Flamethrower tiptoed towards the wooden house, finding herself uncomfortably conscious of every sound she made as she did so. She doubted anyone would be up at this hour, but still, the Alolan Marowak found herself mentally cringing with every telling crunch of the dead leaves below her feet. She was well aware that her face was on wanted posters across Harbor Island, and the reward for her capture was a fortune. But she wasn't about to get herself captured by the citizens of Northpass. Flamethrower didn't know what her punishment would be, but what she did know was that Char would hardly be merciful.

Inside a small room, in the small house she was approaching, six small Pokémon were scrambling about. Loud noises erupted from inside. "You'll never get past our forces!" howled a Growlithe, as the Mudkip and Pancham beside him growled at the other team. “We'll see about that!" yelped an Alolan Vulpix as a Spritzee and Wooloo cheered.

Flamethrower hesitated as she listened to the children’s cacophony. She was in the flowerbeds now, standing just out of view from those inside. She could not help but wonder why in the name of Arceus these kids were up so late. She battled the instinct to go and see valiantly, but her curiosity won over, so she crept up to the windowsill and peeked in.

It appeared to be a pillow fight of sorts. "Taste my fury!" yelled the Growlithe again as he threw pristine white fluff into the Vulpix's face. Meanwhile, the Mudkip and Pancham charged towards the Wooloo and Spritzee. "You'll never get away with this!" said the Wooloo as he rolled over, protecting the Vulpix in his deep wool. Oh Flamethrower figured that the kids were either home alone or their parents didn't care about the screamfest they were causing. This was immediately evident by the fact that no adult was in the room, shushing them and telling them to go to bed.

Flamethrower narrowed her eyes as the young Pokémon laughed and played. She could see that they weren't the best candidates for what she had in mind. Trying to mentor these rowdy youngsters was not a task she was willing to accept, although dumping them on someone else would be very entertaining. In any case, there seemed to be no parents around, so she figured she might as well give it a go. 

Flamethrower began to heave the window up. It made a loud, screeching noise, making Flamethrower cringe yet again. Could the other Pokémon hear her above the racket? She supposed that they might, but at this point, it was too late to quit. She was a fugitive, and fugitives either made up their mind and committed, or died in the effort.

The commotion of the pillow fight slowed to a stop as one by one, the kids turned to look at the creaking window.

"What was that?" the Wooloo sheepishly asked.

"I'm not sure... do you think someone's breaking in?" replied the Growlithe.

"I'll like to see them try," huffed the Pancham. "Reveal yourself already and fight us like a real Pokemon! We're not afraid of you!"

Flamethrower, now crouching below the windowsill, rolled her eyes at the comment. She stood up, squeezed through the window, and landed with a thud onto her feet. She hoped that the kids wouldn't freak out enough to call their parents.

The children stared, wide-eyed, at the towering figure who was now looking around the room. The Marowak leaned down into the Pancham's face and grinned. "Hello, children." she greeted them ominously.

Nobody said anything. Nobody even reacted. All that filled the room now was terror, thick as butter, and the crickets' constant buzz from the woods outside. Eventually, though, someone had to speak. That someone happened to be the Pancham.

"Wh-what do you want?" he asked, quietly, tentatively. He didn't seem nearly as confident now, the fugitive noted. Slowly, the kids gathered around him in a loose circle, as if trying to protect him from any sort of retaliation from the criminal. In the corner of her eye, Flamethrower caught sight as the Spritzee attempted to slip away to another room.

Flamethrower darted her eyes to the slipping Spritzee. Oh great, they're going to snitch to an adult, aren't they? Her tail flickered, silencing everyone. "First, before I can explain," she began. "I need everyone to stay in this room. That includes you, Spritzee." Flamethrower threw a sickly sweet look at the Spritzee.

"We'll never surrender to you!" The Pancham cried out. "C'mon guys, you know what to do!" Suddenly, Flamethrower was attacked with Overheat, Thunder Wave, Hypnosis, Knock Off, and Hydro Pump. "Face our fury!" Screeched the Growlithe, while the Spritzee went out of Flamethrower's sight.

