¤Game¤ Dragon Tamers Battle Range v.24

[Lady Vulpix]

1. Who are you expecting to meet? If it's anyone from my team, you won't find us in the sewers.
2. I would ask you why your character would want to go there, but...
3. I don't really care, as long as I don't have to rate that story. Please let me not have to rate that story!

[DarkestLight]

Is it wrong I cracked up. It is. I figure I'm just as bad but damn, shut down instantly.

[Lady Vulpix]

No, DL, you have some grammar issues but I really enjoy reading your stories. They're interesting, creative and leave me wondering what will happen next. However, I dread what Charles Legend may post. And I'm not afraid to say it in public because I've seen his previous posts and IM conversations and believe me, I wouldn't say this of anyone else, but... There's easy to read, there's a wide range of grays, there's hard to read... and then there's Charles Legend's posts. I really don't want to rate his stories. If you don't understand why, ask anyone from the Fanfic forum.

[DarkestLight]

From the UAC. Skitzo Lvl 10 Nincada needs a battle.

And I'll be posting stories tomorrow At least now they'll be shorter, since I am keeping up with the scenario now lol. In theory.

[Lady Vulpix]

Yay!

Skitzo will battle an... Omanyte.

[DarkestLight]

o.O Damnit, water! XD Fine :;Pays 7::

[Wolfsong]

*pays 7 stamps* I'd like an rbg for Tierra L.9 sandile from the Free Range Corral please

[classy_cat18]

Tierra will battle a Teddiursa.

[Wolfsong]

I'd like an extension for the current scenario please. *pays 7 stamps* I would also like an rbg for Darin L.23 Espeon from the Universal Adoption Center please

[lvl100mewtwo]

Well things just got interesting... Darin will be fitting a Scraggy! How will they manage?

[Charles Legend]

Book One: the Warrior and the Snake

Please note that Gabi that your charter dose not Like Charles for many of the same reasons you don't like me, however this is mostly do to the fact he rather sell Comic books rather then do very much training. that and she like you thinks his stories are insane...

Also it should be noted that Charles is from the Marshiso Region were his stater was indeed a Charmander... Mayor Ryu also gave him a Riolu who became his best friend and later acts as his butler, Think of Sirius as being Charles Legend's version of Alfred Pennyworth.

also for this scenario I"ll be using Bruno my Level Six Mankey and Chimlord my Level 5 Chimchar, I also plan to use my Venonat as well...

Prologue: Introduction

Log Date: December 29th 2002

A nineteen year old young man was currently on a schooner he was given by his Sensei, as well as the scrolls of the teachings of a powerful form of Martial Arts…. He was wearing a black sleeveless shirt and a par of black shorts with red two red lines going down the sides and around the leg opening which wrapped around to a white triangle. He also ware glasses and a watch.

~~~~~flash back~~~~~

Charles along with an elderly man were walked down a tunnel, dust was falling from the ceiling, their home the Gekitou Monastery was under siege by a evil tyrant and his army of evil minions who already had laid waste to the rest of Tortuga Island.

They reached an underground harbor were a schooner named the Vineyard was waiting for them.

“Charles I’m afraid I cant go with you, my time on this world is nearing it’s end, Charles when I am gone you will be the new master of are sacred teaching, I have given you even scroll even those that under normal conditions only the true chosen one is allowed to read.” his Sensei said. “ I also give you this Charmander, my the two of you be come grate warriors some day.” he said then his body faded way…

~~~~~~~~end of flashback~~~~~~

Ten years have passed since he has fled his homeland, he had traveled the seven seas, and visited many lands, he had acquired a massive crew…

He looked up the crows nest at a blue humanoid dog looking threw a telescope.

“See anything yet Sirius? Charles asked his trusty sidekick.

“Yeah a storm is brewing captain…” Sirius said.

Charles looked on his sea chart and sure enough they were entering Devils Triangle. He said as he rub his chin.

As they entered the fog a UFO suddenly appeared out of the water and shot a beam of light at Charles and an instant he found himself on board it looking down at his ship and saw Sirius roaring with anger and saw the rest of his crew firing off attacks at the UFO then suddenly Charles saw that they took him to a different ship and beamed him on it and erased his memories of how he got there.

He found himself in a storage room full of corpse and saw that the door was open so he fled the ship and looked around he did not recognize the land at all…

He looked around then out to sea not far from him he saw the UFO firing a Laser beam at a herd of Lapras, Charles was getting angry now.

“You will pay for that Elgyem!” Charles snarled. “Gekitou Scarred Teachings number eight bulk Up!" Charles said then flexed his mussels not only did they increase in size but the power level of his inner Chi increased as well, his hair dark brown hair had also became spiky.

“Now the you alien slime balls prepare yourselves for a world of hurt!” Charles snarled holding up his right hand clinched into a fist, then he cupped both his hands together and drew them back on his right side and focusing a large amount of power into it. “Gekitou Sacred Teachings number fifty-two Focuses Blast!” Charles said and moved his arms forward sending a beam of energy out of his cupped hands and it pouched a hole right threw the UFO engines causing it to lose control and head for a mountain rang south of Sector Alpha.

Suddenly no less then twelve Elgyem appeared before him all were badly injured a few of which were missing a limb or two…

“Severs you right for abducting me, I have a family looking for me some were in the Devils Triangle!” Charles snarled.

“Calm yourself Charles we did not abduct you we merely created a clone of you and enabled you and the original to share experiences, said one of the Elgyem the only one that was not missing any limbs.

“Ok say for a moment I’m not completely crazy, who are you?” Charles asked.

“We are the watchers we guard this land, are memory goes back to the ancient days before the sounding in a time when you humans were closes to the gods. In a time when humans possessed the same kinds of abilities that Pokémon have, Charles you were chosen to help save both worlds, since you are one of the few humans left that are able to unlock those powers hidden deep within.” said the Elgyem “my name is Alpha Five and my brethren here are all named Alpha to the number twelve.” Alpha Five said.

“Ok so you’re the Majestic Twelve, so why were you attacking that herd of Lapras?” Charles asked

“We were actually tying to save them from a swarm of Jellicent, thanks to your incompetents we only managed to save one the rest were taken to Davy Jones’s Locker, here take this Pokéball. “Alpha Five said then he and the rest teleported away.

“And that is how I met Nessie my female Lapras.” Charles said to a group of kids…

“That was the coolest story ever mister can we have your autograph please?” a boy asked.

“Sure kid who should I make it out to?” Charles asked who was obvious to the sarcasm in the boys voice.

About an hour later after singing a half dozen or so of his comic books he as was counting his money his phone rang…

“Hello, oh hi Amy, yeah I’ll be more then happy to adopt the Vulpix from you, hum are you sure, ok I’ll cheek with Sirius, but yeah when your ready just swing by my place, its the last shop o before to reach the gate to the forbidden Mountains it's located on to of a small hill. I‘ll be waiting.” Charles said then he looked at the money and gowned as he realized it was fake.

He sighed and put it down then went to his door and locked it and flipped the sign to read sorry we are closed, then he went over to a statue of a Farfetch’d and pulled the leek down to open a secret door and walked down to the quack cave.

“Sirius what’s the satiation?” Charles asked

“Well you missed the Dragon Games, but you just received an email from Lady V something about the Black Dragon and she also told you to stop making comics that stretch the truth on how you acquired your team members.” A blue humanoid dog said in an a fake British accent and was dressed as a butler he was also keeping taps on everything from a bunch of computer screens one of which showed a rough map of the forbidden mountains and showed the point of the disturbance.

“She also questions why you gave yourself Saiyan like abilities in the stories, even thought you do have a power level of 5,000,000 and surpass even that of a normal human.

“Well yes but that’s only in the comic books, it’s not like I can really use bulk up the same way Goku uses the Kaio-ken or Focus Blast the same way he uses the Kamehameha.” Charles said to his long time friend and butler then spotted

Suddenly the warning siren signaled

“Its morphing time!" Charles shouted and two devices appeared on his rests called the Aura charger. “Red dragon Thunderstorm Power!” and a red suit made of spandex appeared over his body. He stuck a pose as a Charizard Mecha appeared behind him.

“Uh Charles you realize you did not really morph right besides Gabi would have your head on a platter if you had.” Sirius pointed out. “Besides she already thinks your ideas are insane as it is, but you should head out to stop the scout the black dragon sent, it most likely got to the gate by now I suggest taking your Mankey and Chimchar.”

“Oh crap Gabi really would have my head if that scout got into the city!” Charles said slapping his forehead “Bruno, Chimlord lets go!”

“Playing Monkey theme song now” beeped a female voice come from Charles Pokédex.

Super Monkey Team Hyper Force Go!
Unlocking the hearts closed by darkness

beep, beep.

“Incoming call.”

“Charles stop thinking you’re a super hero or I’ll fire you!” Gabi barked and cut the connection before he could reply…

“Right let’s get a move on” Charles said then walked out of the cave and with his Mankey and Chimchar riding his shoulders they were arguing about a battle.

