[RAID] Stag Party

[BlackFireKitsune]

"My name is Rachel," Rook said, giving the French pronunciation of the name. "It's wonderful to meet you, ma'am."

"And my name is Lucy," Claire added after the other elite, and offered a polite dip of a curtsy as she touched her hand to her chest, feigning sincerity and awe in her demeanor. "It's an honor to work with you."

"All right," Diantha nodded when the Rockets finished their introductions. "It's a pleasure to meet you all. My name is Diantha. I have a fairly good memory for names, but please forgive me if I make a mistake. Now, I hate to hurry us along, but let's head inside. I'm worried about Xerneas." She turned to take the lead into the cave, and the elites both nodded to their team to follow.

It was no stretch of the imagination to see why the Reflection Cave was one of the Kalos region's most famous tourist locations. The rocky, bluish ground and polished, mirror-like walls all swam in an ethereal light. Even corners that should have been swathed in shadow were illuminated by crystal structures that caught the reflected light and threw it back outward, lending them an appearance as if they were aglow. The floor and ceiling sparkled with these crystals and glittered like the starlit night sky.

All was not as serene as the cave's presentation, however. The atmosphere within the gleaming grotto was tense and uncomfortable, and the clamoring of the pokemon and people within could be heard even from the entrance, however faintly.

Claire readily advanced to the head of the group, turning to address them all - though her words were mostly meant for Diantha, "I have a suggestion. My colleague Rachel and I are the most experienced Rangers on our team; I'd like to propose that she and I take up posts by either entrance to keep the Rockets from escaping."

Diantha considered the disguised elite's words for a moment and then nodded. "That would make it easy for the rest of us to move around inside the cave," she agreed. "Are you sure you can handle it alone, though? Xerneas will likely be in distress, and we don't know what kinds of trainers these Rockets are..."

"We don't have time to worry about things like that," Rook countered, then she spoke to the 'Rangers,' "Everyone, go with Diantha. You know what to do." The elite's expectations, audible in her tone to those who knew to listen for them, were pointed and clear: Don't endanger the mission.

"Yes, we'll be just fine out here," Claire agreed with a nod of her head at Diantha, then nodded again to the mission team and addressed them specifically, giving them a pointed look as she raised her eyebrows, hoping her expression would convey the message she couldn't voice. Instead, she simply said, "Everyone, please, be careful."

Diantha moved to begin to head into the cave, her blue eyes cool and serious. "If that's okay with everyone," she said, "then let's hurry and get moving. The sooner we can resolve this matter, the better."  

[Magician Arcana]

The Elites were leaving? All the air whooshed from his lungs. In his side pouch the quick ball rested heavily, a burning weight. Similarity a question tugged at his mind: Did they immediately attempt to catch Xerneas? Or did they knock out Diantha and then go for Xerneas? Or... God there were a million ways this could go.

Adam contemplated asking Diantha what strategy they would use. Knowing what the champion had in mind could give them a clear goal, but instead he remained silent and pensive. Memories of trying to get the Beauty to open up flashed in his mind. Interrogation was not his thing. Despite the beauty of the cave, the tension ate at the rockets comfort. No longer with a leader experienced in the field, Adam wondered if they were simply bound to fail.  

[TawnyAngel]

KO nodded agreement. "Rachel and Lucy can handle anything that comes their way; the rest of us are with you Champion, ready when you are."  

[Blood_Goddess]

So mission time... As much as Kyle wasn't looking forward to putting himself on front of the Legendary of life, He knew what getting the Pokemon would accomplish... lots and lots of money, or potential destruction to the world. And at least THIS time he was sure that Team Rocket was in it for money... yeah, he was sure... Well its not like he had any other choice! jobs were slim for criminals!

Glancing back at his direct superior, Jerome lingering in the back not only to draw less attention to himself, but to keep an eye on everyone in the front, Kyle moved his way up to walk along side the champion "Is there anything you can fill us in on about the situation now that we're here?" He asked  

[Suudonym]

(Kyle)

Diantha, beginning to lead into the cave with the group's approval, turned to respond to Kyle as he drew up beside her and posed his question, "Earlier today, some people reported seeing Xerneas chased by three individuals who were identified by their clothing as members of Team Rocket. Not too long ago, they herded the legendary pokemon into this cave. I'm not sure of their objective, but I fear that they may be following in the footsteps of Team Flare and aiming to resurrect the ancient weapon."  

