¤Game¤ Dragon Tamers Battle Range version 21 (M.A. Pidgeot)

[Lady Vulpix]

Pokemon don't get moves through breeding that they can learn by level. I'll have to talk to Kris and ask her how they got those moves. Anyway, congratulations on their evolutions!

[andyizcool]

Pokemon don't get moves through breeding that they can learn by level.

Gabi it's possible in the Pokemon games to gain a Level up through breeding. If the Male and Female Pokemon have a move that the Baby Pokemon learns by Level up, the Baby Pokemon will gain it through breeding. Like Shroomish doesn't learn Spore until Level 54 but if a Male and Female Shroomish/Breloom with Spore breed, the hatched Shroomish will have Spore. Just thought I would point that out to you if you didn't know that already.

[Lady Vulpix]

I don't know how it works in RS. In GSC it doesn't work that way, nor does it here.

Aside from this, I'd like to see the source of your information, since you've posted some really weird things about how RS works so far.

[andyizcool]

Aside from this, I'd like to see the source of your information, since you've posted some really weird things about how RS works so far.

I just hatched a Level 5 Torchic on my Pokemon Sapphire with Scratch, Growl, Ember. How does it have Ember at Level 5 when it learns it at Level 11? Well, I bred a Female Blaziken (Ember) with a Male Houndoom (Ember) and the Level up move was passed on because both parents had it. My source of information is my brain and my game in more cases when I answer questions. If you didn't know I've played my Pokemon Sapphire for 240 Hours and that didn't come from just going from start to finish. What weird things are you thinking about anyway in Pokemon RS? A lot of things have changed since Pokemon GSC went to Pokemon RS and most of them have been for the better.

[Lady Vulpix]

I was referring to the replies at the Synchronize topic.

Eli and Akaisha were both born knowing Tackle, Tail Whip, Helping Hand and Double Team. I've just confirmed it by checking the PMBC (pages 17 and 18, by the middle of April). Kris has never had either of them battle at the Battle Range, and she's not online, so I don't know how they learnt Sand-Attack, but everything seems to hint that they never did.

[Syberia]

Oh well, they're both level 8 now, so it really doesn't matter anymore does it?

And Gabi, if both parents know a move that the offspring's lowest form can learn, it does get the move. I don't know about R/S, but at least in GSC it does work that way. Breeding that way is pretty much how I managed to defeat the Level 5 tournament in Stadium 2 back in the day.

EDIT:

Taken from the Pokemon Breeding FAQ at GameFAQS.

2. Next, if both of the parents know a move the baby will learn naturally by leveling up, the baby will have that attack. This can be done with multiple attacks.

[Lord of Ravens, King of Rain]

I don't know how it works in RS. In GSC it doesn't work that way, nor does it here.

Aside from this, I'd like to see the source of your information, since you've posted some really weird things about how RS works so far.

Milady, in Crystal I had a Fushigidane with Solar beam from both its parents. And in Ruby I just got a Habuneeku with Crunch. It has to be a move they learn by level up, both parents must have it, and its still a bit rare...but it does happen.

[Lady Vulpix]

It does matter, Kyle, because they only reached level 8 by using a move they shouldn't have known.

Maybe the info I had from the games was inaccurate (thanks for the details, everyone), but here on TPM pokemon get the moves they would know up to their level plus one bred-on move. In Eli's and Akaisha's case, their bred-on move was Double-Team. It's not supposed to work the way it does in the games, just like it differs from the games when pokemon have movesets that include 20 or more moves.

[Lord of Ravens, King of Rain]

Lv7 Yukiwarashi (Female) –named: Tri
Trait: Inner Focus ~ cannot be confused
Moves: Leer, Double Team, Powder Snow, Mimic.

---

The girl sighed, pushing back a long strand of silver-blue hair that had blown in front of her dazzling green eyes. She stared into the depth of the jungle in front of her, so dark and dank. The only sound made was the soft hiss of the deep wind, and the occasional drip of water from a leaf to the far below forest floor.

“Master always told me, that the final challenge would take place some place fantastic. But here?” Her voice is swallowed into the jungle foliage, a whisper so fluent and musical that it seems like a spell itself. Tugging on the sleeve of her black tunic, she takes a step forward, her senses open for the slightest living organism.

Beside her, stumbling and hopping along, was a Yukiwarashi. A small Mon kept in perma-frost, it was a creature borne from the gods of ice. This particular one however was the young witch’s familiar. . It’s soft blue eyes glittered as it tried to keep up with its mistress, leaving behind a small trail of chilled water as the warm summer light slid across it. It gave a soft grunt as it tripped over a root, falling on its top and digging a bit into the ground.

Unable to help herself, the girl smiled, her pale features glowing warmly with love and kindness for her familiar. Reaching down she picked it up, shivering a bit, as it’s icy body touched against her. The only problem with having a female ice Mon for a familiar was that they where always so cold. Running a hand down its side gently, she cooed to it, her voice still retaining that soft musical undertone.

“Hey girl, let me carry you for a little while, I don’t think I’ll need to cast any spells around here, so we should be safe.” The girl kept her voice calm, but her eyes darted around. She was on her way to the temple of Paths, the meeting place for all sorts of Majikal creatures. If she passed the tests today, she would be a full-blown witch. If she failed, she would lose her best friend and familiar, and be sent back to her family in disgrace, with her memories erased and her skills drained from her.

Shivering at the thought, she began to walk a little faster, the sense of uneasiness never completely leaving her. At sixteen, she had a lot to learn about majik, but she did know that the jungle around the temple was home too many strange creatures, both natural and metaphysical.

They wandered along, in relative silence, the young witch just listening to the sound of the wild, letting the jungle’s aura of raw power soak into her, filling her with a bit of courage, and a bit more fear. She could hear something moving in the far distance, and her brain was instinctively aware that somewhere close by, a Scizor was cutting down wood. She also could touch against the brain and felt the cold feel of a reptile, slithering though the grass somewhere near.

The day wore on, light fading into a soft green haze as the jungle became denser and denser, the plants seeming to wrap around and push against her. Her hair, kept in its long elegant braid, was soon tangled by branches that seemed to grab and pick at her, trying to rip her hair off of her skull.

“Goddess preserve us Tri, if the temple isn’t around here somewhere, we should just go back and run off. This is way to much trouble.” Her voice was getting rougher as fear and weariness edged into her voice. Her brain was running out of energy, and she was worried that maybe she had no reason to be here.

She wandered a little bit further, when suddenly Tri gave off a yell turning colder in her hands then she could possibly stand. The young witch was forced to drop her friend as it began to shimmer and glow blue, the wind around it blowing with pieces of snow as it stared into the jungle ahead.

The leaves of the plants began to wither. Even the slightest powder snow was too much for these tropical plants, and so they withered and melted, leaving before her a path leading to an impressive looking temple. It was then, that the girl noticed that she had been wandering in circles. There was no massive jungle, just this garden before her. She had all this time been inside a garden just outside the gates to the temple.

She cursed, kicking the dirt in front of her. Somewhere far off she heard the soft chuckle of her master. She had been bewitched into thinking a whole jungle existed. So vexed she was, that she didn’t pay any attention to the massive structure looming in front of her.

The building was huge. Stone buttresses held strange gargoyles on them, Doorways where everywhere and the whole building seemed to twist and turn, occupying more then the average three dimensions. At the very front by the main entrance, a large statue made out of several different colored materials stood.

It was a young man, or at least, the face facing you was. To the left it was a child of such youth and innocence. To the right it was a man, hardened and cool. Behind though she could not see it, stood the face of an ancient elder, his face weary of the world, facing away from it.

Finally, the girl looked up, staring at it she blinked…and uttered a phrase which was totally appropriate seeing the circumstances.

“Oh Pathfinder, preserve Me.” she had never seen anything like this before, and was sure she would never see anything like this again. It was awe-inspiring, the whole temple seemed to glow with unearthly light, and even an acolyte like her could feel the overwhelming aura of majik that it exuded.

However, her awe was slowly forgotten as she remembered how she found the place. Looking down she saw her Familiar, glowing blue still, blasting snow out in cold breaths as it stared a little ways further into the garden, the snow falling gently around a peculiar looking plant, with a strange blue fruit next to it.

“What’s wrong?” She asked, blinking as her Mon hopped forward, making low growling noise. She sighed, reaching forward to pick her up when she suddenly saw why Tri had been doing such.

The “fruit” had dropped off the tree, and was staring at them. Its long spindly legs outstretched a holding up its bulbous body. It stared and blinked at them then blew a bubble out of its mouth shyly. The girl giggled as she watched the creature, scuttling side to side to avoid the cold chills of Powder Snow.

“It’s just an Ametama silly girl. Nothing that can really harm us…the poor thing is probably more scared of you then you are of it.” She gave another soft giggle, and began to walk forward; completely oblivious to the fact that the small bug creature was now following her.

Its legs scuttled though the grass, eyes never leaving her as it crab-walked along side her. It was waiting, hoping for the time when the blasted familiar would stop looking at it and trying to freeze it, and allow it to attack. It saw its chance coming up soon.

The Witch stepped onto the walkway, seeing the statue she bowed to it, her voice changing into a tone of great respect, a voice filled with power and prayer. It echoed softly though there was no place for it to echo, and it seemed to fill the whole world as she spoke.

“Hail Pathfinder, god of fate, the eternal. He who rules death, grants birth and is life. Protect me and grant me entrance into your most holy of temples. I, acolyte Mia, student of Master Liam of the art of shadow beg of thee thy grace. So I chant, so mote it be.”

As she finished, the air calmed, she smiled, standing up…and was granted with a swack across the back of her knees. Toppling to the ground she gasped out in surprise, her long hair cascading like a silver and blue rain, spreading like water across the pathway and curling around the statue. Her green eyes flashed with anger and pain as she stared, seeing the bug from earlier scuttling quickly towards her again, preparing another attack.

“Stop!” Mia yelled out, extending her hand…bright blue light crackled from her finger tips, and the Ametama did so, staring at her as the blue light fluxed and shaped, swirling between the two of them like a wall of pure will. She stood up, dusting off her silver tunic as she stared at the creature, which now seemed to glow with mana.

“A guardian…should have known. Maybe I’m not cut out to be a witch.” She looked down to where her familiar was giving her a cold I-told-you-so look at her. Its cold blue eyes didn’t even blink as she sighed. Turning to face the creature, she noticed her spell was already wearing off. Thinking quickly she turned to Tri.

“Looks like its either run or you’ll have to fight it. Which one?” She looked worriedly at her Mon, who simply kept staring then gave a slight shake of its triangular head.

“Yu..Yuuki…Wara Wara Yu!” Its voice was the cold hardness of pure courage. It looked at her one more time, and then stood right next to the flickering barrier of majik. Bug looked at Ice-cube, and the power began to grow. A crackling aura seemed to flow and echo from both of them, and Mia could only sigh in wonder.

“Battle it is I guess….We better get this over with fast.” She winced at the thought of fighting. She really hated it, and she had come here hoping that there would be no challenges that would involve physical harm. But what must be done must…she guessed.

Tri the Yukiwarashi (F. LV7 with Inner Focus) vs. Ke the Ametama (M. LV7 w/ Rain Disc)
Tri: Leer, Double Team, Powder Snow, Mimic
Ke: Bubble, Quick Attack, Psy Beam


The two Mon stared at each other, the blue energy that had shielded them from each other fading quickly and softly as the Witch Acolyte let it go. Tri, her icy body slightly melted from all the heat, began to leer at the small Bug Guardian, who simply clicked in return, taunting it to do more.

Mia bit her lip. She remembered what her master had told her, that there where four rooms within the temple that where filled with guardians and spells. He never had mentioned a gate guardian on the outside, or a massive illusion spell. She wondered lightly why she hadn’t expected this in the first place…For what kind of god would just leave his temple unguarded for anyone to just wander into.

Her reverie was broken however, by the scuttling of feet. She watched the Ametama come rushing forward, almost faster then she could see. Throwing caution into the wind she yelled out to Tri.

“Tri! Dodge it! Double Team and gain yourself some time!” She watched as her partner couldn’t move fast enough. The bug leapt forward, smashing into Tri Hard, spinning around the snow hat Mon. But it worked out to its advantage. For as it spun it created copies…perfect clones that spun off from it, circling around Ke like crazed tornadoes.

For a second Mia breathed, her skin breaking out into a pale sheen of sweat. She bit her lip and stared at Ke. The small bug seemed no stronger then her Yukiwarashi, but it had speed on its side. It was scuttling back and forth, watching the still slowly twirling yellow cones, waiting for one to show that it was the real deal.

Apparently though, waiting was not its strong suit. It spun, making a sound like a hiss of steam, and closed its glittering black eyes to the world around it. Instantly, there was a bright flashing light, starting out wide and quickly pinpointing, becoming a laser of psychic energy…Starting out white and quickly becoming tinted with purple, until the laser was the dark shade of violet that came just before the sun went down.

The beam of mental energy struck one of the Yukiwarashi, evaporating with an audible pop, it turned out to be no more then a harmless clone. Angered, the Ametama spun, it’s eyes still closed as it shot the same beam at another one of the several remaining cones, dissipating this one in the same manner as the first.

“I think our gracious opponent needs to cool down. You know what to do Tri.” Mia smirked, her eyes now glittering with amusement. She felt the power of the battle float though her, a heady invisible drug that caused her mind to race and her heart to pound. She had lost her braid somewhere, so her hair was a wild layer of smooth silkiness across her back wrapping and weaving its way down her body to the back of her legs.

Her hair moved, as did her silver tunic made of the smoothest cotton. A cold wind had picked up, not harsh and unsettling, but the soft cast of a winter holiday. Small plants rustled and shivered from the chill as bits of snow flung out, appearing to come from the Mon directly behind Ke.

Ke tried to turn and dodge the attack, but was too slow. The soft snow pushed against him, causing his legs to shiver and his body to feel weak. He didn’t like the snow, and especially didn’t like majik snow. Looking he saw that the attack had proven fruitful though. It had shown him which one was the real enemy.

With a chortle of bubbly pride, Ke let loose his stream of bubbles, free floating things that seemed to float all over the place, swirling pieces of water filled with chilling liquid. They began to float towards the Ice Mon and his chilling wind, but most never made it. Chilled by the cold wind, they floated towards the ground, popping harmlessly on the stone pathway, or they floated back towards Ke, hitting him lightly and causing his body to shiver as more and more cold splashed on him.

Mia knew the battle wasn’t over yet, but she felt confident. She had at least stopped it from doing anything to aggressive, as long as it didn’t try to Psybeam her right now. She didn’t think that Tri could handle such a blast, but time was running out…She needed to end this battle before the Ametama could strike again, and she knew that Tri couldn’t power snow forever.

The young witchling muttered underneath her breath, her eyes-only half on the battlefield, trying to think of something she could do to help. No spell would work on the guardian, and to do so would get her memories erased anyway.

Suddenly, she had an idea, grinning to herself she looked up, letting her young melodic voice carry above the soft popping and rustling of the battle. Trying to augment her voice so only Tri could hear her, or at least understand.

“Leer and taunt it into striking with Psybeam, then mimic the attack after you dodge it, s you can send it skittering” She smiled at the idea. If she planned it right, her pokemon would dodge while the other creature would be hit with its own attack, hopefully stunning it enough that she could get past it and into the temple.

Tri bobbed her body, Letting her eyes widen and glow bright blue, she stared at the still shivering Ke, who blinked at her and began to chitter in his own special way. Looking up and down at the Yukiwarashi, he decided that enough was enough. He began to scuttle forward, quick as could be, leaping into the air before there was any possible way for his opponent to dodge.

Mia cursed, she had been hoping for a Psybeam, now she didn’t know what to do. She winced in empathy as Tri took the blow well, but was obviously weakened as she staggered and blinked. Her icy shell slick with perspiration.

She would soon get her wish, for as soon as the scuttling bug turned around, it blinked…smirking to itself with great satisfaction at the way it was ruling this fight. Closing its eyes it prepared for the grand finale, the psychic power soon oozing into the field.

Sensing the beam coming Mia bit her lip and nodded barely to Tri. the signal to dodge was set, and both waited as the beam of intense psychic thought pulsed towards them. Tri moved slightly with as much speed as she could, just barely dodging the beam of energy. Her eyes studied it and her mind analyzed it. She saw exactly how you had to concentrate, where and when to create the beam of pure psychic energy.

Turning to face her opponent, She closed her eyes, letting the blue light within her cool and clam, mixing with the red of anger until a harsh bright lavender color appeared into her mind. The pastel like dot began to grow and sizzle…

Mia watched, at first it seemed nothing was going to happen. Ke was preparing another quick attack, stretching his legs as Tri just sat there with her eyes closed. Then suddenly the bright light appeared, and Mia felt the power grow and rise. All Witches share a empathic bond with their Familiars and now Mia felt that strong psychic bolt grow within her, sharp and focused as any laser.

The bolt of energy, much brighter and more glittery then Ke’s blasted from the forehead of Tri. It shimmered across the air, arching slightly as it flung itself straight at the defenseless Ametama. The attack hit it full on, the energy spiraling out into rainbow strands of power as they fled into Ke’s mind, giving him a massive headache.

Both Mia and Tri watched Ke staggered back, dizzied by the force of the attack. Its legs gave out from under it, and it could barely pull itself back up. Apparently the guardian had not been prepared for a mental attack, and its defense’s had been low.

But it was not out yet, for even as it staggered it shaped its mouth into a perfect circle, small pieces of spittle creating floating bubbles that floated towards Tri and her master. This time, Tri was not quick enough with the powder snow. Even as the cold wind picked up, the bubbles bashed into her, causing her not to much damage, but definitely to close her eyes, unable to get closer to him.


Ke, seeing it’s chance, kept up the bubbles, free-floating things that now hit Mia also, causing her to yelp from the sharp stinging sensation as each one popped against her. The witch closed her eyes, and began to concentrate. She wasn’t good at empathic sight, but even now she could make out the image of Ametama.

“Cold wind to your right Tri!” She cried out, pointing blindly at where her mind told her the bubbles where coming. She felt another cold wet circle snap sharply on her fingertip, causing the skin to split, and bit her lip to stop from crying.

She felt, rather then saw of course the cold wind pick up one last time…The shivering icy cold seeming deep and dark now, even stronger then before. Her hair wrapped around her, closing her off from the bubbles, and she opened her eyes softly, watching with wonder.

The powder snow was still just snow. No blizzard or shards of ice joined it. But it was snow that frosted bubbles, and caused the pathway to become as wet and slick as possible. The heat caused most of the snow to melt upon touching something, but that simply meant that chilled water lay in huge puddles everywhere. Soaked into the ground, dripping down rare and sensitive plants, and chilling the Ametama to the bone.

Wanting to finish this battle quickly, Tri closed her eyes…And concentrated. She still had the imagery of that Psybeam ingrained in her memory. It floated up to her, and she concentrated all her annoyance and pain into that solid beam of lavender glitter.

Ke saw it coming, but knew it was to late, still chilled he barely scuttled out of the way as the bright white light hit him, followed closely by the beam of psychic and rainbow energy. He shuddered, once…twice…a third. And fell to the ground.

Seeing this, Mia rushed forward, going to hold the small bug…hoping it was still alive. She smiled slightly when the creature squirmed in her hands, glowing faintly green, it looked up to her and she felt its presence enter her mind.

<Hello my friend…I am Ke…Guardian of the Garden Jungle> It’s voice was rich and deep, filled with all the life in the jungle. It roared and scuttled, pitched and echoed. Mia bowed her head, and knelt still holding the guardian.

<You have passed the first test…and for that, I grant you the key to the temple> With that, the creature smiled softly, and shimmered, teleporting from her hands, leaving behind a simple key of copper, with no strange designs. Just an ordinary key.

Mia looked up and around, staring and trying to find where the Bug had gone, but saw nothing…except the jungle illusion, slowly creating itself again, and a soft floating bubble above her head. She smiled, standing up and going over to Tri.

“Good job girl…here, let me heal you.” Pulling a potion out of her bag, she slowly fed it to her familiar, who cuddled up against her, blinking in weariness and joy. It had made its master happy, and they had proven themselves worthy of entrance to the temple.

-Battle Completed!
Ke the Ametama lost –gain 0 levels, Loses Key of the Temple
Tri the Yukiwarashi won! – gain 1 level = LV8
Mia the Witch Acolyte- gain Key of the Temple.




Okay, my first new battle, and I made it in third person...I think I will revert to first POV from nwo on, because I don't like how I have kinks in the writing that cause things to move to fast...oh well. *shrugs*

[Lady Vulpix]

I wish I didn't have to go immidiately, so I'd have more time to write my comments. Welcome back, Patrick! You've pulled off yet another storyline change, I hope you continue this one. It looks interesting. Though the punishment for failing the test sounds too awful! O_O You didn't quite follow the scenario, but you did battle the right pokemon and the story was very good, so it's valid. It's not as if it were the first time this has happened. The idea of Tri being Mia's familiar was quite original. I liked it. And the descriptions were great! Though it would have been a lot better (and easier to read) if you hadn't replaced all the appearances of the word 'than' for 'then'. Could you be more careful with that next time, please? Take 9 stamps! ¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢

[Charizard04621]

Could I please have an extension to the scenario? My computer won't allow me to post files longer than a couple of paragaphs. Until that's fixed...

Btw, I'm attempting to attach a long file. It's a bunch of gibberish, and if it works, Gabi, I'm pretty sure you can delete it if I can't.

[EDIT]: Darnit, it won't upload anything either.

[Lady Vulpix]

Ouch. Sorry to hear that. Of course you can have the extension, Karin. And I hope your problem gets fixed soon, whatever it is.

[Crystalmaster Mike]

~ Hanna’s POV ~

"Gah-, Ah-, ATCHOO!!! *sniff*" Bruce's nose was dripping, and his eyes were filling up with water. He had it bad.
"Uh Bruce, maybe you'd better get into your PokéBall…"
"No Mige, I'b bine!" He didn't look to be fine at all; here he was using his sharp for a handkerchief, and with the blizzard still whirling around us. "Juzd a liddle bid… Ah-Ah-ATCHOO!!"
"I can see that."
"*sniff* Gow'z dad Raldz?"
"Huh? The Ralts!" Where it had been lying just a moment ago, a pile of snow now was growing fast. "It might freeze to death if it stays under there!"
"Zervez id righd, *sniff*; whad a vreag!"
"I know, but even freaks deserve to live… sort of." Mike rushed over to the pile o' snow, got down on all fours, and brushed away the snow with his gloved hands, only to find… nothing underneath!
"Huh? Where did it…"
But then, we heard a familiar sound behind the howls of the winds; maniacal laughter, that slowly but surely died out, until nothing of the crazy Ralts was left with us, except for the memory of it we'd keep in our minds (plus the cold Bruce had caught).
"Az I zaid, *sniff*: whad a vreag!"
"Amen to that." Mike said as he stood up again, while brushing the snow off of the knees of his trousers. "Come on, let's move on."
We continued exploring the Blizzard Room; from time to time, we spotted a cabin in the distance, but Bruce refused to get inside one; he kept saying he wasn't going to be held of the adventure because of a simple cold.
"Bezidez, none of de odher Roomz are dhis cold, are dhey?"
"Well no, but…" Mike stopped. "Hold on, what's that?"

~ Nemo's POV ~

Aaaah… It had sure been a good idea of mine to enter the Jungle Room. No cold tiles beneath your feet, like in the Check-In Hall. Neither a small platform to balance on, like in the Pond Room. No subzero or past-the-boiling-point temperatures, like in the Blizzard and Lava Room, respectively. And also no raging Sandstorm, like in the Desert Room. Instead: solid ground, tropical temperature, lots 'n lots of shadow, and lots of green. Prrrrfect…
I was just getting up to stretch my legs, going for a leisurely walk around the clearing we were in, when the Egg began shaking… hard. Instantly, every bit of tiredness had vanished from my body. Instead, Anxious and Thrilled were battling to be my emotional status. Here it came… !!!

~ Skyler's POV ~

I had just found a good branch to sit on, from where I could watch Nemo and the Egg without needing to fear about getting caught, when the Egg, that had been vibrating slightly before, began shaking like wild. Instantly, my eye-vision shrunk till all I was seeing clearly was Nemo and the Egg. Here it came, my little brother- or sister-in-mutation!!!

~ Nora’s POV ~

I had just found a good bush to hide under, from where I could safely watch Nemo and the Eevee Egg, whilst being able to keep an eye on Skyler. I smiled unconsciously. That little winged bugger would be flying right into the mouth of an Exploud to see what was inside. He was clever, no doubt about that, but he wasn't that smart yet. Even though Tony thought him to be able to take care of himself very well, I shadowed Skyler, because he was fun to watch, in his exploring of the world. That, and it meant a (not that much needed) change from lying in the sun all day, doing nothing but sleeping, dreaming happy dreams, thinking happy thoughts…, and so , I disdainfully had to admit…, hiding from the truth. I shuddered.
Luckily for me, just then, the Egg began to hatch. I watched in awe, forgetting for a moment the still haunting shadows from the past.

~ Rays’ POV ~

We had just… No, actually, me and Arthus had been in the jungle for quite a while!
When we had just entered the Pond Room, Dylan and Gordon had started this silly discussion. Something 'bout how Gordon was really Dylan's horsey, and that Dylan was really a manipu-, a manila-…, a bossy character. Or something like that… Anyways, they were talking so loudly me and Arthus couldn't understand ourselves. So, we went to this jungley place. Here, there was a nice, not-too-deep stream, where we could play "Catch the Beach Ball" in all peace 'n quiet.
Bùt: we grew bored.
“I'm bored."
"*sigh* Me too, Arthus." To show it, I let my antennas hang low into the stream. "But there isn't nothing to do here…"
“And neither no-one to talk to!"
"Yeah… Hey, wait a minute!!" I jolted (literally, but I'd taken my antennas out of the water just before I did) and smiled. "There is!"
Arthus was still waiting a minute, when he saw that wasn't what I'd meant. "Oh? Who?"
"Nemo! And the new Eggy!" I said happily.
"Oh yeah! Shall we go find them?"
" 'f Course! Why not?"
"I dunno…" Arthus started looking for a reason why we shouldn't go find them, but couldn't find any. He shook his head. (Or his belly, I don't know; a Spheal too small to tell!) "Meh. So shall we go?"
"Sure!"
So we got out of the stream, and went into the jungle, while I held the Beach Ball in my paws. Because the Ball was as big as me, I couldn't see where I was going, so when Arthus said "We're there!", I almost let go of it. But I didn't, and put it behind a tree, while we were looking from under a bush to the scene in front.
The Eggy was already hatching! Well, I think it was. It was moving so much now, so much even that it would have started spinning around if Nemo hadn't tucked it in in-between some leaves and branches. (Oh, Nemo had made a nest! How cute!)
Just when we had settled in under our bush and had made ourselves ready for the show, the first teensy-weensy chip of Eggshell jumped off…

~ Mike’s POV ~

My attention had been caught by (again) abnormal flashes behind the white streaks of the blizzard, which was still going strong. This time, though, they came from behind a filthy white rock, which lay near a pond, of which the surface was frozen. And this time, we could hear someone yelling from where the flashes were coming from.
"What are you doing now?!! No, I thought we'd agreed not to do that anymore, bro! Come on!" A muffled, inaudible reply came, and the yelling turned to screaming. "No, No-No!! What are you- ?? No, please! No-GYAAH!!"
The moment this last scream was uttered, the flashes grew more intense. And as we got closer to the rock, they turned from white to a sick light grey. The screaming died out… And so, eventually, did the screaming.
We were now but a meter away from the rock, but no sounds came from behind. Again, nature seemed to pull a trick on us, as the storm in the immediate surroundings of the rock and the pond grew less intense, enabling us to hear ourselves walk through the snow… And to hear someone walk from behind the rock into our view.
First, a pink paw appeared, the end white. Then, a dopey looking head peaked at us; finally, the entire Slowpoke appeared.
But… something was amiss. It seemed to not be okay in a way: it was out of breath, underfed, and at a loss of words (though that was typical for its kind). Strangely, it was wearing a strange kind of circular collar, made of… coral? Lines that sprung on the edge of the collar continued until they touched its neck (the part in-between two lines was either colored red or yellow). But even as first I noticed the collar, it started falling apart, some parts of it being ripped off by the wind, while others fell off by themselves. As it caught us staring at the collar, the Slowpoke became scared, looking for an escape route. Seeing no other than the pond, it jumped into it, easily braking the ice on top. The hole it thus created was quickly frozen again. All this had happened without a sound.
I stepped into the direction of the pond, when I heard a weak cry, coming from behind the rock. Deciding that the Slowpoke wouldn't be able to get away that quickly, I signaled for Bruce to follow me, while I pulled Hanna's aquarium with me. An unfamiliar, green, spiral shell awaited me on the other side. Though it looked awfully familiar… Its tongue stuck out of its oval teethed mouth (which was located at the very bottom of its body, and it didn't look too good (the tongue as well as the creature). The tongue was a pale red, and its skin seemed to have a sick touch to it (it was light green with dark green spots). The look in its eyes confirmed my fears: it was dying! It spoke at us with a small voice.
"Slow-… poke… *cough* Find… the Slowpoke." This voice… To anyone not understanding the Pokémon language, it would've sound like: "Shell-der… Shell-Shellder." Ultimately bizarre… And then, it all clicked into place. A Slowpoke, wearing a red-yellow collar. This dying, strangely deformed Shellder. Its need for us to find the Slowpoke. Shellder only gets so dependant of a Slowpoke if they become united in evolution. And Slowpoke evolves into Slowbro, as well as Slowking… I carefully took the Shellder in my hands, picked it up and slowly turned it around. And my suspicions were confirmed: a blood-red jewel, in the middle of its back. Somehow, the evolution had been turned around, had changed…
I shook my head, unable to comprehend. "How…?"
"Find… it." After uttering these last words, the Shellder closed its eyes; it had fallen unconscious.
"What…?" Hanna started, frowning. I cut her short.
"We have to find that Slowpoke." I stood up again, careful not to let go of the rather heavy Pokémon, while covering it from the wind. Bruce offered to take it from me, but I didn't react. "Or else…"
"Let me in." Hanna said decidedly.
"Where?"
She nudged the side of her aquarium closest to the rock and the pond lying behind it.
"I'll go get that 'Poke for you."
I nodded. Time was a-wasting, so there was no time for words. I pushed the Shellder into Bruce's arms, startling him, and pulled the lid off the aquarium. Hanna jumped out, I grabbed her, and started running around the rock. When the Pond came into view again, I stretched my arms, and Hanna jumped out of my hands. As easily as the Slowpoke had, she jumped through the ice covering.

~ Hanna’s POV ~

Okay… This is cold. I won't say I can't cope with swimming in icy water, but this… It felt to be coming straight from under the South Pole (and I mean that literally, this water was cold!). Though it probably was that I was swimming very close to the cooling machine that was producing this polar water. However, that fact didn't do anything to lessen the cold.
Now that I've settled that the water I was swimming was anything but warm… It was remarkably clear and calm as well. Though a storm was raging above, the ice on the pond didn't let anything through except light. The light beams were less brighter where the ice was thicker, but that didn't stop the whole pond from being lit. To my left, I saw the solid blue (well, that's how it seemed under water) of the massive rock structure of the earth touching the water. The pond had the form of a bowl: gently, the curve stretched out underneath, remarkably featureless. On the bottom lay an uncountable amount of rocks, pebbles and other small stones. To my right, in the distance, I could see the other end of the pond.
But I couldn't see the Slowpoke anywhere. Remembering how urgently I needed to find it, I decided to swim closer to the left side of the pond. And what a surprise I got! What had seemed to be completely solid and featureless from afar, from up-close turned out to be full of tiny caves (some caved-in), in which a fat, pink Poke could've easily been hiding. Noticing the amount of caves I'd have to search, and knowing how slim the chance was I'd be able to pick the right one instantly, I approached the matter differently…
"HEY, YOU FAT DUMB PINK BLOB OF A POKÉMON-MON-on-on!!! GET YOUR PAWS A-MOVING AND COME HERE-ERE-ere-ere!!!"
… And wouldn't you know it? I immediately got a response.
"No… … … No." [color=#00008b]Because of the deep rumbling of his voice, and the echo, I had a bit of trouble locating him.
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN-EAN-ean-ean?!! YOUR SHELLDER IS DYING-YING-ing-ing!!!" Stupid echo…
"No… … … No." Well that was helpful… Luckily, I was facing in just the right direction, otherwise I could've spend a lifetime looking for him. He wasn't hiding in one of the caves, but behind a particularly large rock on the bottom. I swam at it, and around. I snuck up on the Slowpoke, who happened to be facing the other direction.
"… Boo."
Unlike what I had expected, he didn't jump, but instead turned his head in my direction. The only evidence that I had startled him was his eyes widening momentarily. "I'm… not coming."
"Oh yes, you are!!"

