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

[LightNinetales]

Can I have a RBG from Caledor's Nature Protection Agency for my lv. 5 Ponyta, Will'O? *pays 7 stamps, leaving her with 9*

[Wolfsong]

LightNinetales: Will'O will be battling a Growlithe.

Before story notes: This is the twins RBG. I got the stat modification die as a mg and gave it to Colby. Since I just posted at the Eevee House when I started this, so I decided to have it take place there ^^; I actually didn’t have writers block this time. ^^

(Tiny’s POV)

“Colby?” I said as I followed him out the back door of the Eevee House. “Yeah?” he asked slowing down so that I could catch up to him. “I think I’ve changed my mind about not evolving…” Colby stopped and turned around to face me. “Really? What do you want to be? I can’t wait till I’m a vaporeon.” He said, as his eyes drifted over to a shiny vaporeon that was trying to blow up a kiddie pool while a wartortle was cleaning it off. “I’m not sure,” I admitted, as I started walking again. Colby followed me as I made my way around to the front of the Eevee House and sat down. “I just know that I’m not ready to make that kind of change yet.” Colby smiled. “That’s all right. You know Amy isn’t going to force us to evolve if we don’t want to, like he tried to do.” “Yeah.” I admitted. “Tell you what,” Colby continued. I won’t evolve until you decide that you’re ready and then we can evolve on the same day. I promise.” “You serious?” I asked hardly believing what I was hearing. Colby just nodded his head yes. “Thanks.” I told him. “You know I think I’m going to try talking to her sometime soon.” “That’s great!” Colby exclaimed, before grinning. “I almost forgot. Lookit what she gave me yesterday.” He reached into his mane and pulled out a stat modification die, like the one I carried in my mane.

“There you two are!” a familiar, but dreaded voice called out. I looked up and sure enough, there was Marco diving down towards us and he had Jake with him clinging on for dear life. Colby and I stiffened up as the pair landed. Upon contact with the ground, Jake jumped off the pidgey’s back. “I see you haven’t evolved yet, Jake.” Colby said, eyeing the eevee. “Only because Tom hasn’t found a Thunderstone yet.” Jake replied, staring right into Colby’s eyes. “Speaking of Tom,” Marco replied in between preening his feathers, “he sent us to find the two of you.” “Only because he probably heard that we found a new trainer.” Colby whispered to me, and I nodded. “Yeah.” Jake agreed, before he was nudged roughly by Marco. “I’m not going back.” I stated firmly as the two looked at me in surprise. I knew that back when we were on the same team, they had speculated that I couldn’t talk even if I wanted too. “I’m not either. In fact, when Tom released us in the Jungle Room he was practically screaming ‘GOOD RIDDANCE’.” “Well,” the pidgey began, “he feels bad that he said that. He told us if we found you to tell the two of you that he wouldn’t make you evolve into something that you didn’t want to.” Colby stared them in the eyes. “We’re not buying it. He released us, we found a trainer we like, end of story.” “If you won’t come peacefully, then we’ll knock you out and take you two back.” Colby laughed. “We’ve gotten stronger since the last time you’ve seen us. You can try but we’ll win. When we do, the two of you can return to Tom and tell him to leave us alone. We don’t need him or want anything to do with him anymore.” “I agree.” “All right, I guess it’s the hard way.” Marco stated as he took to the air. “They still don’t have items,” he whispered. I nodded. “Let’s just beat them.” “You said it bro.” Jake turned to face me, while Marco lined himself up with Colby.

Tiny L.9 M Eevee Vs. Jake L.9 M Eevee
&
Colby L.9 M Eevee Vs. Marco L.9 M Pidgey

As one Colby and I pulled out our stat modification dies out of our manes. “What are those?” Jake asked. “A gift from our trainer.” I replied coolly. “What do they do?” Marco asked. “You’ll see one way or the other,” Colby answered as we each rolled our die. As soon as mine came to a stop, I felt stronger. I looked over at Colby who seemed to be moving faster than he normally could.

“Enough games.” Jake said, darting forwards in an attempt to tackle me. Yet again, I relied on the move that my father had passed on to me even though I had never met him. The double team worked as Jake tackled one of my clones destroying it, but still leaving me with four. As one, my doubles and I spun around and began kicking loose sand into his face. In all actuality, I was the only one actually using the sand attack, my copies were just mimicking what I was doing in order to keep themselves useful. When I had finished, I turned around to look at Jake. He was pawing at his face trying to get the sand out of his eyes. After a few minutes, he stopped. His coat took on a white glow as the air around us got colder. This was new, I thought as Jake’s hidden power chilled me to my core. “Crud,” I muttered, when I realized that because I got hit by Jake’s hidden power all of my clones were gone. “I have a hidden power too you know.” “Yeah and it’s probably something useless such as ghost or something. You never had the guts to try it out when you were with us.” “You’re wrong!” I shouted as the earth beneath his paws began to rumble causing him to fall down. I then darted forwards and tackled him to the ground. I was surprised that I had won so easily. The surprise didn’t last long, when I realized that Jake had not been knocked out but was just simply faking it to allow me to get close. He had extended his claws and raked them across my side. I didn’t think, just reacted and tackled him again. This time when he went down, he stayed down.

I won!
I grew to L.10
I learned Detect as my free TM.

Since my battle was over, I turned my attention over to Colby and his battle. I smiled when I noticed that it too, was close to being over.

(Colby’s POV)

I smiled, glad that the die had helped my speed. I ran towards Marco and tackled him as hard as I could. He looked surprised. “You’re faster than I remembered, but that’s not a problem.” He said as he proceeded to tackle me as well. “You don’t scare me at all.” I told him all the while darting in and out trying to get him to annoy him in to using a certain move. To my credit it worked. I was watching closely when he disappeared, before reappearing and slamming into me. “Thank you.” I told Marco. “For what?” the puzzled pidgey asked. “For allowing me to use this move for the rest of the battle.” I said, smirking as I faded from sight. “Oh crap,” Marco muttered as I reappeared slamming into him from behind. He then spun around and soaked me with his hidden power. I quickly retaliated by extending my claws and raking them across Marco’s chest as hard as I could. I was surprised when he staggered backwards from the blow. “You haven’t seen the end of us.” he muttered as he tried to tackle me again. I slashed at him again and this time he collapsed in a heap of feathers.

I won!
I grew to L.10!
I learned Double Team as my free TM!

Shortly after Marco had fainted, an abra appeared out of nowhere and teleported the two fainted pokemon out of sight. “That was new. I haven’t seen him before. Have you?” Tiny asked. “I don’t remember him either.” I admitted. “Let’s go back inside.” Tiny nodded in agreement.

[Gym Leader Sabrina]

Could someone please tell me what page the current scenario is on, please? I haven't been able to find it.

[*Murkrow]

Just to point out, there's always a link on the first post to whatever page the currently active scenario is on, but here;

http://www.pokemasters.net/forums/sh...624#post513624

Hope that helps.

[Lady Vulpix]

Hannah gets a stamp for her help. ¢

Amd Amy gets 9 stamps for her RBG battle. I wonder if that Abra will show up again... ¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢

[Wolfsong]

I'm not sure. I just used the the rbg until i got a poke that could teleport and be one of their teammates ^^; We may or may not see it again. Thanks for rating it ^^ I'm gonna try and make an eh post soon just been rather busy atm.

Since its been long enough, ^^; i'd like to have a rbg for Kiara from the universal adoption center *hands over 7 stamps

[Charizard04621]

*takes stamps* She'll be battling a Bagon.

[Charizard04621]

Wow, intriguing. Take 14 Stamps for the story, Gabi! Can't wait to see what happens next.

Amy: She'll be battling a Bagon.

[Cheesey]

Colour codes:

Steel blue = Me
Chocolate = Imarad (Zangoose, female, Lv 9)
Hot pink = Hera (Blissey. female, Lv 5)
Pale turquoise = Quartz (Togetic, male, Lv 11)
Silver = Maria (White winged Dratini, female, Lv 7)

My POV

I waved goodbye to Connor and started to walk out of the grounds of the Eevee House. Quartz and Maria were flying by my right and left shoulders respectively; Imarad was walking beneath Quartz and Hera was toddling along beneath Maria. I kept worrying that I was going to accidentally kick one of them or something, but those were simply silly thoughts that were running through my head and I knew that even if I did it wouldn’t be anything major and we could just laugh it off. So, as the five of us came to leave the premises of the Eevee House, we stopped and wondered where it was we should go. I wasn’t sure. So, I did the logical thing and got out my (tea stained) map – My navigational skills left a little to be desired but I’m sure I could get to the Free Range Coral without too much bother if I had my 4 pokemon by my side. Well, both sides, technically.

Maria’s POV

This was weird. I’d never been outside of the Eevee House with Chris before – well, fairly obviously since I’d only just become part of the team. But still, it was something that I wasn’t used to. I wasn’t actually entirely sure where we were headed, but I think I’m gonna look a little bit silly if I ask that now… I’m sure they all know where we’re going! But then again, if I don’t ask, then I won’t be able to help, and then if Chris asks me anything about the map, then I’ll look even more stupid. Argh! My head is in such a muddle right now! May as well do the intelligent thing…

“Where are we going? And what is it that we’re actually doing?”

Imarad’s POV

“The Free Range Coral.”

I could see that Quartz had been just about to tell Maria that, but he was already her friend and I didn’t really know her. Since my current team mates all think I’m a bit weird already, then I may as well get on her good side, and what better way of doing that than helping her? Besides, I could tell that she wouldn’t betray me if we were to become friends. I hope I’m right because I couldn’t bare having to stand another betrayal…

“There was a newsflash in the Eevee House on the TV, Maria. Smeargle are invading the Free Range Coral and none of us know why, but we do know that they’re disrupting the peace there. So, we’re going to go and sort it out.”

My POV

It was nice to see that Imarad was trying to help Maria. She isn’t especially close with the other members of the team, and she finds it hard to trust other folk, so it was a good opportunity for her to make a new friend and let herself be accepted into the group. I looked down at her and she looked at me. “We should get going,” I said.

I had figured out where we should be going. All by myself, as well! I felt a sense of accomplishment even though it wasn’t something to be terribly excited about, but meh. It’s nice to feel like you’ve achieved something even if it’s not anything major. So, I began to walk in the direction that we had to go. It was about 4 miles away as far as I could tell, so it was going to take us a while to get there, but hopefully it shouldn’t take too long if we kept a steady pace.

”So, Imarad, have you been in many battles before?”
”No, not really. I’ve had a few fights at the battle tower before, but other than that, I’ve not really fought anybody. I want to – I’ve always dreamt of becoming stronger – but I don’t fight very often. I think Chris wanted to let me settle into the team a bit more before letting me fight since I’m a bit… well… moody.
”I wouldn’t say that. You’ve been very nice to me since I’ve known you.”
”Ah yes, but you see, you haven’t really known me for very long. The other pokemon in the team all think I’m distant and weird.”
”Eh? Since when? I’ve never thought that – I was only a bit curious when I first knew you, but I know about your past now, and it’s understandable. I have no idea what it’s been like for you but I know it’s been hard – don’t think that we think you’re different or anything, cause we don’t.”
”Thanks, but to be honest, that’s no consolation. You said yourself that you haven’t got a clue what I’ve been through and even if you did consider me weird you’re too nice to ever admit it.
”Forgive me if I’m butting in, but Imarad, what have you been through? Don’t answer if you don’t want to, it must be really hard for you and I must sound really rude. Ugh, now I regret saying it…
”Don’t regret saying things, honey. You have good intentions and if you’re aware of how things could be taken, offensive or whatever, you’ll know what the possible responses can be. You know it’s difficult for Imarad to talk about so you shouldn’t regret asking if you’re simply feeling like you don’t want to be left out or whatever it is that you feel.”
”Exactly. I always feel left out and I constantly regret what I say; don’t go down that road. Listen to Hera before it’s too late. I understand why you want to know, so I’ll tell you. You see, when I was little, I lived with my mother and father in the wild. I hardly ever saw my father and whenever I did see him he always fought with my mother. They needed each other, though, because if they separated, neither of them would have been able to support me. They both knew that, but my father seemed to lose all caring for that one day and abandoned me and my mother. I lived with her with difficulty since she wasn’t very good at defending us both from other animals, and eventually she was killed in a battle with a Seviper.”
”I’m sorry, that’s terrible… Please, don’t go on. Tears are welling up in your eyes, and mine too.”
”I was distraught, but I had to do something. With my father gone and my mother dead, I needed someone else to depend on – I found a friend who I was friends with for such a long time, but she left me because she didn’t feel like being my friend any more.”
”Honestly, Imarad, don’t go on. You’re making me cry. And yourself, too. Stop it, please…”
”So I had to fend for myself until I found the Dragon Tamers Adoption Center. I couldn’t go on myself and even though I hated the idea of being owned by a human, I didn’t have any other choice. If I hadn’t made the decision of letting myself be put up for adoption, then I would be dead right now. The woods I lived in were a terrible place.”

My POV

My heart was pounding. I had never known Imarad had had such a hard time. I mean, I had known everything about her family and her friend betraying her, but she’d never told me about hating the idea of being adopted before. It hadn’t occurred to me how bad a state she had been in when I had adopted her – the workers at the Dragon Tamers must have helped her recover – so I hadn’t been aware of the fact she’d needed to be adopted. I’d always thought she’d chosen to be. I’d never expected one of my pokemon to say that she hadn’t wanted to be a trainers pokemon before. “Say, Imarad… Do you like me being your trainer, then?”

”Oh God, I’ve worried you, haven’t I… I must say that I didn’t like being part of the team when you first adopted me, but I grew to be fond of you and my team mates over time. It surprised me since I’d always hated the idea of being “owned” but it’s really not something to worry about… I love being part of this team and that’s not going to change.”
”That’s so relieving to hear. I had no idea that being adopted was something you’d needed to do rather than something you’d wanted to do.”

By this time Maria was crying, so I gave her a hug. It must have been saddening to hear Imarad’s story – I was miserable once I’d heard it and I had known Imarad for over a year – so I understood why she was doing so.

”I’m so sorry to hear that. I can’t imagine what it would’ve been like to have a past like that. I feel for you so, so much…
”Please don’t. I don’t want your pity… It makes me feel uncomfortable. Is that understandable? Because- Chris!! Look out!

Hmm, well I can’t say this was something that I was expecting. I’d been listening to Imarad and Maria’s conversation, and well, I hadn’t thought that I’d be hit in the back of a head by a Smeargle. Honestly, the manners of some of these wild pokemon. But then I realised. We must be at the Free Range Coral! Unfortunately, I hadn’t got a clue what to expect, seeing as Smeargle’s could know any possible move under the sun… But enough thinking. I turned round and tried to find the Smeargle which had whacked me but it seemed to have vanished into the trees by the waters edge. I slowly walked up a little bit further ahead (in a straight line) and ended up on a cliff top. It was all quiet, but I knew there was somebody or something nearby. Then I felt a weird presence. Turning round, I saw a Smeargle. He did seem interested in me, or Hera, or Maria, or Quartz. His eyes were fixed on Imarad. I returned my other three pokemon so that they were safe from any harm, and glanced at the painter pokemon. He looked bloody irritated.

Battle: Imarad the female Zangoose vs. Wild Smeargle!

I tried to stay calm. I was never very good at staying calm in situations like this. But I was afraid that my impatience may one day get the better of me if I couldn’t do it, so I tried as hard as I could. I looked at the Smeargle and tried to stay focused – I was practically shaking with the tension building up inside me. Suddenly the Smeargle attacked when I was least expecting it! A flash of light was emitted from his tail, blinding me, putting me off balance, destroying my focus. I clasped my hands to my head and screwed up my eyes, trying the best I could to deal with the Confuse Ray without snapping and attacking my enemy mindlessly, mercilessly. But before I knew it the Smeargle was at it again. I didn’t see his attack this time. I just felt it.

All I could feel was electricity surging through my veins, crackling and hurting every nook and cranny inside of me. It was completely numbing my limbs out but I couldn’t do anything about it. All I managed to do was open my eyes. But the rest of me… I couldn’t feel a thing aside from the pain in my head. My brain felt like it was about to explode and I tried to move my hands away from my ears… I couldn’t. I had been completely paralyzed – The Smeargle had used Thunder Wave. It was so infuriating! I could see him but I couldn’t attack him. I knew he was the opponent but my head was telling me otherwise and I couldn’t do anything about it. I was helpless. Anger was welling up inside of me and I simply wanted to beat that pokemon like an egg…

Although, I couldn’t help feeling that the Smeargle was somewhat handsome. His mocking laugh and his bloodshot eyes… he reminded me of a maniacal hobo… why was that appealing? I don’t know. He was tricking me, I knew it. Yet I couldn’t do a thing about it. My head was pulsating so much it was about to explode; I was completely paralyzed; my opponent had used Attract on me so I couldn’t bring myself to hit him. I was so angry and tense but I was helpless. If only I could do something about it – If only something would happen. I tried to move because my paralysis didn’t feel so bad now but all I managed to do was swing my paw straight into my face and claw myself in my confusion. That was painful. Very painful. One of my claws was stuck in my cheek.

I was trying to stay calm but that just wasn’t possible. I was trying to move but that just wasn’t possible. I was trying to think straight but that just wasn’t possible. I was trying to make my opponent seem ugly to me but that just wasn’t possible. The fury and frustration started to build up inside of me until I couldn’t hold it any longer, and it completely overthrew my confusion and my attraction and it brought feeling back into my body. That Smeargle was sooo going to get it.

I saw his eyes widen as I went in at him. I could hear Chris trying to shout orders to me; didn’t wanna listen. With all my might and speed I slammed into the Smeargle and sent him flying. Before he could retaliate I slashed him with an Aerial Ace. Then I chucked a Secret Power in there too. Stupid Smeargle. What was he thinking? I clawed at him and used a couple more Quick Attacks until he just stopped completely. I stood there, feeling restless, wanting to attack him more. I knew I couldn’t. I stood there until my rage subsided. I had won, but I felt like a monster.

Imarad won - She grew to level 10! She learned Swords Dance naturally and Brick Break as her free TM.

”Erm, Imarad… Well done.”
”I know what you’re thinking. I’m a terrible creature. I lost control and completely lost it. That Smeargle was only trying to win and I beat him up mercilessly. Just… return me.”

MY POV

I did as Imarad asked. I had to admit, her battle strategy was… well, let’s just say it was surprising. I never thought she’d do that as she’d seemed so calm before the battle, but she’s very unpredictable, I guess. I had to let her have some alone time because I knew that if I spoke to her I’d just annoy her or something. Besides, I knew she wouldn’t talk to me anyway. Meh… I guess this is something that I’m going to have to sort out with her at a later date.

[*Murkrow]

I've got my scenario story done. One of the main things said whenever my stories are rated was problems knowing who was talking, so I've tried to fix that. I also just don't really like creating characters outside of the team :-/ That's annoying and I'll try and get some more going soon, but that's why I just skimmed over the plot bit of the scenario. *Shrugs*
The ending is bad, but I wanted it finished :o

~Hannah~

As the doors slid shut behind me, I shivered and pulled my coat tighter, feeling the cold air hitting me instantly. Adjusting my bag carefully, I turned and began to cross the short distance along the path to the car park, where I had left my Pokémon. The aching in my legs was a good reminder of just how unfit I’d let myself become, though I guess that an hour on a running machine would wear anyone out.
Still, it was nice to actually be going to the gym again….I’d been so busy lately that my visits had just been becoming less and less frequent. It was annoying, but at least things were getting organised now, and I was starting to feel happier about devoting some time to myself.
“Finally!”
As per usual, Xol intruded into my thoughts as she came clattering over, her eyes shining. “I was afraid the others were going to freeze before you finished up in there.”
“They were the ones who insisted on staying outside,” I told her back, as we rounded the building and came into full view of the car park. Nearly all the rest of my Pokémon were huddled in a tight group under the trees at the back, all except for two. Archie seemed to have braved the cold and was standing in the centre of the practically deserted space, watching the small navy bird flitting excitedly through the dark sky.
Seeing Fizz also reminded me of something else I had been planning to do.
“Xol? Can you go collect everyone else and bring them over here please? I just need to speak to Fizz for a second.”
“Ok, sure”.
She bounded away from my side, leaving me free to wave Fizz down towards me; Archie immediately began to skitter over, but that was alright. The pair were hard to separate now, anyway.
“Fizz, I’ve got something to give you.”
I delicately placed my bag onto the ground, opening it up and gently beginning to feel around inside, groping around the small oval object nestling in the bottom.
“What’s that?” Fizz landed on my shoulder, receiving a good glimpse into my bag, and easily spotting what was inside. “Hang on….hey, Archie, she’s got an egg.”
“Really?” He answered, pausing beside me as Fizz tried to dive into my bag, obviously aiming to get a better look.
“What is it? And what’re all these…ow…there’s something spiky in here.”
I sighed, grabbed her tail and pulled her back out. “That would be one of the evolution stones.” Pulling them both out, I showed them to two different stones- one a jagged rectangle, fire-red and with a burn mark engraved on one side. The other was slightly larger, rounded, golden-yellow and roughly hewn into the shape of a sun.
“That’s a Fire Stone, obviously. But what’s the other one?” asked Archie curiously, reaching out to tap it.
“A Day Stone. There’s only one Pokémon it will work on.”
“What will work on who?”
Xol was back, a couple of metres ahead of the others; hastily, I shoved the Fire Stone back into my bag- it would eventually be for my Vulpix, Pix, but there was no way she was ready to evolve yet. And I wasn’t going to risk an accident with a Pokémon who I thought was ready to evolve.
“This. It’s a Day Stone.”
“Oh.”
“It’s a what?” questioned Tropi, arriving with the others and sticking her head out to sniff it. I quickly withdrew my hand; wrapped round the Tropius’ neck was my Huntail, Fera, who grinned and hissed at me in greeting.
“Right. Well…Harle?”
Hearing her name, the Eevee raised her head and curiously trotted round Shade’s legs to stand by me, staring up at the stone. I reached down and gave her a head rub, letting her have a good look at the Day Stone but being careful not to let her touch it.
“I think I know what that does,” she spoke quietly, looking nervous. “I’ll evolve, right? What will it make me become?”
“I’m guessing by the name…an Espeon?”
I nodded to show Xol was correct, then lowered my gaze back to Harle.
“They’re the psychic ones aren’t they?” she asked, looking less cautious when I nodded.“They look pretty nice.”
She still looked apprehensive though, so I dropped the stone into Xol’s claws, before scooping the Eevee up.

