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“A Manectric, huh? Right then. Voort, time to stretch your legs,” Aile would throw out her Great Ball, sending out her Nidoking. The beast would look around, noticing the Manectric in front of him, and the two would lock themselves into a staring contest, both seeming to be trying to gauge the other one. Without a trainer to direct the hound, though, the Manectric would send out a bolt of lightning at Voort. While the lightning it it’s mark square on his chest, the Pokémon would simply look down and stare at the point of impact before brushing it off and turning to his trainer, giving an inquiring look to her. “Yes, Voort, that is your opponent.” A snort came from the bipedal beast. “Don’t disregard him, that’s how bad stuff and defeats happen. Underestimating them. By the way, behind you.” The Nidoking would turn his head to see the Manectric charging with flaming fangs, aiming at his neck. Voort would bring his tail up in an attempt to knock the dog away, but that just became the new target as Manectric clamped down on the tail instead. Voort roared in pain and began thrashing his tail around attempting to dislodge the dog to no avail.

“Voort, be careful of where you’re flailing your tail about! We don’t wa- oh merde.” Aile would cringe as the Manectric finally let go, being flung into one the nearby telephone poles. The force of the impact be seen as the pole was now bending at a horrible angle, only the cords holding it up at all. Voort’s retaliating move wouldn’t help at all, a charging Megahorn that, in addition to harming the Manectric, snapped what was left of the pole at the initial impact point, the whole thing snapping in two and coming down, cables snapping along with it it fell. “VOORT!” Aile looked around as the lights in the plaza and surrounding areas went dark, silently saying thankful prayers that people had already cleared once the battles had broken out.

Voort looked up when Aile called his name, staring at the snapped power lines near him and scratching the back of his head, looking slightly bewildered. The Manectric was struggling to get up, staring at the power lines with hungry intent before he was recalled, his trainer wearing a scowl on her face. “You lot can’t go anywhere without creating some sort of fiasco, can you?” Aile would turn around to see the one assumed to be Celosia behind her, a scowl on her face and a somewhat big envelope in her hand. The envelope would be tossed to Aile, who opened the flap and looked through the contents, face slowly filling with concern. “Now then, what do about this havoc you’ve caused,” she would ask as the grunt Amaranth fought returned, her scowl deepening as Darts and Amaranth were not far behind. The envelope Aile was holding would be folded and slip into her jacket as her team members returned. As Celosia was about to open her mouth to potentially taunt the Snagems again, another grunt would run up and whisper something in her ear, the news causing her to turn onto the grunt. “Well, don’t just stand there! Figure out how to get the power in the lab running again! We can’t afford any setbacks!”

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After Celosia finished their conversation and left, Rhyme and her friends would be left alone for a while once again. Finally, one of the higher up Flare grunts would arrive in front of the door to Rhyme’s cell and sneer. “Well, looks like it’s time for you to begin your life as a lab rat.” He would go for the keys on his belt when everything would be plunged into darkness for a moment, small emergency lights popping on shortly after to make navigation only somewhat easier than pitch black. “What just happened?”

If Rhyme went up to the bars now, she might notice something different, or missing almost.

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During the battles, the grunts would be successful with herding one more of the tiny blobs into the containment device, but they would be interrupted by the arrival of one ghastly looking Kain lifting one of their own into the air. Between that, two Shadow Pokemon arriving, and Cera conveniently being a troll, things were looking bad for the Flares there. “Oh god! What the hell are you?! Please don’t kill me! We’re here for-”

“Shut up! Don’t tell them anything!”

“Boss, what the hell? They just used those Pokemon from Hoenn!”

“He just stole one of mine after fighting it!”

The lead grunt would look frustrated and scream angrily as he packed everything up and began to run. “Time to leave, we’re hopelessly outgunned here!” The other grunts would follow as best they could, most of them now freaking out a little at the Shadow Pokemon usage as well as Kain’s mere appearance. The one blob that managed to stay free of Flare now made it’s way towards Snagem’s blob, cooing cheerfully as it met up with its friend.

For all his bluster and such, as soon as the power went out Darts was just as blind as anyone else in the dark, soundly thanking his lucky stars for his crest when he stumbles into something, might have been a light post might have been a building for all he could tell with a resounding metallic clunk, his two red eyes peering like hot coals out into the darkness blindly. He rubs the front of where he rammed his face into it ruefully.

"No yolks about that one you almost cracked your shell!"

"Shut up eggy..." Darts mutters, taking a couple hesitant steps forwards in the opposite direction, but not wanting to meet another solid object he holds the hand not cradling an egg out in front of him, like an old man without a cane. "So." He says out into the eerily silent darkness of the blacked-out city as he finally starts adjusting to the dim vision in front of him. "Do I yell get him or...?" he asks, indicating the whispering grunt.