Charles sighed as he looked at the trail leading up to the Forbidden Mountains….

~~~~~~ Bruno’s POV ~~~~~~~

“ I don’t care if your father is the King of the planet of the Infernapes, I still say my dad could kick his butt.” I snarled.

“Dude you don’t even remember your father all you recall is shortly after Charles adopted you guys got lost in Sector Apha’s sewers until you guys found your way back to the Eevee Club House.” Chimlord said.

“Well we were not exactly lost Charles had hid his ship the Phantom Galleon which was the how he came to Ulthuan, in an underground cave that connected to the sea by a sea cave in the side of some treacherous cliffs.” I said.

Suddenly Charles stop deed in his tracks and saw a Cleafable It was glared us down with red glowing eyes.

“Odd I detect the same evil aura around it as Charles did a with Musharna while we were exploring the sewers of Sector Alpha, he used Koga who was Level seven Venonat that he adopted from the Pokezoo Adoption Center Version 2 {M.A.: Nala98 /LadyVulpix} fought it .” I said

“Tell me about it later Bruno, go kick that evil Clefable's butt!” Chimlord hissed.

Charles pulled out his Pokédex and pointed at the Clefable.

“Clefable the Fairy Pokémon its the advanced form of Clefairy. These unique creatures are among the rarest Pokémon in the world, said to be a timid Pokémon that is rarely seen by people. It will run and hide the moment it senses people, however they appear to be very protective of their own world. Its ears are very sensitive, so it does not like loud noises or busy places, its said to be drawn by the full moon to play at deserted lakes at quiet remote mountains were it's said to live.” Decca beeped.

The Clefable pointed at me so I jumped off Charles’ right shoulder.

suddenly I herd Decca play the wild Pokémon encounter music, and most likely the upper the screen went black then created a checkered board pattern before showing sprites of me and Clefable to show Charles how much heath points and any status we may be inflicted by as well as are levels also the type of habit we are battling in, the bottom screen shows him my moves as well as the time of day as well as the weather.

Regardless I shrugged it off and delivered a Low Kick right between Clefable’s eyes she fell on her butt. I did a back flip and landed it on my feet and tuned around and looked at Chimlord “Supper effective that was bound to knock her out with one hit, I believe you owe me a banana sundae Chimlord!” I bragged.

Charles looked at Decca’s Screen and saw that the stats were like this

Wild Clefable Lv.8 female Timid

HP 35 Atk 16 Def 19 Spec Atk 21 Spec Def 21 Spd 18

Bruno Male Mankey Level 6 Brave

HP 22 Atk 17 Def 11 Spec Atk 9 Spec Def 12 Spd 15

“Bruno delivered a Low kick….. Looking up information now….

Low Kick - A powerful low kick that makes the target fall over. It inflicts greater damage.

calculating the weigh of wild Clefable now… 88.2lbs…..calculating Base damage now, 60 points of damage… calculating type match up now …. Super effective 60 times 2 =120 damage… calculating Same-type attack bonus now…. Mankey a fighting type Pokémon plus Low Kick a Fighting type move means a damage bonus of 30 …. sub total 150 damage calculating damage cap… Bruno inflicted a total 15 points of damage.” Deca beeped.

“Sorry to bust your bubble Bruno, but your no King Kong who can defeat his opponents just by steeping on them.” Chimlord mocked Bruno.

“Don’t you mean a Grate Ape? I said to him, but then Clefable had wicked me upside the head needless to say I fell face fist in the dirt road. “Ow!”

“Wild Clefable Inflicted a Pound….. Looking up information now….

Pound - The target is physically pounded with a long tail or a foreleg, etc.

Calculating Base damage now, 40 points of damage… calculating type match up now …. Normal damage, 40 points of damage… calculating Same-type attack bonus now… Clefable a normal type Pokémon plus Pound a normal type move means a damage bonus of 30 sub total 70 damage calculating damage cap… Wild Clefable inflicted a total 7 points of damage.” Deca beeped.

Wild Clefable 20/35 HP
Bruno 15/22 HP

“Serves you right for not only bragging about your power level but also turning your back on your foe.” Chimlord snorted with a fit of laughter.

“Darn you Chimlord!” I grumbled as I got to my feet then hit my fists on my chest while saying my species name in a Tarzan like yell while focusing my inner chi and then flexed my muscles which grow larger as field of red energy surrounded my body… then I and did an aerial back flip to jump over the wild Clefable and then land on hands were I did a brake dance move were i spun around my body and delivered a kick to her right ankle then did a back flip and landed on my feet.

“Take that you witch!” I growled as I jumped up and down then banged my chest again and did another Tarzan like yell…

she hopped around for a bit before crashing on the ground.

“Bruno used Focus Energy….. Looking up information now….

Focus Energy - The user takes a deep breath and focuses so that critical hits land more easily.

calculating base attack 17 Power level increased by one percent, attack razed to 18, damage dealt will be increased by one percent.

Bruno delivered a Low kick….. Looking up information now….

Low Kick - A powerful low kick that makes the target fall over. It inflicts greater damage.

calculating the weigh of wild Clefable now… 88.2lbs…..calculating Base damage now, 60 points of damage… calculating type match up now …. Super effective 60 times 2 =120 damage… calculating Same-type attack bonus now…. Mankey a fighting type Pokémon plus Low Kick a Fighting type move means a damage bonus of 30 …. sub total 150 damage calculating damage cap… 15 points of damage base damage increased by one percent Bruno inflicted a total 16 points of damage.

Wild Clefable 4/35 HP
Bruno 15/22 HP

She got to here feet and glared at me and then wiggled her finger…

“Wild Clefable used Metronome….. Looking up information now….

Metronome Att. -- Acc. -- PP 10
The user waggles a finger and stimulates its brain into randomly using nearly any move.

Splash was chosen, it has no effect!” Deca beeped.

She started to hop on her foot again so I laughed before I walked over to her and scratched her in the face, she crashed to the ground with swirls in here eyes.

“Bruno used Scratch ….. Looking up information now….

Scratch - Att. 40 Acc. 100 PP 35
Hard, pointed, and sharp claws rake the target to inflict damage.

"Bruno inflicted 4 points of damage, Wild Clefable fainted Bruno grew to Level 7.” Decca beeped.

Suddenly a dark mist escaped the Wild Clefable body and formed the head of a dragon…

“I should have known it was you Legend” hissed the demon.

“You can tell your boss Yssera that he has no chance against the Dragon Tamers as long as they have my help.” Charles said.

“Good point I should kill you now boy…” the Demon hissed evilly…

“I don’t think so..” Charles said holding a torch then breathed out a blast of air from his mouth and he directed his makeshift flamethrower at the demon who hissed before vanishing into the darkness of the Forbidden Mountains.

“Hun were am I?” said a sweet voice.

Charles stuck the torch back on to the wall of the cave entrance then looked at the Clefable said now almost completely purified from the influence of the demon.

Charles looked at her “Please follow me and I’ll explain everything over a nice spot of tea miss.”

***Back inside***

"So I was passed by a demon who serves the black dragon called Yssera.” the Clefable named Luna said with a shiver up her spine.

“Yes Luna now here is a gift from me to you.” Charles said giving her a crystal pendent.

“Oh wow thank you it’s so pretty.” Luna said.

"One thing thought would you mind standing in this chamber and using the move Heal Bell to help me test a theory on how to unlock the final lock to the hearts of Pokémon…” Charles asked and pointed to a chamber.

“Sure I’ll help.” Luna said...

After Luna left…

Charles and Sirius were busy writing up a new app to add to Decca one that would allow Charles to unlock the final lock while out on the field.

“I’m surprised that the city has not evicted us.” Sirius said.

“Believe me they have tried, however they can't over look the fact that we accidentally uncovered the plot of the black dragon a couple years ago when we were exploring the sewers under the city…." Charles said then there was a knock on the door up stairs...

to be continued...

Uh yeah I was just trying to explain why dispute Gabi thinking Charles is a loon that she still allowed him into the Dragon Tamers in the fist place, part two will have the full expiation for what really happened down in the sewers...

However knowing you guys I most likely wont get very many stamps for this if any at all.... -_-

~Charles Legend

[Lady Vulpix]

Alex said he would handle this. I'll just let you know something about my character: she wouldn't tell anyone to stop making comics, unless they were seriously offensive or incurred in plagiarism. Your character is free to stretch reality in his comics as much as he likes, as long as his comics don't do things like slander other people, show children having sex, or include other people's creations when the original author has told him not to use them.

That said, I don't trust you to be able to keep any of my characters in character, so please do not include them in your future stories unless we have roleplayed those scenes first. It would be a good idea to do the same with other people too. Any occurrences of other people's characters doing things they really wouldn't do will be considered non-canon.

And know that there's a difference between stretching reality in an in-story comic (a fiction within the fiction) and doing it in the story itself. The former is OK, since it doesn't affect anyone. The latter can cause the story to be inconsistent.

[Charles Legend]

Who's Alex? Right well I'll accept you don't trust me to keep any of your or any one else charters in charter, but yeah I'll try my best not to have Gabi or any other user's charters future stories although I should note however that Charles meets up with Amy in the next story who drops off Din.

but yeah I'll try to keep that in mind....

~Charles Legend

[lvl100mewtwo]

Hi Charles, I am Alex. After reading your story, I will be awarding you 4 Stamps for it. The reasoning being that it was a little difficult to follow and many many issues with your spelling and verb tenses. I guess I haven't seen any of your past battles, but this is what I am awarding you.

¢¢¢¢

Enjoy

[Charles Legend]

Right sorry about that Alex, I most hand out in the ASB you see. Hum well I expected as much well actually I expected only one stamp actually. I get that a lot but then again I respect your reasoning for the score you gave it. actually the reason why you have not see any of my past battles is there is none this was to introduce my charter...

~Charles Legend

[DarkestLight]

:rops and runs off:: Teehehee

“Well, ok. I guess I just input the numbers into this device, and then it will send a signal over to her phone? That's literally mind-blowing!" Rapp stated as he began inputting the digits from Mossy's notebook into the phone. Once it was completed, he pressed the strange symbol the salesman told him to, and raised the device to his ear. He heard silence and then a series of clicks, before a soft melody began to resonate from the device. Then the device switched over to a standard ring.

"I hear a ringing...but nothing else."

Three rings passed before a voice finally was heard. “Hello?” was all he heard. He stammered out a reply, fearful the small device might somehow lose the voice that was somehow reverberating through it. “Whoa! That worked, Uhh hi! Hi Ye-

”Draaaaaaaa.” "Wyrm NO! I don't even know if she knows if it is us yet!” Rapp exclaimed. He quickly pushed Wyrm's body up on his head in a more visually accommodating pose, and then looked around to make sure everyone was still in visual range.

“Er, sorry, who is this?” came out of the phone. Attention snapped back to it, and he quickly replied. “Oh Hi. Hey this is Rapp Laster! We met briefly at the Forbidden Mountains. I was kinda going insane?”

“Oh Hi. Uh I don't think...I wouldn’t put it that way. I was wondering if you would ever call. Are you Ok? What happened after we left.” she responded.

“Um, I'm calling be*Draaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa* WYRM! What is with you today-off the head! Off! Uhh I'm sorry. Uhh I've been in Eataine, exploring. But I've recently returned and as of now I'm in Sector Alpha. I was wondering if it was possible to meet up with you. I don't really know my way around this place..."

"Oh... sure! Where are you now?"

Rapp quickly glanced around, making sure to sidestep another pedestrian as he tried to get a bearing on his surroundings. "I'm walking down a street...past a hotel. Zent's headed toward a butcher shop that she shouldn't be WALKING INTO...thank you." The Larvitar huffed, and trotted back to his side. He listened to the phone, to hear chuckling.

“Zent is the Larvitar, right? The one who likes eating rocks and confetti?”

Yes, among other things. She's a handful by herself. But umm, are there any landmarks or places I could meet you at?"

“Well, I still have a few things to do in here, if you want you can find me at the Dragon Tamers HQ... or if you prefer a quieter place, there's a big park nearby. Or you can wait there and I can try to find you, but I'd need a more specific address.”

"I think the park would be safer. I think my group needs some time to burn off this excess energy. I'm sure you would be able to find us from the roaring going on. Anything in the park that might be a good meeting point? A swing set or a water fountain or something?"

”I really don't think the roaring would be enough to give you away. There are usually a few trainers around in the park, and there's always some roaring going on. But I can recognize you and your group. We could meet by the lake, there's a place which has some large white stones lined up around the water. I think that'll be the best place for us to find each other."

“Lake with white stones. Got it. I'll meet you there then."

”K, just...make sure to get the right park. What was it called...? People usually just called it “the park”, it's just a few streets away from the Dragon's Guild headquarters. And the Dragon Tamers too.”

“I vaguely remember the HQ of the Dragon Tamers from my visit here last time. I'll be sure to call if I am not at the right place."

“OK. You can ask around if you're not sure how to get there. Or you can call me again. I'll be there as soon as I'm done here.”

“OOk. No proble *DRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA* WYRM! Off my face! Ugh ok Park! ALL of you. We're going now!"

“I'm afraid I can't understand Pokemon speech over the phone, but maybe he's trying to tell you something?”

“He's waking up and drooping. I let him coil on my head to sleep and he's not fully awake yet, so he keeps yawning and drooping over my eyes."

“Ouch. I hope you two can sort out that problem on your way to the park.”

“Yeah, I got it. See ya there!” He pulled himself away from the phone in order to dole out an instruction. “Mossy, lead please. You have the map.” He affixed the phone back to his ear, and spoke one last time. “We'll be there soon.”

“Ok, see you!” He listened for a second longer, but heard a click which meant the phone ended. He then looked at his own phone and noticed the red light flash, before the screen turned back to the main screen. He closed the device and stuck it in his pocket. Mossy had already started walking east, Skitzo right by his side. May followed after and Zent was enamored with the smells of food wafting left and right about her. Reaching up, he grabbed Wyrm and set him down on the chilly ground. This gave the serpent a shock and he immediately coiled up and around Rapp's waist.

“Oh, NOW you're awake.”

“Sorry. But that was cold and cruel!” Wyrm replied, moving up to drape himself around Rapp's shoulders. Rapp whipped his tail around his neck to act as a makeshift shivering scarf.

“I'm glad I took that parka from that Ice Room. Otherwise this would be far too cold. But now, this park. Mossy, what do you see?”

The plant looked up to them both, before raising the map to their eye level. A vine poked at a large green spot with what seemed to be a big blue spot in its center. The vine then dragged down the map to a small portion of grey.

“Oh, so that's where we are? Oh not that far of a walk at all! Great! Let's get a move on, we don't want to be late.”

And so, the group began their short pilgrimage to the park. Zent eagerly took point, while Mossy and Skitzo followed close behind. May trudged through the snow and Rapp brung up the rear. It took them 15 minutes before they reached the entrance. The party paused in their approach as they noticed a figure approach them from the left. Rapp turned as the girl ran up to them and stopped. Her hair was matted in front of her eyes, and she was dressed in a sweatsuit.

“'Hoy there! Lovely day to work out huh? Brisk air, makes the lungs strong!”

“I...guess? Hey, does this park in front of us have white stones in the interior?”

“Uhh, yes! A whole bunch of them, and a fountain as well.” The girl looked down to examine the small Pokemon below her line of sight. Upon seeing Mossy and Skitzo, her eyes flew back up to Rapp. “You let them walk around in this cold? That's no good.”

“I don't truly appreciate it either, but I'd rather not leave them behind. Besides, some of them like it. “ A finger extended, and the girl turned her gaze to see a small greenish rock half burrowing around in a small snow drift. A giggle escaped her, and she turned to look at Rapp. “Well, since you seem to be in desperate need of a warm up, how about a battle?”

Rapp looked over to her, and gave her a perplexed look. Was it natural to fight everyone you meet? Nonetheless, he nodded and took a step back. “S-sure. One on one though, I don't think we should be out here too long if we don't need to.”

“Alright. I'll make this quick. Lucky, GO!”

[May lv 15 vs Paras lv 15]

In a flash, the woman threw out a Pokeball from her sleeve. It opened, and out landed a strange shaped creature. It seemed to scuttle atop the snow, even though it seemed more than heavy enough to sink down. Upon spying it, May screamed and jumped backwards. Rapp looked to her, and thought about speaking, but instead gave her an evil smirk.

“May. You're up.”

“WHAT?” She yelled, as the bug scuttled over to look at her. Its beady eyes staring at her. Before May could even recover, the bug received its orders.

“Ok Lucky. Go for the eyes. The pink one can't do anything if it can't move. Stun spore!”

“May, you better get your head in the game fast. Scream at it.”

Rapp moved to the side to give May some room as a strange powder fell over her. May struggled to move away, but found that her body was now as stiff as a board. She fell over, plopping in the snow. She could feel its little legs poking her as it climbed on her back, and screeched its immediate achievement.

“Good job! Now let's just end this battle quick. Poison Powder, and then Bug Bite.”

“May, there's a bug on you. You gonna let it stay on you? I thought you didn't like bugs?” Wyrm countered. Meanwhile Rapp continued to look down at her with a concerned air. He realized that she needed to get through this fear of her, and maybe this wasn't the best way, but sometimes things have to be harder than they need to in order to learn from them. May was learning this lesson now, as the bug slathered a new layer of powder over her. May, still suffering paralysis, twitched in place and felt the powder begin to itch and burrow into her skin, giving her something else to worry about. At least, it seemed that way. But the powder didn't seem to have any lasting effect.

But it was the prick of a pincer in her side that finally drove her past her current limitation of movement, and she bounced up with the rage and fear of a true entomophobe. Her tongue whipped around her body in a extremely fast motion, and punched the Paras off her back. Whipping her head in the other direction, she flung her tongue like a boxer would a left jab, swinging it wide and slamming it into the bug while it was still on the ground. Paras barely had time to recover before it went flying across the snow, into the park.

The distance May had to cover was of large consequence. She marched with a renewed purpose. That bug covered her in all sorts of nastiness, and it was bothering her at every moment. Even as she walked, she felt her muscles burn and each step was a struggle. Paras knew this and quickly recovered. May once again found her legs crippled, and the bug now came in close.

“Go nuts Lucky! Fury Cut!”

