Heartbreaker (Open)

[KARP KARP!]

Ari let out a moan as she felt fingernails on her spine, and she quickly and nimbly undid the clasp of the other woman's necklace. She slipped it into her back pocket, smiling as she brought the hand back up to rub up and down Bianca's back as they kissed.

"Oh, I know exactly what you mean..." she purred.

But her phone went off, and she let out a sigh, pulling back. "Hang on...it's my boss..." She pulled out the phone, and said hello, as anyone would. But what Bianca didn't know was that the phone was actually set to go off at precisely this time.

"What? You want me to now?" She let out a very disgruntled sigh as she hung up. "I'm sorry about this...really. But I gotta go handle something at work. Sales with a big client just went South and if I don't go I'm gunna get hung out to dry. Here's my number, and I'll keep in touch I promise," she said as s he made her way out the door, perhaps too hastily.

As soon as she reached outside, she called out her black Rapidash, aiming to get away with what loot she had. As for the number? It was a fake. Should Bianca call it, she'd get a pawn shop.

[SongofWindchimes]

Bianca was not going to let out a frustrated scream, no matter how much she wanted to. No, she had gotten calls in these kinds of situations before, and she was not going to be that kind of person who pawed all over someone who was on the phone. Especially since Ari said it was her boss. The disappointment couldn't really be hidden on her face, even though she tried to force an understanding smile as the phone number was shoved into her hand. "I've been there. I understand." The words sounded a little less sincere than she would have liked, but the other woman was out the door in a moment, anyway.

Well, that could have gone better. Standing alone in another person's hotel room while they went racing off to save a business deal. At least she had Ari's number...But she'd been in that bar looking for a 'quick fix' to keep her sane until she got home, with any phone number gained being a happy possible bonus. And now she had a number and was all worked up and alone.

Bianca sighed and ran a hand through her hair and down her neck idly, debating whether she wanted to try another pub in town or just go back to her hotel and try to sleep. She swore, she was going to drag Alaric into her bedroom for an entire afternoon the next time he visited her in the Capital; at least she knew he wasn't going to be called away due to work, since he was a rich noble's son and didn't need to...

Bianca's train of thought came to a screeching stop when she suddenly realized that her hand had not made contact with a particular item that was always around her neck.

...

"THAT LITTLE BITCH!"

---

Meanwhile, the necklace is Ari's pocket slowly started to lose its shape, starting to become very...gooey. And blue. Azure wasn't entirely sure what had just happened; the shiny Ditto had fallen into a deep, boredom-induced sleep in necklace form after the first hour in the bar. It had tricked Bianca into wearing it instead of her real necklace in the hope of some excitement and now...

"Ditto?"

[KARP KARP!]

Ari was just about to hop onto Midnight and ride off into the sunset when she felt what could only be described as a disturbance in her pants. That necklace in her pocket didn't quite feel like a necklace anymore; she figured her love of necklaces would one day be her downfall, but...this wasn't quite what she imagined. Reaching back, she felt the gooey form of the Pokemon she'd inadvertently stolen. Oh ew. In a rare moment of weakness, Ariela Evelyn Queenheart let out an air-splitting, window-shattering, eardrum-piercing scream.

[SongofWindchimes]

Music to Azure's ears.

The Ditto had no idea what was going on, but that scream made it officially not care. The blue blob started to shift, wrapping its form around the fingers that had touched it and starting to ooze its way up and around the hand and wrist of the woman at a downright leisurely pace.

Two little black eyes slid out of the pocket along the blue goo that made up Azure's flesh and blinked, followed a moment later by a mouth that was wearing a sadistic grin. It let out a demented, gurgling giggle full of cruel joy; whatever had happened while it was asleep, it was officially the best thing ever.

It didn't realize that there would probably only be a second before its purple-haired trainer came racing out the door of the hotel like a bat out of Hell. If it had, it would have sped up its crawling up Ari's arm rather than deciding to savour the freak-out...

[KARP KARP!]

Ari completely freaked out when the goo clung to her hand, even moreso when she brought it to her vision and saw it clearly. The first thing she did was let out another scream. "Oh shit this thing has a faaace! MIDNIGHT USE FLAMETHROWER! GET THIS THING OFF ME!"

The melanistic Rapidash looked at her, shaking his head. After all, he'd burn his trainer. Sadly, there was nothing he could do but watch as Ari began to shake her arm before suddenly remembering she was escaping a crime-scene. And so, she took off running, Midnight beside her, as she tried using her other hand to pull the shiny Ditto off of her arm.

