[RAID] Attack on Rocket

[Suudonym]

The sudden, urgent warning pulled Luke's attention to the rapidly approaching threat. For a moment he only stared, wide-eyed, at the sheet of earth that rushed towards them. His thoughts went to his Aggron, and his hand followed, but the memory of the steel-type's defeat in the earlier Fissure was close behind. He gritted his teeth faintly, hissing a quiet curse as the adrenaline-induced slow motion effect began to fade. Luke's hand strayed from the pokeballs, forgetting Rem's susceptibility to ground-based damage, and went to Rosie's shoulder. He didn't await a response from her before moving to join the other trainers huddled on the ground in hopes of safety, intending to shield Rosie himself if he could think of no pokemon to do so.

__

Petra followed suit as well, throwing her back against the large steel hide of her Steelix and curling her face into her knees with her hands over her head. Her team followed suit, taking shelter in the their comrade's shadow. Titan himself was worse the wear for it, grimacing in the wake of the disaster.  

[insidiousEnigma]

Andre stumbled as the ground shook beneath his feet and he reacted immediately. "Fraener, Velencia, Au moi!" He roared, dropping to the ground and covering his head with his arms. "Espeon!" He heard Velencia call out from somewhere nearby before a warm body collided into his folded arms. He reacted instinctively, snatching up his pokemon and bringing her into the protective cover of his arms. Above him he heard Fraener's wings beating hard to combat the wind, "Fraener, protéger!" The ground shook a little more as the dragon pokemon landed above him and crouched, his huge body shielding his trainer from the wind and debris.  

[Blood_Goddess]

She was trembling, she had never felt this kind of intensity before, watching her pokemon try and work together to battle the Rocket's
She was paying attention, trying to be the best guide for them, and she was trembling
...Wait, no she wasn't.

"What's-" Rosie took a step back, glancing around as she noticed that she wasn't the only one staggering for step and looking around confused.
The noise was terrifying, bringing a pit in her stomach that she wanted to go away more than anything.
Looking over at Luke with a confused concern, she then turned to the source of the growing noise and rumbling, her eyes wide at the wall billowing toward them,.

Get cover, Oh my god how are they going to get cover from that!? She turned again back to Luke, a look of horror on her face. and for a split second she felt frozen in fear.

Her pokemon! Her team she had them fighting. She scrambled to get the pokeballs,her mind was exploding in her rushed through, unable to form solid thoughts as she raced to figure out what to do, Perdy! Perdy could help.
Pastin! Pastin would not be able to protect himself! he was laying unconscious on the ground!
Rosie scrambled to get her love balls from her belt, clicking the button to return her pokemon before a jolt from the earch quivering knocked her completely off guard.
She saw a split second of light, she staggered for step and the ball slipped out of her hand.
The next thing she knew she felt someone's hand on her shoulder, and she was huddled down with a group of trainers, Luke over her.
Pulling her legs in close she placed one hand over the side of her head, trying to block out the deafening rumbling, the other hand clung as tightly as she could to Luke. As if by some sheer miracle it would somehow help keep him safe from the approaching horror.
She had nothing useful to say, but the same thing kept spilling in shrill frantic rolls from her lips, completely unknowing to her "Oh god! Oh god! Oh god!"

What was going on? How were they going to survive this? Where was Sera!? Her Pokemon were out there! Don't let go of Luke, don't get go of Luke, just don't, ever, let go of Luke!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Perdy saw it coming before he even knew the earth was shaking, from where he was in the air dipping in for attack and trying to handle the Leafeon, his beak fell open slightly at the ploom, the terribly screeching and rumbling,
That shockwave was coming right for them too.
He could have easily flown out of its way, Rise up as fast as he could, but his gaze brought him downward in a snap.
The Raichu was staggering to catch her footing, alarmed by what was happening, and his trainer, was being pulled down with Luke and some others.
with but a split second to react, the Pidgeot swooped down, without warning he snatched Kiss off the ground into one of his claws as he swooped past on his way to the trainers.
If he didn't get there NOW and throw up a Protect, who knows what would happen!