The bug raised its pointy appendages in glee, and began a taxing endeavor on May. The first slash seemed to be a test, as it only stung a little to May. She grunted, still trying to move from the kneeling position she was in. The second swipe hurt a little more, but the third laid May down on her side. She winced, shocked at how fast the pain escalated. But it was that shock to her brain that forced her muscles to free themselves once more. As the bug came in for a fourth strike, May raised both her hands and grabbed his arm! The point of that claw began to drop closer and closer to her chest, and as much as she tried, she could not hold it up. She winced and put all she had into pushing that arm in another direction, but this bug was stronger than she was ready for. She hissed and closed her eyes, trying to think of any way to just...Disable this ugly bug!

“Whatever you're doing May, keep it up, and get a Knock off to get you back on your feet!”

May suddenly felt the resistance lessen up and she threw the bug's arm to the side. “Ha! Stop USING that!” she yelled before smacking the bug across the face with her heavy handed self. The Paras winced and scuttled back, unsure why its power was suddenly drained.

“Lucky! Try that last Fury Cut! It's gotta be powerful enough to wipe her out!”

But Lucky looked rather perplexed. That was the problem. He couldn't do it. Something happened-and all of a sudden that move just didn't work when he though about it. It only turned worse when May-empowered by what seemed to be a new attack, followed up with a Headbutt that seemed to knock all the Zen out of Lucky.

The bug rolled over, and May felt the paralysis course through her muscles. She didn't have much left, but neither did that small bug. So when the bug stood back up, she did the one thing she could do. Scream.

Lucky scuttled in close to try and bite her-but found that the waves he traveled though were far too erratic. He stopped to shake his head, and tried to focus on the once again stuck May.

“Hahhaa! May's getting beat by a bug!” Wyrm cried out, only to have his mouth held shut by Rapp. But Skitzo chimed in right after.

“Heycutitout!Start fighting or you will lose!”

Mentally, May had a choice reply for that foolish worm, but the other bug in the area was right. The paralysis kept giving the bug free hits. She knew she needed one more good attack, but that bug also needed one more attack. And unlike her, she was not paralyzed. Just confused. She watched as he burrowed in the soil, to the chagrin of his trainer.

“Oh no fair, She confused you. Fight through it Lucky, and then end her with a Seed Bomb!” Upon hearing Seed Bomb, Mossy's interest in the battle peaked. He stopped looking at the burrowing Zent, and whipped out both vines.

May felt the slight tremor Mossy made, and managed a nod. Rapp looked to Mossy, unsure just what was the exchange traded between them. He looked to May, and noticed that the shivering stopped being erratic, and became sectional. In a flash, it made sense, and he followed with his orders.

“May, when you get loose, punch it! I know you can do it.”

Lucky finally resurfaced, and raised its pincers high up. In no time at all, spheres of a sporelike nature flew skyward in a high arc. Their trajectory put their landing spot right on May. May just stood there and watched as the Bombs came heading toward her; whistling in the wind with their potent concoction. Before the bombs reached her-May's legs wobbled and she used them almost instantly. Her body flew forward, the bombs hitting the snow and ground right behind her. The blasts that they released flashed her body with a quick warmth, enough for her to feel slightly soothed by, and more than enough for her to drag her right fist through the snow, and land a nasty Ice-laden punch to Lucky's underside. Lucky flew backwards and bounced next to his trainer. In the following moment, the bug swung its pincer once, before falling over. May fell down on her knees once more, coughing heavily. That paralysis was really causing pain, but she smiled through it.

Not because she figured out a new move.

Not because she figured out how to overcome paralysis.

It was because she beat a bug.

[May grows to lv16!]

Rapp and Skitzo cheered for May, while the jogger picked up her Paras. “I must say, I thought I had your number. That's a resilient Lickitung you have there.”

“She's full of surprises, I will say that. Especially that Disabling move she pulled out of nowhere. That was unexpected.” Rapp replied as he knelt down and braced to lift her up. May looked over to Wyrm, whom moved to recoil atop Rapp's head. Though glad she made it through the fight, he still gave her a raspberry. May jut cut her eyes at him, too tired to start anything.

“Well, I better go get her patched up.” Rapp stated, as the jogger quickly fished in her pocket for something. She looked at him and shook her head. “No. Don't go to the healing center now. Right now there are a bunch of idiot punk bikers there, and they're rude and impertinent and just downright disgusting pigs. I managed to grab a bunch of healing items from them. I'll gladly share!”

She pulled out three bottles and handed them to Rapp. “The green one is a Full Restore, and the yellow one is a Full heal. I'm sure she could use that right now. The red one is, well...I'm not sure what the red one is. Maybe a Burn Heal. I don't need those three since I have a Pokemon that can heal my others and herself.”

Rapp nodded, thankful for the show of generosity. He swing his hand back, and felt the viney one snag the two bottles he did not need. Swinging his hand back up, he pointed the full Heal on May's back and sprayed the aeresol all over her.

May squirmed, a signal to be let down, and Rapp gladly obliged. “Getting thicker there, M-” that statement was cut off by a tongue to his face. He nodded, realizing that may not have been the best time for that joke. He put the aerosol bottle away, and May took a few deep breaths. She was still sore from the strikes, but her body didn't feel encumbered by sickness of paralysis. The jogger nodded at her recovery, giving her a thumbs up. “Great job May. I hope to see you all again.”

Lucky, feeling better from his quick treatment also cheered for May, waving his pincers in adulation. May was puzzled that her opponent was happy...for her, but she nodded and smiled back. Rapp nodded and replied as Mossy already began walking again, following a green shaped fan that was still burrowing around.

“I hope we do meet again. Take care.” Turning back to the others, Rapp quickly caught up to the burrow and the plant, curious as to where and why they were heading this way. Before he could ask, Mossy raised two vines and began to make them wave, Rapp understood immediately, and turned to wait for May and Skitzo who were waving back to Lucky as they Jogger took off on her own path.

“Hewascute, but not like Mossy cute.”

“Ugh, bugs are bugs. All icky. Even you, even though you're not AS icky.”

“I'll take that asacompliment?”

“Hehe. May, you'll never change. But I will congratulate you on a great battle. You're doing so well with crippling Pokemon with that scream of yours. We just need to work on getting you a long range attack. But, and I'm sure I am not the only to notice, but how did you stop that attack?”

“I don't know!” May replied as she began heading with the others. “I was trying really hard not to get hit by that Cutting move, because each one almost doubled in power. That fourth one would have done me in. I just thought really hard about just disabling it, and suddenly it happened!”

“Disable huh? You think you could do it again if you had to?” Rapp asked. She nodded while rubbing her right arm.

“We'll have an opportunity to test it, I know it. That move will come in handy real soon. Meanwhile, let's keep up with Mossy and Zent. He says Zent is rooting for water, so when she finds water, we'll find the fountain.”

“Or you could, you know, look east and see those white rocks.” Wyrm replied lazily. Rapp looked up and then followed his instruction. Sure enough there were a slew of large boulders to the east. Approaching them were Mossy and that burrow, but the burrow seemed to be zigzagging, as if there was something new that caught the little one's interest.

The rest of the party trotted a bit to catch up to Mossy, and they all reached the lake together. Its surface was frozen-making for an interesting moment of reduced friction for Wyrm as he tried to slither across it. As Wyrm made his way back to the group, May still seemed to be recovering from her battle, rubbing her arms.

"It's a bit chilly out here. The lake is frozen, but why are BUGS STILL RUNNING ABOUT?"

"It was as nervous of you as you were of it, May."

"It's cold yes, but I'm sure she'll show up. Besides, Zent's not even phased. She's even rooting under the snow for ...what are you looking for?" Rapp asked, unsure what the answer could be. Mossy stopped looking at the map to see what she would come up with. In a fluff of snow and dirt, the Larvitar popped up and held up her empty hands.

"NOMS!"

“Ahh, to be so young and hungry.” Wyrm replied, slithering atop a rock, but still hissing at the lack of warmth provided.

“Cynical Dratini day?” May retorted, looking at Wyrm. Wyrm wriggled in a weird manner, his version of a shoulder shrug. But his attention shifted, as did Mossy's. Rapp turned, hearing an erratic set of sounds. His vision revealed a plethora of Pokemon heading his way, led by a woman. He fixed the parka on his shoulders a bit and the group all edged a bit closer to each other-except Zent.

She waved to everyone and broke the silence. “Hi! Sorry I took so long, I hope you had no trouble getting here.”

“Oh no. Mossy is pretty good at reading maps. Had a battle to keep us warm, well, least May did. “

"Bugs are ICKY!" she immediately replied.

"Hey now.Wearen'tickyatall!" Skitzo retorted. May still gave her a raspberry, but Skitzo smiled. “Diva.”

Gabi spied the Nincada, and nodded. “I see your team has a new member?”

“Oh yes. Skitzo. She joined us not too long ago. May is still trying to get used to her. And how is your team doing? “

“Skitzo? Interesting name. She reminds me of another Nincada I met before. My team is fine, though I must admit we're all getting anxious over the situation with the Black Dragon.” As she finished, one of her Pokemon spoke up. All eyes went to the purple-hued forked tail foxlike creature.

“I'm not getting anxious! We'll stop him before he knows what hit him. “

“OK, we're all getting anxious but Caledor is pretending not to.“ Gabi retorted.

“Hey! Don't make my job harder!“ he replied. Gabi's gaze turned back to Rap and his group to see a string of confused faces.

“Black....Dragon” Rapp asked? Just then Gabi's feet were covered in the upheaval of snow and earth, as Zent raised up both hands. In their grasp was a plethora of small creatures, wriggling around for freedom.

“Soupy Noms?!”

Whaa..Zent NO! She doesn't want a worm!” He quickly strode forward and regained his footing in order to attempt lifting her. As he held her up, he turned to Caledor. “Black Dragon? Job harder?” Gabi blinked, genuinely surprised at his nonchalant answering to Caledor's comments.

You can understand him?” As soon as her statement finished, the Ninetales strode forward, snaking his neck so he could line his sight with Gabi's. “Considering he's an Espeon, he should be able to make it so that anyone could understand him. If he weren't...you know....the world's worst psychic.”

“Understand who? The purple one that just said “Hey! Don't make my job harder?” Yeah, I just started being able to hear them in human speech. It's amazing, really.

“I can use telepathy.” Caledor interjected, leering at Hero. “And...oh, really? Cool! Wait, human speech? I wonder what I'd sound like if I spoke Human.”

“It's called English, you know.” Tsunami interjected, stretching out slightly. “Humans use many different languages.”

Caledor shook his head, and slighted his eyes. “I know that, I was just being silly. You should learn how to have some fun.” Caledor replied. “You're too tense.”

Gabi raised her fingers to her forehead, rubbing her temples slightly. “Please don't start it now, you three.” An audible exhale was heard, before all attention focused on her. “Sorry. They're quite hard to keep in check. I've told you about the Black Dragon before, when we met at the mountains. But you weren't feeling very well, maybe you don't remember.”

“No, no. I recall parts. Something about it trying to break through some sort of barrier. Also remember a hiker telling me about it. But I am vague on specifics. How do you know its there again?” Rapp asked, pondering his own journey and how these might intersect.

“It took us years to track him down, but we've gathered bits of information in different ways, and during our last recon mission almost everyone encountered his demons, so that's a dead giveaway. We also found something that can help us stop him, but we still need to find a way to keep him away from it while we set up the trap. Oh, and to make things worse, there have been reports of chaos magic leaking out of the barrier recently, so it seems like his efforts are succeeding.”

“Magic you say? What can this...magic do?” He inquired, curious and wary.

“As far as we know? Just about anything. Or, rather, we don't really know what it may do. The big problem is that it's chaotic, it behaves in different ways all the time.“

“Funny.” was Rapp's initial reply. Gabi looked at him with a concerned gaze. For a slight second, there was a hint of a smile on his face, and his tone slightly deepened. “In a strange way, I'd like to see it.”

“But...we don't know what it might do to you again?” Wyrm replied, coiling a bit tighter. Rapp looked up, losing the smirk and shrugged. “Still. Might be a deeper way in.”

“I know a member of the MTU who can make it through the barrier and has been on the other side several times. He has confirmed the popular knowledge that it's very dangerous, which is also what Scott used to say. Scott being Scott McHenry, the Dragon Master who went missing years ago.”

“MTU... I'm assuming you mean the Mercenary Trainers Union?”

“Yes, exactly.” Gabi stated. “And it seems to be even more dangerous now that some of the Black Dragon's demons are inside, or at least that's what a friend of mine said. They seem to be channeling that magic to possess Pokemon. But having someone inside might be the only way to keep the Black Dragon occupied while the trap is being set.”

“Well then, you all need someone who is inside. Where's the guy you've had on the inside before?”

“He's still around... I believe he's tending to his Houndoom, whom he recently recovered from a demon's grasp. We do have a way to reverse the possession, which is an advantage on our side, but the demons are still a problem we have to deal with. I'll work on holding them at bay when we launch our attack. Anyway, this guy... Ian is his name... He's still looking for his missing Flareon, but his father, who's the second among the Soldiers of the Griffin, has ordered him to stay away from the mountains. I have no idea what they may be up to, nor the Order of the Dragon for that matter, but in any case it's clear that they haven't managed to stop the Black Dragon yet.”

“Well then. It is fortunate that I am headed back to the Forbidden mountains, for...personal reasons. I guess I'll keep my eyes out for anything.” Rapp crossed his arms, realizing the magnitude of the situation he was now partially involved in.

“Really? Wow, this is too good to be a coincidence. I mean... a few days ago I would have warned you to wait until this was all over, but the situation has become too dire. I can only warn you to be careful, and to get out and call for help if anything goes wrong. Oh, and I should talk to Amy about this. Her Dragonite Talut is a direct descendant of the original Indraugnir, who fought in the big war that led to the Sundering. He can get through the barrier too, so he may be able to help you. Amy works with me at the Dragon Tamers... Whenever her back allows her to work.”

Rapp nodded, and looked over his crew once more. They all seemed a little less than thrilled about it all, but that was par for the course. “I see. Well, we will be heading out within the next day or so-taking the train again.”

“I don't see WHY I have to go hike those mountains again, and now since its even colder than last time, my skin is going to get so flaky and dry!”

“Same old story...”

”We go bak to big pwace wif good noms? Yes pleez!”

“Be careful, little one. It's a dangerous place, you can't afford to get distracted.” Zent turned to spy Hero, who seemed awfully cautious at that moment.

Dis-twact-ded?

“Just be careful and keep away from danger.” He stated, before falling silent.

Rapp heeded the warning better than Zent and took a moment to recall anything else he might need to know. In a flash, a pressing thought revealed itself and he blurted it out as fast as he could. “Wait. Sundering? Wait Wait Wait. What do you know of that?”

“Not a lot... As you may have noticed from my accent I'm not from around here, but I've heard some stories over the last 11 years, especially when Scott was around. There was a huge war during which magic was badly abused, and in the end it turned against everyone. Some wizards managed to contain what was left of it within the Forbidden Mountains, but not before most elves were wiped off the face of Earth.”

“There goes those words again. "Elves" and "wiped off the face of Earth." Always together too."

"Maybe it is not worth the risk. You may be one of the on-""-MAY!"

"If you want to know more, you can try asking Teclis at the White Tower of Hoeth. I believe he was around when that happened. He was one of the few survivors. Lord Absol too, but I wouldn't advise anyone to go to him for information. Getting to Teclis may be tricky, but once you've passed whatever test he sets up for you, he's usually willing to help."

Gabi took a short breath after that statement and rubbed her hands together to warm them up.

“Teclis. I'll do good to remember that. We met someone that gathered a few things about that event for us a few weeks ago. I'll need to make a trip myself, there's too many pieces of this puzzle for me to put together. Got to start from the edges. I'll take note of what happens while I'm there.”

“Sounds like a good idea. And don't worry... Wyrm, right? Talking to me about elves won't cause you any trouble.”

Rapp and co. took a moment to process what she was saying.

”You know more about them?”

“I have met both Teclis and Lord Absol, and also at least 2 humans with elven blood. When I first saw your trainer, I thought he might be an elf, but I wasn't sure so I didn't bring up the subject directly. I'm far from an expert, though.”

She explained this calmly, so to allow the group to relax.

"Well...we are going to the mountains to find out."

"Yeah...we have a feeling that Rapp will be able to figure it out there. But you mentioned something about the barrier being entered by that dragon...would that mean I could enter?”

“I don't know. It's more a matter of heritage than species. Lagi is a Dragonite and she can't go through. I suppose you'll have to find out once you get there.”

"Can...elves go through?"

Yes, as far as I know.

“Hrm.”

Side glances were exchanged between Mossy and Rapp, before May took over the conversation again. “Wow, so we might actually get somewhere.”

“Maybe May. Maybe. We have work cut out for us, but this is invaluable information. Thanks for everything.”

“No problem. I must thank you for offering to help. If there's anything I can do for you, don't hesitate to let me know. “

"Sure. Come on guys. Let's go find a place to eat and then we'll head out!"

"OK, I'll let you know as soon as I've talked to the others, so that we all head for the mountains around the same time, and also to see if Talut can go with you. Let's stay in touch."

Alright then. I'll be in town for a few days. Thinking I might just stick around and battle a few more folks, just to get better at it.

She nodded.

“You and Mossjito did a great job at the Games, but training always helps.”

"Yeah. We've recently realized a great disparity in Mossy versus everyone else in terms of abilities, and I feel they kinda need to catch up. Or at least have more versatility."

“I see. Yes, that definitely makes sense.”

“Well, I have your number...and I'm sure I better feed this brood. I'll be around, so whenever you all decide to head out, let me know.”

“I will, thanks!”

With the meeting over, the two parties headed toward their different paths. Rapp trudged on out the park, as eager as everyone to quickly find some warmth and shelter. In the back of his mind, all the new information he received began to eat at him. Could he really enter this mythical barrier? Could Wynd enter it? Most importantly of all, would they be ready and able to deal with a dragon attack if it came down to it? The menagerie of Pokemon he had by his side were diverse, but they were all young. Inexperienced. Just like himself.

But they were all willing to run through this with him. So why not try! He smirked to himself and allowed his thoughts to clear as they all went to find some noms.

End of Ch 1

[Skye]

Short Stories…

"So, in essence," Skye was crouched down, talking to Darker who was sporting a new blue coat. "Sunny Day, despite being a day attack, will make Moonlight even more powerful. Because the moonlight is just reflected sunlight. And the moon's always up somewhere, and so is the sun, so it works. Somehow… I'm really not sure."