Hanna (Carvanha) (lvl.7) (f)
VS
Slowpoke (Slowpoke) (lvl.15) (m)

I swam at him, at full speed… He gave me the cold shoulder, and I bounced off it, doing no damage what so ever. Enraged, I tried to bash him in the head. Again, no reaction, and no effect. The battle went on like this for a while, before I calmed down and started thinking. Performing my Rage on this character wasn't working, so a change of tactic was in need. I gave him a Leer or two, but again, no reaction. Feeling my anger growing once more, I turned to my second-to-last move. Feeling my Earring boosting my attack, I Bit the Slowpoke in the tail… hard. This finally got his reaction: he started wailing incoherently and waving his tail around. But I didn't let go; his tail was too tasty, and I knew too well how much he was suffering from my attack.
Finally, he was able to Stomp me in the face, so that I had to let go. In a spark of intelligence, he swiftly turned around, and Growled. I flinched, closed my eyes… And when I opened them again, he was gone! I looked around, but couldn't see him. Then I heard a faint rumbling coming from underneath. I looked down, and saw the earth beneath me explode! Surrounded by a cloud of mud, dirt and dust, the Slowpoke appeared and rammed into me. I was sent flying (well, not really) through the water, and collided with the ice cover in a particularly thick spot. In-between the stars I was seeing, I saw how the Slowpoke had swum up to me, and was spinning around his centre, slowly building up speed. Wondering what he was doing, I let my guard down. Thus, I wasn't prepared for the following. His tail glowed a steel grey, and hit me like a truck. Now I was sent downwards, barely noticing how the Slowpoke was following me. He was sucking in some of the water around him, preparing for what seemed to be Water Gun. He hadn't lost his dumb nature, that's for sure. Who would use Water Gun on a Water Pokémon? Nevertheless, I knew I had to do something. This 'Poke was a fighter, and I wouldn't last much longer against him. So, I used the only move I had left.
Just as the Slowpoke opened his mouth and started his attack, he was hit in the face by an icy beam of polar temperature. As the water in the Pond was already stone-cold, my Ice Beam did little to freeze it. But the water the Slowpoke had had in his mouth (and so had warmed up with his body temperature) was frozen solid. As it hadn't fully left his mouth, the result was that the Slowpokes lower face (meaning his nose, chin, mouth and cheeks) was covered by a thick layer of ice. Because this meant his prime air supply was shut off, he had instantly lost interest in battling me. Instead, he was trying desperately to break through his ice mask. Failing to use much strength under water, he headed towards the surface, all the while building up speed. He broke through the ice at what could've been the exact same place he had entered the pond; I followed shortly after.
I jumped out of the water, yelping at the sudden contact with the raging winds, and landed on the snow. Nearby, I saw Mike kneeling beside the Slowpoke; Bruce was standing close by, still holding the evolved(?) Shellder in his arms. As Mike ripped the deadly mask off the Slowpoke's mouth, I noticed he'd fainted (from what I couldn't tell - the cold, exhaustion, or suffocation).

Hanna (Carvanha) won!
She grew to level 9!

~ Mike’s POV ~

"Mike!"
"Not now, Bruce!" I grumbled, while checking if the Slowpoke was okay, "Hand me the Shellder, will you!"
"But Mike, Hanna is out of the water!"
I turned around. "Sh*t!!" I jumped up, ran to Hanna, picked her up from the snow, ran to her aquarium, ripped the lid off, and let her jump in. Then I closed the lid (but not before whispering "Good job, girl"), and ran back to the Slowpoke, dragging the aquarium back with me.
Time was running out. Both the Shellder and the Slowpoke were unconscious, and wouldn't survive unless we reunited them. The Shellder had been able to tell us she'd bitten the Slowpoke in the head years ago, while he was wearing a King's Rock. The result had been her changing to her spiral form, and his evolving in Slowking. But it hadn’t been a total successful evolution. The Slowpoke was ungrateful for the evolution (even despised her on a certain level for making him evolve), and hadn't Yawned once ever since. The Yawning was essential for the evolution to be a success, because it meant that the muscles in his upper head tensioned, making the Shellder bite harder in his skull. This led to the secretion of a certain venom by the Shellder into the Slow's head, making him smarter, and making the evolution final.
Because he hadn't Yawned, and had opposed the evolution so much, the Slowpoke had been able to detach the Shellder of his head, and undoing his evolution. But the Shellder's transformation couldn't be undone - she needed to be attached to a Slowking to live (like a Parasect's mushroom needed its host), and would die otherwise.
So that's why I was now trying to wake them both up. The Shellder soon awoke (though she was still half unconscious), but the Slowpoke gave no sign of consciousness.
"It's no use… *cough* … I'll die, here and now." She said this calmly, as if she'd already accepted the fact.
"No! Please!" I began speaking rapidly. "Don't give up!"
"I…" She cut off her sentence when she heard a tinkling sound. "Look there.", she said, looking at something on the ground.
I looked, and cried in agony. It was her ruby! It had fallen off her back! Looking back at the Shellder, I could see that she was losing pieces of her shell, that were being ripped off by the wind.
"No-no-NO!!" I began shaking at the Slowpoke violently, slapping him in the face with my bare hands. "Wake up, for Christ's sake!!"
"Mike…" Bruce started, but was cut off by a deep growl coming from the Slowpoke.
"Where…?" he said, looking around. "Oh no… he complained when he noticed the Shellder.
"Oh yes!!" I almost screamed, turning the Slowpoke on his belly, and sitting on his back, carefully not to squish him. "Now, here's what'll happen."
I took the Shellder from Bruce, and put her on his head gently, there where I could see open scars from where he'd pulled the Shellder off of his head. "You'll Yawn, evolve, and save this Shellder from dying."
"Or else.", Bruce added.
"No!!" the Slowpoke protested, shaking violently under me. "I won't!!"
"You will." I told him calmly. "Or…"
"Or I'll forever be biting you in the tail, buster!" Hanna yelled from inside her glass box. "And that won't evolve you into a Slowbro, but it will certainly hurt!"
Faced with the consequences of denying, the Slowpoke's attitude turned around dramatically. "I'll do it!"
"Good." I said, letting go of the Shellder while tapping her on the side. "Your turn, girl!"
She didn't have me say that twice: she bit the Slowpoke in the head, and so hard that I flinched by merely looking at her do it.
"Yawawaw-OWW!!" the Slowpoke howled in pain.
"Don't Howl, Yawn!!" the Shellder yelled, ferociously biting harder.
"Okay, OKAY!!" the Slowpoke screamed frantically, gasping for air. "Geh-eh… SLOOOOOO-"
The Slowpoke's Yawn was ear-deafening! It seemed to dampen the storm's thundering roar, even cause the sides of the pond to collapse, creating a small avalanche that covered it in snow. I had to press my hands against my ears, and so did Bruce. Hanna was flinching in her aquarium; the only one that wasn't affected was the Shellder. She continued to bite, even when she and the Slowpoke started to glow.
Remembering the fallen ruby, I started looking everywhere on the ground for it, jumping off the Slowpoke's back. But I needn't have done that: the Shellder had already seen it, and through a strange bond with the Slowpoke, she'd lifted it off the ground with psychic powers she shouldn't possess normally. It flew through the air and attached itself to the Shellder's back, above the Slowpoke's eyes. This seemed to cause the evolution to fully take place: Slowpoke and Shellder were engulfed in the typical white light of evolution. I could see the Slowpoke's silhouette pushing himself up from the ground, standing on his hind legs. His collar reappeared, and I could see the Shellder's shell repairing itself: broken spine repaired themselves, and broken-off pieces reattached themselves. When the evolution stopped, it was clear that it had been a full success: the eyes of the Slowking contained an intelligence they hadn't possessed before. And his voice had changed too, I noticed that while he stopped Yawning:
"-OOOOW!! Slowking."
"All right!! Awesome!" I started to dance a wild victory dance with Bruce, before the Slowking started talking.
"Thank you. I was foolish to despise evolving so much. It has given me both mental and physical power."
"No hard feelings then?"
"No. In any case, it should be you to have hard feelings for me for being so stubbornly stupid."
"What can we say…?" I said smiling.
"… You were a Slowpoke…!", Hanna continued.
"… So it was only natural of you to be stupid!", Bruce added grinning.
"Indeed." Slowking agreed. "But is there anything I can do to show my gratitude?"
"Well…" Hanna started, looking at the Slowpoke's tail hungrily.
"I think showing us the way out will be enough." I hastily said. "Because I don't think getting out will be that simple if we were to try it on our own.
"Well…" The Shellder on his head suddenly said something to the Slowking. To us, it sounded as a muffled moan or something, but the Slowking seemed to understand. "Hmm. You are in luck. The outer exit of the Room is near here. In fact, just behind yonder snow hill."
I looked ahead to the hill the Slowking had pointed at. Had he not given us directions, we could've been lost in here forever, because in this snow-white landscape, every snow hill resembled the next.
"Thanks a lot, Slowking! You're a big help!"
"You're welcome. Goodbye then; I'll be meditating on the pond's bottom for some time." And with that, the Slowking jumped back into the pond.
"Okay then," I said to my two Pokémon. "What do you say we go to the Pond Room, to check on Dylan and company?"
"That's okay with me!"
"Could we grab a hotdog on our way to there? That tail's made me hungry!"
I snickered. "Sure thing, Hanna. Say!" I said, turning to Bruce. "Your cold seems to be gone?"
"I guess so-oh-oooh!! Atchoo!!"
"Never mind…"

[Lady Vulpix]

<Iael's POV>

I knew we were going to the Desert Room next, and I knew I was going to battle in it. What I didn't know was who was coming with me. Sylvan and Ventura had been arguing for a while. It was strange to see Sylvan take part in an argument, but Ventura had been especially edgy over the last few months, and that was a lot to say about her. She could drive anyone mad without putting much effort into it. From what I could make out, Sylvan didn't see the point of having two battles in a row and straining her body to the limit when we were only here for some training. Ventura seemed to interpret that as a refusal to face a real challenge and told her she'd get nowhere if she always had things the easy way. Then their words turned into a loud noise. All I could tell was that Sylvan felt really offended, and at one point I heard her tell Ventura that she had nothing to prove to her. Then the noises became unclear again, both pokemon talking on top of each other until Gabi stepped between them and stared at them. She had her back against me, so I couldn't see if her stare was one of anger or concern. But it was enough for my teammates to stop in their tracks.

"I'm afraid to ask what's going on here," Gabi said. "It may cause you to start arguing again, or me to get a headache."
"Forget it," Ventura shrugged in the best way a Venomoth can.
"I was given a choice, I took it," Sylvan stated. "You may have chosen differently in my place, but you must respect me."
"What choice was this?," Gabi asked, but the girls ignored her.
"How can you demand respect if you back off from any chances of proving yourself?"
"Everyone deserves respect, Ventura. And this is not a test, it's not a trial... It's just training! Straining one's body beyond its limits isn't good for anyone."
"How would you know? You've never done it."
"You'd be surprised at the amounts of strain I've been through."
"If we were to compare each other, I think you would be shocked."
"Well, maybe that's the way you like it, but I'm not you, Ventura. Please understand that."
"It's not the way I like it. It's just the way it's had to be. Some are lucky enough to have all problems worked out for them and a guardian angel watching over. Some of us need to find the strength within ourselves. And at the end of the day, I'm not so sure which ones are more blessed."
"We've lived together for years, but somehow you don't seem to know me yet."
"That goes both ways."
"Maybe."
"That's enough," Gabi sighed. "What's gotten into you two? Everything seemed to be fine a moment ago."
"It's still fine, Gabi, you don't need to get worked up about this. I was just givig Sylvan some friendly advice."
"Friendly advice? Since when is questioning my decisions, my values and even my own essence friendly advice?"
"What?! You're taking this too far! I only said..."
"I know what you said!"
"You don't seem to."
"Let... me... be. Let me make my own choices and handle my life the way I want to. I know you've always seen me as a weak and defenseless creature, and back when we first met I was, but I've grown up even if you can't seem to understand it."
"Then why won't you try and have 2 battles in a row?"
"Because I consider that having 2 separate battles will help me more. Because my style is different from yours and what's good for you is not necessarily good for me, and because if the time ever comes for me to prove myself to you, it won't be in a controlled environment."
"I think we all know each other enough to know no one has to prove themselves to the others," Gabi asserted.
"Is that so...?," now it was Ventura who sighed, her eyes lost in the distance. "I've always felt that life itself was some sort of test. And those who fail pay the most terrible prizes."
"It's not like that!," Sylvan seemed horrified at the thought. "Sure, we've all been through awful times, some worse than others, but there's a lot more to life than that. If you can't grasp the good things about life, and realize how lucky you are to be here, then I don't see how it's worth living."
"I guess I'm not making myself clear," Ventura said. "Facing challenges is something I enjoy. Struggling to achieve what seems impossible and then coming on top or trying harder next time. Not letting anything or anyone bring me down. That's what life is about for me."
"We live under the same roof and have totally different concepts of what life is," Sylvan finally smiled. "I guess we should just stick to what works for each of us."
"I guess so," Ventura accepted. "I take it you won't be wanting my coaching any time soon."
"I don't know. Maybe if another football or hockey game comes up. Or if something important is at stake. But I'd rather handle training battles on my own. Even if I lose some, I'll learn more than I would if I got the answers sent to me whenever things get tough."
"That definitely proves you have grown," Gabi stroked Sylvan's neck.
"I have. Earlier than you all think. You two have always been protecting me, and so has Amber. Don't think I didn't catch the 'guardian angel' reference. But it's been a while since I learned I could protect myself and others as well. And I haven't had a dark past, but I've made some tough choices and things haven't always been bright for me. So I would appreciate it if you'd stop saying I've had all my problems sorted out for me."
"We won't compete to see whose life's been harder. I know the answer, but I'm sure your problems are important for you too," Ventura said.
"I've never talked about my problems with you, so I can't see how you'd know the answer."
"I've heard you each and every time a crisis landed upon us. You don't have to talk to me personally to make it obvious."
"There are some things you don't know about me."
"And how much do you think you know about me?"
"Why is that so?," Gabi interrupted them. "Wouldn't it be better if we all shared our feelings and concerns with the others? Maybe that way no one would hurt others unintentionally."
"Then our lives would turn into a soap opera, and that's not my kind of life," Ventura rejected the offer. "As I've always said, I accept you as my trainer and thank you for giving me a place to live and any help I may need, but don't try to pull me over to your corny side of the world. I'm not made for it."
"You're always so nice..." ironized Gabi.
"I leave that job to you. I'm direct," Ventura replied.
"Is everyone going to start fighting now?," I interrupted the trio. It was getting late and that was as much as I could take of their argument.
"I seriously hope not," Gabi answered.
"We shouldn't even be having this argument," Sylvan sighed. "We all know Ventura's edgy by nature. And that trait seems to be developing even more as time goes by."
"Has it ever even occured to you that there might be a reason for my edginess?"
"Really? And what is that reason?"

There was silence for a few seconds. Not only me, Sylvan and Gabi stared at Ventura, but everyone in the team did. We all waited, wondering what she was going to say. What we finally got was hardly what any of us was hoping for.
"I have the right to have feelings too, don't I? Everyone else here does and no one makes a fuss about it. Now why don't we all go to the Desert Room and watch Sylvan and Iael battle? It's getting late."
With those words, Ventura clearly marked the end of the conversation. I sighed. I was convinced that we'd all be able to get on with her better if only she'd open up and share her feelings and her worries with us. But I also knew how hard that could be when something too painful was plaguing your heart. For Ventura's sake, I hope that wasn't the case with her.

"Not a good way to start," my more strategic side told the emotional part of me. "It will be harder to focus on the battle with so much on our minds, both for me and Sylvan. But all in all, what was it? It was just a pointless argument, nothing really happened and nothing that mattered was said. There's nothing new about Ventura getting easily irritated and trying to direct everyone's actions; it was strange to see Sylvan getting back at her, but it was bound to happen eventually. Nothing out of the ordinary, nothing to really worry about. Nothing the rush of the battle can't quickly wash away."
With those thoughts, I lead the way into the Desert Room. I didn't know how Sylvan's emotions would affect her battle, but I did know I was going to be at my peak as soon as I was face to face with my opponent.

I waited at the door until Gabi came to open it. When she did, a sudden gust of wind blew sand right on my face.
"Nice greeting," Gabi said, coughing. Apparently I hadn't been the only one hit by the sand.
"Didn't you arrange this whole thing?," Hero questioned her.
"I just had some people restore the rooms to what they originally looked like," Gabi answered. "I might make some changes next time, if there is a next time and I happen to be in charge of it again. Anyway, the wind's stopped blowing now, I think it was just a nasty coincidence that it would come our way right when I opened the door."
"Yeah, bad thing your psychic powers didn't predict it," Hero joked.
"You know as well as I do that I don't have the faintest idea of how my psychic abilities work. Except for the psychic signals, I think I can control them quite well even if there's not much I can do with them."
"Good, keep training and you'll soon have the psychic prowess of Caledor."
"You're aware of the fact that Caledor is a psychic pokemon, right?," Gabi reminded the Ninetales.
"Yes, but I doubt he'd take offense if he were here. He knows his psychic powers are as good outside of battles as a toaster without bread. For now, at least. Besides, I kinda miss my little buddies; I need to tease them so that I don't feel their absence so much."
"I gave you the choice of going with them," Gabi told him.
"I know, and I stick to my decision. There's a couple of battles I don't wanna miss."
"And you also want to wait until Caledor's not so hyper before you start teasing him in his presence," I added.
"Why you little... You're overstepping your bounds, Iael. Keep at it and you'll soon be one of us."
"Are you saying I could join the terrible trio?... No, it doesn't feel like me. And I can't imagine your little group changed in any way. But thanks."

Shaking the sand away from my face, I walked across the dunes of what, according to Gabi, looked more like a waterless beach than a real desert. I overheard Hero's comment about me being weird, but I didn't care. Who wasn't weird in our party, or in any of the teams we were in close contact with? I knew some aspects of me contrasted with each other; I knew I sometimes didn't make sense to most of my friends. But I was ok with it. I'd finally learnt that it was not a problem, it was just the way I was.

I faced front and kept walking until a rambling sound reached my ears. It was quite strong, even on the sand. Whatever was causing it sounded heavy. I wondered if that would be my opponent. I moved cautiously towards the source of the sound, until I reached the top of one of the highest dunes and an image became visible. I'll be honest, it looked like a gigantic wheel with a handle on each side. It was rolling across the sand without an apparent pattern. For a moment, I felt it would be nice to do the same... Just to move around with no reason, no purpose, leaving the world behind. But it was just a moment. I was there to have a battle, everything else could wait. I trotted down the dune and went after the rolling pokemon. I ran by his side for a few seconds until he finally noticed me and stopped. The base of the wheel opened to leave room for 4 thick pillars to step on the ground, while the front side unfolded, taking the shape of a trunk and revealing a pair of sharp-looking tusks below it. The transformation was impressive. The Donphan's eye turned to look at me.
"Are you my opponent?," he asked me.
"I guess so," I replied.
"I wasn't expecting a Stantler," he said twisting his mouth a little. "Ok, I'll assume you're as good an opponent as any."
"What were you expecting?," I asked.
"I don't know... It's just... You don't see many Stantlers coming to this place. Let alone one experienced enough to challenge me. I thought I'd see a Scizor, and Alakazam or the odd cocky Charizard. Maybe even a Venusaur... that would have been a real challenge."
There was an oddly sad tone in his voice.
"How do you know I'm not?," I questioned him. He sighed.
"Sorry, I didn't want to hurt your feelings or anything. It's just that Donphans are naturally stronger than Stantlers. But if you still want to battle me, I'll have to assume that you're not completely defenseless. I'll give you a chance. Please make it worth my time."
I didn't like this Donphan's attitude at all, but this situation wouldn't be resolved by talking. Though in a very bad way, he was asking me to prove myself in battle. I could do that. I'd leave no openings and give him no reasons to think I was weak. I'd make him change his view on Stantlers from that day.

Level 40 Stantler vs. Level 45 Donphan

I'd seen and heard the Donphan rolling across the Desert Room; I knew he hadn't bluffed when he said his kind was stronger than mine. Brute force wouldn't win against him, but there were still other things I could do to help myself. Leer was a start. I stood right there, facing my opponent, and pierced him with my eyes. He seemed to flinch for a moment, but it was just a moment.
"Yes, I know you can do that," he spoke vaguely, as if he were talking to the air or to himself more than to me. "You can weaken me a little, but not enough. I'll still come out on top."
He came charging in my direction. I tried to dodge, but it was hard to run on the sand. The Donphan's head hit my left side and sent me rolling on the ground. I was glad that at least his tusks hadn't touched me. I used the same impulse of the fall to get back up, and gave the Donphan a taste of his own medicine. My Headbutt blew the air out of him for a second. He turned towards me, and looked at me as if he was seeing me for the first time.
"Alright," he spoke out. "It won't be the same this time, that much is clear."
With that, he kneeled down and turned back into a wheel. It was obvious what attack he was going to use. I let him hit me the first time: I was close and he wouldn't have had the chance to build up his speed. As I expected, the impact was not too strong and it left me close enough to my opponent to kick some sand into his face. Well, a lot of sand. He'd have some troube getting rid of that, especially if he didn't stop rolling. I quickly jumped away and watched him miss on his next attempt at rolling over me.

The Donphan resumed his normal shape and shook his head. While he was distracted, I took the chance to plant another Headbutt on his side.
"This isn't working," he muttered.
He took a deep breath and blew away the sand from his face with his trunk. He opened and closed his eyes until no grains of sand were obstructing them.
"Are you ready to continue?," I asked, though I wasn't sure if asking that was a good idea.
The battle was coming out quite differently from what I had expected. I'd prepared myself for battling a cocky brute and showing him what I was capable of, but the Donphan's reactions had taken me by surprise. I couldn't quite measure him yet.
"Give me your best, Stantler," he told me. "Make it so that I can do the same and feel no remorse."
"Why would you feel remorse? This is just a friendly battle. Neither of us is going for the kill or anything."
"I know. But that doesn't erase the memories."
"What memories?"
"Bad times. I'd rather not talk about that. Let's get on with the battle, I bet we can both use a discharge."

The last thing I had expected was for my opponent to go reflective on me. He was making it really hard to stay in battle mode. Now I was struggling between a surging need to understand what was going on with the Donphan and help him, and my desire to get the battle done.
"Oh, no, don't you start having doubts now," he told me. "Believe me, you do want to finish me off. I just don't want to make things worse by telling you why."
"How can you say I want to finish you off?"
"Because of the color of your fur. Now come on, less talking and more battling."

The Donphan was making less sense with every phrase he spoke. I reckoned it would be best to just keep on battling. Battle was the only aspect of life in which everything was clear. There was a goal, a set of options that opened different sets of possibilities, better and worse paths to reach the goal... And the rush that made all worries and all thoughts that weren't directly related to the battle go away. Yes, battling would be best.

I used another Headbutt, and he countered with something different this time. Now his tusks did hit me. And his trunk. I don't know exactly how he pulled it out, but it felt as if he were hitting me on many places at about the same time. I stopped the attack with my antlers and pushed forward with another Headbutt. That was enough. The Donphan stopped fighting and let himself fall with a sigh that almost sounded like a "thank you". I'd won the battle, but I was left with a disturbing sensation I just couldn't shake off... or explain.

Oh, and I grew to level 42.

Everyone in my team walked over to me to congratulate me. Only then did I notice their presence.
"Are you alright?," Gabi asked me. I wasn't physically battered, so I thought she'd seen something in my eyes.
"Yes, it's just... I'm not used to not knowing where I stand in a battle. I won, but I still don't know what was at stake. Was the Donphan battling me, or was he fighting himself?"
"I would say both," answered Amber. "But I think only Lagi would be able to clarify things, and I don't think she'll be back until tomorrow. If she knows what's best for her, she'll take a dip in the thermal waters of Glacier Peak before heading back to the Grounds."
"If we wait until he wakes up, maybe we can ask him," suggested Hero.
"That could take some time," I stated.
"Come on, you didn't beat him that hard," Hero told me.
"No, I didn't. But with everything he has inside, I doubt he'll want to wake up and face the world in less than a few hours. If I can predict anything about him at all. I really can't figure him out."
"Maybe you'll meet again some day and you'll be able to talk," Gabi said absently.
"I don't even know his name..." I went on. "And what was with my fur color? Was that a joke or what? It's chocolate-colored with lighter spots on my back just like most Stantlers born in the Caledorian forest."
"Maybe he just said something random to put an end to the conversation, or maybe most Stantlers from the Caledorian forest would have something against him," analyzed Amber.
"No way. He's not Mewtwo," I shook my head. I'd known I'd end up taking the conversation to the worst of all topics, but I couldn't help myself. "There's only one pokemon I resent, and I seriously doubt anything can change that. The worst anyone else can achieve is to make me mad for a while."

"Well, I hope he can get over whatever it is that happened to him," Gabi sighed. "This has been quite an eventful day, hasn't it?"
"It's not over yet," Sylvan pointed out. "I still want to have my battle."
"Alright. And tomorrow we'll request a two-on-two at the Jungle Room," decided Ventura, who seemed to have accepted Sylvan's choice and also come up with a new plan.
"I guess I can cope with that," Sylvan chuckled. "We've worked fine together in the past. But today please let me battle my way."
"Fine. I don't see any bushes around, you should be alright."
"Ventura, you're impossible! That happened about 3 years ago!, can't you just forget about it?"
"What are they talking about?," I asked Gabi.
"An embarrassing moment within a battle," she told me. "Nothing that wouldn't normally happen to an inexperienced pokemon, but Ventura doesn't seem to see it that way. Either that or she really doesn't realize how much Sylvan has grown over the last 3 years."
"I've heard you," Ventura said in a loud, vibrating voice. "I was joking, you know. An ancient practice based on something named humor which you probably wouldn't recognize since you laugh at just about anything you hear, see or think."
"You're wrong there," Gabi responded. "I laugh easily, but I can tell good jokes from bad ones. And making fun of someone's bad experiences isn't good."
"Sylvan didn't mind, did she?"
"I wasn't sure of whether you were joking or not," Sylvan answered. "If it was a joke, I guess it's alright."
"So no one can tell when I'm joking?," Ventura wondered.
"You're not exactly expressive," Gabi pointed out. "It takes years of careful observation to notice a variation in the expression of your face and the tone of your voice."
"Come on, I'm complex but not that complex."
"I didn't say you were complex. I said you were inexpressive. It's not the same."
"Well, you should try to get to know me better. You all should."
"Really?," Gabi's expression changed as she made a pause. "I thought you didn't want others to get through to you. If I was wrong, I'll try to change that from now on."
"Please," Ventura nodded.
Quite an eventful day, really. I'd thought exactly the same as Gabi, that Ventura didn't want to be known and understood. This came to me as a huge surprise. It wasn't that she didn't want to open up... She just didn't know how to! But something had changed in her over the last few months. What could it have been?

As we spoke, another rambling sound invaded the area.
"I hope it's not another weird Donphan," I said.
But no, it didn't sound like a huge and heavy rolling wheel. This sounded more as if it were slithering. A slithering train of boulders. When the pokemon finally came into sight, I laughed at my own description of it. It hadn't been far from the truth. "Maybe I should start training my hearing," I said to myself. "It can be quite useful."

A massive stone snake was now in front of us, examining the group. It soon spoke, with a voice that, although deep, had a female ring to it.
"I've been sent to battle a pokemon in the 5th level range. Which one of you is my opponent?"
"That would be me," Sylvan stepped forward. "You work here, right?"
"Right now, yes. My team and I do training events. This is my second time in the Desert Room, the first one was for the last Griphon Games."
"Two tournaments ago," Sylvan remembered. "I came here to train back then, but I don't think I've seen you."
"There were many pokemon around. The chance of meeting the same one twice is really low."
"A friend of mine met the same pokemon three times at the Lava Room," Sylvan told the Onix.
"Really? That's amazing."
"So amazing that I expected him to be there again this time," Amber added. "But I guess that would have been too much of a coincidence. You wouldn't happen to know him, right? His name is Eliot, he was a Charmeleon two years ago, he's bound to be a Charizard now. He lives with a mercenary trainer."
"As a matter of fact, I have met him," the Onix said. "I guess coincidences keep popping up. His trainer's name is Randall. We've been in several events together."
"Great! Do you happen to know where he is now?"
"Not right now, but I wouldn't be surprised to find him at the new training facility. Randall and his pokemon don't miss a chance to train. Unless they think the battle is unfair. They have an interesting policy; they'd rather lose a battle than obtain a hollow victory."
"I see. He hasn't changed," Amber smiled. "Well, neither have I."
"Oh, yes, you have," Ventura contradicted her. "You have evolved and you've started rejecting any friendly battles whatsoever. Back then you would accept them as long as they were fair."
"That's because I gained a lot of strength in little time," Amber explained. "I'm not 100% sure I can always control it, and I wouldn't like to hurt my friends."
"Then you could battle someone who's resistant to your attacks," Ventura suggested. "Like a Rock type."
"I have a Steel type Hidden Power," Amber pointed out. "I could always not use it, but I really don't see the point of battling just to gain experience and learn how to battle better. With all the things we normally have to face, I know I'll end up battling many times. But when I'm with friends there are plenty of other things I'd rather do."
"I see. And back in the time I would have thought that if anyone was going to give up friendly battles it'd be Sylvan."
"Me? No, battling's not my favorite activity but the life I lead requires me to be strong and battling helps me achieve that."
"Why don't you lead a different kind of life?," the Onix asked, intrigued.
"I wouldn't change my friends for anything," Sylvan answered with an unusual determination. "And I wouldn't step back when things get ugly. It's not like me to turn my back on those I care for."
"I see. That's a perfectly good reason. I also battle for the ones I care for: my trainer and my team."
"Good. What's your name?," Sylvan asked.
"Amethyst. And yours?"
"Sylvan. You seem to be a reasonable pokemon. Can I please ask you not to use any Grass type attacks in our battle?"
"Of course. It wouldn't be fair if I used them. But that doesn't leave me with many moves left and Normal type attacks won't do much to you. Is it ok if I use my clover?"
Amethyst lower her head to the level of Sylvan's neck to inspect the 4-leaf clover.
"Ok. Any other restrictions?," the Onix asked.
"None on my side. You?"
"Anything else is fine."
"Ok, then. Let's battle."
"This is going to be a long battle," I heard Ventura comment. "Unless Sylvan does something which I doubt she will do."
"Don't start it now," Gabi told her. "Let her battle her way this time. That's all she's asked for."

Level 48 Venusaur vs. Level 55 Onix

No sooner did Sylvan take her battling stance than a strong wind began to blow around the Onix, lifting up huge amounts of sand with it. The radius of the Sandstorm became wider until I could no longer see what was going on at the battle field.
"Ok, I get to do something useful," Ventura said to herself. "Who wants to subscribe to Ventura-vision?"
"Do we have much of a choice?," Gabi asked.
"Yes. The choice is yes or no. Which one will you take?"
"Ok, I'll take the 'yes' option, but without the extra headache, please."
"If you get a headache it will be solely on your account. And you'll have earned it for treating me like that when I'm offering a service. Anyone else?"
We all ended up accepting. We didn't want to miss the action. And I new for a fact that Gabi tended to exaggerate the effects of Ventura's telepathy on her.

