Pokemon United

The Totodile speeds past Phoenix, much more accustomed to the current than he was. At the end of the river, before it continued over the mountain rocks, the Totodile popped out of the water and did a little dance of victory on the nearest, flattest rock. He stopped dancing and watched Phoenix arrive at the end, squawking at him. He then jumped back into the river and looked back at Phoenix, swimming slowly along the river.

Meanwhile, the tussle continued on the sandy beach between Kitty and the Totodile.

Kitty used his tail fin to send the sand into the Totodile's face, the motion causing Kitty to find his balance again. The Totodile made a sharp sound, suddenly quite blind, and his water gun retaliation shot off to the side. Kitty set his feet back upon the beach, his stature firm and his goal set. For lack of something better to do, the Totodile crossed his arms in front of his face, but no other attack came, yet.

Totodile's accuracy went down by -3.

Phoenix watched the Totodile swim off as he walked out of the water. "So much for a pokemon to fight fires with." The ranger racked his mind for ideas.

He did not want to battle and force the Pokemon to accompany him, it was after all a living being and not just a simple tool to be used; but even if he filled out an acquisition form for a water type Pokemon and it wasn't rejected he would be at least a week from obtaining it. In this area forest fires were not exactly uncommon.

Pulling his boxers on Samuel would wear them in the direct sun to ensure they got dry. Seeing Kitty in his brawl the Ranger walked on over to study the assault.

Crouching far enough away that he would not be in the way of their attacks he studied both of them intently. The Totodile was very dependent upon its long range water gun attack it would seem as it was making no attempt at all to flail and attack in close quarters.

Kitty circled his target, his paws making soft crunches in the gravelly sand. When it was right, he would approach and twist his body to the right, smacking the Totodile with the sturdy tail. The Totodile had wised up and waited for his ears to catch the Vaporeon's movements, as he was a little too far away from the stream to wash out his eyes and hitting himself in the face with his water gun was a difficult task. He pulled back his claws and swung fiercely, but was only managed to hit the ground. Kitty's tail smacked him onto his butt and dazed him for a moment, before he staggered to his feet. He held a paw to his aching head. Kitty began circling again, going the opposite direction now.

Chris noticed the Totodile that was floating on by on his side. He was watching Phoenix, gave a little squawk, then looked up at Chris. Chris smiled a little, "Hey there, little fella. You still want to play? I'll race you too." She stepped out of the river and shirked off her pants, thankfully wearing her own pair of dark blue boxers. She crossed her arms in front of her and tossed the hoody to the side, wearing a plain, yet very worn yellow and blue striped shirt that had a Vaporeon logo on the back.

Chris and the other Totodile were just beginning to swim, when Chris lost her balance and fell into the river, a slick rock found by her foot the culprit. The Totodile's head start was formidable, but Chris shook it off and swam after him.

Hades nudged Phoenix's side, "Two berries says the Vaporeon wins." Phoenix shrugged to his partner, "I would not be too sure. Kitty has the upper hand by far, I would not discount the Totodile." The ranger turned to find Chris, "Hey, Chris," Upon sight of her in her boxers and shirt the lad would advert his eyes to some distant tree.

"Kitty has this Totodile pretty banged up, you want to catch it? If not I will leave them be and give it some medical care after they are done. Kitty doe snot go in for the kill, right?" Samuel out of the corner of his eye looked back to the Vaporeon, it was an ethical question really, Pokemon had to eat so it would only be natural, Phoenix was silently hoping it was just a playful duel.

Part of him was worried about Kitty, he was domesticated and thus had some level of control over himself. As much as he was scared Kitty would give in to nature's urge he was far more terrified of the Totodile doing the same. Phoenix gave the motion and directed the fox to continue viewing the duel. Phoenix ran to his duty belt and snatched up his taser and baton, "Kitty has the upper hand, but I am worried that the Totodile might be angry enough to take things too far if he gets the chance." The ranger had seen it before, a harmless Pikachu in the northern forests was getting beat on by a much smaller Tailow, as soon as he got the upper hand he took the chance and defeated his foe.

Bound by duty Phoenix could do nothing as that cruel animal made a meal of its foe, as much as he loved them he knew the horrors they were capable of. Now creature of creation, man nor beast, was free from that monster deep inside; if they were his badge would be useless and without need of existing.

Titania would would watch painfully as Oberon protected her from the enraged Rufflet. She needed to end this fight soon and it had to bee with the Rufflet captured, she refused to even consider the alternatives. However watching Oberon taking such pain made her worry deeply, he shouldn't be taking so much damage, it was as if the rufflet was attacking him with poison or steel attacks.

