¤Game¤ Dragon Tamers Battle Range v.23 {MA Pidgeot}

[The Blue Avenger]

Ade: It's great to see you back in action. I figured you'd like this scenario, too; it was cool seeing your take on the whole thing. And yeah, blue Dratini = probably not the smartest thing I've ever written. ^^; Let's say 10 stamps. It worked well.

[Lady Vulpix]

Here's the report of the Guild meeting, as well as my meeting with Eshree a.k.a. Golden Growlithe a.k.a. Ivan, and a general recounting of events. Not much literary quality, I think, but it was necessary to catch up and as a (part of the) link to the next scenario, which will probably be up before the end of the month. Thanks to Ade, Jeff and Shonta for the bits I stole from them, which consist of everything said by their characters.

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

<Amber's POV>

So, the Caledorian branch of the Happy-Happyist church had been a fiasco. We were glad that no one else had come with us, more help was needed in Twoson, where most Dragon Tamers and members of our branch of the Dragon's Guild had indeed gone. And that, while it did fall under the category of what we normally called a crisis, was much closer to mere vandalism than what had been done by the Crimson Blades, the Dark Cloak or even the Black Dragon. I won't underestimate the damage caused because many were hurt and some even lost their homes, but we didn't hear news of any deaths; of course, the media will only broadcast what they find convenient, that's a well-known fact that holds worldwide, so I can't be certain there wasn't any. But I couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong... that we'd missed the real intention behind the attacks. And why had they all run away so suddenly? I kept thinking about it, but couldn't find an answer. I finally decided to give it up. We couldn't deal with every problem in the world, especially when we had so many close to our home. The best we could do was keep an eye open in case it came back to bite us.

Lagi told us a little more about her time away from us, but nothing that happened on her way back had been as shocking as Harims's visit. She'd gone to the Eevee House to see if she could find any friends or relatives there, but it had been empty at that time. She had then been ambushed by a female Arbok who, according to Lagi, was jealous of her, though Lagi didn't go into details about what she was jealous of. The two had a quarrel, but there was no physical violence. I didn't want to press the point, but I reckoned something important had happened there, as I couldn't remember ever seeing Lagi engage in a verbal quarrel. Nor could Hero, who was quick to make a comment about it.

"Lagi had a quarrel? I thought that was impossible."
"Everyone can have them, Hero," Lagi answered. "She was blinded by jealousy, she wouldn't listen to anything I said. At least on the surface. Deep inside I felt she understood. I left a message which she may or may not pass on, and left so as not to disturb her anymore. We didn't battle, but she was upset... and so was I."

That was all she would say. She'd then noticed there was fighting and general confusion nearby and that was how she'd found us. The first of -I'm glad to say- many encounters with returning friends.

It was a breath of fresh air to see Jeff and his team come back safe and sound. Jeff didn't remember what had happened while he was with the Blue Cult, but he seemed to be free from their influence now. It turned out that asking detective Kerel for help had been a good move after all. Maza was being held under custody by the Dragon's Guild, but Jeff and Shonta came up with a convincing solution rather fast, with the help of a mysterious Crystal shonta had borrowed which had the power to free those whose minds were being affected by magic, or something like that. It would have been great if we'd been able to keep that crystal, but it belonged to someone else and had to be returned to its owner. Besides, Shonta mentioned there was a downside to the crystal's powers, although not even she knew what it was.

Then it was Ade and company who made a comeback, after being MIA for about 6 months. The story they had to tell out-weirded all others we'd heard so far. Not only that, but it also left everyone worried. Ade had been known for drifting between forces beyond his control, but being stuck between Tsuyoi and Lord Absol was something I wouldn't wish anyone. He let his presence be known to his friends, but not to the Guild's higher authorities. Not that we could count on them not finding out in the short term, but at least he managed to buy some time to plan his next move, which was, if I may say so, an improvement.

We were all happy to be reunited and, as usual during the calm between storms, craziness ensued. I couldn't blame everyone for wanting to relax, but I couldn't do it myself. I was still too worried. I felt a bit jealous as I watched Caledor play with Thunderblast and Beckham. I thought Caledor and Thunderblast were supposed to be rivals or something, but I shouldn't have been surprised of the change. They'd never been serious about anything they'd done together. I gave up on trying to keep track of their games.

Ventura suggested that we had a Guild meeting. That is, a meeting of our branch of the Guild. We all agreed. Ade wasn't sure about it at first, arguing that the authorities might get suspicious, but Gabi told him we'd had several meetings like that one while he was away, and we were already planning to have one as soon as we all came back from our latest mission, so there was nothing to worry about in that respect. Caledor stayed behind to catch up with some of his friends and, as it turned out, also with Kiara, who had been able to come out of her home for the first time in what seemed like ages. He was making a habit of missing Guild meetings, but he wasn't hurting anyone, so we just went without him.

Gabi opened the session and acted as a moderator all throughout the meeting. We discussed Ade's situation, the whole 'Blue Cult' issue -according to Previsiona, Balthazar had ordered a retreat to all forces in Twoson and the city was safe for the time being, which might also explain why they fled from Caledor as well- and Yssera.

"I'm worried about Yssera and why she hasn't made a move yet," Gabi said. "Lagi got a visit from a rather special friend while she was away... I still don't know exactly what to make of it, but it got me a bit worried."
"And that's different from your natural state how?," Tsunami questioned her.
"Believe it or not, being worried is is not my natural state... Or at least I don't think it is. It's just that lately I've had too many things to worry about. Too many threats and problems I don't know how to deal with."
"I know, but you should try to take it easy sometimes," Tsunami advised her. "You're always worrying about something. I know this is probably the calm before the storm, but no one is attacking us right now. You need to calm down in order to think clearly."
"I couldn't have said it better myself," agreed Lagi. "I think I need to follow that piece of advice as well."
Tsunami grinned, causing Gabi to sigh.
"Alright, I'll try," she accepted, and agreed to try to discuss our options calmly.

The topic shifted back to Ade, Tsuyoi and Lord Absol. None of us trusted the latter, and most of us found Tsuyoi's attitude disgusting if perhaps somewhat justified. Gabi said she was glad she hadn't invited Golden Growlithe to the meeting, which would certainly have caused Lord Absol's eyes to turn upon us, but she decided she would talk to him right after the meeting was over. It was I who turned the subject back to Yssera. Not much good could come from fighting on too many fronts at once, and she seemed to be the biggest threat at the time.

"We'll have to think carefully about Ade's situation. I don't think I have an answer now. But about Yssera... Last time we went to White Mountain we discussed the idea of looking for information at the Tower of Hoeth. Ade, you've done that in the past. Do you think that could help us?"
"I think if anywhere might contain information that could help us it'd be there," he answered. "And although I get the impression that the Tower can only really be found if it wants to be found I think we've got a pretty good case for needing to consult its library. Worth a try at any rate, although if memory serves getting there and finding what you need can be an adventure in itself..."
"Don't remind me! Last time we were there I was attacked by a Fire Stone along the way!," Hero commented.
"Wasn't that the same Fire Stone Tracker used to evolve?," Tsunami recalled.
"I think so... she said she found it in that area and it had my smell, so... Don't give me that look."
"What look?"
"The look that says you're just about to make a stupid comment about what I'm saying."
"A stupid comment? No, I was just thinking that it's curious that she started making advances on you after she evolved with a stone that had attacked you. But of course we all know she'd been after you for ages. You were just too oblivious to notice."
"Say what you may, I'm not the one who uses the same strategy for every single battle. One which blows up if you get badly poison, I must add. We have different strong points. And you talk a lot but you don't even have a girlfriend yourself, do you? Nor a boyfriend or gender-neutral-friend for that matter. Even Caledor has one now!"
"Ok, that was a low blow. And if Caledor was here he wouldn't be happy about the 'even' part either."
"I said 'even' because he acts like a cub most of the time."
"Right... and you think like one for anything that isn't battles."
"Will you two please STOP IT?!," Gabi yelled at the two. "Your fights have been getting worse lately! You used to be best friends."
"We still are," Tsunami defended himself. "Real friends do not agree all the time."
Gabi sighed. "But it seems like you two never do! We're discussing something important now, so can you please leave that for later?"
"As you command, M'Lady," Tsunami bowed.
Hero chuckled. "Yeah, whatever."
"So..." Gabi resumed the discussion. "We'll try to get there and see if we can find any helpful information. And hope we don't end up disappearing like everyone who talked to Teclis eventually did. I'm glad that you came back," she said to Ade and his team. "With all that about the tower allowing itself to be found only when it wants to... I have the feeling most people who have reached it have started to feel a bit too proud... and then bad things have happened to them. We reached the tower in the past, but only Scott made it to the top. He never said anything about what happened there, but no one knows where he is now. Then Ryan and Charlie both talked to Teclis, and they're both gone. For a while they both had delusions about being the key piece in a grand scheme to save the world from a great threat... I was scare for a while. But then again, Ryan saw Yssera too and that's her modus operandi. Maybe Charlie and Scott did too." At this point she sighed. "I'm monologuing. You've seen him and you're not acting like a legendary 'hero'. I don't think I will either. I'll be glad if I can help defeat Yssera, but I know it's not something I can do on my own. And working alone is not my thing anyway, I need others to rely on. So... what should I do?"
"Stop talking so much, you're making me dizzy," Ventura complained. "We don't know what will happen, we must go there and find out."
"What was it like, talking to him? What was he like?," I asked Ade.

It was at that moment that Maza joined us, the Pegasus Crystal Shonta had lent Jeff having done the trick. There was some excitement over his return, and everyone rushed to let him know that, myself included.

"Maza's okay!," exclaimed Moriko, the most cheerful Heracross I'd ever known. "Man, that's a huge relief. To tell you the truth, we weren't sure that crystal was going to work."
"Now we can give it back to Her Royal Pain," Bandit made a comment that earned him a smack from his teammate Katana. "I was talking about Shonta, not Triton!"
"Maybe we should keep it for a while longer," Katana suggested as if nothing had happened.
"No!," Shonta warned her. "We've had it long enough. None of us should be handling the damn thing. Who knows what else it can do?"
"Right. Here you go," Jeff handed over the crystal. "Thank you so much. You have absolutely no idea how much this means."
"Yeah," agreed Maza. "Erm. I'm really tired... is there a couch or something I can nap on for a little while around here?"
With that, he wandered off.
"No, hey, Maza! Don't wander off right now..." Jeff ran after him.
"Okay, well, there's one issue taken care of," said Groviglio, who looked much bigger than before. "What now?"
"Sorry you had to go through that, but I'm glad they've let you go," Gabi told Maza, who seemed to be still wondering whether to stay or leave despite Jeff's efforts. "I wish Ade's problem could be solved so quickly. We were discussing the idea of going to the Tower of Hoeth for information. We had just asked Ade what his last visit had been like when you came in."
"Wow, good to see Maza's alright... from what I'd been hearing Jeff and his team have been going through a pretty rough patch," Ade commented, distractedly.
"Ade, although I understand your desire to show concern for your colleagues don't you think it a touch rude to ignore a question when it's been asked?," Marius reminded him.
"Oh. Yeah. Sorry, guys," Ade apologized. "The Tower of Hoeth... well, I hardly saw much of it and what I did see was hard to describe... it was like a gigantic library whose dimensions dwarfed anything we could understand and where it seemed that only Teclis knew where anything was. He was a strange one. From what others have mentioned he seems to have a different face for every visitor, so I'm guessing he's a master illusionist. And... well, he's elven and sticks very well to the stereotype of his race; incredibly intellectual to the point of snobbishness but also quite indulgent in his lifestyle. I think he has the best interests of the realm at heart so he'd probably help out if needed." He shrugged. "I dunno. We went there to try and patch some holes in Thunderblast's memory, she spent more time with Teclis and in the heart of the Tower than the rest of us. Should I go ask her to come over and give her opinion on it?"
"If you can convince her to get over here," remarked Shonta, anticipating what the Raichu was up to. "Thunderblast plus pink stuff equals one stubborn Raichu. And you can't make a stubborn Raichu do what she doesn't want to do."
"Heh... trust me, Shonta, a pink stuff fuelled Thunderblast is only as stubborn as a regular one," said Ade, "the reason we try to keep her away from it at all costs is that she starts getting a little confrontational on it sometimes. Anyway, I've sent Milliardo over to fetch her now and he's the only creature on the planet who can outdo her for sheer pigheadedness so it ought to be all okay."
"If you can find some more info on the Pegasus Crystal, that would be awesome!," Lily suggested. "If that library is as big as you seem..."
"Hoo-hah! My Bellossom's a genius!," cheered Shonta.
"Lily... you do have a good idea in theory," Rhiannon stated. The serious one, apparently. "However, history has has shown that the Tower rarely gives more information than it has to - possibly the reason why so many have come away from it with delusions. Surely, however, there has to be a way to get as much as we can from there once we gain entry..."
The Jolteon frowned and concentrated.
"I believe she can help," I commented while we waited. "She's stubborn, but she should understand when she's needed."
"Yes, she's..." Gabi interrupted herself and looked around. She paused for a moment for an unknown reason, and then resumed the sentence. "She's smarter than she pretends to be. Ookay, I'll make sure to get a report from Glyph and Orknye before we leave."
"How are you planning to do that?," asked Tsunami. "They haven't returned yet, have they?"
"They must have reported to GG. I'll look for him and ask him what he knows."

We quickly dismissed the issue, as Thunderblast joined us.
"Hi. You called?"
"Yeah, we could use some insight into the Tower of Hoeth and Teclis, please," Ade requested.
"Hm. Big mystical place full of books owned by a weird elf guy. Anything else?"
"And now for the serious version?"
"That was the serious version. What do you want me to say? Without any more specific questions I can only summarise it all as well as you can, Ade."
"Oh, hi, Thunderblast!," Gabi took the baton. "Actually we were wondering if we'd be able to get some information... maybe even some advice, about Yssera and everything. I don't expect you to know what we'll get, if anything, but if there's anything we need to know before attempting to go in there, we'd appreciate your telling us."
"Hrm... well, all I can say is that Teclis is a trifle odd, almost arrogant at times, but you kind of have to humour him if you want to get anything done, you know? I can imagine him being almost as stubborn as Milly if you get him in a bad mood. Also it'd probably help if you think of a few specific queries about Yssera, he's probably not going to let you just generically research in the library for your own sakes - seems to me you could spend a lifetime in there reading and you'd only manage to get a quarter of the way through the books starting with 'a'." The Raichu shrugged. "Anything else?"
"Thanks," said Gabi. "Eh... I'll have to think about it. I can't think of any more questions right now. Is there anything else anyone would like to say?"

Since there wasn't, the meeting was soon dismissed. Tsunami went to fetch Caledor, telling us not to wait for him. He looked tired. We all were, it had been a long day. Pidgeot took Water Angel to the Eevee House to relax a little before going home themselves, while the rest of us went to look for Golden Growlithe. We found him at the library.

"Hey. Can I talk to you for a moment?," Gabi asked him.
"Oh, hi! Sure. What's up?"
"We've just had a Guild meeting," she revealed.
"Oh... I'll have to find a way to attend those meetings one of these days. I am a member of the Pokemon Research and Training Department, there's no good reason why I shouldn't be able to go to them."
"Maybe next time, but I'm glad you didn't come today. We talked about someone who would have been too curious if you had been there."
"What... him?"
Gabi nodded.
"Why? I mean... it doesn't matter. I know I'm not good enough at keeping secrets, so it may be best that I don't know. What did you want to talk to me about?"
"I had a strange feeling at one point during the meeting. It reminded me of something I felt on White Mountain. Have you received any reports from Glyph and Orknye?"
"Orknye reports to me every night. Things are too quiet over there, but he says Glyph can still feel the energies he mentioned while we were there. I'd say Yssera's getting ready for something, but I'll be damned if I know what it is."
"Kurtzwick would have complained about the use of that word," Gabi commented.
"What? Or, sorry. I'm just too edgy. I feel like I'm lost in a giant maze and I can't move in any direction. I didn't come here just to watch events unfold, but I can't think of anything I can do."
"I'm sure someone has already thought of something."
"What do you mean?"
"Lagi received a visit a few days ago."

They stopped talking as a young woman came to pick up a book. It didn't take Lagi's powers to feel the tension building as GG tried to figure out who had visited her. The woman looked at us. I didn't recognize her, but there were many people in the Guild I didn't know. Eshree waved a hand, and she waved back.
"That's Glenda, she works in the same branch as I do," he introduced her. "Glenda, this is Gabi and... her team."
He seemed to have learnt that saying all of our names only served to cause confusion.
"Hi. Pleased to meet you," she stretched out a hand, which Gabi held. "I go by the name of Shiny Bellsprout here. It doesn't sound that much, but Bell is my last name and I wanted to do something with it... and Weepinbell is too sad, and Victreebel sounded pretentious. I may get called Lady Bellsprout someday."
"Why not Bellossom?," Gabi asked her.
"It was already taken."
That showed how much we didn't know about the Guild. I couldn't recall meeting anyone with Bellossom in her name. Or his name.
"Do you have a Guild name too?," Glenda asked Gabi. Too many G's.
"Yes. Lady Vulpix," Gabi told her.
Glenda gasped, taking a hard to her mouth.
"Oh, sorry! I didn't know what you looked like."
"It's ok, I didn't know you either."
"Oh, but I should know you! You're the head of the Trainer Recruitment Division, right? Together with Lord Umbreon."
"Right, but you and I hadn't met before, and it's been a while since any new trainers wanted to be recruited. And I'm not a very formal person, nor is Ade... Lord Umbreon, that is."
"Oh... ok. Do you know what happened to him? I heard he went on a mission months ago and didn't report back."
"He's alright, from what I've heard," she improvised. "The mission just took longer than he'd expected, but there was nothing worth informing the whole department."
I smiled. It was technically true. There were lots of things worth not informing the whole department.
"Oh. Alright," she said. "I was just curious. I need to get back to work. Lord Articuno's department has just relayed an important job to our division. We're going to start trading pokemon with other continents, it's already started. And other things as well. We're going to handle everything that's pokemon-related. If you're quick, you may be able to get some items for the Dragon Tamers. You're involved with them, right?"
"That's right," Gabi confirmed.
This girl seemed to have ears everywhere. Not that Gabi's involvement with the Dragon Tamers was a secret, but she looked like someone who was interested in absolutely everything.
"Oh, Ivan, when you're done here, could you please help me sort out a few reports? The pages got mixed up yet again."
Eshree sighed. "I could almost swear someone's getting a kick out of this. Alright, I'll do it. I'll be there in a few minutes."
"Okay. Bye, pleased to meet you, Lady Vulpix."

We all relaxed a little when she left. Eshree looked around to make sure no one else was coming, and then asked the question.
"Who came to see Lagi?"
"A mutual friend," Gabi said. "One who had said she wasn't coming back here, but apparently changed her mind."
"Could it be... the one who said she needed a trainer to achieve what she couldn't do herself, but failed to say exactly what that was?"
"You tell me. Is that what she told you?"
"Oh, sham! This must be something big. Does anyone else know she was here?"
"Only my friends, and I know I can trust them. They don't trust the Order of the Dragon any more than we do."
"What did she say?"
"She talked about the energies Glyph felt. She thinks that one is good and the other is bad, to put it in simple terms. She told Lagi to go to White Mountain and talk to someone, but she didn't say who that someone was."
"No surprise there."
"She also said to tell you and your friends she hasn't forgotten about you. She began to say what she would do once this was over, but then she disappeared."
"Oh, the irony..."
"Irony?"
"She must have said something wrong and her own power pulled her back. I don't have any psychic powers, so I have no trouble staying here. Now leaving is another story."
"Maybe she meant to say she'd help you return once this crisis was over?"
"Maybe. I hope so. Half my team is already feeling homesick and I can't blame them. I've been learning a lot here and I like that, but I realize we haven't done much, and I must admit I miss my home too. And not knowing what to do is so frustrating..."
"That must be what she meant, then. This must be the mission she had in mind from the beginning. Although she could have told us about it two years ago."
"She said she can't be blunt," Lagi intervened. "I think she meant she can't give any direct answers. It's not in her nature, just like I can't tell a believable lie."
"Now that's a problem," Gabi said.
"I hadn't thought about it..." Eshree noted. "It would make sense. Now I feel sorry for her. It must be awful to live like that! Not being able to say what you know... or what you want."
"Surely she could try to learn?," I suggested. "Ventura used to have trouble expressing herself, but she's become a lot better at that with Water Angel's help."
"I don't know," Eshree shrugged. There was no way to know, really, and nothing we could do at that moment.
"Shouldn't we get going?," Ventura suggested. "People will start wondering what we're doing here. You've both said what you had to say."
"Go," Eshree said. "Start planning the mission. I'll find an excuse to join you, for whatever help I might offer."
Gabi nodded. "Take your time. We're going on a quick mission to gather information first. I don't know if we'll get anything, but it's worth a shot. See you, Golden Growlithe."
"See you, Lady Vulpix," Eshree said with a smile.

[AntiAsh Superstar]

Ooh, my first chance to be all worker-like! Gabi, a good summary of events and the meeting with GG interested me. I thought Glenda has the potential to be pretty cool, are we likely to see her again? Have six stamps.

Anyways, and now for part two of my story...
---
It took a while for Marius to rejoin the rest of us. Upon seeing how tense the pokémon battle was going the cultist had attempted to flee, abandoning his Dratini in an attempt to save his own skin. Needless to say the rest of us had taken chase and very soon he found himself tied and bound by the vines summoned by Milliardo’s Grass Hidden Power (Rhiannon had several very strange ideas about how to detain the man, however most involved rather spectacular displays of reality-warping magic that would alert the Order of the Dragon to our return in a flash). At least that was one deranged cultist out of the way!
“So now what?” Milliardo asked as we paused to take a breath hidden away down a side alley well out of the action.
“I don’t know,” I admitted. “All we can do is keep as many as we can too preoccupied to do any more damage.”
“And how do we do that, oh fearless leader?”
“Hey, you’re the expert on getting people’s attention, why don’t you think of something?”
“We could help,” Rhiannon offered.
“Thanks but no thanks, Rhi,” I replied, still rather awkwardly aware of the fact that my Jolteon would more than likely attract the attention of Lord Absol if she used her magic too much. Then again was that really such a terrible thing? If Tsuyoi was to be believed then the man had only wanted to make me a job offer! All of a sudden I started wondering if I only knew half the story behind my absence. “I’d rather we did this as low-key as possible.”
“Yeah. Low key. In the middle of the pseudo-religious riot. Good luck with that, Ade,” Milliardo snorted contemptuously. “In the meantime how about we just handle this the same way we always handle things – blunder through it and get ourselves into the biggest mess we possibly can?”
“Well…” I mused this over. “Aw, %^&* it. Sounds like a plan to me.” I peered round the corner cautiously to see a pair of blue-robed cultists racing down the road with careless abandon. “We might as well start as we mean to go on. Stop ‘em dead, Milliardo.”
“About time I was allowed to do something interesting for once!” A rather sadistic look in his eyes, the Umbreon concentrated his efforts into manipulating the plant life around him, summoning huge vines that burst from the ground directly in front of these new cultists, causing both to fall flat on their faces. As they looked up, their faces a mixture of anger and bewilderment, the team withdrew safely out of sight again. “Heh. That was kind of fun.”
“Yeah, although we can’t just keep on doing that unless it’s possible to mildly annoy these cultists into submission,” I noted. “What we need is a plan to cause some really serious delays to them.”
“What we need is ta quit with all the talkin’ an’ actually do somethin’!” Katnip exclaimed suddenly. Normally the Raticate was one of the most easy-going creatures on the planet. But he hadn’t seen proper action in the best part of half a year and even his patience was starting to wear thin. “See, what I think is this. They’ve got a lot of pokémon users in their ranks, right? Why don’t we just charge an’ scare away as many of ‘em with battles as we can? Like we did that loony with the Dratini?”
“A noble sentiment and certainly playing to some of our strengths,” Marius commented. “Unfortunately short of selectively challenging those with pokémon already in full view we have no way of knowing which will unveil a pokéball when challenged and which will brandish a gun. Hmm… a mass distraction or delaying tactic…” The Dratini pondered for a moment.
“The ideal solution would be to locate the person, object or place most dear to the cult and threaten that,” Rhiannon offered. “It would certainly keep them distracted for a bit. Unfortunately we don’t have the time to do the necessary recon to locate their main church or leaders, and there’s really little point in trying to threaten the object of their worship, is there?”
“Seeing as it’s a colour, then no. However…” A sly smile spread across Marius’ face.
“However what?” I asked.
“However that doesn’t mean that we can’t adapt Rhiannon’s idea to fit a smaller scale and a less lengthy timescale. Come on. We must gather a few essential pieces of equipment first.”
“Such as?”
“A cement mixer and a few hundred gallons of red paint.” Noting the baffled looks on the faces of the rest of the team, Marius added, “Listen, I’ll explain as we go along. In the meantime let’s relocate before those cultists father tripped over manage to find us.” My Dratini had a point. The men from earlier were probably still trying to locate the source of the mysterious vines they had ran into. I just hoped his plan was going to be as useful as his advice.