Flamethrower mentally sighed. She leaped to the side, avoiding most of the attacks but the Hydro Pump. She cringed, taking a moment to inhale. "I wasn't asking everyone to surrender, but you asked for it." she threatened, waving her clubbone. Before squeezing out the window, she shot a Poltergeist at someone.

The Growlithe yelped in surprise as his heavy-duty boots started to attack him. He set the boots aflame before the Mudkip washed the now-burnt boots with Hydro Pump. The Spritzee returned, with an Aggron following after her. "You were saying there was an Alolan-Marowak in here? Breaking in?" Asked the Aggron as they glanced around. Then they spotted the window and frowned.

The stranger was long gone from the scene. But they left a couple of dirt marks on the ground.

The Aggron leaned down, inspecting the window first then the dirt marks. After a moment of silence, the Aggron sighed. "We'll have to report this to Char. If strangers are trying to break in and kidnap you, they'll try and kidnap other Pokémons. C'mon kids, y'all need to go to bed. I'll keep watch." The kids obeyed the Aggron, perhaps shocked from the break-in.

Flamethrower was making her way back to camp. She slipped past the gates, and into the wild. /Curse those kids./ she bitterly thought, hopping off a boulder. She decided to take a lot of U-turns, in case a patrol spotted her and was following her. The last thing Shadowflame's army needed was their base to be discovered by Char's forces.

A sitrus berry v i b e d.

Flamethrower paused after going around the land in circles for a good chunk of time. She narrowed her eyes in the dark, scanning for anyone else, before heading back to camp. As she paced in the dark, she reflected on the failed mission. What did she expect from a bunch of Northpass kids, anyways? /Those Northpass snobs must be promoting Char propaganda or something./ she noted.

The sitrus berry, being a sitrus berry, continued to sit in its position. It didn't react to the Alolan-Maroawk because... what did you expect from a berry? The sitrus berry was somewhat visible, even in the shadows. Given its bright yellow color, Flamethrower might see it. Or not, depending on whenever she was hungry for a snack.

Flamethrower noticed the bright yellow berry. The smugness of the berry filled Flamethrower with rage. She could almost hear it taunting "You failed your mission, you failed your mission..." She knew that the berry wasn't mocking her, but never in her life had she wanted to destroy something so bad. So she did. She ripped the berry from the stem, crushing it with such powerful force. Her claws dug into the flesh until the berry exploded into tiny pieces of mush. Berry juice leaked from her claws, turning from a gentle stream to a violent waterfall. More berry juice splattered onto her face, but she didn't care. She finished with a deep growl. If a standby were to have observed the picture, it would have seemed as if Flamethrower murdered someone. Why did she do that? Flamethrower didn't know. At least it made her feel better. She threw the mush away, leaving a mess.

The berry, being a berry, didn't do anything. Well frankly, that was a horrifying mess. The roleplayer of the berry would've done something but they didn't want to describe how the berry felt and that would've made them feel bad so they decided to not say anything at all.

The roleplayer of the Talonflame, however, did.

Somewhere in the dark and dense forest above, sheltered from the moonlight by thick oak leaves, a figure watched. He made no noise - such would be unprofessional for the rescue guild's most valued member to make, especially on a mission such as this. One sound could send an outlaw into a frenzy. He could imagine that seeing a criminal so flustered would be hilarious to the younger rescue teams, but this was not the preferred style of the properly patient Etch. And so he waited.

At first, Flamethrower felt satisfied with her work. It was an odd feeling of accomplishment. A small voice of guilt chimed in her head, but she pushed it off. Why would she feel sorry for crushing a /berry/? She should head back to base now. Flamethrower stomped off.

The roleplayer of the berry was very conflicted on how to feel about this descriptive mashing of the berry and decided to watch ATLA clips instead.

