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

[AntiAsh Superstar]

Yeah, I bet nobody would have expected Khism to turn up too, but on one level he is Amon's right-hand... uhh... semi-crazed obsessive... and is rather fond of Rhiannon too in his own stupid way, and on the other... well, maybe I've watched Tenchi Muyo too much but I figured guardians should come in pairs.

I did read your RBG before I posted mine, Gabi, it also was intriguing (and I'll be most interested as to what part Giana plays in the upcoming chaos. Going back to a comment you made at the planning thread I guess we now know which side she'll be choosing, hm?)

[Charizard04621]

That was great, Gabi! Take 23 Stamps. I wonder what Giana's up to...

[classy_cat18]

I’m sorry if this is so short. I just haven’t been feeling very imaginative or energetic lately.

Shonta’s POV

I bounced to the music as I pushed the vacuum cleaner around the living room, making sure to deodorize the place. I turned it off and heard a loud thump coming from outside. I ignored it as it didn’t happen for a while, but a minute later it came again. Walking outside I saw Beacon tackling the big tree in the backyard. She looked at me and stopped in mid-run.

“Something the problem?” I asked her.

She flashed a smile, but it didn’t look real. “Nothing’s wrong. I’m just practicing, is all.” She started to rub her horns against the bark of the tree.

I cocked my head. “You don’t practice. You definitely don’t practice by yourself. In fact, you don’t do anything by yourself.” I sat beside her. “Something’s on your mind.”

Beacon sighed. “I’m tired of being a Mareep.”

“Oh, you want to evolve. That’s going to be a challenge.”

“Why?”

“Well, besides Trinity, Moriko, and Jewel, everyone wants to evolve. I gotta work with at least one of you every day.”

She bowed her head. “If it’s not too much trouble…”

“Of course it’s not too much trouble! Of course, I would want to know why you want to stop being a Mareep all of a sudden.”

She blushed. “Well, it’s just that Mareep don’t look like battlers.”

“Neither do Flaafy or Ampharos.”

She smiled sheepishly. “Flaafy and Ampharos don’t have to bunch together in a herd to protect themselves. The others have all of these cool moves that make them look fierce. Moriko has her brute strength and Aeroblast, Lily has her Solarbeam, Trinity is just demonic…”

“She does look like a certain Japanese demon. How do you know if Trinity battles like a demon?”

“She has all of those moves! Jewel has Blizzard! What do I have that’s so spectacular?”

An idea flashed into my head, and I ran outside to get my recent purchase. I came back to her with it. “This is a start. It’s called Hidden Power. It will bring out this – hidden power – out from deep inside of you. Whatever it is, it will be spectacular.” I gave her the TM. “I’ll get the others. You have a training battle to get to.”

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ *~

I stepped in the arena and got a bit of a surprise. On the other side were Tony, the trainer that I faced in the Jungle Room, and his Chikorita Green. Yes, Green. “I don’t believe that you’re my trainer!” I said excitedly.

The kid laughed. “Well, you better believe it! I have me a new Pokemon with me, too!” He threw his pokeball, revealing an Aron. The Aron faced Beacon and narrowed his eyes. “Be nice, Steel.”

I sighed. At least he’s not being called a color.

Beacon nervously stepped out to the center of the arena and took on a fighting stance. I took out my pokeballs and let out the rest of the girls. Trinity yawned and glared at me. “Any reason why you interrupted my nap?”

Moriko laughed heartily. “Alright! Beacon’s battling! Go Beacon!”

“Go Beacon!” Lily echoed.

L9 Female Mareep (Beacon) vs. L9 Male Aron (Steel)

Beacon scratched the ground with her hoof and charged for Steel. “Steel, use Harden!” Tony shouted. Steel’s armor shone brightly as Beacon hit him dead on and he didn’t move an inch.

“Physical attacks aren’t going to work, Beacon!” Moriko shouted. “That guy’s a Steel type!”

“Beacon, use Thunderbolt!” I yelled. Beacon’s wool sparked and she let loose her Thunderbolt on Aron. Aron split into three, dodging the attack.

Beacon stumbled back and looked at me with desperate eyes. I searched my mind for a way out of it. “Just calm down!” was all I could say. Beacon breathed as deeply as possible and closed her eyes. Suddenly I shuddered; the temperature had dropped in a matter of seconds. I looked up and saw snow falling. “Snow?”

“It’s so cold!” Lily whined.

“Who turned down the thermostat?” Trinity asked.

Beacon turned to me with glowing eyes. It’s her Hidden Power. It’s Ice. A huge wind picked up, bringing with it a massive blizzard. Snow swirled around in the arena, chilling whatever it touched. I dropped to the floor, unable to take the cold. I felt something furry drape itself over me. I heard nothing. I definitely saw nothing. I closed my eyes, comforted by the warmth in the blizzard.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

“Shonta?”

I opened my eyes to see Beacon looking down on me. I was feeling groggy and heavy. “What happened?”

She smiled widely. “I won! I don’t know how, but I won!”

Athena helped me up. “You fell asleep. We were lucky that Trinity decided to drape herself over you.”

“Hidden Power Ice,” I whispered. “You used Hidden Power to defeat Steel.”

“Actually, Steel was still standing after the attack. But he was unwilling to move, giving Beacon the chance to hit him with a couple of Electric attacks. That was what KO’ed him.”

Beacon laughed. “Jewel herself said that it was the most spectacular thing that she’d ever seen!”

Beacon grew to level 10! She learned Light Screen as her free TM!

Again I apologize. I haven’t been feeling like myself lately. I’ll make up for it later. Now I just want Beacon to grow.

[AntiAsh Superstar]

Okay, seems like it's been the requisite seven days now, so I might as well get in a little more training before everything turns to chaos. I'd like a double RBG for Katnip and Pearl at the Electric Shutdown system, please. *pays 14 stamps*

[Lady Vulpix]

Hehe. You never rest, do you! I wouldn't either, if I had the time to write so much. Ok, Pearl and Katnip will battle a Metang and a Lairon. It looks like the RBG wanted steel types this time.

As for Giana, it seems that events are turning her towards one side, but she has no fixed loyalties. She'll be with whatever side suits her own needs better.
Thanks for the stamps, Karin!
And thanks to both of you for reading my battle.

[AntiAsh Superstar]

Gabi, could I have an extension please for the training rooms?

Yes, she needs to let me have some more battles.

[Kirei]

Gabi, could I have an extension please for the training rooms?

Yes, she needs to let me have some more battles.

[Lady Vulpix]

It's ok, Shonta. You can have 7 stamps for that battle. So, Beacon won while you were sleeping? O_O
Interesting way of reporting the end of the battle without actually describing all of it, though I wouldn't recommend doing it twice. And what was that about the warmth in the blizzard? And why did you fall asleep? ¢¢¢¢¢¢¢

Soo, you can have the extension. And yes, Kassandra too.

[classy_cat18]

Well, it was twelve at night and I was getting sleepy myself that I imagined how much I wanted to be in my own bed and this happened. Stupid, stupid. Oh look, a bouncing smilie!

Don't worry. I won't fall asleep during the battle again. And I'm feeling better so I would like to give back those 7 stamps and get a rbg for my L11 Starmie Jewel from the Universal Adoption Center.

Bouncy. Heh heh.

[Wolfsong]

Sorry for the triple post. Amy gets 51 stamps for her 3 posts! Great stories, especially the first one. I felt sorry about Blazer, but especially about Flare. She was left in such a tough situation! I have a few questions: does Sinopa call Aiyana 'Yama' intentionally? And how did Ringer know the Granbull was his sister, when Kovu hadn't told him where nor when it had all happened? Enjoy these! ¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢ ¢

Wow, ^^ thanks. Well, yeah Sinopa calls Yana that purposely. At first, it was because she couldn't say Yana. Though now they have a special bond, and she calls her that on purpose now. As for as Ringer knowing the granbull was his sister, they are on the same team, which is why he knew about it.

Jewel will be battling a Lunatone

[*Murkrow]

I got the Pond Room done; struggled a bit with the battles, but oh well. Just two more to go Also couldn't think of a very good description of Air Cutter :-/

~Fizz~

“Will he be alright?”
“He should be, but they’ll be keeping him in for a couple of days to make sure.”
“Do you think it would be ok if I stayed with him for a little while?”
“No. We’re going to be here, that’ll be enough. And it’s not as if he’ll know that you’re there anyway.”
“But I…”
“Look, just go do something, take your mind off of it, and stop bugging me.”
“Oh.”

“You know, at times she can be so insensitive, it’s unbelievable. ‘It’s not as if he’ll know that you’re there anyway’…wow, doesn’t stop her staying, does it?”
“You’ve only just figured that out? Where’ve you been hiding?”
“No, I knew, just…not like that; not that much. I wanted to stay with my friend- who’s she to say I can’t?”
“Should have stayed anyway.”
“Excellent idea, she’d have ended up in intensive care right next to Archie.”
“Thought that was what she wanted?”
“Seriously, you think she meant it like that, you idiot?”
“Watch it…”
“You calling me an idiot?”
“Yes.”
“Why, you little…”

Sighing, I shook my head and shuffled away, leaving them to sort out their argument on their own; I just wasn’t in the mood for something as petty as that.
Flapping up onto a post overlooking the bustling grounds, I tried to focus on them, blocking out the flood of memories filtering through my mind…the dragging weight pulling me down…..the rasping breathing of my friend filling the silence….the desperate aching of my wings as I lurched over the luscious undergrowth.
Perhaps if I was stronger I’d have been able to get him out of there quicker and he wouldn’t have been in such a bad way when we got back here.
“Quit beating yourself up over it. You did the best you could. At least you got him out of there.”
“How do you know what it is I’m thinking? Or feeling, for that matter.”
“Believe me, it’s obvious.”
“Thanks. So you’re basically saying I look awful?”
“No. Just worried.”
Glancing away, not wanting him to see the look I could feel creeping across my face, I shrugged, hoping he’d realise that I just wanted to be alone.
“You know, you might want to try what Xol suggested; doing something. She’s right when she said it’d take your mind off all this.”
“Don’t mention her to me.”
“Fine then. But you do realise that you could get one over her at the same time?”
“Come again?”
“Think about it. She told you to go do something; what’s the best thing to do here?”
Catching on, I frowned, and looked back at him.
“She’d kill me. It’s bad enough that we’ve cleared two rooms without her, but a third? And look what happened last time I went off.”
“You’d only be doing what she said….and a battle would really help you to concentrate on something else. And if you want company, there’s at least two others on the team you could take with you, no matter which room you chose.”
“No. No company. Just me.”
“Ok. Go on your own. Just stop moping around.”
I kept quiet, watching him warily from the corner of my eye; I wasn’t stupid, I knew what he was like. Any chance of stirring up trouble and he’d be there in a flash.
Sensing my look, he laughed, jumping away from the post.
“Just consider it.”
Chuckling to himself, he dived down, dropping back to join the rest of the still bickering team.
Ruffling my feathers, slowly thinking over what he’d said, I paused as an idea flashed into my mind; smiling briefly to myself, I flipped off the perch, swooping over the crowds heads as I struck out for my intended location.

The water shimmered gently, catching the beams of light, reflecting it so that the surface glistened, stretching out beneath me.
Diving down to skim over the gently rippling surface, watching as the rush of air broke away into tiny waves, lolling and rocking away to break lazily over the bright water.
Looking down, I could see, through the crystal, sapphire coloured water, the faint shape and rough surface of the pond-bed, deep beneath the body of water.
Impulsively stalling, I dipped my claws down, splashing them through the cold water, feeling the refreshing droplets exploding in all directions splatter onto my feathers. Beating hard, I powered up, sending specks of light cascading down as the drops flicked off, seizing the light.
Reaching out to swoop beneath the rooms ceiling, watching the water; from so high up, the faint ripples were indiscernible, so the dim shadows flitting beneath the shimmering surface seemed to be hanging in the light, against the looming background of rock.
Gradually, I felt my mind relaxing, as the landscape and my movement combined soothed me.
It was a good idea, coming here.
Turning gently, letting the flow of thoughts fade away, replacing them with the knowledge of my flying, and the power it brought me.
Stalling again, I let my body drop, spinning forward to plummet, head first, towards the water. Focusing as the surface loomed, close enough to watch the shimmering blanket of light split into its individual specks; see the gentle ripples slipping across in the faint breeze; wrenching my wings out, I whipped round, brushing across the water, sending diamonds of light sparkling through the air.
Hurtling back up, looping on pure exhilaration, I twisted back round to stare at the water, my eyes instantly locking onto the two miniature shapes that had broken through the light, hanging motionlessly.
Trilling to myself, I tilted my wings and slowly spiralled down, pausing to hover above them.
“You like?”
They stared back silently, their black eyes glittering in the light. They had the same basic features; the orange, half-star shaped gills, the long head crest, the deep royal blue colouring, merging with the grey-blue underbelly. Except one had more exaggerated features; the crest, the gills, even his dark eyes all seemed disproportionate to his tiny size; smaller than the other one, who regarded me coolly.
“Well? What do you think?”
The larger one frowned, tilting her head to unleash a stream of rippling cries to her partner, cries that resonated strangely over the open expanse; chuckling, her companion answered, his replies pooling and gathering through the still air.
“O….k…. Are you ever going to speak English? Or shall I just leave you to it?”
The smaller Mudkip broke off at that, glaring up at me, before a smile slowly slipped across his face; nodding in response to the ongoing barrage from his companion, he nodded absent-mindedly, paddling forward.
“Er, no…. I didn’t come here for a battle, just to, you know, test my flying and all.”
Growling, the larger one thumped the water aggressively, as I began to pull myself back up.
“Speak English, please. Or at least something that I can understand.”
Ignoring me, the larger Mudkip delivered what looked like the last word, before slinking back slightly; giggling, the smaller one half reared out of the water, as the larger one cried out.
Well, it’s not as if I sought this out purposefully.

Fight
Fizz (Taillow F L8 )
Vs
Mudkip (M L15)

Instantly, he unleashed a jet of water, that whined up, sending shimmers of water vapour cascading down; cawing softly, I tucked my wings in, accelerating to the side, easily dodging the blast.
Whipping forward, I tore over his head, swinging round in a wide circle as another stream of water crashed past, plummeting to slam into the churning water.
Hasn’t he ever heard of strategy?
Darting up higher, watching as he inhaled, before unleashing another Water Gun, I rolled my eyes quickly to myself, spinning round and diving towards the water, feeling the tingling sprinkle as the falling vapour played over my feathers.
Catching my weight, skidding over the rocking water, I barrel-rolled, skidding over the horizontal blast as it rushed beneath me; gathering my energy, I rocketed forward, slamming into him head on as he splashed round for another attack.
Howling, he half-fell back, choking and spluttering as the water rushed into his mouth; spitting it out, he struggled round, yapping in the strange tongue he’d been using, trying to focus on me as I whistled back over his head.
Behind, the larger Mudkip shouted out, angrily pounding the water in her agitation, screaming something at him; taking my chance as he hesitated and looked back at her, I plummeted down, whipping round his body to smash into him with me wings, sending him spiralling up out of the water.
Wailing, his legs frantically scissoring the air, tumbled with a smash into the rocking waters, submerging; hovering above, I narrowed me eyes, tracking his faint shape as it lurched beneath the disturbed waters.
He didn’t even think to break his fall?
Shrugging to myself, I focused my mind, concentrating on the attack I had that could drive him back out; as the white orbs sparked into life, I eyed his location carefully, pointing down as the orbs burst out, whining to tear into the water.
Watching through the churning water as a mass of dark substance showed my attack had shattered into the rock bed, I smirked, as a sudden tremor sounded; low at first, then louder, as the bed began to shake and crack, sending the already rocking waters into a frenzy.
Yelping, the larger Mudkip flung me a glare, retreating to where the tiny platform intended for trainers lay perilously over the waters. As she splashed up onto it, I glanced back as her companion burst through the water surface, gasping as the massive waves now littering the surface grabbed him instantly.
Is this really worth the bother?
Slowly flapping up higher, humming softly as my body began to glow with a bright, white light, I picked out his tiny shape, scrabbling through the waters; feeling my power peaking, I dropped my wings and hurtled down towards him.
Watching closely as my target loomed, I tensed my body, when he suddenly flung back his head, screaming out in a massive roar, that tore into my mind as I dashed closer.
Shrieking, I felt my grip on my attack slacken; as the glow around my body diminished, I lurched to the side, and up again, frantic to get away from his terrible screaming.
Rising up to the ceiling, as far away as I could go, I shook my head hard, trying to rid my mind of his awful, echoing cries.
Uproar…..guess the only way to combat that is…
Circling above, I tensed again, whining down, before flinging back my head and answering his roar with a snarl of my own, fighting against his clinging creams with a billowing, resonating growl.
Partly working; his cry slackened off slightly, as my attack pounded his senses; splashing from side to side as he registered the sound, I accelerated again, sending him slamming back, flying out of the water briefly before hitting again.
Instantly, his roars cut out.
Skimming over the water, dodging the waves that still lurched over its surface, I fixed my eyes onto his shadow, focusing my skills.
His head broke through the surface..but oddly blank-his eyes were dim, his breathing slow, moving slowly as his body rocked from side to side.
Like I’d fall for that.
Hovering above him, I focused again, bringing my mind to the exact point needed, staying locked onto him all the time, waiting for the first signs of movement.
Nothing came.
Even though I knew it was useless, I focused my body again, my muscles trembling with anticipation as I watched him anxiously.
There.
A faint aura flashed round his body, before fading; the energy he would have been able to unleash against me had I been stupid enough to attack him directly.
As he blinked languidly and looked up and around, searching for me, I flipped forward, plunging down to smash into his face, feeling from the shudder that tore through his body that my focused body and mind had worked.
Dipping my wing under his chin, I smashed up, flinging him from the water; rushing through the air, he plummeted back into the water; submerging again, briefly surfacing, before he gasped and went limp.

I won.
I grew to L10.
I learnt Steel Wing as my free TM!

Hearing the angry squeal from behind me, I turned as the other Mudkip scampered forward on the tiny platform, screaming at me, her whole body quivering.
“Don’t take it out on me, you two were the ones who challenged me. He got what he deserved.”
Her reply came in another burst of angry, echoing calls; sighing as I recognised the inevitable, I dropped lower, shaking my head.

Fight
Fizz (Taillow F L10)
Vs
Mudkip (F L15)

Flinging herself away from the platform and into the finally stilling waters, cutting through them with ease, she let out a low tremor of sound, before wrenching her head back, imitating the attack I had used barely minutes before against her companion.
Scowling, as the sound reverberated through my head, I answered with my own growl, lashing her with waves of sound; struggling against each other mentally, I saw the spark flicker in her eye; cutting off abruptly, she dived down, vanishing beneath the surface.
Shaking my head to rid myself of the final vibrations of her cry, I warily kept an eye on her shadow as it darted beneath the light.
Tempted to use the same strategy as before, I stalled, muttering as the orbs began to spiral in their intricate patterns around my body, when the water beneath me exploded out, as a beam of crackling frozen energy hurtled up.
Abandoning my attempt at Hidden Power, I screeching in alarm, swinging away to the side, sensing the searing cold as the beam shot past, beating hard to power away from the point of cold.
Circling, flashing my sight over her body as it swung round effortlessly through the water, tracking my movements, I decided that now seemed about the right time to experiment with a new technique.
Letting my eyes slip closed, I trilled quietly to myself, feeling the sensation of my beating wings pounding the air; of the brush of cold still clinging to my feathers; felt it all slipping away.
Opening my eyes again, I blinked through the strange, distorted scene that now surrounded me; below, the bright sapphire waters had changed, the peaceful blue now a sickening, vivid pink, hovering over a dark, purple-blue rock bed, that seemed to pulse and twist even as I watched it. Above, around me, the invisible air now seemed to be charged with luminescence; a faint, flickering purple that writhed around my body.
Lowering my gaze, I easily picked out- black against the thick pink- the shape of my opponent, head swinging from side to side as she attempted to track me back down.
Spiralling down, feeling with surprise the ease at which I could burst through the strange, purple air around me, I extended my claws, stalled, then plummeted down to seize her head in my grip.
Instantly, with a rushing, grinding sound, the iridescent, pulsing colours flashed and spun round me, crackling through my body, rushing through my feathers, down through my claws and into her skin.
Howling as the dark energy tore through her, she bucked her head, dislodging my grip enough to give her room to lunge forward. Ducking her head and front legs down into the water, bring her back legs and tail lashing up….her shining white tail, that struck my side like a block of steel.
Knocked free, my claws clenching as they lost their grip on her skin, I crashed down into the water, floundering, spluttering, before she slammed into my back, sending my flying up.
Beating my sodden wings hard, I shivered, feeling the sudden rush of cold air billow over me, a split second before the crackling beam of ice stabbed into my back, the tentacles of the attack wrenching through my feathers, seizing them in its freezing grip.
Trembling, feeling the weight of my half-frozen, numb body beginning to pull me back down, I felt a shudder flash through me as my mind registered an identical situation.
Get out of my mind.
Screaming out loud to drag my thoughts away, I felt the sudden waves of warmth float through my body, as an artificial sun exploded into life above me, its streaming light soothing through my body, rippling out to glitter over the shifting waters, as my opponent snarled and backed off.
Feeling the soft caress melting through my ice-bound feathers, I rolled over slowly, letting the sun stab at every part of my body; relaxing, I drifted round again, turning back to attack.
Seeing her figure skimming through the water, heading back to the platform, I swooped lower, speeding up, watching as the surroundings beneath me blurred, my eyes playing over my targets form; timing my attack as she scrambled up onto the smooth metal.
As she turned to face me, I accelerated, blasting towards her, dodging to the right at the last second; hitting her on the side instead of full on….but with enough force to smack her back, tumbling off the platform into the water.
Circling away as my speed lessened, watching as she scrambled around in the water, struggling back up onto the platform, shouting out silently as the beam of ice burst from her jaws, showers of water tumbling down as it reached up, melting away from the ferocity of my sun.
Rolling triumphantly away, I ricocheted down, dragging my body back with a sweep of my wings, before snapping them together, sending an arrow shaped burst of energy scything down to slash through her body.
Shrieking, she responded with the jet of water I had seen so much of in my last match, evaporating even as it shot towards me. Skimming down as my vision sharpened, the white light beginning to pulse through my body again, I shot down, seeing her swing round, her tail visibly shaking as the steel weight seized it.
Darting to the side as she whipped round, I clattered onto the metal surface, springing forwards as she glanced at me, smashing into her as the light encasing me vanished in a flicker.
Her paws scrabbling over the slick surface, she slid back, before snapping her head up and seizing my tail as I attempted to flash past.
Rolling forward, she dragged me back, bouncing off the firm metal, before she slammed her tail across my front.
Shuddering as the force jolted through my body, I lashed out frantically with my wings, my claws gripping at the air; startled, she pulled back, giving me the chance to roll back onto my front, dragging my wings in, as we glared across at each other.
Exhaling, she let loose the stream of water; gasping as the rush covered my body, I felt for a second the brief release as she cut off her attack, before the ice cold gripped by body again.
Trembling, trying to wrench my body away, falling even as I flapped heavily upwards, I hear below the splash as she bounded back into the water.
Circling up to where my failing sun was pulsing out the last of its light and warmth, I glanced down, seeing her form flashing through the water, as a glinting film covered her body, as she spun up, forming a ball of ice that rattled across the water surface.
Extending my wings as my new attack shone through them, I fell, shooting down to lash against her increasing attack, smashing my Steel Wing against her ice shield; cracking, the ice shattered, icicles clattering into the water. Briefly, I saw her flash of colour, before she broke free of the remnants of her destroyed attack, diving back down into the water.
Shooting up, I peaked at the top of the room, swinging round and plummeting down, faster, clenching my wings in, accelerating even as I smashed into the water; feeling the grip at my feathers, I lashed out with my claws, feeling her body flash through my claws.
Tightening my grip, I beat through the water, breaking through the surface, twisting back so I sent her flinging up. As both my wings flashed with steel energy, I dove forwards, slamming them down on either side of her, holding her body for a second, before relaxing my grip and letting her limp body tumble down into the water.

I won.
I grew to L12.

Breathing hard, I hovered above as her motionless body floated up to the surface, eyes blank, as he chest rose in ragged breaths.
Hearing the shrill cries of her companion- forgotten during the battle, but obviously having had enough time to regain consciousness.
Circling away, letting them be, I sighed and flapped exhaustedly towards the room exit, suddenly desperate for a rest.
And trying not to think about everyone’s reactions when they found out I’d finished another room.

[classy_cat18]

NOTE: I got Jewel a Cosmic Power TM from someone (forgot who). And feel free to penalize me since this opponent didn't really come from the Universal Adoption Center.

Jewel’s POV

The sky was full of stars circling the lone full moon. I looked up at them from the balcony of our hotel room, sighing to myself. I felt like I was among them, surrounded by them but, in reality, nowhere close to any of them. I felt alone even though I was with my teammates.

Hearing footsteps, I looked back and saw Lily approach me. She and the others decided to stay at a hotel while we practiced to get stronger. <What is it?> I asked her, annoyed with her interrupting my thoughts.

“Can I ask you a question?”

<What’s that?>

“How can you see?”

I sighed. The Oddish couldn’t understand my true means of sight, so I made it up for her. <My eye is located behind my jewel,> I lied.

She stared at my jewel in awe. “Ooh. Wait until I tell the others!” She dashed back in the hotel room.

I went back to the sky, somewhat being drawn by them. They say that Starmie come from outer space. Is that why I’m drawn to the night sky? Is that why I feel so lonely when I see the stars?

I was interrupted once again when I heard the rustling of the bushes down at the ground. Out of spite I prepared my Water Gun, ready to fire at the nuisance. Out floated a strange Pokemon that was shaped like a crescent moon. It turned around and looked at me with a red eye. I grew curious. My gem started to glow red. A star met a moon under the night sky. How ironic. I floated down and faced this Pokemon.

<What are you?> I asked the Pokemon.

<A Pokemon without gender, just like you. Although I prefer to be referred to as male. I am a Lunatone. My name is Lunar,> it answered in a deep male voice. <What name are you called, lovely star?>

My gem’s glow changed to pink. Am I…blushing? No one’s ever complemented on my looks before. I calmed down a little bit, my gem’s glow fading a bit. <I am called Jewel.>

Lunar chuckled. <I see that I surprised you on that complement. You are indeed a lovely star, genderless or not.> He circled me slowly. <Every bit of you is lovely. I am glad that I met you.>

I backed away from him. I sensed something wrong. <Did you know I was going to be here?> I asked him.

He nodded. <My comrades and I have been following you for quite some time. We are all interested in your trainer’s progress.> I whirled around, looking for others. <You are wasting energy. None of them are here.>

I took deep breaths through the hole in my back. <Why are you interested in my trainer? She is not much to the eye, just a simple trainer.>

He chuckled again. <I do not see why my trainer would have interest in yours. However, if you are that curious about my trainer…> He floated back a few feet. <You can try to beat some information out of me.>

I floated back as well. <Agreed. You are attractive, but it has been a while since I’ve defeated somebody.>

L11 Genderless Starmie (Jewel) vs. L11 Genderless Lunatone (Lunar)

I immediately fired a Water Gun at Lunar, guessing that it was Rock and therefore weak against water. Lunar’s eyes glowed red, making the Water Gun split into two and pass by him. <So you are also Psychic,> I said to him, amused.