Grealhorn knew his attacks, and the earthquake that happened was not one of his.
Pop breathed, drawing the antlered head to look over.
That was not good.
He grunted, having little time to think the Stag lifted his front hooves, pounding them into the ground and using his Nature Power to create another earthquake around him.
the shivering of the earth caused the sand to loosen, the stag easily starting to sink below it, and the cracking of the earth below created more space as he continued to shake the earth.

Pop asked, then let out a startled yell when with a jerk of his head she was flung down into the sand, that she vanished under, quickly joined by the rest of the stag.  

[TawnyAngel]

Dith released Zla from his pokeball again and sprayed him with a super potion. As he did so it registered with him that something wasn't right and when he looked up he realised what it was. A wall of sand racing towards them, and the ground shaking. He had no idea what had caused this and no time to care, act now and wonder later. Grabbing his pokeballs Dith started to recall his team, managing to get Luna and Teazer away safely but at that point the wall of sand hit and knocked him flat.

Dazed and blinded by the swirling debris all he could do was curl up with his arms over his head, hoping that Viktor and Dolly and all of his friends were alright out there. He still hadn't seen his Rapidash since she charged after the car.  

[Gwennythe]

The Servine had tried to tangle itself in Dove's hair.
Lin blinked, unsure of what to do, as Jeeve's was still trying to help.
"What... why is it..." He dismounted and started forward; maybe he could help pull the thing off...

Then, there was rumbling and noise. He turned as Dove and the pokémon looked, then ducked behind Moriko, remembering she'd 'Camouflaged' just moments ago. He had no idea if that would really make a difference against whatever that wall of debris was, but she was the biggest pokémon he had.

Jeeves was still over with Dove, gratefully taking shelter beneath Sparky with her..  

[Tymiko]

Tymiko's eyes widened as the ground shook and a sandstorm began to brew right before them. She called out Fathom and pointed at the wall as the pokemon braced himself against the sudden onslaught of nature.

"Fathom, use Surf! Try to make a wall of water to keep the sand from buffeting us," she suggested. She had no idea if such a feat would even have a chance of working, but where was the harm in trying? The only other protection she had was her goggles and the grains of gravel were really stinging. Even if things were about to get messy with mud and water, she felt it would be better than getting cuts and grazes.

"Vapooooor!" Fathom cried, unleashing a powerful, steady wave of water to confront the wind and sand blown their way.  

[Arclyn]

There was that empty, helpless feeling again. In truth it had never left, but since the fissure incedent, Vince had been able to momentarilly distract himself by studying the stratigraphy of the area which had been revealed with beautiful clarity within the fissure. There was no time for that anymore however as things were getting more and more chaotic by the minute. Although he wanted nothing more than to just stay by the fissure and analyze the historic records preserved in the rock layers, he realized he was better off staying near everyone else. After all, if he was picked off by one of the rockets he was a gonner for sure. He was a scientist for goodness sake, nothing more. He didn't know how to defend himself, let alone fight back, and against Team Rocket no less! How in the world did he get himself into this mess?

So far he had been fine just by staying close to everyone else and staying out of the way. Still, he was breaking into a cold sweat thinking about all the risks involved with the current mission of the other trainers and that his close proximity to them would put him in the same danger. These guys meant business, and would surely not hesitate to use lethal force if necessary for their escape. In addition, he felt guilty not being able to do anything. Everyone here was putting their best efforts to fight the enemy, and all he was doing was cowering on the sidelines waiting for the danger to pass. What if he was captured and held hostage? These other trainers barely knew him and since he obviously held no value as a trainer, who's to say that they'd even try to help him. They'd gain nothing from it. On the other hand, if he were put in a hostage situation and they were kind enough to help him, it would only make things worse for them! No matter how he looked at it, he was nothing but a liability!

He tried to allow some time to clam his nerves and breathe, with limited success. Everything would be fine, right? I mean they did have the former league champion on their side, not to mention another Special forces League member, and these other trainers were obviously very experienced in battle. Still it was Team Rocket they were dealing with, who knows what they're capable of, they've survived this long after all. In the end he made up his mind that he wouldn't think about things like that anymore and would just focus on staying alive and not becoming any more of a hinderance than he already was. Before long however there was a flurry of activity as the ground shook and an explosion of sound and earth caused a layer of sediment to blanket the area. Vince, upon hearing Petra's command, instinctively crouched down, tucked his head in, and put his arms over it to sheild himself from the debris.  