~Fizz~

I was still surprised that Hannah thought Harle was mature enough to evolve. She still spent most of the time acting like a little cute kid, and imagining her as an Espeon just seemed…well, wrong.
Whatever was about to happen at that time though, was suddenly interrupted as a light began to shine from Hannah’s open bag. From my position on her shoulder, I could see the egg glowing brightly, a dark shape silhouetted in the centre.
“It’s hatching!”
Placing Harle back on the floor, she reached inside and pulled out the small spherical object. Small cracks had already began to work their way over the surface- everyone was staring at it, spellbound, when the cracks rapidly darkened in colour, spread over the whole surface and shattered. The tiny bits of shell crumbled onto the ground as the small furry blob shifted and squeaked.
Of course, Xol broke the silence.
“It’s a Zigzagoon?”
“What’s the problem with that?”
“Talk about common.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” she snapped back, not waiting for an answer before she picked the tiny little fluff ball up. It squealed again and struggled slightly, revealing a furry face with dark eyes and a cute little grin.
“Awww, that is so cute,” I chirped, completely taken in by his adorable little face, and the fact he could literally fit into one of Hannah’s hands.
“Well at least somebody beside me likes him.”
“And when did we say we didn’t like him?” Grei inquired,[color=silver] “what she says doesn’t stand for the rest of our opinions.”
“‘She’ is your mum, you know,” reminded Heat Wave.
“In name only.”
“Enough of that. Hey cutie..,” I leant forward a little to attract Zigzagoon’s attention, trying to look as harmless as possible so he wouldn’t be scared. “What’s your name….going to be?”
“Well, seeing as he’s male, I think Ted suits him.”
“Oh please.”
“Shut up Xol. Come on cutie, let’s see you then. Can he walk? Let’s see him walk.”
“I don’t really think he will be able too yet.” Nevertheless, she lowered him tenderly down, untangling his claws from her coat to set him on the cold floor. He squirmed, raised a paw automatically, then squeaked and collapsed in a whining heap.
“That was unsuccessful,” Archie commented, which was unhelpful. I gave him a quick glare, but he just shrugged in response and gave me a ‘well, it’s true’ look.
“Excuse me.”
We all turned to look at Harle, who walked forward slowly, first to sniff the shuffling fluff blob then to look –strangely seriously- back at the stone still cradled in Xol’s claws.
“I….I don’t want to, to……..I’d like to use that now please.”
Talk about change of heart.

~Harlequin~

Ted coughed and bulldozed into my side accidentally as he attempted to stand again; he thumped onto his side and stared up at me, waving his legs round randomly.
Fizz was right when she said he was cute, he was adorable, but something about his helplessness had locked into my mind. I felt like I’d suddenly grown up.
Everyone had treated me as the baby of the team, even after Bakura had been born. It hadn’t bothered me. I’d liked it. Yet now my place was taken by him- I didn’t mind; it would be fun to have and take part in looking after him. But it felt like as long as I stayed like this, I’d still be the baby in everyone’s eyes. I wanted them to take me seriously.
Releasing at that point that I was still being watched by the rest, I swallowed, nodded then stepped forward where I could stretch out a paw and touch the stone.
It was rough against my skin- then it suddenly flashed, pure white, which travelled up my paw, along my leg and across my whole body. My sight became filled with an incredible light, as I felt my body lengthening, felt it being pulled out of shape. The light faded.

I evolved into an Espeon!

I had unconsciously closed my eyes while I was evolving- now I opened them and felt a strange shudder run through me. My sight had sharpened; everything was clear-cut, sharply defined figures staring back at me.
And a pressure. Constant, pushing against my body on all sides. It felt like a light blanket had just wrapped round my body, light, but heavy enough to constantly be there, continuously making my skin tingle and my senses race.
“Are you alright?” Kai asked me, stepping forward- and it was as thought the blanket had tightened. I felt the pressure on my body increase from the direction he was walking.
“I’m fine. Really,” I just about managed to say, aware that my voice was shaking. None of them looked very convinced.
“Well, seeing as you’ve evolved now…I guess I might as well give you this now.”
I looked over my shoulder to look at Hannah- who had scooped Ted back up again- and was holding out a box towards me. I winced against the pressure, so she placed it on the ground to let me come to it rather than the other way round. It was eye-shaped and purple, but I could sense the power radiating from it. A quick tap was enough to activate it, before I settled back and let the power sink into me.
“What sort of TM was that?” said Latino, flying down to poke at it. “It’s a Psychic move, that’s obvious, but what one?”
Pinning my ears back, I stepped away from him, slithering out of the little huddle that had been formed, as Hannah answered him.
“Psycho Boost. I received it months ago, before Harle had even been born. I’ve been saving it ever since.”
“I appreciate it. Thank you,” I called back to her, finally beginning to feel more relaxed, as I moved a few more metres away from the cluster of bodies.

~Fizz~

“Oww, my legs…they were aching before, crouching down like this isn’t helping.”
Digging my claws into her shoulder as she straightened up, I felt a small tug at my own claws- Ted had scrambled up a bit and playfully sunk his tiny little teeth into me.
“Hey, sweetie…don’t do that.”
“You are way overdoing it,” Xol crossed her arms defiantly, then frowned. “What did Hannah need to talk to you about, anyway?”
“What?”
“Oh yes, sorry, Fizz. With Ted and Harle evolving, it was pushed out of my mind. Here, I bought you this.” Scrabbling around in her bag again, she pulled out a narrow, blue coloured collar, which she lifted up so I could see it properly.
“It’s a Pokémon Collar. It will increase your attack in battle, and seeing as I know any battles you’ll be fighting in now are even more important to you, it should help.”
“I’m sure it will, thanks.”
Taking it from her hand, I dropped down next to Archie, letting him loop it round my neck.
“Now that’s all done, we may as well get out of here, or else anybody still in the gym are going to be wondering what the hell I’m still doing here despite leaving twenty minutes ago.”
“Now that would be fun,” Fera hissed, earning some odd looks, before there was a general bustle and we all began to wander towards the open gates. Archie gave me a wave and a nod; I understood what he meant and flew eagerly up into the air as he fell into step beside Tropi.

~Archie~

Bakura smiled at me nervously, keeping closer to Tropi, who half-smiled, then jolted her neck back as Fera hissed enthusiastically. Grei laughed, but Tikish just flicked his tail distractedly throwing a look in Harle’s direction. She was walking slight ahead of us, but at least five metres to the side, her head down.
A mournful sounding voice spoke from behind, making me jump.
“She doesn’t look like she wants to play, does she?” Pix padded past me, bleakly looking round at the Espeon, who pinned her ears back briefly, then sped up, drawing further away from us.
“She’ll get over it, Pix,” Kai said softly, “she probably underestimated how different things would be when she evolved. I bet she thought things would be just the same. She didn’t realise…well, she didn’t think it over properly.”
Pix stared at him curiously, picking up on his hesitation. He shook his head and ran off, avoiding looking to the left, to prevent from seeing Fera.
By now, we’d passed through the gates and had turned onto the main road, though it was unsurprisingly empty- of course, most people were inside, seeing no reason to force themselves out into the cold. Harle was taking advantage of this and had crossed over to walk along in the middle of the road, keeping her distance from everything. Fizz had been joined by Latino, swooping above us in the dark, invisible, but occasionally swooping down to skim our heads. Heat Wave had clambered onto Shade’s back and the two were now prancing along, ahead of us all. Then came Hannah, Xol, Kai and Ted, his tiny little head barely visible, sticking over Hannah’s shoulder. Me, Bakura, Tropitorm, Fera, Pix and Tikish were last, lagging behind as we talked.
Pix still hadn’t got what had come over Harle, so I tried to explain it, with help from Tropi.
“One thing about Espeons is their ability to predict attacks, right?”
“If you say so.”
“That’s because they can sense stimuli that we can’t feel. Changes in the air can be picked up by them, and used in battle to evade moves. Though of course, they pick this kind of information up all the time, not just in battle.”
“And?”
“Then don’t you see?”-heck, Tropi sounded patient, a first for her- “she’s coming under all this pressure from these invisible stimuli, and she’s just not used to it. But as she begins to become more comfortable with everything, then she will no doubt revert to how she used to be.”
“Oh.”
“What’s a stimuli?” Bakura asked Tropi, looking confused. Chuckling, I just glanced round the area, when I noticed that everyone ahead had stopped, crowding round, and from what I could make out, looking at Ted.
“Hey everyone, what’s up?”

~Fizz~

I heard Archie call out, but as I turned to answer, Ted squeaked, louder this time, sitting tense in Hannah’s arms, his ears pricked, sniffing enthusiastically at the air again and again.
“Wonder what he’s picking up?” Perched on Shade’s head, Heat Wave titled her own head to one side, staring at the baby Zigzagoon. Shade snorted nervously, flicking her ears back and forth, throwing her head back- Heat yelped and clawed at the Ponyta’s fur to regain her balance-, seeing if she could pick up what Ted was reacting to.
Ted squirmed, stretching his body as high as he could, looking out to the left, over into the road. He squeaked again, and immediately, a shriek from Harle came as a response.
She was bristling, staring into the dark of a side road leading away to the left. Nothing was moving, on the street or in any of the darkened gardens, but Harle was warily beginning to pace forwards, scanning the area. She’d definitely picked up on something- and Ted was backing her up there, still eagerly sniffing the air, his attention focused.
“Well, do we do the clever thing- not act like idiots and go see what it is, go home, pretend it never happened- or do the stupid thing and go and check?” Xol addressed the rest of us.
“What do you choose?” Kai asked her, but she coughed, then shook her head at him.
“I don’t want to influence the rest of you,” was all she would say.
What a wonderful coincidence.
“Let’s go,” screeched Fera, “we don’t want to be boring.”
“What’s boring about keeping out of trouble?” Shade frowned.
“I’d like it if there were battles involved,” I said quietly, which got me some sympathetic looks, including from Hannah. It went without saying I was close to evolving, something I was desperate to achieve.
“Well, if we use Harle and Ted to scout for trouble, we would be able to avoid a sneak attack,” Grei thought out loud; Tikish nodded, and Tropi growled. “Nobody would be stupid enough to sneak attack something like me.”
Stomping the ground viciously, she lifted both her wings threateningly, and glared round at us, daring anyone to disagree with her.
“That Huntail round your neck certainly adds to your threat,” noted Archie.
“What are you doing? What are we going to do?” Harle had turned back to face us, her black body seeming to fade into the dark.
Xol grinned in response, and Bakura groaned, hiding his face against Tropi’s leg. She smiled, used her wings to lift him onto her back, before starting to pound her way across the road, as Harle sighed.
“Come on then,” Latino told me, flying past. I followed him keeping close- I wasn’t naturally nocturnal, but Latino was, so keeping near to him was a good enough idea for me.

~Harlequin~

As Tropi came closer, I edged away, padding closer to the side-road entrance. Big surprise that we were going to investigate….not. Closing my eyes to sharpen my other senses, I could feel the disturbance in the air, and walked on, using the change in pressure as a guide where to go.
“Don’t go too far,” Latino called down, “stay close.”
Nodding to show I’d heard, I was relieved when he flew up higher. I had figured out already I was more sensitive to Dark types, sense-wise. Hooves revealed Shade cantering past; instinct made me want to draw back, but I knew I was going to have to bide it out this time. She moved in a wide circle round, her flames illuminating the silent gardens and empty paths.

~Hannah~

Holding Ted close as he squirmed and yelped, I kept a close eye on Harle; she’d stopped again, quivering, her forked tail raised and twitching, ever so slowly, from side to side.
Then abruptly, she flattened her body down, swerved to the side and melted away into the shadows.
“I think that’s a hint,” Xol flicked her head-feather forwards, watching the space where Harle had stood.
Sure enough, two shadows detached themselves from the blackness ahead, sauntering lithely towards us.
“Shade, think you could give us some more light?” whispered Archie to the Ponyta as she cantered back to us; she nodded and immediately flared up her flames, creating distorted shadows that lurched over the silent background, but highlighting the approaching Pokémon. Their cream fur looked dull in the flickering light, the dark stripes running along their bodies contrasting, faded brown against the white.
“That’s why he was reacting, he must know what Linoone smell like, instinctively,” Archie pointed out.
“Hannah?” Fizz and Latino returned, Fizz landing cautiously on my shoulder. “If that’s how Ted will look when he evolves, remind me to get hold of an Everstone for him, ok?”
“Be serious, Fizz,” muttered Xol, flexing her claws in readiness.
“I was serious,” she replied, “that is, well, it isn’t cute, for sure. They’re horrible.”
“Keep your voice down.”
“Can any of you see their trainer?” I asked- I’d been trying to scan around, specifically behind the Linoone, but even with Shade’s light, my eyes weren’t strong enough to discern the shadows.
“I’ve got a feeling that’s where Harle vanished too.”
“Great.” I sighed, “a black Espeon going after a terrorist, they won’t be too interested in her, will they?”
Nobody answered me at that, because both Linoone apparently had decided that they weren’t going to hang around anymore. They both plunged across the space between us in an instant, canines flashing and their claws unsheathed.
“Tropi?”
Exactly as she’d suggested, my Tropius was perfectly prepared for any such attack- her size more than accounted for her low level; as the nearest Linoone charged, she lashed out with her neck, catching him mid leap, with enough force to send him smashing backwards. Fera helped as well, her mouth snapping open and tearing a clump of fur from his side as he fell.
Reared up on her hind legs, Shade was threatening the other one, stabbing forwards with her front hooves as the Pokémon feinted in front of her.
“This won’t really get us anywhere,” Xol predicted, probably accurately enough, “Fizz, Archie, you two are the best to fight these two- go.”
“Not me,” stated Archie, shaking his head, “let Fizz handle them; take each one on separately, she can win.”
Xol didn’t look very convinced at that, but then Fizz propelled herself off of my shoulder, her eyes steely, a look of anticipation shining in them.

Fight
Fizz (Taillow F L18)
Vs
Linoone (M L25) and Linoone (F L25)

~Fizz~

“Take them on separately,” that’s what Archie had said. It sounded like a good way to go about doing it, but even as I stretched my wings out and hurtled into position, both recoiled, matching each other’s moves almost perfectly.
Right.
I was loathe to give them the first hit in battle, so it seemed a good bet to focus my energy and launch a long range move. And that meant Air Cutter.
Stretching my wings to their full length, the air vibrated round my body as the energy pulsed through them. Slowly, a line of white light began to materialise, running from the tip of one wing, across my body to the other one; as the line thickened, and the light flared stronger, I looked at my target. Then pounded both wings together, condensing the light which shot out as an arrow shaped light. The speed was enough to send it hurtling directly into the hide of the male Linoone- quick enough to ensure he couldn’t dodge, but enough to cause him to grunt in pain.
But then he changed. Not physically, but, something about him was different. Balancing on his hind legs, he just stared back at me.
I could see the mark in his fur where my attack had hit-could see the chunk where his fur was missing, in the spot where Fera had caught hold. I hated her for that. I hated myself. Why had I attacked him? What had he done to me?
He dropped down and slunk closer, watching me all the way; it was so lucky that he didn’t seem to mind what I’d done…he smiled at me, how had I thought that he wasn’t cute?
Was I insane?
He was cute. Very.
And so close.
Feeling myself blush, I still lowered my wings and allowed my body to drop and land on the ground in front of him. We were about a metre apart now, his eyes sparkling, his smile…I blushed even more as he edged closer.

~Archie~

“Can we try and knock her out of it? This is embarrassing. She’s going to be taken out in a couple of minutes but she’ll just sit there and take it, as long as he’s watching her.”
Privately, I agreed with Xol. But mostly because I knew Fizz needed to win this. Xol didn’t care about whether she won or not- there had been uneasiness between the two of them ever since they’d conflicted over me. When I was in care.
There was also the fact that Fizz was a friend and I didn’t like to see her reduced to this.
The attack came, of course. The female Linoone, who had been patiently waiting in the background as her partner attracted Fizz came lunging forward, crashing straight into the Taillow with a Headbutt. Fizz was so light, it completely knocked her down, vanishing under the lithe, streamlined body.
Odd. While she was at it, the male stepped away, slinking to run to one of the gardens nearby, sinking his claws into the mud, kicking it up, rolling in it, until he was caked, head to toe.
The he ran back, took up his position to keep Fizz enthralled, while his partner went and repeated the same manoeuvre.
Strange, they looked pretty much identical now, mud covered Pokémon statues…
“Uh oh,” I breathed, “I know what that is….can Linoone learn electric attacks?”
“Yes. I checked what moves Zigzagoon can learn before Ted was born and they…oh shit.”
“What? What have we missed?”
“They just used Mud Sport. And that provides resistance to electric moves…and if they felt the need to use it, then what does that suggest?”
The response I got to that wasn’t what I’d expected, but it was enough to prove I was right. A drop of rain came and plopped onto my shell. More followed, the light pattering quickly changing to an incessant drumming. The female was using Rain Dance. Looking to the heavens, waving her arms round, dancing awkwardly.
And Fizz didn’t care. She was cuddled up against the male now, eyes closed happily, as his eyes shone, watching the downpour.
“You stupid Taillow, MOVE. You’re gonna be electrocuted.”
A rumble sounded from above; a horrible, growling noise, that echoed out, before the clouds lit up, static crackling, the rain lashing down; automatically, we’d all huddled together again, hiding under Tropi’s wings. The clouds exploded, a massive bolt of lighting shooting down, hitting the two figures of Fizz and the male Linoone; tiny sparks lashed everywhere, static bolts crackled, intense light highlighting everything in accurate detail.

~Fizz~

One second I was blank, happy to be cuddling close to him, then, electricity? Pain wrenching through my muscles, awful, gripping at my lungs, sickening pain. Yet on one side of my body-strange, it hurt, but was subdued. Less painful. Weird.
The attack cut out. I was staggering on my own- he’d moved away, he, he was muddy. Runny globules of mud, admittably, but even the strength of the rain wasn’t enough to wash it off. Yet he was not entirely covered. Where I had cuddled against his side, the mud was smeared, his white fur sticking through, static. The mud that had been there was instead caked over my side.
That was why.
He was smirking, seemingly quite pleased with what he’d pulled off.
Angry that I’d allowed myself to fall for him, wanting to wipe that smirk off his face; he wasn’t clever, if he truly was, he’d have moved away, he was so close, how generous of him.
Using my wing on the side that had gained some of his mud protection, it flashed white, before I bounced up and swung it into his face. This gave me the satisfaction of seeing his face crumple, his eyes rolling in alarm and surprise. Good.
Another crash.
The sky ripped open again.
What I would give to know Protect or Detect right about now.
But I didn’t, so I did the next best thing. In the couple of seconds before the lightning bolt hit, I accelerated at him, deliberately aiming and spinning, not so I’d cause maximum damage, but simply so that I could get as covered in the filthy mud covering his chest as I could.
It was horrible as well; I could feel it clinging and sticking to my feathers, weighting me down. But when the bolt hit me, I didn’t care if it was all that. The whole sensation of being electrocuted was numb, I could feel it, but rather than the all-consuming pain an electric attack normally caused me, it was simply a rush of static that tingled rather than hurt.
It was over rather quickly, or it may have been because I wasn’t doubled over in agony. Not that I was complaining or anything. I just didn’t want to give her the opportunity to launch a third Thunder.

~Xolotle~

She was a disgusting sight right about now, practically black with mud. Though I’d have to admit, it had worked. Their Rain Dance had backfired by wetting the mud they’d covered themselves in, allowing her to gain some resistance to electric attacks. Though she seemed intent on getting rid of the rain at the moment.
Raising her wings, she stared up into the bleak sky, calling in a high-pitched chirp; a ball of fire began to blaze around her body that exploded upwards, forming a jet of fire that tore through the storm clouds, dispersing them. Another flash of lightning and a bolt came spiralling down, but, unguided by the water, it lurched off course, cracking down to strike the pavement instead.
Lovely.

~Fizz~

Undaunted, the female Linoone had changed tactics, creating a beam of solid ice that sucked in all the cold air from around and rushed towards me.
I feinted to the right, dodged, then launched straight into an Aerial Ace, whipping round in a blur-sending the now dry mud showering in all directions- before slamming into her face, rolling round, then smashing into her side. She jerked to the side to avoid me, stumbled and went down, leaving me free to accelerate forwards and beat her partner round the face.
Shrieking angrily, he ducked his head and tried to headbutt me, but it was simple to glide beneath him. Hearing him crunch into the ground, I giggled to myself, then circled round to land opposite them.
Under the faint rays filtering down from the sky- my Sunny Day had created a miniature sun, but its power was no more than an ordinary streetlight would be-, we regarded each other tentatively. Both of them were panting now, the male more so, but despite that, my legs were aching and though the mud had mostly fallen off my body, I still felt weighed down; my wings were trembling and I was breathing harshly. The first two attacks had really taken a lot out of me.
The female broke through the silence, stretching out her claws and racing towards me, teeth bared - I didn’t recognise the attack, but there was an easy way to evade it. Drawing on my knowledge of Faint Attack, I slipped away, shuffling my way round behind her as she skidded to a confused halt.
From there, it was a simple jump to latch onto her head and send the dark energy crackling throughout her body. Her legs buckled and she twisted in surprise and went down again, snarling as her head smacked against the rock-hard concrete.
I took off after that, wishing to get back into my element.
“Fizz, don’t run, you’ve knocked her over, beat her,” shouted Xol at me, which really helped. I knew that I should have taken the opportunity to finish off at least one of them, but at that moment I just wanted to get away. Now I was flying again, the awful nagging pain in my wings showed how much damage my muscles and body had received.
It was actually really tempting to call Archie into the fight to help me out.
The rain began to fall again, she was dancing, summoning the rain clouds again. By her side, he crouched low, hissing maliciously up at me.
Oh go ahead.
The rumble of thunder.
Here’s hoping it takes me down right away, I don’t want to be….hang on.
My pulse raced as the realisation of what I had just thought came to my mind.
I wasn’t completely sure if I’d be able to pull it off, but it wasn’t as if I had lots to lose. If I didn’t try it I’d go down anyway. Yeah. Let’s go. Really screw them up.
Pulling in my wings, I hear the familiar roar of lightning above the pounding rain, before the bolt thrust downwards and shot through my body.
It was hell. Pure and utter hell. I wasn’t grounded, wasn’t even trying to fly, just letting my body be battered around as the horrible electricity plummeted through my body. My mind was growing numb, unable to focus on anything else except the terrible crackling filling my mind. I could feel myself blacking out-
The jolt. Of power. Scouring through my body even as it convulsed.
Yay.

~Archie~

A light began to shine inside the thick yellow of the lightning. White, expanding across, until there was a band, bright white against the yellow.
The “ooohs” coming from a couple of the others showed that there were others among us who had figured out what was happening. And from the identical looks of horror on both Linoone’s faces, they had worked it out as well.
“Is she evolving?” Bakura whispered in awe, but the lightning bolt exploded before anyone could answer.
The gigantic white bird pulled in its wings, banking, even as the static of paralysis writhed round its wings. From its height, it slowly turned until it was directly above its opponents, who screamed in alarm and spun round to flee.
It was worthless, of course, though. The bird stalled and just dropped, falling like a stone to crash onto their flailing bodies as they ran; the light exploded out, then faded away, revealing the two unconscious Pokémon with the bird gliding weakly above them.

~Fizz~

I won!
I grew to L22!
I learnt Double Team by level and Façade as my free TM!

