[RAID] Tricksters in the Dark

[TRHQ Harvard]

((This Raid mission is for players who signed up in advance. Please don't post if you did not sign up in advance.))

It was shortly after sundown when a small group of Team Rocket members assembled by a black helicopter in the underground hangar. At the head of her miniature audience stood Elite Agent Harvard, looking as stern as ever with arms crossed and feet firmly planted. Her auburn hair was pulled into a tight ponytail at the back of her head, and her usual white uniform boots and gloves had been traded for a near black. The woman could almost be mistaken for a lower rank of authority, if not for the white belt, having been there earlier to secure the chopper, and a general air that suggested one would be doomed to mountains of paperwork if ever she were to be crossed.

"Agents, thank you for arriving on time as instructed. As you have already been informed, we are going out in pursuit of what has been reported by our intel as a possible Legendary Pokemon. Our best assumption is that the Pokemon in question is one known as Mesprit, also known as the Emotion Pokemon. From what I hear, the last time this Pokemon was sighted, it was fleeing a structure belonging to Team Galactic in a different region." Harvard had read the related reports, and had a feeling most of the Rockets before her would be able to make the connection with Galactic's "Machine."

"Tonight, we'll be using cover of dark to search an area in the Sky Peak Mountain foothills. If you have any questions, I suggest asking them now. It's going to be a short flight. Otherwise, agents, please board the helicopter."  

[TawnyAngel]

The Machine. He remembered that thing, the explosion, the world falling, falling off the edge of the platform... and waking up to hear a girl he'd rather liked was dead. Aulus shifted his stance slightly, reaching to his belt to run his fingers over his pokeballs and then to touch the short length of metal that was his telescoped down staff. This wouldn't be like that though, was nothing to do with Galactic at all thank ********. Just find a legendary (just!) and catch it. At least it was only the one they had to deal with he supposed, so long as things didn't go tits up.

"No questions right now," Aulus replied with a small shrug, turning to head onto the helicopter. It would be fine, he was sure. He was competent and all, it would go fine. His hands were sweaty inside his gloves and his heart rate had already picked up.  

[Rocket Agent Jerome]

Jerome rolled his shoulder, feeling the give of the fabric, followed with a good cracking of his neck.
It had been a long time coming with his physical therapy since the last time he had gone on a mission, certainly not and easy time of it either.
the kind of damage his body took was extensive, there would have been doubt that he would ever be mission ready again.
But, well, here he was, walking without so much of a limp as he and the other Grunts joined the Elite in front of the chopper.
Crossing his arms over his chest, he watched the women as she spoke, absently playing with the inside of his lip piercing.
A Legendary this time? He wasn't familiar with the one she was talking about, not something that would be hard to look up on the Dex though.

Bro' floating passively next to Jerome, eying the man's hair that had been tied back to keep it from getting in the way. didn't seem to be paying attention like the humans were, only drifting along with Jerome as the man, who did not have any questions, followed the others when they got into the helicopter.  

[Rocket Agent Tambrey]

A mission to go after a legendary; not to fight Galactic, not to steal something that other people probably wanted... It felt unlikely that this might be a trap, and she was sure the team would have enough intelligence to ensure that was so.

Even so, it had been a while since a mission like this and Tambrey felt rather nervous about it.
She busily recalled what she could about the pokémon mentioned (and was pleased to not remember anything directly relating to electrical abilities) before checking the pokéballs on her belt for the final time.
Satisfied, and not really thinking of any questions she really needed to ask, she had a glance around, smiling slightly, to see familiar faces- it was reassuring either despite or because of the experience they'd shared, plus being among friends- before moving to board the helicopter herself.  

[LexThetaSigma]

A legendary, huh? It could be worse, Rory thought as he listened to the elite speak. Mespirit...he wasn't as familiar with that one as he probably should have been; it was going to be interesting.

He rolled his shoulder to loosen it up a bit, and to make sure there was no twinges lingering from the recently removed stitches, before palming the pokeballs on his belt. He had brought along one that he trusted and his two most recent acquisitions, leaving his most loyal of the five behind with the baby pokemon. He glanced at the familiar faces around him and nodded to Harvard.

"No questions, ma'am."  

[Natsuko-neko]

The mention of Galactic made Xander shift slightly and brush his fingers against his pokeball's absentmindedly as if checking they were there. If it was a legendary connected to them then there was a chance the other team could show up then right? He pushed that thought way and focused back on Harvard. "No questions here, ma'am." He said then moved to head into the helicopter as well. He hoped he didn't end up sitting by a window.  

