's motor but it gives me an excuse to give it some much needed repairs I had been meaning to."

After saying their hellos to the mechanic of the group they made their way over to the flamboyant man from earlier. He was juggling his Voltorb on the spot and seemed to be in concentration. "Hey Merton, company!" Merton froze and dropped his Voltorb before realising Joe and Sharada were before him. "My dear Joe, must you sneak up on me like thaaaaat?" He retrieved all of his Pokemon and then flicked his cape back. "MY DEAR!" He called out to Sharada. "You are in the presence of the master magician Merton! Behold my illusionary power~!!" He wrapped his cape around him and disappeared on the spot. Joey jumped back slightly and remembered. "Ah yeah... Merton's known for his little invisibility cape. I keep askin' him how it works but all I get is MAAAAA~~AAAAGGIIIIC!" A flutter of a cape later revealed a rather fuming Merton. "It is magic I tell you, MAGIC!" He gestured up into the sky and Joey sighed at how dramatic he was. "Merton's another new face around here. We let him in the gang because believe it or not his knowledge of illusions and tricks actually comes in handy for somethings." Merton chuckled lightly to himself, his fingers covering his mouth. "Ooooh Joey, you're tooo kind~!!"

Next on the list was the long haired guitarist and the girl clad in purple. They seemed to be conversing with one another but perked up when they realised Joey was in the vicinity. "Sup Joey?" "Hiya!" They both greeted. "Guys, this is Sharada. Sounds like you two were the closet in figuring out who Sharada really was." He smiled and gave them both a proper introduction. "The guy with the crimson red guitar is Erik. Although you'd be understandable in thinking he's a rock star he's actually our electronics expert and knows a fair thing or two about overriding systems and the like. Plus he's known to rock out his instrument to disorientate people." A sly grin could be seen on Erik's face as he clapped. "Nice intro Joe. I'll have to hire you as my press agent." Joey then gestured to the female member and carried on. "Sharada, say hello to Harley. She's our botanist of the group and spends most of her time cultivating rare plants and the effects they can induce. A lot of the smoke, sleep and paralysing bombs I use all come from this girl here. She certainly knows her plants. Funnily enough she also hails from Hoenn too." Harley smiled sweetly and tilted her head from side to side. "I kinda noticed your accent was familiar which is what made me curious at first." Joey finished her introduction and laughed. "She's also the lone female of the group. Ya can tell how bad it must get for her living with seven other guys." She sighed and jokingly added on. "It's a nightmare, I don't know why I stick around you guys." She stuck her tongue out matter of factly.

The last person to be greeted as the man from earlier who had escaped Smeargle's wrath. He had their back to them and was surveying some of the damage of the warehouse while his Honchkrow was flapping around having a good survey itself. "Hey Looker buddy, come say hello." Looker stood up and turned to the duo. "Greetings, it is nice to be able to talk on better grounds." He gave a rather unemotional smile and tipped his hat to her. "Looker is like my right hand man as you've probably gathered. While i'm out on the field he keeps things running her and is in charge of most of the security and surveillance for here." Looker moved his head in agreement. "Never a dull job around here." With the whole gang now properly introduced Joey clasped his hands together and smiled. "So, got any plans Shar? Surely you want to have a little rest after everything that happened."

[Morrigan]

As both Sharada and Joe stepped through the doors which led back into the interior warehouse, the repeated sight of the amount of damage caused by her loomed over her. With Joe moving on ahead by himself, Sharada carefully followed after him, cautiously stepping over bits of rubble even she found a safe bit of ground. Pausing as Joe turned on the spot to introduce her, Sharada glanced her eyes to each individual nervous, expecting to be drilled with negative comments. Instead, they all seemed pretty calm. Feeling a little more relaxed, she slowly bent forward into a bow, speaking as Joe came to a halt, "I'm sorry for all the trouble myself and my Smeargle caused." Straightening her back, she removed her fake Rocket hat and held it loosely over her chest, covering up the huge red R as Joe led her to each individual.

