Ready, Steady, Can't Hold Me Back ;; Hoenn ;; Leaf

[KANE]

Alyssa listened to the breeze outside pick up slightly. It was around midnight, and everything was quiet on the northernmost part of Route 115 except for nature itself. Alyssa sighed and leaned back against the leafy wall of her Secret Base, hugging the Mudkip Doll close to her body. She had let her pokemon out of their pokeballs. Her secret base was in a massive tree, so the base itself was large. It was practically her new home. Swampert was curled up next to Cannon on the Fire Blast mat in the main area. Amon was resting, his clawed paw resting atop the other, supporting his chin between the Red and Tropical Plants, beneath the Torchic, Mudkip, and Treecko posters. Although he seemed asleep, Alyssa knew the Disaster Pokemon was awake and ready to leap at any given moment. Flygon was laying flat across the top of the stand Alyssa had at one point used to display dolls she collected years ago, while Weavile and Daybreak paraded around, looking for nothing in particular to do.

Alyssa watched her pokemon silently. This was one of the few times when they could afford to relax and lose the war-faced façade that they were forced to bear as a burden whenever they were off of the small …close to island, really of Route 115. Alyssa sighed. Daybreak had been acting more and more distressed since everything began a few years ago, and although she remained the same pokemon personality-wise, she’d changed. Alyssa knew she would become more normal again after everything passed, but she remained concerned about her beloved Espeon.

The pokemon’s red-gemed forehead glowed, and her forked tail quivered immediately, setting Alyssa on a bit of an alert. ”Daybreak…” Alyssa said, gaining at least one open eye from all of her other pokemon. ”What is it?”

The Espeon’s deep violet gaze looked into Alyssa’s eyes, and Alyssa could interpret the meaning anyway she wanted from the gaze. Nodding, she pushed herself to her feet, brushing off the black dress that she wore. Glancing at her other pokemon, she spoke after a moment. ”I’ll be back shortly. If something happens…you know what to do.” it was true, in a time like this, she had trained her pokemon for a desired reaction in an undesirable situation. Gesturing to Daybreak and Weavile, Alyssa walked forward to the exit of her Secret Base. Before leaving, she withdrew the two pokemon into their pokeballs. Clipping the balls onto her belt, she leaned out the yawning opening in the top of the tree, looking down to the ground at least three stories below her.

Swallowing, Alyssa took the vine out of her ‘door latch’ and let it drop conveniently all the way to the ground. She belayed down the side of the tree with the vine in a manner that most would expect someone wearing a dress not to follow. Landing quietly, she walked around the practical maze of plants and tall grass that coated the small plateau of land.

Closing her eyes, Alyssa waited for the wind to die down before sighing. She could sense somebody else, She was no Psychic, but over the years she had become more in-tune with surroundings and who was near her.

Swallowing, she called out quietly, as though afraid of disturbing the peaceful night. ”…Hello? Is someone there?”

I don’t want to fight… she thought, as though the other person could hear her mind.

[KANE]

Trudging through Hoenn, afraid at any moment a rustle of a brush would alert some stupid unsuspecting Nox guard and catch Leaf sneaking around, the 22 year old girl looked around carefully and gave a sigh of relief. There didn’t seem to be any guards about, so she should be able to move around freely. Looking up she saw that Replica, her Ditto, was sliding from side to side. She felt sorry for the poor thing; Leaf had caught her Ditto in the very beginning of her journey and found the little transforming pokemon to be quite useful. Especially when her enemies actually thought she owned the Pokemon that Replica would transform into. Sometimes it didn’t work into her favor but Leaf always had a plan. Always.

This time? Well, such a plan would have been nice to have.

What had happened is the superiors of Lux had asked her to infiltrate the Hoenn area and see how tight the security was. Well, that was all fine and dandy… except Leaf wondered if they’d thought what would happen if she got caught…

“Probably leave me to the damn wolves…” Leaf whispered under her breath as she moved forward. She looked around and saw nothing but a huge tree. Leaf wondered if all the trees in Hoenn where big like that. They were definitely bigger than what she had seen in Kanto, Johto, or Sinnoh. Leaf briefly wondered if Nox had buffed up their trees for some odd reason. Was it a new weapon? She’d have to interrogate Blue about it some time. She might be able to get something out of him. Maybe.

Replica was now making his way forwards, well as much as a pink little glob could… She was so cute. Leaf giggled a little bit and looked around and wondered how she would have viewed Hoenn if she’d come as a Kanto hero in search of new challenges, instead of a Lux sentinel doing a possibly crazy suicidal mission if any Nox arrived. She should have requested that back-up… but it was possible she might have gotten stuck with Xander. That was something she wanted to avoid at all costs.

