[FIN] Welcome to the Jungle

[Suudonym]

Tartarus, quite pleased with himself, considered daring the stairs to see other conquests there were to be had but decided against it. It had been too long since he had had a good and proper battle against other pokemon, but an Aggron's stocky legs weren't exactly made for climbing stairs. Instead he took up a position near the fallen man, draping his heavy tail over the stranger's stomach.

Mieu recoiled sharply from the unexpected jet of water, his hostile demeanor temporarily dampened by the attack. When he recovered his composure, he lunged with fangs gnashing at the offending Vaporeon, caring little for his disadvantage. Leste suffered similarly with her opponent, though she had no offensive attacks that would do much good against the electric-type. Shaking off the electricity as best she could, she filled the room with a FeatherDance to better their odds.

Luke instinctively raised his arms to defend against the sudden blade, drawing a hissing breath as his forearms bore the brunt of the attack. Unwilling to back down, he moved his left arm up a little higher to swing the point of his elbow back down harshly towards the side of his opponent's head.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

The water-type responded to Mieu's attack by baring its own fangs and taking up a defensive stance. It didn't hesitate to shoot more water at the Flareon though, taking full advantage of their type differences. The Jolteon, on the other hand, was undeterred by the array of feathers that twirled around the room and aimed another Thunderbolt at her.

A random third person was slouched across a couch against the far wall, making himself known only through his vaguely slurred words, "Oh m'god, that's ********' beautiful," as he stared at the flurry of feathers unleashed by the Pidgeot. He appeared to be either inebriated or otherwise indisposed due to the effects of other substances, and more than likely harmless at the moment.

While the knife-wielding attacker stumbled to the side after the blow to his head, the first immediately moved in to take his place by throwing another punch at Luke's face now that he was free of the Flareon.  

[Suudonym]

Mieu staggered from the water attack, though its impact was lessened by the soft down of feathers Leste provided. Noticing now that the Pidgeot was facing disadvantages of her own, he quickly coordinated with his teammate to switch enemies, launching forward towards the Jolteon with a vicious Flamethrower. Leste, worn but not downed by the continuing assault of thunder, moved to confront the Vaporeon with a Wing Attack.

This time the punch didn't come as a surprise, and Luke maneuvered backwards to escape it's reach, centering his balance on his heel to bring up another kick, this time targeted at his assailant's groin.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

The pair of eeveelutions were not prepared for the sudden switch, and the attacks were quite effective. While the Vaporeon collapsed into unconsciousness, the Jolteon persisted and lunged towards Mieu with fangs bared and crackling with electricity in a Thunder Fang.

Luke's kick landed right where intended, and his target immediately collapsed with a pained groan into the fetal position on the floor. His cohort, however, quickly moved in and attempted to take advantage of Luke's movements by swinging an arm up under his raised leg in order to throw him off balance.

Muffled sounds of some sort of vague altercation filtered through the (locked) door on the far wall of Luke's current room.  

[Suudonym]

Persisting through sheer force of will, albeit unsteadily, Mieu bore the Thunder Fang directed another bursting Flamethrower at the Jolteon, hoping to take advantage of its close proximity to deal as much damage as possible.

Successfully unbalanced, Luke hit the floor hard, falling onto his elbow to maintain at least some semblance of a ready posture and kicking out hard at the man's shin. Leste, triumphant in her battle and disadvantaged against the remaining electric-type, chose to aid her trainer and bore down on the human attacker, bullying with large wings and scraping with her talons.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Mieu's Flamethrower managed to blast the Jolteon right in the face, and it stumbled back with a muffled cry before it collapsed in a heap on the ground, defeated.

The man smirked at his triumph in knocking his opponent to the floor, but before he could move to attack again, he received a kick to the shin and a large Pidgeot's wings in his face and talons at his torso. With a panicked scream, he attempted to scuttle backwards before he gave up and instead tried to slash at Leste with his dagger, forgetting all about Luke in favor of the much larger and much deadlier, feathered threat literally looming over him.

A slightly muffled scream, swiftly followed by a threatening shout, sounded through the locked door almost immediately after.  

[Suudonym]

Mieu swayed on his feet, but he refused himself rest, moving to Leste's aid as the large bird confronted the knife-wielding human. He positioned himself near enough the scrap to counter the man's movements with a Fire Spin in defense of his comrade. The Pidgeot reared back from both blade and flame, flustered.

Luke was worn out and in varying degrees of pain throughout his body, but he pushed himself upright nevertheless. If he backed down now, he really was the worst. On confirming that the door was indeed locked, he released Tenebrae at his side, warning the Umbreon to be prepared with a Quick Attack if they were met with hostility, and wearily threw his strength at the door.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

The man on the floor gave a pitiful shout at the sudden rush of flames, and he dropped his knife in favor of pulling out another pokeball to release a Growlithe. The canine barked viciously, and took a moment or two to decide which to attack first, and opted for the much smaller target of Mieu. Decision made, the fire-type lunged towards the Flareon with fangs bared.

On the other side of the door, Nicolette's supposed guide waited silently until he heard words and movement on the other side of the door. When it became clear Luke had checked the handle, he waited another moment or two before unlocking the door and twisting the handle, so that when Luke threw his weight into the barrier, he would be met with little to no resistance whatsoever. Whether or not his ploy worked, a Persian hissed and leapt towards the human and his pokemon.