First up was a bald man named Rocko. The names rang a few bells for her, remembering that Joe had mentioned him once or twice in the past meetings they had. Despite his huge size and rough appearance, his grin was enough to show Sharada that he wasnt that bad of a guy. Both Joe and Rocko gave off such a friendly atmosphere, it made her smile aswell, "It's nice to finally meet the face Joe had told me about." Thinking that something along the lines of a hand shake would probably result in her bones being crushed, she decided to safely smile back instead. The conversation had somehow changed to that of the Rockets which was more than enough to wipe the smile from her face. Wanting to assure him that the Rockets will be taken out, his seething anger made her think otherwise as she was ushered on to the next person.

Sharada stood back a little as Joe and the other male exchanged hand shakes and a grapple. As he was introduced by the name of Dusty, her eyebrows lifted sadly as she gave him her apologies, "I'm sorry about that... I hope you arent too hurt." Noticing he was approaching ever closer to her side, she instinctively clutched onto her bag, smiling nervously back to him, "S-sorry, but I kinda need my team." She shot a look to Joe suggesting for him to help her out, his version of helping was in the form of explaining Dusty more to her. She became instantly intrigued with the power of his shades and moved in closer to his face, trying to work out how they worked, "Did you design them yourself?..." Wrapping her hands around his, she grinned to him happily, "Dusty, make me a pair too! I dont know what I could give in return, but we could sort something out!" As she shook his hands playfully, the feeling of Joe gently tugging her away made her puff her cheeks out. Waving a goodbye to the shady individual, she followed Joe over to another large figure resting against a girder.

He was similar to Rocko in the way that he looked incredibly intimidating, but they way he talked to Joe made him come across as fairly friendly. Learning that he was the mechanic made her nod several times, "It's nice to meet you. I'm sorry for all the damage." Interestingly, he seemed a little thankful for the skirmish which made her look at him slightly puzzled, "That's alright? As odd as it may be, I'm glad a little good came out of it." Remembering he was the guy who double battled along side Harley, she couldnt help but smile, "Your Toxicroak was really something else! He survived a blast from Smeargle, even I thought she had finally met her match." With a polite bow, she turned to the direction of Joe, spotting the fabulous man Joe had hilariously mimicked earlier.

Thinking back to it, Sharada couldnt help but splutter a small laugh as Merton began to speak in his highly exaggerated voice. "It's a pleasure to meet you on nicer grounds. " she grinned playfully at him. Not having many experiences with magicians made her incredibly fascinated in him. With a flick of his cape, he seemed to disappear in a flash and whilst Joe jumped, Sharada clapped her hands in a childish manner, laughing loudly, "WOW! Hahahaha! Where did he go?!~" Reappearing once again, she shrugged off Joe's imitation of Merton this time, clapping once again at this funny man in front of her, "If you have anymore magic tricks, I'll be happy to sit and watch them."

With Merton back to his juggling, Sharada cheerily followed Joe to the next two members, the ones which had pretty much worked her out straight away. Erik was the first to work it out but only opposed her due to knocking out Harley, "Erik and Harley, right?" she grinned to Joe, waiting for him to confirm that she had gotten their names right. Receiving a friendly smile and a familiar accent from the female, Sharada grinned back to her, "I find Joe enough of a pain... Perhaps you could teach me how on earth you deal with them." She glanced over to Erik, smiling a little before turning back to Harley, "Thank you both for being a little more cautious with me. Smeargle was just getting out of hand, I wasnt really sure of what to do." Offering a hand shake to the couple, she gave them one last smile before approaching the final person along side Joe.

With the suit cladded male crouching on the floor, Sharada slowly began to release who the final member was. Whilst his other gang members oozed with strength in their own way, Looker was a tiny bit scarier compared to the first image she had of him when Joe mentioned him. Stepping a little closer to Joe, she gave Looker an apologetic glance as he stood to face them both, faking a smile and tipping his hat, "It's nice to meet you... I'm sorry I had to make such a destructive entrance." Learning a little more about Looker, Sharada gently clapped her hands together, pointing a finger to the suited man whilst speaking towards Joe, "You've mentioned Looker before... He's the one you contacted about linking our PC's?"