[SongofWindchimes]

The moment Ari's other hand touched it, Azure let out another of its cruel giggles and part of its body practically leaped up to engulf that hand too, not wanting to give her a chance to withdraw. If she tried to pull the hands apart, she'd find out exactly how elastic the ditto's flesh was and how determined it was to keep its grip. Yes, this officially the best thing ever.

The doors of the hotel flew open, and three beings raced out of it. Bianca had nothing short of pure murder in her eyes, a snarling Zoroark on one side and a Pelipper on the other. Immediately catching sight of the Rapidash's bright flames, she recognized Ari's form retreating into the night and narrowed her eyes, already running a few steps after her.

Fury, however, squinted a little after the human, his sharp eyes catching sight of something unexpected, and suddenly let out a squawk that Zoro quickly translated. "She has Azure."

Bianca froze. Her rage at having been robbed crashed straight into a wall of terror upon finding out that one of her precious babies was in that bitch's clutches instead of just her favourite necklace, which quickly fed into said rage. However, there was a third emotion in mixed up in there, and the corner of her mouth gave an odd little twitch in response to it. "Well, that explains her screaming..."

Bianca, more than anyone, knew what a twisted little bastard her ditto was, and there was a part of her just sadistic enough to enjoy the fact that Azure was tormenting Ari. And if she thought she was scared now..."Zoro, give her something to really scream about..."

"As you wish..." He seemed to melt seamlessly into the shadows, leaving Bianca and Fury to run and fly respectfully in the direction they'd seen Ari and her Rapidash.

Not long after, a loud snarl echoed through the night. Faux Zoro easily had top speed on par with Rapidash, let alone one slowing itself to match pace with a fleeing human, and his dark type eyes cut through shadow like it was nothing. If one or the other of his new prey chose to look behind them in response to the sound, he'd burst out of the darkness into view...but not looking like a Zoroark.

You see, Zoro was an artist, a master of the illusions his species could cast. Sure, his claws and teeth made for a frightening pursuer, but a recognizable one, and appearing to an enemy as oneself was to put oneself at a disadvantage. He could obscure himself as any number of horrifying species, but they all had the same problem: they were knowable, and thus could be considered capable to overcome. So, instead, he got creative. His trainer had taken a recent fondness to a video game, and he had once watched her play through a part that involved a beast that seemed just right to adapt into a form.

It was time to see the sort of fear he could invoke by charging after this human in a four-legged, lunging gait while looking like a real-life version of a Dragon Age werewolf.

[KARP KARP!]

Ari, did indeed try to pull her hands apart, becoming even more horrified as the Ditto only clung to her tighter. The best way to explain it would be like her hands were being eaten by a living piece of chewed gum. A huge wad of gum. Really it was times like this when Ari missed the old days...Her, Ace, and Jack living the good life like a bunch of free-spirited rebels and not having to worry about crap like this...

Then...a snarl echoed from the shadows, and the start knocked the pink-haired thief flat on her rear end. Another scream pierced the night as Ari saw the...werewolf??? charging at her, and all the woman could do was edge back.

But that wasn't the end of it. A flamethrower would cut off the path between the....thing....and the woman. When the smoke cleared, a melanistic Rapidash was standing in front of his trainer. He may not be able to do anything about the goo, but Midnight would make sure nothing would get to his trainer in her time of vulnerability. Raising to his hind legs for a moment, he let out a loud whinny. Midnight was giving his battle-cry.

<I don't know what you are,> he said, his voice showing no fear. <But I'll be lying dead in this alley before I let you get to her...>

[SongofWindchimes]

Zoro stopped in his tracks as the blast of flame billowed forth, feeling the heat as it rushed past him. He didn't dare let the illusion waver for a moment, however, the 'werewolf' taking on a more bipedal stance, albeit hunched over and feral-looking. The Zoroark, despite himself, was a bit impressed with the Rapidash; that was much how he would react to his own trainer being in danger. He didn't respond to the dark-pelted fire type beyond a growl and baring of teeth, however, since giving any kind of reply, in his native tongue or in english, would betray both his intelligence and his nature as a pokemon. Better to just seem like a strange, vicious beast.

Or perhaps more than just a vicious beast...

Zoro looked his left, then his right, and soon more werewolves started emerge from the shadows like he had as he carefully executed a Double Team attack to generate duplicate after duplicate. All the wolves were identical to his current form, and they made no sound as they bared their fangs in unison and slashed the air in front of them in anticipation with their claw-tipped hands, but he hoped these details would be overlooked.

If this Rapidash was anything like him, Zoro knew this wouldn't intimidate him into surrender or fleeing. But it would perhaps give him an edge in any battle that resulted, and even if he had no intention of striking first, he knew that there would be a battle.

