Contents:
Caeser
Mikomi
Obvious exits:
Way around City <WAC> leads to Pokemon Route 4: Cerulean City.
East <E> leads to Cerulean City: Marketplace.
South <S> leads to Footpath - Route 5: Trees and Rocks.
North <N> leads to Cerulean City: Main Square.

Caeser ever so slowly watches Wesley depart. A smirk plays across his lips for a brief second. After a few moments, Caeser's attention is turned to Melissa andher notepad. "Even curiouser..." He pauses. "That's a word, right?" he looks upand to the left for a moment before shrugging and steppign forward. "And what does the miss have here now?" An eyebrow arches slightly, complimenting the smilespreading across his face.

From the southern path to Saffron emerges Mikomi, a yellow Pikachu lounging on her shoulder lazily as she walks towards the gates of Cerulean. The girl is humming a little song to herself, and seemingly not paying much attention to her surroundings, judging by the way she's vacantly watching out in front of her as she moves.

"Yeek!" Melissa shrieks, her hands thrusting towards the sky. The notepad flies into the air, and lands on the ground a few feet away. Quickly, the teenager spins around to look at Caeser. "Oh my... oh my gosh..." She gasps, reaching for air. "Y... you... you scared me..." She mumbles, now reddening. She's known of Caeser's existance for three seconds, and she's already made a fool of herself. "I... um... sorry..." She mumbles quietly as she bends down to pick up her notepad. "I.... I'm a bit... jumpy..."

A Katerwaul slinks closer, bright eyes all ablaze ... so whisper a prayer and start that save! (Saving)

Caeser continues smilign as he bends down as well, trying to grab the notepad for Melissa. "Allow me. My fault anyway" Whether he retrieves the pad or not, he stands back up. "Perhaps I should introduce myself soas to prevent you from screaming when you see me. I'm Caeser. Caeser Martin at your service." His smile grows wider and he nods his head to the girl.

Ballistic arrives from Pokemon Route 3: Cerulean City.
Ballistic has arrived.

On and on Mikomi walks, probably coming close to the disturbance just ahead of her as she moves, but oblivious to the world despite every step drawing her nearer to it. Upon closer inspection, two tiny wires run from the pocket of her shorts up to her ears, with that particular pocket holding something squarish inside. She seems to be humming along quietly as she walks, too, with eyes only half open. Might be why she's not aware of the notebook dropping disturbances.

Melissa is able to grab the pad before Caeser does, partially because she doesn't want him looking at her secret... notes. "Caeser?" Melissa asks, looking down at the notepad and wiping off the dust and dirt. "That's a... a very... lovely name." Looking at him, she announces her own name. "M... Melissa Barlette. Maybe you've... read one of my mom's books?" She's getting more and more nervous by the moment. "Sh... she, um, she writes children's books.> Meanwhile, Scoop, Melissa Dugtrio, has popped up on Melissa's left, whining quietly. <You guys are too loud!> The middle head mutters. <Keep it down!> With a small little sigh, the teenage girl smiles at Citine, and then, without a word, recalls the ground type. "Sure would help if I could understand her." Melissa mumbles to herself.

Ballistic flies high overhead, riding easily on the warm breezes. Finally, finally it has stopped raining, so the Charizard is out hunting. He keeps a lazy eye on the ground below, adjusting his flight path as he nears the city; not much he'll find to eat in there. Then his head turns as he spots... hm. Little puffs of smoke exit his maw as he chuckles. Adjusting one wing, he starts an easy circle back, the humans below having caught his attention.

Oranges, reds, and golds light the fair weather clouds, shadowed in purple, around the setting sun. A soft breeze blows from the west. Purple, gold, and vermillion clouds grace the western sky as the sun descends toward the west.

Caeser listens to Melissa stammer for a moment. The mention of her mtoher leads him to begin thinking. "Hmm, been awhile since I've read any Children's books but the name does sound familiar. Perhaps I read abut her in the paper or something." He shrugs slightly, letting Melissa sort it out.

"I think they wanted quiet." Caeser observes at the chatter of the Dugtrio. As if to explain himself, Caeser smiles humbly. "I used to have one. Seems a trainer had had enough of theirs and left them in the woods one day. I managed to pick up a little of the language before I gave it to the pokecenter." idly, he scratches the back of his head ebfore digging into the satchel that hangs at his hip. he brings out a plastic wrapped sandwhich. "Hungry, Melissa?"