With Looker and his Honchkrow back to surveying the damage caused, Sharada was finally able to talk to Joe again. She seemed completely different now, more relaxed and less worried, "Everyone is a lot nicer than I first thought." she cried cheerfully, swapping from side to side. The question of what she was planning to do next sprang to mind, thinking deeply she pushed a finger gently into her cheek, "Weeell, I didnt really have much planned. If you want me to get out of your hair, I'd understand." She flashed a puppy eyed look to him before shrugging her shoulders, "I can always stick around for a little if Im still welcome."

[The REAL Joey]

Now everyone had been happily acquainted with Sharada, Joey took her to the side and smiled. "Haha, yeah they are nice. Only if I introduce you to them. To anyone else they're less than a little brusque with people." Joey pointed out to the far stretching fields outside of the warehouse grounds and spoke in a fond manner. "Y'see, at the end of the day we may have this certain image going but at the end of the day each and everyone of us believes in freedom. True freedom. We ain't bogged down by no stupid laws or oppressed by anyone. We're as free as the birds flying on the wind." He shrugged and explained a little further. "Sure that might make ya think: 'Oh no they're total anarchists and are a bunch of savages!' but we ain't. Just because we don't follow the laws of the land to a T doesn't mean we don't agree with some of the things they set out." He laughed and sighed at the things he disliked. "I hate all this bureaucratic red tape bullshit. If you gave us the chance, we'd just get on our bikes and roam forever and ever."

Upon accepting his offer, Joey clapped his hands together and grinned enthusiastically. "Nice one! Why the hell would I want you out of m'hair anyway? I was let down when you said that was the last i'd see of ya back in Violet." He pulled her in another direction and began walking with her. "'Sides, all you've been through, you deserve a little kick back and relax. Tell ya what..." He moved away his focus from Sharada and looked to his motley gang. "Alright people, I think it's time we had a little drinking session. Make your way down to the saferoom for a spot of booze." His gang all perked up at the idea and it wasn't long before the bulk of the group headed down a stairway leading into the ground. The only one who lagged behind was Looker who had been recalling all of his Pokemon. Upon finishing he then proceeded his own way to the saferoom. Joey eventually explained something to Sharada. "Basically, when I say saferoom, I do mean saferoom. Thing is, it's fairly well modelled so we ended up putting up a small barracks for my gang to sleep in. Could say it's their quarters. We have a small little bar and seats and so on." He grabbed her hand and began directing her. "Why don't we just go find out?"

As they descended down into the saferoom, it was almost as if they stepped into an entirely different building. Juxtaposing the main interior, this basement was incredibly sophisticated looking and pristine in condition. The obvious saferoom vault was located at one far end but the other side of the room had a number of beds lined up. Also tucked in was a small little stage that had obviously been dragged in by either Erik or Merton and a stylish looking bar in the corner boasting an assortment of beverages behind it on a shelf. Just as they made their way down, a small amp could be heard turning on and then a slow acoustic sound could be heard creeping out from the stage. It seemed Erik had sat up on a stool and was playing an acoustic song backed by a pre-recording of other instruments. Behind the bar was a rather flamboyant looking Merton who was flinging about a cocktail shaker as Harley waited. The other members of the gang were sitting around on a bunch of seats aside from Looker who leaned against the safe wall and was sipping from a small shot glass.

Joey grinned at the group and looked to Sharada. "Why don't we take a seat too and enjoy this all? What will you be drinking?"

[Morrigan]

Pleased with Joe's enthusiasm about her sticking around for a while longer, Sharada gave him another nod, confirming to him that she would be staying, "I'll keep my Pokemon tucked away safety, so hopefully there wont be anymore mess." With his confession of him being let down from the last time they met, the memories of that odd day flooded back to her. A little embarrassed with herself since she told him herself to avoid contact, she shyly turned away from him, rubbing the side of her neck, "Haha... Perhaps I just couldnt keep myself away after all." Sharada's next plan of action was to face Falkner, so in her mind, this would pretty much be their last friendly visit, or atleast, the last time she could act somewhat relaxed around him, "I guess I visited in the first place because I'm getting so close. Just the Gym battle to go and then I'll be spending my evenings out and about looking for the recruiter... If everything goes according to plan, then I'll have to be a little more cautious when meeting you." Knowing what she was getting herself into was starting to hit home for her but at the end of the day, she was doing to for Joe and his Ditto, it was more than worth it.

