get them out [nate//battle mission]

[VERONA]

Verona slammed the door behind her and took a second to breathe and calm down. She had just spent the last fifteen minutes or show in a shouting match with some old couple who refused to get off the island. She had lost, and wasn’t about to give up on them, but decided she’d rather help the willing first before trying round two of the shouting match.

She hurried over near the water’s edge where most of the civilians were gathering, lining up and getting ready to board some boats. The boats didn’t look that big, and at the bottom of her heart where no one could hear Verona hoped that there would be enough for everyone, including Mr. and Mrs. Shouty. “Hey!” Verona looked away from the boats and met eyes with a medic. “You have flying Pokemon, right?” She nodded, already knowing and agreeing to what was being asked to her even though it hadn’t been said. Berkley had already been away, carrying an injured person to the nearest city, someone with a lot of blood, some on his head. Verona didn’t dare ask.

Ten minutes later she watched her Tranquill fly away carrying a child who was tied to it with a harness. It made her wince, the way her Pokemon had to carry the injured people that couldn’t hold on themselves, but she didn’t have time to think about it as she was already being directed away from the tents. Someone was asking her where the old couple were, the stubborn ones. Verona snorted. “Probably having a cup of tea. They’re not cooperating, so let’s worry about them last.”

Her comment was received with a stern, disapproving look and before she knew it, she was pushed back in the direction of the old couple’s house. Great. Verona rolled her eyes and quickly looked around for someone. “Hey you,” she called out to the first vaguely familiar person she saw. Vaguely familiar, at least at the start of the day, usually meant someone else who had been helping around with the locals. “Come with me. I can’t handle these old people on my own.”

Arceus knew she needed the backup.

(ooc: Nate hope this is okay)

[Nate]

Nate hadn't come here on official business. The trouble in the Whirl Islands had been brewing for a while, so the trainer put in for some leave time and took his vacation in the nice island climate at exactly the wrong time for vacationing. He didn't see any need for neutrality to cost people lives. He wouldn't get involved in the conflict itself, but he'd keep as many civilians out of it as possible. His Pidgeot had already made a couple trips between the islands and the mainland, carrying those who could hold on despite injury at what amounted to an easy speed for the Bird Pokemon. It was still fast enough that as he arrived, ready for another person, and flapped his wings to slow himself, the gust scattered debris on the street below and ruffled Nate's hair. And people wonder why it's always so messy.

Another person in need of medical attention was secured to the Pidgeot and sent hurtling through the sky, just as someone called to the trainer. "Sure thing." Nate adjusted his visor and jogged over to the woman's side. He'd seen her around before, but he hadn't talked to her. "Name's Nate. What exactly do you mean, you can't handle these old people? How stubborn could they be?"

[VERONA]

She almost laughed. How stubborn were they? Could she even find the words to convey the answer? “They’re too stubborn, and that's enough,” she answered as she and the backup – Nate, he said he was called – moved towards the house. “They also shout a lot too. You better get your ears ready.” It was only fair to warn him about that. Verona wished that someone had warned her before her first try. If she had known beforehand that they were a shouty old couple, then maybe she wouldn’t have lost so easily.

“There.” She pointed at the house and steered them towards it. It was a deceiving house in that it looked like it belonged to one of the sweet, lovely old couples, not the stupid ones who wanted to stay in the middle of a battle zone and would throw near-tantrums if you tried to make them otherwise. Before opening the door, Verona looked at Nate and said, “I’m Verona. Get ready Nate.”

Then she opened the door and, without the single knock of a door or ring of the doorbell, walked on in like this was her house. Last time they had been eating tea, so she made for the kitchen where she guessed someone was washing up. And she was right – the old lady saw her and let out an exasperated sigh before yelling to another room. “She’s back!”

“Already?! What the hell does she want?!” Came the reply. Well this was a great start.

“You know what I want!” Verona shouted in the direction of the old man’s voice, then turned to his wife. “Please, you have to evacuate with everyone else. It’s not temporary. You’re more than welcome to come back when the fighting’s stopped, but you need to leave now with everyone else.”