“How does the route look, Milliardo?”
“Clear. Can’t say how long that’s going to last, though.”
“Rhi, Katnip, you guys finished loading?”
“Got about three more ta do an’ then we’re done.”
“Good.” The plan was marvellous in its sheer, simplistic craziness. Rhiannon had a point about distracting the cultists by hitting them where it hurt the most. Marius had simply fine-tuned her theory by using the Happy-Happyist’s own tactics against them. In short, we were to take the cement mixer, drive it to a small, relatively unguarded church of the cult and then offload all the red paint we had been able to find. Karma for their blue-based vandalism, and a symbolic gesture that ought to keep at least some of them occupied in either clearing the mess or trying to hunt us down in revenge. “Once we’ve done this it’s probably best if we withdraw for a bit. I wasn’t really planning on spending this long here.”
“Bored already, Ade?” Milliardo sneered.
“No, just noting that things seem to be slowly getting under control.” It was true enough. When we had first stepped into the town it had been a scene of absolute chaos. Now, several hours later, the occasional period of quiet broke up the clamour of the cultists and the battles caused by them. “Anyway… if all’s clear the rest of you ought to hop in and we can get this show on the road.” It felt petty, almost childish in fact, but there was a certain thrill in getting behind the wheel of the vehicle and participating in a scheme so gloriously silly. For a moment I waited for my team to scramble into the driver’s compartment with me, then I slammed the door shut, turned the key in the ignition and moved forward. It was time to strike, and strike well.

Up until a point the plan went off without a hitch. We managed to reach the church uninterrupted, park the cement mixer, subdue the one or two cultists nearby and then offload a vat of red paint down the sides of the sky blue building. Hell, we almost managed to make it outside the city without challenge. Almost. Unfortunately before we could get clear of the chaos we were struck by a little setback. Namely a rather irate cultist with a handful of blue pokémon that rather unfortunately included a blue Forretress; this creature evidently knew Spikes and had scattered its attack directly in front of my current vehicle.
“Crap!” Instinctively I tried to swerve and avoid the scattering of sharp objects that littered the road. It didn’t help much. I still ended up with a few punctured tyres and a cement mixer that wasn’t about to go anywhere any time soon. And now the cultist and his pokémon – he also had a blue Noctowl and a blue Porygon2 - were racing towards us with evil intent in their eyes. “Time to go, guys!” Needless to say we wasted no time in scrambling out of the door furthest away from the group and running down the road as fast as possible!
“Remind me again… why, exactly, are we running from these losers?” Finally some perspective kicked in for Milliardo, who ground to a halt, turned and fired the most impressive-looking Shadow Ball he could at our pursuers. It wouldn’t have done much damage – it wasn’t supposed to – but it did have the desired effect of causing the group to scatter enough to deal with each individually. “Oi, rat-boy, pick a target and get your battle-lust out of your system. Your fidgeting’s really starting to annoy me. The rest of us can round up the rest in our own distinct style.”
“Ya sure yer not gonna need any help?” Katnip asked, his eyes lighting up.
“From you? Hardly. Your only talent is in beating things to a pulp with style.”
“I think what Milliardo means to say is that we could put these guys out of action without too much of a fuss, but you might as well use this as a chance to get back in practice with fighting an actual enemy. Go on, one of us might as well get some enjoyment out of this!”
“Ta, Ade,” Katnip grinned, his eyes alighting on the closest pokémon. The Porygon2, who had recovered the quickest from having to avoid Milliardo’s projectile and was now only a few feet away from our group. Abruptly the Raticate inserted himself between it and the rest of our group. “Ah, ah,” he beamed, too happy at returning to battle to be anything other than cheerful. “Yer gonna hafta get through me before ya can reach anyone else.”
“Statement considered acceptable,” the Porygon2 whirred in robotic tones. “Opponent encountered. Proceed with elimination.”

FIGHT!!! L36 Raticate v L45 Blue Porygon2!

Katnip eyed up his opponent, resisting the urge to just start the fight as soon as possible. Jumping in without at least trying to assess what you were up against was a mistake for amateurs, after all, and that title could never be applied to my Raticate. The Porygon2 was built pretty solidly with no discernable weaknesses physically outside of a relatively thin neck. Although for all its sturdiness Katnip really couldn’t see any possibility that it was going to be that agile. Which was good. It meant that he could play to his natural strengths anyway.
“Right, time ta go!” Without so much as a pause to prepare himself Katnip hurled himself at his opponent with all the speed he could, curving his Quick Attack so that he struck it hard in the side. It really didn’t seem the most manoeuvrable of creatures, he reckoned, so striking from somewhere other than the front might buy him a little more time to get out of the way before it retaliated. Which was true enough. By the time it had turned to face him he was well out of immediate reach. It was unfortunate, really, that the Porygon2 had a few long-range attacks in its arsenal.
“Target out of range,” it buzzed. “Modify attack sequence.” All of a sudden the creature spat out a huge torrent of flame from what passed for its beak. The attack came with astounding speed and Katnip hardly had time to move out of the way, even his remarkably good reflexes not saving him from getting a bit of his fur singed.
“Heh,” he smirked. “Looks like ya have a few surprises up yer sleeve, eh?”
“Affirmative,” the Porygon2 confirmed. “Unit is equipped to deal with any possible scenario.”
“Any, eh?” The grin on Katnip’s face grew to almost ridiculous proportions. “Alright then. Let’s see if yer equipped ta deal with this!” Again Katnip dashed forward as if to use another Quick Attack, only at the last minute he seemed to change his mind, spinning as he reached his opponent and striking it hard with his tail, a tail that had somehow grown as stiff and as hard as iron. The impact was so intense that it managed to cause his opponent to slide backwards. “Heh… seems not.” Before the odd creature could retaliate he launched into a real Quick Attack, this time nearly managing to tip the Porygon2 over.
“Unit… damaged,” the creature whined. “Attempting reconfiguration.” As Katnip watched he could see some of the scratches and bruises he had inflicted begin to heal.
“Oh man…” he groaned. “Nobody told me ya could Recover! Looks like I’m gonna have ta hit ya harder in future!” The Porygon2 was still busy healing itself, so Katnip took advantage of that fact and jumped forward hind paw first, his Fighting Hidden Power manifesting itself in the form of a textbook flying kick. Unfortunately his opponent evidently had faster reactions than he had counted on. Before he could connect the creature broke off its healing, looked up towards him and neatly shot him out of the air with a well-aimed Psybeam. As he crashed to the ground Katnip couldn’t quite figure out what hurt most from the psychic attack – his body, his mind or his pride.
“Target incapacitated,” the Porygon2 noted with a hint of smugness in its mechanical tones. It began to edge towards Katnip as if to deliver a final blow.
“Hardly!” The instant his opponent was within range my Raticate made his move, spinning around as he threw himself upright and finally landing a good kick to the Porygon2’s head. This really seemed to stun it. And so Katnip decided to risk an attempt at finishing the battle for good. He nimbly hopped over his opponent’s head so that he was facing its rear, and then sank his incisors hard into its side. Usually Katnip didn’t use Hyper Fang much; he considered it overkill for most battles. But there were the occasional exceptions to this policy and this time was one of them.
“Unit damaged! Unit damaged!” the Porygon2 shrieked. Katnip increased the pressure of his bite in an attempt to shut it up. It worked. “Unit… inoperative…” Finally the pokémon’s eyes closed and the Raticate finally let go, spitting out what tasted like motor oil from his mouth. It may not have been the most dramatic battle he had ever been in, but Katnip was happy. Happy to finally do what he loved the most again.

Katnip wins!
Katnip grew to L38!

“Ya all dealt with the others?” Katnip hopped over the almost deserted street to rejoin the rest of the team. The cultist had been a little on the deranged side, to the point where he had even tried to brandish a knife at me, but he had been little challenge for the combined might of Milliardo and Rhiannon. And, after seeing their master tied up in vines and dropped through a portal that led to such a point that it left him dangling helplessly from a lamppost, for some reason the rest of his pokémon decided to cut their losses and fled.
“Well, me and Rhi dealt with them, everyone else just stood around like idiots,” Milliardo chuckled. “So now what? Shall we indulge in some more chaotic, nonsensical and yet strangely enjoyable sabotage?”
“No chance!” I exclaimed. “We’re pushing our luck as it is. Without the tools and preparation we’d need to take this seriously I think ‘hit and run’ is probably our best option. From the looks of things the cultists seem to be drawing back anyway.”
“Oh that’s no fun,” my Umbreon moaned. “I was just starting to enjoy this, too.”
“Yeah, I’m up fer a bit more action if everyone else is,” Katnip agreed.
“Sadly we’re not, and like I say, the situation seems to be almost under control now. It’s time we headed home and actually relaxed for ten seconds. There’s going to be plenty of chances to laugh in the face of danger in future, guys,” I reminded them. “This is Ulthuan, after all!” A land of magic and adventure straight out of the pages of a fantasy story, that was the place I called home. And I wouldn’t have it any other way.

[Lady Vulpix]

Nice one, Ade! I see Katnip hasn't lost his style... and the lamppost was a nice touch. The last comment made me smile... fourth wall breaking, perhaps? Take 13 stamps. And welcome back. ¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢

I'll post the aftermath of the meeting, whichwas mostly the result of lack of proper communication at the right time. Jeff and I had a conversation in order to wrap this up as neatly as possible, so I apologize in advance if this looks like a script for a soap opera. It was unavoidable after what happened on TL.

Warning: some crude language and implicit sexual content.

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

<Hero's POV>

The sun had already set when we got home, and I was surprised not to find Tsunami and Caledor waiting for us. I knew Caledor would want to spend some more time with his crazy friends, but how long could it take Tsunami to drag him home? We waited for a while, and finally decided to start dinner without them. We were in the middle of it when they arrived. They said 'hi', but that was all. I found it strange that Caledor wasn't smiling and hopping around as usual, he just walked into the kitchen and quietly grabbed something to eat. Tsunami didn't even do that. He just stood there, looking at... me.

I wondered what had happened while they were away. Something had to have happened, they weren't acting like their usual selves. I wished I had Lagi's empathy, or at least Tsunami's grasp of body language. As it was, I was stumped. His stare was making me nervous, and I didn't know how to react. I was used to hearing him call me names and issuing empty threats and witty retorts, it was all a part of our games, but this chilling silence was most unusual. Then I thought: "he knows me, he knows I won't be able to figure out what's wrong by myself, and we'll be friends no matter what, so it won't hurt if I ask".

"Is anything wrong?"
"Is anything wrong?!," he repeated my question in a much angrier tone. "I can't believe you have the impudence to say that."
"Sorry? I'm afraid you lost me there."
"Excuse me, are my words too big for you? Let me take it to your level then, you bastard. You immoral, shameless son of a bitch."
"Err... she was a Vulpix, actually. Close guess, though."
Tsunami stopped and looked stumped for a moment.
"Who was a Vulpix?," he asked.
"My mother. Though she did act like a bitch sometimes."
"Can't you see this is not the time for that? Don't you even realize what you've done?!"
By this time everyone had gathered around us. It was embarrassing.
"I'm afraid not," I said. "I have no idea what you're talking about, but I doubt I could have done something so wrong that we can't sort it out."
"You idiot! I knew you were oblivious, but this I won't believe. You betrayed our friendship, you... you... pedophile!"

There was silence for a moment. I kept trying to figure out what had made him so livid. Now he was using very offensive words and it looked like he meant it. It made me feel even worse that I honestly had no idea what he meant. I started to think someone might have posed at me and done something shameful, as unlikely as that would be. And wouldn't Tsunami have noticed?
"You... you really don't know what you did, do you?," he questioned me. He must have seen it in my eyes.
"I'm sorry..." I said. "But I don't know. If it was really me who hurt you so much, then I'm sorry. Tell me what I did and I promise I won't do it again."
Tsunami released a deep breath he hadn't even seemed to be holding, and look at my face as if examining me.
"You know I'd never do anything to hurt you," I insisted. "Not on purpose. We've been friends for years, you know me better than anyone else does."
"It makes no sense," he finally said. I could see tears threatening to fall from his eyes. "You're right, I know you. You wouldn't do that. You'd never do that! But Kiva was sincere too, and she was devastated. There has to be an explanation, but what is it?"
"Kiva?"
I could almost understand his rage now. He was very protective of his daughter. If he thought I'd hurt her, it made sense for him to be mad at me. But I hadn't... I wouldn't have.
"What happened to her?," I asked him.
"She had a baby," he revealed.

Silence fell over the living room again. I wished I knew what everyone was thinking. But they wouldn't speak. They seemed to be leaving everything to us, like spectators in a show. And I didn't know my lines.
"A baby... but she's so young..." I said.
"Yes, she is. And she knows it."
"How did it happen?"
"I don't know. You tell me. She says you're the father."

I'd never really felt an arrow piercing my heart, but I was sure that had to be how it felt. It made no sense. No sense at all. I'd never lie down with Kiva, she was my best friend's daughter! And not quite an adult yet. Then that thought reminded me... was it possible? The last time I'd gone into the Breeding Center...

"It was dark," I said. "And the air stank of... some flower essence. One of those things they use at the Breeding Center, you must have smelled it too."
"You mean it was at the Breeding Center?," he inquired.
"If it was her... I would have never thought it was her, it never crossed my mind. Someone wanted a baby Eevee and I was asked to help. You've done it before, and so have I. She was a young Vaporeon, but that was all I could tell. She didn't say a word. She seemed nervous, so I was very careful not to hurt her or scare her. I gathered she wasn't very used to it, but she was there, so that meant she had agreed to it just like I had. She never told me to stop. She didn't say anything at all, if she had I could have recognized her voice and stopped myself. I had no idea who she was, I swear!"
"Then how did she recognize you?"
"I don't know... she may be more perceptive than I am, she wouldn't be the first. Or maybe she saw me cross the door as I left the room, she stayed there after I left. I assure you I was very careful with her... And I wouldn't have done it if I'd known who she was."

Tsunami turned around, his tail facing me. He lowered his head and I could hear him sniffing.
"How do these things get to happen?," he mused.
"By accident?," I said.
He looked back at me and snarled. "Shut up!"
I reckoned it was best to stay quiet and let him take it in. I'd already been tactless enough. I couldn't help it if I didn't have the ability to figure out what was going on in the minds of others. It was so much easier when I battled! I knew what to do, and I could read my opponents' moves and anticipate what they were going to do. It wasn't always easy, but I had what it took... I knew how to do it. Feelings were different... they were like a whole other world to me. Why had no one ever taught me? Why hadn't I learnt on my own? Now I was afraid I might be too old to start learning.

"I think it would be best if you didn't see Kiva for a while," he finally said, facing me again. "She'll get better eventually, I'm sure. Amy's taking care of the baby. It's a boy. I don't know his name yet."

I nodded. It was all I could do. At least he knew I hadn't done it on purpose, but I couldn't help feeling guilty... and dirty. I wondered how this would affect our friendship. Silly thought, I know, but I couldn't help it. I was sorry, but saying it wouldn't help. I wished I could do something to make him feel better... and her. But I couldn't think of anything. So I just stood there. No more words were said.

[The Blue Avenger]

Aheh, sorry, Gabi, for more than one thing, but I won't get into that here. Your story fit the situation well, and provided some... interesting character interaction. 5 stamps for you. ¢¢¢¢¢

---

Here's my Cambiamente RBG, Catching Up. Cheers!

---

Cam looked up at the massive building before him – the Battle Tower, an institution where trainers and Pokemon from all across the region came to participate in regulated battles with one another. However, because of the recent perils that had fallen over Caledor and Twoson, not to mention the ongoing threat of Yssera, certainly not ignoring Team Rocket, and not counting out the possibility that the Crimson Blades were still around somewhere, he (and the rest of Jeff’s team) had found it hard to make time to visit the iconic Tower recently.

Not that I ever went here that much anyway, Cam thought, vivid memories popping up in his mind of the first time he battled here.

“So, you’re Jeff’s newest recruit, eh?” Groviglio said as he stood beside the Ditto on the battlefield, facing down a Nidorino and a Diglett.

“Yep, that’s me,” Cam replied. “I’m Cambiamente.”

“Whatever,” Groviglio grunted, “just don’t screw this match up.”

Cam remained silent, slightly unnerved by the Tangela’s apparent rejection. He shook his head and stared down his opponents. I know! Cam thought eagerly to himself. I can use this form to beat them easily… He closed his eyes and focused. Slowly, he grew and expanded, his skin taking on a rocky texture. When he finished, Cam stood on two legs, a sharp horn on his forehead – he had taken the form of a Rhydon.

“How – how did you do that?!” Groviglio stuttered. “There’s not a single Rhydon in the building!”

“What do you mean?” Cam asked. “Did I do something wrong?”

“I’ll say!” Groviglio howled. “Dittos can only Transform into what they see!”

A look of dejection crossed Cam’s face. “Er… I’m sorry…”

However, his apology came too late: before Cam could register what was happening, the referee stepped into the middle of the ring. “This match is over! The challenger has used an illegal move!” the ref said, pointing straight at Cam. “Cheating is not tolerated!”

“You idiot!” Groviglio growled, smacking Cam with a slender vine. “Look what you’ve done!”

“I’m… I’m sorry!” Cam said, running away from the Tangela and out the building.

Cam sighed. Why am I so different? he thought as he entered the building. What happened to me to make me this way?

However, these thoughts were quickly driven out of his head as he immediately found a challenger: a tall, tanned man in a flamboyant pink suit with numerous rings and jewels adorning his fingers and clothing. He smiled at Cam in a way that suggested that the man clearly thought himself too important to introduce himself. The man said nothing but threw out a Pokeball, releasing a sleepy-looking Slowpoke.

“This will be a one-on-one battle between the trainer Jeff Azure’s Ditto Cambiamente and the trainer Richard Luxo’s Slowpoke Minch,” the referee called.

Richard Luxo, Cam thought. Hmmm…

Battle time! Cambiamente versus Minch!
Cambiamente – “It’s game time!”
~
Minch – “Slow and steady wins the race…”

A gleam shone in Cam’s eye as the expression on his face changed drastically. Focusing intently, he looked over the Slowpoke, who seemed perfectly content to await Cam’s move.

Hmmm… Cam thought. I’d say he’s around level eight, with Oblivious as his trait. That shouldn’t pose a problem. Now, his attacks… He blinked in surprise as his heart skipped a beat. This guy has more attacks than I’ve ever seen on a single Pokemon! His trainer must have taught him every single TM that a Slowpoke can learn!

Sitting on the sidelines, Richard caught Cam’s confused look. “Oh ho ho ho…” he chuckled, raising his hands so that the numerous rings he was wearing glinted in the artificial light. “It usually takes foes a little while to realize just how versatile my darling Minch is. I don’t know how, but you, Ditto, seem to have figured it out already. You, then, know there’s no point in fighting. Minch here boasts a 100 – 0 win/loss record!” He smiled smugly. “Money! Power! This is what it means to be a Luxo!” Richard pointed at Cam. “Now, my Minch! Get him!”

Minch nodded, and started walking towards Cam. Being a Slowpoke, however, kept him from moving too fast, and so Cam had plenty of time to strategize. Okay, I can’t keep track of all of his moves, but it seems to me that if I start with this and move on with this, I should be in good shape. Cam nodded and shut his eyes, focusing on the image of the Slowpoke in front of him. Momentarily, his form had bulked out and lengthened, taking on the shape and color of Minch.

Undaunted, Minch smirked and reared up on his hind legs. With his eyes shut, he began waving his arms around in an intricate manner. The room seemed to warp around Cam more and more until… it returned to its normal state.

Cam blinked. What was that? he thought. A psychic attack that failed? His inner monologue was cut short, however, upon receiving a nasty Headbutt to his side. Cam snapped out of his thoughts and glanced around the arena, his eyes finally landing on Minch, who was running circles around him faster than a Slowpoke physically ought to be able. Minch grinned blankly and darted in, nailing Cam in the side with yet another Headbutt.

“Gyah!” Cam howled. “What is this?!”

To his surprise, his foe answered. “It’s a very special move… called Trick Room,” Minch chuckled. “Now we all move fast! …Isn’t it fun?” Still sniggering, Minch leapt into the air and landed hard on Cam. Cam gasped as the air was violently knocked out of him.

He’s thrashing me! Cam thought, panicking. I can’t let him keep this tempo up! Cam growled and threw Minch off of his back. As Minch had said, Cam found himself able to move much quicker as well. Now, let’s see what some of these attacks do… Cam reared up on his hind legs and held his arms in the air. A green, slender whip appeared in his paws, and Cam uncoiled it. Before Minch could react, he snapped the whip down, leaving a bright red welt on Minch’s skin. Minch yelped and jumped backwards.

“So, you figured out Grass Rope…” Minch scowled. “That’s as far… as you go!” The Slowpoke pulled a Berry from behind his back – from the coloring, apparently a Gold Berry. He pulled his arm back and began winding up.

He’s not going to… Cam began, but he didn’t get a chance to finish that particular thought: at that moment, a rock-hard Gold Berry impacted with his skull, sending him toppling over. Cam howled and regained his composure. I’ve gotta do something… Ah! Here we are! Cam shook his head and focused, summoning a single bolt of blue lightning. The electricity struck Minch, the Slowpoke flinching as the tendrils of lightning surrounded his body.

“I… get it…” Minch muttered. “Thunder Wave. Very… clever.”

“Now, let’s end this…” Cam growled. “You may have all the fancy attacks, but let’s go back to basics! Shadow Ball!” He fired the ethereal ball of energy at the paralyzed Minch. With no way to dodge, the Shadow Ball hit squarely, throwing Minch back and knocking him out.

Battle over! Cam wins!

Richard gasped from the sidelines. “You heartless monster! My poor Minch!” He rushed onto the field and cradled the beaten Slowpoke in his arms. Cam shook his head, realizing that anything he said would fall on deaf ears, and Transformed back into his regular form.

I guess there’s no point in me staying around here much longer… Cam thought, looking away from Richard and blobbing towards the door.

“Mr. Referee!” a snobby, obnoxious voice called out from behind him.

…Or not. Cam slapped his forehead and turned back around. Richard had left his seat on the sidelines and was yelling at the referee of their match.

“Mr. Referee,” Richard repeated, “don’t you think there was something… odd about that match?”

“Uh… err…” the ref stuttered.

“Don’t you think it’s about time you called that Ditto on cheating? He obviously knew my Slowpoke’s attacks ahead of time.” Richard continued, relentless. “You know cheating isn’t allowed here, and failure to call cheating when you see it could cost you your job. You realize that, yes?”

The referee looked at his feet and sighed. “The victor of this match, due to cheating on the opposition’s part, is… Richard Luxo.” The sorrowful look he shot at Cam was proof enough for the Ditto that the ref didn’t have much of a choice in this.

“Ahahaha! Excellent!” Richard laughed. He gave a very pointed look at Cam. “See, slime? This is what being a Luxo is about. I have unchecked power over everyone you will ever meet, in this town or anywhere!” He gave one more chuckle and walked away, his jewelry gleaming.

Cam frowned but didn’t follow the glittering man. Shaking his head, he exited the tower and slowly wandered back home.

***

“And Groove Guy advances to the second round!” the announcer called mere moments after Groove Guy stepped off of a Dance Dance Revolution pad opposite a sullen-looking Mawile. The DDR machines were situated on a stage, their backs to a wall, in front of a crowd of Pokemon in the Mobius Street Mall’s multipurpose room.

Groove Guy chuckled and walked over to the sidelines as the announcer yelled the names of the next two competitors. “Heh heh heh… Not too shabby, eh, Bow?”

Lady Bow, floating next to him, gave a small smile. “Not at all,” she replied. “Given the experience of most of these Pokemon, it would seem that you will win this tournament easily.”

“I hope so,” Groove Guy said, looking over the crowd. “The prize is apparently some super-rare item. At least, that’s what the flyer said.”

“Mm,” Lady Bow responded thoughtfully. “Tantalizingly vague.”

“Ah well.” Groove Guy smiled. “Even if the prize isn’t any good, I’m still having fun being here. Jeff really should get a DDR machine at home.”

Lady Bow frowned. “I doubt he would be able to do so on the Guild’s salary. He is fairly low on the chain of command… especially with the recent problems.”

The announcer, a Loudred wearing a set of circular sunglasses, turned in their direction. “’Ey, Groove Guy, you’re back up. Do your best, huh? I got 100 stamps riding on you.”

“Your bookie isn’t a Metang, is he?” Groove Guy asked, smiling.

“No, why?”

“No reason.” With that, Groove Guy walked quickly to the dance pad.

As the upbeat Japanese rock music filled the room, a Cubone sidled up next to Lady Bow. “Excuse me, ma’am,” the Cubone asked in a faint, unplaceable accent, “the Sudowoodo… is he a friend of yours?”

