The OUTSKIRT Team

"You tww-three come over here." The crowned Kabutops orders to his absent mercenaries, looking over the strange defect in the sands. It looks almost like something had been buried there and if there is one thing a king always loved it was having lots and lots of treasure.
Regale crosses his long scythes over his chest, waiting for his mercenaries to need his command and when they do not obey swiftly enough he goes to explore the defect himself, shoving one scythe blade into the hand and hitting something solid.
He blows away the sand surrounding it and reveals the cream and lime spotted shell of a pokemon egg, buried in the insulating warmth of the desert sands.
Regale is disappointed. A baby pokemon is not real treasure, its another mouth to feed and it's too much to hope that it will hatch into a more agreeable companion than those he already has.
Still the fossil pokemon bends down to retrieve the egg, knowing that if nothing else it will make a tasty meal but it seems to be caught on something.
Regale tugs harder and a dried red claw emerges from the sands along with the egg, bright red eyes staring into his as the exhumed undead snarls at him and clutches the egg close to its chest.
Its vulpinbe form shivers and shifts, forming the shape of an otherwise healthy looking Alakazam.
"My bAby..." It slurs, putting odd emphasis on certain letters as it lurches forwards to attack.

The Charizard scratches his head thoughtfully with one stubby arm.
"Well that is kind of hard to explain but he was completely alone, never saw another pokemon before he got saved. I, as you might be able to tell, am a Fire Type but to him fire is just a kind of magic so to control it I must be a god of it. That and undead and uninteresting pokemon are just...illusions, hallucinations that exist solely for him to battle with. It's a complex delusion but you'll be fine."
The sound of shifting sands alerts him to the danger as he turns his long head and sees the trouble Regale has managed to get himself into.
"Nice talking with you." He says with a smile, spreading his wings wide and diving towards the Alakazam advancing on his friend.

I'm still thirsty. Hideki complains in sign as he turns his head towards the direction his god is flying. He doesn't want to fight an illusion, he wants a drink NOW.
The Samurott draws his seamitars, the blades of shell gleaming in the light as with a flash of speed he darts towards his opponent, swinging the blades at the Alakazam who's paper light body seems to acrobatically swing its way around the Water Type and brings a sharp slash down on the Water Type's back. Blood starts to mat the dark blue fur as Hideki emotionless turns and slashes towards it with a Revenge attack that not only hits with a satisfying dribble of blood but breaks the illusion, revealing the Alakazam as the dried husk of a Zoroark's corpse.

Crescent watches as the Charizard flew over to where an Alakazam was attacking the Kabutops. Just as she was just about to use Pursuit, the Samurott raced forward and broke the illusion, showing it to be a Zoroark in disguise. Crescent ran forward, charging up a Razor Wind. When she got close enough, she reared up on her hind legs and swung her head scythe towards the undead, unleashing the Razor Wind. The white crescent wind scythe hit the Undead Dark Type, however it didn't seem to do much apart from make a fair amount of the dried up skin flake off. She did however manage to knock the undead out of the way from attacking the Samurott.

As the Zoroark hit the ground, the egg still clutched in it's claws, Crescent raced towards it with a quick attack. But as she got close enough to grab the egg, the Zoroark hit her with a Faint Attack, sending her tumbling backwards. Struggling to her feet, Crescent took one step backwards, before racing towards the Zoroark again, her fur outlined in the black shadowy haze of a Foul Play attack.

((OOC: Oh Boy, there goes Crescent, being a dare devil...))

