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

  1. #561
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    Default Re: ¤Game¤ Dragon Tamers Battle Range v.23 {MA Pidgeot}

    Here is Sinopa’s RBG. I also bought her a mimic tm. Kadabra *grins* that couldn’t have turned out better for what I had in mind. The questions should be answered in this part. The ending wasn’t what I had in mind but here it is.

    The Kadabra narrowed his eyes when the Natu teleported outside and a few minutes later the vulpix came racing out of the Pokecenter chasing after him and slamming into him with a quick attack. That bird is going to be a chew toy for Teivel if this fails, he thought to himself as he watched the battle unfold.

    When that vulpix was slammed psychically into the wall I relaxed a little bit. Maybe that Natu could do this. As I watched I got this feeling in the pit of my stomach that this wasn’t going to go well. I heard a snarl from behind me.

    <Quiet Teivel. They can’t know we’re here. That was the point of him,> I said, pointing with my spoon at the bird as he was slammed into the side of the building along with the vulpix.

    As we watched, the small bird used his powers to send her sailing through the air and I groaned inwardly when I saw where she was about to land. Sure enough, the Fire Stone that I had arranged this plan to get was now useless after the stupid vulpix landed on it. <Take your time with him,> I told the houndour who nodded in understanding as he bared his teeth.

    I winced as the newly evolved Ninetales crunched down on the natu and it went down for the count. I watched from my spot so that when the timing was right, I could get that bird out of there before he spilled everything.

    Thankfully the espeon approached her and they talked. While they were distracted, I teleported over and grabbed the natu before teleporting back to where the rest of my team that was in on the plan were waiting. I kept a good grip on him until I saw the espeon and the ninetales go inside the pokecenter. I saw the espeon pause in the doorway and look around before following her inside.

    I heard a small chirp and I looked down to see that the bird was regaining consciousness. I threw the bird down in the middle of the three of us and glared at him. The natu swallowed nervously. I narrowed my eyes. “What the hell was that?” I told you to get in there unnoticed, get the stone to us and you were free to go back to your life in the wild.

    “She wasn’t going to sleep. I moved when it looked like she was going to use the stone to evolve.”

    “You’re a psychic act like one. She was only looking at it. You should have waited until she had dozed off. At the very least, when you were fighting, you should have kept her AWAY from the fire stone instead of tossing her right on top of it. We needed it for Hades.” I sighed and glanced back in the direction of the Pokecenter. “I’m going to go keep an eye on them and see if they noticed anything. Teivel, Hades, you two make sure this bird knows what happens when they mess up our plans. Especially if neither of you want to end up being released like Mystique was.” With that, I teleported closer to the Pokecenter leaving the Natu’s fate in the paws of the houndour and the growlithe.

    (Sinopa’s POV)

    I reluctantly followed Darin inside until I had passed him in the doorway. I glanced backwards to look back. He gave his head a shake before walking inside and motioned for me to head to the front where Nurse Joy quickly set to work checking me over.


    (Darin’s POV)


    I waited until Sinopa was being looked over before I made my way to Amy’s cot and hopped up on her. She immediately woke up and looked around and relaxed when she saw me and not Sugar. I took a deep breath and let her know what had happened. While I was explaining it to Amy, Blazer and Yana woke up when they heard her name being mentioned.


    (Sinopa’s POV)

    Once the Nurse Joy had looked me over and did what she needed to, I closed my eyes and dozed off. When I opened them again, I was met by four pairs of concerned eyes and a curled up ball of brown fur. I blinked a couple of times before I raised my head.


    “You’re not in trouble.”

    I relaxed at that and she gave me another TM. It turned out that she had gotten me two TMs but only one that I had accidently encountered already. It wasn’t long before she asked me about what had happened and I told her everything that I knew. When she asked if I had recognized the Natu, I just shook my head. “No, I didn’t. Until today, I had never laid eyes on him before.”


    “We’re being watched.” Darin whispered twitching his ear towards the window. I lifted my head and saw that there was a Kadabra briefly before it teleported out of sight.

    I stood up and winced when I hit my head on the counter. I gave my head a shake to clear the stars that I saw flash before my eyes. “I’m okay,” I assured them, ducking my head. “Still not used to the height difference yet.


    “I can go after him if you want me to.”
    Darin offered.

    I took a deep breath and shook my head with a confidence I wasn’t used to having. “No, I can do this.”

    I stepped out, but I couldn’t see the kadabra anywhere. I took a deep breath and closed my eyes as Blazer’s voice from one of the first lessons he gave me replayed in my mind.
    “ If you can’t focus with your eyes open, close them. Sometimes vision isn’t the best way to find a tricky opponent. Trust your nose.”

    With my eyes closed, I immediately picked up on the Natu’s scent, but there was something different… I sniffed again and realized that it was blood and there were three other scents. Two were kind of familiar but one wasn’t. I opened my eyes and followed the scents until I was looking at a houndour chewing on one of the natu’s wings while a growlithe was doing the same to the other. The Kadabra was watching it not doing anything to stop it.

    I heard someone following me and, when I looked, wasn’t surprised to find that it was Darin. That was when the kadabra noticed us.


    “Stop it.”

    The Kadabra looked over at the pair who were still chewing on the natu’s wings before returning his attention to us. “He failed his task so no we want. He knew what would happen if he failed.”

    I glanced over at the small psychic bird. “He’s had enough let him go.”

    “I’ll let him go when I think he’s had enough but you’re welcome to fight me. If I lose we’ll leave. If I win you two go back into the center and leave us alone.”


    “I can get Blazer if you want me to.”


    I shook my head no before taking a deep shaky breath as I stepped forwards.
    “You don’t have to…”

    “I do.” I saw him give a worried smile and I stepped forwards. As I did, I looked around to see if there was anything that could be used to confine me and thankfully I didn’t.

    Sinopa L.17 Female Ninetales with a rainbow topknot and Crystal Blue Eyes Vs. L.17 M Kadabra (Tobias)

    I took a deep breath but before I could do anything, the Kadabra teleported right beside me and slashed out with his right hand the claws slicing through the collar like it was butter. The attack barely did anything to me but the collar was useless for now. I saw Darin dart in and grab it for safekeeping before darting out to safety. I narrowed my eyes, at that but spit a tiny fireball at my opponent. It hit him and flared brightly and a small ball of flame flew backwards and landed on my chest before fizzling out. Synchronize, I thought, but was relieved that I had chosen will-o-wisp instead of toxic.

    The Kadabra cursed under his breath before his fist began crackling with electricity as he punched me. I bit back the yelp but jumped back up to my feet. I whirled around and used my hidden power to shoot a stream of flames at him causing the psychic to take a step backwards.

    This time before I could move, his eyes glowed purple and I was sent sailing through the air as if I was a piece of paper. I grunted as I hit the side of the pokecenter. Growling softly to myself, I was getting to know the side of the building far better than I wanted to as I stood back up and charged back towards where the Kadabra was waiting. I leapt almost missing him but managing to crunch down on his tail as I sailed past his arm where I had been aiming.

    He cried out but managed to hang on as I let go of his tail and used Quick Attack to slam into him before he could hit me with another psychic blast. He crumpled to the ground as I stood there panting trying to get my breath back.

    I won.
    I grew to L.18.


    The houndour and the growlithe just stared in surprise at the fact that the kadabra had just lost. Darin stepped forwards.


    “Go away and tell Tom that he better not try anything like that again.”
    The houndour winced but let go of the natu and as did the growlithe. However, the houndour turned to face Darin.

    “Tom doesn’t know anything about this. He can’t know about it. Tobias came up with the plan to keep him from releasing us like he did Mystique. He felt that if we were able to acquire a fire stone and get Hades evolved here on our own we would show Tom that we were useful… If he finds out, we will without a doubt be released…”

    I glanced over at Darin who was frowning trying to figure out what to do after hearing this new information.

    The growlithe spoke up. “We’ll leave like Tobias promised.”

    “We have to tell Amy.” I said and Darin nodded.

    “But…” the two canines protested.

    “You know it as well as we do. What happens after that is dependent on several factors.”

    “Like what?” They asked, but Darin didn’t answer and I looked at him as he stared at them before they wisely grabbed a hold of each of the kadabra’s arms and started to drag him away. I gently picked up the natu and carried him back towards the pokecenter with Darin following beside me.
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  2. #562
    2 hot to hold, 2 cold to fold Veteran Trainer
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    Default Re: ¤Game¤ Dragon Tamers Battle Range v.23 {MA Pidgeot}

    Here's the second part of the Jungle story (turned into a 4 parter lol)

    Yeah my present and past tense seem to get twisted, and I am trying to cut it out. There may be some in this story, so fair warning.

    A need for exploration encumbered the dynamic duo as they slowly made their way through the lush paradise. Although this was merely a very large room, it was its own balanced ecosystem to the duo. Mossy gingerly hopped on a thick root and bounced across its networking as Rapp slowly rounded the tree, noting a Trainer crouched down, tending to her fiery..rat..shrew..Cyndaquil! Mossy rolled back, not in any eager attempt to start a fight with something that was so...fiery right now. The Cyndaquil, upon seeing Mossy, was MORE than eager to start another fight, and started at Mossy. Mossy 's eyes saw the hint of fire on the tip of that rodent's nose and he froze in place, unsure how to deal with it! In the nick of time, a hand came down over the rodent and held her down as the Cyndaquil squeaked in discomfort.

    "Cut it out already! You're in no condition to fight!

    The trainer turned at the sight of Rapp and Mossy, and waved. "Sorry 'bout that. She got struck with a poison dart, and is a little testy." Rapp and Mossy both nodded, and decided to keep heading in. The boy looked up from his Pokemon a second time as he realized the direction they were going.

    "Hey be careful! There's a group of Pokemon up there whom are pretty vicious!"

    Rapp turned to stare at the trainer, and then down to Mossy. Although Mossy was on a roll, he knew that at any time there could be a threat that the little grassball wasn't ready for. It bothered Rapp even more, realizing that Mossy was his one and only. But as of now, there wasn't any other Pokemon he really even wanted. For both their sakes, he hoped that would change.

    Mossy heard the boy's words, but shrugged them off. Dangerous Pokemon were easily avoided by the pair, as running seemed to be Rapp's strong suit in a pinch. But Mossy knew something was on Rapp's mind, as they neared the babbling brook. His demeanor went from awe and wondrous to melancholy and quiet, plus-he was no longer looking around the area like he usually would. Maybe he just needed some time to think? Or wait, his head! His head must still hurt! Mossy nodded, glad to have figured that out.

    "Hold on Mossy. Let's take it easy for a bit. I need a moment. Think I'm still...dizzy." Mossy nodded, his little feet shuffling happily in the leaves. Rapp gingerly placed one hand on a sturdy looking rock, before tested his weight on it. It didn't give. Seeing that he had enough room to lie back on the stone, he did just that and stared up at the faux sky. He could hear as Mossy played around ahead of him, and some other sounds in the distance. Sounded like a battle, as once in a while he'd hear an order shouted.

    Ah...what was there to worry about? Another Pokemon would come around to their side in due time. Rapp sighed-thankful for the moment of peace he had seemed to find again. The stream water was relaxing, and Mossy's shuffling and discovering of dirt clumps (however odd that was) was still fresh in his ears. The absence of birds chirping, the seemingly sudden end to the breeze that blew by, even the faint sound of a hiss was picked up.

    Wait. What?

    Rapp's eyes opened immediately, but he made no sudden movements to alarm Mossy with. Mossy was only about a yard or two ahead of him, but the plant had also stopped moving. Vines were out to his sides-as the sound came from the west. Rapp sat up slowly, and Mossy turned to face him. They each examined the area behind the other from their vantage points...and came up with nothing. But the sound...sounds were getting closer. Rapp slowly slid off of the rock and started to walk toward the thicker part of the brush. Extending his hand, Mossy shot two vines up to wrap around it to make sure his trainer had a grip on him, should he break off into a sprint.

    Rapp crouched as he heard a few more calls over his head, and on the ground around them. A flurry of grass caught his eyes, but he did not divert his attention from his main goal-reaching the first tree he climbed while in here, and then the door beyond that. It was not visible, but he knew it was at maximum 50 yard dash. Piece of cake.

    On second glance, it had to be no more than 25 yards away. Definitely doable.

    "We can make it out of here if we run, Mossy. You ready?" A squeeze on his wrapped hand meant this plan was fine by the Tangela. Rapp pressed two fingers to the soft dirt, and then heard a strange call, like a bird, from over his shoulder. Mossy's vines instantly uncoiled from his hand and the Pokemon backed up to bump Rapp's feet-allowing him to know just how much space he had in front of him.

    Rapp cartwheeled and landed so he could face Mossy's back, and just then a speedy flash of green stood between them. Before Mossy could assert what he thought he saw, something ran in and kicked him across the underbrush! Rapp barely caught sight of it, but he knew it had leaves on its forearms.

    "Mossy! Sleep Powder Cloud!" There's more than one!

    Mossy stood up and started pumping out those spores on his vines. Another green streak however, came from behind and struck again, knocking Mossy forward. A third streak jumped over Mossy, avoiding the spores, and made sure to land on his back. With Mossy's face pinned in the ground, the creature growled and dragged Mossy through the dirt face first, wiping all those spores away! A second streak came over and used what seemed to be a forearm to slash at Mossy, bouncing the Tangela over to Rapp.

    The streaks all stopped, and Rapp watched them carefully as two came into partial view. They had long snouts, reptilian in nature. Leaves covered their forearms in a faux feather pattern, and their heads had a crest of leaves, long and tapered back, like a Pidgeot crest.

    "Grovyles?"

    Didn't matter to Mossy, as he stood up. They could have been Aerodactyl's (preferably not...but still) but right now, he was the top dog in this place. Cheating Grovyles.

    Rapp barely had time to think of an exit strategy before a third one ran in from behind. The two that were partially visible darted in opposing directions, and Mossy found himself enduring another hit from one of these raptorgeckos. This hit was more powerful from the last, and it began to hurt!

    "Mossy, try to get to me, and we'll sprint!"

    Mossy liked the idea, but the problem was that they were all too damn fast! Mossy lunged for a bush, and he forced his vines to stretch out in every direction, basically spearing the bush. One of the Grovyles was surprised by this technique and sprang out of the bush, running next to the one that just attacked. There was a sizable height difference between the two, not to mention the attacking Grovyle seemed to have a scar on his back. They both spoke and cooed to each other before darting away, and Mossy had no way to tag either one. The viney fellow got a rude awakening when another Grovyle-or the same Grovyle...Rapp couldn't tell, dashed at him and quickly sliced at his chest, before a second Grovyle with a shining claw slashed at him, hurting Mossjito immensely. Mossy however, took the hits and used their momentum to throw his vines off the the ground. His body bounced counter clockwise and toward Rapp's lap. Rapp caught his Pokemon, and swiveled on his feet before bursting in a full out sprint.

    Mossy smirked, but Rapp could tell the Pokemon was hurt. Jumping over the tree roots, Rapp spied the spot where they passed that trainer beforehand. He could also hear chirping over his head. "Oh you've got to be kidding, they're pursuing us?"

    That they were, a whole flock of them. The lead Grovyle seemed to have extraordinary ability when it came to navigating this room, and he was able to lead the others in a path that allowed them all to dive in front of Rapp when he reached the tree he climbed earlier today. Rapp managed to look up and see the Grovyles all landing on the bough he had perched at earlier. Instinctively thinking, Rapp jumped and planted one foot on of the tree, before kicking off it and diving right, throwing the aim of all but the lead Grovyle off course. The Lead Grovyle had dropped off early and managed to chase Rapp on foot.

    Rapp rolled, tucking Mossy in his chest just in case, but that's where the lead Grovyle surprised Rapp. Tracking him from the ground, this one was able to see when Rapp would not take notice of something running up from behind him. The Grovyle took advantage of Rapp's blind spot and lunged at the perfect opportunity, when Rapp and Mossy thought they escaped all of the aerial attacks. The voracious Pokemon cut right through his shirt with a unseen Fury-tagging Moss and pushing the Pokemon past the brink of exhaustion. Rapp noted the change in Mossy's eyes, and he quickly spun around the Grovyle and dove for the doorway. The Grovyles all sneered and went to attack, but Rapp fortunately was one step ahead. He kicked the doorway open and shut it behind him, breathing heavily as he heard two thumps against the door.

    Holding the door shut for a moment, he took to Mossy. But Mossy was gone, unconscious by the string of blitzkrieg like hits. Before anyone could notice that his Pokemon was fainted, Rapp ran back to the Pokecenter, not stopping an instant for his own sake, and got to the attendant once again. Upon seeing his arrival so quickly, the girl was quick to take up Mossy once more and help rejuvenate the Pokemon.

    ----

    It was a long hour for Rapp. He knew his Pokemon would be alright, but ever since the attendant took Mossy in, he had time to sit down and think this over. It was as if they were hunted...targeted in the Jungle Room. He was sure no one here knew him, or of his farming life. He was sure he didn't make anyone cross...except those strange people with all those sheep in the beginning. Could they be here? Did that one guy remember him? No, that's far too much coincidence.

    He shivered at the sound of a "Baa", and forced it out of his memory for the time being. But why were those Grovyle so organized? These and a million other questions stormed though his mind as he rubbed his head where the pain-now dull-still resided. But even with all the unanswered quandaries, two things remained clear:

    One-Mossy and him were still novices at best. All the wins Mossy overcame came with the price of overconfidence. Mossy never exhibited it, but Rapp was sure now that the Tangela felt its pride rise and it may have started to seep into arrogance. It was not completely unwarranted, they were having a swell run. But all good things must come to an end.

    He then thought back on that Trainer with the fire Pokemon, and then the Monferno...the lava room in general. Where was the fire when you needed it?! All these thoughts brought him to his second point, the point he had been mulling about since he lied on that rock to relax.

    He needed another Pokemon. Soon. Mossy needed backup. Rapp had a fair knowledge of Pokemon in general. He knew what he liked and he knew the range of abilities for certain types better than others. As of late though, he had not seen any of his preference, and that began to bother him. Maybe in time he'd find a fair few to tango with. But for now, he had to play it safe, use what he had to help both him and Mossy get to a point where they could hold their own fairly well.

    He snapped out of his deep stupor when a worm found its way into his nose. Standing up and pulling the green worm out, he took a deep breath and jumped back, shaking the worm. Its lifeless form drooped over his hand and he dropped it, only to see it was a vine. Mossy's vine.

    "Oh. Mossy. Don't do that!" he shouted, rubbing his nose with the back of his hand. "That feels weird." Mossy gave him a halfhearted sigh, but then lowered his eyes. Rapp could see the disappointment on Mossy's face, and knelt down to pick the little guy up.

    "Hey now. It's alright. We weren't prepared for them. They picked on us and you tried your best. But it was a flock of them against you. You did well, taking four Cuts like that." That seemed to ease the feelings off of the plant and Rapp just patted his head. "No worries Mossy. We'll go back in there in a little. How about right now though, we switch things up and tackle that pond room. I'm sure we'll learn something that'll help us!"

    Mossy slowly leaned back to look at Rapp's face. ...Crap, he was serious. Now, it wasn't the fact that Rapp was so focused on him getting stronger...it was moreso the fact that after a stunning parade of a loss like that, Mossy didn't feel he could fight. So, Mossy crossed his vines in an "X" formation and pushed out of Rapp's grasp.

    "Huh?" Rapp watched Mossy land, and glare at him, vines still crossed.

    "I'm guessing...you don't want to go to the Pond room?"

    Mossy nodded, and then pointed toward the cot where Rapp was not but a few hours prior.

    "Oh. I see. Well, I guess it would be wiser to rest. You're probably still thinking about that last battle and we both would do better with it. Ok.You win. We'll pack it in."

    Mossy nodded, and trotted over to the cot, eager to take a breather for now. Rapp could only smirk, and headed to the nearest vending machine to grab them some snacks and beverages.


    K that ends the first part of the Jungle room. I'm going to add the Pond portion to this later. Hopefully I'll post it tonight!

    EDIT: I lost half the story last night, so I was pretty upset over it, but I just sucked it up and pushed this out and I gotta say, I'm happier with this.

    Entry 4: Motors are just mechanical vines!



    The next morning came without incident, as both Mossy and Rapp passed out on the cot. It was only supposed to be a nap for Mossy, but it turned out their bodies as well as their minds truly needed some recuperation. The waking scent of a steaming tea kettle woke the grass shoot right up and he hopped gaily on Rapp's chest. The young man coughed, and twitched his ears until he picked up the sound that was making Mossy so excited.

    "Alright. Alright. Go get some. I'll be right behind you." he grumbled, before lying back down on the cot, determined to get a few minutes more. Mossy shrugged and took a demanding leap from Rapp's chest to the floor. Looking back at his Trainer once more, the Pokemon dashed over to where the sound was coming from...behind the attendants desk.

    She was barely awake herself, as the sun was just starting to rise. There wasn't a soul in the Center at this time of the morning aside for those that crashed here earlier. But the pit patter of little feet did not escape her senses. She slowly stretched and leaned over the counter to be greeted by a dark mass hidden underneath a tangle of vines.

    "Well, you are everywhere aren't cha?" she exclaimed before extending her hands. Mossy wrapped a vine around each and she gingerly lifted him up onto the table. "I'm guessing you're the early bird?" Mossy nodded, as she patted him on the head, only to hear shuffling come from over in a corner. Mossy began scrutinizing the tea kettle a few feet away.. He wondered what flavor of ambrosia was inside it, vines wriggling with anticipation of its taste!

    Rapp slowly lurched into view, a hand thrown out haphazardly to catch himself before he fell. The counter holding his weight up, Rapp yawned into his free hand and groggily looked at the attendant. "Can he....*yawn* have some tea? Please? We're going"yawn* to need it, Gawd what time in the morning is it? Daybreak?"

    "Him? You mean, your Tangela drinks tea?"

    "Loves the stuff. I kid you not. Let him have some." Not one to denounce a Trainer's knowledge of their own partners (no matter how klutzy they may be), she reached for a cup. Mossy's vines stopped her, as he dug into himself and pulled out a cup all his own. The attendant was a little perturbed, but nonetheless poured him a generous serving.

