Dead or Alive {Erika, Aglaia, & Riley}

[CYNTHIA]

It hadn't been too hard to locate Erika.

All Cynthia had needed was Anubis. From there, the Lucario and his trainer had worked tirelessly. Based on the news reports, it was safe to conclude that the fugitive (or fugitives, Cynthia didn't know who would be accompanying Erika) were somewhere in the Johto-Kanto area. This was mainly because Erika could not have boarded any flights out of Kanto due to the immediate response to her escape and even after the weeks it had been, people were still looking for her. Any citizen would recognize the former Leader now, even in crowds. Erika's face often made the top news as it was. Further more, it seemed to Cynthia that the infiltrater would have to have been based close to the prison in order to plan the break out.

The pair had worked through the larger cities in Kanto first. Even Celadon was checked for the possiblity of harboring the criminals but to no avail. Then, it dawned on Cynthia that the suspects would want to get out of Kanto, where the investigation was more prominent. And so, they had begun to systematically check every Johto city, starting with those closest to the Kanto border. It had been weeks since the beginning of the former-Champion's investigation. In addition, Cynthia had to comute to Johto and Kanto nearly every day, as not to arouse Steven's suspicions. The trip from Mossdeep to the joint regions wasn't amazingly horrible, but it was taking a toll on Gerry's health...

Cynthia snapped out of her daydreams. It was time to focus. Three days ago, in Goldenrod, Ani had picked up the traces of a green aura, eerily similar to the one that he had witnessed at the prison. Of course, in such a large city, it was quite hard to locate the exact proximity of the owner of such an aura. Cynthia had spread her pokemon out throughout the large area. It had taken countless hours of surveilence to finally come into contact with the person Cynthia assumed was Erika.

They were looking for her now, pacing through the area that Erika was spotted at the most. It was residential; the target probably was renting out a room in a hotel or apartment. But it could be at any number of the buildings that lined the busy city sidewalks and just to be sure, she had one of her pokemon watching each one while Cynthia made her rounds outside of the places. Some days, Erika didn't even come outside but Cyn was banking on the girl's love of nature to make her want to go on a walk in the local park which she had been seen doing before.

The blonde bent over a newsapaper stand, allowing her long hair to cover her face. Ani looked around behind her, keeping an eye out for Erika's sudden appearance. Like Cynthia, Erika would most likely be wearing a disguise, not her usual and tell-tale kimono. Suddenly, Anubis let out a low growl and pointed. Out of her limited peripheral vision, the girl glimpsed someone leaving one of the suspected apartment complexes. Someone about Erika's height and body type, even the hair looked like the photos.

'Finally! All we've been waiting for is leading up to this moment...' Cynthia smiled confidently to herself. She bent over a magazine again, trusting Ani to keep an eye on their target. "The target's been spotted guys. On South Boulevard and Way Street. Rosa, keep by the entrance to the park, Ani and I will trail her but if she isn't heading in your direction, you have to let me know. Everyone else, stay where you are. The last thing we need is to attract attention. But whatever you do, do NOT engage." Cynthia spoke into the earpiece that connected her to the rest of her pokemon, hardly whispering into the device. Still, there were several confirmations on the other side as Cynthia straightened with a confident smile.

Fixing her lopsided glasses, Cyn motioned for Anubis to follow her as she crossed the street. It wasn't like the woman was going to confront Erika. Not today at least, she would need back up. There was no telling how dangerous Erika really was and Cynthia really didn't want to find out.

But once again, Anubis straightened, his ears flicking back and forth in agitation. The girl looked at her Lucario with concern. With one paw, Ani pointed at someplace ahead of them. A flash of pinkish-red was all Cynthia saw but it was enough to give her an idea of what Anubis was so distressed about. If Cynthia went out to go see if it really was who she suspected it to be, Erika might get away... No. The pokemon were watching her closely and all the former-Champion needed right now was surveilence anyway. Besides, Aglaia might even be able to help her. And so, Cynthia broke off from trailing Erika and instead followed an all too familiar face...

"Lea, is that really you?"