Irritably the royal Kabutops objected strongly to the attack. It wasn't like he was even that interested in the stupid egg anyway and the creepy fox thing was all dry and gross. It shouldn't even be in his kingdom.
"Fine, keep your gross baby." The Kabutops says, crossing his scythes sulkily. " It's probably not wworth eating."
Regale's protests seem to have no effect on the Zoroark. The exhumed undead struggling to rise looks near mummified. Its skin has shrunken near to the bone, its long mane thinned and straggly from being buried underneath the sand. Most of its fur had fallen off; in fact the only thing that makes it look still dangerous is its large claws, now edged with blood, and the shine in its bright red eyes.
"hUsh noW LitTle IbLiS...I WiLL keEp yoU sAfE..." The delusional Dark Type mutters, the muscles of its jaws easily visible as it clutches the egg close to its chest, cradling it against the dry lifeless skin as if it had already hatched. "KeEP yOu Safe fRoM HArm..." It's voice keeps on fluctuating in pitch, the cords of its voice box standing out against the thin layer of nearly transparent skin that covers it. "Be SsssaAAaaFE." The last word is drawn out like a serpents hiss as the undead opens its mouth wide, showing the tiny ivory peaks of its fangs and faces the Absol. Bare grey muscle shows on its chest from where the Razor Wind has caused its dry skin to flake off.
"Wwell done Assassin!" Regale stutters, raising his scythe like arms. "Noww finish it off!"
The Zoroark's red eyes fix on the Absol in front of it. Its entire body has been dried by the harsh desert weather and even though some gashes are showing in the flesh of its body, both from the Razor Wind and Revenge attacks, it does not bleed at all. It holds out its skinny arms in front of it to combat the Foul Play attack, its dry skin cracking further as it meets the attack full on. Though the sound of bone snapping rings clear it doesn't flinch as it takes the attack head on to protect the egg from damage.
With a shimmer like a heat haze the Zoroark shifts its form again. Now there are two perfectly identical Absols on the desert dunes.

Hiroshi's long head whips from side to side between the two Dark Type's as he folds his wings in and closely examines both. Even robbed of it's wits the Dark Type is very skilled at transformation and with the swirling dry dust of the desert the scent of rot is completely hidden.
"Who should I attack?!" The Charizard says in a panic, forced into inactivity by not wanting to harm Crescent. His wings flap once more as the wind seems to pick up and he is forced to fold them in.
The Fire Type winces as a bit of grit flies into his eye. A Sandstorm is starting to kick up.

Boring... Hideki signs as he takes a firmer grip on his Seamitar. The bleeding gash on his shoulder stings but the Samurott ignores the pain as always. He had removed his arm before when he found out Kaze was going, he wasn't afraid of the little pain.
The long jagged horn on his head gleams in the desert light as the Water Type turns towards the pair of Absols and draws his Seamitar's. With the long broad swords held in each paw he rears up onto his hind-legs in a bear like pose and darts forwards, blades shining in the desert sun.
A Goddess, especially the Goddess of Shade and Swift that stood before him, would be able to avoid the blades with ease.

((OOC: Editted))

Crescent saw what the Samurott was aiming to do and a brief look of determination crossed her face. Using Quick Attack, she darted out of the way from the blades, watching as the two Seamitars collided with the illusion Absol.

((Short post is crappy. Sorry for not getting on earlier, I've recently stared school.))

"Wwatch out!" Regale cries, waving his scythes in distress as he mistakes the illusion Absol for the real one. His protests stick in his throat and fade as the illusion is broken yet again, the snarling practically mummified Zoroark slamming onto the sands in front of him.
Like a housewife confronted by a rat he squeals and raises his scythes in front of him, swiftly backing away from the skeletal fox.
"Wwhat do I pay you for?!" He yells at the Charizard still hunkered and confused on the dunes. "This isn't a bream wwhere threats defeat themselves."
Red claws close on his ankle and the crowned Kabutops nearly leaps a foot in the air as he struggles backwards, his long bladed forearms slicing down and severing the skeletal wrist at the joint.
The claws of the undead still clutch tight at his ankle until in a jittery dance he manages to shake it off.
The Zoroark doesn't seem to notice the loss as it looks at the egg in his grasp, checking it over to make sure it hasn't been damaged. Its blunt head looks back and forth between the Absol, Charizard and Kabutops before focusing on the Samurrot, its decayed brain finally linking the long blades of shell to the deep gashes in its dried flesh.
"IblIS..." It hisses as it slowly slides to its feet. A mirage like haze of illusion sparks around its feet but fails as the undead's illusion abilities finally fail it.