"That's reassuring," Darker sighed, "I just love to operate on theories…"

"That's the theory, anyway," the trainer perked up. "And Solar Beam fits in there somehow too. Maybe it should be called a Lunar Beam if it's at night… And Sunny Night? Cloudless Night? Moon Power…" Skye was obviously lost, trying to figure out what she should call Sunny Day. Duo couldn't stop laughing as the poor woman got lost and confused.

"Don't make up names," Darker growled.

"We'll figure something out," Skye offered the canine a pat on the head, as if to reassure her that everything would be alright. Darker honestly didn't believe for a moment that it would be, but everything seemed to simply fall into place for the human. Luck, skill, or karma, the last few days with the human had been interesting. Shandar's constant outbursts were as terrible as ever, but Skye had pulled through and loaded the team up with various attacks which would give any of them a feather, hoof, or paw up over the beast if worse came to worse.

Still, Eclipse was the only one who seemed capable of really putting a dent in the creature, not that Darker had personally seen the Ponyta show much backbone outside of a fight. From what she had heard, however, the two oldest (and sanest) members of the team worked decently well with Skye in combat. And yet, no one could speak to the human. It was really annoying.

"Anyway! It's time to head out. I heard about a gathering outside of town, a quick rally for fights. It's really impromptu, but Eclipse could use some more training and the rest of you can come watch!"

"I think Eclipse is the one who least requires more training, personally," Darker murmured.

"Doesn't she deserve it more? We're still the rookies," Duo chirped innocently.

"It's the way things are," Shadow's tail dangled from a branch he was lounging out against. "We'll each get training until we evolve. It's simply rather fortunate, or unfortunate, that Ponyta are slow to change."

"And for what?" Darker barked in response. "A horn?"

Eclipse pretended she wasn't there, browsing over the grass in the open area. She could pretend all she wanted, however, Darker could still see one of the mare's ears cocked towards them, listening.

"And you'll get a tail and two more horns," Shadow yawned. "I won't be able to stick a coin on my forehead anymore and I'll get a gem. Duo will get more feathers. Evolution is a goal, not the end game."

"It's about the strength and wisdom. And the fact that this team is highly unbalanced. The "strongest members" are a filly who can't speak up for herself and a lunatic serpent who bashes everything with his head."

"Door's that-a-way," Shadow flicked his tail towards the distant forest. "No one needs someone who can't learn patience."

"Guys?" Skye looked concerned, glancing between the snarling Houndour and a very unhappy Meowth. "Cats and dogs, I get it, but can we go? I don't want to miss out."

"Right…" Darker let her hackles relax. Despite her complaints, Skye had expanded her and Duo's knowledge far beyond what it once had been. Though she suspected that the girl had a bit of a gambling problem, luck continued to swing in her way and she came out with new TMs, Stamps, and anything else she could get her hands on. That, or they were swimming in debt and didn't know it. Perhaps even Skye didn't know it.

The trip was a short one, with Duo perched on Darker's skull dome and Shadow atop of Eclipse's haunches, they must have been a sight to behold. But so many other trainers had their own Pokémon out that the only odd glances received were by those who weren't used to a shiny Houndour, a black Meowth, and a strange mix of black and pastel colors that Eclipse was. Only Duo looked normal, but he was the one who found everything amusing, and was probably the most mentally gone from the group, sans Shandar.

"Looking for a fight!" Skye called and the first challenger and his Voltorb met her call. Shadow slid from the mare's back and landed effortlessly at Skye's feet to observe the battle. Not to be outdone, the hound followed to sit on the trainer's other side once the challengers had taken their stances.

Eclipse Lv. 22 vs. Voltorb Lv.22

"A Voltorb! That's uh… uh…" Skye was apparently quite lost as to the exact typing of a Voltorb.

"Charge!" the opposing trainer said, and the explosive ball began to glow heatedly with electric energy, crackling as it prepared itself.

"Toxic!" Skye countered. While situating its own electric powers for the next strike, Eclipse had ample time to cough up a disgusting ball of ooze which sank into the creatures pores, assuming that it had any. It certainly wasn't resistant to the sludge, even cringing at the nasty feeling.

"Charge Beam!" the trainer instructed, not seeming all that disturbed by what had just happened.

"Flame Charge!" Skye countered.

Eclipse began to pound her hooves into the dirt, stimulating her legs and heating up muscles as a fiery blaze swept over her very being. Once fully powered, she lunged towards the opponent to ram it, and it in turn waited until she was just close enough to zap her with a ray of power overflowing with electrical energy. Eclipse yelped in pain from the shock, dancing back with an angry shake of her head as the Voltorb spun out of control momentarily from the impact. Again she pawed at the ground, seeming rather off put by the entire thing.

"Flamethrower!" Skye called.

"Charge!" the other trainer simply grinned.

With the advantage this time, Eclipse reared back, drawing from deep within to summon a powerful stream of flames, unleashed from a focal point just within her mouth. The Voltorb, instead of attacking, simply glowed with its electrical energy, hardly seeming to flinch from the onslaught of flames. Darker narrowed her eyes, wondering why it had seemed more affected by being struck with a Flame Charge as opposed to the much more potent Flamethrower.

"Sunny Day!" their trainer was obviously thrown off by this entire mess of a battle.

"Charge Beam!" he all but laughed, as if he could see that he would win this battle.

As could be expected, Eclipse turned her attention skyward, rather than paying heed to her opponent. A bright ball of energy formed as her mouth opened once again, but instead of releasing it at the opponent, she shot the orb towards the sun. If the orb ever touched the sun, Darker would never know, but seeing a Sunny Day in action made her shiver with excitement as the ball of energy amplified the sun's intensity within quite the range, bathing the battlefield in a piercing light. Voltorb hardly seemed to notice, though it was obviously in increasing amounts of pain as it shot another beam of eclectic energy towards Eclipse, causing her to wince again as she did her best to endure the heavy hit.

"Charge again!" the man chuckled. "Even a Sunny Day won't pierce through now!"

"Now I get it," Darker murmured, causing Shadow and Duo to glance at the Houndour.

"Hm?" the Meowth flicked his tail.

"What's there to get?" Duo tilted his head, leaning forward to peer down at the Houndour.

"Charge doesn't just make the attacks stronger. It increases their defenses as well. And Charge Beam increases the power of the attacks…"

"Good," Shadow purred.

"How is that good? Skye obviously hasn't got a clue and Eclipse isn't thinking for herself!" Darker growled. "This is bad."

"Morning Sun!" Skye called out, oblivious to her Pokémon's conversation.

Eclipse ignored how the Voltorb took to glowing once again, her eyes closing as a peaceful aura enveloped the Ponyta. Dark fur and pastel violet and blue flames faded in the glory of her healing technique, bolstered by the sunlight, she stood strong and tall, her tail whipping back and forth casually. The other trainer let out a whistle at this combination, nearly opposite of what Skye had given to Darker quite recently. In theory, Moonlight and Morning Sun would work in much the same way as it did now, and the Houndour also knew that the Ponyta could use Solarbeam on a whim now that the sun's light shone radiantly.

"Because Eclipse is the best endurance fighter on the team right now," Shadow grinned, showing fangs. "And she has always been, even before she ever listened to Skye. She might be a bit slow for a human, but she learns."

"Flame Wheel!"

"Try to stop it with Sonicboom!" the trainer looked a bit less certain now that Skye was pushing the physical attacks.

Darker had failed to notice how strained and tired the Voltorb looked. Usually, bolstering one's defenses was a good thing, but it didn't have a healing move to make up for the increasing amounts of damage it had been taking. It still rattled, spinning quickly on the ground to generate the power needed to unleash a shockwave just as Eclipse closed the gap between them once again. A Flame Charge was enough to speed her up, but not to keep her from being able to strike before the opponent could generate its own attack. The blazing fire which had surrounded her during her charge didn't even flicker as the shockwave struck, though she came to stagger after her blow had landed, red and orange flames fading as she panted. Voltorb had rolled to its side as the poisonous spew which had been sent at it before the fight took its toll and ended the battle.

Eclipse won and grew to level 23!

"Ah, good fight!" the man recalled his Voltorb. "We'll have to get Rain Dance to keep that from happening again."

"It's a new combination," Skye scratched the back of her head with a light laugh before she made her way to Eclipse and offered the spent mare a tidbit from her pocket. Darker still pondered over the victory

"Damn it!" someone else called from nearby. Most of the gathering, including Skye and Voltorb's trainer, glanced towards the direction of the shout. A man had just recalled his defeated Pokémon, and a Growlithe stood with his tail held high, wagging it like a flag of victory.

"Too bad all of these battle areas are so close together," the Growlithe's trainer commented. "Not that you would have won even if we hadn't used Sunny Day to our advantage. Whose attack was that, by the way?"

Skye blushed and looked at Eclipse, who looked just as baffled by the entire thing.

"That would be us," she decided to finally fess up, earning a few scathing glances. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to disturb anyone else's battle!"

"Shit happens. At least you didn't flood the area with a Surf or froze everyone with a Blizzard!" the other woman laughed.

"Bah," the defeated man decided to take his leave.

"You've got Fire types too! They're my favorite, especially in the sun. Care to have a go?" inquired the other trainer.

"I suppose. Are you feeling up to round two, Eclipse?" Skye looked at the mare, who simply nodded eagerly.

"Sure, then!"

"Quickly, before the Sunny Day fades!"

Eclipse Lv. 23 vs. Growlithe Lv.23

"Growlithe, use Crunch!"

"Double Kick, Eclipse!" Skye countered.

The canine leapt up, fangs gleaming wickedly as he sought his mark on Eclipse. The mare spun quickly, still heated from her last battle, and struck the canine hard with her hind hooves, each impacting in his chest powerfully enough to send him flying back, effectively ending the attack before it could even begin.

"Hah, not bad! Leer, Growlithe!"

"Give it a Stomp!"

Growlithe, still a bit behind Eclipse in terms of speed, stood his ground as the Ponyta dashed towards him. His eyes shone red in that moment, a sinister glow which caused obvious hesitation in Eclipse, though she was far too wild of a battler to give up that easily, and reared up to bring her hooves down on Growlithe. He yelped in pain, the attacks already starting to take their toll.

"Now Crunch, don't let her get away!"

Jaws snapped fast, and Darker winced as Eclipse let out a pained sound, glowing fangs sinking into the upper portion of her foreleg deep. She reared, bucked, and threw herself this way and that in an attempt to dislodge the Pokémon who had taken his previous blow just to get in close. Skye openly winced, hesitating a moment before calling out her next attack.

"Solarbeam!" Darker balked at the notion.

Eclipse began to form a focal point for her next attack, aimed point blank at the Growlithe's face. Before his trainer could call him off, the beam exploded outward, ripping him free and sending him flying. The attack itself, despite not being very effective, held quite the punch, and Skye took advantage of this.

"Hidden Power!" she called out an attack which Eclipse hadn't practiced much. Darker wondered what the element could be. It could very well change the tide of the battle, for a Growlithe had many weaknesses.

What came next was far from expectation. Eclipse appeared as though she was charging again, not forming orbs like Shadow would. The Ponyta seemed to split into two, then, a more transparent form of herself dashing forward. Eclipse drew up short at that, watching as her phantom form, dark in color as she was, began to spiral into a sphere, losing its form just before impacting Growlithe, disabling him and winning the battle.

"What element was that?" Darker wondered.

"What attack was that?" Shadow sounded rather disturbed.

"What's for dinner?" Duo sighed. Darker shook her head.

Eclipes won and grew to level 24! She learned Fire Spin!

"The best part about this is," Skye grinned. "We'll be here for a while. So will the other trainers. So we can come back to the gathering until something new comes up."

"How convenient," Darker murmured as Eclipse returned to the group. "Good battling."

"Oh… Thank you…" the mare turned her head away as if shy, though she was truly setting Darker in her sights politely. The hound couldn't even begin to understand a Pokémon who had her eyes set on either side of her head, but despite the oddity, she offered a light wag of her tail before Skye realized that it was time to eat and began rushing them home in a hurry, least they miss anything.

… Are Short!

I'd like to buy two more battles for Eclipse my level 24 Ponyta from the Universal Adoption Center, please. *pays 14 Stamps*

[classy_cat18]

I think the limit is still one a week, Skye. For now, Eclipse will battle a Kabuto.

[Skye]

Oh yeah, my bad xD I'm having a terrible week. Thanks.

[Lady Vulpix]

DL, I'm rating your battle (sorry for the delay, I'm too busy these days).

I haven't finished it yet, but I must point out that Poisonpowder doesn't work on paralyzed Pokemon. You may want to fix that part.

By the way, did Rapp steal a parka from the Training Grounds?

[DarkestLight]

O.o we following the one status rule here? I can fix that.

And as for the parka......no...........he wouldn't dare.

[Lady Vulpix]

Ah, good. OK, please let me know when you've edited it so I can rate the final version.

[DarkestLight]

Done.

[Lady Vulpix]

Thanks, DL!

That was an interesting battle. The part where you and I interacted was hard to rate, but I ignored my own parts and did what I could with the rest.

OK, a few more questions.

What's a green shaped fan? It sounds like a green fan that has been given a shape, but that doesn't make much sense.

And what's the black dot after "might be a deeper way in"?

When you say "Could Wynd enter it?", is that Wyndryde?

Take 21 stamps for your story, plus 6 for the wait! (I'm not counting the days I waited for you to edit, because it would be unfair since I was the one who was on hold and couldn't finish rating in the meantime). That's a total of 27 stamps!
¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢

Skye, I haven't forgotten you, I'm just very busy these days. And apparently so is everyone else. Your story will be rated by one of us within the next few days.

[DarkestLight]

1) Yeah I was referencing Zent's tail. When it splays out, it looks like a green fan. That looks like a rough edit idea that never made it out of the main story (I get images in my head, and just jot them down randomly, then when I come across them, I write them in the story.)

2) <--That's what it is. No idea how or why it got there.

3) Yes, Wynd is Wyndryde, that mysterious Absol. Who knows if we'll see him again?

27 stamps, and yeah I wasn't banking on the edit days. Sweet, almost time for a shopping spree.

[classy_cat18]

Sorry for the wait, Skye. Take 19 Stamps for your story, plus 6 for the wait. Duo's cute.

[Lady Vulpix]

I got here first and I'm struggling with a doctoral thesis! What's going on with everyone?

Anyway, story time! This is my introduction for the current scenario. The next part, which will be written when I can find the time, should contain the actual battles.

ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸, ø¤º°`°º¤ø ,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø

<Glice's POV>

It was a cold, snowy morning; the kind that reminded me of my old home on the Icy Mountains in Bei. It's weird, I thought. I used to be in a rush to leave my homeland and see what else was out there, and now I can't wait to get back. Turns out that 'out there' isn't all it's cracked up to be, and being stuck here for so long is just... I couldn't find the words to finish that sentence. I looked out the window. It was still snowing. I wanted to play in the snow, but how? I'm trapped, I thought to myself. One way or another, I'm always trapped. And what is worse, my own body's my prison now.

I turned to look at my pinniped friend, who was still snoozing peacefully and - judging by the look on his face - having an interesting dream which might or might not be his own.

"You're the luckiest one of us all," I said in a hushed voice. "No prison can ever hold you."
"Did you just say something?" a voice from behind startled me.

I turned around to find Sol, the Vulpix whose eyes made me think of storm clouds.

"Where did you come from?" I asked her.
"Caledor Forest," she replied, "both originally and most recently. I walked in about an hour ago; Glyph opened the door for me."
"Glyph is such an early bird..." Orknye spoke out, stirring. "Light sleeper too. That really helped when we were standing guard at White Mountain. Me, on the other fin... it takes at least a lively conversation by my side to wake me up. Like the one you guys have just provided. Not that I mind, chatting with friends is always fun."
"Could it be that you're so hard to wake because you have so much fun dreaming you just don't want to stop?" I asked him.
"Hmm... Maybe," he admitted. "But I can still have fun while I'm awake. Just... before I forget, does anyone know what 'I cannot explain, but that by itself may serve as an explanation' means?"
"What?" I asked.
"That sounds like something Harims would say," Sol commented.
"That's right," Orknye nodded, while I wondered what fun he could possibly find in talking to Harims.
"I'm afraid I would need to know the context in order to understand that," Sol told him. "What did you ask her?"
"We were having a casual talk about angels in different cultures..."
"You can't have a casual talk with Harims," I remarked. "Getting water from a stone would be easier."
"It is really hard," Sol agreed. "But I think she enjoys having someone to talk to, as hard as it may be. I'm sure she appreciates the effort." Then she mumbled something which sounded like "I know I would".
"Like I would appreciate not being interrupted when I'm talking," Orknye pointed out.
"Oh! Sorry," Sol lowered her head an tails, ending up in a position that made her look almost like a ball.
"It wasn't you, it was Glice who interrupted me."
"Oh," I said. "Sorry, do go on."
"Anyway, you both know how much Glyph loves mythology, right? Well, he often talks to me about the things he has read or heard, and he once read that angels have no free will according to some major Earth religions, so I asked her about it."
"About angels in Earth's religions or... no, you asked about Harims herself, didn't you?" Sol ventured.
"Yes, I did," said Orknye. "How did you know?"
"It was the only question that would make her answer make sense. What you quoted about explanations... That was her answer, right?"
"Not exactly. She said she first said the theory was partially right and partially wrong, and something about there being both freedom and constraints. Then I asked her what her constraints were, and that's when she said she could not explain but that by itself could be considered an explanation."
"Well, of course," said Sol.
"Am I missing something really obvious?" asked Orknye.
"She just told you what we already knew. She can't speak freely, whatever the reason may be. But it's good to know that she at least has some choices and isn't just a pawn of some higher power."
"You seem to give a lot of thought to the idea of being controlled by outside forces," I commented. "I've heard you mention it before."
"It's just that it would be horrible... to know that your choices aren't really yours... that everything you do - everything you will ever do - has been laid out for you by someone else! It's the worst torture I can imagine!"
"Then stop imagining it," said Orknye. "Why hurt yourself with thoughts of some horror that isn't real?"
"Because, for the longest time..." Sol sighed. "Never mind, forget I said anything."
"Come on, Sol, you're among friends here," Orknye encouraged her. "If anything is troubling you, we're here to help."
"Thanks, I appreciate that," said Sol. "I really do. But you're right, I should try to stop thinking about it. Going over it again to explain it won't do me any good."