    Mossy seemed to be subdued almost immediately as he savored his first sip. Rapp shrugged and looked to the attendant as his eyes began to wander toward the stairwell. "Yeah, he's always liked tea. Um, are the battle rooms open?" Mossy was oblivious to the world right now, as Rapp turned back to the attendant. "Umm, yes. All day and night. Are you thinking about battling now?"

    "I have to. I think the Pokemon we want to try and fight come out at this time. Besides, we have a date in the Jungle room that we cannot miss." The attendant stared at Rapp as he stated those last few words with a deep rooted scowl, and she then turned to the plant, whom was already helping himself to more. "Wow, he really likes his tea."

    "Huh? Oh yeah. Loves it. Pretty sure he's a connoisseur of it." Rapp joked, giving them both a much needed wake up laugh to their systems. Mossy turned around at the sound, and pondered just what the humanfolk were talking about. It didn't matter however, he got his tea-a dark concoction today-and now he was ready to take on just about anything. "Mossy. You ready to go?"

    This time, the planimal stood up and corssed his vines before bowing, mimicking a butler of sorts. Rapp clapped and swiftly picked up the Pokemon by his base, before turning to the attendant. "Thanks very much for everything. Have a great morning." The pair waved as Rapp gingerly headed toward the stairwell, and the attendant smiled quietly, waving back to them before turning back to her duties. She still had a few hours before anyone would show up-but at least this morning started out fun.

    ---

    Shutting the doorway behind them, Rapp and Mossy now looked at the map plastered on the stairwell wall. It pointed out that taking the stairs down from here would lead to the Pond Room. Mossy headed in front of Rapp, both noting the symbolic silence that led up to the calm blue door that held their future. Rapp pushed against it with one hand, forcing it open, and Mossy stepped in first. Their eyes were not met with harsh light but rather a soft glow mimicking the sunrise over a secular pond. There were some buzzing above them both, but nothing dipped down. Reeds poked out from the small platform they were standing on, and it was only when a passing Finneon broke the surface could they see the surface of the water.

    Rapp stopped at the edge of the platform and looked left and right. There seemed to be a plethora of fish swimming calmly, but nothing that Rapp felt comfortable having Mossy fight. Mossy looked at Rapp, and dipped a vine in the water. Rapp looked down, and saw the puzzled look on his Pokemon's face.

    "Oh. How are you going to get across the water? Well, I was thinking about that. Remember that boat ride we took from home? Well, it was a motorboat. What they did was pull a string, and that helped to rev a motor. I'm thinking that you can do the same. Just spin some of your vines under you, and you should be able to move!" The Tangela looked at Rapp, before hopping into the water. Being a light plant, he naturally floated, and he could kick his feet to swim, but the vine spinning was a new idea. He kicked away from the platform, and started to twirl some of his lower vines. At first, nothing happened, but then with a kick from one foot, the Tangela began to rocket forward. He slowed down his spinning vines and slowed down his speed. Figuring out how it worked was not too bad.

    "Good job Mossy. Now go check out the those reeds over there. I don't want you to dive under yet." Mossy agreed, and started up his new "skill"! The motorvining Tangela whisked itself into the weeds, scattering Finneons and Goldeens that were lazily swimming around the area. For a moment, Rapp heard nothing. No water splashing, no "Tang tang!" from Mossy..not even the scent of tea that he drank this morning. "Mossy? Mossy? You ok?"

    Mossy suddenly blasted out of the weeds, vines spinning rapidly as two blue shapes started toward him. They were swimming pretty quickly, and one made a left turn, to hop onto the platform Rapp stood on. Upon its arrival, Rapp stepped back. It was kinda tall, with pointy protrusions on its cheeks. But its face was babylike, and that was all layered in a blue skin. It jumped up, as if rooting on the pursuing Pokemon against Mossy. "Hey Mossy! Try a Sleep Powder cloud"

    [Mossjito Lv18 vs 2 Marshtomps Lv 25]

    Rapp noted that this Marshtomp was being all sorts of noisy. It was still early morning, and that Uproar was sure to wake up something Rapp didn't want Mossy to meet. But Mossy seemed to have this under control, at least the evasion part. But the water was doing a number on Mossy's ability to shoot out any spores. He made a wide bank, and the swimming Marshtomp lunged out the water, smiling. One hand seemed to have mud all over it, and he slapped it right on Mossy, while slapping him underwater a bit. Mossy bobbed back up, and whizzed right to the platform, lurching out and onto it. Unexpectedly, a Luvdisc shot by, to avoid the battle happening near its resting spot.

    With the other Marshtomp making noise, Rapp was wincing. "Mossy, try to umm....oh I know! Poisonpowder cloud!" Mossy smirked and dove back in the water, the swimmer stomp following. That Marshtomp swam right into the Poison trail left behind by Mossy as it began its motorvines up again. That stopped the second Marshtomp, and he changed tactics. A chilling air began to fill the platform's atmosphere, and Rapp knew immediately what was going on.

    "Mossy! Body Slam that Stomp, and then Absorb this one over here!" Mossy heard him, but wasn't sure what he was thinking. But the swimmingstomp was not making it easy, going for a second slap of Mud. But Mossy switched the vines direction, and flung himself forward. He endured the Mud-Slap, and was able to bounce off of the Marshtomp. As the swimmer stopped and looked up at Mossy, an Ice Beam crashed into the back of his head. He turned toward his partner, who shrugged in an accidental manner. Rapp watched as Mossy splashed into the water, and sped toward the platform. A green aura took over the Marshtomp, and suddnely the Pokemon was on his knees. It seemed to hurt alot more than it expected, and he hissed in anguish. Tangela appreciated the hefty amount of health back and flopped back onto the platform, right before a coughing sputtering splashed into the platform. The swimmer stomp caught up to Tangela, but before he could react, Tangela flew into him with another Body Slam. That stomp falls back into the water, and Mossy now turns his focus onto the first stomp...whom was charging another Ice Beam.

    The icy blast struck Mossy, giving the Pokemon a severe loss of mobility. The water all over its vines began to freeze and soon Mossy found itself nothing more than a cube of ice! Mossy freaked, as the Marshtomp ran over and shoved him into the Pond. The second Marshtomp bobbed back up, still coughing,and climbed onto him. Since Mossjito could float, he used him as a viney raft, sailing in a half circle around the platform and Rapp. Rapp was freaked out for a moment, and then noticed that Mossy's still had a few unfrozen vines.

    "Mossy! We got one chance here. I'm going to need you to spin your vines to Constrict that Stomp, and then throw up a Sleep Powder!"

    Mossy felt the vines that were thawed from of ice, and stretched them around the Marshtomp's arm that was using him as a paddleboard. Weirded out, the Marshtomp tried to break free, swimming toward its partner. The landstomp reached out, and tried to pull his partner free of the vines, when a poof of spores clouded over them both! The landstomp backed up, coughing, while the right one fell over, onto Mossy. Mossy kept Constricting that one, and felt that his back vines were starting to move from thawing in this water.

    Rapp leaned over the platform edge, and pointed to that stomp. "Mossy-Absorb it until it drops. They're both asleep!" With actual physical contact possible with this stomp, Mossy didn't need to see where it was. He began the vampiric effect, draining a substantial amount of health off of this swimming beast. With poison still affected this one, the absorb drained the rest of the energy that Pokemon had, and left him a floating mass on the Pond.

    Still shivering, Mossy bobbed toward the platform, hitting it a few times in frustration. It took about 3 minutes before he thawed enough to pull himself up, but upon dragging himself out the water, Rapp was pointing to the still sleeping Marshtomp. "You gotta drain that one, buddy! Otherwise I'da picked you up by now." Mossy looked at Rapp with unforgiving eyes. This was NOT part of the plan. But, that was the rules. Still half frozen, Mossy picked himself up and started another Absorb. The Marshtomp rolled over, losing health rapidly. It still clung to its sleeping life, as Mossy felt hyper rejuvenated from that strike.

    Marshtomp grunted, and managed to open one eye as Mossy limps toward him. Ice started to slide off the vines, revealing that he was thawing from that ice strike. Realizing he had been asleep for a while, the swimmer Pokemon holds up one arm and fires off a blast of water to try and push Mossy back. Mossy smirks, and swats the water off of his face as the ice falls off in clumps. He swings out another set of vines, and wraps up his opponent in their grasp.

    "Ok, Body Slam, and that'll be that!"

    Mossy understood and instead of ramming his body into Marshtomp, let his vines snake forward and backward. The Stomp went flying, crashing into the water at a high speed. The impact knocked him out, and caused the body to skip into the other prone 'stomp. Mossy breathed a deep sigh of relief, before walking over to Rapp. Using the vines as a whip, he snaked them across his body, shattering the remainder of the ice on himself.

    "Nice! Wait, you must've finally learned Vine Whip! Great! That's really great Mossy!" Rapp clapped and picked up his tried and true fighter, removing and straggling pieces of frozen water. Mossy sighed, glad to take a breather. The pair took one last look at the Pond room, before Rapp leaned on the exit bar to open the door.

    "Hrm. What say you we warm up in the Jungle room, before we try that Blizzard room, eh?" Moss nodded, really liking that idea.

    [Mossy grew to LV22!
    Mossy learned Vine Whip!]


    ---

    The pair exited the Pond Room, and noted the hallway was brighter than before. A Trainer came down the stairs eagerly, but upon seeing them, stopped and stared.. "Wow, you two must be early birds. Sun just came up 5 minutes ago, but you two looked like you've been in there swimming for a while!!"

    "You could say that." Rapp laughed, and Mossy joined him in their morning chuckle, as they quickly climbed the stairs. Rapp grabbed the banister and used it to rope himself around the corner so he could throw himself down the hallway and dashed for the vine laden door that led to the Jungle room. With it being morning, there was a chance those damned Grovyles wouldn't be up yet."

    Pulling the door open, they were once again greeted by a warm jungle air. Knowing the lay of the and was an advantage this time, and Rapp looked around, remembering the last time they were in here. Mossy too, stared at the trees and the dirt they ran across, noting that they only went in one direction. West. Vines pointed east, and Rapp nodded. No need to go into danger! The pair started their trek into this half of the room as fearless and wondrous as their first entry, petting leaves and throwing dirt in the air as if it was snow. Unsure of the next battle it was going to be in, Mossy began rooting around, trying to find the best spots to Ingrain.

    It took a few moments, but he found a great mound of mulch. Running over to it, he jumped on top, and seemed to have found his version of heaven. It was soft, pliable and filled with Miracle-Gro! Vines were immediately stuck into it, and he began feeling the different types of rocks and foreign matter composed in this heap. Rapp stayed back a bit, slightly perturbed Mossy was wading through all that. Letting his Pokemon situate itself, Rapp once again went tree hugging. Thick trees. Skinny trees. Trees with thin leaves and massive leaves, he loved them all.

    When he made his rounds after a few minutes, he returned to where he left mossy, only to see that Mossy was not on top of the mound anymore. The mound was situated near a tree, and this tree was dripping a thick oozing substance from its bark. Sap. Rapp walked closer to the tree, avoiding the compost heap at all costs, when something murmured from inside the compost heap. A pair of spurs jutted out first, and they seemed to be coated in the waxy stuff. These spurs were then connected to a long ...proboscis of some sort, but it began to rub against the tree. Rapp saw no discernible eyes on this thing, and called out for Mossy.

    "Hey! Moss! Where'd you go?"

    He heard a murmur. From inside the heap. Rapp backed away, as the spurs on the long stick shot back inside the heap. Now he was freaked out. What if that horned thing was trying to eat Mossy? "I-I gotta go in! I gotta dive...into the compost heap...to get Mossy! Mossy means...means alot to me! Whoo ok. No Big. Here we GO!" Rapp sprinted for the heap and just when he was able to make a leap, Mossy rolled out of the heap, vines wrapped around something. Rapp immediately, caused himself to trip and crashed a foot away from the plant Pokemon, whom started to run!

    "Who hey where'--"

    Rapp's inquiry was cut short when a roar was heard from inside the heap, followed by the heap exploding as a Heracross burst out. Covered in compost makeup, Rapp quietly stared at the bug, whom seemed absolutely livid. The bug turned toward him, and growled, but Rapp pointed a finger to his right. Mossy was a few yards away, and making track, holding something in its vines. Turning back to look if the coast was clear, Mossy would be scooped up by the pursuing Pokemon's hands and flown into the sky.

    "I TOLD YOU. STOP STEALING! NOW YER GONNA HAFTA FIGHT TO KEEP WHATEVER THAT THI..." Rapp watches as Mossy seemed to throw a powder of sorts in Heracross's face as the bug tried to fly back toward the heap. This made the bug cough, but it also allowed Mossy to break free of his grip and now fall toward the ground. Those stronger vines now snaked out and whipped at tree branches, causing Mossy to control his falling descent, until he landed nest to Rapp, box in hand. He tossed it at Rapp, who instinctively caught it.

    "Oh eww Moss! It's covered in dung? What is it?" Realizing now was not the time to worry about that, he wiped it off, as Mossy jumped up and down, eager to learn what it was he pilfered as well. "Well, Mr-Thief-of-the-Woods, it says...TM..oh hey another one of those machines. This one is...hrm. Why would a Heracross want Shock Wave?" It didn't matter to Mossy why [it wanted it. It mattered that he learn it right now! He grabbed the electronic teaching device and managed too open it up. There was a screen showing how the move was to be taught to the Pokemon, but Mossy interpreted it quite quickly. Rapp watches as the light died out from the machine, and Heracross landed, looking quite sore about having lost his skill to this plant.

    [Mossy Learned Shock Wave via TM!
    Mossy Lv22 vs Heracross Lv25]

    "Well now. You better hope we can topple this guy. We were just coming in here for the Grovyles... but I guess he'll be a good warmup. Start with a Body Sla-" Rapp couldn't even finish his statement as the bug Pokemon ran up and punched Mossy in the face rather fast, That little grass type sailed back and into Rapp's gut, felling them both. It walked over, and Mossy was slow to get up. Rapp, taking a deep breath to avoid panting, quickly gave out a command.

    "I dunno what powder you did up there Mossy, but go for an Ingrain in that compost!" Mossy nodded, remembering why it was rummaging there in the first place. Running away from Heracross was a bad idea, as the bug simply parted the exoskeletal flaps on its back to reveal its wings and flew right after Mossy. Mossy turned around right as that horn speared the bush, and flung him upward...hard. Mossy crashed through trees and leaves alike, but Rapp was already tailing him, hoping to catch him before he got too bruised.

    The familiar hiss caught his ears, and Rapp noted a dark silhouette in the canopy, also watching where Mossy landed. "Oh crap! Mossy! We got company! Vine whip to safety and stay in the trees! I'll be up there soon!"

    The Heracross flew up to try and hear where Mossy landed, and managed too break through the canopy a bit. Rapp found a thick enough tree that had a bough he knew he could use as a starting point. He managed to jump up on it, and climb atop that bough, before running across it and jumping to another tree. Two silhouettes dashed past him in the trees, triangulating on a spot, where the bush may have landed.

    "Moss! Sleep Powder cloud if you can hear me!"

    --

    Mossy found himself spinning in the air hectically, and was unsure which was was up or down. That Heracross was pretty powerful! As flashes of green started to make themselves more apparent, Mossy extended vines all around and managed to create a web of vines that kept him from falling deeper into the treeline. This also had the side effect of making him an easy target for anything. When he felt comfortable, he retracted his vines except for a few on his lower left, the closest tree and branch he could stand on. Knowing he was hurt already from those two hits made Mossy realize this was not going to be a cake walk anymore.

    Not to mention the hissing sound he now heard not too far away. Those damn Grovyle's were back. Knowing Rapp would need time to get here, Mossy planted himself in the crux of that tree branch, and ingrained into it. The Heracross, luckily, came into Mossy's sights first, and he wanted to get that guy out of the way. So he threw a piece of bark at it. Hera felt the wood hit him in the head, and turned to spy his quarry right there, only a few feet away. Horn first, Hera went diving for the grasser. Reluctant to get stabbed by that horn again, Mossy channeled his energy in a more...explosive way. The energy changed from a soothing feeling to more independent, too independent. Erratic even. It surged forth in its own circular pattern, honing in on Heracross's impeding flight path.

    The bolts struck and slowed the bug down, forcing it to crash into the canopy. The hissing of the Grovyles soon followed that noise, giving Mossy a much needed break to rejuvenate. A rustling came from Mossy's left side now and he turned to see what this threat may be. That telltale horn gave it away too early, and Mossy crouched down, unsure how Heracross managed to fall to his east, but manage to get to the west side before the Grovyles. It didn't matter, as Heracross came bumbling up once more. Glaring at the plant, he made a motion to slash him out of the tree. The claws landed on Mossy's hide, but the Pokemon made sure his vines flipped onto Heracross, and seeded themselves in!

    That dark slash took off another hefty chunk, but now with Hera Leech Seeded, and poisoned, maybe he could make up the difference. Ingraining helped again, as goblets of pale green orbs floated over to Tangela, whom metastasized them readily enough. Heracross though, forced himself to land on the tree branch, giving Mossy something to worry about. Not because he was still trying to stall, but because Hera was looking down.

    Down at the pack of Grovyles below, whom all seemed to be waiting for a loser to this match. Hera then turned to Tangela and lowered his horn. Out of ideas Mossy just gripped the tree as tight as he could, as Hera shouted a battle cry.

    "Mossy! Release yourself and do a swinging Body Slam!"

    Mossy heard the words, but couldn't move for a moment. That horn got terribly close though and Mossy's vines seemed to melt out of the tree and allowed him to fall to the right. One Grovyle lunged just then as Hera 's attack barely missed Mossy. Mossy judged the distance as best he could and wrapped his vines around the tree branch. The Grovyle was used as s kicking point to further himself away from the tree branch, and Mossy jumped up, before puling himself back like a Yo-yo. Hera turned and received a Tangela to his gut, knocking them both to the west. Mossy released his vines from the branch and that allowed the pair of them to sail a good few feet, before Hera's back hit a branch, bouncing Mossy off and on his own flight path.

    Hera fell to the grassy floor, and Rapp was lunging right after, closely tailed by the Grovyle. But Mossy was ready this time and dove for Rapp. Hera recovered and swooped back into the sky, dead set on bringing Mossy down. His hands were tucked in, and he looked like a flying blue bullet to Mossy, but this plan was going to work.

    Hera attack connected, but so did Mossy's, a Sleep Powder Cloud that blanketed Hera, Rapp and the incoming Grovyles. Mossy bounced backwards from the collision of all 5 bodies, and landed in the heap. Hera kept flying up from his strike and crashed into a tree branch. This tree branch spun down and landed on the Grovyle's, pinning them there. Hera barely felt anything as his wings stopped and he fell back to the ground, bouncing once upon impact.

    Rapp tucked and rolled, managing to get the spores on his compost infested coat. Tearing it off to avoid the effects, he looked to Mossy, who looked like crap.

    "Ok. Ingrain now, and then Absorb! We gotta take advantage while he's down!"

    Mossy nodded and did just that, sucking back into the earth like a real bush. The Heracross stayed sound asleep, still afflicted by the poisoning. The Grovyles began calling for help, but Rapp began to edge toward Mossy. He once again began making a plan for a escape, should Mossy pull this off. Mossy was concentrating on nothing but Heracross now, Absorbing as best he could. It wasn't much, but it was enough to get himself back into meager shape. Hera stayed down long enough for 2 Absorbs.

    Mossy though, began to look winded. Rapp pondered how much Mossy could take, before Heracross was back up and bounded over. Its heavy hands started to furiously slash at Mossy, whom seemed relatively ok, as he was vine whipping back each blow. The two Pokemon kept this up for about 7 to 8 exchanges, before Mossy finally broke through with a Shock Wave in his parrying vines.

    The electric attack threw Heracross back, as he was not expecting a electrified vine to strike him. The bug got up to try another technique, but stumbled forward. His body was in shock from the poisoning finally, and Mossy finally seemed to be gaining the upper hand. Hera growled, and forced himself up once more, before throwing another speedy attack at Mossy! Damn this thing.

    A thud behind Rapp got his attention. The Grovyles managed to get the log off of them. "Mossy-End him now. Shock Wave, and let's go!" Mossy understood, and did just that. The close ranged Heracross was no match for the third Shockwave, and fell over in a defeated heap. As the Grovyles turned their attention to the tired but still viable Mossy, Rapp scooped him up and held him out. He also scooped up his coat and gave it to Mossy.

    "They get near us, shake my coat. It still has your sleep spores on it." The Grovyles stared Rapp down, and Rapp quietly counted three of them. He grunted, and sprinted for the nearest exit now. As he thought, the Grovyles gave chase. Mossy smirked this time as the Grovyles tried to attack from either side. He draped the coat over Rapp and himself and began to beat the spores out of it with his vines. The Spores flew out of the coat fibers, and would catch the Grovyle pack off guard, dropping them like flies.

    When the Grovyle threat was eliminated, Mossy hopped free of Rapp's arms and handed him his garment. Rapp took it back lightly, and smirked "Good job Mossy, with that Heracross. That was awesome!"

    [Mossy grew to lv24!]

    Rapp walked forward, managing the terrain ahead to make sure it was clear. In the distance, he could see the point from which they entered. Glad it was clear, Rapp called over to Mossjito, whom seemed to be playing with something. "Hey Mossy. Come on. Let's get you fixed up and showered!"

    Mossy nodded and took one more gaze at the wild jungle room. Then he looked down, and rummaged in his vines. Out was pulled a leaf-like feather. A Grovyle feather. Stuffing it back in his vines, he ran after his trainer-eager to get out of here with his treasure from before. Rapp didn't really need to know, right?
    Last edited by DarkestLight; 12th February 2011 at 04:58 PM.

    i Judge your entertainment!
    Entertaining quotes!
    From textsfromlastnight.com:

    (518): I legitimately just tried to piss above my head. I got to my chest at highest. There's piss everywhere.

    (801): I can't help but be optimistic. I'm like a ball of slutty sunshine.