<That I am. That makes us two of a kind, yes?> He closed his eyes and concentrated. He shone bright for a second. <Let’s turn this up.> He dashed forward in an attempt to tackle me. I used my Harden to brace myself. I felt pain, but it was enough to just shrug off. I unleashed my Psychic attack. The invisible force went straight for Lunar. He tried to dodge, but the attack caught him and sent him spinning. I immediately followed with another Water Gun while he was still in shock from the last attack.

<Are you ready to give up yet?> I asked him.

<Not yet.> He was looking weary. He stood still while an orb of dark energy concentrated at the tip of his nose and released it. I shifted to the right, but it swerved! It hit me right in the gem. I was knocked on my back.

My gem was blinking. That attack took a lot out of me. I got back up and faced Lunatone, who was already preparing another Shadow Ball. He released it as I released another Water Gun. The two attacks collided, Lunar’s Shadow Ball pushing against my Water Gun. The Shadow Ball was winning; it was slowly pushing its way through the stream of water. In a moment of last-second thinking, I stopped my Water Gun and quickly used my Camouflage. I turned the color of the freshly mown lawn. The Shadow Ball harmlessly passed through me.

<Let’s finish this,> I said darkly. My gem glowed ice blue as I summoned a Blizzard. First snow gently fell on the battlefield. Then it violently picked up and swirled around Lunar and me. Lunar shivered and slowly became encased in ice. I stopped when he was completely frozen.

I won and grew to level 12.

Trinity’s POV

I looked out of the window and gasped. Snow! Snow was falling from the sky and it was far from winter! “Shonta, come here!”

Shonta walked to the window and put on the same face as mine. “How can this be happening?” She walked out to the balcony and smiled. “Everybody relax. It’s just Jewel battling some Lunatone. He’s a popsicle now.”

“I’ll go get her. Open the door for me, Athena.” I dashed into the window and crashed into someone. We both fell to the floor. I saw that I had crashed into a boy about Shonta’s age that donned a long black ponytail and was wearing black from head to toe. He groaned and roughly pushed me off of him. I growled, annoyed that a guy wouldn’t want an elegant Pokemon such as myself in his lap.

I made my way outside and found Jewel staring at the block of ice that was Lunatone. “What was all that about?” I asked Jewel.

<Thaw him out with your Flamethrower,> she commanded coldly.

I growled again. “No respect.” I fired my Flamethrower on the ice and started to melt it. I stopped when he was halfway thawed out. “You get what you pay for,” I said smugly.

Jewel ignored me and turned to Lunatone. <Lunar, I want information on your trainer.>

He groaned and looked at Jewel with sad eyes. <Is that all that you battled me for?>

<Yes. Now spit it out.>

He sighed. <Iwata Daisuke. Also known as Raven Mane.>

I blinked. “Raven Mane? Are we supposed to know him?”

<No. Your trainer is.> He teleported suddenly, leaving his cast of ice with us.

We looked at each other. If Jewel had a face, I bet she would’ve been confused. “I’m thinking we should get back to Shonta,” I told Jewel.

Shonta’s POV

“I should’ve given Jewel that Cosmic Power TM tonight,” I grumbled as finished off the rest of my Ramen noodles.

Athena patted my arm. “Don’t beat yourself up about that. Jewel was just fine without that TM. If it makes you feel any better, you can give it to her when she gets back.”

There was a knock on the door. I opened it and got another surprise. In the doorway stood a familiar face. It was the guy I first faced as a Dragon Tamer. A long black ponytail. Dressed in black from head to toe. “You.”

He grinned. “Yeah?”

“What are you doing here? Trying to steal my Pokemon, you Grunt?” I growled.

Moriko slapped me on the back. “Shonta, you kidder! He’s no Rocket Grunt! There’s no red R on his clothes!” she laughed.

“Just because there’s no R on his clothes, you expect me to believe that he’s not a Grunt?” I asked her.

He casually strolled in the room and looked at me. “I never said that I was a Rocket Grunt. You assumed I was one.”

“But what was with the battle in the street and the whole anger-with-the-fact-that-I-was-a-Dragon-Tamer thing?”

“You truly don’t know who you’re fighting for, do you?” He approached me and put a hand on my shoulder. “Better keep your enemies close, but your allies closer.” He walked out of the room and waved. “Remember my advice!”

I huffed and slammed the door behind him. “Great! That jerk comes here and gives me advice I can’t even use!”

“But he said something about the Tamers. He said it like he doesn’t trust them,” Athena said, clutching her stuffed bear.

“Of course he doesn’t trust them! He’s a Rocket Grunt!” I heard a scratching at the door and opened it. Trinity bounced into the room and on the bed. Jewel floated in after her.

“Sorry it took me so long! The hotel had a buffet on the ground floor,” Trinity told us as if she didn’t know what I was going to say next.

“Get off of the bed. Jewel, what was with the Lunatone?”

<I battled him for information about his trainer. It turns out that he’s been following us.>

Athena gasped. “You don’t think he was the human that was in the room a minute ago, do you?” she asked me. “What did you find out, Jewel?”

<Just his name. Daisuke Iwata, also known as Raven Mane.>

She blinked. “That’s it?”

<That’s it.>

“Alright!” Moriko shouted. “We got us an investigation on our hands! Someone alert the rest of the team! Shonta, get whoever’s in charge of the Tamers a report! Finally, an adventure!”

[AntiAsh Superstar]

Hehe, that took a shorter time that expected. You're right, Gabi, I never rest.

-----

"Uhh..." The Ninetales shifted uncomfortably amidst the plump cushions she usually used as a bed. For some reason it was incredibly difficult to get to sleep tonight. Normally she would just collapse at night and sleep right through, unless her daughter was having one of her increasingly common hyperactive moods. But tonight... tonight was different in some way. Tonight there was something in the air, something that she couldn't quite explain. But whatever it was, it was disturbing her usually peaceful sleep. "Anyone else awake?" The snores all around her in the darkened room were all the answer she needed. Evidently nobody in this particular room was able to sense whatever it was in the air that made her so restless. Sighing, she tried hard to return to her slumber, cuddling up to the furry body of her partner by her side for comfort. But even that didn't seem to help. As much as his scent and his touch helped, it was still not enough to quell the feeling of unease still burning within her psyche. In the end there was simply no other option other than to give in to this feeling and slink away from the darkened room, to head to the ground floor of the household. Where all of those of a more nocturnal persuasion than she were usually to be found.
"Hey Pearl," I had been busy competing with Marius at a random fighting game and was in the middle of losing my eighth battle due to his tendency to cheat by hacking into the game files and giving his character twice the strength. So I was rather glad to see my Ninetales slink gracefully down the stairs and enter the darkened lounge. It was a welcome excuse to stop playing. "How come you're still awake?"
"I could ask you the same question, Ade, although I'm afraid of the answers I'll get." Pearl smiled weakly, glad of the distraction from her worries herself. "Please don't tell me you've decided to sacrifice sleep again just because you list it under things you don't have enough hours in the day for."
"Right as usual, Pearl," I smiled sheepishly. "Relax, I'll catch up tomorrow."
"You won't though, will you?"
"Fine, I'll catch up the instant I feel tired when it's a normal time to go to bed. Happy now?"
"No, but it's a start. You really need to take better care of yourself, Ade." Pearl rolled her eyes. "We've been through so much together, can you blame me for taking more than a little interest in your general wellbeing?"
"Fair enough," I shrugged. I simply wasn't in any mood to have this conversation right now. There had been things preying upon my mind as well, things that simply wouldn't leave me alone. "So what's your excuse for staying up so late, anyway?"
"I couldn't sleep. Ade, I'm worried. I think we need to have a talk." Now this was a first! Pearl asking for my advice? Normally it was the other way around. I was usually the one to turn to her in a crisis! Curious, I followed her into the kitchen, where the pretty creature turned around to view me with her ruby-red eyes, her expression a curious mixture of fondness and anxiety. I couldn't help but wonder exactly what the matter was. "Ade, do you think anything's changed lately?" she asked matter-of-factly.
"Apart from the obvious things; you know, Milliardo being twice as much of an asshole because of winning the Unicorn Games, Rhiannon evolving, et cetera, then no. Why?" I gazed into the eyes of my Ninetales for the longest of times, noticing an emotion within them that I couldn't quite make out. "Pearl, what's wrong?"
"Oh... I don't know!" she finally sighed, too tired of hiding her concerns to keep it up any longer. "It's the same feeling that I had before the Dark Cloak attacked. And earlier than that, before we were besieged by the Black Battalion of Team Rocket. I can't explain it, Ade, but I just know that something's not quite right. I've felt it ever since we first heard of Team Rocket's reappearance. That we're on the verge of something huge. And... Ade, it worries me more than I'd like to admit, you know? Especially now. What kind of a world have I brought Celeste into, Ade?"
"Hush, Pearl, hush for a moment." It tore me up to see the creature that had been responsible for pulling me out a rut on so many occasions looking so vulnerable. Silently I bent down and hugged her, held her so tightly that she could feel just how concerned I was through this single embrace. "I know, Pearl, I know. Ever since we first ran into that Armand guy I've known we were at the start of something bad. I guess I've been trying to put it to the back of my mind what with the Unicorn Games and everything. Don't think I don't know what you mean, though. I've got those I care for that deeply to worry about, too."
"I know. It's unreasonable to expect everything to go perfectly," Pearl sighed. "I'd just feel a lot better if... well, if we were prepared beyond Milliardo's usual comment in times of stress." Seeing my lack of comprehension, the Ninetales went on to explain. "You know, all hide behind Tsuyoi or Rhiannon or whoever packs the hardest punch. Why do you think I asked Soo to try and teach Celeste some self defence? We can't just keep sweeping things under the carpet and hoping they'll go away, because they seldom do. I would have thought you of all people would have learnt that one by now."
"Ouch," I winced. "Point taken. So what do you suggest we do? Because if I sweep things under the carpet it's usually because I haven't a clue as to how to deal with them." I wandered over to the refrigerator and grabbed myself a can of cider. "You know, it's that element of the unknown I can't stand. I used to reckon I thrived on danger. But that was only really because at one stage I didn't give a ^&*% as to what happened to me. I'd throw myself into anything just for the sake of it. And now all of a sudden I actually have a life, I have a family of sorts and a house and a lifestyle that I actually enjoy rather than just tolerate, and I'd like to keep that for as long as possible thanks all the same." I downed about half of my can in one go and shuddered. "Sometimes I think I've lost my edge, Pearl. Wasn't I considered a rebel at one point? Now I'm just this goofy guy with responsibilities and hardly the energy to keep pretending to buck the system." I finished the other half of my can and tossed it disgustedly into the trash. "Sometimes I think being grown up sucks ass."
"We all change over time, Ade, and the worst thing you can do is to fight that," Pearl advised. "If it's rebelling you want then all I can say is that if you stay true to yourself you're more of an individual than most. Besides, you have an Umbreon to do all of that raising the middle finger stuff for you now." The Ninetales gave a small chuckle. "Just don't fall into the trap of thinking that just because you aren't as reckless as you used to be means you're less of a person. Because that isn't the case, okay? If anything you're twice the man you used to be."
"Thanks, Pearl. That means a lot." I petted my Ninetales affectionately, letting my fingers run through her silky fur. Funny how a life-changing event such as becoming a parent hadn't dampened her ability to know exactly the right thing to say to both cheer me up and address the root of my current issue. "Anyway, as we were discussing before we got hopelessly sidetracked by my stupid outburst..."
"Yes, and whilst we're having this heart-to-heart I'd also like to raise how annoying it is to watch your belittling of your own problems. If it's bad enough to bother you then it's worth raising no matter how daft you may thing the reason is. Okay?"
"Like Soo hasn't told me that enough. Okay, point taken. But as I was saying, back to the original problem, because if I recall correctly this was supposed to be about you raising your grievances with me, right? I really don't know what we can do to prepare for something we don't know about, but if it makes you feel any better how about we go out to the park for a training session? I'd say we'd go over to Gina and train with her, but I seem to recall she's on holiday at the minute. Besides which, I don't think she's ready to battle until she Marius-proofs her computer systems."
"An impossible task, I might add," commented the Dratini in question, worming his way into the kitchen.
"Wow, getting a little cocky there, aren't we?"
"Find me a system that completely flummoxes me and then maybe I'll have cause to learn a little humility," Marius smirked. "And besides which, you are talking about Gina. I sincerely doubt any measures that she will be able to take would be sufficient. Now would you be so kind as to pour me some water before I finally give in to the overwhelming urge to go to sleep?"
"Sure." I turned to the sink in order to get my Dratini his drink. "So not going to stay up all night on the Internet, hm?"
"I feel that would be a totally futile exercise, as overwhelming as the amount of information online is it really isn't worth losing any sleep over." Marius looked rather sheepish. "Besides which, the forums upon which I was arguing the case for the abolition of fox hunting due to the fact that if it happens to be in the nature of those who partake in it to gain some kind of entertainment from having a defenceless animal ripped to shreds by dogs specifically bred to kill, then they could most likely do with a long session with a psychotherapist are down for maintenance."
"Anti-hunt, hm?"
"Other than the fact that I know quite a few fox-like creatures and every single one of them has been a most charming companion, not a single person from the pro-hunt lobby has addressed an issue I feel most vital to the discussion. They trot out so much rhetoric about loss of jobs and their 'way of life' and controlling the fox population, but not a one has ever addressed the real issue most have with the 'sport' - what possible excuse does any rational, civil human being have for making such a spectacle out of the death of another living being?"
"Ahem," Pearl coughed, "Fox-like pokémon in the room, can we please talk about something a little less uncomfortable?"
"Actually, there's an idea. The whole concept of 'sport' involves competing against another, maybe if the fox stood a reasonable chance of winning -say, for instance, it could easily use Flamethrower..."
"Good night, Marius," I groaned, bustling the Dratini out of the door. He was certainly an asset to the team, but the little pokémon never seemed to switch off! And past midnight was also past the time I was capable of holding a topical discussion. I turned to Pearl with a sigh. "I've an idea. Let's not invite him to the training session." Pearl could help but chuckle, and a slow smile also flickered across my face. Somehow it felt just like old times again. And whilst my past had more than its fair share of dark days, times like these had always been moments that I cherished.

The morning passed with its fair share of incidents. To begin with, Soo had decided to sleep in until about midday, something that I didn't have the heart to disallow her seeing as the past five nights had been spent being woken up at six in the morning by Kassandra jumping on our bed. Then there was a small matter of Amy dropping by to return a video I had lent her. Something which would have been quite a run-of-the-mill occurrence now I had more of a social life, only for the fact that this visit seemed to go rather bizarrely. The upshot of it was that by the time Amy had left we ended up with another pokémon to house. Namely Sparky, who seemed to have opted to stay with us for a while to help Kaguya and Yuki learn how to battle. I just hoped he knew what he was letting himself in for. A little time with Kassandra as a teammate should have been enough to make the Raichu beg for Sugar's mischief back! And then there was the small matter of my fiancée almost forgetting she had booked a training room.
"This isn't work, Soo. Go and train and stop being so lazy!" I ended up telling her after she had suggested that she call the training grounds and say she was sick. After all, I fully intended on going out to try and do some training myself today, so it made sense for her to go out and do something with her time while I was out. There was simply no sense in just wasting the day away. At least not today.

"Dude, are ya ready or what?" Katnip whined for what had to be the billionth time that day. The instant he heard I was taking his girlfriend out for a training session the Raticate had promptly invited himself along as well. "C'mon, we're never gonna get any trainin' done at this rate!"
"Hey, I'm ready! I've been ready for ages, actually," I complained bitterly. For once I wasn't the one holding us up. "It's your lover we're waiting for."
"Oh." That seemed to shut him up! "Sorry dude, I'm just so used ta it bein' yer fault we're runnin' late an' all..." The Raticate shrugged apologetically. "Tell ya what, I'll go hurry her up, 'kay?" Without so much as waiting for an answer he zipped up the stairs as quickly as his legs could carry him. He had a fair idea of where Pearl would be. And sure enough, his guess happened to be spot on. He could already hear her lecturing Soo on how to take care of Celeste whilst she was gone. "Pearl, yer a sweetheart," he chuckled to himself as he eavesdropped on the conversation. It seemed to consist of a lot of instructions on Pearl's part and reassurances on Soo's. But eventually Soo seemed to placate Pearl enough for the Ninetales to leave and although she gave a start upon seeing Katnip waiting in the hallway for her she recovered her composure quickly enough.
"What are you doing out here?" Pearl asked.
"Waitin' fer ya ta finish givin' Soo her instructions. Did ya ferget we're supposed ta be trainin' today?"
"No, of course not!" came the indignant response. "But I had to make sure Soo would be okay taking Celeste along with her on her training session. She's your daughter too, aren't you just a little bit worried?"
"Why should I be?" Katnip shrugged. "She's gonna be fine with Soo lookin' after her."
"Yes, but... you know, I never told Soo about what she should feed Celeste if she gets hungry, I should just go back and..."
"Oh no ya don't." Katnip grabbed one of Pearl's tails as she turned around and gave it a yank, causing the Ninetales to turn back and glare at him.
"You could be cursed for a thousand years for that, buster," she said crossly.
"Ha! I laugh in the face of danger!" Katnip grinned broadly, a grin so cheerful that Pearl found herself nuzzling rather than yelling at him. "Look, Pearl, yer just gonna have ta accept that Celeste doesn't need ta have ya around all the time, okay? I know it's hard, but ya need ta understand that she needs a little time with others, she needs ta have a chance ta bond with her future teammates, an'..."
"...and you want to get on with the training, right?"
"...an' I wanna get on with the trainin'. C'mon, Pearl, ya know we need ta get in shape."
"No we don't."
"Okay, we don't. Goddamnit, girl, what will it take ta get ya ta just come along with us?" Katnip was starting to get decidedly frustrated. Pearl couldn't help but giggle. She knew better than most how he loved to battle, after all, plus how generally impatient a creature he could be when the mood struck him. Right at this moment the look on his face was absolutely priceless, a barely concealed expression of sheer exasperation. Silently she wished she could operate a camera.
"Well let's see..." she mused. "A kiss ought to do it." Katnip broke into a broad grin.
"Eh… I think I can manage that one," the Raticate chuckled, leaning over to his love and favouring her with a peck on the cheek. For a moment neither spoke, simply content to savour this delicious moment. Ever since Celeste had been born opportunities like this were few and far between. "So… as much as I hate ta have ta stop lookin’ at yer pretty face, Pearl, we’d better get on with our trainin', right?"
"I guess so..." Pearl sighed deeply. All of a sudden she found herself thinking of a thousand things that she would rather have been using her free time for, spending some quality time with Katnip being the very top of that list. Sadly it wasn't to be this time. She knew perfectly well that they needed to spend this time more productively, to prepare themselves for whatever evil she was sure lurked upon the horizon. Sadly she shook her head, her fine fur moving like silk as she did so. "I don't know how much time we'll have left to do anything like this again, Katnip. We ought to make the most of it, as annoying as that may be."
"Yer right, as usual," Katnip nodded in agreement. "So let's grab Ade an' get on with it, eh?"

It was later on that day that we found ourselves having a rather leisurely stroll through one of the many parks that littered Caledor's suburban regions. This particular one wasn't the most impressive of creations, it had to be said. Just a large expanse of grass littered with trees and shrubbery, its focal point being a modest lake of crystal-clear water. Nothing more, nothing less. And whilst it was possible to locate far more interesting environments than this, the park was the closest to home and hence the logical first port of call. Besides which, we weren't here to enjoy the scenery anyway.
"So," I mused, wondering to myself why I hadn't thought to bring a coat along with me now that autumn was starting to set in, "either of you see any likely opponents?"
"Ha, ya gotta be kiddin' me!" Katnip snorted, dangling by his tail from the thick branches of a nearby tree. "I can see loads of pokémon about, sure, but none of 'em look like they'd stand ten seconds with Ryo-Ohki, never mind me or Pearl."
"Oh come on, there has to be a good challenge around here somewhere!" Pearl commented, peering behind Katnip's tree as if half expecting to find their opponents behind it.
"I don't know, shall we just sit here for a while and hope that a fight comes to us?" I slumped at the base of the tree, propping myself up against its trunk. It was typical of my luck, really. To have gone to all the trouble of coming out here to train, only to find nobody else could be bothered to do the same thing. Absently I stroked Pearl's hair as the Ninetales trotted over to my side like the faithful friend she had always been. "I'm tired of just wandering aimlessly. It reminds me too much of the days before our demonic friend Tsuyoi went and bought us a house."
"They were... interesting times," Pearl reflected, putting her head in my lap for further attention. "Not necessarily times I'd like to go back to, but interesting times anyway. Remember all the fuss we had over at White Mountain?"
"Yeah," I smiled. "Tsuyoi had us running round in circles back then, didn't he? It was sort of hard to concentrate on the Pegasus Games with him causing chaos. I'm just glad he finally decided to calm down."
"He hasn't changed at all, Ade," my Ninetales noted. "He's still too fond of meddling for my liking, and he's still out for himself above all, no matter how much he'd like you to think otherwise. As useful as his intelligence is, we shouldn't rely totally on his knack for pulling us out of trouble, because it's bound to come at a price."
"Cynical little thing, aren't you?" I chuckled.
"Can you blame me?"
"Well, for a start I..." Before I could make any further comment as to Tsuyoi's true nature I was interrupted in the rudest way possible. By a small rock dropping on top of my head. "Ow!" I cried, rubbing my head in pain. "Katnip, that wasn't funny!"
"Wasn't me, dude!" my Raticate complained bitterly, looking genuinely offended that I would even think of blaming him. Come to think of it, such a childish prank simply wasn't Katnip's style.
"Then who..?"
"Call it a hunch, but I'm pretty sure it was them." Katnip gestured with his head to some point in the distance. I followed his indication until my eyes finally lighted upon a pair of bulky-looking pokémon with huge smirks upon their faces. I blanched slightly as I looked upon them. Neither was the sort of creature I particularly fancied messing with. First off, a Metang, its bizarre-looking body alone doing more to intimidate than any amount of fangs and claws could ever hope to do. And, just to make up for the lack of traditional ferocity in the image of the Metang, a Lairon. This pokémon was all about bulk, coated from head to toe in thick armour. Both creatures were sniggering to themselves, making no secret of the fact that they were trying to cause trouble. "Alright, dudes, yer've had yer fun, now bugger off if ya know what's good for ya." In an instant Katnip had jumped down from his position up the tree and now had placed himself smartly between the two Steel types. "We're not in the mood fer games."
"Did you understand a word of that?" the Metang asked its comrade.
"Not a word," came the bemused response. "Hey, buddy, can you actually talk properly? Wait, those big incisors are probably what's giving you such a dumb accent."
"Dude, I'm not listenin'," Katnip snorted, rolling his eyes. "Me best bud's the master of insults, I'm too used ta 'em ta care. 'Course, if yer lookin' fer a fight then just come out an' say so. That I might react ta."
"We could cream you, you know," the Lairon chuckled. "What chance does a Normal type like you have against us?"
"Oh, I know a few tricks," Katnip smirked, a decided glint in his eye. "Ya wouldn't be the first Steel types I took out."
"Guys, can we just calm down for a moment, please?" Pearl decided now was as good a time to interject as any. The last thing she needed was to enter into a battle where her opponents had already been riled! The Steel types backed off slightly as she came over, evidently a little more wary of her status as a Fire pokémon. "Look, if you guys are looking for a battle then fine, you'll get one. But do we really need all this tough-talking beforehand? Really, it's annoying the hell out of me."
"Ooh, it’s annoying the hell out of her, what ever shall we do?" the Lairon cackled. "I'm so scared."
"And another thing that bugs me is your schoolkid-like attitude. We're all well beyond that stage now." Pearl rolled her eyes at these potential opponents. It was true enough. She for one had matured far beyond the stage of playground taunts. "Look, do you want a battle or not? It's a simple enough question."
"I guess. Don't see why you have to be so to the point about it, though. Takes all the fun out of it," the Steel type muttered.
"Dude, delayin' it is what's takin' all the fun out of it!" Katnip chipped in. Suddenly he turned over to where I was still sat underneath the tree and waved cheerily. "Dude, we found ourselves some opponents, that okay with ya?"
"Sure, buddy," I called over by way of response. "And seeing as you two happen to rank up there amongst my best fighters, I'm sure you won't mind too much if I sit under this tree to cheer you on." I smiled slightly. "I've got a few things to think about."
"I don't remember the last time you saying that was a good thing, but whatever." Pearl shook her head, trying hard to clear her mind for the upcoming battle. This was going to be a tough one, that was for sure. Just to look at the two Steel types was enough to send shudders down her spine. They didn't seem like the sort of pokémon you wanted to have to spend too much time in the company of. "Katnip, are you ready to do this?"
"Pearl, sweetheart, this is a dream come true fer me. Me two favourite things at the same time – battlin' and ya. Just needs a good meal at the end of it all ta make it perfect."
"Well I'm sure Ade can arrange something to take care of that if you ask nicely. First, though, we need to deal with these two."
"I'm right with ya, Pearl," Katnip smiled. This was going to be interesting!

FIGHT!!! L34 Ninetales & L33 Raticate v L34 Lairon & L33 Metang!

"Right!" Katnip lost no time in getting straight to the point, as was his nature in battle. "Pearl, ya deal with the Metang, I'll take the Lairon. If we wanna stand a chance we hafta try an' take advantage of their weaknesses."
"Got you." Pearl nodded her assent, watching as Katnip darted forward with remarkable speed and engaged the Lairon in battle before it so much as had a chance to figure out what was going on. Well, that left her with a Metang to deal with. Which was perfectly fine by her. Quickly she turned to her opponent, who was looking more than a little disturbed by this sudden turn of events. "So then, shall we get on with it?"
"Well, I... uhh..." The Steel-type shifted uncomfortably. Like all bullies, now it had been confronted directly it had lost most of its earlier attitude. "Okay! I'll take you on any time!" All of a sudden the pokémon shot forward, propelled by some unseen force. It was as much as Pearl could do to sidestep the attack. Quickly she wheeled round to try and get a better shot at her opponent, but already it had done the exact same thing and was heading towards her in another attempt to smash into her. This time its efforts were rewarded. There was absolutely no way that the Ninetales could have dodged. Not from this short distance, at any rate. The two pokémon collided with a sickening crunch, the Metang smashing hard into Pearl's side with the full force of its weight, causing her to cry out in pain as she landed roughly on the floor, her body sore from the painful attack. "See? I've nothing to fear from you as long as I keep this up!"
"What makes you think you have to fear me?" Pearl grunted, getting back to an upright position and shaking the stray bits of dirt from her fur.
"You're a Fire type," came the response. "Last time I battled a Ninetales I... well, that's none of your business. Safe to say I'm not going to make the same mistakes I made back then!" With a roar of anger the Metang launched into its next attack without so much as giving Pearl the chance to pause for breath. However, the Ninetales had other plans. Quickly she began to tunnel into the ground until she had disappeared from sight entirely, leaving her opponent to sail completely over the hole where she had been standing just moments ago. "Curse you! Come up right this instant!" the Metang shrieked furiously. Nothing. "I want you to show your face now!"
"Well, since you asked so nicely..." Pearl muttered to herself as she lurked underneath the ground. All of a sudden she dug upwards, using her finely-honed senses to move herself to a point directly underneath her opponent. And then she shot upwards, bursting through the ground and sending the Metang flying with the sheer force of her attack. "If I were you I wouldn't get so worked up in battle," she advised her toppled opponent, spitting out a small amount of earth that had somehow managed to worm its way into her mouth. "You just end up making mistakes."
"I don't make mistakes!" roared the enraged pokémon. "Watch!" Suddenly the Steel-type's strange eyes began to grow an eerie colour, and Pearl found a terrible crushing pressure being put upon her mind. The attack known as Confusion was impossible to describe to anyone who hadn't felt it themselves, but to Pearl it was as if her very essence was being placed in a vice-like grip. She reeled back in agony. Which was exactly what the Metang had been hoping she would do. Once again it shot itself forwards, and once again Pearl was only just able to dodge in time. Only this time the Ninetales was wise to her opponent's tactics. And when it wheeled round for a second Take Down it found itself faced with a gigantic sphere of ghostly energy formed from all of the pain and doubts within Pearl's mind. And lately the Ninetales had been feeling both sensations rather a lot. Hence this Confuse Ray of hers was sufficiently powerful to knock the Metang back to the floor, bowled over by the sheer weight of the stress that Pearl had been under lately. "I... I... what is this!!!" The creature shook itself violently as if returned to an upright position, its eyes shot through with panic. "What have you done???"
"Not much. Just pointing out that you're not the only one who can resort to confusion." Pearl had no intention of letting this battle drag out any longer. She was already tired of this pokémon and its irrational yelling. Its lack of focus was making the fight no fun. Planting her four paws sturdily upon the ground, the Ninetales braced herself for the strongest attack she could muster, stoking up her body temperature until it felt as if a furnace was raging inside her. And then she expelled this heat in the only way she knew how, spitting out a huge torrent of flame towards her opponent. In its confused state the Metang had no chance of avoiding the fire. And no chance of surviving it, either. The Flamethrower struck with an almighty force that sent the pokémon hurtling across the glass with a shriek of pain, only to crash hard into the ground, motionless. Pearl breathed a sigh of relief. "That wasn't much fun," she noted. "I wonder how Katnip's... ah!" Before Pearl could so much as finish her sentence she was struck from behind with what felt like a sledgehammer, a crippling blow that instantly brought her to the floor. Weakly she glanced up to see the cruel face of a Lairon leering at her.
"You were strong. But not strong enough," it smirked.