[TRHQ Harvard]

Harvard nodded to herself in approval as the group boarded. Right. So far, so good. She hadn't spotted any potential troublemakers, and no one here seemed to be a stranger or odd one out. Some looked to be on the nervous side of things, but really, this mission was fairly simple. It could do this crowd some good after what she'd read about previous missions.

"Good," Harvard commented aloud, climbing aboard after the others and taking her seat. "We'll keep it as simple as can be. Find it, grab it, and bag it." It was almost boring in its simplicity. When everyone was secured, she gave Stephen the pilot the order to go. The man seemed to be one of the twitchier pilots in the field, and Harvard could only wonder what that was about.

After a fairly short trip, the aircraft landed with minimal jostle in a clearing. The landing spot itself was within the Cypress Forest, but it was easy to see that they weren't far off from the gradual inclines found leading up to a mountain. Harvard was first out and moving away, keeping her head low as the blades powered down overhead and not standing straight until she was clear. Two Rockets in black ran up and spoke briefly with the Elite. She turned back to her own team, holding a single-page map printout of the area and again looking and sounding all business.

"We'll be moving on foot a short distance east from here. Look for anything that could suggest the presence of something not native to this area. Also keep an eye out for hiding places. Caves, hollowed trees, things like that. Wherever it's hiding, it's somewhere near here. Let's go." She nodded in the direction they would be moving and started forward.

((Clues! Find me clues!))  

[TawnyAngel]

Find it, grab it, and bag it.

Simple.

Aulus spent most of the flight looking out of the window, occasionally glancing around at his comrades. Most of them shared his...recent experiences (though they weren't so recently anymore they still felt it) and he had to wonder how they were feeling. Were they scared too? Before Galactic he had been brash he supposed, scared when rocks were falling on his head or something but not whilst just sitting and waiting. Perhaps this was a more natural way for a person to be really, or a person living this kind of life anyway. Any mission could be your last one, hell, if you were unlucky there might even just be a power failure that led to the escape of an angry legendary.

Aulus moved quickly to disembark when they landed, didn't really like feeling trapped inside the metal box. As he listened to Harvard's instruction he released Tortie and Paul from their pokeballs; the dark type moved to stand at his side and the bug type scrambled quickly up onto his shoulder. Time to go.

Aulus set off behind the elite, fingers brushing over his pokeballs and weapon once again. He knew it was all in order but he felt compelled to keep checking anyway, because what if it wasn't and he was left defenceless? He already had Tortie out at least though and Paul too; the spider might be weak in combat but he had a few very useful abilities. He suddenly recalled the little bug weaving web over Jerome's gunshot wounds as they had fled the base and his dark red eyes flickered over to the tattooed grunt. That was one good thing at least, seeing him well enough to be here today. For a while he had thought he wouldn't make it at all.

Shaking his head Aulus pulled his attention away from Jerome and his spinning thoughts, trying to focus instead on their wider surroundings. If he was a small pink legendary in a forest, where would he hide?  

[Rocket Agent Jerome]

Jerome had to admit, he was starting to feel better and better about this mission, seeing many familiar faces in the helicopter.
The Grunt couldn't help a slight grin when he realized who he would be working with, and with it the feeling of togetherness, and comradery, one that he had not felt in a very very long time.
No way they weren't going to get this mission done.

Hopping down from the helecopter with the rest of them, the dark eyed gangster scanned around the wilderness, a flight frown forming on his lips.
"Well ********." He muttered.
Look for something out of the ordinary, how the ******** did he know what was out of the ordinary in the woods? He was a street gangster. Street, as in City!

Bro seemed to be thinking the same thing, becasue the ghost's snicker reached the gangster's ears, earning the ghost a very unimpressed look.
"Sh't ******** up Bro'" Jerome grumbled, before starting out to try and get to work, waving his pokemon out "Go look around."

Bro grinned wide, saluting his best friend before floating off to start squeezing himself into any small aria he could think to use as a hiding place.
Jerome himself followed after the others.  

[Rocket Agent Tambrey]

The simplicity sounded good, plus this felt a lot more like something, field-wise, she'd imagined doing back when Tambrey was first 'persuaded' to join Team Rocket.
Finding a legendary. Admittedly, before she joined, she'd have rather wanted to find and observe rather than capture, but capture was beneficial to the labs and, upon joining, it would have been very naive not to realise the priority would have to change; a couple of years in and it was easy to accept. It even gave a flutter of excitement; they could catch a Mesprit...