Once Luke disappeared through the door, the man on the couch in the previous room raised a hand held with two fingers up, his tones languid as he declared, "Peace," before his arm flopped over the back of the couch.  

[Suudonym]

Tartarus, having grown impatient at how long this was taking and antsy at the sounds of battle from above, had abandoned his station and made his lumbering way up the stairs. As Mieu gave a failing Bite in counter before wilting, exhausted, and as Leste reared back to strike at the fire-type with a Wing Attack, the Aggron appeared in the doorway with a deafening roar. They had been living it up without him. This was unacceptable.

The door flew open painlessly, leaving the surprised noble to stagger forward in an effort to recover his footing. He gave the room a cursory glance to assess his surroundings as Tenebrae made good on the earlier command, tackling the Persian in a Quick Attack the instant he became aware of the feline as a threat.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

The Growlithe barked triumphantly as Mieu retreated, and was immediately faced with a new threat. This one, though, large as he was, the fire-type at least had an advantage over, so the canine dodged Leste's attack in order to send a burst of flame at Tartarus.

The Persian was not expecting the dark-type's counter attack, and it slunk back a bit with a low growl. Its retreat was brief, however, and it darted forward with claws extended to Slash at the Umbreon.

Luke would find the object of his endeavors thus far curled up in the far corner of the room, her wrists bound behind her back and a cloth over her mouth, her face stained with tears. Pure fright and dread held sway over her countenance, but as Luke appeared, a glimmer of hope manifested and quickly turned into a silent pleading for help. Luke's singular human opponent in the room, however, had been waiting behind the door, and as the intruder appeared he linked his fingers on both hands and swung them at the back of his head.  

[Suudonym]

Advantage? No one holds advantage over Tartarus - except maybe that Vaporeon over there, but it was already passed out, so. In an aggressive display of dominance, the Aggron charged straight through the Growlithe's flames, the like spikes on his head protruding in a dangerous Headbutt.

Tenebrae took the raking claws but didn't back down, remembering the strategy he had practiced with his trainer and countering with Confuse Ray to take some advantage in the match.

At the sight of the frightened girl, Luke was suddenly very sure that he was in fact not the worst person in the world. Knowing that the room contained some foe, he kept his attention moving, though he only noticed the enemy when he was nearly upon him. He maneuvered as best he could, taking the blow to his shoulder instead of his head and staggering out of reach. Fists were raised in defense, though blood ran from his forearm dripped intermittently from the reddened fabric of his jacket sleeves. Through ache and exhaustion, he found a smirk to bring to his features and a laugh to raise to his voice.

"You're all idiots. You know the police are on their way, right?" he bluffed. "From what I understand they don't show Rockets much mercy." Whether or not they were actually Rockets stood to be confirmed, but it was enough for the man to think that the police had been informed that they were facing Rockets.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

When Tartarus charged right through the flames, a look of pure confusion and disbelief settled on the Growlithe's features. What? How did he do that? He was a steel-type, so surely---

The Headbutt hit it straight on, due to its distracted thoughts, and the canine was flung against the far wall, unconscious.

Unfortunately for the Persian, Tenebrae's Confuse Ray hit it full in the face, and the normal-type staggered around briefly, making very displeased hissing and sputtering noises, before it attempted to attack him again.

Mention of police caused a brief panic to flicker across the man's face, but he quickly replaced it with a smirk. "Hey now, it isn't nice to make baseless assumptions about people, man," he said with an open-handed shrug. "But if they are, it sounds like I have to take care of you that much faster then, huh?" This said as he pulled out a knife, like his comrades before him, and lunged towards Luke with it.  

[Suudonym]

Rock-type, b***h. Tartarus had been looking forward to the battle competition in Kanto and had been nothing short of disappointed when he'd only gotten to participate briefly in one battle. The Aggron looked quite forward to turning this into his own personal competition to make up for the disappointment, moving towards the next room as Leste tended to the wilted Mieu.

Tenebrae withdrew a few steps, watching smugly as his opponent reeled, and countered the attack with another of his own.

Damn it, so much for bluffing. "It's not nice to ******** kidnap people off the street, you b*****d!" Luke retaliated, swinging his right arm in an arc in effort to knock the knife from his hand, disregarding whatever damage the blade could potentially cause in the process.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

When its attack not only missed but was countered with another, the Persian yowled and stumbled backwards a few paces, and was still too confused to realize its predicament with a second, much larger pokemon in the room, and lunged for Tenebrae once more.

He moved at the same time, and though he'd been aiming for Luke's collarbone, he'd settle for anything else in that general vicinity, though the boy's endeavors to knock the knife from his attacker's hand succeeded, and the blade clattered to the floor. The man was not to be so easily defeated, though, even with his knife out of reach, as he pulled a handgun from his pocket and aimed it at the girl on the floor, whose trembling only increased. "Alright, man, that's enough. Cut this s**t out right now," because he really didn't want to deal with an angry Aggron right now.  

[Suudonym]

Tenebrae took the attack but held his ground, vanishing suddenly and reappearing behind the Persian to execute a Faint Attack. Tartarus, mildly offended that his appearance had gone without response from the enemy pokemon, charged forward with a swiping Metal Claw.

Almost simultaneously, the sight of the gun in the man's hand threw Luke into a vengeful fury, and he suddenly lunged to tackle the man. Not today, ********>