I couldn’t remember feeling this weak before in my whole life- coupled with the paralysis that was still stinging my body, I wished I could curl up and go to sleep.
The light put a stop to that; creeping into my vision, engulfing everything as my body swelled, growing, my wings and tail lengthening, my body widening….

I evolved into a Swellow!

Smiling, despite my tiredness, I managed to regain some composure and glide down to greet my friends, landing painfully on the ground in front of them. Archie crawled forwards to place a comforting claw on my leg and winked up at me; I nodded in acknowledgement then groaned as another shudder rippled through my body.

~Hannah~

“Shall I carry her?” Tropi offered helpfully.
“If she wants to, though..Fizz, do you want to go inside your Poké Ball?” I knelt down to stroke her head as she shuddered, before looking up and giving me a grin.
“Hey. I just beat up my two hardest opponents, I’m not going to give up now.”
“Have it your way.” Putting my arm round her body, I struggled up, lifting and placing her onto the Tropius’ ready back. Bakura slithered down to the ground to make room, then rubbed against Tropi’s legs.
Settling, Fizz suddenly looked up and straight at me.
“Hey, where’s cutie?”
“Relax, he’s fine,” I tenderly pulled the baby from my jacket pocket, where he had been curled up in a tiny ball. “He hid there when the lightning started crashing.”
“Thankfully. Poor little one; though at least he didn’t get to see a couple of his kind-of species being thrashed. It might have put him off me for life.”
“Imagine that.”
“Shut it.”
“No. Stop telling me what to do, birdy.”
“Never in your life, cat.”
Oh good grief.
Cuddling Ted closer – he was still whimpering slightly- I turned to look back beyond the crumpled bodies of the Linoone, where my Espeon was sitting- and had been sitting throughout most the of the battle. She’d turned up just after Fizz had launched her Air Cutter, and had settled down to observe from there.
Delicately moving, she now trotted over, lowering her to head to drop the two objects by my feet, before retreating one or two metres back. Two Poké Balls.
“They were dropped further on up the road.”
“Great,” I sighed, “completely the opposite to what I hoped would happen.”
“You wanted to find…them?”
“Kind of. Last time something like this happened, I didn’t get very involved…might have been nicer to get more involved this time.”
“You have a strange definition of nice,” Xol pointed out, butting into the conversation. “Well, what are we going to do now? With them? Dare I say it- dump them somewhere? We could release them.”
“That might be the best thing,” answered Harle thoughtfully, “if we leave the Poké Balls with them, they can decide what they want to do.”
“You read my thoughts,” smirked Xol, “hang on, you’re standing near us, but not flinching.”
“I know. I can still sense everything, but the, well, the shock has gone. I can feel stuff, sense it, but it’s not so unbearable, as long as I stay a distance away. I just know when you’re about to move, that’s strange.”
“I’ll bet. Now, guys, perhaps we should move on now? Er, people are beginning to come out and look at us…this is a residential area you know. And those two, they’re coming round.”
He was right- they were blinking, stretching awkwardly, looking dazed.
“Give them the Poké Balls back,” suggested Xol; I nodded and tossed the two balls so that they clattered onto the ground in front of the Linoone. They flinched, but then suddenly became aware of their audience, grabbed the balls and fled.
That’s sorted out then.
“Just smile and walk off,” said Xol, nudging my leg, “act like nothing has happened so we won’t get questioned.”
A middle-aged man was staring at us from the doorway where the Linoone had scooped up the mud, watching us warily; I forced a smile, gave Xol a kick to get her moving, then tried to walk causally away, even though the whispers had started up behind.
Ignore them, ignore them.
Ted squeaked; Fizz yawned, her head drooping onto the back of Tropi’s neck; Archie looked up at her and chuckled; the rest were bunched up, murmuring among themselves; smiling slightly, I tugged my jacket closer and shivered as the cold began to bite again.

[Sheik]

When we write our stories, can we change some things?

What I wanted to do was write my stories like I'm writing a fanfic, but instead of taking place in the Dragontamers location (can't remember the name of the country), what if I wanted to write my scenarios as if I'm in Kanto, Johto, or Hoenn?

I would still make sure the scenarios were the same (i.e. I wouldn't fight a level 12 Pidgey when the scenario requires a level 15 Rattata), and if I have to, like with this scenario, I will make it fit to where the two Team Rocket factions are fighting, except it would be in a different location. Can I do that?

[Cheesey]

But that kind of defeats the point of it being a scenario, doesn't it? You have to write your stories as if you're in Ulthuan, because if you don't... Well, you're not really being part of the adopted pokemon community. And, if you did write is as if it were set in Kanto/Johto/Hoenn, then other people might copy you, and it would all get too confusing. So no, Dragon Tamer battles should be set in Ulthuan, as it was originally intended.

[Lady Vulpix]

Thanks, Karin! Both for the stamps and for your comments. I'm glad you liked it.

Cheesey, you can have 9 stamps for your story. Good battle, on both sides! Though it would be interesting to know why the Smeargles were attacking in the first place. Imarad's story was really sad. Just a few minor details: it's Free Range Corral, not Coral. And when Maria first spoke she mixed past and present tenses. Though it was nice to finally see her at the Battle Range. I hope I get to see more of her soon. ¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢

[Sheik]

But that kind of defeats the point of it being a scenario, doesn't it? You have to write your stories as if you're in Ulthuan, because if you don't... Well, you're not really being part of the adopted pokemon community. And, if you did write is as if it were set in Kanto/Johto/Hoenn, then other people might copy you, and it would all get too confusing. So no, Dragon Tamer battles should be set in Ulthuan, as it was originally intended.

This is true. However, could I possibly get a map of Ulthuan, so that I know where certain things are, such as cities and certain points of interest? It would be a chore to trace back Ulthuan's roots, and read everything up to what's happened now.... I don't even think anyone has the sources for me to do that. Ok... if someone could get me a map of Ulthuan, that would be most helpful and appreciated.

[The_Missing_Link]

Here's a site that links to the map (scroll down a bit). I don't know the whole story either so I made things up as I went along. If it was wrong, nobody corrected me so I think you should be fine

[Lady Vulpix]

Becca gets a stamp, and so does Cheesey.

Ade and I are working on a Dragon Tamers FAQ to answer questions like this one, but it may take some time. The person who created most of the background is now gone from the board, but the rest of us know enough pieces of the story to make up whatever we may be missing and keep it coherent. The most important thing you need to know about locations is that the Dragon Tamers base is in Sector Alpha, the capital of Caledor (you can see Caledor in the map Becca has linked you to). It's a big city with everything that implies, and a mixture of modern and ancient constructions. Ulthuan has a history that dates back to many centuries in the past, and has known many wars. If you need to know any details for your stories, don't be afraid to ask anything you'd like to know.

[AntiAsh Superstar]

Part one of a fun little Pandora mini-plot made up entirely from RBGs. Can she battle a pokémon from the Free Range Corral next, please? *pays 7 stamps*

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"Hello? Hello?" She could hear the words coming from somewhere, alright, but hadn't the inclination to find out where they were coming from. What use had she for words now? They weren't the words she wanted to hear; henceforth she would ignore them for now. Until at least that which had been taken away could be replaced. "You have to try and eat, dear. You'll waste away if you don't." A long pause. Whoever was talking, she simply didn't want to listen. What did they know? Maybe it was for the best that she wasted away. For all of a sudden life didn't seem worth living any longer. What use was a life where everything had been taken away? "Okay, if you won't feed yourself then I'm going to have to do it for you. I'm sorry, but you don't really leave me with any choice." All of a sudden hands grasped her jaws , forcing her mouth open. She could feel something being placed into her mouth and, more out of reflex than anything else, so she chewed and swallowed. Again this happened. And again. The food wasn't what she would call great, especially after a lifetime of being used to the finer foods that Ulthuan had to offer. But it filled a hole that she hadn't noticed until now. "That's a good girl." A hand petted her head with affection, although it wasn't the hand she would have liked to have been touching her at the time. But she knew that the hand she needed more than any other had been stopped from touching her. In her darkest hour, they had cut off those she needed the most. Wordlessly she stared at the cracks in the tiled floor, finding a remarkable interest in the unremovable grime that had lodged itself in there. Wordlessly she stared, as the mystery voice took its leave. She heard it all. The soft click of shoes upon bare tiles, the creaking of the door hinges. The soft voices coming from a point just outside of her immediate vicinity. She could hear it all.

"I'm worried for that one. She doesn't make a sound, she doesn't move, all she does is stare straight ahead. The most activity we've seen from her since Nurse Joy brought her here was a full half hour of just crying silently. I don't know what to make of it."
"Our first mission should be to get her to communicate once again. Until she can do that I'm afraid there's really very little that we can do for her. After all, disorders of the mind are almost impossible to diagnose without at least some sort of feedback. Until we get some kind of attempt at speech from her I'm afraid we'll just have to keep on as we have been doing."
"I feel sorry for her. Nurse Joy told me what was going on, what that guy Lord Absol from the Guild had ordered. Makes me feel sick to think that someone could be so cold as to do something like that to an innocent pokémon. I mean, she still has a trainer. He must be worried sick about her! To ban him from seeing her altogether... that's just plain wrong. It's almost like they want her to be ill!"
"Now now, Sasha. One mustn't speak ill of the Guild. It's always disheartening when one that callous rises into power, true, but the Guild itself couldn't ever be called evil. Lord Absol's actions, whatever his motives are, have left us in a terrible pickle, yes, but one mustn't judge the entire group through one man's actions. There are more good hearts than wicked ones ruling this realm, at least that's how it appears to me. Otherwise our provinces would simply become more Nagarythes." A deep sigh. "I'd like to try her with some interaction tomorrow. See if another pokémon can jog some life into her. How is Kakusei lately?"
"Baffling as ever. It's been an entire week now, this has to be his longest spell ever and yet he's still going strong. I'm not sure if we should call for his help, though. His condition may make him irrational."
"Ah, well, there's the thing! Sometimes I think he's the most sane one amongst us all. I'd like for him to take this... Pandora her breakfast tomorrow, see if that perks her up...."

That was it. That was as much as she could bear to hear. All of a sudden the tears were flowing again. Oh yes, she remembered it all most clearly. The hospitalization had been getting her down, most terribly. She had been missing the constant companionship of being a part of an active team. And although the torrential rain of visitors had affirmed her faith in her friends to some extent; even some trainers other than her own had passed by to offer their best wishes. It was always good to have a heart-to-heart with Lagi, or to watch Sugar race around the room knocking everything over, or to deliberately try and confuse Gina by taking advantage of her remarkable knack for only every really semi-understanding pokémon tongue. And as for her actual teammates it was hard to keep them away. Milliardo in particular seemed to be spending every waking moment by her side, using his sneaky powers as an Umbreon to sneak in even when he wasn't supposed to and bring a smile to her face with his cheeky witticisms. Still, the confinement had been making her miserable in spite of all of that. And then that Absol fellow had showed up. He had put a stop to everything. And now she was isolated. Isolated and alone. Just as she deserved to be. After all, had she not seen this happening? Had she not received full warning of all of this in the dreams of the past week? She hadn't acted upon them, trying hard to dismiss them as mere nightmares. And for not heeding the warnings... well, she was as guilty as that Lord Absol. At least that was how Pandora saw things.
"Pandora, you..." Abruptly the Houndour sat up in her little cot and stared down at her body thrugh the haze of the tears that blinkered her eyes. "You stupid thing! You stupid, stupid, stupid thing!" Now the tears were flowing freely. "You brought it all on yourself! I hate you! I HATE YOU!!!" The fog was descending again, that terrible, all-consuming haze that always seemed to save itself for either battle or Pandora's moments of self-reflection. Bad things always kept seeming to happen to her. And why? Because she was tainted. She had been tainted from the moment she was born. Her heritage wasn't much to be proud of, after all. The daughter of two other Houndour, one a fragile yet loving thing, the other so driven to distraction by his prophetic powers that he had blanked all around him. Pandora seemed to have picked up both traits, and they were characteristics that didn't sit well together. "All I do is make things more complicated. Because I never actually think, do I, my mind won't let me. Look at that whole Dark Cloak business." The incident in question stemmed from the one time Pandora allowed her prophetic dreams to guide her actions, before she became convinced that she was only dreaming in possibilities rather than certanties. She had dreamt of a need to join the rising army of the sinister Dark Cloak cult, so she had followed it. And it had been quite entertaining for a time. The organisation of the army was such that the pokémon and humans within it kept their affairs quite separate. She had no need to worry about the sinister motives of her masters. She just followed her orders without feeling, for at the end of the day there was always a reassuring pat on the back from her colleagues. The remarkably noble Amon, for example, an Umbreon whom she had considered the closest thing to a big brother she had ever known. Or her commander, the eccentric yet deadly bundle of energy referred to as Lady Rhiannon, who never seemed to lose sight of her odd form of compassion no matter haw dark the deeds were that she was forced to perform. Come to think of it, her time in the Dark Cloak had been the first time in her life that she had felt like part of a family. A twisted, warped family, yes, but a family nonetheless. So she could bitch about them all she liked, but in actual fact she probably wouldn't have been alive today without Amon's careful tutiledge or Rhiannon's uncanny ability to switch between ruthless general one moment and sympathetic, caring friend the next. Still, she had done some terrible things back then. And no amount of help was going to help her to forgive herself for that. She was no Rhiannon. She couldn't just shrug off her mistakes and move on. Pandora's mistakes stayed with her, covering her with a layer of filth and cruelty. "Complications. That's all I bring. That's all I'll ever bring." Still sobbing, the Houndour subconsciously began lightly scratching at one of her front legs. Lightly at first, but the more she scratched, the greater the compulsion to dig deeper into her flesh became. "That's all I'll ever bring!!!!" All of a sudden the claws became all too sharp. All of a sudden the swipe at her own body became all too real. All of a sudden the simple scratching became a Slash attack, cutting a deep gash into her front leg. And all of a sudden Pandora curled up and cried herself to sleep, with only the pain in her leg to remind her that she was even there at all.

"Morning!" Pandora was awoken by an overly chirpy voice cutting deeply into her slumber. Groggily she opened her eyes to find a grinning Plusle staring into her face, carrying a bowl of water in one paw and a bowl of regulation Pokéchow in the other. "Breakfast is served, madame. Bon appetit."
"I'm not hungry," Pandora mumbled, trying very hard to withdraw into the blankets covering her body. Anything other than have to face anybody after what had happened last night!
"Sure you're hungry. Being in this place takes it out of you. You just haven't recovered enough from the shock to realise that yet." The Plusle grinned good-naturedly. "You ought to eat. Keep your strength up. Sooner you get into a decent routine, sooner they let you out of here, I reckon. 'Course, I wouldn't know that myself. I can't get into a routine no matter how hard I try. By the way, the name's Kakusei. They slammed me in here for some sort of sleep disorder, insomuch as I can't. Sleep, that is."
"I kind of envy you," Pandora commented, reluctantly sticking her head out from under the covers to take a lap at the water. Which she had to admit her body was seriously yearning for. "I guess if you don't sleep you don't get nightmares."
"True, but you don't get the good dreams either, and I do kinda miss those." The Plusle shrugged in an almost carefree manner. "Anyway, I don't think I caught your name."
"It's Pandora. Look, thanks for bringing me breakfast and all but I really am not hungry, so go take it to someone who actually wants it, okay?" Sulkily Pandora retreated back into her covers, trying very hard to block out this new and unwelcome intrusion. Unfortunately she hadn't counted on Kakusei's inability to take a hint.
"Hey, I'm not just going to let you starve. I told you, you need to eat in this place. You don't, and it's just more reason for them to keep you here longer, you know? I'm guessing you don't actually want to be here, right?"
"Gee, whatever gave you that impression?" Pandora grumbled, trying very hard to block out the Plusle's jabbering but not really succeeding."I'd rather be out fighting deranged Team Rocket drop-outs. And I never thought I'd hear myself saying that."
"Welll, this place ain't that bad," Kakusei said with a shrug. "Sure, the docs are pains in the butt the way they're constantly watching you and probing and asking questions, but at least it's warm here and we get fed on a regular basis. Beats being out in the wild any day. Anyway... come on, you, you're going to eat something, I'm not taking no for an answer." Before Pandora could do anything to stop him the Plusle had pulled off the sheet that the Houndour was hiding herself in. Revealing her true, sorry state for all the world to see. The huge wound on her front leg was painfully obvious. It had been deep, and it had been painful, and it was only just starting to heal over now. But that was only the beginning. Kakusei's attention couldn't help but be drawn to all the other, faded scars, mostly on the limbs but occasionally on the body as well. Nearly all of them took the same basic shape, like somebody had taken a razor blade repeatedly to her. Only it wasn't a razor blade that had done the damage. The Plusle was perceptive enough to realise that. "So that's why they made you come here," he whistled, temporarily forgetting the obvious discomfort of his companion.
"Do you mind not staring?" Pandora yelled angrily, all her old venom seeming to return to her in an instant. "Have you never seen scars before? Or am I just that ugly that you can't help but get a perverse thrill from looking?"
"Whoa, whoa, I'm sorry, okay?" All of a sudden Kakusei became increasingly aware of Pandora's mounting hostility. He backed away with an imploring look upon his face."I was just wondering why you were here, that's all. And if you don't mind me saying so, there's quite a lot there to take in once you know what you're looking for. Anyway, you're not ugly. If anything you're probably the prettiest Houndour I've ever seen." The Plusle nodded energetically, having found a subject he could waffle about. The trouble with Kakusei, Pandora was to eventually learn, was that sleep deprivation made talking to him like engaging in conversation with all the least understandable parts of both Beckham and Thunderblast. "It's the big doe eyes, I reckon, you do have the most stunningly pretty eyes I've ever seen on any pokémon. Does kind of take the edge off your attempts to be menacing, though, so don't mind me if I don't run in terror from that little outburst. You're cute when you're angry, anyway." Pandora opened her mouth but no sound came out. She was having a great deal of trouble following most of that.
"Look, you," she finally snapped irritably. "Number one, that isn't the reason I'm here. I don't know why I'm here myself yet, but you'd have thought if they'd have picked up on that I'd be under constant watch. Number two, I'm taken, so thanks for the flattery but it'll get you absolutely nowhere. Number three – for the last time stop staring at my scars!"
"I wasn't looking at them!" the Plusle protested. "Just wondering what else I could compliment you on. I'm on a roll now, you know."
"Whatever." By this point Pandora had pretty much given up on even trying to get anything approaching sane conversation out of the odd Plusle. Little did she know that the damage had already been done. Exposing her to a pokémon this eccentric, this baffling, had brought back old memories and instincts that even her deep, dark depression couldn't suppress. Almost haughtily she snapped to an upright position and fixed her new friend of sorts with a look that was mostly icy yet also contained a degree of relief hidden within its glacial confines. "Since it's pretty clear I'm not going to get rid of you..."
"Nope!" Kakusei chuckled brightly.
"...mind filling me in on what this place is, exactly?" the Houndour finished with a decided edge to her voice.
"Oh, didn't I explain that bit? Silly me. Sorry." The Plusle grinned sheepishly. "Well... how to best put this... it's like a mental asylum for pokémon. You need your head fixed, you get sent here."
"You don't exactly mince your words, do you?" Pandora winced, inwardly shivering at the mere thought of it. She had spent most of her life fighting against the inner demons that threatened to consume her. The sudden bouts of anger, the inexplicable feelings of despair that came and went almost as surely as the tide... oh, she had known all along that she had been bordering on something like this happening for quite some time now. But that didn't make it any easier a pill to swallow.
"Oh come on, it really isn't that bad." Kakusei smiled disarmingly, cocking his head pleasantly to one side. Pandora couldn't help but like the chirpy little pokémon in spite of her frustration. He was the sort that even she in her most confused state couldn't find any malice towards. "Come on. Let's go for a little walk, shall we? I'll introduce you to the rest of the guys." The rest of the guys? Words like that didn't exactly bode well in Pandora's mind. She was at heart quite a cynical creature and hence rather wary of strangers at the best of times. Let alone in the middle of some strange ward of an even stranger Pokécenter when she wasn't really even in the mood to face anyone she actually knew anyway. But still, part of her wanted to get up, to get out and treat her senses to something other than the same four walls she had been forced to content herself with for what seemed like an eternity. So when Kakusei went over to the door and opened it with a deft click Pandora got up and followed him out of it. Well, it beat just sitting around, didn't it?

"Hi!" Almost as soon as she had steeped out of her room Pandora found herself being greeted by a remarkably cheerful Vulpix that seemed to possess all the youthful innocence of Pearl's daughter Celeste and every single lack of inhibition that made Kirei such a scary prospect. "You're the new girl, huh? I'm Teiru, pleased to meetcha!"
"Uh... hi..." Pandroa responded warily.
"Don't worry about her, she's actually really sweet even if she is a little in-your-face," Kakusei explained as they moved away from the Vulpix. "In fact, only reason she's in here is she gets really confused about the amount of tails she has and when she starts thinking about that we won't see her for weeks, she just sits and stares at them and wastes away. Probably just as well you caught her at a good time, really. Anyways, there's only really a few of us here. Next, meet Suneru." The two rounded a corner only to encounter a particularly surly-looking Teddiursa that simply glared at them with a less than inviting expression before spinning around to stare at the wall. "Or not." Pandora's Plusle companion sighed deeply. "Suneru's got a big problem, coz he hates everything. Literally. We can't do a thing with him. Oh, and here's a similar problem for us. Pandora, meet Hagasu." Pandora stared over as a muscular Mightyena looked over, regarded her within seconds with its baneful glare, nodded, then resumed watching the television screen it had originally been staring intently at. "Don't mind him, either. Hagasu never pays much attention to anything bar that screen."
"Is there anyone who I can actually have a conversation with here, then?" Pandora wondered aloud, party relieved that, compared to these pokémon, she was positively normal and partly scared that she wouldn't survive this whole experience.
"Other than me, you mean?" Kakusei grinned brightly. "Sure, as I said, Teiru's pretty cool nine tenths of the time. And we're about to run into another you'll probably get on with now. She's pretty stable as long as you keep any paper you have away from her. She eats that stuff like popcorn, compulsively, and it drives the others mad, I can tell you." This wasn't exactly a great comfort to most creatures, but to Pandora it was actually something of a relief. She, after all, was more than conscious of her own failings, and in spite of her rash temper had always been sure never to judge others for flaws she could have potentially been equally guilty of herself. So a little thing like compulsive paper eating wasn't something she was particularly bothered about.

A not-so-little thing like a Tyranitar, however, was something else entirely.