On and on Mikomi walks, now actually singing some of the words to the tune she's been humming under her breath, without realizing it. Must sound kinda funny to those who get near enough to hear her halfheartedly mumbling an old They Might Be Gyarados tune with only half the right key. The Pikachu on her shoulder paws at her neck for attention but she merely lifts a hand to reach back and scritch him behind the ear as she moves, fully engrossed by her tuneage. The threat overhead is, if anything, completely unnoticed. Caeser and Melissa catch the girl's eye, though, and she squints a little in trying to see if she recognizes them, or anyone else in the area. But she doesn't stop; not the walking, not the very faint attempt at kareoke.

"You... had a Dugtrio?" Melissa asks quietly, gazing at Caeser. "I, er, tried... reading a book about them, but... it didn't really help..." She adjusts the glasses on her face quietly. She's completely unaware of Ballistic, but, chance are, that's soon to change. "I'm... not... really hungry..." Melissa says, glancing north a bit. "I should've... I should've been on a bus ride home a little while ago. I hope I didn't miss the ride to Pewter..." Melissa idly notices Mikomi, and gives a little half-hearted wave to the girl. She may be shy and kind of dopey, but she's nice.

As if drawn by the smell of Caeser's sandwich, the massive Charizard folds his wings and dives through the sky. Down, down, down he swoops, arrowing straight at Caeser and Melissa. If it was an hour or two earlier, they would have been given warning by his approaching shadow, but the setting sun is against them. As he nears the ground he lets out a bellowing roar, buzzing over their heads. His wings snap open and he flaps to regain altitude; between the closeness of his swoop to them and the beating of his wings, he stirs up quite a little windstorm. As he passes them fire bursts from his opened muzzle, adding to his display.

Between the Pikachu grabbing for Mikomi's earpiece and the wave from Melissa, along with the bridge of her favorite tune blaring into her ears, Mikomi is quite tapped out as far as attention goes. The hand struggling to pacify Chuemoko and prevent him from causing further trouble lifts to return the wave to Melissa, only to have the yellow rodent tug hard enough on the wire to free it from her ear. "Ow!" she exclaims as the mere threat of momentary discomfort causes her to cringe and rub her ear. A hand drops to her hip and she shuts the tape off, pulling on the cord to get both earphones down low enough to be tucked safely away as well. If she couldn't listen to it, she wasn't going to let anyone else listen to it, either. Of course, the whole situation seems pretty moot as not a few feet away, a Charizard suddenly materializes out of thin air and dive bombs the girl who had waved to her, and whoever that guy was she was with. The Pikachu squeaks loudly and Mikomi finds herself dropping to the ground, laying flat on her belly with her Pikachu held beneath her in one arm and her other covering the back of her head and neck.

Now, I don't know about you people at home, but when Caeser Martin hears a giant roar followed by a gust of wind and a bunch of fireowkrs in the air, he pays attention! The sandwhich nearly slides fromh is hand as he turns and looks upwards at the dragon-like beast. "A Charizard! That's incredible!" He exclaims watching the flying Pokemon. Hmm... There's almost something familiar about all of this. Absently, Caeser's hand goes to the back of his neck, brushing against the scar tissue that lines his neck and back. "No, couldn't be... That was back on Cinnabar. No way ath exact same Charizard would come this far on the island, coincidentally running into me. i mean, the odds are astronomical..." The explanations spew from him nervously as he continues to watch the Charizard, paying no attention to Mikomi.

Hmmm. That roar is kind of intimidating. And, come to think of it, the top of Melissa's head feels a little... warmer than usual. Plus, it's getting windy. Can it be? She's read stories about them - can it be there's a Charizard in the area? ... nah. Melissa's dreaming the whole thing. It's a coincidence. When the girl looks up, there won't be a Charizard. There won't be a Charizard. Melissa looks up. Big surprise - there's a Charizard. The girl blinks. Gazes down. Blinks. And resists the urge to faint. "T...t....t-t-t-t-t-t-that is... that is not what I think it is... i... is it?" Her right hand clutches the pad so hard, her knuckles are turning white. The pen, however, just drops from her left hand. Melissa is too paralyze to duck, or run, or do anything even remotely intelligent. She just... stares. And she seems like such a smart girl, too.

While the humans dive, ponder, smush Pikachu, and talk to themselves, Ballistic is turning back for another pass. He swoops again, though this time from a much lower starting point. Eyes filled with dark amusement are fixed on Melissa. Dinner looks like it will be self-serve tonight. As he dives at the pair he sends a burst of Flamethrower's fire at Caeser, intending to keep the male at least at bay, if not drive him off or fry him or something. This time as he swoops by he extends his hindlegs, heavily clawed toes spread wide. The flying dragonesque pokemon makes a snatch for Melissa, bellowing out another roar as he does.