"You don't pay us." Hiroshi replies cheerfully as he draws back his long neck, the flame making organs inside his body starting to gurgle as flammable liquid distilled from his food drains into the sacks at the back of his claw. He opens his large fire-proof mouth wide and with a small click spits a jet of the flammable liquid past the small pilot flame that he had sparked in his throat.
The bursting flame spreads across the dunes in a solid ball of angry red-orange flames that light the dry desert air with its bright golden glow.
The fire ball smacks straight into the dry body of the exhumed Zoroark.
The undead Dark Type's dried flaky skin ignites like tissue paper, the cream shelled egg falling to the sands as the Zoroark screams one last drawn out cry as its body burns.
"My bABY!"
Then it is nothing more a charcoal scribble of a shape in the growing blaze as the bursting flames eat into its dried flesh, illuminating the fallen egg with flickers of golden light.
The fire burns strong through the moisture stripped corpse until charcoal blackened bones fall into the sand, the skull burnt to near nothingness.

Hideki snorts and sheaths his blades. Though the bursting clouds of roiling flames passed close enough to his face for him to feel the heat frizzling the edges of his whiskers he knows his God would never hurt him.
Dispassionately he looks at the screeching corpse of the burning Zoroark, its form a mere blot of white and black to his near blind eyes and walks over to the Charizard, smacking the large dragon across the nose with his Seamitar.
Thirsty. He signs emphatically, letting the Charizard know he wants to go get his drink now.
The illusion was boring and he didn't even get to kill it properly.
Almost sulkily the Samurott begins to walk back towards the buried steam engine of their hideout.

Crescent looked towards the pile of ashes that was the Zoroark. "Should we keep the egg?" She said, looking towards the Kabutops, because he was obviously the one 'in charge', even if he was a total maniac. "It could hatch and become another warrior." She added, playing along with the Kabutop's little fantasy roleplay world.

They may be weird but it's all you've got Crescent, so bear with it. Crescent said to herself in her mind, her memories swirling back to when Erica would tell her how to cope and be strong with new and strange things.

((OOC: I could grow to like Hideki and his sarcastic/weird ways.))

The crowned Kabutops carefully pokes at the egg with the edge of his scythe as it slowly topples over into the soft sands. He is no judge of how far developed the little pokemon inside the egg is but the idea of another mouth to feed is outweighing his desire for a pawn, after all it would probably hatch into another land dweller and he already has enough mercenaries to defend his lands.
"Wwell I'm not carrying it." The crowned Kabutops says snootily, tilting his head to the rise as he folds his scythes.
"Someone else pick it up."
Regale turns back towards the Samurott determinedly walking towards the direction where the submerged train engine was and with his long legged stride follows the Water Type.
He'd still much prefer to eat the egg then hatch it but the Assassin did have a point.
"Lunch ahoy!" He declares cheerfully, already mentally cataloguing the supplies left in the abandoned diner.

"Whooooooweeeeee~! Went up like a fire cracker!" The orange eyed Charizard says cheerfully, impressed at the incredible speed by which the Zoroark had combusted.
Really it was just like touching a match to dry kindling. The desert was not kind to pokemon species not adjusted to the water-loss.
Leaving the blackened bones where they fell Hiroshi curiously examines the fallen egg. Freed from the dried clutches of the undead Dark Type the egg looks normal and healthy, without a blemish on its cream coloured shell. Even with only a dead body to hold it the natural heat of the desert sands is enough to keep it alive.
Grabbing the egg in his short clawed hands the Charizard flicks out a dark green membraned wing and smiles back towards Crescent.

Hideki plods along in the hot sands, the rough metal of his artificial limb squeaking as sand gets into its joints. The naturally formed secreted shell rests over it as he raises his head, long white whiskers twitching, to reconfirm his destination. It isn't too far away to the cool shady shelter and as noon approaches the glaring white eye of the sun starts to move overhead. He can feel its heat on his dark blue fur.
To avoid the hottest pat of the day the four would have to get to the Outskirt Stand soon, for food, shade and most importantly water.
Come on. He signs to Hiroshi, half hoping the Charizard will carry him again.

Crecent nodded and followed the Kabutops, moving in a sort of jumping manner so as to keep the sand from burning her paws. "I wish the sand wasn't so hot." She complained, continuing her short little hops along the sand.

Regale gives Crescent a funny look. His insectile body with its thick armored caramel brown shell is built sturdy, if designed to operate underwater and the sand crunching between his long clawed toes just feel like sand to him.
"Maybe you can get the Samuott to give you a ride." He suggests distantly, determinedly striding forwards towards where he knew the old engine was waiting and with it their lunch.
Even if his cold body can't feel the heat of the sands the warmth of the glaring sun overhead is starting to hurt his metallic golden eyes.
Thankfully they weren't too far away from the sunken human vehicle, in fact he can already see the grey haze of the looming shape on the horizon.
Regale cheerfully thinks about the pile of blackened bones, soon to be covered over by the sands.
Even if they hadn't found what they'd set out to discover they'd still eliminated a land dwelling piece of scum!

