Team Rivalries

Daphne placed her plump, red lips around the straw of her pink strawberry soda as she sat cross-legged in the Mess Hall of the Team Galactic base. She giggled and smiled as she enjoyed the fizzy, strawberry taste. Her chocolate eyes glanced about the room, looking at the other Gijinkas, who had all seem worn out from battle. Clothes were dirty and torn, many wore tired expressions and struggled to stay on their feet. Daphne, however, looked fine; not a scratch or anything on her. Many male Gijinkas from Team Galactic had defended her completely through out the battle, much to her pleasure. She didn't want to dirty her hands if she didn't have to!

It amused her to see the two teams, who had once held alliance, fighting over Pokémon that had been stolen. Both blamed each other, when really it was her real team, Team Rocket! Of course, no one in Team Galactic or Plasma knew about it, or knew she was a spy. No one suspected her, and she was glad of that. Though she was a spy for Rocket, she did care about a few of the Galactic members she really did care for. Though her loyalties truly lied with Rocket, Galactic wasn't too bad.

Daphne finished off her soda, eating the deep red strawberry that was pressed onto the rim of the glass. This mess hall sure did know how to dress up drinks. The Persian Gijinka's eyes landed on a handsome man who was dressed as nicely as she was. Dark suit and hat, along with a luxurious dark cloak what was a deep red on the inside. He was making his way the mess hall, heading to get an entree, the beautiful woman guessed. She smirked, ready to work her charm. "Yoohoo, honey!" She cooed, batted her eyes and putting on a wide smile. "Mind getting me another one of the delightful strawberry sodas? With a strawberry on the rim, please~" She gave a little giggle.

Ezra, the Honchkrow Gijinka, who had been thinking of how great some mashed potatoes would be right then, was pulled from his thoughts by a wonderful sounding female voice. He turned his crimson eyes on the red-dressed, cat-like woman sitting at a table by herself. She gave him a flirtatious and possibly lustful look. He had to admit, she was a sight for sore eyes! And being a gentleman, he couldn't decline.

"Sure thing, my treat." He called with a charming smile, as he headed over to the woman serving beverages. He ordered the older woman her pretty pink soda and a coffee for himself. As he strutted back to the beautiful woman, he said with a smirk, "Here you are, miss."

She winked at him, and immediately sipped at her soda. "Thanks Sweetie. Call me Daphne." Ezra dipped his head, giving her his name. "Ezra." He then to a swig of his coffee.

Ezra's crimson eyes wandered about the room, hoping they'd land on a team member he did recognize. He figured Daphne was a new recruit.

-------------

Cleo exited the infirmary, inspecting her newly bandaged arm. She'd been cut during the battle against Galactic. She was lucky she hadn't taken more damage. She dusted off her outfit, which was mostly white. Thankfully it hadn't been too dirtied from fighting. Though she'd obtained a nasty cut, she'd done ten times worse to her enemy. Cleo was a powerful opponent. She ran her hand through her dark hair, her tan skin looking nicely against the black sheet that was her hair. As she slowly walked, she glanced about at her fellow Plasma members, while wondering if she should get something to eat or relax somewhere for a bit.

 

As the multitude of worn-out Team Galactic members filtered into the Mess Hall, a pair separated from the rest. One was a pleasant, pink-haired Espeon gijinka; the other, a pretty well-dressed Beheeyem gijinka. The two drifted from the group to talk briefly.

"What possessed you to fight, Lea?" the Beheeyem asked flatly. Though he was genuinely concerned for her well-being, he hid it from his voice.

"The guy hit me first! What was I supposed to do?" Lea responded, rubbing her left arm in an effort to ease the pain. She'd taken a pretty hefty blow to her upper arm during the brawl; she was lucky that it was the only injury she got.

"What you should have done was get out of there," the Beheeyem said with a small sigh. "Those brawls aren't your business. You know that. Stay out of them."

"That's what you would have done, Cerebrum," Lea countered, glaring into his bright green eyes. The man had the remarkable ability to walk away from just about anything, regardless of how severe it might be. Battles were no exception. "Sadly, we all aren't like you." The Espeon gijinka huffed and changed the subject. "You want something to eat? I'm kind of hungry."

"I'm not particularly hungry," Cerebrum replied, "but I will get myself a drink, I suppose." With that, the pair merged back with the rest of the Team Galactic members going about their business. Lea entered the food line while Cerebrum got drinks for the two of them. He found a table with a pair of other gijinkas and figured that would be a good place to sit. One of these gijinkas appeared to be a well-dressed Honchkrow, and the other, an equally elegant Persian.