Sylvan hit Amethyst with a Body Slam, but if the attack had any effect at all, it didn't show. Amethyst's attack was slightly more effective: she managed to lift some rocks from below the sand (and, if I interpreted Ventura's transmission right, she also created some thick sand balls) and sent them crashing against Sylvan. But the effect wasn't spectacular at all. The sandstorm seemed to be hurting Sylvan more than the rocks were. Sylvan tried another Body Slam with the same disastrous results as before.
"I knew she'd do that," groaned Ventura. "She's going for paralysis, but at this rate she won't get the chance. Amethyst can summon a new Sandstorm as soon as this one receeds."
"There's also the chance that she might have a plan," Hero commented. "Don't underestimate her."
Whether I was underestimating her or not, I didn't know where this battle was heading. I got an image of Amethyst burying herself in the sand as fast as if she were a worm and not an Onix. The sand kept hitting Sylvan, but the flower on her back managed to collect some sun rays that filtered through the sandstorm, filling her with their warmth and nurturing her.
"I knew it!," Hero cheered. "She's using Tsunami's strategy."
"Tsunami's strategy?," I asked. I'd seen Tsunami battle many times but I wasn't sure of what he was referring to.
"Making the battle last as long as possible and wearing your opponent out. As long as Amethyst can't heal herself and her attacks can't do more damage than Sylvan can recover from, the battle is hers."
"Or Amethyst could just get tired of clashing with Sylvan without either of them feeling it and give up," Ventura added sarcastically.

Amethyst emerged from the ground and hit Sylvan, who countered with another ineffective Body Slam.
"Even Fury Cutter would be better than this!," complained Ventura. "At least it could build up."
Amethyst dug into the ground again. Sylvan took one more chance to heal herself, but when the Sandstorm receeded we could see she wasn't at her peak. I was starting to have my doubts. Would her strategy work at all?

When the Onix came out, Sylvan used Synthesis again instead of attacking. This time, she managed to collect a lot more sunlight, and the effect was evident. The Venusaur's leaves and petals were shining as much as her smile. Sylvan was as good as new.
"If they repeat the same sequence of moves they've used up to now 4 more times Sylvan will win the battle," Gabi calculated.
"That is if Sylvan can gather that much sunlight in the night, because this is bound to take really long," Ventura countered.

As we all expected, another Sandstorm began to brew. And Sylvan used yet another Body Slam. Only this time something different happened. This time Amethyst couldn't counter the attack.
"She made it! She got her paralyzed!," cheered Ventura, much to my surprise. "Do something different now!"
Sylvan sighed and shook her head. Even though she did comply. She used Fury Cutter. The effect was unnoticeable but, as Ventura had said before, she'd have the chance to build up the attack. Amethyst, however, seemed determined not to give her that much of a chance. She stayed firm on her place, and opened her mouth to emit a loud acute sound. If the noise hadn't been muffled by the sandstorm, it might have been enough to deafen us all. Sylvan responded with another Fury Cutter, which was just a bit stronger than the previous one.

Amethyst spoke, but it was hard to make her out through the sandstorm. Her voice wasn't too different from the sound of the raging wind. The only word that reached me clearly was the last one: restrictions.
"I stick to our agreement!," Sylvan's voice came through the storm.
The Onix spoke again briefly. Something like "alright then" (I heard "I ten", but I guessed she'd actually said the former).

What came next was hard to describe, especially since I just got the images from Ventura-vision. There was a change in the air. The floating sand somehow took the shape of wings and closed in on Sylvan, carried forward by a gust of the purest wind. I wouldn't be able to tell where I got the word 'pure' from, it just felt that way. Ventura's signals were strange, but something felt very familiar. I broke the psychic link without noticing; I needed to feel the air and its movement. Something inside me was pulsating, wanting to join it.
"No," I stopped myself. "It would hurt Sylvan. There will be plenty of time after the battle."
A cascade of fresh water interrupted my train of thoughts, breaking through the sandstorm and whatever gusts of wind hadn't hit their target yet. That was way too much for the Onix to endure.

Sylvan grew to level 50!

Our Venusaur friend emerged victorious, using the last rays of the sun to heal herself.
"I didn't think you'd do that," Ventura told her once she was close enough to hear her without having to raise her voice.
"I didn't want to, but she made the first call. If she can use a Super Effective Hidden Power, so can I. I guess we were both getting tired."
"And I can see why!," The Venomoth exclaimed. "The only battle I've witnessed that took longer than this one was between two Metapods."
"Well, at least it's over now. She should be fine. I employed most of the water to wash the sand away, so only a small part actually hit her."
"Not bad for a day's training. So... are we having dinner here or at home?"
"As you all prefer," Gabi told us.
"Before we have dinner, can I please stay on this room a little longer?," I asked.
"Of course," Gabi granted me the permission. "Do you want to wait for the Donphan to wake up?"
"Not exactly. There's just something I'd like to do. You can wait outside, you can even order dinner if you're having it here. I'll join you in a few minutes."
"Okay..." Gabi said, puzzled.
She and the rest of the team left the room, directing a few intrigued looks at me. If I'd wanted to explain myself, I don't think I could have done it. I just felt an urge to run. Run across the sandy dunes, with nothing around me but a large plain, the first evening stars above me (which were visible through the room's transparent ceiling), and a friendly, gentle wind pushing me forward, carrying me away from all doubts, all worries, all unanswered questions, all sad feelings I wanted to leave behind... Nothing and no one to disturb me, to remind me of what I couldn't do and what I couldn't change. Just me and my wind... roaming free... If only for tonight.

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

Note: Sylvan's level 50 TM will be Sludge Bomb.

[AntiAsh Superstar]

Heh, this is supposed to be a day or two after the second round of the Unicorn Games, I wrote it while I was waiting for Soo to finish her battle. Enjoy. ^_^ (oh, and btw, new chapter of my Iner Circle fic up if anyone likes that sort of thing)

-----

"How are you feeling?" The hospital wing of Unicorn Gate wasn't exactly how Milliardo had envisioned his accommodation between rounds of the Unicorn Games. He had been hoping for a much livelier, more dynamic set of surroundings than the clinical silence of a hospital ward. But sadly this was where had been forced to stay for now. He had been badly poisoned during his last battle, and even his usual resilience was having a hard time in flushing the remnants of the toxins out of his system. So he was forced to lay in an unfamiliar bed, staying on white sheets that stank of antiseptic and resigned to wishing for the slow and painful deaths of every single creature that asked him how he was feeling. Especially the irritatingly chirpy Nurse Joy in charge of the ward. Right now he was beginning to wish that Reaper would swoop in through the ceiling and carry her away in her talons.
"Well, I have a killer headache, I can't sleep, this is doing nothing for my training regime, and I really miss having the tip of my tail around," the Umbreon grumbled. On top of everything else his last battle had cost him a small portion of tail after it was bitten off by a Mightyena. "Other than that I'm just great, never felt better, in fact."
"Oh, that's good to hear," Nurse Joy beamed, quite obviously having not understood a word of his tirade. "Just keep resting and you'll be fine in no time."
"Yeah, so she's been telling me for the past two days," Milliardo grumbled the instant the nurse was out of earshot. He rolled his eyes in despair. "I tell you, she's bet against me and wants me wasted away before the next round. She's probably put money on Ryu the Trapinch instead."
"Nah, she looks more the sort who'd bet on Blazer the Arcanine." All of a sudden Pandora decided to melt out of the shadows of the bedside cabinet, grateful for the semi-darkness of the ward at night. "Thanks for showing me how to do that trick, by the way. Dreadfully handy for sneaking around, isn't it?"
"Hey, how else do you think I manage to know absolutely everything that goes on around here?" Milliardo cackled, glad for the company. "You sure you don't mind Ade being mad at you once he realises you've ran off to visit me, though?"
"I'd say it's worth a few glares in the morning," the Houndour replied, looking almost bashful. "I was really worried, you know. We all were."
"Yeah, well..." Milliardo shifted uncomfortably. He had never exactly been brilliant at dealing with situations like these. "We should look on the bright side. I got badly poisoned and lost the end of my tail that time. At least the next round can't be much worse!"
"I guess..." Pandora still looked worried. "I just couldn't deal with it if you got hurt. Or worse."
"And I thought Houndours were supposed to be tough. You're less menacing than an Azurill when you get like this." The Umbreon grinned broadly. "Relax, you wonderful bundle of fury, you. Even if they dropped an atomic bomb on my head there'd be no getting rid of me, I'd just come back and haunt you all for eternity. Although I can see one major problem with being a ghost."
"What, the fact that it makes it very hard for me to do this?" Abruptly Pandora leaned over and kissed Milliardo on the cheek, before drawing away, tears brimming in her large, soulful eyes. "Please don't let that happen, Milliardo. Life without you would be intolerable."
"Don't worry about that," the Umbreon replied, looking deep within his partner's eyes. "I'll be damned if I let anyone put an end to any of this. Life's just too good to give up without a fight, sore tails notwithstanding."
"You're pretty cut up about that, aren't you?" Pandora winced at her own choice of words.
"Of course I am, how would you like having to go through life with a blunt tail?" Milliardo complained. "I swear, the next time I see that Jan it won't be in a tournament and I'll have free licence to stick her head straight up her ass by way of thanks. Anyway, I'm surprised you think life without me would be intolerable. Most people seem to think that of life with me."
"I'm not most people, am I?" Pandora smiled, nuzzling the wounded Umbreon with great affection. "And as much as you're a great big jerk, I still love you. And believe me, Milliardo, that's never going to change. Ever."

The morning was usually something to be dreaded, a never-ending stream of petty arguments and general hustle and bustle that was enough to leave anyone's head in a spin. But this morning something had changed. This morning everything seemed to be moving rather sluggishly, as if somewhere, somehow the team had lost its spark. It was quite alarming, really, how we had all come to depend on Milliardo's presence to assist with the group dynamics. Somehow it didn't seem the same without his obnoxious impatience there to spur us all on. And although it may have been a lot quieter without him, was peace and quiet really what we wanted?
"Dudes!" After a while of this strange, unnatural silence, something seemed to snap within Katnip. Things were getting ridiculous! Even those who could normally be counted on to fill the silence were silenced for some reason or other. Pandora had spent the entire night visiting her boyfriend and as such had collapsed in a corner from around 6am. Marius seemed to be totally lost in his own thoughts, events making him far too pensive to care for starting his usual debates. Rhiannon was, sadly, in the grip of one of her mature moods, and her adult mind seemed to be too busy casting worried glances over at Kassandra's pendant to cause ructions with its usual lack of tact. Even Beckham seemed to have been beaten into something approaching thoughtfulness, the sullen mood of his team-mates having made his every attempt to instigate conversation too awkward even for him. Well, no more. Somebody had to do something to pull us out of this rut! "What's wrong with us, huh? Seems like we've forgotten how ta operate without Milly's crap. Dunno what to say now, whether it's better ta complain that he ain't gonna be impressed with how pathetic we've become, or ta complain that we don't wanna give him the satisfaction of knowin' we need him around this much. But..." Here the Raticate flapped his forelimbs uselessly. "Meh. All I know is that yer all actin' like he's dead or somethin', when all that's happened is he's off bitchin' at some crappy Nurse Joy rather than us. Yeah, it was a bummer ta see him get that hurt an' all, but I tell ya, he'd be the first ta yell at ya fer this bein' a real waste of emotion."
"Indeed." Apparently Katnip had found himself an ally, Marius finally coming out of his shell for a moment. "We all do seem to have lost sight of father's legendary resilience, don't we?" Apparently this tactic wasn't really working. And in the end even the usually objective Marius finally ended up losing his cool. "Alright, fine, ignore me, let every tiny little word coming from my mouth fly straight over your heads because you're so wrapped up in this morose haze that's descended upon us that you ignore the blatantly self-evident fact that he's just one creature of many, if we can't live without him for one fragment of a second then what hope have we got as a team????" The Dratini slammed his tail down on the table angrily, an intense frown sitting upon his face. "Certainly, it's been a rough time. We've lost most of those strong enough of will to voice for us the plans we're generally to timid to admit. Father isn't here to bully us along. Tsuyoi has fallen disturbingly silent ? and although I suppose I'm courting trouble in saying so, I can hardly say I blame him, I don't suppose it does your ego any good when the one you care for suddenly realises she happens to be a lesbian."
"Hey! Are you saying this is my fault now?" Kasumi complained. "Listen, buster, he knew the deal to begin with, as much as I'd love to say 'yeah, let's make a threesome' it's not gonna happen and so I have to choose. It's not a nice choice by any means, but there you go."
"I never said it was your fault, kindly listen before you go charging in like some rampart Rhyhorn," Marius snapped. "There are so many little, tiny, almost petty factors that have contributed to the current mood and father's absence is simply the catalyst, but look. It's a beautiful day outside. We have a roof over our heads, food to eat, the opportunity to do what we want with life, and there are so many in this world who would gladly kill for that. So do we all mind actually giving consideration to how lucky we really are before sinking into this rut in future? Besides..." Here the Dratini cast a sly glance over at Katnip. "Call it a hunch but I suspect that some of us have been simply itching to head over to the training grounds whilst we have the opportunity, and I hardly think it fair to deny their wishes."
"Cheers, dude," Katnip chuckled. "Yer dad'd be proud of ya, I reckon he'd probably even forgive ya fer stealin' his headscarf." The Raticate eyed the skull-and-crossbones motif on the piece of cloth that Marius had taken to wearing around his neck. "Yeah, dudes, we could be doin' so much more here, what do ya all say ta gettin' off our butts for once?"
"What I say..." I mused, trying hard to balance all the options up in my mind. How nice it would have been to have put the training on hold for once, to tell my team to do their own thing whilst I spent a little quality time with Soo. But fate had never been my ally. The instant I started feeling like I could have used such a break, Soo had fallen ill. Even now she was in bed, trying to recover from a bad stomach upset. So what else was I supposed to do? Sit around and do nothing with my time? "Okay. Seeing as we do have a while to do something constructive with our time for once, what say we do go out and visit the training grounds again? We still have two rooms to cover, after all, and the more training you guys get the better." Suddenly I stood up from my position sat at the kitchen table, finally convinced to do something other than spend the day in a haze. "Who's with me?"

As it happened only a few of my pokémon had felt in the mood to accompany me to the training grounds. Katnip, of course, in fact it was his impatience to battle that had spurred out earlier conversation in the first place. And Marius, who would have clearly done anything other than sit around in the house. Plus Bolovayr, Kasumi and Beckham, all of whom cited having nothing better to do as an excuse for tagging along. Well, apart from Kasumi, whose excuse went along the lines of 'I do have better things to do but she's not around at the minute'. Still, it was a small, tidy little group today. A far cry from the mad rabble that usually accompanied me wherever I went.
"So I put it out to you guys again. Which room?" I asked, munching absently on a beanburger that I had picked up from one of the many stalls that provided refreshments for tired trainers. Yet again I had left the house without remembering to pack some kind of lunch, and so ended up having to pay for snacks for six. "We've only really got the Jungle and Desert Rooms left now so it can't be that hard to decided."
"I've told ya before, dude, I don't care where we fight, flip a coin or somethin'!" Katnip grinned excitedly, stuffing his third hot dog into his mouth. Quite how he managed to avoid becoming overweight due to his excessive appetite I had no idea. All I knew was that I was somewhat envious of my Raticate's metabolism.
"Anyone else?"
"Whichever room has the hottest guys in," Kasumi grinned brightly. "Or girls. You know I'm not fussy, I just want something to ogle since I guess it won't be me fighting today."
"Predictable, but of no help whatsoever." I rolled my eyes. "Bolovayr?"
"Hmm..." My Gastly concentrated hard. "Ade, it pleases me to say that... there are no traces of demonic activity in either room so we can go to either." Bolovayr offered a wide grin that almost covered his entire face.
"Again, no help whatsoever. Becks... no, last time I asked you we ended up flooding the room due to your crackpot ideas. Marius, please, as the voice of sanity in this group, help me out here!"
"Well some would dispute your classification, but let me offer my analysis of the situation anyway." The Dratini stuck his tongue out. "The way this whole scenario appears to me is that you intend on visiting all the rooms anyway, correct? And neither room possesses more of an inherent danger ? or indeed benefit ? than the other. So my suggestion is that we simply go with an earlier casual comment of Katnip's and flip a coin for it. I fail to see any more productive solutions given that nobody present seems to possess an opinion on the matter beyond 'I don't care', do you?"
"Alright, so we flip for it, then," I grumbled, rather disappointed that there were no better ways of deciding. Clumsily I fished in the pocket of my black jeans and pulled out a large silver coin. "Okay, heads we use the Jungle Room, tails we use the Desert Room, okay?" I tossed the coin in the air, letting it turn over and over only to land back in my hand. I quickly flipped it over onto the back of my other hand. "Any guesses?"
"Tails," Marius replied casually, a slow smirk forming upon his face as my hand drew away to reveal that the coin had, indeed, landed tail side up. I fixed the Dratini with an odd look.
"How did you do that?"
"Let's just say that Detect has more uses than in simply evading incoming attacks," he chuckled, turning to lead the group to the door of the Desert Room. "So then, shall we head over and commence our training session?"

"Wine spritzer, anyone?" I didn't know what impressed me the most. The amazing job that had been done of simulating desert conditions once we had finally entered the Desert Room; this place was at least as big as the Blizzard Room had been, only where that had been snow and icy winds, this was sand and a terrible, scorching heat that rivalled that of the Lava Room with ease. Or my Wartortle's cartoon character-like ability to seemingly pull random items out of nowhere.
"I swear you must have a mini-bar hidden away inside that shell of yours, Becks," I commented, holding up a hand to protect my eyes from the glare of the simulated sunshine. All there was for miles around were endless sand dunes, those in the far distance seeming to ripple due to the intense heat. It really did feel like we were in the middle of a real desert here! "Got any plain ol' water, by any chance? I don't think it's such a good idea to start drinking alcohol. It dehydrates, and the heat will do that job just as nicely."
"Sorry, Ade," Beckham shrugged. "I'd say yes, I've tons of water, but I was experimenting with Megan the other day..."
"You were?" Kasumi asked.
"Stop picturing it, Sumi!" the Wartortle complained, noticing the far-away look in the eyes of his friend. "It was nothing like that, although you know even I like to snuggle sometimes, and as for... oi, look what you got me talking about, you smutty excuse for a Growlithe! Anyways, we were experimenting with the drinkability of my Water Gun and it kinda turns out that I've drank so much that my water supplies are alcoholic, too."
"Doesn't surprise me," Katnip chuckled, scanning the surroundings as he spoke, desperately trying to locate potential opponents. "Ya always were the biggest alcoholic of the lot of us."
"It's not good for you, you know. God knows what the Guild would say if they knew you were such a boozer. They'd probably revoke my licence for letting you get away with it for so long."
"Well it's just as well that they don't know, isn't it?" Beckham retorted. "Unless of course they employ specially trained ants to spy on the trainers in Ulthuan and report back on their progress, in which case we'd better hope that the Guild has better things to waste their time on than spanking us over alcohol abuse, because those spy ants of doom are efficient little buggers. In fact..." Perhaps fortunately we were spared any further explanation of the Wartortle's latest crackpot theory. For just as he was about to launch into yet another nonsensical rant we were all distracted by a rumbling coming from underneath our feet, a terrible quaking that grew in intensity with every passing second. Until it felt as if we were stood in the very epicenter of an earthquake.
"What's going on?" I yelled, trying and failing to keep my balance and ending up face first in the warm sands. Balance, it had to be said, had never been my strong suit.
"Dunno, dude, it's like we're in the middle of an earthquake or somethin'!" Katnip called over, grimacing as he too tried to maintain a standing position. "It's gettin' worse as well!"
"This particular encounter is far from reaching its conclusion," Marius commented calmly, his eyes screwed shut tightly but otherwise seemingly unaffected by the earthquake. "Katnip, you did want a worthy adversary, correct? Well, I have this hunch that there's one on its way over here right now, although you may want to jump to one side in... hmm... given its current direction and velocity I would say... five seconds from now?" Katnip knew better than to question Marius. He knew full well that the Dratini's brain operated in ways that most could only guess at. Instead he simply did as he was told, hopping nimbly to one side. And just as he did so a huge, ferocious beast seemed to erupt from the sands, snapping at the air just inches away from the Raticate. It was a strange monster, this, similar to a Rhyhorn but seemingly plated in metal armour. A Lairon, in fact. And worse, a Lairon that seemed to have no reservations about using sneak attacks.
"Hey! What d'ya think yer playin' at?" Katnip snapped irritably. "Do ya think that's the right way to start a battle or somethin', just ta pick a pokémon an' hit 'em?"
"Maybe," the bulky pokémon responded. "Or maybe not. I got your attention, didn't I?"
"Yeah, but try another trick like that an' yer gonna be gettin' a whole lot more attention than ya bargained fer."
"Is that a challenge?" the Lairon asked lazily.
"Well seein' as yer so keen ta hit me I might as well try an' hit back!" The Raticate struck a fighting pose, glaring at this potential opponent. It had been a dishonourable start, and Katnip was determined to teach the pokémon a lesson about sticking to a decent code of conduct in battle. Well, there was little question as to who was going to be doing the fighting for us today! "Yeah, it's a challenge, do ya accept or are ya too scared ta fight face ta face?"
"You talk very mightily," the Lairon noted, facing Katnip properly. "Let's see if you fight as well as you make threats. Consider your challenge accepted."

FIGHT!!! L31 Raticate v L35 Lairon!

Katnip paced restlessly around his opponent, casting a critical eye over its bulky form, trying his hardest to appraise what the best strategy was going to be. Unfortunately that metallic armour looked near impenetrable. Albeit incredibly heavy. So he was likely to have to rely on his most obvious advantage, that of speed. Well, that was alright by Katnip. Speed was one thing he had plenty of.
"Get ready ta lose!" Katnip darted forward suddenly, launching into a Quick Attack.
"Ha! You think a Quick Attack is going to affect me in the slightest?" his opponent laughed heartily. "Silly Raticate, do you know nothing of Steel types?"
"Course I do," Katnip grinned. "Which is why I'm doin'... THIS!" All of a sudden my Raticate jumped in mid-Quick Attack, using the speed he had built up to launch himself high into the air, only to come crashing down hard on top of his opponent's back, chopping hard at its spine with one of his front paws. The Lairon gave a roar of pain as the attack struck, Katnip having somehow managed to get past his opponent's formidable defenses. However, at what cost? The Raticate seemed to be in some pain himself.
"Ow!" Katnip grimaced, rubbing his paw. "Okay, Katnip, remember next time that Fightin' attacks might work on Steel types but they usually hurt ya as well." The change of move in the middle of his Quick Attack had worked perfectly, but now his paw was decidedly sore, having been used to Rock Smash through his opponent's armour.
"You want hurt? Take this, you pest!" Katnip looked up from his injured paw just in time to see the Lairon's heavy tail come swinging towards him, catching him a serious blow to the stomach that took his very breath away. He fell to the floor, coughing. It was hard to know what hurt most. The force of the Iron Tail, or the fact that for one brief moment he had allowed himself to become distracted. What chance did he have if he was going to keep on making stupid mistakes like that? That wasn't how a Dragon Games finalist should battle! Grimacing, Katnip looked up at his opponent, who was now leering down at him with a total lack of compassion. "Nice try, but it takes more than that to beat me!" The Lairon began to paw at the ground, preparing to charge. Well, Katnip wasn't going to have that! Concentrating hard, he channeled all of his energy into a move that he had picked up after months of sparring with Milliardo, so that when his opponent finally commenced its charge it was met with a sudden spark of pure Dark energy that glanced off its head armour. Doing precious little damage, of course, but damage had never been Katnip's intention in the first place. All he had wanted to do was to distract his opponent for long enough to implement a plan that had been forming in his mind over the past few minutes.
"Okay, here goes nothin'!" Taking a deep breath, the Raticate pounced upon his opponent, landing neatly upon its back and fastening his nimble fingers around the nearest handholds available to him. He seriously doubted that the Lairon had much in the way of attacks that would defend its back. From here he was relatively safe, in fact the only way the Lairon would dislodge him would be to roll over and expose its belly. At which point the second stage of his plan could be implemented. "Hey, get me if ya can!" Katnip taunted, letting his opponent know exactly where he was.
"Grr!" the Lairon snarled angrily, starting to shake itself vigorously in an attempt to rid itself of this unwelcome rider. "You are a pest! Get off me!" Harder and harder it shook its body from side to side, but all the time Katnip managed to stay in position. He had wedged his fingers and toes in the chinks in ihis opponent's armour as snugly as he could now, and the only time he was going to move was when he decided to.
"Gimme one good reason why I should!" Katnip laughed, rather enjoying this impromptu ride, to which his opponent simply roared in frustration.
"That does it!" the Lairon yelled angrily. "Get off or be crushed, it's your call!" Suddenly it began to topple over to the side. And this was exactly the cue that Katnip had been waiting for. Timing his movements to perfection, the Raticate threw himself off his opponent, launching high into the air and beginning to twist until he resembled a Raticate-shaped spinning top, his movements almost a blur. And as he landed this spinning caused him to sink beneath the sand, drilling his way underground until there was only a hole left to show where he had been just seconds ago. "Oh no..." It was as if the Lairon knew what was coming, judging from the worried expression upon its face. It was still in mid-roll. It had no way of defending itself. And both pokémon knew that full well.
"Oh yes!" The ground nearby the Lairon's belly seemed to erupt, coating the Steel-type in a fine shower of sand and dirt that almost masked Katnip's sudden reappearance. But not quite. It was still quite easy to make out the Raticate's form shooting out of the ground and ramming hard into his opponent's belly as it completed its painfully slow tumble, knocking it back over onto its back again and leaving the bulky pokémon to helplessly wriggle its legs in the air, a look of sheer panic upon its face.
"N... now, let's not be hasty here..." the Lairon pleaded pathetically as Katnip advanced upon it. "Y... you wouldn't want to win this way, would you? I'm helpless, I can't do a thing stuck like this, you wouldn't hit me when I'm this exposed, would you?" Katnip paused in his advance. Something in his opponent's words hit a nerve. Was this really the way he wanted to win this battle, with his opponent helpless and unable to retaliate? There was no honour in a victory won in that way. Better to risk defeat and tackle the Lairon head on than take advantage of its defenseless position!
"Yer right," the Raticate finally said with a deep sigh, ramming the Lairon hard in the side with a Quick Attack that was strong enough to knock the pokémon the right way up again. "There's no fun in winnin' this way, so let's..."
"SUCKER!!!" Katnip's face seemed to explode with pain, his opponent ramming its thick skull straight into his nose as hard as it possibly could, a Headbutt that left the Raticate reeling. "I can't believe you actually were willing to do that! Now your nobility is going to make you lose!"
"Don't think so, dude!" Katnip snarled, licking the blood from his whiskers as he watched his opponent prepare itself for another frantic charge. He only had one chance to get this right. Otherwise he would end up trampled beneath his opponent's impressive bulk. Well, that was okay by him. The risk was what made it so exciting. "I'm still standin' ain't I?"
"Not for much longer you won't be!" the Lairon yelled, rushing towards Katnip with all the speed it could muster. And yet my Raticate did nothing. He just stood there as impassive as a statue, not even so much as blinking as his opponent drew nearer and nearer. Until a split second before impact, where he suddenly jumped upwards with incredible speed, dodging the attack with apparent ease, and landing behind the Lairon calmly. A loud crack echoed throughout the training room as he did so, and the Lairon behind him stumbled suddenly in mid charge, seeming to trip over itself and ending up tumbling through the sand, eventually coming to rest in a sorry, dirt covered heap mere feet away from where Katnip was stood. Only at this point did the Raticate afford a glance backwards, a sly smile creeping over his face as he noted with satisfaction that his opponent didn't seem to be moving.
"An' that, dudes," Katnip grinned, "is how ta finish 'em off in style."
"Still on top form, I see," I chuckled, patting my pokémon on the head as he returned to the group, his job apparently done. "Just one question, since I obviously missed something there... how did you finish that battle, exactly?"
"S'easy, dude," came the casual reply. "I just timed it so that I could hit that bugger with an Iron Tail attack on me way down, ya must've been so busy watchin' me jump that ya fergot ta watch what my tail was up ta."
"Wait a minute, isn't Iron Tail notoriously... oh, forget it, I should know by now that you see the impossible as just another challenge." I still found it hard to believe what I had just witnessed. Katnip fought each and every battle as if it were a tournament final. Was it any wonder that he was widely regarded as the best fighter on the team? "Still, you did real good, buddy. Real good indeed."

Katnip wins!
Katnip grew to L33!

"Alright." I turned my attentions to the rest of my little group. Katnip had always been a hard act to follow, but I was confident that at least one of them would be up for the challenge. Otherwise I would have bet my life on my Raticate being up for another fight! "Who wants to take on the next pokémon we encounter?"
"Ade, I know I'm not exactly the sharpest knife in the drawer but don't you think it might be an idea to decide on things like that AFTER we know what the next pokémon we encounter is gonna be?" Kasumi noted, for possibly the first time in her life deciding to actually contribute something to the discussion. "We're not all Katnip and capable of annihilating pokémon we're supposedly quadruply ineffective against, you know."
"Fair point, I guess," I conceded. "Okay, let's put it another way. Who isn't planning on fighting, because I'm basically after someone to run back to the refreshments stand and pick up several of the largest sodas they have before we all die of dehydration." It was still as hot as ever, and I was beginning to feel decidedly lightheaded. A large drink seemed like just what I needed.
"Consider it done," my Growlithe beamed. "You'd be surprised at how easily I can carry a tray of fast food..."
"Because you can make it levitate in front of you with your Hidden Power?" Marius interrupted.
"Umm... basically, yes," Kasumi giggled. "You didn't think I could carry it in my mouth did you? I like to keep my mouth free for other things, anyway."
"Shame, Sumi," Katnip commented. "Least stickin' a tray in yer mouth'd stop ya from goin' on an' on about sex all the time. Can ya just go before we all die of thirst?"
"Alright, already!" the Growlithe grumbled, accepting a small pouch of coins from my outstretched hand and running off in the direction of the exit, leaving the rest of us to await our next challenge. Whenever and wherever it decided to arrive.

As it turned out we didn't have to wait very long at all. Standing in relative silence it was easy to make out a mechanical whirring in the distance that I had long grown to know as the sound of our next opponent entering the arena. To begin with it was hard to know where to expect the pokémon to appear from. A combination of the intense heat and the mirrored walls of the arena made the artificial desert appear much bigger than it actually was, the sand seeming to stretch for miles all around. But eventually the short, squat form of my team's latest opponent came scurrying out of the sand, and this time it was a creature that I was far more familiar with. A Sandshrew, a pokémon better adapted than most at dealing with the arid conditions of a desert. So it seemed as if we already had a disadvantage in terms of being able to cope with our surroundings.
"Damn it, what's keeping Sumi?" I grumbled, wiping the sweat from my brow. "No way any of us are in any state to fight before we get a drink or two!"
"I beg to differ, Ade." Bolovayr grinned suddenly, floating over to my head and staring at me with his huge eyes, something that would never be anything other than a truly discomforting experience. "I'm finding that this arena isn't doing anything to me at all. So with that in mind..." Here the Gastly performed a lazy loop-the-loop in mid-air. "...I, Ade, shall engage the pokémon in mortal combat!"
"Eh?" I had to admit that the over the top dramatics had left me totally confused.
"Basically, Ade, Bolovayr's request can succinctly be summarised by a simple 'he would rather like to be the one who battles the Sandshrew'. It seems a perfectly easy concept to comprehend if you ask me," Marius explained unhelpfully, being as he was the only creature on the planet whose vocabulary was even more pretentious than that of my Gastly.
"Oh." I sighed deeply. "Sorry, my brain doesn't seem to be working very well today, does it? Sure, Bolovayr, if you wanna battle then you go for it!"
"I shan't let you down, my friend." Bolovayr nodded his thanks before shooting over towards where the Sandshrew was patiently waiting several feel away from our group. "Greetings!" he called over. "You're here for a battle, correct?"
"That I am," came the cool, calm response. "This is going to be my fifth battle today. I've fought many opponents during the last few weeks, but you're the first Ghost type I've had to face. I'm looking forward to this." At this point the little pokémon struck a fighting pose, bracing itself for the upcoming battle. It fixed Bolovayr with its beady eyes. "So then. Shall we?"
"But of course." My Gastly's eyes narrowed with concentration. "This is going to prove most interesting. I can just feel it."

FIGHT!!! L7 Gastly v L8 Sandshrew!