With a sound like washing flapping on a line Hiroshi lands and folds his green membraned wings in around his body, ducking his long head into the shelter of the abandoned steam engine.
The large "X" shaped gash in the torn metal was still there, Regale's "call to war" as he referred to it as.
Accidentally knocking a plate to the ground with a sharp crack Hiroshi winces as he carefully puts the egg down on a nearby table and carefully looks at it.
A faint tremor of movement rocks the egg's shell as the baby inside kicks and Hiroshi leaps backwards in surprise.
It's still alive and not only that it's close to hatching!
Cracking the dropped plate further as he accidentally stands on it the Charizard clumsily manages to find a large soup bowl and ducks back outside to scoop up s handful of the hot sun-baked sand, filling the bowl roughly half way before carrying it back inside and resting the egg in the warm sands. That was about all he could remember of seeing the Charizard nests around his home, though a bowl of hot sand seems paltry compared to the warm fissure of an active volcano.
Spotting a speckle of blue fur on the horizon Hiroshi cheerfully waves one clawed hand.
"Hey there!"

In a sour mood now that there were too many of them to fly Hideki plods onward, the hot sand irritating but compared to other pains he has suffered completely insignificant. He does however meet the lesser god's suggestion with a lowering of the large branching horn of his shell helmet, an aggressive gesture to show that he was blind not deaf.
Carefully following what he remembers of the way, the ever shifting dunes preventing him from recognizing location by the texture of the sand under his feet.
"Hey there!" He hears his God of Flames and Stone call as the Water Type walks the rest of the way and ducks into the refreshing shade.
The cooler air washes over his dark blue fur as Hideki walks inside the broken open door, past the pile of gritty sand the wind had lodged there and flops down on the floor.
Get me a drink. He signs as he starts using the back of his Seamitar to groom his fur.

Crescent shook her head at the Kabutop's suggestion. She still very much feared the Samurott and it's lack of emotion. She continued to hop towards the Outskirt Stand, bounding along at a fairly fast pace. A few times she'd stop to see if anything was moving nearby and how far behind the kabutops was before she continued on. Well, If I'm to live through this nightmare, I have to get along with all three of them. The Kabutops is easily fooled, so it's not that difficult to go along with him, the Charizard is friendly enough, but the Samurott... I'm not sure about him, he's... well... strange... Crescent thought as she bounded along, slowing down to a fast paced trot as she thought. Sighing she continued towards where the Charizard had flown, now able to see the large metal structure.

With a happy sigh the crowned Kabutops strolls into the walls of his castle and picks an abandoned table to sit down at, resting his feet on the table's dusty surface as he folds his scythe arms behind his head. Flickering light from the barely functioning light bulbs illuminates the abandoned diner. Some of the tales are still set for meals, cup and plates waiting on their surfaces like their owner has just nipped out to the bathroom.
The neon lights of the Jukebox flickers and buzzes.
"Wwelcome to my castle in the sand." Regale says magnanimously, spreading wide his bladed forearms as he gestures to the abandoned building, not half sunken into the sands. "The kitchen's still good, wwould you like somefin to eat?"
Rising from the table the crowned Kabutops stalks off into the kitchen and starts taking an inventory of their remaining supplies.

Rolling his lava colored eyes the rock armored Charizard stumps off to join Regale in the kitchen.
A bottle of Soda Pop in the diner's large fridge is still good, if a bit flat, and he picks up two of the six pack to carry back into the main body of the eatery.
"Here you go." He carefully hands one of the bottles to Hideki who inspects it closely.
The Charizard gently nudges Crescent to let the Absol know the show is about to begin before puncturing a hole in the bottle with one of his long claws and gulping down the slightly stale soft drink by putting his mouth to the hole and sucking. The can crumples like a bit of tissue paper as the Charizard swallows and belches.
The burst of warm air smells like brimstone.