[ERIKA]

[cs=2][atrb=cellSpacing,10,true][atrb=border,0,true][atrb=style, width: 500px; background: url(http://i55.tinypic.com/s3lhtd.png), bTable,] so you don't know where you're going and you wanna talk? tag: cynthia, aglaia & riley words: 417 notes: nope

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[atrb=style, width: 400px;][atrb=style, font-family: Georgia; word-spacing: 1px; text-align: justify; background: #FFF9CE; border: 5px solid #59955C; color: 000000;] Erika was far from comfortable packing heat. Logically, she shouldn't have had a problem - after all, she had done (and been blamed for) far worse in the past - but no amount of logic would stop the handgun on her hip from feeling like a thousand-pound weight, dragging her down and burning at her skin. No one will know, she told herself. Her clothes, picked by Raina, were baggy and loose. For multiple reasons, of course - not only to hide the gun, but to hide the shape of her body. (Her friend's voice had held a touch of disappointment when she went over that, something Erika was in no rush to analyze.) They didn't feel like they belonged on her. There was no pattern, no bright color, and worse no formality to the garments. And so Erika had compromised. Today of all days, the ex-leader decided to not wear a wig. Her hair had grown out since she was last photographed, and begun to wave slightly. The once neat bob was now sloppy like her clothes. She hoped no one would notice her; sure, she could hardly recognize herself in a mirror these days, but she was starting to wonder how much of that was actually appearance. So, jumpy and shaking, the famous traitor wandered down the streets of Goldenrod, blending easily into the city crowd. All I need is some seeds. she thought, trying to minimize the risk of the trip in her head. If I have a plant, I don't have to go out as much. Sure, I'll have to keep it very clean and not let it leak, but it's worth it. Just a trip to the store, it was. No big deal. That's when she started to see strange Pokemon. A Spiritomb flickered in her side vision, startling her - it was only a split section sight, but she winced at the idea of who it could belong to. They weren't common Pokemon - no, someone with a Spiritomb would be an unbelievably strong trainer... Like the thousands looking for you? Just as she worked to clear that thought from her head, she swore she saw a Garchomp in an alleyway, eyes suspicious. When she looked again, the image was gone, leaving to wonder if she was hallucenating. Cynthia has a Spiritomb and a Garchomp. She thought. Her pace picked up. It was just a store trip. She just needed seeds. She had a gun. She was perfectly fine... and panicking.

[AGLAIA]

Aglaia was currently in Goldenrod, Johto. The reason why she was here? Well, it was a bit a long story. She was taking a break before flying to Sinnoh on Caroline. She managed to land near Goldenrod, so she decided to stock on supplies and equiptment. What type of equiptment? Tea, her medicine, a few books..and some herbs and berries. That and she went to get grooming materials for her Pokemon. Yeah, she tend to put her Pokemon before herself.

Suddenly, she noticed a familiar figure in a suit with a too familiar pimp hat! However, she decided to push this aside and keep walking. Maybe this certain person had the similar taste of her cousin. She noticed the Spiritomb..and suddenly came to a halt...Wait a miniute..Hold the PokeGear..SPIRITOMB?!? She glanced around and it was gone.

She glanced franticlly around. Was she halucinating. She began to weeze and cough. Glancing at the hankerchief that she used to cover her mouth, spots of blood was on the off-white piece of fabric. Seeing it was time again, she pulled out a small bottle and popped a capsel into her mouth and took a sip of water.

"Man..I need to relax." Aglaia stated as she brushed one of her hands against her belt containing her pokeballs as she placed the stuff away in her sidebag. She pressed one of the Pokeballs too hard accidently and out in a red flash was a Zorua on the ground. This particular Zorua was Aglaia's. It was female and nicknamed Zoey. Yeah, seemingly common nickname...But say that to either them nearby and it result in you being bonked on the head or bitten in the rear of your pants. Despite being together for a very short time, they have unified thoughts and tend to mirror each other.

Zoey gave out a soft yawn and jumped up on Aglaia's shoulder and began talking a nap. "Geeze..you really like sleeping there, don't you gal?" Aglaia mumbled as she patted Zoey's soft silkly fur with one hand. Zoey, in enjoyment, gave a soft purr like growl out from her mouth as her tail wagged back and forth. Taking a blue PokeBlock from her waistbag, she placed it infront of Zoey's nose.

Zoey's nose twitched one, then twice, and opened her mouth. In a blink of the eye, Zoey has gulped down the PokeBlock and began chewing on it happily. "You and your Dry flavor sweets and treats..." Aglaia said, voicing her thoughts outloud with a chuckle. She shoved her hands into her pocket and continued walking. Suddenly,she came to a halt. She heard someone calling her name. Turning to the sides, she saw no one. She sighed and shoved her pockets and continued walking. Until Zoey stood up on her shoulder and pointed her nose at a direction.