Almost immediately Bolovayr's opponent launched into an attack, hardly giving the Gastly a chance to so much as think of a strategy. The Sandshrew pounced quickly, forcing him into quickly zipping out of the way. He had no idea as to what attack his opponent had been trying to use there, but he knew better than to think it might have been Scratch or some other, equally ineffective, move!
"You're not so bad with your reactions, you know," the Sandshrew commented, turning to fix Bolovayr with a slight smile. "I thought this might be interesting. But let's see how you deal with this one, shall we?" Concentrating hard, the little pokémon began to grunt with exertion. For a moment Bolovayr was too uncertain to interrupt. Until it was too late, and the sand around his opponent began to whirl around it in a frenzy, animated by some strange power. It was quite obvious what was happening here. And Bolovayr had no intention of letting this progress any further.
"Enough of this!" the Gastly cried concentrating all of his energies into firing a huge beam of pure coldness into the centre of this sandstorm. Only by now it was incredibly hard to tell if it had struck the Sandshrew or not. The pokémon's colouring helped it to blend in with the whirling grains perfectly, and even if that hadn't been the case it would have been near impossible for Bolovayr to see straight, the sand forcing him into an unnatural squint as it whipped about his features. So this left the burning question. Had his Ice Beam struck home or not?
"Nice try, but you're going to have to do better than that!" A voice from behind the Gastly suddenly answered this particular query, the Sandshrew making another pounce towards his gaseous form and this time connecting with its attack. Bolovayr suddenly found an intense pain engulfing his back, a pawful of tiny claws raking thin lines in the matter that made up his body. "Metal Claw," his opponent chuckled, finding his pain and confusion rather amusing. "Never leave home without it."
"Hey, that's not funny!" Bolovayr complained, somehow managing to find it within his normally easygoing personality to be angry. Furiously he retaliated in the only way he knew how, striking the Sandshrew hard with his tongue in a manner that was more like a slap in the face than a proper Lick attack. His opponent staggered to the side, evidently caught off guard by the strength of the blow. And that was exactly what the Gastly had been waiting for. Building up his energy once again, he shot another Ice Beam towards his opponent, this time from point blank range. The Sandshrew had no chance to avoid the attack, and with a cry of surprise was hurled backwards, even deeper into the Sandstorm that it had kicked up earlier. Which was a problem for Bolovayr. Now he couldn't see whether his opponent was in a fighting condition or not! For all he knew it could be taking the opportunity to make use of its camouflage, to hide in the sand until Bolovayr was too lost to fight back. Tentatively the Gastly began to edge further into the Sandstorm, trying very hard to ignore the constant irritation of a million whirling grains of sand striking all over his body. "Where are you?" he cried out. "I know you're out there! Show your face or else!" Maybe it was just his usual paranoia, but the Ghost-type couldn't help but feel he was being watched. "I'm warning you..." Was that a noise he heard from behind him? The Gastly didn't dare chance it. Quickly he whirled around and fired another Ice Beam randomly into the winds, but to no avail. He was left none the wiser as to the location of his opponent. "Damn it, come out here and face me, you infernal trickster!"
"Whatever you want!" All of a sudden the ground beneath Bolovayr seemed to erupt, the Sandshrew using its astounding tunneling abilities to try and strike the Gastly from below. However now was one of the few times where being an over-imaginative conspiracy theorist paid off for Bolovayr. He had been half expecting this sudden assault, and hence it wasn't all that difficult to avoid it, the Gastly twisting nimbly so that his opponent's claws passed inches away from his face. Now it was time to finish this, before the Sandshrew could try something else. Hastily Bolovayr gathered together all of the energies he had at his disposal, converting them into one final Ice Beam that he fired with devastating accuracy towards his opponent. The bulky pokémon didn't stand a chance, the attack striking it squarely in the side and knocking it to the floor. Where it lay, too drained and exhausted to carry on with the battle.
"You're... not half bad," the Sandshrew smiled, craning its head so as to get one final look at the pokémon responsible for this defeat. "It's been fun." At this point the pokémon's eyes closed, slipping into a peaceful slumber. Victory was Bolovayr's. And it was a victory well earned.

Bolovayr wins!
Bolovayr grew to L8!
Bolovayr learned Spite!

"Hey guys!" We were in the middle of congratulating Bolovayr on a good battle when Kasumi finally decided to reappear, a tray filled with large beakers of soft drinks bobbing steadily in front of her. "What did I miss?"
"Everything, Sumi," I replied, greedily grabbing a Coke and downing it in one, feeling the relief as the sweet liquid drooled down my throat. Oh, how good that felt! And a cursory look around at my team revealed that I wasn't the only one who was desperate for the drinks, relief showing on the faces of each and every pokémon that surrounded me. My thirst finally quenched, my attention returned to my overly fluffy Growlithe. "So what took you so long, anyway? Didn't run into Thunderblast, did you?"
"If only!" Kasumi grumbled. "Lemme tell you something, Ade, even Ulthuan refreshment sales people are pretty unwilling to serve telekinetic Growlithes, it's really annoying. Took ages to get him to pay me any attention!"
"Really?" Beckham's ears twitched and the Wartortle ambled over, unable to resist joining in the conversation. "So how did you manage it?"
"I... uhh... kinda had to dangle him upside-down twenty feet in the air," came the sheepish reply. "Yeah, yeah, I know all the spiel about not abusing my powers and how it all reflects badly on us as a team if we start getting too rowdy, but what else was I supposed to do? You guys wanted drink, he had drink but the only other option was to bite his leg if I wanted his attention! And don't get me started on how there's about six different Desert Rooms in this place and I forgot which one we were booked in for." Kasumi shook her head vigorously. "Man, I'm pissed off after all that, I need to de-stress. Don't suppose we can call in on Danny on the way back, could we?"
"Yeah, and if I'm very lucky I can leave you there," I jibed. "Although I'm not sure I'd wish that on him."
"Stop being mean, Ade, I'm a good girl really!"
"Good at what?"
"Ade, I really must dissuade you from encouraging her any further," Marius hastily interjected, well aware of where this conversation was potentially headed. "Can we please just return home before the aridity of our location dehydrates us to the point of illness?"
"Not a bad plan, actually." My Dratini was right. There was a time and a place for everything, and this was most certainly neither the time nor the place for standing around bickering. "Come on, guys. Let's go home."

[Lady Vulpix]

I'll take some time to read all of that. I still have 23 pages of Unicorn Games battles to go through. o_o And an exam tomorrow. But don't worry, I will read it all sooner or later.

BTW, Ade, have you by any chance read my latest battles? There's nothing too special about them, but I would like someone to read them because I spent a long time writing them.

[Charizard04621]

Lol! Take 15 Stamps, Mike, that was a fun story.

Gabi, I'll read yours next.

[EDIT]: Wow, that was great, Gabi! Take 23 Stamps!

[AntiAsh Superstar]

I'll take some time to read all of that. I still have 23 pages of Unicorn Games battles to go through. o_o And an exam tomorrow. But don't worry, I will read it all sooner or later.

BTW, Ade, have you by any chance read my latest battles? There's nothing too special about them, but I would like someone to read them because I spent a long time writing them.

Actually, yes, I have, they're quite excellent. Ventura's behaviour in particular has caught my attention, I'll be especially interested to see what happens with her in the future.

[Charizard04621]

Actually, yes, I have, they're quite excellent. Ventura's behaviour in particular has caught my attention, I'll be especially interested to see what happens with her in the future.

Speaking of which, I forgot to ask, Gabi, was Ventura the one whose little excerpt from the Templa Taure scenario you showed me?

[Lady Vulpix]

Yes, Karin, she was. Which reminds me, Ade and I need to finish that story ASAP. Otherwise nobody will understand the references to it. Thanks for the stamps, and thanks to both of you for reading!

[Subliminal Seranade]

(I got the Spin from pokemon zoo.)


“Hmmm… I wonder what I should do today. I’m so excited that I just got some pokemon and now I can have battles like all the other kids, and there’s not one person who can stop me.” I said. “I”! My mom yelled at the top of her lungs. “Except her” I thought. I ran down the stairs and around the corner to see Swablu and Spin the Baltoy out of their pokeballs. Swablu was dusting everything from the bookcase to the mantle and it was covered in dust and grime. Spin was doing what the people at the adoption agency said it would do… spin. It wasn’t spinning out of control but it was gaining speed. I felt winds starting to pick up and that’s when I took some action. “Hey! You two come over here.” Spin and Swablu both floated over and look at me with puppy dog eyes. “Quintin Jermaine Singleton what have I told you about pokemon in the house, or about pokemon period.” Mom said scoldingly. “You said that pokemon are animals and shouldn’t be in the house.” I said unwillingly as I thought pokemon were more than just animals. “And I said that you can’t have any pokemon until your 16th birthday” Mom said. “Mom… I’m 19 yrs old! Gosh!” I said. “Well keep them outside or in their balls” Mom said. “Yes mom” I mumbled.

I went back up stairs and let them in through the window. “Hey, were leaving tonight. Were gonna go to the battle range. I know you two wanna go right?” I said sure that they’d say yes. “I don’t know… what if I get my wing ripped off” Swablu said. “Quit bein such ah punk swabby, you ain’t gon get urt” Spin said with an attitude. “Oh, yea I wanna go dere Q. Kick some butt an take some names, afta I kick some butt uh course.” “You’re pretty confident aren’t you Spin” I said. “Well I think we’d better get some food and call it a night.”

The next couple of hours Spin was up trying to spin as fast as he could. He was trying to get ready just incase he battled. He used rapid spin and tried to maneuver back and forth, left and right. He was doing really well until he hit Quintin’s dresser and broke a piece off. “WTF was that” I said as I jumped up and grabbed the Louisville Slugger that was directly behind my bed. “I’m sorry" Spin said looking sad. "If I was evolved ahready I woulda seen dat comin." He said. "Spin just no more rapid spinning in the house. OK?" I said. "Yes..." Spin said not wanting to. I thought since we were already up that we should make our break and hop out of my window. So I woke up Swablu who was in his pokeball knocked out like Roy Jones Jr. after Antonio Tarver hit him with a counter punch to the jaw and walked over to grab my pack. I checked everything and then I noticed that I just started with pokemon and I don't have much. So I picked up my pack and we all left out of the window. I left my mother a note and the number to a cell phone I had just bought a few days ago. So after that we walked into the night.

The next day we woke up alongside the outside wall of the battle range. I yawned a while and then I had woke up Swablu. "Hey, do you wanna battle today. You really shouldn't be scared because at such a low level you'll be alright. Nothing can just obliterate you or anything." I said wanting to see Swablu in action. For some reason I felt a hidden power inside of Swablu and I'm not talking about the move. I mean a certain destructive power that only someone with a destructive nature could sense. I wanted to see it, feel that power and learn how to tap it. "So are you gonna today or not cuz I gotta register you at the front desk." I asked. "I will" Swablu said. "Ok then it's set" I said excitedly.

I registered the two and we walked through the big steel doors. You could feel tension in the air. The place was huge. There seemed to be about one hundred other trainers hustling and bustling about doing things from getting there pokemon healed at the center to equipping there pokemon with items. I was just ready to battle. “Dere, I want ta go in Dere” Spin said as he floated closer to the door. “Are you sure” I asked. “That’s the Blizzard room and seeing as you’re a ground type you my not fare to well in there”. That’s when Spin took off into the room. The inside of the room was a whole lot bigger than it seemed from the outside and it was cold enough to freeze the flames on a Rapidash.

I found Spin staring face to face with a Ralts that seemed to be rather tame. I was so surprised to see that pokemon that I forgot that I was freezing. No sooner than I was about to tell Spin to attack did I see a trainer emerge from the frigid winds into view.
“I am Misha” She said with a thick Russian accent. “We will battle now!”

Lv. 7 Spin the Baltoy Vs. Lv.8 Ralts

Her ralts disappeared from sight and appeared right on top of spin and hit it with a well aimed Confusion that sent Spin rocking back. It wasn’t very effective but the impact of the attack was. “I can tell you guys train a lot together” I said as I was thinking of a way to retaliate. Misha said nothing she only smiled. “Use your mud-slap” I screamed as I thought of a plan. Spin started to spin and I thought it was not obeying. I was about to say something but I saw it start to tilt to the side. With its arms spinning it collided with the ground and started to fling mud into the Ralts face. I was surprised by the accuracy of his attack and it’s power. After the Ralts cleared it’s face of the mud it started to teleport like crazy. “Follow it!” I shouted as the Ralts continued to appear and disappear. The two pokemon reminded me of an episode of Dragonball Z I had seen before when Goku and Vegeta were moving almost faster than the eye could see. The Ralts slapped Spin in the face but to no effect as it wasn’t an actual attack. “It’s to fast. Let’s try a Rapid Spin Attack!” The moment I said Rapid Spin Spin seemed to shiver, was it from the cold or the joy of getting to spin. Spin started slow at first, but then picked up speed exponentially. Winds were starting to pick up as Spin moved closer to Ralts. Ralts was still moving fast but showed signs of slowing down. Then it stopped. Misha must’ve spoke to Ralts through their psychic bond because Ralts started to concentrate. The pokemon created a large blob of psychic energy and held it steady as it floated in mid air. Spin was still spinning and debris was circling around it. I was afraid that the power of the two attacks hitting each other would create a huge explosion. Ralts launched the blob and it zoomed towards Spin. “Watch out spin!” I said but spin could do nothing. It just kept spinning and as the energy hit it left a big puff of white smoke. As it clear you could see that Spin was ok. Some of the energy that hit Spin had got caught in the whirl of the Rapid Spin. “Spin try to use a Confusion attack.” I said as I had an idea. If the psychic energy of Ralts attack couldn’t get in then that meant the psychic power of Spin’s attack couldn’t get out. Spin started to use the attack and just like I thought it started to swirl around like a tornado. “Keep using it” I said as Misha was staring in awe. Ralts was stuck in place as it seemed it didn’t know what to do and Misha wasn’t giving any psychic commands. The tornado of energy smacked Ralts and flung it far into the air. It landed with a thud and the battle was over.

Spin the Baltoy is now Lv. 8

“Your Baltoy has potential. Ralts return.” Misha said as she walked away. Spin then collapsed and I brought it back into the ball. “Good job Spin, you were great.” I said as I clipped the ball onto my pants leg. Just then my phone rang. “Quintin Jermaine Singleton!! WhereTF are you?!” Mom screamed. “I’m at the battle range” I said with an attitude. “Well get back home, your dad wants to see you.” She said right before she clicked. Wow, dad was finally home. I had to go back.

[AntiAsh Superstar]

Here's more battles from my team. Since I've now ploughed through all the available rooms, can I also take this opportunity to request a RBG battle for Pearl in the Electric Shutdown Retirement System, please? *pays 7 stamps*

-----

Life with a family was a whole lot harder than Pearl had ever anticipated. All of the trials and tribulations that she had been through up to this point, they all seemed as nothing compared to the roller-coaster ride of emotions that being a mother brought with it. Celeste was such a small, delicate little creature, the darling daughter that Pearl had always secretly longed for. And she doted on her tremendously, being there with her for everything that the little Vulpix had to go through. Admittedly, occasionally she pined for her old life, pined for the chance to mess around and participate in the training sessions of the others. But then her ruby-red eyes would alight on Celeste, she would find herself drawn into the simple sweetness of the Vulpix, and all the doubt would be washed from her mind. She just knew that her place was by her daughter, helping her through life as best she could. Which was why the Ninetales was currently in something of a panic, pacing round and round the outside of the house in a desperate attempt to calm her nerves. Life, it seemed, had just delivered the latest nasty setback.
"Umm... do you mind if I... uh... ask you something?" As she passed the apple tree that graced the centre of the back garden for possibly the thousandth time, Pearl became suddenly aware of a voice from behind her. Turning slowly, she noticed a pair of large, innocent eyes staring at her, eyes that looked as if they could have done with a little more sleep. It was Brandy, of course, the shy Onix that inhabited the garden.
"Oh! Sorry, Brandy, I didn't realise you were there!" Pearl commented, rather flustered all of a sudden. "Sure, what is it you want?"
"Well... I'm just a little worried, y...you seem a little..." Eventually the Onix finally just decided to come out and say it. "You look worried about something, is everything okay?"
"Actually, no, it's not." Pearl sighed, making her way over to Brandy and settling herself down besides her huge snake-like body. That had been the exact question she had been waiting for! "Brandy, I'm worried about Celeste."
"Why?"
"It all started the other day, you see. We'd all gone out for a walk to the countryside outside the city, taken a little picnic, even. And it all started off well enough. You know how it goes when we all get together on an outing. Ade and Soo enter their own little world and start staring at the clouds, Becks drinks all the beer within two minutes flat, Milliardo, Pandora and Marius sit at the back pretending to find fault with everything, you know how it goes by now. Anyway, we set up camp at this stream, and Ryo-Ohki, Celeste and Rhiannon want to run off further downstream to play on a patch of sand. So I think to myself why not? Celeste would have been fine with the other two, Ryo-Ohki may be just a kid but he can look after himself well enough, and even the hyperactive Rhiannon is tougher than most of us combined due to whatever weird things they did to her in her past. So I let them go off. I was quite glad of the chance to have a break, actually. Anyway, we're all just messing about in our stupid way when all of a sudden I hear terrible screams from downstream. I can't begin to tell you how I felt, I just knew something dreadful was happening so I shot off at once."
"And what was it?"
"Can you believe it? Some Gyarados bully-boy was terrorising the kids! I arrived just in time to see it lunge at Rhiannon ? she must have caught its attention somehow, and I owe her for that. Well, I didn't know what to do, my only thoughts were to save my baby! I would have lunged in there myself irrespective of how little a chance I stood, but fortunately Katnip and Milliardo were right behind me. I'd never seen either looking so furious! Well, it's obvious, really, Celeste IS Katnip's daughter too, and as for Milliardo he's always had a huge chip on his shoulder about bullies. I'd say that Gyarados deserved every bruise it got. But it left me so shaken, Brandy, I was so scared, more scared that I'd ever been in my life. What if we had got there a split second later?"
"I don?t know." Brandy shuddered, the tale bringing memories of her own to the fore. She knew exactly what it was like to be just an infant and faced with such a terrible threat. Had she not only escaped death at the hands of the sadistic Salamence, Reaper, due to the interference of others? Interference that had been too late to save her parents, maybe, but at least her life had been spared.
"I'm guessin' Rhi would've done one of her shifts an' the Gyarados would prolly be dead. I reckon we did it a big favour." By now Katnip had entered the conversation, having come outside to find out where Pearl had got to. He didn't need to look very far. "Babe, ya gotta realise that was just a one off, ya can?t watch her all the time. Ir'll do neither of ya any good"
"Well what do you suggest we do?" The Ninetales fixed her partner with an odd look.
"We talked about this before, remember?" Katnip rolled his eyes. "Ya know what I think. She's old enough ta learn how ta defend herself if she has ta. Look how quickly Marius learned when he was just a kid."
"Well it?s different for Marius, he's not exactly what anyone could call a normal pokémon, look how quickly he developed, period." Pearl snapped. "I'm not having my baby involved in battling, not this young. Look how much pain and hurt we've all been through because of it."
"Pain an' hurt? Those're 'coz of the circumstances, not the battles!"
"Oh, so kindly explain why you only have one and a half ears then if battling doesn't get you hurt. Or why Milliardo's tail doesn't end in a point."
"Pearl, there's a difference between learnin' how ta defend yerself an' goin' out askin' fer the most difficult fight ya possibly can, which is what me and Milly do. Don't see anyone less inta battle with much in the way of scarrin'." The Raticate sighed. "Look, don't ya agree yer'd worry less if ya knew she could fend fer herself? I know how ya must feel, she's my daughter as well ya know, but it?s prolly best she learns a few tricks sooner rather than later." Katnip looked over at Brandy in hope of support, but the Onix clearly would have rather been left out of it, such was the confused look in her eyes. "C'mon, Pearl, relax the reins a little an' admit that we'd all be a lot less on edge if Celeste had a little trainin'."
"I suppose..." Pearl sighed, admitting defeat. It was true. Celeste wouldn't be a cub for much longer, and besides which they were taught these things practically from birth in the wild. It had been the only way to survive in some cases, especially in the smaller Ninetales clans. "Just enough so that she can look after herself if I'm not around. I have to admit, it's been frustrating not being able to do anything when you guys could have used my help. But how to start? I know Ade's not legally supposed to take on any more trained pokémon, so... I guess I have a word with Soo and ask if she'll help out. She's a bit of an airhead sometimes but she takes really good care of her baby Minun and Plusle and I think she's far more patience with children than Ade anyway so..." The Ninetales smiled briefly. "Okay, Katnip, you win. I'll have a word with her, okay?"

And so it was that later my Ninetales found herself having to ask for a favour that she had hoped she would never have to ask. It happened at breakfast, the usual running buffet prepared by Sindel amidst her trademark complaints about being unappreciated. Initially my Ninetales was unsure as to how to broach the subject. But upon seeing Soo lovingly tending to Kaguya and Yuki all her inhibitions melted away. This was a person that she knew she could trust with the one thing that she held dearest of all.
"Soo?" Skillfully dodging a random spoon straying across her path as Sindel finally lost her patience with Milliardo's wisecracks, Pearl made her way over to where Soo was sat in a denim skirt, camouflage-coloured vest and black cardigan, Kassandra sat upon her knee ranting randomly about her skill in the Unicorn Games. "Can I have a word, please?"
"Oh? Sure, Pearl." Hurriedly Soo shoved what little remained of her breakfast into her mouth and set Kassandra down on the floor. "Kass, can I trust you not to bug the others too much while I'm gone?"
"What do you think I am?" came the indignant response. "Of course you can trust me, Soo, I'm the most well-behaved pokémon in the world!!!!" The Charmander began to race round and round the table, tripping nearly everyone else up in the process. It wasn't the most promising of starts.
"Uhh... okay, I'd better make this quick, I guess." Nimbly Soo followed my Ninetales to the relative peace of the hallway, where only a solitary hat stand, a desk by the front door covered in bills, and a rather twisted portrait of a dark blue wolf-like creature that could well have been related to Tsuyoi's demonic half were around to bear witness to the conversation. "So, what did you want to talk to me about? Ade hasn't done anything stupid again, has he?"
"No, no, you'll be pleased to know that this has nothing to do with Ade, it's about me, or rather..." Why did Pearl find this so hard? Normally she could find the right words to say in any given situation, but for some reason today seemed to be a bad time for clarity. Eventually the Ninetales just decided to come out and say her piece, as much as she hated to do so. "Soo, I... well, we, need to ask a huge favour of you. It's about Celeste."
"Cute, isn't she?"
"An absolute sweetheart, it's true," Pearl replied proudly. "I've never felt happier than I have since I had her, you know." All of a sudden the Ninetales remembered what she had originally dragged Soo away from the kitchen to ask. "Anyway, Celeste is getting quite old now, still a cub but certainly old enough to fend for herself if she had to. The trouble is I don't think I can bring myself to teach her battle techniques myself. So, basically, this is how it stands, Soo. I'd like it if you could please take Celeste onto your team for a while, and help to teach her how to defend herself. You'd have all the help you needed, of course. But you're the only trainer other than Ade who I trust enough to do this for me, and unlike Ade you've not got a full team. What do you say? Will you do this for me, please?" A long silence followed this, as Soo pondered the ramifications of this request. Eventually she fixed my Ninetales with her most fetching smile. Soo's smiles were always things that could instantly placate any worries. Her moods were usually highly infectious, and right now her mood was one that radiated a combination of confidence and delight.
"Of course, Pearl. I'd be honoured to," she beamed.

It always took a major effort to coordinate all of my pokémon into some semblance of order after breakfast. This was the period where they were most likely to run wild. Where Beckham was most likely to drop his cereal bowl, or where a half-asleep Milliardo was most likely to upset Pandora with some ill-chosen words. Most of the time I simply couldn't manage it alone; I usually had to rely on the assistance of my more level-headed pokémon just to get us all out of the door before midday. Or, in extreme cases, resort to Tsuyoi's less subtle aid. However, today seemed to be different. Today everyone seemed to have organised themselves without so much as one harsh word to encourage them on their way.
"Whoa, what's up with you guys all of a sudden?" I found myself asking as I noticed my pokémon all fed and ready to go out for our latest training session before I myself had managed to finish my preparations. "I'm not used to this!"
"Well, none of us were really in the mood to bicker for once, so we figured we'd surprise you and be ready on time for once," Milliardo explained as the self-appointed spokesperson of the group. "Hey, we'll actually be at the training grounds before all the stalls shut this time, too, just in case us being organised isn't enough to totally blow your mind."
"What? You mean the ice cream stand will be open this time? YAY!!!!" Rhiannon raced in circles around my legs, her more sensible persona evidently having decided on a rest for now. Eventually the Eevee was joined by Kassandra, Ryo-Ohki and Kirei in a mad race that culminated in all four pokémon running straight into each other. Well, I would have been worried if our preparations had gone entirely without incident!
"Yes, Rhi, you can have ice cream today," I laughed, helping the pile of pokémon back to their feet. "Actually, we probably won't be there for that long, we only have one room left to train in, don't we? The Jungle Room, if I remember correctly."
"Oh my God, Ade, you mean you won't have to spend at least two hours deliberating which rooms to use and in which order? How will you find meaning in your life now?"
"I thought you said you weren't in the mood to bicker, Milliardo." I cast my Umbreon a despairing glance.
"So I lied." Milliardo stuck his tongue our rather deliberately in my direction. "Deal with it." I simply rolled my eyes, knowing better than to encourage my Umbreon any further by engaging him in his favourite pastime of trading insults. Better to just press on with my plans for the day instead. And those plans involved actually doing my job and training my team. What could be simpler than that?

The journey to the training grounds had passed without incident. Or at least passed without any incident that was anything out of the ordinary. It had just been a rather tedious trek over to the training grounds once more, my entire team accompanying me on this final excursion now that Pearl had finally accepted the fact that she couldn't mother her daughter all the time. And, with the sole exception of a pause to buy ice cream, we had managed to walk straight through the doors of the training grounds and into the final room, the Jungle Room, where our final challenges would lie. It was a quite remarkable room, this one. Everywhere you looked, strange and exotic plants covered the floors and walls to such an extent that it was very easy to forget that you were in fact indoors. The air was thick with the scents of a thousand flowers in bloom, the assault on the nostrils almost dizzying. And the sounds, too, from the calls of non-combative creatures in the room to the quiet babbling of the stream that trickled through the arena. Every single sense could be indulged to the full here in this tropical paradise. In fact it seemed to me that it would have made a lovely place to just spend a day wandering. Unfortunately we were here on business. As some of my team were insistent on reminding me.
"This isn't so special," Scratchy commented, watching with disdain as Katnip raced through the treetops gathering fruit to stuff his face with. "It's not even realistic."
"Well I'd like to see you do a better job of putting together an artificial environment!" Marius responded on behalf of those of us who thought that actually the Guild had done a rather good job of creating a fake jungle. "We shouldn't be quick to dismiss the grand efforts of those who designed this training facility, you know."
"What would you know? You were hatched in a cardboard box, you've never seen a real jungle in your life!" the Paras snapped irritably. "It bugs me. If you're going to do something you should at least do it right."
"Ignoring the fact that everything bugs you to some extent or other, you eternal grouch of an insect, please do lend us your expert opinion on what's so wrong about this, we'd dearly love to hear." Milliardo rolled his eyes. In his mind, Scratchy was just complaining for the sake of complaining. "Oh, I'm sorry, I forgot, there's nothing wrong, is there, you're just never happy unless you're moaning."
"Can you guys not just get along for once?" My request was a fruitless one, for already my Paras was unleashing his considerable criticisms.
"Actually, there's loads of flaws here. For a start, the floor is way too flat, you'd expect it to be far bumpier, and more barren in places rather than having all this grass everywhere. The trees shouldn't really be this haphazard, either, there's a logic to the way they grow normally if you take the time to notice it. And quite what's going on with that stream I've no idea, it seems to me as if they just stuck it in just for the sake of having a water feature. No thought to it whatsoever. And Milliardo, next time think before you open your mouth, it really saves us all a lot of wasted breath." Scratchy was more animated than I had seen him in a long time. Normally he just stayed out of the way and glared at anyone who dared interrupt his sedentary lifestyle. But here a rather profound change had come over him. Maybe it was just the Grass type in him responding to the close proximity of so much plant life; the last time the Paras had come out of his shell this much was in the thick forest of Templa Taure, after all. But it was hard to shake the notion that there was more to it than a mere affinity with nature. "Oh, and those two plants would never be seen in the same area." Scratchy gestured with a pincer. "The tall blue flowers would be more a riverside feature, the wider orange ones tend to be hidden away in drier soil."
"You sound like you know what you're talking about, Scratchy!" I commented, impressed.
"Of course I do, I grew up in surroundings like these if you must know. Do you think I'm dense enough to forget what my own childhood was like? What kind of moron does something like that?"
"Actually much of our early days seem quite a haze, so if you'd be so kind as to heed your own advice about opening your mouth before speaking we'd be grateful." Rhiannon grew sombre for long enough to catch Scratchy a glancing blow to the head with her front paw, which seemed to shut the Paras up admirably. And then all of a sudden her tone changed. "Uhh... wait... where did I put my ice cream?" The Eevee suddenly blinked, regaining the rather befuddled expression she had been sporting all morning for a moment before letting it crease into a miserable pout. "Great! She's gone and put it down somewhere and lost it! No fair!" She looked about ready to cry.
"Oh... for $^%&'s sake, Rhi, come with me and we'll get you some more, the last thing everyone needs is for you to start bawling over some stupid missing dessert!" Milliardo sighed, the urge to look after his sister growing too much to resist. Especially after she had done so well at shutting Scratchy up. "We'll catch you guys later, okay? I'm bored of sitting around these stupid training rooms anyway." Without so much as waiting for a response the Umbreon bounded off into the undergrowth.
"Hey, wait for me, Milliardo! That's not fair, you know you're faster than I am!!!" Complaining loudly, Rhiannon hopped off after him, leaving the rest of the group in relative silence. Until finally Scratchy regained consciousness and launched into another tirade.
"Completely uncalled for. Nobody has any manners at all these days, since when did a blow to the head become a valid argument?" I had to admit that I was starting to see the attraction of stunning my Paras myself. I had forgotten exactly how much of a pain his non-stop complaining was. "Anyway, let's push on, otherwise we'll never get any training done." So saying, the Paras waddled onwards, at last having finally found a point on which we could all agree.