"Uhh..." The last time Katnip remembered hurting this much, he had been fighting a particularly vicious Machamp in the Dragon Games finals. Yet that had been a long, grueling battle. This seemed to have been over in a matter of minutes. The Raticate got to his feet unsteadily, trying very hard to fir the pieces back together. He had been toying with the Lairon, he remembered that much. It had been very hard to find any techniques that wouldn't have made the battle either too easy or too hard. So he had just been sparring, trying hard to find any less obvious weaknesses on his opponent. That had been his mistake, in hindsight. He should have just given it his all. Instead he had left himself open, and as a result taken a particularly vicious Brick Break attack to the chest that left him spluttering on the floor. Well, he wasn't about to make that mistake again! "Dammit! That guy can sure pack a punch!"
"Katnip!" the Raticate suddenly heard a voice yelling. "They're over there! He's practically got Pearl!" Well that certainly snapped him back into a state of alertness! Hurriedly he dashed over to the far corner of the park and, sure enough, found the Lairon pummeling Pearl. There was no way that she could have fought back. It attacks were too strong, too frequent for her to put up much of a counterattack.
"Ya can stop that right now!" Without thinking, Katnip hurled himself between Pearl and her assailant, taking a particularly vicious blow that knocked him backwards a good few feet. Snarling, the Raticate picked himself and wiped the blood from his nose. For the first time in a long time, he was angry. Angry at this bully of a pokémon who had hurt the one he loved above all.
"Well, well," the Larion snorted. "I thought I'd put you out of action."
"Takes more than that ta get rid of me. Shame fer ya, really. If we'd have just carried on fightin' we might actually be havin' a fun battle righ about now. But no, ya have ta go an' be all stupid about it. Well I've had enough!" Without so much as a warning Katnip leaped forwards, landing on the Lairon's back paw first. The flying kick seemed to penetrate a weak spot in the bulky pokémon's armour, for it reared back and roared in pain. Which was just what Katnip wanted. For now something had clicked within his brain, some instinct that he had always taken for granted up until this point. But recently he had come to learn that it was no mere instinct. Much like many others on the team, Katnip had his own Hidden Power. Only his was the most subtle of all. He couldn't control machinery like Marius, or summon vines to do his bidding like Milliardo or Rhiannon. What he could do, however, was fight. Fight like nobody else could. Like now, for instance; not every pokémon could have whipped around a rearing Lairon quickly enough to land a fierce blow to its belly that knocked it backwards. But that was precisely what Katnip had just managed to do. "Ya okay?" he asked Pearl, puffing heavily from sheer exhaustion.
"I... I'm just glad you arrived when you did," Pearl replied, sounding suitably grateful for her partner's intervention. "That low down Lairon blindsided me."
"I can tell." Katnip returned his attention to his opponent, who was struggling to get to its paws once again. The last blow had been stronger than even Katnip had been expecting! Well, now it was time to finish the job. "Now.. as fer ya..."
"I won't be beaten!" the Lairon suddenly roared, making one last mad dash towards its foes.
"Can it, would ya?" With remarkable timing Katnip launced one final kick at his opponent, connecting just as the Lairon's head came into range. This was all it took to knock the Steel type to the floor for one final time, it now being nothing more than an unconscious mass in front of my two pokémon. "Well," Katnip smirked as he turned to Pearl, "Looks like that took care of that, eh?"
"I guess so," came the dubious response. For whilst the battle was most certainly over, the trials were only just beginning. Pearl could just feel it.

Pearl & Katnip win!
Pearl grew to L35!
Katnip grew to L34!

[Kirei]

You're going to be busy, Gabi I finished my blizzard room part of the scenario. I hope you like it - I worked really hard on it and am pleased with how it turned out.

"Morning, sleepyhead!" Ade placed a gentle kiss on my forehead. My body didn't feel like moving.
"Hi... uh... what time is it?"
"It's 11 in the morning. You slept for ages," Ade said. It's true; I had slept about 12 hours in total. I think my body was grateful for the lie-in after weeks of being woken up by Kassandra at about five in the morning. This particular morning Kassandra had let me sleep. That didn't make me feel any more awake though.
"Amy's here," Ade told me, helping me sit up. "She's downstairs now with a cup of tea, and she's brought some of her pokémon round."
I pulled myself to my feet and got dressed. Amy was a nice trainer who I had met before. She was also an experienced battler.
When I was dressed I went downstairs with Ade where Amy was sitting. Her spotted Houndoom, Yana was standing protectively over a little Vulpix with a rainbow coloured topknot, and a Raichu I hadn't seen before was talking to Katnip further across the kitchen.
"Sorry to drop by without calling," said Amy, "but I was in the area and thought I'd return Ade's video of the Unicorn Games. It was great to see some of those battles again!"
"No problem, Amy," I said, taking a seat. "It's nice to see you."
At that moment, four of my pokémon, Chartreuse, Kassandra, Hokiri and Kyore, walked in. Kassandra was standing on Chatreuse's back, which the Ponyta did not look too pleased about. The four had been in the garden together. Immediately Kassandra jumped from Chartreuse's back, shouting "thanks for the ride, unicorn!" and landed in front of Sinopa, who looked a little shocked.
"Why do you insist on calling me that?" Chartreuse groaned. "Look at Hokiri. You don't call him unicorn!" Hokiri was my horned Ponyta who had been Ade's prize for winning the Unicorn games. Since living with us, he and Kyore, my Flareon, had become fast friends.
Kassandra ignored Chartreuse and stared at Sinopa. "Why have you got rainbow hair?" she asked, rather rudely to the Vulpix she had never spoken to before. "Are you a punk?" Amy giggled.
"Huh?" replied the Vulpix, confused. I picked Kassandra up.
"I'm sorry, Amy," I said. "Kassandra can be a bit strange sometimes. You'll just have to forgive her."
"Oh, it's quite alright," replied Amy. "Sinopa doesn't seem to mind her." Amy took another sip of her tea. "Oh," she gestured at the Raichu who was still deep in conversation with Katnip. "That's Sparky, by the way."
"He looks pretty strong," I said. "I've got some electric pokémon of my own that I bet he'd like to meet."
I went into the living room where Yuki and Celeste were playing a game that seemed to involve running around Kaguya in circles. The Minun didn’t look like she was enjoying the game as much as the other two. "Sorry to interrupt," I said, "but another trainer's here, Amy. Would you like to meet her?"
"Yeah!" Kaguya said. "Has she got any strong pokémon?"
"She's got loads", I replied, picking up all three and carrying them into the kitchen. "Here, Amy. Meet Kaguya, Yuki and Celeste."
I put the pokémon down on the large kitchen table.
"How cute!" Amy exclaimed. "Ade told me about your Minun and Plusle. Nice to meet you. Have any of them battled yet?"
"Well," I said, "Celeste doesn't really want to battle at the moment, but I'm going to train her soon, and Yuki's only just recovered from some nasty injuries, so they haven't had chance yet, but I'm thinking of letting them train at the training grounds. I thought if they battled each other it might help them practice. They don't know any offensive moves, you see."
Sparky the Raichu, hearing this approached and said something to Amy. "That makes sense," Amy replied before turning to me. "It's really hard for an electric pokémon to learn its first moves and learn how to control its electricity. It could be dangerous letting them battle each other, especially if they haven't got anyone around to teach them the basics."
"That's true," I said. "That's why Kassandra tried to help them learn to use electricity last week. She knows hidden power electric, you see. Unfortunately she isn't a very good teacher though and ended up trying to teach them Sing instead."
"I am a good teacher," retorted Kassandra. "I taught them Night Shade as well. It's not my fault if they’re not strong enough to use it!" Kassandra then jumped back onto Chartreuse shouting something about unicorns while Chartreuse tried unsuccessfully to shake the Charmander off her back.
"I feel like a bad trainer," Amy went on, "but I don't think I'm doing the best for Sparky any more." She turned to the Raichu. "Sparky, I know you're unhappy on my team. You don't really get much of a look in any more, do you?" Turning back to me she continued "I wonder if you'd like to take Sparky. He's a really great battler, and he told me he'd be willing to help you train Kaguya and Yuki. I think that would make him really happy."
I asked Kaguya and Yuki how they would like to have Sparky for a mentor. "I think it will be great, Soo," replied Kaguya. "I really need to learn some attacks, and I just can't do it on my own. I have tried, believe me."
"That's settled then," I told Amy. "Sure that's all right with you, Sparky?" Sparky nodded and started talking to Kaguya.
"I'm sad to leave him," said Amy, "but also happy because I know you'll do a better job of taking care of him than I have. I can come and visit him though, can't I?"
"Of course you can," said Ade. "Come any time you like."
Amy, Yana and Sinopa left after saying goodbye to us and Sparky. I hoped that Sparky would be able to help Yuki and Kaguya learn some attacks, and I hoped that training them wasn't going to end up hurting them. I voiced these concerns to Ade.
"If you go around worrying about everything, you'll never do anything, Soo. Kaguya really wants to battle, and I think Yuki will enjoy it too," he replied. "You should let them try." I knew Ade was right.

Adding Sparky to my team was not the only surprise I would receive that day. "We've got to leave soon, Soo," Ade told me.
"What?" I exclaimed, shocked. "Where are we going?"
"I told you, you silly girl," said Ade. "Pearl, Katnip and I are going training. I thought you were going to train as well. You booked that Blizzard room for four this afternoon in case you've forgotten."
"Oh yeah, I had forgotten that was today. Maybe I'll just call and say I'm sick."
"This isn't work, Soo," Ade scolded. "Go and train and stop being so lazy." Again Ade was right so I decided to get my things together and get ready.
Just then my second surprise of the day occurred. Pearl approached me in the bedroom as I was shoving some warm clothes into a bag for the blizzard room. "Soo," the Ninetales nuzzled my leg as she spoke softly, giving me the impression she was about to ask for a favour. "Would you mind taking Celeste with you today? I'm going training with Katnip and I really need to concentrate. I trust you with her, and she really likes you. I think it would do her good to watch Yuki and Kaguya training; it might even encourage her to get started with her training."
"Sure, Pearl. I can do that", I replied, flattered that the Ninetales trusted me to take care of her daughter.
"Just make sure you watch her all the time," added the protective mother, "and make sure she stays out of trouble."
I patted the Ninetales' head reassuringly. "Don't worry Pearl. I'll take care of her. Kirei's going to be with me, you know!"
"That's a great comfort to me", Pearl said, sarcastically.
"Hey! Kirei's really responsible, you know", I said defensively. "We'll be able to look after Celeste just fine."
"I know," sighed Pearl. "I'm just sad to be leaving her."
"You're only going for one afternoon!"
"That's true. I've got to go now," said Pearl. "Good luck with your training session, and take care of Celeste."
"I will. See you tonight," I said, before taking my things downstairs and announcing to Ade that I was ready to leave.
"Are you sure you know the way?" asked Ade.
"Doesn't anyone have any faith in me?" I asked, a little annoyed.
"I do," Pearl reminded me.
"I do too," added Ade. "Anyway, we have to go too. Who are you taking with you?"
"Yuki and Kaguya, and Sparky; he's outside with them now, trying to teach them the basics of electric attacks", I said. "Also Kirei, Celeste, Chartreuse and Hokiri."
"Wow," commented Ade. "That's quite a little party you've got going there. No Kass?"
"I hate to say it," I told Ade, "but Kass really likes to hog the spotlight. I think having her there would put Yuki and Kaguya off too much. She's already tried to teach them Night Shade."
"I bet she was annoyed that you told her to stay home though," said Ade.
"Not really," I replied. "Kyore offered to train with her, so she's going to try to teach him Night Shade. Skyla is staying home as well. Kassandra's so bossy to that poor Butterfree."
"That's a point," said Ade. "Where is Skyla anyway?" Skyla, my Butterfree who was awarded to me after Kassandra won the consolation rounds at the Unicorn games, had been pretty quiet since she had come to live with us. She had gotten on well with Yuki and could sometimes be seen carrying the Plusle around outside. Skyla's main problem, though, was the misguided belief of a certain Charmander that, because Kassandra had been the one to win the consolation rounds, Skyla was her slave. I had often had to drag the Charmander away and tell her to stop ordering the poor Butterfree around. Slowly, though, Skyla had been learning to cope with Kass and her outbursts. Right now she was outside, playing with Celeste and Kassandra seemed to be instructing Kyore about something or other some distance behind them. I gestured into the garden to show Ade where the Butterfree was.
"She's staying too," I said. "Skyla asked if she could stay because she wanted to spend some quiet time thinking about her training strategy. She practically begged me to let her train in the jungle room and of course I agreed. That can wait until a few days later though. Today is Yuki and Kaguya's turn. Anyway, I can't take all my pokémon everywhere I go, can I? And Chartreuse and Hokiri are going to carry us there."
Milly walked into the room as I was telling Ade about my plans. "Doesn't that silly Ponyta know how to teleport? I thought he was supposed to know the move," said the Umbreon.
"He does, Milly," I said. "But he needs to be more comfortable with us before he can do something like that. Give him time."
"Sounds like he's just lazy to me", grumbled Milly. I ignored him.
"Anyway," Ade said, changing the subject. "You guys should get going; and so should we."

Ade and I said our goodbyes and I gathered my companions together. Hokiri carried me, Yuki, Kaguya and Celeste, while Chartreuse carried Sparky and Kirei. The journey did not take long; my two Ponytas were a very effective means of transport.
When we arrived at the training grounds I was immediately struck by how enormous the structure was. Undaunted we walked through the large double doors and along the corridor leading to what I presumed was the main reception. Expecting at any moment Kassandra to spring onto the desk I quickly readied myself for her retrieval before remembering she wasn't with us today. I gave my name to the assistant behind the desk. "I'm here for the blizzard room", I said. "I've got it at two."
The assistant looked at her appointment book, then at me, with an apologetic expression on her face. "I don't know how to say this but it appears we've double booked the blizzard room", she explained. "When the other trainer who has booked the room turns up perhaps you can come to some kind of arrangement, to take turns or something. I'm sorry but that's all I can suggest. We're very busy."
"I've come a long way to get here," I lied, "and I don't think it's fair that I should only get the room for half the time I booked."
"I understand," said the assistant, "but there's simply nothing I can do. The other trainer will have come a long way too; there are no other slots available today, so if you share it, then if you need more time I suggest making another appointment for a later date." I decided to drop the argument; it was futile and I believed the assistant when she said there was nothing she could do. Half an hour's training would be better than none at all. "Of course," the assistant added, "if the other trainer doesn't turn up within the next five minutes, the room's all yours."
I waited patiently for four minutes, looking at the clock often before asking the assistant whether she could tell me who the other trainer was. "Unfortunately I can't disclose that to you. We have strict confidentiality rules here."
"Who needs confidentiality with a smile as beautiful as yours?" From behind me I heard a silky, masculine voice. It couldn't be. I turned around to see Alan Davenport, my opponent in the Unicorn Games consolation rounds, standing behind me. A velvet shirt of deep purple with extra large collars and flared sleeves adorned him. The shirt would have been quite nice if it hadn't been ruined by a bright green floral design on the front. His auburn hair was immaculate as usual and when he saw me he gave it the slightest flick and his face was filled with an expression of mock surprise. "Two beautiful smiles in one day. But this one," he looked into my eyes, "this one could melt the sun."
"Oh, get over yourself, Alan," I said, not falling for his charms, unlike another member of my team. Chartreuse made a strange grunting kind of sound and Alan placed his hand on her face gently.
"The beautiful Ponyta. Chartreuse, wasn't it?" he said, before continuing. "I remember you, my lovely."
I pulled Chartreuse back to my side, thoroughly sickened by Alan's staring at me. "Anyway, what are you doing here? Please don't tell me you're here for the blizzard room."
"I'm here for the blizzard room", Alan said, triumphantly. "And you could look a little more pleased to see me." He then turned to the assistant. "Lanette, your beautiful smile could win awards." Alan reached across to shake the woman's hand. I could see him transfer a bundle of notes to her through the handshake and became enraged.
"Don't tell me you planned all this!?!" I shouted at Alan as the smile on his face grew even more smarmy causing Chartreuse to sigh. "And you!" I screamed at the assistant. "What about your confidentiality?"
"Don't take this out on Lanette," Alan said. "Women can't help but fall at my feet. Shall we go to the blizzard room?" Alan offered me his hand. I didn't take it.
"I should have you reported," I told the receptionist. What choice did I have now but to share the room with Alan? "Hang on, we'll take turns. You can go first."
"Why not battle together?" Alan asked, tossing his hair.
"No way," I said, just wanting to get on with my training instead of talking to this buffoon. "For a start my pokémon are only babies. They haven't learned any attacks yet, so today they're going to try. They aren't ready for a real battle."
"I promise", said Alan "that my pokémon will go easy on them."
"Look I don't have time to waste, Alan," I said. "I just want to train them and the answer is still no."
Just then, Sparky tapped me. It was the first time I had understood him speak to me and was surprised how easily I could understand him. "They're ready," he said. "I know their attacks haven't worked so far but I think that's because they're trying to use them on each other. Maybe a real battle would bring them the confidence they need to attack."
"You see?" said Alan in his deep, egotistical voice, "even your Raichu thinks we should battle. It's destiny, don't you think, Soo?"
"It's nothing of the sort", I grumbled. Sparky had a point; maybe a real battle would do Yuki and Kaguya good. But were they ready? And could I trust Alan to be fair? "What pokémon do you have?" I asked Alan. "I want this battle to be fair. My pokémon are only beginners."
"Relax, beautiful dream," Alan said as I rolled my eyes. "I have Slowpoke, two twins called Alexa and Alexia. They're truly beautiful. You will see."
After some thought I decided to accept Alan's suggestion; if I'd kept refusing he would have only insisted more, which was, I noticed, eating into the hour slot somewhat. Already there was only 45 minutes to share between us before the next trainers arrived. I put on my thick jumper and insulated coat. Together Alan and I walked towards the blizzard room, my team following behind me. Several times down the long corridor Alan tried to hold my hand and several time I walked on the other side of Hokiri, who defended me valiantly. Chartreuse trailed sheepishly alongside Alan, who occasionally stroked my Ponyta's ears, sending visible shivers through her body. I still held Yuki, Kaguya and Celeste.
The door to the blizzard room was labelled:

BLIZZARD ROOM
DANGER: BLIZZARD

This caused me to laugh for a good few minutes, Alan giving a hearty chuckle also, while attempting to put his arm around me but being pushed away by Hokiri. When we opened the double doors I was immediately hit by the sheer harshness of the temperature. The floor was white with snow and the wind blew icy cold powder across the room that pricked my face when it touched me. Celeste burrowed deep into my coat as I did my best to protect her, Yuki and Kaguya from the cold. The others followed, also feeling the rush of the blizzard hitting them. Alan was thoroughly unprepared. When I had asked him if he had brought any warm clothes he had responded that he didn't need them as he wouldn't feel the cold. I looked over at him and could see that he was feeling it; quite harshly in fact and he shivered, barely able to walk. The trainer's cabins were just ahead. There were two cabins, next to each other. I hurried along as fast as I could in the conditions and put Yuki, Kaguya and Celeste into the first cabin. Hokiri and Kirei entered next, with Sparky following and heading over to Yuki and Kaguya to give them further encouragement. He had already spent a considerable time with them and felt that they were ready to battle; I had no choice but to trust his judgment. By now the cabin was almost full, although there would just be room for Chartreuse and I to fit in. I hurried Chartreuse along but she remained as if rooted to the spot. "What's wrong?" I said, panicked. "Chartreuse, please talk to me."
"I'm... ok... cold but ok," replied Chartreuse. "There isn't room for me in that cabin, I'll share with Alan. He won't mind I'm sure."
"Chartreuse, stop being so..."
"... Alan!" Chartreuse exclaimed, turning to look behind me. Alan Davenport was not moving at all, he appeared almost frozen.
Chartreuse and I approached him. I shook him but he did not respond. Hurriedly, with Chartreuse's help I did my best to get Alan onto my Ponyta's back. With me supporting him Chartreuse carried Alan to the far cabin, laid him down and let her flames warm the cabin once we were inside and had closed the door.
Alan began to move, and then to speak. "You saved me, vision of loveliness!" I was surprised to find he was not looking at me, but at Chartreuse.
"Are... are you all right?" I asked. Alan looked incredibly pale and his lips were still bluish.
"Who are you?" he asked me.
Dumbfounded I replied, telling him who I was. "No - that's Soo!" he said, indicating Chartreuse again.
"Whatever, Alan. Please just let your Slowpoke out. We'll talk about this later," I told him and left the cabin.
When I was back inside my cabin, I heard the noise of the neighbouring cabin opening and then shutting and could just make out through the blizzard the shapes of two Slowpoke approaching the battlefield, talking to each other about something. The Slowpoke had unusually large noses, making them look particularly ugly for Slowpoke, and they both walked in a slow, swaying manner, as if having trouble walking through the harsh weather. "Your turn, Yuki and Kaguya," I said to my Plusle and Minun.
"It's so cold out there," said Yuki, shivering slightly. "And I don't think I'm ready to use my electricity."
"Of course you're ready," said Sparky. "Just remember everything I told you. Remember to feel the electricity within your body and concentrate strongly on releasing it towards the opponent. Just remember to concentrate, and don't be frightened because it feels strange when you first start using electric attacks."
"Got it," said Kaguya. "Anyway Yuki, we may as well give this a go. If we can't use the attacks we'll have to forfeit, we won't get hurt so don't worry."

FIGHT!!! L5 Minun & L5 Plusle v L15 Slowpoke & L15 Slowpoke!

I let Yuki and Kaguya out into the snow. They huddled together as they walked to bravely face the Slowpoke. I heard no more sounds from Alan's cabin and hoped Chartreuse was ok. Kirei seemed to read my mind. "Of course she's ok, Soo," my Espeon told me. "She's in her element."
I decided that the best thing to do was to concentrate on the battle at hand. Since neither of my pokémon had psychic abilities I would not be able to give them instructions or communicate with them directly during the battle. Kirei offered to pass on messages from Sparky or I to them, although they had never communicated psychically and Kirei doubted they would be able to talk back to her, at least not very clearly. Yuki and Kaguya were pretty much on their own out there, but at least I could see what was happenning through the snow.
Kaguya moved first, using her speed advantage to attack one of the Slowpoke (I could not tell them apart). She ran towards either Alexa or Alexia and stood still in front of her, looking as if she was trying very hard to concentrate. Please work I thought to myself, but alas no electric attack came from my Minun. The Slowpoke had been opening her mouth and now issued from it a jet of water. Yuki clutched her face. The water must have been icy cold. "Kirei, tell her not to panic next time, but to really concentrate," said Sparky. Kirei passed on the message but we received no indication of whether it had been received and understood by Kaguya or not. Like Kirei had said, it was very unlikely Kaguya and Yuki would be able to reply to her psychic communications, but we had to trust that they understood them, because it was all we could do.
Kaguya dropped back, out of the line of fire. The Slowpoke that had attacked her followed her, slowly but surely and tried another attack which my Minun managed to dodge. While this was going on the other Slowpoke had been using the fact that the attention was off her for the moment to sneak around the side of the battle towards Yuki, who was shivering at the back, apparently too afraid to battle. I began to wonder whether I should go out and end the battle. Maybe Sparky was wrong; maybe they weren't ready yet.
"Yuki!" I screamed, trying to warn my Plusle before remembering she couldn't hear me.
Kirei turned to me. "I tried to warn her, but I don't think she can hear me. It seems like she's trying to do something else with her mind and I can't get through to her at the moment, although I don't think she really knows what she's doing," the Espeon told me.
I watched as Kaguya continued to dodge the first Slowpoke's attacks while the other one approached Yuki, who was watching her sister and not paying attention. The Slowpoke sent a great jet of water towards Yuki, hitting her full in the face. Some of the droplets of water froze in the air and also hit Yuki. Kaguya fell backwards in obvious pain which gave the Slowpoke who had been attacking her the opportunity to hit her with another water gun, this time sending Yuki falling to the floor in agony.
Kaguya immediately turned, knowing that getting hit by the attack had caused her sister to feel the pain of it and ran towards the Slowpoke, enraged. Her cheeks and then her whole body began to spark as she ran. "This is it," said Sparky and we all watched in astonished silence as Kaguya managed to produce a massive bolt of electric energy, surging straight at the Slowpoke and causing a direct hit. "I was expecting a weaker attack, but that was an amazing Thunderbolt," said Sparky, in obvious awe of the little Minun's power. "Now if only Yuki could learn to do the same." Yuki was still being pursued by the other Slowpoke and dodged the attacks valiantly, being unable to produce any electricity of her own for the moment.
The Slowpoke Kaguya had hit seemed to be down and out, but upon closer inspection was still moving, very slightly. She fixated its gaze upon Kaguya as Kaguya still stood over her, looking impressed at her achievement. I could not see what the Slowpoke was doing, but there was something in that gaze that affected Kaguya. Instead of running to help her sister she began running in circles around the fallen Slowpoke, who was still moving very slightly, not quite out for the count.
"Soo, help me!" I heard a strange voice inside my head, which I immediately recognised as Yuki, although she sounded very far away.
"How come we can hear her from in here?!" I asked the other occupants of my cabin. Apparently none of them had heard anything, and there was no way it should have been possible for me to have heard Yuki's voice from in there.
Kirei had a surprised expression on her face. "I don't know how she's done it but Yuki seems to have opened up some sort of psychic channel between herself and you. I can't tap into it, but you should be able to talk to each other now. I have no idea how she's done it though."
Wasting no time I told Yuki to stay as calm as she could. "But what's wrong with Kaguya?" she asked me. After consultation with Kirei I told Yuki the Slowpoke must have used confusion and to try to concentrate on the other one for now. I reminded her of Sparky's instructions to focus her energy on the electricity inside her and concentrate on forming it into an attack. "But I don't know how!" was the feeble reply.
"Yuki," I told my Plusle. "I believe in you."
As the Slowpoke opened her mouth to attack again I saw Yuki's body begin to spark, just as Kaguya's had done before. The sparks left her body, less impressively than Kaguya's attack but still powerfully, and hit the Slowpoke right in the mouth, just as it was about to use its water attack again. "Great!" I shouted out loud, impressed with Yuki's attack. The Slowpoke's whole body began to shudder. The electricity had travelled right through the body of the Slowpoke and it fell to the floor, completely unable to move. By now Kaguya had managed to come back to her senses and ran to her sister, just as the fallen Slowpoke began to gaze at Yuki in the same way the first one had to Kaguya. Wasting no time the Minun stopped, concentrated and waves of electric current issued from her body towards the Slowpoke. Instead of confusing Yuki the Slowpoke froze, unable to attack and straight away Yuki took the opportunity to send more sparks of electricity to the fallen Slowpoke, finishing it off completely this time.
My Minun and Plusle turned together and seemed to be talking to each other before facing the first Slowpoke who was still trying to get back to her feet. Yuki's body sparked again but this time she sent the electricity into Kaguya, who sparked more than ever before, then sent the most gigantic Thunderbolt I had ever seen, rushing right at the Slowpoke. This time there was no question - the Slowpokes were defeated in a decisive victory.