[Suudonym]

Despite its menacing appearance, the sandstorm wasn't nearly the debacle the area's occupants might have been expecting. Exposed skin would be scoured - or, in Tymiko's and Fathom's case, caked in mud - and small pokemon would be buffeted if not anchored to something heavier, but by and large the group was fortunate that they weren't terribly close to the source of the apparent disaster. Many of the pokemon, having been exposed to the equivalent of a powerful Earthquake and a brief but intense Sandstorm, lay unconscious upon the ground, those weakened in battle or possessing a type disadvantage standing much less of a chance of survival than others.

Eventually the commotion subsided into silence, save for the distant howl of the wind. A swirling cloud of sand had taken up residence in the area, dimming the sunlight and reducing visibility to only a few precious feet in any direction. Gradually some of the scattered lumps that indicated the places where the Rockets had prostrated themselves began to shift and move as they slowly pushed themselves upright and shook free of the dirt that had covered them.

A long, metallic groan erupted from the sand-encrusted Steelix as he raised his head and shook the grit from his face. Its small trainer began to stir as well, wiping her goggles with the palms of her hands and pushing unsteadily to her feet to survey the area. It didn't look as bad as she thought it would be - at least from what she could see. "Is everyone okay?"

A rather large lump started to shift as well as Braviary leaned back and shook off, removing the sand from himself as Alder slowly rose from the large bird's protection. A quick wipe across his goggles restored his vision - or most of it, anyway - but so far he could only really see Petra and her Steelix. While the Rockets in the vicinity were of course a great concern, his first worry was over the well-being of the volunteered trainers, and he moved towards the general area of where he last saw them scattered about. "Is anyone hurt?"  

[BlackPidgeot]

Immersed in total darkness for several moments, Yuri felt the weight of the Arcanine above him as it fainted from the onslaught it had to endure. He found it hard to move, much less breathe thanks to Link pressing against his back and the choking sand in the air.

But finally the sandstorm from hell passed and it took Yuri a couple minutes to squirm his way out from the well intentioned Pokemon.

"Yeah, I'm okay..." Yuri said as he tried to catch his breath. Stopping to check on Link who was indeed passed out, then taking a moment to find his sword and the taser.

"Repede! Astal!" he called, not getting any response from his Pokemon.  

[Tori Honoo]

Though her head was spinning with the fear of the loud, terrifying sounds around her, Dove stayed as small as she could under the typhlosion, protecting both her bag and the pokeballs clutched tightly to her chest.

When the sounds died away, she opened her eyes, still not moving until the large typhlosion over her shuddered, loosing the debris from his back and freeing them from the ground before he fell to his side with a heavy huff, weakened immensely by the Earthquake and sand that buffered him.

Carefully, the woman shifted to her knees, reaching back to swipe at the servine if it was still attatched and clipping her team back to her belt as she looked around cautiously, her eyes wide behind her goggles. Rising to shaky feet, she quickly pulled out another small bottle from her bag and began to tend to Sparky, who relaxed and lifted his head to assess the damage done to his trainer, glad there was little, if any.

Her team taken care of, the girl looked to Jeeves, then around, searching for the others through the thick haze, her heart pounding. Sparky had been able to cover her, but what about the others? Yuri would have only had Astal and Repede... in fact, she hadn't seen him since she had arrived, and that in itself provided more stress than necessary. Luke had his aggron, hopefully... Rosie had her team. Lin? He would have been... And Dith.. she had no idea what team he carried. Tymiko? And the two she didn't know... what of them?

She offered a quick call to Alder and Petra. "We're alright! Who needs help?" she asked, before her eyes caught sight of Yuri as he appeared, only a flash as the sands continued to obscure her vision. Careful to watch those around her for threats or more immediate need that she could even possibly make out, she made her way over to him, her brows furrowed when he appeared not to be able to find his two. "Are you okay?" she asked, already kneeling near the barely familiar arcanine, a revive in hand, the other covering her mouth and nose as she moved to restore it.  

