World Tree MUSH

     It's a bright, sunny day in Goldenrod City! Happy trainers both young and old walk the streets with their Pokemon, going about whatever business suits them. Need a bike? The bike shop's got you covered! Feel like trying your luck? The Game Corner allures with its flashing lights and sounds! Listen to some tunes from the Goldenrod radio tower as you take in the scenery! Such a city, so many things to explore and do!

In the center of the city, however, is the Goldenrod Department Store. Six floors high, it's dwarfed only by the radio tower and boasts a selection to match. It's practically a vertical mall, with shops dedicated to every nook and cranny of Pokemon-related merchandise... including, recently, a newly opened shop offering Pokemon themselves!

The shop is spacious but clean, with the main area up front holding shelves of pokeballs each labeled with the name of the Pokemon it contains. To the immediate left of the entrance as one walks in is the checkout area, with a cash register atop a counter and paperwork to be filled out for every purchase. The young, hip looking cashier smiles and waves to everyone who comes in!

But don't think those poor Pokemon are stuck in their pokeballs forever! The back half of the store is an impressively detailed array of habitats behind a steel fence, giving any Pokemon (within a certain size range) a pleasant place to stretch their legs... or whatever else they may have. In fact there are several back there now, all smaller, more pet-friendly types. This doesn't seem to be a shop dedicated to battle.

Moving back to the front of the shop, however, the centerpiece is a round pedestal with a single specially colored pokeball placed on a red velvet cushion... well, imitation velvet at least. The sign next to this pedestal proudly proclaims the Pokemon inside to be none other than a Rotom, a moderately uncommon plasma-based creature capable of possessing machinery and known for its pranksterish nature.

Okay, so it's not a legendary or even a rare Pokemon, but it's still pretty cool and useful! The kids will love this one-time offer~

    Luke likes to travel to the big pokemon malls now and then, Celadon in Kanto... Hau'oli City in Alola, and of course, Goldenrod in the region of Johto!. The fact that Luke might have some... minor connections to some folks of Sylph co, due to some tests involving his Electiger, only meant he usually had some kind of voucher or discount card for buying gadgets!. And he had one expiring soon!. 
    This time the boy is joined by Berurun, a black cat like beast, with a golden bell attached to its tail, golden 'wraistbands' on each leg, and a tuft of gold on its head that looks like a crescent moon!. The cat seems content to trot besides Luke, chiming its bell now and then, and making loud vocalizations every few minutes. "Yes, i will get you that snack soon, I promise, as long as you manage to behave during all this trip!." the duo makes their way towards the pokemon shop, mostly out of curiosity, if anything, Luke didn't need to purchase pokemon himself!... then again... maybe he can get one as a gift for a friend...

    Aurelia is hanging out with Luke in her civilian clothes, finding the Pokemon world to be a relaxing change from all the hidden battles and things that she deals with in her world. Padding alongside her is Zero in his steel lion form, sniffing the air.
    "Huh, this place is really neat, Luke!"

    Serrah came over here to buy some more baseballs; many of the ones she had already have worn out or gotten gross due to being used as weapons. So she headed towards the sports section, restocking. Some of the store clerks were mildly bemused by the way she just shoved them into her sports bag -- also a new purchase today! She's had the old one for a couple of years now! -- but hey, she has the money.

    As a consequence, she's now heading back out with two sports bags slung over her shoulders, whistling the themesong to some anime or other from this universe. She hasn't noticed Luke or Aurelia yet ...

     As Luke and Aurelia approach the new shop, the cashier smiles and waves to them. "Hey there! How can I help you two? Looking for anything in particular today, or just browsing?" he greets them, while a couple of the Pokemon in the back curiously peer through the fence at the new arrivals.

    Luke smiles to Aurelia, and after checking the black cat was still near them and behaving, he focuses on his friend, "Yeah, figured it might be a fun place to visit, if you ever wanted to learn more about pokemon or get some nice souvenirs!" he replies. The black cat is bored enough it moves to pester Zero. "Did you want to get a pokemon plush or something?" he asks, "My treat, still got this giftcard about to expire." he offers.