Yuki and Kaguya win!
Yuki and Kaguya grew to L7!

Running out, practically ignoring the cold I ran to pick up my Minun and Plusle and give them a big hug. I was so impressed with their team work and bravery. "I knew you could do it. You two were amazing," I told them.
Walking back with Yuki and Kaguya my eye fell upon Alan's cabin. I decided to go and check on Chartreuse, and drag her away from the crazy Alan. When I opened the door it was all I could do not to drop Yuki and Kaguya in shock as I saw Alan and Chartreuse kissing. "I love you, Soo," I heard Alan mutter into the Ponyta's face."
"Chartreuse!" I shouted. The Ponyta immediately turned, looking somewhat embarrassed at being interrupted. I looked at Yuki and Kaguya in my arms then put Yuki down into Alan's lap, who was sitting gawking at Chartreuse, still apparently under the impression that she was me. "Do you think you've got any of that electricity left in you?" I asked my Minun.
Yuki nodded, produced a mass of electrical sparks on Alan's lap, sending him shuddering with the shock of the current. "Soo?" Alan looked at me this time, completely dazed as Chartreuse sighed behind me. "What happened?"
"That, Alan," I said to him, "is a long story."

[Lady Vulpix]

*Sighs.* I have to hand in a project tomorrow, and then participate in 2 assistant teacher contests, correct 2 projects from my students, read a 23 pages long paper and answer a set of questions on it, all this week. Not to mention all the things I'm supposed to do on TPM. I'll do my best, but can someone else (Karin or Amy) please rate some stories? Thanks.

[Kirei]

Wow, you have a lot on, Gabi. No offence to Amy or Karin, but I'd prefer to wait (no rush) and have you rate my story. You know all the background parts to my characters, and that's kind of required to read this one. I think you'd get the most out of it, so I don't mind the wait, take as long as you need, but I'd prefer it if you can rate mine please.

[Charizard04621]

Yeah, that makes a lot more sense. I wasn't going to rate Ade's or Kirei's anyway; if I picked some to rate I'd do one or both of the top two. I never really understand you guys' stories... >_<; You have all this background information implied in it that I've never seen before, and unless I dig up the massive archives of all your stuff and cram it into my brain, I find it impossible to follow your stories. I know a few more people who have the same problem, no offense to you guys, but could you maybe please work some explanations into your stories next time? That might be a lot to ask, but I dunno... it might make it easier for us.

[Kirei]

That's ok, Karin. I'm not offended by that. I know there's a lot of background things, and it's all interwoven within Ade's stories and mine, since I was a character in his for a long time before I got my own team, so it must be confusing for people who haven't followed our stories for that long. I will remember what you said though, and you know we sometimes post ideas and character developments in the dragon tamers discussion in the forums linked in my sig, so it might be a good way we can all understand everyone's stories better. I try to put little parts in reminding things about the characters, but I do appreciate that it's not easy to understand for everyone who hasn't read them all! It would just make my (and especially Ade's) stories way too long to put all the background stuff in with every story! I appreciate your honesty though, and I'm not offended so don't worry!

[AntiAsh Superstar]

Actually Karin, I'm really glad you mentioned that coz, golly, it's been about three years of me playing at the Batte Range and not ONCE have I been courteous enough to sit down and write a proper 'the story so far' paragraph or two every once in a while, given that combined with my love for digging up links to campaigns that are God-knows how old it's no wonder some of you find it all a little hard to follow. (we won't get into the whole 'but Ade, oh owner of the magic Jolteon with split personalities, your characters are confusing enough at the best of times!' debate here...) Anyways, I'd like to have a shot at rectifying this a little with my next RBG, so... a Free Range Corral battle for Lucky, if you'd be so kind. *pays 7 stamps*

[Lady Vulpix]

Alright, Lucky will be battling a Chansey, but I'm afraid you'll have to wait for the rating.

[The_Missing_Link]

Since I don't have the time to write out another battle room story, I'd like a RBG for Cassio, my female Eevee (Universal Adoption Center, please)

[Wolfsong]

All right. *takes stamps* She will be battling an absol

[Charizard04621]

Hannah - 14 Stamps. The language was beautiful, but go back and read your battles over... Almost every single line has the exact same sentence structure. My favorite sentence structure, but there is always too much of a good thing; eventually my mind just went numb seeing the same thing over and over again. Oh, and you might want to identify speakers for us... Sure, the colors shift, but I couldn't tell if yellow means a Weedle or a Raikou, know what I mean?

If Amy gets to Shonta's before I do, that would be good... Otherwise I'll rate it when I have the time. (7 essays to write due at their respective colleges by November the 1st).

[Wolfsong]

Shonta: That was an interesting read. It was nice to see some of Jewel's personality. Will we get a chance to see more of it in the future? Take 8 stamps.

[AntiAsh Superstar]

Hehe, featuring the best recap of past events I could manage - if you don't get a lot of my references to history I suggest you give this one a read.

-----

One more night where I simply couldn’t sleep, one more night where the thoughts swimming round inside my head simply refused to stop. That summed tonight up perfectly for me. It wasn’t unheard of for me to put Soo to bed and then sneak downstairs, of course, in fact the difference in time between the points where we became tired was a positive boon for me, for it meant that I could indulge in more solitary pursuits such as writing and video games while she was asleep. But tonight was more than simply not feeling tired. Tonight was all about my mind racing, the events that had brought me to this point whirling around and around in my head until it felt as if my mind was about to explode from overuse. And when I was in one of these states there was precious little sense in fighting it. Groggily I swung my legs over the side of the bed, being careful not to disturb the slumbering form of Soo next to me as I did so, and fumbled around in the dark for my dressing gown. Eventually I found its thick cloth within my grasp. Hence was able to stumble out of the room and downstairs where, for once, nobody else seemed to be up. In a way that was disturbing, and a cursory glance at the elegant clock sat upon the mantelpiece, its copper gears clicking away oblivious, confirmed my worst suspicions; it was three in the morning. Had I really just been lay in bed for four whole hours, unable to sleep? I shook my head in disbelief. There was only one of two options available to me to kill insomnia such as this. Either drink it out of my system, which was increasingly becoming an unattractive option the better my life became, or write it out. Well, I decided, writing had yet to fail in its therapeutic qualities. So I dragged myself over to my computer, pulled up a chair, and began to type.

Sometimes I wonder exactly how I got here. You know, being a reasonably successful pokémon trainer with a large house, a loyal team and a wonderful fiancée. Sometimes it almost feels like too much, too soon. Wasn’t I a lost cause this time last year? And yet here I am, actually enjoying life for once. How times change.

It wasn’t always like this, of course. I can still remember the very beginnings of my time in Ulthuan, even if my diaries of those times seem to have been lost. Back then we didn’t even have a fixed place to call home. I’d basically just turned up in Ulthuan, headed to the nearest adoption centre, picked up a cute Meowth and a tough-looking Paras, and set out without so much as a clue as to what I was doing. Oh, how we struggled to make it from day to day back then. I hadn’t a clue what I was doing, so I just steamed on ahead with only a faux arrogance to see me through. And to be fair, most of the time it worked. Maybe Milliardo is on to something with his usual ways of getting through life.
But I digress. Very soon I had a pretty little Vulpix and the world’s most talkative Squirtle to add to my team. And it was about that time that destiny began to kick in. We kept running into wild pokémon with a common goal. Every time there was trouble, it would usually be down to one of these strange creatures, linked only by the silver pendants that they wore and their desire to overthrow humans. I even managed to get my hands on one of the pendants. They were strange little pieces of jewelery, really, silver circles engraved with a design of what – at the time – I considered to be some sort of pokémon demon, an obscenely fanged and clawed Ninetales with six limbs. I thought they were the pokémon equivalent of Satanists. I didn’t realized that they truly served a real, tangible master. Not until I reached White Mountain and met the creature for myself.

White Mountain… now that was a place! The setting for the Pegasus Games, my first ever tournament. A huge complex set upon a cliff so ivory-like in its colouration that it was obvious how the peak had earned its name. I can still remember little trivial details of our time there. How we had to hire a Pidgeot to fly us up to the summit. How my entrant, Pearl, narrowly missed out on winning the tournament’s consolation rounds, pipped at the post by a trainer whom everyone referred to as Bronzie; ironically enough he still bugs me over instant messenger to this very day even though he has all but given up on pokémon training these days. But the tournament was overshadowed to say the least when… he started communicating with me. I still don’t know quite why he picked me out of all the trainers in Ulthuan. Maybe he knew that I was the least likely to pass judgement. Maybe he thought I would understand his motives. Whatever the reason, he chose me. And I spent a good deal of my time on White Mountain trying to reason with him. Not that it’s ever easy to do that. I’ve had nearly three years of his company now, on and off, and if anything he grows more obstinate with every passing day.
Anyway, it all came to a head in the consolation rounds of the Unicorn Games. It seemed as if he had decided to make the cavern we were going to use to house those battles as his base of operations. So that was the first time I ever met Tsuyoi. I can assure you that he makes a quite unforgettable first impression! I still remember that first time we met, even now when the sight of a blue and white, six limbed creature with the most terrifying claws and fangs you will ever see on a pokémon hybrid seems an everyday occurrence. Back then he was trying, seriously trying, to cause revolution. Of course, as with any leader, he had his own hidden motives. Any coup he staged would have placed him in power. And power, of course, is something Tsuyoi has always been a glutton for. If it’s not physical power it’s financial power, and when he had both of those he added knowledge to his considerable resources. Sometimes it’s very easy to forget that he’s actually quite young, such is his domineering nature and remarkable intelligence. But anyway. Back then we clashed mightily, but right at the last moment Tsuyoi seemed to have a change of heart. Suddenly he gave up totally on conquest. I still can’t say I understand fully his reasons. I like to think the whole thing had been a meticulously planned cry for attention, and once he had that attention there was no point in carrying on. And so the Pegasus Games carried on; and although Pearl came fifth we suddenly found ourselves with a most unusual new friend. Tsuyoi, it seemed, had far from finished with us.

It was about that time that I had a little setback to my career. I grew sick. Violently so. For about a month I was totally incapacitated, kept alive only by the ministrations of Tsuyoi’s strange family. They are a rather odd bunch, all similar to Tsuyoi in appearance (although not colouration) only slightly more… peaceful. Kushikoi, a chirpy creature who gives mad scientists a bad name. Komaru, the most hyperactive, childish creature this side of Kassandra. And Amai, a sorrowful creature who throws her whole heart into nature. I think Lucky developed quite a crush on her, come to think about it. Anyway, they took care of me while I recovered, and my team would venture out of their little house to train themselves in my absence. It was during this time that we added Sindel to the team, having picked up the Abra from a local adoption centre. And then Katnip… well, he sort of invited himself. He had a long history with Beckham, it seemed, and the two were anxious to renew old friendships. And train, of course, if there’s one thing Katnip loves to do it’s train. And compete in any sense. Even over the affections of others. At the time Pearl was going out with Beckham, but that didn’t stop Katnip from trying to flirt with her every given chance. Then again, his persistence seems to have paid off seeing as they are now a couple with a daughter.

After that I kind of lay low for quite a while. I was in no state to train, and my mind was on other things. Too many things, in fact. In fact, when I finally made my return to active service I had become quite convinced that I was losing my mind. It was only Pearl’s constant assistance that kept my fears from being realized. So maybe it wasn’t the best of times to run into yet another major threat to our very existence. With remarkable timing I had chosen to coincide my return to training with a sudden outbreak of Team Rocket activity. And it was at that point that I made the most foolish decision of my life, the decision that I still beat myself up over to this very day. At the time the Dragon Tamers were storming a Rocket base hidden deep within a forest in central Caledor. Although not officially a part of the group at the time, I decided to follow along at a distance anyway, hoping to do my bit as an outsider. It was s stupid thing to do, especially given how reckless my attitude was at the time. I remember caring less and less for my personal safety, to the point where I was openly inviting danger. Back then I had totally forgotten about the fact that I was dragging my team into everything, even though they were the ones who paid the price eventually. You see, although I managed my objectives, I was captured by the Rocket in the process. And my pokémon were taken from me as a result. I remember how dark those times were. They held me for three days in total, beating me in both mind and sprit until I was a mere shadow of my former self. And that wasn’t the end of it, either. Most of my pokémon had been taken. In fact by the time I escaped I only had Katnip and Pearl left, the others already having been shipped off to unknown destinations. After that, there was only one place I could go. I turned to the Dragon Tamers for help, finally reaching the conclusion that I couldn’t have my vengeance without help. They welcomed me with open arms.
It was just as well that I had enlisted the help of those I would eventually come to consider staunch allies. Team Rocket seemed determined to wipe us out. This, you have to understand, wasn’t the same Team Rocket we deal with today. If only it was. The show of force given by their elite squadrons, the Black Battalion, was a lot easier to deal with than the cruel terrorist plots devised under Armand DiAnnio’s guidance. It was tough, certainly, but a show of solidarity turned away the evil Rockets for, what we had thought at the time, the last time.

I should probably give a mention at this point to the changes in my team around this time. Beckham we found once again playing up for one of the Black Battalion, and it was little problem to get him back into the fold again. Sindel returned to us through a stroke of pure luck, being involved in a car accident during transportation that I happened to chance upon. However, it was her companion in this ride that really turned our team upside down. A small and petulant Eevee with a sharp tongue and endless issues. An Eevee that would eventually grow and blossom into the smartass Umbreon we all know as Milliardo. It turned out that he had been practically given to Team Rocket by his old trainer, a violent and abusive brute of a man who cared little for his pokémon’s welfare. And although he had reservations about joining a team again, he soon settled down even if his cruel wit and defensive attitude has caused many an argument since.

Life was reasonably quiet for a while after that. We still had yet to locate Lucky and Scratchy, and I lost many a night’s sleep worrying about them, but on the whole our team got about their business rather well. Until bizarre things started to happen all over Ulthuan. The ground started collapsing in places all over Sector Alpha. The skies darkened into a permenant night. And even though I was distracted by the sudden reappearance of Scratchy, who seemed to have totally forgotten about any horrors he may have seen in the hands of the Rockets, even I could tell there was something seriously amiss.

It didn’t take long to find out what that was.

For what I eventually learned had been a matter of years, a dark force had been brewing in the lands to the north, the ominous province of Ulthuan known as Nagarythe. Humans from all over had flocked to the area to group under the banner of the Dark Cloak, an evil cult that worshipped a bizarre deity named Resomegnis, a hybrid monster developed for pure destruction. Unnoticed they had raised a considerable army of zombie-like cultists, both human and pokémon, and had been biding their time, awaiting the chance to strike. All of sudden that day arrived. Sector Alpha was attacked, its walls torn down by the ferocious beast Resomegnis himself. The battles raged long and hard, and the repercussions of the Dark Cloak’s actions are still being felt as their last few dark secrets are unearthed, but in the end good managed to triumph. At least for a while. We ended up driving the Dark Cloak back into Nagarythe, where a long and brutal military campaign finished the cult off completely. It was around that time we ran into Kasumi. Back then she was just a bubbly Growlithe rather than the bizarre combination of chirpiness and perversion she is now, but she was a great asset at the time, and eventually accompanied our team back to Caledor after the conclusion of a successful campaign. Back to the final missing member of my original team, Lucky, who had been having his own adventure during his attempts to return to his rightful place within our team. He had befriended Kirei and Adreena during this time, a pair of Eeveelution sisters who had ably assisted his return to Caledor. Kirei would later join my team for short while, eventually settling down with Soo as her owner. Adreena is still around somewhere, the Vaporeon having left to settle down with a wild Umbreon named Tamotsu. But that’s as maybe. The most important thing was the team was now back in one piece, and for once I was happy.

It was then that the start of the Dragon Games was announced. My choice for that particular tournament was obvious. Katnip, the best fighter I had. And he did us proud, getting all the way to the finals where he came a respectable third. Even if the prize I won from the Games – Bolovayr the bizarre Gastly – happened to have originally been won by Gabi, who scored second. Yet again, however, the tournament was overshadowed slightly, partly because of the sudden disappearance of Scott McHenry, one of the founding members of the Dragon Tamers and judge of the Dragon Games, and partly down to my discovery of Pandora, a troubled Houndour used by the evil Dark Cloak. Pandora has been hard work. Her manic-depressive tendencies and self-hatred have caused many problems, and I have to admit that there have been times when I’ve been loath to leave her alone for fear of her hurting herself during one of her melancholy spells. But there would have been no sense in that. Keeping her under constant surveillance would have only made her feel even worse. So I set about giving her the chance of a normal life instead. And, with a great deal of help from Milliardo, who fell for Pandora in a big way, that is what she now has. If indeed a life in our household can ever be considered normal.
So the Dragon Games came and went, with the battles and evolutions that went with them. And we went back to our usual lives. Occasionally trouble would rear its head, but for the longest time I had known the lands remained untroubled. During this time I ran into Soo, a girl I can only describe as my total soulmate. She made me feel good about myself. And yes, we may occasionally fight, but that is not always a bad thing. Look at how happy Milliardo and Pandora usually are! For a while life was good. We even had a birth in the team, that of Marius. He’s a rather scary creature, far too intellectual than is healthy and possessed of a tendency to mess with my computer behind my back. But aside from that, he was a welcome addition to the team. Made us feel almost like a proper family. Then we heard news of trouble in the area of Templa Taure, a normally sacred forest possessed by evil spirits. Of course, we went to try and help. And of course, we got more than we bargained for. We were assaulted by a creature called Abbadon, a psychotic Charizard with a love of destroying all in his path. Although for some reason he didn’t seem like such a bad sort at the time. In fact he even gave is his daughter to look after, evidently worried that his psychosis would in some way harm her. And whilst Kassandra is an amusing creature, sometimes I wish he hadn’t bothered. One too many mornings having our bedroom door knocked down so she can jump on us has seen to any goodwill I may have towards her. But we didn’t know what we were letting ourselves in for, so we accepted, and Kass joined our team. In Templa Taure we met Gabi and her team, and we agreed to search the area together. What sights we encountered there! It was altogether too much to recount in a single paragraph. Possessed Gyarados, dark temples that radiated terrible power, we even gazed upon a demon so strong that it was capable of holding its own against Tsuyoi. And then there was Rhiannon, of course. Rhiannon is possibly the most confusing creature I’ve ever met. One moment she’s a perfectly loveable creature, a chirpy, bouncy soul whose only flaw is a slightly cheeky streak (which I’ll forgive her on account of her being Milliardo’s sister), the next she’s this… weird, detached creature with little concept of remorse or compassion. I really can’t say I know enough about her to be able to judge properly, but I suspect she may the key to something huge.

So, after that we then arrive at our next major threat to world peace, and the one man who I’d gladly disembowel without a moment’s hesitation. Team Rocket is back with us. With a new man at the helm. One Armand DiAnnio, the most heartless, sadistic man you could ever hope to meet. He makes Giovanni look positively nice. At least with Giovanni you knew he was just in it for the money. Armand… with Armand you can just tell he’s having the time of his life inflicting all this pain and misery. He wants to move Team Rocket away from pokémon altogether, from what I gathered from my few encounters with him. He wants to turn them into a proper terrorist organization, with him and his Salamence at the helm. And he doesn’t care who he kills in order to get what he wants. Look at what happened to the old trainer of Megan and Ryo-Ohki. Armand took him and another trainer hostage, purely for the sick satisfaction of killing them in front of an audience. That’s the kind of man he is. And his Salamence, Reaper… she’s just as bad, if not worse. Brand lost her family because of her. And from what I’ve gathered from Rhiannon, who seems to have dealt with Reaper in the past, she has done far worse than that. I can’t help but feel… well, a little apprehensive. With psychos like that loose in the world, are any of us truly safe? I can only hope that we put an end to this particular loose end before it envelops us all.

Anyway, so we now come to the present day. I've got friends, I've got fifteen (or is that sixteen? Am I allowed to count Rhiannon twice?) loyal pokémon and a lover who will aid me in every way she can. So why do I still feel so edgy? Maybe it’s because things aren't quite settled. Maybe it’s because I know they never will be.

I sighed, re-reading the paragraphs I had just written. Not a bad little summary of my life for an hour’s work. They just needed a satisfactory conclusion.

Whatever happens, though, I swear to protect those I love with every fibre of my being. We will get through this, and we will become stronger for it. This I promise.

Yes, I thought to myself. That satisfies me nicely. Wearily I saved my work, shut down the computer and headed wearily back to the bedroom. Maybe I could get a few hours sleep before having to face the morning once again…

"So," I yawned later on that day, struggling hard to keep the tiredness from showing in my voice, "seems like we've been invited for another training session. Anyone up for it?"
"Well you sure as hell aren't," Milliardo commented, shaking his head in what could have either been bemusement or pity. "What's wrong, Ade, anyone would think you didn't sleep at all last night."
"Ha ha, very funny." I rolled my eyes. A conversation with my Umbreon was hardly the best way to start the day, especially seeing as he seemed to have woken up in a particularly sneering mood. "Seriously, guys, is anybody up for a battle?" I cast my eyes hopefully around the room, but saw only faces that were either tired or apprehensive. Even the normally chirpy Kasumi seemed unusually sullen today. It was a bad omen.
"I guess I wouldn't mind giving it a shot," Lucky shrugged eventually. "If nobody else is going to, that is." Anxiously the Meowth looked around at his companions, as if secretly hoping that one of them might step in at this point. But there was no chance of that happening, not today at least. "Well… if nobody else minds, that is."
"Dude, just admit ya want a battle, it ain't a sin," Katnip chucked, busy finishing off whatever everyone else had left of their breakfasts. "I'd say 'sure, I'd go' but I know it ain't fair ta anyone else if I had as many trainin' sessions as I wanted ta. It's someone else's turn this time, an' I don't see why it shouldn't be ya. After all, when was the last time ya actually battled?"
"Uhh…"
"I remember!" Rhiannon jumped up and down excitedly, nearly knocking half of her teammates over in the process. Adjusting to her larger form, it had to be said, had been a real problem for the recently evolved Jolteon. For whilst the properly-trained part of her psyche had little trouble in compensating for the extra size, strength and speed, the part of her currently in control seemed to still be under the impression she was a little Eevee pup. "I remember, that last battle he had was against me, wasn't it?"
"Technically speaking…" Milliardo began, only to find himself being smacked violently over the head by an increasingly hyper sister.
"Technically speaking my paw! It was, it was against me!"
"Will somebody please do me a big favour and sedate her?" Milliardo asked irritably, glaring at Rhiannon. "Evolving's just made her go even more ridiculous. And that takes one hell of a lot to do."
"Umm… I have a great idea guys, let's get back to the original topic of conversation, hm?" Pearl interjected quickly before the siblings ended up fighting. Sometimes it was like having to deal with a pair of pups! "Lucky, if you want to train then you go for it, don't feel like you have to wait patiently for everyone else to have their turn first."
"I guess…" The Meowth still seemed uncertain, so I took the opportunity to put in a few words myself.
"Come on, Lucky, you're itching to battle, I can tell. As gentle as you are by nature, it doesn't stop you from having got into the habit of having the odd fight every now and then. Besides, we're all pretty much agreed that something's not been right lately, and it'd probably be a good idea if we were all in the best shape we can be." I sighed deeply. There it was again. The cloud that had been hanging over us for the past few weeks. It just wouldn't go away, no matter how hard we tried to put it to the backs of our minds. "What do you say?"
"Go on, Lucky, you know you want to!" This was Kirei, pushing her way to the front of the assembled group and beaming brightly into her boyfriend's face in a fashion that most would have found decidedly discomforting. Soo's Espeon was generally considered the undisputed queen of the over the top smile. "When you want something that badly you just have to go do it, right?" The Espeon rubbed up against Lucky, causing him to turn bright red under his fur.
"You love making me squirm, don't you?" he muttered.
"Well…" Kirei pouted, her breathing heavy, "it's just all about the passion, and the action, and doing what you really, truly desire…"
"I can't listen to any more of this," grumbled Kasumi. "I'm going upstairs." The Growlithe stormed off irritably.
"What did I say?" Kirei asked, genuinely confused.
"Leave her be," Pearl sighed. "She's not been the same since Dan and his team disappeared. You know, in her own stupid little way I think she really did love Thunderblast."
"I doubt she knows the meaning of the word," Milliardo commented. "She's just annoyed because she's had her favourite source of stress relief taken away from her."
"So, anyway, it's alright if I have the battle, then?" Lucky asked quickly, trying very hard to steer the conversation back of course. The subject at hand was starting to get a little too… intimate for his liking.
"Of course it is, Lucky," I replied, petting my Meowth with the deep fondness that could only be gained from many years of training with a pokémon. "It's time you and me fought side by side again. It's been far too long for my liking."
"Yeah," Lucky smiled. "I know exactly what you mean."