"I assume these seats are open?" he asked the two, setting his drink on the table. He tipped his hat to the rather pretty Persian gijinka courteously. Even if they weren't taken, Cerebrum took a seat anyway. He'd been up and about rather early today, so he needed to sit down for a bit. The Beheeyem recognized the Honchkrow gijinka, Ezra, but not the Persian. "Might you be a new recruit, Miss? I don't recall seeing you before," he inquired, taking a sip of his drink.

Lea arrived a few moments later with a tray of food. The Mess Hall was serving chicken today; a fairly rare occasion, and one of Lea's favorites. She sat next to Cerebrum. "Hey there, Ezra," she greeted the Honchkrow before digging into her food. Man, was she hungry!

 

After the fight, Kazuro looked kinda like a mess. His curls were straight down, along with his tuffs. He didn't even look like a Blissey gijinka, let alone a male! Though, he still did alot of damage to his opponent, with his Sing-Dream Eater combo. The only damage he took was a scar on his cheek, though it was pretty tiny. Kazuro went to his room, and got his brush to fix his hair back up. Kazuro didn't mind his hair down, its just that he preferred it to be curled. He had then left, and started to walk down the halls until he noticed Cleo coming from the infirmary, so he stopped to talk some.
"Hey, Cleo! How did the battle against Galatic go for you? To me, it was pretty easy. I only got a scar on my cheek, but it'll go away soon."

 

Daphne could've mewled in delight when a handsome young man who looked similar to a Beeheeyem took a seat by her. Yay, new a cutie! "Hi there, sweetie." She cooed, offering a dazzling smile and a wink, excited that he'd decided to sit with she and Ezra. "I'm Daphne Rossdale."

"Hey, Cerebrum. You do okay in that fight we just had? Man, I think it was totally unnecessary for everyone to just start fighting like that. I get that we have our issues but.. I'd rather talk things out as long as I can before getting my hands dirty. Stupid grunts not being able to control their temper, starting fights.." He trailed off, remembering a grunt from Plasma throwing a punch randomly at a Galactic member, initiated the physical fight.

The good looking male had asked if Daphne was a new recruit- which was kind of true, she'd only joined Galactic the other day. She giggled, which sounded like a little melody. "Oh, mmhmm! Sure am. Just joined just the other day." She winked, sipping at her strawberry soda once again. "How long have you been here, Honey?" She glanced at he and Ezra. "You two are so well-mannered! What could gentlemen such as yourselves be in an organization like this?" She then rested her chin on her well manicured hand, giving the men her full attention, as she listened to them talk about the fighting that had just happened. Ezra didn't seem to enjoy fighting.

While he waited on Cerebrum's reply, he smiled at Daphne, preparing to answer her question. "I joined because of the technology the two teams have. That Gijinka making machine is amazing.." he breathed. He scratched the back of his head while holing his grin. "I like to tinker with electronics and such." Daphne was surprised that he didn't seem interested in doing bad things with his Team- just interested in their technology.

It wasn't long before Lea, Drakia, Yang and a man Ezra didn't recognize joined them at their table- which was now beginning to get too full for his liking. "Lea, Yang, Drakia. Good to see you gals again. You girls doing okay? You look pretty bandaged up, Drakia." Ezra noted worriedly to the Lapras-girl. He glanced to the darkly dressed man. "You're new." He said, curiosity in his voice.

Daphne loved how full the table had gotten! The more, the merrier! She winked at the three ladies and the man the others didn't recognized- Nolan, a fellow Team Rocket member in disguise. "Yoohoo, hi there~" She cooed to the newcomers. When Ezra questioned Nolan, she giggled and spoke up. "Ooh, Nolan was recruited the same day as me! We met each other at the entrance of the city!" She exlaimed excitedly.

Lea had taken a seat next to her, eating her dinner. The Persian woman flicked her tail in approval at the girl's pretty pink hair. "Your hair is very pretty." She said with a smile. "Is it natural?"

--------

Cleo was still wondering the halls, a hard look on her pretty face. However, she stopped in her tracks and her expression softened a little when the bubbly Kazuro bounded over to her, his pink hair freshly curled. "Hello, Kazuro," she called in her Egyptian-like accent, dipping her head to him. He seemed to be okay from their previous fight with Galactic. "It went quite well for me. Only got a gash from an Ice Shard on my arm." She said, pointing to her wrapped arm. "I left my opponent with harsh wounds as payback. I hope I won't scar." She said with a little worry. She was usually pretty good at healing up without scars, though.

She turned her attention back to Kazuro, looking the pink boy over. He'd make a good friend and ally, she noted to herself in her head. He was kind, and a healer. He'd be a big help in battle, and his cheery attitude might help with her seemingly hard one. She offered him a small smile. "Are you hungry? We could go get something to eat.."