"Um, are you okay?" It took several seconds for Pandora to register that the giant creature that she had practically walked into was speaking to her, looking down at her with an expression filled with worry. "You didn't hurt yourself, did you?"
"Uh... no, no, I'm fine." Pandora shook her head vigorously, finally daring to return the Tyranitar's glance and finding it not nearly as ferocious as she had been anticipating. Almost visibly she relaxed. For the most part she didn't trust Tyranitars. Their form was simply too close to that of the dark god of her one-time masters, the cruel Dark Cloak cultists of Nagarythe. They worshiped a foul beast named Resomegnis, whose form had been created from composite parts of the most dangerous monsters to have ever threatened Ulthuan. The most physically obvious of these was the legendary Dark Tyranitar. But that wasn't to say that ALL Tyranitars were bad sorts. Pandora was swiftly finding that out for herself. "I... I'm Pandora. Pleased to meet you."
"The pleasure's all mine, Pandora-san." The Tyranitar bowed politely. "My name is Fushouka. It is I who should be pleased to meet you."
"Don't mind her," Kakusei grinned, patting Fushouka on the knee. "She's a bit odd."
"You're one to talk, you doukemono," the Tyranitar grinned.
"Fush, I have no idea what you just called me, as always, but I'll assume that was a compliment."
"Maybe, maybe not, but it is rather descriptive of you." Fushouka turned to address Pandora. "Did you meet everybody else, then?"
"Well, I..." the Houndour began, but found herself rudely interrupted by her Plusle companion.
"Almost. She's still not met Innin and Furiiku yet," Kakusei blared out.
"Evidently I haven't," Pandora said, glaring at the Plusle. "Before I kill you for being the rudest, most annoying creature on the planet mind telling me who these two are seeing as you've started talking and I'm guessing you're on a roll now?"
"Oh, Innin's a Slowbro who refuses to do anything apart from play with this weird jigsaw puzzle. She won't talk to anyone, she won't move from her position, she just does her damn puzzle all day, every day. And Furiiku's a real oddball. Just spends the entire day in a total dreamworld, thinks there's all these weird characters and things happening even when they're not, it's all in his head. But to listen to him talk you'd think he was actually living that fictional life of his, you know?" The Plusle grinned rather wickedly. "Anyway, you said you were gonna kill me, did you?"
"Uh oh..." Fushouka rolled her eyes. "Pandora, I'd watch it if I were you. This mazo does seem to enjoy the occasional challenge, no matter how mismatched. Last time I saw that look in his eyes was when he challenged me to a battle. I think the lack of sleep makes him a little odd."
"You think?" Pandora rolled her eyes. Yes, she could see where this one was going alright! "Kakusei, I just blurted that out, okay? I do that kind of thing all the time, you're not supposed to actually pay attention to it!"
"Well I did. Sounded like a challenge to me!" the Plusle grinned brightly. "We could have the battle here if you like."
"Say what? What battle?"
"The one we're gonna have of course!"
"At what point did I agree to this stupid idea of yours, exactly?" Pandora scowled, trying very hard to fight the growing apprehension that was forming a tight knot in her stomach. She hated battling. She always had, always would. It was the one time she actually had the potential to harm a creature other than herself. The risks of losing her cool and really hurting her opponent had always been too great for comfort. "I don't like fighting, okay? I'll call you every name under the sun, sure, my mouth runs away with itself sometimes. But don't let that give you the idea I'm looking for a fight. Most of the time I'm just looking for a handy rock to crawl under and die." Did she actually mean that or not? Not even Pandora could really be sure. Her death was something she had decidedly mixed feelings on.
"Oh come on, it'll be fun," Kakusei persisted. "I haven't battled anyone since my last battle with Fushouka!"
"I floored you with a single Earthquake," the Tyranitar nodded sagely. "Baka."
"C'mon, Pandora!" the Plusle persisted, ignoring his huge friend's rather obvious insult. "What harm could it do?"
"Well let's see, shall we?" the Houndour spat angrily. "I could accidentally break your bones, I could accidentally open a major artery savaging you. I could do a million things that will hurt you for a long time to come. I don't stay in control when I battle, guys. Sorry. I daren't risk it."
"So you've a bit of a temper, then. So what? I can handle myself. Come on! Come on!" At this point the Plusle began skipping around Pandora, throwing punches in the air all the while. It was funny enough to watch at first, but after a while the act just became tiresome. "Come on!"
"Fine!" Pandora finally hissed, rounding on the Plusle with barely contained fury. "Just don't blame me if you end up in a mangled heap, okay?" These were all the words that Kakusei needed to hear. Already the Plusle had hopped backwards across the tiled flooring and had struck up a fighting pose. Pandora couldn't help but sigh. Why did life always have to be so damn complicated?

FIGHT!!! L13 Houndour v L13 Plusle!

"Get ready to lose, Pandora! I haven't fought in ages and I'm all fired up!" Kakusei didn't even seem to want to give Pandora chance to even brace herself for the upcoming fight The instant he saw that she was willing to battle the Plusle flew at her with a remarkably well-aimed Quick Attack that very nearly toppled the Houndour completely. Fortunately Pandora was made of sterner stuff than that. Although the impact was indeed remarkably hard, the sudden collision with her chest bringing with it a dull pain that caused the Houndour to visibly wince, it wasn't enough to distract her from the business of retaliating. Before her friend could hope to withdraw Pandora had sent him skidding across the floor with a fierce Headbutt delivered directly to his face. Harsh, maybe, but then Pandora had never been anything bar brutal in battle.
"I warned you!" Pandora shouted, already beginning to feel the anger almost flow though her veins. "I waned you what I'm like!" Abruptly she rushed at the Plusle, attempting to strike him with another vicious blow. Only somehow Kakusei dodged this with ease, a calm smile fixed firmly upon his face as he hopped nimbly away.
"You can sure pack a surprising punch for someone who looks so innocent," the Plusle commented. "Guess I'm gonna have to actually try with this one!" All of a sudden he came rushing at Pandora yet again, this time with at least twice the speed, his little legs racing so fast that they became almost a total blur. Pandora stood no chance of avoiding the attack at all and the two pokémon collided with a resounding crack.
"Uhh..." Pandora staggered backwards, temporarily stunned. Which gave her opponent another perfect opening. Before she knew what was happening Kakusei had sent a powerful stream of electrical energy snaking towards her in impossibly wide arcs. There was simply no way that she could have avoided it even if she had all of her wits about her at the time. So the Shock Wave struck her hard in the side, sending pulse after pulse of unbearable pain coursing throughout her body. It took all of her willpower to stop herself from blacking out completely.
"I know what you're thinking," Kakusei sighed with an overly flippant air as he finally stopped his cruel attack. "How on earth is a pokémon like me so good at battling?"
"Kakusei, you gigantic egoisuto!" Fushouka snapped from the sidelines. "If you have to do this then stop making such a game out of it!"
"I... it's quite alright," Pandora muttered, trying to get a grip on her madly flailing emotions. She fixed the Plusle with a look of distaste. "I make for quite a hard game, he'll get tired of it long before I collapse. And as for you, Kakusei, what I was actually thinking was 'what on earth is going to shut this guy up?'. You're the most annoying opponent I've ever faced, and the trouble is I'm not sure if this is a good or a bad thing. Anyway, time I stopped playing around." For a moment the two pokémon simply stood there, eyes locked upon each other. And then Kakusei recoiled with a loud yell of surprise as if he had just been punched in the face.
"What was that?" the Plusle moaned. "It gave me a killer headache, whatever it was!"
"Night Shade," came the calm reply, Pandora beginning to advance upon her opponent with a look on her face that was simply too relaxed to be truly sane. "Want another?"
"Oww!" Kakusei moaned as yet another invisible attack slammed into him. This wasn't good! "Didn't realise you had such a nasty little trick up your sleeve there, Pandora. Still, if that's the best you can do then..."
"Oh, but it isn't. Not by a long shot." Concentrating hard, the Houndour began to slowly raise the heat of the surrounding room using her abilities as a Dark type until it was as warm – and bizarrely enough, as bright - as a scorching summer's day.
"You think I'm giving you a chance to power up your fire? Think again!" Pandora's opponent could tell what was going on here. She was using Sunny Day to power up her Ember or whatever other Fire attack she may have known. Quickly he launched himself into another Quick Attack, shooting forward to catch Pandora before she could build up her internal furnaces. Which might have worked in any other circumstances. Sadly Kakusei had made a fatal flaw in his guesswork. He had assumed the Sunny Day was for powering up Pandora's Fire attacks. It wasn't, however. It was designed to power up something entirely different, a move that, in these bright circumstances, was capable of being fired off in a split second. So almost as quickly as the Plusle had launched into his attack he found himself being launched backwards just as quickly, having dashed straight into a large Solarbeam attack that Pandora had viciously spat out in his direction. It was all too much for the poor pokémon. He had been knocked unconscious even before he hit the ground. Leaving Pandora to stare at his motionless body, panting hard. That had really taken it out of her! Yet... yet she couldn't help but feel a distinct sense of pride. She had managed to keep her cool that time. It was certainly a step in the right direction.
"So he finally sleeps," Fushouka commented from the sidelines. "Arigatou, Pandora-san. Finally we can have a break from his chatter. It's been about a fortnight, I'd think. You did us a big favour." The Tyranitar bowed politely; Pandora was left feeling rather unsure as to how to respond to this, however. All she could do was smile weakly and accept Fushouka's offer to come sit by her. Evidently there were friendly faces in this place, after all.

Pandora wins!
Pandora grew to L14!

"Good afternoon, everybody!" It had been several hours since the battle that had eventually turned out to be some kind of warped induction into this particular little group of misfits. Kakusei had eventually woken up with a sore head and a grumble of 'oh man, now I'm gonna have to start again!' when he realised he had been knocked out, but otherwise seemed fine. And so the rest of Pandora's time had been spent bonding with her new unlikely companions. She finally got to meet Furiiku, a remarkably charming little Bulbasaur who seemed to be even better at telling obviously untrue tales than Beckham. And even Hagasu, the surly Mightyena, finally paused in his television watching for long enough to have a few brief yet friendly enough words. In fact after a little while Pandora was feeling as happy as she was ever going to be under the circumstances. Until they came clicking briskly into the large, well-ventilated playroom the little group of pokémon were busy socialising in. As soon as they arrived there was a collective groan. For even Pandora knew enough about these places to know what the arrival of a young woman in a short black skirt with thick brown hair in bunches and a deceptively youthful face meant seeing as she was wearing a white lab jacket and carrying a clipboard. And as for her companion... well, he also had 'doctor' written all over him. He wasn't much older than the woman, sporting spiked blonde hair and a slightly weather-beaten face. But it was the eyes that held the most interest. There was something decidedly strange about those eyes, as if they shouldn't have quite belonged on a human being. Pandora felt a shudder pass through her as she gazed upon those eyes. All in all, she decided, that man was seriously freaky. "And how are you all feeling today?" The female doctor was obviously trying very hard to be friendly, but her query was only met with noncommital grunts and blank stares. Evidently the patients in this particular ward had very little opinion of the staff taking care of them! "Listen, I know we normally have our group session at around this time..."
"That's always fun. Not," Kakusei whispered in Pandora's ear at this point. "We usually end up trying to kill each other. She couldn't control a group session if her life depended on it."
"...but today we have a new doctor starting with us and he's asked if he can have some one-on-one sessions with you all over the course of the day. Get to know you all a bit better. So, umm, Dr. Ryoku, would you like to start?"
"Thank you." The male doctor stepped forward smartly, viewing the assembled pokémon with what seemed like bemusement. "I'd like you all to know that I'm not out to get you. Far from it, my mission is simply to understand, and to help you all understand. Who knows, maybe I might even be able to help one or two of you. That is, of course, as long as you're willing to help yourselves." He smiled contentedly, apparently happy with his little speech. "Now I'd rather like to make a start on getting to know one or two of you a little better." The man's eyes locked on those of Pandora. "Pandora, isn't it? New here. You'll be as good a place to start as any. Come now, follow me." There was something in the man's manner that made him impossible to disobey. Pandora knew that to do so would be to court trouble of the most serious kind. So she got up and followed the white-coated doctor meekly, with a last call from Kakusei ringing in her ears.
"Good luck!" the Plusle had shouted. And Pandora had a horrible feeling that she would need it.

[Sheik]

I write in white and italics.
Brandi writes in red.
Chlo writes in green.
Aiden writes in lime.
Anna writes in lavender.
Ayemin writes in silver.
Matthias writes in crimson.
Aurora writes in skyblue.

<Aiden’s POV>

A vibration on my newly made web startled me. I looked over to see what it could have been. It was just a bug; it can stay there and rot for a little bit. If I need a snack, I’ll know where to go. I looked up at Jay’s bed, only to see that he was still asleep. It made sense, it was really early in the morning. I left my web, and crawled up onto the wall near the window. A slight crack of sunlight penetrated the horizon, spilling light onto the world as the new day arrived. A sunrise was a trully beautiful thing. “Enough of watching this,” I decided, and retreated back into the center of my web. Again noticing the squirming insect, I decided to put it out of its misery. Creeping along the spindles of my web, I came upon it. I produced more silk, and gently wrapped my prey into a protective shell. Securing the silk onto the unsuspecting victim, I bit it once, very quickly, and it ceased to move afterwards. “Why was life so cruel?” I thought.

<Chlo’s POV>

The sun stretched its light upon my face. Morning has broken. Opening my eyes, I looked out the window, and saw drops of dew reflecting light. Another night of my wandering the earth, searching for seeds to sow has now come to naught. I looked behind me, in the living room. Ayemin and Anna were sleeping still. Was Aiden awake? I’ve began to notice that he stirs rather early. Deciding to check on him, I made my way up the stairs, toward Jay’s room, only to find that the door was shut. No matter, I’ll just have to open it. Looking up at the nob, I realized this was easier said than done. I looked around to see if anything could help me in my quest. I noticed a box in the room adjacent to Jay’s. Perfect...

I waddled into the room, and began to push the box along the floor, toward Jay’s room. It was really light, and I suddenly wondered if this box could support my weight. I noticed it was made of cardboard. After getting the box close to the door, I then realized that there was no way for me to get up onto the box to turn the handle. I sighed in disappointment.


“Need help?” a voice said. I turned to see that Ayemin was clambering up the steps. His red eyes were sometimes hard to gaze into. Casting my glance toward the door, I replied, “Sure.”

“Why don’t you just hit the door and wake Jay up? You know he could sleep for another four hours.”

“Ayemin... that’s really inconsiderate,” said Anna, who now appeared at the top of the steps. “Here... I’ll use my psychic powers to turn the nob, all you need to do, Chlo, is push the door. Got it?” I nodded, then looked from Anna to the doornob, which began to glow a deep purple. The nob turned, and I pushed the box out of the way, and opened the door. Upon entering, no sound emitted from the room. There was dead silence. I looked over to see that Aiden was indeed awake. Jay, on the other hand, was sleeping like a rock. Anna and Ayemin sauntered over to the window, and began talking. I went over to Aiden’s web. “Good morning, Aiden,” I said cheerfully. “Good morning,” came the reply. I noticed that there was a lump of silk on his web. He must have caught something. “How was your sleep?” I asked. “It was good, and your night?” “It was good. I walked around outside, and continued sowing where I began the night before last. I didn’t leave until around three in the morning. I came up close to sunrise. I’m a little tired, but I’ll manage.” Aiden nodded.

I looked over to see that Ayemin was now on Jay’s bed. He was pacing along Jay’s side. “How should I wake him?”

“Simple.... don’t. Just let him sleep, you can muster up the patience to wait a few hours for breakfast. He needs his sleep.”

“What’s going on in here? Having a conference?” It was Brandi, and Matthias was right next to her. Everyone looked in her direction.

<Anna’s POV>

“Nice to see you, Brandi. Matthias,” I said, in a jovial manner. “Always the polite and humble one,” retorted my brother. “Can it, Ayemin!” I replied fiercely.

“So what were you all doing in here, anyway?” Matthias asked.

“We’re in here because Chlo wanted to see if Aiden was awake. She couldn’t get the door open by herself, so I came to help her, then my goodie goodie sis–“

“Ayemin.... SHUT UP!” I screamed. I must’ve yelled rather loudly, because Jay was sitting up, looking at us sleepily. “...Sorry, Jay. I didn’t mean to wake you.” He looked at me, then at Ayemin, then at the rest of us in the room.

<Jay’s POV>

I woke up at the sound of a scream. Anna must have been yelling at Ayemin for doing something. I noticed that Chlo, Brandi, and Matthias were all in the room as well. Why? I couldn’t tell you. I looked back at Anna, and saw an expression that plainly read, ‘I’m sorry.’ I got up, and told her it was ok. “What are all of you doing in here?” I asked. Everyone’s heads turned to Chlo, then I knew. “Ok... I’ll make breakfast for anyone that’s hungry,” I announced.

“Thank God!”

Everyone trotted out of the room. That is, everyone except Aiden and Chlo. “You two aren’t coming?” I asked. Both shook their heads. “Ok, suit yourself.” Anna was the last one out. “It’s ok, Anna. I don’t mind that you woke me up, I actually needed an alarm clock today.” That seemed to reassure her.

I made my way downstairs toward the kitchen, and began to prepare breakfast. Since Ayemin was the more impatient one, and the first one in line, I prepared his first.

<Chlo’s POV>

“So you like it here?” I asked. He nodded,“Yeah. You’re the only one that talks to me, though.” I walked up to the window, and sat down so the sun would hit me.

“I don’t talk to anyone else either. Before you came, all I did was follow Jay around. I don’t think the others want to get to know me, they never act like it. I mean, yeah, they help me if I need it, and they’ll make sure my needs are met, but none of them have ever sat down and talked with me. They’re all talking with each other. Brandi and Matthias are always together, the same with Anna and Ayemin. I’ve only seen Aurora out of her Pokeball three times, because there’s no place that she can fit in Jay’s house. As for Banx, the Charmander, the only one that talks to him is Jay, and Banx is still in the baby stages–his flame is barely developed. You’re the only one that has ever tried to talk with me.

”Yeah, but I don’t know why you talk with me so much, or even want to. Plants generally hate bugs. What am I? A bug. Well, technically, I’m an arachnid, but I’m classified as a bug.

“That may be, but we both have one thing in common.... We’re the only Poison-types in this house. I guess that’s why I talk to you so much. We both have something in common. You see, I’ve never wanted to open up to anyone else because of something that’s happened to me in the past.....” I trailed off.

“And what happened?”

“Before Jay adopted me, I tried to become friends with this group of Hoppips. They all seemed nice, and they were grass-types like me, but..... They didn’t accept me. They treated me like I was an outsider, like I didn’t belong, just because I was a different Pokemon. I figured, if some of my own kind won’t accept me, why would any other Pokemon that aren’t grass-types? So I secluded myself, I felt that the only person that I could ever talk to would have been my trainer. Jay has tried to get me to become friends with the other Pokemon, but if you look back, all the one’s that do talk to each other have something in common. Brandi and Matthias are both fire-types, and Anna and Ayemin are siblings.

“Yeah, but Anna and Ayemin act like they hate each other. Sometimes I wonder if they do. Ayemin’s always the one to jump into things, to cause mischief, and Anna doesn’t tolerate that. Sometimes I wonder if she resents him for it. He can never be serious, and that in itself ticks her off. Whenever they talk to each other all they do is bicker. Of course, maybe that’s they way brothers and sisters are. I don’t know.

“Yeah, but I do wonder about Aurora. I’ll bet she feels the loneliest. She doesn’t talk to anyone. After all, Jay only lets her out of her Pokeball at the Eevee House, and that’s because there’s enough room there for her to manoeuver. And I almost guarantee that once Banx matures, he will be friends with Matthias, possibly Brandi.

<Anna’s POV>

So that’s why.... It was all because she wasn’t accepted by other grass-types. That’s what causes her to not talk to anyone. She doesn’t think we’ll accept her if she opens up. I know it was rude of me to listen in on their conversation, but something told me that I should–that it would better help the group as a whole. So that’s why... now I can tell the others. But.... what if she doesn’t want me to tell? No... it’d be best to confront her about it, and ask her beforehand.... Yes... that’s what I’ll do. But not now. I’d better leave.... I don’t want to be discovered.

<Jay’s POV>

With Ayemin chowing down on his breakfast, I began to prepare food for Brandi and Matthias. I released Banx from his Pokeball, and let him grab some fresh air. His flame was beginning to develop more rapidly, but he was still just a baby. I went into the dining room (the largest room in the house), and released Aurora to keep watch over Banx. “If he accidentally catches anything on fire, please put it out, Aurora. I’ve closed off all other doorways, so he can only roam in the living room and the kitchen,” I told her. She agreed, and began diligently watching the baby’s every move.

Anna reappeared from wherever she had come from as I set Brandi’s and Matthias’ food down for them to eat. “Yours will be up next, Anna,” I informed her. All she did was close her eyes and sit. Though I thought this rather peculiar, I decided not to worry about it. I prepared her breakfast, gave it to her, and started on Banx’s.

<Brandi’s POV>

I finished the rest of the food that was in my bowl. Afterwards, I decided to see what Chlo was up to. Ever since Jay adopted Aiden, there’s been no reason for me to try and talk to Chlo. I hadn’t really made an attempt at it beforehand. She always seemed like she couldn’t trust any of us.

Making my way to the top of the stairs, I noticed Aiden crawling on the wall, talking to Chlo as she appeared from up above. Once they caught sight of me, Aiden stopped talking. “Do you two want to eat?” I asked, breaking the silence. Aiden crawled closer to me.

“Sure. Do I just go into the kitchen and ask Jay for something to eat?” Aiden asked. I nodded in response. Turning my attention to Chlo, I waited for her to say something.

“I’m fine, thanks,” she said while walking past me, with Aiden close behind. I turned and looked as they dissappeared behind the corner, leading to the living room. So much for that, I thought. Since I had no further reason to be up here, I made my way back down the steps, jumped onto a chair in the dining room, and lied down. Matthias approached me shortly after.

“So did you talk to her?” Matthias asked while taking a seat in front of me. “....No...,” I whispered, “I was about to, but they were walking downstairs. I tried to strike up a conversation, but they left after responding. It seems that they only want to be with themselves.”

<Anna’s POV>

I could pick up Brandi’s thoughts. It seems that while Matthias and Brandi think that Aiden and Chlo don’t want to talk, Aiden and Chlo feel the same about Matthias and Brandi. I need to talk to Chlo. If I can get her to see that we won’t reject her, then she’ll be able to open up to all of us. I was done with breakfast, so I looked around for Chlo. She was standing next to Aiden as he ate. No one was around them... now was the time to make my move.

I walked over to them, and Chlo looked up. “Can I talk to you for a minute, Chlo?” I asked. I looked quickly at Aiden, to see that he was still eating.

“Sure.”

I led her into another bedroom, but didn’t bother to close the door. “I know you’ll think this was rather rude of me, but I was eavesdropping on your conversation with Aiden,” I told her, then paused. She just looked at me, waiting for me to continue. “So the reason that you don’t talk to anyone else other than him is because you think we’ll reject you? You don’t think you have anything in common with any of us?” I pressed. She looked down, and sighed.

“Yes... that’s how I feel. Since you were eavesdropping, I’m assuming you know why I feel that way. You see, I don’t have anything in common with anybody, except for Aiden. I feel like he’s someone I can talk to. When I first came here, everyone said their ‘hellos’ but none made the attempt to become my friend.”