And so it was that I found myself once again stood in front of the large office block that called itself the home to the Mercenary Trainers Union, the base of practically every trainer in Caledor who wished to hire themselves out for whatever purposes their patrons required. There were a few freelance trainers still out there, of course, but for the most part they seemed to flock together. Here life was far more regulated, and they were almost guaranteed a steady income. Especially when they were ranked as highly as my friend Gina, who seemed to manage training, organizing pokémon displays, her own personal life AND still be able to find the time for the occasional sparring session with my team. And sure, she often came across as being more than a little crazy, but given her hectic lifestyle who could blame her?
"Ade!" she beamed as we walked up to the big glass front doors. Evidently she had been waiting fro me, judging from the fact that she had all her things with her. Giant glasses, combat trousers, belt filled with pokéballs and all. "Nice to see you again! You haven't been by in a while. Nothing wrong, I hope?"
"No, just busy," I shrugged, shaking the woman's hand warmly. "So how are things with you?"
"Oh, you know…" she sighed, tilting her head to one side as she recalled the events of the past few weeks. "Had a few events to attend, a few training sessions for my own pokémon, a few tons of paperwork to get through. Stayed past midnight trying to get through it all, drank a bottle of wine, ended up shoving most of it behind the drawers and pretending it was lost just to put it off. You know, the usual." Gina sighed deeply. "It's weird, though. Lately all the pokémon around here seem to be acting oddly. You know, like… all skittish and stuff. Like there's something wrong with the world that we don't know about. You been getting that with your team?"
"Unfortunately I know exactly what you mean." I had to admit, that was exactly what had been happening with my pokémon over the past week or two. There had been decided signs of unrest amongst even the calmest members of my team, as if there was something imperceptible upon the horizon that only pokémon were aware of. "And they've tried – God knows they've tried – to explain to me what it is that's wrong, but the more I hear the more confused I become. All I know is that something pretty big is on the horizon." I shook my head, trying very hard to remove the increasingly bleak thoughts from my mind. There was no point in worrying about all of that now. I had to keep my thoughts fixed firmly upon the present. For both past and future were worrying times for me. "Anyway, that's as maybe. We were here to do a little sparring, weren't we? Not worry about what the future might hold."
"Right!" Gina agreed readily. "I thought it might be fun to have our battle outside for once. I'm so, so sick of my office right now. In fact I'm bloody sick of the entire building. It'd do me good to have an excuse for stepping outside for a while." She looked over at me eagerly, as if hoping for my assent to this plan. I wasn't about to disappoint.
"Sure, that sounds like a plan to me. Just one question, though. Where, exactly, did you plan on holding this sparring session?"
"Well right here sounds like a good plan to me, in this courtyard we're standing in now!" I took a look around at my surroundings. It wasn't perfect, certainly, just a large expanse of concrete with a single fountain as its only focal point, but it would have served well enough for our purposes. There was just one minor flaw with the entire plan as far as I could tell.
"Umm… sure. Won't we be getting in everyone's way, though?"
"Oh no, you'd be really surprised at how few people come in and out. Battles aren't exactly long, anyway, we'll be finished in about ten minutes, I'd say. What do you say?"
"Oh… alright, you've sold me." I rolled my eyes. There was simply no arguing with Gina when she got a crazy idea like this! "I'll be using Lucky, my Meowth." As I mentioned his name Lucky stepped cautiously forward. He was somewhat wary of Gina. She gave off an air of the sort of person who stupid things happened to. And my Meowth had enough experience of those to last him a lifetime.
"Hmm… okay, let's take a look…" Gina whipped out her Pokédex and scanned Lucky, who looked as if he fully expected the device to blow up at any given moment, cowering back as the mercenary completed her pre-match scan. "Okay… mid- second class pokémon, good shape but nothing irregular about him… ah!" Here Gina snapped her fingers as if coming up with the best idea ever. "Okay, I got it."
"You got what?" I asked.
"Your opponent, silly!" she beamed. "I'll be using our current rental Chansey. Should make for an interesting match. Come out, Helena!" Right on cue a large Chansey skipped out of the front doors, its eyes trained on Gina all the while. There was no mistaking the look in its gaze. It was the look of pure admiration a pokémon would bestow upon a worthy trainer. Or, rather, it was how I would imagine that would have looked. I didn't recall the last time any of my pokémon had viewed me in such a way. Which, in a way, was a rather depressing thought given I was the Unicorn Games champion and hence supposed to elicit that kind of response off my team. "Meet Helena. She's one of our best healers. Aren't you, sweetie?" Gina fawned over the Chansey, evidently taken with the pokémon.
"Chan! Chansey!" the pink pokémon squealed happily.
"You sure she's just a rental one?" I asked.
"Unfortunately. Me and Helena have always got on really well though." Gina gave a sad sort of smile, the first time I had ever seen her show anything other than a bemused, albeit extremely noisy and hyper, kind of detachment. "Anyway, you guys ready?"
"Are we?" I asked Lucky. He was going to be the one doing the fighting, after all! My Meowth turned to me with a simple nod.
"I'm ready, if that's what you mean," he commented. "It should be interesting." Here Lucky turned his attentions to the Chansey. "Okay. Let's do this!"

FIGHT!!! L20 Meowth v L20 Chansey!

"So, you're ready to fight, huh?" The Chansey smiled at Lucky with a smile so unassuming that it made the Meowth highly reluctant to attack at all. He swallowed hard. There was something decidedly… odd about this pokémon, and he couldn't quite put his finger on what it was.
"Y… yeah, I'm ready to fight," came the swallowed response. There was simply no time to get nervous now! "Of course I am!" The Meowth struck as good a fighting pose as he could possible manage, indicating to his opponent that the battle was underway. The Chansey, however, didn't seem too bothered by this.
"Are you sure you're ready?" it asked. The pokémon was trying to get at something, that much was certain, but as to what the hidden meaning behind the question was Lucky could only guess.
"Of course I am!" he shouted over, more confidently this time. Evidently this was enough to satisfy the Chansey, for it sighed deeply and smiled inperceptively.
"Very well then. Let's go!" The pokémon concentrated hard, a sphere of white energy forming at its left paw. Lucky had no idea what it was trying to do, but he had intention of hanging around to find out! His reactions working just a split second before his opponent's he threw himself to the right just a fraction of a second before his opponent hurled a huge beam of frosty energy at the spot where he had been stood just moments before, the attack freezing the ground upon impact. Well, there was no doubt as to what that was! Thinking quickly, Lucky tossed a handful of coins into the face of the Chansey, the objects just seeming to appear as if out of nowhere. It wasn't likely to do much in the way of damage, but that really didn't matter. As long as it distracted his opponent for long enough, it would have served its purpose. And in this the attack didn't disappoint, the Chansey too busy trying to avoid the incoming missiles to pay much attention to what Lucky was doing.
"Well, I sure as hell hope this works…" Lucky swallowed hard. It had been so long since he had last battled! He wasn't even sure if he could remember half of his techniques any longer. But eventually it came back to him, how to build up the charge within his body to such a degree that it simply couldn't be contained. How to shoot at his opponent with the strongest Thunderbolt that he could possibly muster.
"What the…?" The Chansey's eyes widened as the electricity came coursing towards it. And for a moment it appeared as if Lucky might have landed a serious blow. However, that simply wasn't to be. Split seconds before the attack struck home, the egg-shaped pokémon seemed to glow for a moment, a pale luminescence suddenly coating every inch of its body. And as the Thunderbolt struck Lucky became all too aware of what had just happened. The vast majority of his attack seemed to be absorbed by the protective coating his opponent had just summoned. At least, it must have done. For when the Chansey turned to smile at him with an almost pitying expression within its eyes it appeared as if the pokémon had hardly sustained any damage at all. "I'm sorry. I know Light Screen, you see. Using any attacks like Thunderbolt is a waste of time against me."
"Gee, thanks for telling me!" Now he was in the thick of battle Lucky had lost his earlier hesitation. Now that it counted his form had miraculously returned. But what good was that? Up until now he had always relied on his Thunderbolt to pull him out of a tight spot. It was the strongest move he knew. But… if that wasn't going to be of any use…
"You'd best prepare yourself!" All of a sudden Lucky found himself right in the path of a huge stream of electricity, so similar to his previous attack that it might as well have been his own move deflected back at him. Evidently he wasn't the only one who could use Thunderbolt! Quickly he rolled to one side again, but this attack proved to be harder to escape than the earlier Ice Beam. He simply wasn't quick enough to dodge, and the electricity struck him hard in the side. He cried out in pain, the intense agony of the attack simply too much for him to be able to stay quiet about. "It's a shame," commented the Chansey as my Meowth coughed and spluttered on the floor, trying to force his body to work again. "Battles aren't really the most wonderful of way to spend time."
"So why do you do it, then?"
"It's a job, isn't it? Like most humans can readily attest, jobs tend not to be things you'd want to spend time on. You do it because you have to." The pokémon sighed deeply, looking almost glum for a moment. But then its attitude shifted once again. "Anyway, enough chat. If you don't mind I'd like to get this out of the way." Lucky could see his opponent start to build up the charge within it body, just as he had done so many times before. He could tell what was coming before the Chansey had even so much as commenced the attack. And he was determined. Determined not to allow himself to be struck again. Concentrating hard, the Meowth put all of his energy into blocking the attack that he knew was coming. After all, he knew full well that it would be next to impossible to avoid it. So he would have to stop himself from being hit some other way.
"Just you try it…" Lucky snarled, his eyes narrowing as the Thunderbolt attack that was now coming from his opponent snaked nearer and nearer. Before he knew it, it had struck in a blinding flash of light.

It was impossible to say exactly what happened at that point. The Chansey's attack seemed to flash even brighter than normal as it struck, so brightly that it temporarily blinded all watching the battle. For a moment it was impossible to tell what had just happened. But as the light finally dies down it was clear to see that Lucky had somehow managed to survive the attack. In fact, all it seemed to have done was mess up his fur, which now stood in a rather spiky manner, charged with too much static electricity. A strange, lopsided grin sat upon his face.
"S… seems like you're not the only one who can take an electrical attack, huh?" he smirked, his voice slightly unsteady.
"Curious. You must know a good defensive move, then."
"How does Protect grab you?" There was something working within Lucky. He could feel it. Some barely recognizable strength deep within him. And he knew that, if he could just tap into that strength, he could win the battle. He just knew it. It was simply a matter of finding out how to pull that off. "It's time we finished this!" The Meowth charged at his opponent at full speed, claws bared in anticipation of pulling off a strong attack. It never happened. So anxious to finish the battle was he that he grew careless. He didn't pay attention to what his opponent was doing. Which was a fatal mistake that saw him being thrown backwards by an Ice Beam that he hadn't even noticed the Chansey forming. The pain of the impact was nothing compared to the sheer humiliation he felt as he toppled backwards. How had he not seen that one coming? He was furious; with himself, with his opponent, with the whole situation. And, with the final insult, the fact that he landed with such force that it send shudders throughout the ground. "Uhh…" The Meowth shook his head to try and clear away the cobwebs. Something didn't quite fit with regards to recent events. He took a tentative step forwards. And it happened again. The ground shook.
"I have to say, you do a very good job of staying upright!" his opponent beamed, before noticing the odd expression my Meowth was sporting as the penny finally dropped. "What's up with you?" it asked, not entirely sure it was going to like the answer.
"I can beat you," came the simple reply.
"Really? How?"
"Like THIS!" Lucky focused all of his energy upon the ground beneath his opponent, hoping against hope that his suspicions were correct. Sure enough, the earth began to quake directly underneath the Chansey, who recoiled in surprise. Just as Lucky had hoped it would. For at that very point the ground suddenly spiked upwards, striking the pink pokémon hard from underneath. It didn't know what had hit it; the impact threw it forward with such force that it was knocked out the instant its head collided with the floor.
"Well, so much for that!" Gina grinned broadly, recalling the fallen pokémon. "I was sort of concerned to begin with. Those initial nerves were a bad sign. But he fell really well into the swing of things. And nice use of Hidden Power there!"
"Yeah, he's a star alright." Lucky found himself being picked up and stroked affectionately. A contented smile crossed his face. No matter how old he grew, no matter how strong he became, he would always cherish these moments of intimacy. Battles were all very well and good, after all, but to Lucky friendship was the most important thing in the world.

Lucky wins!
Lucky grew to L21!

[Linc]

I got my Lava Room battles done, sorry if it seems kinda short, but I was tired when I was writing, aat least it's better than the last time I wrote. *Winces* I hope I've improved -_-;

-=Linc=-

I whistled as I sat on the couch, thinking of which room to go in next. The newly evolved Ex sat at my feet, the massive Arcanine snoring as he slept. “Hey Cynda, ever think of entering a place like the bowls of a volcano?” I said to my Cyndaquil, the scars on his body dark as all the blood had dried.
“Oh yeah, it’s my greatest dream.” He said sarcastically.
“Oh, okay then, just thought I’d ask. Ex, you’re gonna battle, because we’re going to the Lava Room.”

Cynda froze, but he began moving after his flames began to shoot up. A frown crossed over his face. “Blitz will be battling there also, won’t you Blitz?” I said to my massive Aerodactyl. He nodded, and happily sprayed a Flamethrower towards the ceiling. “Good, but let’s rest a bit before we head over there.” I said and smiled. He nodded and folded his wings.

I got up. “Anybody want anything to eat?” I said. The team instantly shot up, jumping and shouting their orders. I walked off to get some food, and I heard Legend and Spirit begin arguing again. In a couple of minutes, I came back, carrying tons of food in my arms. I tossed a burger to Blitz, and he caught it in his mouth, gulping it down after crushing it with his huge teeth. I threw Spirit a bottle of water, and I handed Ex a steak. He gobbled it up, and smiled, his tongue hanging out of his mouth.

After passing out all the food, I headed towards the door of the Lava Room and looked back. The team was so occupied with their meals, they forgot to follow. “Hey guys! This means you’re supposed to come also!” I shouted. They looked around, and they raced over to me, Arrowhead tripping and sliding across the floor. I smiled at my clumsy Snorunt, and he quickly shot up as I disappeared inside of the doors.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Ex watched in wonder as lava exploded around us, molten rock spewing into the air. I rode happily on his back, and Blitz flew above, looking for an opponent. The rest of the team was inside of their Poke Balls, but I could sense that they were excited about the upcoming battles, as their Poke Balls rocked every once in a while.

Ex suddenly bolted forwards, his legs becoming a blur as he ran across the bridges of rock. “EX! SLOW DOWN!” I shouted, as the scenery of lava became a red blur. Behind us I could see a trail of thick dust coming from the back of Ex’s feet, along with small stones. Ex suddenly skidded to a spinning halt, and I hopped off his back. We were standing on a large platform of rock. I looked around, and saw a young girl. “Sorry if we startled you. Ex here is just a big goof.” I said and scratched Ex on the head. She walked over and smiled. “It’s okay, my dad owns an Arcanine, I know what it’s like.” She said.
“So, you wanna battle?” I asked and smiled as Blitz dove from above.
“Sure. How about 2-on-2, except our Pokemon can only attack one Pokemon, none else?” She answered.
“Sure, and by the way, I’m Linc.”
“Jenna, it’s a pleasure to meet ya. Okay, Flamedancer, Muka, go!”
“Go, Blitz, Ex!” We shouted as our Pokemon hopped onto the battlefield of rock.

Battle! Ex, Level 6 Male Arcanine and Blitz, Level 10 Male Aerodactyl VS Flamedancer, Level 15 Female Torchic and Muka, Level 8 Male Magby!

“Ex, Bite!” I shouted. Ex jumped to the side, avoiding an Ember attack by Muka, and then jumping at him from the side, sinking his teeth into the Magby’s chest. Muka screamed, and blasted some Embers into Ex’s head, not doing much damage but enough to knock him off of Muka’s body.

Blitz attacked on his own, dodging all attempts of attacks from Flamedancer. He suddenly flapped and a massive gust of wind flew out of his wings, propelling him higher, and then from high up in the room, his wings began to shine, and they took on an almost metallic appearance. “Blitz, do it now! Meteor Steel Wing!” I shouted. Meteor Steel Wing was something that Blitz made up, by creating his Steel Wing attack from high above, he could do a lot more damage by diving with his wings in front of him.

The red color of the lava reflected off of Blitz’s wings, giving him the appearance of a real meteor as he fell. He closed his eyes as he came closer to the ground, crashing into Flamedancer, plowing her into the ground and pushing her backwards, leaving a gash in the rock floor. Blitz then flipped backwards off of her, and then dashing with his wings, performing a wing attack and knocking Flamedancer backwards, sending her flipping into the air.

Meanwhile, Ex was struggling with Muka, being a young Arcanine and not knowing too many good moves. A Cross Chop knocking him onto his side on the ground caught him in the side. ”Whoa, powerful egg move you got there.” I said to Muka. Muka chuckled and flipped backwards, until I noticed something about Jenna’s Pokemon. They both had chains wrapped around their appendages. “Ex, get up and use Bite on Muka’s chain, and then fling him!” I shouted. Ex stumbled as he got up, but he raced over to Muka, biting on his chains and managing to pull a part away.

With his jaws clenched on the chain, he swung his head around, swinging Muka in the air, and then he let go, throwing Muka into the air. Muka flipped over the lava and hit the wall on the other side, sliding down and landing on a rock platform jutting out of the wall. “Now, Ex, run over and use Flamethrower on the place where the chains connect to Muka’s body, that should singe him!” I shouted.

Ex leapt from rock to rock across the lava, and landed in front of Muka. He then smiled and shot the stream of flames, the chains around Muka’s arms and legs becoming red-hot, literally, and they burnt into his skin, and he danced around in circles, screaming from the pain. Ex launched another stream of flames, this one big enough to envelop Muka, and he stopped. Muka fell to the ground, KO’d.

Ex won! He grew to level 7!

I leapt with joy and Jenna recalled Muka, but she then turned her head towards the other battle going on. Ex jumped over and watched also.

Blitz wove through the air, dodging an Ember attack, and then making a sharp turn, slamming into Flamedancer’s back with another Steel Wing. Flamedancer suddenly turned around, blasting a large flurry of Embers onto Blitz’s still-metallic wings. He screamed in pain, and his wings turned to normal, but massive burn marks were left on his wings. Flamedancer then jumped at him, raking his stomach horizontally, leaving a large cut. Blitz roared angrily, and then he launched a Flamethrower at Flamedancer’s chains, making them red-hot. He then dashed forwards, scooping up part of the chain in his mouth, wincing as the metal singed his tongue, and flinging Flamedancer upwards, and then he quickly became a blur, appearing as he slammed into Flame dancer with a Wing Attack, and he dove back towards the ground.

Jenna could tell that Flamedancer was knocked out, and she pulled out a Poke Ball and recalled her, frowning.

Blitz won! He grew to Level 11!

I examined the gash on Blitz’s chest, frowning. “I think you’re gonna have a scar.” I said and looked at his face. He was smiling. “A battle scar to add to my collection of wounds. Great.” He said happily. “You did great battling!” Jenna said and she shook my hand.
“Thanks. Well, Ex, Blitz, how about we get out of here?” I said. Ex ran over and I hopped on, and we raced out of the Lava Room, Blitz following behind

[AntiAsh Superstar]

I knwo this is gonna really make you scream seeing as my past two battles are still in the 'stuff to be read' pile but... seeing as I've seriously nothing better to do at work I'd like to request an RBG for Brandy at the Universal Adoption Centre, please. *pays 7 stamps*

[Lady Vulpix]

Ok, I won't complain because I already had the RBG open for another purpose. You know how busy I am, so if you want to excercise your patience, it's your choice.
Brandy will battle a Sneasel. x.x Good luck to her!

[AntiAsh Superstar]

Ok, I won't complain because I already had the RBG open for another purpose. You know how busy I am, so if you want to excercise your patience, it's your choice.
Brandy will battle a Sneasel. x.x Good luck to her!

Crikey, now that's one hell of a first battle! :O Hehe, don't worry, I don't mind waiting at all. The reason I'm taking all these RBGs lately is more to keep me entertained writing than anything else, so as long as I get to submit stuff I can wait for everything else. I know you'll read 'em eventually and I'm in no dire need of stamps so there's no problem on my part.

[Lady Vulpix]

Better late than never, I suppose.

Ade, take 19 stamps for Pearl's and Katnip's double battle. Nice way to introduce Katnip's Hidden Power! It really suits him. ¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢
Soo, take 21 stamps for your Blizzard Room battles. BTW, the sign on the entrance was funny. What I don't get is why Yuki zapped Alan when you asked Kaguya to do it. ¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢
I also liked the way you two described the same events from different perspectives. It reminds me of the time when most of us used to do that.

[Skye]

Okay. So could I have an extension for the Battle Rooms thing, or is it too late? I can't really tell, but I think it's alright... is it?

[The_Missing_Link]

<My POV>

I nervously entered the house with Aries and Nightshade, a small Pokeball tucked tightly in my pants pocket reminding me of what I had to do. The others heard the door creak open and ran up to us, excited to hear the news.
“So, how’d you do?” Orion demanded.
“Third place,” Nightshade slightly smiled, still a bit crestfallen after learning the results hours ago.
“That’s not bad. I bet the others had to put up a hell of a fight to beat yours,” Lyra consoled him.
“She’s right. If you think you did well, then we’re proud of you,” Shade nodded, the others nodding with him.
“So, what did you get?” Orion asked.
“Well, we won some money and I learned a new move –”
“Metronome,” the others finished for him.
“How did you know?”
“You’ve been talking about learning it for ages,” Lee rolled his eyes. “We know it’s a cool move, you don’t need to tell us a hundred times over.”
Nightshade grinned in embarrassment. “Ok, ok, fine. Sorry.”
“Anything else aside from the money and the move?” Lyra questioned.
I started to speak, but Aries cut me off but I could tell the news.
“Well, we had a chance to gain another member of the team, but they only offered an Aipom, Ponyta and Eevee. Rebecca got stuck with the Aipom and it didn’t look like it would fit in with the team so she let it go.”
“Better to leave it alone than force it to join us,” Lee agreed. “Good choice.”
“She also said she didn’t want another member so I guess that’s also why she released it.”
“That’s not true,” I spoke up.
They looked up at me, surprised.
“I never said I didn’t want another Pokemon, although I didn’t say I wanted one also. There was one there that I was quite interested in but it was taken before I could take it myself.”
I fished out the Pokeball from my pocket and enlarged it, holding it in my palm.
“The one I wanted was taken by Karin, but after I expressed my desire to have it, she gave it to me. I was surprised at her willingness to give it up but I promised her I would take good care of it.”
Nightshade and Aries opened their eyes wide, aware of which Pokemon I was talking about since they were the only ones there at the prize ceremony.
“I want you to meet your new teammate, Tarin.”
I let the ball drop to the ground and watched as the red light spilled from it, taking shape in a small, furry form. The others gasped once the light died down, wondering if they should smile, or continue staring.
“It’s not nice to stare, you know,” she said with a slight Boston accent, her right ear twitching.
“Sorry, we’ve just never seen an Eevee like you before,” Lyra said, her eyes still transfixed on Tarin.
“Oh, you mean my green fur? Yeah, my mom, a Vaporeon, mated with my dad, a green Ampharos (whose mother was an Ampharos and dad a Meganium). His green genes and ability to use Synthesis was passed down to me and this is how I look today. The green doesn’t suit me well but it’s a nice reminder of my family.”
“Lucky you,” Drake said. “You’re the only one who knows something about their background.”
“None of you know your life before you met her?” she titled her head in my direction. “No parents, family members?”
“None of us do,” Lee said. “Only Drake and Aries are lucky enough to have families now; Drake has a Dratini daughter named Elwing and Aries has two Eevee sons, Eclipse and Darin.”
“I’d prefer to think of it as one now,” Aries growled. “I haven’t seen Eclipse in over a year.”
“It’s ok, Aries,” I said. “Many Pokemon don’t see their children again for a long time. Stuff like this has happened before. Besides, I think Eclipse is doing fine.”
An awkward silence soon ensued afterwards but it had to be broken up.
“So Tarin, what made you leave your family and come here?”
“Well, I was quite young when my brother unexpectedly disappeared. This was a few years ago and we were just weaned but one morning, we woke up to find him gone. We were all hysterical, especially mom and she and dad tried to track him down but we couldn’t find him. In the end, they were resigned to believe that some predator Pokemon took him away but I’m sure he’s still alive. I wanted to leave right then and there to go look for him but they refused to let me go until a year ago, when I able to prove to them that I could survive on my own. Unfortunately, I spent months of tracking with no success so the rest of the year was basically spent in travel, seeing other species of Pokemon I’ve never seen before. The oddest one was a Cacturne trying to hug any male Pokemon she could.”
I smirked as I saw Nightshade blanch but Tarin was oblivious to his reaction and went on.
“A month ago, some humans caught me with a Pokeball without trying to weaken me. Truthfully, I didn’t mind as going somewhere was good enough although it would’ve been nice to have a battle. Anyway, after a month of boredom spent with a hyperactive Aipom and a snotty Ponyta, a human recalled me into a Pokeball and now here I am today.”
She’s that old and hasn’t evolved yet? I thought. You would think that she would’ve evolved into an Espeon or Umbreon by now, considering the evolution stones are hard to come by in the wild. Apparently, it was on the minds of the others as well.
“So you’re saying that you’re as old as me and you haven’t evolved at all? Do you want to or are you just fine with staying as an Eevee?” Blade asked.
“I’m probably not as old as the Hitmonlee or the Venusaur but yeah, you could say I’m about as old as you. And I do want to evolve, but I don’t know what kind yet. If I’m to battle, being an Eevee would be kinda useless since I don’t know many attacks. If I was a Flareon though, I would be more powerful. Or if I evolved into a Jolteon, I would be a lot faster. Each of my evolutions has its own pros and cons, so when I figure out what I want to be, I’ll work hard for it.”
“Well, now that you mention it, I have a surprise for you. Two, in fact.”
I took out a small packet of shining sand from my other pocket and bent down.
“This,” I held the bag up, “is a TM known as Mimic. If an opponent uses a special move that you think would benefit you, you use the attack to steal the know-how from your opponent and then learn the attack automatically. It only lasts throughout the battle but it’s a great hidden strategy if you’re in a bind.”
She looked at it curiously and even sniffed it but nodded sagely.
“Thank you.”
Opening the bag, I slowly tipped the contents onto her back, the pieces of grit refusing to slide off of her back or blow away. Her whole body was enveloped briefly in a white light but it died down again, the sand gone.
“What’s the second surprise?”
“I signed you up for a random battle.”
She grinned. “You’re lucky that I like battling. That’s another thing I got from my dad. So did my brother. My mom was the pacifist though; don’t know how she survived us all.”
“Don’t worry, you’re amongst the battlers now,” Lyra said. “And while we walk to where we have to go, I’ll introduce you to your new teammates.”
“Sounds good,” I nodded. “All I know is that it’s by the lake we went to a couple of years ago. I’m sure you know it well, Drake.”
I narrowed my eyes as he grinned sheepishly and waved a claw.
“All in the past, I assure you.”
“Good. Don’t ask me why, but I scheduled the battle for today, in a couple of hours in fact. We’ll walk there this time but Drake and Blade can fly ahead if they want. Nightshade, Aries, I’m assuming both of you want to rest for a while? You're probably exhausted by now.”
Both of them nodded and disappeared inside of their balls. The rest of us headed out of the door, with one new member in tow for her first battle.