Replica stopped at the big tree and observed it for a moment.

What in Arceus’s name was she doing? Leaf went and picked up the small pink glob of a pokemon and started on her way, with Replica in her arms now, intent on getting a glimpse of Nox security on the nearest city. She heard noises from the tree and dived into the nearest bush. She heard a voice call out who was there. Leaf snuck a peek and watched as a girl came out. Crap. Was she Nox? Leaf watched the girl steadily and wondered if she could take her if something bad happened. Maybe she should have stayed away from Nox territory like Blue, a Nox himself, and all her other comrades had told her to. Taking a deep breath Leaf stepped out of the bushes. Maybe she could trick the girl if she wasn’t too bright. Maybe she could say she was a Nox sympathizer, actually she was a sympathizer but wanted all the people to see that this useless fighting for nothing. Leaf preferred if everything had gone back to the way it had been before. Not how it was now or what the people wanted the future to become. Everything would change.

“I-I’m sorry! I’m lost and have no clue where I’m going. Do you know where I am?” Leaf asked putting a lost look on her face. She wasn’t wearing her normal clothes and hoped her hair didn’t ring a bell in the girl’s memory. Her fame was becoming increasingly hard to deal with during this wartime undercover crap. Leaf looked down at her attire. She wore a black blouse and a lovely dark lavender mini skirt. She had the same color of earrings as the skirt and wondered if it was enough to hide her identity for a time…

[KANE]

Alyssa remained still for a moment and tried to listen to anything and anyone that may have been moving around her. All she heard was the wind picking up some leaves that seemed to be falling from the bushes around her. She knew somebody was there! She just couldn’t see them! And with it being the terrible hour of night it was, she expected that someone out here had reason to be. Somehow, she had a feeling she wouldn’t like that reason if she learned it. I hope they aren’t looking for a fight as soon as they show themselves… Alyssa thought If they show themselves… Alyssa didn’t want to fight, particularly since it was the dead of night, and she only had two pokemon on her at the moment.

Not only that, if word of their scuffle all the way out here somehow got to Rustboro, Nox agents would swarm everywhere. That was one thing she didn’t want. Almost nobody knew the location of her Secret Base. She wanted to keep it that way, otherwise she’d pack up camp and move to Route 119. Not only would that be more trouble than necessary, it would also be dangerous. As well as Nox learning of her Secret Base location, her ‘fellow’ Nox agents were far more ruthless than her. If the new arrival was a Lux agent, there would be a large-scale, merciless battle. She didn’t want that to happen.

Rustling leaves attracted her attention before any sort of sight did. Alyssa turned her head to look straight at the arrival – a girl. She was dressed in dark colored-clothing and earrings, as though she was headed out for the night. But, it was a bit late for that.. Alyssa’s suspicion heightened a bit, but she didn’t let it show. She remained relaxed, with a rather neutral expression on her face as she let her eyes adjust more to the darkness. In her arms…was that a Ditto? Alyssa smiled a bit. She’d always thought of Ditto as cute pokemon…from the way they moved to how they often behaved. The few Ditto she’d come across in her time had been sweet and friendly to both Alyssa and her other pokemon.

Although her features were dimmed by the poor light of the evening, something about the girl was familiar. Her face and eyes…that’s what Alyssa recognized. But where had she seen her before? For some reason, Alyssa’s brain was working at an uncharacteristically slow rate tonight. Come on, think! she told herself. Although she felt she would get it soon enough, it was damn near annoying that she couldn’t think of it now!

I-I’m sorry! I’m lost and have no clue where I’m going. Do you know where I am?” Alyssa looked at her evenly. She wasn’t sure about the girl not having a clue where she was going. This part of Route 115 was rather hard to get to, and the location they were standing at now was typically only accessed from the sea between here and Rustboro. However, this girl, she was pretty sure, hadn’t come from that direction. Best play it safe for now.

”Yeah, I can tell you…” Alyssa said, nodding helpfully. ”You’re on Route 115 in Northwest Hoenn.” She paused for a moment before adding. ”And your Ditto is adorable…I’ve only seen a few of them before but I’ve seen them enough to know they’re cute!” Alyssa gave a bit of a smile. What she said was true. She remembered when friends of her parents came over to visit once when she was still young. They’d brought their Ditto, and it had played with a fresh hatch of Eevees. It was the cutest thing Alyssa had ever seen!