[Fin] Token of Gratitude

[BlackFireKitsune]

When Taavi moved to join them, Sera curled her short arm around the shivering legendary at the same time as her small hand darted out to catch the ex-ranger's arm to pull him close, to make sure their huddling group was as small and compact as possible. Her pale eyes narrowed as she focused on the pair nearby, though she didn't focus on their details so much as she paid close attention to where they were going. It wouldn't do if they walked too close by, or happened to do something where the illusion was and consequently dispel it. Jacques had his arms spread out to either side in front of them to form his own little shield in front of the trainers, the illusion he'd crafted covering the lot of them from the unfamiliar humans. Despite the silliness of his feather-mustache, his demeanor had turned quite serious.

The pair cast around quickly and, when neither of them spotted their quarry, the woman turned to her companion and pointed down the alley. "You look down that way, I'll check over here." With that said, she turned and darted away; her partner moved in the opposite direction and ran past the group. As Taavi had hoped, he didn't notice them at all. Once he reached the sidewalk, he looked both ways for a moment before he picked one and began to run.

Sera waited a few moments before she relaxed and her hand slipped off Taavi's arm to wrap around the legendary instead. She offered it what she hoped was a gentle, comforting pat, but it merely whimpered and continued to press its hands into its eyes. Sera frowned. "Alright, I think we can sneak out now. We should probably cross the street so we don't accidentally run into one of them," the brunette suggested in a quiet voice as she looked down the other end of the alley to make sure the woman wasn't coming back.  

[TawnyAngel]

When the pair of strangers hurried away Taavi relaxed a little, though not a lot. "Agreed," he said with a nod to Sera. He was a bit surprised to see her offering comfort to Diancie but only briefly, after all this wasn't the first time she'd been willing to help a pokemon she didn't know at a moment's notice.

"There's no traffic right now, let's go," Taavi said with a quick gesture before starting across the street. Then, turning to Jacques he added; "When we're sure we're clear do you think you could disguise Diancie as a Carbink?" he glanced at Sera to see what she thought of the idea. "If we get somewhere busier we'll just get run into invisible." Where were they going to go next though? Somewhere safe, somewhere they could find out what had happened to Diancie. They were a long way from the nearest pokemon centre though and he definitely wouldn't call Abel's place safe, Alyssa might be there and what she'd do if she saw a Legendary he didn't even want to know.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Isabella bent down to carefully pick up the box in her teeth - she had to keep her head tilted down to do so, which made it rather difficult and awkward - and then trotted after Taavi. "Giselle, keep an eye out for them. Alright," Sera said as her invisible Mismagius made a noise and presumably floated off to ensure they wouldn't be noticed, and the brunette let go of the Diancie and took a couple steps back, "we'll take you somewhere safe, will you follow?"

Said Diancie shivered in place and peeked out from under one of its hands, enough so that it could tentatively, haltingly float towards Sera. She tried not to frown at how slowly and uncertainly it moved, so she stepped closer and wrapped her arms around it again, then walked a few steps closer to Taavi. When the Diancie merely shivered and covered its eyes again, allowing her to practically carry it rather than try to get away, Sera immediately jogged over to rejoin the ex-ranger and her pokemon who had already started following him.

Jacques made an uncertain noise, frowning and losing a couple feathers from his mustache. He wasn't familiar with Carbink at all. "Zor--"

"Something else," Sera said quickly as she jogged across the street, Anya at her heels and Isabella and Jacques ahead of her. "Do something else. Something small."

Jacques barked an affirmative as he wracked his brains for something small that Sera would normally carry. Anya was.. with them, and the less illusions he had to craft and manage the better. Not Anya, Jasmine was too big, not Agatha, maybe--

The dark-type made a grumbling noise as they reached the opposite sidewalk. The illusion around them faded away, but as it did, an illusion of Isaac in Sera's arms shimmered into view to cover the shivering legendary completely.

Giselle's ethereal voice floated down from somewhere where she remained invisible,

"Probably on the next street over still," the brunette surmised as she glanced up and down the sidewalk before looking to Taavi. She had painfully little experience with this sort of thing, rescuing unfamiliar pokemon. "So what now? Do we go to the pokemon center?" That had been her first instinct with Isaac - coincidentally - but that obviously hadn't been the course she ended up taking. Maybe it shouldn't be the course today either? She really had no idea.  

[TawnyAngel]

Exactly what passed between Sera and the unseen ghost Taavi didn't know but he felt safe in assuming she'd update him if it was important. What were they going to do though? Taavi nibbled his lower lip thoughtfully for a moment, trying to decide what was best; the pokemon centre was quite a ways off but it was the best place to go, safe and if necessary they could contact the league from there.

"Yeah," he said aloud, though he frowned a little as he spoke. "It's safe there and we can find out what's going on from Diancie... maybe without dropping the illusion though, that would attract a whole lot of attention." Because, you know, Legendary. Right there. It currently looked like Isaac but it was right there. "It's a ways off though, the centre, do you have somebody who can give you a ride? I've got a couple who can fly, we can make sure nobody's following."  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Sera's pale gaze lingered on Taavi's lip as he nibbled it briefly, and she frowned a tad. He didn't really seem too sure about what to do next either. Not that she could fault him for that really; at least she wasn't the only one trying to figure out what to do here. "Alright," she agreed with a short nod. Someone to give her a ride..? Oh, oh, like that. "I have my Rapidash with me." As she spoke, the brunette withdrew a pokeball from her purse with little effort and released Luna.

The dark patterned Rapidash tossed her head a bit and glanced around, then had to do a double-take when she saw her trainer carrying the Espeon they'd returned months ago. Why...?

"I'll explain later," she told her fire-type as she jogged over to the nearest bench and stood on it. Luna trotted over and stood beside it so Sera could swing herself up onto her saddle, then settled the Diancie - or Isaac's illusion - in front of her. Much to Anya's disappointment, Jacques climbed up onto the bench and mounted Luna behind their trainer. As her pokemon drew closer, Sera spoke to her Rapidash specifically, "We need to get to the pokemon center as fast as possible. So you're flying?" Sera turned her pale gaze round to Taavi this time. "I'll see you at the pokemon center?"  

[TawnyAngel]

"Yeah," Taavi nodded and released Scully from her pokeball in a flash of light, "I'll see you there. We'll watch your back!"

As they took to the sky and his immediate worries faded Taavi realised that this, what had just happened, had to be fate. What were the chances he'd finish up today, that Sera would be free to meet at this time, and in this place, and that Dinacie would have needed them right then? Taavi exhaled softly and reached up to touch the outline of Arceus' symbol under his shirt. Thank you.