<Lyra’s POV>

As soon as she spoke, I had already taken a liking to Tarin. She was bold, unafraid to speak her mind without being too annoying. She also had the battle gleam in her eye, despite her inexperience.
“So, you were going to tell me about our teammates?” Tarin interrupted.
“Oh, right. Well, I’m Lyra and I was the only female member until you arrived.”
“It’s not that bad,” I assured her after giving me a strange look, “the guys are all sweethearts at heart. I guess I’ll start off with Shade. He comes off as intimidating, but he probably has the biggest heart on the team. He’s a battler though so he can use the intimidation to his advantage if he wants. And then there’s Blade and Drake. Those two are the most powerful on the team so we consider them the leaders. They’re also the best of friends and like to spar with each other all the time. When Drake’s daughter, Elwing, was born, Blade immediately took up the role as uncle and it couldn’t have worked out better. I do have to warn you that Blade had a pretty rough past when he was a Scyther. I won’t get into the specifics but it involved a female Skarmory and a male Aerodactyl and now Blade can’t look into the eyes of a flying or steel female Pokemon.”
“I can probably tell you what happened,” Tarin said.
“Yeah, it’s kind of predictable but even as a teammate, it was hard to watch. Probably the most heart wrenching thing I’ve ever witnessed.”
I looked up at Blade, who was flying contentedly up ahead and shook my thoughts clear of it.
“Anyway, on to the others. Nightshade and Aries are pretty much like Blade and Drake, best of friends and sparring partners. Nightshade used to be a practical jokester but has calmed down considerably in the past year and Aries has always been calm and collected, a yang to Nightshade’s yin. As you could already assume, Nightshade considers himself to be the uncle of Aries’ son, Darin.”
“It seems like some of the members have their own little cliques.”
“Not really. Some are closer to others, like Drake and Blade, but the bond is not much deeper than what they have with the rest of the team. Most of us have grown up together so our bonds run deep.”
“Who hasn’t been with the team from the beginning?”
“Only Lee and Orion. Some time after she adopted us, Rebecca took Lee in after his former owner couldn’t care for him anymore. No one can really share a bond with him since he secludes himself from us as much as possible but he can strike up a conversation if he’s in the mood. As for Orion, he was adopted out of the center like the rest of us. He can be annoying sometimes and can ask stupid questions but he has a good heart. He has bonded more with Shade than anyone else so as long as he doesn’t feel left out, it’s fine by us. And that’s pretty much our team. We’re just a bunch of battlers trying to be the best we can be and doing our best is all Rebecca can ask for.”
“Best scenario I could ask for,” Tarin grinned.

<Lee’s POV>

While the rest walked off in their usual pairs, I strolled with Rebecca, who oddly enough, I had most in common with.
“Thinking about something, Lee?”
“Yeah, I was thinking about what said about her family. She mentioned she had a brother but didn’t say what his name was or what type of Pokemon he wanted to evolve into. If he was determined to be a great battler, he would’ve mentioned what he wanted to be. And there are few Pokemon that could get to a baby Eevee without having to face the mother and father first so there’s reason to assume that a human captured him and kept him or put him up in an adoption center to attract customers since Eevees are hard to come by in the wild.”
“So you’re saying there’s a good chance that Aries could be her brother.”
“Basically, yes.”
“Lee, that’s just inconceivable. There are tons of wild Eevee that are captured for their fur, to be bred or to be placed in adoption centers. Her brother could very well be either dead, off with another trainer somewhere, living on the streets or traveling to find his family again. There’s a less than 1% chance that Aries is her brother so I say give up before you give yourself a headache.”
“Fine,” I threw my hands up. “You’re right, there is a slim to none chance that Aries is her brother and even if I asked him, he would say it’s crazy also.”
Normally, it sucked not being able to smile or grin but at a time like this, I was glad I didn’t have one.

<Blade’s POV>

It was a slow and boring trip, as usual. I didn’t know what Rebecca saw in walking all the way here but it wasn’t fair to Drake and I. The two of us were only meant for flying and all of our dodging included using our wings. Unless they were ripped off of our backs, it was useless making us wait for them to arrive.
“Looks like nothing has changed the last time we came here,” Drake said. “Lake looks the same, same with the grass. It’s like we never left.”
“Lyra had a good battle that day,” I mused. “Forgot who she battled but it was a good win for her.”
I looked around the perimeter of the lake, looking to see if any trainers or Pokemon were around. It was a rather stupid question, as it was too perfect of a day to not have a picnic or train by the lake. They were all scattered about, doing their own thing, but an Absol coming towards us caught my eye. Absol were rare around these parts but one walking towards us like we were friends was even weirder.
“Nice day, isn’t it?” she called out.
She had a hint of a Spanish accent in her voice and didn’t look half-bad either. A bit on the young side but would probably drive the men wild in a few years.
“Where’s your trainer?” I asked. “You seem too calm to be a wild Pokemon.”
“Same goes for you.”
“We’re just waiting for our trainer. She insisted that everyone walk to the pond but she allowed us to fly ahead.”
“I’m not waiting for mine. She knows what I have to do and knows that I won’t run off on her. I would’ve done so already if I wasn’t happy.”
“Good point,” Drake said. “So, what are you doing here?”
“Hey Blade, Drake, we’re finally here,” Orion called out to us, ruining our conversation.
“Our team,” I sighed, feeling a bit embarrassed.
“What are you doing talking to Tarin’s opponent?” Rebecca asked.
“She’s her opponent?” I drew back.
“Unless there’s some other Absol I’m supposed to be battling,” Tarin grinned. “I’m Tarin, by the way.”
“Nice fur,” the Absol replied. “My name is Carmen – short for Carmen Sandiego. Only your trainer would understand the reference.”
“That’s a good one,” Rebecca snickered but caught herself and quieted down. “No offense though. Carmen is a good name.”
“None taken. I like it also. But I do wish we could get on with the battle now.”
“Agreed,” Tarin said. “Let’s cut the talk and fight.”

Tarin (Lv. 10 Female Eevee) vs. Carmen (Lv. 10 Female Absol)

<Tarin’s POV>

Perhaps a bit too eagerly, I rushed towards her, heart pounding and muscles churning as I lowered my head for a tackle. As I expected, she nimbly sidestepped my attack and swiped at my face with her sharp claws, dealing stinging but shallow cuts to my face.
Well, at least I know now she has more experience than me.
I steadied myself and waited for her to come and strike. Interestingly enough though, all she did was close her eyes and quietly hum. A blue outline started to form around her and a peculiar energy radiated from her. It ended in mere seconds but it was still a strange sight to behold.
“What did you just do?” I asked.
“I sacrificed my speed for a better attack and defense,” she simply replied and rushed at me again with her claws.
She did look noticeably slower and I managed to dodge the first swipe but the second wasn’t so lucky, actually knocking me to the ground this time. It felt like being punched to the ground, but having scratch marks instead of bruises. I could feel a wound open above my eye, making it sting a little bit. I had to get past it though and tried to tackle her down. It pretty much felt like pushing a train slightly to the left, almost impossible. All I managed to do was make her lift a front paw but it didn’t even stay up that long. Pathetic.
“I knew you didn’t have any good moves,” she purred. “Too bad the battle has to end so soon.”
I raised an eyebrow, unsure of what she meant. I learned soon enough as she opened her mouth, an orange glow coming from within. I had no clue as to what it was until it struck. I screeched in pain as fire scorched my fur, making me cringe and wanting the pain to end. It seemed like hours upon hours of torture, but in all, it lasted only a minute. Even still, I was scorched and smoking from head to toe but still standing.
“What?! Why are you still conscious?” she demanded.
“Sorry, I forgot to mention that along with my green fur, my health is slightly higher than other Pokemon and I can use a healing move," I coughed.
Looking up at the clear blue sky, I concentrated on sucking in particles of light energy. My body lit up in the style of that of an evolution, but instead of evolving, I gained back precious health and healed some of my burns and cuts. It was a little energy draining, yes, but it was a big improvement from before.
“Ah, the power of Synthesis,” I smiled. “Gotta thank my family for that one.”
Growling, Carmen came charging, tail glowing a whitish color. Swinging it around, I jumped back but was unable to escape the tip of the tail, which knocked me back.
“Time to retaliate,” I huffed.
Opening my mouth, a greenish ball of energy began to grow, the color almost matching my fur. Releasing it almost at its full potential, it flew straight into Carmen and knocked her down to the ground, my first real hit in the battle. And you know what? It felt good. I wanted to jump, but I underestimated the strength of Carmen and was knocked down by her bulky mass before I could.
“You may have fooled me once with your healing tricks but you will not fool me again,” she snarled. “This time, I will make sure you are knocked out.”
I grimaced as she opened her mouth, the same familiar orange glow emanating from her throat.
“Tarin, mimic it!” I heard Rebecca yell from the side.
Mimic, mimic…that’s right. I just learned it an hour ago. How stupid of me!
Concentrating on the move she used minutes ago, I could see her falter and close her mouth, confused at the current situation. She didn’t know that I knew that her brain felt weird for that single moment. How? With a very slight tugging, I could pull her knowledge of using flamethrower and use it against her. Of course, she would still be able to use it but now I would and she couldn’t do anything about it.
“Did you feel it?” I whispered. “That’s what losing feels like.”
Opening my mouth, Carmen looked at me curiously before horror mirrored her face as the glow was now coming from my mouth.
“It can’t be…” she gasped.
I wanted to smile but remembered I couldn’t and focused on my attack. It was an odd and uncomfortable feeling, summoning fire from the pit of your stomach and making it travel up your throat before coming out of you mouth. Perhaps someone could help me make it more bearable in the future.

It wasn’t a pretty sight when I struck her and knocked her off of me. It wasn’t as powerful as I wanted it to be but it left her burnt and angry. Screeching, she lanced her own bolt of fire at me, my poor tail getting singed by the attack. I released another ball laden with grass energy at her, knocking her backwards once more. It seemed like she would never fall as she got up again, claws extended and ready to scratch. I summoned another flamethrower on her paw. With nowhere to go, it struck her bad but determination outlasted pain and she brought the scorched paw upon me, striking my sides over and over until a steady stream of blood was pouring out. Thinking it wasn’t enough, she poured flames into my wounded side, making me scream and fall to my side, making me black out for a second but wake up before I would get disqualified.
“Yet again you have evaded unconsciousness,” Carmen said coldly. “But you are too weak to try your Synthesis and cannot move at all.”
“That’s not true,” I wheezed, my head swimming in dizziness. “I can still move my head.”
Shifting it in her direction, I breathed wisps of flames, striking her. It was obvious it wasn’t strong enough to knock her to her side but it still hurt. Giving me the chance, I struggled to my feet, my side hurting desperately. I wanted to lie down but it would only lead to a loss, something I didn’t want. Facing her, my vision made her go double slightly, but it went back to one entity again.
“You’re going down.”
“Try me,” she hissed.
Like a shootout, we both stood quietly and waited for the right time. Then in an instant, we both opened our mouths and released the flames. Pushing against one another, it cumulated into one big ball before it exploded and knocked us both back, me into the pond and Carmen near my teammates. Splashing into the slightly cold water, it quickly brought my senses back, cooled my burns and stopped the bleeding (for the moment anyway). I was still in pain but able enough to climb out of the water and face Carmen again, who was wobbly on her feet and staring at me with a glazed look on her face, breathing harshly.
“Good night, Carmen,” I whispered and released my sphere of grass energy to finally knock her down.

Tarin wins and grows to Level 11!

<My POV>

After a quick (and gentle) hug with Tarin, I recalled her and gave her Pokeball to Blade, who I sent to the Pokemon Center to heal her. I took out a Max Revive and sprayed it on Carmen, who woke up moments later and got up.
“I admit, that was a good battle,” she said.
“For a first timer, she was very good,” I agreed.
“Indeed. And thank you for healing me. I have to remind my trainer to give me medicine in case I lose again.”
“No problem. Have a good day.”
“And you too. Good bye.”
As she headed back to her family, I went back to mine.
“We have to go to the Pokemon Center, but for Drake’s sake, we’ll fly there.”
“Yes!”

After a short and safe flight (thank God), we landed at the Pokemon Center and released everyone again. Heading inside, Nurse Joy immediately called me over and showed me to Tarin’s room. She was peacefully resting on a bed, looking up at the ceiling.
“These rooms really need color and a TV,” she said once we entered.
“That’s true. I’ll tell her when we leave the center. How are you doing?”
“Good enough.” She watched me sit on the side of the bed. “How was my first battle.”
“A lot better than mine, I can tell you that,” Blade said. “I didn’t struggle that much in my first battle.”
“Oh be quiet, we all struggled,” Lyra reprimanded him. “That’s how every first battle goes.”
“So I guess this means that I did it right then,” Tarin said.
“Oh yeah,” I grinned. “Think of it as an initiation.”
“If it was, it was sadistic and cruel,” she said. “I liked it.”

[Kirei]

Thanks, Gabi! That's my best score yet. I did work really hard on this one and I'm glad it showed. And... well spotted on the Minun/Plusle thing. Neither me or Ade spotted that when we read it through before I posted it! That was simply a mistake I made. Glad you liked the sign, hehe

[Lady Vulpix]

Airen gets an extension. I'll try to print at least one of the other battles.

[Charizard04621]

22 Stamps for Becca! I loved that story, it was great.

[Lady Vulpix]

Yes, I liked it a lot too. ^_^
Ade, you can have 19 stamps for your last story. ¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢

I agree that everyone who would like to catch up with Ade's stories should read that one (and believe me, it's worth catching up). Should I do a recap too? In December it will be 4 years since the Dragon's Guild was born (IRL, since it's supposed to be older in the stories).

[Aglandiir]

I was just wondering if I was ever going to be able to catch up with Ade's story since I've been gone. I suppose that answers that question a bit.

[Skye]

Okay. First off, Rayne was adopted from PokeZoo. This is my first and second battle in the Pond Room. First off, no I'm not very good with battle descriptions. Second off, most people might not like this one. The end is somewhat dissturbing and all around, the whole thing is very dark. Darkfire is very dissturbed, but things will get better, if remain confusing, in later chapters. And MOST of my information my not be at all accurate. I'm aware of that, and if anyone would like to correct me, plesase go ahead. Other then that, PLEASE DON'T HURT ME!!!!

******************

-What Is-

There are times when people just aren’t meant to do things. Some people cannot teach because they don’t get along with children. Some cannot be firefighters for fear of fire. Some refuse to do what ever it is, either by conscious or subconscious choice. In the conscious choice, that person simply refuses to try for that goal, setting themselves up for disappointment, which may stimulate them to either step up next time or sink into their own demise. For those who fail subconsciously, it is because they make a simple task harder on themselves. To decide to cross a desert and insist that they don’t need as much water as is recommended for such a journey is an excellent example.

Then there are those who are simply not made for the task: a person with strong allergies to pollen trying to tend to a garden of flowers, or a person with amputated limbs attempting to rock climb. Of all of these people and many more, examples of the challenges of life, a scant few challenge the challenge of life to overcome these obstacles. Why? Why do we try? Why do we fight against everything just for one moment of glory? Because that is why we are here. To succeed.. Or to fall into the dark reaches of demise and failure.

****************** ****************** ****************** ******************

Darkfire sighed and looked up. Music with no promises for the future drummed hauntingly in her ears even after the batteries for her CD Player had passed on over half an hour ago. Voices of those singers in bands that made their way into her memory sang their souls out. Another way of saying that she had voices in her head was to say that she had a song “stuck in her head”. She blinked at the thought. If voices in your head meant madness, and nearly everyone had a song stuck in their head at one point or another... did that mean everyone was insane at one point or another in their life time?

She snorted as her thoughts got carried away. That was typical. She thought about her batteries dying and her brain jumped to questioning the world’s sanity. It made sense to her, but to anyone else, they would have eyed her as if SHE were crazy. Well, maybe they’re right. Darkfire thought to herself. I really don’t know at times... Should I question my sanity too? Is it even a sane behavior to ask if you’re insane? Darkfire did bark a dry laugh at that. She then looked back out the window of the train. Vast deserts stretched out as far as the mortal eye could see. An odd though implanted itself happily into Darkfire’s mind and she sang along with the song no one else could hear.

“Don’t close your eyes, God know what lies behind them.. Don’t turn out the light, never sleep, never die.” And, Darkfire reflected with amusement, I’m thinking death again. Nice that the song in my head speaks of death and questioning sanity. Just right along with my thoughts! She went ahead and burst into laughter, deciding that neither were important things to think about. At least, she should try to be a bit more pleasant. At least mentally. After all, if someone were to come along and ask why she was laughing, what should she say? I was just thinking about insanity and death. Is there a problem with laughing insanely while thinking about those things?

She sighed, relaxing against the warm window, heated by the desert outside. She closed her eyes, letting the thoughts that would trouble others wash over her head. Her mind drifted to the reason she was here: to spy in the Dragon’s Guild. She had been there once before, briefly. She had lost sight of it and was now returning. Small bits of news had whispered in her ear about a civil war within the Dragon’s Guild. And with Team Rocket watching their every move, they would pay a handsome sum to get a spy in. And why her? Rockets had tattoos. She was unmarked, and yet no better then they were. There was no force on this world that could stop her from obtaining her goals. No member of the Dragon’s council, no Dragon Tamer.

The Tamers were a problem. They had powerful members and even stronger allies. Burn their allies. Without them, Darkfire was certain the Tamers would be nothing. Their Pokemon were blessed, and would be blessed Rocket Pokemon once Darkfire was through tearing the Tamers apart. She smirked lightly. No one would ever suspect her. Why should they? She was not a trainer. She would have to get a Tamer’s Pokemon. Bleh.

She had to admit that it would look peculiar to see a girl with a powerful Pokemon joining the beginning and unnoticed ranks within the elite Tamers, but certainly she could have even a young, untrained Pokemon. She was good at training them. She had had to train to fight for herself. So why not? Certainly others would join equally as unnoticed with their own Pokemon.. But NO! This way, she would appear completely dependent on the Tamers. Of course she needed advice, maps, what have you. But needing one of their Pokemon.. That was a blow to Darkfire’s pride. She half sighed and half growled as she let herself fall into the depths of sleep. This Blood-forsaken train had better get their soon!

******************

Darkfire woke just as the train was nearing the inner boundaries of Caledor. She sighed and stood up, heedless of prior requests to remain seated. She stretched herself out in contented weariness. Her mind felt fuzzy still from her nap. She yawned and looked around her compartment in her boredom. It was nearly a rectangle of space, save for the slanting part of the train just above the window where the wall merged perfectly with the ceiling without a single flaw. Darkfire growled in irritation at the perfection. She had no idea why, but such odd, random things like that bothered her.

She then paused and looked at a shadowed corner more closely. A small object appeared wedged within that one corner. She narrowed her eyes angrily at it, deciding that it could only be a camera. Spying, were they? Well, read my thought, baka-camera! I’m going to tear your Tamers and Guild masters apart and you can just keep on recording. Darkfire chuckled darkly at the camera, amused that she was insulting an inanimate object with her thoughts. How much crazier can you get?

She sat back down, the slight monotonous pulling of the Earth’s gravity while she was moving faster than was normal for any human to do on her own, while staying in one spot was setting her mind into a haze. Her earlier hatred of the perfect rounded edge returned, making her both weary and irritated. And the added feeling of being watched by the camera’s small eye made her skin prick with building rage. She let these emotions fill her as she plotted ways to bring the Tamers and the rest of the Dragon’s Guild down while simultaneously wondering if she should bring them down together or attack first one, then the other.

She didn’t know much about the relationship between the Guild and the Tamers, but she could guess that it was somewhat like that of the Tamers being a sub-guild of the Dragon’s Guild. Odd, then, that she should be planning to take on the Guild first, then the Tamers. Allies. It was all about aiming for power. She bared her teeth, her eyes burning softly. They will die!

She sat alone with her bleary mind, her skin pricking in anger, and never once did she ask the question that could have changed what was to come: Why do I hate them? Instead, she let her mind greedily consume her anger, fueling her determination. She wasn’t with the Rockets. She wasn’t with anybody. But something burned within her. A chance to use everything she had in one last battle. She knew she was bound for that fight, and she was ready to rush up and take it head on any day. But, it never presented itself to her. Infuriated, she took on any challenge, hoping for her last battle where she would fly or die. Her body, though young, burned with the anticipation of it. She would not be one whose life would end gently from age. It would be before she was too old. She would make sure of that.

Why the end appealed to Darkfire so much, she didn’t know. But it burned within her to be ready for it. And if she was going, she was going to go a legend. Whether one who haunted the minds of the world forever, or one who would be praised as a Saint, she did not care. She would scar the world to get what she wanted. Life didn’t matter. It never made a difference. Never.

Hours, of sitting within herself, passed before the train eased to a stop, breaking her trance. She looked out the window again, and realized that they had pulled to to the station. She grabbed her bags and left her compartment, searching out the Dragon Tamer’s representative who would take her and a group of other beginners to the Tamer’s headquarters for their admission tests, license registration, etc. And her Pokemon! She fumed, thinking over what pathetically weak Pokemon she would have to train.

Darkfire found a small section for “New Dragon Tamer Arrivals”. She blinked, forcing herself to become as emotionless as stone. The fiery rage died down to smoldering embers, which she mentally shook off. She checked herself and went over to the corner. She set her bags down and glanced around, soon spying a group of younger people being led to where she was standing. They numbered nine, not counting their leader, making her group ten. She glanced briefly at their leader and paused. He was just as emotionless as she, his neat blond hair well kept and even braided on one side. His sharp emerald eyes met hers, and she found herself looking away. For a moment, she felt shame at being there. For what she was going to do.

She shoved the emotion away and waited for the leader to bring the brats over to her corner where he would give instructions and Blood knew what else. She blinked as the seed of thought that had perched within her mind began to move, beckoning for her too open it to the light of her consciousness where it could grow and bloom into an idea. She denied it, confining it into the dark reaches of her subconsciousness.

******************

Cyndane paused for a moment in time, looking into the stranger’s eyes. She had dark blue eyes, toned hard and keen from her emotionless gaze. She paused as well before looking away. Her long dark hair flickered from the movement, the rays of the sun above them catching the movement and emphasizing it by highlighting her hair into a deep red. For one moment, shame made its way into her eyes, replaced with a hostile glare into the nothingness before her. But they soon hardened into nothingness again, so rapidly that Cyndane shook his head, wondering if his own eyes were playing trick on him.

He brought the younger participants, the youngest being ten, the oldest fifteen, over to this solo young woman. She refused to look at him, but he could tell she was listening for what he had to say. That was, by far, more attention than a few others were granting Cyndane. He fought at a sigh, and beckoned for the stragglers to move closer.

“Listen now, because I will not repeat myself at any time. You are here to take the entrance exam into the Dragon Tamers. Only a select few will actually make it in, those that fail have the option to cycle back to the Dragon’s Guild for training for the next exam.” Why wasn’t she looking at him? He looked over the rest, ignoring her, or at least trying to. “Those that pass will be given a form that they must fill out for their membership license. From there, they shall be given a Pokemon.”

******************

Darkfire almost glared at the children who actually cheered at the last statement. This was pathetic, though amusing. She saw their leader, announcer, and guide trying to get her attention while trying to ignore her simultaneously. She almost looked at him, wondering how sane a man like that could be. He continued on about those that didn’t make it, and said that their leader would give those that passed some sort of welcoming speech and instructions. Darkfire continued to take in what knowledge of this system she could, while knowing that she was slightly torturing the young man who was attempting the impossible.

“Can we see a Pokemon?” One ten year old girl begged. A few others chimed it, eagerly biting at any chance they had to get some idea of a powerful Pokemon. Darkfire did snort then, but allowed the Dragon Tamer one brief, curious glance. He looked at her again, startled, before she looked away. He nodded then, and pulled out a Pokeball. From it, he released a Scyther. It was young looking, yet it had obviously seem many battles already. It hissed impressively at the children, rearing back its sharp scythes, which gleamed wickedly in the bright rays of the afternoon sun. Darkfire looked at it, calculating. It couldn’t be over Level thirteen, unless she was mistaken. And she rarely was.

******************

They had boarded a bus to the headquarters. Darkfire yawned passively as she watched the scenery pass by. The young man came over to her and cleared his throat. She made a ‘humph’ noise, but tauntingly didn't look at him.

“May I sit down?” He asked.

“I don’t know the rules.” Darkfire retorted. “Is it illegal?”

“Would you mind if it was illegal?” He inquired. Not serious, and yet oddly not quite jokingly either.

Darkfire did look at him again, then. He looked back down at her calmly, waiting for an answer. Even though he all but has the right of way, Darkfire thought with amusement, he is still asking me for permission...

“To be truthful, I wouldn’t mind, illegal or not.” She offered a weak smile before looking away. He sat down next to her calmly. Though not too close, he was also not too far away either. As if he somehow knew just how near she wanted him. And how far.

“My name is Cyndane.” He told Darkfire after a moment’s pause.

“My name,” she began, taunting him, “cannot be legal for you to know.. yet.”

“To be truthful, I wouldn’t mind, illegal or not.” Cyndane confided.

Darkfire smiled and rewarded him with another glance. “Darkfire. And my name is going down into history.”

“Really, Darkfire? And how would you know that?” Cyndane asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Because I’m going to live until it happens.” She confided. “And perhaps a while after, too.”

Cyndane chuckled, believing she was making a joke. Darkfire sighed, she hadn’t been joking. He paused, noting the serious look in her eyes.

“Is there something wrong?”

Darkfire just shook her head. “It’s complicated.”

******************

Cyndane left them in a room, each participant separated from the others so that he or she couldn’t cheat. Darkfire simply waited while the others spoke noisily until another person came in. Darkfire ignored the welcome speech and her name. Once she had the test, she went to work. After her years of study, this was an easy test to pass, yet she answered a few choice questions wrong. After all, those that succeed in the beginning will gain attention. Attention wasn’t something Darkfire needed.

Once finished, she dawdled a few minutes before calling the woman over to get her it. Her test was received with a cheerful smile, while the unnamed woman told Darkfire that she could do as she wished as long as she was quiet for the remaining time. Darkfire watched her leave, memorizing her appearance. It could be useful later.

She wandered around the room for a moment before she found some books. Bored, she spotted a magazine featuring an article on the genetics of Pokemon coloring. She picked it out and casually went back to her seat. Nealy half an hour of boredom passed before all of the tests were in. And another half hour after that while the test results were passed back. Childish yelps of “Yes!” whispered around, while most of them moaned. Darkfire wasn’t at all surprised to see that she had passed with a nice score. Not too high, but not low enough that they could afford to make her leave.

Darkfire and the other passers gathered their belongings before they were herded out of the room and into another. More paperwork and another welcoming speech. It was becoming very boring. And to Darkfire, who was already tired, it was becoming swiftly irritating as well. She wrote in answers to questions about herself, her appearance, her ambitions(she answered, just as she answered Cyndane), her hopes for what she wanted her first Pokemon to be(a strong one). She handed this form in and felt her skin prick again. She looked up to see another camera, its beady eye fixed on her. She narrowed her eyes at it, mentally taunting it for self amusement.

She then cast a curious glance around, taking in the information she needed before they decided that they could move on to wherever it was that they received their first Dragon Tamer Pokemon. She paused, realizing that on the last thought, her hand had clenched into a fist. I’m not weak! Darkfire unclenched the fist and looked around, wondering if anyone had noticed. None had. She was one of the crowd, though she would still have to be invisible and lay low for a time. No Dragon Tamer could be ignorant enough to not watch the new comers even for a time. She only needed little innocent bits of information for the time being.

Time passed and they passed into another room while their ID cards were made. The woman leading them, Lady Something-or-other, informed them about the two Adopting Agencies. Just great. The Dragon Tamers were so weak, they didn’t even capture their own Pokemon! Darkfire sighed as she listened to the rules. Two a day, tops.. 15 Pokemon limit... Abandoning fee.... Abandoning rules... Adoption rules and forms.. Blood, there is a LOT of paperwork! ... Stickers? Niiice... Stickers... Yes, you already mentioned the Pokemon limit.... No, I don’t want a form to fill out... What are YOU looking at?

Darkfire was in a bad mood by the time they reached the second Adoption Agency. PokeZoo.. Rriight... She looked over the Pokemon with just as little enthusiasm as she looked over the ones at Dragon Tamers Adoption Center. Maybe she could just hang around and catch her own Pokemon, and claim it was a trade... Darkfire sighed and looked the Pokemon over. Then her attention was captured by the sight of an empty cage, with the exception of a bunch of rocks. Bored, she went over to investigate it. On the clipboard on the front to the cage, it claimed that there was a Kabuto residing within.