On foot, moving east... Looking for evidence of something non-native.
Well... Pygi, being normal coloured, was unlikely to stand out, aside from being fairly large, Tambrey reasoned, and would be a good 'eye' to have in the air.
She let the Pidgeot out.
"Fly up and look for signs of anything, uh, livin' here that shouldn't, kay? Especially anything pink, y'know, sort of 'Lasi-coloured'? Just stay up there unless y' spot something for now."
That done, she considered her other pokémon... Who better in a forest than a grass type, perhaps?
Treestar was released next and she crouched to explain it to him.
"We're looking for a pokémon that doesn't 'belong' here, okay? Somethin' out of place. I want y' to help us search, but... Very important. No noise or running off."
Treestar, hopefully, would understand and remember that. He certainly seemed like he was 'searching' as they began to walk with the rest of the team.
Tambrey cast her eyes about, glancing for familiar faces, smiling slightly to Rory, though her eyes lingered on his shoulder, noting the well-being of the others before trying to refocus on the task.
If she were a wild pokémon, she'd want a ready food-source... water too... She kept an eye out for berry bushes while listening for any sound of running water.  

[LexThetaSigma]

Rory followed the others out of the helicopter and looked around where they had landed. Forests, he'd never been too good with forests. He had always had to make sure he had his maps on him for the longest time until he got used to the few that he had frequented before.

Harvard's commands had been simple enough; keep an eye out. As they headed towards the east, Rory let Jace out of his ball and looked down at the black Charmander. "We're gonna need some extra help; look for caves or anywhere a pokemon could be hiding."

The pokemon nodded and headed forward when he spotted Treestar near by; Jace kept his eyes open as he sniffed for any not-to-familiar scents and kept one eye on the grass type.  

[Natsuko-neko]

Xander was very thankful to not have gotten stuck by a window. Very, very thankful. He fiddled with Conrad's pokeball through the flight, trying not to think too much on anything other then the current objective. He spotted Jerome's grin and smiled at the other man briefly. He then mentally went over what he knew about the legendary but it wasn't much so half way through the flight he pulled out his 'dex and started to look over the information.

Once they had landed he put the 'dex away after one more look at the picture and climbed out of the helicopter. He looked around then pulled two pokeballs from his belt and released his Eevee and Pidgeot. "Conrad, search for any hiding places, Fai, get up high and help Pygi keep an eye out for a grey and pink pokemon." Conrad waved his tail the took off towards a cluster of tree's while Fai chirped in happiness and took off after the other flying pokemon.  

[TRHQ Harvard]

A small flash of light near Harvard cued the release of Stanford the Furret. "Track it," was the only order given by his owner, to which the long rodent-like creature happily complied and scurried into the brush.

Aulus, if he was being observant, might notice a dark space at the bottom of an old tree he was passing. The moon's rays were bright enough to keep them all from constantly tripping, but even that light could not seem to penetrate the hollow gap alone.

Jerome would likewise pass near a trail of broken twigs in the brush.

Tambrey would find that something had definitely been finding a food source, and had eaten well if it was indeed alone. Almost every berry bush they may cross would have tell-tale signs of missing fruit  

[TawnyAngel]

"Hu." Aulus scowled, paused and backed up a couple of paces, crouching down and fumbling in one of his pockets for a standard issue compact torch, or flashlight as they would have it of course. "There's a hollow here," he called as he switched on his light and peered closer.

Tortie, standing beside him, growled suspiciously and hackled; if something was in there and thought it was going to bite Aulus it had another thing coming. Her.  

[Rocket Agent Jerome]

While everything seemed to be growing nicely, he was sure there wasn't anything unusual about that, he did notice that there was a number of broken twigs. Obviously something had to do it, but what, he honestly couldn't tell you, from what he understood there were a lot of wild pokemon in the forest.

Crouching down, he picked a few of them up, turning them in his fingers before the sound of Aulus talking caused him to glance over at the other Rocket.
"Somethin's livin' here." He muttered as he walked up behind Aulus.
"S'for sure."

Reaching to his belt, Jerome pulled out another pokeball, tossing it casually to the side.
Boss popped out of it, stretching his arms and letting out an audible snort.