“That’s when you need to take the initiative to make friends with us. I can see how you feel. I’m the only psychic Pokemon here. I can imagine that if, before being adopted, I wasn’t accepted by other Psychic Pokemon, then I would be very cautious. I realize that your thoughts run really deep, and your standards of being a friend are relatively high, but we’re all here if you need to talk. I want to be your friend, and I’m sure the others feel the same way. Brandi has been trying to talk to you, but you never open up. Lately, she’s become rather frustrated.

All of us under this roof do not form our own little groups of friends. We are all a family, and as such, we attempt to think and act as one. Please.... open yourself up to us. Things won’t get any better if you just talk with one person. The same goes for Aiden. While he may be new to the group, we want to get to know him. None of us feel like we can only talk to one specific Pokemon. Like you said about Aurora... she doesn’t feel alone. In fact, she looks out for us all. She tries to ensure that all our needs are met. To be blunt, it’s almost as if she’s the mother of this family. She talks with everyone. Please.... don’t be afraid to speak.” And with that... I left her be. She looked at me and nodded.

“I’m sorry... but that’s just the way I am. I’m very self-conscious, and I can’t change that. Will I be more open? Sure... and I’m glad you’ve told me this. I’ve always felt sort of awkward when others have tried to talk to me. I never know what to say or do. So we’re done? Let’s go back with everyone else.

And with that, we joined the others. As Chlo entered the room, a smile formed on her usually blank face. She looked around at everyone–Aurora watching over Banx, Matthias and Brandi, who were now talking with my brother, and Aiden, who was just finishing up his breakfast. “We are a family.... don’t be afraid of that.”

<Jay’s POV>

Later in the day, around 1:30 P.M., I recalled everyone into their Pokeballs, and set out. I wanted to train everyone to make them stronger. It was a beautiful day, so I decided that now was the best time to train. I released Brandi to walk beside me. She always preferred being out of her Pokeball, anyway.

The trees swayed in the breeze. The leaves rustled, performing their midsummer song. The sun was high in the sky, beaming down, giving the surroundings a comforting warmth. Brandi seemed to enjoy it. “Well, Brandi, where should we go?” I asked. She nodded in the direction toward town.

We headed toward the heart of the city of Lothern, taking our time. Along the way we didn’t see a single wild Pokemon, save a Pidgey up in a tree. The attempt to try and fight that would be futile–it would escape. So we continued onward, not expecting much. It was about a mile or two before we would reach city limits. I lived in a suburb, after all.

I decided to take a short rest. Sitting down on the side of the main road, I looked up at the cloudless blue sky. I released Anna and Ayemin, along with Chlo. Anna was already off in her own little world, thinking of something. Ayemin sat next to me, and I scratched him behind his ears. Chlo stood near my feet. She eyed Brandi a few times, but Brandi was unaware of it.

I surveyed the surrounding environment. All of it was beautiful. Lothern was located in a secluded valley in the southern region of Eataine, in Ulthuan. Lothern lied right in the middle of a valley, separating Eataine in two. Thousands of tourists flocked to Lothern each year. When you think about it, who wouldn’t want to be in Lothern? It has everything you could ever want–it’s close to the ocean, which makes for water events, such as surfing and water skiing, in the winter, there’s plenty of snow at the top of the valley, making it perfect for ski resorts... not to mention that it’s one of the biggest cities in which major commercial and business organizations are located. Unfortunately, this made it a big target for Team Rocket.

I received word that Team Rocket’s former leader, Giovanni, has been captured, and a new leader has emerged. This new leader was worse than Giovanni–imagine a man more heartless, evil, and ruthless than the former leader. It seemed impossible, but it was done. This man has vowed to make Team Rocket what it was meant to be... every city in Ulthuan has fallen victim to destruction at the hands of this new organization... except Lothern.

But why would Lothern be excluded from Team Rocket’s path of destruction? It didn’t make sense. No... I knew. This new leader is planning something special for Lothern. Something that will catch everyone off guard, will cause major panic. It was just a matter of when and where this attack would take place.

I saw a few other trainers on the other side of the road, looking around in the fields. They must be training too. One of them caught site of me, and I was almost sure that I would have to battle, but all she did was wave, so I waved back. Afterwards, I just fell back, and stared at the sky. Suddenly, there was an ear-splitting explosion.

Sitting upright, having the bejesus scared out of me, I looked toward the city of Lothern, where I suspected the noise came from. Looking at the once beautiful skyline, all you could see now was a giant cloud of smoke. Either there was an explosion in one of the buildings, or something crashed into it. But an aircraft couldn’t have crashed... I would have heard it approach. One thing was certain..... Lothern was under attack. I decided it would be best if I returned home.

Looking down at everyone, noticed that they were all looking at the black cloud of smoke now rising from the building. “Let’s go, guys,” I said, and returned everyone to their respective Pokeballs. At that instant, I ran as fast as my legs would carry me, to the safety of my home. At that moment, I began to wonder if maybe my house wasn’t so safe anymore...




As soon as I closed my front door, I locked it, and immediately ran through my house, locking all the doors and windows, and double-checking any possible way an intruder could enter. After going through my frantic lock-down, I released everyone from their Pokeballs. Afterwards, with Brandi to my left and everyone else scattered about the living room, I flipped on the TV to watch the news.

Already on the screen was a picture of the skyscraper where the explosion came from, and a reporter was talking. “The source of the explosion has not been identified, but many people inside the building have reported seeing a purple flying Pokemon with orange wings. While no one was injured from falling debris outside the building, nearly 100 people have been injured from the attack.

“The explosion seems to have cut down the power within the building, and blocked off any possible exit from the upper floors. The building that was attacked was the Siren Inc. building, where Jacob Siren, the inventor of the Siren ‘Anti-Movement Wave Emitter’ is possibly being held hostage.” I knew now.... The Crimson Blades attacked the Siren Inc. building so that this new leader could get the AMW Emitter. That device is said to emit waves that render a Pokemon helpless. Someone could use that device, throw a Pokeball at the Pokemon being affected, and would never have to worry about the Pokemon escaping. It makes Pokemon defenseless, and ensures a 100% catch rate. But why would he need to use that, and on what Pokemon?

“This just in... The Crimson Blades have dispatched hundreds of its members into the city of Lothern. It is strongly recommended that each household locks all of its doors, and keeps on watch for possible intruders within your neighborhood. If you detect any suspicious people or events, please notify the Lothern Police!”

“Not only that... but Team Rocket members from a different branch, who have been calling themselves the ‘original Team Rocket’ have come here to put an end to the Team Rocket invasions at the hands of their new leader. They have also said that they will taking over Lothern, and the city will be under its control, instead of being controlled by this new leader.”

Okay... not only have the Crimson Blades captured the president of a multi-million dollar corporation, but now we have hundreds of Team Rocket Grunts running the streets, and the former Team Rocket has come to stop them, and take us over instead? This is wonderful! Since I live about 4 miles out of town, I began to wonder if I would see one. Still, I was going to take precautions.

<Brandi’s POV>

So, Team Rocket has attacked Lothern. I looked everyone over. Ayemin was sitting up straight, staring blankly at the screen, while Anna was sitting with her eyes closed. Matthias was looking at the lamp on the table.

I nudged Jay, which made him look down at me. I gave him a look of “Let’s go do something about it”, but he just shook his head. “We can’t.” And once I began to think about it, I realized the truthfulness of his words. I was just a small Vulpix in a big world... what could I do?

<Jay’s POV>

A few hours passed, and nothing happened. I sat in my living room, watching and waiting for some sign of noise. I’m sure others around Lothern were doing the same. The thought of our once-beautiful town being overtaken by Team Rocket would make anyone shudder. I slowly walked into the dining room, and looked out the window. Clouds were forming in the south, and the waves from the distant ocean were beginning to churn. The lighthouse was within sight, and it was lit.

The members of my team tried to do something with their time, but being unable and unwilling to venture outdoors began to make them restless. This was stupid! Why should I be afraid of Team Rocket? I was just as much an able trainer was they were. Besides, if Team Rocket could have been thwarted by a 12-year-old kid in the past, why couldn’t anyone?

But there was something about this trainer that sent chills down one’s spine, made one’s hair stand on end. Every so often, I peered out at the other houses around mine. I never saw a sign of a man in black. Nobody knew what was going on inside the Siren Inc. building... reporters could only make stupid conclusions.

I walked back into the living room. Everyone was either sleeping, or sitting quietly. “Alright, everyone... let’s go. Get into your Pokeballs!” I said with some volume, to wake the sleeping ones. Everyone just looked at me, and there was an odd silence. I held up my belt of Pokeballs, and proceeded to recall everyone.

I unlocked my front door, and walked outside. The temperature dropped now that the sun was behind the clouds, and the wind began to pick up. I locked my door, and looked around carefully, scanning for any suspicious movement. I didn’t wander to far from my home. I stood at the end of the road, looking back and forth, watching and waiting.

Team Rocket would most surely come, and I was ready to face them. Not soon after that thought crossed my mind, I saw someone or something cross the yard adjacent to mine. It was a dark figure in the shape of a human–a Grunt. Before he could see me, I ducked behind a tree. I peered past the edge, and saw that the Grunt was looking for something in the other yard. I ran past the tree, so far until the house blocked me from view. I ran up to the house, and began sidling along its wall. Upon approaching the edge, the Grunt had began walking away from me.

I grabbed Brandi’s Pokeball, and began to slowly creep toward the Grunt. The wind blew in protest as the clouds continued to invade the once clear, blue sky. The Grunt stopped, and paused for a few seconds, looking in both directions, and continued onward. Where was he going? We were just in the backyard of a house, and he was walking away from all the properties in this area?

He was within 100 feet of me. It was now time to make my move. I tossed the Pokeball into the air. “Go, Brandi!” I yelled as the ball hit the ground. Brandi materialized in front of me as the Grunt turned at the sound of my voice. He looked at Brandi, then at me, and grabbed a Pokeball from his waist. He had two of them.

Brandi, Lv. 10 Vulpix VS Lv. 14 Rattata

“You seek to harm and destroy all that is good.... in order to do so within this place, you must first get through me!” I shouted.

The Grunt laughed, and replied, “Bring it on!”

<Brandi’s POV>

My opponent looked strong, and I could tell it was a girl. She would be faster than me, I knew, but not nearly as strong. I held my ground, waiting for her to attack, but she didn’t move. The wind blew fiercely, and the sky was a deep gray. “What are you waiting for?” I yelled. Instead of answering, all she did was look at me. I threw an Ember at her, to see what she would do.

As soon as the ball of fire left my mouth, she was on the offensive. She dodged the Ember, and ran at me. The Rattata jumped into the air for a Quick Attack. Thinking fast, I coughed up a glob of sludge before she could pull the attack off. The sludge hit her with such force, that it sent my opponent flying backward. The purple toxin was seeping into her skin. With my Toxic attack having it its target, the battle would soon turn in my favor... that is, if I could dodge her attacks.

The toxin seemed to pain her, because she twitched while she was getting up. I took this opportunity to attack. I blew another Ember in her direction. Unfortunately, she saw it as she rose to her feet, and jumped out of the way. The Rattata ran toward me, bearing her fangs.

Hyper Fang... I thought. While she was running toward me, I began to rapidly dig a hole. I kept looking up, seeing how close she was getting to me. When she came within ten feet, I braced myself to avoid the attack. My opponent opened her mouth, exposing her razor-sharp fangs. Three...Two...One. I jumped to the side, and she missed. I ran back to my hole, and continued to dig.

I could sense where she was, but I didn’t know what she was planning. If I just stayed down here, I could just let the poison defeat her. The trainer obviously didn’t care about her, because after I had used Toxic, he didn’t do anything–he just stood there.

I began to dig my way under my opponent... when she least expected it, she’d be hit from underneath. I waited for a few moments in the damp, dark earth, then I began to quickly dig my way up to the surface of the earth. I slammed against the underside of my opponent, sending her flying into the air.

I clambered out of the hole, and shook off the dirt. I hated using that attack, but it was always so useful. I turned and faced her. The Rattata flinched again in pain, because of the toxin. “Why do you bother to fight for him? He doesn’t care about you! He’s just watching you suffer–watching you lose. If he really cared about you, don’t you think he would have given you something for that poison by now?” I shouted.

She looked at me through saddened eyes. She didn’t want to fight, but she felt that she had to–she had to be loyal to her owner. My opponent ran at me. This time, I took a deep breath, and concentrated really hard on ground-type attacks. I formed a small orb, and in grew the more I concentrated. I couldn’t concentrate for much longer, I knew, because my opponent would soon attack me.

The wind whipped my hair, and I let go of the energy that I had created. I stopped focussing, to see that the orb, was speeding toward the opponent. My hidden power hit her, sending her flying backward. The toxin continued to eat away at her remaining health. I almost felt sorry for her... why should she have to go through this?

Rattata staggered back up. She wiggled her tail. Tail whip... I thought. That won’t do her any good if she can’t hit me. I threw another Ember at her, and this time, it hit my opponent square in the face, sending her back. She was nearly done–all I had to do was hold out for a few more minutes, and the poison would work its magic.

She wiggled her tail again. Now she wasn’t even trying... she wanted to lose, she wanted to get this over with. The pain of the toxin was growing stronger. She decided to stop trying, to stop caring. “So you’re just going to let me win now?” I asked. She nodded, then flinched once again as the poison pained her.

I looked over at her trainer, who was doing nothing. I shot an Ember blast at him. He jumped back in fear, and leaped to the side, to avoid getting hit. Then he started yelling. Instead of worrying about yourself, why don’t you worry about your Pokemon that’s losing, and could potentially die from the poison? I thought.

I sat down, and waited for her to attack. “I can sit here all day... the poison will defeat you for me,” I told her. My opponent just looked at me with dismay–she didn’t care. I waited for her to strike, but no strike came. She just stood there, waiting for the toxin to consume her. I few minutes passed, all the while my opponent was twitching in pain.

I sighed at her, and waited. The wind blew, and the clouds began to rumble. Rain? I better just get this over with....I sat up, and blew an Ember at her. She didn’t even try to move–she wanted this to happen... she wanted the fight to end, and now it would. The fireball exploded as it made contact, and my opponent went down, smoke rising off of her body.

I gained 2 levels!

<Jay’s POV>

She had won, and I had to hand it to her, she won with ease. I looked up at the Team Rocket Grunt. “What are you doing here!?” I yelled. He recalled his downed Pokemon, and just looked at me with anger. “WHY ARE YOU HERE!?” I shouted as loud as my vocal chords would allow.

“Why do you care, kid? You beat me, and now I’ll leave,” He retorted. He began to walk in my direction. Brandi was now at my side, she eyed him angrily as he passed. That was an easy fight, despite Brandi’s lower level.

[/i]“Why did you come here?” I pressed.
[/i]
“Because!” He yelled back. “I followed a Team Rocket member here from the opposing branch, and came to get rid of her.”

“Yes... too bad for you that kid got rid of you for me,” came a voice from out of nowhere. I looked around, then saw another Team Rocket Grunt jump out of a tree in front of me. She approached, and stopped about where the other grunt was standing. “Let’s go, kid. He serves no threat to you... I’m the one you’ve been looking for. I’m the one you fear.”

At that moment, the other grunt ran in the direction of Lothern. He was going to go back to his hideout. “Why did you need to get rid of him?” I asked her.

“Because, kid, he’s a new Rocket... his leader took ours down, and now we, the original Team Rocket, will make them suffer. We will retake what is ours, and in the process, we will rule Ulthuan!” exclaimed the Grunt.

“No... you won’t,” I told her. She threw her Pokeball, and from its depths came forth a.... Rattata? I almost couldn’t suppress the laughter. All I had to do was defeat the same enemy I had from before. But, I decided, I would still treat this seriously... “Brandi.... you know what to do.”[/i]

Brandi, Lv. 10 Vulpix VS Lv. 14 Rattata

Brandi’s POV

Another Rattata? Could this not get any easier? I stared at my enemy. This one was a male, but there was something different about him. He looked.... stronger. A lot stronger. Why was this?

He started the battle, as I had anticipated from the previous bout, and had always started my battles. It was always like me to let the enemy go first. I was more of a dodge-and-strike type of fighter. Though he began the fight, he did so in a way that I hadn’t expected. He hopped and skipped, and then, almost as on cue, it started to rain.

What was this? No average Rattata would know that move. This one was tampered with. Great... now my fire attacks would be less effective, and not only that, but the little water droplets stung now and then. My enemy looked at me with a sneering smile. So you think it’s funny, do you? I thought.

Despite the rain, I began to concentrate deeply. I closed my eyes, and thought of the cold, rough earth. I could feel the energy that I was forming, as I prepared to execute a Hidden Power. Just as I opened my eyes, I felt a sharp pain in my side. The Rattata had latched onto me with a Super Fang. I squealed as we went flying in the air.

I was able to manoeuver myself ever so slightly, so that near the time we would hit the ground, I would land on top of him. So I moved, and with the force of gravity, I pinned my opponent to the ground. Using this advantage, I exhaled four quick bursts of fire right into my enemy’s face. He began to kick and recoil from the fire, so I jumped away.

I waited for my opponent to get up. With the heat of the Ember attacks, and the rain, he was not only charred black, but steam was lifting from his face. The Rattata glared at me angrily, then looked up. He seemed to be concentrating on the sky. Then, he began to take on a bit of a yellowish hue. I was not prepared for what was to come next.

The yellowish color signalled trouble. Before I could even dodge it, a lightning bolt came from the clouds and hit me. The pain was so excruciating, and I could see the lightning flow through me. My limbs and body began to take on a mind of their own, and my whole figure went numb. I fell to the ground, unable to move. I had been paralyzed.

What could I do!? It seemed that this battle was beginning to turn in my opponents favor. I could see him, looking at me as if he’d won, and perhaps he had. What was I to do? Tears began to form in my eyes.... I had let him down. I had let my trainer down. My opponent approached me slowly. Could I possibly attack?

I closed my eyes to focus. I mentally pictures my own internal movements that would perform the Toxic attack. I imagined the sludge moving from my stomach, up through my esophagus, through my mouth, and onto the enemy. I attempted to recollect what it felt like, and how to pull it off. Rattata was very close now, perhaps no more than two feet away. At that moment, I strained my gut to use the attack. I slowly opened my mouth, and I saw the purple sludge leave it.

The toxin and enveloped my foe; I had been successful. I tried hard to get to my feet. I stumbled, but managed to stand up while my opponent was trying to wipe the sludge from his eyes. He had been poisoned; now if I could survive for the next few minutes, I could possibly win this battle. My legs were still shaking from the Thunderbolt attack, but I began to wonder if maybe I was just temporarily paralyzed.

Slowly regaining my bodily functions, I began to familiarize myself with walking. I paced up and down, letting the poison consume him, waiting for him to make a move. The rain was beginning to subside. My enemy began to glow yellow again. This time I was ready, and shot an Ember at him. Since he was focussing on the electric move, the fireball hit him on target, sending him skidding backwards.

While he was regaining his ground, I focussed once more on the earth. I could feel the energy I was projecting. I opened one of my eyes a little to see what my opponent was up to, and I found that he was attempting once again to make a Thunderbolt. Since I had started my attack sooner, and it took less time to generate, I knew I would finish before did. Upon completion, I released my Hidden Power.

The slightly transparent, brown orb flew toward my opponent, knocking him back and down. With the help of the poison, he was no longer conscious. I had won! Thankful that the battle was over, I turned to Jay, and ran over to him.

“Great job, Brandi! For a second there, I thought you would have been gone, but you pulled through. I knew you could do it!” Jay exclaimed. He picked me up, and began talking to the Team Rocket member.

<Jay’s POV>

Brandi had won, and I was very proud of her. Facing my opponent, I noticed a look of anger, mixed with frustration. “You will not harm anyone in this area, so long as I dwell within it. Leave here, now!” I screamed. She continued to look at me. She looked over at her fallen Pokemon before recalling it, and looked at me once again. “LEAVE!!!” I screamed, but she continued to look at me.

“F*** y**,” she said, and with that, took something out of her pocket. She threw it at the ground, and a bright flash illuminated the area. She then disappeared, and I never saw her again. Looking down at Brandi, I saw how bruised and scratched she was, and rushed her to the nearest Pokemon Center.

Brandi grew to level 14! Brandi learned Quick Attack.

[classy_cat18]

This is the first part of the current scenario. I had writer's block while writing the battle, so it's kinda blah.

Lily’s POV

“Is this the capital of Cal...cale...”

“Caledor, Lily, and yes,” Shonta answered before I could finish my question. We were sitting at an outdoor café for a rest. Shonta said that Team Rocket had been sighted in this area and was looking to make some big trouble.

I looked up at the giant red and white umbrellas that were blocking my view of the blue sky. “Everything’s big. It kinda scares me,” I said shakily.

Athena scooped me up in her arms and hugged me. “Don’t worry, Lily. As long as you’re with us you have nothing to worry about.”

“Yeah! We’ll stomp those Grunts before they know what hit ‘em!” Moriko shouted enthusiastically. She pounded the table with a fist, totally breaking the table.

Shonta calmly stopped sipping her ice tea. “Good thing this wasn’t on it. Let’s pay the check and go.”

Moriko chuckled nervously. “Guess I’m a little too excited, huh?” The rest nodded.

“If you’re so nervous about being in a big city, then I have just the thing to psych you up,” Shonta told me. She reached into her backpack and pulled out a TM box. “This is Giga Drain. With this, you can suck your enemies dry before they can lay a hand on you.” She opened the box and activated the TM.

“Thanks, Shonta,” I said.

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

I stayed close to Athena and Shonta as we walked through the crowd. Unfortunately for me, everyone else was in their pokeballs. Moriko told Shonta to let her out when they ran into trouble, though. I weaved through legs three times taller than me and avoided bumping into other Pokemon. My nonexistent ears picked up more voices than they could handle. The worst thing about this patrol thing was that I could swear that someone was watching me. It felt like it was getting closer and closer. I couldn’t take it anymore, so I stopped and looked behind me. Nothing. “Let’s go back to the Pokemon Center, Shonta. Shonta?” I couldn’t find her! I was right behind her and she just vanished! I saw hundreds of feet, but none of them looked like Shonta’s. Neither could I see Athena.

The world was spinning. I started to breathe in shallow gasps. And just when I thought things couldn’t get worse, it did.

BOOM!

The building closest to me exploded in a million pieces! The masses of people scattered! Feet kicked me, stepped on me!

BOOM! Another building exploded. I was a blue bowling ball with feet and leaves. I rolled this way and that, finally stopping in a narrow street with whole buildings and trashcans on both sides. I think it was called an alleyway. I closed my eyes, hoping that the headache I gained would go away.

I woke up later in the same place. I was alone there. Safe, but alone. I watched the empty street. There was no one left for me to find my trainer. Or so I thought.

“Hey! You! What are you doing here?” asked someone hidden among the trashcans.

I whirled around too fast and fell down. “Wh-who’s there?” I asked shakily.