[insidiousEnigma]

Fraener let out a low, tired groan as the wind subsided, his body quivering with the effort to stay upright. Hearing the struggle of the dragon pokemon, Andre quickly scrabbled out from beneath, one arm still curled protectively around Velencia. As if on cue, Fraener fell forward where the man and Espeon had just been, out cold. "...You did well." He said quietly, resting his hand on the Charizard's neck to make sure that he was still breathing. Around him, he could hear everyone start to come out of their makeshift protection. "Velencia, are you alright?" She gave a tired mewl in reply but moved to rest up on his shoulders easily enough. He was thankful that she had managed to get to him before the sand had hit but he was sure the fighting and the stress of the situation had taken its toll. Andre rubbed the sand from his goggles with one hand and reached for Fraener's pokeball with the other. "Espeon..." Pale eyes flickered around to search for the Rockets. He couldn't see too far away but he could hear Alder's shout. "I'm alright." He called back after a quick inspection of his person.  

[BlackPidgeot]

"Yeah, I'm okay," Yuri told Dove as she came over. "Better than I can say for Link," he said while looking back down at the Arcanine. "Are you okay?" he then asked, watching as she tended to the Arcanine.

Upon receiving the Revive, Link's eyes blinked open and he slowly climbed to his paws. The giant dog then shaking out his coat to free it from as much sand as he possibly could.  

[TawnyAngel]

Falling over from his height was never fun, and it got less fun with every year that passed. Everything still seemed to be attached however, and as he pushed himself to his elbows a rather dishevelled Viktor arrived at his side to check on him. Giving the Espeon a quick scratch Dith heaved himself to his feet and shook himself, shifting his goggles into a slightly more comfortable position and letting Luna out again as a start.

As Dove called out her offer of help with Pokemon he cast around to see how the humans were doing but he couldn't really see far enough to tell. Equally to the point he wanted to know what the Rockets were doing but he couldn't see them either. Had they caused that wave of sand? "Not hurt!" he called belatedly to Petra and Alder, rolling his shoulders and then his head to try to check that everything did still work okay.  

[Blood_Goddess]

The stillness fell over the desert, now cluttered with rock and debris,
It was at the point when he was sure that he had not felt any more rocks bouncing off of his antlers that the sand suddenly parted, and a filthy sand coated head popped out of the ground, taking in a snorting breath of air before shifting his shoulders to work his legs out of the ground.

close to where his chest was pulled out, another head popped out of the earth with a much more dramatic gasp, the much smaller Lopunny yanking her scratched up arms out of the sand, and attempting to tug her ears out of the ground She snapped at the Stag, huffing and dragging herself out of the sand before Greal, before he pulled the rest of him out, shaking the sand and dirt from his fur.

Scanning over the aria where the others supposed to be, but becasue of the dust being kicked up Greal could barely make anything out beyond a few feet. He grunted to Pop, who was sitting on the ground trying to pick rock and dirt out of the scratches on her arms.

Perdy starting to lift himself out from the sand, the bird looking around curiously before glancing down at the humans he was by.


Kiss Kiss looked frazzled, having been dropped onto the humans without even knowing what was going on.
Rolling off of whoever's back she was laying on she crawled instead over to Rosie who she nudged under.


Pushing herself up a little, finding Kiss Kiss now squeezing into her Chest, the blond shakily took a hold of the pokemon and sat up a little more, looking up at Perdy, who clicked his beak down at them, then at Luke.

Lifting her head up she looked around, as Alder and Petra asked if everyone was okay, trying to listen for the others to answer, since she couldn't see anyone else.
"Are you okay?" Rosie asked Luke, reaching out to put a hand on his shoulder as she pushed herself to her knees.  

[Gwennythe]

Moriko snorted sand as she struggled out of where she and Lin had ended up buried. She could tell her human was more or less okay, except that she found it worrying when he climbed out on all fours and proceeded to wretch and spit. He coughed, then sat up and looked around... before remembering to pull his goggles up from his face so he could actually see.

"I'm all right..." He muttered, then waved a hand. "All right here!" That done, he looked around for Jeeves.

Who seemed to be completely fine.
The grass type was giving him a worried frown, having emerged from where Sparky had sheltered Dove and himself.
He'd thrown a little salute to Dove when she'd checked on him, before wandering toward where Lin and Moriko had emerged.

Lin then stood, carefully, and looked around, in case anyone needed help getting dug out or anything.