"OK... Just know that if you ever want to talk, I will listen."
"Thank you," Sol smiled. It looked like a shy, almost sad smile, but it was good coming from someone who rarely made that gesture.
"So... Are you joining our team for good this time?" asked Orknye.
"I don't know," Sol replied. "I prefer not to make any long-term plans because either I don't know what's going to happen in the long run, or worse, I do."
"How is knowing worse?" asked Orknye. "Even if it's a bad thing, knowing can help you be better prepared for it."
"Unless there's only so much you can do to prepare yourself, and the anticipation only hurts you. Besides... Never mind, you wouldn't understand."
"Try me."
"Were you shunned by your own family for being a freak?"
"Er... Yes, sort of," Orknye revealed.
Sol gasped. "I'm sorry... I had no idea."
"It's OK... It was like a lifetime ago. I have a better family now, and we're all freaks here."
"I see... Is there room in your family for a freak who can't even get along with herself?"
"I wish you'd learn to treat yourself better," replied Orknye. "But as far as I'm concerned, you're more than welcome to stay here with us. You'll have to ask Eshree, but I'm sure he'll be OK with it. You were a great guide for us when we first got here."
"Which was ages ago..." I stated.
"Is there a problem?" asked Sol.
"Not with you, no. I was just wondering if we're going to stay here for ever, or if we'll return home at some point. Orknye here doesn't have a problem because he can go wherever he wants in his dreams, but I'm a lot more limited."
"Anyone can go anywhere in their dreams," Orknye pointed out. "It's not the same as being physically there, and I must admit there are a few things I miss... but if we went back there would be a lot of things I'd miss about here too. I'm fine as long as we're all together."
"What if we can't all be together?" I asked him.
"What do you mean?"
"I mean... I haven't made a decision yet, but I've been thinking about leaving. I have nothing against you guys, you're all great. But traveling hasn't turned out to be what I expected, and most of the time we're stuck in Sector Alpha, and I'm... I'm a hard ball with horns, there's no better way to put it. There isn't much I can do to have fun. I can't even go out on short exploration trips like I used to do in Bei."
"Have you tried the MTU computer?" Orknye suggested.
"A computer is not my idea of fun," I told him. "I miss having legs."
"Yes, legs are quite useful," he agreed. "I miss my old land form too. But my water form wasn't so different from this one, so I can still have fun swimming."
"Well, I can't," I remarked. "I'd like to go back home and tell the tales of the things I've seen, even if no one would believe me. It would be great if we could all go together, but I'll understand if the rest of you would rather stay here. I'm not going to leave you guys while the Black Dragon's still a threat... I'd feel guilty if anything happened to one of you while there's any chance I could have done something to help it. But once this is over... I think I'll be leaving."
"You seem to have made up your mind," Orknye said.
"Not completely, but... I think I will. I've already stayed here long enough. I'll miss you guys a lot, but I want to go back."
"OK... I wasn't really expecting this after all this time, but if it's what you want... We can still stay in touch you know. You and me, at least."

There was silence for a while. I didn't know what to say. I felt like I was tearing our group apart... our 'family', like Orknye called it. But I had tried to make the current arrangement work for years and it really wasn't working for me. It wasn't long before Glyph came trotting into the room.

"Good morning everyone," he greeted us. "Good to see you're all awake. We... is there something wrong?"
"Glice wants to go home," Orknye blurted out. I didn't think I was ready to tell Glyph just yet.
"Oh..." Glyph said, looking at me. He was quiet fora while and then added: "I can't say it's completely unexpected. Things have taken some really weird turns since you joined us, and I couldn't... You didn't get what you wanted. I tried to make it up to you, but it turns out I'm not really good at that."
"It's not your fault," I told him.
"It is. Partly, at least. When I first met you, I thought you were just what we needed. I even thought we were what you needed, but I was wrong about that. I offered you something and then I couldn't hold up my end of the deal."
"Can you see the future?" I asked him.
"A little bit," he answered. "About 2 seconds at a time, and only the immediate future."
"Then there's no way you could have foreseen any of this. We didn't come here until over a year after I joined you. And it was a great year; I don't regret any of it. And we've done some great things here too, and the things you said Eshree could do for me... he really did. I have learnt a lot and become much stronger: strong enough to go traveling on my own once I get back home, and I owe that to you. All of you. You did hold up your end of the deal, and I must thank you for that. If time somehow went back to the day we met, I'd join you again. But right now... the situation has changed. My needs have changed. If you guys ever decide to go back home, I'll be glad to join you again. Even if you come for a short visit, it will be great. I just don't feel comfortable staying here much longer."
"I understand," Glyph nodded. "I can help you get back after we've told the others. And I'll try to pay you a visit someday soon."
"I don't want to go right away," I told him. "I'll help you guys deal with the Black Dragon. It's the least I can do. After that, if we all make it out of that one alive, then I'd like to go home."
"OK," Glyph smiled. "We can do that. Thank you."
"No... thanks to you."
"I hate to crush your emotional moment," said Sol. "But isn't there a Guild meeting this morning? I wouldn't want to miss it. And... does it smell like French toast?"
"You have a good nose," said Glyph.
"Not the best, but it does help sometimes," she replied.
"Eshree's just finished making breakfast," Glyph said. "That's what I was coming to tell you. We can eat and then go to the Guild meeting. I've already talked to him and he said you can come with us. But... did I tell you about the meeting? I intended to wait until I got a confirmation from Eshree."
Sol took a deep breath and lower her head. "I'm sorry, I did it again. Sometimes I don't even realize when I'm doing it."
"You have nothing to apologize for," Glyph told her. "Come on, breakfast is ready."

------------------------------

<Amber's POV>

"Is this some kind of punishment?" Gabi complained, facing the computer.
"What is it?" I asked, turning to look. She was checking her e-mails.
"Lady Ninetales wants us... well, me... to research Pokemon with more than one brain. She suspects that the separate brains interact in different ways on different Pokemon. How am I even supposed to research that? We rarely get to see one of those, let alone enough to get any significant data. And I'm supposed to see how their brains interact? How?!"
"Well, if it helps..." said Spark, who was perching on the back of the couch "I know one case where two brains are less useful than one. But he used to have just one brain before he evolved and it wasn't any good either. Or do Weezings have just one brain? They have two faces, but I don't know what's on the inside."
"I must admit it's an interesting question," I said.
"I'm not going to cut open a Weezing's head to find out," Gabi remarked. "Not even that one, sorry, Spark."
"I didn't expect you would," he said.
"Of course we're not going to cut a living Pokemon's head... or heads," I agreed. "But someone must have studied some corpses before. Maybe you can search the Internet for some information? At least to find out what Pokemon have two brains and which ones have two faces but only one brain."
"Because the Internet is so reliable," Gabi rolled her eyes.
"Some websites are," I insisted. "Come on, you've searched for scientific papers online before. You can do it again."
"Have I mentioned I find this subject disgusting?" Gabi admitted. "Not to mention I tend to get grossed out when watching sliced organs. Blood I have no problem with, but exposed guts and brains make me nauseous."
"You should tell her, then," I suggested. "I'm sure she can find a different subject for you to research."
"I'm a Universal Scholar. I won't be worthy of my title if I give up so easily."
"So it's a matter of pride?" I questioned her.
"It's more a matter of what she will think about me. I know you're going to say I've been doing this for years and she already knows me well enough, but... even though I've written some successful papers - with your help in most cases - and some not so good ones, I've never turned one down before I even tried. I'm sure she'll be disappointed if I do."
"Lately all I've done to help you is sit by your side, brainstorm a bit and make tea," I pointed out.
"Best kind of help I could use," Gabi smiled.
"So what are you going to do?" asked Spark.
"First, we'll go to the Guild meeting. I'll have to wake up Hero to ask him if he wants to come, I'm not looking forward to that but he'll get even angrier if we leave while he's sleeping. Then, after the meeting, I'll think about what to do with the paper. If we're lucky we'll manage to stop the Black Dragon before too long and I'll have plenty of time and energy to think of something. And if we're unlucky, the paper will be the least of our concerns. So... first things first."

It turns out Hero wasn't as cranky as we expected. He was quite excited that we were finally getting organized to do something useful. Still, when I asked him about his recent visit to the old forest, he seemed quite evasive, only saying things along the lines of "it was nice, everything went well, I should visit again sometime". It wasn't like him to avoid going into detail about anything regarding his own life, unless you asked him about something he found embarrassing. It made me wonder if something had made him embarrassed while he was in the forest.

"So... how are Scorch and Flame doing?" I asked him on our way to the Guild's HQ. "Are they still together?"
"Yes. They're still together and happy to know they have a grandson, although they wish he would visit them someday. He does live far away, but it's not like he can't find a way to come. His parents already have. And Scorch and Flame were mad that they didn't visit. Then again, that was probably Solitude's fault - I mean Sol's. She was the one who told them to go back home without taking any detours."
"OK, I get the idea," I told him. "What about the others?"
"Lake is doing great. She's become not only the leaders' right paw, but also a renowned storyteller. And we've given her plenty of new stories to tell. Strawberry's taken to agriculture, which sounded as weird to everyone else as it must sound to you now, but she seems to have a talent for it. Now the pack can enjoy plenty of berries at any time of the year. Ruby wasn't there at the time because she'd just found a mate and they were spending some time alone together. They're supposed to return, though. There were two young Vulpix girls I'd never met before, Lake and Dash's daughters and therefore Ray's sisters. They loved hearing about my adventures. And the twins' adventures too. Sol was the only one who didn't say much about the places she's been, and it's a pity because she's the one who's traveled the furthest, but you can't push her or she may break or something."
"She's very sensitive, but saying she could 'break' is offensive. Anyway, what else happened when you were there."
"We talked! What else did you expect?"
"I don't know... a little detail perhaps? Like... how did your old friends react when they saw you after all these years?"
"How did they react?... Well! I mean, they were surprised, of course. Curious... We're all adults, what did you expect?"
"I don't know what I expected, why do you keep asking me that?"
"Because you keep asking questions."
"That's what you normally do when you want to know about something. You're my friend, I'm interested in knowing about your life. Is there anything wrong with that?"
"Wrong?... No, of course there's nothing wrong with that. It's just... I thought I'd have to deal with Tsunami pestering me for information, not you."
"I'm not pestering you!"

At that moment I felt a light scratch on my back. I turned round to look and saw Tsunami gesturing to get my attention. I lowered my head to his level to listen.

"Don't worry," he whispered. "I have a better plan. A number of plans, really, in case one of them fails."
"I can hear you whispering," said Hero. "You must know I don't like my teammates plotting against me."
"No one's plotting against you," the Vaporeon assured.
"Then why are you whispering behind my back?"
"You don't want to tell us what happened in the forest, I don't have to tell you why I was whispering."
"Ah, so it's that kind of game! I've already told you what happened. We had a long conversation. You can't expect me to remember every word, right?"
"No, but at least the general idea," I told him.
"OK, let's drop it," Tsunami proposed. "He's not going to tell us what he doesn't want us to know."
"Why do you assume there's something I don't want you to know?" asked Hero.
"Because I know you," said Tsunami. "But it's OK. I won't push you."

We made it to the building before the argument could get any worse. We were the first ones to arrive, but everyone else who was expected showed up before too long. That was quite a relief: I was afraid we might not be ready for this, and our preparations had already taken way too long.

During the meeting, everyone got an assignment. We were heading for the mountain the next morning. Gabi's task was to summon as many trainers as possible - like in the old times - and to organize a huge diversion to keep the Black Dragon's demons occupied. I for one was glad not to be on the front lines this time, but I was worried about those who would have to get closer to the Black Dragon. Not that we could predict the Dragon's actions, for all we knew he could grow tired of us and decide to try and wipe us out himself. But it was much more likely that he'd focus on his main goal, which was to penetrate the barrier and obtain the power locked within it for himself; a really crazy goal considering that chaos magic - both by definition and historical data - cannot be controlled. Gabi was also left in charge of contacting Rapp - whom we had recently talked to and informed of our plan - to let him know when and where we would be, to give Talut the directions to find him and, once on site, to protect everyone else from harm and help anyone who did get hurt. Not an easy task, but we were sort of used to it by now. At least we had a good plan and we were all likely to make it back alive.

One the general talking was done and everyone had stood up, Gabi approached Alex and started talking to him. I still didn't feel very comfortable around him, so I followed Tsunami instead. He headed over to where Eshree's team was, and only then did I realize Sol was with them! She'd been sitting quietly under the table during the meeting.

"Hi there!" Tsunami greeted her. "Nice to see you."
"Really?" she asked. "Oh, sorry, I mean... It's nice to see you too."
"Thanks. And since they let you into this room, does it mean you're finally registered as a trained Pokemon? Or did they make a special exception in your case?"
"They... didn't really check," she replied. "They see Guild trainers walking in with a group of Pokemon and don't stop to check if there's an extra one. But I'm considering joining the team. I've already tried just about everything else I could do... Having a trainer could be interesting."
"I'm sure there's a lot you and Eshree can do for each other," Tsunami said. "And it would be cool to see you more often."
"You're only saying that to be nice, but thanks."
"Hey, you insult me!" Tsunami protested. "I never say things just to be nice. If you knew me better, you'd know I usually get complaints about how honest I am!"
"It's more a matter of bluntness than honesty," I corrected him.
"Oh... I'm sorry," Sol apologized. "I didn't mean to offend you."
"Hey, it's OK!" Tsunami told her. "I get worse insults from my friends everyday."
"Oh, right, you're like Ray's replacement, right? Oh, no, wait, that came out horribly wrong. I mean..."
"I know what you mean. Hero still does call me Kid sometimes. Not a lot these days, but sometimes. That used to be the only name he called me when I first joined the team. At first I thought he did it because I was younger than him. It took me years to find out the real reason. So... yeah, he missed his old friend and tried to do the same things with me as he did with him. It's a good thing I liked them too. But I'm pretty sure he likes me for who I am now."
"Of course he does," I assured.
"Speaking of Hero..." Tsunami continued. "He held a grudge with Scorch for many years. He was never too specific about the reasons, but I believe the main one was the name Scorch gave him. And now he's found the courage to go back to Caledor Forest and see him again, so... would you be so kind as to let us know what their encounter was like from a 3rd Pokemon perspective?"
"Huh? Oh! Sure," said Solitude. "It wasn't nearly as climactic as you make it sound. Scorched was surprised to see him, of course. Then they bickered for a while and finally made up like brothers usually do."
"Brothers?" I asked, puzzled. "Hero never said anything about Scorch being his brother."
"They're not biological brothers," Sol explained. "But Scorch was raised by Hero's parents and the two grew up together, so they're brothers for all practical purposes. That's what their relationship is like. And the two took way too long to realize it. They would have avoided so much trouble if things had been clear between them from the start... But who am I to judge?"
"Hero failing to realize something obvious regarding social interactions?" Tsunami chuckled. "Impossible!"
"Hey, are you making fun of me?!" Hero shouted out, reaching us within two leaps. "You should know better than to talk about me behind my back. And failing that, you have to be stupid to do it while you're within my hearing range."
"Oh, but I wasn't talking about you behind your back!" Tsunami defended himself. "I knew you were close by. I'd never say something about you that I wouldn't want you to hear."
"Then what were you saying?"
"I'm saying you have trouble seeing the obvious when it comes to relationships. Can you deny that?"
"Yes, I can! Obvious is a very subjective concept. What's obvious for someone isn't always obvious for others."
"OK, OK, you fail to see what most others would consider obvious. Is that better?"
"If you're trying to burn me, remember my burns can be more literal."
"Threatening to use physical violence means you've lost the argument. Besides, if it comes to that, I believe my Hydro Pump is already strong enough to bring you down in one hit."
"You'd have to actually hit me if you wanted to test that. There's no chance you can do it. I'm a lot faster than you."
"And the first thing you'd do is use Double Team, but I could still bring you down. You know I don't mind long battles. You may be faster than me, but I have more stamina."
"Guys, please stop it!" I interrupted them. "I don't think Sol here is interested in listening to a verbal Pokemon battle."
"Actually, it was pretty interesting," Sol remarked. "It was like the time I saw two men play a card game without cards."
"See? We could start a new trend!" Hero suggested. "Hypothetical battles! Could be fun. Except that after having a hypothetical battle I'd probably feel like having a real one."
"I'd rather play board games, or even computer games," I said.
"Why?" asked Hero. "I thought you of all Pokemon would like it! It has all the strategy of battling, but no one gets hurt."
"Right, but you can't know what would actually happen. There are a lot of variables you can't account for when you're just imagining a battle. How can you tell who would actually win?"
"Good point," said Hero. "I suppose we could include that into the game. Anything that's left ambiguous can be determined by the players within their turn. That way the first one to notice something the other hasn't thought of can seize the opportunity and use it to his advantage."
"I imagine that would lead to everyone making more and more assumptions to counter their opponent's," I said.
"Wow, Amber, do you see what you're doing?!" Tsunami got my attention.
"What am I doing?" I asked.
"You're picturing a hypothetical hypothetical battle! That's two levels of abstraction!"
"Hey, that sounds like something I would say!" Caledor trotted over our way. "You guys are having fun without me? Shame on you!"
"I thought you were too busy snuggling Kiara," said Hero. "And we were serious at first. The fun part came spontaneously."
"Oh, I love it when that happens!" Caledor beamed.

I noticed that Solitude was slowly stepping back.

"Are you OK?" I asked her.