The sudden outburst of Joe rallying his gang members up and inviting them for a drink made Sharada a little uneasy. She had never really been the type of drinking girl due to her not being able to handle it all that well. The odd time she had tried resulted in her being completely out of it after a mere couple of glasses. Trying not to seem like a utter fun wrecker in front of Joe, Sharada gave him a rather weak smile. As long as she had fairly little, she wouldnt end up humiliating herself. Following him as she was led to the saferoom, she managed to let out a small, "Sure~"

Walking cautiously next to Joe, Sharada gazed around in wonderment at the sudden transformation of lower section to their warehouse. Smeargle was definitely not leaving her pokeball now. Taking in the new area and how his gang members sat in their own individual places, she glanced around the room before spotting both spare seats next to Harley at the bar as well as a little table with two seats. "I dont mind where as long as I have Joe's company." With a rather sugary sweet smile, Sharada turned back to the bar and continued to watch Merton shaking up a cocktail. With a little pause, Sharada realised that she would have to pick a drink and knowing little about them didnt help, "I'm not too sure what to ask for... The cocktails Merton is making look really appealing though~"

[The REAL Joey]

"Hahaha, Merton's quite dexterous with his hands. Let's go see what he recommends. I know what i'm after." They slowly made their way over to the bar and upon reaching it, Joey casually leaned against it and ordered something for himself. "Bourbon on the rocks, Mert." Merton quickly placed down the cocktail jar and looked to Joey. "Oooooone bourbon on the rocks comin' up dear boss~!" He turned to the cabinet of drinks and pulled out a small glass and a bottle of bourbon. He poured the fiery ash like liquid and then revealed a set of ice cubes from a dispenser behind him. Joey happily took the glass and swirled the cubes of ice around. "Heheheh, thatta boy. Perfect!" He took a small swig and looked to Sharada. "You don't drink much do ya...? Hmm." Merton flickered his fingers around excitedly and moved to the side as he extended his cape to point to the wide assortment of drinks available.

"Now, now, now! No fretting while the mystical Merton is on the case~!!" He looked to Sharada and stared intently into her eyes. "Mmm. MMMMM. MMMM~~~MMMM. Yes! YES! I do believe I might have an idea." He leaned over onto the counter and began dallying through his thoughts. "You hail from the exotic lands of Hoenn, non?" He tapped his fingers on the bar and then clapped them together. "THEREFORE! Mademoiselle would like something that would remind her of home? You must be tres homesick all the way here in this continent. Myes~!" He began rummaging through the various drinks and concoctions and decided on something. "Blue hawa-hee-hee!" He placed a number of bottles on the side, on of which was a rather electric blue. "Watch me do my magic!" He began piling some of the beverages into the jar and then shook it thoroughly. Joey was grinning the whole time and nudged Sharada. "Trust me, if you don't like this drink then Merton is a fraud at doing magic."

Merton frowned at Joey's words. "Now, now now~~! I have yet to let you down!" After a few minutes more preparation the drink was done and a cyan coloured drink was thrust before Sharada, tropical umbrella and all. An a variety of fruits adorned along the rim of the glass as well as a hot pink straw. Joey nodded gratefully and cheekily added at the end. "Place it on the tab, bartender." Merton rolled his eyes and began preparing something for himself. "So, shall we take a seat here?" They sat on this rather fancy looking bench and Joey began swigging some more of his drink. "Ah, I could down these all day you know?" He looked over to the stage and noticed that Erik was now singing and well into his little song. Harley was near the stage and almost swooning over him. "That song really embodies part of who we are." Mumbled Joey almost philosophically. Rocko and Dusty had also made their way over and sat with Sharada and Joe. "Mind if we join, ya?" Butted in Dusty as he sat down. Rocko planted his rather tall looking pint glass of ale and got comfortable himself. "So, Shar? How about we do a little trade for your Smeargle eh?" Asked Dusty enthusiastically. Rocko sighed belatedly and gave him a shove that ended up in Dusty falling off his seat. It was obvious he had already drunken quite a fair share of drinks in a short amount of time.

