[FIN] Bugging About

[BlackFireKitsune]

<< A wild Pokémon has appeared! Communicate with your partner to determine whether or not you mind having your RP sidetracked. When you've decided, one person can post [yes] or [no]. (If the Pokémon turns out to be something neither of you want, you're welcome to ignore it.) >>  

[TawnyAngel]

[Yes!]  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Tree branches and their leaves rustled abruptly as, through the thick foliage in the middle of one tree, a large pair of eyes peeked out at the small group - or, more specifically, at the three bugs sitting out in the open.  

[TawnyAngel]

Aulus gave a lopsided grin and shrugged. "I guess? Not that long though, I think they're going to be sort of uh," he waved his hand and then flexed his fingers, "hinged, and inside the last joint of the fingers. It's still a bit of a work in progress logistically, it's-"

The rustle of branches behind him made Aulus pause in mid sentence and turn his head in the direction of the noise.

Paul had noticed the rustling too and more than that he noticed the eyes. With an unhappy little 'Eeeee!' he shrank against Aulus's neck.

Phaethon had also noticed, he raised his head and sniffed at the air. he asked, perking his ears towards the concealed creature.  

[Gwennythe]

Hinged and inside the last joint of the fingers... Metal arm... Robotics... Tambrey suddenly had a sneaking suspicion regarding former room mates and robotic designs... Luckily, perhaps, the noise drew Aulus' and her attention before she could comment on the thought.
She looked up, silently, following Aulus' turn of head, and narrowed her eyes at where she thought the sound had come from; it -was- most likely a pokémon, after all...
Just in case it was enough of a threat to them to be worrying, Tambrey, knowing Jubilee and, especially, Pili, were rather under-trained for now, reached to her belt to ready Pygi's ball.

<> Jubilee muttered, accompanying Paul's 'eeeee'. She, at least, remembered being wild before, and turned her eyes upward; seeing where the threat was coming from let you choose a better option in case you had to run, of course, though she remembered, too, she had a trainer now.

<> Pili gleefully echoed, sort of, Phaethon's question with encouragement, to a potential new friend.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Whether it was from the words of encouragement, or from one of the three bugs disappearing, the pokemon acquiesced. The eyes disappeared and, with a bit more rustling, it became visible once more, as an Articuno raised its head above the tree and looked at them critically - more specifically, still, the two bugs that it could see, though it did crane its head to one side to attempt to see the third.  

[TawnyAngel]

For half a heartbeat Aulus stared open mouthed. When the moment had passed he reached slowly for his dex, flicked it open and patched through to base on an urgent channel. "Uh, base? Agent Aulus here, looking at Articuno." He had a few pokeballs with him, not many but it was worth the attempt. Holy s**t, Articuno. It was breathtaking, and holy s**t it was looking at the bugs as though they were lunch.

"If we can't bag then we need a sample," Aulus murmured to Tam without taking his eyes off the Legendary. He had Puck with him who knew Hypnosis but how would the ice bird react to him releasing more pokemon? Well he couldn't just do nothing. So what did he have? Paul, Phaeth, Puck, Tortie, Char, and Killer. Just him and Tam alone against Articuno though? He remembered what had happened last time they'd tangled with a flying Legend and Tam was still hurt, but at least that gave him a priority; keep Tam safe, Killer would be on that duty as soon as he let the eeveeloution out of his pokeball.

Paul meanwhile had frozen in abject terror; of all birds he had seen this was the worst by a long long way.

Rather less worried by this development was Phaethon; the Rapidash continued to stare upward with interest. Aulus seemed pretty interested too so it must be a pokemon he wasn't familiar with.  

[Gwennythe]

Jubilee, first, chittered unhappily (legendary, not legendary, who cared!? It was a /bird/! A big, icy, bird! She started nudging Pili to come with her and climb down Tambrey's back, trying to get out of sight.
Pili was quite content to wave her little legs at the ice type, before Jubilee began to usher her down the Agent's back.

At some point she would remember to recall her bugs, but for now, Tambrey was rather awestruck. A blue, ice type, bird; Articuno.
Flying... Ice... She wanted to get into the Legendary's genetics; she wanted to play around with them. She was already eyeballing the beak, making a note of possible diet in marriage to habitat and type powers.
Aulus' call to base took her out of her scrutiny of the bird; right! Of course, they needed to catch this thing!
Reliant on a stick or not, she knew that.
And yet, she was reluctant to turn Pygi against it yet, keeping her in the ball for the moment, until she'd quietly asked Aulus:
"So. Uh. Plan?"  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Aulus didn't have to wait long for a response, though unfortunately the one he got was less than helpful: A sudden burst of static and metallic noises, as if something made of metal had fallen on something that was also made of metal, though a faint voice could be heard repeating "oh my god" with emphasis on various words each time it repeated.