Not willing to let Oberon take any more damage, she would attempt to recall him before throwing another pokeball for another attempt at capture. Unfortunately this attempt would also fail leaving her down to three balls left. She was starting to get worried that she would run out of balls and be forced to give up because of it.

(I bolded the recall attempt because it is certainly possible that Oberon would refuse to leave Titania alone with the Rufflet. Leaving that as your decision Miss for a bit of fun!)

Chris slowly catches up to the Totodile, which is very surprising to the little water Pokemon. The stream flowed downhill, bending off to the left, and at this bend there was a small Pokemon-made dam. The Totodile was taking it easy, that was, until Chris passed him like some kinda sea-monster. They both neared the dam, but Chris was clearly the winner, pressing her hand to the dam and pushing off with a laugh, swimming all the way back to where they began. The Totodile swam after her.

Meanwhile, Kitty eyed his opponent, and in one brief moment, attacked with a vicious headbutt straight into the Totodile's stomach. His paws had pushed off, his tail fin sticking straight up. And before the Totodile could react, he bounced back. The Totodile took the hit and landed on his butt, the wind knocked out of him in one, clean hit. Kitty then sat on his haunches and looked for Chris over his shoulder. He, at one time, eyed Phoenix, but left to meow at Chris once she came back. Chris took the time to pet Kitty, of course, and the defeated Totodile attempted to stand multiple times.

Phoenix had ascertained that this was an act of jealousy between Pokemon, as if Kitty had fought to obtain Chris's attention with his actions. It was a little more than a playful bout, but not a life-threatening fight. It was also a perfect time for a Pokeball...

Totodile 1/10.

"Hey, Chris, this is a really good time for a pokeball. This Totodile is looking really weak, any more and he likely is going to be knocked out cold."

She was too far away, any further in the fight and it would be useless to attempt catching the Totodile.

Furrowing his brow he grabbed his duty belt and pulled an empty pokeball from a pocket. "Not exactly the best at this, but here we go!" He tossed the orb of red and white towards the heavily injured Pokemon.

*Edit:
Target score is 55, 50 base plus 5 for health
Catch score is 55 due to 35 base plus 20 for both statuses

Chris returned to the main site and sat down, her hands cupping water to splash over her face and to soak her hair. Whipping it behind her, she looked up and smiled, "That was a nice swim." The Totodile was pooped though, and settled on the beach on his belly. She looked over, "Aha, seems this little tyke is ready for a nap." That was one she remembered Phoenix saying something about Pokeballs. She hmm'd low in her throat and dug in her hoody for a Pokeball. Clicking the middle button, she bent her wrist forward, "Boop." and the Totodile vanished into the ball.

It shook for a little bit, before it settled. Chris put her sandals back on and walked through the river to the other side, "Hey, Phoenix!" Upon reaching him, she held out her Pokeball with the recently tired Totodile, "I'll trade you Totodiles, huh?" She had this smile on her face..

"Hmm, not entirely sure that is a fair trade." He grinned as he picked up the pokeball before him. "I'll take it. I need a Pokemon that is real good at putting out fires."

Phoenix reached down and grabbed his red jacket before rummaging around in one of the pockets on its chest and pulling out a sticker. "A gal gave this to me back some time ago, apparently when you put them on the pokeball they release a special effect." He stuck the small heart shaped sticker on the pokeball and extended it towards Chris. "I was never going to use it, though you might like it."

Chris rolled her eyes, "I guess a bucket is less adorable." But she swapped the Pokeballs and eyed the sticker. Lifting her brow, she plucked the sticker from Phoenix's hand and gave an incredilous look, "A sticker does all that? This is the first I've heard of stuff like that." Kitty was busily swimming in the river, now that the competition has been dealt with. He stops near the two as they talk and Chris motions him closer, "Kitty, Kitty come here. We'll see if you get magical powers through this sticker, huh?" Kitty, however, just stuck his head up and spouted water onto the sandy beach and continued swimming.

Chris laughed to herself, "Seems he doesn't like it. I'll put it on my Totodile ball." Pressing her thumb into the Pokeball, she smooths it out. Then, after standing around in what was left of the sunlight before clouds passed overhead, she shimmyed into her pants and tossed her hoody back on, placing her Pokeball in with her other one, in her pants' front pocket.

"Yeah, I got bored one afternoon and a young lady convinced me to join a contest as her partner. No clue how those things work, our show was supposed to have a romantic theme." Phoenix shrugged, "I wore this ridiculous outfit, but we did win."

