Look at all the colors! (Open)

We're painted red
to fit right in

Not good.

While Elinda wanted to answer Doug's earlier question this was neither the time nor the place - the last thing she wanted was any of their names to be known to people perfectly willing to openly attack a city like this. She'd already had to flee one region to keep her family safe and that wasn't something Elinda was particularly looking forward to doing again. Unfortunately, though, that was where things got complicated here.

The boy had his priorities straight, more than Elinda ever did in the past. He knew what mattered and wasted no time contacting his family, and it came as no small relief to the blond both to know that his father was both in good health and with a capable Pokemon to protect him if it came down to it. Volcarona were not Pokemon to be taken lightly, often requiring dedication and effort comparable to evolving some of the more powerful Dragon types - any trainer who knew what they were doing would think twice before challenging one and those who were unaware likely had a painful lesson coming their way. The fact that Mei wasn't responding to attempts to reach her, though, had Elinda frowning slightly. Given family history and more specifically the lessons her father had likely tried to instill in the woman the blond would've assumed her first reaction to all of this would be to try and get away from the conflict, dragging as many people to safety with her as possible. Mei had been strict but usually with a good head on her shoulders, not at all prone to the kind of rash action Elinda had been in the past nor the mistakes that came with it.

So what was it stopping her from picking up a phone, likely knowing it was her family? Family that could be in trouble and needing her help, for all she knew? That said, it seemed that Doug himself was prone to such action as he quite clearly stated his intent before beginning to head deeper into the city and towards the ensuing chaos as the woman with Team "Crux" gave them ten seconds to leave. Which, of course, practically obligated Elinda to stay as she would've expected the same had the positions been reversed with Mei and one of her own kids.

Oh, there were going to be words had with him if they made it out of here in one piece.

"He will. You won't." Elinda said, words directed squarely at Honoka as the older blond kept her attention squarely on the other adult, Beldum's rapt attention focused on her as well. For the moment the blond felt somewhat secure in that she knew exactly why the Steel type was watching her so intently - the moment she made even a remotely threatening gesture nearly three hundred pounds of metal would rush her like a guided artillery shell, intending to either catch the woman's arm or render a thrown Pokeball useless by cracking it and trapping the Pokemon inside. This wasn't their first rodeo, and she doubted that this woman was expecting anything beyond a relatively fair street battle if it came down to them resisting - not many people ever considered anything more than that.

"These people will not hesitate to hurt you given a reason. Get out of the city, I fully intend to do so myself once I know Doug and his mother are safe." Elinda continued, speaking quickly to try and get the point across before ten seconds had passed. She'd no doubt that Doug and Honoka were capable enough to look out for themselves and probably wouldn't find a single grunt or two more than an adequate challenge if someone picked a fight with them elsewhere, but this wasn't the time or place. None of them were ready for an opponent akin to a Team admin. That said, though.... Elinda was making a point to memorize every detail of the other woman as she hadn't been kind enough to provide her name. It was more than a little odd that the local police hadn't gotten involved yet from the sound of things in the distance, but she would make a point to find out who these people were and why they were here once this was all over.

---

Beldum - Level 9. Take Down.

Ferroseed - Level 5. Growl, Tackle.

Skarmory - Level 5. Peck, Leer.

Aron - Level 5. Tackle, Harden, Mud Slap

Passimian - Level 6. Tackle, Leer, Vital Throw

@tag

We're painted red
to fit right in

This was very quickly going to get out of hand, Elinda saw that almost immediately following Doug's response to the admin's ultimatum. It wasn't something that she was necessarily not used to as much of her role in Obscuras had been reining in the less experienced and more hotheaded trainers with the goal of teaching them both self control and how to fight, but she would've never dreamed of bringing them to a situation like this one. It wasn't the kind of scenario you allowed anyone who was prone to snap decisions and rash action around, too many variables and too many ways for things to go wrong. Which was exactly what seemed to be happening here as Doug didn't take the woman's words as a warning - he seemed to take them as a challenge.

At this rate he was going to get them all either hospitalized or outright killed, a sentiment that was only further hammered home by the next development.

Raising her arm to the sky, the Crux woman's action would be quickly answered as any chance they may've had at resistance disappeared, a massive Dragonite dropping to slam into the street between the two parties. Elinda had been expecting the woman to be powerful as a trainer right from the start, but not to have a Pokemon that strong - Dragonite were not easy to raise and even more difficult to control. More importantly, though, the fact that it wasn't in a Pokeball meant this woman was more than brute force. She'd arrived to Vega expecting competent resistance and had planned for it in advance. Eyes snapping from the Dragon to Doug, Elinda began to approach the boy fully intending to physically drag him away by the back of his shirt's collar when the woman's Pokemon made its first show of force. Initially blown back by a couple of feet, Beldum rushing to press his considerable weight against her back allowed Elinda's feet to remain anchored in place even in spite of the hurricane force winds.

Honoka didn't fare quite so well as her small frame was lifted and thrown back, Dratini slithering over to take a protective stance. The girl seemed to have arrived at the same conclusion that Elinda had as she stood up, undivided attention on the Dragonite. If nothing else it came as no small relief that the younger trainer seemed to be taking up the admin's relatively generous offer, all things considered - the woman didn't really have to bother negotiating with them at all.