"Ade!" We had been wandering in the artificial forests of the Jungle Room for a short while and had just reached its stream's widest point when a strangely familiar voice called over to me. For a moment I couldn't quite place where its source was. "Over here!" Finally my eyes alighted on a young woman in her early twenties dressed in khaki shorts, a red short-sleeved blouse and with a beige sun hat crowning her long, midnight-blue hair. Her youthful, freckle-filled face was dwarfed behind a large pair of circular spectacles that almost seemed to cover her every feature. Quickly she stood up from her position paddling in the side of the stream and wandered over barefoot, seeming to forget about her shoes, or her backpack, or indeed her belt filled with pokéballs,, all of which were left beside the clear rushing waters. "I was beginning to worry that you'd never get round to training here."
"Hey, I wasn't about to use these rooms without calling in on you at least once!" I grinned. "I've kinda missed our sparring sessions, Gina."
"Yeah, me too." Gina belonged to the group of trainers for hire that were responsible for keeping the training grounds filled with pokémon. Some preferred to keep in the background and make their pokémon act as if wild. Others enjoyed the thrill of a formal battle. And this woman definitely belonged to the latter group. "Ah well. We can make up for lost time now, huh?"
"Yeah. Oh, by the way, shouldn't you be keeping a closer eye on your stuff?" I could just see some wild pokémon making off with the mercenary trainer's backpack. She was a smart cookie, certainly, but dreadfully excitable and had probably forgotten all about her belongings in the rush to greet me.
"Oh yeah, good point, I did leave my belt back there and we couldn't exactly train without that!" The woman trotted nimbly back to the stream, picked up her pokéball belt, slung it over her shoulder and ran back. "The rest of the stuff I don't care too much about, really, the backpack's only got some sun lotion, a rather crap novel I only bought because it was cheap, a flask of water and a half eaten ham sandwich in it anyway. And if a wild pokémon wants to steal those stupidly hot safari shoes it'd probably be doing me a favour. My feet have been killing me all day, why do you think I was paddling in the first place?"
"I just assumed you were bored, actually," I admitted, before wondering exactly why I cared what her reasons were. If she wanted to cool down in her own training room it was certainly no business of mine! "Anyway, we're here for a battle, right?"
"Sure thing, but I really must insist that I treat you, Soo and both your teams to lunch afterwards, you've been the first face I've recognised all week and it'd be worth the cost just to break the boredom." Gina grinned broadly. "Anyway... did you have anyone in mind for our first battle? We get to have a two-on-two today if that interests you."
"That it does. Actually my Paras seems to have way too much pent-up energy today, he's just been carping on all morning. I reckon he could use a release." I eyed Scratchy with a despairing look upon my face. "What do you say?"
"I say about time too!" Scratchy grumbled, waddling forward to take his place in front of me. "The last time I battled was at the Dragon Games. It's ridiculous, Ade, I've been on your team from the very moment you set foot in Ulthuan yet Milliardo's seen more battles than I have."
"Scratchy. Just shut up and fight, would you?" I turned my attentions back to Gina, who was studying my Paras with a pokédex-like device.
"Okaaay..." she commented. "First bracket strength level, but only just... we'll want my strongest first bracketer if we want this battle to be of any use, so..." Carefully she selected a pokéball, tugged it off her belt and pointed it at the space in front of her. "I'll be using my Chikorita. Come out, Hannah!" With a single press of the circular button on the front of the red and white sphere, Gina released her pokémon in a flash of white light.
"Chiko!" the little green pokémon cried happily, seeming all too chirpy for a pokémon about to battle. Well, this seemed like it was going to be an interesting mix of personalities, at any rate! I just hoped that Scratchy would be able to keep his cool during the battle. His temper was almost legendary.
"Okay, Ade, you ready?" Gina grinned, pushing her glasses up her nose.
"Sure thing." It was too late for doubts now. Best to just get on with it and hope my Paras had grown less irritable with age. Like that would ever happen. "Let's get on with it, then."

FIGHT!!! L14 Paras v L15 Chikorita!

Scratchy eyed his opponent with contempt. What was the meaning of this, sending out such a creature to fight him? Its very aura annoyed him. So there was only really one thing he could do. And that was to show the creature and its trainer that he wasn't a Paras to be messed with.
"Prepare yourself!" he yelled suddenly, scuttling forwards with a pincer poised, ready to strike his opponent with a vicious Scratch. Unfortunately the Paras found himself up against a familiar enemy, that of his naturally awkward physique. Gina's Chikorita was able to sidestep the blow with ease, although the look of annoyance on its face was obvious.
"Watch it!" it shrieked. "Give me a chance here! I know you Bug types can thrash me in seconds, would it hurt to let me think for a moment?"
"I don't know any Bug attacks anyway. Somebody hasn't trained me enough. So I don't know what you're moaning about." Scratchy wasn't about to fall for a trick like that! Again he swiped with his pincers, and again the Chikorita dodged amidst similar complaints of type disadvantage. "Can you not hear what I'm saying or something? I don't know Leech Life yet. Quit whining!"
"Yeah, but what's a Grass type supposed to do against a Bug type anyway?"
"I don't know, you're supposed to know that, not me, and if you don't it's tough luck for you, isn't it?" Frustration lending him strength, Scratchy took another swipe at his adversary, and this time the tip of his pincer managed to trace a thin line of red across the Chikorita's cheek. The little green pokémon seemed horrified.
"See? You're not playing fair!" Angrily the Grass-type barged hard into Scratchy's side with a rough Tackle that would have almost certainly floored the Paras had his centre of gravity not been so low to the ground. As it was you would have had to have set out to flip him over in order to topple him. "Well I do know a few tricks to counter that!" Concentrating hard, the Chikorita summoned a protective barrier around itself, a barely visible shield that would protect it from further harm for now. "Ha! See? Your cheap tricks won't help you now!"
"Hannah, he's playing by the book, will you stop being such a wuss about having to fight a pokémon you're weak against for once?" Gina complained from the sidelines. "If you ever want to evolve you're going to have to buck your ideas up! Now seeing as you're being a pain about this we'll go back to basics, shall we? Hannah, use Fury Cutter!"
"Well, okay, if you say so!" The little Chikorita charged at Scratchy, swinging her leaf around to swipe at him with all her strength and catching him a vicious blow to the side that left the Paras wincing in pain. And worse was yet to come. The leaf was still swinging around violently, gaining momentum with every passing second. Very soon its blows would grow too strong and too painful to bear. Unless Scratchy did something to stop his opponent, of course. And he knew of just the trick.
"You talk of cheap tricks? You haven't seen a thing!" Just as his opponent was about to strike him for a second time, Scratchy blasted a huge cloud of dust right into her face. The effect was instantaneous. The Chikorita seemed to freeze up in mid attack, her muscles failing her as the Stun Spore attack did its work, leaving her in a state of semi-paralysis. Evidently my Paras had decided it was time to get serious. For in this situation his only weakness, his slow reaction time, was eliminated completely. Even a Paras could outmaneuver a paralysed pokémon! Even now he was scuttling in to take advantage of the handicapped state of Gina's pokémon. However, the little pokémon seemed to have other ideas, managing to gain enough control of her body to skid forward slightly in order to kick a fine shower of mud into Scratchy's face, temporarily blinding him. It didn't hurt much, of course. But then again it wasn't supposed to. Mud Slap was only really meant to irritate, to pave the way for further attacks. A commendable trick. At least on any pokémon that wasn't Scratchy. "How dare you!!!" he roared, swiping as hard as he could at his opponent, his pincer suddenly moving in a blur of speed most uncharacteristic of his species and cutting a huge gash in the Chikorita's side that would have almost certainly have finished the battle on its own had the pokémon not been protected by its earlier usage of Reflect. As it was the Slash attack - for that was what it was - had simply succeeded in leaving a rather nasty wound all along his opponent's chest.
"How could you do that?" the Chikorita shrieked, too busy fussing over its wound to notice that Scratchy was already preparing for another attack, his pincer raised once again to finish the job that it had started. "How could you?"
"Hannah, eyes on your opponent, he's going to..." Gina's advice came a fraction of a second too late to save her pokémon. By the time Hannah had realised what was going on it was too late, the sharp pincer was coming down like a sharp orange scythe to dig deep into her flesh once again. And this time the blow was sufficient to break trough her barriers, sufficient to take the Chikorita to the very edges of her limits and beyond. With this one stroke Scratchy brought the pokémon to her knees, to finally collapse face first amidst the grass that carpeted the floor. "Oh... too late. I did try warn you, you daft Chikorita." Almost nonchalantly Gina recalled her pokémon, leaving Scratchy to once again savour the taste of victory. It was a good feeling, bordering almost on being a much-needed release. Sometimes the tension simply grew too much, and who would begrudge my strange little Paras his chance to let off some steam?
"Feel better for that, Scratchy?" I asked as he slowly made his way back to our group, seemingly much calmer than I had seen him for quite some time.
"Somewhat. I'd still prefer it if you actually trained us more in future instead of getting dragged into all these stupid little problems of yours, though," the Paras snorted by way of reply.
"Leave him be, Scratchy," Lucky commented, speaking up for the first time since entering the training grounds. Maybe he realised that he had always been the only one that Scratchy would ever pay attention to. "You got your training, isn't that enough?"
"It's a start," Scratchy conceded reluctantly. "Thanks. I do think I needed that battle." Certainly his mood had lifted considerably since he had commenced the fight. And when it came to Scratchy, that was all that we could hope for.

Scratchy wins!
Scratchy grew to L16!

"Sorry about Hannah," Gina sighed, looking clearly embarrassed. "I haven't been training her for that long and she still tends to get in a state if the battle isn't obviously going to be plain sailing."
"Don't worry about it," I shrugged, brushing away the apology with a single wave of my hand. In my mind it simply wasn't needed anyway. "Scratchy was probably too hard on her anyway, he's always been a little too uptight for his own good. Anyway, didn't you say something about a two on two battle?"
"Yeah, I've plenty more pokémon stashed away, so by all means let's carry on, you want to make this training session count, right?" Grinning, my friend pushed her glasses back into position as they slipped slightly down her nose again. "And, for the record, that last fight was pretty impressive. As you say yourself, your Paras could probably do with loosening up a little, but he fights very well for a pokémon who's not really built for direct confrontation."
"Whatever would I do without your post-match analysis, Gina?"
"Oh, you'd muddle through somehow, I'm sure, I doubt I'm telling you anything that you couldn't have figured out yourself. Anyway, do you have anyone in mind to battle next?" There was an excited edge in Gina's tone. "You know, I'd really love to pit one of my pokémon against your stronger team members, Ade. Every pokémon you've entered into tournaments has made most of us green with envy, it'd be great to actually battle one of them."
"Sorry to disappoint, Gina, but Katnip's already had a training battle recently, and Milliardo's got his paws full with the current tournament. I was kinda hoping to give Marius, my Dratini, a battle." Noting the look of disappointment on the blue-haired girl's face, I quickly added, "But tell you what, once we've finished here we could always meet up for our usual training sessions, my Ninetales has just had a cub and it'd be a big help if you could give her a practice battle to get back into shape sometime."
"Oh! Okay, Ade, it's a deal!" This seemed to cheer Gina up no end. Pearl's past performance in the Pegasus Games so long ago had earned her at least a little attention. Even if she was no expert on showmanship like Milliardo, or lacked Katnip's technical prowess, a tournament entrant would always manage to achieve at least a small degree of fame. "Okay, let me study your Dratini." Once again the Pokédex was brought out to scan Marius, who seemed greatly bemused by the device's clicks and whirrings.
"You do realise," the Dratini commented to anyone who was listening, "that in spite of all the effort that has gone into the production of that machine, it is still less than reliable. Computers aren't the solution to everything. They have this tendency to inherit the flaws of their creators."
"Yes, but it's the best we have at the moment, so shut it," I chuckled, watching as Gina finished with her examination and slipped the device back into the pocket of her shorts.
"Okay, we've another one in the first bracket here... well, Hannah's out of action after that Paras of yours Slashed her into collapse, so I've not really got much of a choice in who I can use." Again the slender fingers reached for one of the pokéballs that were hooked onto her belt, pulled it off and opened its content onto the floor directly in front of her, all in one fluid motion. I had to admit that the pokémon that greeted me was quite a relief to see, a large blue spider-like creature with a deceptively friendly smile upon its face. A Surskit. A pokémon that my Dratini should have had no troubles in defeating, if indeed any pokémon with any kind of weak spot stood much of a chance against his overly analytical mind. "Meet Johan. He'll be your next opponent."
"What do you think, Marius?" I asked, turning to my Dratini, who was busy exchanging glances with Pandora. "Confident?"
"Too much so," came the response, my not-so-little dragon worming his way over to the ground directly in front of me. "One Shock Wave and this battle will be over before it's so much as commenced. However, that would be of no benefit whatsoever, so I simply have to construct a strategy that will allow me to push myself that little bit further, won't I?" A broad grin broke across Marius' face. "This should pose quite a challenge. I can't wait."
"Okay then." I had no idea what the Dratini was on about, nor had I any intentions of finding out. He seemed to be ready, and that was really all the response I had been looking for. "Okay, Gina. We're ready when you guys are."
"Good, because I was about to say the same to you, Ade." Gina smiled broadly, before turning to address her Surskit. "Okay, Johan. You heard the man. Time to get this show on the road!"

FIGHT!!! L6 Dratini v L8 Surskit!

Marius studied his opponent intently, trying to ascertain what would be the best way of defeating the strange little pokémon. Unfortunately it seemed to him that there were no obvious weak points to exploit, and that he would have to resort to seeing what moves the Surskit had up its sleeve instead.
"Are you intending on remaining motionless for the entirety of this battle?" my Dratini asked, trying to goad his opponent into making the first move. Sadly this tactic didn't seem to be working too well, the Surskit staying exactly where it was, viewing the Dratini with a rather curious expression upon its face. Oh, how frustrating this was! Just one little Shock Wave and it would all be over. "We should engage in battle at some point before our muscles atrophiate."
"You're an odd one, alright," the Surskit named Johan noted. "But okay, since you insist..." Taking a deep breath in, the Bug-type fired a steady stream of bubbles from its mouth. Many, many bubbles that, although hardly hurting Marius as they impacted upon his skin, did a very credible job of obscuring his vision. Which was just what his opponent had been planning on. Now the Dratini was otherwise occupied in trying to see past all the bubbles, his opponent was free to launch into another attack. All of a sudden Marius found himself being struck seemingly from all sides by thousands of tiny star-shaped beads of energy, each one tearing slightly into his flesh so that when the cloud of bubbles finally cleared the Dratini was dazed and confused, covered in a thousand tiny scratches all over his body. He hadn't been expecting that! "How was that for you?"
"Much better than I'd anticipated." Marius shook his head in an attempt to clear away the confusion from his mind. "I was growing concerned that you were just going to sit around for eternity."
"And where would be the fun in that?" his opponent grinned cruelly. "But you should know that there's no way you can win. My Swift attack will strike you no matter what you do." Again the Surskit summoned up its little throwing star beads of energy, and again they flew at Marius so thick and so fast that there was simply no chance of the Dratini being able to dodge.
"Marius! Are you okay?" My Dratini couldn't afford to grow distracted, no matter how tearful the voice of his mother on the sidelines became. Simply turning to reassure her would have left him open to another attack. And already the Surskit was preparing another Swift attack.
"That does it!" Marius shot forward with all the speed he could muster, ignoring the barrage of sparks that flew to greet him as he moved in. The only was he was ever going to get close enough to do anything would be to just ignore the perpetual attacks. So as the beads tore further into his flesh, gouging thin rivulets of blood in the places where they somehow managed to break past his dragon's scales, he simply winced as carried on with his course, carried on until he had finally reached his opponent. And at this point he acted quickly, coiling himself around the Surskit and squeezing as hard as he could, crushing his opponent with his serpentine body. "I challenge you to Swift your way out of this!"
"Challenge accepted," his opponent grunted, trying unsuccessfully to escape by virtue of its physical strength. Evidently there was only really one course of action left, to summon the Swift attack yet again and aim it at the Dratini. It was hard for Marius to hang on as the myriad tiny stars tore into him yet again, yet somehow the Dratini managed it, the pain caused by the attack only spurring him on to squeeze his opponent even tighter in this Wrap attack, causing the Surskit to audibly cry out in pain. "I won't be beaten!" it cried suddenly, unleashing yet another Swift that this time managed to catch Marius in a relatively unguarded point near his underbelly. The pain was immense, and there was simply no way that the Dratini could hope to keep his hold on his opponent in the middle of such a ferocious onslaught. Weary and in great discomfort, Marius slipped off the Surskit and fell hard to the floor, rolling away from his opponent before it could take advantage of his prone position. What was he supposed to do? Swift was a virtually unavoidable move, and the rate the Surskit was using it meant that it was almost impossible for the Dratini to get close enough to land a decent attack. Maybe it was time to stop playing games after all. "Prepare to lose!" Again a cloud of star-shaped beads came flying at Marius. But this time he was simply too annoyed, too fed up with the whole battle, to allow himself to be struck again. The Dratini concentrated hard, focussing all of his mental energy into pulling off the impossible and evading the Swift attack. He knew how to do it, of course, he had been training with his adoptive father in the use of Detect for weeks now. The question was whether he was going to be as successful as Milliardo in utilising the technique. Quickly Marius cleared his mind, concentrating solely on his opponent's attack. He could see each individual spark of energy as it flew towards him, he could accurately trace its path through the air. He knew exactly where each was going to strike. And what was more, he thought he could see a way to evade each and every single one. It would just require some acrobatics on his part, that was all.
"Not in this lifetime!" Marius snarled angrily, hopping nimbly into the air before launching into a twisting, writhing dance of sorts, contorting his body in all sorts of bizarre positions as the sparks of the Swift attack passed harmlessly all around him, some passing only a fraction of an inch from his flesh but not a single one actually managing to make contact. Eventually the Dratini landed on the floor again and fixed his opponent with a baneful glare. "Apologies, but I'm afraid that in this instance I've no intention of acquiescing to your desire to win. I'm afraid it will be you who will end up the loser in this particular confrontation."
"H... how can this be?" the Surskit gasped, confused. "My Swift never misses!"
"There's a first time for everything, isn't there?" Marius smirked, concentrating hard and building up a remarkable charge within his body, a charge that eventually grew too large to be contained. A charge that snaked out of his body in the form of a huge, waving bolt of electricity that passed straight through his opponent, causing it to shriek in agony as the charge passed through its veins, leaving the pokémon too drained to even consider carrying on. The Surskit fell to the floor, taken out in seconds by the ferocity of the Shock Wave attack. Marius, it seemed, was turning into quite the proficient fighter.
"Couldn't you have just done that to begin with and saved us all the umpteen heart attacks?" Milliardo complained as his foster son made his way back to our group. "Look at you, you moron, the last time I saw anyone that scratched up they'd woken Scratchy up in the middle of a nice dream."
"Concerned, were you, father?"
"Nah. You're a tenacious little bugger like me, we all knew you'd win." The Umbreon grinned broadly. "Hey. Well done, though. You sure showed him, huh?"
"Yeah." The Dratini returned the grin. "That, I have to say, is a job well done."

Marius wins!
Marius grew to L7!

"Wow," Gina commented, recalling her unconscious Surskit. "That was quite a battle. I can see why Dratinis are prized so highly now. I just don't quite get why he let himself get pummeled like that when he could have used Shock Wave and ended the battle at any time."
"It wouldn't have done him much good to have a really short battle, I guess he knew that. Probably read too many books on training techniques." I shrugged. "Anyway, that's it from us, I guess. We're all battled out." I turned to leave, only to realise that I had no idea where the exit was amidst all of the surrounding fauna. "Uhh... Gina, you wouldn't happen to know where the way out is, would you?"
"Sure, I'll lead you out, it's pretty much the end of my shift anyway and I did say I'd treat you to lunch earlier, didn't I? Just let me go over and get my stuff and I'll be with you." The mercenary trainer turned to the spot where she had been paddling just moments ago. Where, almost predictably, her belongings no longer seemed to be there. Evidently some pokémon or other had made off with them whilst we were engrossed in our battle. "Oh well, so much for that," Gina sighed with a smile. "I'll just have to get my pack back off them later on, every pokémon in these rooms belongs to our organisation so it's not like I can't find out who's got my stuff."
"I did warn you, didn't I?" I chuckled, not sure whether to be more amused by Gina's predicament or her totally laid back attitude with regards to the situation. To say she was an odd one would have been an understatement! But then, weren't we all a little weird in our own ways? "Anyway, what say we get out of here, grab Soo and then you can treat us all to that lunch you promised? I hope your chequebook wasn't in that rucksack of yours, though. My Raticate and Soo's Charmander could probably eat the entire menu just between them."
"Don't worry, Ade, I do a lot of overtime," my friend chuckled, making her way through the undergrowth with well-practiced skill. "Whatever the cost, you guys deserve it. I'm proud to call you my friends."

[Lady Vulpix]

O_O I'm still reading the previous one!
Ok, Pearl will battle a Minun, but please don't rush. I need some time to finish reading. -_-

[Lady Vulpix]

Sorry for the double post. Ade, you can have 22 stamps for your Desert Room battles. I've just printed your latest post. ¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢

[Lady Vulpix]

Warning: weird story ahead.

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

The scene: an unrecognized location, could have been anywhere. The protagonists: a female, apparently in her mid-thirties (though this is coming from someone who's hopeless at guessing people's ages) with blond hair and deep blue eyes; and a young male of around 20 years of age, with dark brown hair and matching eyes. They both looked human, though you can never tell. Their images weren't as clear as their voices.

"I didn't expect to see you so soon," she started the dialogue.
"I know," he replied. "I didn't expect to come back before completing my task, but it seems even harder than I thought. I guess something inside me just needed to return home. Now I'll need your help to get me back there."
"You know only your determination can do that job. Though I can try to help you find it."
"Please."
"Alright. Tell me, has anything gone wrong?"
"Not exactly. It's just that not much seems to have gone right either. Sometimes I feel I'm only there to choke in bureaucracy."
"I thought that might happen. But you need to find a way to get past it. It's the only way you can help."
"Yeah, well, I've done a few other things. I think I'm earning their trust, I've been gaining access to more information and to some... amazing creatures."
"I guess you must be happy about that," she smiled.
"Definitely. I just wish I could bring them back home. Especially Sol, I think she found me rather than the other way around. She could follow me if she wanted too, I'm sure. But she says it's not meant to be that way. She's so mysterious!"
"I see you're surrounded by mysterious beings everywhere you go."
"Yes, I'm afraid I'll have to get used to that."
"What about my friend? Have you contacted her?"
"Yes, I have. And you know what? She seemed very strange as well. No offense."
"None taken. We all are. What have you told her?"
"Only what she needed to know. She knows I'm a friend and I'm helping her on the research she's conducting. What is this all about, anyway? Why me?"
"Because you're the best for the job. The only time I went there I was helpless. I could do nothing but cause confusion, and you needn't say that's what I'm best at because I already know. But you... You're a natural. Your connection to magical creatures and your skills at taking care of them are exactly what's needed to fill the position you're at now."
"Is it? With all that paperwork I hardly get a chance to be with them."
"Don't you get any free time at all?"
"Yes, I do, but..."
"Then you can find a way around it. Remember what this is really about. It's about them. Your friends can help you keep the main goal in sight, and you can help them grow and get stronger like you always have. Remember that: no matter where you are, what any of you look like or what they call you, the connection between you and your friends cannot be broken. Spend some time with them and things should become clearer."
"Thanks. I'll try."

<Gabi's POV>

It took me a while to remember where I was and what day I was in. The former was quite strange, considering I was at home; but I'd just had one of those weird dreams that were hard to brush off my mind. I felt the bed with my legs, trying to recognize the touch of Caledor curled up next to me like I'd often find him in the mornings, but he wasn't there. Then I remembered: he was still at Glacier Peak. And Lagi, as much as I could have used her help to get out of bed that morning, hadn't returned either. "Ok, it's the hard way, then," I told myself. I started taking deep breaths, feeling my whole body and trying to command it to move, in hopes of eventually managing to sit up. It was harder in practice than in theory: the voices of my dream were still echoing in my head, driving my concentration away from the task of getting up. I finally gave in and started analyzing them. A dream that persistent could hardly be just a dream.

<Amber's POV>

Once I had breakfast ready, I waited in the kitchen for the others to show up. The house was unusually silent, the absences of Tsunami and Caledor being the most noticeable. Hero was still there, but he wasn't the same without them. I could picture him trying to sleep through the morning in order to make the lonely day shorter. And Iael had seemed quite worn out the night before, so I wasn't expecting him either. Sylvan and Ventura showed up at the usual time. But I was surprised not to see Gabi yet. She was usually up with the sunrise. I decided to check on her and see if everything was alright. After knocking on her room's door and responding to her "yes, please, come in", I found her in her bed, still struggling to sit up.
"Can you help me, please?," she asked me. "Just put your arm behind my back and lift me up slowly. Then I'll be fine."
I did as she said, and she thanked me.
"Is everything alright?," I asked her. "Is your blood pressure low?"
"Maybe," she replied. "Or maybe my head weighs too much for my spine to lift it. Who knows?"
"You know that's physically impossible. Unless you were referring to your thoughts. Is anything bugging you?"
"Nothing new, I guess. I was just thinking of the Games and the Dragon's Guild, and... a strange dream I had. Now that I think about it, it doesn't seem to special: just two people talking. But their words were so cryptical I couldn't make out what they were talking about, I just got some sensations out of the whole conversation. And I think I knew one of them."
"One of the sensations?"
"No, one of the people. She seemed a lot like someone I... I don't think 'met' is the word. Bah, even thinking about her confuses me. She's a living puzzle, if she exists at all."
"Ok, you've lost me there."
"Don't worry. It was just a dream, and you know I sometimes don't make sense when I talk about the things in my mind. Have you had breakfast yet?"
"Not yet. I was waiting for you."
"Really? Thanks! Wait for me in the kitchen, I'll be right there."

Gabi lived up to her word and we all had a tasty breakfast together. Iael joined us before the end, without many words about anything. Hero didn't show up until we were about to leave, only grabbing a bit of cheese not to leave the house with an empty stomach. I thought cheese alone wouldn't make much of a difference, but I wouldn't be the one to discuss how to best take care of himself with him, especially with his constant "I know what I'm doing better than anyone else" attitude. We headed for the Trainng Grounds once more, hoping to complete the last two rooms that day.

There seemed to be even more people than the day before at the Training Grounds complex, though I couldn't see anyone I recognized. They were mostly new trainers, or trainers from other regions. I followed Gabi to the desk where she registered Ventura and Iael for the Blizzard Room, and listened to an oblivious woman talk about how we could watch the battles on TV while taking a cup of hot chocolate. I must admit the hot chocolate sounded like a good idea to me, but I knew how things were going to work out: as usual, Gabi would pick one of the special suits from the wardrobe and she'd stand by our friends' side throughout the battles. And so would Hero. As for me and Sylvan, we were left with the choice. We all knew Sylvan was going to wait at the cabin; she and blizzards didn't mix well. So, actually, I was the only one who had to think of where to be while Ventura and Iael battled. After a while, I decided to wait at the cabin with Sylvan. I didn't want to leave her alone, and while I wouldn't say it aloud, the hot chocolate had tempted me after all.

<Gabi's POV>

I must admit the Blizzard Room was cold even from me. The part of my face that wasn't covered by the suit felt like it was getting frosted. But I could handle that. Ventura and Iael didn't have a natural resistance against cold and I didn't hear them complaining (and my ears weren't frozen yet). They had other thoughts occupying their minds.
"Can you sense any of our opponents yet?," Iael asked Ventura.
"I'm working on it," she answered.
"I hope we get a good battle today. This room invites you to move more so you can keep your warmth. I hope my opponent won't stop himself this time."
"Did the Donphan wake up before you left the room last night?"
"No, he didn't. Two men came in to pick him up. I guess I'll never know what his problem was."
"Hey! I've found a human!"
"You mean Gabi's not the only human who's out in the cold?"
"See for yourself."
Ventura must have sent Iael one of her psychic pulses, because he seemed to cheer up in an instant. He trotted forward until he disappeared in the mist (only then I realized there was mist apart from wind and snow - it was hard to notice when everything in the room was white). When the rest of us finally reached him, we found him standing face to face with a guy in a protective suit that looked just like the one I was wearing. The shadow of his hood made it hard to see his eyes.
"Hi," I greeted him. "I'm Gabi. Have you come to train here?"
"I know who you are," he told me. I'd heard his voice before. "We've met at the Dragon's Guild, remember?"
I thought for a moment, until I finally remember who that voice belonged to.
"Golden Growlithe?"
"Finally! I'd heard you had a good memory, I didn't think it would take you that long."
"Well, sorry. I can't see your face behind that hood, and we haven't met that many times. We've been communicating through e-mails, mainly."
"That's right. Sorry, I guess I didn't make much of an impression."
"You did. I remembered you, I just took some time to link your voice to you. Besides, I didn't expect to see you here. I didn't know you trained pokemon."
"I was a trainer long before I joined the Guild. I wouldn't have lasted a day in there if it weren't for my pokemon friends. We've had a lot of work to do lately, so I didn't get to train them much, but I got permission to come here today and I'll make the best of it."
"That's good to here. So, are you my opponent, or are we both looking for some local pokemon?"
"They told me I could choose. I have some high level pokemon and they said your Venomoth was going to battle. So if you don't mind, I'd like an encounter with her."
"Ventura and Iael are both going to battle. But who told you that?"
"The lady at the desk."
"I didn't know she was allowed to give that information."
"Only to local workers, registered mercenary trainers and Dragon's Guild personnel."
"Does that mean I can ask that too?"
"Only if you come here as a worker. But I don't think you can now, since you've already been using the rooms as a regular traner."
"I guess I'd have chosen this anyway, but why didn't I know that before?"
"I think you have to be more involved in the Dragon's Guild to pick up all those details. They're funding the Games, so they get to set a lot of rules."
"Shouldn't you say 'we'?"
"Ok, we, but I don't have a high rank. Formally, my rank is lower than yours."
"What do you mean 'formally'?"
"My rank is lower than yours but I end up having access to more information because I'm more directly involved with the Guild's activities. But don't worry, I'll let you know anything you need."
"Thanks. It's good to have someone like you to count on. I used to think everyone who worked at the Guild full time was so devoted to bureaucracy they had forgotten what life really was."
"I almost did," GG laughed. "Fortunately, I have friends who can remind me of what I'm really here for."
I had a strange feeling all of a sudden. I shook my head, trying to clear my mind.
"What is it?," GG asked.
"I think I've had a deja vu or something. A strange feeling in any case."
"Oh. Ok. Shall we battle? Who's going to battle first? Ventura or Iael?"
"We can let them decide or flip a coin. I think they're both eager to battle. Did you know their names from before, or did you remember them from when I said them?"
"Both. All your pokemon's names and some info on them is registered in the Guild's database, and you said they were the ones who were going to battle."
"I think my team's at a disadvantage, then. We know nothing about your pokemon."
"True, but I think they can make up for that. Those two are very good at battling, while my friends are still getting the handle of some new things."
"New things? You mean new tactics?"
"Yes, something like that. I'll call them so that everyone can see each other before the battles."

I expected GG to take out his pokeballs, but instead he took something that looked like a remote control and pressed a button.
"What's that?," I asked him.
"I'm sending them a signal to find me. I told them to wait at the cabin until I found our opponents."
I thought GG was quite an unusual trainer. But I was beginning to like his style.

Soon, a group of Pokemon made their way towards us. I saw a Glalie, an Espeon, a Smoochum, and sliding behind them came a Lapras and a Dewgong.
"I see you have mainly Ice types," I commented.
"It wasn't my intention, it just turned out that way," he quizzically replied. "There's a Clefairy too, but she doesn't like the cold. And... Wait a minute, where's Sol?"
"She didn't want to leave the cabin," the Espeon informed us. "By now we know better than to try to convince her when she's made up her mind."
"Who's Sol?," I asked, remembering the name from my dream and starting to believe that I'd been right about it being more than it had seemed.
"A Vulpix," GG said. "She's not technically mine, but she's tagged along with us for a while. She's helped us find our way around this place and many other things."
"This place?"
"Yes, she's from Caledor, so she knew how a lot of things worked around here when I was just a newcomer. It was strange, it was as if she'd been waiting for me. She was just there sitting on the grass with a distant look in her eyes, and the first thing she said to us was 'Welcome to Caledor'. And she's been with us ever since."
"Do you understand pokemon language?," I asked him.
"Not really, but Glyph does a great work translating. Actually, all my pokemon have some good psychic abilities, so I don't have much of a problem with that."
He looked at his Espeon when he said the word Glyph, so I figured that was the Espeon's name.
"Then have him translate this:" Hero spoke out, "what color are Sol's eyes?"
"Grey. Why?," asked GG once his Espeon had translated the question for him.
"Is there a reason why she doesn't want to see us? Or does she just like pulling the strings without anyone knowing what's going through her mind?"
GG was puzzled at Hero's question.
"I don't get what you mean," he said.
"Sol is short for Solitude, right? If she's involved, then we're in the middle of something bigger than we thought. Unless she's just dropped by to say hello, but that's not like her, and if that was the case she wouldn't stay at the cabin and refuse to see us."
"Do you know her?"
"Can anyone really know her? We've been in the same pack for years and she hardly said a word. She spent her time staring at the sky, and whenever she spoke, she did it in puzzles. For years I thought she was autistic, though from what I've heard she's turned out to be some freaky psychic. Although she could be both."
"Why are you so mad at her?," now it was I who made the question.
"Why aren't you? All this time she's been keeping who knows what secrets, pulling the strings from the distance and leading us to fulfill whatever idea of destiny she seems to think we have, and she doesn't even let us see her. It's like she's always one step ahead and we only hear about her when she's already gone."
"She's not like that," GG assured. "I'm sure she'll let you all see her after the battles. She's quiet, and a bit of a loner, but she's always treated everyone with respect. I don't know what happened between you and her, but she's been nothing but helpful to me and my friends."
"Nothing happened between me and her," Hero stated. "She rarely even spoke to me. All she'd ever do when I was around was give me odd looks and sigh."
"Maybe she liked you," suggested Glyph.
"No way, and if she did that was an odd way to show it. Of course she could never express herself in a way that wasn't odd. Everyone in my pack had some strange qualities to them, but Solitude was the only one I could never figure out at all."
"I must admit she's rather mysterious," agreed GG. "But I've seen worse. Whenever I end up not knowing which way is right and she does, she tells me right away."
"Strange..." Hero said. "Anyway, wasn't there going to be a battle here? Why are we all talking about someone who isn't even with us?"
"That's right, some of us should be battling," Glyph agreed. "Orknye?"
"What does Orknye mean?," I had to ask.
"That would be my name," the Dewgong said, pressing the frozen ground with his fins to slide forward. "Is it still, Glyph?"
"I guess so. We were never given other names," the Espeon said.
I was getting too confused to even know what to ask.
"You can all use the names you're used to," GG told his team. "Now, Orknye, will you please start the battle before things get out of control?"
I was begining to wonder whether their whole conversation was a trick to get us confused for the battle.
"Of course," the Dewgong accepted. "Who's my opponent?"
"I am," Iael stepped forward.
"Good," I sighed. At least if the battle began I'd know what to expect. "Don't let him play mind tricks on you, just battle the way you always do."
"I will," Iael assured, already giving Orknye an intimidating look.

