[RAID] Attack on Rocket

[BlackFireKitsune]

Seraphine had missed Tymiko's expression and mouthed words, though if she had caught them, Tymiko would definitely have known it. When told to get in, the brunette moved to go so, though purposefully sat in a different row than Dove, Andre, and anyone else she didn't know, instead placing herself near the window and looking for Rosie - or Luke - to sit beside her and not anyone else.  

[Suudonym]

[Rosie]

The League officers' announcement cut through the conversation, indicating the time for departure. The whole situation felt somehow surreal, even as the door of the van opened up like some great maw ready to swallow them. As the group began to file into the vehicle, Luke hung slightly back, catching Rosie's wrist to encouraging her to do the same. His hand didn't remain there for long, withdrawing as though the touch were hot, and with his eyes lowered he spoke, "I'd feel a lot better about this whole situation if, once we're out there, you would stay close to me." Honestly he would feel best if she didn't go, but that was hardly a reasonable request.  

[TawnyAngel]

[People!]

Dith gave Ty another tight smile and nodded. "We will be alright, and afterwards perhaps we can celebrate." Hope for the best, but prepare for the worst.

The worst was doing quite well at hanging around in his thoughts, and Sera's flat response to him only dipped his mood lower. What could he have expected though after what had happened to her recently?

As ever however Rosie managed to give him a boost with her enthusiastic greeting. Giving a soft deep chuckle he squeezed back but given how crowded it was he resisted the temptation to pick her up and swing her around. "That I am." After that Andre got a small smile and a nod; "Pleased to meet you," he greeted.

Ah, and time to go. Alder's comment gleaned a rueful smile; somebody else understood his issues!... Humm, what was in that box he wondered? Well he could ask once they were underway; Dith waited for Viktor to stop speaking to Fathom before recalling him to his pokeball and climbed aboard to find a seat.


Viktor bowed his head in return to Fathom. he greeted softly, but the tips of his tail twitched betraying agitation that he had managed to keep out of his voice. He didn't like the idea of his trainer going into danger like this but he knew there was no way to dissuade him. he added as the van opened and Dith reached for his pokeball.  

[Gwennythe]

The strain wasn't missed, but Lin found it understandable.
For his own part, his feelings were tangled up in a hybrid of long simmered rage, bottled under anticipation and the understanding that still patience was required. Social behaviour was not found in what he felt if he dug too deeply too soon.
All these people... He barely recognised some faces but he didn't mind; everyone here was here to fight Rocket; he felt like he had allies, but he hoped they didn't share Petra's viewpoint too strongly.

"I have been ready for this for far too long already." He replied simply, with a more genuine, but slightly fierce, smile.
He gestured to let Dove go ahead of him when it was time to get into the vehicle.  

[Arclyn]

As he approached the mass of people in front of the police station, the sheer number of how many people had gathered here had begun to sink in. Clearly this was something extremely important to create a gathering of this size. Amidst the crowd he noticed many different types of pokemon accompanying their human companions. It seemed that most, if not all of them were trainers.

He stopped upon reaching the outer edge of the crowd and was about to tap someone on the shoulder to ask what was going on, when suddenly a tall man with large red hair began speaking. The voices fell silent as he spoke. Vince craned his neck to get a better look at the man and after spending some carefully studying his features recognized him as Alder, the famous League Champion from Unova region. Vince listened intently for a while until he heard him mention "team rocket". At this, things began to become more clear as Alder continued to speak. Vince rolled his eyes and began to try to pull out his map again. Clearly, this briefing had nothing to do with him. After all, he had no interest in chasing after a criminal organization, and even if he did, it's not like he'd be able to do anything about it. He had never even had any experience in a pokemon battle with anyone let alone be able to fight criminals. He had far more important things to do.

He looked up however after hearing Kanto being mentioned and brought his attention to the one being introduced as Petra stood to be recognized. She didn't look familiar. Vince shrugged and went back to his map. After a while of failing to make any sense of it he decided it would be best to ask someone. Before he knew it though people started making their way into vans. Vince, realizing that everyone was leaving without him, everything was happening so fast. Without thinking, almost by instinct, Vince just followed everyone else toward the nearest van and piled in along with the rest of them. After realizing that he had absolutely no idea where everyone was going and would be in the company of complete strangers, the young man began to tremble slightly. He didn't like this. However he decided that it would be even worse to ask to get out now, than it would be to simply wait it out and find a way back once they had reached. Perhaps someone could help him find out where they were going and how to get to his desired location.  

[League Trainer Rosie]

Dove didn't seem to be in the mood to be around others, Rosie had to suspect that she was nervous about the whole situation too, So she actively reminded herself not to take the dismissive wave and blank look personally.

Though as Andre acknowledged the others, and excused himself, shortly following was Alder's announcement to get into the van.
Well, looked like it was time...
Its okay, this is what you've been training fo- any forward movement to the van was paused when she felt something touch her wrist, pausing her to glance over to see Luke pulling away from her hand.
blue eyes blinking she lingered back with him, shifting her stance to face him with an curious expression.

What he said drew her eyes a little wider, leaving her uncertain what to say for a few seconds before she smiled and slid her foot together. "Okay. I will, you stick close to me too." she held a finger up. "Team work, alright?"  

[Suudonym]

[Rosie]

The smile he returned was faint and not quite as reassured as he hoped he might have felt, but he nodded nonetheless. With nothing else to say, he followed Rosie into the van and took a seat near Seraphine - who apparently wasn't going to allow them to as much as consider sitting anywhere else.  

[Tori Honoo]

To Lin, she offered only, "We can do this...This island needs it."