"Yes..." she replied. "It's just that this corner is getting a bit too crowded. And I'm still worried about tomorrow. Maybe we can talk again when this is over? I'm sure it will be nice... to be able to just relax... if we do get the chance."
"Oh, we will!" Caledor assured. "Magic Espeon's word."
"In which way are you magic?" Sol asked him.
"Do not question the magic Espeon, lest a course fall upon you!"
"A course?" asked Sol.
"It's better than a curse," Caledor grinned.
"Don't mind him, making ridiculous threats is one of his hobbies," Tsunami told her. "That and being as silly as possible. The more worried we all are, the sillier he gets."
"I'm the group's fuse," Caledor claimed. "I save them from blowing up."
"I seriously doubt we were ever at risk of blowing up," said Tsunami "but I must admit it would feel odd to spend a day without hearing your silly remarks."
"I provide a valuable service," Caledor stated, still grinning.

Before the usefulness of Caledor's service could be discussed any further, Gabi came to pick us up.

"It looks like I've missed something interesting," she commented. "I'm sorry, we have to go now. We need to get ready for tomorrow. There's too much to do and too little time."
"Sounds like the story of your life," Tsunami told her.
"Sad, but true," Gabi agreed. "But we need to get this over with. We can't let the Black Dragon destroy the barrier. Whether or not he can actually wield the magic trapped inside doesn't really matter, just letting it out would be a disaster."
"Relax, we're already on the right track," Caledor said. "And I'm not just saying it because I'm me. It took us a long time, yes, but it's taken him just as long and he still hasn't got what he wanted! He won't manage to break the barrier by tomorrow. We'll trap him before he can do anything nasty."
"I seriously hope so," Gabi sighed.
"See? That's your problem. You're too serious! You should hope so in a less serious way."

Gabi chuckled, and Caledor grinned again.

"My work here is done," he said. "We can go now. And to those who aren't coming with us, see you tomorrow!"

[Skye]

I'd like to buy another battle for my level 24 (25?) Ponyta from the Universal Adoption Center, please. xD Working on that story, now. @.@ Getting closer. *pays 7 STamps*

[lvl100mewtwo]

Hey Gabi, great work on the introduction, let me be the one to give you 7 stamps for that, well done and cant wait to see where things go from there! Also, I guess the joke could be made... Battle-ception or Battle Inception, lol.

As for you Skye, Ponyta will be battling a Gastly!

[Lady Vulpix]

Thanks, Alex! I'm glad you liked it, and I hope you don't mind Amber's reaction.

I'm looking forward to reading your battle too. Just make sure you don't take unnecessary risks, and call for help if you need it. We're working together. We'll all be there to help each other.

Oh, and if you would like to roleplay some part, please let me know. Same goes for anyone who would like to include some interaction with any of my characters.

[lvl100mewtwo]

Haha, no, of course not, it was a perfect reaction, made sense. Hopefully one day I'll be able to bring back everyone, haha. And no worries, not taking any unnecesary risks, hopefully I can get the intro done to my story today so that I can focus on the battle and then build from that. I'll see about Role Playing, that might be able to give me the boost to get the intro to my intro going.

[lvl100mewtwo]

Been a while, sorry about the double post, but no one else posted after my last one.... Let's hope I still have it....

Demons

I stood in the middle of the room. Mixtures of trainers from all ages were all around, just waiting for someone to give them a clear order. Gabi, as per always, walked in at the proper time from the back room and everyone stopped their talking and turned their attention to her. She made her address simple and to the point. The threat was real and it was mounting. None of us could take this assignment lightly. I looked down to Rex and Macedon, both seemed ready and eager to help out in this cause, which made me reassured.

We hadn’t been assigned a location yet, so I waited for the meeting to be over with. This way I could talk with Gabi alone and figure out what could be done on my part.

Once all had been said and done, Gabi, slowly made her way over to me. I noticed that Amber seemed a bit uneasy and wandered to another group instead of following her trainer. I could only imagine that she was still feeling a bit awkward around me without Volvagia by my side. If only he could have been here.

Gabi and I discussed for a good amount of time, figuring tactical locations where we could position troops. She had become such a strong tactician over the years; I figured that listening to her would only improve our chances of taking this beast down once and for all. We came to the conclusion that it would be best if I was part of the scouting group, getting a good idea of what we would be up against and reporting back to the rest of the troops.

The only vital information that I had to remember was the smoke signals. They would be able to help everyone figure out which paths to take so to get less resistance from possessed Pokémon and also ask for help from other trainers.

Once the discussions concluded, I turned to my team and decided that we needed a head start. We should probably set up camp just outside the zone of the base of the mountain. This way I could be one of the earlier scouting parties and be a guiding beacon for the othes. We walked out of the meeting hall and I started to pack up our essentials. The goal was to get there before dusk.

It wasn’t a particularly eventful trek. We found the perfect clearing where we could easily set up shop to help out those in the morning. Our tent was pitched and we started to set up the rest of our camp.

“Mace, you wanna start up a fire for me please?” I said, giving him a look. I pointed to the firewood I had placed neatly in teepee form. He gingerly walked up to the branches, touched a few and fire caught on immediately. “Thanks bud, I’ll get dinner going for us in a few and we’ll be eating in the next hour or so.”

Macedon and Rex just found themselves a nice quiet spot on the side of a tree and started to rest up. You could hear the sounds of the wildlife come to life as the sun started to make its way down on the horizon. A light cool breeze rustled through the foliage. The forest seemed to be in a stand-still, it was quite relaxing.

You could hear Pidgey’s chirping in the distance. This instantaneously made Rex’s ears perk up. He stood up in a flash, searching around for where the Pokemon’s cries were coming from. You could hear a low growl come from the bellows of his stomach. With one last chirp, Rex bolted towards a tree and raced upwards into it, jumping from branch to branch, trying to find the flying type. A flock of the birds dissipated out of the tree, flying southward. In an attempt to follow them, the young Lucario raced from tree to tree, attempting to catch up.

“Mace, this doesn’t look good! We gotta follow him!” I left the fire that I had just started unattended while my fire type and I raced after the pup. Rex had already gotten a good lead on us, so it was difficult to catch up. “Macedon, use Mach Punch, maybe the speed boost may help out a bit?” In a flash, the fire type took the lead and went on ahead, trying to see if we could find our friend.

We could still hear Rex in the distance, but the noises were getting fewer and softer. This didn’t bode well for finding him. In no time, the noises subsided. All that was left was the sounds of the breeze going through the tree branches once more. Macedon had made its way clear ahead of me, yet his red-ish hue could be seen from afar.

“Mace!” I screamed “Let’s leave him be, he’ll be back, he’ll get hungry and find his way to the camp again.” As I turned around, walking back towards camp. “That Pokemon won’t last longer than an hour without food. He’ll be rushing back in no time.”

Thus, I made my way back, Macedon gingerly following me on my side. Rex’s stomach wouldn’t keep it too far for very long…

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Rex

“Pidgey Pidgey Pidgey Pidgey Pidgey Pidgey Pidgey!!!” That bird wasn’t getting away from me. I was going to prove to myself that I could catch these flying things and bring one back to Alex. Humans love fainted birds, I know they do!

The brown bird was starting to gain height on me. If I didn’t do anything soon, it would fly away from me and I would lose out on my chance. Using the branch I was jumping onto as a springboard, I launched myself as high as possible, arms stretched out wide, tongue out. The Pidgey spun around quickly and noticed me coming his way. He started to flap its wings rapidly, creating a gust of wind. All forward momentum I had going for me seemed to be gone and next thing I knew, I was heading back towards the ground, at an even faster pace.

I slammed through leaves, tree branches and other foliages. I slammed into the ground at high speeds.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

I woke up to a massive headache. I looked groggily around to see that the sun was almost set. Darkness was slowly creeping throughout the forest.

I could feel a small tug at my feet. I looked and saw a little brown fox Pokémon pulling at my foot, as if he was attempting to wake me up. Then another joined in, and another, and a few more. I was counting 5 or 6 at this point, but it could have also been that I was seeing double at the same time. 3 figures popped out from behind the bushes, having some similarities with the smaller brown pups, yet not of the same color.

“What are you doing here?” The blue one spoke in a commanding voice
“We don’t like outsiders who come into our territory” The red one affirmed.
“You need to leave. Now!” The yellow one barked, electricity sparking off its back.
“Look, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to come here, it was an accident.” I tried to explain myself “I was just chasing Pidgeys and next thing I knew, I woke up here, with these little guys tugging at my legs”
“Kids, back off from him! Stop gnawing on his legs please!” The red fox said, in a soft tone to the young pups.
“Aaaaw” A collective groan could be heard from all the pups.
“Thanks! That was starting to tickle a bit.” I said, giving a look at the 3 parents.

The blue fox approached me. Its fur seemed to be slicked back, almost non-existent. Its tail was in an odd shape, something similar to some fish I had seen before. The blue ridge that ran along it’s back also made it seem somewhat odd to me. He seemed to be the leader of this little pack, with the yellow and red fox being it’s second and third in command, respectively.

“Look, we’ve been living here on our own for a while now and we would prefer not to be disturbed. Especially with all the odd occurrences that have been happening here lately.” He kept pointing with its paw towards the forest, probably hinting for me to go in that direction.
“Again, I really didn’t mean to disturb you all. I was with my human…” I turned around to see that Alex wasn’t anywhere in view. “…Well I was with my human, don’t know where he is now”
“Oh…” The blue one said with concern “Did your human leave you in the woods alone?”
“No! No! Nothing like that! Alex wouldn’t do that, he likes me too much and feeds me well enough! He would never leave me here alone and not return…” This was starting to scare me a bit. “I was just chasing that Pidgey and… well… I guess he’s looking for me right now? I don’t see why he wouldn’t be.”
“That’s what we all thought as well when our trainers left us out here.” The red one said, her face looking down. “We were little Eevees back then, naïve, hoping that they would come back.”
“And they never came back…” The yellow one chipped in. “So we’ve been making our home around here ever since.”
“That’s terrible! I don’t see how any humans could ever do that to anyone…” My stomach started to turn on itself… maybe I was hungry, maybe I was worried…
“Well we moved on. We made our own life here, started our own little group. A few of these little guys joined in with us and 2 are my sons.” The blue fox pointed to 2 of the brown ones, as they stood there proudly. “We take great pride in our little group.”
“Well you guys seem like a great group together! But now I’m starting to think that I should probably head back though. Maybe I can find my way back to my camp…”
“I don’t think that that’s a great idea right now.” The yellow one advised “The night is falling on us as we speak. We tend to stick around each other when that happens. I guess we can let you stick with us tonight…”
“That’s really kind of you, but I can’t… I’m hungry and I really should head back to the camp.”
“No! No! Stay with us, you can help in the festivities of the night!” The fiery red one chirped up “It’s Danny’s evolution celebration. He’ll be choosing tonight how he would like to evolve!”
“Well that would be interesting to see. I guess I could stay for a bit and help out!” This would be interesting. I hadn’t been around an evolution since my own.
“Great! Jolteon, go get the berries, we will feast before the festivities.”

The yellow fox ran off into the bushes and came back with several berries that it laid out on a few leaves that had been left on the ground. The small foxes gathered around, each salivating at the berries laying before them.

“Now that I think about it… we haven’t done introductions yet have we?” The blue fox started off. “Well to make it easy, I’m Vaporeon. You already know Jolteon here, the quick tempered one.“ As he pointed to the yellow spiked fox. “And then there is Flareon over there, she is pretty much the mother of the group.”
“The little ones are Danny, Johnny, Jimmy, Kimmy, Kailey and Aiden” Flareon named them all off, as they all stood in attention, in front of the berries. “It’s the only way we can tell them apart right now”
“Well it’s a pleasure to meet you all at this point; I am Rex as my master has come to call me.” I said “Now don’t let me stop you from starting your festivities.”
“All right then, let us dig in!” Vaporeon exclaimed, as everyone jumped into the food.

The dinner portion came and went, as the feast on berries seemed to fill everyone to the point they needed. The small Eevees were now sitting down, yet the young Danny seemed to be very impatient, as he paced back and forth at this point.

“Danny, do you want to tell us your choice that you have made?” Vaporeon asked away.
“Ummmm… Well after thinking hard, REALLY hard… I think I want to be just like you pop!” The young one chirped up. A giant smile came across Vaporeon’s face. A small cheer came from the rest of the group, as they started to congratulate the little ones decision.
“I’m happy with your choice son. You have made me a very happy father!” Vaporeon approached his little one, giving him a nice little headbutt. “Rex, would you like to accompany me? I have to go get little Danny’s evolution present. I would prefer not to go alone and I think Jolteon and Flareon can handle the rest of these little runts by themselves. Haha.”
“Sure, it would be my pleasure Vaporeon!” I couldn’t pass up on this opportunity to help out these new friends of mine.

As Jolteon and Flareon managed to keep the young ones busy, Vaporeon and I made our way deep into the forest.

“We have to keep these far away from the kids, so that they don’t go looking for them.”
“Yeah, I can understand that. I can imagine that some of those little ones might want to evolve a little prematurely.” I replied.
“Pretty much! That’s why they are hidden deep in the forest, far away from it all.”

After a few minutes of walking in the bushes, we arrived to a little open area with branches and bushes that weren’t organized organically.

“They’re hidden in there, give me a minute so I can find them” Vaporeon said, as he walked towards the arrangement of shrubs.

Vaporeon moved the branches to reveal a few blue, red and yellow stones, well hidden underneath. As they were revealed, something seemed off to me. I took a quick look at the stones and I could feel an odd energy coming off them.

“Vaporeon, I got a bad feeling about this. Something just doesn’t seem right to me.” I had to let him know what I felt.
“Don’t be crazy Rex! No one knows about these stones, I don’t see what you are all up in knots for…”

Vaporeon slowly reached down and grabbed one of the blue stones. A black aura surrounded him almost instantaneously. The blue fox suddenly let out a scream in a lower tone, not that of his normal voice. He fell to the ground and I rushed over to help him out. As I got near, I could sense the black aura on the rest of the stones as well as on Vaporeon now. I looked down to see that he was still breathing, though very lightly now.

“You okay?” I said, as I started to poke him. No response.

The energy started to grow bigger and bigger around him. I could see some movement from him: A twitch here, a twitch there. Then his paw started to move, followed by a second. Finally he stood up, slowly, shaking his head. I decided to take a few steps back.

“Bud, you’re scaring me, what the hell happened?”

Vaporeon slowly turned to look at me, a slight grin on his face. He wouldn’t answer me at this point.

“Vaporeon?” I slowly approached him once more.
“I’m sorry, he’s not here right now, can I take a message?” This wasn’t Vaporeon’s voice. This was a much deeper voice. “So it seems that there are plenty more subjects that could use some enlightenment. Maybe I should go pay them a visit.”

Vaporeon’s eyes were a deep shade of black, like looking into the emptiness of the night sky. He started to walk towards the general direction of the camp. I started to follow suit, not knowing what was going on at this point.

It then dawned on me! What Alex talked about before we left, when he has talking to that lady in the large building. This must have been the work of the evil dragon that they were all talking about, or aliens, it can always be aliens. I then also remembered that if it was this evil dragon, that it would do anything to get more Pokemon for his cause. This made me realize why Vaporeon was now headed back to the camp: To bring back everyone so that they could all be possessed by this dark energy.

“Vaporeon, I think you’re mistaken, there is no one back that way.” I blurted out.
“Ah, but I see that you are lying young one and seeing you are fibbing must also imply that you know what is going on.” As he finished his sentence, Vaporeon burst out into an all-out sprint, his next destination: The base camp with the rest of his group.

I couldn’t let him get to the camp. If he converted any of the little pup, it would spell major trouble for everyone. I ran as fast as I could. I could see that he was a bit ahead of me and I seemed to be catching up, yet we were nearing the group.

He stopped as he reached a clearing. My heart skipped a beat as I knew exactly what that meant. I sped up and closed in on him. I could see Flareon and Jolteon with the Eevees in the distance.

“Excellent, you are all here…”
“Yay! You’re back! Now where is the…” The young Eevee’s question was interrupted as I rushed in, clenched fist meeting Vaporeon’s ribs.

The water type was sent hurling into the bushes. A loud “smack” could be heard, as Vaporeon’s body met tree bark. The tree shook as residing Hoothoots flew away in fear. All I could think of at this point was going after those Hoothoots. I had to stay focused; the task at hand was to stop Vaporeon from harming or converting any of the Eevees or other animals here.

“Rex!! What are you doing?!” One of the little Eevees shouted.
“Vaporeon isn’t himself right now, you have to back off!” I screamed at them all.
“You’re crazy! We don’t even know you and you are attacking Vaporeon! What is wrong with you? We gave you our food, we helped you out!” Flareon was now screaming at me. The Eevees were backing off near Jolteon and Flareon. Both of them were primed to attack, sparks flying off of Jolteon’s back and flames building up in Flareon’s mouth.

“Leave this to me, both of you!” A voice came from the bushes.

Vaporeon emerged, his coat of fur glistening in the moonlight, seemingly wet at this point. Small watery rings seemed to be surrounding the areas of most damage. Slowly, the wounds and scratches from the tree bark impact were diminishing on his body.

I had to react fast. I couldn’t let him heal himself up. I sprung into action, racing towards him, mouth wide opened. He was not expecting me to come at him so quickly, as I caught him off guard and pinned him to the ground. My teeth sank into his front shoulder, closing on it with excessive force. I looked at Vaporeon to see his expression remained unchanged.

“Is that really all you have to offer Rex? Quite pitiful. You won’t be able to save these young ones after all.” Vaporeon said, with little to no expression on his face.

I released my grasp on his shoulder and backed off. He limped up onto his legs and looked at me with a look of disgust. He opened his mouth and revealed a small white orb forming in it. Light’s started to flicker of every which color. The air became cooler around the battle field. A white beam of light was shot out, sent directly at myself. I jumped to the side, nearly avoiding the attack. I noticed that a trail of ice formed wherever the beam hit. With the ice attack still coming out of Vaporeon’s mouth, he started to direct it towards me, making the beam follow me as I tried to escape its trajectory. Unbeknownst to myself, I was leading the attack right towards the group.