A small pile of the golden sand lies at the Samurott's feet as he carefully grooms himself, his thick water proof fur allowing him to comb the irritating grains from his fur with ease. He uses the back of one of his long shell Seamitars as a grooming tool, the ridges in the shell acting as a comb. Getting the last few grains of sand out of his long sensitive whiskers the blind Water Type twitches them and accepts his drink.
Carefully he examines the small container, turning it in his metallic paw as he tries to determine the swiftest way to free the liquid from the container. Rapidly Hideki opens his mouth and shoves the entire can inside, biting down hard so that the fizzy liquid flows down his throat and makes his eyes water. Swallowing twice to get all the fluid out Hideki then spits out the crumpled can as swiftly as possible and goes back to grooming.
Keeping his mouth closed he sneezes as the bubbles tickle his nose and looks very disturbed.
I don't think I like that drink. he signs to Hiroshi.

Crescent smiled as the Charizard gave her a soda pop. Erica used to buy her Soda Pops. She looked sadly at the soda pop, remembering Erica, until the Charizard nudged her, pointing to Hideki. Watching as the Samurott shoved the entire can in his mouth as fast as he could and then drinking the fizzy drink even faster, Crescent stifled a burst of laughter as the Samurott got the side effects of drinking the fizzy Soda Pop to fast. Using her head scythe, Crescent put a hole in the top of her Soda Pop, trying to remember how they were opened. "It's a bit hard trying to open these with no hands." Crescent muttered, smiling as she managed to open the hole in the can wide enough for her to drink it. Carefully taking a few drinks of the fizzy liquid so as not to get the result the samurott did, she eventually managed to finish the soda pop.

Stalking through the kitchen with a predatory gait the crowned Kabutops searches the cupboards and fridges for what he wants to eat for lunch, his scythes leaving clumsily scratches in the human kitchen in his searching.
Eventually he comes up with some more frozen berries, little fragments of ice still clinging to the Oran Berries blue skin.
With a small 'tink' sound he places the hard berries down on the table before scurrying back and bringing out a Soda Pop can of his own (the challenging of holding it with his scythes already resulting in some of the liquid dripping onto the floor) and a row of small cake-like things that can be identified as preserved poffins.
Spearing one on the end of his scythe Regale takes a bite before spitting out the dry tasting poffin and swiftly snatching up another one, this time Spicy.
"Wwell eat up." He says irritably, taking a bite of the new poffin and swallowing.

His long neck twisting as he tries to get a better look at the plate Hiroshi reaches for one of the Spicy red poffins that remains on the table and manages to pick it up without disturbing the rest of the multicolored little buns.
Popping the small treat is his mouth the Charizard's wings flap once at the warm and spicy taste before reaching for another.
Hideki slaps the back of his clawed hand with the flat of his Seamitar and takes the spicy poffin for himself.
Sure that it is some form of payback for the Soda Pop Hiroshi blows a smoke ring at the Water Type, watching Hideki's whiskers twitch as the Samurott sneezes.
"Want one?" Hiroshi says, recognizing the irritable look in Regale's eyes and wisely selecting a bitter tasting poffin next.
After all Regale was nice enough to find the food and he would feel bad if he ended up taking all the Kabutops's favorite flavor...

Hideki weighs the poffin in palm, the hint of staleness in the small preserved pasty not concerning his as the spicy scent makes his whiskers twitch.
Carefully the Samurott sniffs at his pastry, making sure it will all fit before twisting his head back and briefly opening his mouth to snap the poffin out of the air.
A few bright crumbs fall to the ground as he chews, keeping his mouth adamantly closed.
After his time held in The World where each meal was the same illusion food never failed to amaze him.
More. He signs to Hiroshi as he swipes another spicy red poffin from the plate.

((OOC: All their favorite flavors is spicy XD))

Crescent watches as the three pokemon devoured the spicy berries. reaching a paw out, Crescent gathered a sweet poffin, spearing it with her claw and putting it in her mouth. "Seems like you like the spicy poffins." Crescent said, picking up another sweet poffin and eating it. She loved sweet poffins. Erica always gave them to her. The sweet tang of the poffin brung back happy memories of when Erica would give her a feast of poffins when they'd defeat a trainer.

"So what brings you all here? Like, were you running from infected, were you wandering or did you come for some shelter? If you don't mind me asking that is." Crescent said, trying to start some conversation between the group. It would also let Crescent know a bit more about these pokemon.