[Blood_Goddess]

Kyle let out a nervous laugh at her assumption, disguising his amusement that her assumption was wrong for someone who was familiar with the event and fearful of the possibility of it happening again.
"Those are as high a stakes." He agreed with a slight rushed sense to his demeanor.
"We'll have to make sure to get there first." He straightened up "Do we have a plan yet?"  

[Suudonym]

(Kyle)

"Although I'm reluctant to leave Lucy and Rachel alone to watch the entrances," the Champion said, "their doing so will make our job much easier. We'll search the cavern for the Rockets and Xerneas, and once we find them, we'll defeat and capture the Rockets to turn over to Kalos's authorities. Unless we find evidence otherwise, I believe we should head for the lower floors - if they're trying to catch Xerneas, they're most likely aiming to trap it in a dead end and block its escape."  

[Suudonym]

(KO)

As they proceeded, KO was suddenly and for no apparent reason struck with a small stone at a force and angle that implied that it had been thrown at him.  

[Magician Arcana]

("Ken" Jerome)

Adam scratched the tip of his nose and whispered to Jerome, "Three Rockets sounds really small, don't you think? We can totally handle them!" Despite the chipperness, the tightness around his eyes suggested suspicion at the number. Why so few? This was a legendary after all. Sure it shifted routes, but that seemed woefully unprepared.  

[TawnyAngel]

Suudonym

(KO)

As they proceeded, KO was suddenly and for no apparent reason struck with a small stone at a force and angle that implied that it had been thrown at him.

What the-?

KO paused, keeping quiet for now as he turned to see who or what had thrown the stone at him; was it a Kalos Rocket?  

[Suudonym]

A number of Mime Jr. huddled around one another in roughly the direction KO looked, glaring at the intruders fearfully but defiantly. One telekinetically lifted a rock from the ground with Confusion and hurled it in the party's direction, and another employed the same technique to try to tug the sleeve of Clancy's red jacket off of his arm.  

[Gwennythe]

"Lead on ma'am! They can bloody well handle anythin' they need to!" Clancy spoke up when Rook and Claire (and he wasn't actually very displeased about the fact- Claire was kind of scary) left the party.
"Does sound like we can kick their arse, alright..." He agreed with Adam. He wasn't so concerned about the number as perhaps he should have been, nor found it suspicious, but then... he still thought of even legendaries as 'dumb animals'.  

[Blood_Goddess]

(Adam)
Jerome let out a slight grunt of acknowledgment to Adam's words, understanding what he meant, especially with his understanding of the Legendary. "Might be more of em." He mumbled under his breath, glancing around the cave, though with difficulty through the glasses.

(Diantha)
"Ah don't worry about them, they really know what they're doing." he reassured the Champion "and with you with us, I'm not worried about this getting figured out all nice and smooth."  

[TawnyAngel]

"Okay, ow!" KO scowled at the little gathering of psychic types and rubbed his arm where the rock had hit him. "They must think we're a threat," he said to the others before turning to the pokemon themselves, ducking to avoid another hurled rock. "Look, it's okay," he waved his hands placatingly, "we're here to get the bad guys, we're not going to hurt you." That was the sort of thing a ranger should say, right? Aggression certainly couldn't be the way to go.  

[Gwennythe]

Mime Jr.s!

"Hey! Hey! Geroff!" Clancy's eyes widened in alarm. Great! They were being attacked by the spawn of Coco the Clown or something! He tried to grab his jacket tighter around himself.

Tambrey blinked as the little psychic types had appeared to... try and scare them off?
Were they simply reacting to a threat?
"Hey, hey... What are you doing little ones?" She knew she couldn't let Diantha know she could understand psychic types, but she hoped, if they talked, she could understand what to do or say to calm them, or at least stop them from attacking them. She nodded in agreement with KO. "We're not here to, um, cause any harm, okay? We're here to help." She smiled, and waited to see what happened.