"You heard them. Your mom's not one to pick fights and they're letting people leave. If you want a full explanation you'll get it, but while we're leaving." Elinda started, nodding back to Honoka before turning her head around to look for Doug - or, presumably, where he'd been blown back to as the blond pulled the cell phone she kept for business calls out of a pocket and turned to begin approaching him.

---

Beldum - Level 9. Take Down.

Ferroseed - Level 5. Growl, Tackle.

Skarmory - Level 5. Peck, Leer.

Aron - Level 5. Tackle, Harden, Mud Slap

Passimian - Level 6. Tackle, Leer, Vital Throw

@tag

We're painted red
to fit right in

This was not going to end well. Elinda was getting the distinct feeling that Doug was going to harbor an intense dislike for her moving forward at the rate things were going, but to be honest she didn't particularly care about that in the here and now. There were bigger, more immediate problems at play - first and foremost being the boy's aggressive streak. The Crux admin was a secondary concern as she'd been quite open in her intent to let them leave. More alarming, though, was that none of this fit with what little Elinda could remember of the kid's parents. His father wasn't a fighter by a long shot, and while Mei didn't take shit she wasn't one to start fights, either. This was not the sight of someone who Elinda would have expected to be taught self control above all else given family history, and given her own history and the mistakes that went along with it the blond was extremely worried about the possibility that Doug might attempt something rash.

It wasn't until Doug verbally announced his intent and turned around that Elinda found the knots in her shoulders relaxing and an audible sigh escaping her lungs.

"Fair enough, and I did promise you an explanation." Elinda began, moving to follow the two younger trainers as they began moving down the street. As she did so, though, Elinda held her phone up as if to inspect the screen - at the same time activating the camera facing the user. While the majority of the screen merely showed the trainer her own face, though, what held her interest was the background over her shoulder and the two individuals they were leaving behind, a quick press of a button snapping a picture. Even as she did that, though, the image showed something else far more concerning as the Dragonite's wings began to lift and the Crux admin calmly spoke a handful of words.

Beldum was the first to move, reacting even before Elinda had processed what was said and darting to his trainer's gloved hand a split second before she shoved the phone into a pocket where it would not be lost.

The moment following that was chaos as the Dragonite's attack ripped through the street, lifting everyone present into the air.

It'd been a long, long time since Elinda could remember directly being attacked in such a manner, but even prior experience didn't make it any less disorienting. The only thing that kept her from tumbling head over heels was Beldum, the Pokemon's magnetic body practically glued to the sap gloves Elinda was wearing and providing some small semblance of stability as the sound of roaring wind drowned out everything else around them. It was impossible to tell exactly how long it lasted, the only sign of the attack's end coming when the sensation of gravity returned - where everything else dropped, Elinda instead felt a sickening and painful tug of her shoulders as the rest of her body fell, yanking on her arms which were still being held up by Beldum. It was enough to make her eyes water and definitely something that she'd be feeling for days afterwards, but a quick glance of the ground several meters below made it an insignificant price to pay in comparison to alternative injuries.

The only remaining question was what had happened to the others. While Beldum had managed to prevent what would've likely been far more severe injury he wasn't yet big or strong enough to keep all of her weight suspended in mid air for long, and after only a handful of seconds they both began to fall towards the ground - too fast for Elinda to really get a look at their surroundings but slow enough that broken bones were unlikely.

Still more than a little painful as her feet hit the ground and her knees buckled under the sudden shock. Gloves released from Beldum's hold Elinda immediately found one of her hands automatically going up to a very sore shoulder and legs collapsing for a moment to regain their strength, but it was better than it could have been. Now that there was solid ground under her feet Elinda's sense of direction was starting to come back as well, and a flash of yellow in her peripheral vision along with an accompanying groan told her that Honoka was, at least for the moment, fine. Likely incredibly sore but there was no screaming or more obvious sign of intense pain, and she'd take what she could get. Taking a few moments to control her breathing and focusing on doing the same to her newfound physical aches and pains, the next line of business was making sure Doug had made the same trip along with them and was uninjured as well... until a third and very much new voice she hadn't heard before made itself known.

Elinda's first and most logical thought was that some other bystander had gotten caught in the crossfire and sent along for a ride with them. Then Honoka spoke the strangest thing and Elinda's head snapped up in confusion.

A Pokemon?

More to the point a Pokemon Elinda had never seen before, and that didn't happen often. Nor had she ever heard of one capable of speaking human language. It was a small thing, but Elinda's initial instincts kept her wary - she wasn't sure why but something said this thing wasn't to be trifled with. By the same token, however, Honoka seemed to have the situation under control. The Pokemon seemed friendly enough and more interested in talking than doing much else, and if the younger trainer felt a connection there she could work with Elinda wasn't about to stop her.

"Doug?" Elinda started, beginning to stand until a wave of dizziness halted all movement. Knees? Fine, but in pain. Arms? Also fine? Shoulders? Not so much. They didn't feel dislocated and Elinda had only minor difficulty moving her left arm, but the right one was numb and refused to obey her commands. Not at all a good development considering the situation, and Elinda had a feeling the night was only likely to get worse as it went on.

---

Beldum - Level 9. Take Down.

Ferroseed - Level 5. Growl, Tackle.

Skarmory - Level 5. Peck, Leer.

Aron - Level 5. Tackle, Harden, Mud Slap

Passimian - Level 6. Tackle, Leer, Vital Throw

@tag