Level 42 Stantler vs. Level 45 Dewgong

<Iael's POV>

Gabi seemed to think our opposing team was going to use confusion tactics. She could be right, since most of what they'd said didn't even make sense. If that was the way they were going to do it, I wasn't worried: they could babble incoherently for the whole battle, that wouldn't stop me from attacking. I'd already been reviewing my attacks while they were still talking, mentally checking if any of them would be ineffective against a Dewgong. Good news: anything would be fine. Then I'd examined my opponent. Orkney had lowered his head as soon as he saw me looking at him. His fangs and horn were not negligible, but they didn't seem too sharp either. I couldn't see his tail in that position, but I'd get the chance to check it out later.

When I saw that both of us were ready to begin, I ran to where Orknye was and planted a Headbutt on his chest. He couldn't dodge: he wasn't fast enough on the ground. He knew it, since he didn't even try to move away. He stayed there, looking at me, with his head still lowered but his eyes fixed on mine. When two seconds had passed and I still hadn't understood what he was doing, I stopped trying to. I focused on my next move, except that... now it wasn't as easy as before. I finally understood what Orknye had done and I wanted to hit myself for not recognizing one of my own moves.
"Do you have any Psyduck or Golduck relatives?," I asked, trying to hide the fact that it had taken me more than 2 seconds to realize what he'd done to me.
"Not exactly," Orknye replied. "Selkies can do many things."
"Orknye, stop talking!," his trainer asked him, or almost begged him.

Once more I didn't know what he was talking about, so I proceeded to attack again. Nightshade would have to work, even if I hadn't had the chance to practise that move much. I had to close my eyes to focus; it wouldn't matter much, since everything was about to get dark anyway. I found that was a good way to get in contact with the darkness. It wasn't that hard when I managed to put my thoughts away. That was something I was used to doing when I battled: fill my mind with sweet, dark nothing and push everything else away. Only this time, I shot that darkness forward, opening my eyes to see my opponent fade into the pure blackness. It lasted for just a few seconds, but for me it was a moment of peace.

As with most moments of peace, that one didn't last. When the light came back, I saw Orknye's body moving fast in my direction. He was almost over me - I wondered how he'd managed to pull out such a high jump. Running sideways, I managed to avoid being smashed under his stomach, but I couldn't stop him from hitting my ribs. The blow was stronger than I had expected. I was about to ask how he'd done it, when I got a closer look at him. Now that he was next to me, I could finally see his neck, and the transparent collar wrapped around it. It looked as if it were made of ice or crystal, but I figured it had to be made of a more resistant material.
"Impressed?," Orknye asked me. Apparently he'd noticed me staring at his collar.
"A little," I replied, already launching my next Nightshade attack.
"This isn't working," Orkneye shook his head and closed his eyes. His head fell to the ground as if his soul had left his body. Had he fainted?
"What the hell is he thinking?!," roared Orknye's trainer. "Get him back," he turned to Glyph.
"Sorry, I can't," the Espeon apologized. "Don't worry, he'll be back soon. He's actually using a legal move."
"It looked like something else to me."
"Well, it's an unusual way to perform it, but I bet it will work just like a normal Rest would," Glyph assured.

So he was using Rest. It didn't really look like he was sleeping, but I took Glyph's word and acted in consequence. He was bound to have healed completely by now, so I had no time to waste; I needed to hit him before he woke up. I released another Nightshade, and then one more... And that was as much as I could get in. I'd waited for too long before attacking to hit Orknye for a third time before he woke up.
"Ah, that was refreshing!," the Dewgong smiled. "I know what to do now."
He fixed his eyes on me again and, once more, I didn't feel anything. But something made a click inside my mind. It was now hard to cast my thoughts away for another Nightshade, they kept coming. Questions about Orknye, like what he'd meant with 'selkies' and what had been different about his Rest... Images I didn't even recognize, like a group of seals with human eyes swimming in the sea, and images of a griffin, a plesiosaur, a fairy, a little sprite and a huge ice creature my mind didn't have a name for. And along with this images came others, triggered by the sudden burst of uncontrolled thoughts: the forest, the Golduck lake, my old friends, my family... my parents... the day I went for a walk in the depths of the forest and... No, I didn't want to go any further. I knew what was coming. I wanted the thoughts to stop. STOP!
"STOOOOP!!!"

I only realized I had actually screamed when the present world returned to my eyes and the echoes of my voice vibrated in my ears.
"Sorry," the Dewgong issued a void apology. "I didn't know my Hidden Power would affect you like that. I don't know much about you, or of how things work around here for that matter. I think I'll have to meditate on it some more."

He was about to leave again, I could feel it. He was gathering psychic energy to go wherever it was he went to when he used rest. Until then I hadn't known I could detect psychic activity, but I realized I'd been doing it before... at the Desert Room when I broke Ventura's telepathic link, at the latest TR base when some members of my team were facing Gia and the others were locked in the computers room... all the way back in Nagarythe when Gabi sent her strongest psychic pulse ever with the help of her stone and then slipped away, too fast for me to reach her, or to even know what had happened to her. But now I knew it: at that moment I'd felt the same I was feeling now. I didn't have much time to reflect on that, though. I had to stop Orknye before he healed himself again. I used the only move that, I thought, could be effective enough: Thunderbolt. However, all I managed to do was delay Orknye's action; I couldn't stop him.

"So he can use Thunderbolt! That's interesting," Golden Growlithe commented. "I bet he was trying to see if he could win the battle without it, but realized he couldn't."
"Probably," Gabi nodded. "Though it didn't work, did it? Orknye still managed to use Rest."
"How do you know he hasn't fainted?"
Gabi sighed as her only response. Then she turned me.
"Iael, your Thunderbolt isn't so strong that you should refrain from using it," she advised me.
It was strange to hear her encourage me to use a Super Effective move, but she'd been acting strange ever since we'd met Golden Growlithe and his team. She could be right, though. I was getting worn out, and I might not endure another attack. Was using Thunderbolt repeatedly the only way to defeat Orknye?
I had to try something different first.

"Everybody back off," I warned everyone who wasn't battling.
My friends took the message immediately. The other team took a bit longer to react, but soon moved away as well. I was left with enough room to use an Earthquake attack without hurting any innocent bystanders. I stomped firmly on the ground and caused it to shake... but the result wasn't nearly as good as I had wished. If only I...

And then it came to me: I was free to use use Headbutt again! I dashed forward and hit Orknye with all my strength. The Dewgong's head rose. I walked back a few steps, and then charged again. Orknye's eyes opened right before I hit him. His body shook... He couldn't react in time. I put all my effort into one final attack; I could win without using Thunderbolt, even if a little pain came from it. It would be nothing like the mental pain Orknye had put me through. My last blow took him down literally.

I grew to level 44!

"I take back my words, he made it," Golden Growlithe said.
"That was great, Iael," Gabi complimented me.
"Thanks, that Dewgong played dirty. But I don't blame him, he had no way to know what I've been through."
"Is that why you screamed?," Gabi asked me, leaning over to me. "What happened?"
"He brought back old memories. The ones I'd rather keep buried. I think his Hidden Power broke my concentration and thoughts just came rushing one after another."
"I'm sorry," was all Gabi could say.
"It wasn't your fault either," I comforted her. "It's an issue I'll have to deal with sooner or later; I just can't seem to get over it no matter how hard I try. But right now I'd rather think of something else."
"I'll help you with everything I can," Gabi promised.
"Thanks. I think there's something else you can help me with, but we'll talk about it after we leave this room."
"Can you please tell me what it has to do with?"
"I think the attack also triggered something else inside me. I'll need your help to make sure of what it is and to tie some loose ends."
"Alright," Gabi accepted.
"Listen, I'm sorry about what happened in the battle," Golden Growlithe said to me. "I don't know what experiences you've had, but if I'd known a psychic attack could hurt you so much I would have stopped my friend. He wouldn't have done it either if he had known."
"It's in the past," I accepted the apology, not wanting to go back to that subject. "Psychic moves had never had that effect on me before, but I'll watch out for things like that from now on. If it had to happen, it was best that it did in a training battle."
The human nodded, understanding. He was strange, but I realized he wasn't a bad person. Moreover, he seemed to share a bond with his team that you didn't see everyday.

"Am I still going to get my battle?," Ventura demanded.
"If you still want to," the male trainer said. "It will be an honor to battle you."
"An honor? That sounds good, but I'll have to ask why."
"Well, I've heard a lot about you. From different sources. I've heard you've done some admirable things."
"Which tells me you already know what I can do. This will be an interesting challenge, then."
"So you don't want to level the field by asking me something about your opponent?"
"I know all your pokemon have psychic abilities, you said that yourself. I know I have to watch out for any surprises, and I know you have a tendency to try to break your opponent's concentration. Am I missing anything vital? Otherwise I'd rather find out the rest by myself."
"Impressive. Now I'm more eager to see you in battle. Telling you anything else would put my champion at a disadvantage, so I'll leave you and Glice to test each other in the field."
The Glalie, who had been silent so far, leapt forward to face Ventura.
"Glice?," Gabi asked. "Is that a fusion between Glalie and Ice?"
"More like an alternate spelling for the name of a planet, but that would make sense too," Golden Growlithe said.
"A planet? You wouldn't be saying... I used to invent planets when I was 11, and I gave them names. One of them was Glais. You're not saying there really is a planet with that name, right?"
Then I felt it again: the same psychic energy Orknye had used for his Rest attack. Only that now it stopped before anything happened.
"Would you mind not asking me those questions?," Golden growlithe asked Gabi. "They're not doing me any good."
"Why, what's going on?," Gabi couldn't hold herself. "Is anything wrong with you?"
"I need to stabilize myself. Maybe we can talk later. I... I want to talk to you. I'm on your side, you know. It's just... If I think too much of... the things I'm not supposed to go back to yet... Why don't we get started with the battle? I think that may be just what I need."
"Okay," Gabi accepted, still looking worried.
I wondered if she'd felt the psychic energy. She normally did detect those things, so she probably had. But somehow she seemed more concerned than freaked out now.

Glice fixed his blue eyes on Ventura and spoke with a cold voice.
"Shall we battle?"
"Alright, make your move and I'll make mine."

Level 48 Venomoth vs. Level 55 Glalie

No matter what Golden Growlithe had said, the way I saw it Ventura was clearly at a disadvantage. Glice looked a lot stronger than her and we knew he had at least one Psychic type move. Probably Hidden Power just like Orknye's, which meant Ventura would be in trouble if it reached her. However, Hidden Power wasn't the first move Glice used: it was Light Screen. Well, that was a psychic type move, but was it the only one he knew? It could be a trick to have Ventura lower her guard, or maybe he knew Ventura used mostly Psychic and Giga Drain in her battles and was trying to protect himself (now Giga Drain would be absolutely useless). There were many possibilities. If I'd been battling I would have stopped wondering about his motives a lot earlier, but since Ventura gave me some time to think while hovering around the Glalie, I used it.

Glice seemed to have some trouble following Ventura's course with his eyes. When she went behind him he turned around, but she didn't stay there. She kept flying around until powder began to fall from her wings. Glice couldn't defend himself from it, and soon fell asleep.

"I should have known she was going to do that," Golden Growlithe scolded himself. "Anyway, we still have a chance, if Glice wakes up in time. His Light Screen is still in effect."
"True, but it won't protect him from all of Ventura's tricks," Gabi replied.
Both trainers were watching the battle with excitement, as if it were a live show.

Ventura dumped some thick drops of poison, that had no problems passing through the psychic shield. She repeated the procedure twice more before the Glalie woke up. When he did, he shot an Ice Beam at her, hitting straight on.
"Ouch! That would have hurt a lot if we weren't already in a ridiculously cold environment," Ventura stated.
The Venomoth went over to release another dose of Sleep Powder on the Glalie. However, he managed to focus enough to reopen his eyes right away and set up a new Light Screen. Ventura must have concluded that more powder was what was needed, so she released even more.
"Glice, attack, fast!," Golden Growlithe commanded, but it was too late: the Sleep Powder had already taken effect.
Then he yelled out something that didn't make any sense to me.
"Fei dais Hazemeit!"
That somehow caused Ventura to turn away from her opponent and stare at his trainer in confusion. And Gabi did the same.
"Who are you?," Gabi inquired.
"That's always a hard question to answer," Golden Growlithe replied. "I could give you a couple of meaningless names, but that wouldn't satisfy you."
"Don't play games," Ventura told me. "You don't go calling me 'Faerie of Fortune' in the middle of a battle, in a language I'm not even supposed to know, and then evade all our questions."
"Sorry, but you said you'd brace yourself for any surprises."
"Any surprises that make sense. Really, who are you? Why did you call me that, and why did I understand it?"
"I think I can answer the last two questions," Gabi told me. "He knows about our trips to Bei. You've been there yourself, haven't you, Golden Growlithe? You've used a language that's known by everyone there, and that Ventura and I have traces of for having been there. You know what Ventura's name means in Spanish, and also that shee took the form of a faerie while she was in Bei. Isn't that right?"
"Wow, you've said all that and I'm still here? Amazing! Ok, I guess I can speak freely now. I haven't only been to Bei. I'm from there. I'm only here because a mutual friend has asked for myself."
"Harims," Gabi affirmed. "She sent you to help me find out what's going on at the Dragon's Guild, right? And she chose you because you were a trainer?"
"Ok, now you've caught me by surprise. How did you know all that?"
"You've given me many hints, and a dream gave me the rest. Though I'm still confused, I didn't know there were trainers in Bei. Not to mention I don't even know what Bei really is."
"Well, there aren't pokemon in Bei, but there are plenty of magical creatures, and I've been dedicated to raising them all my life. Some of them came along with me and became pokemon upon arriving here. All of my team except Sol. Without their psychic powers I wouldn't have made it here. As for what Bei is... It would be hard to explain. I will if you tell me what this plane is, because I'm not sure about it either."
"Is it another dimension? For some time I wasn't even sure if it was real."
"I guess we're from different dimensions or something like that. Our minds are the key, that's all I know. I'm not an expert in travelling or anything, I don't even have your psychic abilities."
"My psychic abilities are no big deal either. I went to Bei twice, and both times it was by accident. And I have trouble telling premonitions from dreams. Some parts of the last one may have well been a dream; you said something about wishing you could take some creatures home, but if your pokemon are from Bei they shouldn't have problems getting back, right?"
"Oh, you heard that? Then you must have heard my conversation with Harims! I was talking about Sol and the Unicorn Games prizes. They're quite special, even more than I originally thought. And as far as I can tell the Ponyta was naturally born like that! Just like your dragon!"
"Ok, don't change the subject, please."
"Oh, please, do change the subject!," Ventura interrupted them. "And tell me this: has my battle been cancelled?"
"What? Oh, no, go ahead," said the guy from another dimension. "Sorry I bothered you."
"As if I didn't know you did it to buy time for your Glalie or whatever he is to wake up. But I gave him a huge dose of Sleep Powder, so I still have time. So, if you'll excuse me..."

Saying this, Ventura went right back to where Glice was and started shooting Signal Beams. After the third shot, the Glalie fell over and his trainer granted Ventura the victory.

Ventura grew to level 50!

"I feel cheated," Ventura complained. "This could have been a really exciting battle and you had to ruin it by becoming the center of attention."
"I'd say I'm sorry, but I've said it so many times today it's lost all meaning," came the reply.
"So it turns out I wasn't even battling a pokemon. Does it count as a battle at all?"
"Oh, but he is a pokemon. While we stay in this dimension, all my friends have the traits and abilities of the pokemon identities this world has given them. They could even be stored inside pokeballs, but that would be too awkward for them. Their past experiences are the only thing that makes them different. And in Glice's case, I guess he's not used to movng around with no limbs yet. I guess that must be why he was so defensive in the battle."
"All of us need to make an effort to adjust," Glyph remarked. "I used to be able to fly. I miss it, but if I think too much about it my mind will pull me back, so we need to focus on this place and the task we must complete."
"I appreciate your help, but why has Harims asked for it?," Gabi queried. "And why did you accept? Is there anything I don't know yet?"
"We accepted because Harims is important to all of us, and it seems that you're important to her. To be honest, I don't know what's going on, but Harims had a bad feeling and said things could end up getting nasty. She asked me to find out whatever I could about the secret lab, about Team Rocket and about who was running the Dragon's Guild, and share that information with the Dragon Tamers; and also do my best to fulfill any requests by your group while I'm here."
"And how long are you going to stay?"
"I don't know... Until everything's cleared out, I guess. I must warn you not to expect too much from us, though. We'll try to help out, but we don't have any special powers. I'm only your contact inside the Guild, and my friends are just helping in the best way they can and taking a chance to train when we have the time."
"That's fine," Gabi accepted. "I can also help you if there's anything you need. Just call me and I'll do what I can."
"Thanks... Though what I need right now is some heat. Aren't you freezing here?"
"Freezing? Oh, will you believe it? I got so carried away in our conversation I totally forgot about the cold!"
"That's hard to believe. I don't have any special powers, but I think you do."
"If being less affected by cold and more affected by heat than the majority is a special power, then yes. We can go to the cabin if you want, they must be waiting for us there."
"Finally something that makes sense!," Hero shot out.

So, once both Orknye and Glice were ready to move again, we all headed for the cabin, where we found Amber, Sylvan and a Clefairy who, according to her trainer, used to be a pixie.
"I could have bet money on us not finding Solitude here," Hero growled.
"Arim, have you seen Sol?," Golden Growlithe asked the Clefairy.
"She was with us," she replied, "watching the battles and talking like never before. She left moments ago, saying she'd meet us again sme other time. She said she wanted to live her own life for once, and she didn't want to be too close to what she couldn't have. I don't know what she meant, she wouldn't speak after she said that."
"That's so Solitude," Hero sighed. "She can never make herself clear. Did you two get to see her?"
"Yes, and she was quite nice, actually," Amber replied. "Even if some of the things she said were hard to understand. But it was clear enough when she said she realized she'd been living for everyone else but herself, always doing what she was supposed to and never stopping to ask herself what she felt. She said she thought she now knew where she wanted to be, and what she wanted to do, so I guess she must be trying to get there now."
"Yes," Sylvan nodded. "And about not wanting to be close to what she can't have... I'm not too sure I agree with her decision, but that's her call."
"But what was she talking about?," Hero asked.
"Something she gave up, I would assume," Sylvan replied. "Either that, or something that she knows isn't meant for her. From what I've seen and heard, it might be both."
"I never got to thank her," Gabi reflected, taking her hand to her chest and holding the white stone that hang from her neck. "She's given up a lot for me... Especially if she did base her life on what she thought she was supposed to do. I hope she can find freedom now."
"Whose side are you on?," Hero questioned her.
"There are no sides here. Nobody's fighting."
"Not yet, anyway," said Golden Growlithe. "Who knows what the future holds for us?"
"Well, Solitude does," blared Hero. "She can see the future, can't she?"
"Only faint glimpses," Arim said. "And they're usually quite vague. She told me her power was stronger once, but she gave most of it up for someone who needed it more."
"Would that be you?," Arim's trainer turned to Gabi.
"I guess all secrets are out now," Gabi chuckled. "Yes, she gave me a stone that enhances psychic abilities. Or, rather, left it on my way for me to find it. So, now that we've all learned so much about each other's history and secrets... will you tell me something?"
"Sure. What is it?"
"What's your name?"
Golden Growlithe started at her, stunned by the question.
"Your original name. You haven't told me yet, and I'm not too comfortable with calling you Golden Growlithe, just like it's weird when people I know call me Lady Vulpix."
"Well, I go by the name of Ivan here. But if you want to know my original name, it's Eshree."
"Eshree," Gabi smiled. "Nice to meet you."

[Wolfsong]

I'm asking for an extension to the training rooms just in case. I hope to get them done before it changes, but beter to be safe than sorry

[Matt]

I'd like an extension on the training grounds as well. I'm trying to think of something so gabi won't complain about it . and i don't mean to be rude but could someone read/rate the sorry excuse for a rbg that i made a few pages back that no one ever rated?

[classy_cat18]

I also would like an extension on the Training Grounds scenario.

[The_Missing_Link]

Ditto with me on the rooms. I want to do some so my other Pokemon can get some exposure and levels

[Lady Vulpix]

Everyone gets the extensions they requested. Though if so many people want them, I don't think it's time to change the scenario yet.

We've skipped your battle, Matt? Could you please tell me what page it's on?

[Matt]

It's on page 7 close to the bottom, Gabi.

[Lady Vulpix]

Oops! You're right! Sorry, I'll rate it soon. But now... an OLD story's finally making its way into the Battle Range. It's the conclusion to the Templa Taure scenario!

It's very long, but it certainly takes a lot shorter to read than it took us to write it. It takes place right after the battles in Templa Taure, when Abaddon had just left Kassandra in Soo's hands. We had just rescued Amber's mother (a Charizard nicknamed 'Plum') and a local Shelgon named Estel from the grip of the Black Dragon. Estel had told us that the disturbances had begun in a temple within the Templa Taure forest, while Plum was set to save Amber's father and a group of other Gyarados who had been lured into the forest by the Black Dragon.

Celeste hadn't been born yet, TR's latest attack hadn't occured, Sindel was still a Kadabra, Kirei was still being trained by Ade and we hadn't met Rhiannon nor any members of Soo's and Ade's teams not mentioned in the story (well, some had met Megan, but she wasn't in the team yet). Let alone Armand, Reaper or Gia. As for my team, it was the same except for some levels they hadn't gained and some moves they hadn't learnt, and my brother hadn't woken up yet though that doesn't affect the story. I hope people read this and enjoy it, since we spent 10 months writing it (it's not supposed to be rated, it's too old for that). With this said, I leave you with... the story!

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

This picks up from my last post at Templa Taure.
In case you don't know the characters, I'll post their names, genders and species so that you don't become lost.

My party
Gabi: female Human (me)
Hero: male Ninetales
Lagi: female Dragonite
Pidgeot: male Pidgeot
Water Angel: female Kingdra
Tsunami: male Vaporeon
Amber: female Charizard
Ventura: female Venomoth
Sylvan: female Venusaur
Caledor: male Espeon
Iael: male Stantler

Ade & Soo's party
Ade: male Human
Soo: female Human
Pearl: female Ninetales
Katnip: male Raticate
Beckham: male Wartortle
Lucky: male Meowth
Kirei: female Espeon
Milliardo: male Umbreon
Pandora: female Houndour
Kasumi: female Growlithe
Scratchy: male Paras
Marius: male Dratini
Bolovayr: male Gastly
Kassandra: female Charmander
Sindel: female Kadabra

<Gabi's POV>

We resumed our quest for the temple, this time with the company of 'Plum', the Charizard. Estel, the Shelgon, led the way across the forest. We faithfully followed him, though we weren't quite sure of what to do when we finally reached our destination. I pushed my mind hard, trying to devise a plan. I got some ideas, but they sounded too crazy even to myself. If Ventura heard them, she'd have all the reasons to say I'd lost it. But then again, what else could we do? We were up against an opponent of whom we only knew was evil and capable of summoning spirits and having them control many pokemon... We didn't even know how many, but they seemed to be all over the forest. The possession wasn't flawless, but it was still a considerable threat.
"What are you thinking?," asked Ventura as if she knew she'd just crossed my mind.
"A backup plan," I told her.
"Do you have a main plan already?"
"No, feel free to come up with one. Apparently everything I can think of right now is too crazy and too risky."
"Tell me what it it, and I'll judge by myself."
"Using our psychic abilities to separate the spirits from the pokemon they're possessing."
"Did I hear our?"
"Yes, and that's where the risky part comes in. We're clearly outnumbered, so we'd have to make use of everything we have."
"I believe I know what you're thinking. You're right, it's too crazy. But having to fetch you from a dream dimension is preferrable to being killed by ghosts."
"Wow! I thought you'd say I'd lost it... I'd never imagined you'd consider it an acceptable risk."
"You've misjudged me, apparently. Getting that to work could be a shot in the moon, but we can keep it as a backup plan. I've had many chances to think you'd lost your mind before, but we're still here."
"Yes, same with you."
I received a psychic signal which felt like a strong glare. I glared back at Ventura with the same intention. She shook her head and kept on flying. At least this hadn't turned into a fight. Ventura and I actually respected each other, even if that was sometimes hard to see. I admired the Venomoth's energy and will to earn her place in the world -even if she went overboard every now and then-. Ever since her parents left her, she had struggled to become her own master... And she'd clearly succeeded.

"What's that?," Caledor asked, bringing me back to 'here and now' (or rather there and then).
Ventura scanned the perimeter.
"It seems there's a lot of psychic activity going on," she declared.
I focused and let the psychic waves in. The feeling was quite familiar... Like light was quite fast. I'd felt that kind of energy many times since Pegasus Games. It'd feared it, felt curious about it, worried about it more than once, and welcomed it. Right now it was the latter.
"More than that..." I revealed with a grin. "It's seems we've just found some friends."
I felt Lagi's smile echoing back. I turned to the origin of the signals and everybody followed, including Estel. Only a few steps and trees ahead and there they were: Ade, Soo and the bunch. Bunch which had apparently just got bigger.

I waved my hands, not wanting to shout out. Soo saw me and called Ade's attention. Our greeting was the most pleasant moment I'd had after entering the Templa Taure forest. After the 'hi's and 'how are you doing's and a 'what a great surprise to find you here', I asked my friends what was going on over there.
"Not much," answered Pandora, the Houndour, "just your everyday stoll through danger-infested forests..."
"We can't really get used to that, can we?," Sylvan shook her head. "No matter how many we have to get through."
After that little exchange, Ade told me quite a shocking story about his recent encounter with Abbadon, the destruction-hungry Charizard who had caused a massacre while working for the Dark Cloak. Hearing his name made a wave of disgust run up my whole body. Thus, I was even more surprised when I learnt that the Charmander who was now taking shelter by Soo's side was actually Abbadon's daughter. Ade explained the circumstances of her entrance to the team, and I hoped she had inherited nothing of her father's personality. In any case, the poor Charmander would have a lot of demons to fight before she could have a normal life. I was glad she had fallen in good hands.
"I hope she's going to be okay," said Soo, cradling the now asleep young Charmander in her arms. "The poor thing's hardly moved since she got thrown at us!"
"I'm sure, given a night in a decent Pokécentre and a few days to get used to everything, she'll be fine," Ade assured.
I smiled at Soo, certain that Kassandra had just found the right person to help her get out of the darkness she'd grown up in.
"She's probably just reacting to the trauma in the only way she knows how. In the meantime we have to concern ourselves with her father. He could be a real threat. The instant we get out of here I think I should warn the others to be on their guard. Just in case. Anyway, what were you guys planning on doing here? Or weren't there any real plans?"
"Yeah, let's find a burger bar and get a bite to eat!," Beckham burst into the conversation.
"Not really," Ade confessed. "We thought we could make something of a difference but there's just too many to deal with. What about you, did you manage to uncover anything that might help?"
"Yes, I heard there's a temple somewhere in this forest, and for what I've heard I think that must be the Black Dragon's base of operations. Estel told me that was the first place where things started going wrong."
I had to mention Estel's name to realize I'd forgotten something important.
"Oh, sorry I didn't introduce you before. He's Estel, a Shelgon from this forest. Hero released him from the pendant. And the Charizard next to Amber is Plum, her mother. She came here with Amber's father trying to save a group of Gyarados from the Dark Dragon, but she got caught and lost track of him, so now we're trying to look for the Gyarados in the temple too."
"Only that we haven't decided what to do when we get there," added Ventura. "Gabi's idea is too crazy to work."
"Not that you have a better one," I told her. "Are you coming with us?," I turned back to Ade's group. "Maybe we can think of a better plan together."
"Of course," Ade accepted, "the more the merrier I always say. Not that there's much chance of being merry whilst this chaos is all around us."
"Ade, Milly isn't all around you, you're hallucinating," joked Pandora.
I laughed.
"Well, if things go well, it will be merry when we get done," I assured.
"Now that's my kind of talk!," agreed Beckham. "Okay, people, are we going off to find this temple of absolute doom or not?"
"Yay!," Caledor cheered.
"You guys are crazy, but yes, that's what we need to do," Iael said.
"You should try being a little merrier," suggested Caledor.
"I'll try... Once we get out of here. Possessed pokemon are something I just can't smile at, sorry."
"It's quite easy to force a smile, even if you don't feel like smiling," Milliardo told him. "Okay, it may not do you much good, but..."
"What about if you don't have a mouth?," Beckham interrupted, though his comment didn't get a response from anyone.
"That doesn't work for me," Iael replied to Milly's suggestion.
"I don't think forcing smiles is a good idea, actually," I tried to put an end to a discussion that would do Iael no good.
"Honestly, am I the only one in this trio that's not totally tactless?," Tsunami wondered, most likely referring to the trio composed by himself, Caledor and Hero.
"Don't worry, you'll get to join us soon at the rate you open your mouth," Hero stroke back.
"Are you planning to keep talking until they find us? We should get moving!," Ventura remarked.
"I agree, the last thing we need is to start bickering here," Pearl noted. "Let's get this over with, then we can all argue as much as we want."

We followed the advice of the Venomoth and Ninetales, and Estel took the lead again. We walked in silence for a few... seconds. Then whispers became heard, and the voices among the group quickly became louder. I could hear Pandora comment "at least this is a little better, random wandering with a purpose is better than wandering without any plan at all!"
"We've been doing far too much of that lately, I agree. A decisive plan of action is just what we needed," Marius replied.
"Yeah, and we didn't even have to consult Tsuyoi either, what's going on there?," asked Milliardo.
"Do you consult him all the time?," I intervened.
"Not unless we need his psychic power, it is sometimes handy to have an ally with that level of strength," Ade told me. "He's just a little... opinionated."
"I.e. you can't do a bloody thing without the bugger going 'honestly, this is how you should do it, do I have to do everything around here?'," Milly translated.
"Hmm... It reminds me of someone I know," I commented.
"Like yourself?," Ventura caught my intention and turned it back.
"Not quite," I told her, staring at her again.
Come to think of it, maybe I was being a bit unfair. Ventura was really nothing like Tsuyoi. But I was a bit edgy at that moment... Walking through a once beautiful forest taken over by evil forces and without a clear perspective of how to handle the whole situation was getting at me.
"Honestly, why does everything have to always end up in some sort of argument?," Pearl intervened. "Even faced with the dangers we have to deal with at the minute there's no escaping the constant bickering!"
"That's how it goes, Pearl, deal with it," Milliardo told her.
"Actually, I think she's right," I said.
"I wasn't arguing. Just pointing out facts," Ventura had to get in.
"That's enough, this is not the moment for a competition," Lagi stopped us.
"Hey, you want fact, guys? Here's one for you." Milliardo ignored her, right when the argument seemed to have ended. "Fact. You're all totally useless. Every last one of you."
"Enough, already!," shouted Ade. "Weren't we looking for a temple?"
"Weren't we looking for a burger bar?," Becks brought back his old joke.
"Whatever, we need to get there fast," said Amber. "Not the burger bar, of course."
"If we find that first, mine's a double cheeseburger with large fries!," blared Kirei. The pokemon were talking so fast they'd already started missing each others words. "Although I get a funny feeling we should be veering a little more to the right, guys. Listen to the magic Espeon, if she can't get you to the temple then at least we'll find the burger bar!"
"Magic Espeon?," asked Caledor. "I thought that was me."
"I don't know about magic, from what I can gather most Espeons are really scary," said Milliardo the Umbreon, as 'gentle' as ever.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you," Caledor countered.
"I'm glad I evolved the way I did, that's all I can say."
"Agreed. You'd look stupid as an Espeon anyway," Pandora chuckled.