  3. #563
    Dragon Tamer Administrator
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    Oct 2000
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    Default Re: ¤Game¤ Dragon Tamers Battle Range v.23 {MA Pidgeot}

    Amy gets 10 stamps for her battle. By the way, the phrase "the Kadabra teleported right beside me and slashed out with his right hand the claws slicing through the collar like it was butter" only makes sense if you put a comma after the word "hand". ¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢

    DL, do you want your battle rated now, or should we wait until you've edited it?

    Here goes my first installment (out of 5, I suppose) for the Training Grounds scenario.


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

    <Gabi's POV>

    Days passed and things slowly began to return to normal; which in my case meant piles of work and running from one place to another and arranging things for both the Dragon Tamers and the Dragon's Guild. It would take time for everyone to recover from Yssera's attacks, but I was delighted to see the smiles on everyone's faces when they realized the threat was gone and the brainwashing was only a sad memory. Some of us even started to make jokes about how we'd managed to free the lands from the fearsome chaotic neutral dragon. But those jokes only served to remind me that a bigger threat was still on the loose. We'd had very little news of the Black Dragon since the incident at Templa Taure, yet I knew he was a threat not to be ignored, and Bo's recent possession was proof that he was still out there somewhere and that he hadn't forgotten about us. We'd have to find him somehow, but where could we start looking? And what could have possibly been keeping him occupied for so long? Not to mention the scariest question: what were we supposed to do once we found him? I wished I had the answers to all those questions. For the time being, all I could do was try to gather information subtly, hoping that he wouldn't catch on. And then, among those contemplations, I had an idea.

    A small but fruitful meeting was called. Shonta, Jeff and myself managed to lay out the plans for an event that would not only help lift up everyone's mood, but would also, with any luck, allow us to gather some valuable information. That meant we had more work than usual ahead of us, but it was mostly work that had been done before and it could certainly be done. After a long time, Ulthuan would finally see a new Pokemon Battling Tournament: the 2nd Dragon Games. I offered myself to be the judge, since I'd had plenty of time to rest since the Unicorn Games and was ready for another go at it. Jeff and Shonta helped set things up; Shonta had a cool idea for what we could use as prizes, and Jeff had a great idea about the kind of stadium we could use for the tournament. It took me a day of searching our files before I remembered the old Yvresse Training Grounds and realized they were exactly what we needed. They'd have to be reconditioned and transported, but with the Guild's resources it would be done in a matter of weeks. And, fortunately, at least 2 of the Guild's divisions supported us in this endeavor.

    Speaking of the Dragon's Guild, I got a memo from Lady Ninetales telling me to meet Lord Umbreon's new replacement Lord Porygon and reopen registration for the Pokémon Research and Training Department. I was intrigued by this, but there wasn't much I could do about it other than follow her directions. I did ask if anything had happened to Ade, and was somewhat relieved to hear that he had simply resigned so that he could travel freely with Soo and their gang. I knew I would miss them, especially when the time came to face the Black Dragon, but it was good to know that they were fine. I was even allowed to see his resignation note when I asked for it, as he had left instructions to show it to anyone who requested it. Still, I wished they'd come to see me or at least called me before they left, and I hoped I'd get to meet them all in person again someday. And that they wouldn't do anything too risky while they were away. Then, with that question out of the way, I began to wonder who his replacement might be. And then I met him... and I had to agree with Lady Ninetales's choice. Jeff had been working hard for the Guild for years and really deserved the promotion. Besides, he and I were good at working together, so if anything the new situation was bound to make my job easier. It's great to receive good news!

    During our next meeting we congratulated Jeff on his promotion and discussed several things that needed to be done, including the search for the still missing Flame - which, following Amy's request, was left to the police -, the new threat of the Snag Machines, and the weird anonymous e-mails we'd all been receiving about adulterated Dubious Discs. We also talked about the upcoming tournament and continued the preparations. I began to look forward to my chance to tackle the Training Grounds again.

    I still had a lot of work to do, though. Jeff and I gathered as much information about the Guild as we could to present it to any possible newcomers, and while he wrote the opening speech I checked the map and the archives for any places where the Black Dragon might have been hiding. The good news was that, from our past experiences, it was practically certain that he's be targeting some old, sacred site. So that only limited our search to... about a hundred places in Ulthuan. Living in a land with such a rich history had its disadvantages. I tried to narrow down the options and decided we should start with the sites whose historical and mystical importance was most widely known (Gaen Vale and the Towers of Saphery, perhaps even the Gates), and then the sites in which he'd shown an interest before (Templa Taure and White Mountain). That would force us to search 4 different provinces, but I couldn't think of any better alternatives, nor could I be sure that we'd find him or even hear about him in any of those places. Still, we had to do something.

    I was checking the Guild's library for any clues I might be missing - not an easy task at all - when Golden Growlithe walked in and greeted me.

    "Oh, hi," I said, turning to face him and suddenly noticing the pale look on his face. "Are you OK? What happened?"
    "Is it that obvious that something happened?"
    "I'd say so. You look terrible! What's wrong?"
    "No, please, don't be afraid. I'm sure everything will be alright, it's just..."
    I fixed my eyes on him, urging him to continue.
    "Lord Absol has talked to me again."

    I didn't know whether to feel relieved or scared. In all my years in the Guild I'd never been able to figure out Lord Absol's intentions and motives, and he still sent a chill up my spine whenever I saw him or heard of him. And I'd never had an interview with him. I could understand Eshree being terrified of having his attention, but he was supposed to be more or less on our side, wasn't he? At least as long as we didn't get in the way of whatever schemes he had. Was that why he'd talked to Eshree twice? Was he somehow interfering with something?

    "What did he talk to you about?" I asked my friend.
    "Well... I think he'd expected me to leave after Yssera was defeated. He asked me why I was still here. When I told him I wanted to help you guys he made a gesture that could have been either a chuckle or a frown and asked me if I thought I could do anything against the Black Dragon. At that point I started feeling that I'd been really stupid and couldn't really do anything, but I told him I had to try because... Well, because other trainers like me would have to face him and none of us had enough power on our own, but maybe together we could come up with something. And then..."
    "And then what?"
    "Then he laughed. He really laughed. It lasted only for a second, but it was so weird! Then he said I had good entertainment value or something like that, told me to be careful and not to go where I wasn't welcome, whatever that means, I'm still trying to figure it out. And then he called Glyph to his office... no, I don't think it was his office, it was an office."
    "What did he want with Glyph?"
    "I'm not sure. Glyph looked worried when he came out and didn't say much, just that he didn't like the guy and he'd have to be careful not to attract his attention again. Then he decided to go home and get some rest. I'm worried, I'd never seen him like that. He was always so confident! Whenever we had a problem he always had an answer or a way to look for one."
    "No one can be strong all the time."
    "I know. I'll talk to him when I get home, try to find out what the problem is and help him sort it out. That's something I know how to do, even if he realized I was good at it before I did."
    "Really?"
    "Yes. He's special. I know that word can mean many things, but what I mean is... I don't know where I'd be if it weren't for him. He helped my team come together and helped me realize my potential as a trainer."
    "Then this may be your chance to repay him. I wouldn't worry so much, though. You know the name of Lord Absol's department, right?"
    "Tactical Neutralization Unit. The name itself sounds terrible."
    "It does and it probably is, but Glyph is still in one piece, which means Lord Absol doesn't consider him a threat worth neutralizing. He must have given him a warning at most, or maybe he just asked him questions to find out who he was and what he wanted."
    "Like he did to me the first time? Makes sense. But why now, and why him in particular?"
    "I don't know why now, maybe Glyph knows. But I can take a guess at why him. If he's the one who brought your team together and, from what I've seen, everyone in your team looks up to him, including yourself... it's no wonder he'd want to get to know him better."
    "I hope you're right and that's all there is to it."
    "I'm sure that's it. It's not like Glyph could ever become a threat to Ulthuan, so I'm sure he has nothing to fear from Lord Absol's unit."
    "Probably... but he still makes you feel like you have everything to fear from him."
    "He does. It's weird, isn't it? You know they say he's an elf and he's been around since before the Sundering."
    "Really?... It makes sense now that you mention it. That means he's had a lot of time to learn how to scare the hell out of people."

    We both chuckled at that remark, and that served to lighten the mood.

    "OK, thanks for your kind words," he said. "On a lighter note, are you going to the Training Grounds?"
    "I seriously hope so," I told him. "Work keeps piling up, but I won't let it stop me from attending. My team deserves a chance to participate in battles that aren't life-threatening."
    "Well, I really hope you do, because I got permission to join the training staff and Orknye's itching for a rematch against Iael at the Blizzard Room."
    "The Blizzard Room! Wow, that brings back memories. That's where we first met, wasn't it?"
    "It was where we first battled. We met here at the Dragon's Guild not long before."
    "Oh, sorry. Still, if I recall correctly, Iael didn't have a good time battling Orknye back then."
    "I know and I'm very sorry about that. Orknye was just getting used to the local battling system, plus he didn't know about Iael's issues. He's promised to stick to official moves this time. No Hidden Power abuse and no dream walking either. I assure you he's really got the hang of Pokemon battling. It'll be a clean match."
    "OK... I'll have to ask Iael, but knowing him I think he will accept. I've noticed all of you have got the hang of the way things work around here."
    "We had to. We've been here for 6 and a half years."
    "Has it really been that long?! Wow, I can't believe it! Where has all the time gone?"
    "You're starting to talk like an old lady, no offense meant."
    "Offense taken, but I'll let it slide this time," I glared at him and then grinned. "So, will you be spending all your time at the Blizzard Room?"
    "Of course not! I can't stand the cold for that long! I'll go there every now and then to battle with Orknye and Linyi, and since Lavy will be in the Pond Room I'll go and see how she's doing from time to time."
    "Linyi's going to battle?"
    "Yes, even though she ages more slowly than the average Smoochum, I think she's old enough to start training more seriously. She's already had a few battles and she's been enjoying it so far."
    "That's good to hear. I hope she has a good time at the Blizzard Room. She's an Ice type, so she should be comfortable there."
    "I'm sure she will. She's been doing great these days. No more nightmares or silent weeping, no more asking when we'll get back home... I'm starting to fear that she might be reluctant to leave when we finally do go back."
    "She can always come to visit, right?"
    "You're underestimating the effort it takes, but I believe she can."
    "I'm sorry, I wasn't implying it was easy. But it's possible. I've made the trip a few times myself, even though I really don't know how I did it."
    "Yeah, you should try to learn more about your abilities. You have so much unused potential!"
    "Did Glyph tell you that?"
    "I don't need Glyph to notice."

    For a moment I was unsettled by his smile. Then I remembered that he was about 5 years younger than me and as geographically inconvenient as was possible. Then I thought that neither of those things really meant much, and I finally thought that it was really stupid to have any of those thoughts in the first place and that I was getting a wrong impression as usual. The whole progression took about 2 seconds, which was also the time it took for Eshree's smile to fade away. I wondered if I'd ever be able to sort out my emotional life but, as usual, other things took precedence.

    "Any ideas on how we can find the Black Dragon?" I switched to the subject I'd been working on before he came.
    "What? Oh, nothing yet, sorry. But if anyone mentions anything relevant I'll let you know. Now I need to go talk to Lady Bellsprout about our work in progress. If everything goes well, Amber may be allowed to sign her name on next year's report."
    "Oh! I didn't know what you were working on. Is it some kind of Pokemon rights project?"
    "Sort of. We're trying to make people aware of the part Pokemon play in the regular Guild activities so that their work can be officially recognized. I know others have tried and failed, but I think now's a good moment to make a more serious attempt. And, come to think of it, now that Lord Absol has called Glyph for an interview I don't think he can object."
    "He could argue that Glyph isn't really a Pokemon."
    "He wouldn't... Would he?"
    "I hope not, but try not to mention Lord Absol in your report. Getting involved with him is asking for trouble."
    "I know that, I'm not insane! The best I can hope for is that he doesn't show any interest in my work. But personal issues aside, I think he must agree that Pokemon aren't being given the recognition they deserve here."
    "I know I agree. If you need any words from me, just let me know. Your project has my full support."
    "Thanks. Now I really need to go. See you later, either here or at the Training Grounds."

    <Glyph's POV>

    I felt drained. I collapsed on my pillow as soon as I got home and didn't get back up until the rest of my team came in. Eshree was very nice to me. He told the others to give us some space and kneeled over to ask me what had happened and how I was feeling. I told him the truth: Lord Absol and I hadn't really talked much, but his piercing gaze hadn't left me until the end of the interview. He had the typical unanswerable questions: who I was and what I wanted; I hadn't been able to do much with those. But he'd also wanted to know about my actions on White Mountain and my part in defeating Yssera, and I'd told him everything, hoping to get the interview over with as soon as possible. I was angry at myself for getting so nervous in front of him, but I'd never been interrogated like that before. I guess no one can keep his cool all the time. In the end he'd let me go saying he'd be watching me, which didn't man much since I knew he'd been watching me all along. But he knew I wasn't going to turn evil or go on a rampage, and that was what mattered. If he tried to measure my power, he couldn't have found out much since my greatest powers had always been my instinct, my observation skills and my eagerness to learn as much as possible. And sure, I could travel between planes, but I wasn't the first one and probably wouldn't be the last one to do that. Other than that, for all practical purposes I was just a regular Espeon. Which is saying something, since Espeons have some cool powers, but they're well known and officially accepted, so I didn't have to worry about getting in trouble for using them.

    I felt much better after a friendly talk and a bowl of warm milk. I joined the others in their preparations for the Training Grounds, as well as in their excitement, even though I wouldn't be battling. Only Orknye, Lavy and Linyi had made it to the Training Grounds Pokemon List, but I didn't mind being left out. If anything, it gave me a chance to explore the area around the Dragon Gate and learn interesting things. And who knew? I might even learn something useful about the Black Dragon.

    <Iael's POV>

    It took us a ridiculous amount of time to get on the road. It had been a long time since I'd had a real battle and I couldn't wait to reach the Training Grounds. The only one who was somewhat reluctant to leave was Lagi, who was hoping to receive a letter from her daughter Eddie now that all of Yssera's victims had been released from her hold. But Gabi and Amber assured her that they'd be checking their e-mails while in Avelorn and that Edie was unlikely to write a letter on paper and, even if she did, such letters could take about a month to arrive. She didn't want to think of the possibility of Edie not writing to tell her where she was and how she was doing, but I could think of many reasons why she might be unable or even unwilling to write. They all boiled down to painful memories, either hers or her trainer's. Those nasty things are really hard to deal with. A proof of that is that I barely remember the trip to Avelorn: I was that shocked by the landscape that greeted us when we arrived. It was beautiful, I must admit it. Words like "lush", "rich" and "verdant" come to mind when trying to describe it. But with them came a word with a double edge: homely. I knew it was my mind playing tricks on me; the forest in Avelorn didn't even have the same kinds of plants as the one in Caledor. But it was so beautiful and so full of life... I couldn't help being reminded of my old home. Then the touch of Lagi's hand on my back reminded me that I had a new family, but I was starting to fear that I might never stop missing the old one. Many years had passed and I'd moved on, but my old wounds had never fully healed. They'd been taken from me so suddenly, so unfairly... and the culprit was still missing. Now there were even doubts about his identity! And the whole of Ulthuan was still having to deal with constant threats. Nothing had changed. I wondered if my heart would ever be at peace.

    I tried to shake the negative thoughts away and focus on the battle ahead. I had accepted Orknye's challenge, which meant I'd be battling in the Blizzard Room. We had a long discussion to decide who else would be battling and where, and then there was a ridiculous argument about the order in which we'd visit each room, with a stupid final result which had us going back and forth between the two towers without staying in the same one for two rooms in a row. But that was the only decision that seemed to please everyone, so who was I to complain? I was surprised to hear Ventura didn't want to battle, but she said her time in Avelorn would be put to better use if she went out to gather information with Amber. So they both left equipped with a pack of raspberry granola bars, promising to return at dusk with a report of their findings. I'd always been puzzled by Amber's taste for granola bars, but she seems to love every assorted mix of either sweet or savory ingredients. Herbal teas, soups, stews, granola... anything goes.

    As we reached the West tower, I was finally starting to feel the excitement. The grey stone walls had the marks left by centuries of battles, and the moss brought by the relative peace the land currently enjoyed. We were welcomed by a guy whose gaze reminded me of a Hoothoot. He bowed to Gabi after checking her ID, which must have made her a bit uncomfortable because she stood there frozen for a couple of seconds before thanking him and walking in with the rest of us. It had been decided that Caledor and I would be the first to battle, so we climb up the long stairway to the top of the West Tower. Gabi put on the coat she had brought for the occasion and Caledor began to glow red. I wasn't sure whether that helped him warm up or not, but I doubted I'd get a serious answer if I asked him. Gabi offered me my Deflection Coat, but it would have to be tied around my neck which meant I couldn't keep my Collar, and the latter was more useful for battling. Especially since I knew in advance that my opponent would be male. I'd just have to put up with the cold like I'd done before. My fur provided decent isolation anyway, at least from the wind and the dry cold, and I was confident about being able to shut the cold away from my mind during my battle.

    And so, we walked into the room: Lagi, Pidgeot, Sylvan and Water Angel in their pokeballs, the terrible trio and myself walking by Gabi's side. A gust of sharp coldness hit my face as Gabi opened the door, but I'd been ready for it. I watched every step carefully to avoid any soft spots that could send my legs sinking into the snow. There seemed to be a lot more of it than I remembered from the previous Training Grounds. There were few pokemon in sight and I couldn't see any trainers, but the air wasn't clear enough to see far away. After walking a few steps into the room, you could get the impression of standing on an endless icy plain. It was shocking to think that this environment had been constructed within a warm forested area. The thought was invigorating: if we could do something like that, we might be able to deal with anything life threw at us.

    A few steps further in, a blurry white shape appeared in front of us. It stood there for a moment and then began to circle around my team.

    "Are you looking for a battle?"

    The voice was high-pitched, yet sweet and alluring.

    "We're waiting for someone," I replied.
    "Oh, really?" the figure became clearer and finally revealed her lady-like features and her big, yellow and blue eyes. "That's too bad. I've been here for over an hour and I still haven't found anyone I can challenge."
    "Hey, wait," Caledor told me. "You're waiting for someone. I'm free game. We agreed I'd battle here too, remember?"
    "Oh, really?" a smile formed on the Ghost Pokemon's face.
    "Of course! It wouldn't be right to let a pretty girl suffer."
    "How would Kiara feel if she heard that?" Tsunami remarked.
    "Hey, I'm showing her kindness, not flirting!" Caledor complained. "We're going to have a battle. Aren't we, miss...?"
    "Légèreté. But you can call me Lightness, that's the English translation."
    "I think I will," said Caledor. "I don't know how to begin to pronounce your name, I'm sorry."
    "It's OK, it happens a lot. That's why I give everyone the choice."
    "I guess not everyone can be blessed with an easy name like me. I'm Caledor, like the province... and like the old warrior, and also like a Jolteon who's been missing for years but I came before him. Come to think of it, having an unusual name may have its advantages. At least you know others won't be copying it."
    "It's not so unusual, it's a French word. But I'm pleased to meet you, Caledor. Before we battle, may I ask you two questions?"
    "Sure, shoot!"
    "First of all... do you know what kind of Pokemon I am?"
    "Um... Let me see... You're one of those that came from abroad and evolved with one of those weird stones, aren't you? Ice/Ghost type?"
    "That's right. I'm a Froslass. That's not a problem, is it?"
    "I don't mind if you don't. If it's because of the type thing, don't worry. I'm not afraid of ghosts."
    The Froslass giggled. "OK, then. My second question is... What's that red glow around you?"
    "I think that was the third question," Tsunami commented, but Caledor ignored him.
    "This? It's mostly a light show. But who knows? Maybe if I glow bright enough I'll stop feeling the cold."
    "So you can just... glow like that?"
    "Yeah, pretty much. Cool, isn't it? It's not the only thing I can do, but you'll have to wait until our battle to learn more."
    "Sounds fair. Off we go, then. Follow me to a spot where the ground is more even and we'll begin our battle."

    Level 57 Espeon vs. Level 62 Froslass

    Légèreté guided Caledor to the battling spot and stood facing him, smiling and generally looking cute. It made Caledor smile, until he seemed to remember he was supposed to be battling her and used his Hidden Power. Four rocks unburied themselves from beneath the snow and shot themselves at the Froslass.

    "Oh, I see... That's why you weren't afraid of battling me!" Légèreté concluded.
    "If that's what you want to believe," Caledor grinned.

    He seemed confident, but I felt something was off. She'd been hit by a Rock type Hidden Power, but she didn't seem to have taken much damage.

    "Don't grow overconfident," Hero warned him. He'd probably noticed the same thing.
    "You don't have to tell me that," Caledor replied. "You know how I battle."
    "Well, I have a feeling that she may be smarter than your average opponent."
    "Thanks for the compliment," Légèreté winked at Hero before splitting into 3 different figures.
    "See?" Hero told Caledor. "Oldest trick in the book, but it can give you trouble if you don't focus. You know how I battle, so you should know how to deal with this."
    "Yes, Hero, I know how to battle, thank you very much," Caledor groaned, shooting another volley of rocks at... the wrong figure.

    Hero could be quite obnoxious sometimes, but when it came to Pokemon battles it paid to listen to him. The Froslass had managed to switch places with one of her clones while Caledor was distracted talking back to him. Now he had to pay for it by suffering the pain carried by her Ominous Wind.

    "OK, I'm not opening my mouth anymore," Hero decided. "It's your battle. You figure it out."

    Caledor must have realized it wouldn't be an easy battle, because he decided to start hitting harder. The light around him grew in intensity while he waited for the wind to subside, and then he shot a powerful Flamethrower in the direction the wind had come from. Or, at least, that seemed to be his intention. The fire hit its target, and some parts of her dress got scorched, but once more, she didn't seem as affected by it as she should have been.

    "Oh!" she exclaimed. "So that's what the glow was really for!"
    "Are you surprised?" Caledor asked her.
    "A little bit. Have I managed to surprise you yet?"
    "A little bit. What's that thing hanging from your bell? I think I've seen something like that at the Reward Center."
    "Oh, this? It's a Spirit Guard."
    "Oh... Oh! That would explain it."
    "Does it?" The Froslass giggled. "I guess you'll have to wait and see."
    "I don't think so. You're trying to play my game and I'm not going to let you. After this is over we can have a fun talk and share tricks and stuff, but now... fair is fair. You're using an item so I'll use one too."