The Articuno lifted its head up higher as the other two bugs disappeared and clacked its beak unhappily, but the sudden extra noises from the small box in one of the human's hands made it pause and whip its head to one side abruptly, staring at the box and the human very critically. A moment or two it began making very displeased noises.  

[TawnyAngel]

Aulus looked at his dex for a moment. "Well I don't think they're going to be a lot of help to me." And nor was the rest of the team, it was just him and Tam... and a very displeased looking Articuno. He shifted his weight and edged a little away from his partner just in case it decided to launch an attack. "Sample, status condition, bag," he replied to Tam's query. The chances of the two of them alone taking this thing on were... well he didn't rate them awesomely but they didn't necessarily have to. "Will a feather do? How much do you need?" he added, reaching awkwardly for his pokeballs whilst still holding his dex, just in case Mr Deity Exclamations came through with anything that was actually helpful.

Phaethon snorted and stamped as the Articuno started making angry noises. It looked like an ice type to him so he wasn't worried about facing off against it, only that it might strike out at Aulus before he could intervene.  

[Gwennythe]

Oh great, the 'dex operator was worshiping the ice bird; that was helpful...
Tambrey gave Aulus' 'dex a little frown, before rapidly returning her attention to the... now somewhat angry seeming bird...
She listened and considered the plan with a short nod, then considered the question.
Now was not the time for a lengthy answer...

"Er. Possibly. Easier if we can get a few intact feathers with the base; 's kind of hard to extract from the feather alone- not impossible mind you, but I'd much rather have a sample from closer to the skin for a better chance." Of course, she'd rather bag the whole pokémon, but that rather went without saying.
Her grip tightened on her stick, and she turned Pygi's ball carefully.
"I have Pygi. Air cover, or do you think that's a bad idea?" She was hoping to cut off an aerial escape, or keep the bird grounded, but she was conscious that it might go very awry, and, despite plenty of mission experience, she still didn't consider herself a 'field agent'. Who else did she have? Well... two bugs who weren't all that trained... Octavia, because she thought it'd be nice to give her an outing; also lacking training... Treestar; no good could come of pitting him against Articuno... and Ella. Not very promising. Three trained 'mon who wouldn't do great against ice, two untrained bugs, and a fire type who really wasn't that great at fire attacks yet. Had her heart not been hammering in her chest, and her eyes locked on the big bird, she'd have been making a mental note to adjust her team for such weaknesses and surprises.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

When neither human did anything, and the bugs did not reappear, the Articuno clacked its beak in displeasure, completely ignored the Rapidash as it spoke, and straightened itself up to its full height, even going so far as to step into the tree it was behind so it could lean almost directly over the humans so as to get a better view of the bugs.

A different voice came over Aulus's dex, this one more composed: "Agent, who else is with you?"  

[TawnyAngel]

Aulus kept creeping away from Tam, dividing its attention had to be a good thing. Well, for whichever of them it didn't go for anyway. "Right," he nodded to his partner. "Keep Pygi back for now, but ready her for a chase, if it starts to flee get her to sever some feather ends with quick attack. That'd be better than nothing.... When we start, get the bugs to foul its wings. Jube can Spider Web? Killer will protect them," and you, "you got Ella? Alternate uses of Protect. I'll send Tortie and Char after a sample, try to get a condition on it with Puck... If she fails couple of times then Thunder Wave it."

All of this would have been audible to whoever had just come in over his dex but now Aulus addressed them directly. "Agent Tambrey is with me, we're going to try to get a viable sample, feather from the base if possible."

Paul stared up at the huge bird, still cowering against Aulus' neck. He was going to have to do something? Attack it? Noooooo!  

[Gwennythe]

"Yep; she can Spider Web." Tambrey confirmed, without hesitation- she, at least, new that one fairly well by now. The scientist kept her eyes on the big bird as it moved to start looming over them.
She, carefully, clipped Pygi's ball back into place, replacing it in her hand with Ella's.

"All right. Jubilee?" She queried; the yellow bug scampered back up onto her shoulder. Aha, so that meant, she guessed, that Pili was more than likely now hanging out in her hair... Good.
"I'm ready." She stated, hoping that she actually was.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

"Uhhh.. Aren't there just two of you?" The voice pointed out. "Do you think that's a good idea? Hold on.." After a moment, voices could be heard over the dex, albeit very faintly, though from bits and pieces the agents might discern that the dispatcher was asking for someone else.

The Articuno twisted its head this way and that, but no matter which way, it could barely see one or two bugs at a time. It clacked its beak in irritation and then, without warning, slipped backwards and disappeared beneath the line of trees, presumably to find bugs that didn't hide quite so much.