 

Tsukune, beaten from battle, clutched his right arm. A gash was present on it, crimson slowly staining his shirt. Another wound was visible on his torso; it was more of a shallow cut but it still bled. Sitting down at a table in the mess hall, he took a few napkins and pressed them against his arm to stop the flow of the vital liquid. Behind him was Heather, hardly injured but tired from the fight. She too was fretting over Tsukune's wounds, checking for other illness and infection. The Lucario throughout this ordeal simply laid his head down in the table, moaning and sighing. "Heather, I'm fine. You don't need to check me over sixteen times," he said. The Zangoose have him a stern look. "We'll we need to get you to the hospital wing." Grabbing Tsukune's uninjured arm, she hauled him up and began dragging him away to the medical wing.

A few stitches and healing salves later, Tsukune was healed and the bleeding was stopped. Hungry, he headed over to the line of other Gijinkas to snag some food, bringing enough back for him and Heather to share. "Whew. Goddamn that was harsh," he said through a mouthful of chicken. Heather nodded her head in agreement. "If you hadn't decided to lend a hand to the other squadron they'd be seriously hurt or worse." She brushed back her bright red hair. "You really need to start caring about yourself instead of being the hero all the time."

Tsukune glared at her, his jade eyes burning from the fight. "I promised my father I'd defend everyone I knew to the end. I'm not backing down on that." The Lucario took a bite of a maroon apple. The Zangoose sighed. "You mean your Lucario father? You do know he's-"

"Being contained for possible experiments," he interrupted. "I can't let this group screw with my father and mother after what they did to me." He sat straight up like a board. His gaze caught eye of Cleo, talking to another member of Plasma. Tsukune, wanting to be friends with all, waved at the girl, inviting her over to his table. Heather's didn't seem to approve of this as she pulled down his arm. "You look like an idiot, stop," she playfully teased.

 

Soon after Cerebrum had taken his seat, Ezra asked him a question. "Don't get me started on that brawl," he huffed. "'Unnecessary' is an understatement. I agree with diplomacy before coming to blows. If only our superiors agreed..." He paused, taking a sip of his drink. "As for the battle, I was perfectly fine. A few new gijinkas and grunts thought it would be entertaining to try to fight me. A little Trick Room took care of them." He chuckled as he said this. Cerebrum took a strange joy in messing with his opponent's minds during battle, and Trick Room was one of his favorites. "How about yourself? How did you fair?"

A few moments later, Daphne posed a question of her own. "I agree with what Ezra said," the Beheeyem replied with a nod. "The machine is simply fascinating. One can only imagine the potential that the device holds. As for my reasons for joining, I saw the potential that the agreement between the teams held for humanity. I want to be a part of the group that creates the bright new future for humanity." His explanation probably sounded a bit too grand for the situation, but it was the truth. Cerebrum wanted to improve humanity however he could.

Lea almost missed Daphne's compliment about her hair. Wiping her mouth, she chimed, "Oh, thank you. You'd think it isn't natural since it's pink, but it is." The Espeon ran her hand through her hair, smoothing out any imperfections that might be present. Unsure of a compliment to return, Lea said, "Your hair's pretty nice, too. All wavy like that." In truth, the Persian gijinka made her feel self-conscious. Her face was absolutely flawless; Lea thought her own face to be ugly by comparison. She flushed faintly before returning to her food.

 

Onyx was making her way down the area where the other, and more important, Plasma members were hanging out. Though as she didn't care on who they were, she was more concerned with getting rid of this kid that kept following her. She bore an annoyed glare as this Zubat kid kept tailing her. "You keep bugging me, kid. I'm going to sock you one in the throat. just like how I handled those losers from Galactic."

"You know. Sometimes I wonder what the current situation really means! Like are we all being mind controlled or something? Maybe aliens are taking over our brains an-" Zeke continued to badger Onyx about the current situation but he was interrupted by a fist to the gut. The force had made him fall onto the ground with a thud. Landing on his butt, he looked up at the angered Froslass while he held his gut tightly with both arms. Onyx had punched him.

It seemed that he had finally ticked her off.

"I don't give a rats on what you think kid. Go play in a sandbox somewhere and leave me be." She leaned down to him and pressed her hand against the kid's forehead and forcefully shoved him away from her. She continued on with walking down the path. Despite the punch and the push, neither didn't prevent the annoying Zubat to follow in pursuit as he had quickly leapt back to his feet and continued to stalk after her.

She reached Cleo and those surrounding her. Onyx folded her arms and snickered, completely ignoring Zeke standing near her. "Hello Pharaoh of the Plasma Team. How are you today on this lovely day? Needless to say, punching a couple of those dumb Galactic grunts in the face was a lot of fun."

"You know, you may be pretty but you're a meanie." Zeke finally said to her.

"Good. Maybe it'll make guys think twice about thinking of me as a damsel in distress. And MAYBE it'll make you stop stalking me. Creep." She snorted before she looked to the others while shoving the Zubat kid away again. "Now go away and let us older people talk."

