An Ode to the Home (OPEN)

[antje]

"Oh, wow! This town is even more smaller than from the last time I was here!" A woman with back-length and vibrant, luscious, pink hair smiled gleefully as she walked into the small, cute little town, with a Luxray and Mienfoo behind her. The luxray walked up to the woman, and rubbed it's head on her dark pink biker shorts, lowly growling. The woman, (whose name is Antje, by the way) lightly giggled at the Luxio, and lifted her arm to scratch it behind the ears. Antje looked back towards her Mienfoo, Mick, and notioned him to come forwrard. Being the distant, quiet-type that he is, though, he stood back. Antje looked towards the sky. The bright, blue, sky with it's fluffy white clouds that looked like a mix of marshmallows and cotton candy. She sighed, and turned to her Luxio, Shin, and asked it, "Hey, you know, Shin. I wonder how long has it been since we've last been here?" Her bright blue eyes that shone like sapphires were in thought. It might've been all of those years ago, when she left the little town to start her own adventure... or, at least, that's what she wished it was. In truth, she left the town to join the arch enemy of all of those who love Pokemon; yes, the Rebel Forces.

Antje nervously chuckled at the thought. Oh, how ironic it was that one of the most prized members of the Rebel Forces was now a Pokemon Ranger, the mortal enemies and exact opposites of the Rebel Forces. She was still quite surprised, really. It's only been around a year since she withdrew from the Forces, and she's been working as a ranger for around six months now. It amazed her how the Head Ranger let her in, trust her, and doesn't think she's a spy. She wished that she had that type of trust in others, and in herself.

'Enough about that.' She thought to herself, and stretched her arms. 'What I need to do now is to make sure that those villains don't go near those sacred ruins.' She turned to her two companions, and smiled, saying, "Let's go!" And started walking towards the ruins, hoping that she wouldn't run into any old 'friends'.

[TRIPP RYDER]

Tripp was ready to do something different. Something new. Accomplish a personal goal that he'd set for himself. Which was why he'd taken Nutmeg out of her pokeball to allow her to come with him. His current goal was to chip away at the the Celestic Ruins in hopes of finding something that he could use to impress the boss. Not that he really wanted to impress Eli. Since Tripp had sworn allegiance to Damion and Damion only and Eli was just someone to nod politely to whenever they passed each other. Tripp literally couldn't contain the rage that he felt for Eli. It was just too hard to hold back and so he went out of his way to keep from coming into contact with the man he so hated. Well, maybe hate was too strong of a word. Tripp severely disliked him, but not enough for it to interfere with his job. He was just sick of seeing his boss throw Damion around like a puppy and not caring about Damion's feelings.

"....RARGH." He gave a frustrated yell and Nutmeg looked over at him, worriedly. The Nidoqueen had recently had a little bundle of poison and was still in her motherly instinct phase. She wandered away from the wall and gently rubbed Tripp's orange hair until he calmed down, slamming his fist against the wall. "...Don't worry about me, Meg. I'll be fine. I just..." He trailed off, looking up at the etchings in the wall, narrowing his eyes slowly. "Nutmeg, what do you think this all means? It looks like it's depicting something about three of the legendaries, but I can't tell which ones. Maybe we should have researched this more before we left?" He grins over at his Nidoqueen who rolls her eyes, going back to chipping away at the rock while he continues to try to translate, or at least interpret just what the heck the mural in front of him is trying to depict.

As he started to make some leeway on the message, he heard something to his left, coming from the entrance of the cave. "Looks like we've got company, Meg~" He cooed easily, motioning for the Nidoqueen to follow him as he began to retrace his steps to the entrance of the cave. Who could it be? Some unlucky bystander who was probably going to suffer a life-long injury because they happened to want to come to the ruins on the same day as Tripp? Or maybe another Rebel who was interested in solving the same mystery that he was after? Or maybe a ranger? Ooooh, he could go for some ranger stew right now. Or maybe someone unrelated? The suspense was killing him. He waited for a few more minutes and then exited to the very edge of the cave, looking out to see who his visitor was.