    Caledor threw his die into the air in his opponent's direction. When it landed, a yellow light emerged from the symbol on its top face and wrapped itself around the Froslass, binding her. Caledor shot another Flamethrower, which hit its mark full on. Légèreté coughed a couple of times before attempting to move again, and managed to react just in time to avoid a third burst of flame.

    "Something still isn't right," Gabi commented. "The Spirit Guard can increase her endurance, but not that much. He's using super effective moves and they're having too little effect on her."
    "Do you want me to tell you why or do you want to figure it out on your own?" Hero asked her.
    "You mean you know the reason?"
    "Of course. I've been watching the battle since the beginning. Something you and Caledor should have done too. Not that there's much he can do to overcome it. The poor guy's blessed with suck and that girl's found a way to exploit his weak point. There are only two ways he can turn the tables, and he may not even think of them."
    "Hero, I thought you said you wouldn't open your mouth again?" said Caledor. "I can still hear you!"
    "Well, then you'd better listen! If you don't know her strengths, then at least know your own weaknesses. Why is it that you can't hurt her?"
    "It's because..." Caledor looked at Légèreté, who was having trouble launching an attack. "It's because something's making me pull back every time I try. It's like something inside me doesn't want to shoot powerful attacks."
    "Oh, no, I get it now!" said Gabi. "She used Captivate right at the beginning of the battle. Caledor, you have to... Wait, no, Fire Fang isn't strong enough."
    "Bingo!" exclaimed Hero. "Caledor has a huge arsenal of special attacks, but no powerful physical attacks. We need to find a way to fix that when we get home."
    "Is this a battle or a conference?" Légèreté interrupted them, finally able to move and conjure up a Hail storm. Her figure became blurry again.

    Everyone other than Caledor was forced to step back in order to avoid getting hit. Caledor couldn't help it, however, and an egg-sized block of ice landed on his back.

    "Now she's made a mistake," Hero commented. "She's forcing his paw and the result won't be good for her."
    "I know, I know, you don't have to spell it out for me!" Caledor shouted. "I was going to do it anyway."
    "Sorry, I didn't know you could hear me through the hailstorm! It seems those big ears of yours aren't just decoration."
    "I'll get back at you, Hero! Mark my words! But first... let there be light!"

    I couldn't help but chuckle when the artificial clouds opened at Caledor's command. I don't really know where the light came from, but it engulfed both my friend and his opponent. Even the wind stopped and the temperature seemed to rise a little bit, even though it was still cold.

    "Can the cheerleaders please stop the noise?" Légèreté requested. "We're trying to battle here."
    Hero gave her a puzzled look. "I'd never been called that before."
    "She's right!" beamed Caledor. "How didn't I notice? You're perfect cheerleader material! You even have 7 pompoms built in!"
    "Remember what happened to all the other Pokemon who made fun of my tails?"
    "Oh, but they didn't do it the way I did! I'm praising them! Now start shaking them and get working on your verses. You have the equipment, now you just need the right attitude."

    A new gust of Ominous Wind was directed towards Caledor, but it turned away just before it hit him.

    "And that is how I battle!" Caledor grinned. "It's fun to have a playmate to play the Surprise game, but the magic Espeon will always have the ultimate surprise."
    "All that self-patting just for using Detect at the right time?" Hero remarked.
    "He must have learnt it from you," Tsunami laughed.

    Caledor released another Flamethrower, which turned out to be a lot more effective than the previous ones. A yelp escaped Légèreté's mouth.

    "I don't like the way... this is going," she said, shaking her head and preparing another attack.

    Unfortunately for Caledor, the wavy, dark purple beam went straight into his head. Hero said he'd use Imprison if he were to battle the Froslass, but it was a moot point since he wasn't going to battle her. Caledor lowered his head and began to tumble. His light changed from red to yellow.

    "What does he think he's doing?!" Hero cried out in frustration.
    "I think I know," Tsunami chuckled while he took cover behind the Ninetales. "Whatever works for him, as long as I'm not the one who gets hit by it."
    "Huh?" Hero and Légèreté said almost in unison.

    Caledor released a weak lightning bolt... against himself! He winced for a moment and sparkled a bit before his head perked up, bearing a wide grin.

    "Worked like a charm... for the second time!" he beamed.
    "Oh, right! Snap! Zap!" Hero shook his head in a reproving gesture. "It's stupid and can only ever make sense in Caledor logic."
    "As I said, whatever works for him," Tsunami commented. "Caledor logic seems to work for Caledor. It does make some sense, though. Even if it started out as a mistake, he remembered he'd been able to 'zap' out of confusion once before, so he tried it again."
    "I think it was sheer luck that it worked both times," Hero remarked.
    "Do not disparage the Caledor logic!" exclaimed the 'magic' Espeon who had now stopped glowing.

    Caledor crouched and assumed the pose of a feline ready to jump at its prey. Légèreté, no longer calm and collected, braced herself for an attack that never came. Instead, he let the light from his Sunny Day heal him. Légèreté gave him an angry look and hid herself behind a new hailstorm. Caledor used Sunny Day again.

    "We could do this all day," he said.
    "OK, then let's go for a neutral weather," the Froslass proposed, gathering clouds above the two fighters.

    The cold of the Blizzard Room turned the rain into some kind of slush. It was quite annoying to everyone except the Froslass.

    "How is that neutral weather?" Caledor complained.
    "It is in Légèreté logic," his opponent grinned.
    "Caledor, I think you've found your match!" Tsunami exclaimed.
    "I must admit this is kind of fun," the Espeon said, shooting a new set of rocks at the Froslass.
    "It's only fun until someone gets hurt!" Légèreté countered the attack with an Ominous Wind.
    "They say that then it's hilarious, but I don't subscribe to that school of thought."

    As he spoke, Caledor began to glow yellow again. A powerful Thunder tore the clouds and landed right on... Légèreté's protective barrier.

    "Then why did you try to do that?" she asked him.
    "Because battles are for training, not just for the laughs. Let me try again."

    Légèreté was unable to Protect herself again. Caledor's Thunder hit her, but it didn't seem to do much damage.

    "That was it?" asked the Froslass, floating towards Caledor. "I shouldn't have tried to protect myself from an attack like that."
    "Yeah, it was a bit anticlimactic, wasn't it?" the Espeon admitted. "I expected more too. But well, there you go."

    He closed his eyes and began to glow purple... medium purple to be precise. Even the gem on his head turned that color for a moment, during which his whole body had a single color. Légèreté tried to avoid any upcoming attacks by summoning Hail again.

    Caledor opened his eyes and healed himself again, even though it wasn't as effective without the extra light from Sunny Day. Légèreté used Ominous Wind again which, combined with the Hail, caused Caledor quite a lot of pain. But that didn't stop him. He used his Hidden Power again, and hit a the Double Team clone that was still lingering in the battlefield. He realized the real Froslass was lying on the snow, trying to go unnoticed. Unfortunately for her, paralysis took over when she tried to get up, giving Caledor another chance to hit her, this time with better results.

    "You win this match," said Légèreté as she started to fade away. "We'll play again some other time."

    With that, she disappeared.


    Caledor grew to level 58!

    "Yay!" Caledor cheered. "I won! I won the most ridiculously long friendly battle ever!"
    "I doubt that's a world record," said Tsunami. "I wouldn't be surprised if two young Magikarps had tried to battle at some point."
    "You're just jealous because my battle was longer than your battles!"
    "No one likes a battle that's that long," Hero assured.
    "And you're upset because you thought I didn't know how to win this match and I did."
    "You almost didn't. If she'd been able to land another Ominous Wind, the result would have been different."

    The bickering continued for a while, reminding me of why we called them the terrible trio. I stopped paying attention as soon as I heard steps behind me. I turned to look and saw that Eshree and Orknye were approaching us.

    "That was an interesting battle," Eshree said. "I watched it from a cabin. I didn't want to interrupt. But you should have sent me a message to tell me you were coming. The man at the entrance told me you were here when I came back from my lunch."
    "Oh, sorry," Gabi apologized. "I don't know why I thought I could just find you here like last time."
    "Last time it just happened to be my turn when you came in. I told you I wouldn't be here all the time. But that's OK, we're all here now. Iael, Orknye, are you ready?"
    "As ready as I'm going to be," I told him.
    "I'm ready," said Orknye.
    "OK, then. Let's make room for the battlers."

    Before we began, I quickly reviewed what I knew about Orknye's battling style. I remembered he had a transparent collar, and I noticed he was still wearing. That wouldn't be much of a problem, since its effect would be neutralized as soon as I stood face to face with him. I'd have to watch out for his Psychic type Hidden Power even though he'd promise not to abuse it. His strange dream walking ability was off limits, but it still wouldn't be a good idea to put him to sleep. He could rest to heal himself, though, which meant I'd have to use strategy. And he knew Disable and Body Slam but wasn't very fast on land... I reckoned I had a decent chance if I played my cards right.

    Level 47 Stantler vs. Level 49 Dewgong

    I took my place on the arena and fixed a serious stare at my opponent. Even though he was a friend, I wasn't going to go easy on him. I started off with a Sand-Attack which, due to lack of sand, ended up being a snow attack. It still did the job, since the snow got into his eyes. That didn't stop him from using Icy Wind, though. That was a smart move, he managed to slow me down and get two hits in one after the other. The second was a much more powerful Ice Beam. I reckoned he'd probably learnt the latter sometime after our first battle, or else he would have used it before. I had no time to waste. I had 3 moves that had decent effectiveness against a Dewgong. I decided to use Earthquake first, half-expecting him to disable it. I looked out of the corner of my eyes to make sure everyone else was out of range as I performed the move. Orknye was caught by the shockwave, but didn't react the way I had expected. Instead, the snow around him began to melt and rise, surrounding him in a circle of water before bathing him and healing his wounds.

    "You love healing, don't you?" I told him.
    "So would you if you could," he replied.

    His response let me know that I wasn't the only one who had done his homework. It made sense. I was battling a Pokemon who had spent weeks watching Yssera. He wouldn't have survived if he hadn't known what he was doing. Which reminded me of a couple of things.

    "OK, just a moment," I began. "If you don't mind me asking, why exactly did you disappear from White Mountain? What did Yssera do to you?"
    "Huh?"

    My questions startled him, and allowed me to use Calm Mind without him noticing as he thought of an answer.

    "She sent me back home," he finally said. "I lowered my guard for a moment and she took advantage of that. Why are you bringing that up now? If you want to talk, we can do it later. You're wasting your time and I'm healing as we speak. That's not like you, so I can only assume you have a hidden trick. Just remember which team is the best at confusion tactics."
    "Your team's only the best at saying things that make no sense to those who don't know you well enough. I know your background now. I even know what you really are. You mentioned it during our first battle. I looked it up. I figured it must be really cool to be able to shapeshift into two different forms to suit your needs. Too bad you can't do it here."
    "You're right, my land form would be much faster and more agile here. But I wouldn't be able to do this."

    He shot another Ice Beam which just barely missed me. I went for a Headbutt, still expecting him to use Rest at some point. And then he used Disable. I used Earthquake again. At that rate I was going to win soon, he was making things too easy. Far too easy. I knew that, and that's why I wasn't surprised at all when his muscles relaxed and his eyes assumed the vacant look I'd been expecting for so long. He had used Rest and restored his health completely, but I was prepared to bring him down after he woke up. I used Sand-Attack and then Calm Mind again.

    "What are you doing?" asked Orknye.

    It was odd, I could have sworn he was still asleep. He should have been. I knew about the move Sleep Talk, but this didn't look like it. Then again, this was Orknye who, from what I knew, was weird even by alien Selkie standards. Sleep didn't mean the same thing for him as it meant for others. He used another Ice Beam before he woke up, but luckily for me it didn't hurt much. I took a gamble: I used Thunderbolt and hoped he wouldn't be able to hit me again. It worked, but not the way I'd expected. I was hoping his next attack would miss, but he ended up getting paralyzed. I wouldn't let my luck go to waste, though. I shot another Thunderbolt before he could react, and neither Rest nor Aqua Ring were able to take the victory away from me.


    I grew to level 48!

    "Good battle," said Eshree as he recalled Orknye into his pokeball.
    "Yes," Gabi agreed. "Much better than the previous one. But for a moment it looked like they were both trying to battle like each other."
    "That happens sometimes when you battle your friends," I commented. "He'll be fine, right? I remembered he was OK with my using Thunderbolt, but I hope I haven't overdone it."
    "He'll be OK," Eshree assured. "He's quite resilient. If he could maintain his concentration until the end and read all his opponent's moves, we'd be winning almost every battle. But I think that may be too much to ask. He's a wanderer at heart. And now we need to go to the Pokemon Center. Are you guys done in this room?"
    "Definitely," I said without a second thought, the pain and the cold beginning to catch up with me now that I was no longer in battle mode.
    "Don't we need to eat too?" Tsunami reminded us. "After the Pokemon Center, of course. We only had a mid-morning snack on the train today."
    "Of course," Gabi agreed.
    "I can't eat a full meal before my battle," Hero remarked.
    "Don't worry, we'll make sure to save you something for later," Tsunami grinned.
    "I don't like that smile. I'll pick my own meal, thank you very much."

    And so they continued with their usual background noise as we made our way to the Pokemon Center. I kept thinking of my battle, and wishing I could get a healing move for any future battles with higher stakes.
    Last edited by Lady Vulpix; 10th February 2011 at 08:23 PM.

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  4. #564
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    Default Re: ¤Game¤ Dragon Tamers Battle Range v.23 {MA Pidgeot}

    No I'm editing it tonight (right now actually), and now it's going to be massively longer! So prolly later in the evening it'll be done.

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

    Gabi: Let's take it bit by bit.
    - I do miss Ade and Soo. Ah well, such is the way life goes.
    - Golden Growlithe makes me quite glad I've never had to have any encounters with Lord Absol.
    - Incidentally, the thought of Lord Absol laughing is somewhat unnerving.
    - Just to throw this out there, some more dialogue tags would help a touch in following your dialogue.
    - What's Lady Bellsprout in charge of?
    - Maybe if Lagi doesn't hear much from her daughter for a while, maybe a note from her great-grandson (do I have that right? Is Kurtzwick that far down?) once in a while would help.
    - You tagged Caledor as a Flareon in the battler opener.
    - The Froslass was smart! Captivate was a clever move. I do like how nobody caught onto it for a while.
    - ...Cheerleader Hero. Cannot unsee.
    - No kidding that was a long battle.
    - Ah, healing moves. Even Iael finds them annoying. XD
    - I like Iael's tactic of keeping the foe from moving with questions.

    All in all, a good read. P: Nice to see battles that don't have the fate of the world balanced on them. XD

    I'll say... 19 stamps? It's been a while; man, I feel rusty. XD;
    Quote Originally Posted by Heald View Post
    Maybe he figured he 'sold out' when he accepted a modding position and hanged himself. At least, that's what I would do.

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

    XD I can't believe I typed "Flareon" instead of "Espeon". It must have been because he was glowing bright red.

    Your "cannot unsee" comment has really made me laugh out loud.

    Glenda a.k.a. Lady Bellsprout is currently in charge of the Philosophy branch of our department, so technically she's one of our subordinates.

    I'm glad you liked Iael's tactics. He really takes battles seriously. And thanks for your comments regarding Légèreté. She was fun to write about, even if it turned quite annoying halfway through the battle because she had so many HP!

    I think the only way not to find healing moves annoying is by being the one who's using them.

    I'm sure Lagi would appreciate a note from Kurtzwick, especially if it's not written on stolen paper.

    And I definitely agree that not having to save the world with every battle is a nice change of pace.

    As for Lord Absol... I think my job is done. I do feel sorry for Eshree for having attracted his attention twice in 6 years.

    Thanks for the comments and the stamps!

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

    Edited finally x_X. Whew.

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

    Comments for entry 3 part 2 and entry X:

    X=4?

    So Rapp and Mossjito are the dynamic duo? I thought that name was already taken.

    I loved the part when Rapp was listening to all the sounds or lack thereof and then suddenly realized that something was going on after the review.

    I think "grass shoot" is a funny nickname for Mossy. And I liked how you used the word "ambrosia" as a metaphor for tea. I like your writing style in general.

    What happened to the punctuation marks in this part?

    "Loves the stuff. I kid you not,. Let him have some." Not one to denounce a Trainer's knowledge of their own partners (no matter how klutzy they may be," she reached for a cup.
    On the other hand, your tenses were much better this time. There were only a few slips.

    Using the frozen Mossy as a paddleboard was creative, albeit rude.

    Spelling/grammar notes: "corssed" should be "crossed", "heam" should be "heap", "managed too" should be "managed to", you've used "whom" instead of "who" a couple of times, and the phrase "it was only when a passing Finneon broke the surface could they see the surface of the water" makes more sense without the "it was".

    I think the Luvdisc learned something today: a battle arena is not a good place to sleep. Funny touch, though.

    What does "the lay of the and" mean?

    You can throw dirst in the air as if it was snow... but can you throw snow in the air as if it was dirt? Just a little note, if Rapp does come from Avelorn (I'm not sure if that's what you meant before) he may not be too familiar with snow (I mean, not familiar enough to be reminded of it by things that aren't cold and white). Unless he's also spent a long time living in a colder area.

    When people talk about tree huggers they don't usually mean it literally. XD It was funny to picture Rapp hugging all those trees.

    What did you mean by "go for an Ingrain that that compost"?

    Was Hera the Heracross's name or just a nickname you came up with?

    Nice way of getting rid of the Grovyles without having to fight them. And nice twist at the end. No wonder they were angry.

    Take 31 stamps!
    ¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢
    Last edited by Lady Vulpix; 11th February 2011 at 03:46 PM.

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

    Gabi:

    I was too tired to look up the numbers when I finished it, but yes X=4

    No, I just quickly thought up that metaphor for those two lol.

    As for that sentence, I'm gonna edit that- that's a crazy mix-up. Thank you for noticing my tenses got better. I did re look over each paragraph, to try and change everything to past tense, but I'm sure I still missed a bunch.

    "lay of the and" is a typo for "lay of the land"

    --You can throw dirst in the air as if it was snow... but can you throw snow in the air as if it was dirt? Just a little note, if Rapp does come from Avelorn (I'm not sure if that's what you meant before) he may not be too familiar with snow (I mean, not familiar enough to be reminded of it by things that aren't cold and white). Unless he's also spent a long time living in a colder area.--Explain this please? I'm not sure what you are referring to?

    Yeah I knew that was going to be funny, to make him an actual tree hugger. It fits his quiet demeanor though.

    again, typo where I type the same word twice. "that that" should be "in that"

    Anytime I write a battle, I usually truncate the Pokemon's name when using it, just to facilitate my speed in writing.


    Whoo payday! 31 Stamps! Woot!

    Edit-Ima quickly go back and edit those mistakes I catch and that you caught, so yeah.

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

    It doesn't really matter. I was just pointing out that it doesn't snow in Avelorn. I live in a place where it doesn't snow and, while I've seen and touched snow before (I was 12 the first time), it's not something I normally think about. When you said something about throwing dirt in the end like it was snow my first two thought were: 1. What does snow look like when thrown into the air? Like dirt? And 2. Are Rapp and Mossjito so familiar with snow that they'd be reminded of it by the act of throwing dirt into the air?

    I hope that was clearer.

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

    Ohhhh. Prolly should have never used that metaphor. They would have seen snow on mountaintops....but that's it.

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

    Here's a random thing I wrote to set up some later plot stuff. Cheers!

    A Fresh Start
    ---
    “…We only have one more item of business to bring up before adjourning this meeting. As some of you may recall, we have been discussing the idea of building a base of our department in Chrace. It’s recently become apparent that only having one official base makes things inconvenient when we need to arrange things on the other side of the continent, as I’m sure those of us organizing the Dragon Games can attest to.”

    “Well, actually, I—”

    “Those of us who don’t have a teleporting Pokémon, I should say, Lord Porygon. Thank you. Unofficially, a base in Chrace would help us in keeping an eye on Nagarythe. It’s been quiet there since the Dark Cloak, but you never know. Plus, Chrace isn’t as far from the Gates or the Shrine of Khaine. When it all comes down to it, it seems that expanding to Chrace would give us the best coverage of the continent.”

    A general murmur of agreement rippled through the conference room.

    “With that said, I’d like to formally recognize Lady Lapras, who has volunteered to be our official envoy to Tor Achare in Chrace to get the formation and construction of our new branch underway.”

    It took a few moments before that sentence sunk into Sydney Cross’ mind. Her head snapped up. “Me? I didn’t volunteer—”

    “Allow me to finish, Lady Lapras. You volunteered two meetings ago by proxy. You were asleep, I believe, and your immediate superior suggested that you be the one to take this responsibility.”

    Sydney looked to her left and glared at Lord Persian, who merely smiled in his peculiar, self-satisfied way in return.

    “And so, here we are. We’re ready to get this going.”

    “But wait!” Sydney focused back on the speaker. “I’m just- I just handle paperwork! And even then it’s only the financial paperwork that Lord Persian doesn’t have time for! I don’t know anything about… any of that!”

    “Then I strongly urge you to learn, and quickly. Meeting adjourned.”

    As people streamed out of the conference room, Sydney quietly mumbled, “But I don’t even have any Pokémon…”

    ---

    “Why did you volunteer me, sir?” Sydney asked. It was about an hour past the meeting, and Sydney and Lord Persian had both returned to the finances office.

    Lord Persian (he tended to use his codename wherever possible as opposed to his real name; Sydney theorized that his real name must have been horribly embarrassing) took a sip of coffee casually. He did everything casually. His clothes were perpetually ruffled, his hair tended to be mussed, and he walked with the sort of stride that said “I don’t care one whit about what anyone says.” The worst part of it, Sydney had decided, was that he still managed to both look incredibly good and lead any group like it was second nature. Someone had beaten Lord Persian with the charisma stick and stopped way after he said “when.”

    He gave a half-smile. “Seeing the world would be good for you, Sydney. You’ve never even left Sector Alpha, have you?”