Zeke frowned and continued to remain near her. He enjoyed bugging the seemingly angry Frosslass. For some reason, it was just all fun and games to him! Zeke couldn't do this to his own brother because all he did was whine and moan. Onyx was hilarious-though he didn't like the punches. He had to admit though, she was quite pretty despite the ugly personality. "Hello everyone!" He greeted. "Do we have any other plans today? Maybe we should go and sneak up on the Galactics and punch them!"

"You do that and let us know how it went." Onyx said with disinterest.

-----

Joe walked into the mess hall holding her arm tightly. The previous fight with team Plasma left her with some minor battle wounds. A large gash was made on her arm which was tightly bounded with gauze and medical tape. She didn't complain though. As the matter of fact, she never really spoke to the others. Joe was still trying to act like a male rather than have people know she's a female.

Grabbing some food, she turned to the rest of the room. All the Galactic members were eagerly eating away their food and joking to one another. It was an odd sight to see, especially being that they all just got done having a fight with the Plasma Squad. But it was a bit relieving to see that, despite the negative turn of events, they all seemed friendly with one another.

Though not seeing anyone she really wanted to sit with, she made way over to Daphne and company. Standing near them, while holding her food she lowered her voice to make herself sound a little more masculine. She waited for the right moment before she asked; "May I sit with you, please?" Joe wasn't sure how long it would be before people found out she was female but that didn't bother her. She was worried that she would have to sit on the ground near a wall again and eat alone once more. She hoped that these folks would let her sit with them!

 

Ezra sipped at his beverage, scooting around so that those beside him had more room to sit. He listened quietly to Cerebrum's apparent wins in his fights against their opposing teams. The Beeheeyem boy then asked how he did. "Not too bad, I got a little dusted up and bruised, but nothing serious. None of my opponents seemed to be able to control their Pokémon side, yet. Must have been freshly made into Gijinkas." He paused for a moment. "Speaking of our leaders, when d'you think our next meeting will be? We've got to have some plan after all that's happened."

Daphne continued to absent mindedly play with Lea's hair. Hopefully it wouldn't weird her out too much. "It's such a gorgeous color!" she smiled when Lea complimented her hair. "Thanks, doll! It wasn't this bright of a blonde color until I was changed into a Persian Gijinka. i style it every morning to get the waves, but it doesn't take too long, thankfully! If it did, I don't think I'd style it." She then whispered in the pink headed girl's ear. "Is that man your boyfriend?" She mean Cerebrum. Daphne began to giggle, her white teeth exposed. She liked this Lea!

Through all the talking, Ezra heard a quiet boy approach and speak to them, asking if he could sit with them. There wasn't much room at their table, but Ezra wasn't eating,so he'd give up his seat. He flashed the boy a charming smile, and stood. "Sure! Here, take my seat. I wasn't eating anyways, and I don't mind standing!" He looked the boy over. He had a few feminine features, but that wasn't what Ezra was interested in. He was trying to remember this boy's name! It clicked in his head. "Joe..isn't it?"

------------

Cleo, who was about to turn into the Mess Hall with Kazuro, stopped when Onyx and some kid approached her. She snorted when Onyx called her "Pharaoh". "Hullo, Onyx." She said in her usual distant tone. She offered a small smile when the previous fight was brought up. "Yes, I agree. It was good releasing some tension through fighting. I got a nasty gash from an Ice Shard, but I took care of my opponent."

She glanced at Kazuro. "This is Kazuro. We're about to head into the Mess Hall." She looked at the Zubat-ish boy behind Onyx. She gave him a hard look. "What is that?" She stated flatly.

Something caught her attention in the corner of her eye. She turned her heavily eyelined red eyes towards the mess hall, spotting Tsukune and Heather. Tsukune was giving a big wave at her, as if inviting she and her friends to his table. She eyed two, unsure and kind of shy to approach. She was never good with people, and struggled to make friends. She guessed she was hard to approach. She'd worked with Tsukune and Heather before, and they'd always been nice to her, despite she never saying much. Without telling her group, she moved forward. The Egyptian princess figured they'd follow her, anyways.

When she arrived, Cleo dipped her head to the two, her dark hair surrounding her face for a few seconds as the beads swayed in her headdress. "Hello, Tsukune, Heather. I think we will join you." With that, she sat next to Tsukune, the cold seats giving her goosebumps all over. She waited for the rest of the group to sit with them. She noticed Tsukune's stitches. "Were you hurt in battle?" Her accent was thick when she spoke. "Looks like Heather patched you up well." In truth, Cleo felt awkward. She blushed a little, unsure of how to talk to the two Gijinkas she'd never spoken much to before. She was familiar with Onyx and Kazuro, seeing as their dorms were near hers. But besides the field work with Heather and Tsukune, she didn't know them well.