Azure was completely unafraid. It had seen that video game, too, after all, and it knew Zoro well enough to know what was going on. A bit of gooey blueness rose up a bit like a snake, Azure's beady black eyes at its tip. "Brought the whole pack, huh, Swiftrunner?" it asked in squeaky pokespeech, amusement lacing every word.

The 'werewolf' didn't even seem to hear Azure, but Zoro did, and he smothered the twinge of annoyance. Swiftrunner had a gold pelt.

[KARP KARP!]

Midnight stood his ground as more of the creatures emerged from the shadows, though Ari let out another shriek, followed by an agitated sigh as she tried once more to get the freaking Ditto off of her. The Rapidash pawed the dirt with his hoof, staring down the lot of them, not showing the least bit of fear. However, part of him sort of hoped for some backup. He was a loner, but still. He wasn't sure how many of these things it would take to bring him down, but he had a pretty good idea how many they were going to use...

As if whoever was out there read the Rapidash's mind, Ari fell backwards again, a pokeball falling off of her belt and opening. However, it wasn't Neo, or anything even close for that matter. Sure, Midnight didn't like Neo too much, but he knew the Shiny Luxio was always up for a fight...unlike what actually came out.

The little Cleffa looked around, let out a terrified squeal at the beasts, then leaped into Ari's arms. "....CLEEEEEFFFFAAAAAAA!" She cried as she was now stuck in the bluish goo with her trainer.

Ari let out a sigh. "Dammit...I'm starting to think I shoulda just slept with this one."

[SongofWindchimes]

Zoro pricked his ears forward, then pinned them back, at the sudden appearance of the Cleffa, and he wasn't quite able to keep his current form from reflecting that. Azure coiled the tendril it had raised around the fellow shiny pokemon, looking at her with the eyes at its tip and giggling. "Oh, don't worry..." it said, "You're too little for them to eat..."

Ari's commentary made Zoro's lip curl, his eyes locking on her, and he debated responding. An understanding of human speech was not so suspicious, and he saw an opportunity to, perhaps, be even more threatening. His usual deep baritone voice suited this form fairly well, and he did his best to give it a growling edge that suited a feral wolfman. "You...dare..."

"BAAAAANZAAAAAAI!"

All of the werewolves looked up at once in surprise, Zoro's shock making them mimic him automatically, as what the human present would hear as only a loud squawk rang out and a blur of white and yellow came soaring over their heads to hurl itself straight toward the Rapidash's face in a Quick Attack.

Well, so much for his menacing speech. Fury's frustrating tendency to jump the gun had struck again. Zoro took a half-step back, ready to Detect and dodge just in case any retribution came his way instead of the Pelipper's.

[KARP KARP!]

The Cleffa's eyes grew big with fright, and large tears began to stream down her face, letting out loud, long whines of fear and almost hyperventilating in the process. Ari held the pokemon tighter, suddenly not even caring about the goo that encased both of them now. She was just worried about her baby. "Sssshhhh...it's okay, Baby. Mommy's gotcha," she whispered, and this calmed the Cleffa down a little; her crying reduced to short little sobs.

The Rapidash jumped with the surprise, but he did notice that the creatures all moved in unison. Which had to mean it was an illusion of some kind. And there weren't as many as it seemed. But before he could capitalize on this, he was knocked back by a Quick Attack.

Regaining his composure, he had an idea, but he didn't want to do it because it'd be cowardly. Not only that it'd leave protecting his master in the hands of some other Pokemon of hers. And besides that, it'd be a total crap-shoot. Midnight didn't know who would come out in his place...

Sighing, the old Rapidash knew that he wasn't as young as he used to be, and this fight was beyond him. He knew he would go out fighting when his time finally came, but tonight....tonight wasn't his night. Giving a nod, he knew that the book of his life and adventures with Ari and her team of misfits still had many more chapters.

With that, swallowing his pride, the Rapidash used Baton Pass, disappearing into the ball. And in another flash of light--

A fierce, earth-shaking battlecry echoed throughout the otherwise semi-peacefulness of the rest of the city as a shadow was cast upon the already dark alley. Looming over everyone, was a melanistic Steelix. Surveying his surroundings, it didn't take him long to realize that his trainer was in trouble. And since it was dark, his Attention Deficit--OOH SHINY didn't have much place to kick in.

Letting out another roar, the Steelix unleashed a Rock slide throughout the field, not realizing that the monsters had used detect, or that they were an illusion. All the Steelix knew was that somebody was about to get beat down.