Giving a sigh, Aglaia glanced at the direction Zoey was pointing at, behind her. She blinked one, she blinked twice, she blink three times. A familiar blond was a few feet away from her. Deciding to be more stealthy she walked over and whisper. "Yeah..It is me, Lea. Is that you..Cyn? What are you doing here?!?"

[RILEY]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=width,500,true][atrb=cellspacing,0,true][bg=0e0e0e][atrb=style,padding: 40px 0px 10px 0px; height: 240px;][atrb=vAlign,bottom] 487 WORDS LISTENING TO "Season’s Call" BY HYDE TAGGED CYNTHIA • ERIKA • AGLAIA RILEY IS PRETTY CLUELESS. DEAD OR ALIVE

[bg=d3d3d3][atrb=style,padding: 20px;] RILEY Johto was a place he did not visit often. Part of him questioned why> It was a beautiful place surrounded by a lot of forest. Looking at his pokeballs, he had never caught anything from here. Shrugging his shoulders, he decided to stay awhile and enjoy the area. The rural area would do him some good. But there was always Team Ultimatum to deal with, so Dahlia had to stay out of her pokeball at times. It wasn’t like she was kept in there too often anyways. The two were close. Walking side by side, they marched around Goldenrod. Now this place was more urban and it made his skin crawl. He had lulled in the wilds and on the island for too long for such a populated area to get under his skin. ‘I’m sure there is going to be some Ultimatum activity around here,’ spoke Riley to Dahlia. When it came to places like this, they rather keep their conversations through their minds. Part of it was because they could, but Riley was the cautious type. Dahlia did not answer. Instead her head pointed toward the sky. ‘Something is wrong. Can you feel it? I need to check something out, Brother.’ ‘Off you go,’ Riley said before closing his eyes. Both of them had been trained in Aura use, but as a pokemon, Dahlia was better at it. He searched around for an irregular aura, perhaps one with dark intentions. As he looked, a familiar one caught his attention. In a quick move, he opened his eyes and turned around. Didn’t he feel Aglaia’s aura? He shifted his hat upward and felt his forehead. Normal temperature. ‘Brother, one of my brothers is here. One younger than me but familiar,’ announced Dahlia with a smile. ’Anything out of the ordinary?’ ’I got distracted I assumed you wanted to know of the presence. Sorry, her head dipped down as moved her foot through the sand. ’You were right to tell me,’Riley patted her on the shoulder and smiled. The pokemon returned the action and followed he walked away. Then Dahlia took the lead, leading them to where she felt Anubis. It did not take long for him to navigate around scattered crowds to find Cynthia. It felt weird to see her here. Most of the time he encountered her at Sinnoh. Seconds after he noticed her, a more familiar face appeared. Aglaia? He chuckled to himself as he realized he wasn’t losing his touch. “Aglaia. Cynthia. Strange to see you two both here. Are you traveling together again?” It was a bit of an awkward greeting because suddenly Riley felt something strange. Nothing to do with aura. Just looking at Cynthia’s face, there was something wrong. He bit his tongue, worried that his next statement would offend his friend, but hopefully she would forgive him if he was being too brash. “What are you doing here?”

[bg=0e0e0e][atrb=style,padding: 10px; font-family: courier new; color: #d3d3d3; text-align: center; letter-spacing: 5px;]TEMPLATE CODED BY RAIN FROM OTE

[CYNTHIA]

Seeing that the girl in front of her was in fact Aglaia, Cynthia smiled at the other girl warmly, Aglaia was one of her closest friends. Running into her in Johto was quite a coincidence. It was rather unfortunate that she was there for such a morbid reason, Cynthia would have loved to catch up with her almost sister-like friend. But this was neither the time nor the place for such a greeting.

"Please Aglaia, you must keep it down. I can't be recognized here. But it is nice to see you." The woman stared at the Zorua on her friend's shoulder for a second. It looked quite content, though Cyn didn't really think that Lea owned a Zorua... More questions later, there were pressing matters at hand. "Let's just say that for the moment, I'm not here for sight seeing. But I really could use your help and your... talents."