With Lin following behind her, she made her way into the van, sliding toward a window, in the row just in front of Rosie, Sera, and Luke, offering a small smile to Dith, as he was familiar, yes, but still quite the mystery to her.  

[TRHQ Agent]

Anyone familiar with Kodo's geography would know the drive wouldn't be a short one, and as the tall towers of the city faded away behind them, the golden sands of the desert came into view ahead of them, stretching straight from the base of the mountains out into the horizon. Alder shifted the box in his lap and folded the lid back to reveal at least a dozen large goggles. After removing two pairs - one for himself and one for Petra, since she was busy driving - he handed the box to Lin. "Everyone take a pair of these goggles; we're heading into the desert and we'll all be exiting the van at some point. Without proper protection the sand blowing around could temporarily blind you, especially if we encounter a sandstorm. Try them out now - you can adjust the straps to make sure they fit properly, and I would advise you to do so now, rather than wait until we get out before adjusting them."  

[Gwennythe]

Lin wished, somewhere inside, that he believed in Dove's words, but he didn't care for the island enough yet, beyond Sandalwood and the forest anyway. He was hear because Rocket had hurt him personally. His justification was that they could hurt others personally too, but he wasn't sure how true that was next to his desire for personal vengeance.

He didn't want to call Jeeves back, but did anyway, as he entered the van and sat, silent in thought, until he was suddenly handed a box by the Alder guy.

"Uh. Huh." The boy picked a pair out, before he passed the box on, looking them over before he tried them on. "Useful."

Even distracted as he was, he kind of liked this face/eyewear, and briefly wondered if they'd be allowed to keep them indefinitely.  

[TawnyAngel]

Ah, and the mystery of the box was solved! Dith took a pair in his turn and passed them onward. He then set about extending the straps nearly as far as they would go and trying them on, he had a big skull and thick hair so he was expecting to need to make them nearly as big as they would go. Having actually managed to make them a little too loose he tightened them up on his head and turned to regard Dove through them. "How do I look?" he asked with a slight grin, shifting the straps around so that they were comfortably behind his ears rather than half over them.  

[Tori Honoo]

Alder's words were taken carefully, and when she was handed the box, the girl took a pair of goggles for herself, before passing it along to the next person--Dith--with a weak smile. He was a doctor, right?

When he spoke to her, she finally offered a true (but uncharacteristically timid) smile, his lighthearted joke helping just a bit.

"They're not too bad on you," she said, sliding the goggles over her head and around her neck, before lifting her hair and carefully tying it up into a long ponytail. The dessert would be hot anyway, and it would make it easier to wear the goggles, as well as keep sand out of her hair and hair out of her eyes. That done, she carefully sized the eyewear, then shifted them up onto the top of her head like a pair of sunglasses, sweeping the stray hair from her bangs from her eyes and to the sides of her face. "How have you been? It's...been a while..." she added shakily, feeling as though maybe it would be better to speak with him than not. While at first she had thought it best not to connect with anyone, and to save herself the stress of worrying, the few, joking words he had offered made her desperate need for interaction painfully clear.  

[League Trainer Rosie]

A long drive, she had traveled these lands enough to know that they might as well get settled in. maybe along the way she could find a way to settle her nerves, only to find after a while of unsteady breaths that that wasn't going to happen anytime soon.

It helped though, settling in the back row with her friends around her, staring quietly out at the scenery beyond the car.

It wasn't terribly long before a box was being moved back and they were told to take one of the goggles out.
figuring out how to fit it on properly took a second, and it was a bit of an awkward process moving the strap so that it didn't go pushing her hair up.
"There~" once satisfied she tapped the lenses of the goggles.

That had been a bit difficult, and it crossed Rosie's mind that one of her friends only had one hand to work them with. "I think I figure out how to fit it under the hair so it doesn't clump it, want me to show you?" she asked Sera.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Luke had been absolutely right in his assumption that Seraphine wouldn't let them sit anywhere else - well, that wasn't true; if they'd really wanted to, she would've let them, but would've immediately attempted to move and sit next to them. Eventually she received her own pair of goggles, and frowned down at them in her single hand. This... would probably be quite difficult to accomplish.

Swearing a little internally, the brunette shifted around and held the goggles under her short arm, using her hand to lengthen the straps. That accomplished, she struggled to get them over her head, finally managing to pull them down over her face and down around her neck. She was working on pulling her hair out when Rosie offered her help. Had it been anyone else - well, maybe Luke would've been fine too - she would've taken offense, but it was Rosie. She was silent a few moments as she debated, then shifted in her seat so Rosie could help, though the tones with which she spoke held hints of resignation and mild displeasure, "Alright." She would much, much rather do it herself, but...  

[TawnyAngel]

How had he been?... Yeah. Mmh. Dove both looked and sounded scared and so he tried to think of something positive to say. "I've been well," he said with a nod and a smile as he pushed his own goggles up onto his head, demonstrating in the sentence a more adroit use of the English language than he usually bothered with. "I have been out of Kodo spending some time with my family, it had been years since I had seen them properly." This was also true, it just omitted the business with his sister and he planned to leave it that way; for one though he was open with his feelings he didn't know Dove well enough to share, and for another it was the last thing anyone needed to hear about today.

Positiveness, yes, that was good.

"I was planning to return here soon anyway but I got the message and stepped up my schedule," he added with a little nod. "What about you?" he cocked his head and smiled at Dove. Last time he had seen her had been at the hospital after the mess with Rosie's sister. He hoped things had gone uphill since then for Rosie... and Dove too of course.