“Indeed he is,” Lady Bow said stoically.

“Can you, possibly, tell me about him? Maybe his weaknesses, what songs he’s bad at?”

“…why?” she asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Err, uh…” the Cubone stuttered, “no reason… Please excuse me.” The Cubone disappeared back into the crowd without a glance back at Lady Bow.

Lady Bow returned her attention back to the tournament, where Groove Guy had just triumphed over his opponent, a Bellsprout. “How odd,” she said idly.

“’Scuse me, Gastly!” Lady Bow turned sharply to see the announcer talking to her. “That Cubone you were talking to. He a guy with an odd accent? Kinda awkward in conversation?”

“Yes, he was. Who was he?”

“That’s my bookie! What did he say to you?”

Lady Bow blinked, the situation beginning to come into focus. “He wanted to know what Groove Guy’s weaknesses were…”

“I hope you didn’t tell him anything.”

“No, I didn’t,” Lady Bow replied. “Please excuse me…” She drifted away from the announcer in the direction that she saw the Cubone take. The path took Lady Bow away from the crowd and to a door near the DDR machines. A thick padlock on the knob gave the door a rather foreboding aura, but Lady Bow smirked. Without saying a word, she became incorporeal and simply phased through the door.

The room past the door was completely barren, save for a small hole on the wall that the door was set in. Lady Bow frowned and floated down to the hole, looking through. On the other side, a Cubone sat on the ground, taking the back off of a complex looking device – a DDR machine.

“You!” Lady Bow hissed.

The Cubone jumped and turned around. “You!” he growled right back. “Get out of here!’

“I will not,” Lady Bow said forcefully. “I know what you are doing, sir. You plan on sabotaging the DDR machine.”

“Now, aheh…” the Cubone gulped, “why would I do a thing like that?”

“Easily explained. You are the bookkeeper for the announcer, who bet 100 stamps on Groove Guy. However, you obviously do not want to pay up, because given Groove Guy’s skill level, he most definitely will win. So you plan to wreck the machine that he will use,” Lady Bow responded with an air of accomplishment.

A tense moment followed as the Cubone carefully chose his words. Eventually, he decided on a simple “You’ll stop me over my dead body!” and continued to fiddle with the machine.

“Is that so?” Lady Bow asked quietly. She closed her eyes and began to glow a faint green.

A similar glow enveloped the Cubone, and he gasped. “What… is this…? My energy… I’m completely drained…” With that said, he fell to the ground, unconscious.

Lady Bow smiled a regretful smile, but it turned genuine when she heard the announcement from outside the chamber: “Ladies and gentlemen, this year’s DDR Tournament winner is… Groove Guy!”

***

“Gyah!” an angry voice called from the backyard of Jeff’s house. “Look at this weather!”

“I know, isn’t it nice?” another voice answered. “The sun is shining, the birds are chirping, the bees are buzzing… I’m not sure if that last one is so good, though; I mean, bees sting, and I really don’t like being stung. I was stung once before by a Weedle and it hurt, and it poisoned me too. Jeff had to rush me to a Pokemon Center and everything…”

The first voice interrupted. “That’s not my point. I watching the news this morning, and the weather girl… and listen well!... the weather girl said, with a smile on her face, that it would be raining today!”

“But why would you want it to rain? I mean, rain is refreshing, but there’s only so much of it you can take… and if it’s raining, then my fur gets all wet, and I don’t like that very much, because it means that I’m wet!”

“No, no, Mona, you missed my point!” the first voice clarified. “My point was, and pay attention now, my point was that the weather girl was wrong!”

“Geez, Merc,” Mona replied from her vantage point in the canopy of one of the trees in the yard, “calm down! It’s not a big deal!”

Mercandos frowned, flexing his hand seemingly reflexively. “I… suppose you’re right. I dunno. Ever since this whole Twoson business started, I’ve been feeling… listen up!... I’ve been feeling really, well, off.”

“Off?” Mona asked. It was probably the shortest sentence she’d ever said.

“Yeah, like something’s wrong, you know?” Merc sighed. “Maybe I’m just stressed out. It wouldn’t surprise me; so much has happened in the past few months. Everything’s changing so fast. You know what? I need to work off some steam. I’m going to the barracks. Wanna come?”

“Sure! I haven’t been there since we moved out!” Mona chirped.

An uneventful walk found the pair standing at the door to the barracks. Mercandos opened the door slowly and looked inside; apparently, it hadn’t been seeing much use since Jeff moved out. That stood to reason, though; people generally only came to practice when someone on Jeff’s team was trying to sleep or focus on something important. Since nobody on Jeff’s team was there anymore, nobody would be visiting.

Mercandos sighed and turned to a worn punching bag in the corner, sitting amongst a pile of some grain that used to be in a previous punching bag. “Heh,” he chuckled quietly. “I bet that was because of Hero.” The Mr. Mime closed his eyes, remembering the Guild meeting that culminated in Hero storming off to take out his frustration on the barrack’s equipment. Having done that, Merc opened his eyes and began to punch furiously at the bag.

Mona, meanwhile, wandered over to the other corner of the facility and sat down. She recognized it as the corner that Jeff kept his bed in. Now it’s bare, huh? she thought to herself. This statement was proven wrong a few moments later as her eyes fell on a tattered scrap of paper that had been swept partially into a small hole in the wall. After carefully unrolling it, Mona took a moment to inspect it: it was a faded photograph showing a young boy wearing thick glasses and metallic boots sitting in front of a fireplace. A Meowth was curled up beside him, smiling at the camera.

Mona gasped as the realization of who that was hit her. “That’s Jeff!” she said suddenly, prompting Mercandos to turn quickly towards the door. After seeing nobody, he looked at Mona.

“What are you looking at?” Mercandos asked, walked towards the Smeargle.

“I think this is one of Jeff’s old photos,” Mona said. “Look, see? The kid has all the clothes that Jeff used to wear, and he has the same thick glasses, and Jeff said his parents had a Meowth as a pet.

Mercandos bent over to look at the picture. “Wow, no kidding,” he said, eyes wide. “Jeff’s been wearing the same style of clothes for years, I guess. Until now, at least, with his green coat and that weird hat.” He scratched his head. “I guess everyone changes eventually.”

“Yeah!” Mona said, excitedly. “It’s the changes that make the world exciting. If nothing changed, then nothing would ever happen, and everything would be really boring because nobody would have anything to do.”

Mercandos smiled. “I guess you’re right. And there’s nothing I can do to stop it, not that I should… At least things seem to be changing for the better now.”

“That’s the spirit!” Mona cheered.

“Heh, thanks,” Mercandos said, bending down to grab the photo. He helped Mona to her feet, and the two left the barracks, the door closing quietly behind them.

***

“Let’s see… close-out sale at Deep’s Electronics! Score!” Kurtzwick muttered to himself, looking over a copy of the daily newspaper. The full-page advertisement he was looking at did indeed announce the imminent closing of a large electronics store in downtown Caledor, going on to proclaim that “EVERYTHING MUST GO!” Kurtzwick scuttled out of the room quickly, returning moments later with a large canvas bag labeled “Not For Looting.”

“It’s perfect,” he snickered. “Nobody will suspect a thing.” The Dratini looked around him, then scurried out of the house before anybody saw him.

Five minutes of travel brought Kurtzwick to the door of the giant electronics supermart. As advertised, the store seemed to be closing: plywood covered several of the windows, posters and paint were peeling off of the walls, and the shelves were already half-empty. Kurtzwick grinned widely. People were passing by him into the store without even noticing him.

Heh heh heh, Kurtzwick thought. Chalk up benefit number one to being invisible. He slithered into the store and made his way to the software isle. The number one offer was a very heavily discounted copy of Doors ™ View, the newest operating system from software giant Macroscoff. He reached for the box carefully…

“Heya, Kurtzwick. What’s up?” a voice said from behind him.

Kurtzwick yelped and whipped around, shivering. He found himself staring into the face of a Metang – Trezzatura. “Phew,” Kurtzwick sighed. “Don’t scare me like that. Anyway, I’m here for ‘no particular reason’.”

“Hold on. Say that again.”

“What?”

“You said ‘no particular reason’ funnily,” Trezzatura said, raising an eyebrow.

“I ‘did not’.”

“Never mind.” Trezzatura rolled his eyes. “I’m guessing that’s your way of telling me you’re going to loot the place dry, and nothing I say will make a difference.”

Kurtzwick winked. “In one.”

“Whatever. I found what I came for. Later, man.” Trezzatura turned and hovered to the register.

“Okay, now back to business…” Kurtzwick turned back to the software shelf. With speed belying his size and form, he swept the contents of the entire section into his sack.

Soon, his burlap bag bulging, Kurtzwick left the store grinning manically. “That went better than expected,” he said, trying to hold in his laughter.

“Hold it right there!” Without warning, a small shape swooped down from the sky, blocking the Dratini’s path. It was a Castform with an angry look on her face, with a black Meowth in tow.

“Oh, hi, Previsiona,” Kurtzwick said, suddenly turning nervous. “What’s, uh, up?”

“Don’t play games with me, young man,” Previsiona scolded, looking pointedly at the canvas bag. “Is that what I think it is?”

“Uh… Look, see? Just like the label says, this is not a bag of loot!’ Kurtzwick said, grinning nervously.

Previsiona sighed. “Don’t even try, Kurtzwick. Just… just think about what Lagi would have to say.”

Kurtzwick scowled. “That was a low blow.” He shook his head. “Fine. You win this round. I’ll go return everything.”

“Not this time,” Previsiona said. “This time, you pay for everything.”

“WHAT?!” Kurtzwick screeched. “Just try and make me!”

Previsiona smirked. “I can’t.”

“Okay then.”

“But Raini can.” Previsiona moved aside, allowing Raini to take a stand right in front of Kurtzwick, her claws extending from her paws in an ominously slow manner.

“Yah! Okay! Okay!” Kurtzwick cried. He scrambled back into the store and placed his bag on the cashier’s desk as Raini gave a thumb’s up to Previsiona.

Moments later, Kurtzwick came back out. “Thanks, guys,” he grumbled, “that wiped out my stamp reserve and then some.”

“Maybe this way, you’ll learn,” Previsiona said smugly.

“Yeah, yeah…”

***

“Hey Maza.”

“Oh, good morning, Groviglio. Come to make fun of my moustache today?” Maza asked, adding with a wink, “or are you gonna mix it up today by teasing me about my spoons?”

“Any other day, Maza, but today I have a favor,” Groviglio said quietly.

“Oh? What’s up?”

“I can’t get used to this body!” Groviglio growled. “I’m used to being three feet tall, not seven! I’m used to being 70 pounds, not 300! This sucks!”

“I think I can see where you’re going,” Maza replied. “You want to get accustomed to being a Mojanbo, so you want to spar a bit.”

“Exactly,” Groviglio responded with a smile.

“Perfect. I’m out of practice too. Hey, Bobbery?” Maza called.

Bobbery popped his head out from the window – Groviglio and Maza were in the front yard, while Bobbery was in the living room. “Yeah?” the Snorlax responded.

“We need a makeshift ref. You up for it?”

“Absolutely. Anything to help,” Bobbery said with a warm grin. Moments later, he stood in the yard with a flag. “This will be a two-minute match. No low blows, no cheating. Got it? Go!”

Maza took the initiative easily and flew at Groviglio, his foot blazing with fire. Groviglio tried to step out of the way, but Maza clipped him on his side, leaving a small burnt patch.

Groviglio winced. “Okay, you got a good start,” he muttered, “but try this!” Groviglio raised his arms, summoning a cluster of five boulders out of thin air. He pointed to Maza, and the rocks flew at him as if magnetically attracted. Maza Teleported out of range of the first two, but the latter three nailed him one after another, causing him to fall to the ground.

“Heh,” Groviglio chuckled, “you are out of practice.” He stretched out one vine over Maza and brought it up…

…but Maza disappeared into thin air. “And you still fall for the same tricks,” Maza said from behind Groviglio. A sharp pain ran through Groviglio’s side as Maza slammed him with a frosty Ice Punch.

“Dirty pool,” Groviglio growled.

“I think I see your problem,” Maza said, not deterred. “You’re still battling like a Tangela. Your small frame meant you could avoid attacks easily.”

“What’s your point?”

“Try battling as a Mojanbo. Your size means you can block attacks very easily, but dodging will be harder.”

You could almost see the light bulb over Groviglio’s head. “…I get it!” he said. “Now, let’s go!” A pillar of water rose from the ground and formed itself into a fist, falling over Maza. The attack hit head on. Leaving the Alakazam sopping wet.

“Nice,” Maza said, grinning in a way that suggested that he wasn’t actually very happy, “but can you handle this?” He lit one of his hands on fire, and encased the other in ice. With blinding speed, he brought both of his hands down on opposite sides of Groviglio’s head…

Or at least he wanted to. With similar speed, Groviglio ensnared Maza’s arms with his vines, leaving the Alakazam helpless. He snaked out a third vine, glowing green, clearly with the intent to sap Maza’s health.

Then Bobbery’s whistle blew. “That’s two minutes, guys! Time’s up!”

Groviglio let Maza down, and grinned. “Thanks, man,” he said, walking Maza back into the house. “I feel a lot better.”

“No problem,” Maza said, tenderly rubbing a spot on his arm where a rock hit him. “But next time you take my advice, could you not do it so painfully?”

***

“So you and Hero…?”

“Yes.”

“And then you…?”

“Yes.”

“Where is he now? The kid, I mean.”

“Amy has him. He’ll be on her team. At least he’ll be in good hands.”

Kiva and Anzu sat on a plush couch situated in the otherwise empty bonus room in Jeff’s house.

“So how did it happen?” Anzu asked quietly.

“Well… Jeff was at the breeding center, trying to see if anyone knew who Raini’s parents were. Someone there mentioned that a client was looking to breed a baby Eevee, and I kinda wanted to help out…” Kiva sniffed. “But then I got to the breeding room, and it stank of perfume, and it was so dark, I could barely make out anything. There was a Ninetales… I got scared, but I guess I figured that it was too late to back out…”

“And you’re sure it was Hero?”

Kiva nodded tearfully. “When the Ninetales left, I noticed he didn’t have the right number of tails. How many Ninetales could there be in this city who are missing more than one tail?”

“Point taken,” Anzu said.

“Oh Anzu…” Kiva whimpered and lay down. “I’m not ready to be a mother… What if… what if I mess up? It’s not just my life I’m screwing up. It’s someone else’s too! Father probably thinks I’m some sort of whore now, and he’s probably going to get mad at Hero, too, even though it wasn’t his fault…” She hiccupped, tears rolling down her face.

“Kiva, Kiva, calm down,” Anzu said soothingly. “Just calm down for a moment. Don’t blame yourself. You made a bad decision, but you did it to help someone else. It’s not the end of the world. You’re a kind and caring person – you’ll be a great mother. Besides, Amy’s the one who’ll be taking care of the child. And if you do need help with anything, I’m sure Hero, as the father, or Tsunami, as your father, will gladly help. And you have… well, me. Kiva, I’ll stay by you forever.” She nuzzled the Vaporeon’s cheek. “Now cheer up. Everything’s going to be okay.”

Kiva looked up into Anzu’s face. “Thanks…” she sniffed. “Thanks, Anzu.”

***

Jeff sat in his room quietly. The sun had set, but the lights in the room were still off, leaving the harsh glow from his laptop to reflect off of the trainer’s thick glasses. His fingers flew over the keyboard faster than the eye could follow, but his face remained a complete blank.

Suddenly, however, his typing ceased abruptly and Jeff began reading what was onscreen. “Ever since the Happy-Happyist retreat in Twoson, the world’s eyes have been on Happy Happy Village to observe its next move. Strangely enough, not a peep has been heard from the small town – even the normally outspoken de facto leader Koop Balthazar has yet to make a move. This may be related to the loss of Balthazar’s second-in-command Jeff Azure, who is in custody of Caledor’s Dragons Guild,” he read out loud.

A disconcerting smile crossed Jeff’s face. “Just you wait,” he said quietly. “Our time will come soon enough…”

What he failed to notice was that a luminescent pair of yellow eyes, one that had been watching him for some time, disappeared quickly soon after he spoke, the creature clicking quietly as it sped down the hallway…

[Lady Vulpix]

I can see you've been busy, Jeff! That looked like a collage of many stories. I'd say you pulled a Karin, but you went further than she ever did. The first battle was a good experiment with the new moves, even if it ended unfairly... Poor Cam. Then... the bookkeeper wasn't very smart, was he? The way he tried to interrogate Lady Bow was extremely obvious. I liked the conversation about the weather on the following scene; I recognized Mona's speech before her name was given. And the conclusion about the lack of visitors to the barracks was funny. Hmm... Doors by Macroscoff? It was good to see Kurtzwick realize he's not as invisible -and infallible- as he thought. And I liked Maza's advice for Groviglio. And it was good to hear the controversial story from Kiva's perspective. And that was an interesting open ending. *Counts stamps.* That makes... 28 stamps for you! ¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢

Can I have an RBG for Tsunami, please? *Pays 7 stamps.*

[The Blue Avenger]

Heheh, thanks.

And where would you like this RBG to be from?

[Lady Vulpix]

Oops! Universal Adoption Center, please.

Your recent collection of short stories has now been archived. And you helped me learn the HTML code for ç.

[The Blue Avenger]

I'd give you your RBG, but for some reason the Randomizer won't load for me. Sorry.

[Lady Vulpix]

How odd! *Uploads it to the new host.*

Try this one: http://forboards.prophp.org/RBG.php

[The Blue Avenger]

Small problem with that one: it doesn't actually output a Pokemon.

[Lady Vulpix]

Oops! The code was broken. It was missing a line, and so was the code for the CCCCC. I wonder how that happened. Try the new one again.

[The Blue Avenger]

There we are. Tsunami will battle a Trapinch.

On the same topic, I'd like a Universal Adoption Center RBG for Groove Guy, please. *pays up*

[Lady Vulpix]

A level 63 Trapinch? Shouldn't it be a Flygon at that level?

Groove Guy will battle a Sableye.

[The Blue Avenger]

Go figure. But, now that I think of it, Trapinch learns different moves from its evolutions up through level 80 or something crazy like that. So it's not too farfetched to see one that high a level.

[Lady Vulpix]

Well, here pokemon don't miss moves by evolving, at most they may learn them later. Your call. Is it a Trapinch or a Flygon?

[The Blue Avenger]

Flygon'd probably be more interesting, so go with that.

[Knight of Time]

Hi, I'd like an extension for the current scenario please, I'm hoping to get a certain "fairy" Pokemon one step closer to her final evolution someday.

[The Blue Avenger]

You get your extension.

[Lady Vulpix]

Finally, here's Tsunami's RBG and I still need to write one more transition story before introducing the next scenario. Why, o why must I be so pressed for time?

And even this first part is too long! I'm afraid I'll have to split it in 2.

Shirly used with permission of her original trainer who has practically sworn never to return to the AC/CC subforum.

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

<Caledor's POV>

The whole situation was beginning to get to me, and anyone who knows me would know that was bad. I was used to hearing Hero and Tsunami argue. I'd even joined in many times. But now they didn't argue. They were extremely quiet, and that was creepy. Of course, I had to do something about it. It was my job to lighten up the mood and make everyone smile again. But this one was a toughie. I tried playing a game of ball with some of my friends. That helped make things better for some of us, even after Kurtzwick stole the ball. But the grumpy pair didn't join us.

I decided to ask Lagi for advice, because... well, she always had something wise to say. But she told me that Hero didn't like others sticking their noses in his personal problems, and it would be best to wait. And the wait, added to the extra load of work Gabi had with all the new Pokemon who were coming to the Adoption Center while hardly any trainers came to adopt them, caused us to stay at home for several days without doing anything really useful. I guess I can't be blamed for being edgy in a situation like that, right? It's not like I did something to show it. But my tail was starting to move on its own accord, and I had to make a conscious effort to stop it. I didn't know if that was normal. Then again, normal for whom? Espeons in general? Just me? I thought of asking another Espeon, but it would have been embarrassing if it was something that wasn't supposed to happen. The only Espeon who wouldn't have given me an odd look was Glyph and he was still in Ellyrion. As I thought of this, I felt the tips of my tail perk up. I looked at them, and saw they were glowing purple, like the rest of my body. "Oh, great..."

<Shirly's POV>

There was a conflict between 2 parts of me. You could say that shouldn't surprise me, since I was born a hybrid, but no... I could remember clearly that, in my early years, my mind used to be one. I used to be one. Now a war was brewing within me, and it was reaching the point where I wasn't sure of who I was anymore. And I couldn't stand it. One part of me kept telling me to wait, the other urged me to do something, but I couldn't be sure of what, and the first part said that the second was just impatience and that good things took time. I'd been told to be patient many times, and by many. I thought I ought to learn, so I waited... I waited for years, while I tried to take care of my little group, or what was left of it. But I found no peace.

It didn't help that there wasn't much communication among our group. We'd once been a strong, solid team. Now we'd become mere roommates. There was an occasional quarrel about what music to listen to, but that was just about it. Our trainer made sure to keep us fed, but didn't show any signs of affection towards us anymore. A part of me resented it. The other part said he had more important things in mind... we had a destiny to fulfill and there was no place in our lives for distractions. But the other part said nothing can be more important than caring about those around us, and if our grand destiny involved taking that away from me then screw the destiny! Then I was horrified at the words I had thought. It had been a terrible blasphemy... it went against everything I believed in. "Which one of me?," I wondered. And then I felt the pull.

It was a strong, pulsating sensation in my chest. It matched the beating of my heart and expanded it throughout my body until it engulfed me completely. My wings stretched out following the impulse... but before I followed my instinct I stopped to think. It had been a long time since I last felt anything like that. It had to have a meaning, and I wanted to know what it was, and make sure I was doing the right thing. It was then that I noticed that both parts of me agreed... for the first time since I'd become aware of it. I took one last look and the friends I was leaving and realized I only called them friends out of habit. They didn't need me. All I had to do was tell them I had a mission and I'd be out for a while, and then no one would care about my absence. I couldn't agree with myself on the reason of the journey I was about to take on, but I'd cross that bridge when I came to it. At least I knew the destination. It was fixed in my heart as well as in my mind... the only place where I could find the strength I needed... where my confusion could be erased and where I'd become one again. It was time to return to my old home.

<Ventura's POV>

I was looking at the street through the window when Caledor came rushing from the pillow room. He seemed quite agitated. I turned to look at him.

"Do you know where Gabi is?," He asked me.
"She's working."
"Oh, of course she is."
"Did you oversleep again?"
"If you make any remarks about how sleeping late is an unusual behavior for an Espeon, I'll... Well, I guess I'll be grateful. I actually miss hearing that kind of remarks."
"Now that's odd."
"Is it? I'd say everything else is odd. But that's not the point."
"The point?"
"Yes, I need to find Gabi. Is she at the AC now?"
"I suppose so. Why?"
"I need to..." he looked at me and stopped whatever he was going to say. "I think I'll talk to her first. She knows about these things."
"What things?"
"Shiny things... yes, weird shiny things."
"I think you're deliberately avoiding making sense here."
"Can't get anything past you. Now really, I'll tell you all soon, but I need to talk to Gabi first. The last time something like this happened was just before things went really bad and if she doesn't know what to make of it, no one will."
"If you calm down for a moment and tell me what's going on, maybe I will know how to help you."
He stared at me for a moment, with a thoughtful look on his face.
"Come to think of it... maybe you will. You're the reliable psychic on this team."
"Thanks for the recognition," I said. "Perhaps if you trained harder your psychic abilities would also become reliable. You're a Psychic type after all, you have a natural advantage."
"I'm not really sure I do... I've been thinking that maybe... straying from the topic, sorry. I do have psychic abilities in any case. And I can use them to attack, but other than that they just do whatever they want. Which is something I can live with most of the time, but I only got a full vision once before and you know how that ended."
"You're talking too fast. Calm down. I'm afraid you'll have to refresh my memory. When did you have a vision?"
"The day before the Black Battalion attacked. You were there, remember?"
"Ah... yes, I remember now. That was when we found out that the glowing stone could enhance psychic abilities. An amazing discovery."

My thoughts took me back to that time. I'd been thrilled by what the stone could do. I wanted to learn all about it, and try it out myself, but Gabi wouldn't let it go easily. I had a go for a few seconds, but she ended up hogging it because she needed it the most. <Except that now,> I thought, <she doesn't really need it anymore. She knows us well enough to understand us, and I'd bet she can also understand most DT pokemon on her own these days. And if some stranger talks to her, any of us can translate. Other than that, she doesn't pay much attention to her own psychic abilities. What does she want the stone for? I could try asking again.>

"Ventura, are you listening?," Caledor's voice interrupted my thoughts.
"Yes, of course," I came back to the present quickly. "Yes, that did end quite badly. Let's hope we don't have to see a massacre like that one ever again. Even if it was more massive suicide than anything else. I've always wondered why they wouldn't stop shooting even when they saw the bullets were being reflected back at them."
"You know what? It's a good question. And something someone will have to think of later when we don't have something more urgent to do."
"What do we have to do now? Right now, I mean."
"I'm trying to tell you..." Caledor sighed. "I've had another vision. I saw something at the last Guild meeting but I wasn't sure what it was. Now it was clearer... all the thoughts... the images... it was like being in someone else's mind. And it felt familiar."
"Familiar? How?"
"It was a feeling... Like it was someone I knew. But the thoughts were chaotic, even contradictory. I couldn't make much of them. But there was one constant thought that was much firmer and clearer than the others."
"What was it?"
"White Mountain."
"I see."
"So, what do you think we should do?"