    Aurelia hmmms. "A larvitar plush maybe?" She glances over the shelves of pokemon plushes, considering and looking for a larvitar.
    Zero pads up to the pokemon habitats and watches them, gold eyes flicking between the various 'mon. He notices Serrah at the counter, and being curious, pads up to the black-haired woman. In a low voice he says "Are the baseballs better here?"

    Serrah blinks and does a double-take. "Oh, hey, Zero," she says in a low voice. "Aurelia around here?" She glances around, finally spotting Aurelia and Luke. "Ah, there!"

    The question, however, gives her pause. "... Oh. Uh, well, I've just sort of ... only bought baseballs in this Blossom before, since Luke helped me get on my feet the first time I was in Kansai ..." She hesitates. "... you know what, I actually don't have a sensible reason for coming here, heh. Just force of habit, I guess."

    She starts heading over to Aurelia and Luke. "Hey, guys!" she calls out.

      The cashier waves to Serrah as well, giving her the same greeting and then just... standing there, watching for any signs of them needing help. As Zero checks out the Pokemon in the habitats, one Rattata pokes its paw through the fence to try to boop his nose before he leaves to talk to Serrah.

Meanwhile, approaching from down the way, a certain massive bear and a small posse of unwashed, scraggly henchmen rudely bump aside anyone who gets in their way, making a beeline for the shop.

    Luke smiles when Aurelia replies and nods, "Then let's get one!" he turns to the cashier and asks about some fancy pokedolls, and discusses a couple of them. It's at this point that his cat gets bored, and begins to follow after Zero, and tries to sneak into the habitats for the pokemon, tail chiming quietly as it sneaks!. Luke even forgets about it when Serrah calls at him. "Oh, Serrah!, nice to see you again!" he replies, "Restocking?." he asks. 
    Meanwhile while his cat begins to torment one of the smaller pokemon habitats, unfortunately for it, it picks a Dedenne cage, and gets a zap for the trouble. Cue battle music with the cat adn the electric jerboa/hamster mostly posturing at eachother and making loud noises... until some employees move over to stop them.

    Aurelia smiles and greets Serrah. "Hi, nice to run into you outside of... well, work." She offers a handshake to the other woman. Aurelia then gestures at the variety of pokemon plushes. "Aren't these neat? California's regulations on importing plants and animals mean I can't have a pokemon, but this seems like a good substitute."
    Zero wanders off again, ends up sitting in front of the Rotom pedestal, tail sweeping back and forth across the floor.

    Serrah chuckles, and nods to Luke as she hefts both sports bags. "Yeah," she says. "Oh, wait ..." She sets them down, pulls her umbrellas out of the old bag, and puts them into the new one. "But, uh, yes, been getting new stuff."

    She shakes Aurelia's hand. "Yeah," she says, "it's pretty neat. Like, I still think this world is pretty cool, in more ways than one, but ... uh-oh, I think we got trouble."

    That's right: her gaze is fixed on Luke's Berurun and the Dedenne.

     The cashier frowns as he notices the scuffle going on in the back, but just sighs and shakes his head. "It's fine, don't worry about it. Pokemon are naturally inclined toward competition, and it doesn't seem like they'll start doing anything really harmful. Besides, our new temp employees can handle it. They got pretty good marks in the training course!" he says with a bright smile.

Outside, the bear and his minions get closer to the shop, grabbing a security guard who tries to stop them and conking him against the wall to knock him out. Only a few more meters...

    Luke thanks the employee and gets Aurelia a couple of those plushes. "I wonder if there are some loopholes for that." he muses, even as he hands her the cute, cuddly toys. Serrah gets a grin, and moves closer to offer a hug to his friend. "I'm glad you still like it here." he begins, before glancing around back at the direction the Damphir was looking at, "Berurun!" he calls outloud.

    The black cat seems to just jump several feet when called, and suddenly tries to scramble out of sight, tail bell flailing ramdomly as it darts to try to hide behind some boxes. "I can still see you!".
    The small conmotion outside might get some people pulling their phones to take photos, but still seem uncertain about what to make out of the situation.

    Aurelia looks over as Luke deals with his wayward Berurun. She grins as the black cat pokemon seems to think Luke is playing chase or hide-and-seek. The young woman sets her shopping bag near Zero and tries to corral Berurun towards Luke.
    Zero just glances down at the shopping bag. Then stick his head into the bag to smell the plushies. He jerks his head back, slightly offended by the strong smell of fabrics and detergents.