The Wild beast that is Kain would lean in more with a gruesome snarl "Now look at your team Gone leaving you behind. Now I promise I will treat you better than they will now that I've captured you. Now I will ask only one more time... What...Are...You...Doing...Here?" Would would say holding the grunt up in the air by the chin. His long bony finger tightening on his skull.

It was safe to say that Amaranth had a fair bit of trouble navigating once things went dark. Her eyes had an even harder time adjusting, despite slamming them shut to force them to become accustomed to the darkness more easily. Luckily, Darts was a veritable loudmouth, allowing her to eventually catch up as she became used to the dimmer lighting. "I could maybe let Pidgey handle this...?" She whispered, her apprehensive tone speaking volumes about how she didn't want to just throw a Shadow Pokemon out and about like this. At the same time, her Pidgey was probably the only one who could really see without as many issues...

---

"Do I even want to know why you're giving that thing such a weird name? Still, our best bet's following it, so maybe cooler heads can prevail here. Let's go!" Cera spoke up after a few seconds, quickly following the odd blob of a core or whatever it was. Besides, she wasn't too keen on letting the Flare grunts get away so easily, and she could move around a lot quieter than the rest anyway.

Rhyme and the other two would figure out their way out of the holding cell area after a little bit of time, and they would even manage to find the place where their stuff was unguarded, probably because of the power outage. By the time that they had gathered all their items, though, they wouldn’t be. The grunt that Rhyme had zapped managed to wake up and catch up to them, noticeably concerned that they all had managed to find their stuff. “They’ll have my head for this….” He looked around quickly before darting off in another direction, possibly to try and find others. Does the group follow him, or will they try to find their own way out?

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In Terminus Cave, the grunt began to hyperventilate as he watched his allies flee, leaving him alone. With Kain and any of the others that would bother to give him notice. “But-but-but… We-we are! Z-z-zygarde core…. Cells… finding them! Please! Please don’t kill me!” The grunt would continue to freak out, trying to squirm out of Kain’s grasp to no avail. Eventually, after about a minute or so of all of this, he’d simply faint, probably out of fright and panic.

The rest of the group following the newly christened Zac would find themselves near the exit after a decent walk, and there would be screaming heard outside.

“Look, we tried but all of a sudden, those wanted people, Snagems? They showed up and stopped us! They even used those Shadow Pokémon against us! … We have two of the cells, but the core eluded, finding safety with those Snagems. You don’t think that what happened a few days ago-? .... Right. We’ll do our best, but- Of course, she closes the line. Easy for her to say, hold them off until she shows up. But did she have to deal with them side blinding her? Noooo… Ugh.” Obviously, the lead grunt was pissed as he paced back and forth, keeping the containment unit on his person as he waited for the inevitable.

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Back in Lumiose, the lit visor of Celosia’s would turn to the side as she began grumbling, muttering something about bad days. “What is it? … What do you mean you ran into unforeseen problems? What about those cells? … It has to be, that can only explain my company here. You lot hold them off, I’ll be there as soon as I can.” The visor would turn back to the Snagems, an irritable grumble being heard. “You lot are little creeping Lépidonille, always crawling into places you’re unwanted.” The visor would then turn to being completely unviewable, Celosia once again barking orders. “Get the vehicles, now! We need to leave as soon as possible!”

Aile would turn to her companions as soon as her eyes adjusted, a frown forming on her face. “Well, if you have something in mind, Darts, go for it,” she’d whisper back, “Because I have a feeling where their next stop’s going to be. And what’s the status on Pidgey?”

"what a waste." Kain said tossing the body off to the side. Looking up he saw Reno and a member he couldn't quite recognize. Kain with the realization they are his only way out of these caves he obeyed and followed quietly. Pulling a Pokeball out of his pocket Kain released his litwik, Lume.

The little ghost would dance about fluttering around the groups heads, bringing some light to the dark tunnels.
.

"I suppose that works too..." Amaranth remarked as she watched Darts' Gengar go to work. She'd opt to avoid sending any of her Pokemon out for now. "If nothing else, he can ambush her if we're spotted. And Pidgey... well, it was one of the Shadow Pokemon that attacked us in Orre." She'd try to follow afterward, keeping her distance and trying to remain as quiet as possible. She didn't want to just sit idly by.

---

"Leave him," Cera commented bluntly after the grunt in Kain's grasp fainted. "I'm not entirely sure what he's going on about, but I think we've got worse matters." She was already racing out as she spoke, having heard the screams and reaching the exit shortly after the others... only to hear the lead grunt going on about them. "...can we help you?"

She'd then move herself to be somewhat closer to "Zac," as if trying to protect it.