Vaporeon’s focus switched from me to the group, as he changed the course of his attack, now going directly towards them. I had to make a quick decision, as I made a mid-run stop and turn. The beam neared the Eevees and none of them were the wiser to realize that it was coming straight for them. As it was about to hit the first one, I dove to protect them. I got clipped, freezing a portion or my upper arm and shoulder, damaging myself in the process.

I stood up after the attack, shook off the ice build-up from the attack and growled at Vaporeon.

“This battle is between us, don’t bring them into this you coward!”

A small snicker came from the possessed Pokémon. I steadied my stance into the ground, crouched and launched myself into the trees. I jumped from branch to branch, tree to tree, in an attempt to confuse my opponent on my whereabouts. With his head looking in one direction and making sure that I made as little noise as possible, I launched myself at him, knee bent. I connected with my knee to the back of his head. He was reeling and rolling deep into the forest.

In the blink of an eye, Vaporeon re-appeared in front of me and then disappeared. I felt a swift kick into the back of my leg, as I was forced to take a knee. He was appearing and disappearing faster than I could find him. I got back up onto my feet and ran off to try and catch him. He seemed to be using a Quick Attack at this point, thus, I countered with my own. We exchanged a few blows, yet it seemed that mine were proving less effective than his. Every time I would hit him, his wounds would slowly start to heal up.

Without hesitating, Vaporeon grabbed a bunch of dirt and launched it in my direction, catching me in my eyes.

“Son of a Houndoom!” I yelped out.

My vision became blurry. I could hear the footsteps of Vaporeon as he tried to scurry around, trying to confuse me. I stopped for a moment rubbing my eyes and started to concentrate on the negative energy that the demon inside him was giving off. I could start to sense his aura. As soon as I got a fix on his location, it was too late as I was met with a lively tackle to my ribs. I stumbled onto the ground and braced myself for another impact. I could still sense his presence around me. His aura was unmistakeable. I could feel him get ready for another attack at this point.

I heard his paws dig into the ground and launch himself once more at myself. I channelled my energy into my right hand. I sensed him getting closer and closer. I heard the jump from the ground as I stuck out my left arm, grabbing Vaporeon by the neck. I could hear him grasping for air. I put my right hand on his chest, released the energy and unleashed the full force of a Force Palm. He was knocked back several feet, rolling in the dirt and grass.

“This can’t be! I shouldn’t be having any issues with you!” He yelled out. You could sense that my attacks were finally getting to him. His breathing was getting heavier. His healing rings weren’t as effective as before.
“Rex! Stop this now! We aren’t your enemy!” said one of the little Eevee pups.

I rubbed the last of the sand and dirt from my eyes only to notice a giant grin on Vaporeon’s face. He turned his attention to the Eevees and their protectors. Vaporeon summoned up his next attack. He knew I couldn’t let them get hurt. Vaporeon launched his full out attack. A giant stream of water left his mouth, directed right at Flareon. In a blink of an eye, I reacted. To protect them from the attack, I jumped in front of the water, enduring the hit, protecting the now cringing fire type. I was sent hurling into a tree trunk as the water kept coming, applying more and more pressure on my body. There was only so much of this attack that I could take.

The attack subsided and I dropped from the tree trunk. My reserves on energy were at their critical lows. Vaporeon took this moment of weakness to prepare another onslaught. A dark purple orb started to form in his mouth, growing rapidly in size. Without any hesitation, he launched it in my direction. The attack skimmed the forest floor, dust flew behind it as it flew by me. I had little time to react, as I forced myself up from the ground and jumped out of the way, the attack missing me by merely centimeters. The orb connected into a tree a few meters behind and exploded, sending hundreds of pieces of bark in every which direction.

The dust from the explosion settled and I could see that Vaporeon was looking onwards to me. He disappeared one again, in the blink of an eye. I braced myself for the inevitable blow as I locked both my legs into the ground and crossed my arms in front of my body. He suddenly appeared in front of me, attempting to hit me with a quick tackle.I blocked the attack and he took a step back, preparing his next attack. He then released a quick stream of water as I blocked the attack as well. I couldn’t endure much more of this. I had to act quickly. I had to finish this now.

In his hubris, Vaporeon had neglected to realize that he had put himself into a rather close quarter with me. I moved slightly to the right, evading the onslaught of the jet of water and with my left hand, grabbed his muzzle, shutting it close. I pressed my right hand to his chest once more, summoned whatever energy I had left in me and unloaded with all my might.

Vaporeon was sent hurling into the air and I followed him. I jumped with what I had left and came crashing down on the mid-air floating water type with my knee. We both went hurling down into the forest floor, his body cushioning my decent. A crater formed by the impact.

I rolled off of him and crawled out of the hole we had just formed. I could see Flareon and Jolteon looking in astonishment. Their looks suddenly shifted to hostile as they started to growl at me. Sparks were flying off of Jolteon’s back, crackling all over the forest like mini lightning bolts. A few hit close to my feet.

“You need to leave, NOW!” He said as he released some of his pent up energy into the sky.
“Jolteon, you don’t get it, he’s possessed! I can’t believe you are so blind to see that he was attacking you all as well as me!”
“You are just crazy. You attacked him first! Now he’s out cold!” Flareon started to make her way down in the crater to look after Vaporeon.
“I… I swear… He started this… I…” I was at lost for words, I didn’t know what to say at this point that could appease everyone.
“Look at these injuries… Danny, Aiden, bring a few Sitrus Berries, now!” Flareon barked at the little ones “Leave now before you hurt anyone else!” She said. She launched a Flamethrower in my general direction.
“I’m so sorry…” I backed away from the situation, more confused and frightened by the situation.

This wasn’t my problem anymore. If they wanted to live with that psychopath who was possessed, I would let them. I ran as fast as I could through the forest, going in whichever direction. All that I could think about were those poor little Eevees that would be easily influenced by Vaporeon once he would awaken. The thoughts were clouding my mind. I couldn’t think straight. I couldn’t run straight. I would miss hitting a tree because all I could think of was the horrible fate that would come to those little pups.

I gave one quick glance up ahead and all I could see was tree bark…

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“Rex, you okay bud?”

The voice sounded familiar to me. I slowly opened my eyes and noticed that Alex was standing on top of me, while Macedon was Pokémon at the various injuries that I had across my body.

“Will you quit doing that?!? It hurts enough already as it is without you poking me with your burning hands!”
“Just making sure you’re alive. Seems like you disappeared, where did you go?”

It then dawned on me… I had to go back…

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Rex battled a Vaporeon (lvl 25) and won!

Rex grew to level 19 and learned Me First

[Fushigidane001]

Hey guys, this is the first time I'm posting and I hope I'm doing this right.

Starting from Scratch

I could hear the sounds of a strange hum and a quiet beeping. My eyes began to flicker and struggled to open to a room filled with unfamiliar people and bright lights. “Where… where am I?” The face of a nurse started to come in focus “You’re ok.” she said in a gentle voice. “You’ve been here for a few days now. A couple of trainers found you out in Calador Forest and you’re lucky they found you when they did.” I stared blankly at her for a minute while she began to fill out the charts that lay at the foot of my bed.

Slowly my eyes started to wander around the room. White walls, white linens on the beds, white curtains on the windows, and the strong smell of sanitizer, there was no doubt about it that I was in a hospital. The quiet beeping started to grow louder and faster as I tried to sit up. Every ounce of my body was stiff and ached most likely from lying in this bed for the past few days.

I looked down at myself and could see the name of the hospital upside down on the gown I was wearing, though my eyes weren’t strong enough yet to focus and make out what it said. Then something caught my eye. I looked up from the lettering and saw a small brown furry ball curled near my feet at the end of the bed. Curiously, I began to wiggle my toes to see what it was and the ball began to move.

A thick, full, tan tipped tail unfurled itself and two long pointed ears popped up. I moved my feet yet again to confirm what I thought the creature was. It began to stand and stretched itself out from the nap it was taking before turning and starting to walk towards me. Its eyes seemed to light up when they met with mine almost as if it was saying ‘I’m glad you’re awake ‘. The little creature hopped into my lap before taking a seat and letting out a quiet chirp.

The nurse looked up from her paperwork “Well it looks like someone is happy to finally to get to meet you.” She smiled as she turned back to penning out notes. “Is it mine?” I inquired. She looked up once again from her work confused “Why would you say that?” a long pause seemed to hang in the air until she asked “I forgot to say this, but…what’s your name?”

What was my name…such a simple question and yet I had no answer for her. I just laid there in the bed hoping that I didn’t hear her correctly or that it would pop into my mind and I would be able to tell her. The few minutes that passed seemed to drag on as the worry in my mind set in. “You don’t know your name do you? Do you remember anything? Where you came from? Or maybe any friends and family that we could contact?” I could feel my chest starting to tighten up as I realized I couldn’t answer a single question. What was my name? Did I have a family and where were they? The tears started to well up in my eyes and a look of panic washed over my face.
“Nothing huh? We were worried that this might happen…” She placed down the clipboard and walked around to the side of the bed. “Let’s do a simple test to see how bad your memory loss is. What kind of pokemon is he?” she asked while pointing to the creature that was now curled up by my arm. I looked down, the brown and tan fur, large eyes, and long ears gave it away instantly “He’s an Eevee.” I replied. She smiled “See, you’re not as bad as you thought. I guess I should introduce myself as well. My name is Bridgette and this is our resident Eevee who seems to have taken quite the liking to you.”

“Nice to meet you” I mumbled. Honestly, I didn’t care what her name was right now, I cared more about what mine was and why I didn’t know it. “Why can’t I remember anything? How come you don’t know it? Hasn’t anyone come to see if I’m ok?” I forced myself to sit up not caring how much it hurt. The little Eevee sat up and hopped up onto my lap he could see me struggling and bit down onto my shirt. I could feel a gentle tug of encouragement as I struggled. “Thanks for your help Eevee.” My attention quickly turned back to Bridgette “You can tell me what’s wrong with me right?”

“I might be able to shed some light on your condition.” I heard a deep voice and turned to see a doctor walk into the room. He was a taller older man with silver hair and a pale complexion. He seemed weathered and tough on the outside but his green eyes gave away how gentle and kind he was. “My name is Dr. Pyne, I’m one of the heads of the neurology department at this hospital. I was hoping that you’d be awake and we could talk.” He walked over to the side of my bed and pulled out the chair. “You don’t mind if we chat for a while do you?” I shook my head no as he took a seat. “So you were out wandering in Calador Forest and don’t remember anything huh? Well don’t worry; you’re not the first person that has found their way into the hospital with the same problem.” He laughed. “My guess is that you startled Uxie pretty badly out there and it looked at you.”

Uxie…that name was familiar to me. I closed my eyes for a moment to try and recall what I had learned about that pokemon. “Known as ‘The Being of Knowledge.’ It is said that it can wipe out the memory of those who see its eyes” I said aloud. He nodded in agreement “And most likely that’s exactly what happened to you. Your case isn’t something that is common since it’s not often that people even see Uxie in that forest but it looks like you just happened to and it saw you as well. Because of that it seems that you got a fairly strong case of amnesia. You should consider yourself lucky, your memory loss could have been much worse. Like in one case…”

I cut him off before he could continue. “So, when you say loss do you mean lost as in permanently or temporarily?” He adjusted his glasses “Well that really depends. Some people who have had amnesia caused by Uxie will get their memories back but normally it’s after they find something that will trigger it. For example one man couldn’t remember anything for over a week until he saw a red balloon and remembered that his son’s birthday was later that month. Then over the course of the next few days he regained almost all of his memories.” He smiled to reassure me but I just couldn’t hold back the urge ask. “What about the others? Not everyone has gotten their memories back have they?”

His smile faded and a much more serious look came onto his face. “Well yes, some people’s memories have never returned to them. 7 years is the longest case on record and she still doesn’t remember a thing. They still have great lives though, 2 of them even live here in this city. They have families and have made their own great new memories. Even if your memories don’t come back it doesn’t mean it’s the end of the world.”

I know that he was trying his best to lift my spirits but I just felt so lost. A cold nose nudged at my hand as if to comfort me. I placed my hand on the Eevee’s head and gently pat it as I tried to collect my thoughts. “So then these things that can trigger memories what are they exactly?” I asked. “We’re not entirely sure. Sometimes it can be an item, or a place, or even a person and then it just happens. As I said cases like yours aren’t very common and we’re still trying to learn more about them. I know this isn’t easy to hear but you need to just try and have patience, hopefully something will trigger it.” He stood up from his seat and started to head towards the door. “I would love to stay and chat with you more but I have another patient to see in a few minutes. If you have any questions for me just write them down for me or ask Bridgette and she’ll pass it along to me. You get some rest and feel better.” I tried my best to smile at him as he left “Ok, I will. Thanks.” I called out.

This wasn’t really helping me feel better but maybe there was something I came here with that could cause me to remember something. I looked to the nurse “Did I have a backpack or anything when I came here?” I was desperate to find something with my name on it, or what city I was from anything at this point that would be helpful.

“We do have your belongings here, though there’s not much you had on you.” she walked over with a box and placed it on my table. “Your clothes are in there and there are these as well.” A long white envelope was placed in my hands. It was fairly light but there seemed to be something with a bit of weight in the bottom. “I have some things that I need to take care of. I’ll be back in a bit but if you need anything feel free to ring the nurse.” “Yeah, I will thanks.” I replied as I opened the envelope, tipping it slightly. A vial with a thick grey liquid rolled out and into my hand. On it was white label with ‘#3720’ handwritten in black ink. I focused on it for a minute hoping that it would have sparked something in my mind since it seemed so unique…but nothing happened.


I was a little let down but I still tried to remain positive as I reached inside the envelope and pulled out two pieces of paper. One was a card with a crest on the front of it; the other was a folded piece of lined paper. ‘Maybe this is a note I wrote myself’ I thought as I began to unfold the paper. I opened it and started to read the message scribbled out in blue ink…
‘Hey, I left early because I had a couple things to take care of. I’m sorry that I can’t make it to the lecture tonight but you should still go because I know you’ll really enjoy it. Anyway, enjoy your trip and I’ll see you at the Dragon Games.
-A
PS: Don’t forget to send in your registration card!’

Who wrote this? Was it my sister or maybe my brother? That would be of course assuming that I did have a family. A classmate? A neighbour? Whoever it was I was supposed to meet them at the Dragon Games. I knew about the games but couldn’t seem to remember when they took place or where they were this year. Maybe the card was the registration card and it held some clue to who I was. I grabbed the card and hoped that something helpful would be in it. My name, a phone number, anything would be helpful right now. I flipped it open and began to read.

‘Dear Trainer,
Please fill and complete the following information. Deadline for completion is….’

I skipped over the rules to see if I had filled anything out. Trainer name, city, name(s) and number of pokemon, phone number…not a single thing was filled in. It was complete blank with the exception of a few doodles on the side of the page. I really wished that I had listened to whoever this ‘A’ was and filled out my registration card.
I let out a long sigh. “I am I ever going to figure out who I am Eevee?” I said to the creature now sound asleep on my lap. I put all the items back into the envelope and laid it on top of the box.
A flock of Starlies flew by the window to my left and I curiously looked outside. Everything was blanketed with a layer of clean white snow. Looking out of the window, I saw others going on their daily lives, oblivious to the fact that a girl was watching them, wishing she could remember something – anything, to make her feel normal again. The purring of the Eevee on my lap brought me back to reality – the sun had set, and tears were on my cheeks. “How long was I doing that?” I quietly whisper to Eevee, snuggling with his warm body. “Why can’t I just remember?”

“Hey, I just came by to see how you were doing before my shift ended.” I snapped out of my comatose state to see Bridgette walking into the room. “Feeling any better than earlier?” “Not really, I still can’t seem to remember anything.” “Don’t worry, it takes time for things to heal and get better. Right now it might not seem like it will but trust me it always does.” She scooped up the still sleeping Eevee off my lap and held it in her arms. “If you don’t believe me, just ask this guy right here. He’s not had an easy life but look how happy he is today.” Eevee yawned and then continued on with his nap.

“Is that so? And how would he know that it will get better, it’s not like he lost his memories.” “No, but he lost his trainer.” She could see I became interested in her story and continued. “He was brought in by a young man who had just lost badly in a battle. You could tell he was really angry about losing because the whole time he kept saying about how Eevee didn’t try hard enough. We took Eevee in to assess the situation and asked him to take a seat in the waiting room. He said he was going out to get some fresh air and we never saw him again. We didn’t know what to do with Eevee after he recovered. We waited to see if his trainer would return but that never happened. So we tried adopting him out but he didn’t seem to like anyone. It took months for him to let any of the staff even get close to him let alone touch him. I’ve only been able to get close to him like this in the past few weeks. But now he’s happy and starting to move on, he knows how much everyone here cares about him and he’s trying to start a new life.” His long ears started to twitch, he must have known we were talking about him because he woke from his nap and hopped back onto the bed.