    Serrah ... chuckles nervously and awkwardly hugs Luke. (She is not used to getting hugged.) "I mean, uh ... you're pretty much the first person who actively helped me out since Vincent killed me, and ... uh ... yeah, y'know what ..."

    Serrah puts down her sports bags, and --

    (Berurun would suddenly perceive the world as drab, tinted purplish, and with everything frozen in time except for it and the pair of hands wrapped around its waist as Serrah picks it up. Time resumes --)

    -- then suddenly, she's over where Berurun is, holding it up; the change is as abrupt as a video skipping ahead. "Gotcha!" she says, grinning ear to ear.

    ... Her gaze shifts over towards the commotion by the entrance. "Uhh ... hmm ..."

     Suddenly, the bear barges into the shop, dragging the unconscious security guard with him in one hand. His minions follow close behind, three in all, each starting to grab as many pokeballs as they can and shoving them into burlap sacks.

"AWRIGHT, NOBODY MOVE!" the bear roars deafeningly, his voice shaking the walls and causing the fence in the back to rattle. "I'm Drogo Peaudouce, the Laughing Bear of St. Aimery, and everything in this shop is now MY property. Nobody's gettin' hurt as long as you just stay where you are and don't try any funny business, got it?"

"H-hey now, you can't just-" the cashier starts to say, but Drogo hurls the guard's limp body at him, leaving both in a dazed heap.

"That goes for talkin' too! SHUT UP until we're done here!" Drogo adds, before something catches his one good eye. A little jade figurine, appearing by the cash register, taunting him... but as soon as he blinks, it's gone. A shiver runs down his spine, but he shrugs it off and grunts as he steps toward that Rotom pedestal. "This must be what we came here for, the main prize..."

    Luke chuckles as his pokemon is basically snagged mid jump by time freezing Serrah, and it voices its frustration at time cheating, but at least doesn't outright attack the Damphir, just tries to look sour and go limp. Luke's attention is quickly turned towards the intruder barging into the store... the literal bear, and motley crew. It's enough to get a double take, "Are... are you robbing the store?" he asks, even as he slowly reaches for his pokeball. "But this is just...". 

    Out of sight, but not too far from Serrah and the annoyed black cat pokemon, a group of employees with tags ranging from 'trainee' to 'temp' have a very quick hush discussion, before one of them comes out, "Hey!, what in Giratina's name do you think you are doing?!, barging like this?, this was our target!". The others just... range from facepalming to resignation, as they all tear away the uniforms (where did they get... those costumes?) revealing matching black pants and shirts, with a bright R logo on them. "Team Rocket!" he begins, before whispering "jr division 983" then resuming his normal loud voice, " was casing this place to steal later... without drawing attention!". 

    One of the young guys spots Zero, and quickly rushes towards the 'cat', "Look!, a rare pokemon!". While the other 3 grab pokeballs and release a mix of bats, big rats, and a floating mostly spherical face with a dopey grin and what looks like a skull and crossbones, emiting some brown smoke from a series of vents all over it. "No, koffing, don't do that yet!" screams one of the Rockets.

    Aurelia briefly notices an out of place jade statue before Drogo and his cronies burst onto the scene, and has no time to contemplate why it seems vaguely familiar. She dives behind a cardboard display of pokeballs as the big bear announces his demands. "Oh it's *that* bear again." Aurelia mutters something about bad pennies before one of Drogo's droogies knocks the display onto her trying to grab pokeballs.
    Zero is entirely distracted by Drogo and doesn't notice that the Team Rocket kids have spotted him and is instead slow-blinking at Drogo. It's that bear again. From the haunted house. Didn't Aurelia mention the bear was at the graveyard with all those hollow souls too?

    Serrah is in the cooldown of her timestop. Ironically, this means she can afford to expend more energy moving around.

    When Drogo throws the security guard at the cashier, she flies over at superhuman speeds. Not fast enough to do anything fancy, but she does end up behind the cashier to catch their fall so they don't hit the ground too hard. "Easy there," she says. "Let us handle this, 'kay?"