A green head popped out of a Dumpster. It was a Kecleon. “What’s the matter, kid? Are you lost?”

I screamed. Omigod, someone’s wants to kidnap me! There’s no one here to protect me! I used the TM that Shonta gave me earlier. I pointed my leaves at the Kecleon and proceeded to suck in his energy. This wasn’t a little, like my Absorb would do. And unlike what I do with Absorb I didn’t let him attack me first. But it took a lot out of the Kecleon.

“Yeesh, I didn’t do anything! Why did you do that to me, kid?”

I guess it was a little hasty for me to just steal his energy when he wasn’t even doing anything wrong. But why is he calling me a kid? I frowned. “I’m not a kid.”

He jumped down and looked over me. “All Oddish are kids until they evolve.”

I felt tears stream down my face. I wasn’t a kid, but kids sometimes cry when they’re lost. But I couldn’t help it. My trainer was gone and I didn’t know where she was. I was lost without my friends. “I can’t find my trainer!” I cried.

The Kecleon stumbled back. “Whoa, kid! Turn off the water works! I don’t have your trainer, but if you stay quiet I could help you find him.”

I quieted down with relief. “Her.”

“What?”

“He’s a she.” I got up and walked down the alley. “Maybe she went down here when that building blew up.”

“I didn’t see her down here, um…what’s your name?”

“It’s Lily. What’s yours?” I spotted something brown on the ground next to the Dumpster and turned back to the Kecleon. He was scratching the ground with his clawed foot. “Well?”

“I don’t have a name.”

I went to the brown thing, which turned out to be Shonta’s wallet. “Are you sure you haven’t seen anybody? ‘Cause here’s her wallet.”

The Kecleon’s eyes went wide. He turned his back to me. “I don’t know where that came from.”

Then I knew. The feeling that I had, that someone was watching me, was right. This guy, however, was looking at Shonta’s wallet instead of me. “You stole it! Why did you steal my trainer’s wallet?”

“Look, do you like rooting through trash for food?” he asked me angrily. I shook my head. “Neither do I! But that’s what I have to do! I have no trainer! I have no home! You’re too lucky for your own good! I was born in this place with no parents! Before you accuse me of stealing, you think of what it’s like to have to eat food that’s unfit for a Snorlax!”

That took me by surprise. Before I knew it, the tears were coming back. I reminded myself that kids cried and that I wasn’t a kid. But the Kecleon was crying, too. The tears stopped. There’s gotta be something I can do to cheer him up. “Keep the wallet. But I have another idea.”

“What’s that?”

“Come with me. My trainer can take you in. She’s very nice. My team’s very nice. Well, except for Trinity. But you’ll have and trainer and a home. I’ll even give you a name!” I walked to him and rested a leaf on his shoulder. “From now on, you’re Bandit.”

“Bandit? Are you calling me that because I stole your trainer’s wallet?”

“I’m calling you that because you’re good at stealing. You were following us and I didn’t even know it.”

“Bandit. I like it. Come on, kid. Let’s go find your trainer.”

“I’m not a kid.” I followed him down the alley. “Why don’t you have a trainer, Bandit? You seem nice enough.”

“You need to hear this, Lily. Nice guys finish last, especially on Ulthuan. Team Rocket and these new people who call themselves the Crimson Blades rule here. You need to be tough to survive here.”

“But why don’t you have a trainer?”

He sighed. “Because I wasn’t strong enough to roll with the big boys. My parents worked for Team Rocket. When they gave birth to me, they decided that a life on the streets was better for me than a life with them. When I hatched, I was in an alley much like this one.”

“Oh. I’m sorry, Bandit. I grew up without my parents, but I lived in the wild. Is it really that bad here?”

“Not really. There are some perks.”

Bandit’s POV

How nice for me. I had a friend and hopefully a home. Not to mention a whole team of girls waiting for me. I chuckled at the mere thought of it as we walked down the alley. “What are you laughing about?” she asked me curiously as we approached the end of the alley and onto another sidewalk, this one full of people.

“Nothing. Just thinking that when I was little that I wanted to save a damsel in distress. I had no idea that the damsel was going to look like you.”

“Were you expecting a princess?”

“No. Well, yes. But I guess you’ll do.”

She laughed. “You’re funny, Bandit!”

I like this kid. It’s been a while since I’ve seen a friendly face in this city. “Wanna see something, Lily? Something so cool it will knock your socks off?” She nodded. “Better keep up!” I grabbed one of her leaves and took off across the street, barely avoiding traffic. We zipped through alleys until we came across the middle of the city, which was one beautiful park. A giant tree, an oak tree, stood in the middle of the park. Its branches were bare but it was still magnificent. Around the oak tree were smaller trees, some that will bear flowers come spring. “Isn’t this cool? Of course, it’s even cooler during the warmer months.” I laughed at my lame joke.

“It’s nice. Reminds me of my home. Why is it here?”

I shrugged. “I guess the humans that built this big city wanted to save something from the past. Wouldn’t you want something beautiful among all of this ugliness?”

“If you don’t like the city, why don’t you get out and live in the wild?”

“I wouldn’t know how to take care of myself out there. Besides, this is as close to home as I can get. No fruit grows on these trees but I like them anyway.” I took her leaf again and led her to the oak tree. I stopped when I heard voices.

“So what are we going to do to her?” a male human’s voice asked.

“Would you shut up? I’m still thinking!” another human growled, this time a female.

Lily gasped. “Bandit, that sounds like Dixie!”

“Who?”

“Dixie! She’s a bad human!”

That surprised me a little. How can a girl named Dixie be bad? “I wonder who she’s talking about? Wait here, Lily. Hold your trainer’s wallet.” I quickly climbed onto the tree and around its trunk until I was directly above the humans. A human girl with blonde hair and a human guy with a baseball cap on were standing in front of another human girl with dark brown hair. I couldn’t identify Miss Brown Hair because all I could see was the top of her head. Her hands seemed to be bound with rope.

“All of those weak Pokemon with a weak trainer! You have to be the lamest Dragon Tamer ever! But that Oddish…there’s something strange about her,” Dixie said to Miss Brown Hair.

“Lily’s special. She’s not a loser like you,” Miss Brown Hair grumbled.

Lily? That must be Lily’s trainer! Alright! I’ll have a real home when I get her out of this mess!

“I finally get to have my revenge. I have you and your Pokemon! There’s not a thing you can do!”

“Why are you going through all of this trouble just to have your revenge?” Lily’s trainer asked.

“You’re so vain! It’s not all about you, sugar. You’re just a bonus. We’re here on business, not pleasure.” She held up a brown briefcase. “But it seems like I’ll get to have both. Hold her, Butch.”

I can’t just stand here! She’ll get butchered! I simply released my hold on the tree and plummeted down to Dixie’s head. About halfway down I saw her look up at me in horror. I fell on it and clung to it as tightly as I could, although I immediately wished I hadn’t done it. Her muffled screams were like nails on a chalkboard. She was flinging me everywhere. The human she called Butch was just standing next to Lily’s trainer with a look of confusion. Lily’s trainer was wearing the same look…for a split second. Then she burst into a fit of the giggles.

Lily came sprinting around the tree. “Shonta!” she cried as she jumped into her trainer’s lap.

“Where were you? I thought these guys had you!” Shonta cried.

“No! I lost you, but Bandit brought me to you!” She went to the ropes that bound her hands together and rubbed her leaves against it. The leaves glowed and sharpened, cutting the ropes.

Dixie finally found the intelligence to grab me by the tail and yank me off of her face, causing scratches to appear on it. “So. One of your Pokemon escaped,” she scowled at Shonta.

“It was an accident,” Lily said innocently.

She held me up to eye level. “Are you another one of her pathetic Pokemon?”

“I’ve never seen that Pokemon in my life,” Shonta said.

“That’s my new friend Bandit!” Lily nearly shouted in glee.

Well, I’ve never. I opened my mouth and extended my long tongue. It brushed against the side of Dixie’s face. Dixie stiffened like a board. “This…thing…paralyzed me!” she whimpered through clenched teeth.

Shonta laughed again. “This guy’s alright!”

“Butch, do something!”

Butch stepped forward and threw out a pokeball. “Go Gastly!” The light from the pokeball materialized into the Ghost-type Pokemon. Then he ran to Dixie with a bottle of Paralyze Heal and sprayed it on her. Dixie recovered, threw me aside, and took off with the briefcase.

I pried myself from Dixie’s grasp and ran to Shonta’s backpack. I recognized it because that’s where I found the wallet. Inside were pokeballs. I took one and threw it. “Go Pokemon!” I shouted.

The pokeball opened and revealed a lovely Ninetales. She shook her mane and looked around. “Where am I? What happened?” she asked. She wobbled over to Shonta. “I’m still shaken up from what happened earlier. All of that rolling around…”

“Trinity, go after Dixie and get that briefcase! This Kecleon will take care of the Gastly!”

But Trinity wasn’t having that. “Would you give me a second? I’m still nauseous!” she yelled.

Guess it’s up to me. “I’ll go get the briefcase, Trinity. I know the city better than you, anyway. I think I know where those guys are heading.” I turned to leave and saw that the Gastly was blocking my way.

Trinity growled. “Hey, Gastly. Your fight is with me, not that lizard!” She shot a Flamethrower at her to emphasize her point. Since I was between her and Gastly, I had to dodge and run.

“Bandit!” Shonta called out. “You’ll need this!” She tossed me a box. “It’s a TM! Faint Attack!” I gave her the thumbs up and continued running, still holding the box.

L8 Gastly vs. L7 Female Ninetales (Trinity)

Shonta’s POV

I felt sorry for Trinity. During the panic when the buildings exploded, I was pushed everywhere. Also, I thought that something was trying to get my backpack. It was somehow opened and the pokeballs spilled out, kicked like soccer balls by the hundreds of people. I ran into Dixie and that Butch guy when I was busy picking them up. It must’ve been pretty bad if she was still dizzy. I still let out Moriko from her pokeball so she could enjoy the battle.

“What’s going on? Yeah, a battle!” Moriko said enthusiastically. “Too bad I don’t have my Trinity flag with me!”

Trinity started out with a Quick Attack before I could tell her not to. She passed right through Gastly and landed just a little annoyed. “Use your Fire attacks!” I shouted.

She fired a Flamethrower right for Gastly’s face, but it easily floated out of the way. She fired again. It rolled to the left. Again. It rolled to the right. She tried Ember. It shot up in the air. “It won’t stand still!” she growled.

“This might be a problem,” Lily said, her leaves drooping.

“Don’t give up, Trinity!” Moriko encouraged.

Trinity was breathing heavily from launching all of those attacks. Gastly was wearing her out quickly. He lowered himself to eye level with Trinity and illuminated his eyes an eerie blue. Trinity’s eyes slowly closed and she sank to the ground.

“Trinity!” Lily cried out. “Wake up, Trinity!” Tears were starting to stream down her face.

Gastly laughed as he rose in the air and hovered over the slumbering Pokemon. His eyes were glowing again, but this time they were yellow. The air was soon crackling with electricity. Lily’s leaves perked. “It’s a Thunderbolt attack! Trinity!” But Trinity wasn’t moving. Gastly gathered the electricity from the air around him in front of him and shot it at Trinity. Trinity was helpless as the attack hit, but the only sound that escaped her mouth was a small groan. She may have been dreaming.

Lily and I were shaking as Gastly prepared another Thunderbolt. I scooped up Lily in my arms and held her tight. “Trinity!” I cried out. Nothing.

“Trinity!” Still nothing.

“TRINITY!”

It happened so fast. One second, she was lying still on the ground. Next second, she was up and Gastly was rolling around the sky. From what I deduced, Trinity woke up at the last second and used Confuse Ray as she dodged the Thunderbolt.

“What happened?” Lily asked me.

“I’m not sure. Go, Trinity!” Moriko cheered.

Trinity fired an Ember while Gastly was still loopy. Direct hit. Gastly would’ve had a black face if its face wasn’t already black. Gastly faced Trinity with confused eyes and tried to fire another Thunderbolt, but it blew up in its face. Literally. Trinity fired another Ember. Hit. Another. Hit. Since Gastly was dazed from getting hit by its own attack, Trinity was getting more hits in.

“You’re on fire!” Moriko shouted. Trinity smiled at that.

Gastly took that opportunity to catch her by surprise by shaking out of its confusion and shooting another Thunderbolt. Trinity had no chance of avoiding that attack, and she knew it. Instead an aura of light surrounded her. She was still hit, but she avoided being paralyzed.

“Trinity, use one more Flamethrower!” I commanded. I hoped that this attack wouldn’t miss. She was panting from using all those Fire attacks and by getting hit by Thunderbolt twice.

All the same, she opened her mouth and exhaled a column of flames. Gastly started to roll to the left, but Trinity shifted her head in the same direction and caught the side of its face. It closed its eyes and floated to the ground, defeated.

Trinity won! She grew to level 8!

Trinity collapsed on the ground in front of the rest of us. “I wonder if they’re coming back to get that thing,” she said to herself.

“Why? Are you actually worried about it?” I asked her.

“No. I’m just tired of seeing its ugly face.”

I rooted through the backpack for Trinity’s pokeball and noticed that something was missing. “Hey, where’s my wallet?” I asked no one in particular.

Lily laughed nervously and ran around the tree. She came back with my wallet in her mouth. She spit it out and laughed again. “Bandit kinda stole it,” she said softly.

“Oh boy. What a friend. Come on, we need to catch up to him.”

I need a RBG for my L5 Kecleon Bandit, from the Free Range Corral.

[Lady Vulpix]

Wow, page 26 already! We should start a new version soon. I've rated Hannah's and Ade's battles, but not J's or Shonta's yet. If either Amy or Karin could do that, it would be great.

Hannah, I liked your story. I felt like I was getting to know your characters better, and the birth scene was beautiful! And the descriptions were great, as usual. And you added a creative twist to Harlequin's evolution. I was surprised by how resistant Fizz proved to be during the battle. I'm not sure many Taillows could have endured that much. Take 21 stamps, and congratulations on Ted's birth, and Fizz's and Harlequin's evolutions! ¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢

Ade, you've managed to come up with yet another disfunctional crew! Just remember you already have 15 pokemon with you. And what's with Kakusei's spells? The story sounds interesting, though I'm worried about what Pandora may still have to go through. Speaking of Pandora, she'll be battling a Ditto next. That could be tricky. I feel sorry for her in advance. Take 12 stamps, and please be kind enough to explain what "doukemono" means. ¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢

[AntiAsh Superstar]

Fear not, Gabi, I can't see myself getting too attached to any of this lot, they're simply a means to an end. I did rush that 'un a little, tho, I gotta say and I guess it prolly showed a bit. :O 'Doukemono' is supposed to mean 'jester', I think, but I might have mispelled it in the process of copying it from the english to romanji translator I always use whenever I'm stuck for names. X)

[Skye]

Noters:
-Kai, Male, Eevee.
-Kai was bred in the Breeding Center, Egg laid on November 8, 2004; Hatched on December 9, 2004. He has a natural grey mane and tail.
-Kalil, Male, Growlithe.
-Kalil was adopted from the PokeZoo Adoption Center Version 4; October 29, 2004. He has a fear of fire.
-Rayne, male, Kabuto, already introduced.
-The Meowth's Egg was laid on January 14, 2005 at the Breeding Center.
-This story sort of takes place in a odd bubble of reality that will come, but hasn't yet. We won't see anymore of these Pokemon until after I finish the training grounds scenario. When I resume, it will go back to only Rayne, Naois, and Amaris. If you think it's weird, bite me. ^^U Or don't...
-This is only a little way to get back into my older writing habits I used here. Darkfire is a bit more lighthearted, but... Um... Well... I can explain. ^^UUU But that would spoil my plots. XP Impatient people...
-Have fun reading a mini story that has no meaning, no purpose, and has no explanation other than what is included. xx I needed the Stamps... Plus once my evil plot has been completed, I can stop sorting them! ^^ *dance* Math is evil.

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

-A Good Day-

It was a bright, warm day when Darkfire brought a fraction of her team out into the untouched areas of Caledor to be with them and give them a few new attacks. She had traded some items for TMs, powders within miniature boxes used to teach a Pokemon a certain attack. She looked around the lightly wooded area that she had selected, a peaceful spot just for her and her company. She picked out a patch of warm grass and sat on it, the scents of summer and warm grass making her drowsy. She wasn't the only one. Kalil, her Growlithe, and Kai, her grey-maned and -tailed Eevee also seemed relaxed in the heavy air. Rayne was the only one unaffected.

He glanced around before finding a shaded area of ground lacking grass. He settled himself there while Kalil curled up in some sunned grass, Kai sticking close to him. It was a funny sight, Darkfire's young Eevee following Kalil around like there was no tomorrow. She smiled slightly as Kai laid down on top of Kalil, who didn't mind at all. The two of them had a bond, one started from when Kai had hatched and Kalil was the first one he saw. The little Eevee had curled up between the Growlithe's forepaws and had fallen asleep. Almost like the bond she and Rayne had. One of understanding, as well as trust. As her team was growing, Darkfire had found it increasingly easier to talk to her Pokemon. They seemed to understand, though she rarely bothered the younger ones with her boring speech. They deserved to grow up before they did anything. Especially when it came to trying to understand Darkfire.

She lifted another Pokemon Egg out of her backpack and placed it in the soft grass before she began to dig around for her TMs. They weren't very hard to find considering she had left almost everything in the apartment besides the TMs and her Egg. She would have left her Egg too, but she liked to keep her Eggs with her, especially as this one was close to hatching. She laid the three attacks down in front of her and looked up at her Pokemon.

"I have two attacks I would like to hand out, Blood knows why I got the third... An Aurora Beam and Dragon Rage TM." She didn't bother to mention the name of the last attack, Fake Out. None of her Pokemon could learn it, so it was rather pointless.

Rayne shook himself, knowing that Aurora Beam was for him. He was trying to tell Darkfire that he certainly didn't need the weaker Ice attack, considering that he had a more powerful Ice attack, Ice Beam. She knew what he was thinking, as easily as she knew what she was thinking herself. Such as how risky it was to teach a Growlithe who was afraid of fire how to use Dragon Rage.

"Aurora Beam is weaker, but it has a different effect on opponents. It has the ability to lower attacking power. Plus it won't take up so much energy to use as Ice Beam. It will help in longer battles, even if it doesn't do as much damage." She informed him. He paused before nodding in consent to learning the move. She collected the TM Aurora Beam and opened it. She spread the powder inside of the box over Rayne's shell. He blinked calmly as his body gleamed brightly for a moment. Not as brightly as when he was hardening his body with his Harden attack, but the gleam was noticeable. Even Kai looked at Rayne for a moment in confusion at his glow.

"And Dragon Rage for you, Kalil." Her Growlithe yelped in surprise. He probably didn't want another powerful attack. "It will help you learn to control your Fire attacks. I've heard the powers of Dragons described in a similar fashion as Fire." He looked at her, still uneasy. But he nodded. Darkfire opened the TM Dragon Rage over him and opened it, spreading the powder over his back. He too gleamed in a similar manner as if he had used Harden. Kai squeeled in delight and cuddled closer to Kalil, obviously liking his idol's glowing abilities. Darkfire shook her head as Kalil took Kai away to start a game.

Rayne retired to his Pokeball, uninterested in anymore activity for the day, and Darkfire pulled the Egg into her lap. She closed her eyes, lulled by the warm summer day. It didn't take her long to drift into sleep. She was un haunted by strange dreams. As a matter of fact, no dreams came to her at all. She didn't even feel the slight movements that began fist in her lap, then by her stomach.

When she woke up, she blinked at the yellow eyes that stared back at her. A rough, moist tongue wiped over her nose. She sneezed slightly and smiled gently at the creature standing above her, or rather, on her head. She reached up and picked up the fuzzy creature, holding it away from the mess of Egg shell on her lap and all around her. As she held it, she looked it over to make certain it wasn't harmed by its hatching, and to check its gender. Her Meowth kitten purred slightly at the attention, his voice wavering with his youth. Darkfire smiled and ran her fingers through the kitten's fluffed out black coat. He purred even louder, or at least tried to. This was truly one of the scarce times she could relax the most and not worry about anything.

Darkfire cleared away the Egg shell and set the kitten in her lap, wondering what to make of this new wonder. She stroked his for a few minutes, sitting back and thinking of a name. After basking in Darkfire's attention for a few minutes, the curious Meowth wandered away from Darkfire. He had spotted something interesting looking, and wandered over for a closer look. Darkfire watched calmly, knowing that with Kai and Kalil nearby, nothing and no one would come nearby without them knowing and warning Darkfire. And she had Rayne's Pokeball nearby just in case they missed anything.

The kitten stumbled to the left-over TM and poked at it with a wary paw, then batted playfully at it. Darkfire watched, wondering what she would to with the basically useless TM that she had. She then leaned forward, stifling a shout when the kitten pounced on the box in play, breaking the box and sending a cloud of powder up around himself. Well, that solved her problem. The TM was useless now. Darkfire settled back, still watching. She then stared as the Meowth's black coat started glowing brightly. It then hit her that Meowth learned the attack Fake Out later in their lives and levels, so naturally, her kitten was compatible with the TM she had activated. So the TM wasn't wasted after all... This shall be interesting.

"Kenshin, you fluff head." Darkfire scolded with a teasing voice. Her kitten looked at her and did the best impersonation of an anime character smiling guiltily and sweatdropping that Darkfire had ever seen.

"Meooow?" He replied.

"Yes, you." Darkfire chuckled. She didn't need to know anything about the kitten's behavior to recognize a 'Who, me?' voice. Besides, that meant she had a name for the guilty Pokemon. Kenshin. Darkfire smiled again. Fate was in her favor these days. She just hoped it held out.

Rayne learned Aurora Beam!
Kalil learned Dragon Rage!
Kenshin hatched and accidentally learned Fake Out! ^^U

[Cheesey]

I'd like another RBG please. This time it'll be for Mars, my male Ralts. He's at level 9. Oh yeah, and could it please be for the Jungle Deforestation Recovery Agency? *pays 7 Stamps* Thanks in advance!

[Sheik]

I would like an RBG from the Free Range Corral for Brandi, my level 14 Vulpix, please.

[Cheesey]

J, you need to choose a location where you want your RBG to take place. It can be in any of these places: Caledor's Nature Protection Agency, Antarctic Survivor Recovery Agency, Jungle Deforestation Recovery Agency, Professional Sports Breeding System, Electric Shutdown Retirement System, Free Range Corral, or the Universal Adoption Center.

[Charizard04621]

Sheik - Well done! Take 17 Stamps. Though I wasn't sure what you meant that the Rattatta had been tampered with when it used Rain Dance... They can get those easily through TM. And was the second trainer from the Crimson Blades? They don't have anything to do with Team Rocket because they broke off. Or were both opponents Team Rockets? *confused*

[EDIT]: Does anyone have the link to the RBG randomizer? I apparently don't...

[Sheik]

Thanks!