I thought for a few moments. Caledor hadn't really said much, but his attitude was quite telling. If he had spent ten minutes without saying or doing anything silly and was actually asking for my advice, then it was serious and it had to be given due consideration.
"We mustn't rush," I finally said. "We need to learn more. I'll go to the AC and talk to Gabi. We must go to the Tower of Hoeth as soon as possible; this may be a sign that we mustn't postpone that trip any longer. We'll also use the stone if we can. And we need to find a way to talk to Glyph and find out what he knows before going to White Mountain ourselves. He's been there for a while, he must know what's going on there much better than we do. Did your vision take place in the future, present or past?"
"How can I know?"
"You definitely need more practice. We'll talk about that later, I'm going to find Gabi and I hope she will agree with me. You go and play some game to pass the time."
Caledor smiled. "That I can do."

I left the house knowing that I was doing a good thing. Things had been uncomfortable at home lately, but when Caledor got worried and let it show, that meant we'd crossed the line and something had to be done about it. Now at least he'd let it out and could go back to normal, or to whatever passed for normal for him. Not that any of us could call ourselves normal. Would that word apply to a Venomoth who was her team's most reliable psychic, who used psychic pulses to communicate when words were not enough and who still dreamed of becoming a pokemon trainer? I just hoped Gabi would listen to me this time. She could be really stubborn, but she'd have to see the facts.

<Orknye's POV>

I came out of the small cave Glyph and I had been inhabiting since we got to White Mountain, and found my friend staring into the sky. I couldn't help but look up. It was a sunny day, with very few white clouds to remind me that the sky was not an ocean turned upside down. I wondered what Glyph was thinking, and whether it would be a good idea to break his concentration. I decided to test the water carefully, slowly moving towards him to see if he noticed me. He turned his gaze away from the sky and looked at me. Then I realized I hadn't thought of what to say, and went for a universal ice-breaking cliche.

"Nice day, isn't it?"
"Too nice," Glyph sighed. "The sky looks so inviting... but I can't reach it. Sorry, I shouldn't be saying this."
"It's ok," I told him. "I know how you feel. At least you have legs you can easily walk on... and even climb witout much trouble. I'm not made for the mountain. What I wouldn't give for a sea, or even a lake! Hey, even a river would do by now."
"If things don't get too bad, we'll stop by Glacier Peak on our way to Sector Alpha. I'm sorry I dragged you into this."
"You didn't drag me, I joined you willingly," I reminded him. "I just didn't think it would take so long. And I haven't had a good night's sleep since we got here. There was always something to report or something to watch out for."
"I appreciate everything you've been doing," he said in a level tone which made me feel a part of his mind was elsewhere.
"Is anything wrong?," I queried.
"I'm not sure... the wind is changing. The forces are uneasy. I'm sure something's going to happen soon, but I don't know what exactly. It's too... wait a second!"
"Hm?"
"I feel them! I can feel where they come from! One is on the other side of the mountain, and it's pulsating. I think it's getting stronger. The other is... close... so close... and restless! We should..."
"Glyph?"
"We should get out of here. Yssera knows where we are."
"Are you sure?"
"We got too close. My probes and your dream-walking were too noticeable. She's probably known for days and has been watching our moves. Come closer, I'll teleport us away."
"Won't someone be able to follow us?"
"Not as easily as they will if we stay. Come, we must go now!"

I moved as fast as I could, internally cursing my inability to change my shape. I had a feeling of dizziness as the world around me lost its shape, but then it reformed again, with a different appearance. I could see some old houses on one side of the road we were now standing on. To the other side, a grassy plain extended itself all the way to the mountains.

"We didn't go far, did we?"
"We're in Sybyll," Glyph confirmed. "Sorry I couldn't make it further, teleportation is tricky. But we should be able to get some help here. In the worst case, we'll sneak into the next train to Caledor."
"Have you thought of how a Dewgong can sneak into a train? Even getting in through the door would be hard for me."
"Even at this time many trainers come to the stadium. We'll just have to wait for two or more trainers with loose pokemon to walk into the train at the same time. If we stay between their teams, each of them may think we're with the other and before they realize we're on our own we'll be on the train."
"Alright, I guess that could work," I conceded. "And I don't think Yssera's followers would be able to stop us without attracting too much attention. But does this mean our mission has failed?"
"On the contrary. I think I've done what I came here to do. Unless Yssera's managed to trick me, I think I know where she is, and where we can find a powerful opponent for her. But we can't go either way on our own, it would be too risky. One must always know when to ask for help. I have a feeling Yssera feasts on lone adventurers with a hero complex."
"But you are a hero, Glyph," I told him. "You rescued Arim and Linyi from an earthquake, you were the first one to realize I could use my ability to help others, you helped Eshree realize he could be a great trainer, you brought us all together, you help us stay calm when we grow worried and restless... and you always seem to know what to do in every situation."
"I always do something in every situation. It's not always the best thing to do. I'm sorry to disappoint you, but I'm as fallible as everyone else. I just seem to have more initiative. And a skill for noticing others' potentials. As for the earthquake, I just happened to be there and know how to teleport. Anyone else would have done the same."
"Not anyone else," I assured him. "Many would have been too afraid of being hit by a falling rock or swallowed by the earth. And some wouldn't have even cared. I'd like to think I would have done the same. But not everyone would."
"Alright, I'll accept the compliment," he smiled. "Hey, aren't those guys from the MTU? What are they doing here?"

I followed the direction Glyph was looking at, and found a red-haired human surrounded by a group of Fire pokemon. A Houndoom and a Flareon were walking side by side with him, while a Magmar and a Blaziken walked behind him.
"Ah, yes, I remember him," I answered. "That's the guy who descends from elves but doesn't like politics."
"Yes... Ian and... Helios, and... something related. I wish we'd talked to them more before, it will feel awkward to ask them for a ride."
"I can do it if you want," I offered, and made for the team without waiting for Glyph's reply.

"Hey, Helios!," I called out.
The Flareon gave me a puzzled look.
"Do you remember me? I'm Orknye from the Dragon's Guild. We met at the Training Grounds, and then one day at the MTU building when my team went to train."
By then, his whole team were looking at me.
"Ah... yes, I remember you," he finally said. "You were with that trainer everyone says is a bit weird... no offense meant."
"None taken. Can't say any of us is normal, but there's nothing wrong with that, is there?"
"Er... No, I guess not. Where's the rest of your team?"
"Most of them are back in Sector Alpha. Glyph and I stayed for a while longer, but now we need to go back. Are you guys going back too?"
"Back to Caledor, yes. We were planning to stop by the mountains before returning to Sector Alpha. We're on a training journey."
"Yes, we lost 4 battles in a row and realized it was time to do something to get back in shape," interjected the Blaziken, whose name I ignored.
"Hey, there's no need to tell everyone!," Helios scolded him.
"On the contrary," said the Blaziken. "I think our main problem is that we're too proud as a team. We've let it go too far and started growing overconfident. And then we started losing. Some humility will do us good."
"You're just jealous because you can't train at the mountains," snapped the Houndoom... what was her name? At that moment their trainer interrupted them.
"Hey, guys! Stop it right now! Show some discipline. Selene, you know it's not his fault he doesn't have ancestors who lived in Ulthuan before the Sundering. These days there's hardly anyone left who does. He did quite well at the Wing Stadium anyway, he doesn't need the extra training."
The Houndoom hmphed, but said nothing.
"Glyph and I were wondering..." I resumed the conversation, "if it would be alright for us to travel with you. The men at the station have a crazy policy against pokemon travelling on their own, and it would take too long to get Ivan to come for us."
"Does your trainer know you're here?," Helios questioned me.
"Of course he does!"
"And why did he leave you here?"
"We wanted to stay for a few more days. Ivan reported it to the Guild."
"We're in different branches," said Selene. "We don't get reports from researchers, just like you don't get reports from the MTU."
"I don't see any problem with you two travelling with us," said the Blaziken. "Does anyone?"
No one seemed to mind. I turned to look for Glyph and only then noticed he was standing right behind me.
"Thank you very much," he told the group.

<Gabi's POV>

I was tending to the pokemon in the pens when Ventura came to me with the news. At first I didn't know what to make of it. It was unusual for Caledor to have a vivid vision, but we didn't know what it meant... especially since Ventura couldn't tell me what was in it.
"Have you felt anything?," she asked me.
"I've been too nervous lately," I told her. "Overworked, overstressed... If I've had any hunches I've probably dismissed them. I've been wondering if going to the tower is a good idea."
"What do we have to lose?"
"Time... and it will be very frustrating if we can't make it there, or if we don't get any useful information. I'm sure Teclis knows a lot, but how can you trust someone who shows a different face to each person who sees him?"
"You can if you don't care about what he looks like."
"Well, I don't, but I wonder what his reasons are."
"I'm sure he has a reason, wise or not I can't tell but it's his own. He doesn't hurt anyone, does he?"
"Not that I know of... but why does he choose who to let in and who not to? And what does he base his choice on?"
"I would think he allows entrance to those who have a valid reason to be there. A reason he judges as valid, of course. He may have had problems in the past with visitors who bugged him with selfish requests and stupid things. Like... door to door salesmen and the likes."
The mental image of a door-to-door salesman knocking at the door of the Tower of Hoeth made me burst into laughter.
"Ok, maybe you're right," I accepted. "I just hope something goo comes out of it. We've had way too much bad news lately."

<Tsunami's POV>

I don't know how Gabi managed to sort things out so quickly this time, but when she got home, she told us to get ready to depart the following morning. It's not like I had much to do in order to get ready, but it took me by surprise and preparing myself mentally for the trip turned out to be harder than I'd expected.

I couldn't sleep well that night. I got up very early, and feeling tired and with a knot in my stomach. I wouldn't say I was ill, but I wasn't feeling well either. After thinking for a while, I realized that what I needed was a long and relaxing bath. I didn't think I'd manage to stay inside very long before everyone was up and eager to use the bathroom, but I reckoned I would at least be able to relax a little. Great was my disappointment when I reached the room in question and found the latch on. "Who else is up this early in the morning?," I wondered. I explored the possibilities. It could be Gabi, Lagi or Pidgeot... possibly Amber. Ventura and Water Angel were usually up early, but they didn't use the bathroom. Hero, Caledor, Sylvan and Iael were hardly ever up before me. I tried to listen. Sue me, I was curious. But I heard nothing. I thought of turning back and going to the swimming pool, but Water Angel was there and I wanted to be alone. I wondered whether to knock and let whoever was inside know that I was waiting, but he or she had to have heard my attempt at opening the door, so I decided to wait a bit longer.

After a minute or two, I pushed the door again, just to make sure it was latched and not just stuck, and to figure out which latch was on. We had two, one on the upper half of the door for Gabi and the two-legged pokemon, and one closer to the floor for the rest of us. I was surprised to find out it was the lower one. That ruled out everyone I had expected. "Caledor, maybe?," I thought. "He looked upset yesterday, maybe he couldn't sleep well either. If only this door had a keyhole or something I could look through... If only there was water on the floor... Ok, why am I so desperate to get in? It's just a bath, it won't solve my problems."

Just as I thought that, I heard the latch open. I moved aside to make room for the occupant to come out. It turned out to be the one I least expected and least wanted to see. He looked at me. I couldn't make out the expression on his face. A part of me wanted to shout things like "off all days you had to pick today to get up early?," or "what took you so long?, did you fall asleep in there or did you fall in love with your own face and couldn't stop looking at the mirror?," or even "all that time in the bathroom and you still can't make your hair look neat?"... but I couldn't. That would have meant breaking the silence and declaring that everything was alright, and that was something I wasn't ready to do. We stared at each other for a moment, and I let him go. I had my bath, but it wasn't quite as relaxing as I'd expected.

The rest of the day was uneventful. We just spent it travelling, and I spent most of the time inside my pokeball. Pidgeot and Lagi took turns to fly carrying the rest of us. We had our only big meal of the day in Selenia, and stopped in Lothern for the night. I slept well that night, possibly because I was exhausted. We reached Eastern Eataine early in the morning, and from there we took a train to Saphery, where we spent the secondnight in a little town called Wood's Edge. That was as close to the tower as the railway would get. We'd have to cross the forest on our own, just like the first time. I just hoped things turned out better than the first time, they were bad enough already and I didn't want to mess up again like I'd done back then. The landscape was making it all come back to me: how I'd failed at teamwork, put Water Angel in danger and temporarily lost my Mystic Water. I wanted to think I'd learnt from my mistakes and was now wiser as well as stronger, but how could I know for sure? I couldn't even take care of my own daughter... Not only had I failed to protect her, but now that she was bound to need me more than ever, I was out on a week-long trip that might result in nothing. And I hadn't even said goodbye to her personally! Gabi had phoned everyone to tell them we were leaving, but it was definitely not the same. What had I been thinking? Those thoughts kept nagging at me, making the knot in my stomach tighter and filling me with bitterness.

Unlike the previous time all those years earlier, when we'd found enemies everywhere, this time the forest was just a forest. It was calm and filled with what I could only think of as natural sounds. Then again, 'just a forest' could be quite treacherous when you were trying to reach a certain spot with no signs, no map and no hope of Ventura's radar sense spotting it. We had a compass, for what it was worth. The trees and assorted obstacles wouldn't let us advance in a straight line, and all we could do to avoid getting lost was leave noticeable tracks behind us. I almost wished we did have a trail of enemies to follow. Almost... but I wasn't so crazy.

It took me longer than it should have to notice the monotonous buzz in the background was too loud to come from an insect, and it was consistently coming from behind us. In my defense I can say that not even Ventura seemed to have noticed. Everyone was just looking around. I looked back... and managed to make out a figure floating among the trees. I stood still and watched it.

"Hey, what's up?," asked Caledor, the first one to react to my actions.
"We're being followed," I said.
"I think that's the way it should be," Lagi seeded confusion.
"What do you mean?," I asked her.
"I think it's a test. I was expecting to come across some kind of test before reaching the Tower."

By now, everyone was looking in the same direction as I was.

"I see nothing," Pidgeot admitted.
"That's strange... I can't see it either," Gabi added. "What exactly are we looking for?"
"Something big that flies and buzzes," I said. "But now it seems to have stopped flying. It's just humming somewhere among the trees."
"Humming? I can't hear it!," Gabi was beginning to sound frustrated.
"I can't sense it in any way," said Ventura, "but this place has all sort of protections, so I wouldn't trust my senses here."
"I feel something," Lagi stated. "Or, rather, someone. But I can't see or hear anything out of the ordinary."
"Maybe someone's talking about Tsunami and making his ears buzz," Tsunami joked.
"That doesn't even make sense," I told him.
"Oh, I don't know. Gabi used to say that sort of thing."
"And you just have to copy everything Gabi says and make it worse, don't you?"
It felt good to vent out a little. At least I could still count on Caledor for that.
"Worse? I make it all better! No one has ever bested the ridiculousness of my phrases."
"No one would ever want to! Is 'ridiculousness' even a word?"
"I think it is..." Gabi said after a second. "But I don't think this is the right time for that kind of argument."
"On the contrary, I think it's the best time," I argued. "If we're being tested, what better way to ensure the truthfulness of the result than by being ourselves?"
"You wouldn't be any less yourself if you took some things seriously," Gabi noted.
"If I get any more serious, I'll get an ulcer," I warned her.
"Seriousness is bad for your health," Caledor... sort of supported me.
Gabi sighed and let us be.

We stood there for a while, watching and being watched. Our follower didn't seem intent on making a move.

"Why don't we just leave and let whatever or whoever to decide what to do?," Hero suggested.
"Go where?," Gabi queried. "I don't know how to get to the tower from here. Do any of you know?"
"How were you expecting to find it?," Hero questioned her.
"I... just thought that if we were supposed to find it, we somehow would."
"Why would anyone follow us and not make a move upon being discovered?," Ventura wondered.
"Maybe he or she is waiting for us to make a move," suggested Lagi.
"Maybe?," Ventura gave her as much of a puzzled look as a Venomoth can give.
"In a place like this, I wouldn't fully trust my senses either," Lagi explained. "But that seems to be the case."
"Do you think we should get closer to it?," I asked the group in general.
"We lose nothing by trying," Gabi agreed.

We went back a few steps, and the creature didn't move. Now I could see it was green... no wonder it had been so hard to spot in the middle of the forest.
"Big, green, flying... if it's a pokemon then it must be a Flygon," I concluded. "I'd just like to know what's up with the buzzing and humming."
"I have a bigger question," Gabi said. "Why is it that I can see it, nor hear it?"
"I was wondering the same thing," added Pidgeot.
"Ok, guys, you're creeping me out," I admitted, turning to face the others. "Can anyone else here see it?"

They all made an effort, but the result was what I had feared.
"I'm not going crazy, am I?," I asked no one in particular.
"I don't know... are you?," said a female Flygon's voice behind me.

I turned around again, startled. There she was, standing before me. Flygons weren't very common in Ulthuan, but aside from the rarity of the species, there seemed to be nothing unusual about this individual. Except for the very annoying fact that no one else seemed to see her yet.

"What are you?," I went straight to the point.
"What do you think I am?," she bounced my question back.
"I don't know... I've never hallucinated before and I see no reason why I should be doing so now, so I'd say you're either a creation of the magic and/or technology of the tower, or a real pokemon concealed by the former. Am I right?"
"Perhaps," she replied. "Now, what is your problem?"
"What do you mean `what's my problem`? You've been following us and I still don't know why only I can see you and you ask me what my problem is? And what's with the humming anyway? You're not a bug, why do you do that?"
"It gives me pleasure."
"It gives you... pleasure?"
"I enjoy it. Sometimes the answers really are that simple. Isn't there anything you enjoy?"
"Of course," I answered. But when I began to think of the things I usually enjoyed, the painful truth came to me. "Just... not these days."
"Oh. That's a pity. Why is that so?"
"Listen. I don't know you. I'm not going to start talking to you about my personal problems. Besides, we're here for an important reason."
"More important than your own happiness?"
"I should think so, yes. This is about the whole world, not just me."
"Then why are you the only one who can see me?"
"That's something I would like to know. I assumed you did."
"Oh, no. I'm just a test, as your friend said. I don't know the source of the darkness that lurks inside you."
"You make it sound as if I was possessed. I'm just angry, that's all."
"Who are you angry at?"
"Hero", I thought. "And myself too." But I didn't say it. What I said instead was: "if you're going to help us get to the tower, that's fine. If you're trying to stop us, then let's battle and get this over with. But don't try to analyze me and dig into my feelings because they're private. I've said it before, I don't know you. I don't have to talk to you."
"So it's a battle you want?"
"Yeah. Why not? More traditional, more effective. We fight, we gain access to the tower... or not, but that's it. Yes, that would be fine."
"Alright, I accept your terms. Even though it is quite unusual for visitors to set the terms of the tests, I'm quite flexible. I must warn you though, that I'm not an ordinary Flygon, so ours will not be an ordinary battle. That can't be helped."
"I can do weird and unusual. I'm used to it. As long as I don't have to talk about things I don't want to."
"You won't have to say anything you don't want to say, and I will not see anything you don't want me to see. That much I can promise."

Her words left me puzzled, but I decided to leave the questions for later. It was already bad enough that I was in a bad mood, I didn't want to make it worse by allowing confusion to take over. I'd have to do my best to focus on the battle. Everything else could wait.

[Lady Vulpix]

Level 63 Vaporeon vs. Level 63 Flygon

"Flygons are Ground and Dragon type", I remembered. I had to go through the facts, as I'd never seen a Flygon in battle before. 'That means Ice moves are most effective against them. This one may not be as weak to them, but they're the best bet I have if the odds are against me.' I hated thinking that way. I didn't like exploiting an opponent's physical weakness; I preferred to wear them out slowly, making each of my battles a test of endurance rather than a game of chance that was just about who fired the crippling shot first. But I was nervous, and thought it would be best to consider all the options, just in case. And so there I was, considering my options when my opponent disappeared from sight. From my sight, that is, since she'd never appeared in anyone else's.

"Oh, great, I won't see her coming," I thought. "I'll have to prepare for the impact..."

...But my preparation was not enough. I had only begun to gather water molecules from the air when the hit came, and with it came something completely unexpected: the image of a baby Eevee. I couldn't see it well, but it looked like a human was holding him... or her. A female human, rather on the physically plentiful side. I couldn't see the human's face, but the baby seemed happy in her arms. It reminded me of a picture I'd seen on one of the Guild's corridors about Mother Earth, or Mother Nature or some related Mother. But I couldn't make any sense out of it. Then the image faded, leaving only the pain of a new scratch on my hind leg. I wondered what that had been all about, but I didn't want to allow myself to get distracted. I was in a battle, and I had to win. I finished building my Acid Armor, and stood firm, holding the water around me for my next move.

The Flygon stroke again. I couldn't see her, but I felt her hit my back with what could only be a Faint Attack. It didn't hurt much this time, but with it came an image I did recognize. It was Kiva and Anzu. They were talking. I could hear Kiva's words.

"Oh Anzu... I'm not ready to be a mother... What if... what if I mess up? It's not just my life I'm screwing up. It's someone else's too! Father probably thinks I'm some sort of whore now, and he's probably going to get mad at Hero, too, even though it wasn't his fault..."

"What? No!," I cried out. "Of course you're not a whore! You wanted to help and were too young and inexperienced to think of the consequences. Hero should have known better, but you couldn't. It was I who messed up! I wasn't there for you. We've never had a proper talk about important subjects. I don't even know how to have a talk like that! You're so sweet and full of love... There's no doubt you'll make a better parent than your father."

At that moment the image faded again. I could still feel the air being blown down by the Flygon's wings right over me. I shot a wave upwards, which was something I'd never tried before and wouldn't have tried if I'd thought about it clearly, but it was an instant reaction. The water lost some momentum before hitting the target, and evaporated before it fell back down. "Damn it, she's not letting me focus," I thought. "What were those images? Did that really happen or was it just an illusion? Did she see them too?" Then I remembered when she said she wouldn't see anything I didn't want her to. I wondered if that had been what she'd been referring to.

Then things became worse. A strong wind began to rise around me, raising piles of dust with it. "A Sandstorm," I thought. "Except it's Earth, not sand. But the principle's the same." On the bright side, I could now see the Flygon at the eye of the storm, and no new images had assaulted me yet. On the negative side, it was just a matter of time before the sandstorm obscured my sight and then she wouldn't need a Faint Attack to become untraceable. I needed to act quickly. That was something Pidgeot and Hero did well, but neither of them could offer me advice now. They couldn't even see my opponent. I wondered what the whole battle looked like for them. It must have looked like I was fighting the air. "Focus, idiot!," I scolded myself. "There's no time to waste. No, there isn't... but maybe I can win some time."

I had to try it. The Flygon wasn't playing fair, so why should I? Besides, it would serve as a test to see how abnormal she really was. And it wasn't like an Icy Wind was strong enough to bring down a strong Flygon, right? Well... for a moment it looked like it could. The Flygon cried loudly when the could wind reached her, making me feel guilty like hell. This was a test, not a fight to the death. But she managed to remain airborne, and when I got the first slap from the Sandstorm I found it well-deserved. She flew up a bit higher. It was hard to see her without getting my eyes filled with dust, but I noticed she was moving slowly. I could have attacked again, but I didn't feel like it. Instead I called out to her.

"Are you alright?"
"Why are you asking me?"
"Because I didn't mean to hurt you like that. I thought you wouldn't have the weaknesses of a normal Flygon."
"And what made you assume that?"
"You yourself said you weren't normal, and what you've been doing to me proved it. And let me tell you, it's really annoying. But you were just distracting me. You didn't really hurt me. You didn't use any strong attacks."
"Distracting you wasn't what I had in mind. I warned you, this is not a normal battle. I'm not here to train, nor to help you do so. I'm just here to do what is needed."
"And what would that be?"
"Only you may know."
"What do you mean?"
"Listen, you're reluctant to speak about your story, and I respect that. I have no need to tell you mine either. But you must know that if I appeared for you it's because there's something you need to understand, and whatever you see will help you understand it. You don't have to tell me what it is."
"So you're not here to decide if we can enter the Tower of Hoeth?"
"I can't decide that. What happens here may help Teclis decide and the others, but it's not up to me. I'm just a test, not a judge."
"You've said that before, but I didn't quite get it. What does it mean you're a test? Are you not real?"
"I can think and feel, if that's what you mean, and I existed before I came to the Tower. What I mean is I'm serving as a tool to test you. And you're not making it easy."