Regale suddenly chokes on a spicy bite of poffin, the warm tasting confectionary suddenly sticking his throat.
Nearly dislodging the cream-shelled egg from its bucket of sand as he splutters and swallows it down his metallic golden eyes are suddenly cold and hard.
It nearly brings tears to his eyes as he remembers her and he physically has to restrain himself from starting to cry.
He can't show such weakness in front of battle-hardened warriors, particularly his treacherous land dweller pawns!
They can't know of his shameful exile from his colony home for killing another, his long shameful trek to this bleak dry place to rest in his shame forever and most importantly they can never know of the love he had once had for a pretty octillery.
The Kabutops, taking comfort from the heavy weight of his crown that marked him as still having royal blood, strains up. The artificial light gleams off his scythes and his scaly throat twitches as he swallows his bite.
Pretending nothing has happened the crowned fossil pokemon crosses his large lanky legs under the table and takes another bite, hoping his moment of shock hadn't been noticed.
"I don't wwant to talk about it." He says, more forcibly than he intended and misjudges the next dart of his scythe-like arms.
Instead of skewering a tasty poffin he accidentally ends up imbedding his blade into the surface of the table and has to tug hard to pull it back loose, nearly over balancing his chair.

Curling his long neck around the Charizard looks at Regale in concern, wondering if a bite of the spicy poffin treats had accidentally gone down the wrong tube...provided that was even how the insectile water/rock type's body worked.
The pissy look in Regale's metallic golden eyes, the Kabutops with the two large crescent shaped scars looking as irritated at himself as the question, was enough for Hiroshi to take the hint and leave him alone.
Nevertheless Regale's reaction has sparked the large Fire Type's curiosity.
With a wide smile Hiroshi leans back, folding his short arms behind his strong neck in a gesture of satisfaction.
"Well me and Hideki were still just a Dewott and Charmeleon when we got here. A sandstorm was kicking up and we needed a place to stay. King Regale was kind enough to let us shelter here provided we agreed to join his army."
In musing the Charizard blows a smoke ring.
"And before that...A nice Gardevoir looked after us..."

Hideki's head snaps up from where he has hunched over the remains of his previous poffins, dry red crumbs mixed in with the dark fur of his forepaw and getting stuck in the rivet lines on the metal shell that had replaced his other forelimb.
His pale blue eyes are nearly blind but his ears have grown very sharp to compensate. He has heard the weakened Elder God's spluttered protest about his ignoble past and subsequent fall from grace but the mention of the word 'Gardevoir' makes him pay more attention to the idle conversation.
The God of the Dreaming Breezes... He signs near reverently, his memories of the gardevoir's acceptance of his strange condition promoting the Psychic far beyond normal godhood in his opinion.

Seeing she had struck a soft point in the kabutops, Crescent regretted saying the question, however when the other two replied about before coming here they were taken care of by a Gardevior, Crescent's curiosity sparked. "I came here after running from the infected, as I said, but before that..." Crescent stopped for a moment, thinking about Erica. "I was accompanying a trainer - Erica was her name - through Sinnoh. When the infection struck we had escaped to Johto, but... We were caught off guard, We didn't know how serious things had gotten. Infected swamped us and I wasn't able to save Erica and myself from them." Crescent said, sighing as she told her story. She looked to the ground for a moment, closing her eyes and letting the happy memories flood back to her. Erica will always be with me. I know she will. Crescent thought, shaking her head a bit to clear her thoughts, before lifting her head again, looking bright eyed and cheery again.

Irritably the crowned Kabutops steadies his chair, snatching up another poffin to distract himself from his moment of weakness and chewing it down. His acidic saliva melts the poffin into a tasty slurry which easily slips down his throat.
"Huh humans." He says with a surprising venom, piercing another poffin on his long sharp scythe. "They ruin everything, throwing all their trash into my ocean."
Sulkily the crowned Kabutops takes a bite of the other poffin as he thinks of the disgusting rubbish that flooded his castle home from the human cities that crouched on the coasts like bloated Krabby.
Humans made him also think of her and lowered his mood all the further as the crowned Kabutops tilts up his head disapprovingly.

((OOC: He's a sensitive guy, really XD))