The trainer was from Team Rocket, and he was trying to ambush and defeat the second trainer, who was from the Crimson Blades. When I said that the Rattata had been tampered with, I meant that it couldn't learn those move naturally.

[Lady Vulpix]

Link to the Randomizer

Cheesey gets a ¢ for helping J. Mars will battle a Hoppip.

Darkfire gets 3 stamps for her story. I don't like to put writers under pressure, but I'm afraid I'll have to remind you that extensions time out once the scenario changes twice, so you may want to go back to your Training Grounds battles before that happens.

Shonta, don't worry, you haven't been skipped. Amy said she was rating your battle.

J, Brandi will battle a Zigzagoon. Good luck!

[Cheesey]

I started this last night before I knew Mars was going to battle a Hoppip. The whole thing with Smeargle and Imarad and everything was written last night, I think... I hope you like it.

Colour codes:

Steel blue: Me
Silver: Maria the female white winged Dratini, level 7
Orange: Katia the female Raichu, level 7
Normal: Wild Smeargle
Dark orchid: Mars the male blue Ralts, level 9 (10 now)
Green: Wild Hoppip

My POV

Well, I suppose there wasn’t anything that I could do about Imarad’s mood. I was certainly shocked as to what she had done in the battle – she had seemed a lot calmer than normal before. Hera and Quartz also appeared to be rather shocked, and I saw them chatting to each other. I didn’t like seeing two of my pokemon gossiping like that about one of their team-mates because I know that Imarad couldn’t help it, and that she really regretted it. For two of her friends to talk about her just after it when they were (probably) aware that she got totally caught up in the moment was actually rather sickening. It’s not something I expected to see from the two of them. “Imarad was paralyzed, confused AND attracted, you two. Don’t chat about her. You two should have been able to recognise that she was in an extremely difficult situation, and I’m surprised that you’re talking about her like that. I’m returning you both, okay?”

I didn’t give them any time to respond, because I didn’t want to hear it. I held out their respective pokeballs and they were sucked into them with a flash of red light. Attaching them both back onto my backpack, I glanced over at Maria, who looked as if she was in a contemplative mood.
”Why do you think Imarad did that?”
”I’m sure it’s because she had been afflicted by 3 status conditions. That’s never happened to her before, and I think she just broke down under the strain.”
”Are you sure? When I was watching, it looked like it was more than that. To me, it appeared that she just let out all her anger that she had bottled up inside of her. Maybe it was because she just explained what her past was like, but I still don’t see why she would have done that. I know she’s not the calmest of pokemon, but I can’t seem to see why she had such an outrageous outburst at the Smeargle. Although, he wasn’t exactly nice to her.”

The Smeargle! I’d almost forgotten about him. I walked over to him and knelt down beside him, Maria gently peering over my shoulder. He was in a bad state. He had multiple bruises and countless cuts all over his body. There were grazes and all sorts of other signals that he’d taken quite a beating, and he looked a bit sick too. I sighed, and just as I did his eyes flickered open. I looked at him, and I smiled. “It’s okay,” I said to him. “Don’t strain yourself, you’ve just been in quite an intense battle. Take as much rest as you feel you need to, we’ll stay by your side and make sure that you’re alright.
“No, I don’t want to,” responded the Smeargle, weakly.
”You’re not going to cope if you try to stay awake, though,” I replied, rather anxious.
”Isn’t there anyone on the team who can help him recover?” suggested Maria.

That was a good idea, actually. I thought about it – the pokemon that immediately sprung to mind was Hera, but I don’t think that was a good idea, seeing as she witnessed the battle in all its “glory”… There was Katia, of course. She could use Wish, and she’d never met Maria before. She also hadn’t got a clue what had just happened either, and I couldn’t imagine her reacting badly in any way. I took my backpack off and picked up her pokeball, before pressing the button in. She burst out (facing me) and immediately cocked her head at Maria.

”Who’re you?” Katia asked, inquisitively.
”I’m Maria. I’m the newest pokemon on the team… Do you know Chris’ friend Connor? I used to belong to him, but I arrived in this team because Connor didn’t know if he could be a good trainer towards me, and he wanted someone else to take care of me.”
”Oh right, ok. Well, I’m Katia, and it’s nice to meet you.”
”I’m sorry to interrupt, but Katia, if you turn around, you’ll see what I originally sent you out to do.”
”Oh! What’s wrong with him?” asked Katia, seemingly not aware of the fact that she sounded a little bit rude.
”Imarad just had a battle with him, and she went a little bit further than we would have expected her to, to put it simply.”
”Oh. Hmm. What do you want me to do?”
”Well, I’d like you to use Wish on him. As you can see, he’s not in the best state in the world, and he really needs it.”

Katia nodded, and turned back to the Smeargle, who didn’t seem to be conscious at all. She focused on him and started to glow very faintly. Small, glittering stars emerged from her shimmering body and seeped into the Smeargle’s cuts, closing them up. They also sunk into his bruises, and his fur returned to its normal colour. Once Katia stopped glowing, the Smeargle sat up, rather out of things and looking a little bit sheepish. “What just happened? What’s going on? Is that Zangoose still here? Where are all the others?”
”Who are ‘the others’?”
“The other Smeargle.”
”Oh right, I don’t know. And by the way, the Zangoose has gone – she’s mine, and her name is Imarad. By the way, why were all of you Smeargle attacking the Free Range Corral?”
“We weren’t really attacking it. We were hunting for others. There are these grass pokemon who tried to invade our home near The Universal Adoption Center. We were trying to find them just to “return the favour” if you know what I mean.”
Wouldn’t they be more likely to be in the Jungle Deforestation Recovery Agency..?
“Well, you see, that’s what we originally thought. But then some of my friends heard that they had been sighted here, so we decided to come here.”
”You know, when I was in the Eevee House, reporters called this ‘trip’ of yours a siege. That’s why we came here, actually.”
“A siege? Dear lord, no. We were just really angry at what the pokemon had done to our home. They’d pretty much ruined the area we live in, and none of us are sure why – We want to find it out. And some revenge would be nice.”
”What species were these pokemon? There aren’t too many who I would have thought would have done this sort of thing.
“They were Bellsprout.”
”Bellsprout? I didn’t think they’d be violent in that sort of way,”
“Neither did I, but there was talk of a Victreebel forcing them into it. I dunno really, it could all just be rumours.”
”Well, you’re more likely to find those in the Jungle Deforestation Agency, like I said before, you know. But I still don’t recommend blindly attacking the place. I recommend you just find out the cause of it all.”
“Yeah, I guess so. I’d better be going, I need to find the other Smeargle and tell them that the Bellsprout aren’t here.”
”Wait a minute – Why did you attack Imarad in the first place?”
“Didn’t you see what she did to me?”
”No…”
“Well, I recommend you talk to her about that, and not me. It’s not my place.”

My POV

I watched the Smeargle amble off to find the other Smeargle. There certainly didn’t seem to be any sort of urgency in his walk, and I didn’t even see any of the others. That’s a bit odd, since I saw so many on the TV in the Eevee House. Still, I guess it’s a good thing that they’re not going to attack the Free Range Corral any more, but I do hope that they don’t just “siege” the Jungle Deforestation Agency.

”They won’t.”
”They won’t what?
”They won’t siege the Deforestation Agency.”
”How did you know that was what I was thinking?”
”Well, you did kinda just say it. Maybe you were thinking out loud unintentionally.”
”Oh, right. Didn’t mean to do that.”
”Be thankful that you weren’t thinking out loud about something else…”
”What? What’s that supposed to mean?!”
”You know… you wouldn’t have wanted to say anything you didn’t want us to hear.
”I don’t like your tone. What are you implying?”
”Oh, nothing…”

I felt myself going red but I don’t know why, because I didn’t know what Katia was talking about. I looked sheepishly at Maria who seemed blissfully unaware of what was going on, so I could keep her out of her pokeball as she wouldn’t bug me about it. Katia, on the other hand, would. So I returned her. Then I began to walk in the direction of the Jungle Deforestation Agency. I wanted to make sure that the Smeargle didn’t do anything foolish, and since I didn’t know any of them well, I couldn’t trust them not to. And I didn’t want any innocent pokemon to get caught up in it. As we travelled out of the Free Range Corral, the pathway I was walking through got gradually quieter. Eventually I couldn’t hear anything much. I was wandering through open fields, not used to the peace. After a while, Maria piped up.

”Have you ever been to this place before?”
”No, I haven’t. I think I know where I’m going though.”
”Oh right, okay. Hm… Is it that big mass of trees in the distance?”
”I imagine so. Excited?”
”Sort of. But I’d rather not be a spectator of this battle. After Imarad’s battle, I’m kinda worried that I might view something like that again and get involved in something I shouldn’t need to be part of.”
”Ok. You sound a bit stressed out, actually. Want to go back into your pokeball?”
”Yeah, please.”

I held out Maria’s pokeball and she was sucked in rather quickly. The ball rumbled a bit, and then calmed down. I attached it back onto my backpack, and continued on. After that brief conversation, I felt like I needed to sort things out with Imarad. Like, what was it she had done to provoke the Smeargle? Was she okay after doing that to him? But it had to wait. I didn’t want to try to sort it out so soon after the battle had happened, and I wanted to make sure the group of Smeargle didn’t do anything stupid in the area I was headed for. I was also a bit worried about Maria – It can’t have been the best start to being part of the team, could it? But this all had to wait until afterwards. I was getting close to the agency, so I tried to clear my head before entering.

Once I got to the entrance, I took a step into the place. It seemed to be quite quiet – What was with all the calmness today? – so I wandered through quite contently. All these pokemon were living happily in their habitat, and I felt sorry for them because of the fact that they had been gradually losing the home they had before. I hope no more of the forest got cut down, because their freedom appeared to be getting rather limited. As I got lost in thought, I became rather ignorant of what was going on around me. This was a bit silly. I ended up tripping over a vine on the ground. As I landed, my backpack was jolted, and one of my pokeballs got knocked off. Mars popped out and looked at me curiously. I was about to tell him what had happened before a rather irked Hoppip marched up to the two of us.

”What are you doing on the vine?” she asked rudely.
”I fell over.”
”Oh yeah, riiiight. And you?” she asked, turning to Mars.
”I got knocked out of my pokeball.”
”I wasn’t referring to that. I was referring to how scruffy you look.”
”Look here. Don’t come barging up to us before complaining that we’re looking scruffy. Maybe you should open your eyes a little and realise that Mars here doesn’t look scruffy at all, and that even if he did, you don’t judge by first looks.”
”Mummy says strangers can’t be mean to me. Mummy says that if they are, she’ll get you back for it. Mummy says-“
”Does this have anything to do with Mummy?”

I, for one, was taken aback by the fact that Mars was talking back to someone he didn’t know. He was usually silent and didn’t respond to anything, even to folk that he knew well.

”Maybe you should learn some manners, mister.”
”And judging by first impressions, you’re not one to talk. If you’re going to judge me by the way I look then I don’t see why I can’t judge you in exactly the same fashion. I don’t judge others when I don’t know them, but it’s folk like you which infuriate me. Get to know someone before you make snobby comments on them, thanks.”

I was speechless. I looked at Mars in shock.

”I need to learn manners? Well I bet you don’t even know how to use a knife and fork.”
”And, pray tell, why would I need to?”
”Why are you blue?”
”Why are you changing the subject?”
”Stop it!”
”Stop what? And why are you hopping about like that?”
”She’s using Splash. I think she wants to battle.”

Mars the male blue Ralts vs. wild female Hoppip!

I don’t know why the Hoppip decided to use Splash to indicate that she wanted to battle Mars, but I guess it worked. But it made me think… Does she have any offensive moves? Well, we’d see. “Use Will-O-Wisp!” I shouted out to Mars.

Mars closed his eyes and focused his mind on producing a stream of flames towards his opponent. She seemed a bit shocked and didn’t try to defend herself, for some reason. The flames set fire to the two leaves on her head, and turned her into a bit of a living sparkler. She hopped about frantically, screeching “Get it off! Get it off!” I myself don’t see how you can get fire off as easily as that, but it was a silly thing to think about. I looked at Mars, who was looking at her. He didn’t look happy, but I think that was because he didn’t like hurting others. Even though she was being a snob towards him, I think he still felt guilty for hurting her.

“Mars, use Confusion!” I yelled over to him. He nodded obediently and focused his mind again. Then he started to glow, although it was difficult to make out because it was a blue glow, and he was a blue pokemon. Nevertheless, the Hoppip also started to glow blue and she was gradually lifted up into the air, her two head-leaves still alight. “Help!” she cried out sheepishly, before screwing her eyes up as Mars pierced her mind with kinetic energy. Then, he let her go, and she fell to the ground, moaning. “You’re mean!” she shouted squeakily.

Then she started to glow herself. Mars watched her cautiously, readying himself for any possible attack. She wasn’t going to attack, though – it was Synthesis that she was using. Her began to shimmer with natural light, and it healed the bruises she had on her body visibly. Then, once she stopped glowing, she leapt towards Mars and tried to strike him with her tail. It didn’t really do much since she didn’t have much of a tail to strike with, and just as she finished the attack I commanded Mars to use Confusion once more. He did, and he lifted up Hoppip again. Then, he proceeded to swing her around in the air with his advanced mind power, before throwing her into a bush. She popped up comically, before bursting into tears and screaming for her mother as she ran back into the trees.

Mars won! He grew to level 10! He learnt Recover as his free TM*!
*Is it legal? Ralts can learn Reflect, Light Screen and Protect so I thought it would be. If it isn’t, he’ll learn Thunderbolt instead.

”Wow, you battled well.”
”Thanks. Can I be returned now?” he asked, almost instantly.
”I guess so.”

I held out his ball and returned him before contemplating over why he spoke back to the Hoppip. I would never have expected him to do that before… Weird. Anyway, I needed to find the Smeargle and/or the Bellsprout to make sure nothing bad arose. I brushed my jeans after having fallen over, put my backpack on properly, and went searching for the pokemon I needed to find.

[Lady Vulpix]

Chris, you can have 7 stamps for your battle. I wonder what made the Hoppip so cocky if she had no way to attack, but I guess some individuals are just like that. I liked the way you looked for an explanation to the Smeargles' attacks, though now I wonder how this whole chain started. Though maybe nobody knows. As for the TM, it'll have to be Thunderbolt, since Recover isn't it a TM/HM/Move Tutor move in the games. ¢¢¢¢¢¢¢

[Skye]

Darkfire gets 3 stamps for her story. I don't like to put writers under pressure, but I'm afraid I'll have to remind you that extensions time out once the scenario changes twice, so you may want to go back to your Training Grounds battles before that happens.

Oye, I didn't know that. Thanks for telling me. xx I'll have to get a move on, then. ^^U

[LightNinetales]

Okay, I actually finished that RBG battle for my Will-O'.

Amelia Blackthorn speaks in bold, purple.
Blackthorn speaks in black.

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

~x Silvereyes’ POV x~

My brother was staring at something in the sky. It was a sad stare. It destabilized me.
“Is there a problem, Will?”
“No", he said, still staring at the sky.
“So why do you do this?”
“Do what?”
His voice was always kind and warm, but this time it had a sad tone.
“Stare at the sky. It’s blue, there’s nothing special in it. Why are you sad?”
He turned towards me.
“I am not sad. I was just... thinking.”
“Thinking about what ?”
“Something you don’t have to know about.”
“Daddy, Will’O doesn’t want to tell me why he is staring at the sky like that!”
“Silver, stop annoying your brother and mind your own business”, he answered.
I wondered why Will’O was acting like that. He was always kind, always explaining everything to me, and now... he became another pokemon. He became Eni. Cold, secret, like this Meowth I didn’t like. I felt something was wrong.

~x Whitney’s POV x~

I jumped on Silver’s back.
“You think Will’O isn’t his normal self. You think there’s something strange...” I said, with my kind voice.
“How do you know?”
“I’m just... analyzing. That’s obvious, actually.”
As I was analyzing Will’O’s behaviour and Silver’s reactions, we saw a house. A house in the middle of the forest? Weird. Very weird.
Light walked to the door and rang the doorbell. Someone opened the door.
A young, blonde woman. Dark violet eyes. Quite tall, quite slim. Not smiling.
“Who are you?” she said.
“LightNinetales. Erm... who are you?”
“Amelia Blackthorn. If you want to sell something, I already have everything, thank you very much.”
“Actually, my pokemon are hungry, and maybe... you could... please...”
Amelia frowned.
“Wait a moment.”
She entered the house.

~x Amelia’s POV x~

I sat down on a red chair.
“Well, that girl is just behind this door. Oh, and you know the prices, right?”
“Yeah”, Oni said. “We’ll pay. But we want her pokemon. Especially...”
“An Eevee, crystal blue eyes, black fur, half-grey, half-rainbow mane, I know...”
“And...we need him quickly. Oni doesn’t like to wait...” Tom said, winking.
I smiled.
"He will be yours in a second...Oh, and Tom... after that little thing... could we, ahem, have some tea? I have coffee, too, and there’s food if you want, you know, in the kitchen, and also...”
I realized I didn’t even know what I wanted to say.
Oni frowned.
“Could you hurry up, please? And... stop saying pointless things, we don’t have the time to waste words.”
I obeyed. I walked to the door, slowly, so Oni and Tom could hide in my bedroom. Maybe. Or in the bathroom? Or somewhere else? That little garden? As long as they pay, they can hide everywhere... except... in the cupboard. Too small for them.
I opened the door.
“You can come in.” I told the girl.
She walked in, sat down with her pokemon. She had a Ponyta. He reminded me of Blackthorn, my own Ponyta. The same black fur...

~x Tom’s POV x~

I was with Oni, in this small cupboard. The perfect place to hide, though I realized small places were not always the best. Oni and me didn’t fit in this cupboard. So, she was sitting on my head, and both of us were uncomfortable, because she was taller than me and we were getting bored.. There was nothing to do in such a small and dark place, with someone who hates you. So I started playing with my fingers, when I noticed a small box in a corner.
“Oni, look above you... is there any way to lighten this cupboard up a little?”
“There’s a candle. With a small flame, take care of it. I don’t want my clothes to catch fire, and I know you’re clumsy.”
I took the candle and put it on the ground, next to the box. I opened it.
“Oh. That’s... that’s...” I said, stammering.
“That’s...that’s what?”
She seemed a little bit angry. Well, I think the place was the kind of place that makes you angry, especially when the person hiding in the place with you is moving and looking at little boxes found in a corner.
“That’s some photos. Do you want to see the little boy I was when I was five years old?”
“Why does she have photos of you?”
I smiled.
“I told you she was a former classmate of mine. I didn’t know she kept photos of me, though.”
I looked at the other photos.
“That boy must be... I remember him, but I don’t remember his name...”
“How interesting.” commented Oni. “I am very, very happy to share your thoughts about five years old boys you played with when you were a little kid yourself, though something makes me think you may still be a little kid.”
“Brian! Yeah, that was Brian! He was the one with the Pikachu!”
“How do you even remember him? You haven’t seen him for nineteen years!”
“Actually, that’s fifteen years, he left when I was nine.”
“Hmm... I guess he left to start his pokemon journey?”
The Return Of Oni’s Ironical Voice.
“He did. Oh, look at this one! It’s Amelia. She was so cute as a child...”
She took the photo and I could bet she frowned.

~x Will’O-the-Wisp’s POV x~

I didn’t know why but I didn’t feel as good as usual.
“What are you doing, Light?” I said, trying to find something to do.
“Writing everything that happened today. The house, that scary blonde young woman...”
I noticed a shadow behind the table. Getting closer, I realized it was a Ponyta, a black Ponyta, just like me. With dark violet flames.
“Hello, I’m Will’O, and you...”
The Ponyta opened her eyes and I realized they had the same color as mine, just darker.
“I’m Blackthorn.”
“That’s a nice name.”
I didn’t know what to do next, because the only other Ponytas I knew were my father and sister and I didn’t have to find the right words when talking with them.
“Do you enter races, sometimes?”
“I don’t. Racing is just... not my thing, though it sure is my sister’s.”
“Your sister likes racing?”
“She probably would if she knew races had been organized. She’s so energetic, and she’s also faster than I am.”
She winked.
“Follow me, Will’O. Maybe you’ll change your mind about racing.”
What is she going to show me? I wondered.
When she told me I could open my eyes, I saw a beautiful place. High trees, covered with snow. A snowy field with Ponyta-shaped bushes. Wonderful.
“That’s our garden.” Blackthorn said. “Perfect place for a race, isn’t it?”
I nodded.
“Ok, three, two, one, let’s go.”
She began to run and I followed her. I was actually amazed when I realized I could run as fast as her. Smiling, I kept on running and for the first time this day, I felt really happy.

~x Silvereyes’s POV x~
I stayed there, staring at them, for at least.... five seconds – which was a very long time not doing anything but staring at someone, in my opinion.
But the scene was beautiful – Will running with such a big smile on his face, next to another black Ponyta, both seeming as happy as they could ever be.
Then, I couldn’t help running with them, and I quickly let them behind.
“Silver!”
I turned back.
“I saw you were enjoying that little race and I decided I could have fun too...”
He smiled.
Suddenly, I heard something.
“We should come back in the house,” said the other Ponyta. “Silver, that was nice to meet you. My name’s Blackthorn.”.

~x Whitney’s POV x~

While we were drinking our tea, Amelia had stood up, taken a pokeball and thrown it on the ground, revealing a Growlithe.
“Now, give me that Eevee!” she said, her dark eyes revealing her true, cruel personality.
Light took Krystal in her arms, looking at Amelia fixedly.
“Oh. Did you hear what I said?”
I looked at her eyes again and wondered how I could have thought she wasn’t here for Krystal. That was so obvious. She had told us to wait.... probably to hide something.... then she had been so friendly, always smiling, always asking us if we wanted something else....
We heard something falling on the ground, then they came in. Oni and Tom, shouting at each other and glancing at us.
“Why did you stand up?” asked Oni.
"Well, I somehow forgot you were in this cupboard too, and I needed some air.”
“You... forgot I was there? That’s the only explanation you have? You stood up, I hit the wall with my head, then we both fell, just because of you, and...”
“Me? Because of me?I just slid on the ground...”
“And we fell!”
“Oh, stop arguing! You’re here for this Eevee, aren’t you?”
Oni and Tom turned towards her and nodded.
Amelia’s Growlithe got closer to Krystal.
And three pokemon rushed towards the Growlithe, tackling her.
“Silver! Will’O... and.... who’s that?”
“Blackthorn!” shouted Amelia. “Now you can help us! Thistle will take care of this Eevee and you’ll fight.”
“No.”
“What? Thistle...bite her, like you used to do when she was little and did something wrong.”
Thistle bit her left hind leg.
“Fight me instead,” said Will’O, calmly.


x- Will’O-the-Wisp, Light’s Lv 5 male Ponyta with black fur and lavender eyes VS Thistle, Amelia’s Lv 5 F Growlithe with purple fur –x

The Ponyta tackled Thistle, hitting the Growlithe’s little body and projecting her on the table.
Amelia’s pokemon broke the table, but quickly got back on her paws, and jumped on Will’O’s black fur to bite his back.
Thistle was a pretty good fighter, and seemed to have a lot of experience with Ponytas.
Fortunately, Will’O’s flames began to surround him, burning Thistle and devastating the room.
Thistle finally let him go; but her eyes began to glow purple as she took control of Will’O’s muscles. Another Thistle appeared, and made Will’O levitate for a second or two, then let him fall on the chair (Amelia will have to re-decorate entirely her house....) .
When Will’O faced Thistle again, a brown glow was surrounding his feet and the ground began to crack under Thistle’s paws.
Both Hidden Power attacks were useful – but Will’O’s was super-effective, and Thistle fell with the ground, but didn’t stand up. She fainted.
Amelia, a puzzled expression put on her face, recalled Thistle and looked at what was, five minutes ago, her living room, and became a museum of broken furniture and burned walls.