The Sandstorm hit me again. The only reminder that we still had a battle to finish. The Flygon came closer.

"Listen, I can't make it easy if I don't know what I'm being tested for!," I told her.
"Most tests in life are like that. I don't really know what I'm testing you for either. But I think I can help you figure it out."
"How?"
"I don't have much fight left in me. Deal the final blow, but don't make it a long-range attack. You must touch me. Some force will be required, but it doesn't have to be too much. Even a Tackle will do."

Now this was unusual. An opponent was telling me how to attack her? But then again, it wasn't more unusual than the fact I was the only one who could see her, or the visions she'd given me. I wondered: was that how she did it? Her two Faint Attacks had given me visions, but not the Sandstorm. It seemed that physical contact was required. Which meant she wanted me to have another vision. I wondered whether I should comply or not.

I thought for a moment. What did I have to lose? It was just a vision, it wouldn't be real. And no one else would see it, not even her if what she'd said was true. And I was sure I could deal with it if I was expecting it, even if it was something painful like the last vision. But would that make me pass the test? What was the test about? What was its purpose? Was I thinking too much? Maybe the best thing I could do was follow her directions and find out. But not a Tackle... I still had a little tinge of pride that swayed me against doing exactly what she wanted me to do, especially after everything she'd done had been unexpected. I went for a Quick Attack. At least that way she didn't have the time to see me coming. I felt her lose balance under the combined force of my speed and weight... which was rather light in comparison to her own body mass, but she was still too weak from the Icy Wind to endure it. I felt her begin to fall and prepared myself to hit the ground within a split-second... but time seemed to stop.

If the first vision had been vague and the second one quite clear, this one was extremely vivid. I felt the cool and rather damp ceramic tiles under my paws, and even the sensation of fur all over my body, which I hadn't felt in many years but immediately reminded me of my childhood as an Eevee. I couldn't see myself, however. I wasn't in control of my own body. I could only look ahead, at the still image of Hero that looked at me through a glass on the wall. No, not still: his eyes were moving. He seemed to be examining me carefully, although my sight became blurry whenever he wasn't looking straight into my eyes. It was a bit annoying, but not as much as feeling his angry glare. He didn't look content with what he saw. I was just beginning to speculate, when the thoughts flooded me. I could hear them in my mind, but they didn't have my mind's voice and didn't come from within me; they didn't form like thoughts do, evolving from a feeling or sensation until you find the right words for them. They appeared directly as words, just like Caledor's when he spoke to me telepathically. But this wasn't Caledor and I was starting to fear that it was more than just telepathy, just like what was in front of me was more than just a glass. It was the last thing I wanted to experience at that time.

"Hmm... the same creamy fur... clean, but messy beyond hope. How does Tracker manage to keep hers so neat? Even her topknot!" "Oh, please!," I thought and now it was clearly me doing the thinking. "Can you be more vain? I used to think you just pretended to be so shallow." Ignoring me, the thoughts kept flowing as Hero's orange irises regained focus. "My eyes... they look so dull now; they used to be so full of fire... What happened? ... Who am I kidding? I know what happened! I messed up, and no one can help me fix things this time. I can't talk to her, she must hate me now. Even Lagi stays clear from me these days! And I can't blame her, who'd want a taste of what I'm feeling?"

I would have sighed if I'd been able to. He didn't get it, did he? That was not the reason why Lagi stayed away from him. She wanted to respect his privacy after all the times he'd insistently told her to do so. And she had a lot on her own mind to keep her occupied, I doubted she'd be able to come up with some good advice if she decided to talk to him... or me for that matter. After all, she was still just a pokemon, like the rest of us. We'd always put too much faith in her, and possibly too much pressure as well. And she took it all in because that was the way she was. She just couldn't stop caring.

"I hadn't felt this way since the day I ran away from the pack," the thoughts went on. "And I thought I'd made progress. I thought I'd made up for it! That stupid Fire Stone only showed me how stupid I can be. What would the old bosses say if they found out about this? You've screwed up, Speedy. You really have. Even the pups have made it better. Little Blessing's managed to become a fine lady despite her parents spoiling her so much. And Kid... Ray... He's still as naughty as I remembered him, but he wouldn't mess up this much! And to think he used to look up to me... I've been his hero since that time I fished him out of the lake when his leg was stuck in a fallen branch. As if anyone else wouldn't have done it, I just happened to be there to hear his cry! Still, it was a nice save, wasn't it? And I did take a shot in order to save Gabi once. It was a miscalculation, but I knew the risks and I still jumped. I could have died or become crippled for life. Maybe I'm not a complete wreck after all...

...But I hurt a young girl. She's young enough to be Kid's daughter. Worse, she's Tsunami's daughter! Now I've lost my best friend and once more I can't look at my reflection without feeling ashamed. Will it always be this way? Will I always ruin all the good things I have?

Maybe I should leave... save Tsunami from seeing my face everyday... Run away again? Learn something, you idiot! I mustn't be a coward this time. I'll face my own guilt. It's not as if it would ever leave me if I ran away."

Hero sighed, turned towards the door and opened the lower latch in the same way I normally did. Now I knew when this had happened, and was not surprised to see my own face on the other side of the door. My face looked angry and confused... I still was, especially the latter. I didn't know what to make of all this. I felt like an intruder. Those thoughts had been too private, not meant for me to hear. I had always suspected... in a way known... that Hero wasn't nearly as self-confident as he pretended to be. But I'd thought he was just like me, keeping a few little insecurities to himself while showing himself as invulnerable to the rest of the world. I'd have never thought he was still blaming himself for a mistake he'd made in his youth; a mistake we all knew about and none of us had cared for in years, because it was in the distant past and hadn't hurt anyone but Hero himself; and things had been sorting themselves out and leading everyone to feel it had been for the best after all. Everyone but Hero, apparently. He didn't realize he'd grown past running away from his problems, even when he'd just proven it. And now he hated himself for what he'd done to Kiva. He was even angrier than I was about it, which moments earlier I wouldn't have thought possible. I wondered why I had witnessed all this. It didn't make me feel any better. If anything, it made me feel worse. Now I felt sorry for Hero as well. And all because of a giant misunderstanding!, wasn't that what it had been? How could a dark room and a strong fragrance cause so much suffering?

I was so lost in my thoughts I barely noticed the landscape around me change. I was only aware of the increased lighting and the slowly subsiding sandstorm. I looked ahead. The Flygon lay motionless on the ground. Only then I realized I didn't know her name. "She must have one, right?," I thought. "Everybody has one. I wonder how she got here... and what her life is like. But I don't really want to find out. I've seen too much for one day. So, what do I do now?"

I looked at my group, and they were all staring at the place where the Flygon was lying. Could they see her now? I looked at her again, and noticed her body was glowing. It was also translucent. She lifter her head and floated upwards, stopping at about a foot from the ground (the length of an average human foot, I'd say; estimating distances in artificial scales was never my thing). She remained at that height even though her wings weren't moving. And yes, the others could definitely see her.

"Is that the pokemon Tsunami was fighting?," wondered Iael.
"Almost certainly," Lagi replied.
"She is," I told them. "But she didn't look like that when I was battling her! What happened?," I asked the Flygon.
"It's alright," she assured in the same voice she'd had before. "My body needs to recover. I'll have to remain in this state until I'm fit again. But I'll be fine. Are you alright?"
"Funny you should ask," I told her. "What was that all about? What am I supposed to do now?"
"Only you may know the answer. I only showed you what you needed to see. I didn't see it myself."
"I bet someone like you doesn't get much of a social life, right?"
The Flygon chuckled. "I have my own path to follow. Every now and then I get to help others with theirs. For now, that's all I really want. What about you?"
"What about me?... I don't know. If this were a cartoon everything would be easy. We'd all say `I'm sorry. Can we be friends again?,` and it would all be over. But life's more complex than that. You don't forget what's happened. It marks you and affects you for as long as you live. I really wish I could undo this whole mess. I wish I could go back in time and stop it from ever happening. But I can't, can I? All I can do is face front and try to deal with things as they are."
"That makes sense," the Flygon agreed. "Even though I don't know what you're talking about."
"I think I know," Hero stepped forward. "It's about me, isn't it?"

He'd asked the question. Now I had no choice but to answer. There was no escape. But what could I say?
"You and Kiva... and myself," I finally told him. "It's all a big mess, and it's eating us alive. And you're both being too hard on yourselves. Kiva didn't know she wasn't ready, you didn't know it was her, and I had no way to imagine something like this could happen. I should have spent more time with Kiva. I can't fix that now, but I hope she will let me get more involved in her life from now on. The only thing I've always been certain about being a father is that I didn't know how to do it, and I still don't. But I love her. I don't want to see her hurt, and I don't want her to blame herself for not having known what no one had taught her. And I don't want to lose you either. Not talking to you is killing me! I don't know how we'll do it, but we need to sort things out."
"You got all that from a battle?," inquired Hero.
"Err... sort of. I could tell you what happened, but then you'd want to kill me and that wouldn't make things any better. The thing is, I didn't do it on purpose. And neither did you. So I think we both should talk to Kiva as soon as we get back home and..."
"What did you do?," Hero interrupted me. "What did you do that was so bad it could make me want to kill you?"
"Please, can't we just drop it?"
"No way."
"At least wait until we're alone. I don't want everyone to hear it."
"Okay... let's just walk to a place where no one else will hear us and then you tell me."
"There's no escape, is there?"
"Nu-huh."
Hero cast a fiery glare at me. In an odd way, I found that relieving. I liked seeing that look in his eyes. It suited him much better than the self-effacing one. I always thought of it as the look he'd won the Gryphon Games with, which is in itself odd since you don't win a tournament with a look. But the mind tends to make weird associations like that.

We walked deeper into the forest. When I thought we were finally beyond hearing range from the others, I gathered my strength and revealed that I had read his thoughts. The volume of his response made me consider that perhaps we weren't far enough.
"YOU WHAT?!!"
"I'm sorry! I've said I didn't do it on purpose. You know I can't do that on my own. It was the Flygon. She has some weird power which makes others get visions when they touch her or something like that. She said I needed to see something. I had no idea what was going to happen."
"That's insanely weird, but considering where we are and that I'm yet to hear you tell a lie I will believe you. What thoughts exactly did you read?"
"It was more hearing than reading, actually."
"Don't dodge the question. What thoughts did you hear?"
"Thoughts I didn't want to hear... and which I'll never reveal to anyone, I promise."
"You are promising to keep your enormous mouth shut? I have trouble believing that."
"Hey, I can keep a secret! It's just that I don't normally learn about secrets worth keeping. I'd never betray a friend."
"So we're friends again?"
"We never stopped being friends, I was just mad at you, but I hated every second of it."
"Ok, and now it's my turn to be mad at you. Just let me know what I'm mad at you for. WHAT... DID... YOU... HEAR?"
"Err... Remember the day we left home?"
"What, like... the day before yesterday?"
"Er, yes... Well, that morning, right before we left. You were in the bathroom and I was waiting outside..."
"Yes, I remember that. It was an awkward moment."
"Well, it's just become even more awkward."

Hero stared at me in silence. I reckoned he was trying to put his thoughts in order. Then he finally spoke.
"Wait, you mean when I was looking at the mirror?"
"Ehm... yes?"
"You couldn't... You're right! I DO want to kill you!"
"I'm sorry! I really am! I'll never touch that Flygon again, I promise!"
"Those thoughts were private!"
"I know! And you were just going through a bad moment, I know. We've all had bad times."
"Really? When have you had any?"
"Right now, for instance."
"It's well deserved."
"I know. And when I found out about what happened too... I couldn't stop blaming myself for not having taught Kiva what she needed to know, or at least spent more time with her. And..."
"And what?"
"And I've always secretly wished I could battle as well as you do."
I'd had to say it. I had nothing to lose anymore. Still, it was a bit embarrassing when Hero burst into laughter.
"Hey, don't be so hard on me!"
"Oh, sorry. It's just that after all this time... It's ok, I'll try to stop. Listen, you've done well in many battles, and you'd do a lot better if you would just listen to the advice I give you. You can't always win by taking blow after blow until your opponent gets tired because you'll eventually find an opponent who won't tire easily or who can just hit too hard. You need to learn to dodge sometimes, and act unexpectedly. And above all..."
"Above all what?"
"Don't finish your battles with a Quick-Attack. That's my signature. Did you think I wouldn't notice?"
"What? No, I wasn't even thinking about that. I just had to bring her down quickly and touch her at the same time, it was the obvious choice."
"If it was the obvious choice and you still beat her, it means she let you win."
I was not comforted by those words.
"Alright, maybe she did," I admitted. "But she didn't really want to battle. She just accepted the challenge because I didn't want to talk. Or did she issue the challenge? I'm not sure anymore."
"Don't ask me. I was wondering who or what you were talking to. It all looked quite funny from outside. Only when the Sandstorm rose I understood it wasn't an illusion."
"I don't fight illusions."
"Well, I do if I have to. I did once, here in this forest. I was attacked by... err... long and fluffy things."
"Long and fluffy things?"
"Yes. It wasn't as funny as it sounds. It was a spell attached to the Fire Stone which later Tracker used to evolve. That's how weird things are."
"So you both evolved with Fire Stones that weren't normal?"
"I'm sure hers was normal once the spell wore of. Which happened long before she found it. She looks normal. She looks better than normal, have you seen her hair?"
"What can I say? I'm glad I don't have all that hair to take care of!"
"Yeah, you're lucky."
"You're lucky too."
"How come?"
"You have her. And she doesn't look like she'll want to let you go any time soon."
"Won't that change after she finds out what I've done? What if she's already found out? She's good at that sort of thing."
"Give her some credit. She knows you well. She might even help us."
"How?"
"Well, she could talk to Kiva. I'm not saying we shouldn't, I know we must. But she's an experienced female, I'm sure she could provide some insight we don't have in that area."
"Hmm... I don't think I can ask her to do that. Why did this become about us, anyway? Didn't we come here to find the tower and maybe a way to defeat Yssera?"
"Yes... and I'm not even sure that Flygon was at all related. But then again, if she wasn't... how could she do all the things she did?"
"Don't expect me to know that. I couldn't even see her till the battle was over."
"Maybe we should go back and ask some questions."
"Of course we should!"

Hero dashed away, disappearing among the trees before I had a chance to react. I knew he'd done it on purpose, but I wasn't quite sure about what the purpose was. Still, it didn't really matter, did it? Things would have to work out one way or another. At least we'd had a chance to talk.

When I reached the group, Hero was already standing among them and there was no sign of the Flygon. All looks were turned towards me.

"What happened?," I asked.
"Melody has told us how to get to the tower," answered Gabi. "We're amazingly close. We were waiting for you to go there."
"Melody?... Is that the Flygon's name?"
Gabi nodded.
"How did you find out?"
"Lagi asked her," said Caledor.
"Of course... that's the obvious way," I sighed. "For some reason I didn't think about it. She didn't seem to want to say much about herself. Or maybe she just didn't like me."
"Didn't you say you didn't have to talk to her?," Amber asked me. "You said something about your feelings being private. And that you preferred to battle, or something like that."
"Oh, great, nobody heard what she said but everyone heard what I said. Thanks for not assuming I was crazy, if indeed you haven't assumed it."
"We know you better than that," Gabi remarked.
"Thanks, then. So Melody... I guess the name suits her. Did she tell you anything else?"
"Only how to get to the tower," Gabi answered.
"Oh, alright. Let's go there, then, and let's return home as soon as possible. There's something I need to do when we get back."

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

After-battle note: Tsunami reached level 64.

[AntiAsh Superstar]

Gabi, I'll read your latest story in full the first chance I get, it's too late for me to give it the attention it deserves atm. I *will* comment on that bit about Espeons and staying up late, tho, as it's prolly just as usual as the sleeping habits of people who are convinced they ARE Espeons and while Soo does stay to type and is a definite morning person she's had more than her fair share of late nights when caught up in something. :3

Anyways, can I get an RBG for Pandora from the Free Range Corral plz?

[The Blue Avenger]

Pandora will fight a Swablu.

[The Blue Avenger]

Here's Groove Guy's RBG, "The Obligatory Video Game Parody (3rd Coming)".

---

“Are you ready? 3! 2! 1! GO!” The DS, volume turned up to the maximum, blared its message throughout the house. Groove Guy sat on the couch and stared at the game’s screen, his eyes wide in rapt anticipation. As the familiar tune of Y.M.C.A. blasted from the DS’s speakers, Groove Guy flicked the stylus back and forth across the screen. A few minutes later, the Sudowoodo dropped his stylus as his score appeared on the display.

“…wow. That was amazing,” Groove Guy said quietly, putting the DS down.

“What is so amazing?” a voice called from behind him. Groove Guy turned around and saw the familiar face of Lady Bow.

“This game Jeff just got. It’s called Elite Beat Agents… it’s sorta like DDR, but with a stylus and a plot. See, you play as these government agents who help people in trouble… by dancing.”

“Dancing?” Lady Bow replied, looking at Groove Guy questioningly.

“Er, yeah. I know it sounds weird, but it’s a really funny game,” Groove Guy said. “Like, you always start each episode with someone who’s in trouble, and they yell ‘Help!’ at the top of their lungs, and the Elite Beat Agents show up through some bizarre means of transportation. In one episode, they show up on a rollercoaster.”

“And then they help the person by dancing?” Lady Bow asked again.

Groove Guy shrugged. “Hey, it seems to work well enough for them.”

Just then, a loud cry of “HEEEEEAAAALP!” echoed through the house. Groove Guy snapped his head towards the door.

“…a cry for help?” he muttered to himself. “It’s gotta be a sign…” He turned back to Lady Bow. “Hey, Bow, do me a favor?” he asked. “See what’s on the screen now? Can you say it?”

“Why?” Lady Bow asked, raising an eyebrow. Upon only receiving a slightly embarrassed smile from Groove Guy as an answer, she sighed. “Fine.” Bow turned to the screen and began to read from it. “Agents are… GO!”

“Yeeha!” Groove Guy yelled as he raced out of the door.

---

In a different part of the town, a Kirlia began to sweat as she backed against a wall. A Sableye advanced menacingly on her, a malevolent glint flashing across his eyes.

“’Ey, sweetie,” he said in a voice that sounded as if it had had a particularly bad time in his throat, “how’s about you hand over all those stamps I know you got on you?”

“B-but…” the Kirlia stuttered, “I don’t have anything…”

“Now, now, now. Why you gotta lie like that?” the Sableye said, raising one hand and resting it on her cheek. “You know when you lie, I gotta hurt you…”

The Kirlia screwed her eyes shut. Backing away as far as she could, she opened her mouth wide. “HEEEEEAAAALP!” she yelled, causing the Sableye to cover his ears.

“What are you playing at?” the Sableye hissed. “You’re gonna get it now…”

“Hold it right there!” a voice yelled from behind the Sableye. The Sableye turned and glared at the offending Pokemon – a Sudowoodo.

“Who are you supposed to be” the Sableye growled. “I’ll have you know you chose to mess with Otis Capote! I rule these streets!”

“Doesn’t matter to me!” the Sudowoodo replied. “I came here because I was called. Kurtzwick, if you would?”

Otis scowled as a transparent Dratini, previously unnoticed, slithered out from behind the Sudowoodo and revealed a high-end stereo set. Kurtzwick surreptitiously pressed a button on the stereo, and it began blasting an 80s pop song at max volume. Otis covered his ears as strains of “Sweet dreams are made of these” reverberated down the alley.

“Are you ready?” the Sudowoodo asked, a smirk on his face. “3! 2! 1! Go!”

Battle time! Groove Guy versus Otis Capote!
Groove Guy – “I’m feeling the rhythm… ♪”
~
Otis – “I’m tough as diamonds, kid!”

Groove Guy began to sing along with the song as he closed his eyes. A purple aura surrounded him as Otis stared at the Sudowoodo suspiciously. This did not give him enough time to react, however, when a purple fist rose from the ground and began to squeeze the Sableye in its grip.

“Gah! What are you doing?!” Otis howled.

“Heh heh heh… usually, I end up juggling with my Hidden Power,” Groove Guy said, unconsciously tapping his feet to the song’s beat. “But… I decided to change it up a bit. After all, every good song deserves a remix!” Groove Guy snapped his fingers and the fist melted into slag. Otis scowled and disappeared into the shadows, the eerie sight compounded by the fact that his mouth was the last thing to leave.

Groove Guy grinned. “Perfect,” he muttered as he held his hands out. A bright light spilled from a location in the air in front of him to his fists, and Otis’s voice cried out ethereally, “What are you doing?”

“I’m merely evening the odds, Otis,” Groove Guy said, smiling. As soon as he spoke, Groove Guy disappeared into thin air as well. An audible growl was heard from Otis, but neither Pokemon turned visible. The Kirlia looked around, shivering, as impacts could be heard in the alley – Otis and Groove Guy were clashing without even being able to see each other.

Minutes later, both battlers faded once more into the realm of the visible. Groove Guy looked none the worse for the wear, but Otis was panting heavily and covered in bruises.

“Ready to give up, Otis?” Groove Guy said, bouncing to the song’s upbeat rhythm. “You can’t possibly win now.”

“I… I beg to differ,” Otis grumbled. “I’ve notice how you fight. And I think that doing this will give me the edge.” He zipped past Groove Guy and slashed at the stereo three times in succession, breaking it cleanly in half. The music sputtered out as the stereo collapsed in on itself, prompting a nasty glare from Kurtzwick.

Groove Guy stumbled.

“Just as I thought,” Otis said, smirking. He closed his eyes and crossed his arms as a white glow surrounded him. When it faded, Otis’s bruises had completely disappeared. “Your advantage is gone, Sudowoodo. Now, I will beat you. Completely and totally.”

Groove Guy shook his head. “No… no. I won’t let you.” However, Groove Guy was completely unprepared for the brutal onslaught that came next: Otis began swiping at his chest with claws awash in dark energy again and again. He finished the attack by jumping back and launching a pitch-black sphere of plasma. Groove Guy grunted and fell back as the Shadow Ball hit hard.

“Hold it right there!” a voice called from behind Otis. He turned quickly, a look of surprise crossing his features. The Kirlia was standing behind him, shaking, but with a look of determination in her eyes. “You will not beat him!” she cried and held out her arms. She looked to the sky and began to sing.

“I believe in morning sun… Always gonna shine again and… I believe a pot of gold waits at every rainbow's end, oh… I believe in roses kissed with dew… Why shouldn't I believe the same in you?”

Otis yelped as the Kirlia kept singing. “What are you trying to pull?” he hissed before a large rock bludgeoned him in the back of the head.

“Thank you, madam,” Groove Guy said to the Kirlia, his feet tapping once more. “I will not let you down.” He turned his attention back to Otis. “Well, now that I have my rhythm back once more… let us dance.” Groove Guy held out one hand, and in moments, a giant wooden mallet had materialized in it.

Otis backed up, sweating. “Now, now, don’t do anything rash…” he stammered, but Groove Guy shook his head.

“It’s too late, Otis,” Groove Guy muttered. “Ciao.” He swung his hammer down hard, nailing the Sableye straight on the head. Otis stumbled backward and slumped against the wall, completely unconscious.

Battle over! Groove Guy gains a level!

The Kirlia turned to Otis’s prone form and frowned at him. “That’s the last time you’ll threaten anyone here, Mr. Capote…” she said under her breath. “And it’s all thanks to you, Mr. Sudowoodo!” She turned to where Groove Guy had been standing, but he and Kurtzwick had completely disappeared. “…Mr. Sudowoodo?”

Kirlia sighed and began to walk away, but a smile crossed her face as she heard, from in the distance, a faint voice yell “Agents are… GO!”

---

Meanwhile, in Sector Alpha’s hectic downtown sector, a lone man walked briskly through the doors of the Pokemon Adoption Center. The man was tall and lanky, with spiky blonde hair and bright blue eyes. He approached the receptionist’s desk.

“Can I help you, sir?” the secretary asked without looking up.

“Yes. I need information on a Pokemon’s lineage; he was adopted here, but I’m curious as to where he came from,” the man replied, scratching his head.

“Certainly. I’ll need your name first, please.”

The man rolled his eyes up. “You can call me… uh… Cameron Mendel.”

“Well then, Mr. Mendel,” the secretary continued, “you’ll want to meet with Jack Harrison. He’s the head of records here. Second door on your left.”

Cameron nodded and walked down the hallway towards the door. Pausing briefly to glance at the nameplate on the door – it did indeed read “Jack Harrison” – he knocked.

The door opened almost immediately, revealing a casually dressed elderly man, his wrinkled yet spry face framed by wispy grey hair. “Good afternoon, sir. How may I be of assistance?” he said in a voice that, while wavery, conveyed great warmth.