The old lady slammed a dried mug on the kitchen counter and looked defiantly at Verona. She looked like she had a whole speech ready, about why she wouldn’t leave her beloved home for anything, but she only said one word.

“Never.”

(ooc: feel free to control the old couple too, btw)

[Nate]

Nate glared at the stubborn old woman. "Are you serious? There's about to be a war here and you're still not gonna leave?" The trainer stepped forward, in front of Verona, and continued talking. "Do you have a death wish? Lux and Nox are fighting here, on these islands. If you stay, you will get caught in the crossfire. You ought to know by now that both of them suck at identifying innocent people. Everyone's either too free-willed for Lux or too complacent for Nox."

Nate was cut off by the cry of his Pidgeot, returning from the mainland, free of its burden. The Bird Pokemon could fly fast, especially over such a short distance. The injured were being delivered just off the coast, to a place where they could get medical treatment. The Pidgeot cried out again, and Nate walked over to the door, sticking his head out and giving a high-pitched whistle. The large bird Pokemon joined them shortly, perching on the porch railing with a grace that seemed contrary to the speed it was capable of. "Do you just need help getting out?" Sadly, Nate's efforts were met with a similar result to Verona's, though the response came from the old man this time. "We're not leaving."

[VERONA]

Usually Verona didn’t like being stepped in front of, but quickly brushed the annoyance to the side. Nate was only trying to help her with the impossible. And impossible sure seemed like the right word for it! This just wasn’t working and Verona didn’t know what else to do.

Not until the Pidgeot arrived. Nice Pokemon, was the first thing that came to her mind. Then she jokingly thought, Maybe it can drag the oldies off the island.

Hang on. The more she thought about it… Well, it’s not like the old couple were playing nice. Verona looked over them, trying to judge how strong they were, both on the inside and the outside. The situation would become beyond horrible if they decided to drop themselves off as soon as the bird had taken off. The idea started to seem bad to Verona, but there wasn’t anything wrong with making a little threat out of it, was there?

Verona walked closer to the woman, and said in the most controlled voice she could manage, “Listen, everyone is getting evacuated—”

“Not us! We’re not—”

“Yes you are. The evacuation has been ordered. If you don’t leave now, the easy way, we’re going to have to make you leave the hard way.”

For a moment, the old lady almost looked as if she were weighing up the options. For a moment, Verona felt as if this was going to work. But that moment was gone when the husband stepped behind the wife and put a hand on her shoulder. “Nothing will make us leave. Not now, not ever. Now, leave us alone!”

Verona sneered at him, and by some miracle held her tongue. Her patience broke as she turned away from the couple, though, as she let her annoyance creep on to her face. Verona stomped over to Nate, and hissed, in a voice she tried to keep low enough so the couple couldn’t hear her, “They’re so... annoying!” Then she looked pointedly at the Pidgeot and made her suggestion. “We could fly them out. By force. Make them leave.” Verona paused as something about the idea didn’t sit right – the birds were supposed to be for the injured, not the stubborn – so she shrugged and added. “If we can't convince them.”

[Nate]

Nate couldn't help but be impressed with the stoicism of these two old people. They absolutely refused to be swayed by any force of logic. That didn't mean he couldn't be frustrated with them. Still, when Verona walked over to him at the door and suggested they force the couple out with Pidgeot's help, he shook his head, replying in an undertone. "They might hurt him, or hurt themselves trying to get off. I don't know how determined they are to be idiots, and putting a pair of possibly-suicidal people on a bird that flies at Mach 2 doesn't sound like a good idea."

He stroked the Pidgeot's feathers gently and returned the bird Pokemon to its Poke Ball, then walked back inside to stare at the ancient couple. "I understand you not wanting someone else invading your home, believe me, but this is bigger than that. The only thing that you staying here could possibly do is add two more corpses to bury when the fighting here is over. Do you want your epitaphs to read 'Too stupid to move'?" A bright idea entered his head, an idea from back when life was a lot simpler, and Pokemon battles solved disputes much larger than this all the time. He locked eyes with the man and said flatly; "Are you prepared to battle for your home?"