[Morrigan]

Sharada answered Joe's question about her drinking with a slight shake of her head from side to side, it seemed he worked her out almost instantly. The only other drinks she would have were water, milk or other milk based drinks like milkshakes, but she was hardly going to ask for something like that in a room of people drinking alcohol. Watching Merton as he slid a glass towards Joe, she pulled a funny face at the mere smell of it. It seemed a drink like that would be way too much for a little girl like her. With Merton offering to prepare her something, she turned back to him only to be stared at intensely with his own pair of eyes. Looking back at him nervously, she jumped as he brought out multiple bottles of colourful liquids, "Hahah... I'll trust your judgement."

As the blue drink was placed on the counter, Sharada grinned at how appealing it looked. Despite the pretty array of fruits and cute umbrella, the icy blue liquid was just calling out to be drank. As she lifted the hurricane glass into her fingertips, she clutched it loosely due to it's icy cold sensation due to the ice, "Thank you very much!" Bowing her head to Merton as he began preparing his own drink, she followed Joe to the table and bench, placing the drink down to examine it further. As her lips touched the straw, a familiar smell entered her nostrils, making her pause for a moment, "Ahh... This has, wait... Rum? Haha, my dad drinks it all the time when he's at home, so I couldnt mistake it. This seems a little lighter though." As she finally took a sip from the straw, she was hit with a rather sweet, fruity flavour which was followed by a little tingle at the back of her throat. There surely was a bit of alcohol in there. A little more cautious, she took another sip before sitting up straight, a familiar pair of faces joining them.

As both Rocko and Dusty sat down, she blinked to the cap wearing male, "You really want her hm? Well, perhaps I could leave her behind--uuh?" Her eyebrows raised slightly as he suddenly fell to the floor, an unimpressed grunt escaping from Rocko's mouth. With a rather mischievous smile, Sharada tip toed from her seat and knelt down to the side of Dusty. Rather than helping him sit back up, she leaned forward and took what she had been intrigued in for quite some time, his glasses. With the now glassless Dusty covering his exposed face, Sharada placed on his shades over her eyes. As they were a little big for her, she began tweaking them slightly, an incredibly amazed expression creeping over her face as she seemed to turn them on, bucket loads of information surrounding her eyes. "W-WOAH!", she cried out, falling onto her backside as she stared in Dusty's direction, "I-I can totally see everything! T-This is incredible!" Flashing a glance to a rather drunken Rocko, her eyes lit up in amazement behind the shades, "W-WOW! ROCKO IS SO STRONG!"

[The REAL Joey]

Merton had come over to the table at Joe's behest and planted a couple of bottles on the table for refills. He later returned with a number of shot glasses and placed them down on the table on an abnormally large tray. "I shall leave you gentlemen to refill yourself, myes~!" He went over to the counter and began juggling by himself as he watched Erik's performance who was now well into the solo and culminating it its peak. Joey hastily grabbed the shot glass and began pouring himself some more bourbon, placing his used glass upside down, face down on the table. All the while, Sharada had been frolicking with the other two. As Joey looked up after piling some more shot glasses on the table he was startled to see Sharada wearing the distinctive shades only Dusty had worn. He raised himself slightly to look at Dusty. "Hot damn! We finally saw his eyes!!" Joey pointed towards Dusty who was now trying to cover his eyes. It turned out he had very mole like eyes. "Baaaahhhh! Now you know why I like my glasses!"