"We may be more effective if we search for the Gyarados and the Black Dragon in small groups once we get in," Lagi suggested, interrupting what could easily become a quarrel. "We'd cover a larger area and wouldn't be stopped by so many arguments."
"That's the best idea I've heard so far," Pearl agreed. Then she made a pause and winced as if in pain, shaking her head. All arguments stopped as we all gathered around her, trying to find out what was wrong.
"Uhh, sorry about that. I think I'm coming down with something."
"Why didn't you tell me before we set out?," Ade softly scolded her, worried, and kneeled down to pet the Ninetales.
"I wasn't feeling bad when we set out, was I?," Pearl snapped, but she instantly regretted it. "I'm okay. Just a little cramp, honest."
"Where is it? Maybe I can help you," I offered, getting down to take a better look at her.
"I've just a bit of a stomach cramp, I'll be fine in a minute or two. Really," Pearl assured.
"If you say so, Pearl. In the meantime I suggest we organise our groups now, it'll save us a lot of time when we actually enter the temple," Marius proposed.

I was still worried about Pearl, and I could tell so was Marius by the way he spoke. But if she didn't want to open up, there was nothing we could do about it.
"That's a good idea," I sighed. "And Pearl, please take care of yourself. We're most likely going to get in trouble, so please don't make it worse for yourself by neglecting your own health."
I wished I could know what she was feeling, as she looked at me in a silent reply.
"Eh, don't worry, dudes," Katnip grinned, moving over to Pearl and giving her and giving her a hug so warm it made me wish someone would hug me that way too. "Ya all know anyone who's getting' too close to her's gonna be mincemeat in seconds!"
"Or confused into silence by your stupid accent, one or the other."
"Whatever works," Tsunami grinned. The way he seemed to be having so much fun ganging up with Milliardo was somewhat scary. Fortunately, the Raticate wasn't phased by their remarks. Instead, he took them with humor.
"Heh, who cares how we manage it? As long as the job gets done, right?"
"I thought we weren't arguing, guys," Pearl reminded the group, rolling her eyes.
"Hey, this isn't arguing!" Milliardo smirked. "This is ganging up on Katnip. Who doesn't give a ****, so that makes it alright, doesn't it?"
Fortunately enough, nobody saw it fit to start yet another argument.

It was Hero who put the conversation in course so that we could start getting organized.
"Actually, Katnip seems like a good choice to pair up with. Even if we do have a small dispute going on about the copyright of a certain move."
"I think the Pokemon League has beaten you both to it," I laughed.
"Actually, that ain't a bad idea," Katnip reflected. "Can't think of anyone I'd rather pair up with than the only guy I know who comes close ta givin' me a run for me money!"
"Doesn't anyone know anything around here? Both Hero and Katnip carry far more authority than the Pokémon League!," Pandora broke in.
"Wish they did, Pandora," Ade sighed, turning to look at Soo, who was still tending to Kassandra and didn't return the gaze. "Then we could claim copyright on Quick Attack and be a lot better off!"
"Ade, you're turning into Becks. Stop it. Now. We've already got one too many as it is," Milliardo nudged Ade's leg with energy.
"I like your thoughts, Pandora," Hero smiled at the Houndour. "And as for you" He now turned over to Katnip, "if it's a run for your money you want, you'll get it."
"Sounds good ta me," Katnip grinned widely with excitement.

At the same time, a discussion seemed to be going on between Milly and Tsunami.
"You never rest, do you?," the Vaporeon said. "And I thought I was good with comebacks!"
"Well I can't help it, can I?," the Umbreon replied without flinching. "If somebody says something stupid, they deserve a retort, and I make it my business to supply it seeing as I'm so good at it."
"Umm" can we get organized please?," Sylvan finally spoke out. "I'm not following half the conversations, but we're clearly not getting to the point and I really hate what they're doing to this place. I'll go with anyone, I just want to get this done."
Both Iael and Lucky nodded in agreement.
"Same here," Iael commented. "Well" almost anybody, anyway." I could feel his tension begin to build as his eyes turned to Kasumi, and it got worse as she responded by blowing him a kiss. "Er, come to think of it, can I go with Pearl?"
"Sure! It'd make a nice change to have some company that isn't either ridiculously antagonistic or totally bizarre anyway."
"Are you referring to me there, by any chance?" Milliardo asked innocently.
"Of course she is, you moron." Pandora rolled her eyes.
"Actually, I wouldn't mind going with someone like that. It could be fun," Tsunami blared.
I stared at my Vaporeon friend, not knowing what to make of his last comment. For all the time we'd been together, I still couldn't measure him well.
"Of course, as long as we still get the job done," he finished when he found all our eyes fixed on him. "Oh, come on, you can't all be party poopers! Arguments can be fun sometimes!"
"Give it up, kid. You know how it works." Hero rolled his eyes. Clearly he and Tsunami understood each other a lot better than I did.
"No, no, we should thank him. He's just saved me from having to go with my usual partner. If you want arguments, Tsunami, you're welcome to him," Pandora shoved Milliardo towards the Vaporeon and, for the first time ever, he didn't seem to know how to react. "Okay, does anyone slightly saner want to keep me company?"
"I'll ignore those last words for Pandora's safety," Tsunami declared.
"I think she was referring to Milliardo, not you," I pointed out.
Actually, I thought those words could easily apply to Tsunami -at least in appearance- considering the decision he'd just made. But I was no longer rash to judge him; I'd learnt that whenever there was something about him I didn't understand, I was in for a surprise.
"Depending on what you mean by sanity, it may be hard to find," Lagi diluted the argument once more. "But I think it could help if you and I went together. As long as that won't make you uncomfortable, that is."
It was one of those moments when Lagi's emotions overflowed her and I could feel them too. It was like walking on the top of an active volcano. She was aware of the disaster a single step in the wrong direction could awaken, yet she was ready to walk that path if the Houndour accepted... If she was not afraid of Lagi's inability to lock her perception away... Of revealing all her emotions as they came.
"Okay with me..." Pandora accepted the challenge. "To be honest I'd be glad to pair up with someone like you. It'd make a nice change."
Lagi gave the Umbreon one of her deep, warm smiles.
"Thank you."

"Okay," Beckham butted in, "if we're all pairing up, I reckon me and Caledor are an obvious choice, between the two of us there's not a thing we couldn't manage. What do you say, buddy?"
"It couldn't get any better!," the Espeon agreed.
"Dunno, if we get out of the forest and into that burger bar I was talking about it probably would..."
"Great. All you need to do is find Megan again and it'd be disaster for the entire planet," Milly provided us with more of his usual sarcasm.
Ade had told me some stories about their encounters with a most hyper Marill named Megan. I took it it was her Milliardo was talking about.
"Please, just shut up!," Sindel tried to silence him. "I'm not really bothered who I go with, anyone who needs a partner I'm fine with."
"Just make sure you don't lose focus," Ventura advised the recently formed pair. "Too much is at stake for you two to go chasing a burger bar."
"Didn't you know, burger bars are far more fun than possessed pokémon?" Interjected Milliardo. "Although having seen some burger bars, I'm beginning to wonder if that's entirely true..."
"Oh, give it a rest. We're all sick to death of your attempts to be the pokémon Oscar Wilde," Pandora responded to his comment.
"C'mon, you love me really," Milly replied with a smile.
Ventura tried to bring order back to our impossibly messy group.
"It's not the time for jokes. Some pokemon here seem to have lost their sense of reality, and that's something to worry about."
"Great, everyone just ignore me..." Sindel rolled her eyes. "I agree with Ventura, can't we just get our priorites right for once?"
"Hey, what do you do if you can't get a Pikachu on a bus? Poke-im-on!"
Milliardo was clearly enjoying going against everything the most sensible ones were saying. It was starting to get ridiculous.
"Give them a chance," I tried to conciliate both parts. "They've been through as much as we have or more. We're all worried, and what we're up against is too big to just forget about it. I don't think lightening up the mood is a bad idea. But I do agree that we should get organized as fast as we can."
Also on the conciliatory side, (and so far on the ignored side too), Sylvan asked Sindel if she'd like to go with her.
"Oh, okay then!," the Kadabra smiled. "I'm glad to see somebody actually listens to me..."
Here she directed an obvious glare at the Umbreon.
"Thingy, the instant you say something interesting, I'll start listening," Milliardo stuck his tongue out at her.
"They haven't been listening to me either. Not that I can blame them, situations like this one get the worst out of everyone," Sylvan explained in an understanding tone. "I'm assuming you'll go with your mother, right, Amber?," she now turned to her old friend.
The Charizards looked at each other before Amber, smiling, confirmed her friend's assumption.
"Yes... I think I will."

"Hey, hey, if we're talking pairing up here, why has nobody asked to pair up with me? After all, I'm one hell of a catch, aren't I?," Kasumi jumped into the conversation in a scarily hyper manner.
"Maybe they all know you're not going to keep your mind on the job, Sumi..." Pearl rolled her eyes at the Growlithe.
"Hell is a good description," Ventura remarked, only to start yet another argument.
"Aww, jealous are we," Kasumi began, "just because Venomoths and Growlithes..."
"I'll stop that one right there thank you very much," Pearl tried to cut the word fight short.
"Aww, Pearl, you're no fun," Kasumi put on a clearly fake sad face.
"Actually, I'm known for my skills to keep fire pokemon at bay," Ventura just had to stretch it out a bit longer.
"She says that because she's beaten some at the Battle Tower," I explained, hoping that would be enough for her to finish.
But no... Ventura didn't know the meaning of the word 'enough'. Words had never been her strong point, after all.
"I don't want to brag, but you don't want to touch me."
"Hey, if I CAN touch, I will! Anyways, plenty of pokémon who'll let me touch them, it's no skin off my nose!"
"Look, are we going to pair up or not? Like it or not, SOMEBODY has to pair up with Sumi..." Pearl began to sound irritated. "(And if you ask me, she's all bluff anyway)."
"Maybe she should pair up with someone who's more used to her company," I replied. "Same goes for Ventura. She tends to be quite bossy when it comes to teamwork."
"Gabi gives me a bad reputation. All I ever do is do everything in my power to get things done," the Venomoth defended herself.

At that moment, the most unexpected thing happened. A large blue creature with six limbs and menacing eyes and fangs appeared out of nowhere. I had felt his presence many times before, though now that we were face to face it was stronger than ever. I had been given a physical description, but seeing him was still shocking. I'd engaged in several silent arguments with him, always from a safe distance... But this was different. Now he had decided to break his tradition and show himself... And I couldn't help but wonder why.
"I offer my services at keeping the little bombshell under control," Tsuyoi announced. "This whole thing is getting too long-winded for my liking, and I grow restless."
That was his only greeting.
"Wow!... Now THIS is something I wasn't expecting."
That was my greeting.
My whole team fixed their eyes on the demonic half-Ninetales.
"Yes?," Tsuyoi glowered at everyone. "I trust none of you have a problem with this?"
"Tsuyoi, you are the least subtle guy I know, with the possible exception of myself...," Milliardo told him. He was clearly a lot more used to having Tsuyoi around that we were.
"Ehem... Sorry if I'm asking this, but what has caused you to appear right now?," Pidgeot put in words my own question, and probably everyone else's.
"Various things, really," Tsuyoi replied. "For a start, I couldn't stand to watch you imbeciles arguing any longer. Secondly, obviously nobody is going to pair up with Kasumi owing to the fact that only I can deal with her. Thirdly, I sense something is in that temple that might provide me with a little entertainment. Anyway, what have my motives to do with any of you? I do what I do."
"What you do affects those around you. You should know that," Pidgeot confronted him without flinching.
"Yes, and what if I tell you that the actions of another are going to unbalance the scales? I can't allow that."
I had to change the subject before trouble broke in.
"I thought so. Let's focus, shall we? Let's not get another big problem to deal with. The one we have is already big enough. Tsuyoi, after years of hide and seek I can tell that what you mean is more than what you say in some ways, and less in some others. And I'll save my opinions to myself, since you must know them already and saying them aloud won't help. I suggest we get back to forming the rest of the teams."
"At least in that way we agree, my dear Lady Vulpix. Do what you will. All I do is to keep my little Growlithe with the company she needs, and stay on hand. For whatever you may think of myself and my motives, the balance must be kept, and it swings too far for me to ignore."

An unusually long silence followed, after which Pidgeot spoke again.
"Alright, I can carry Water Angel in her pokeball until we find some water. Someone else may come with us, unless we're only supposed to form pairs."
"I haven't heard anyone say that," I noted.
"Good," said Lucky, "because, if there is a space I wouldn't mind taking it. You're both quite level-headed. I'd quite like to get away from all the distractions to be honest."
"You'll be welcome, then," Pidgeot accepted.
"Am I such a distraction, Lucky?," Kirei pouted.
"Umm.... yes, keep that up and you are!," the Meowth said with a smile.
"Oh, goodie! Glad I haven't lost my touch!," she winked at him.
Kirei grinned.
"Now, who wants to come with me? I may talk nonsense most of the time, but I bet whatever our team is, we'll find the temple first!"
"Actually, you could be quite helpful in your own way," Ventura reckoned. "My radar sense and your luck together could be a perfect combination."
"OMG, you can't be serious. She's KIREI! Do you REALLY want the second coming of Scarygirl to assist you????," Milliardo butted in.
"So, what do you say?," the Venomoth insisted, ignoring the last comment.
"Okay then!," Kirei accepted. "I just want this over with, right now the burger bar sounds better than what we're doing, and I don't even like burgers!"
"We'll get this over with as fast as possible. I don't really think anyone can feel comfortable here." Ventura assured.

"Ade, are you and Soo going together?," I asked my friends.
"Yeah, of course we are!," Ade replied. He then glanced at the battered Charmander in Soo's arms. "And I guess Kassandra is, too."
"I think that's a good idea," I agreed. Right then Kassandra needed to spend as much time as possible by the side of her new trainers.
"Although that leaves Scratchy, Marius and Bolovayr to pair up for me," Ade noted.
"Well, apparently no members of my team are going with me," I reckoned, "so is it ok if I go with one of them? Actually, I've been wanting to get to know Marius better for some time."
": By all means, I would also enjoy a little time together. I feel... we would probably get along quite well, don't you think?," the young Dratini smiled at me.
I smiled back in agreement.
"Okay, that's decided then. What about the others?," asked Ade.
"I go alone, as I always have. I don't need others to drag me down, thanks all the same," Scratchy grunted.
"Do you even know what you're up against?," Estel, who hadn't spoken in all this time, confronted him.
"Unfortunately so, and even worse is the fact that we have even worse to contend with in the future," Tsuyoi added, causing everyone to stare at him.
"Let's deal with one thing at a time, shall we?," I proposed. "Otherwise we won't get anywhere."
"Yeah, we're supposed to be dealing with this threat, the last thing we need is knowledge of another future problem!," Ade supported me.
"I've seen the Temple before, and I think I have a good idea of how to find it," Estel declared. "We're almost there from the look of the trees around us. So, I can go with you to the entrance. I have no wishes to become possessed again, but I'll go in if that's what it takes to get the Black Dragon away from Templa Taure."
"For the first time in my life I'll be serious," Kirei said. "Do you think we'll get there faster if we join forces?"
"She thinks! You two get us there and we'll take it from there," replied Pandora. I was beginning to wonder if sarcasm was contagious. " I don't really care as to what happens as long as we escape alive. My family is all that matters to me."
Estel didn't know her, so he didn't react to her last words. He only pointed out what he knew.
"Reaching the Temple's not the problem. We can get there together; believe me, we're just a few steps away. The problem will be getting in, and finding what we're looking for inside the temple. And even harder will be to get out in one piece."
"Defying death is what we do. I don't really care," Milliardo stated.
"Really?," Pandora asked, but all she got for an answer was a long silence.
"We don't need to get so gloomy," Pidgeot did react. "I hate how this has become a habit, but we'll do what we need to."

"So, where is the temple?," Hero queried, as tired as everyone else of our ever-darkening surroundings.
"Once we pass these black trees we should find a large rock with a signal. There are four around the temple, one on each corner. If we follow the stone's indications, we'll be there in no time," answered Estel.
"So we split up once we get in?," Ventura suggested.
"Yeah, I kinda feel that myself! Okay, we do that, and we win a million pounds!," Kirei joked, her serious time having quickly ran out.
"Kirei, if you're right about that, I'll praise you," emphasized Caledor.
"Yeah, great if you happen to have pounds as your currency!," Milliardo retorted.
"And of course we split up," said the Umbreon. "What do you want us to do, wander around until we get picked off one by one?"
"Sometimes I wonder who leads this team..." Ade reflected.
"Whoever finances you. Never forget that," Tsuyoi affirmed himself on the spot.
"One-leader systems hardly ever work from what I've seen and heard, and never for a long time," Ventura contradicted him.
"Depends on the leader," Tsuyoi told her.
I took in a deep breath. Dealing with Ventura and Tsuyoi separately was hard enough. The last thing I needed was an argument between them. Ventura was at a clear disadvantage, but she'd probably see it as a challenge.
"Oh, for ****'s sake, let's just find this temple!," Ade stopped the two in their tracks.
"That's what I was about to say. More pokemon are falling under the Black Dragon's power as we speak," Lagi added. "We have no time to spare."

With that, we finally got on the move again. Since only Scratchy, Estel and Bolovayr were left to be paired up, we assumed the three would go together. We followed Estel's directions until Kirei told us to stop for a moment. I could have asked what the reason was, but she probably didn't know it herself. All she said was that her paws were killing her. In a matter of seconds after she was ready to keep walking, we reached a large building that seemed to be built out of stark white stone, supported by massive pillars and surrounded by statues sculpted in great detail, each one different from all the others. The large, gold-painted door at the entrance was strangely unguarded. I put two and two together and understood who had brought us there on the best possible moment.
"Right. I guess this is where we split up," Ade said. "We HAVE to find those Gyarados, and wherever the hub off all this chaos is. Okay?"
"Indeed," agreed Amber.
"Yeah, we understand," Pearl assured, but her pain immediately caused her to wince again. "I'll be fine, before anyone dares say anything. Okay?"
"Does everyone know what to do when trouble comes up?," Ventura chose to follow Pearl's indication.
"Yeah. Hide behind the nearest gallant Umbreon," Pandora cackled.
"If anyone doesn't, we'll improvise. We all have our ways of either hiding or fighting back. Or both," Pidgeot pointed out.
"Gallant?," Marius rolled his eyes before echoing Pidgeot's words. "Yes, the best thing to do is to somehow get in touch with the remainder of the group. We all know what is supposed to be achieved here."
"That's exactly what I was going to say," I told him.
"Bolovayr would probably tell us about how to exorcise demons at this point, right?," Milliardo asked.
"If only. Demons are the least of our worries," the Gastly affirmed.
"I can't take much more of this. Can we kindly enter the temple and search like we were going to do?," Tsuyoi glared at the usual time wasters.
"Yes, and if we find something, we can always release one of our cool signals, as long as a certain Espeon doesn't end up zapping anyone," Tsunami ignored the glare.
"Oh, right when I was thinking of zapping a certain Vaporeon's big mouth..." Caledor stroke back.
We started moving, heading for any doors or passages that would allow us to split up.
"I'm not too sure about this now... this place creeps me out," confessed Kirei, who seemed to be beginning to panic.
"None of us are too happy about it, but we do what we have to," said Pearl, turning to the Espeon to whom Lucky was now offering a supportive paw. "Now shall we all split up and try our best to find what we've came here for?"
Everyone agreed, and we finally entered the temple. The place was quite dark and dirty, but the paintings on the walls and ceiling and some symmetrically distributed sculptures gave the idea that the building had not long ago been beautiful. As soon as we found doors and corridors that diverged from the straight path, we began to split up, until we were left with the groups we had agreed to form.

<Estel's POV>
<Amber's POV>
<Gabi's POV>
<Tsunami's POV>
<Caledor's POV>
<Iael's POV>
<Pidgeot's POV>
<Hero's POV>
<Sylvan's POV>
<Ventura's POV>
The conclusion

[AntiAsh Superstar]

Hehe, we finally managed to get that all sorted, I have to say I'm pretty relieved to get it over with, that was dragging out something shocking! h: It made for real interesting reading, seeing it all from the perspectives of you and your team, I was very impressed how you handled my more potentially tricky characters like Pandora or Rhiannon. I'll have to get cracking on my take on the whole situation at some point! ^^;;

[Lady Vulpix]

Thanks!
And take 22 stamps for your latest post! ¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢
To everyone: sorry I disappeared so suddenly yesterday. A lightning struck somewhere between my house and the next one and all the electrical artifacts started buzzing and we had to unplug everything, including the computer. Then I found out the network card we used to connect to the internet is now useless, so also take this as a notice: I may not be online so much for a while; I'll still try to get on as much as I can, though (from other computers, obviously).

Matt, I'll still try to rate your battle, but now I can't even print it, so it may take some time. Unless someone else gets to it first. Sorry.

Oh, by the way, thanks to everyone who's taking their time to read our joint story.

[Charizard04621]

I hope it gets fixed soon, Gabi! Good luck.

My POV:

The fact that Ryu and I lost our footing in our latest tournament battle disconcerted me. It proved that our emotions were vulnerable, especially to lies. But how, other than becoming heartless, could we prevent emotion from getting in the way? Our natural disposition urged us to feel, and we could have it no other way. How else could we live?

“You’re thinking about how falling for that trick nearly cost us the match.”

I nodded, confirming the Trapinch’s suspicions.

“Me too. In the battle when I was concentrating on what to do to win, I didn’t focus on measuring my opponent personally to gauge how seriously I should have taken his comments. If he didn’t give it away by taunting me, we would have had some serious trouble against Baitu and his trainer.”

“We didn’t have time to judge their characters, and it’s difficult to tell unless you stare into their face the whole time. And watching their eyes for the duration of the battle could easily cause us to lose.”

“Focus isn’t the only thing we need… I was focused, the entire time. Just on the battle and not their expressions. There isn’t room for that when competition becomes intense.”

“Yes. What we need, Ryu, is immunity. The ability to ignore comments during the battle and leave conversation for later. Sure, there is a definite possibility that what our opponents say could be true. There isn’t a greater chance that they are playing on our emotions. As much as I hate to say this, however, we’ve got to concentrate on the battle and the battle alone. Even if Faulk or Baitu were telling the truth, would you have the heart to throw a battle to them? It’s ultimately your decision, but if it were me I wouldn’t cast away everything I’d worked for, especially if I wasn’t 100% sure that what I was hearing was true.”

Ryu paused for a while. I could tell that he felt uncomfortable about the words from the previous battle. His mind, like mine, probably flashed back to when I said We’re not in it for some higher noble cause and he said We’re here to win. I still squirmed when I thought about that, but the finals were coming, and we were close, so close I could feel the tender breath of victory in my face. “After we’ve come this far, I want to win,” Ryu admitted with difficulty. I knew he was still struggling with the selfishness issue. I was too. But in the end, if we didn’t draw the line somewhere, we would be pushed around forever by those who did.

“We came to win, Ryu, and there’s nothing to be ashamed of about that.”

“Yeah, I guess not. Still, it feels…”

“Ethically and morally wrong? Yeah, I know, it eats at my conscience, too. At least we feel bad about it; Faulk and Baitu surely didn’t. And it’s not like we’re gonna try pulling nasty tricks on people. We’re just going to ignore potential ones. If whatever we ignore turns out to be the truth, well, we can sort it out after the battle. For now, we really need to concentrate on just battling.”

“Yeah.”

“All right, enough talk. Let’s take the Desert Room.”

“Ryu”, the male Trapinch’s POV:

We had been walking under the blaring sun for a few minutes, climbing over sand dunes for any signs of life. The heat didn’t affect me much, but Karin was already sweating and her face turned red pretty quickly. This place was one hell of a simulation. Just as I thought we should forget all about the Desert Room because Karin looked so sick, a sandstorm kicked up and we were caught in a tremendous swirl of dust. The immediate area around us darkened and we had to close our eyes to protect it from the flinging sand.

“Karin, let’s just leave. You don’t need to be here.”

“No, you’re not the only one who needs toughening up for our final battle. I’ve got to be able to handle any kind of situation with you. This Desert Room is nothing, really.”

“I see my Sandstorm makes you uncomfortable.” That voice did not sound familiar. It wasn’t Karin because it was masculine. I opened my eyes to find our new company, and was surprised that the sand had died down. In front of us towered an impressive Lairon who was obviously proud of his height. On average I remembered that I wasn’t much smaller than most of his species… He, on the other hand, stood about a foot taller than me, and his surprisingly huge body was rather intimidating. Karin was startled too.

“Are you one of the pokémon battling in this room?” Karin asked.

“In fact, yes I am. My name is Gale. I was searching for someone to battle and I think I’ve found one. Unless, of course, you’re here for some other purpose.”

Gale…? A reference to wind? What on earth? Hmm… “I’m ready for battle,” I told him. I saw Karin wink at me. This was going to be fun. Battles always were.

“Ryu”, the LV26 male Trapinch vs. Gale, the LV35 male Lairon

I was shocked when Gale immediately began with an Earthquake. I retaliated with violent tremors of my own, throwing him off balance and making him cringe. His severe vulnerability to Ground type assaults displayed itself noticeably. The shaking ground didn’t bother me as much as it hurt him. I had no doubt that he would not try to match the power of my Earthquake again.

“Wow… quick reflexes,” Gale coughed. I felt a rush of wind, and the dry sand underneath my feet burst off the ground and began to fly irritatingly around me. A Sandstorm… Obviously Gale was planning something. Perhaps he wanted to take advantage of the decreased visibility.

I waited, and sure enough, I felt a rumbling in the ground and spotted the silver shape charging for me, headfirst. What was it with all my opponents and their assumptions that all Trapinch were slow…? A quick dash brought me well out of the way of the Headbutt. To my astonishment, he tried again. I escaped the same way as before and slammed on the ground a second time. The Lairon fell and he did not get up, even after his Sandstorm died down. Was it over…?

Walking over to him, I realized that it was, indeed, over. How humiliating… That was probably the shortest battle I had ever had in my lifetime. I waited a few minutes and started prodding him out of his unconsciousness. After a while, he opened his eyes. “Are you all right?” I asked.

“All right?” He snorted and his eyes flashed. “All right? You crush me within five minutes and you think I can possibly be all right? Wow, you must be dense.”

I blinked. I wasn’t expecting it to end that quickly. Looking at the Lairon, I refrained from saying anything in case I worsened his temper. I’d have hated to be in his situation. I was wondering what words to use to break the silence, but he did it for me.

“I want a rematch,” he demanded.

“Sure… But we should give it an hour or so. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to battle twice within a short amount of time.” Actually, I was fine; I wasn’t even tired, but I thought that Gale could use the rest and I didn’t want to embarrass him further by telling him this.

“Fine. I just hope you come up with something better than simply exploiting my sickening Ground weakness.”

“If you didn’t want me to do that, you could have asked,” I replied. “I’m used to going all out, but I don’t mind. Might I remind you that you started the battle off with an Earthquake of your own before we came to any agreements?”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever. Go run away and rest or something. I’ll be waiting.”

“Ryu” won!
“Ryu grew to LV28!

My POV:

Oh, that poor Lairon. He seemed pleasant enough at the start. I guessed that the battle ending so quickly mortified him and changed his attitude. Personally, I couldn’t blame him; if I suffered that kind of defeat, I probably wouldn’t be myself either. Of course, we had never experienced that problem. We had yet to lose, although I had no doubt that the time would come. Just hopefully not at the Unicorn Games finals. I was going to do everything possible to prevent that, and I was sure Ryu would too.

We walked further into the Desert Room, me fingering Mandragora’s pokéball and wondering if he would come out to battle at all. Ever since I had given him his Hidden Power, he seemed more confident, but whenever I even said the word “battle” he usually retreated back to his ball to hide.

I spotted a Phanpy not far off. It didn’t see me, something I was glad for, because it might not even get the battle that it expected. I had to ask my Lileep first. Here goes nothing, I thought. “Come out, Mandragora.”

Mandragora, the male Lileep’s POV:

I saw the Phanpy and immediately shuddered. My trainer was going to ask me to battle. But I couldn’t, I just couldn’t… I remembered me, me the monster, all those innocents getting hurt because I was so horrible… They told me that I was a beast and it was true, it was true, it was true… I wished I could tell myself that I wasn’t able to control my body, that it wasn’t me moving but something bad that they did to me that made me do all those things against my will… But I knew that it was me and wishful thinking and it was me. I hurt all those innocents, I was the monster, I couldn’t blame anyone else. Not even those people that hit me and stuck things in me and made me drink horrible stuff… Because it was my body and it was me that did all that and I was at fault for not controlling myself. I looked up at my trainer fearfully expecting blows, but she just said “It’s all right,” with a sigh and let me get back into my pokéball.

My POV:

That was to be expected. I wished that I could reach the frightened Lileep, but he would never tell me what he was thinking. Whatever it was was a painful memory, something too terrifying to describe. One day, somehow, I vowed to understand him. No living creature should suffer such fear.

“I guess that’s that,” Ryu stated. “Let’s go give that Lairon his rematch. He should have cooled off by now. At least, I’d hope so.”

When we found Gale again, it was evident that he had become calm during the hour or so that we had given him to relax. That was good, because I knew Ryu didn’t want a repeat of that last match. I hoped at least that Gale would be prepared with better tactics. I didn’t doubt it; no pokémon could be that stupid.

“Ryu”, the male Trapinch’s POV:

“Would you like me to refrain from using Earthquake?” I asked the Lairon, glad that he was calmer now.

“No,” he answered, mischief in his eyes, “It won’t work again, I promise you.”

Puzzled by his response, I noted mentally to watch out for Gale’s tricks. He certainly was hiding something. “All right, then,” I said. “Good luck.”

“Ryu”, the LV28 male Trapinch vs. Gale, the LV35 male Lairon

I didn’t want to take any chances, so I scattered the abundant sand into my opponent’s face to distract him. If he had something planned, at least I wouldn’t give him a large amount of time to do it.

Gale let out a tremendous Roar, which startled me because I hadn’t been expecting it. I quickly recovered, though, and bounded around him to attack from behind. That turned out to be a horrible idea. Without looking back, Gale struck the ground and I felt a bunch of damp dirt stick to my face. This would be harder to remove than dry sand… I scolded myself for opening the opportunity for a Mud-Slap. Quickly attacking the mud in my eyes, I tried to remove just enough to allow me to see. By the time my vision was cleared, Gale had begun a Sandstorm and was nowhere in sight.

I searched around in vain for the Lairon. It disturbed me that I saw no sign of him through the flying sand, because this kind of decreased visibility didn’t usually stop me. I was used to it. Either this Sandstorm was really powerful, or Gale had done something that I did not know about and could not expect. I faded into invisibility to buy me time and scanned the ground for any holes. That Gale would be able to Dig that fast was disconcerting, but I couldn’t assume anything about his ability anymore. I had been stupid enough to underestimate him after our first battle.

When a sharp gust of wind impossible to dodge cut into my back, I realized that I had been searching in the wrong direction. I was looking down when I was supposed to be looking up. My invisible cloak vanished and I looked into the sky, bewildered. The Aerial Ace had come from above me. As the viciously swirling sand began to subside, I caught the image of the (winged?) Lairon up in the air. The wings seemed ethereal, energy-based maybe. This was weird enough; at least they weren’t feathers… Now I understood why his name was Gale. A Flying type Hidden Power? Aerial based assaults? A heavy, Ground-susceptible pokémon with the ability to fly… That helped a lot. But it would also be taxing on him.