Cameron walked in and sat in one of the chairs near Jack’s desk. “I need to know about where a Pokemon adopted here came from. A Ditto, about 2 years ago… the trainer named it Cambiamente.”

Jack’s expression turned serious. “If you yourself are not the trainer, then I cannot give these records out. My apologies.”

Cameron grimaced. “No, hold on. Check this out.” He held out his hand. Jack watched in silence as it turned from a hand to a Krabby pincer to a Pidgey wing and finally a Ditto ‘limb’, then back to a hand.

“…I see,” Jack said. “Presumably, you are Cambiamente, yes? This is highly unorthodox, but if you are who you claim to be, then I can release the records to you. Let me do a check first, however.” He picked up a nearby phone and quickly dialed a number on it. “Hello, Mr. Azure? This is Jack Harrison at the adoption center. If I may inquire as to the whereabouts of your Ditto at the moment…?” He waited for a moment. “Very good, sir. Thank you, and good afternoon.” Jack hung up and turned to his computer, typing quickly on the keyboard. “Right, that’s sorted out. Let me bring up your file.”

Cam leaned forward in anticipation.

Jack scanned the screen. “Okay, says here you were adopted by Jeffrey Azure from the Caledor branch… nothing here you wouldn’t know… The odd part is you came into the adoption center on your own. We conducted background checks and found that you had come from the south, in Eataine. We, alongside the staff at the breeding center, then did a few minor tests. Minor stuff, checking for diseases, that sort of thing. We got a sample of your DNA… hm… yes, okay, there were two things surprising about it. The first was that it seemed to have been mutated somewhat by an outside source. We decided to put you up for adoption after we determined that it was not harmful. The second was that the breeding center actually found a potential relative of yours in their database… It says here that it was a Ditto named Xerox who had been brought in to one of their overseas branches in Eagleland, in a town named Threed.” Jack looked up. “That’s all the information I have.”

Cam nodded. “Thank you, sir.” He stood up, shook Jack’s hand, and left, questions tumbling through his head. Mutated? What does that mean? What happened? And I have a relative in Threed? Isn’t that near Twoson? Is that a coincidence? Cam groaned and shook his head. What’s going on here?

---

In a park not too far away from the adoption center, a Smeargle sat upon a tree branch, idly drawing small doodles on the bark. She sighed. “I wish someone else was here too. I mean, I like the park and everything – it’s so nice this time of year – but with nobody else around, it’s really boring. Even if it was just Groviglio, I could spend time trying to figure out what his insults mean and I wouldn’t be bored anymore, at least…” Mona sighed again and dropped from the tree. “Oh well; it’s not a total loss. At least today is a really pretty day.”

“Indeed it is, madam,” a voice said from behind her, “but it cannot hope to match your sheer beauty.”

Mona blushed and turned around slowly. Another Smeargle stood behind her. The tip of his tail was a dark blue, almost black – a stark contrast to her own pink. He was an inch or so taller than her, and his trademark Smeargle ‘hat’ was the same shade as his tail, instead of the usual brown. He was smiling slightly, and the expression on his face hinted at slight arrogance alongside a friendly demeanor.

“Er, um…” Mona stuttered. “Thank you. But, uh, who are you? Don’t get me wrong, er, I like that you complimented me…” It was here that her mind wandered back to what he had actually said, and she blushed again.

“Ah, forgive me,” the Smeargle replied. “My name is Leon. I would have introduced myself prior, but it is rare to see such a beauty as yourself and I was caught unaware.” He gently took her paw and kissed it. “Forgive me for being so forward, madam, but I believe in always saying how I feel.” He lifted his head and looked her straight in the eye. “And may I have the pleasure of knowing your name?”

Mona blushed even deeper, turning her face a dark crimson. “M-Mona…” she said quietly, looking at the ground but not withdrawing her hand.

Leon turned to the sky. “Ah! What a beautiful name you have been blessed with! Of course, it is only fitting…” He looked back at Mona. “Well, my dear, I would understand if you were to say no, but would you allow me the honor of staying with you a while? I would like to get to know you better.”

Mona raised her head, and Leon could clearly see that, while she was still blushing, she was also smiling. “I’d… like that, Leon,” she replied, and for once, she did not have anything else to say.

Smiling, Leon took her hand and led her to a park bench, where they both sat down.

---

A few hours later, the clock tower that stood in the middle of the park began to toll. 5 deep, majestic notes echoed across the square, and both Mona and Leon, who were walking past and holding hands, turned to look up at it.

“Aw, shoot…” Mona said, pouting. “It’s 5… I really should be going. …I had a great time today with you, Leon. I mean, you came on really strong, and it kinda put me off, but you’re a really sweet guy. When can we meet again?”

Leon bowed. “My dear Mona, any time you wish to see me, I will more than happily oblige. I leave the decision entirely up to you.”

“Um… I’ll try and come back tomorrow!” Mona said. “Oh, I already can’t wait…” She dropped Leon’s hand and pecked him gently on the cheek. Leon, however, gently guided her face to his and kissed her more passionately on the lips.

After a moment, Leon pulled back. “Well then, my sweet, I will see you tomorrow.” He smiled and waved as Mona walked away. After watching her leave, Leon pulled out a small sheet of paper and painted a small ‘x’ in a box on the sheet. “Step one accomplished,” he muttered quietly. “Now for step two…”

---

“Hey guys, I’m going to the store,” Jeff called from the front door of his house. “I’ll be back for dinner.” A general murmur of assent rippled through the house, and Jeff shut the door, walking up the driveway. As he did, he pulled out a cell phone and quickly dialed a number on it.

It rang twice before someone picked up. A tinny female voice resonated through the phone’s speaker. “Sector Alpha Pokemon Center. How may I help you?”

“Hi,” Jeff said. “My name is Jeff Azure. Later this afternoon, I’ll have a patient brought in by some of my Pokemon. I need you to do extensive testing with him – I fear that there is something wrong with him.”

“What species?” the nurse asked. Jeff told her, and she paused a second before answering. “All right. We’ve been having a lot of trainers come in with them, but we still haven’t figured out what to do. If you want to check your Pokemon in, there is the possibility that we’ll have to hold onto him for a while.”

Jeff thought for a moment. “Yeah,” he replied eventually, “that’s all right. You take as much time as you need.”

Meanwhile, inside the house, Bobbery lounged on a specially-reinforced couch, eating a hoagie as he flipped through the channels quickly on the TV in the living room. Maza sat beside him, scowling. Finally, Maza sighed and snatched the remote from Bobbery. “Look, stop flipping channels, okay? We’re going to stop on one channel. One,” Maza said, dropping the remote.

The TV stations stopped scrolling, revealing a man in a top hat standing atop a freshly mulched field. “Today,” the man began, “we continue our salute to mulch!”

Maza sighed as Bobbery grabbed the remote triumphantly. “Seems the TV gods have called your bluff,” Bobbery chuckled.

A sudden clicking from the hallway, however, diverted their attention. A black figure, floating in the air, rushed through the door: the figure had three limbs and a head seemingly unattached to the body.

“Hi 99,” Maza said nonchalantly. “What’s up?”

99 buzzed agitatedly. “Response: critical problem!” A crackling could be heard behind his words as his internal processor heated up. “Upon investigation, it appears that subject Jeff is not free of brainwashing.”

Bobbery raised his eyebrow. “What? You think that Jeff’s still brainwashed?”

Maza chuckled. “That’s impossible,” he said with a wave of his hand. “The Guild subjected him to the same tests as they did to me, and they determined conclusively that he was not brainwashed.”

“But – but – but!” 99 whirred. “He was observed reading an article about Happy-Happy Village! The subject then made a suspicious statement: ‘Our time will come soon enough.’”

It was then that Bobbery actually stopped flipping channels. The TV landed on a news station, and the anchor was in mid-show.

“…why that should never be repeated. Now, we go over to Henry with our tech news for the day. Henry?”

The camera panned to a short man with straight black hair and small glasses. “Thanks, Bob. Complaints have been pouring in from all over the world about Silph Co’s latest product, a second upgrade for the Porygon line of Pokemon. Codenamed ‘Gaede,’ this latest patch is more usually referred to by consumers as the ‘Dubious Disc,’ and with good reason. Reports claim that some Porygon2 who have been upgraded with Gaede have shown numerous errors, mostly related to memory. Specifically, afflicted Porygon-Z have had incorrect data stored in their memory that seemed to come out of nowhere. Additionally, they have had problems speaking without audible clicking, whirring or buzzing, but this was also observed to a limited capacity in some Porygon2, so it is difficult to say if the upgrade caused this. Silph Co. has yet to take an official position on the Dubious Disc, but insiders are claiming that they will initiate a mass recall soon. Back to you, Bob.”

Bobbery switched off the TV and shook his head. “I knew Jeff shouldn’t have picked up an evolution item off of the street,” he said quietly.

“Look, 99, I know what you think you remember,” Maza said with a regretful look on his face, “but it didn’t actually happen.” He clambered off the couch and walked slowly to 99. “Sorry, man, but you heard the news.”

99 shook his head. “Assertion: I know what I heard. There is no error.”

“No, 99,” Maza repeated, then sighed. “Look. I think you should take a trip to the Pokemon Center. It’s not too far, and they might be able to help.”

A wild look appeared in 99’s bright yellow eyes. “I refuse!” he clicked. “There is nothing wrong with me!” 99 backed away from Maza, but found he was floating in a corner. “Situation is critical!” he muttered to himself. “Initiate escape plan!” 99 closed his eyes and focused. Suddenly, the room surrounding the three Pokemon began to waver, but just as quickly as it started, it ceased. 99 opened his eyes and floated past Maza faster than the Alakazam thought possible.

“Hold on, 99!” Maza called and began to give chase, but he found his movements considerably slowed. He stopped and growled. “Sneaky. He used Trick Room.” Maza shook his head and turned to Bobbery, but the Snorlax was no longer there.

Outside the house, 99 zoomed up the driveway, but his progress was impeded suddenly by the hulking frame of Bobbery immediately in front of him. Bobbery caught the Porygon-Z in a bear hug and held tight. “Look, 99, when you use Trick Room, it means that I end up faster than you, you know?” Bobbery said quietly. “I know you don’t want to, but I really do think it’ll be for the best if you go in for a check-up.”

A flash lit up the area as Maza Teleported, appearing suddenly beside Bobbery. “Yeah, 99, you’ll be in and out in no time.”

99’s eyes flashed red for a brief moment. “No! I will not!” he said, flailing his arms the best he could, but Bobbery held tight. Maza grabbed Bobbery’s arm and, with another flash, Teleported away.

The trio found themselves, upon rematerialization, in the lobby of the Pokemon Center. The nurse looked at them without surprise. “Is that Jeff Azure’s Porygon-Z?” the nurse asked, a gentle tone in her voice. Bobbery and Maza nodded as 99 continued to flail. “Very well,” the nurse continued. She whistled, and a Chansey waddled in from the back room. She gently took 99 from Bobbery and, after ensuring that 99 and Bobbery had their ears covered, began to sing a sweet, lilting melody. Within seconds, 99 was sound asleep.

“Excuse me, nurse?” Maza asked the Chansey. “How long will our friend be in here?”

“I’m not sure,” the Chansey replied. “We don’t know how to fix the Porygon-Z problems yet. But no worries! Your trainer phoned ahead and gave his permission to keep 99 in for extensive testing.”

Bobbery and Maza shot each other a suspicious glance. “Did he, now?” Bobbery asked.

“Indeed,” the Chansey replied. “Now, if you’ll excuse me…” She placed 99 on a stretcher and rolled him through a set of double doors labeled ‘Long-Term Care.’

As they walked away from the Pokemon Center, Maza turned to Bobbery. “Did we just make a big mistake?” he asked quietly.

Bobbery stared at the ground. “I don’t know.”

[AntiAsh Superstar]

Gabi: Hehe, this really was a testament to Tsunami actually being tactful when he has to be. And that has to be one of the most engrossing battle segments I've seen. 17 stamps, I'd say.

Jeff: it can be a challenge to get instantly into the interwoven plotlines in your stories atm but well worth it, it'll be interesting to see what happens next (and btw the whole 'Mona getting seduced' thing shows some serious promise, I look forward to seeing what Leon has in store...) Take 12 stamps.

[The Blue Avenger]

Heheh. Thank you. ...I'd like an RBG for Groviglio from the Universal Adoption Center, please. *pays 7 stamps*

[Lady Vulpix]

Thanks, Ade! I'm glad you liked the battle. It took me some time to finish it. Yes, Tsunami is actually capable of displaying some tact if his future depends on it.

Oh, Jeff, that was intriguing. Poor 99... and everyone else in a way. And Leon seems to be a very unusual pokemon, whatever it is that he's up to. And Cam... I think he deserves a hug.

Oh, and Groviglio will battle a Cranidos.

[The Blue Avenger]

Right, here's my RBG for Groviglio, called Going Downhill. To answer a question that you will probably have after reading this: yes, I do have a plan for this, and no, I do not enjoy torturing my characters.

***

Cam quietly closed the door behind him. It was early in the morning on a Saturday, and as such, most of the inhabitants of the house were asleep. He breathed in the crisp morning air and smiled before Transforming into a Ninjask and zipping down the road.

Five minutes later, Cameron Mendel walked in the door of the Breeding Center, Caledor branch. He walked quickly to the receptionist area and began addressing the young woman who was working the desk. “Excuse me, ma’am,” Cam said to the small redhead, “I need information on a Pokemon who went through your Threed branch in Eagleland. A Ditto named Xerox.”

“Right-o,” the receptionist replied perkily. “Let’s see here… Xerox was brought in by a man named Andrew Pinckney. Xerox mated with one of the house Dittos, but…” The receptionist frowned at her computer. “We have a date of birth, but it looks like we don’t have a date that the trainer came to pick up the egg or Xerox.”

“So what you’re telling me is that Xerox is still at the center in Threed?” Cam asked.

“That’s what this would seem to indicate. The only problem is that these records would indicate that Xerox went to the center about 5 or so years ago, and that seems awfully bizarre if Xerox’s trainer never picked it back up.” Suddenly, the receptionist let out a sharp gasp. “Wait, Threed, five years ago?” Her fingers flew over her keyboard as she frantically looked for something that Cam couldn’t see from the other side of the desk. “I thought so! It made all the news five years back. Team Rocket raided that breeding center and made off with quite a few Pokemon. The Threed police managed to ferret out their outpost, but they never found some of the Pokemon – the working theory is that they were shipped overseas.” The receptionist looked back up at Cam. “My guess would be that Xerox and the egg were among the Pokemon that were stolen.”

Cam raised an eyebrow. “Why would Team Rocket raid a breeding center and steal eggs?” he asked. “Aren’t they normally after the strongest Pokemon, not babies?”

The receptionist shrugged. “Maybe they needed some weaker Pokemon for testing. Who can say?”

Cam nodded. “Thank you for your time,” he said as he walked out the door. Once more, he Transformed into a Ninjask before flying home.

As Cam entered his house, he accidentally slammed the door – an action that would normally be completely unnoteworthy. This time, however, it had the added side effect of awakening Previsiona, who had been sleeping fitfully up until that point. She snapped her head up, awash in a cold sweat, as she panted and tried to forget the particularly morbid events of the dreams she had been having all night.

However, she was unsuccessful: trying as hard as she could, Previsiona could not shake the details of the nightmare. In it, a rogue Gyarados had escaped from somewhere – a trainer, maybe, or perhaps it was wild – and was rampaging through the side of town that Jeff lived on. For some bizarre reason, nobody else was in town, and so Jeff, being his normal noble self, took it upon himself to try and stop the creature.

Nothing he did worked, however. Jeff had started first by sending out Cam, who immediately Transformed into an Electivire. Cam tried using Thunder, but the Gyarados didn’t seem at all phased by the attack. The Gyarados countered by using an insanely strong Hyper Beam, totally demolishing the Ditto, not to mention the house that he had been standing in front of.

The battle only went downhill from there: Jeff sent in every member of his team except for Previsiona, and each one lost spectacularly, the Gyarados taking no mercy. Finally, instead of sending in Previsiona, Jeff elected to attack the beast himself. As expected, he was no match.

The Gyarados then pinpointed the lone survivor – Previsiona. The giant serpent advanced on her, and she backed away in fear… It began to charge up the lethal beam again in its mouth. Just as it fired, a door slammed somewhere far away, jarring her back to reality.

Previsiona stayed on her pillow, sweating, eyes wide open but not taking anything in. If she, or anyone else in the room (had they been awake), glanced towards the window at that point, they would have noticed a shadowy figure float away from its vantage point, where it had been staying the entire night.

***

Later in the day, Maza stood in the kitchen, staring out the large bay windows into the backyard. The object of his focus was a small hammock strung between two trees, as well as the creatures sleeping in said hammock – a pair of Smeargle that Maza identified as Mona and Leon. He sighed and frowned, continuing to watch them.

“What’s up?” a voice said from behind the Alakazam, causing him to jump. Maza turned around to see Groviglio, casually snacking on a sandwich. “Lemme guess,” Groviglio continued, taking a bite, “that’s Mona and her ‘special friend’ out there.”

Maza nodded and turned back to the window. “There’s something odd about Leon that I can’t put my finger on. He seems nice and everything, but…”

“Heh heh heh.” Groviglio smirked at Maza and snapped his fingers. “Excuse me if I don’t believe you.”

“What?” Maza asked, whipping around. “Why?”

“Isn’t it obvious?” Groviglio asked. “Somebody in this room is jealous of ol’ Leon, and it certainly isn’t me.” His smirk grew wider. “I always suspected it – ever since I first saw you around her – but this just confirms it.”

Maza rolled his eyes. “Come off of it, Groviglio. I’m just worried about Mona.”

“Uh-huh.”

“I’m serious! Mona was really the first friend I had on this team. I don’t want anything to happen to her.”

Groviglio shook his head. “And you think something’s going to happen to her because…?”

Maza didn’t answer. After a few moments, he said, “If he does anything to hurt her, I will kill him.” A few nearby forks and knives twisted themselves in half, seemingly of their own volition.

“Don’t you think that’s a bit harsh?” Groviglio replied. “I mean, everyone has their heart broken at some point.”

Maza slammed his fist onto the countertop. A few seconds passed before he unclenched his fist. “…I guess you’re right. What about seriously maiming him? Is that too much?”

“No, I think that’s okay,” Groviglio replied with a chuckle. “Look, I’m going to go to the barracks and get some exercise in. You have fun watching them, loverboy.” One of the knives that were bent snapped cleanly in half, and Maza turned sharply to face the Tangrowth. However, he turned too late, as Groviglio had already left.

Minutes later, on the other side of town, the door to the Dragon’s Guild barracks was unceremoniously slammed open. Groviglio squeezed his way inside – he still was not entirely used to being bigger than most doors – and walked briskly to the back of the facility, where there sat a dusty set of dumbbells next to a significantly larger barbell.

However, before he could so much as pick one up, a voice called out from behind him. “Hey, Groviglio!”

Groviglio whipped around quickly. The source of the voice was a small Cranidos, standing in the doorway. “Do I… know you?” Groviglio asked, frowning.

“We may have met once or twice,” the Cranidos said, shrugging, “but it’s not surprising that you don’t remember me. I, on the other hand, have been keeping an eye on you for a while, waiting to make my move.”

“Hold on there, chrome dome,” Groviglio interrupted. “What do you mean? What did I do to you?”

The Cranidos smiled in a sickly saccharine manner. “That’s not really important. Just remember this, Groviglio, and remember it well: my name is Pogo. It’s the name of the last Pokemon you’ll ever see!” Pogo sneered and flew at Groviglio, snarling.

Battle time! Groviglio versus Pogo!
Groviglio – “Go away, or I shall taunt you a second time!”
~
Pogo – “Let’s rock!”

Groviglio quickly took a step back, leaving Pogo to miss his target altogether and land on the ground. “Okay buddy,” he growled, “I don’t know what your problem is, but I won’t let you beat me!” The Tangrowth slammed his fists onto the ground and began to glow, orbs of light floating from the carpet to his body. After a moment, Groviglio pointed at Pogo as the light coalesced into the shape of a triangle. The triangle flashed between blue, yellow, and red as it slammed into Pogo, knocking the Cranidos back.

Pogo scowled and opened his mouth, flinching slightly as a frigid ray of ice and snow burst forth. The Ice Beam hit home, striking Groviglio head-on. As the Tangrowth shuddered, Pogo grinned. “My wisest enemies run at the first sight of me!” he said, snickering.

“Oh, is your breath that bad?” Groviglio responded immediately, ignoring the effects of the Ice Beam. He gestured into the air, Pogo’s gaze following his hand. When Pogo was looking straight at the ceiling, Groviglio dropped his arm. As he did that, a giant pillar of water dropped from the ceiling as well, slamming Pogo into the ground.

“Grrr… now I know what stupidity really is…” Pogo growled, standing up slowly and shaking the water off.

Before giving him a chance to move, Groviglio snaked out a vine and wrapped it tightly around the Cranidos. “I’m glad to see you went to your family reunion,” he replied nonchalantly, squeezing Pogo more and more. After a few seconds, Groviglio released him, letting Pogo drop to the floor.

Pogo howled. “Everything you’ve said to me is idiotic!” he yelled as he rushed Groviglio, the blue patch on his head glowing.

“I just wanted to make sure you’d be comfortable around me,” the Tangrowth said smugly. He quickly stepped to the side and whipped a vine at Pogo, nimbly tripping him and sending him crashing to the ground. “Look,” Groviglio continued, “you’ll never beat me. I have the advantage in every way here. Size, strength, type, and insults. You won’t win.”

That was when Pogo slammed his rock-hard head into Groviglio’s stomach. Groviglio groaned and took a step backwards. “Ahahaha!” Pogo stepped back as well and pointed at Groviglio, laughing. “You thought you had the upper hand, did you? Your arrogance will be your downfall. I don’t see how someone like you could win! You fight, my friend, like a dairy farmer!”

Groviglio grunted and hauled himself into a standing position. “I fight like a dairy farmer? How appropriate. You fight like a cow!” Once more, Groviglio hurled a vine at Pogo, and once more, it constricted around him. This time, a green glow surrounded the two fighters.

“Uggh…” Pogo groaned. “What is this…? I’m losing my strength…”

Groviglio smirked. “I’d argue that you never had it to begin with. While your health diminishes, I’m feeling better and better. Now who can’t beat who?”

“No! Nobody’s ever beaten me! And nobody ever will!” Pogo yelled.

“Oh? You run that fast?” Groviglio retorted, dropping Pogo to the ground. Pogo charged the Tangrowth again, but Groviglio was ready. Before Pogo could reach him, a pillar of water surged up from beneath the Cranidos, propelling him into the air and slamming him hard into the ceiling.

Pogo fell to the ground and lay there. After a few moments, he spoke. “I… can’t even move. I can’t fight. I surrender.”

Battle over! Groviglio wins and grows to level 15 and learns Poison Powder!

Groviglio turned around, his back facing Pogo. “I have no clue why you attacked me, man, but don’t ever forget this. I am a master… no, THE master at insults. Even if you had been more powerful than me – which you weren’t, by the way – I would have still won, because I can break your mind.”

Pogo weakly struggled to his feet. “Is… that so?” he muttered. “You… you think you’re all that and a bag of chips, is… is that right?”

“Only ‘cause I am.”

“Hmph… you may have beaten me, Groviglio. You may be stronger than me…”

“What’s all this ‘may’ business? I AM stronger than you.”

Pogo mustered up a weak smirk. “…At least I’m not the one who’s lovesick over a stupid Venusaur.”

Groviglio turned sharply. “W-what?”

“You heard me,” Pogo said, slowly beginning to speak stronger and more forcefully. “You’re a lovesick fool, Groviglio. You make a big façade about being this tough, sarcastic, cynical guy, but that’s not it at all, is it?”

“W-wait -”

“You’re afraid, Groviglio. You’re a coward. You can’t ever show anyone how you feel because you’re afraid of how it would make you look.” Pogo snapped his fingers and looked Groviglio straight in the eyes. “In fact, I’d go so far as to say that you’re the most cowardly member on your team. Nobody else goes to such lengths to build such an elaborate façade.”

“H-how…”

“How do I know all this?” Pogo continued. “I wasn’t joking, Groviglio. I’ve had an eye on you for a while. You’re just the sort of Pokemon I hate. You’re arrogant and a jerk, when really, you have absolutely nothing to be arrogant about. You’re weak, Groviglio, and there’s nothing you can do about it.”

Groviglio didn’t say anything; instead choosing to just continue staring at Pogo, his eyes wide. Pogo winked at him and turned around. As he walked through the door, Pogo called over his shoulder, “You’re not the only one who can break his foes, Groviglio.”

As the barracks door slammed shut, Groviglio stood rooted to the spot, silent and immobile, eyes still wide.

***

A few hours later, in downtown Caledor, a small Pokemon with a large burlap sack raced out of the main door of the Mobius Street Mall. It ran directly for an alleyway a few blocks down from the mall, where it encountered a larger Pokemon waiting for it.