Pikachus are remarkably resiliant, and while this one may not particularly like being flattened by his trainer, he'd probably like it a lot more than becoming a Charizard's dinner. Muffled squeaks of protest are emitted from beneath Mikomi before the little Pikachu can pull himself out from beneath her enough to see what's going on, but as soon as he does, he almost wishes he could go back into hiding. "Get down!" Mikomi calls out as she lifts her head up just enough to see the other two trainers.. standing there, staring at the dragon.

The orange-red sun sinks below the western horizon, leaving a darkening tapestry of purple and red-gold clouds behind it.

What do you expect Melissa to do? Whip out a Pokeball, dive to the side, and send out her "vicious" Nidoran to stop Mr. Charizard? What *can* she do but just peer helplessly as the Charizard comes down and picks her up? Believe it or not, Melissa's first reaction is not to scream, or cry, or struggle or anything. It's actually... just to make sure her notepad is safe. If she drops her notepad, why, her life will be ruined! ... of course, being a Charizard's meal is probably enough to ruin her life anyway, but maybe in the future, when they find some bones in some deep dark cave, they'll find her notepad and go, 'Oh, so *this* is what happened to Melissa Barlette. What a shame.' Making sure she still has a clutch on the notepad, Melissa then begins turning frantic. "Eeeek! Let me down! Aaaah!! Help!!"

Caeser goes absolutely wide-eyed as the Charizard makes another pass around. Well, not so much the actual making of another pass as the launching of a burst of -fire- at him is what catches Caeser's attention. The trainer makes a frantic leap backwards, at the same time rolling on his shoulder just in time to avoid the blast of flame. "Okay, maybe it is the same Charizard..." he slowly admits to himself, standing as he does.

Another thing that catches Caeser's attention is the fact that the girl he was just talking to has been snatched up by the aforementioned Charizard. "No!" A frantic shout escapes him as he rushes after the Charizard and hopeful meal. His arm goes to the opposite shoulder to unsling his satchel. Quickly, a single pokeball is removed and tucked into Caeser's pocket as he begins to do soemthing very very stupid. His satchel laden arm is raised above his head. then he begins to twirl the bag over his head until it becomes an apparent attempt at a sling-shot. Caeser takes one step forward before launching the entire bag at the gal-stealing Charizard. Obviosuly, if it hits it might be enough to make ballistic drop the girl. or at least make it angry enoguh to come back with her.

Perhaps Melissa will be happy then. Her notepad is safe and sound, pressed against her chest tightly. Of course, it's Ballistic that's pressing it against her, pinning her arms as he does. The trainer would feel her feet leave the grounds as the Charizard flaps hard, lifting her with him. He roars again, which is a less than nice thing to happen next to your ear. Twin whirlwinds kick up as the two lift higher and higher... though Melissa would be the only one who feels it once they leave Caeser behind on the ground below. Heat washes over her as Ballistic Flamethrowers left and right, putting on a show. This show turns practical as Caeser throws the bag at him. Whoosh! Soot rains down upon his head, along with bits of the mostly burnt away contents of it.

As the Charizard disappears, Mikomi climbs back to her feet in relief, brushing herself off only after she's checked to make sure her Pikachu is okay. However, a head count turns up a problem. "What happened? Where'd she go?" the girl quickly asks, though the answer should be obvious.. and is, in fact, obvious as she turns her eyes to the skies, and sees the Charizard flying off with the notebook-carrying one. The Pikachu hops up to her shoulder with cheeks a'snapping, threatening to release some kind of electric attack, but Mikomi stops him with a sharp tone. "You'll hit -her-," the trainer explains woefully. Even if he didn't, if he dropped Melissa from that height.. well. It wouldn't be pretty.

Melissa is still shrieking like a scared little girl (which she is), trying to struggle out of his grasp. Fortunately, the *moment* the large Charizard leaves the ground, Melissa stops wriggling - it wouldn't really help to be released from Ballistic's grasp and have Melissa fall to her death. As strange as this may sound, if Melissa has to be brutally killed, can't she at least make a decent snack? So maybe he won't gobble up any other humans for a little while? ... yeah, Melissa's really thinking that. Anyway, the Charizard's roar also shut up all that screaming, so there's a plus.

A Katerwaul slinks closer, bright eyes all ablaze ... so whisper a prayer and start that save! (Saving)

Caeser watches woefully as his trusty satchel is transformed into a cloud of soot and rubish. God only knows how many plastic wrapped sandwhichs were in there. "On the plus side," He sadly notes "I only had the one Pokeball with me at the time." He looks down to his pants pocket and pulls out the Pokeball, carefully painted over on the red areas with grey. "I wonder..." He looks at the Charizard then to the pokeball and back. "A pokeball might be more flame resistant than a leather satchel in any case." He weighs the situation uncertainly, looking back to Mikomi. "Any ideas, miss?" He calls back to her as the Charizard continues his little show.