I knew that he would stay up there for as long as he could shooting at me with his air attacks, and I realized that I wasn’t fast enough to dodge any. As strange as this sounded, I had to find a way to ground a flying Lairon. Nothing else came to mind, except…

Yes, the only ranged flying attack that I had. He hadn’t seen it yet, and it was my only chance.

The green shade rose from my body, spreading its wings and beating them in an agitated state. It charged into the sky towards the Lairon, who saw it and braced for an attack at his underbelly. Curling up into a defensive position, his strange wings flapping furiously, Gale made sure not to expose any soft part of his body; his armor shone with a startling brilliance that boasted fortress-like resistance.

No Iron Defense was going to stop me. Gale’s prediction had been completely wrong, and he only helped me by doing what he did. Now he was in a situation where he would not be able to see what was happening, for his eyes were also covered. My insect shadow split into three smaller entities, and as they neared Gale’s body they swirled around each other, then shot away at sharp angles in three different directions. Above Gale they went, and all three fused into one, which crashed directly into the Lairon’s back where his wings were beginning to tire from bearing his weight. This resulted in disaster; Gale lost control and collapsed to the desert sand below.

He groaned very loud. “You got me… I wasn’t expecting that. Now I suppose you’re going to hit me with Earthquake before I can even get up.”

Predictions, predictions. Gale needed some lessons in that area. Ignoring him, I nodded, and with one swift motion the sand around him howled to life, trapping him inside a spinning vortex of dry desert earth. I had seen him tire, and I knew that he couldn’t possibly last much longer. Gale did not have a very good poker face. I didn’t need to spend my energy to finish him. Besides, I wanted to show him that brute force wasn’t the only way to win. His constant accusations that I would Earthquake him into unconsciousness again were insulting stabs at my pride.

The Lairon, panicking, struggled fiercely to escape the Sand Tomb, thinking that certainly now I was going to deal the final blow. What he didn’t realize was that he was dealing it to himself. The fight continued for minutes, during which time I continued to kick sand into his eyes to aggravate him further. When he finally broke out, he was in a frenzy.

Charging with no particular aim, he headed at my general direction. I dodged easily; he came again. After several of these exchanges, Gale couldn’t continue anymore. He sank to the ground in a mess, wheezing, more than just short of breath. If I were him I would be seeing spots and the glaring sun would be a blaze of white as the land around me blackened. He collapsed into a heap, unconscious.

“Ryu” won!
“Ryu” grew to LV30!
“Ryu” learned Sandstorm as his free TM!

My POV:

I was proud of Ryu for proving Gale wrong; this end of the battle had more style. However, I worried that if he felt the need to prove himself in the final tournament battle, he would go out of his way to find a method to win.

“That was good, Ryu,” I told him.

“But risky,” he said. “I know. I won’t do it in the tournament; I promise. If that was my final battle, I would have got him with Earthquake right after I trapped him in my Sand Tomb.”

“I’m glad you understand that.”

“Don’t worry; when the final tournament battle is in question, I won’t take any chances. There are no mistakes to make. We’ve come this far, and I’m not going to ruin it just to prove something or feed my pride.”

“Excellent. By the way, your handling of this second battle was top notch. I’d say we’re in decent shape.”

“Yeah, only a few more weeks of vigorous training to go, and we might be ready for that battle.”

I chuckled. This might have sounded like a joke to an outsider, but Ryu was dead serious. I never regretted my decision to enter him into the Unicorn Games tournament; he was by far the most suited for the ordeal, and even if we didn’t win it all, I could never say that he hadn’t tried his best. Oh, no, he’d given his best and more.

[Charizard04621]

Ooook, Matt: Sorry about that delay. You posted your battle right before I was about to leave, and I didn't expect no one to rate it. O_o; Anyway, have 7 Stamps for the story. I'm really sorry it took that long.

Btw, Gabi, you had an extension for Templa Taure so I can give you Stamps for your story, right?

[Lady Vulpix]

No, extensions expire when the scenario changes twice, but your comments will be very appreciated.
Thanks for rating Matt's battle.

[AntiAsh Superstar]

Here's Pearl's RBG battle, it's supposed to take place about two hours after I finished with the Jungle room, which explains why Gina hasn't changed her clothes in the meantime. She may be a bit of a slob but she's not THAT bad... anyways, since it's been seven days since my last request, I'd also like to ask for another RBG battle in the Free Range Corral, this time for Ryo-Ohki. *pays seven stamps*

---

The training grounds had been an unrivaled success with my team. Somehow we had managed to work our way through all five different rooms, participated in ten battles altogether, and still came out with enough time to indulge in our own private training sessions before the Unicorn Games finals. We had seen all kinds of tactics from our allies. From Kasumi's tactics of putting her opponent off with a threatened rape, to another top-class performance from Katnip, each and every pokémon who participated had really done our team proud. Yet it didn't end there. At the very end of my training sessions I had ran into Gina for what felt like the millionth time, and we had come to an arrangement to help further my training beyond the limits of the training rooms. Well, as well as a superb lunch for myself, Soo and our entire team at a little Italian restaurant, that is. The lunch in question was a rather crowded affair, certainly. It had to be. But on the whole it was rather entertaining, our various pokémon just relaxing and socialising in a manner that seemed near impossible at home. We even had a chance to meet Gina's actual pokémon as well, those who she had owned since the start of her career as a pokémon trainer. Darien the Sandslash, a quiet, studious creature that earned a rather enigmatic 'he reminds me of Khism, slightly' off Rhiannon. Chiro, a Minun, and a rather excitable one at that, who seemed to take a great deal of interest in Soo's Kaguya and Yuki, although all he seemed to manage with regards to socialising with them was to scare the rather timid Yuki. And hence he ended up with an earful of abuse from her over-protective sister as a result. And finally a Venusaur that was introduced as Harmony.
"She was my starter," Gina explained. "I'm from Kanto originally, and things are a lot more formal over there. Everyone gets a starting pokémon from the resident pokémon professor, it's not a case of motivating yourself to go out and look through the adoption centres like it is here. And over there you can only carry six pokémon with you as well. I'm alright because I only need these three, but I know plenty of trainers who have been screwed over by the system in place there. I mean, imagine how pissed off you would be if you could only keep six pokémon with you at a time!"
"I'd be more concerned about how it would affect my team," I commented, taking a sip of white wine. "That could cause serious problems, wouldn't the ones who were on the main six be resented by the rest?"
"Yeah, there's that, plus of course there's no real limit to how many pokémon you own, over in Kanto you can have as many pokémon you like, and loads of trainers catch more pokémon than they can handle." Gina rolled her eyes. "I much prefer the system over here, get your licence and that lets you own up to fifteen pokémon that you can use in whatever way you like. No hassle in choosing teams, no worries about taking on more than is possible to take care of... here we all keep our pokémon around the house like pets when they're not battling, back in Kanto they have a storage system for spare pokémon."
"You know something?" Milliardo commented, "Sounds like in this Kanto place they treat pokémon training like a video game. No respect for the feelings of the pokémon at all."
"Maybe," Gina reluctantly agreed, not really paying attention to the fact that all of a sudden she was able to comprehend my Umbreon's words. Then again, that was the thing with Milliardo. He tended to run his mouth off so much that most trainers with even the remotest degree of empathy with pokémon could understand him after half an hour in his company. "Training's a lot more like a business in Kanto. The Pokémon League runs the entire economy. Part of the reason I wanted out of there, really, to leave all that formality behind."
"And the other part?" Soo asked between mouthfuls of pasta, curious.
"They'd offered me the job as a display instructor, of course!" came the response, Gina's face lighting up as she laughed. "See, I was just applying for any job I felt I was qualified for out of Kanto; I had no ties to that place so figured I might as well. And I went for an interview with the trainer rental agency here and fell in love with this place, so I put in my all and... well, here I am, it's been about three years down the line now and I'm still going strong."
"Fortunately enough for me," I chuckled, watching as my friend finished her food and nodded to a passing waiter for the bill. "I doubt my team would be trained half as much without your help."
"Ade, having known you for long enough to comment, I can honestly say I don't doubt that for a second," Gina chuckled. "Oh, speaking of which, how about we head over to my office and sort out that training battle you said you wanted to give your Ninetales?"
"What, now?"
"Well, there's no time like the present, is there? Come on, Ade, I get a real good feeling about this one, I'm sure it'll be a battle to remember." I turned to Soo, looking for another opinion on the matter seeing as I was unable to make up my mind one way or the other. However, all I got by way of response was a simple shrug, my fiancée being far too busy trying to keep Kassandra from climbing on the table to give her full attention to my problem.
"Do what you want, Ade," she said, pulling a wine glass away from her Charmander before Kassandra broke it. "If you want to do some more training that's fine with me." Well, that was hardly the response I had been hoping for! In situations like these I tended to rely on others to make up my mind for me. And seeing as Soo was too involved in keeping her pokémon under control it looked as if I would have to resort to seeing what my longest-serving empath thought of the matter.
"Pearl," I said, turning to my Ninetales and staring deep into her red, caring eyes. "You'd be the one battling. Would you like to fight now, or later?"
"You don't have an opinion on this at all, do you?" Pearl asked with a slight chuckle. "I can tell. Okay, if it were up to me then I'd quite like to have my battle now, actually. Well, it has been ages, hasn't it? I'm out of practice, and I'm quite itching to get back into my old routine now I don't have to worry about Celeste as much."
"I never had you down as being the type to get excited about battle, Pearl," I noted.
"I think I've been hanging around this big doofus for too long," the Ninetales giggled, batting Katnip playfully with several of her tails. "I'm jealous of how well-trained everyone's been getting while I've been pregnant."
"So, am I right in thinking you'll be fighting me later?" Gina asked, having correctly interpreted the expression upon my face. Certainly she was oblivious to a lot of things - it was rather telling that she hadn't bothered changing since our encounter in the Jungle Room, and even more telling that in Ulthuan you could wander into an Italian restaurant in khaki shorts and bare feet and still get served - but the mercenary trainer had always been a remarkably good judge of character. Well, you had to be if you wanted to make it as a trainer of any sort. "Well that's great! Come on, let's finish up here and then we can get on with it, right?" Well, there was no arguing with that! For all that Gina tended to come across as rather airheaded, occasionally she would have a good idea.

"Okay!" It had hardly taken any time at all to get back to Gina's cluttered office in the impressive building that housed most of the mercenary trainers in Caledor. For a while it had been closed - after all, it had been on the receiving end of a vicious Rocket attack not that long ago - but finally the repairs had been done and the building was now fully functional again. And Gina had already managed to turn her particular area into something approaching a pig-sty. Books and magazines teetered in obscenely large piles stacked in the corners. Clothes and equipment lay scattered about the floor. In fact, if I hadn't know Gina for the slob she was I would have thought that somebody had come in and ransacked her office. "We'll just stop off here for a second so I can quickly scan your Ninetales and decide what's the best pokémon to use..." Quickly my blue-haired friend hopped over the clutter to reach what should have probably been her desk, but instead had become a huge mound of papers. "Now where the devil is... ah! Here we go! No, wait, that's a toy one I bought for my little cousin... where is that Pokédex?"
"I can see why you're friends with her," Soo giggled from my side. "She makes you seem organised!"
"I know," I replied. "Scary, huh?"
"Finally!" Triumphantly Gina scrambled back over to our group, brandishing a small red device that she swiftly flipped open and pointed at Pearl. "Okay, then, let's see... wow, third bracket! You don't see many of that strength. Well, that settles it." The strange, bespectacled woman seemed positively delighted. "We're not playing with rentals today, I'm using one of my own pokémon. Chiro, you..." Suddenly she noticed that her pokémon was hassling Soo's Minun and Plusle again, Kaguya finally growing so fed up with his constant attention that she ended up bopping the Minun smartly on the nose, causing him to run whimpering to a point behind Gina's legs. "You're getting no sympathy from me, Chiro," Gina said crossly. "You asked for that. Now listen, if you can tear yourself away from annoying Soo's pokémon for ten seconds, would you mind battling with me? This is probably the only chance we'll get in ages to have a friendly battle."
"Mi!" the Minun grinned, his mood changing in an instant. "Mi minun mi!!!!!"
"That's a 'yeah, let's battle', basically," Gina explained for the benefit of everyone else. "Which is great! So then, shall we move over to the battling hall? I can't wait to get this one started!"
"All this fuss over a fight with Pearl..." Milliardo commented, rolling his eyes. "What do you suppose she'd do if she had a battle with me, huh? She's probably explode or something."
"Milliardo, you're not battling, are you? So we'll never know. Besides, you're supposed to be saving your strength for the Unicorn Games finals, remember?"
"I know, I know..." the Umbreon sighed with forced weariness. "It's so difficult being one of the most talented fighters in all of Ulthuan, not to mention an all-around heartthrob and firm fan favourite. I have to beat off my admirers with pointed sticks sometimes, it's getting that bad."
"You forgot 'biggest ego on the planet' in your list of qualities," I remarked. Ever since getting confirmation of his progress into the Unicorn Games finals Milliardo had been intolerable! "Anyway, come on, is it too much to ask that we just get on with it for once? You can brag all you like when we get home, but now it's Pearl's turn to have a bit of training, okay?"
"I suppose," Milliardo grumbled. "If this eats into my fan mail time, however, there'll be trouble."
"...I give up, I really do. Come on, Pearl, let's just go and have that battle before we get into another bickering session." I turned my attentions back to my Ninetales, who had been waiting patiently by my side this entire time. It had been far too long for my liking since we had last been able to battle side by side in this manner. Ever since the events in Templa Taure, where Pearl had been unable to make it more than halfway through the labyrinthine corridors of its temple, my Ninetales had been in no condition to do much save for stay at home and nurture her little Celeste. So it made a refreshing change for her to finally be able to stand by my side, ready to take on the world, just like the old days. Out of sheer instinct I reached down and ran my fingers through the soft plume of hair on top of Pearl's head, feeling the fine fur run through my fingers once again. "I've missed fighting alongside you, you know."
"So have I," came the smiled response. "That's why I wouldn't miss this battle for the world."

The official battling hall of Gina's organisation was a much grander place than the school hall type affair we had been using for our past few sparring sessions. A cold, clinical hallway with walls of dark blue metal and impressive statues of terrifying pokémon lining the walls, the dimensions of the room here so great that it could have accommodated the largest of pokémon with ease. Which, at the very least, gave me a perfect excuse to release Brandy from her pokéball, for which the Onix seemed humbly grateful.
"Crikey, this place is a lot colder than I remember it!" Gina exclaimed as she hopped from one foot to the other, her voice echoing around the cavernous walls. "Somebody put the heating on, would you?"
"If you'd thought to put some shoes on whilst you were in that bomb site you call an office then you wouldn't be having this problem, you insufferable ditz," Milliardo scoffed. "The floor is cold, it's tiled, deal with it."
"It isn't that bad, you'll probably get used to it," I commented, conveniently ignoring Milliardo even though I had to admit that he made a rather good point. "Aren't you mercenaries supposed to be made of harder stuff than this anyway? I would've thought that you wouldn't have let a cold floor stop you from battling!"
"Guess I'm just not used to this, I haven't been out in the field for ages and I guess it's turning me into a wuss," came the sheepish response. "Anyway, you're right, of course, let's battle! One on one, all usual official rules apply and I won't bother going through them all because I'm sure you've heard them a million times already. I will be using Chiro, my Minun!" At this point Chiro finally decided to stop hiding behind Gina's legs, hopping nimbly out onto the pre-marked battling pitch that stood between us. Well, it was finally time to go.
"Fine. I'm using Pearl, my Ninetales!" I called back in way of response, Pearl taking the hint admirably and walking solemnly out to her position in front of me. For a while nobody spoke, letting the two pokémon eye each other up before they were forced to engage in battle. Until finally Gina's voice broke the silence.
"Okay, guys, you ready? Then let's go!"

FIGHT!!! L33 Ninetales v L33 Minun!

"Here I come, ready or not!" The Minun known as Chiro had quite obviously not battled for almost as long as Pearl, such was the overwhelming eagerness that he came rushing forward with. Not that Pearl would have ever started a battle with such carelessness. In her mind battles were usually decided in the first few moments, and to get off to such a rushed start was a weakness that she would no doubt be able to exploit. "Take this!" Chiro rushed in with a Quick Attack, or at least what would have been one had Pearl not been able to sidestep it quickly. Although the Ninetales had to admit that it took a far greater effort than it should have done. Evidently she was a little out of shape after all!
"You're not concentrating!" Pearl advised, knowing full well that this was as much of a training session for the Minun as it was for her. "Just rush in and you leave yourself wide open!" To demonstrate her point the Ninetales fired a sudden stream of start-shaped bullets out of her mouth directly at her opponent, using her glands to produce the steady stream of sparks that made up the Swift attack rather than the flames they were designed to produce. Chiro gave a yelp of surprise as the attack struck home, covering his body in thousands of tiny injuries that in a way were probably more painful than a single large one. "See what I mean?"
"Yeah, and I feel it, too! That wasn't funny!" the Minun complained.
"I never said it was," Pearl commented. "You have to understand that this is a training session, though. I'm doing this because I've just had a cub and I'm out of shape, but I'd like for you to gain some benefit from this too, so don't feel offended if I feel the need to make a point every now and then."
"Hey, I don't need your advice, you know!" Chiro complained bitterly, beginning to fizzle with barely contained energy. "I've seen some pretty scary things, you know, and although I know I made a mistake rushing in like that I don't need it pointing out to me! Now taste my real power!" All of a sudden the Minun unleashed a terrible bolt of energy that snaked out from his body in all directions, leaving Pearl with nowhere to run, and no chance to evade the attack short of performing the sort of evasive maneuver that only Marius could have pulled off with his Detect. The Ninetales let out a gasp of pain as the electricity coursed through her body. She had forgotten just how much battling could hurt! But on the other hand this was nothing compared to the pain of childbirth. And if she had managed to get through that then she could get through this as well.
"Fine!" Pearl grimaced. "So... no need for advice... I might as well do... this!" It was remarkably easy to find negative feelings when you were in the middle of being struck with a Shock Wave attack. Pain always did bring the very worst of emotions with it. And the very worst of emotions were exactly what Pearl needed to utilise a move that had become something of a trademark of hers over time. Grimacing, she reached into the very depth of her psyche, finding not only the pain of being attacked but also other, more deep-rooted emotions, too. The frustration of not being able to help the others because of being weighed down with Celeste. The anger against all of those who had tried to hurt those she cared about. The sorrow felt as she had heard of the death of the old trainer of Chartreuse, Megan and Ryo-Ohki. All these and more shot to the very front of her mind, externally expressed in a single, shadowy ball of supernatural energy, the physical form of all of Pearl's worries, doubts and fears. With a scream that was almost primeval, the Ninetales short forth this ball of energy towards her opponent, allowing it to hover over the Minun's head only to eventual sink straight into its body. For a moment Chiro didn't seem to comprehend what was going on. And then suddenly his eyes widened, the terrible effects of the Confuse Ray finally starting to work.
"What..." The Minun gasped, staggering forwards in confusion. "What is this?"
"Confuse Ray," Pearl commented. "If you stay focused you might be able to ignore it, although I appreciate that's a lot harder than it sounds."
"I... won't... be beaten!" Again sparks began to fly from Chiro's body, sheer stubbornness somehow managing to carry him through the sudden wave of confusion for long enough to unleash another attack. Yet again a sudden wave of pain coursed through Pearl's body, sufficient enough to stop her in her tracks, crouching low to the floor and grimacing with the sudden vicious sensation. Evidently her opponent was a lot tougher than she had given him credit for! Well, there was no way she was going to make the same mistake twice! With a snarl of frustration that was most unlike her usual, easy-going self, the Ninetales gathered every ounce of focus and determination that her psyche possessed. To make it through this agonising attack and fight back like she knew she could. "You won't beat the likes of me with tricks like that!" Chiro looked about to dart forward with a Quick Attack, but evidently the confusion was still affecting him more than he cared to show. His stance, his balance... it was all wrong. And when he finally launched into the attack all that he managed to do was to fall flat on his face. Giving Pearl the opportunity to strike back that she had been waiting for.
"Well here goes nothing..." To be perfectly frank my Ninetales was somewhat worried about whether this was going to work. It had been so long since she had last battled, and she couldn't help but worry that her glands had stopped working through lack of use. Still, there was only really one way of finding out, and that was to try. Concentrating hard, Pearl began to consciously raise her body temperature until it felt as if there were a furnace burning deep within her, a furnace that began at the very pit of her belly and snaked its way upwards until it simply couldn't be contained within the confines of her body any longer. Until there was no choice for Pearl but to open her mouth and release the heat, a huge plume of fire snaking out of her and striking the toppled Minun hard in the side. Evidently her Flamethrower was back and better than ever.
"Ow! Ow! No fair, damn it!" Chiro shrieked, quickly getting out of the way of the flames before they could ignite his fur. Evidently this latest shock had snapped him quite admirably out of his confusion. "That hurt!"
"If you can shock me, then I can burn you," Pearl responded calmly. "You can't have it work one way and not the other, you know."
"Yeah, well..." That shut the Minun up! "Okay then, you haven't witnessed my strongest attack yet, get a load of this!" Pearl could already feel the air in the hall grow thick with static. Whatever Chiro was about to do, it was bound to be unpleasant!
"I don't think I really want to witness it, thanks all the same!" There was only one chance to snap her opponent out of whatever he was doing, and Pearl was determined to take it. Concentrating hard, the Ninetales once again summoned the flames that had always been used so admirably as a weapon by those of her kind. And once again a thick plume of flame was sent hurtling towards the Minun, who by this point was too deeply involved with his own attack to stand a chance of being able to do anything to avoid it. The Flamethrower struck him hard, snapping him out of his attack and sending him hurtling backwards, carried off his paws by the sheer force of the attack.
"Uhh..." Even after all this Chiro still managed to get back up again, although this time when he did so it was with a very glazed expression. He stared at Pearl for a moment, then smiled. "Nice battle!" And that was all the Minun managed to say before his eyes rolled upwards and he fell to the floor once again, the battle having taken its toll on both his body and mind. Apparently Pearl still had what it took after all.

Pearl wins!
Pearl grew to L34!

"So much for being out of practice, huh?" I couldn't help but smile as my Ninetales made her weary way back towards our group, leaving the collapsed Chiro to be tended to by Gina. "I'd say you're still just as good as you've ever been!"
"I hate to break it to you, Ade, but I am rather out of shape," Pearl sighed, still finding it hard to catch her breath after the intense battle. "That was exhausting! I really don't remember battling being that tiring, so maybe a little more training will be needed before I'm in top form again."
"Well you're off to an excellent start, at any rate. I'm sure Katnip can help you get back in shape if you asked him to."
"Yeah, I bet he'd jump at the chance, too!" Kasumi piped up with an overly suggestive tone in her voice.
"Like THAT wasn't totally predictable... Sumi, learn some new jokes, please." My Ninetales rolled her eyes in mock despair, in too good a mood now to genuinely care.
"I'm not sure Pearl needs getting back in shape, you know." Finally Gina re-entered the conversation, having recalled her Minun back into his pokéball. Not that she could really follow half of it, unable to understand most of what my pokémon said. "If she wasn't obviously trying to drag the fight out a little, and given a different location and conditions, that fight would have probably been over in seconds. Probably why you've gotten pretty far in three tournaments, Ade, and I haven't so much as been in one."
"I actually thought you hadn't been in any tournaments because you were always too busy helping run the training grounds for them," I commented.
"Well... yeah, there is that, too..." Gina laughed warmly. "Anyway, it's been fun, Ade, like always, although sometimes I wonder who's helping who to train. Same time next week?"
"Provided I don't get any calls from the Guild saying I have to run off to Unicorn Gate for the finals, then sure thing, Gina. See you then." I shook my friend's hand and turned to leave. It was always nice to have a friendly battle every now and then, certainly, but it was even nicer when we could all return home and just relax. And although those moments were few and far between lately, that was exactly what I intended to do next. Who could possibly begrudge me that?

[classy_cat18]

Finally I can get back on the Training Grounds scenario!

Shonta’s POV

So far Trinity, Athena, and Moriko haven’t had a battle yet. Trinity was hard to train and Athena seemed a little reluctant, but Moriko…

“Alright! A Jungle Room! This is the one for me!”

…seemed just fine.

“We already went through that one, Moriko. We have a choice between the Desert Room and the Blizzard Room. Trinity hasn’t had a battle yet, so we’re going through the Blizzard Room now.”

She looked at me with disappointment, but quickly perked up again. “I guess that means I can rest in my pokeball for now, right? No reason in freezing for nothing!”

I returned her to her pokeball and went back to the other two. “We’ll do it like this. Trinity will do a battle in the Blizzard Room, and then we’ll go to the Desert Room for…two battles. Athena and Lily.”

Athena gasped. “I’m not ready yet!”

I squatted down to her level and smiled warmly. “Of course you’re ready! I still have that Cross Chop TM to kickstart your training. Now I’m not going to have you training non-stop, of course. I have too many Pokemon to do that.”

She nodded, still looking at the floor. “I guess I can do that.”

I took out the TM and opened it over her head. Her whole body glowed for a second then returned to normal. “Now, you do Cross Chop like this.” I crossed my arms across my chest in an X. Athena copied me, saw that her arms started to glow, and quickly returned them to her sides. “They’re supposed to do that.”

I reached out to grab the door that led to the Blizzard Room and felt a cold aura. The doorknob was very cold. Now, I don’t like the cold. The cold grips your body and strangles you. The heat simply surrounds you. I finally went through the door and up the steps to the door leading to the actual Blizzard Room. Opening it, I felt a wall of cold crashing into me. “Oh, it’s freezing in here!” I cried out as I went through the door.

“It’s not so bad in here!” Trinity yelled over the howling wind. “In fact, I think I see a little cabin just over there!”

Athena gently grabbed one of Trinity’s tails and followed her. I stayed beside Trinity, not wanting to risk a ten-thousand-year curse. I turned my head away from the wind and kept one hand outstretched. The wind slowly died as we neared the cabin. I entered and plopped down against the far wall. Trinity didn’t follow me in. “I’ll just stay outside, ‘kay?”

The door closed behind Trinity, and I immediately noticed the welcoming warmth. Turning my head, I could see a fireplace burning, and in front of that fireplace sat a cloaked figure. He neither moved nor spoke.

“You think that’s our opponent?” Athena asked me.

“I guess so. I mean, there’s no other sane reason why he would be sitting in this cabin alone in the middle of a place called the Blizzard Room.”

The cloaked figure turned his head to face us. I couldn’t see his face at all. He reminded me of those monks that be doing satanic sacrifices on TV. I really need to ease off the TV.

“Did you see that guy’s face?” Athena whispered to me.

“Umm, yeah.” I didn’t want to seem stupid or blind.

“I didn’t. I wonder how he’s planning to give orders while he’s in here with us?”

“I think I know. His Pokemon must be a Psychic type. He’s sending his commands with his mind.”

She shook her head. “Too bad Jewel didn’t want to come with us. Trinity’s on her own.”

Trinity’s POV

I strained to look around the blindingly white environment. Whoever designed the Blizzard Room even put up a few dead trees to make it look like I was at an entirely different place.

The wind was still blowing, but there was no falling snow right then. Still no Pokemon. Wait, what’s that? Something green was walking over a hill. It turned out to be a Ralts. The short Pokemon waddled up to me and bowed.

“Hello. I will be your opponent,” he said politely.

“Where’s your trainer?” I asked Ralts.

“Where’s yours?”

“In the cabin over there.” I pointed with my paw.

“The same with my trainer. Shall we begin then?” He started to walk to the other side of the clearing.

“Wait! We’re going to battle without trainers?”

He kept his back to me. “Actually, my trainer will be able to send commands to me telepathically. You’re the one without a trainer.”

Stupid Jewel. That stupid Starmie couldn’t get out of that stupid pool to help us with her stupid psychic powers. “So I’m on my own. I can do this on my own. Let’s get this over with!” I dashed to my side of the clearing and waved my paw to signal that I was ready.

<I’m ready as well,> he sent me.

L6 Female Ninetails (Trinity) vs. L8 Male Ralts

I dashed forward in an awesome Quick Attack, but Ralts was making no effort to dodge. I couldn’t blame him; those stubby little legs must’ve made it hard for him to dodge. Ten feet…five feet…one foot…

<Bye.> He disappeared, leaving me tumbling in the snow.

<You actually thought it was going to be that easy?> he asked me as I righted myself.

“How was I supposed to know you knew Teleport?” I spat, teeth bared. “Never mind! Let’s finish this!” I knew the guy was right behind me. Good, I wanted him to taste humble pie. I fired a Flamethrower right in his face! At least, I thought I did. The jerk disappeared again before the attack hit. This time he reappeared in the same spot.

<My turn.> His body was surrounded by a blue aura, and I felt myself leave the ground. I kicked in the air in a pretty lame attempt to free myself. He raised a tiny arm and flicked it. At the same time, I was hurled at an incredible speed into a snow bank. <Get back up so I can finish this.>

I struggled to get back up but everything was spinning. My stomach was feeling topsy-turvy. I was going to hurl. My confusion was so heavy. I glared at the three Ralts. “I’m not going to lose to a shrimp like you.”

<Oh really? Isn’t this your first battle? Under your current trainer, I mean.>

My belly felt like it had caught on fire. “How did you know?”

<My trainer overheard your trainer and told me telepathically. I know it must be pitiful to be evolved yet at such a low level.>

Stupid shrimp with his stupid telepathy and that stupid trainer of his. If only my stupid vision would just clear up! But I was really feeling pathetic at the time. I rushed very clumsily at the middle Ralts, actually hoping he would try Teleport. Ralts once more stood still. Ten feet…five feet…one foot…wall! I hit some kind of invisible wall! I fell in the snow again and saw that Ralts had put up a Light Screen.

<It’s Reflect, in case you were wondering,> Ralts corrected.

I said nothing, except shoot another Flamethrower while he was jabbering on. This time it hit. I smiled at the memory of his shocked face, the way he put his arms together in a futile attempt to block the attack. He ran out of the flames and glared at me. I took this as an opportunity to glare back and give him a Confuse Ray. “Aah!” he yelled. He furiously rubbed his eyes.

“How does it feel, shrimp?” I asked him. I shook my head and finally managed to shake off my confusion.

Ralts was covered in burns and breathing heavily. “Why aren’t you burned?”

“Oh, you must have the Synchronize trait! Well, I have the Flash Fire trait. Can’t touch this!” I sprinted toward him while he was still trying to shake off the confusion. I wouldn’t miss this time. He was both burned and confused. Ten feet…five feet…one foot…

“Aah!” he cried out as my paws connected with his huge noggin. I stood over him, victorious.

I won! I grew to level 7!

I got off of him. He won’t be saying anything for a while. I seriously considered burying him in the snow and making his trainer shovel the entire room just to find him, but then I remembered that I knew better than that. I left him and ran back to the cabin.

Shonta’s POV

I woke up to the sound of muttering. No, Athena was just fine. But the cloaked figure was cursing up a storm. “I guess we won,” I whispered.

There was something scratching at the door. Athena woke up and yawned. “Who could that be?” She opened the door, and Trinity came trotting in. “How did the battle go?”

“I won, of course!” she replied happily. She looked at the cloaked figure. “Your Ralts is in the clearing in the middle of the room. You’d better go get him before he gets buried!”

The mysterious figure exited the door, staying silent. We stayed silent too, for a while.

Trinity spoke up. “Who was that guy?” she asked.

“We don’t know. We didn’t even get a look at his face.”

“Hmm. Well, my nose feels frozen. Who’s up for a trot around the Desert Room?”

I sighed. Who doesn't want to sweat and smell?

[Lady Vulpix]

Ok, even without a printer and without my main computer (it broke down just when I'd bought a new network card for it ) I've managed to rate 2 of the stories.

Karin, take 16 stamps! Some of the parts written in "Ryu'"s POV were a bit hard to understand, but the story in general was good, especially the part after the first battle. Mandragora's thoughts were intriguing. ¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢
Ade, take 14 stamps. Welcome back, Pearl! I really enjoyed reading that story. ¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢

Sorry, Shonta, I haven't been able to read yours yet. I hope I or someone else can rate it soon. My weird Blizzard Room post remains unrated as well, just in case it was being skipped because I posted another story shortly after that one. If any others haven't been rated yet, please say so and we'll try to get to them soon. Thanks.

I hope I can get my computer back soon.