[SongofWindchimes]

When the black Rapidash vanished and the looming Steelix appeared, Zoro realized at that moment that there was no longer delaying the violence.

The werewolves scattered as Zoro focused on dodging every projectile. A few of illusions shattered and vanished as rocks passed through them, but the real thing darted and jumped out of the way of every last one, until he was the only beast standing. His Pelipper companion let out a loud squawk as one hit him, pinning one of his wings to the ground.

The wolf-man snarled, looking around at where his fake pack had been. "So be it..." His eyes glowed bright orange and his pelt seemed to erupt into flames, burning away the disguise until his true form stood in its place. "No more games." More flames, real ones, emerged from the Zoroark's jaws and licked at his fangs as if trying to consume them in the inferno.

With a great roar of fire, Faux Zoro launched the greatest Flamethrower his body could summon at the black titan.

Fury, however, was quietly Roosting, waiting for his opportunity and hoping his teammate didn't drop the steel monster too soon. He wanted payback.

[KARP KARP!]

Ari and the Cleffa were just sitting there, held captive by the bluish goo. Meanwhile, Carbon was nailed by the Flamethrower, the heat engulfing his steel body rather easily. That almost took Carbon out, but the Steelix was not one to be outdone so easily. A loud cry erupted from him, as he summoned a massive Earthquake.

Ari fell over backwards, dumpsters rattled, walls cracked, and the alley itself threatened to crumble under the violent pressure. The black titan knew it was crunch time, and win or lose, these bastards were definitely going to feel him for a few days. That, he intended to make sure of.

[SongofWindchimes]

Zoro coughed up a few embers, gasping for breath as his attack struck true. He couldn't remember the last time he'd used that attack. It was clear that the Steelix was not out for the count yet, however, and he snarled as Carbon bellowed.

Then he heard something else, and his ear flicked back as alarm grasped him. "Zoro!"

Bianca.

"Stay back!" he shouted, right before the trembling ground knocked him off his feet and sent him slamming into the lurching pavement again and again. He struggled to get some kind of footing as the alleyway started to fall apart.

This needed to end. Now.

Power surged in his body, his own life energy swirling around his claws as he tried to concentrate on summoning and collecting it despite his body constantly being jarred by the attack. His eyes started to glow again as the power built, crackling in his paw. He closed them, trying to will away the pain to the furthest corner of his mind. It didn't matter.

When his eyes snapped open again, he threw his clawed paw in the direction of the Steelix, sending a blast of energy hurtling toward him. If a Flamethrower wasn't enough, maybe a Focus Blast would be.

[KARP KARP!]

Ari let out a string of curses under her breath, the Cleffa too tired to fight against the goo anymore. But Bonnie didn't know who's voice that was. Ari knew she was pretty well screwed now.

Carbon, however, took the Focus Blast full force, and that shot was more than enough to knock him out. The towering, black giant fell, causing another, albeit smaller tremor, making a few bricks and rubble fall from the alley walls as he made contact with the ground.

However, he couldn't return, since Ari had his Pokeball, so he just lay there fainted.

[SongofWindchimes]

Zoro sank down, too tired after launching two such powerful attacks in rapid succession and shutting his eyes as the steel monster started to topple over. He was vaguely aware of the grunting noises of Fury wrenching his wing out from under the rock that had pinned him earlier, along with muttering about not getting his payback.

The Zoroark's eyes then snapped back open as the Steelix made contact with the ground with not just the thud of impact and a tremor, but also a squawking noise. He struggled to his feet as frantic footsteps started to become audible behind him.

Bianca rounded the corner into the alleyway, and stopped dead in her tracks. The purple-haired woman looked from Zoro, to the knocked-out Steelix, and finally the tangle of human, Cleffa, and blue goo sitting in the wrecked alley.

What did it say about her that she wasn't all that shocked by this?

Nevertheless, she walked over and knelt down as Zoro finally just sank back down to the broken concrete. "You okay?"

"I will fine, my lady," he said softly, "But Fury is currently underneath the behemoth." He weakly pointed at the pile of black metal, just as a large yellow beak started to poke out from under one of the segments of the Steelix's body.

"Y'did that on purpose you fuzzy sonuvabitch..."

Bianca quickly fetched the bird's pokeball and recalled him, then did the same to Zoro. She then stood up and stormed over to Ari, glaring daggers at the other woman. "Azure. Let go of her. Now."

As if the words were magic, the blue Ditto practically leaped off of Ari and slithered over to sit in a formless blob at Bianca's feet, still giving the thief a sadistic grin. Bianca didn't stop glaring.