    “And this makes me good for a mission traveling halfway around the country to build a base all by myself?”

    Another sip of coffee. “No, it doesn’t. In fact, ordinarily, it would all but disqualify you from the running.”

    Sydney frowned. “So what’s the difference this time around?”

    “I think you’ll be better at it than you think. By the way,” he said, before Sydney could get a word in edgewise, “Lord Porygon mentioned something about wanting to see you. He should be over in the labs. Get going, and after you’ve met with him, get started on the accounts payable.”

    “But—”

    “Ah! Nope, get going.”

    Sydney sighed, slumped over, and left the office.

    ---

    Jeff returned his team to their Pokéballs as soon as a knock came on the door. “Come in,” he called, and Sydney walked in. He knew it was her because, of course, he asked her to stop by, but even if he hadn’t, he would have recognized her from the meeting. Sydney, he noticed, tended to blend into the background, as if she didn’t want people to notice her. She dressed in drab, earthy colors, she kept her hair short (but not too short), and she had a somewhat overwhelmed look on her face (though, Jeff figured, that was to be expected).

    “Lord Porygon?” she said, the look on her face silently adding, “really?”

    “Please, it’s just Jeff,” Jeff said. He was going to have to get used to everyone calling him by his code name now. It was still slightly unnerving. “Look, you’re the one they picked to go to Tor Achare, right? Have they given you any help yet?”

    “A train ticket, an apartment, and the address of a correspondent,” Sydney said flatly.

    Jeff winced. “So, they got you started, at least. You don’t even have any Pokémon, right?”

    Sydney shook her head.

    “Look, I’ve been talking to my team, and some of them have told me that they’d love to see Chrace. Would you like to take some of them along? They’re quite well-behaved, and a few of them will likely be helpful in getting things established there.”

    Her expression told Jeff all he needed to know.

    “All right, good, then. Let me introduce you…”

    ---

    The department had been good enough to give her a week to pack and say her goodbyes before the date on her ticket. Not that Sydney had many people to say her goodbyes to. Not too long after she had landed a job at the Guild, her parents – her only family – had moved to Yvresse. Sydney had decided to stay in what she considered her city. Not that it mattered much now, she reflected. Here she was, moving anyway. She hoped that this job wouldn’t keep her away for too long. She hadn’t even left Sector Alpha yet and she was already feeling homesick.

    The train pulled into the station. Sydney loaded her suitcases on, then fingered her belt, making sure that all seven Pokéballs were there. Lord Porygon had been kind enough to send half of his team with her to make sure she got settled in all right. She had had a whirlwind round of introductions, but all she remembered from it were which Pokémon were going with her. Stepping inside the train car and taking her seat, she screwed her eyes shut, calling up the memory.

    Let’s see… There was the Castform, Previsiona… the Snorlax, Bobbery… the Metang, Trezzatura… the Gastly, Bow… the Mr. Mime, Mercandos… the Sudowoodo, Groove Guy, and the Smeargle, Mona. That sounds about right.

    Sydney would be spending the next several hours on the train. She unzipped one of her bags and pulled out a book. Before she had even cracked the cover, though, a knock rang out on the door to her compartment. “…Yes?”

    The door opened. A youngish-looking teenaged boy stood there. “I saw you come in! You have Pokéballs! You must be a trainer!”

    “Well, actually, I—”

    “Let’s have a battle! Right now!”

    “Er, wait, I—”

    “Come on, Victreebel!” The boy tossed a Pokéball to the ground. Sydney paled as a slavering pitcher plant, taller than she was, filled the room. It squealed, for no readily apparent reason.

    Sydney took a step backwards, then began fumbling with her belt. Hell! Hell hell hell! Which one of these Pokéballs was which?! What do I use to keep that thing from killing me?! She pulled a ball off at random and threw it; when it opened, it revealed a small cloud-looking thing. Previsiona, a voice at the back of Sydney’s mind said. The Victreebel screeched again, and Previsiona visibly recoiled.

    Battle! Previsiona versus Victreebel!
    Previsiona: “Castform! Cast cast!”
    Victreebel: “Viiiiiiic!”


    Jeff had very thoughtfully included a notebook with the Pokéballs that listed each of the Pokémon’s vital statistics. Sydney flipped through it, looking frantically for Previsiona’s page. Just as she found it, though, the Victreebel spun its vine in a circle, then flung it forward; the leaf on the end was pointed straight at Previsiona. She dodged to the side as it darted at her once, but the second time, she wasn’t so lucky: the leaf made a quick slash across her, leaving a bright red line across Previsiona’s face.

    Previsiona opened her mouth and looked to be charging some sort of fire attack in it when Sydney broke in. “Um… Previsiona! This attack looks good – use Thunder!”

    The Ember died in Previsiona’s throat as she winced. She closed her eyes and began to spark; before long, a giant bolt of lightning arced from her to her foe. The Victreebel took the hit, and aside from a faint smell of cooking vegetables, it seemed to have no real effect.

    Sydney moaned. “Why didn’t that do anything?”

    “Have you never fought Pokémon before?” the kid asked, his eyes widening. “What electric attack’s gonna work on a Grass Pokémon?” He shook his head. “Ah well, easy battle for me, then! Victreebel, Leaf Tornado!”

    Victreebel began spinning on the spot, and Sydney shared a glance with Previsiona. It was short-lived, though, as leaves began to form a vortex surrounding the Victreebel, and as it spun faster and faster, the leaves flew through the air and caught Previsiona, sucking her into the spiral as well. She spun through the tornado and eventually got ejected at the top, slamming into the car’s roof. Previsiona slowly fell back to the ground, her eyes shut.

    “Um… Try a Body Slam?” Sydney said hesitantly.

    The boy shook his head. “What kind of trainer are you? Your Castform’s obviously out of commission. There’s a Pokémon Center two cars down. Take it there.” He held up his Pokéball, and the Victreebel disappeared, leaving flecks of saliva on the floor. Stowing the ball, he left the compartment.

    Sydney stared at the fallen Previsiona for a moment, groaned, then mimicked the boy and recalled Previsiona.

    Battle over! Previsiona loses!

    ---

    The rest of the train ride was blessedly uneventful. The Pokémon Center had been more than happy to heal up Previsiona, but the nurse was quick to caution Sydney against sending her Pokémon against others that were so much stronger. Sydney smiled, nodded, and retreated to her compartment.

    Once the train stopped, though, and Sydney found herself and all her luggage on the platform, she had to admit, maybe it wouldn’t be so bad. Tor Achare was certainly picturesque if nothing else. Lots of rocky cliffs and mountains, but also some very heavily wooded areas, and the grassland parts between the rocks were quite a vivid green. Tor Achare itself seemed pretty bustling too. It didn’t have a patch on Sector Alpha, but there were people milling about. As she looked around at the architecture, Sydney guessed that Tor Achare used to be a military town – many of the buildings still looked like forts, even if the signs on them proclaimed them to be office buildings or restaurants. She couldn’t see that far, but from the map she had, Sydney also knew that if she went far enough north, she’d hit the beach. Not that she’d want to at that point, to be fair; the temperature was mild, but the wind had a chill to it. She huddled her coat around herself and returned her attention to the train station.

    There was a taxi idling in front of the station. A gruff-looking man with more facial hair than face was leaning on the hood, holding a sign that said “Sydney” but only after “Sidney” and “Sydny” were crossed out.

    Sydney dragged her bags over to the car. “Are you waiting on me?”

    “Depends,” the man said in a thick, nearly-impenetrable accent. “Are you Cross?”

    She nodded.

    “Then get in. I am supposed to drive you to your apartment.”

    ---

    The man had very helpfully helped her unload her suitcases onto the sidewalk in front of her apartment building. According to the memo that Lord Persian had given her, her apartment was on the sixth floor. She looked helplessly at the stack of suitcases beside her, then back at the note, where, in Lord Persian’s scratchy handwriting, a P.S. was scrawled at the bottom: “The building doesn’t have an elevator. Sorry!” She put the note back in her travel bag with the rest of the care package Lord Persian had prepared for her: an assortment of various old Pokémon medicine, a few spare Pokéballs that looked dinged up and dented, some travel food, the map of the city, and a list of phone numbers. She dragged the suitcases inside and looked around. The staircase was every bit as tall as she expected.

    Then an idea occurred to her.

    Sydney opened the Pokéballs on her belt until she found the one with the Metang in it. “Trezzatura,” she asked, noting that the Metang seemed slightly nervous for some reason, “can you help me get these upstairs?”

    A look of sharp relief flooded Trezzatura’s face. “Met metang,” he said, and grabbed a suitcase in each claw. Sydney took the last one, and they slowly walked up the stairs.

    Her apartment was small, but it was furnished at least, something for which Sydney had to give Lord Persian credit for. When he realized that the Guild was getting ready to send his subordinate off into another province without even providing housing, he set up Sydney in an apartment on his own, muttering something about how they probably expected him to do it anyway. He had even managed to get Sydney a discount on rent. Sydney recalled this, and smiled. Sometimes Lord Persian, fickle as he could be, came through.

    She unpacked. Even though it was an apartment provinces away from the home she had left, just getting some of her belongings out into the open helped it feel a bit more like home.

    The last thing Sydney unpacked was her backpack. She left the Pokémon items in the bag, but she pulled out the list Lord Persian had left for her. She ran down the numbers and addresses: police, hospital, library, landlord…

    Ah. There it was. “Miro Milic: Guild contact. Will be expecting you to visit when your train comes in.” She blinked. She hadn’t read that part before. Whoops.

    Without any fanfare, Sydney tore out of the building.

    ---

    “So you’re Cross!” Miro said. He was a tall, pale, skinny man, to the point of bringing up visions of skeletons. Or, given that he had a widow’s peak and wore black and red, vampires. Thankfully, he had not insisted in meeting Sydney in any tall, ominous castles, but instead in his tastefully decorated home office. It was crowded with memorabilia and souvenirs from every province in the country, and the parts that weren’t filled with that were filled with miscellaneous paperwork or, in one corner, a TV and a computer. Wide windows let Sydney look out from Miro’s house on top of a hill over the city. It glittered in the sunlight.

    “Yes, sir. I’m supposed to come see you about establishing a Dragon’s Guild branch office here.”

    Miro nodded. “Oh my, yes! Your Lord Persian kept me well informed. I must say, not everyone in Tor Achare is quite pleased about the idea. Some think that they’ve done well enough without some of your offices around. We’ve got a large number of people here who relocated from Tor Syle, for example.”

    “Tor Syle…” Sydney frowned. “Isn’t that down in Eataine? Why’d they move all the way up here?”

    “After the Team Rocket strikes on the city, many people moved away. I suppose some people tried to get as far away as they could. Do you know anything else about Tor Syle?”

    Sydney thought for a second, and shook her head.

    “There were two towns attacked by Team Rocket. One was Tor Syle, one was Selenia. The Dragon Tamers defended Selenia, but not Tor Syle.”

    Sydney’s face fell. “…Oh. So they’re holding a grudge.”

    “In one.”

    “But hold on, that was the Dragon Tamers. I’m here as a representative of the Guild. We’re not the same.”

    “I’m sorry to say it, honey,” Miro said, shrugging, “but where you know that, and I know that, most people who aren’t located in Caledor see one face for the two organizations. And, if I’m not mistaken, several of your higher ups are part of the Tamers as well.”

    “Only two,” Sydney said weakly.

    “Hey, you don’t need to defend it to me. I love the Tamers and the Guild. I wouldn’t be your contact otherwise. But I’m not done with the bad news.”

    “Oh.”

    “The Tor Syle contingent here is putting up a fuss over you being allowed to start building a base. I think they’re being irrational – hey, the Tamers did what they could, right? – but that’s people for you.”

    Sydney groaned. “So there’s resistance.”

    “Hold on there,” Miro said with a wave of his hand. “I haven’t gotten to the bad news yet.” He picked up a remote and turned on the television. Coincidentally, it happened to be tuned to a news broadcast.

    “—and that’s how the Minun managed to finally, after five years, find its Plusle.” The news anchor laughed in an annoyingly perky way. “On a more serious note, Piers Lagrange, mayor of Tor Achare and native of Tor Syle, released a public statement today that he will do everything in his power to block the construction of the Caledor-based Dragon’s Guild proposed branch office. Mr. Lagrange went on to say that the Dragon’s Guild was a ‘bunch of over-reaching meddlers who just want their fingers in every province possible.’”

    Miro shut off the TV and watched passively as Sydney collapsed into a chair. “You’ve got a rough job ahead of you, honey,” he said matter-of-factly. “But that’s what your Lord Persian called me for. If you need anything, I know where to find it.” He crossed his arms behind his back and looked out of the windows. “Go back to your apartment for now. Get some sleep. And tomorrow, familiarize yourself with the city. Day after that, we can start officially working.”

    Sydney nodded. Lord Persian certainly had outdone himself.

    ---

    Miro’s house hadn’t been too far from her apartment, and Sydney walked back, savoring the crisp breeze. On the way back, she passed plenty of chic-looking restaurants, the library that Lord Persian had told her about, and even a department store that advertised ‘For the trainers and non! Wide selection of clothes, and don’t miss our Pokémon counter!’ She mentally marked the place down to later buy some clothes more appropriate for the climate. It wasn’t until she got back to the apartment, though, that something else caught her attention.

    A garbage can had spilled over in the alley by the building, and what looked like a living garbage bag was staring at it. It turned when it heard Sydney’s footsteps and focused its large eyes and slightly mournful expression on her.

    “…What?” she said. Sydney had seen more than a few Pokémon before – working in the Guild exposed her to quite a collection – but this one was new.

    It took a step closer to her.

    “A battle? Are you trying to battle me?” Sydney asked, raising her eyebrow. “Fine…” She pulled a ball at random from her belt and threw it down. Mercandos sprung forth.

    Battle! Mercandos versus the garbage-like Pokémon!
    Mercandos: “Mime-MIME!”
    ???: “Trub…”


    “Mercandos,” she said, pulling out the notebook of attacks, “try, uh… Tickle.”

    Mercandos looked at his opponent, then looked at Sydney with the clearest “Oh, hell no” look she had ever seen.

    “Oookay… well, how about… um… Confusion? That sounds good.”

    This time, Mercandos nodded. With a quiet “Miiiiime…” he waved his hands in a circle and glowed a faint blue. The opponent glowed a similar color and began to struggle, but Mercandos sent a barely-visible pulse through the air, knocking the Pokémon prone. With a cry of “Ubbish!” the Pokémon fell back, looking on the edge of collapsing.

    Sydney fished around in her bag. “Now… I’m supposed to capture Pokémon when they’re low on health… that’s what Lord Persian said.” She grabbed the less dinged-up of the two Pokéballs and threw it at the Pokémon. It hit, and shook three times quickly before falling still.

    Hesitantly, Sydney recalled Mercandos and picked up the Pokéball. “I guess that means I train you now,” she said quietly. “But what are you? I guess I can call you… hm… Ridder sounds like a good name. I’ll call you that for now.” The Pokéball shook gently in response.

    Battle over! Sydney has caught Ridder, a mysterious Pokémon!

    With a sigh, Sydney notched the Pokéball in her belt and went upstairs. She tossed her bag to the floor and collapsed on the bed. She was asleep before she even hit the pillow.
    Last edited by The Blue Avenger; 14th February 2011 at 05:17 AM.
    Quote Originally Posted by Heald View Post
    Maybe he figured he 'sold out' when he accepted a modding position and hanged himself. At least, that's what I would do.

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

    Jeff: I've read your story and I must say it's quite interesting and unusual, but I haven't felt well enough to rate it today (I think the cause was the combination of summer heat with RPG-induced sleep deprivation and pineapple pizza). I'll try again tomorrow, sorry.
    Last edited by Lady Vulpix; 13th February 2011 at 07:54 PM.

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

    That's fine. Hope you feel better soon.
    Quote Originally Posted by Heald View Post
    Maybe he figured he 'sold out' when he accepted a modding position and hanged himself. At least, that's what I would do.

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

    OK, here I am as promised. Sorry for the delay.

    I feel sorry for Sydney. She seems nice, but it's like she was thrown right into the deep, cold water without having learnt to swim first. And on top of that her first battling experience had to be with some crazy trainer who attacked her for no reason other than he wanted to battle.

    Lord Persian seems to be an interesting character too.

    It was interesting to see you write things from her perspective, especially the parts where your Pokemon were involved, even though it was strange to see them go with her. I feel sorry for them too.

    You can add your description of Tor Achlare to the Information Center. I liked it.

    The sign that said Sidney and then Sydny before Sydney reminded me of the many times people have spent my last name wrong (and occasionally even my first name).

    I liked Trezzatura's reaction when Sydney released him to help her with her luggage. And Merc's when she told him to use Tickle on the Trubbish (if I got that correctly).

    I'm sorry tohear we have such a bad reputation in Tor Achlare. And I guess it wouldn't help if they knew that half the founders of the Dragon Tamers came from the Dragon's Guild. But we did in fact do what we could. Things just don't always turn out the way we wish they would.

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

    In order:
    Yeah, Sydney sort of got the shaft in regards to assignments. I suppose this is why you don't fall asleep in Guild meetings! And the trainer she faced was my take on the trainers of the games, who would ambush you if they saw you.

    I am enjoying Lord Persian's character far more than I expected when I started the story. XD

    I think my team will probably warm up to the area soon enough. It's not like Maza can't teleport any or all of them around at a moment's notice, once he's been there in the first place.

    I was trying very hard with the reactions and the expressions of the Pokemon in this story, since I couldn't rely on their dialogue to convey their thoughts. Glad to hear they came across. XD And yeah, it was a Trubbish. P:

    And yes, I figured one town would dislike us. And of course with Sydney's luck that would be the town she was sent to. I'll admit, I was seriously hoping the explanation was plausible, but it sounds like it, so awesome. Just another challenge for Sydney to take. XD
    Quote Originally Posted by Heald View Post
    Maybe he figured he 'sold out' when he accepted a modding position and hanged himself. At least, that's what I would do.

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

    Quote Originally Posted by Hypotenuse Man View Post
    And the trainer she faced was my take on the trainers of the games, who would ambush you if they saw you.
    It's funnier now that you mention that, but in the games people have no peripheral vision, mobsters will desist from their goals and tell you all their secrets if you beat them in a Pokemon battle, and 10-year-olds go out to explore the world on their own, just to name a few examples of why the games shouldn't be taken too seriously. Of course, you know that already.

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

    Here is the first of my battles for the training grounds. I bought Sinopa the Body Slam TM.

    (Sinopa’s POV)


    Once I had been healed, Darin and I went off in search of Amy. It didn’t take us long to find her. She was talking with Blazer and Kovu about the plans to go back home. As we sat there waiting for our turn to talk to her, Darin and I learned that we were leaving in the morning.

    When they were done talking with Amy, they excused themselves. On his way out, Blazer paused and leaned down to give me a nuzzle. I glanced over at Darin and he nodded letting me know that he’d tell Amy. He took a deep breath and waited until the others were out of earshot before approaching her.


    “Is everything okay?”


    “Not exactly,” I answered.


    “What’s going on?”


    Darin and I quickly told her what we had discovered and she said that when she saw Tom again she’d try to find out just what was going on. Darin and I exchanged a look at that. We both had noticed that she had said when not if.


    (Darin’s POV)

    The train ride back home was a completely different compared to the one that we had arrived on. Everyone was relaxed and they were enjoying themselves. That made the trip so much more enjoyable in the long run.

    Upon arriving home, Ebony reported to us that she had battled one of Tom’s pokemon not long after we had left, but afterwards things had been fairly quiet. Even Sugar had been behaving herself. Unfortunately, we also learned that Flame still hadn’t returned home.

    So, Amy set about making missing posters as the case had been sent to the police. As the days turned into weeks, she didn’t give up home. None of us did. Shortly after we had returned home, Talut had started to go out every morning to see if he could spot him but so far he hadn’t found a thing.


    (Blazer’s POV)

    When Talut returned from his search, he still hadn’t found any sign of Flame but he had mentioned that he did spot Dodger. According to Talut, he was doing well.

    “Maybe he can help keep an eye out for him.” I mentioned.


    “That’s what I thought so I asked him if he would.”


    “What did he say?”


    “Dodger said that it was no problem and that he’d be happy to keep an eye out for him.


    “That’s good,”
    Amy said as she walked in followed by Kiara, Kovu, and Sugar.

    “What’s going on?”


    “I just heard that the training grounds were opening up.”


    My ears perked up at that. The training grounds usually opened up when there was a tournament in the works. I noticed that Kiara and Kovu were nodding along at that a well.

    Amy took a deep breath before letting it out slowly.
    “I talked with Yana and it was okay with her, but I wanted your opinions on this as well.

    ”What is it?”

    I thought that it would be a good change to train some of the younger members of the team, excluding Danny and Rick.”
    Amy hastily added the last part when Sugar began sparking, but once she heard Amy’s words the jolteon relaxed. “If any of you want to battle just let me know and I’ll work it into the plans once I figure out who’s battling in each room.”

    “That’s fine with me,” I assured Amy as Kiara and Kovu nodded in agreement as well.


    “If there is going to be a tournament, do you have any idea who you will be entering?”


    “I haven’t decided yet. Most likely, I’ll just do like I did last time or use an electronic randomizer because every one of you deserves the chance.”


    We nodded, watching as Amy stood up to go and tell the rest of the team about her plans before she went upstairs to pack.


    (Sinopa’s POV)

    That night, I was so excited that I couldn’t sleep. I was a litter nervous because now I was no longer able to fit in Amy’s arms and the thought of being confined in a pokeball was enough to make me want to run in the opposite direction and find a place to hide.


    “I’m sure that Amy has an idea on what to do so don’t worry,”
    Yana said as she nuzzled me after I must have woken her up for the third time.

    The houndoom was right Amy did have a plan. Talut had volunteered to carry me in his arms while Amy rode on his back. I heard her tell him to stop and rest if he needed it as often as he needed to.


    “If I need to I will, but I don’t think I’ll have to. With all the airtime I’ve been making lately I should be okay.”