He finished dressing and clipped his duty belt back on. "Strange girl, had this little green pokemon that would suck in foul odors, some grass type? It was really small. Oh, it had flowers on it, but I don't remember its name, it was however number four hundred and ninety two in the dex."

Phoenix flipped open his multi-purpose device which had a built in Pokedex modified to the purposes a Ranger would need it for. "Ah, there it is!" He flipped it around so Chris could see it, "A Shaymin, that strange little thing." Looking at the screen he pressed it, "Keeping one requires some special permits, being how rare they are and what they do for the environment. The only Rangers qualified to obtain one of those are the fellas who respond to disasters. Cleaning up smoke, smog, and other harmful things in the air."

Phoenix could not help but hope to one day obtain one, it would be awhile before he was qualified for that however, he also could not seem to remember the name of the girl he had met, which was odd because he had checked her permits and everything - to have seen her name so many times it was odd he could not think of it now.

"Eh, I will remember it eventually." He shrugged.

Titania was would struggle to hold back her sobs as she watched the Rufflet's talons dig even deeper into her beloved Oberon. Why didn't he return when she told him to?! That was so reckless of him and now all she could do was hope that he would be ok with proper medical attention.

However she couldn't run, doing so would be a waste of Oberon's sacrifice. She had to keep trying, but she was going to have to change her battle strategy. Reaching for Lagi's pokeball, she would call him out. "Lagi use growl." She needed to reduce the rufflet's attack power and hopefully reduce the rufflet's fighting spirit.

However this time, she would choose to protect Lagi, putting herself in harm's way. She had to keep Charmander safe in order to weaken the eaglet pokemon. So watching the Rufflet, she would get ready to defend herself.

Chris tugged at her hoody’s pouch, looking up at Chris when it was squared-off, “I have no idea about contests, but that’s good that you won.” Kitty hopped out of the water and shook himself off, sitting beside Chris as she leaned in to look at the strange Pokemon. Shaking her head, “I’ve never seen anything like it.” Of course, she also pulled out her older Pokedex and was scrolling down the numbers (once she got it working). The scrolling stopped, but she tried to scroll down anyway, “Huh, mine doesn’t go to the four-hundreds.”

Shrugging, she stuffed it back into her side pocket and threaded her fingers through her hair, bringing her hoody back up just after, “Probably. Most things come back to you when you walk too, so you’ll probably remember. That swim was just what I needed though.” Slipping her sandals back on, “Alright! Let’s go and find us a mountain!”

Just when it seemed that they have gotten lost again, Chris busts out of the forestline and steps onto a pathway, with a sign directly ahead of her. She stops for a moment to pull out twigs from her sandals before she approaches it. Turning around, probably as Phoenix exits the woods, "Hey, look at this! I did it." She thumbs at the sign, which has a few labels like You are Here and Diamond Shelter Road and The Diamond Shelter.

Titania would manage to fend off the rufflet's sharp talons, while also keeping it from attacking Lagi. She had three balls left and had managed to reduce it's ability to fight. However she really wanted to further improve the odds of a successful catch. Her Charmander did know the move Smokescreen, but Rufflets would have the ability Keen Eye which would make the move useless.

So her best bet was to see if she could figure out what ability this Rufflet had and maybe hope that Lagi could further reduce the eaglet pokemon's attacking power.

With that in mind, she would try to study it while defending Lagi and herself.. While doing so she would also tell Lagi to growl again, preferring the chance of a stronger growl, then the chance of a completely useless smokescreen.

However she had to try catching it again, this pokemon had badly hurt Oberon and was fully capable of doing the same to Lagi. So she would go for a pokeball using one arm while using the other to shield her face. Then she would toss the ball at the unnatural pokemon and desperately hope that it wouldn't be able to break out this time.

Titania would watch the pokeball intently desperately hoping to hear the click that signified a pokemon caught. Then when that blessed sound was heard, she would sigh in pure and utter relief. Then looking down at Lagi who was clinging to her leg. She would kneel and hugs Lagi close to try and comfort him. "Lagi you did a really good job and I'm proud of you. I would love to give you more attention, but Oberon was really hurt and I have to get him healed. I promise to give you the praise and attention you deserve once he's treated."

She would then recall the charmander back to his ball and then walk over to pick up the Rufflet's ball. Maybe Nurse Joy would be able to give her some answers about what was going on him. However her first priority was getting Oberon treated.

With Rufflet's ball secure, she would start to sprint back the way she came, desperate to get back to the Pokemon Center and to get her beloved Sylveon the medical attention he badly needed.

(Don't know if I need any dice rolls, let me know if I do.)