 

When Cleo had told Kazuro they could get something to eat, he had replied, "Sure, I am pretty hungry after that fight. When they were about to go in the Mess Hall, though, a Frosslass and Zubat had came over to them.
"Hey, Onyx and Zeke, how'd the battle go for you?", Kazuro had asked them, with a questioned look on his face. He had figured that Onyx beat her opponent quite easily, but he wasn't sure about how it went for Zeke.
Though, when Cleo had mentioned her gash from an Ice Shard, Kazuro had lost all interest in the question he asked, and told Cleo, "If you want, I could heal up that gash you got, since I am a Blissey gijinka. I have gotten a few gashes, and I didn't really like how they felt, and I didn't even care for it, but I would had preferred not getting the gash."
A few moments later, 2 other gijinkas, Tsukune and Heather, had called Cleo over. Kazuro had decided to go, but firstly gotten his tray though, since like he said earlier, he was hungry.
They were serving chicken today, though, which wasn't part of Kazuro's tastes.
Though, he got a small portion, because beggars can't be choosers. After getting his tray, he had joined the 3 gijinkas at the table. The first thing he noticed though, were Tsukune's stiches. Kazuro had asked the same question Cleo had; was he hurt in battle.
To Kazuro, it seemed like Tsukune had trouble with his battle. "If you want, I could heal you? You seem like you had troubles in your battle.", Kazuro had told Tsukune.

 

Lea nodded in approval as Daphne talked about her hair. She figured the Persian styled it; a look like that doesn't come naturally. She almost choked on the remainder of her food. She swallowed awkwardly before exlaiming, "My what?!" Cerebrum glanced at her from the corner of his eye and she flushed bright red with embarrassment. "N-no, he's not..." the Espeon gijinka muttered. She shook her head and finished her food in an awkward silence. She rose and took her tray back to the dish-washing area.

Cerebrum nodded a bit as Ezra said he fared well. "An unusual amount of new gijinkas are being made recently, wouldn't you agree?" the Beheeyem asked. Indeed, it seemed as though the two teams had prepared for something like a betrayal on someone's part. Whether that was the case or it was merely coincidence, he didn't know. Ezra mentioned the leaders needing to meet. "Yes, I do think a meeting is in order..." He trailed off, his mind shifting to another matter. He had somewhere to be. He rose from his seat. "If you'll excuse me, I have a matter to attend to." With that, he exited the Mess Hall and walked off.

Lea returned to find Cerebrum missing. It wasn't out of the ordinary, but she was curious. "Hey, does anyone know where Cerebrum went off to?" she asked, taking her seat once again.

 

As Ezra rose from his seat, Joe tilted her head to the side for a moment. What was he doing? He then offered her his seat! She felt bad about having to get him to surrender his seat for her. Joe wanted to protest against it but he admitted that he didn't mind standing. "Oh. . . Thank you." Joe managed to speak up quietly to Ezra. Joe quietly took the seat and placed her food onto the table.

There were conversations already going as she got herself seated. Joe had no idea what they were going on about but she decided to just keep her mind to her food and remain silent. She did notice that Ezra was looking at her. Joe was hoping that he wouldn't figure out that she was a female. If the other Galactic head-hanchos found out about her, they might can her. And whose to mention how they'll do it? For all she knows, they could just throw her in the middle of a desert, abandoned on a raft in the middle of the ocean, stabbed. These thoughts were creeping over her like a shadow creature in a horror film.

But all he asked was for her name. Joe nodded, quietly. "I don't talk much." She replied to him solemnly. In normal circumstances she was a chatterbox. But she really wanted to be on Galactic and the members she confronted didn't want her to join because she was a female. So cross-dressing and acting as a male was the only way she was able to get into the team. It was a lame excuse and way to fit in, but it gave her something to do.

"Sorry. I don't remember your name, sir. What was it again?" She looked up to Ezra. She hoped he didn't get mad for her forgetting his name.

Then there was a loud bang. Joe jumped, knocking her soda over and the liquid fizzed on the table. She quickly grabbed for a napkin to pat it dry. After she did that, she gave an irritated look to Nolan and Yang. "Crazy. . . " She mumbled under her breath as she looked down at the mess she had made on accident. Joe sighed. "Waste of a good soda."

----

"Oh him?" Onyx tilted her head to Zeke who was still waving like a doofus. "Oh it's some Thing that keeps following me around. It's annoying. Though it is a good distraction."

"I'm a boy! The name is Zeke." He sulked.

Ignoring Zeke, she gave Kazuro a friendly smile which was a sudden switch from her current agitated mood. "Hello, Kazuro. The battle went great! Those punks didn't expect a pretty gal like me to pack a punch~" She couldn't help but boast about her fights she had.