Rocko was somewhat taken back by Sharada's sudden praise. He looked around confusedly to be sure she wasn't referring to someone else but finally came to the conclusion it was him. "Whaddya mean? I'm a damn POWERHOUSE!" He grabbed his pint and began chugging it without pause for breath. Just as he finished downing it, he was knocked abruptly from behind as Eightball nudged him to get a seat of his own. He placed down what seemed to be some sort of mechanic contraption as well as a similarly large pint glass. "Pft, Rocko. You and me ain't never gone head to head." Rocko turned to face Eightball and slammed his pint glass on the table. "Dammit! If we did the warehouse would fall twice! Clash of the titans innit?!" The two, although both imposingly tall and of similar physique, didn't seem to mind the rivalry between them.

At that point, a lonesome Looker decided to join the group. He sat on the opposite side of Joe and placed down his freshly drunk shot glass of vodka and his hat on the table. His elbows crossed and leaned over the table as he raised one hand to rub his face. Looker never really showed his face to the rest of the group and for most of them this had been the most they had seen of him. His face looked tired due to the bags under his eyes. Rocko raised an eyebrow and pointed. "Yo Looker, you been staying up all night again watching surveillance vids?" Looker looked to him bluntly and poured another shot of vodka in a new glass, adding the used one to the pile Joey had been building that was now a rather impressive wall. "Yes, best be vigilant." Rocker shrugged. He knew Looker wasn't all that much of a talker from when they were both in the KBF so he left it at that. Dusty grabbed his glasses back from Sharada after much struggling and placed them back on his face. "Much better."

By then, Joey who had gotten through quite a few glasses of bourbon, looked to Sharada and grinned cheekily. "How'ser drink?" He spluttered obviously taken back by all the consumption of alcohol. While he was talking, his face suddenly became startled and his attention was drawn to the corner of the room where the stairs ascended to. The other gang members didn't seem to notice this but Joey began mumbling something. "Ruh-Ruh-Ruh...Buh-buh-buh...!" His finger began shaking wildly, there was something that obviously concerned him. As if he had just seen a ghost... For the second time.

[Morrigan]

With Merton bringing over refills for the few people congregating to Joe's table, Sharada continued her teasing of Dusty, not willingly to hand him his glasses back for the time being as she continued to look at everyone's team. Constantly rolling around on the floor, dodging Dusty's swipes at all. Sneakily, she crawled under the table, poking her hand up from underneath the surface. It must've been a strange sight for the people at the table, a lone hand feeling around the table before carefully dragging away the tropical coloured drink. With a few more sips, she moved back over to Dusty, sipping her drink next to him as Eightball came into view, "H-Hey, lemme borrow them a little longeeeeeeer~" she dragged out her words, flapping a spare hand towards him.

With another few fiddles, information flooded across the lens in front of her eyes, flashing the words danger and showing the probability of survival if both Rocko and Eightball were to fight. Now being a little more than tipsy, Sharada peered to Dusty over the rim of the glasses, "Hmmm~ Those two are so strooooong~ They'll probably destroy eevverryythhiinnnggg." As he glanced back to her with his mole like eyes, Sharada grinned to him cheekily, finishing her drink with a sudden swig. With the empty glass on the floor, she continued her childish struggle with the dust masked man, "Dustyyy~ You're eyes are so smaaaall, it's kinda cuuuuute~" With a bout of childish laughter, he finally managed to get them back. With pouty red cheeks, she spoke to him quickly, her voice sounding a little higher in pitch than usual, "Psssccchhh, Dusty why is your name Dusty is it cause you wear a dust mask all the time and why do you wear a dust mask all the time do you really not like dust, Dusty?!"

Aiming rather drunkly, she tried to poke him in the forehead but ended up nudging his cap, noticing a few black strands of hair, "Dusty is friendly, lets be best fruh-fruh-friends~" Deciding it was time to stop playing around on the floor, Sharada turned her attention back to the table, noticing yet another face had joined in. The handsomely suited gentleman with his oddly coloured green hair. Raising a finger to her mouth, she sshh'ed to Dusty, clambering her way back under the table, nudging past everyone's legs and completely giving away her presence. As she reached the space she had once been sitting at, she lifted her head cautiously, peering over the edge of the table, almost looking like a playful kitten with her pitch black eyes. Spotting Looker's hat sitting on the table, she shuffled a little closer, only half her face still visible. The hat was looking incredibly lonely. With a single swoop, her fingertips pulled the rim of his hat closer to her, until he shot her terrifying glance which made her stop in her tracks.