Will’O-the-Wisp grew to level 6!

We ran away, laughing at the idea of Amelia having to explain how her house got destructed.


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

Meh, had writers' block on that one. I still like it though...
I needed to describe more Will'O's, Whitney's and Silver's personalities, and that's why I wanted this RBG(not for Stamps - I don't think I'll get more than 6 stamps on that one - or for levels - Will'O was only at level 5, and the difference between levels 5 and 6 isn't that high - )...

^.^

[Wolfsong]

Shonta: I liked the intro and how you introduced Bandit. He seems to be an interesting and likeable characer. It was interesting to see Dixie again, i wonder what all she is up to. Take 9 stamps. Edit2: Sorry i must have missed that. He will be battling an Eevee.

Now i've gotta go to class.

Edit: I think i might need an extension. I kinda want to use Yana in the scenario but shes in a bt battle atm ^^; just asking to be safe

[Lady Vulpix]

You can have the extension, Amy.

LightNinetales gets 5 stamps. The story did look a bit rushed, especially the battle, but I like the part about the photos. How did you know there were people who were after Krystal? I may have missed something on a previous story, but otherwise I don't see why you should have suspected that much. ¢¢¢¢¢

[LightNinetales]

You can have the extension, Amy.

LightNinetales gets 5 stamps. The story did look a bit rushed, especially the battle, but I like the part about the photos. How did you know there were people who were after Krystal? I may have missed something on a previous story, but otherwise I don't see why you should have suspected that much. ¢¢¢¢¢

Yes, didn't have a lot of time to post and had to write the battle in ten minutes. Plus I'm not good with battles ^.^"""
For Krystal, Tom and Oni already tried stealing him in the previous story and they were the only people that ever attacked my team ^.^ And though Light's personality isn't very developed for now, I'll work on it on the next battle...

Speaking of the next battle, may I have a RBG for my Kusa, lv.5 Oddish please?
*gives 7 stamps, leaving her with only 8*

[SilverMachop]

I wanted to try something different: a group of Pokémon that act as a party to do the scenarios with no human trainer with them. Kind of like a guild where they watch out for each other. The reason why is because I don't like having a human in there giving orders and watching over them, so I don't have to announce the moves the Pokémon is using. I'd like to make the Pokémon more independent.

So, would that be okay? Can I just use a Pokémon-only team, or do I have to have a trainer?

[The_Missing_Link]

I have a question concerning double team battles. I'm currently working on my training room battles (and I do have an extension), and for one room, I wanted a double team battle but the levels are vastly different (Lvs. 39 and 17 for my team and 45 and 25 for the opponents). Can we make it so that the battle can go on at the same time but no one can interfere with the other battle (like the Lv.45 can't attack my Lv.17 and vice versa)? It would be like two single battles going on at one time, but in the same area

[Lady Vulpix]

Light, you can have a random battle once a week, but you need to choose a location first.
Silver, that's ok. We've had a bird trainer before, so I don't see why not. Most of us rarely issue any commands during a battle anyway. Though a pokemon-only team may have some trouble getting into places that are designed for trainers. You'll have to work your way around that somehow.
And Becca, I guess it's ok as long as you provide a coherent background for your battle.

[SilverMachop]

Here is my submission. Take in mind I don't have a human trainer, but I explain why in the story.

--

My name is Kung Pow Meditite. An unusual name, I know, but considering myself and world around me, it is not so unusual. Almost as unusual as my friends and I being a Pokémon-only team of the Dragon Tamers.
My trainer’s name was “Silver.” He went by that nickname, and never revealed his true name. Being a Dragon Tamer is a dangerous life, and should our enemies discover our true nature, our loved ones would be in peril. Silver never even told me his true name before he vanished.
I was one of his first companions when we joined Dragon Tamers. The other members greeted us eagerly, for the numbers of Dragon Tamers were small at the time. Then one day, he went on a mission with all of his Pokémon except me (for I was not feeling well and needed rest), they never came back, and no trace could be found. The Rockets did not claim they had him as a hostage, there were no bodies or clues to be followed; he, my closest friend, was gone.
Things changed rather quickly in a few days. At the Pokémon Adoption Center, I met a determined and friendly Scyther. The mantis Pokémon, who called herself Seung Mina, was a formidable warrior. She wanted to explore, and fight the enemies of Dragon Tamers.
Then a friend of Silver and fellow Dragon Tamer named Karin introduced me to her Minun. The energetic little mouse was hugging us the moment he was introduced. I don’t mind admitting that the Minun knows more attack strategies than me and is more powerful. He called himself Anion.
Both Seung Mina and Karin knew Silver, and wanted to find him. Not wanting to put any more humans in danger, I decided to form a group of Pokémon, without having a trainer to guide us. Seung Mina and Anion are my first recruits, and we three are eager to find Silver. We have named our guild the “Weird ALliance,” in honor of Silver’s favorite singer, “Weird Al” Yankovic.
One day we will find my friend. I know Silver is out there, and if he is, he would want me to keep fighting Team Rocket for the sake of justice. He was always ready to help the Dragon Tamers in any way he could, as I still am.
The newest mission assigned to the guild of “Weird ALliance” was something I expected for a long time. It would seem that the Rockets have been fighting amongst themselves. That was to be expected, for power corrupts. When you recruit only those wicked at heart, they are such to do wicked things to improve their lives. There is no honor among thieves, and same it would seem goes for the Rockets.
This new group of Rockets call them the Crimson Blades. I imagine the Crimson part stands for blood, which would make a grisly sight. Fortunately, I watch TV at times, so violence does not bother me.
Now the Dragon Tamers have sent their agents to pacify the threat as much as possible. Whether we stomp on the official Rockets or the Crimson Blades is of no importance, so long as one of them is being stomped. I can see why waiting around for one side to lose is a bad idea; you don’t wait for enemy to make the first move on you, you strike before they do.
There is a city called Eruken, where sightings of both groups are. We are there to investigate, and to stop the Rockets and Crimson Blades before they do critical damage to the city and its citizens.
The “Weird ALliance” has decided to play this mission safe, as we are not experienced enough to take on the cruel Crimson Blades or determined Rockets at full force. Our actions will be like that of a chisel to a support beam: continuous, unnoticeable taps will eventually break it down.
Right now, we are at the Pokémon Center. We have been asking around for help or guidance to where either faction may be, but all we’ve received so far is fear and ignorance.
“I do believe that we’ll have to find out on our own,” I said to Seung Mina and Anion. “The people here are too afraid of the Rockets and Crimson Blades to do anything about it.”
“We already figured that out, but thanks,” replied Seung Mina. She stood, looking graceful and calm regardless of her wicked-looking scythe-arms and short fangs protruding from her upper lip. Seung Mina was good at looking great, even if she didn’t try.
“Where do we go?” asked Anion, sounding as cheerful as ever. His yellow and blue fur were glossy, which normally indicates a healthy Minun. His eyes twinkled like the stars you wish upon, and his smile was addictive.
I started to speak when suddenly, I froze. The energies around me were becoming frantic, almost in a panic. Being a psychic Pokémon, I’m very tuned into the balance of nature and settings, and something is awry, I sense it.
“Something’s happening, my friends,” I was almost frozen in my position, my hands locked in midair.
“A disturbance in the Force?” joked Seung Mina.
“Yes, it is,” I hurried outside, and the two of them followed me.
“Wait, wait!” Seung Mina shouted. “Where are you going, you darn Meditite?”
I ran into the street, where luckily no cars were passing by. I stopped right in front of an open manhole, and gazed down into the abyss. The weak sound of running water echoing down the tunnels met my ears. I clasped my hands together and closed my eyes, something I normally do when going into “serious thought mode.”
“The enemy is down there,” I said, almost robotic-like. “We must pursue.”
“In the sewers!?” exclaimed both Seung Mina and Anion.
“Are you sure about this?” Anion said, looking over the edge. He was leaning much of his body over the edge, something he always does when looking from far above. “I don’t think we’ll like the smell...-”
“You’re darn right about that!” Seung Mina cried. “Kung Pow, I know we’ve been searching for days, but we shouldn’t resort to-”
“My sixth sense has never been a desperate measure,” I said without opening my eyes, “if that’s what you were planning on saying.”
I could hear Seung Mina take a deep breath, and one step closer to the open manhole. “Are you sure you sense something down there?”
“Positive. Only the presence of something dark and wicked could create such a disturbance in the energies.”
“You sound so cool when you talk like that,” chirped Anion, his voice echoing down in the sewers. “It’s like you’re a Jedi or something.”
“I wish,” I said before opening my eyes. I put my feet onto the second rung of the ladder leading down to the sewers, then looked back at them. “Want to join me?” I asked.
Seung Mina took another deep breath. “All right, Kung Pow. I’ll trust your judgment.”
“I’m in!” sang Anion.
“Then let us go,” I said. As I climbed down, I whispered to myself, “For Silver...”
The sewers were poorly lit by cheap lights installed on the roof. The stench of state water, mold and other unknown sources met my nostrils. It was not repulsive, just unpleasant.
Seung Mina hovered down to the sewer floor, Anion on her back. She looked down at the current in the middle of the sewer tunnel, then at me. “I thought they would be... you know... more filthy.”
“Me too,” said Anion. “If it wasn’t for the smell and lack of places to play video games, I think that it would be almost bearable to live in.”
“I think there are nicer apartments,” I added in, “but let us not dilly-dally. The Rockets or the Crimson Blades are here.”
“Or both,” commented Seung Mina grimly.
We walked for a few minutes, following the sense of danger in my mind. It was like “Hot and Cold,” for it would fade or grow depending on the direction we were heading in.
Pretty soon, the sounds of humans and Pokémon could be heard in the distance. “Team Rocket,” I whispered back to the others.
Seung Mina nodded, a grim look on her emerald face. Anion bobbed his head, his blue ears flapping like wings attached to his head. I motioned for them to come closer as we listened in.
“Are the charges all set?” a man was heard saying.
“Yeah, sir,” replied a woman, following the sound of her noisily chewing on something. “Charges are set in all of the locations. We should cave in, like, a couple blocks with the amount we’ve set up.”
Whatever sense of danger was going through my mind increased tenfold. Explosives?! They were planning on destroying the city from underground?!
Barreling out from the shadows, I ran towards the voices. There in front of me were two Rockets, both in pale blue uniforms. The man had short black hair and a pale blue beret to cover it, and had that stern look on his face that seemed permanent. He had brown skin, and was fairly tall, towering over the woman. She had long blond hair tied up with a green scrunchie, several bracelets on her arms, and a larger number of earrings on each ear. She looked pale, white skin that looked like she rarely saw the sun.
Both of them looked over at me when I stormed towards them. Stopping in front of them, I shouted, “You must be mad, destroying the city! I thought you Rockets had more sense than that!”
“Who are, like, you?” the woman said, starring at me unimpressed.
Seung Mina flew up behind me, and Anion jumped off her back to my side. “We are the ‘Weird ALliance,’” shouted Anion, punching up at the air, “and we are from the Dragon Tamers!”
“Dragon Tamers?!” exclaimed the man. He looked over at the woman, and cried, “Amanda, go set off those charges, right now! Hurry before more of them arrive!”
“Sure,” the woman still seemed bored with what was going on, and pulled a Pokéball from her belt. She released a Ponyta from it, hopped onto it, and rode off deeper into the sewers.
“Anion, Seung Mina, stop her!” I cried, pointing at the fleeing Rocket.
“What about you?” Anion asked as he jumped onto Seung Mina’s back.
“I’m taking care of him,” I pointed at the man in front of me, then clenched my fists. “I want information from him.”
As Seung Mina started to take off, the male Rocket released one of his own Pokémon: a Gastly. “Lick them, Gastly!” he shouted, pointing at Seung Mina and Anion.
Gastly made a horrific sound that comes from deep down in the throat, and vanished. Seung Mina kicked off and shot forward, when Gastly appeared near her, lashing out with his extending tongue. Seung Mina spun to the side with Anion holding onto her shoulders for dear life.
I jumped onto the Rocket, knocking him down to the floor. He cried out in pain when his head made contact with the concrete. “Call that Gastly off!” I shouted, barring a fist parallel to his face.
“Gastly, get this Meditite!” the Rocket shouted, and before I could react, the gaseous ghost appeared right in my face, tongue ready! Doing a back flip, I landed on my hands, and looked forward to see if the Gastly was following me.
He wasn’t. He was finishing his Lick attack on his trainer’s face, as he had missed me and hit him with his tongue. The Rocket member was now blubbering and whimpering incoherent syllables, paralyzed by the ghost’s ectoplasm tongue.
The Gastly was startled when he realized what he had done, then looked accusingly at me. A quick faze, and he was only few feet away from my face. < You’re going to pay for that, > he growled in Gastlian.
“Put it on my tab,” I snarled right back.

Kung Pow Meditite - Level 6
VS.
Rocket Gastly - Level 8

The Rocket Gastly lashed out with his tongue again, and I leapt away. Landing on my feet like a Olympic gymnastic, I locked eyes with the ghost/poison Pokémon again.
< You’ll never beat me, little Meditite! > cackled the Gastly. < Your psychic and fighting abilities are no good against my ghostly body! You fight as well be fighting the air itself! >
“I will find a way,” I assured him.
< How? You don’t even have a trainer to help you! >
“And that’s because of you heartless Rockets,” I thought, but instead I said, “Neither do you.”
< It does not matter, > he said, and started letting out Hypnosis psywaves, < for you are too easy of prey. >
Closing my eyes for Meditation, I was able to ignore the urge to fall asleep. My sense heightened, and when I felt the Gastly faze right next to me, I performed another leap into the air. His tongue darted after me, and I twisted my body to avoid it. When landing on my feet and one hand, his tongue came after me like a heat-seeking missile. I leapt to the side, against the wall, and sprang off of it when he lashed his tongue out at me again. His tongue crashed into the wall, sending dust and brick shards at me.
That’s when an idea hit me. Leaping back towards the wall, to also make sure that the Gastly’s tongue did not also hit me, I grabbed the largest of the concrete pieces on the floor, and chucked it at the Gastly.
It wasn’t Rock Slide, not even Rock Throw, but the energy I put into the rock smacked the ghost right in the face. He snarled in pain and anger, then glared at me.
“I’ll make sure you don’t do that again!” he shouted, and purple energy formed around him. I could feel the strength in my arms being sapped; oh-no, he was using Spite to waste away my throwing energy.
I quickly used Dynamic Punch on the wall, swinging my fist in his direction. The dust and rock particles stung his face, especially his eyes. His tongue started lashing out frantically, and I leapt like an out-of-control pogo stick to avoid it.
< I’m gonna devour your soul! > he roared, blinking rapidly to get the dust from his eyes.
“That’s a poor one-liner,” I thought, ducking to avoid a punch-like movement from his tongue. I leapt to the side again, where pipes ran alongside the wall. Thinking fast, I grabbed one of them, and pulled.
Water gushed out from the line, as powerful as a fire hose. Bending the bar with all my might, I pounded the ghost with the incredible force of the rushing water. Sweat dripped from my forehead and my limbs started to feel like lead, but I didn’t let up. The Gastly was trying to float away from the water attack, yet I bent the pipe wherever he went.
After a few more seconds, the Gastly fell to the ground. He had either been knocked unconscious by the water hosing, or was physically drained by it. It didn’t matter, for I had won. With a few twists and pushes, I managed to push the pipe back into its original place, a few dents and bend marks in it, of course.
“Thank goodness for Pure Power,” I muttered.

Level Advancement!
Kung Pow Meditite reaches Level 7.

Suddenly, there was a groan from the fallen body of the Rocket. As he pulled himself up, I noticed he was drenched from head to toe. The water must have woken him up.
“Wha... what happened?” he groaned, then he noticed me standing a few feet from him, and his unconscious Gastly almost at his feet. “You!” he declared, pointing a finger at me accusingly.
“Yes, me,” I retorted, approaching him. “All right, Rocket, now you tell me what I want to know, or I’ll-”
But before I could get close enough to him to restrain him, he had grabbed another Pokéball and released it. This time, a Rattata appeared in front of me, her white teeth gleaming menacingly.
“A rat in the sewers,” I said, raising an eyebrow. “How appropriate.”
“Tear him to pieces, Rattata!” shouted the Rocket.
The purple rat eyed me, her red eyes unnervingly burning into mine. Her whiskers and mouth twitched suddenly, making me flinch into a battle position.
< I enjoy rending, > she said, a sinister grin appearing on her face.
“And I love pummeling,” I said, punching my palm. “Let’s see who’s passion wins, shall we?

Kung Pow Meditite - Level 7
VS.
Rocket Rattata - Level 15

The Rattata sprung at me with Quick Attack, so fast that even I was unable to block her. She knocked me to the ground, and pinned me down with her paws. She started scratching my face and chest with those sharp claws, and it stung like hell.
“HYPER FANG!” bellowed her trainer from afar.
She made for my face (or maybe my neck), her mouth wide open. I managed to grab her jaws and keep her mouth open. Though as strong as I am, I had tired from all the acrobatics I had done avoiding the Gastly’s tongue barrage. We were struggling between hand and mouth over who would win.
“Bite him! Rip his throat out!” the Rocket shouted, taken over by bloodlust.
With a heave, I threw the Rattata off of me. She bounced once before catching herself on her paws. “I dare you to try that again,” I sneered. She laughed, and performed her Quick Attack again. But this time, I was much more than ready.
Let that be a lesson to you kids: don’t EVER do what your opponent suggests.
Although it is hard to hold your fist steady when the incredible power of Dynamic Punch is shaking it, I could easily plan out when to swing my burning, power-glowing fist. When she jumped at me, fangs bared, I hit her straight in the face with an explosive Dynamic Punch. The sound of the attack echoed throughout the sewer tunnels, as did the shriek of the Rattata as she soar down the tunnel way. She was out of sight before the sound of her hitting the sewer floor could be heard.
I chuckled as I shook my hand, trying to “calm” it down. “I do enjoy one-hit KO’s, if you ask me.”
Then my mind started to buzz. I could feel my memory and intelligence expanding, and I... I...
A huge grin appeared on my face. “I know more than karate...”

Level Advancement!
Kung Pow Meditite reaches Level 9.
Confusion is added to his arsenal!

I walked over to the Rocket grunt, who was still sitting down and looking astonished. Grabbing him by his shirt collar, I pulled his face to mine.
“Why are you trying to destroy the city, Rocket?”
“Why should I tell you?” he snarled.
My psychic powers started to kick into gear, and for the first time ever, became an attack rather than just plain telekinesis. The cyan energy zapped the Rocket, and he shouted out in pain. Looking dazed afterwards, he yelped when I tightened my grip on his shirt.
“I can be very influential,” I commented. “Tell me now.”
“Okay okay!” he gasped, his eyes frantic. “We were trying to stop the Crimson Blades! They have a base here, where they train their Pokémon! They’re so few in numbers that if we crippled them in any way, we could easily turn this petty war over to our side!”
“By demolishing the innocent? You scum have no shame.”
“You don’t know how vicious the Crimson Blades are!”
“I know how heartless Team Rocket is, and whatever the Crimson Blades do, they learned from you.”
“It does not matter,” the man’s face twisted into a cruel sneer. “Amanda’s on her way to blow this place to Hell, and you can’t stop her now!”
“You forgot us, dummy,” chirped a familiar, happy voice.
The Rocket and I looked around to see a frightened Amanda with Seung Mina right behind her, and Anion standing next to the female mantis.
“S-Sorry, Steve,” Amanda gasped, looking at the male Rocket. “This Scyther said that if I didn’t turn off the charges, she... she’d do something awful!”
Anion giggled. “All she did was threaten to cut off your hair.”
Steve was beside himself. “You... let our brilliant plan fail... because you were worried about your hair?!”
“Ohmigod, do you, like, know how it took me to get it to look this fabulous?” Amanda shouted. “This is the greatest ponytail in, like, the history of ponytails!”
“What ponytail?” asked Seung Mina.
The female Rocket looked at her funny, then she noticed something on the floor: a blond-haired ponytail. Her hands flew to her hair, and found that Seung Mina had sliced it off right then, just below the scrunchie.
Amanda burst into hysterical tears, falling to her knees. Her crying was ear-piercingly loud, high-pitched, and awfully wet. She even picked up her severed ponytail and held it to her chest.
“Awfully harsh, Seung Mina,” I said, winking at her.
“War is Hell, Kung Pow,” she laughed.

***

“The Rockets said that the Crimson Blades have a base here,” I said into the telephone to Dragon Tamer base. “You may want to send a team or two to clean it up.”
We had dragged the fuming Steve and sobbing Amanda out from the sewers and turned them in to the police. Special bomb squads were sent to properly remove the charges. The three of us were near a pay phone, filling in our fellow Dragon Tamers on what had just transpired.
“Good, very good,” said the person on the other line. “You might want to get out of there before other Rockets or the Crimson Blades find out about you.”
“I know, thanks. We’ve had enough for one day.”
“Oh, Kung Pow! Did you find out any information on... well, you know... Silver?”
I sighed. “No, nothing. The Rockets knew nothing about Silver. I didn’t really expect to find any clues anyway.”
“Yeah, I guess you’re right. But we will find him someday.”
“Yes, we will. Goodbye, my friend.”
After hanging up, I approached my two companions. “Time to go home?” Seung Mina asked me.
I nodded, then said, “We’ve done all we can here. We’ll leave the rest to those more experienced than us.”
“Man,” complained Anion, “I don’t want to have to keep relying on those stronger than me. I want to be the one that people rely on for help!”
“We all do, honey,” said Seung Mina, stroking his head with the dull side of her arm. “We all do.”
“Yeah, that’d be great,” chirped Anion, enjoying the attention. “We be the team that you call on to polish off the enemy, to do the hardest of missions. We’ll even be the ones to find Silver.”
I chuckled. “I intend to do, Anion, so you’d better train more so we can rely on you!”
Anion beamed at me. “To the training grounds, Kung Pow! Last one there hatched from an egg without special moves!”

[LightNinetales]

Can't believe I forgot the location x_X

I'd like a RBG from the Free Range Corral, please ^.^