"I did awesome!" Zeke chimed as he tried to sound just as epic as Onyx did. Of course if anyone knew any better, Zeke was just this annoying kid. All he probably did was annoy his opponents to death.

"I dunno. That kid that looked like a Pawniard certainly kicked your butt. But I suppose that would be awesome." Onyx had to rin his moment of false glory.

Zeke frowned at her. "Well! I didn't expect a guy that short could be so strong! Did you see how fast he hit me?! It was like fighting a ninja! But a short one! I should fight him again!"

"Go for it." Onyx shook her head as she looked back to the others and followed them to the next room. Onyx took a seat, not really minding the fact that the seat was chilly. Ever since she was placed through that Gijinka machine, she loves the cold. Upon sitting down, she crossed her leg over a knee and leaned back. "I'm not one for battles but something about them is exhilarating!"

 

Daphne giggled and swished her tail in delight at Lea's reaction to her question about Cerebrum being her boyfriend. "Why not? He's a cutie~" she cooed at the embarrassed Espeon hybrid. Daphne felt it go awkward between them, and she felt kind of bad for putting the girl on spot. She'd apologize when she returned from throwing her food away.

"Yeah, sure has been." Ezra muttered, deep in thought. "It was like each team was preparing for something like this to happen.." He shook the thought away, not wanting to think about it. He was sure it was impossible- both teams were getting along so well, they didn't need to prepare for something like this. He was drawn from his thoughts when Cerebrum said he had something to tend to. "See you, Cerebrum!"

Joe had quietly spoken up to him. "Huh? Oh, it's Ezra." The boy had also said he didn't talk much. Ezra wondered if he had many friends. He'd never seen Joe hang around with anyone until now, with his group. He didn't mind the young boy. He offered him a smile.

"Bye bye, Cutie!" Daphne cooed as Cerebrum left, winking at him. As soon as he left through the doorway, Lea had come back to the table, questioning where Cerebrum had gone off to. "I'm not sure, Honey. He said he had something to do. Listen though, I want to-" The Persian Gijinka jumped with a yowl, startled by a bang at the end of the table. A girl, Yang, was messing with her weapon. Nolan was carelessly messing with a bullet.

Daphne hissed; an irritated expression on her pretty face. Her tail was fluffed up, too. "Hey! You really shouldn't have that thing loaded in here. We've all been in enough danger for one day." As she stood, she placed her arm on Lea's. "Hmph. C'mon, Lea. Do you want to look for Cerebrum?"

Ezra felt something cold hit is pant leg after the loud bang. He glanced down, seeing soda sliding down it. It was dripping off the table edge, splattering off the floor. He shook it off and looked up to see Joe patting the soda dry with a napkin, obviously annoyed by the bang too. The Honchkrow Gijinka wore a scowl, and mumbled to no one in particular. "Must be new recruits.." He spoke up to them. "You ought to be more careful. You could've gotten someone hurt."

He turned to Joe. "I'll get you a new soda." He turned, walking over to the drink table.


---------------

Cleo looked back at the "it" seeing it replied to her, giving her its name. Apparently its name was Zeke, and was a Zubat Gijinka. "Hello, Zeke." She looked him over. "What on earth did you do to piss of the leaders to make them combine you with a Zubat?" She would be in shock if he said he chose to be a Zubat.

As Onyx talked about how she kicked ass with ease (as Cleo expected her to. Onyx was strong!), Kazuro offered to heal her gash. She nodded eagerly. "Yes, I would be grateful if you did, Kazuro." When she had gone to the hospital wing, the place was filled with injured Plasma members. They didn't have time to heal her, just give her a bandage for her arm. She began to unwrap the gauze, revealing a deep gash. She turned from the group, worried some of them would be sickened by the sight of a gash.

She listened to the squeaky voice of Zeke as he spoke about how fast a Pawniard boy had hit him. "Can you fly?" She blurted out. "You might become useful in battle if you actually use your wings." She figured he didn't. Or if he did, he wasn't so great at it!

Cleo nodded to Onyx in agreement. Fighting was exhilarating. "I kind of like fighting. Gets my frustrations out." She felt the dark shadows shift about on her back- the ones that formed black arms in battle.

 

Tsukune smiled; he was glad that Cleo had decided to sit with him. "Yeah, I cut myself with my own sword. I'm not really used to this body quite yet." Heather sighed. "You've been like this for a year and you haven't-"

"Heather, I don't need your attitude." Tsukune glared at her, annoyance flashing in his eyes. The Zangoose huffed, turning away from him before things could escalate. Turning back, Tsukune shook his head to decline Kazuro's offer and said, "No thanks. I've already been to the medical wing and they did a pretty good job. They were really short on staff though." Heather shifted back. "I'll say. It was so bad I had to patch up a few people myself." Tsukune nodded and rubbed the back of his head; Onyx did bring up an odd point. "In all honesty, I don't like to fight. I'm really hoping this all gets settled soon. My mind is going haywire from lack of sleep." The Lucario noticed a small boy hanging around, saying he was a Zubat gijinka. He couldn't help but chuckle. "Wow. How bad did you piss off the others?" He turned back to Kazuro and Cleo. "You know, I never could figure out what gijinkas you two are. What are you... 'fused' with?"