“So you guys take in the lost and forgotten like me and him huh?” “We try our best to help those in need. And if you’re going to be staying here can you at least think of a name you’d like to go by? I’d like to be able to call you something other than ‘patient # 763’.” She teased. “Alright, I guess you can call me…” I was no good at thinking things up on the spot let alone what to call myself. I looked around the room for some inspiration when I noticed the bouquet of flowers sitting in the corner. There were many different kinds but one in particular stood out for me. The tall white flower with a yellow center, the Calla lily was a favourite flower of mine. “…I guess you can call me Cali.”

“Well it’s nice to meet you Cali. Now, I’m going to head down to Dr. Pyne and see if we can’t get you discharged tonight. Hopefully he’ll let you and we can get you set up in one of the spare rooms at the hospital staff residence. It’s a lot more comfortable than sleeping in the hospital, no ‘beeps or boops’ to keep you up at night. I’ll be back in a bit to let you know what he says.” Her warm smile put me at ease.

“Hey Bridgette….thanks for taking me in.” She smiled back at me.
“And what are you called…?” I looked down at the little Eevee on my lap. “Does he have a name?” I asked Bridgette. “No, he’s never been named – he’s never responded to another person before.” “Well we can’t have that – we should both have names now.” The little Eevee purred in my lap. “How about...Renard?” Eevee gave me a brief headshake, signalling no. “Alrighty then, not that one. How about Kit?” Another headshake. “Okay…how about Fenix then, my little friend?” The nods and purrs I got in response confirmed my choice. “Fenix it is then! It’s settled, now we are both named” I cradled him, and he snuggled deeper into my arms. I knew we would be the best of friends.




A month had passed since I woke up in that bed. I had slowly starting making friends with many of the nurses and doctors on the campus but from time to time I could still hear whispers of ‘Oh, that’s the Uxie girl.’ I really didn’t want to be reminded of my situation or gossiped about but I guess that is bound to happen considering what had happened to me.
Living on the campus wasn’t too bad, I had a small room, with space to sit by myself but I was also close enough to hustle and bustle of the hospital to never feel completely alone . I worked alongside the new nurses in the pokemon care unit helping bandaging up simple wounds and cleaning scrapes. They were easy tasks but it helped keep my mind off everything that had happened to me. I was trying to convince myself that things would get better soon even if I didn’t remember anything.

“Alright, ready to get some fresh air buddy?” He looked up at me and nodded. This was his favourite part of the day as well as mine. I laced up my shoes and started to walk down the long corridor with Fenix eagerly walking by my side. “Hey Cali!” Bridgette called out to me from her dorm room “Remember tonight we’re all getting together for dinner at my place. 7pm don’t be late!” “Alright I won’t!” I shouted back.

This was the third time today she had told me but I wasn’t sure why she was making a big deal out of it Thursday was always the usual board games and dinner night. ‘Maybe she got her new game in the mail today?’ I thought to myself as I reached the glass door. I lifted the latch and slid the door open. Fenix bolted out ahead of me “Hey you, wait up!” I shouted to him but he was already off running down the trail towards the swings.

The gravel path crunched below my feet as I made my way out to the swing set in the courtyard. During the day it was overrun with the children from the hospital but at dusk it was deserted. This was where I went to collect my thoughts every day and watch the sun set. I grasped hold of the cold metal chain and sat down on the sea. I looked down at Fenix who was patiently waiting for me. “Ready?” He eagerly hopped on my lap and I placed him in the hood of my jacket. “All set? Here we go!” I pushed my feet off the ground and began to swing higher and higher. The breeze started to play through my hair, and my normal routine began to make me feel some semblance of “normal”.

I took a deep breath of the cool air. You could feel that spring had arrived but winter was trying it’s best to linger on for a little longer. The snow was gone, the grass was starting to turn green again, and small buds were appearing on the trees.

This routine I had settled into to calm myself wasn’t satisfying anymore. I couldn’t fight the feeling that I was late for something – missing out on something important that my old self would be doing. I realized I needed to get out of here, that I need to find out what it is I was doing, and I need to get back to the way I once was. I leaned back on the swings to see the stars peeking out of the now-dusky sky. “Are these the same stars I saw in the sky before, and who was I when I saw them.” I wish I knew.

I glanced at my watch ‘7:38pm. Great, she’s not going to let me off the hook for being this late.’ I thought to myself. “Hey, hold on tight back there! It might be a bit of a rough landing.” I felt him brace himself as I leapt off the swing and started running back to the dorms.
I tried to catch my breath as the door slid open. “What part of don’t be late did you not get?” a cold glare was shot my way. “Sorry, I lost track of time! It’s not like I purposely tried to be late.” “Yeah, yeah yeah…” her voice trailed off as she started walking back to her room. I took Fenix out of my hood and hurried to catch up to her as she disappeared into the room.

“Well look who it is? We figured you wouldn’t be joining us tonight.” “Ha, aren’t you guys funny. You know I wouldn’t pass up the chance to beat you at a game.” I snidely replied and took a seat at the table. “Which one should I beat you guys at first?” A large backpack was placed on the table in front of me “Well before we start tonight, we wanted to give you this first. It’s not much but it’s a little something from all of us.” I turned to Bridgette with a puzzled look on my face and started to un-zip the pack. Peering inside I saw an assortment of things: A notebook, sleeping bag, a dish set, some maps, and so much more. “What’s this all about? Do I have to leave?” “Oh no, no, no it’s nothing like that.” She laughed “You can stay here as long as you want. But we all know that as much as you like living here you want to find where you’re from. We thought we’d help you out a bit and get you started on your journey.”

I couldn’t find any words to express my gratitude as my eyes filled with tears. These are the best people I had met so far, that I knew of anyways, and yet I knew I had to leave them. They had seen me through my first stages of memory loss, and yet were good enough to me to know when I needed to move on.

However tonight is a night to have fun, not cry over a brief departure from my new friends. This was a night to celebrate my newfound friendships, laugh, and enjoy the little bit of happiness I had been granted through the loss of my memories. “Let the games begin!” I jokingly announced.

***

At the crack of dawn I snuck out to the swingset with Fenix. “Goodbye little buddy, I’m going to miss you…” “What do you think you’re doing?” Bridgette’s voice rang out over the yard. “I thought you would be leaving early like this, avoiding a goodbye I see?” “I just…” I stammered – it was too early in the morning for thinking. “Oh I know Cali, you just need to go, But remember, Fenix has bonded with you. He needs you as much as you need him. You cannot leave him behind. Now take him with you, and get moving.” I looked down at Fenix’s little face and realized, there was no way I would have been able to leave him. Whether to keep him safe, or to avoid being tied down, these were silly reasons – this little creature and I belonged together, and the determined look on his face said as much as well. There was no way he was going to let me leave him – we were in this together from now on.
I gave Bridgette a brief hug, put Eevee back in my hood, and turned towards the road. Today was the first step on my journey. Though it would be safe and comfortable to stay, I knew I needed to move on – it was time.

[Skye]

Alright. It just occurred to me I really can't even write a battle for Eclipse til her battle tower thing is done. So. Could I get 3 more battles?

I'd like one for Shadow (Meowth, level 12), queue up another for Eclipse (Ponyta, level 24), and one for Darker (Houndour, level 6) each from the Universal Adoption Center if you would. *pays 21 Stamps*

[Lady Vulpix]

Sorry for the delay, Alex. First I was in Salta and then TPM was down. But it's working now! And I can give you 16 stamps for your battle, plus 4 for the wait, totalling 20 stamps! ¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢

Rex wasn't acting very smart at first, but he did a smart thing in the end. And I/Gabi wasn't exactly laying out orders during the meeting, we were all coming to an agreement on what to do. I wonder what will happen to that Eevee family now. I also wonder where they got all those evolution stones they've been keeping. And how come they can't tell their own children apart? Or was that a joke? The description of the possession scene was interesting.

Fushigidane001, welcome to the Battle Range! Your story will be rated as soon as possible (I've only just seen it because TPM was down until minutes ago). Would you like your stories to be included in the archive? If so, I will need a name under which to file them (it can be your first name or a nickname).

Skye, your Pokemon will battle a level 12 Gliscor, a level 24 Sableye and a level 6 Mawile. Please remember you'll have to wait 3 weeks before requesting another RBG.

Edit: Fushigidane001, I have read your story now. Great start! Including Uxie was a bit of a stretch, since legendary Pokemon don't normally show up in Caledor - or Ulthuan as a whole for that matter -, but as long as you don't make a habit out of including them in your stories, we can assume that one of them paid a short visit, caused some chaos and then left. After all one of us did encounter Mewtwo once, back in 2000.

I think your story would have been easier to read if you had used a few more commas, and inserted line breaks to separate different characters' lines. Other than that, it was very well written. I especially liked the way Cali discussed possible names with Fenix, and the character development in general. Take 9 stamps! ¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢

[lvl100mewtwo]

Hey, no worries about the wait, I understand, how was the mini trip? Haha, well there is still some growing up for Rex to do, A LOT actually, lol. My bad on that, I thought you were taking a more authoritative role at the meeting, guess I misinterpreted that, my bad. Plenty of your questions will be answered in the second part of the story, which I am currently working on. May take a bit, trying to find inspiration, lol, but the story board is pretty much done.

[Lady Vulpix]

The trip was lovely, thanks! You can see my photos on Facebook if you're interested.

I'm looking forward to your next story post.

[Wolfsong]

I'd like to get a random battle for Ziva my level 5 Female Mienfoo from the Jungle Deforestation Recovery Agency please. *pays 7 stamps.

[classy_cat18]

Ziva will battle a Ledyba.

[classy_cat18]

Sorry to double post but...

Lily’s POV

While walking into the Jungle Room, I couldn’t help but wonder why this place wasn’t on the top floor. They could even make the ceiling out of glass so they could let sunshine through! The Pokemon that hang out in there would like it better that way.

When I told Athena my idea, she nodded in agreement but added, “This place should be open during nighttime too, right? That would make the room darker. At least with this artificial light, the Jungle Room would stay bright.”

“Plus a glass ceiling sounds a little terrifying,” Beacon added. “No glass is completely unbreakable. Great, now I can’t stop thinking of giant glass shards falling on us!”

Rose shivered and slowed down for a moment. Is she imagining a glass ceiling breaking?

The Fighting types were having their own discussion. I hopped closer to them to find out what they were talking about. “Why do you suddenly not want to be on the team anymore?” Moriko demanded.

Athena turned her gaze away from the Heracross. “I don’t want to leave the team. I just don’t want to fight. Shonta already said that I can just get ‘dropped from the roster’ and continue living at the house. We’d still technically be a trio.”

“But you won’t be able to get stronger with us!” Moriko told her. She grabbed Ali’s arm. “Help me out, Ali!”

“Why are you spazzing?” Ali asked with a weirded-out look. “I’m upset too, but it’s obvious that she’s lost her spark! She won’t be able to battle if her heart’s not in it!”

Both Athena and I flinched. It sounded harsh but Ali had a point. Still, she could’ve found a better way to put it. “Come on, we’re supposed to be here for fun training. Let’s not ruin it, okay?” I said to them.

The trio slowly nodded and went back to walking. Athena split from the group and scrambled up a nearby tree, escaping my sight. Despite still feeling worried about her, I didn’t say anything about it. Besides, I got worried about something else. “Has anyone seen Nama?” I asked my teammates.

The other two Fighting types shrugged. Beacon looked back in the direction of the door. Rose shook her head. “Don’t worry, Lily!” Moriko told me cheerfully. “Nama is a grown Slakoth; she can take care of herself!”

I’d still want to know if she gets challenged while roaming around. The trees were so thick in some places I couldn’t even see the ceiling. There was no way I’d be able to track them while I was on the ground.

We all jumped at the sound of a sharp shriek, and turned around to see Rose covering her mouth. “Sorry,” she whispered. “Something was rustling in those bushes over there.”

“Rose, this is a training room,” Ali explained. “We’re not the only ones in here.”

“Umm…” a voice squeaked from the bushes. A Turtwig slowly walked out and bowed his big head. “I apologize for scaring her. I was going to ask her for a battle.”

Rose looked back at us, her eyes slightly watery. “You don’t have to if you don’t want to,” I told her.

But she turned back to the Turtwig and nodded. “Good! Everyone should give us some space, because I’m not one for using the open spaces here!” the Turtwig said to us.

“Crap! It’s going to be hard to watch the battle with this much…green!” Ali complained.

Moriko gasped and pouted. “You’re right! Man, even if I flew overhead I wouldn’t be able to see anything!”

Rose took a deep breath. “I’m ready.”

The Turtwig grinned. “Me too! Oh, I forgot! My name’s Twig!”

L9 Female Roserade (Rose) vs. L8 Turtwig (Twig)

Rose’s POV

My first battle alone. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to do this alone but I had to, sooner or later. Lily said that I had a lot of potential. She’s a good judge of these kinds of things.

“Aah!” I squeaked as I ducked to avoid Twig’s Razor Leaf at the last second. Because of the difference in our heights and the tall underbrush, I couldn’t see him but he could probably see me! I could see why he didn’t want to fight in the open.

Mental note: keep focused! I turned around and fired a Magical Leaf while still running, knowing that I couldn’t miss even if I couldn’t see Twig. I heard a small grunt. I doubt that really hurt him but it’ll still slow him down. But where is he? Magical Leaf won’t do much damage so I can’t keep relying on that.

“Aah!”

I was so busy trying to track him that I didn’t notice that he had run ahead of me! I tried to stop but my foot snagged on something, making me trip and crash into him at high speed. We both tumbled until we hit more greenery, a bush to be more exact.

I opened my eyes, wincing when some dust got in my eye. No, it’s pollen. I raised an arm to dust it off only to find it refusing to move. “Paralysis?”

Twig wobbled from side to side, covered in the same stuff. But the speed of his movements weren’t slowed in the least. “That kinda hurt,” he groaned.

I tried to stand before he could fully recover but my limbs were still too stubborn, and he noticed me while I was only half-up. “You’re being too slow!” he shouted before knocking me back down with a Tackle.

How did I become paralyzed? There was no way Twig could do that while we were tumbling into that plant…that plant! I had trouble moving right after I fell into that mysterious plant! I wobbled around and faced Twig, who was still moving freely. But he breathed in that pollen too!

“I shouldn’t concentrate on that and just get rid of it,” I told myself.

“I’m not sure I should be waiting for you to get back up every time I knock you down,” Twig told me.

You’re not, but it’s good that you are. I waved an arm in the air and released a unique scent. “Aromatherapy.”

“Crap, I shouldn’t have let you do that!” He swung his head and let a flurry of razor-sharp leaves fly. I tried to run fast enough to dodge the attack but still felt a little pain. My limbs quickly regained the freedom to move.

It’s hard to be in a battle where we’re resistant to each other’s attacks, but I’m prepared for that! I pointed an arm at Twig and fired. “Pin Missle.”

Twig yelped and turned to run, hundreds of needles hitting his hindquarters. He still kept running, however, and I ran after him. He zigzagged so I couldn’t hit him as easily. “I need to slow him down,” I muttered to myself.

What would my teammates do? Moriko would probably knock a tree in his path…no, I probably shouldn’t do that. Maybe a little draining would do it. I focused on his energy, on drawing it to me to be exact. The Mega Drain took a while to do any damage, but he slowed down enough for me to pass him.

“Weather Ball,” I said as I turned around and shot him with a white ball of energy. One was all it took to knock him out.

Rose grows to Level 10 and gets Venoshock as her free TM!

“Twig?” I poked the fallen Turtwig with an arm. He groaned and shivered but didn’t wake up. “I guess you’ll be down for a while.”

“Rose!” I heard Moriko shout from above. The Heracross landed in front of me. “Oh good, you won! That’s one battle down!”

Something had been bugging me ever since the Fighting types started arguing in the Jungle Room. In fact, it had been bugging me for months. When Ali came into view, I forced myself to tell them. “Hey…” I spoke up. “This may be just me but…”

“What?” the two Pokemon said together.

“Well…this may sound weird but…it feels like the two of you have…”

“Have what?” Moriko demanded.

I jumped at her tone. “Switched personalities!” I squeaked.

They were quiet for a long time before breaking out in laughter. “You think we’re acting like each other? Come on, we’ve always been like this!” Moriko said.

“But…but you have!” They kept laughing until Nama jumped down from the trees above us. “Nama, haven’t you noticed?”

Nama yawned loudly. “Noticed what?”

“That they’ve been acting like each other!”

She blinked slowly, looked from one to the other. “Actually, yeah. Kinda.”

“What?” Moriko and Ali said together.

“I’ve noticed it since the Pokemon Spotlight when they were interviewing Moriko,” I told Nama. “By the way, how did your battle go? You found one, right?”

She frowned. “Butterfree gave me a dose of Sleep Powder and left while I was sleeping. I think I’ve had enough of this place.”

“That sucks!” Moriko exclaimed.

“We need to come up with a strategy,” Ali muttered.

“See? Shouldn’t it be Ali saying that it sucks?” I said.

“You think Jewel and Circe have noticed this too?” Nama asked me.

We met up with the others and joined with the rest of the team at the Pokemon Center. I talked with Jewel about my thoughts about Ali and Moriko. <I wouldn’t say they have switched personalities,> the Starmie answered. <But the two seem to have switched certain traits. Moriko has picked up Ali’s rudeness.>

“Yeah, and Ali’s a lot more mellow in general,” Circe added.

“What? Ali still calls me fat!” Trinity whined.

“Yeah, but Moriko has started agreeing out loud,” Beacon commented.

<With the amount of time the three spend together, it’s possible that they have simply rubbed off on each other.>

Moriko came walking up, having been sitting with Lily and quietly listening to us. “No, I’ve just changed a little. I guess not for the better. Sorry about worrying you guys.”

“We’ve all had those days,” Circe said coolly. “We’ve all been down because of this Black Dragon business.”

“No time for that! Our trainer is counting on our support!” Moriko said with a grin. “Let’s focus on getting first place in the Dragon Games first!”

Trinity snorted. “So now you’re all sunny? Just like that?”

“I’ve snapped out of it!” She patted her head with a laugh. “Hey, where’s Katana?”

The fox Pokemon stiffened like a petrified tree. She muttered something through tightly-clenched teeth too low for me to hear. “She’s talking to someone?” Beacon guessed.

Shonta walked in the Center a while later, sipping from a paper cup. “I guess the training’s over. Let’s head to the site of the next round.”

Edit: I didn't want to triple post, so I hope this edit gets noticed. Can I get a 2vs2 battle for my L13 Slakoth (Nama) and my L11 Ralts (Circe) from the Universal Adoption Center? *pays 14 Stamps*