With a soft sigh, she realised Looker probably wouldnt be quite up for her games as much as Dusty would and also decided to leave him be. Emerging fully from under the table, she sat herself comfortably next to Joe, giving the glass pyramid in front of her a rather puzzling stare. Before she could question what they were doing, the odd actions from Joe forced her to look away. Leaning over the table slightly, her face pointing in the direction of his shaking finger. Squinting tightly, she sighed as her drunken eyes couldnt pick up on anything, "W-What? What is it?" she questioned, glancing back to him.

[The REAL Joey]

She turned her face around, she was greeted with a close up of Joey who had moved in closer and that precise moment to steal a kiss from her lips. His lips were pursed into a grin and a smooch at the same time and he had his eyes slightly closed together, chuckling as the devious little trick worked. They brushed their lips together and with a small kiss from him he pulled back and laughed. "D'awww, guess I was seeing things!" He poured himself another shot of bourbon before downing it exactly and slamming it on the table a multiple number of times. He had become slightly red, possibly from the alcohol but the fact he may have got slightly embarrassed from doing such a saucy trick wasn't too foreign an idea either. The stares around from the table were mostly small laughs and the odd "Damn, why didn't I think of that?" from Rocko who had just began sipping another pint of beer when he let out a large belch.

By now, between Joey and Looker they had built together a huge number of shot glasses that were laid upside down constructed together to present a large pyramid of glasses. Joey was getting slightly agitated as he sipped more and more and stacked it ever higher. Looker eventually spoke up and looked to Sharada. "Sharada; do you miss Hoenn? What is it like?" His question was presented coldly, almost without emotion. Nevertheless, the fact he had spoken up and decided to ask something of her showed there was more to this man's mind than his duties. They way he came across as robotic was slightly unnerving. Although Joe had introduced them and made no mention perhaps he may have been suffering from a mental disorder. It was hard to say as he gave so little to work on from his speech and expression. Considering he had consumed vast amounts of vodka too, it was slightly unbelievable to think he did not appear the least bit influenced by it.

Just as the question was asked another one was abruptly shouted out. Thinking it may have been from one of the more boisterous of the group such as Rocko or Eightball, a number of people looked to them. It wasn't until Joey had straightened himself up and began frantically gesturing his hand sternly towards the glass pyramid before him and continued his rant from out of the blue. "What is this thing? WHAT... IS THIS THING?!" For someone who had just spent so long meticulously building this glass pyramid it came across as an entirely dumb question. Eightball looked up and raised an eyebrow. "You've been building this for the last hour with Looker." Joey contorted his face and stared at it ruefully. "GEDDIT OUTTA HERE!"

This had attracted more attention from Dusty who was pondering. "Why?" He blurted out confusedly. Joey seemed to get rather tearful and mumbled slowly. "...Caaause I HATE it! M-M-Makes me sad...!" He began sobbing erratically, almost as if he was playing around. Rocko rubbed his forehead and tried to figure out what was going on himself. "What's happened mate? Wait, what's going on now?!" Joey had stood up, distanced himself quite a bit from the bench and table and was now raring to go like a bull. At this point, most of the gang took this as their cue to get out of harm's way as Joey launched himself forwards head first like a cannon into the table and directly at the shot glass pyramid while yelling out something nonsensical about unchaste monks. His head smashed through the glass like a bull in a china shop and he skidded over the table, landing on the other side nearest to the wall. The rest of the gang were staring, completely surprised by what had just happened, their mouths agape from being so speechless. It wasn't until Merton moved over with a towel over his shoulder and stated the obvious. "I think somebooooooooody~ had toooooo~ much to drink!!"

OOC:

Your mission, if you choose to accept it, is there are three film references in this post. If you can name all three I will give you a prize. Some are pretty loose and might appear in others but its stuff we've watched together.