Heather stood up, no longer interested in conversation. "I'm going to go for a walk. Anyone interested?" Without waiting for responses, she headed out the doors of the mess ball into the open air.

 

Lea jumped when she heard the loud bang from one of the people at the table. She was about to scold whoever caused it when Daphne did so herself. As such, the Espeon girl glared at the trio who seemed responsible. "You should be more careful with those," she said. "We don't need any more casualties right now, thank you." She was about to find another seat when Daphne offered to go find Cerebrum. "Sure, I guess. I've got nothing better to do." With that, she made her way out of the Mess Hall.

Cerebrum's slow pace made it easy to catch up with him, though Lea followed at a distance. She was curious about where he was going, but didn't want to let him know that he was being followed. He seemed to be going to the outskirts of the base, where few members ever went. "Where is he going..?" Lea thought out loud. "Why would he be back her? No one ever does anything here." She continued to follow the Beheeyem man at a distance.

 

The thought of losing such delicious soda was bothersome to this girl. If there was anything else in the world that she loved most, aside from her oldest brother, it would be soda. The sweet taste of deliciously carbonated liquid that was bad for you. She didn't care about the health factors of it. It tasted good and she loved it. Her small hands grabbed the empty can and held it there. I suppose I should go get a new one. No need to whine. She thought to herself.

"Yeah they probably are. . ." She mumbled under her breath with a strong sense of irritability within it. Only being there for a couple of months, she still classified herself as a "fairly new recruit," she was sure that she wasn't that clumsy when she started though. Or she hoped.

When Ezra said he was going to go get her another soda, she went to protest. He didn't need to do that for her! "W-Wha?" But he did it anyways and headed over to the cooler to get her another soda. She frowned, looking back to her food tray and the empty can. Joe felt bad that he had to do that but he did offer to do it himself without her asking. How nice!

Ezra then came back with another can of soda. He handed it over to her and she grabbed it with glee. It was like a birthday present she had obtained that was something she was searching for, for years. That was how happy she was. "Thank you, Ezra!" Her voice sounded a bit high for a "boy." But one could have thought that Joe was just super excited and his voice broke. She didn't wait for a single moment before she popped the top and took a gulp.

It was so refreshing.

Her eye did catch something odd about Ezra's leg and she turned to look to him. Soda had gotten onto his pant leg! Quickly she grabbed some napkins and handed it to him. "Sorry about the soda landing on you, sir. Here are some napkins for you though! Thank you again for getting me some more soda."

-----

Zeke tilted his head to the side when Cleo and Tsukune asked him their similar question. What did he do to deserve being a Zubat? That question made this kid laugh. "What?" He held his gut, laughing more. It was so funny!

"I. . . don't see anything hilarious about that question." Onyx said dully to the laughing clown before her. She watched him fold over onto the ground, laughing even more. Seeing him do this only made her want to put duct-tape over his mouth.

"S-S-Sorry!" He sat up and then hopped to his feet again. "I chose to be one! Zubats are AWESOME! Like, they're everywhere and they can annoy you and stuff! They also evolve into cooler looking bats! Bats are just SWEET!"

". . . . . ." It was the most dumbest thing she must have ever heard in her entire life. Onyx just stared at the kid. It was almost as if he had just grew another head right in front of her. "Why on Earth-you know what? It suits you. You're annoying as hell and Zubats are too. Excellent choice."

"I think so myself!" Zeke boasted proudly. He didn't see a single thing wrong with being a Zubat!

"Could have chosen something more fierce like a Haxorus or Gyarados but seeing as where your mentality lies; I'd prefer this." It was a harsh comment but being as cold hearted as she was, it didn't bother her in the slightest.

"They're over-rated." Zeke snorted at her. "Everyone wants to be the tough Pokémon!" He placed his hands on his hips and gave her a sassy glare back. She was being mean!

Cleo at least was being nicer to him. He turned to her and nodded. "Yeah! I can fly! Super awesomely!"

"If you consider flying into the Pawniard boy, awesome." Onyx interjected.

"Well he got in my way!" Zeke frowned. He noticed how Onyx shook her head with disbelief and he sighed. Finally giving up the tough kid act. "I'm really bad at flying." But his energy sprang back up like a bouncy spring. "But I've been practicing!"

Directing her full attention to the Lucario guy, Onyx turned to him. She went to respond to him as to what Pokémon she was fused with but that annoying Zubat interfered once again.