“Boo! Blast!” the smaller figure, a Skitty, spit. “I’m telling you, Rookie, this is no good! The great Popple is off his game!”

“I guess it didn’t go well again, Boss?” the larger figure, a Lickitung, asked timidly.

“Of course it didn’t, Rookie!” Popple screeched. “Just like every job we’ve tried ever since we managed to get back from that weird blue village! I crashed and burned!”

“Well, what happened this time?”

“I made it into the jewelry store this time, but as soon as I got in, I set off an alarm. I barely got out in time… and I didn’t nab anything. Blast! This is horrible!” Popple scowled and kicked the burlap sack across the alley, where it landed limply on a trash can.

“POPPLE!” The trash can’s lid burst open. From the can rose a shadowed, humanoid figure. Popple and Rookie immediately flattened themselves on the wall on the opposite side of the alley, eyes wide. The figure climbed out of the can and into the light, where Popple and Rookie could see it as a Toxicroak. He walked slowly over to Popple. “Oh, I’m sorry,” the Toxicroak said in a slightly unsettling voice, “did I frighten you? My name is Pitt.”

“W-w-what do you want, ya sap?” Popple asked in a voice that made it very apparent he was trying to mask a substantial amount of fear.

“Oh, nothing much,” Pitt said, idly tracing designs on a nearby crate. The acid in his fingers left deep ridges in the crate wherever he touched it. “I just happen to have overheard your conversation. Not just this one, either; I live in this alley and I notice whenever you come here. Most importantly, it would seem we have a common foe.”

Popple’s eyes lit up. “You mean -”

“I do indeed. He, of course, cannot hope to match me as a thief – I’ve had too much experience – but he is still, as we say, a thorn in my side.”

“All right, you have my attention,” Popple said. “What do you propose doing about him?”

Pitt grinned a toothy grin, one that displayed every single jagged tooth in his mouth. “Simply this: we break him. I am interested in training you to be better than he is. Once you are, his fragile ego won’t be able to stand it if you beat him. You, of course, realize how unstable he is.”

Rookie stepped in front of Popple. “Wait, hold on here. You said that you’re a more experienced thief. Then why don’t you beat him? It’d be faster and more efficient. Plus you wouldn’t have to go out of your way to train someone else. You’ve got an ulterior motive here. What’s going on?”

Both Pitt and Popple stared at him for a second, apparently shocked. “Stuff it, Rookie!” Popple eventually growled. “I didn’t tell you to talk!”

“Boss, this guy is incredibly shady!” Rookie whined.

“So are we. We’re thieves. If we weren’t shady, we wouldn’t be very good thieves, now would we?” Popple countered.

“We’re NOT very good thieves!” Rookie yelled. “That’s what we were just talking about!”

“Then maybe we need to be more shady,” Popple said, grinning. “And this guy looks perfect for the job.”

Rookie scowled and opened his mouth to say something, but couldn’t come up with anything. He frowned and turned around, glaring at the wall.

“Well, well, well, I’m glad to see that’s cleared up,” Pitt said. “So let us make our decision, shall we? Either I train you and you become the best thief after me to grace the city AND you get to take down your arch-rival in a fantastic display, or you can go back to scrounging for food in this dirty alley because you couldn’t muster up enough thieving ability to steal a piece of bread. What will it be, Popple?”

Popple smirked. “That’s not even a choice. Of course I’ll take your offer.” He turned to Rookie. “And as for you, Rookie…”

Rookie spun around. “No. You know what? I’ve had it. That’s as much as I can take. I can’t live like this anymore. I don’t want to make a living off of something that’s liable to get me killed if we steal from the wrong person. I especially don’t want to get help from this sleazy, scummy frog who won’t even tell us his true intentions. I put up with a lot from you, Popple, but that’s the last straw. I’ll see you on the flipside of NEVER.” Rookie pushed Popple aside and angrily stormed out of the alleyway.

“Rookie…” Popple said, surprised.

“You don’t need him,” Pitt said, a wide smile on his face. “He would only be in your way.”

“But…” Popple stuttered, “He was my… friend.”

“As of now,” Pitt said, a surprising amount of authority in his voice, “I am the only friend you’ll ever need.” Popple gulped.

As this was happening, Rookie ran down the streets of Caledor. Eventually, he made it to the corner of two streets called Tycho and Kepler. Out of breath, he rang the doorbell of the house he stood in front of.

Bobbery answered the door and was rather surprised to see a panting Lickitung. “Aren’t you that Rookie guy?” Bobbery asked.

“I… I need…” Rookie panted, “to talk to Kurtzwick. I need… to warn him.”

***

Meanwhile, in the Caledor Pokemon Center, 99 lay strapped to a stretcher in a small back room. It had been three days since he was admitted to the Center, and he still wasn’t entirely sure what was going on. The past three days had been a whirlwind tour of the Center’s medical facilities as the nurses used whatever tests they could find on him. The only conclusion that had been drawn so far, however, was that he was in fact a Porygon-Z and that he did in fact evolve using the Dubious Disc’s upgrade.

“Conclusion: this is pointless,” 99 said quietly. “I know what I heard. This just proves it more. It would be illogical for Jeff to tell the nurses ahead of time to keep me here unless he did not want me around. Therefore, he does not want me around. And why would he not want me around?” If anyone were near 99 at the moment, they would have been able to hear him clicking faster and faster. “He would not want me around because I know something he does not want to get out.” He strained against his bindings. “QUERY: I WONDER WHAT THAT COULD POSSIBLY BE?! Maybe it was because I knew that he still supported the Happy-Happyists! It is not that difficult to work it out!”

99 sighed and remained quiet for a second. The only other noise was a faint beeping from some machines on a desk near him. “Conclusion: when I get back home,” he muttered, “Maza and Bobbery are going to have some serious apologizing to do.”

The room remained silent. “If there were a Normal Pokemon aside from myself in here,” 99 mumbled, “I could theoretically use Conversion 2 to change into a ghost. Then I could just phase through these straps. Perhaps one will be admitted here soon.” It was then that he saw the sign on the door to the room he was in: it read ‘Solitary Ward. Current Resident: 99 (Porygon-Z)’. 99 twitched, slowly laid his head back down, and shut his eyes.

***

In his room, Jeff sat quietly on his bed, his laptop in front of him. He watched silently as a program booted up; it quickly identified itself as ‘AzTech Video Conferencing.’ Jeff pressed a few keys and, almost immediately, a face appeared that filled up the entire screen. The face had piercing red eyes and a shock of spiky red hair. Its expression was one of cold calculation, yet seemed to be severely maleficent.

“How is it proceeding?” the face asked.

“Everything is going according to plan,” Jeff replied.

“Good, good. Do they suspect that you have anything to do with it?”

“Nobody save the Porygon-Z,” Jeff said. “I took steps to solve that problem, though.”

“Such as?” the face responded, raising an eyebrow.

“I had him admitted to the Pokemon Center here in their solitary ward. They think they’re treating him because of all the recent glitches with Porygon-Z. The rest of the team believes that as well.”

“Excellent. You are serving me well,” the face said with a cold smile. “Keep it up.”

“Thank you, sir, I will,” Jeff replied before exiting the program and powering down his laptop.

[Lady Vulpix]

Sorry for the delay, Jeff, I've beenway too busy. Take 18 stamps

Groviglio's story was quite interesting. And it was surprising (in a good way) to see Rookie stand up for himself, though that must have been a very hard decision. And it looks like someone's been playing Monkey Island lately. ¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢

[The Blue Avenger]

Thanks. I'll take an RBG from the Universal Adoption Center for Mercandos. *hands over 7 stamps*

[Lady Vulpix]

It looks like the randomizer wants you to encounter new pokemon. A Shieldon's up next.

[Lady Vulpix]

This is the story I intended to post before the end of February. I guess "sorry for the delay" doesn't begin to cover it, but here it is.

THINGS GET MOVING

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

<Iael's POV>

I'd seen the tower from the outside before, which in itself was quite impressive. But I'd never been inside it. From the inside, it gave an impression of immensity. Especially when climbing up the stairs, I had a feeling I could go on climbing forever and never reach the top. Yet somehow I wasn't tired... just excited, and a little confused. I wondered if others were feeling the same way, but I didn't dare to ask. I just looked at them. Tsunami and Hero looked thoughtful, and I didn't get much from the little I could see of the others' faces. I decided to just wait and see what happened. It was, as my more calculating side would say, the logical course of action. Still, I noted how strange it was that I seemed to be able to be in both modes at the same time. I wondered if it had something to do with the magic of the tower, or if I was giving it too much credit.

We finally reached the top of the stairs: the mythical seventh floor which none of my friends had touched the first time around. Someone was waiting for us. He looked vaguely human, but slimmer than most humans I'd seen without his bones sticking out. He had silvery hair, pointy ears and a faint light seemed to come out of his turquoise eyes. He was wearing white robes decorated with golden patterns. I looked at my team, and they all had confused or suspicious looks on their faces. I wondered what was going on, and waited for someone else to say the first word. That turned out to be the stranger, and his first word was "Welcome."

"Teclis?," Lagi ventured.
The elf nodded.
"You look different," Gabi remarked shyly. I remembered she had described Teclis as a wise old man with a long beard.
"That's because your expectations are different now."
"You mean... Everyone sees you as they expect you to look like?"
"Something like that," he conceded.
"That's not fair!," complained Tsunami. "We don't get to know anything for certain! What do you really look like?"
"If I changed my appearance now and told you the new one is real, what reason would you have to believe me?," Teclis questioned him. "And what does it mean for an appearance to be real?"
"The one you were born with?," Tsunami tried.
"In that case, that is not your true appearance either," Teclis replied. "Weren't you brown and furry when you were born?"
Tsunami opened his mouth, but failed to come up with a good answer and closed it again.
"That could make for an interesting discussion," Teclis moved on, "But I believe that's not what you came for." Then he smiled and made an offer. "Will any of you join me for a cup of tea?"

It is a well-known fact that Gabi can hardly say 'no' to a cup of tea, and I'm not sure about Amber but that may apply to her too. The thing is that before we knew it, we were all standing or sitting around a large table. Apparently the tea was good. I didn't drink it. There wasn't much talk and everyone seemed rather tense. I'm not sure how I was feeling. It was all so strange! It wasn't until everyone had finished that Teclis asked us what we had come for. I wondered if he was asking because he didn't know, or just to be polite. Some of my teammates tried to explain what we were looking for, but they didn't seem to be sure themselves. I didn't know what to say, so I said nothing. Checking the library was ruled out for the time being, 'cause if we couldn't put in words what they wanted to know, we were even less likely to be able to find it among the countless tomes that populated the place.

"Alright, we're doing this the wrong way," Gabi reckoned. "Could you please tell us what you know about Yssera?"
"And the Black Dragon," added Amber.
Teclis smiled. "Of course. I have been doing some research about them since the incident in Templa Taure. They were both born the age were dragons roamed over Caledor. There were different groups of dragons. Some, possibly most of them, tended to keep to themselves. Some were kind and friendly towards other races, and a few of them have by now become legends. But there were others who despised all other creatures, especially sentient ones. Those unlucky enough to cross paths with them by accident, or foolish enough to confront them unprepared, were either killed immediately or tortured until the dragons got bored and decided to dispose of them. Some of those dragons went further and left their homes periodically to search for victims. Legends also tell about them, and the destruction they caused. The Black Dragon was one of them."
"And Yssera?," asked Lagi.
"Yssera was originally a member of the first group. She didn't care whether non-dragons lived or died, and she had no reason to help them nor attack them. But as more of them wandered into her domains, she became curious. She started by observing those who came close, and as her interest grew she began to enter their dreams. That's how she learned the most about them... their feelings, their goals, their ambitions, their fears... It didn't take her long to see potential in those creatures, and so she started showing herself to them, and invariably got requests from them in turn. I imagine they assumed that any dragon who came to them and didn't kill them or hurt them was there to help them. Yssera must have been amused by the endless ambition of the souls she encountered, and delighted by the way they opened themselves to her. So she gave them what they wanted, and in turn took everything else from them. She made them her unconditional servants, and that gave her a taste of power she wasn't willing to let go of."

There was a pause. At first I thought Teclis was stopping for a breath or organizing his thoughts, but then I had the feeling he was waiting for us, to make sure we were keeping up with the story. I thought I had to say something.

"What did she do then?," I asked.
"She made her servants bring her gold and jewels... the things that most dragons treasure; but once she had them she found them useless, and searched for other ways to find excitement. Since she liked power, and she had some, she tried imposing that power upon others. Not those she considered inferior, since she had nothing to gain from opressing them, but those she saw as her equals."
"Other dragons?," asked Gabi.
"Exactly."
"And what happened?," Caledor queried. It seemed everyone's interest had been caught by the story by now.
"She won some fights and lost some others. She learned from experience. Not much of her battles came to our ears until she clashed with the Black Dragon. She found him to be a formidable opponent. He commanded ethereal demons, who rarely had any trouble slaying Yssera's servants. But his demons needed corporeal bodies to interact with the physical plane, and Yssera only needed to wait for their hosts to fall asleep to cure them from the possession and get their lifelong gratitude in return. You can imagine what she did to them next."
Caledor nodded, and let out a small sigh.
"The Black Dragon was enraged, and decided to challenge Yssera to a personal battle - no minions, just one dragon against the other. The battle was long and had many casualties, as the dragons destroyed everything in their wake. The Black Dragon seemed to have the upper hand most of the time, but Yssera gave no signs of giving up and many more lives would be lost before the battle concluded. Something had to be done. So many warriors and mages set themselves to the task of stopping the warring dragons. Finally, a group of them succeeded, and the two were contained. They were left in separate holy places, each one locked by two magical seals, one for the body and one for the mind. You have been to those places."
"White Mountain... and Templa Taure?," Gabi guessed.
"That's right."
"But how did they break free?," she asked.
"I believe the Black Dragon's mental seal was broken by accident, by an unwary adventurer who was trying to unveil the secrets of Templa Taure. He didn't live to regret it. He was attacked by possessed pokemon, and found at the brink of death at the edge of the forest. By then he had lost too much blood for any medical treatment to save him."
"So he was the man who appeared on TV?," I asked. "I remember that."
Teclis nodded.
"Did the Black Dragon make his demons break the other seal?," asked Amber.
Another nod.
"But what about Yssera?," Gabi wanted to know.
"It was the Black Dragon himself who broke Yssera's mental seal. One can only speculate about his reasons, but since then Yssera has been recruiting more servants and trying to gather enough mystical energy to break the other seal."
"Does that mean she's still trapped?"
It was Gabi who asked that, but I'd been wondering the same thing.
"The Black Dragon's servants are better at breaking magical seals than hers are," Teclis replied. "She's still trapped in White Mountain, but it's not hard to foresee what will happen if she manages to break free."

We all nodded. Another war. More deaths and destruction. We had to stop it. Right then it didn't really matter if the Black Dragon was worse or not, he was hiding somewhere and Yssera wouldn't hesitate to destroy everything in her wake while trying to find him. We needed to avoid that, and deal with one problem at a time. Not that I knew how to deal with either of them, but if we stood any chance at all it would be only by stopping them from coming together.

"Is there any way we can stop her?," Lagi asked.
"I believe you can," Teclis replied, looking straight at her.
"Wait a minute," said Gabi. "Is that 'you' as in the Dragon Tamers and the Dragon's Guild, or 'you' as in Lagi?"
"What do you believe it means?"
"I believe you just might be telling everyone what they want to hear. It happened to Ryan and Charlie... maybe even Scott. And at least one of them fell straight into Yssera's claws, and the other two are missing."
"Are you saying it was I who caused that?"
"I don't know. I just know they all thought they could do everything by themselves, and they seemed to have got that idea from you. And it turned out they couldn't."
"I never told any of them to do what they did. I only told them to do their best. I didn't choose their paths for them. I think it would be best if you left this Tower now."
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to accuse you."
"It sounded amazingly similar to an accusation."
"I just don't know what to think anymore."
"Then go... and sort out your thoughts. You have many tools at your disposal. Just make sure to use them wisely."

After that, it would have been rude to stay any longer. Gabi apologized again, and we left. The White Tower of Hoeth disappeared before our eyes, and I wondered if we'd ever walk into it again. We were all thoughtful during our journey back home. Lagi kept trying to comfort Gabi, and Caledor did his best to lighten up the mood. He managed to make us laugh a few times. But I couldn't help being worried, and I doubt anyone else could.

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

<Shirly's POV>

I thought I'd be returning to Ellyrion, but I ended up in a library, somewhere in Caledor. Don't ask me how I got there, I was too confused, and flying on instinct. Even there, I felt the internal struggle. A part of me wondered what use that crazy quest would be... I wanted to leave it all behind and just sleep it over or something until my purpose became clear. But another part of me told me that purpose isn't something that just comes while you sit idle and wait, and at that time the latter sounded more believable. I had to do something, even if I had no idea what it would lead me to, or even why I was doing that instead of anything else. So I took a deep breath and knocked on the door with one of my hooves.

A few seconds passed. "There may be no one inside," I thought. "This is all too crazy. What will you do if someone opens?" I didn't have the time to think of an answer, however. At that moment the door opened, and I had to face the present, and the Golduck who was giving me a rather bewildered look from the other side of the door. Only then did I wonder how many had seen me on my way there. I hadn't been thinking clearly. I was probably the gossip subject of the whole city by then. "Well, I can't fix that," I told myself. "But I have to say something now."

"My name is Shirly," I spoke out. "I've been attracted to this place for some reason. Do you think you could help me? I don't know exactly what I'm looking for, but I have a strong feeling it's here."

The Golduck examined me carefully. "I guess you've come here for more than just books," he finally said. "I sense something different about your spirit."
"Something different?," I asked.
"Slightly darker, if I'm not mistaken. Which is strange for a creature such as you."

A creature such as me? I wondered if he'd said that just because of my appearance, or if he knew something about me, or about my family. But what could he possibly know? He was just a Golduck. It didn't even make any sense for him to be running a library. Or was there more to him than met the eye? He said he could sense something in my spirit. So could I. Maybe he knew something. Maybe he could help me.

"Then you understand my predicament?," I asked him. "I've always had a dual nature. My mother was a Rapidash, and my father a Pegasus... But that never used to be much of a problem. I was one inside. Now I feel like I'm torn in two... There are two sides of me that can't stop fighting and I can't tell which one's right... if either of them is. *Sighs.* I need some peace. I want to be one again."
"I have come across many that have shared your predicament," he replied, much to my shock. "Maybe what helped them can also help you."
I looked at him hopefully. "So you really have a solution? Have I come to the right place?"
"I'm a little uncertain, but it's something worth trying."

He left me for a moment. I wondered what he was going to do... whether he was just playing with my feelings or could really be of help to me. When he came back, he was carrying a strange crystal. I gasped, and stepped back. There was something scary about it... something powerful. And somehow it felt soothing at the same time. I couldn't understand what was going on, but I reckoned there was only one way to find out. I pushed myself forward as much as I could... which turned out to be two steps.

"What's that?," I asked.
"It's called the Pegasus Crystal. Some friends of mine came across it while they were at White Mountain." The Golduck chuckled. "Now it makes sense why you came here for help. It can purify anyone under a dark influence."
"A dark influence?..." I wondered. "Could that be it?"

It seemed too simple, and scary at the same time. Could some of my thoughts and feelings have been planted inside me in order to hurt me? But if so, how? Why? By Whom? And, most importantly, which ones? Could that crystal make me whole again? What part of me was real? I didn't want to believe it... but I needed hope, and that crystal could be it. I'd make sure to set things right once I knew what 'right' was.

"So how... do you make it work?," I inquired.
"We need to expose it to a bright light," answered the Golduck. "Are you willing to try it?"

I thought about it carefully, and then decided to stop thinking, lest I miss my chance and remain like that forever. I took another deep breath, and accepted. "I am. I have waited too long, I can't take it anymore."

The Golduck nodded and held the crystal out in front of his face.
"Try not to blink," he warned me, just before a blinding light filled the room.

I stood still against the light that seemed to burn not only my eyes, but everything inside me. I don't like saying this, but I was terrified. I wondered if it had all been a huge mistake... but it was too late to do anything about it. Then everything changed. The pain stopped, and a delightful calm replaced it. I felt safe and warm. Then the light receded. It took me a few seconds to be able to see again. When I managed it, everything looked normal. The Golduck was looking at me, expectant, still holding the crystal. It didn't feel scary now. Actually, I didn't feel anything special. It was a bit anti-climatic, but at least it wasn't bad. Was that how it was supposed to go?

"Did it... work?," I finally asked.
"You tell me. Are those two sides still fighting?"
"I feel confused... but quiet. I hadn't felt like this for years. I thought that if I somehow managed to get rid of my problem I'd have my path lined up in front of me, but I've found no answers... just silence." I stopped for a moment to clear my thoughts, and then continued. "Maybe that's the way it's supposed to be. I'm free to choose my own path, am I not? I think it worked after all. I must thank you for that. Is there any way I can repay what you did for me?"
"No, I'm fine," the Golduck replied. "Just enjoy your peace of mind."
"Thank you so much! Err... What's your name?"
"It's Triton," he answered. I felt a bit embarrassed that I hadn't asked him earlier.
"Thank you, Triton. If you ever need anything from me, I'll be there for you. Now I'm going... Umm... Maybe going straight to White Mountain wouldn't be a good idea. I think I'll go somewhere quiet to sort out my thoughts and then decide what to do next."
"That would be a good idea. Do you have a particular place in mind?"
"I'm not sure yet. I haven't seen that much of Caledor. I thought I'd look around until I found some peaceful place. Maybe in one of the forests or the mountains."
Triton nodded.

I left, unsure of what to do next but ready to take the wheel of my own life. I didn't know if anyone who knew me was still around, but if so they might hear the rumors of a flying Rapidash and look for me. And if not, I'd surely find someone, or at least take the time to find answers on my own.

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

<Eshree's POV>

The situation wasn't good. Glyph and Orknye had returned with urgent news, and I had no one to share them with; no one to turn to. The only other human I knew I could trust was away on a trip that would take at least a week. There were a few pokemon I had talked to outside my team, but apparently they were overwhelmed with problems of their own. I had Orknye contact Harims, but she said she'd already done everything she could. It felt like doors were closing all around me. Turning to my co-workers at the Dragon's Guild was out of the question. Even if Lady Ninetales was starting to treat me fairly and Glenda seemed rather nice, they would probably freak out if I said too much and question me if I said too little. There was only one person currently in the area who would understand everything, but he freaked me out and there was no way in the universe I was going to turn to him.

I reckoned all I could do was wait, and hope it wouldn't be too late by the time the Dragon Tamers were available. It was Glyph who convinced me otherwise; always the wise one, he came up with a partial truth that sounded complete enough to give Lady Ninetales, and offered to draw all possible consequences to himself. In other words, I'd tell her that Glyph had decided to stay in White Mountain for a while because he felt something strange was going on and wanted to investigate, and then returned when he sensed something big was in motion. She wouldn't doubt he could communicate with me, most good trainers in Caledor could understand their own pokemon. And Glyph was an Espeon, a psychic pokemon. It made sense for him to be able to perceive things the rest of us didn't. He might come out as a particularly powerful psychic and attract some attention, but not so much that it could get us in trouble. At least not as much trouble as we'd get if we let such a dangerous force roam free.

I was questioned, but I'd been expecting it and had most of my answers ready. As for the remaining few, keeping it short and simple seemed to work. After all, they had no reason to ask me where I came from nor why I'd joined the Guild at a time like this; and aside from that, I was just like everybody else. After having wished for so long that I had some great power that could make everything easier for me, for once I was glad I didn't have it. It would have complicated things.

I was a bit surprised at how promptly our section reacted, which made me think someone else must have been keeping an eye on White Mountain all that time. I should have expected it, honestly; it was the Dragon's Guild after all. Still, it was too big a job for our department alone. Lady Ninetales didn't want to involve the Orders of the Griffin and the Dragon unless it was unavoidable (and come the case they would undoubtedly involve themselves), and the Traders and Merchants Association wouldn't be of much help in a situation like this, so the only other section of the Guild we could turn to was the MTU, and it would take time to get its members organized as most of them were quite independant. I insisted on joining forces with the Dragon Tamers, since they had a great track record when it came to dealing with big crises. But that had been a long time ago, and now they had few trainers left and even fewer immediately available. Lady Ninetales agreed that we should accept their help as it was bound to come free of charge (she believed they'd do it anyway wether we asked them to or not, and even if we warned them against it, so we might as well co-ordinate our efforts), but it would take time to gather them and prepare them for the mission.

That meant we had to formulate a plan.

[Lady Vulpix]

Kerel has requested an extension for the current scenario. He requested it orally, but I guess it counts.

New scenario! It's an unusual one, as it's a transition towards the next one which will also be unusual, but in another way. Was this cryptic enough?