“Uh.. Lady?” She called. The woman turned to look at her. Curious, perhaps, as of to why Darkfire hadn’t used her full name. “Why does this cage say there’s an extinct Pokemon in it?”

“We get very rare and unusual Pokemon in at times. A Kabuto isn’t as impossible to find as you might believe.” She smiled, almost mischievously, and went to help another of Darkfire’s group to get an overenthusiastic Pokemon to stop licking him. Too bad it wasn’t that Lickitung. Darkfire cruelly smirked in amusement. THAT would be amusing... She leaned against the cage that held the “Kabuto” and looked around again.

Minutes of watching others made her boredom increase ten fold, and her irritation at the cameras was really starting to burn at her. She paused as she herd a grinding.. somewhat of a scratching.. noise come from behind her. She turned around and blinked. It blinked. She tilted her head, confused and somewhat amazed. It made an odd hissing noise, though the meaning was lost to Darkfire.

Its gaze bored though her, eyes the color of a red that was a combination from two shades, the colors Darkfire had been thinking about all day: the red of fire, and the red of blood. She noticed it wasn’t looking at her, but rather passed her. She turned her head and noticed its line of vision was centered on the same camera she felt like ripping right out of the wall.

“They’re watching us, you and I.” Darkfire informed the Pokemon Kabuto. It hissed again, this time sounding louder. She nodded as if it had spoken. She was so familiar with anger that she could see it, even on the face of the faceless Pokemon. It scrapped its claws against the rocks in the cage, and Darkfire realized that not only was this Pokemon communicating to her in its own little weird way, but she was understanding it in her own little weird way.

“Cages. I’d kill if anyone caged me.” She informed the fossil Pokemon. Its eyes briefly flashed to a brighter red as if in agreement. “Its my blood. My insanity. If it didn’t burn me to death, I would use it to bring down those that dared hold me.” It drew its left fore claw against a rock, hard. The rock split in half, its own anger aroused by Darkfire’s dark words. “You and I aren’t meant for that life. Isn’t life just a cage?”

It bobbed its body, wide red eyes glaring with its anger. She felt sad, then. If only this Pokemon weren’t Tamer property.. Well, she wasn’t sticking around that long. If she trained this young Pokemon now, couldn’t it grow into a fine fighter, not some wimpy Tamer Pokemon? The Kabuto was built for battle, its hard shell a shield and its claws sharp and backed by powerful muscles. She studied its build. It was like her, oddly enough. She realized that its trail of though had followed hers almost exactly. The scrape of a claw against a rock translating into resent against being caged. She then thought about it. Were she a Pokemon, she would be powerful. Not only that, but she certainly wouldn’t listen to any mere human. If this Pokemon was like her, then she would have to be careful if she did train it.

“I’m like you. Blood for fighting blood. Why don’t we team up and show these weaklings what true fighters can do?” It considered Darkfire with its gaze, sizing her up. She spoke quickly, in a hushed whisper that only it could hear. “I’m looking to dominate weakness. I know that’s what you’re looking for too. What better way to get back at the Dragon Tamers then to take them apart, one by one?” It then nodded again, though it wasn’t very enthusiastic. Darkfire nodded respectfully in return and went to get the papers to fill out.

Stickers. Why stickers? Darkfire took the mini Kabuto sticker which was to be placed on the back of her card. She finished the forms and collected Kabuto’s Pokeball. The cards would be ready in a few minutes, and Darkfire had to get things worked out with her new Pokemon. She went over and opened the cage. It-he, according to the forms-came out, dangerously sharp claws clicking almost eerily on the hard floors. He stopped and turned his gaze upwards to his new trainer. She looked back down at him. She was amazed that she could stand so near this Pokemon, one with the ability to kill only rivaled by his evolution and Scyther. He blinked calmly, simply asking if he was to be confined to another cage, a Pokeball.

She knelt by him, showing her trust to this powerful creature who could easily harm her, especially this close. She held the Pokeball between them, and he hissed soft anger at the shiny red and white containment sphere. “Now, none of that.” She teased him. He stopped hissing. “I won’t force you to be in a Pokeball, but you should get used to it. There will be times and places where being in a Pokeball is beneficial.” He glared at her. “I warned you of my insanity. But I am correct in this one. After all, if I were to select you for battle, our opponent would already know what you are.”

He nodded, unable to deny the reality of her statement. He made an odd, crooning, purring.. thrumming... noise before tapping the entry button of the Pokeball with a fore claw. The Pokeball opened, and his matter was changed from that of a solid to that of pure energy. Darkfire watched as his energy entered the Pokeball, and let the Pokeball close in her palm. She resized it and stood up again. She was receiving a few curious glances, and a few startled ones from a few Tamers that had been watching. While the Kabuto had been docile enough, he hadn’t liked humans at all. And certainly didn’t go into his Pokeball THAT easily.

“You just have to know the right words.” She said smoothly before going to see if her card was ready yet. It was, and she was amused that they had taken her two favorite colors(another stupid question) and had used them for the coloring of the card. It was black with silver lettering, her ID number in the top, followed by her membership status and name, age, height, etc. She also noticed that they had used the picture that she had sent in with her application asking to be accepted into the Tamers. Darkfire sighed at this. She was beginning to think that she was treating this whole ordeal all too cautiously.

******************

Darkfire entered her apartment. For their first year, the Tamers could live for free in an apartment. After that, they either had to pay, buy their own house, or find someone to rent a room from. Leaving her bags by the door, she flipped her card in the air as she gave the apartment a once-over. She then came back and collected them. While on the way to the apartment building, she had noticed a poster advertising that the training grounds were still open. She had asked around for information on these training grounds, and had gathered that they were a popular training spot for those participating in a Game or upcoming tournament. Unfortunately, these Games were over, and weren’t expected to restart for another year or so. That suited Darkfire. She needed time to train up a powerful team, and this was her last chance to use the grounds.

How am I going to assemble a team strong enough? I have my Kabuto, but he was just pure, raw luck. I doubt there are many powerful Tamer Pokemon. He will be that true power the Tamers will want, but what they don’t know is what I’m going to use my power for. I can’t catch Pokemon, that’s clear enough. I guess I’ll just have to keep a sharp eye on the Adoption Agencies for worth while Pokemon.

Darkfire let her Pokemon out to explore the apartment, informing him that they were going to use the training grounds that day. He seemed pleased that he would be able to battle so early, and she was pleased at his enthusiasm for battles. She unpacked swiftly, nearly making her new apartment a mess as she decided to sort things out after she and Kabuto had trained up some. According to the rules, there were powerful Pokemon in there. And she was allowed to battle two in each room.. If there are five rooms, and she chose the strongest opponents, Kabuto would be able to level up from seven to twenty-seven in five days. She would have to be careful to heal after each battle, though. She didn’t want to overdo it with her Pokemon. She didn’t know his capabilities yet.

Finished for now, she recalled Kabuto to his Pokeball and went to find the training grounds. As she stepped outside, she was hit with the strangeness of the Tamers’ area. A town in its own, and she had absolutely no currency for. She went to to the MG Tower and looked at it. She took three MGs, though all she got was a Red Coin, a Solar Gem, and some Mystery Box. Deciding to go back about the Box the next day, she left to the grounds, passing a Reward Center(a Poke Mart?) and a Pokemon Center along the way.

It wasn’t hard to find the Battle Range where the Rooms supposedly were. Darkfire went in and saw no one there. She snorted and went over to a rules poster on the wall. No catching, no killing, good battles rewarded with Stamps, etc. She shrugged and went to the section that had a Pokemon Center. From there, she easily spotted the area labeled “Training Rooms”. She went over, fiddling with her ID. A guard stood at each door, though why that was, Darkfire decided, she didn’t want to know.

The first room to her left had a yellow door and was labeled “Desert Room”. The next down the line to the left was the “Lava Room” with a red door. To the right, with a blue door, was the “Pond Room”, followed by the “Blizzard Room” and its white door. At the very end was a green door labeled “Jungle Room”. She noticed the hall like formation, and nodded in approval to herself. At least this was going to be a neat, easy twenty levels.

“My Kabuto is a Water and Rock Type, so I should start with either the Desert or Pond Rooms.... Pond first, I guess...” Darkfire muttered to herself. She moved down the hall and stopped by the guard. He looked at her calmly, having done this many times by now.

“ID, please.” He requested. She pulled out her card and handed it to him. He nodded and returned the card after a quick scan. “You’re new here, right?” He asked. Darkfire nodded, putting the card back in her pocket. “Just a tip: There are rules and warnings on the poster just inside the door. Go down the hall to the training grounds. And everything you do is monitored.” A warning light gleamed in his eyes.

“The Houndoom is nosy, I suppose?” Darkfire stared, a password between Rockets that she had been give. He nodded, which was all of the confirmation she needed. She nodded in return and entered the room. Just at the other spy had said, there was a hall right after the door. The door closed, and she scanned the rules and warnings. Pond Room is all water, save a raft for trainers and non-Water Pokemon. That’s nice.

She took out Kabuto’s Pokeball and continued down the hall. It wasn’t long before she came to another door. She opened it and looked in. There was a raft in the middle of the pond, a rope attached to it. She looked up and saw that there was a long sheet of glass at the top of the walls, presumably where the judges were. Darkfire waved sarcastically up at them and went to the raft. She was alone, which suited her just fine. After all, this way she wouldn’t have to argue with the competition for a battle or two.

She picked the rope out of the water and pulled the raft in. She then released her Kabuto onto the raft before stepping lightly onto the floating platform herself. She picked up a long pole that was hooked onto a side of the raft and used it to push them away from the dock, out into the middle of the Pond. Kabuto watched the waters calmly, not at all intimidated by the fact that he was half Rock, and most Rock Pokemon sank.

“So.. Do you have a name?” Darkfire asked after a time had passed. She was beginning to wonder if she was supposed to have brought something to lure opponents in, or if she was supposed to say something...

The Kabuto hissed and went to the edge of the raft. He dipped a fore claw into the water and slashed through it, propelling water at Darkfire. She was hit, and glared at the ancient Pokemon. If there was one thing she couldn’t stand, it was being wet when she didn’t want to be. He made that odd crooning noise again, and Darkfire had the distinct feeling he was laughing at her.

“Splash, then?” She dodged another wave of water, making the raft shake precariously. “Oye, alright!” She tried to steady the raft, REALLY not wanting to get dunked. “I know you mean something else... Rain?”

He paused, and she know he was thinking something very close, but not quite.

“R-A-I-N... No? R-Y-N-E? Sorry.. Okay, I’m serious now... R?” He nodded, not too happy with her for messing with his name. “A?” Another nod. “I?” He hissed a “No”. “Okay.. Y?” A nod, much to her surprise. “N?” Another nod. “Is that all?” He hissed. “Um... I? No? E?” He nodded, not appearing quite so unhappy. “Is that it? Rayne?” Rayne nodded, then looked back into the water.

Darkfire looked over too. “I’m Darkfire, by the way. I hope we get along.” Rayne thrummed in agreement.

Long minutes of nothingness later, Darkfire yawned. Rayne was still looking over the edge of one side while she sat off center opposite of him to balance out the raft. She wondered why there would be guards for a room when nothing happen IN that room. She looked at the glass windows and glared, blaming the judges for her boredom.

The water rippled and a fin popped up. Darkfire blinked at the light blue fin, confused. Had something died and floated to the surface? If so, then it must have died in boredom. Darkfire snickered at the thought. Rayne hissed, and the fin jumped out of the water, followed by a body. The body of the creature was dog-like with a round, oval head Darkfire noted that it had a fin on the top of its head, and one for a tail. Smooth, spiky orange half-stars poked out from the corners of its mouth. It has round, beady eyes and pale blue coloring for the underside of its head, on its jaw, down its neck and its underbelly. It’s tail-fin was also colored this shade of blue. Darkfire recognized the Pokemon Mudkip.

A screen came down from the ceiling. On the left of the screen was a picture of a Mudkip, the number fifteen under its picture and a green bar under the number. In the middle were the large letters Vs. and on the right side was the same as on the left, only it was a picture of Rayne, and the number was seven. He’s only Level seven!

Rayne’s Fight! Rayne (7) Vs. Mudkip (15)

Darkfire panicked for a moment, but forced the emotionless to take over her. Rayne, please listen. She thought back to the attacks he knew. Scratch, Harden, Leer, and Confuse Ray. She could made something out of these attacks. She just knew it! She was about to consider a good tactic, when Mudkip sprang forward. It opened its mouth and spat out a thick slimy liquid. Darkfire knew a Poison attack when she saw it. Though it wasn’t one she was familiar with, she knew it might poison Rayne.

“Rayne, Harden. Block out the poison, and get in the water!” She didn’t know much about Kabuto and their ability to swim, but if poison sank in, it was over.

Rayne hesitated, but ducked himself, his shell becoming a brilliant shining white. The toxic slime splashed off of his shell. Once the stream of sludge stopped coming, Rayne sidled over the edge in an attempt to wash off the poison before is sank it. Mudkip growled at its fail tactic. Rayne sank under the water and didn’t resurface. Darkfire felt anxious for her Pokemon. If anything happened to him.. She was startled at the idea, and at how protective she felt towards the Pokemon.

Mudkip snorted at Darkfire as though whatever had happened, she should be ashamed. Darkfire glared at the snotty Pokemon. “I know what I’m doing.” She snarled at it. It just stared at her. Her skin pricked with irritation. “Rayne, Scratch!”

Must to her surprise, and even more to to Mudkip’s, Rayne came scurrying up over the edge, his weight throwing the raft off balance. Darkfire backed away to keep them all from flipping into the water. Rayne crashed into Mudkip, dealing the lighter and smaller Pokemon a small amount of damage. Darkfire looked briefly up at the board and saw that Mudkip has failed to poison and damage Rayne at all. She looked back to the fighting Pokemon and watched while Rayne held the other down, striking it over and over again.

Mudkip squealed in agony before releasing a jet of water, throwing the bigger Pokemon off of it. It then scrambled, bleeding from multiple gashes, over to one side of the edge. It opened its mouth at Rayne, who was getting back up for another rush. Mudkip breathed in deeply and released a beam of icy power right at Rayne. It hit, and his limbs were frozen, grounded to the raft.

Mudkip growled and began another attack, though this time it spewed out a stream of mud instead of water, poison, or ice. It connected with Rayne, who was unable to free himself. Rayne hissed in pain. He struggled feverishly against the trap that pinned him to the raft. Darkfire sighed. I shouldn’t have expected him to be able to take on a Pokemon like this... Wait..Ice.. Maybe..

“Rayne, Confuse Ray! Make it count!” Darkfire shouted. Rayne blinked before his eyes before to glow into pure white. A blinding flash caught Darkfire off guard. She had never seen a Confuse Ray before. She grimaced, unable to see properly. Great, I’ve been hit with my own Pokemon’s Confuse Ray! “Harden and escape! Then Leer and Scratch!”

Her vision soon cleared, the confusion not meant to effect humans. Rayne’s shell and claws had become that same brilliant white color as his limbs and shell hardened. The ice crackled faintly. The surface that it were trying to grasp had changed form . It was no longer like the limbs of a Pokemon, but slick like metal. Rayne felt this and pulled himself out of his ice prison.

He then clawed his way over to the dazed Mudkip, whose vision was starting to clear. It looked at Rayne, confused. Rayne’s eyes glared into a hot red for his Leer attack. Mudkip yipped just like a dog, and cowered back. It tried to attack, but it fell over its own feet from trying to go backwards and forwards at the same time. Rayne attacked its bared side, repeating the strokes until Mudkip fainted from the pain and loss of blood.

Darkfire looked up to the screen, and approved as the bar under Mudkip’s name became pure red and the picture faded out. Rayne’s HP was far lower than Darkfire had thought it had been, but that wasn’t a problem. The number under his picture changed from seven to nine.

Rayne is victorious! Rayne grows to Level 9! However, he gains nothing for a reward move wise...

Darkfire smiled happily. Rayne looked at her, and she knew he was smiling in his own way too. They paused for a moment in time, just looking at one another in silent and mutual approval. Darkfire’s irritation had vanished, replaced with the happiness of finding a Pokemon that would not only be with her for a long time, but one with strength unnoticed by any Tamer. She truly had been lucky.

“Shall we take a break?” She asked as someone opened their window and recalled the defeated Mudkip to its Pokeball so its injuries could be tended to. Rayne hesitated in thought before nodding. Darkfire smiled and collected the pole. She pushed them both to the dock before returning Rayne to his Pokeball and got off of the raft. She then went back through the door and down the hall. She was happy with her revelations, and she held onto that emotion, greedily guarding it from leaving. It was a rare emotion for Darkfire. She passed the guard with a nod and went over to the Pokemon Center.

It wasn’t long before Darkfire’s Pokemon was fully healed. She went calmly back to the Rooms, but stopped and looked around out of habit. A figure looked over at her and went to her. She instantly recognized Cyndane. He looked rather happy about something.

“Yes?” She asked as he stopped in front of her.

“You think that because I came over, I want something from you?” Cyndane asked.

“Yes.” She replied.

“What would I want?” He inquired, curious.

“For me to listen to you, at the very least.” Darkfire said. Her good mood was slipping. Now she had to be wary. She was talking to an enemy who believed she was a friend.

Cyndane chuckled at her response. Again, she hadn’t been joking. But this time, she simply waited. It then occurred to her how odd it seemed that he would show any emotion. Though she could tell what he was feeling by his actions, to actually see him expressing himself was a little odd to her. “I’m working up my Pokemon. I heard you received a Kabuto.”

“I did.” She nodded. “I hear you have a Scyther that likes to show off for beginners.” She replied, meeting his eyes calmly. He shook his head, smiling slightly.

“Do you have to be so serious?”

“It comes with the name.”

“Can you change your name?”

“Do you always ask so many questions?”

Cyndane shook his head again. “We should battle sometime.”

“Sometime, we will. I can promise that.” Darkfire replied sadly. She didn’t know why, but the thought of fighting Cyndane made her sad. She bit back at her guilt angrily.

“How about in a few days? I’m really just trying to get my Scyther up to his sweet twenty-fifth. How about you and Kabuto?”

“We’re aiming for twenty-seven.”

“Really?” He looked surprised. “You’re joking, right?”

“Do I look like I am?” Darkfire replied. “We were just on our way to our second battle in the Pond Room. He’s already at nine.”

“Nine to twenty-seven... That will be hard, Darkfire..”

“I know. And I may even be pushing it. But until I can get some more Pokemon, I’ll sink without him. A storm will rise, and I’m going to ride it.”

“That’s deep.. Why would you risk it all, though?” He looked sad, finally realizing what she sought most of all.

“Because I have nothing to lose.” Darkfire replied. Her heart ached in painful memories. She turned from Cyndane, unable to look at him, and went back to the Pond Room for the second battle.

******************

Darkfire and Rayne sat out on the middle of the platform, watching their next opponent, another Mudkip, climb up onto the raft. Darkfire’s face was emotionless as she looked from their opponent to Rayne.

“Now let’s not over work ourselves. This battle should be easier, but I would like for us to be able to finish our Twenty Level Run by the end of five days. Are you up to that?” Rayne hissed in reply, earning a smile from Darkfire. “Then lets show these Tamers what we can do.”

Rayne crooned in amusement before turning to face the new Mudkip. Darkfire barely glanced up to look at the status board that descended over the raft. This Mudkip was at Level fifteen, the same as the last one. However, Rayne was now at Level nine, not seven. This would be easier, yet Darkfire had a bad feeling that the judges had selected an even harder Pokemon to spar with them then the last time.

Rayne’s Fight! Rayne (9) Vs. Mudkip (15)

Rayne hissed warningly at his opponent, sinking his claws into the wood of the raft. Mudkip blinked and smirked. It growled back at Rayne before it opened its mouth, inhaling to ready a powerful attack.

“Confuse Ray, don’t give it a chance!” Darkfire called to Rayne. His response was to fix Mudkip with his red eyes before making them turn white with power. Darkfire knew enough this time to close her eyes. She counted to five before looking to see Mudkip had released its attack, firing a Water Gun into the Pond.

“Harden and Scratch.” She told Rayne, whom seemed to think Mudkip attacking a lake with a Water Gun was rather amusing to watch. He re readied himself for battle and concentrated on hardening his shell and limbs, turning them into a solider substance than before. He then sneaked up behind Mudkip, using his hardened claws to slash at the poor water dog’s tender skin.

******************

The onlookers muttered their approval. Darkfire had managed to gain the trust of her Pokemon. While during the first round it was the Kabuto’s intelligence alone that helped them succeed, this time around, Darkfire seemed to have transformed into a battling genius. A few judges began typing in Darkfire’s discoveries about Harden being used to increase the effectiveness of cutting attacks and that Harden could slow poison’s penetration of one’s system.

Cyndane leaned forward, bracing himself on his elbows as he watched Darkfire and her Pokemon soar through the battle as if it were nothing. Still, Kabuto had a Level disadvantage of six, and he was battling with the best of them. He watched as Mudkip’s confusion cleared. Enraged and bleeding from multiple strikes, some rather deep, it advanced dangerously. Kabuto wasn’t fazed, however, and obeyed Darkfire quick command to Leer Mudkip before dealing another round of blows with his claws.

He watched her. She was calm, showing no signs of emotion other than pure dominance. Kabuto seemed to take after his master to an almost scary extent. When she grew nervous, he was nervous. When he was angry, so was she. They mirrored one another's emotions to an almost ridiculous point. How Darkfire’s Pokemon could be so similar to her... Did she know? Of course she must know. How could she not?

Now Mudkip had turned the tide of battle. It had Kabuto pinned down on its back, unable to defend itself.

******************

“Rayne..” Darkfire growled. Mudkip fired a Blizzard at Rayne, sending him flying off of the raft. The shift in balance on the raft tipped it. Mudkip slipped into the water, while Darkfire was dunked under with a loud SPLASH! She held her breath, for a while confused. She opened her eyes underwater and nearly gasped. Rayne was swimming, no, flying under water! Her once slow Pokemon was darting through the water. How he could manage it, she had no idea. But he propelled himself expertly, chasing his opponent like mad.

Mudkip seemed to be bleeding out faster, being chased underwater by a vicious Pokemon that should not exist in its day and age. Its movements were becoming slow and strained. Darkfire felt pity for it. Perhaps she shouldn’t fight so roughly? She didn’t want to kill the poor thing, just defeat it. She felt her lungs begin to burn, and began her struggle to the surface.

It was like moving through molasses! She could barely move! Sinking faster than rising, she panicked. Her heart beats drummed maddeningly in her ears. Then a calmness descended on her. She narrowed her eyes. If this was her last battle at last, she was NOT going to sink. Not in some Tamer’s puddle! She called upon a strength inside of her, and the actions that happened where almost too slow to remember. Time was up.

******************

Rayne narrowed his eyes as he caught his opponent. Mudkip, exhausted and lacking blood, went limp in his claws. Remembering the rule about not killing his opponents, something Darkfire had commented on, he brought the defeated water mutt to the raft and brought it aboard. He then looked up. The board above him was different. He would have to learn how to understand what it all meant someday.

Pleased, he looked over to where Darkfire had been, but saw no trace of her. In an instant, the old instinct of his ancestors whispered in his mind that there was danger. He dove back into the water and looked there. There was nothing. No body, no blood, no Darkfire. Confused and uncertain, he swam the Pond over and over, never finding a trace.

******************

A silent hush had fallen over the judges’ room. No one dared to breath as they watched the Kabuto circle in a vain attempt to find his trainer. Cyndane was shocked. Nothing like this had ever happened before. She hadn’t drowned. She had been under the water a few moments before... But this? Never. Where was Darkfire? What had happened? Where was she now?

Silently, Cyndane looked upwards. Wherever she was, he hoped she would return. He prayed for it. The prayer was heard somewhere else, and dark blue eyes glared again.

Rayne is victorious! Rayne grows to Level 11! He learns the attack Absorb(Level 10 level-up attack), and gains the TM Ice Beam(free Level 10 TM)!

[Lady Vulpix]

I was just wondering if I was ever going to be able to catch up with Ade's story since I've been gone. I suppose that answers that question a bit.

I hope so. And I wonder if you'll ever post a story here again. Your stories were excellent.

[AntiAsh Superstar]

This story kinda caught me by surprise, Brandy really developed a concrete personality in this one. h: btw, Charlie, I'm in the process of archiving my old battles (and those of anyone else who fancies having an online archive of their adoptees battles *HEAVY HINT*) here and whilst not all of mine are up there yet there's prolly a fair few that got written after you left up there already if you have to time to read through em. ^^ Nice to see you post in here again, btw.

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"Uhh.." The Vaporeon stirred restlessly, tucked away within the shady alcoves of the woodland she called her home. There was something wrong. She could sense it. Something deep within her belly, stirring, moving, thrashing… that mass she had been carrying around with her for what seemed like an eternity. There was something different about it tonight. "Ah…" She gave a short gasp of pain as her stomach lurched, and flinched instinctively. Which caused her to knock into the other creature who shared the safe, warm spot located within the tangles of a grand oak's roots.
"Uh?" The Vaporeon suddenly found a pair of amber eyes staring at her from the darkness. "What's wrong, my cherished little blossom? Why the pained look?"
"Tamotsu, I…" She gasped in pain as once again the contractions took hold. There was really no avoiding this one! "Tamotsu, it's coming! I can feel it!" Well there was very little question as to what 'it' was! She, the Vaporeon known as Adreena, had been carrying 'it' around in her belly for a matter of months. Her child. The product of her union with the gallant Umbreon called Tamotsu. The two pokémon lived just on the outskirts of Sector Alpha, in the area where urban sprawl gave way suddenly to the breathtaking beauty of nature. They had searched long and hard, but eventually found a forest to call their own; hardly more than a copse, but it provided food and shelter, and a small lake to nurture Adreena's aquatic urges. Of course, it didn't have to be like this. The Vaporeon had been a pet pokémon originally, and although her old mistress was long dead, she still had a sister who was being quite competently raised in the city. Has she chosen to, she could have been living this scene in the relative comfort of a human household. But that wasn't the way she had wanted to live. Adreena's place was here, with the creature that she loved. For better or for worse.
"Hang on, my sweetheart. We'll see this through together." Tamotsu was by her side in a heartbeat, urging her on with his passionate gaze. That was always the way. He would have gladly lain down his life for Adreena. And she never lost sight of that, not once. She counted herself the luckiest pokémon alive. "Now calm, focus on the pain. Work with it, not against it. Remember how much it hurt to evolve? Yet you came through that just fine. This is the exact same thing. Work with the pain, my blossom, with it!" Adreena had to hand it to her lover. He always seemed to know the precise words that would help her at any given moment. And what he said did make sense. Was this not just another discomfort whose pain would only last a brief while, but its consequences would be life-altering? In that respect it was identical to evolution.
"Come on!" Adreena grunted hard, throwing all of her force into trying to expel the creature within her, to force it into the world outside where she could best take care of it. The process was long, and it was grueling. And several times Adreena found herself in tears. But every time she felt close to breaking, she would always find a supportive paw upon her brow, or the slightest of nuzzles that somehow managed to bring her focus back to the task at hand. Until eventually one final shove expelled the little pup out of her womb and into the harsh realities of the outside world. The Vaporeon practically passed out at this point, so glad was she that her work was finally over.
"Blossom…" The shock in Tamotsu's voice could have been due to anything. But Adreena knew him so well by now that she could make out the slightest variation in the nuances of his tones. This was going to be a good surprise, she could tell. "My sweet little blossom, take a look." Adreena lifted her head wearily. To see, sure enough, a tiny little mewling pup, soaked and practically hairless from its time in the womb and desperately seeking nourishment after its long a grueling journey. To the Vaporeon there wasn't a finer sight in the world. "It's a boy, my sweetheart. Our own little baby boy." Adreena hardly registered the words. She was far too busy encouraging her pup to make its way over to her, where she could keep it warm in the sort of embrace that only a mother could perform. "And a more perfect thing I couldn't hope to imagine. Clearly he takes after his mother."
"Oh, leave it for once, you big old flatterer, you." No matter how many times Tamotsu would throw in the random compliments, they would never fail to redden Adreena's cheeks. "We've other things to worry about. Like what we're going to call this little tyke."
"You already know, don't you?" Tamotsu smiled. "I know you better than that. You've probably been thinking about this for weeks. In which case I defer to your superior knowledge. Whatever you have in mind, Adreena, I'm sure it will be perfect."
"Really? So how does Kay sound to you?"
"Hmm…" The Umbreon considered this for a second, watching his child suckle at its mother's teats. It seemed all too perfect. "Kay sounds perfect, my blossom."