"She's an Onyx! Hence her name and hard-headed brain!"

Without saying a word, she just punched the kid again. He had fallen back onto his butt with, yet another, thud. She looked back to the man talking to her. "My name has nothing to do with the Pokémon I chose. I simply chose a Froslass."

"D-Does that mean when you kill someone, you display them?!" Zeke just HAD to ask. Froslass were known to do that to their prey. So it wasn't an entirely stupid question to her.

"No. But it's beginning to sound like a wonderful idea, at the moment." She bitterly said to him as she stared the kid down. Hinting that she thought about doing it to him. But of course he didn't get her drift.

"Yep. Good choice of Pokémon then." He replied.

"A walk is sounding rather nice. As long as the Annoying Zubat doesn't follow." Onyx replied to Heather. However she knew that this kid would keep following her no matter where she went. And no matter how many times she sucker punched the kid in the gut and face, he was still there. He's like this little minion thing that won't stop being a pest. She heaved a sigh, realizing the circumstances and remained near Cleo. Though if Cleo were to walk after Heather, she would follow behind her. After all, the only person that ever seemed to get along with Onyx, was that woman right there.

 

When Ezra returned with Joe's soda, he gratefully accepted. His voice got rather high pitched for a second, and he figured it was because the boy was still seemingly young. "Hey-it's no problem! Drink up and enjoy. I enjoy a good soda every now and then myself." Now that three people had left the table, there was room for him to sit. He positioned himself next to Joe.

The quiet Pawniard handed him napkins, apologizing for the spill. "Thanks!" He began to dab at the soda on his pant leg. "Good thing these pants are black- won't show a stain! Though I don't think they were stained from this, so don't worry." He added with a smile. Relaxing in his seat, he looked around, watching the two girls, Daphne and Lea, leave to go search for Cerebrum. He was beginning to wonder where the Cerebrum had gone off to himself.

Daphne followed Cerebrum with Lea with stealth. The two young women followed him to the outskirts of the team base; a place not many members ventured to. Daphne was unfamiliar with the area herself. Lea mumbled all the questions the Persian girl had been thinking; why was he here, what was he doing? Daphne whispered to her, her cat-like eyes gleaming in excitement. "Do you think he found a secret entrance to Plasma's base?"

Looking around their area, the pretty woman began to feel uneasy. She wasn't familiar with this area, and it was very quiet. She worriedly asked Lea. "Honey, d'you think some Plasma members are hiding out here, and he sensed them?" She pricked her ears listening for the faintest of sounds, along with sniffing for some unusual scents. She was ready to fight if she had to. What was Cerebrum doing out here?

Ezra hummed a tune as he waited patiently for Joe to finish his soda. As he did, the Honchkrow hybrid rest his head in his hand, looking at the Pawniard boy. "Joe, would you like to look for Cerebrum and the others with me, or for someone with authority? I think it's best we all knew what our next move is from our leader." He looked towards the end of the table where Yang and the others were sitting. "You're welcome to tag along, too." He added to them.

---------------
As Cleo waited for Kazuro to tend to her arm, she listened to those around her bicker. Tsukune had smiled at her for sitting with him, and she nodded and offered a small smile back, unsure of what to do. Zeke the Zubat had been drowning on and on about how cool he thought it was to be a Zubat. She didn't mind Zubats, but Zeke..that was a different story.

She couldn't understand why he didn't want to be a strong Pokémon, that he wanted to be a Zubat. Her accent thick, she spoke. "Why did you not want to be a strong Pokémon? Now that the teams are fighting, you should have chosen a stronger one. You do not want to be an easy defeat" She glanced at Onyx. "Which according to Onyx, you have already proven. I wish you luck in later battles, and that you are put on a good squad who can back you up, you'll need it."

It's not that she didn't think Zeke couldn't be strong, she just worried he couldn't do to his attitude. He seemed like he'd be careless in battle, which would make him be an easy target. "If you were put on my squad, I would straighten you out."

The Cofagrigus woman laughed when Zeke said that Onyx was fused with an actual Onyx, and not a Froslass. Her laughter was happy and bubbly, something that wasn't normally heard in her voice. Cleo listened to her own laughter, still unused to the sound. Her eyes glimmered as she spoke to the Zubat boy, who was now on the ground from the punch Onyx had given him. "You are a funny one. Dimwitted and annoying, but funny."

Tsukune had asked what she was fused with, too. No one had really asked her before. As she thought about her Pokémon side, her eyes gleamed a bright red. "Cofagrigus." She answered. Cleo felt four shadowy hands ghost out of her back, one positioning itself to shake hands with Tsukune.

Cleo turned when she heard Heather get out of her seat, saying she was going on a walk. Cleo wouldn't have minded going for a walk, but she was going to wait for Kazuro to patch her up, and give her the OK before she did a lot of moving around.