Higher and higher Ballistic carries Melissa, till the two are but a small, black spot in the sky moving south at a good clip. The girl would get a view few trainers see: People are gone from her weaker vision, and trees and individual buildings are just small, colored spots below. Cities and towns stand out as non-green patches among the oceans of forests and grasslands that cover most of Pokemon Island. They fly south at a good speed, the air up here chillier than on the ground, and even colder seeming for the speed it rushes past them. Ballistic's grip on her is tight, his thick claws pressing in against her, ripping clothing but doing little more than scratching her skin.

Cinnabar Island: Hiking Path

Obvious exits:
South <S> leads to Cinnabar Island: Volcanic Slope.
East <E> leads to Cinnabar Island: Hot Springs.

Ballistic has arrived.

Brindled clouds conceal a few patches of starlit sky.

This was Melissa's favorite shirt. What will her parents think? ... well, chances are, if she escapes out of this alive, her parents won't care about a ripped up shirt. This is kind of funny, though - if the giant Pokemon was hungry or something (no, she has absolutely no clue what a Charizard eats), why doesn't he just land now and gobble her up? It's right about dinner time, too. There must be a logical expl... aha! He must have children, and he's taking her home to them. "Oh no!" Melissa peeps, struggling once more. "No!" She's screeching very loudly, but Ballistic's wings might just be loud enough to drown the scream out.

The flight back to Cinnabar is long, and for the most part Ballistic ignores his newest catch. He keeps a good grip on her though, not about to let this one wiggle away and fall to her death (what good are they if they can't scream anymore?). Eventually the land falls away behind them, and as the last of the sun's light dies from the sky they start across the ocean. He doesn't waste his energy on showy Flamethrowers anymore, not with his audience long gone.

Melissa merely sobs to herself, clutching the notepad like if she even slightly releases her grip, she will suffer an instant death. Getting gobbled up by a giant Charizard would be terrible, of course, but being devoured by multiple smaller ones would probably be more painful and longer. "So much for my novel..." Melissa quietly chokes through small little tears. Worst of all, she dropped her glasses sometime ago, so she can't even see very well. She can't even enjoy the beautiful view before she dies. And right on the day she made up with Wesley! Grr.

The two fly a while longer, then Ballistic adjusts his wings and they start an easy swoop down. The ground below is just more darkness, no different than the dark of night around them, so when the Charizard finally releases her it could be allowing her to fall to her death for all she'd know. In truth it's not more than five or so feet off the ground that he drops her, continuing flying along the trail even after he's freed himself of her weight. Back up into the sky he goes, turning back to face her. The flames on his tail and little puffs of ember-studded smoke mark his position above.

And then she gets dropped. "Eeee! Noo! No-oooomph!" And then her face smashes into the ground. This doesn't go very well, because she also got quite a bruise on her leg from tripping over her Dugtrio earlier. Well, she feels her body smushed into the pavement. Only a matter of time until she bleeds to death. ... say... you know, actually, she's not very hurt. With a little blink, the teenager climbs to her knees (the bruise is really hurting now, but she ignores it), and blinks. "I... I'm alive?" She blinks, looking down. It's dark, and she doesn't have her glasses, but she can still feel herself clutching the notepad. She doesn't know whether to jump for joy or cry. For all she knows, this is some strange meeting place, and the Charizard's mate is gonna come down and gobble her now or something.

She's alive, and she seems to be on some kind of a path... and she has a Charizard coming at her! Ballistic roars and builds up fire within his maw, flying straight back down the path towards her. The flames build and build until becoming a full Flamethrower attack. It, as well as its source, are closing in on her.

Melissa scratches her head. Well, at least that Charizard's gone, right? And... and... and now, Melissa's fears become true. Whether that's the same Charizard, or just a relative, or completely unrelated, Melissa is now way too frantic to notice. Her blurry vision doesn't help, either. "Eeeeeeeek!" She shrieks, and drops off of her knees and hits the cold ground. "Oof!" She mumbles, still keeping her grasp on the notepad tight. She buries her head into arms, sobbing quietly into her T-shirt. This is *it*. Why the Charizard didn't just kill her before is beyond Melissa, but it doesn't matter now. She's done for.

Ballistic swoops over her head again, the wind of his passage sending her hair blowing. He roars, seeing if her can get her to run (it's so much more fun when they run screaming!), but he gives up quickly. The Charizard never did get his dinner. No more Flamethrowers, for they take up energy his empty belly isn't supplying him with. He leaves the trainer with a final grunting snort at her lack of running and screaming, then flies off back to his cave.

A cool breeze blows from the west, driving dark clouds before it which blot out the stars in patches overhead. Elsewhere they glitter brightly in the dark sapphire sky.