    Amy nodded as she looked around as the team starting to gather around her. She already had two pokeballs on her belt. The eevee pups were nestled inside and had gone in without a fuss. I shivered as I thought about tiny space.
    “Is everyone ready to leave?”

    There were a chorus of “Yes” and she smiled at the reaction. Then one by one she recalled the rest of the team starting with Blazer and ending with Ebony.

    I watched as Amy climbed up on the dragonite’s back and wrapped her arms around his neck. Once she was situated, he began to beat his wings until he was hovering in the air above me and that was when he picked me up. I made it a point to be as still as possible since I didn’t want to be dropped on accident. I smiled amazed as I watched the beauty of the ground from above as we traveled.

    I must have dozed off at some point because the next thing I knew I when I opened my eyes, Talut was slowly descending in front of the hotel.

    When Talut set me down on the ground, I gave myself a full body shake as Amy released the others. Once she had gotten the key to her room, we followed her to the elevator.

    Once we had settled in our room, Amy looked over the information that she had on the training grounds trying to plan who was battling and when. While she was doing that, I padded over to the window and looked out. A short time later, I heard the chair scoot backwards before Amy approached me.

    I blinked in surprise when she did that because I figured that I would have been one of the last to battle if I did get the opportunity. She gave me a new TM, Body Slam, before motioning for Darin to join us as well.


    “How do the two of you feel about battling in the Lava Room?”


    I glanced over at Darin since I knew that Amy was pretty much asking him but trying not to make it obvious.


    “I’m sure that I can handle it,”
    he told her.

    She nodded at that.
    “Do the two of you want to tackle it now or would you rather wait until the morning?”

    “Now,” we answered in unison.


    “Okay.”


    Darin and I followed her out of the hotel. We paused outside of the East Tower. Upon entering, Amy showed her ID and I couldn’t help but notice that after he checked it he was staring at me. I blinked, trying not to let it get to me as we headed for the stairwell.

    “Up or down?” I asked glancing over at Amy.


    “Downstairs. The Lava Room is located in the basement.”


    “That makes sense.”
    Darin agreed.

    “Why do you say that?” I asked curiously.


    “On the odd change that there was a leak, I wouldn’t want to be in the room underneath the Lava or the Pond room.”


    “There aren’t any leaks.”


    “I’m just saying…”


    I chuckled as we made our way down the stairs, but I had to agree with Darin. As we neared the basement, I could feel the temperature increasing. Amy took a deep breath before pushing the door open, only letting it close once we were all inside. Afterwards, she took a sip of water out of the jug that she had brought with her.

    Out of the corner of my eye I saw that Darin’s paws were transparent. He saw me stop and looked down at his feet to see what it was that I was looking at.
    “I wish I had better control over it,” he admitted. “But my hidden power hasn’t failed me yet when I really needed it.”

    “We have company.”
    Amy mentioned suddenly.

    I looked up to see a pair of ninetales approaching us. One was shiny, her fur a beautiful silver color, and the other was normal colored.

    “Are the two of you looking for a battle?” The normal colored one asked.


    “We are,”
    Darin confirmed.

    “Good, so are we. I’m Bella and this is my sister Jenna.” She said nodding at her partner the shiny ninetales.

    “I’m Sinopa and this is Darin.”

    “Nice to meet you,” they said before adopting battle stances and Darin and I did as well.

    Sinopa L.18 F Ninetales with Rainbow Topknot and Crystal Blue Eyes & Darin L.18 M Espeon Vs. Bella L.25 F Ninetales and Jenna L.25 F Shiny Ninetales

    Jenna took up position in front of me and Bella in front of Darin before they exchanged looks and gave a nod to each other. I glanced over at Darin who just shrugged. When I looked back over at our opponents, they were glowing purple and I noticed that we were as well. The next thing I knew, Bella was sent hurtling through the air. I tried to start by confusion Jenna, but I was having trouble. I had figured that it was because I had never used the move before so I decided to try something else. The same thing happened when I tried to whip her with my tails. I saw her smirk and I threw back my head and howled my frustration as loud as I could when I realized that she had used imprison which meant that the only useful moves that I had left required me to get in close range.

    Jenna backed up momentarily when she heard me howl but she quickly recovered her bearing and son I was staring at four shiny ninetales. I also heard Darin yelp as I felt a slight breeze from the attack Bella had launched against him. He responded by using another psychic to send her hurtling through the air once more. I noticed that he didn’t want to get close her either and I can’t say that I blamed him. I took a deep breath and closed my eyes focusing on my sense of smell as I sniffed at the air. As much as I wanted to smile when I caught the scent of fur, I kept a neutral expression on my face as I opened my eyes.

    Bella charged at Darin and just as she was about to hit him with her quick attack his entire body went transparent and she slid through him wincing from the ghost energy she encountered as she did so. While I was momentarily distracted, Jenna used the opportunity to hit me with a powerful psychic blast that caused me to cringe in pain.

    Bella took a deep breath and used a double team of her own. I smirked when I saw Darin close his eyes before returning my attention back to Jenna who along with her clones was sitting there calmly looking at me as she created a semi-transparent veil around both herself and Bella. I took a deep breath and charged forwards, slamming into the real Jenna with the full force of my body causing her to yelp as her clones disappeared. I slammed into her harder than I had anticipated, but I quickly darted out of range before she could react.

    Bella tried to use another ominous wind on Darin and I held my breath because I knew he couldn’t take another hit like he had earlier. As I carefully watched, he just stood there and at the last second he shot to the left and avoided the ghostly wind. I sighed in relief before I was hit by another extrasensory blast causing me to cringe in pain again.

    “Why you…” Bella snarled as she used another double team. I carefully watched him as Darin’s eyes glowed purple as Bella was lifted up into the air and sent hurtling into the far wall where she hit and slid down. Unlike the previous times, this time she stayed down and didn’t get back up.

    “Bella!” Jenna cried out before snarling at us as she launched a fire blast at Darin but in her anger, it missed him slamming into the wall behind where he was standing. I then began to mimic how I had seen Darin use psychic and my eyes glowed purple as Jenna was lifted up and sent hurtling through the air as well.

    She hopped back up onto her paws and used another double team since she noticed the odds were against her now, but thanks to the odor sleuth I had used earlier, I could still smell her fur. I could feel Darin helping me out with his helping hand as I used my mimicked psychic to send Jenna hurtling through the air again and this time when she landed she didn’t get back up.

    Darin and I won!
    I grew to L.20.
    I learned Solarbeam as my free TM.
    Darin grew to L.20.
    Darin learned Dig as his free TM.

    I smiled at Darin who also had a huge grin on his face before we headed back over to Amy who was standing by the door waiting on us.
    “Good job,” she told us with a smile. Her t-shirt was soaked in sweat as she opened the door for us and we stepped out into the slightly cooler stairwell.

    “Here’s the plan. I’m going to take you both to the Pokecenter upstairs to get you healed before we go back to the hotel room where I’m going to take a shower and change into some clean clothes. Then, I’m taking the whole team to eat.”


    “Sounds good.”
    Darin agreed and I nodded as well.
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    Default Re: ¤Game¤ Dragon Tamers Battle Range v.23 {MA Pidgeot}

    Here's the rating for Amy's story (comments ahead).

    I liked the way Darin's Hidden Power manifested. It's cool how each individual Pokemon uses his/her Hidden Power in a different way even if they're the same type (Before I read your story, I wrote a comment about that in the story I'll be posting soon).

    It was also good to hear about Dodger, and how the search for Flame is going. Let me know if you need any roleplaying regarding that, since Tracker's looking for him too.

    Some typos and grammar notes:
    "she didn’t give up home"=>"she didn’t give up hope"
    "I was a litter nervous"=>"I was a little nervous"
    "I tried to start by confusion Jenna"=>"I tried to start by confusing Jenna"
    "son I was staring at four shiny ninetales"=>"soon I was staring at four shiny ninetales"
    "he didn’t want to get close her"=>"he didn’t want to get close to her"

    The sentence "Bella charged at Darin and just as she was about to hit him with her quick attack his entire body went transparent and she slid through him wincing from the ghost energy she encountered as she did so" could use some punctuation. Others too, but that one was particularly hard to read.

    Other examples:

    "The houndoom was right Amy did have a plan."=>"The houndoom was right, Amy did have a plan."
    "Jenna who along with her clones was sitting there calmly"=>"Jenna who, along with her clones, was sitting there calmly"
    "slamming into the real Jenna with the full force of my body causing her to yelp as her clones disappeared"=>"slamming into the real Jenna with the full force of my body, causing her to yelp as her clones disappeared"
    "I smiled at Darin who also had a huge grin on his face before we headed back over to Amy who was standing by the door waiting on us"=>"I smiled at Darin, who also had a huge grin on his face, before we headed back over to Amy, who was standing by the door waiting on us"

    The battle in general was hard to read because of the lack of commas.

    Darin was smart with his conclusions about the location of the Pond and Lava rooms.

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

    ...And here's my second post for the Training Grounds! Apologies in advance if you get tired of listening to Hero flatter himself. It's just that... well, that's Hero for you. In his defense he doesn't really believe everything he says, and his description of the facts was accurate even if he adorned it a little bit with his own comments.

    Also, the apparent inexpressiveness of the characters is due to Hero's inability to read emotions, we weren't being poker-faced all the time.


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

    <Hero's POV>

    We left the Blizzard Room and went straight to the nearest Pokemon Center, where we dropped Iael, Caledor and Orknye, and G.G. picked up Linyi, who had already lost a battle but hadn't let that ruin her mood. In fact, she was glad, because she'd ended up meeting a Cleffa at the Pokemon Center and they'd talked, played games and exchanged songs.

    "I'm still surprised by how fast Pokemon grow," she commented. "Except for me, I mean. I can't believe she was only 5 months old! She could talk as well as any of us, and could play all the games I taught her! I don't even have any memories from when I was that little. Of course, she didn't know many games or songs, so I had to teach her almost everything, but still!"
    "I know," her trainer nodded, apparently without much to say.
    "And you know what?" Linyi continued. "She told me her mum is a Clefable, and she's big and beautiful and really strong!"
    "Good for her," said Golden Growlithe, looking away.
    "Are you sure we can't make Arim evolve?"
    Her trainer looked at her again. "I'm sure we shouldn't. We don't know what could happen to her if she evolved here, and we're not going to take that risk until we get a straight answer from Harims."
    "Which means never," interjected Lagi, who had been out of her pokeball since we left the Blizzard Room.

    It was rare to hear Lagi make a joke, but I felt she'd been spot-on with that one. I'd only met Harims once, in Nagarythe, and I admit that saying I didn't get what her deal was - except that she sucked at training Pokemon - isn't saying much. But if my empathic mutant Dragonite friend who had met her 4 times still couldn't understand her... I'd say "never" was just about right.

    "OK, scratch that," said G.G. "Let's say an answer that's just understandable enough that we can feel confident that it won't hurt her."
    "That just might be possible... with some effort," Gabi said with a smile.

    After that, we said goodbye to the team from Bei and went to the other tower for lunch. All that walk up and down the stairs was making me hungry, and the restaurant had a really appealing buffet. I had to exert a lot of self-control to put the tastier looking meals in a box for later consumption. I only ate a few vegetables then and there to keep my stomach from rumbling, and one of those sweet round thingies that for some reason are never labeled - if I'm to believe Water Angel they're called Laddu, but I don't know where she got the information - in order to have enough sugar to burn in my upcoming battle. I made a point of not looking at what others were eating, to avoid temptation, but I couldn't shut my nose to the symphony of smells that assaulted it. For some reason I started thinking of Tracker and wondering how she'd deal with that kind of situation. I imagined her trying to ignore the multitude of scents which assailed her from... probably the whole neighbourhood, while she waited for her duty hours to end. I decided I'd have to ask her about it someday.

    After half an hour of scrumptious olfactory torture (take that, Water Angel!), I was more than ready to kick some butts at the Desert Room.

    <Water Angel's POV>

    Hero still has an extensive way to traverse if he desires to emulate me.

    <Hero's POV>

    That sentence doesn't even make sense. Nevermind that, back to what really matters. As I was saying, I was ready to kick some butts and I was hoping I'd finally get to use some of the tricks I'd been practising, and which I hadn't had a chance to use on White Mountain due to the ruthlessness of my opponents. I'd fight to save the world a thousand times if I had to, but I'd much rather have battles where I could display some style and my opponent wasn't constantly shooting to kill.

    So yeah... the Desert Room. It was every bit as big and sandy as I remembered it, and it had the dry heat of a desert afternoon. I took a look at Gabi to make sure she could handle it, as it was hotter than usual and I knew she couldn't handle the heat very well; but while it clearly bothered her, she seemed to have no trouble walking through the room. I heard her comment that she was glad the artificial sun wasn't as strong as the real one.

    We crossed a few Pokemon along the way, but none of them were willing to fight me and Lagi. Well, I must admit it was Lagi they feared the most, but that was probably because they were all ground-types. Although a Diglett did pop its head right under my face, look straight into my eyes and go back underground not to be seen again.

    "This isn't nearly as organized as it was the last time," I commented. "Where are the strong ones? This place is full of Digletts and Sandshrews, and the Digletts won't even come out enough to let me see what they look like."
    "Ah, yes, the great Diglett mystery," said Gabi in a tone that may or may not have been serious. "Maybe someday we can ask Ventura to shed some light on it. Too bad she's not here now."
    "I don't like the kind of light Ventura sheds, and neither do you," I reminded her. "Really, where are the big guns? They used to have a way to measure the battle level of the Pokemon entering and fetching the right opponents."
    "Sorry," Gabi said. "It was all organized on short notice and I also had other things to focus on and I couldn't find the same crew who made the past Training Grounds, so I told these people what I could remember and they did their best with what they had."
    "I think they've made quite an impressive work," said Lagi. "This environment looks so real! There are even a few desert plants here and there. They didn't have any at the previous Grounds. And the temperature's just about right for this time of day."
    "OK, they did a good job with the environment," I conceded. "But I still miss the old matching mechanism. It saved time and prevented boredom."
    "Boredom is a symptom of a poor imagination," said a voice which came from a massive head as it emerged from under the sand.

    The head had a small horn on its forehead and a long, drill-like horn between the eyes. A Rhyperior. A female, judging by the size of the top horn, although her voice was so deep it could have belonged to either sex.

    "How long have you been there?" I asked her.
    "A long time," was her answer. "I buried myself in the sand to avoid being bothered by the battles while I waited for a strong opponent to challenge me. I heard you complain about the lack of strong Pokemon in this room, so I think you should be a good enough match. That is if you don't think I'm too strong for you."
    "Never say that to Hero," Tsunami laughed. "He'll take it as a challenge and try to show he's stronger than you think."
    "Is that so?" the Rhyperior asked me.
    "He makes it sound like I have no control over my own actions," I glared at him. "I'm not stupid, but I'm not going to say no to a good challenge. That's what I'm looking for. Just one thing."
    "What is it?"
    "My friend Lagi wants to battle too," I pointed at her and noticed the shocked expression on the Rhyperior's face. "And a 2-on-1 battle wouldn't be fair. Is there another Pokemon near your level who wants to battle, so we can have a 2-on-2?"
    The Rhyperior sighed with what I presume was relief. "Sure. I'll go get my brother. I'll be right back."

    Watching her unbury herself was like watching the birth of a mountain. A pile of sand dropped from her shoulders and the plates by her elbows as her massive bulk erected itself. Finally, the sphere on the tip of its tail shook and released the last shower of sand. As she left to look for her brother, I took mental notes about her weight, movement speed and possible ways to exploit the move I'd already seen her use (the latter just as a quick reminder, since they were among my favorite exploits).

    Her brother was also a Rhyperior. To be honest I hadn't expected anything else. They were also clearly not the same Rhyperiors Caledor and Kiara had battled on White Mountain. These ones moved less clumsily and weren't as aggressive, which in fact added to the challenge because it meant they were likely to think before they acted. But I wouldn't have had it any other way. Besides, I trusted Lagi to help. We were both ready. Just for this room Lagi had changed her shield for a Stat Modification Die to see what we could do with them (we had so many!), and that was only the beginning of the possibilities we had.

    Level 73 Ninetales and Dragonite vs. 2× Level 85 Rhyperior

    The Rhyperiors had the level and type advantage, but speed was on my side. I shot a Confuse Ray at the male Rhyperior, expecting Lagi to do something about his sister. She didn't disappoint me: she threw her die at her, lowering the female Rhyperior's Special Attack, and then hit her with a Dragon Claw. Not her strongest move, but the battle was only just beginning and it wouldn't be like Lagi to go all-out on a friendly battle.

    Then it was our opponents' turn to move. The male Rhyperior tried to pull out some kind of attack, but tripped and fell stomach first on the sand. He made quite a loud noise for such a soft ground, but he was lucky to have lifted his head up before he hit the sand. But his sister was not confused, and had no trouble summoning a Sandstorm, much to my and Lagi's annoyance. I paid her back by using Will-O-Wisp on her. It wasn't what I would have wanted at first, since it would discourage her from using Dig, but it was an effective way to turn the tables. Now time was on my side in spite of the sandstorm.

    Just as I moved away from the burnt Rhyperior, the place I left was occupied by something that looked like some kind of undulating turquoise flame which moved like it had a life of its own. I was so used to associating the Dragon type Hidden Power with Water Angel that I'd almost forgotten her fellow Dragon-type had it too, and in Lagi's case it took a strange, almost animal-like shape before hitting its target.

    "If you're going to stick to Dragon-type moves, keep using that one or the stronger one," I told her. "Dragon Claw's not good enough for them."

    Lagi nodded. A good thing about having her as my tag-team partner instead of Tsunami or Caledor was that she listened to reason. Others would have been mad at me for revealing they had a stronger move, but Lagi knew I had a reason for saying it. Perhaps she didn't know what the reason was, but she knew me and knew how I felt, and that was enough. In fact, my reason was that I wanted to divert our opponents' attention away from me for a moment so that I could pull out my new combo. Others might have considered that selfish, but I knew Lagi would understand, and I knew she could take a couple of blows.

    "And don't use Tempest!" Gabi added.

    I wasn't sure whether Gabi had caught on to at least a part of my plan and wanted to add confusion tactics to the mix, or she'd thought of a reason why Lagi's freaky move wouldn't be safe to use - not that Lagi had used it in the last few years. In any case, it wasn't the time to start analyzing her possible reasons. The Rhyperiors were attacking Lagi and I had to make the best of the time I'd bought. Then, as the male hit her with a Poison Jab and the female erected walls of stone all around her, I realized I wouldn't have enough time to perform a two-step attack that wasn't spectacularly strong. So much for 'no SE moves' being an unspoken rule; I'd have to save my Spooky combo for the Lava room. I hated to see Lagi get hit by Rock Tomb before both of us got slapped by the sandstorm. I really hoped Lagi would resist. Then I realized she would. She knew her own limits.

    I ran behind the male Rhyperior and hit him with a Dark Pulse. He tried to take a jab at me, but he tripped again and this time his front horn got stuck in the sand. I knew it would be a matter of seconds before he got back up, but they were still seconds earned for my cause. His sister's Sand Tomb did hit me, though. And it hurt really bad. Slowed me down too, but I was still faster than them. I was grateful for the speed I'd been blessed with since birth. Lagi must have felt how much the attack had hurt me, because she hit my attacker with an Ice Beam which brought her down instantly.

    I sent another Dark Pulse towards our remaining opponent. It wasn't even close to bringing him down, but luckily he bought me some time by using Dig. Even though he was no longer confused, he clearly didn't know me well enough. Since it was safe to assume I'd be his next target (it couldn't be Lagi for obvious reasons), we could afford a two-step strategy for both of us.

    "Lagi, use Rain Dance and then Recover!" I called out to my partner.

    She gave me the weird look I'd expect from anyone listening to a Ninetales ask for a Rain Dance, but it lasted only for a split-second. She must have understood that I preferred the rain over the sandstorm. I watched her perform her elegant choreography (if I have to watch a Rain Dance, I'll choose Lagi's anytime), and as the first drops started falling I began to dig a tunnel of my own. Now, I don't claim to be the only one to have done this, everyone who knows Dig must have done the Counter-Dig trick at least once, but I was glad the Rhyperior had given me the break I needed. I listened for him until I heard the unmistakable sound of an extremely heavy, armored Pokemon emerging from beneath the sand, jumping up and only just managing to stabilize itself in time to land safely on the ground. The sand above me rippled as he landed, just a moment before I launched myself upwards and hit him with all the power of the... sand? That sounds like something Caledor would say. I may have spent too much time with him. Anyway, I hit him hard enough to make him tumble... and fall!


    Lagi and I both won and grew to level 75!

    "OK, what just happened?" I asked Lagi. "He still looked like he could take a few more blows before I went underground, and I know my Dig attack was strong but not that strong. What did you do while I was down there."
    "I shot an Ice Beam at him as he was landing. I know you told me to heal myself, but if I'd done that and he'd attacked you he would have taken you down. I didn't want to let that happen. The Rain Dance was a good idea, though."
    "Yeah, well, I know you know your way on the battlefield and what you did worked, so I'm not going to argue. But you do need some healing."
    "So do you," she remarked. "More so than myself."
    "OK, you could have refrained from pointing out the last bit. But it's true that we could both use a Pokemon Center right now."
    "I'll take you both there," Gabi offered. "You've both done a good job here. It's time to take a break."

    I had a soothing sensation as the red light engulfed me, and a slight tickle as the pain left along with the light and nearly all other sensory input. I could still hear, though, which meant I could still be mostly aware as what was going on as we headed for the Pokemon Center, and that alone made it a relaxing ride. Funny how one sense can make the difference between feeling comfortable and going crazy. Well... one sense and the promise of the rich meal which was waiting in its box for me to enjoy it.
    Last edited by Lady Vulpix; 17th February 2011 at 04:07 PM.

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  21. #581
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    Default Re: ¤Game¤ Dragon Tamers Battle Range v.23 {MA Pidgeot}

    Gabi:

    This one was funny! I really enjoyed it. I think my favorite part was Water Angel's interjection in her POV, which caught me completely off-guard. And Hero's response was good too. In fact, I think I just like Hero. XD

    The Diglett Mystery reminds me of this.