Once again, Anubis perked up. He turned around again to see yet another farmiliar face. Even Cynthia looked up in shock. "Riley?" She asked out loud, it was quite a pleasant surprise to see both of her good friends here. Ani leaped forward to greet his sister. Even the sullen Lucario was smiling; a rare thing for him. But it was a little more than coincidence that they had all met up here, it was almost as if fate itself had caused the three to meet up again. And these were the two friends that Cynthia wanted to see now more than ever. "No, uh, we aren't travelling together now exactly. I just saw Aglaia here and, well, here we are now. But really, I could use your help. See, I'm trailing..." Cynthia broke off. Where was Erika?

'No, no, no! This can't be happening! Finally, when I would be able to make a move...' Cynthia glanced at her Lucario who looked back and nodded. Now was the time. The girl pressed her hand to her earpiece and spoke to her pokemon, not caring that her friends heard her. They needed to move in now."Rose and Gerry, converge on the suspect. I repeat, confront her! Now!" There were muffled responses from her pokemon, but there was an audible confirmation from both the Roserade and the Braviary. Now, Cynthia turned back to her companions. "Erika. We are following Erika. Me and my pokemon that is, no one else at the moment. But if we work together and move fast we may still be able to arrest her. Please, follow me!" With that, the blonde turned and began to push through the crowd of pedestrians, back towards where she believed Erika was, Anubis hot on her heels.

Meanwhile, Rosaline the Roserade searched through the many people that passed her for a farmiliar face. She knew Erika by now, Cynthia had shown her a picture often of the wanted criminal. Buisness man, buisness man, punk teenager, crazy haired trainer... There! The girl's disguise didn't fool the crafty Grass-type. Erika was very much out of place and her face and hair was all too farmiliar, even if it had changed slightly. Rosa gave out a happy call and skipped forward out of the shubbery she was hiding in. Then, she turned and faced her target, blocking her path and pointing one rose hand at her. "Roserade!" She called and got into a fighting stance. Even as this happened, Geronomo the Braviary swooped down from above with a screech. This caused many angry and surprised shouts from the people below but Gerry didn't care. He flew low, over the people's heads as he searched for Erika and Rosaline. There! He dove straight towards the wanted criminal and flew right past her head with a caw before landing on the sidewalk right next to his Roserade companion. Both pokemon faced the girl and wondered what her next move would be.

[ERIKA]

[cs=2][atrb=cellSpacing,10,true][atrb=border,0,true][atrb=style, width: 500px; background: url(http://i55.tinypic.com/s3lhtd.png), bTable,] so you don't know where you're going and you wanna talk? tag: cynthia, aglaia & riley words: 415 notes: nope

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[atrb=style, width: 400px;][atrb=style, font-family: Georgia; word-spacing: 1px; text-align: justify; background: #FFF9CE; border: 5px solid #59955C; color: 000000;] If there was any time for obscenities, it was now. They've found me. Erika thought as the Pokemon converged on her, thoughts quickly turning to escape and strategy. She'd have to get out of Goldenrod; she'd need a big city, but there were plenty of those scattered around the region. She gritted her teeth. She could call Raina from a pay phone, she could run to Castelia. It was huge; she was safer there, especially if she could buy some more wigs. There was an extra in her bag. She could make it there... if she could avoid her impending arrest. Of course, Cynthia was no Steven. She had no reason to play nice this time... except common courtesy. She forced the fear off her face and released Daisy. "Watch my back," she whispered, and then quickly turned around, looking around to see the trainer. No, there were too many people - she couldn't see the champion she assumed was her assailant. She must have had other contact to their Pokemon. People around her were realizing who they saw before them, and scattering. A wanted murderer, in their city. Some looked angry; others, merely scared. The gun felt like lead on her hip. I should have kept a Pokemon with a more utilitarian moveset... I should have prepared for an escape in general. she thought, going over her options. Shooting the Pokemon didn't even come to mind. Instead, she took the cowards route, the one she had seen so many times in her nightmares that it felt natural. Erika nodded at her Bellossom and Daisy hopped onto her. In a flash, the ex-leader ran off into a dark alley, speeding off as fast as she could. She couldn't confuse the bird quite so easily, but if a person was following her, they'd have a hard time navigating the maze behind the city; a strange place full of funny smelling men, scantily dressed women and needles. Maybe there'll be a grunt or two to slow her down... It was kind of funny, because she honestly hadn't wanted to learn them; but her paranoia had taught her almost every nook and cranny in this city, when she ran from every weird look or knowing smile. Erika had thought she'd never really need them - it turned out her imagination was nothing compared to the fear she felt in reality. She didn't even want to think about what would happen when her nightmares tried to emulate the feeling.