If you want to know the details that led to this, I recommend reading at least the last part of my previous post. If you want even more, the whole archive is yours to browse. But if you just want to go straight to the action, then proceed.

Strange things are happening in White Mountain. We don't know exactly what it is, but since that's the place where the dragon Yssera was imprisoned and her followers have been particularly aggressive lately, it can't be good.

A party from the Pokemon Research and Training Department of the Dragon's Guild has marched ahead to assess the situation and keep things under control until backup arrives. That backup is us.

The Dragon Tamers and the Mercenary Trainers Union have been called to gather and get in shape for the upcoming battle. To that effect, the MTU building will be open to all Dragon Tamers for a free training session.

Each trainer may battle up to 2 pokemon of the Mercenary Trainers Union, from the room of his/her choice.

Available rooms:
-Caledor's Nature Protection Agency (80% Fire, 15% Dragon, 5% Ground)
-Antarctic Survivor Recovery Agency (60% Water, 40% Ice)
-Jungle Deforestation Recovery Agency (35% Grass, 25% Bug, 25% Poison, 15% Flying)
-Professional Sports Breeding System (85% Fighting, 15% Rock)
-Electric Shutdown Retirement System (95% Electric, 5% Steel)
-Free Range Corral (100% Normal)
-Universal Adoption Center (20% Psychic, 20% Ghost, 15% Rock, 15% Ground, 15% Steel, 15% Dark)

This works just like RBGs: you choose the room and the pokemon you'll be using (and whether you want 1 or 2 opponents), and we'll tell you what your opponent(s) will be. Each opponent gives 1 level of experience. The difference is that this time you don't have to pay. Unless you want more, of course.

[Crystal Tears]

Just to be safe, I’ll post my pokemon’s information.


Adeyaka
Beautifly
Level 10

I’d like to apply for two opponents in the Professional Sports Breeding System please. ^_^

[Lady Vulpix]

Adeyaka will battle a Kabuto and a Meditite, both level 10.

[classy_cat18]

I just noticed that Circe hasn't battled before, here or in the Battle Tower. I would like two opponents for my L10 Ralts from the Free Range Corral.

[The Blue Avenger]

Circe will fight an Azurill and an Eevee.

Meanwhile, I'd like a battle for Mona, my level 8 Smeargle, and Kurtzwick, my level 6 Dratini. The former should be from the Jungle Deforestation Recovery Agency and the latter from the Antarctic Survivor Recovery Agency.

[Lady Vulpix]

2 rooms, eh? Hm... I guess it's ok, if they will be 2 separate battles. Mona will battle a Budew and Kurtzwick will battle a Lapras.

[AntiAsh Superstar]

Gabi: It was very interesting to see your take on the whole 'meeting with Teclis' thing and the summary of the relationship between Yserra and the Black Dragon was a really interesting read. Take ten stamps.

Oh, and I'll follow Jeff's lead and have two seperate battles in two different rooms for this scenario. One for Beckham (L33) from the Universal Adoption Centre and another for Milliardo (L28) from the Jungle Deforestation Recovery Agency.

Anyways, now that's all over here's my last RBG... finally. Not my best, but towards the end I really just wanted to get it over with and posted. ^^;;;
---
“I need a word with you, Ade.” Sometimes having your dreams interrupted could be a blessing in disguise. Like tonight. It seemed that Tsuyoi needed to change the channel of my subconscious mind and to be honest I thought he was probably doing me a favour. Before he arrived I was having a hard-to-follow dream involving a knight in shining armour and a cartoon fish. It was good to have some sanity enforced, really, especially at a point in the dream where the king of the realm had just decreed that, as a reward for his good deeds, the knight was going to have to kiss everyone present, cartoon fish included.
“A word? Have several. This dream seems straight out of the imagination of Thunderblast anyway.” Almost on cue the images surrounding me vanished to be replaced with the nothingness of psychic space. And Tsuyoi, stood boldly in front of me. “What did you want?”
“Just letting you know that I’m likely to be gone for a while,” he said nonchalantly. “As are my sisters. We have a rather major project back in our reality of origin that needs attending to.”
“Really? Anything exciting?”
“Revolutionary, you could say.” The smile on Tsuyoi’s face wasn’t exactly a nice one, which made me rather fearful for whatever beings shared a reality with this creature when he wasn’t haunting us. “But I won’t bore you with my plans for lands that you aren’t even aware exist. I just felt I ought to warn you that your safety net won’t be around for a while, so try not to do anything too moronically self-destructive while I’m away, okay?”
“Don’t worry,” I replied. “I won’t. In fact it’ll be nice to not feel trapped in your schemes for once.”
“Well if you’re worried about what you’re going to do with your new-found freedom I can rustle up a list of useful projects you can busy yourself with. I’ve already got Thunderblast looking after my stock investments, I’m sure I can find a use for you too,” Tsuyoi sneered before suddenly growing solemn. “A word of warning though. Steer clear of Lord Absol while I’m away. Although I’m fairly certain now that he would leave you alone even if he did find out you were back, involvement with him is courting trouble.”
“Well…”
“A classic case of the pot calling the kettle black, I know what you’re about to say… by the way, your whining about your lot in life is really starting to get tiresome. You’re perfectly welcome to ask me to leave, I’m sure it wouldn’t be too difficult for me to find a new hobby.”
“No,” I shook my head. “I may not approve of your methods, or your results half the time, but as much as I hate to admit it I think I’d rather miss you if you left.”
“Of course you would. You need somebody to give you some focus, after all. Now back to the point. For all his talk of protecting the realm Lord Absol is ruthlessly efficient and his department is worryingly lacking in accountability. He may be roughly on the same side as you at the moment but who’s to say that later he may decide that humanity counts as ‘a threat to the realm’? Remember, it wasn’t man’s land originally and Lord Absol is elven.”
“You’re saying he could pose a threat? One day just decide that it’s his right to reclaim Ulthuan? That sounds a bit like the sort of thing that you’d do, Tsuyoi.”
“I know it is. In fact I have used similar justifications more than once or twice myself. We’re really not that different in outlook, he and I. The crucial difference being that this isn’t my home. I have no real ties to it either politically or historically. Whereas I’d imagine he has quite a vested interest in Ulthuan and it wouldn’t be unreasonable to assume a slight grudge against humans.”
“So we potentially could have an enemy in our midst,” I grimaced. “Things are getting a bit clearer now. Thanks for finally being straight with me. And good luck with whatever you’re off to do. What are you doing back at your home reality, by the way?”
“Reclaiming a land that originally belonged to my race and probably causing the ruination of the current supposedly dominant species, of course,” Tsuyoi sneered. “Why else do you think I’m highly suspicious of what the closest thing to me this reality has plans to do with his ancestral home?”
“I…” My mouth was open but no sound was coming out. Sometimes the sheer ruthless detachment of Tsuyoi defied all my expectations.
“Drop me an email when you finally find the words to voice what you’re thinking. My address is ‘tsuyoi@ireallydontgiveadamnwhatyouthink.net’ .” The monster turned his back to me. “Take care. And enjoy the rest of the sanity-destroying dream.”

All of a sudden I understood why so many people hated him so.

Morning came and with it the promise of a new start. Or at the very least a cooked breakfast and a chance to sit down and think.
“You look tired, Ade,” Sindel noted as she dished out the bacon, eggs and toast. “Restless night?”
“No, just a really weird one,” I sighed. The previous day I had finally showed my face to my friends in a small, unofficial Guild meeting. It had been good to see everyone at last and even better to get things out into the open, but the meeting had provided more questions than answers. The most pressing (for me at least) being how I could take up my Guild work again without causing a fuss. “Roll on weekend, the sooner we can teleport over and meet up with Soo again the better.” Ah yes. Soo, my wife and my reason for existence. She had been a trainer alongside me once, but the stressful life of a Dragon Tamer had proven too much for her to handle. These days she kept her pokémon as pets and worked as a retail manager in a store in Tiranoc. I had often joked that she would find managerial life too stressful. She, quite rightly, had countered that if she could survive the likes of the Crimson Blades a few difficult customers weren’t likely to bother her. So she had taken the job, nice and far away from the chaos and danger that surrounded my chosen line of work, and we saw each other on weekends only. Not an ideal arrangement, but the most workable solution we could think of.
“It is nice to see everybody,” Pearl agreed. She had a vested interest in these visits seeing as Soo was currently looking after her daughter, Celeste, “but probably not a great idea to dwell on it too much. We have a few tricky problems to deal with at the minute but none of them are that dire.”
“Aren’t they?” I responded unhappily. “I don’t really know what to make of any of this any more.”
“Ade…” Pearl rested her head on my lap. “I don’t know what’s the matter. But I do know that whatever it is it can be overcome. We’ve been in trickier situations than this before and survived, right?”
“Right,” I agreed. “Maybe I’m just being paranoid. Maybe I ought to just get up, get dressed and return to work. This is Ulthuan, weird stuff happens here on an almost daily basis. Nobody’s going to ask questions, are they?”
“They probably will, but you can always tell them to mind their own damn business,” Thunderblast piped up unhelpfully. “The way I see it you can either face the Guild directly or try and get at the information you would need from them another way. I mean, between what I picked up from hanging around Dan, Marius’ geekiness and a lot of luck we could cobble together some sort of patchwork system to get at their files without being noticed. But that’d take time and my schedule’s very busy today.”
“Really. What does this schedule consist of then?”
“Hmm… let me check.” Here she pulled a sheet of paper seemingly out of nowhere and consulted it carefully. “9am, breakfast. 9.30am, a few laps of the garden. 10am, plot world domination. 10.02am, give up on world domination as it’s too much like hard work. 10.15am, pineapple. Pineapple???” The Raichu looked confused. “Don’t know how that got there. I swear, sometimes it’s as if my mind has a mind of its own. I thought it was pomegranate at 10.15.”
“Okay, okay, I get it. I’ll head down to the Guild, say my apologies and try to pick up where I left off. I’m damn sick of all this hiding, if Lord Absol’s still interested in me just let him come and I’ll just tell him I’m not interested in what he has to say.” Of course there were a thousand things wrong with that plan, not least the fact that the most sinister member of the Dragon’s Guild didn’t seem the sort to take no for an answer. But it seemed to me that whatever trouble was brewing was going to happen sooner or later anyway and it was stupid to put myself out so much just for the sake of delaying it a little. “Anyone who wants to can come with me. I could probably use the moral support for when I get chewed out by Lady Ninetales for not reporting back sooner.”
“You can count on my family’s wholehearted lack of support, but we’ll come anyway,” Milliardo grinned evilly. “For no other reason than I’d like to socialise outside this room and I don’t think Pandora and Marius have got anything better to do.”
“True enough, although it might be nice to let us make our own minds up for once,” Pandora commented, rolling her eyes. “How the hell did I wind up with you for a mate?”
“Pure good luck I guess,” Milliardo grinned. It was amazing, really, how much the two pokémon had developed over time. Pandora had mellowed quite a lot over the years, going from a vitriolic creature with wildly swinging moods to one who was in the main quite agreeable even if she did tend to have depressive episodes. And Milliardo… well, he had simply fallen for his own rhetoric. Once upon a time he had been a very vulnerable creature who hid that fact behind cruel comedy and a fake arrogance. But over time even he had started to believe his bluffs until eventually a charismatic (albeit still barb-tongued) creature with enough confidence for a hundred creatures had emerged, a far cry from the bitter little Eevee he had once been.
“Perhaps I’d better join you as well, Ade, especially if you’re hoping for moral support,” Pearl sighed. “I’ve nothing against Pandora and Marius, but mouth almighty over there is hardly what I’d call great at being sympathetic.”
“Thanks guys,” I chuckled. “Okay, now that’s sorted how about we get moving?” I had put this day off for far too long. It was about time I got back into the thick of things and finally put recent (and not-so-recent) events behind me.

As it happened the initial meeting with Lady Ninetales wasn’t half as scary as I was expecting it to be. These were relatively quiet times for her department and for possibly the first time since we started a working relationship we were able to sit down and talk without her looking like she was supposed to be doing a thousand other things at the same time. It made for a pleasant surprise.
“To be honest I’m just glad you came back,” she confessed at one point. “I was seriously worried that you had pulled another Scott on us. Too many of our – and your as a Dragon Tamer, I have to point out – good people seem to vanish without trace mid-mission.”
“Believe me, if I had a choice in the matter I wouldn’t have gone at all. But you raise a good point. It almost sounds like a worthy investigation in itself.”
“True, and it’s a potential investigation that I’d rather conveniently not think about. It did occur to me, but then I couldn’t help but worry that if we start trying to track down the missing personnel there’s every chance of whatever’s causing this to ensnare the investigators.” Here Lady Ninetales raised an eyebrow. “Anyway, even if I did fancy working on that one I wouldn’t be sending you. I think you’ll find there’s many months backlog of work waiting for you on your own doorstep, Lord Umbreon.”
“Damn it,” I had groaned. “I knew this meeting was going too well.”

As it turned out there wasn’t as much work waiting for me as I had been led to believe, in fact I rather suspected that Lady Ninetales had been ever so slightly winding me up about my workload. Gabi and the others who worked for our little sub-branch had been doing an incredible job of covering for me in my absence and, although there were quite a few items that needed my personal attention I was relatively on top of things by the end of the day. I was a very fast worker when I had to be although I did make it a policy not to broadcast this fact; in my experience the faster you completed your work the faster other people seemed to invent jobs for you to do.
“And that’s that,” I finally beamed after several hours of approving invoices, expenses claims and musing over several proposals from the MTU about future training sessions (these had been submitted by several individuals and ranged from an intriguing and highly detailed – albeit expensive - suggestion involving a day devoted to mass combat to the practical but predictable ‘let’s open up the pre-Games training grounds for a few weeks’). “All done until tomorrow.” I looked about my little office. It was small and mostly taken up with a filing system I liked to call ‘chaotic order’ but at least it was all mine, at least for as long as I stayed in my current position. “Do you think Lady Ninetales was trying to scare me about the workload earlier?”
“Most likely,” Pearl noted from her position curled up in a corner surrounded by boxes of various leaflets. “It’s probably her way of getting back at you for the past half year or so of worry our disappearance has given her. Mean, but understandable.”
“And welcome, considering what I had been expecting,” I commented, idly browsing the files on the Guild’s system. It had taken quite some time but I roughly knew what most of them were all about now. “I wonder if there’s anything on here that might help figure out what’s making so many people disappear? I can’t get that part of our conversation out of my head.”
“Hold it, Ade. Take my advice and just log off now. I know your boss has her stressed and overly-officious moments and sometimes can make the wrong call on things but in this instance I’m taking her side.”
“But…”
“You can be a real trial sometimes, you know that?” In a split second Pearl had jumped up to my desk and somehow managed to slam her front paws down in such a way it caused my PC to start shutting down for the night. “She’s right. Something like that isn’t the sort of thing you can take on as a pet project. There’s no shame in acknowledging when you won’t be able to help.”
“But…”
“Ade, you’re not a one-man fix for everything that’s wrong in the world. That kind of thinking has been the downfall of far too many people around here. Just stick to what you know, hm? It’s one thing to help out in times of trouble but quite another to go actively courting that trouble, especially when you’ve more urgent problems on your own doorstep.”
“You mean Lord Absol, right?”
“Partly. And Tsuyoi. If we don’t watch ourselves and take every step we can to keep those two apart we’re going to end up caught in the middle of something terrible. It’s not helping that Tsuyoi seems to be really distracted at the minute. For the past few months its almost seemed as if we were an afterthought. Do you think he’s growing bored of his pet project?”
“I doubt it.” My blood ran cold as I recalled my earlier dream conversation. “None of us really know what he gets up to when he’s not with us. He’s probably got bigger fish to fry.”
“Do you know something I don’t?” Pearl queried.
“…it doesn’t matter. He did warn me not so long ago that he was likely to be busy. Didn’t really mention why, though.” Reclaiming a land that originally belonged to my race and probably causing the ruination of the current supposedly dominant species, of course. Oh, he had mentioned why and I really wished that he hadn’t. The possibilities were just too disturbing. “Anyway, how about we pack up here and go pick up the others? They were down in the barracks, weren’t they?”
“Right. We might want to check the library along the way, though. Something tells me Marius will have shot off there the first chance he got.”
“Of course.” My team were laws unto themselves most of the time. But hey, I wouldn’t have had it any other way.

Saying Milliardo was revelling in the attention his sudden return had brought him would have been an understatement. After bursting into the barracks a lot of pokémon had been more than interested in where he had been for so long; since the Umbreon thrived on attention he had been more than happy to keep them enthralled with a tale that sometimes deviated so far from reality that Beckham would have been proud to call it his own. Sadly his family mad much different attitudes, hence why Marius had lost interest in the attention after ten seconds and wormed his way to the nearest computer terminal and why Pandora was busy sitting in a corner and pretending not to have anything to do with her attention-seeking mate.
“You seem miserable, lady,” one of the few other pokémon in the barracks not paying attention to Milliardo observed upon seeing Pandora slumped upon one of the beds looking decidedly uncomfortable.
“Try that one again, only replace ‘miserable’ with ‘embarrassed’ and you might be halfway there.” The Houndour lifted her head to view a small, smiling Swablu eyeing her with curiosity. “Anyway, what’s it to you?”
“Can’t a guy show a little friendly interest?” it asked.
“No. He can’t. Go away.”
“Oh come on! You don’t mean that.”
“Who are you to say what I do and don’t mean?” Pandora snapped irritably. “What are you, amateur psychologist of the month or something?”
“Yup.” The Swablu hopped up on the bed and peered into her eyes. “Let’s see… a tendency to go on the offensive in order to deflect attention away from your own emotions…” At this point Pandora had fixed the Flying-type with the coldest stare she could muster. “…severe emotional reactions to events around you…” By now Pandora was stood up and looking close to exploding. Not that the other pokémon noticed. Or did it? If anything its tone was growing crueller and its innocent expression fading away with every passing second. “…a potentially fatal self-loathing, no doubt caused by painful childhood memories and previous poor choices in life?”
“SHUT UP!!!” Before she even realised what she was doing Pandora smacked the Swablu hard with a ferocious Headbutt, knocking the creature off the bed and forcing it to fly up into the air. It regarded her with a smirk that indicated that it knew exactly what it was doing.
“Point proven, I think,” it sneered. “And by the way…” Here it addressed the rest of the room as all eyes turned to the source of this commotion, “…you all really ought to beef up your psychic security. It’s far too easy to infiltrate here, you know.”
“Who the %^*& are you?” Milliardo snarled, inserting himself almost without thinking between this new threat and the one he loved.
“This body has been around here for a few months, it hasn’t changed. Who controls it is none of your damn business. It was just an experiment and it’s over now.”
“Like hell it is!” The Umbreon looked almost ready to pounce but before he could do that his girlfriend hopped over his head and stood in front of the Swablu with fire in her eyes.
“Oh no you don’t, buster,” Pandora snarled. “This one’s mine!!!”

FIGHT!!! L16 Houndour v L16 Swablu! (Peck, Growl, Astonish, Sing, Fury Attack, Aerial Ace, Agility)
The Swablu didn’t give Pandora any kind of chance to so much as assess the situation, nor did it allow much time for those around the combatants to get out of the way. Almost in an instant it shot forward, diving for her and catching the Houndour hard in the side with its beak before flying back out of the range of any attempt at retaliation.
“Damn!” Pandora glowered at her opponent, not really sure how to deal with this unexpected threat. In the past she wouldn’t have hesitated. In the past she would have already been upon the little creature in a blind rage. But time had calmed her slightly. Now she was able to at least keep control over her emotions for long enough to take stock of the situation. A situation that by all accounts wasn’t looking too positive. Even now her opponent was whirling around for another attack, small talons raised to rake across her flesh. Out of sheer desperation she built up her internal fires in the hope that she could blast the pokémon out of the air. It didn’t happen. The Swablu was much faster than she was, almost unnaturally so, and by the time she was ready it had deftly swooped in and clawed across her side with pinpoint accuracy. They called the move Aerial Ace. And it hurt. It hurt so much that it put Pandora totally off what she was doing and instead of an Ember she merely managed to cough out thick black smoke. At least this seemed to put her opponent off a little, causing it to falter and cough slightly as it inhaled the Smog.
“You’re…” Here the little creature choked violently. “You’re tougher than I thought. Silly me. I got taken in by those big doe eyes and forgot to probe any deeper. Still… that won’t happen again!” Once again it flew at Pandora, but this time the Houndour was ready. She sidestepped smartly as it attempted to furiously swipe at her. All of a sudden things didn’t seem so bad. The anger was subsiding. In fact, she was feeling decidedly calm about the situation. Even a second attempt at a Fury Attack didn’t bother her. She simply sidestepped again. And again. All the time the heat within her receding, all the time a feeling of cold detachment taking over, all the time…
“Enough.” Pandora’s tone was flat, emotionless. “This ends now.” Once more she opened her mouth, her internal energy flowing out towards her opponent. Only this time it wasn’t fire or even smoke. Inside the Houndour right now was just pure, unadulterated cold and this expressed itself in her attack as her Hidden Power manifested itself and chilled her opponent to the bone.
“Wha???” The Swablu was taken completely by surprise by both the strength of the attack and Pandora’s ability to use an Ice-based attack. Not only had the Hidden Power caused some serious dmage but it had also thrown the creature totally off-guard.
“That’ll teach you not to probe deeper, eh?” Pandora snarled, her anger finally returning to her now the cold within her soul had been expelled. “Although if you ask me you shouldn’t have been probing at all!” With a roar of anger she shot toward the shaken Flying-type, her body seeming to melt into the floor until she had become merely a shadow. A second later this shadow burst upward, smacking into the Swablu and sending it hurtling across the room. It wasn’t the most subtle of Faint Attacks but it served its purpose admirably. Her opponent crashed into a wall and slid down it helplessly, finally landing in a heap and not moving any further after that. It was over. That strange little pokémon had been defeated.

Pandora wins!
Pandora grew to L17!
Pandora learned Bite!

“Psychic security…” Soon enough word of the event had trickled back to me and, after a few words with the Swablu’s owner who seemed a mystified as any of us as to why his pokémon had suddenly become vicious, I was left with another mystery on my hands. “It said we ought to beef up our psychic security?”
“Words to that effect, yes. It sounds like it was possessed, doesn’t it?” Pandora nodded in agreement.
“Possessed… yes, but from what you’ve told me it doesn’t sound like something psychic defenses would have helped against. It read your mind against your will, didn’t it?”
“Don’t remind me,” the Houndour shuddered.
“Well that’s not psychic ability. You would have naturally blocked a psychic probe even if it had come from a Mewtwo. This sounds like it’s… something more.” I didn’t really know why I still had issues with calling the process by its name; magic. It just sounded so irrational when used to describe something that had actually happened, even when living in a land of demonic enhancements, dimension-hopping deities, centuries-old elves, invisible towers and goodness knows what else. Not to mention that magical phenomena wasn’t my area of expertise; the only one amongst my companions with any real magical insight was Rhiannon and even assuming her elder persona was in charge of her body (her childish mode was slowly starting to get a grip on her powers but could no better explain what they were than I could) she normally created more questions than answers.
“It sounds like something we shouldn’t get involved in as well,” Pandora commented. “Just file your report and leave it to the experts, would you?”
“Maybe,” I mused, my mind whirring. How could I possibly leave it, though? Something had bypassed Guild security; more specifically it had bypassed security to the area of the Guild dealing with trainers. Why? Was it just coincidence it appeared in this area or did the Swablu’s puppet master have some genuine purpose? If so, were we going to wind up in an identical situation later on? “I’ll let Gabi and the others know. Maybe they might be able to make more sense out of this. If, indeed, there’s any sense to be made of it at all.”
“I think you hit the nail on the head right there, Ade,” Pearl offered. “This land’s filled with magical creatures. When we started dealing with Lord Absol he admitted a lot of his job’s just chasing down and containing the more malicious ones. There’s no need to think there’s any great conspiracy when this is just as likely to be a single wandering spirit with a nasty streak.”
“You’re right, of course,” I admitted finally. “Sometimes weird things just happen for no real reason. I should’ve learned by now that it’s part of the job. Come on, let’s go home. We’ve had enough excitement for one day.” Of course I still had a feeling that we hadn’t heard the last of this encounter. But that was likely to be simple paranoia. For now there was no real harm done and any day lately where we could say that counted as a win in my book. Sometimes it’s easiest to just accept things and move on.

[Lady Vulpix]

It's an Ade!

Ok, so you enjoyed watching Teclis kicking me out of the tower. I guess it had to happen some day, with all those crises going on in-story Gabi was starting to get a bit too paranoid.

I'm on vacation right now, so I'll make sure to read your battle when I get home (which is on Tuesday), whether someone else has rated it by then or not.

Thanks for the review and the stamps! And for reading my story. Whenever I get to post the next one, it will contain a brief reference to one of your characters and an obscure reference to another.

RBG rolls: Mightyena and Haunter respectively (may be Gengar if it helps the plot).