    "...a Stat Modification Die to see what we could do with them (we had so many!)" I laughed.

    The Rhyperior with his horn stuck in the sand was an admittedly funny mental image.

    Hero and Lagi make a good tagteam. They're both fairly sharp on the strategy side.

    All right, with all that said, I really like Hero narrating. XD Oh, Hero. Don't ever change.

    Take 17 stamps!
    Quote Originally Posted by Heald View Post
    Maybe he figured he 'sold out' when he accepted a modding position and hanged himself. At least, that's what I would do.

  22. #582
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    Default Re: ¤Game¤ Dragon Tamers Battle Range v.23 {MA Pidgeot}

    Thanks, Jeff! I'm glad you liked the story and Hero's glad you like him. I'll change the narrator for the next story, though, I want to give everyone a chance to express themselves.

    Yes, Hero and Lagi have learnt to battle well together over the years. I think they started making a good tagteam when Hero realized he could take advantage of Lagi's empathy instead of being bothered by it. Lagi's battle style is a lot more reactive than Hero's, she doesn't plan ahead as much as he does, but she's learnt to recognize some of his tactics and get an idea of what to do when he comes up with a new one. And, as you've seen, she's also good at recognizing when he needs help and won't admit it, so they complement each other well. Sometimes there's still some tension outside the battlefield, though, especially when Lagi gets involved in Hero's personal issues.

    That image with the Digletts was really funny. XD

    And we do have too many Stat Modification Dice. I'm glad they're no longer coming out as Mystery Gifts.

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  23. #583
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    Default Re: ¤Game¤ Dragon Tamers Battle Range v.23 {MA Pidgeot}

    More newbie Pokemon trainer antics!

    Back to Basics
    ---
    “Um… Bow! Try a… Mega Drain?”

    Bow grimaced and faced the Doduo that was watching her carefully with both heads. She narrowed her eyes and sparked violently before loosing a bolt of lightning at the bird. It hit home, and the bird toppled over.

    “What was that?” Sydney asked as the trainer opposite her recalled their fallen Pokémon. “That didn’t look like a Mega Drain.” Her tone of voice indicated more confusion than anything else.

    If Bow had had arms, she would have been crossing them and looking away sulkily.

    Sydney sighed. “So you’re just not going to listen to me at all?” She pulled Bow’s Pokéball off of her belt. “I suppose I should have seen it coming…”

    It was only the day after Sydney had arrived. Following Miro’s advice, she was taking the opportunity to explore Tor Achare. It was as a result of this action that she discovered a phenomenon that she hadn’t noticed back home in Sector Alpha – if you had Pokémon on you, you were a freaking magnet. Sydney had barely been able to make her way down her street without someone challenging her – they had sent out some muscled gray thing wearing a speedo, a Machoke or a Machore or something. Sydney had sent out the Snorlax on the grounds that he was hefty enough that not much would hurt him, but she hadn’t expected the speedo Pokémon to physically lift the half-ton Pokémon into the air and slam him back down on the ground. Luckily, somehow, the ground had avoided cracking, but Bobbery’s own bulk worked against him.

    And then there was this guy who had just walked away. He had used some weird two-headed bird – a Doduo, he had called it. Sydney had brought out the Gastly, because hey, if the Pokémon’s already a ghost, what more could hurt it? But Bow had refused to listen to anything she said. Despite her repeated requests that Bow use Mega Drain, which certainly sounded powerful enough, all Bow did was hit the bird with lightning. It worked well enough, Sydney had to admit, but it was slightly unnerving. As she understood it, Pokémon were supposed to do what their trainers told them to, but these Pokémon all seemed more accustomed to doing their own thing. She wondered how much Lord Porygon had trained them.

    Sydney leaned against a building – ‘The Generalissimo’s Electric Co.’ from the looks of the sign – and took stock of the situation. Bow was angry at her for some reason; Trezzatura refused to battle anything; whenever Mona and G.G. were together they would just start dancing and refuse to listen to her; Mercandos only followed her requests apparently when he felt like it… Bobbery and Previsiona seemed to be not overtly hostile to her, but Sydney wasn’t sure how long that would last.

    The only Pokémon on her that didn’t seem to have something against her was Ridder, and all he did was stare at her with a pouty look on his face. Sydney did have to admit, though, that that seemed to pretty much be his default expression. She hadn’t even used him in a battle yet – how could she? She didn’t know anything about his attacks or anything else. Not that that stopped her with any of the other Pokémon, she reflected.

    “Hey you!”

    Oh lord.

    A girl about Sydney’s height walked up to her. She looked about ten years Sydney’s junior, she was wearing clothes that covered far less skin, and she was smacking her bubblegum with each statement like it was punctuation, a combination that immediately sent her into the “get away from me” category in Sydney’s mind. “I saw how you, like, thrashed that Doduo,” she said. “Up for one more? Like, my Kerny could use a fight.”

    Sydney closed her eyes. Why not? No time like the present… “Let’s get this over with.” She threw her dented Pokéball to the ground as the other girl did the same.

    Strife! Ridder versus Kerny!
    Ridder: “Trub…”
    Kerny: “Kern sun!”


    Immediately as Ridder came out of the Pokéball, he turned to Sydney and fixed those wide, mournful eyes on her.

    “What? What’s wrong?” Sydney asked.

    Ridder said nothing. He slowly turned back around and stared at the Sunkern instead.

    “Your Pokémon gonna stare my Sunkern to death?” the girl asked. “What kinda Pokémon is that anyway? Looks totally gross.”

    Sydney squared her jaw. “Don’t talk trash about Ridder! He’s ten times the Pokémon whatever your little seed thing is supposed to be.”

    “So, like, you don’t know what he is either!”

    “So what if I don’t? At least I’m not a vapid, airheaded bimbo!”

    This comment apparently hit home, and the girl was visibly fuming. “That’s it! Kerny! Take it down with a Seed Bomb!”

    The Sunkern chirped happily in response and rustled its leaves. A seed sprouted from the leaves’ juncture and the Sunkern bent low, taking aim. With a noise like a gun firing, it launched the seed.

    Sydney looked down at Ridder and stammered. “Um, Ridder! Shoot it down with, eh, something? Maybe?”

    Ridder affixed his eyes on her for the briefest of moments before opening his mouth wide. He hacked and coughed before belching out a large glob of slimy, oozing garbage. The Gunk Shot traveled in a lazy parabola, neatly knocking the Seed Bomb out of flight. Both projectiles landed harmlessly on the street corner.

    Sydney and the girl both wore expressions of surprise, though the girl’s was tinted with obvious disgust. “Ridder! That was good! Do that again!” Sydney called.

    Ridder nodded. Perhaps it was her imagination, Sydney thought, but his perpetual pout seemed to have lightened somewhat. He horked another ball of trash up, and it took the same slow arc again, straight at the Sunkern.

    “Don’t get hit by that, Kerny!” the girl said, clenching her fists, but it was too late. The Gunk Shot hit home, covering the Sunkern in refuse. It collapsed, though whether it was from damage, the smell, or embarrassment Sydney wasn’t sure.

    Victory! Ridder grows to level 9!

    The girl looked down at the Sunkern and stepped forward, ostensibly to pick it up, maybe offer a little comfort, but a semi-liquid burger wrapper that took that moment to drop off of the Sunkern’s leaf changed her mind. She recalled the Sunkern and, shooting a nasty look at Sydney, she walked away.

    “I just can’t win, can I?” Sydney said, as much to herself as to Ridder. “If I win, they get mad, but if I don’t win, then my team gets mad. There’s got to be a way around this. All the other trainers seem to have an okay time with it.”

    ---

    “So being a trainer’s not agreeing with you, Cross?” The willowy form of Miro stalked (there wasn’t really any other word for it, Sydney decided) back and forth through his study, where Sydney was sitting in an embarrassingly plush chair.

    “Lord Porygon’s Pokémon all hate me, I’m sure,” Sydney said, “and while I like Ridder, I have no clue what he can do. He threw up garbage at a Sunkern this morning, and that was pretty good, especially since it shut the trainer up too. But I don’t know what else he’s capable of.”

    Miro knelt down and looked Ridder in the eyes, who impassively stared back. “Now, what kind of Pokémon are you?” he said quietly, half-grinning and rubbing his chin. “I’ve never seen a garbage bag Pokémon before. Can you say your name…?”

    Ridder bit him on the nose.

    To his credit, Miro didn’t swear, yell, or let out any other signs of pain. He merely recoiled and stood back up, rubbing the bite mark tentatively. “He’s a feisty thing, whatever he is, that’s for sure, honey,” he said, looking at Sydney.

    “Or maybe he just doesn’t like condescension.”

    “That could be too,” Miro reluctantly agreed. “Well, if anyone would know what your Ridder is in this city, I’d check with the trainers’ school. Someone there will be able to help you out, I suspect. And they’d more likely than not help you get your bearings as a trainer too.”

    Sydney raised an eyebrow. “I got enough of school when I graduated. I’m not sure I want to set foot back in that cesspool of drama.”

    “Oh, no, no, darling. Our trainers’ school is top of the line. For one, unlike most normal schools, most of the students actually want to be there. Second, having a variety of dangerous Pokémon to accompany the teachers does wonders for discipline, I think you’ll find.” Miro clapped Sydney on the back. “Go! Have fun. Learn something. If you’re going to be starting a branch of the Guild that deals almost exclusively with Pokémon here, it would be for the best if you knew something about Pokémon in the first place.” He turned around and looked out over the city through his bay windows. “Though how you grew up in Sector Alpha and ended up working for the Guild without knowing a lick about Pokémon I’ll never know. Look here, Cross.” Miro gestured to a skyscraper – the skyscraper – in the heart of town. “That’s the branch office of Silph Co., and pretty much everyone in town uses it as a reference for directions. You better get used to it quick. The trainers’ school is that squat brick building two blocks towards us from Silph. Got it?”

    Sydney nodded.

    “Then get on your way. No point in wasting time!”

    ---

    As soon as she stepped inside the school, Sydney felt like she had been transported back the eight or so years since she had been in high school. The building looked exactly the same. Lockers lined the walls, the tile on the floors was marred with scuffs from shoes, and there was even the one water fountain that always seemed to have a used piece of gum in it. She shuddered.

    “Can I help you?”

    Sydney looked around. A door or two down from where she stood, a receptionist was sitting at her desk and looking out of the room at her. “Um, yes,” Sydney said, quickly walking to the woman. “I was told that I should come here for some lessons on Pokémon…” She trailed off as the receptionist sized her up.

    “Who told you that?” the receptionist – whose name, if the sign on her desk was anything to be believed, seemed to be Laura – asked.

    “I came here from Miro Milic…?”

    The receptionist’s demeanor changed completely. “Oh, Miro!” she said. “Best student we’ve ever had. And so successful!”

    “What exactly does he do—”

    “Let me give you the tour,” the receptionist said, standing up. She took Sydney by the arm and led her back into the hallway. “We have a few regular classrooms where we teach theory here, but I’m sure you aren’t interested in those. No, what I bet you want to see is this!” She threw open a wide pair of double doors and guided Sydney in.

    It looked almost exactly like Sydney’s high school gym, if her gym had been about twice as big, twice as tall, and filled with excited teenagers either battling Pokémon or watching. There was an older person – a teacher, Sydney figured – keeping an eye on every match and frequently stopping the action to give comments or make advice. It all added together to a wall of cheers, yells, and impacts that rolled over Sydney as she entered.

    “Who am I supposed to be seeing in here?” Sydney asked. She had to yell to make her voice at all audible over the noise.

    The receptionist pointed over the crowd to a dour man dressed in a suit and tie in the back of the gym. He bore a very obvious black and white color scheme, from his cropped black hair to his polished black shoes, and he made alarm bells go off in Sydney’s head that sounded like “Lord Absol! Lord Absol!” He wore sunglasses, but Sydney was quite sure he was carefully watching everything that was going on. “Him!” the receptionist said. “Javor Broz.”

    Sydney nodded and began pushing her way through the crowd, carefully avoiding the clearings where Pokémon were dueling. She had the unsettling feeling that Javor was watching her the entire way over, but with his thick sunglasses, she had no way of knowing.

    When she reached Javor, Sydney was struck at how quiet the area around him was. He had his own little personal clearing, and even the noise level seemed to have dropped somewhat. “Mr. Broz?” she said, not even needing to raise her voice.

    Javor inclined his head slightly. “That is me.” His voice bore the faintest hint of an accent.

    “Miro Milic sent me. He said that I should learn the basics here.”

    There was a pause as Javor considered this. “Very well. If Milic sent you, I cannot refuse. In ten minutes, this battle session will be over. Meet me in room 211.”

    “Um… what will we be doing?”

    There was no further answer. Apparently Javor was done speaking at that point. He adjusted his sunglasses and looked out over the crowd. Sydney waited for a second, but when nothing else was forthcoming, she pushed her way back to the entrance of the gym.

    ---

    “Show me your skills!”

    Sydney jumped back, but the door had slammed shut behind her. She had only just walked into room 211 when a black and blue dragon-thing with red frills and hands that looked like more heads had dropped from the ceiling right in front of her. Javor was lurking behind it.

    “Wha- I- hold on! I’m here to improve, not because I’m good!” Sydney stammered.

    “I need to see where you are starting from! Now, choose a Pokémon! I see that you have quite a selection!”

    Sydney pressed herself against the wall. “I can’t battle that!”

    “Zmey! Make her choice for her, then!”

    The dragon lashed out with a head-hand and neatly knocked a single Pokéball off of her belt. It was the dented one, and when it landed, Ridder popped out. He regarded the dragon with his normal wide-eyed stoicism.

    Strife! Ridder versus Zmey!
    Ridder: “Trub…”
    Zmey: “Hy! Drei! GON!”


    Sydney scrambled for the Pokéball on the floor. “Ridder!” she said, “come back! Don’t fight that thing!” But before she could get the Pokéball pointed at Ridder, Zmey made another swipe and sent it ricocheting into a corner. “…Damn,” Sydney said flatly. “Okay, uh, Ridder, do the best you can! Trash it!”

    Ridder’s eyes focused sharply – instead of wide-eyed and sad-looking, he now looked focused and sharp. He opened his mouth wide, his sharp teeth glinting in the fluorescent light, and with a noise unpleasantly similar to regurgitation, he spat out a ball of glistening garbage. It hit Zmey, who, much to Sydney’s dismay, didn’t even flinch.

    “Now, Zmey, let’s test evasion.”

    Zmey grinned and held up its arms. In the pincers on its hands, it began to charge up twin balls of electricity. It flung one arm forward and fired, following quickly by the other. One shot was aimed straight at Ridder, who expertly ducked under it, leaving it to fizzle out harmlessly. The other was aimed at Sydney.

    She watched the incoming projectile in slow motion and let panic take over. Her body, moving of its own accord, sidestepped the shot and threw itself to the ground. The electricity hit the wall and sputtered out. Sydney slowly stood back up, dusting herself off, but before she could process what had just happened, Javor spoke again.

    “One more, Zmey.”

    This time, Zmey crossed its arms and let loose a blast of pulsating dark energy with a high-pitched keening noise. It was aimed at about stomach height for Sydney. She flung herself forward and pushed Ridder to the ground as well. The Dark Pulse passed directly overhead, and it too hit the wall and dissipated.

    “Very good.” Javor palmed a Pokéball and recalled Zmey.

    Battle over! No winner!

    “What’s the big idea?!” Sydney cried as she picked herself up.

    “The training of the human is equally as important as the training of the Pokémon. I wished to see the skill level that you are starting off at.” Javor began to tick things off on his fingers. “Your instincts are good. When facing a foe that far outclassed you, you chose to retreat. This shows restraint and concern for your Pokémon. This is good. Your reflexes are not bad either.”

    “So to test that, you attacked me?! You couldn’t have tossed a ball at me or something?”

    Javor shook his head. “It is most useful to see how you act under duress. Furthermore, you were never in any danger. Zmey and I have been training together for long enough that Zmey has acquired utmost precision over the power of his attacks. If you or your Pokémon had been hit by those attacks, the worst that would have happened is that your hair would have stood on end.” He walked to the corner of the room, picked up the dented Pokéball, and tossed it to Sydney. “Now, with that said, why has Milic sent you to me?”

    Her nerves still somewhat shot, Sydney took a second to put her thoughts together. Ridder stood behind her, scowling at Javor. “I’m here because I know nothing about Pokémon, to put it simply.”

    Javor smiled. Sydney had a feeling that it was not reflected in his eyes, even if she couldn’t see them. “That is something I can certainly help you with.”

    ---

    The first topic they had covered was types. Once Javor had heard about Sydney’s fight with the Victreebel and the Doduo, he shook his head. “Your Pokémon know their type matchups better than you do,” he had said, “and that is why they do not obey your commands. And until you begin giving them commands that line up with the orders they expect, they will continue to refuse to listen to you.”

    Sydney was in the gym. Her team of eight had fanned out in front of her. In one hand, she held the notebook with all of Lord Porygon’s Pokémon information in it. A new page had been added for Ridder, who was what Javor called a Trubbish. Javor had also filled out the page with what he guessed Ridder’s attacks to be. In Sydney’s other hand, she held a Pokedex. Javor had said that their school had a few specially imported from some contacts on another continent. He had made it abundantly clear that she would only get to use one for the duration of the training.

    Javor stood opposite her. He raised his hand and let it fall. By his signal, a large brown bear with a circle on its chest charged into the room.

    Sydney held up the Pokedex. It beeped and the text “Ursaring (Normal)” appeared on its screen.

    “Um… normal…” Sydney wracked her memory. “G.G.! Dynamicpunch!” G.G. swung his fist forward and socked the Ursaring in its gut.

    Javor nodded. “Good. Continue.”

    The Ursaring backed off and returned to an unseen Pokéball. A red and white bird, identified as a Delibird, took its place.

    Sydney frowned. “Ice and flying… Bow! Thunderbolt!” The frown that had been on Bow’s face the entire time left, replaced by a slight half-smile. She hurled a bolt at the Delibird, who fell back and was recalled.

    A Pokémon that looked like a cicada shell appeared. The Pokedex identified it as a Shedinja.

    “Um…” Sydney paused. The ghost weaknesses had given her trouble. It didn’t make sense why a ghost should be weak to itself. “Mona! Lick it!” With gleeful abandon, Mona stuck out her tongue, jumped forward, and licked the Shedinja straight up its face. It shuddered and was recalled.

    The training went on in that vein for some time. When Javor finally decided that Sydney had had enough, it had reached 7 PM. “That was solid work today,” he said. “Type matchups are important to gaining the edge in a battle. Your opponents will likely not hold back, so you should not either. Of course, without knowing the type of your opponent, matching your moves against it will be difficult. But that comes with experience.”

    He led her to the door. “I would like to see you here tomorrow. We will continue with the basics. Be here at 2.”

    Sydney nodded, and as she left, she went down her schedule for the next day. Miro had asked to see her at 7 AM, and had cautioned her that their meeting tomorrow would likely take until lunchtime. That would then put her at school until… well, the end of the day. She sighed. Another full day, it looked like. She suspected that was very quickly going to become the norm.

    ---

    The next morning, Miro had suggested that while they talk, Sydney should let her Pokémon out. Miro had an impressive amount of land, and nearby the house there was a garden. It was quiet, and the Pokémon, when released, had taken right to it. That left the Pokémon alone as Sydney and Miro retreated to the study.

    “What do you think of her?” Trezzatura said, crossing his arms somewhat self-consciously.

    Bow sniffed, a feat for any Pokémon without a nose. “She has a long way to go for me to call her a trainer. She’s only just now learning the basics, and Jeff entrusted us to her? When he said that the Guild was sending someone to Tor Achare, I rather thought it would be someone with considerably more experience, not this child.”

    “You know she’s older than Jeff, right?” Previsiona said.

    “You’d never know it to look at them,” Bow shot right back.

    “Regardless.” Previsiona frowned at Bow. “She deserves a chance. She’s got enough on her plate without us making things more difficult.”

    “Bow does have a point, though,” Merc said. “Sydney needs a lot of experience. A lot a lot. That school will be good for her. They’re really on top of things.”

    Bow continued. “And then there’s Ridder.”

    Collectively, the four of them turned to look at Ridder. He was watching as Mona jumped up and down on Bobbery’s stomach. G.G. was talking animatedly to Bobbery, who seemed completely oblivious to Mona.

    “What about Ridder?” Trezzatura said. “He’s quiet and he keeps to himself.”

    Bow watched Ridder through half-lidded eyes. “There’s something about him I don’t like.”

    “Lighten up, Bow,” Previsiona said. “It’s not him you don’t like, it’s Sydney. Don’t be unfair to him.”

    Mercandos shook his head. “I know why she’s upset, Prev. Bolovayr and all the rest of his team took off.”

    Bow turned on him. The look on her face could have frozen water at twenty paces. Nothing was said, but Merc backed up after exactly two seconds of having that glare fixed on him.

    “Right,” said Previsiona after the tense moment had passed. “So as I was saying, just try and be friendly with Ridder. He’s new, and we’re all a team, which can be a little intimidating.”

    Merc shuddered almost imperceptibly. “Intimidating. Right.”

    “And,” Previsiona continued, “anyone who wants to go back home is more than welcome to. After all, Jeff and Maza are in the next province over. I’m sure he’d make a day trip of it if he knew that one of us needed him.”

    There was silence, except for Mona’s excited yells in the background. Returning to Sector Alpha didn’t seem to be the popular option. Whether it was the pleasure of exploring somewhere new, the idea of battling taking a backseat to helping plan something for the Guild, or even just getting the hell away from Raini, everyone had their reasons.

    “So that’s it, then,” Previsiona said. “We’re all going to stay with Sydney, and we’re all going to make the best of it. Understood?”

    Merc and Trezzatura nodded.

    “Bow?”

    Bow sighed. “If it will make you happy, yes, I’ll make the best of it.”

    “Good.”
    Last edited by The Blue Avenger; 20th February 2011 at 02:27 PM.
    Quote Originally Posted by Heald View Post
    Maybe he figured he 'sold out' when he accepted a modding position and hanged himself. At least, that's what I would do.