    She jumps back over the counter. "Hey, stupid!" she calls out to Drogo. "This --" And then stops as the Rocket Grunts show up. "... Ohhhh you have got to be kidding me." She sighs, looking around at both Drogo's squad and Team Rocket. "Attacking this place here and now," she says, "wasn't very PetSmart of you."

     When the Rockets make themselves known, Drogo shouts back at them, "Oh, we got some big shot criminals, huh? Sorry to be the one to inform you boys, but this is /my/ turf now! You're free to join my gang though. We offer dental."

One of the bandits stops looting for a moment to ask, "We gets dental?"

"Soon as we find a dentist, sure." Drogo answers with a shrug, before looking around at the other people gathered and realizing... they look kinda familiar. "Hey, haven't I seen you guys before?"

    The Team Rocket grunt reaches to grab Zero and if successful, he rushes towards the others, "Look what I found!" followed by the large bat that keeps flying over its head, scanning for threats. The guy that was screaming to Drogo doesn't seem intimidated, "We have been planning this for weeks!, you will ruin everything!" the man protests, "Team Rocket is better than... you." he adds. "Raticate, Koffing, stop those looters!, they are taking our stuff!". The giant rat and the floating ball of gas rush towards the bandits. The former trying to bodyslam and bite, the other just... filling the area with that thick brown smoke that is certainly not good for anyone there, team rocket or not.

    Luke meantime is just... stunned, "Yes, we met before, haunted house or something..." he muses, before the Team Rocket shennanigans finally seem to sink in, "You too?, why is everyone trying to rob this pet store?". He sighs and reaches for his belt, "Bewear, stop team Rocket." he says, almost sounding tired. The large pink, black and white bear turns to the Rockets, at least one fo them seems to grow a littel pale, as the fluffy looking thing somehow seems to crack knuckles, despite having only wide mittens for paws. 

    "I don't want to get killed by a hug!" the man panics, "Zubat! stop it!". The zubat screeches loudly at the pokemon, which seems to... distress and confuse it, since now the big pink thing is unsteady on its feet and... is attacking a display showing an employee... the Bewear is Confused.

    Zero notices once he's grabbed by the Team Rocket kids. He's heavy, being steel-plated, but easy to grab by the cables that make up his mane. He snarls and then roars loudly at the grunts trying to haul him off, shiny metal teeth and rust-tained breath right in the face of one of them. The intent is clear: Back off.
    Aurelia shoves the cardboard display off of her. "Yeah, you and your groupies collapsed a haunted house on top of us!" She grunts as she tries to tackle the minion that knocked the display onto her. "Put it back!"

    Serrah furrows her brow. This is getting kind of screwy ...

    She strolls over to the baseball bags and picks a slightly-worn baseball out of the old one. "Just gonna say it right once," she says. "You guys do not wanna play ball with the three of us ..."

    Her voice trails off once Bewear becomes Confused, and she smacks her forehead. "Uh, Luke, got any ideas for stopping ... whatever's gotten into Bewear?"

     Drogo ignores the Rockets as he peers at Luke, Serrah, and Aurelia a little longer. Finally, it clicks. "Ah! Yeah, yeah, I remember you guys now. You doin' good? Ghosts and zombies didn't get you, I see. Unless they did, and you're ghosts right now." he says, giving them a slightly suspicious glare. "Anyway, me and the boys are here for this uh, Pokeymans thing. Gotta replace our mascot, see. Old one got trashed by this crazy strong lady."

As he talks, his henchmen start running away from the Rocket Pokemon, throwing some of the pokeballs from their sacks behind them. Very confused 'mons of all stripes appear to block the Raticate and Koffing's path, from an Ekans to a Pansear to a... dear lord that is one BUFF mosquito! And it's countering Raticate's body slam with a seismic toss, right into Koffing's face! ANGRY buff mosquito!

The last one, tackled by Aurelia, screams as he flails and kicks at her, using his bag of balls as an improvised bludgeon. Another pokeball falls out of it, popping open to reveal... a pokeball? No, this one has eyes, very angry eyes, and its body starts emitting light for a few moments until...

EXPLOSION!!