The Marowak didn't seem to notice the figure. She thought she was alone. She strode through the rocky terrain, occasionally hopping over rocks.

The roleplayer of Flamethrower found a typo in the descriptive berry obliteration. The typo saddened them, but they continued with the roleplay.

The Talonflame quietly oversaw her movements from the trees, and when she moved out of the forest, he spread his wings to follow. But then he halted, thought for a moment, and resumed his studious perching position. Etch had always been wary of rocky terrain - rightfully so as a Fire-type, and even more so as a Fire-Flying hybrid. He had to admit that the outlaw Marowak had guts, going into a place like that without any kind of backup. That said, he'd gone into worse places and dungeons himself.

Flamethrower continued onward, as if she weren't unnerved being on the rocky terrain. She didn't show signs of fear or hesitation.

Etch cursed under his breath. If he didn't follow soon, he'd lose sight of her. But he was no Decidueye - his wingbeats would make enough noise to be heard. He would have to be quick about it. Slowly, he lowered his stance, opening his wingspan ever so slightly - and then he dove.

Flamethrower paused, shaking her head. Did she hear feathers rustle? Or were figments of her imagination messing with her? Assuming that she was alone (or so she thought), she trekked over a pebble.

The impact came with no warning. It was as if the very mountain she trudged on had bunched up and slammed into her spine - the moment her foot nudged the pebble, she had been punched into the dirt right next to it, coughing from the dust around her and gasping for breath. The thud that the impact had caused echoed loudly around the skull encapsulating her head, causing a dizzying cacophony of noise in her ears.

Now, there was anoThER Pokémon nearby. He seemed to be searching for berries, but at the sound of Etch ramming into Flamethrower, he jumped back. "What in the world-" He muttered as he shoved a figy berry up his snout and hurried to watch the commotion.

Flamethrower screamed from the pain. She tripped on her toes, before rattling her skull and whipping around to face whoever did that. She let out a small hiss, waving her bone around.

Unlike Flamethrower, the culprit had settled, unfazed, a few meters' distance away on top of a short ledge. The Talonflame seemed to have flicked off all the dust the commotion had caused off of his feathers in the short time it had taken her to get on her feet. Indeed, everything - including the shining, golden badge proudly placed on his torso - was completely spotless. He seemed to know this, judging from the enragingly smug look on his plumed head.

"Good morning," Etch said, once the Marowak had gotten up. "My name is Etch. I work for an exploration guild far away from here, on the mainland. Our goal is to carry out missions and arrest criminals. You --" he gestured to her with a thoroughly preened wing -- "are an outlaw."

Flamethrower scowled at the Talonflame. She shook off the dirt from her arms. "From the mainland?" she asked, raising an eyebrow. "Look, I don't know how you're here, but last time I checked, Char hadn't verified your "exploration guild" or whatever to 'arrest' random Pokemon you don't like." she spat. "If he did, it would have been on Northpass's bulletin or something. And I didn't see a new guild listed /there/." she kicked some dirt at him. "Besides, bold of you to assume I'm an Outlaw." she snorted.

The mystery Pokémon dived into the bushes. He cleared the leaves to get a clear view of the Alolan-Marowak and Talonflame. Nearby, another Sitrus berry vibed.

Etch caught one of the specks of dirt in his claw. "Bold of /you/ to assume that we need your dear Char's permission. We have every right to do as we please here, under the /Mist/ Continent's jurisdiction. Never mind the mainland." He tossed the speck of dirt to the side. "And in any case, I follow the orders I am given. And my orders are to remove you and any of your fellow outlaws from this island as soon as possible, using any force necessary."

Flamethrower blinked. Then she laughed. "The /what/ continent?!" she shook her head. "Never heard of /that/. As far as I'm aware, no Pokemon on this island knows what that is. And if you don't mind me asking, what do you mean by remove?" she questioned, propping her bone up and leaning on it. "Honestly, I couldn't care less about Char. I'll rather have him disappear from the face of this island altogether. But he just so happens to be the ruler of it too."