That night had been a restless one for more than one creature known to my team. Right now the time was approaching three in the morning, and the Houndour named Pandora was busy staring vacantly at the image reflected in the mirror that stood in front of her, her soulful eyes blurred with tears. What was wrong with her? Why, whenever life seemed to be going well for her, did fate seem to delight in striking her down again? The night had been going so nicely, too. She had snuggled down for a nice, relaxing time with Milliardo, the two Dark types making a nice bed for themselves in a small corner of the bedroom where they wouldn't have to be disturbed by anyone. And she had even managed to fall asleep with ease that night, comforted by the warmth of the Umbreon snuggled up to her. But then the dreams started. The same thing, over and over again. First, she would awaken in a darkened room, all of her usual companions having evidently awoken earlier. Then she would pace over to the door of the room, which opened without any trouble. Then it was a case of heading outside. And what terrible weather greeted her when she managed that! The wind would threaten to bowl her over, and the torrential rain soaked her to the bone within seconds. And the lightning… well, that terrible thing would light the sky up at a rate of several strakes per minute, bolts of electricity sneaking down the sky like bright, jagged snakes. Through such terrible conditions she would pace, sliding and losing her footing on the mud underfoot, spurred on by a sense that something terrible would await her if she didn't reach her destination quickly. So no matter how many times she stumbled, no matter how cold she grew, she pushed onwards. And at that point the dream would take its usual course. Out of breath and splattered in mud, she would eventually reach a dead end, a small fenced off area on top of a shallow slope. Where Milliardo would be waiting for her. Only…
Pandora shuddered violently. It had always been the same. He wouldn't move. And for a moment she would avert her gaze, turn to one side as if unable to look in his direction. And then… then she would see why he wasn't moving. The instant she returned her gaze to her lover, a cruel, demonic beast had his head in her talons, a cold, reptilic eye glaring banefully down at Pandora as if daring her to do something about the situation. That was the point where she would almost always wake up with tears in her eyes. The sheer menace of that dream was overwhelming. It brought with it a sense of despair deeper than anything Pandora had ever experienced before. And the fact that she was dreaming this on such a regular basis, as well… it was starting to break her, it truly was.
"Why..?" she sobbed bitterly. The face she saw reflected back at her… what kind of creature was that? Nothing but a messed up thing that caused more problems than it was worth. A pathetic excuse for a pokémon who broke at the first sign of a nightmare. What good was she to anyone if all she could do was fall to pieces? Prophetic dreams or not – and whilst she did occasionally see the future with devastating clarity, more often than not she would simply have more frequent, vivid nightmares than usual in times of trouble – there was still no excuse for her behaviour. Which only served to make her feel all the worse. "What good is any of this? What good?" Abruptly she rammed her head hard into the mirror. It really did feel as if there was something inside, tormenting her with cruel swipes at her psyche, a terrible fog that refused to lift. And whilst the pain was enough to bring even more tears to her eyes, at least it was a physical pain. That she could deal with. That was something that seemed to blot out all the other weights pressing down upon her. Now if only she could somehow stun whatever was inside her brain, maybe there would be some respite. Again she head butted the mirror, this time leaving a hairline crack in the glass as a result of her assault. Now her head was beginning to throb, a dull pain enveloping her. But that didn't matter. It was much more preferable to the overwhelming gloom that had been resident there before. At least now she had something else to worry about.
"Pandora, why…" The Houndour hadn't noticed Milliardo make his way into the room. In fact, he had only just arrived. But it wasn't a moment too soon, in his opinion. This was a sight he had hoped that he wouldn't have to see again! "Whoa! Whoa!" The Umbreon inserted himself smartly between Pandora and the mirror. "What's going on here?"
"I'm sorry!" Pandora bawled in a voice that was practically a scream. She was practically hysterical by now, and it was as much as Milliardo could do to stop her from flinging herself at the glass once again. He genuinely couldn't remember the last time she had been this bad. "I'm sorry, Milliardo! It's inside me, and I can't fight it. I've tried so hard, it's been there for ages now but I just can't fight it any more! I don't have the strength." Now it seemed as if she genuinely DID lack the strength to carry on, for she slumped to the floor miserably, the tears still silently trickling down her cheeks.
"Pandora..." Milliardo sighed deeply, moving over and nuzzling his partner supportively. This wasn't his favourite way to be spending a night! But then, he had made his choices long ago. And that was to stick by her side, through good times and bad. "What caused you to do this, huh? Don't you see how little good it's going to do?"
"I told you I'm sorry, what more do you want?" There was a decidedly heated edge to Pandora's tone, which was an improvement on her current mood. "The... the dream. I had the dream again. I don't want to have to go through that every night, Milliardo. Really I don't. I dread going to sleep at night because I know it's going to happen again. It happens every night. The same thing, over and over. And it scares me. Because it might... it might be true." The mere thought of this was enough to send the Houndour into a fresh bout of sobbing. There was really very little that Milliardo could do apart from keep her close and wait for her to calm down, until this dark spell had passed. "It makes me think sometimes that I'd rather be dead than carry on like this."
"Don't talk like that!" Milliardo admonished, fighting the tears that came to his own eyes. He had known Pandora to have her moments, certainly, but this was the first time he had ever heard her speak of her death in this way! Something must have truly broken this time. "You start thinking like that and there's no telling where it'll lead! Listen to me right now, Pandora, sometimes they'll try and break you. And by 'them' I mean absolutely anything - people, pokémon, events, dreams... you name it. But you know what? I say let them bring it on, because you and me, we're fighters. And if we're gonna go down we're gonna go down kicking and screaming! And if you can't see that just be damn thankful I've got enough fight in me for the both of us, because I'll be damned if I'm going to let some nightmare break you like this!" Pandora looked momentarily stunned. Every time, just when she thought she had the measure of Milliardo's depth of feeling, he would pull something like this and leave her speechless. "I hate to see you like this, Pandora. I love you, maybe more than I let on sometimes. You're the beginning and the end of the world for me, even if I act like a total prat towards you sometimes. So come on. For me, can't you just try and not let this get to you? Come on, what happened to all that old fire within you?"
"It's still in there somewhere... I guess," Pandora conceded eventually, once the tears had abated slightly. "Have patience with me, Milliardo. I can't promise that I'll never let it get to me again - hell, I have no confidence in my abilities to block things out at all - but... I'll try. For you, I'll try."
"That's my girl." Milliardo kissed the top of Pandora's head lightly, silently resolving to stay by her side no matter what. She needed his support now more than ever. And it was something that he was more than happy to give.

"You're off training again?" Breakfast was its usual less than low-key affair. Although quieter than usual due to the fact that neither Milliardo nor Pandora seemed to show any inclination of getting up - which was cause for concern in itself - this was more than compensated for by Sindel having woken far too early for her own good. Hence today's breakfast was roughly three times its usual size. When my Alakazam was bored, she cooked. In this instance, mounds of both real and fake bacon and sausages, eggs, toast, home made croissants, crumpets and muffins, plus a totally bewildering array of jams and marmalades. Even the house's two resident gluttons, Katnip and Kassandra, had to concede defeat with regards to finishing their food.
"Hey, it's what I'm supposed to do, remember? And speaking of training, haven't you been saying you'll book one of the Jungle Rooms for the past few weeks, Soo?"
"Hey, it's not my fault, I've been ill, remember?" my fiancée pouted. It was the usual level of breakfast conversation, really. The two of us sat at the table nibbling at buttered toast, our pokémon all lounging around the expansive kitchen in various states of alertness.
"True enough, but I haven't, so lay off me would you?" I wasn't being remotely serious, of course, and we both knew it.
"It'd still be nice to do something a little different every now and then," came the semi-sulky reply.
"What? Hey, there's nothing wrong with training! Look, I train every day and look how strong I am!" Kassandra shouted from her position by the door, throwing a few punches and kicks in the air for good measure. "If everyone else trained as much as me then they'd almost be this strong!"
"Kass," Marius noted, dangling upside down from a nearby beam, "we could train for centuries and we simply wouldn't be remotely as competent as you are." Kass seemed to be the only one who didn't notice that my Dratini was fighting a losing battle with a bemused smirk as he said this.
"Yeah!" Soo's Charmander punched the air. "You're smarter than you look, Marius! Keep this up and you might stop being such a dweeb!" She turned to the Dratini with a broad smile. "Hey, why don't I teach you Double Edge to help you on your way?"
"Perhaps some other time, Kass," Marius responded. "I just seriously doubt I have sufficient skills to keep up with your training."
"Ha! At least you know I'm so much better than you!"
"Anyway..." Marius decided to bring a swift end to this conversation before it grew totally out of hand. "Ade, what were your training plans for the day?"
"Hadn't we better wait to see what Milliardo and Pandora fancy doing today first?" I asked.
"I can already inform you that their plans involve staying in bed for most of the day." There was a curious expression in the Dratini's eyes, a barely perceptible tinge of sadness in an otherwise intelligent face. I had seen that look before, and knew perfectly well what it meant. "Apparently neither was able to obtain much in the way of sleep last night."
"Then shouldn't I..." I was silenced by a shake of the Dratini's head.
"Believe me, neither would appreciate any interference. Just allow them to sort things out between themselves. And please try not to worry too much. As tragic a situation as it is, that's the way they would rather have it."
"Sometimes I wonder why I bother asking," I commented. "I know them well enough to figure that one out on my own anyway."
"Congratulations," yawned a familiar voice. "That's only taken you a year to figure out. There's hope for you yet." I turned to see Tsuyoi pace into the room, looking his usual ferocious self. Well, semi-ferocious, at any rate. To us he was just a part of the scenery as much as anyone else. "So then, let's hear your remarkable training plan then." There was an edge to Tsuyoi's tone, as if he knew something that I didn't. Then again, it was a rare day when that wasn't the case anyway.
"Well I was thinking of taking Brandy out to have a training session with Gina. You know, we're going to have to get used to fighting together sooner or later, and with everyone being so on edge lately I'd much rather it was sooner."
"Whilst I commend you on thinking ahead for once, there may be a slight problem with that plan," Tsuyoi commented.
"What do you mean?"
"You'll see," came the enigmatic reply.

"What do you mean, closed???" It had taken a good while to get to the headquarters of Gina's organization. Words couldn't possibly express how difficult it had been to convince my notoriously shy Onix that a training session would be beneficial for her. The instant the subject had been broached she had turned bright red and clammed up for a good ten minutes before giving her answer. A gentle but stubborn 'no'. It seemed that she was more than a little concerned about accidentally crushing her opponent with her massive bulk. And no amount of persuading on my part was going to convince her that there would be no danger. It was just as well, then, that Pearl was far better an orator than I was. Within minutes of gentle coaxing she had managed to get a change of heart out of Brandy. Which would have been great, had we even been able to get to our usual training area. As it was, we had gotten as far as the large forecourt before being stopped by a black-suited, sunglasses-wearing blonde man almost as broad as he was tall. He looked like an extra from a gangster movie.
"What I said, sir. The building is temporarily closed. You'll have to return some other time." It was impossible to ascertain how this bulky bodyguard of sorts must have viewed me, but from the tone of his voice I was guessing it wasn't favourably.
"But why?"
"If you must know, the institute is currently undergoing a Dragons Guild inspection. We'll be finished in a few hours, so why don't you and your pokémon juts run off and play somewhere else until we've finished, hm?" The way the man said it indicated that he wasn't about to take any arguments. So reluctantly I had to turn to face my team with a look of resignation sitting upon my face.
"Sorry, guys," I sighed, staring dejectedly at the pokéball in my hand that contained my Onix. "Looks like today was a no-starter after all." How I had wanted to train my poor Rock type!
"Oh well," Beckham shrugged with his usual total lack of sensitivity. "Fancy nipping down to the pub for a few pints instead?"
"Pints of what?" Megan asked.
"Whiskey," my Wartortle nodded sagely.
"Guys," I began, "this really isn't the time to..."
"Hey! Ade!" A familiar voice yelled over from behind me. I turned around just in time to see Gina, my regular sparring partner for the past few months, sprint out from the large double doors that were the gateway into her organisation's huge complex. She was wearing bright red leggings, a khaki jacket and flip-flops that were totally inappropriate for the time of year, and by her side jogged a thoroughly disgruntled-looking Sneasel. She cast a dirty glance over at the black-suited man before stopping in front of my team, panting as she tried to get her breath back. "Guess you were here for a battle, huh?" She smiled sympathetically. "The might of the pencil pushers says otherwise, I'm afraid. We're undergoing a 'routine inspection'. You know the sort, the ones that are so routine they happen every three years or so? So we have to shut down for a few hours while some self-important bigwigs from the Dragons Guild grill us about anything and everything relating to the business." The girl with the midnight-blue hair shuddered. "I swear I got the worst of a bad bunch, though. This really creepy guy who dressed like he was from the middle ages or something. He just seemed to breeze past the business side of things and kept asking me some really weird stuff."
"Like what?" I asked, curious.
"Oh... like, had I been to Templa Taure recently? Or what did I think about the Unicorn Games? Or if I'd seen any particularly impressive psychics during my time working here. I thought he might have been trying to make small talk, you know. I was half expecting to be asked out for a drink at the end of it all. But no, he seemed like he really wanted to know the answers to these questions. It was as if he really wanted to ask one big question, but couldn't, so was trying to get at it by asking lots of little ones. You know what I mean? Like he was too reluctant to give the game away to ask what he really wanted to know."
"Ask he what this man's name was," came the voice of Rhiannon from by my side, the Jolteon looking up at me with an odd expression on her face. "We would be interested to know."
"Can you remember what this guy was called?" I asked, unsure as to where my recently evolved pokémon was headed with her request.
"Uh... what was it?" Gina frowned, trying hard to recall the name. "I'm sorry, Ade, I'm worse with names than you are. It'll come to me in a minute. Lord... Lord Abra? Aipom? It began with an A, I'm sure it did."
"Sne sneasel sne!" the pokémon by Gina's side shouted in exasperation, waving its arms around in the air in frustration.
"Lord Absol???" For possibly the first time since I had known her, the adult side of Rhiannon's personality sounded taken aback. "Hmm..."
"You okay, Rhi?" I asked her.
"Huh?" the Jolteon asked, shaking her head suddenly. "Yeah! I'm fine, Ade! Wanna play ball or something?" Grinning broadly she began racing around our assembled group, completely oblivious. Evidently whatever was on her mind was lost. At least for now.
"Oh yeah! Lord Absol, that was it!" Gina smiled broadly. "Thanks, Noriki." My friend petted her Sneasel fondly. "I should have known, really. He looked like he would be a Dark type. Freaked me out, he really did. Then again, I never really was too fond of the Dragons Guild people on the whole. I mean, you get the odd good one, but in the main they seem a little too power-crazed for comfort. Anyway, enough talk of that creep. You were here for a battle, I take it?"
"Yeah, I was hoping to get a training battle for my Onix. She's only really just matured enough to be able to battle, and could do with a friendly match so she gets used to fighting smaller opponents." I sighed dejectedly. "Guess we can say goodbye to that idea now, though."
"I don't know," Gina smiled. "There are tons of places to hold a training battle around here. If you don't mind the battle being quite short she can always have a go against Nokiri here." Here she gestured to the Sneasel by her side, who seemed, if anything, rather embarrassed to have everyone's attention suddenly drawn to her. "Sure, we all know how it goes between Rock and Ice types, it's usually down to whoever manages to get the first hit in. But hey, it's better than nothing, right?" I mulled this over for a moment. It wasn't that I didn't think Brandy could do it. Far from it. It was just the thought of pitting her against an opponent that could potentially do so much damage that worried me.
"I don't know..." I said, wavering.
"Ade," Pearl commented from behind me, "Why don't you ask Brandy if she's okay with that before making any decisions? It is her battle, after all!"
"Not a bad idea." I stared at the pokéball for another moment, tossing the idea around in my mind. There was only one flaw with it as far as I could tell. How long was it likely to take to get my Onix acclimatized to the new company? 'Bashful' didn't do her justice at all. Well, there was only one way to find out. Reluctantly I pressed the button on the front of Brandy's pokéball and released my Onix with the obligatory flash of white light that seemed to accompany the opening of any pokéball. "Hey, Brandy."
"Uh… hi." The Onix blinked, taking in the scenery that greeted her. It was strange, alien almost. And it made her more nervous than ever. "W… what did you want?"
"Well, you know that we were going to have a training session?"
"Oh. Yeah, I guess we were." Brandy sounded almost disappointed, as if she had been hoping that I had forgotten about it. "It's not been… been… cancelled, has it?"
"You wish!" I had to chuckle slightly. I had been just as eager to put off Brandy's training to begin with. But eventually it occurred to me that she would never, ever be trained if I kept putting it back. In the end I had reached the only sane conclusion, that there things were best tackled head on. Now it was just a matter of getting Brandy to realize that. "No, we think we've found you an opponent. And I thought it was only fair to let you have the final say on the matter."
"I… I'd rather just f… forget it." Brandy shuddered. She really was beginning to have her doubts as to whether this was such a good idea.
"Come on." I put a reassuring hand on the side of my newest pokémon, trying very hard to reassure her that it was going to be alright. "Gina here knows what she's doing…"
"…even if it doesn't seem that way most of the time…" Milliardo chipped in unhelpfully.
"…and it'd be better for you if you learned how to take care of yourself now instead of having to teach yourself if something bad happens, don't you think?" Brandy mused this over for a moment or two. There was no doubt that my words were true enough. But to be honest she simply had no confidence in her own abilities. The certainty that she would somehow mess up was overriding common sense. But then… then there was also the urge to please her new friends, to do what she was asked. And it was this feeling that she concentrated on, blocking out all doubts until the only thought in her mind was to do as she was told.
"O… okay. I'll do it." Finally the Onix nodded her consent. There was probably no getting out of this one, anyway. She knew how stubborn her teammates could be when the mood struck them!
"Good girl," I smiled, petting her rocky skin and allowing her to move to a position between Gina and myself. Admittedly this meant that I could no longer see my sparring partner, but seeing as tradition made no allowances for the larger pokémon I supposed I would have to get used to that. "Your Sneasel up for it, Gina?" I called over.
"Sure, we're ready when you guys are!" came the cheerful response.
"Good. Then let's go for it."

FIGHT!!! L5 Onix v L5 Sneasel!

Brandy really wasn't too sure as to how to start this battle. Oh, she knew perfectly well what she could have done. She could have just slammed into the Sneasel at full force, charged straight into it and crushed it beneath her weight. But that was just wrong. She had never done such a thing before, of course, but instinctively she knew that it was. She wasn't supposed to hurt her opponent that much!
"Are you gonna move? Or do I have to?" Gina's Sneasel tapped its foot impatiently, as if it had been waiting fro Brandy to make the first move.
"I… uh… sorry." Brandy blushed deeply. The battle was waiting for her. And she had to do something, anything, or risk disappointing everyone. Slowly she began pondering the attacks she knew, the ones that wouldn't do too much damage. Unfortunately most seemed a little too vicious for her liking. "J… just give me a moment, please."
"Oh, for goodness' sake! Do I have to do everything?" the Dark-type complained in a tone that wouldn't have been out of place coming from Milliardo. "Fine! I'll just have to make the first move, won't I? Otherwise we'll never get started!" Brandy was suddenly aware of the little creature rushing at her with a remarkable speed. Instinctively she turned away, trying to brace herself against the attack, only to find herself far too bulky to make any attempt at an evasive maneuver. So all she could do was cower and await the inevitable onslaught.

It didn't come.

"Wha…?" Finally my Onix dared to look at what was going on, only to find that her opponent had seemingly disappeared from view. Which meant one of two things. The first being a relief, and the second being very, very bad. Unfortunately for Brandy, what had actually gone on happened to be the second of the two options.
"Brandy, watch out! Above you!" The Onix heard my yelled warning just in time, for a cursory glance upward revealed her opponent bearing down upon were with an almost sadistic smile upon its face. There was precious little time to think, let alone react, but Brandy did the only thing that she could come up with at the time. She left it to sheer instinct, her reflexes driving her to rear upwards and catch the Sneasel hard in midair with a ferocious Tackle that knocked it through the sky only to land with a resounding splash! in the courtyard's central fountain. A sudden stab of horror shot through Brandy's heart. What had she done? Had she killed her opponent because of her size? "Brandy?" My voice was filled with concern, but my Onix hardly heard it. She was too busy staring in dumb horror at the motionless body of the Sneasel in the fountain, the crystal clear water gurgling over its face. Her suspicions were confirmed as far as she was concerned. She was nothing but a brutal, oversized murderer. "Brandy, eyes on your opponent!" This time my warning came too late. The Dark-type was being as sneaky as its species was reputed to be, and had been merely playing dead in order to capitalize upon Brandy's insecurities. It was a tactic that had worked admirably, leaving Brandy open to the strongest attack that the Sneasel could muster, a thoroughly vicious Icy Wind that chilled Brandy to her very core, bypassing every line of defence that her body had to offer. The pain was immense. In fact, Brandy found herself very close to blacking out. And she would have done, had one single, solitary fact not kept her mind in focus. She couldn't afford to mess up in front of everybody else. The thought of their disappointed faces was enough to somehow give her the energy to recover from the attack. And, unfortunately for her opponent, she returned with much better knowledge of how resilient some pokémon could be.
"I have to win this one!!!" the Onix shrieked, her voice seeming to come out at a pitch almost too high for the human ear to hear. But the effect on the pokémon in the area was instantaneous. Even those stood on the sidelines were seen to visibly wince; even Milliardo, who was normally the master of showing no outward signs of discomfort, was heard to mutter to himself '****ing hell, and I thought Scarygirl's singing was enough of a torment!'. Her opponent, however, was the one who suffered the most. It seemed to have been practically thrown back by the sudden onslaught to its ears.
"Nice Screech!" Gina cooed in appreciation. "Haven't seen it slipped into battle so well in... uh, well, I've never seen it slipped into battle that well before." Suddenly my sparring partner addressed her Sneasel. "Nokiri, you have to be careful! If she hits you again you're finished!"
"Sne." Gina's Sneasel nodded its understanding, and shot forward once again in an attempt to finish Brandy off. It never happened, however. Now my Onix was riled. She had finally found just what it took to be able to fight. The thought of disappointing her friends. There was no way she was going to lose in front of them, not after they had pinned all their hopes on her being able to do this! "Prepare to lose!" she heard her opponent yell. But losing was the last thing on Brandy's mind.
"I refuse!" she yelled with a vehemence that was totally at odds with her usual character. Something had snapped within her, a power rooted deep within her awoken. All of a sudden the Sneasel found itself being assaulted with a barrage of... well, from an outsider's point of view they looked like ghostly boulders, but there was no real way of knowing exactly what they were. All that I could ascertain as I watched, dumbfounded, was that each time a boulder struck the Sneasel it looked more and more battered, whereas my Onix seemed to actually be growing stronger.
"Way to go, Brandy!" I couldn't help but cry as the final rock smashed hard into Nokiri's side, sending her crashing to the ground to not get back up again. That training session had gone far better than I could have even hoped! "Didn't I tell you it wouldn't be so bad?"
"I... I..." Brandy was dumbfounded. Had she really just done that? "I g... guess not. Did you think that was okay then?" The Onix turned to us with an expression that was so obviously seeking approval that it was almost scary. Well, there was only one thing I could tell her. Because it was the truth.
"Brandy, you really did do great," I smiled, petting my Onix's nose as she bent down towards me, a contented smile upon her face. Secretly I was beginning to worry about her. Did my approval really mean that much to her? "Don't you think, Gina?"
"Not bad at all," my friend nodded, picking up the collapsed rental Sneasel and shooting us her most cheerful grin. "Sure, there's some work to be done in terms of finesse but hey, every pokémon just starting out suffers from that and it's not something a few more training sessions and TMs wouldn't fix. Anyways, I'd love to stay and talk some more with you guys, but I get this horrible feeling that Lord Absolute-Bastard fellow hasn't quite finished with us yet. Take care, guys. Just let me know if you wanna battle again." Tipping my group a cheery wink, Gina tripped back inside the building that loomed in front of us. Leaving us to decide what our next move would be.
"Good work, Brandy," I smiled, recalling the Onix to her pokéball for now. At least, until we had returned home and could release her into the garden once again. "So, guys, what do you make of all that?"
"Make of all what?" Milliardo yawned. "Lego?"
"I made something out of Lego once," Beckham reflected. "A huge man with sharp teeth and a gun capable of destroying the world."
"Becks, you really have some repressed tendencies there. Book yourself in with a shrink the first chance you get, okay?" Milliardo rolled his eyes. "Seriously, I have no idea what Gina's on about. Then again, most of the time I find Kass easier to understand. What is this 'Lord Absol', anyway?"
"Trouble." Rhiannon's words cut through the air like a knife. Evidently her more business-like side had regained control. "That's what he is. And we suspect that he's very close to finding out what he wants. In which case we advise you all to be on your guard." The Jolteon sighed miserably. "As much as it pains us to admit it, we are one of his objectives. He seems to be the Guild member assigned to tying up the loose ends of the Dark Cloak chaos."
"Whoa, whoa, whoa." I cut my Jolteon off quickly. "Let's not worry about that just yet, okay?" I had to admit that the reaction Rhiannon gave to the mere mention of this Lord Absol's name disturbed me greatly. If she, a pokémon who had performed some great and yet terrible deeds in her time - she had battled possessed Gyarados without so much as batting an eyelid, and helped train Lucky despite slowly bleeding to death from an earlier battle, after all - seemed disturbed by this man then he was probably someone to keep an eye on. But we couldn't afford to slip into paranoia just yet. "Let's just go back home. You can tell me what you know of this Lord Absol fellow there, okay? **** knows I've been doing this for long enough to know that those who say they're our allies often have ulterior motives, but there's no point in getting worked up about it just yet." I said this mostly for my own benefit. Experience taught me that the Rhiannon who was talking to me now had only one weakness. And this Lord Absol wasn't it. "Come on. I just don't want to hear about this any longer." Which was true. For, if my gut instinct was right, I would be hearing much more of this in the weeks to come.

Brandy wins!
Brandy grew to L6!

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Okay, I've a question. When are we getting the next proper scenario? Coz I hate to be be the one to point this out, but it's been literally half a year since the last scenario change. This, I feel, is not a good rate for the Battle Range to go at, can we PLEASE try a slightly more frequent rate of scenario changes? I mean, it all worked just fine when it was one a month or even more frequently than that, right?