"OH HO HO! Look who we have here!" He called out as Nutmeg fell in behind him, confused at what she was looking at. A girl with two pokemon? What was the big deal? "If it isn't Miss Saotome! Coming to the ruins to make sure people like me aren't digging around?" He smirked, crossing his arms. "Or were you coming over here to do some undercover work for the - oh wait, who's team are you on again? Just like a woman to not be able to make up her mind." He smirked, staring out at her as he waited for her to make a move.

[antje]

Antje heard someone speak. It was a man, by the sound of it. Could it be a rebel? Or another ranger, sent in to help her? Antje sighed with annoyance. Her boss was always ready to take extreme measures with her. Well, she couldn't blame him... it's only been half of a year since she quit the Rebel Forces, after three long years. He may trust her, but he's not that very trustworthy of her yet. It would take some time, until then.

Antje then turned around, her soft, pink, cotton-candy hair swishing back. She gasped, as she saw a man with bright-orange hair, like a carrot. Antje then grimaced, and whispered to both of her pokemon, "Micky, Shin. Don't leave my side. Stand by." Both the Mienfoo and the Luxray obeyed her, and the Luxray moved to her right side. The Mienfoo followed to the left. Antje then grimaced at the man's comment. For, she knew this man. He was a person from her past. Yes: a member of the Rebel Forces. Antje then commented back, her voice being friendly, though the words weren't. "As usual, it's a pleasure to see you as always, Tripp- Oh wait, I'm no longer with you people now. So, I guess I'll call you Carrot-Head for now on." Shin growled, though this time it wasn't the same old cute, friendly, growl she gave before when Antje pet her. It was an angry and threatening growl. Antje pet Shin's head, signaling to her that she'll be alright. She then looked back up at Tripp and glared coolly. The glare then turned into a smirk. "And for your information, I'm a ranger now. So it would be best for you to get going now, as I have a right to arrest you." She smiled a fakish-pleasant smile. This will be fun.

[TRIPP RYDER]

Tripp's grin turned lazy when she spoke. Oh, god. She thought that she was going to arrest him. Oh, this was good. This was rich. Tripp liked, more than anything, to say rude things, piss people off, then run away. Something about leaving behind chaos and dropping words and phrases that could get stuck in peoples' heads made him grin to himself and absolutely made his heart pound. Ahh, if he could cause chaos, madness, and destruction wherever he went, he would be set for life, amused, and loving everything around him. But, alas, he had yet to make a mess out of everything around him and he was just going to have to wait it out until he was able to pile all his resources together and then surge forward with his master plan. And there was also Damion to account for....and Jayden....and Finn....Focus! He needed to focus!

This girl obviously couldn't handle him. He was Tripp freakin' Ryder! Anyone who thought they could arrest Tripp Ryder was severely brain damaged. Or at least mentally deficient. "Carrot Head?" He snickered, leaning back on Nutmeg's knee, keeping himself propped up. "What are you, six? I'm sure even a woman of your caliber could come up with a better name than Carrot Head." He pretended to look hurt. "You people? Oh, Saotome, I'm offended. Surely you wouldn't just lump us all into one big group and make general statements about us? Really, I thought you were better than that." He looked up at Nutmeg who looked down at him and rolled her eyes. "Ole Nutmeg here has a point." He paused and pretended to mull over a thought, one hand on his chin.

"If a ranger runs down to a cave, doesn't come back, but no one knows where she went, did she ever really leave?" The questioning look didn't leave his face as he stood straight up and put his hands in his pockets. "I mean, no one just leaves the Rebel Force, surely you know that, after being with us for so long." He said, his voice getting harder and the teasing smile slowly disappearing from his face. His eyes narrowed as he watched her and there was tension in his voice as he spoke again. "You know damn well what we did to people who tried to leave." He stared at her seriously, Nutmeg slowly coming up to stand behind him, her eyes narrowed and focused in on the two pokemon in front of her. "You could try to arrest me, but it'd be mighty hard to bring me in if you're cold as ice and seven feet under."