    Luke seems now concerned over a very high level Bewear now casually trashing the store as it feebly tries to swat away a bat and a rat. Teh boy rushing to his pokemona nd trying to recall it, while the couple closest grunts run away in a panic. Of course, soem still remain, the one in charge defiant against Drogo and trying to impose any order, despite all the chaos, "No!, my plan!... I was finally going to stop being an intern... weeks of work ruined!". The explosion does rattle Luke, who rushes to check on Aurelia. Finally, the grunt strugglin to hold the metallic beast... eventually lets go, but only because Bewear stumbles nearby!. "It just has to calm down... I am sure it will be ok soon." he muses.

    Aurelia groans as she climbs to her feet, dusting herself off. There's scrapes on her hands and face, her clothing is worse for wear but still fairly intact. She screams in frustration and kicks the mook. Aurelia takes a deep breath as Luke approaches. "I'll be fine. Take care of Bewear." Then she stalks towards Drogo, looking furious. "You should've listened to Serrah, *BEAR*." She starts waving her hands and yanking various metal strips from the drop ceiling, willing them to hurl towards the ransacking minions and wrap around.
    Zero snarls as he uses his bulk and fearsome mien to try and herd the Team Rocket members towards Serrah, figuring the dhampir has some fastball specials to serve up. He roars loudly at somebody who's not with the program.

    Serrah nods. "Right, uh," She lifts up the older baseball bag. "Bewear, will you ..." She hurls it bodily at Bewear -- not hard enough to hurt, just enough to catch his attention. "... settle dowOHGOD!" She has to leap back from the Explosion, arms crossed in front of her face.

    Right, Zero's sending some guys towards her! She reaches into the new baseball bag, and starts chucking baseballs at the Rocket grunts.

    Serrah might be hard pressed to actually shoot a baseball hard enough to hurt it, the thing is basically covered in very, very good padding. But, it is distracted by Serrah's calls long enough that Luke manages to recall it into a pokeball, and thus, the crazy bear rampage seems to come to an end. Zero has some luck forcing the Rockets to move along, and the pokemon chaos seems to at least affect Drogo's pirates to stop looting!. When some of the Rockets stop running from Zero, the boy just reaches for his belt, and releases Dynamo, who puts a fancy electric display. That, and the baseballs finish them off. They just drop the loot, and surrender, "Stop!, we give up". "No! team rocket doesn't give up!". "Shut up, we were being paid more in the store than in team rocket!"

     "Yeah yeah, whatever." Drogo says to the Rocket teen, grabbing a Bidoof that's gnawing at his ear and chucking it at the Rocket leader's face. "I gave you the offer to join my gang, but no, you're too proud to switch sides, I get it."

Then to Aurelia, he huffs a bit and says, "Hmph, are you being racist? I feel like you're being racist. I'm not just a bear, I'm a bear with the will of a MAN!" He slams a fist into his palm to emphasize this, but seeing the metal strips wrapping around his minions as well as Serrah's baseball shenanigans, he just grabs the Rotom ball and makes a break for it... kicking another ball that had fallen on the floor and releasing its contents.

And those contents, as it happens, are a fluffy purple skunk-like creature. As it raises its tail, releasing a thick cloud of terrible-smelling gas that also seems to obscure vision, Drogo's laughter fills the entire building. "GWAHAHAHAHAHAH! Don't worry boys, I'll be back for you! Drogo Peaudouce, out!"

     Now all that is left from the Rocket group is the guy that keeps screaming about his plan, "I'm not done yet!". He sends the Koffing and the annoying Bat towards Zero, but he has an extra pokemon!. A large... purple pile of... something, with a large face, shambling towards Aurelia, "Muk!, Mud Bomb!". The attack is... as impressive as it sounds. Of course, the beaver to the face puts a damper on his display. That and... the Skunktank. In the end, the guy ends up slowly trying to follow Drogo's lead, "You haven't heard the last of Irving!, hahahahaha.". Running out of the store and into the building.

    Aurelia coughs as she waves off the Skunktank's... attack? Stench? Tear gas? And then acks as she gets slimed. "UGH." So going to have to take a long hot bath and launder these clothes five times. "I'm sending you my dry-cleaning bill!" She shouts in general at Irving and/or Drogo.

    "Oh no you don't!" says Serrah, charging forward -- and then recoiling from the Skuntanks. "OH GOD, YES YOU DO!" she exclaims, recoiling backward and clamping a hand over her nose. "Jesu-- errggghh ..." She looks away. "Wwwwwelp, guess they got outta here ..."