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

    Fifteen stamps for Jeff. I like Sydney, and sympathize with her inexperience. But she's learning quickly and that's a good thing! Hope that the random battle encounters get easier for her now.
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    Default Re: ¤Game¤ Dragon Tamers Battle Range v.23 {MA Pidgeot}

    Comments about Jeff's latest story:

    I still feel sorry for what Sydney had to go through, but I understand the Pokemon's reactions. Lady Bow made a good choice during the battle, but it didn't help Sydney understand what was wrong. It reminds me a bit of the initial relationship Jenny and Tracker had
    (except that Jenny knew about Pokemon battles but not about Tracker's issues with authority, and Tracker didn't understand that there are some cases in which you have to do what you're told even if it's not what you want). I'm glad that Miro was able to offer some help, though.

    I'm also sorry for Bow, Amber went through a similar situation when Volvagia left (I wonder if Alex will read this), but in addition to losing Bolovayr she's in an unknown land with an unknown trainer who doesn't even know how to deal with Pokemon. I'd give her a hug if I could. Although I can see the advantage in getting away from Raini.

    By the way, "Shoot it down with, eh, something? Maybe?" is a great command to issue. I also loved the phrase "It collapsed, though whether it was from damage, the smell, or embarrassment Sydney wasn't sure." Her reflection about both possible outcomes of a battle being bad was quite interesting too. And the "Lord Absol" alarm was funny.

    Javor clearly knows what he's doing, but I wouldn't like to have been in Sydney's place when he scared her like that. But she made wise moves during the test and I liked the way she showed concern for Ridder.

    What you're doing with Ridder is sort of cheating, though. You've picked up a Pokemon you didn't adopt and are showing how he trains and gains levels... it's as if you were playing a parallel game outside the bounds of the AC/CC rules. I'll let it pass, though, because it gives us more stories to read and because you can't take him to the Battle Tower, the Eevee House or the Dragon Games anyway.

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

    I was wondering if it would be allowed. I don't plan to use Ridder outside of the Battle Range, and I don't think I'm going to have Sydney catch anything else anyway. If there's something I ought to be doing different, please let me know.
    Quote Originally Posted by Heald View Post
    Maybe he figured he 'sold out' when he accepted a modding position and hanged himself. At least, that's what I would do.

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

    Hmm... No, that's OK. But that means I can show my supporting cast's battles too. Let's see, that's... Tracker, Glyph, Orknye, Glice, Lavy, Linyi, Arim, Solitude, Firestar, Ray, Plum, Outcast, Rock, Rose, Adamant, Gail, Terabyte, Eliot and Alpha, just to mention the ones I have on my file (I've included many others in my stories throughout the years). Oh, if only I had the time to write them all!

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

    To be quite honest, I don't see a problem with showing battles for supporting casts as long as your main team, the one you use in the Battle Tower, etc. and can give items to, doesn't exceed 15. I mean, of the side characters that you listed, their Pokemon THEY grow stronger off screen, presumably, so there's not a whole lot of difference between that and actually showing it happen.
    Last edited by The Blue Avenger; 20th February 2011 at 09:02 PM. Reason: Go go reading comprehension
    Quote Originally Posted by Heald View Post
    Maybe he figured he 'sold out' when he accepted a modding position and hanged himself. At least, that's what I would do.

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

    Their Pokemon? I only listed the Pokemon. But yes, you're right. They do level up off-screen. So I guess we can do that.

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

    I apologize if this story is of lower quality than most. Can I get an RBG for Bo, from the Free Range Corral? *pays*

    Athena’s POV

    Okay, I’ve helped with breakfast, washed dishes, swept and mopped, vacuumed the living room, and helped Shonta with bathing Destai and Trinity (that Houndour just refuses to stay still). What else is on the schedule? I stepped out in the backyard and sighed. Ken was throwing pebbles at Ali while she was meditating again. I flicked the Squirtle’s head to make him stop. “Now now, just because Miss Ali hasn’t moved for three days doesn’t mean you can do that.”

    “Is she okay?” he asked.

    “She usually starts moving on the third day. Why don’t you play with Bo?”

    “He’s taking a nap.” He frowned and withdrew into his shell.

    “In the middle of the day? He’s been like this since we’ve been back.” I pushed his shell into the sunshine and went back in the house, where I was greeted by Bandit’s shouting.

    “Why? Why? WHY ME?” he wailed.

    “What’s wrong? Is Katana mad at you again?”

    He blinked at me. “So you don’t know either. That trainer of ours signed me up for the doggone Dragon Games yesterday!”

    “Ohhhhh.” Now I remembered. I was with her when she signed him up. “Why are you fussing over that?”

    “Because it’s me! Why not Lily? She did it last time! Or Beacon?” He pulled at his frills as if they could be yanked off.

    It was understandable why he wouldn’t want to do it. Bandit wasn’t the type to jump into a battle. “Well, you are a great battler. You are a versatile fighter with the widest movepool out of all of us, and you have the best record at the Battle Tower.”

    Moriko heard us and went into the kitchen. “Bandit, we entered you because we believe in you! Help me out, Athena!”

    Remembering my roll, I nodded in agreement. “We know you can do it!” I told him.

    The Heracross took Bandit’s hands. “We cannot suffer another embarrassing defeat! This is to restore our honor!”

    “W-we didn’t do so bad…” the Kecleon muttered.

    Moriko quickly ended his protests. “Do you even know what is on the line? First prize is nearly enough Rare Candies to evolve Nama!”

    “She’ll be a Vigoroth!” I said enthusiastically.

    “A powerful attack of our choice!”

    “An asset for us in the future!”

    “AND A NEW DRATINI!”

    “Okay, now that’s not going to happen!” Bandit shouted. “We have fifteen members and not enough space for us already! We cannot fit a Dratini!”

    Moriko glanced at me and laughed nervously. “Athena decided that if we win first place, she’ll remove herself from the roster.”

    “NO! Shonta said that Swoop would be the last Pokemon she would abandon!”

    “She won’t be abandoned! She just won’t be one of the battling Pokemon!”

    I nodded, but didn’t tell him that I had planned on dropping out even if we didn’t get first place. But Shonta convinced me to stay until we found someone suitable to replace me.

    “I don’t see what’s wrong with just having fourteen members,” Bandit grumbled. “In fact, we should have less.”

    Moriko got serious. “That’s not how Shonta works. You know she’s used to a big family. I don’t think she’d be able to operate with a small group. Besides, she’s responsible. She adopted us, and she’s determined to keep us.”

    “If she’s responsible then why is she taking a sixteenth Pokemon?”

    “I don’t know! But admit that having a Dratini around the house would be awesome!”

    “When we get more room, then I’ll admit that it’d be awesome.” He smirked.

    “Assemble, girls and guys!” Shonta called out as she walked up. “We’re going out again!”

    “Already?” Bandit rolled his eyes. “Life-or-death battles are starting to get boring.”

    “Just training. I got a free voucher for a round-trip train ride to the Dragon Gate!”

    “Alright! Training vacation!” I heard Circe cheer. Destai barked happily.

    I guess I’ll wake up Ali and Ken. I went back outside and knocked on Ken’s shell. “We’re going on another trip,” I told him.

    “Yaaaaaay!” he cheered before popping out. He glanced at Ali and picked up another pebble. “Aliiiiii!”

    The pebble was thrown, but the Meditite caught it when it was an inch from her forehead. “Can’t a girl get some sleep around here?” Ali yawned. “The weather’s perfect for once and I wanted at least an hour to nap.”


    Shonta’s POV

    Over the years I had gotten good at packing at a high speed. In a couple of hours, I was on a train bound for the Dragon Gate, located between the provinces of Nagarythe and Avelorn. This time I only had two Pokemon accompanying me, Ken and Bo. Ken was enjoying the scenery and asking Bo questions about what was passing by. Unlike the last few days, the Umbreon seemed to be in a good mood.

    “Are those Pokemon?” Ken asked as we passed a field full of pink lumps and bright tails.

    “Those look like Miltank,” Bo answered. “Must be time to eat. All of their heads are down.”

    I giggled and went back to my notes regarding current Guild activity. Jeff had submitted reports of people “snagging” already captured Pokemon using special pokeballs, and then there were the dysfunctional Dubious Discs that had caused his Porygon Z to go wacky. The biggest buzz concerned the upcoming Dragon Games, but under all of it laid whispers of the Dark Dragon. I had spoken to Gabi and Jeff shortly about Bo’s brush with… whatever had possessed him, but none of us had a good idea if it was the Black Dragon himself or something working for him. Neither did we know if it would keep possessing Bo.

    No offense to Bo, but who would want to bother with a young Umbreon? If I was a nasty demon I would aim for a much stronger Pokemon. I shook my head free of the same questions that floated through my mind.

    Out the corner of my mind I saw the passengers seated across from me. There was a boy that looked about high-school age with messy black hair and pale skin that made his green eyes shine. He wore a black T-shirt and black jeans. He almost didn’t look human. Lying on the seat next to him was a napping Houndour. The boy was lazily scratching behind its ears.

    The boy ignored me until I turned my head to get a better look at him. Our eyes met and locked for a long time. “Not polite to stare,” I muttered to myself as I forced myself to look out the window. That only made it feel like his eyes were burning a hole in the back of my skull. That went nice with the chill up my spine, which made wearing a jacket useless.

    “Miss Shonta? He’s still looking at you,” Bo whispered to me.

    I kept my eyes glued to the scenic view. Don’t turn your head.

    “He’s getting up now,” the young Umbreon informed me.

    Don’t look at him.

    “He’s walking this way,” he told me.

    Please don’t be asking for a battle or something.

    “Now he’s sitting next to you.”

    “HI!” I exclaimed as I swung around to look at the stranger.

    The stranger’s eyes widened in surprise as he leaned back from the maniac that had just screamed at him. “H-Hello…” he stammered.

    “Sorry, I didn’t mean to stare at you and then yell like that. I try to mind my own business while on trips like this.” I laughed nervously and went back to avoiding his gaze.

    “Are you from the Dragon’s Guild?” he asked.

    “Y-Yeah, in fact I’m headed to the Dragon Gate for some special training.”

    “I believe I’ve seen you before. You’re Shonta, correct?”

    I nodded. How come I never remember these guys?

    “Yes, I’ve seen you in the MTU building from time to time. It is nice to meet you.” He held out his hand to shake mine. Out of courtesy I made eye contact while shaking it. Strangely, his face didn’t show much expression although his voice did.

    “It’s nice to meet you too, um…”

    “Oh, my name.” He paused while scratching his chin.

    Was he… trying to remember his name?

    “It’s Eli.” He pointed to the Houndour he was petting. “That is Noah.”

    “He reminds me of my Houndour,” I observed. “The Umbreon’s name is Bo, and the Squirtle is Ken.”

    Bo waved at him, then tapped Ken to do the same thing. “Hiiiiiii!” Ken said cheerfully.

    Eli shook Bo’s paw. “You have healthy Pokemon but I’ve never seen a red-ringed Umbreon before. Was it a cosmetic change?”

    “Apparently it turned out like this because he evolved during a lunar eclipse,” I answered.

    For the second time, Eli’s face showed emotion. His eyes widened and then narrowed. “Is that so? I don’t believe that has ever happened before.”

    Bo stared back at him and growled, his fur bristling. Eli just smiled. “I’m not implying that it’s a bad thing,” he informed Bo. “Shonta, is there a chance we could battle each other once we get to the Training Grounds? You told me that you also have a Houndour.”

    “Yes, but is he your only Pokemon?”

    “No, but he is my newest and I would like to help him get stronger.”

    I smiled. “I was waiting for a friendly battle.”

    “That’s good. We shall battle in the Lava Room.”

    “Lava Room?”


    Bandit’s POV

    Shonta let us out of our pokeballs as soon as we arrived at the Training Grounds, which were a pair of towers that surrounded a large gate. “Whoa, did a real dragon own that gate or something?” I mused.

    Some of the team gawked at the large towers, while the others were more occupied by Shonta’s new friend. “This guy desperately needs some sun,” Trinity commented.

    “He looks like—“ Ali started to say.

    “Don’t say it!” Katana snapped.

    “What? It’s not like he can understand me!”

    “It’s rude and immature.”

    “You agree, don’t you?” she asked me. “He looks just like OW!” She rubbed her head from where the Zangoose had hit her.

    “Don’t you finish that sentence either,” Katana warned me while giving one of her trademark glares.

    “What? It’s not like Shonta’s not thinking the same thing,” I whined.

    “Um, lovebirds? He’s staring at us,” Ali mumbled.

    We turned to the pale-faced trainer, who was staring at us curiously like he had never seen a Three Stooges act before. “Your Pokemon are very funny,” he calmly said to Shonta.

    “I don’t see you laughing,” Ali told him before dodging another blow from Katana.

    “So this is Katana.” He kneeled in front of Katana with his hand outstretched.

    “Guys, this is Eli,” Shonta said to us. “And his Houndour, Noah.” She gestured to a Houndour sitting next to him. “Show them some respect.”

    Katana shook his hand. “The Kecleon is Bandit, and the Meditite is Ali.” The two of us waved.

    Eli smiled at us. Or tried to, as all he could manage was a slight quirk of the lips. “A varied team, and so much of them unevolved. The Ninetales is named Trinity, correct? You told me about her on the train.”

    “A pleasure, I’m sure,” Trinity said with a lifted paw.

    “Snooty!” I sneezed. Katana chose to laugh that time. “Sorry, I had something up my nose.”

    Shonta introduced Eli and his Houndour to the rest of the team. Eli absorbed it all quietly, hanging onto every word. But there was something… off about him. Like he was disconnected from reality, like how Shonta looked when she sat in a meeting while thinking about a boss she couldn’t beat in a video game.

    Circe shook Eli’s hand while examining him. “Dude, you look like Dracula,” she laughed. “Bandit, doesn’t he look like that vampire from the old movies? The dude with the black cape?”

    Katana facepalmed while Shonta faked a violent cough to disguise her laughing. “Are you alright?” Eli asked our trainer while being completely oblivious.

    “Nothing, it’s nothing!” she assured him. “We have a battle, right?”

    “Oh yes, we do. Will you follow me to the East Tower?” He walked ahead of us, Noah at his side. Shonta shrugged and followed him with Destai at her side, our Houndour watching Noah closely.

    “Well, he’s polite. I like him,” Athena commented.

    “And he’s cheerful in his own way!” Lily added.

    “Kinda feels weird though,” Circe said dreamily. “Dude, it was like I couldn’t get a straight reading from him.”

    “But you seemed okay with him,” Beacon commented.

    “When we were being introduced to him, he seemed happy. Maybe he’s just weird.”

    We entered through the front doors of the East Tower and into the lobby. A nurse walked through the group with a tray of medicine. “Good, a Pokemon Center. How many times are we going to need this place?” I asked no one in particular.

    There were a couple of elevators in the lobby, as well as a map of both of the towers. Eli pointed to the basement of the East Tower on the map. “We may have our battle here, in the Lava Room.”

    No way they have a room that hot. It must be just a name they give it.

    “Won’t that be a little hot for us?” Shonta asked.

    “I would like to see how tough you are as a person as well as a trainer. We can leave after our Houndour battle.”

    “Fine, I guess. Destai?” Our teammate glanced at the other Houndour and barked confidently. “We’re ready.”

    “I’m coming too,” Trinity said while pushing ahead of them to push the down button.

    “Me too,” I said. “I gotta see this.”

    “This will be a good chance for me to practice battling under extreme conditions,” Ali said. “If I can meditate under the hot sun for three days, I can handle this.”

    “It’s true,” I whispered to Noah. “Last summer I kept myself entertained by throwing pebbles at her and she didn’t move a muscle.” Noah just snorted and shuffled closer to Eli.

    “I guess the rest of us will be going up!” Moriko said. “How about we meet each other here?” She pointed to the top floor of the building on the map. “The perfect place for all of us to get a drink!”

    “Good idea,” Shonta said. She stepped into the elevator with the rest of the Lava Room group. “Wish us luck.”

    “And order extra water,” I added.


    Shonta’s POV

    Instead of the elevator doors opening directly to the Lava Room, they slid open next to the stairwell and in front of a pair of double doors. Even though we were outside the room, the air was still warm and stuffy. “Here we go,” I told Eli as I swung the doors open.

    SWOOSH! A wave of unbearably hot air hit my face! I stumbled back and covered it like I’d been punched. “What is this, the center of the earth?” I shouted.

    “You’ll get accustomed to it once you’ve spent some time in here,” Eli said calmly as he entered. The Fire Pokemon with us walked behind him, Destai waiting in the doorway for me.

    Eli was right; once I got over the first blow it didn’t feel so horrible. “Okay, I can do this,” I assured myself.

    Bandit looked up at me. His skin was bright red from being hit by the heat. It was that intense. “Hey, the pale dude was right. After the first blow, you don’t feel anything,” the Kecleon told me.

    “You don’t feel anything because you’re a Fire type now,” Ali clarified. We shared a laugh and went in.

    Eli was already making good progress, carefully but quickly walking around rocks and jumping over gaps. “We should be fine in the middle!” he called out to me.

    “Middle?” I stepped back when some of the rock crumbled away to reveal something bright orange and red. “LAVA? REAL LAVA?”

    He stopped and nodded and confirmation. “Yes, it is called the Lava Room for a reason.”

    “I thought it was just a name!” I recklessly hurried to catch up to him and the rest, to get this battle over so I could get somewhere safe.

    “Good, you’re here.” He bowed to Destai. “Please give me your best.”

    The Houndour cocked his head to the side in confusion. Noah barked something to him and he perked and barked back. “We will,” I confirmed.


    L8 Male Houndour (Destai) vs. L8 Male Houndour (Noah)

    “Destai, use Leer!” I shouted.

    “Noah, use Howl!”

    My Houndour’s eyes shone white while he glared at his howling opponent. I tied my jacket around my waist and fingered my T-shirt. Good thing I rarely deviate from my usual wardrobe.

    It wasn’t much that we could do. Our opponents were both resistant to their own types, and Noah probably had Flash Fire too which made them immune to Fire attacks. But Destai knew more than that. “Destai, give him your Smog attack!” I commanded.

    Noah snorted. “Use Sucker Punch before he can use that Smog!” Eli instructed. The opponent charged in a straight line with incredible speed and tackled Destai with outstretched paws.

    “Shonta, it’s just like what that Absol did to Lily when we were at White Mountain,” Bandit told me.

    “Noted! Destai, use Faint Attack while he’s close!” I shouted. Destai dodged Noah’s paw swipe and tackled him back.

    I wiped the sweat from my forehead and futilely fanned myself. “Ember!” I and the other trainer shouted together. The two Houndour spewed flames at each other, neither one of them budging. That meant…

    “Flash Fire,” I groaned.

    “Yes, I see Destai has it too,” Eli said with a grin. It was strange how much emotion he was suddenly showing.

    “Hope you have other tricks up your sleeve! Destai, move in to attack!”

    “Noah, you know what to do.”

    The two rushed towards the center and leaped for each other. Sparks flickered in Noah’s mouth as he knocked him down and clamped his fangs down on Destai’s neck. Thunder Fang!

    “Destai!”Ali cried out.

    Destai howled in pain and pounded on Noah with his paws until he let go. He wobbled sluggishly and winced. “Poison Fang!” I yelped in panic.

    I never did see why a trainer shouted their attacks for the opponent to hear, but most of the time the Pokemon reacted to orders too quickly to care. Paralyzed Pokemon were another matter. But because of the small gap between them, Destai had lunged forward and sank dripping fangs into Noah before he could move out of range.

    “Noah, get him off!” Eli yelled in rising emotion.

    “Destai, keep him still until that poison gets in!”

    The two Pokemon struggled until Noah spewed a cloud of Smog that Destai had no choice but to breathe in. He let Noah go out of necessity and coughed.

    Noah practically dragged himself a safe distance away from Destai, every movement forcing a whimper of pain. Both Pokemon had status afflictions now, but Noah would soon faint from his if he moved around too much. The heat’s already intense enough for me. I don’t need this battle to make it worse!

    “Noah,” Eli’s voice rang out. His Houndour perked and turned to look at him. “We must act now while your opponent’s struggling to move.”

    “Destai, just keep still and let him come to you.” My Houndour nodded in understanding.

    “Sorry to tell you this but Noah won’t have to get any closer. Dark Pulse!”

    Crap! Destai couldn’t get his legs to move, making him an easy target for the shockwave of darkness. He rolled across the hot rock towards the edge where the lava bubbled.

    “I can’t stand the suspense!” Trinity whined as she pawed me. “Either get him to win or let him lose! Just make it end!”

    “Gee, thanks,” I said sarcastically.

    Destai sprang up and charged again without orders. Noah growled and blew out a cloud of poison. That didn’t stop Destai as he ran straight through without stopping. “Whoo! Poison Fang again!” I hollered.

    “Thunder Fang!” Eli yelled.

    Noah lunged forward to bite Destai but his attacker ducked and bit his leg. “Don’t let go!” I told him.

    Noah slapped him with his other front paw and yanked himself free, but he wasn’t able to last ten seconds before collapsing.


    Destai wins and grows to level 9!

    Eli returned to his stoic self and returned Noah. “Your Houndour is persistent, as are you,” he commented. “You held up very well in this heat.”

    “Barely noticed it,” I chuckled before wiping my face with my jacket. “We should take our Pokemon to the Center now.”

    “You do that,” Bandit said. “I’m going to hang with the others and then go upstairs with them.”

    “Have fun.”
    Random Quote:
    "Well-behaved women seldom make history." ~ Laurel Thatcher Ulrich



    My XBox Live gamertag is gleameyes26. Feel free to add me!

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  31. #591
    Blue blue Master Trainer
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    Default Re: ¤Game¤ Dragon Tamers Battle Range v.23 {MA Pidgeot}

    Shonta: Bo will fight a Girafarig.

    Man, Bandit is a spaz. XD I can't blame him, though. A lot of pressure he's under!
    Gutsy move, retiring a Pokemon on your team for the Dratini. Can't say I don't blame you either. Good show having justification for it.
    I'm totally waiting for the other shoe to drop with Eli.
    I do like that everyone's surprised that there's lava in the Lava Room. I don't mean that sarcastically, either. The logistics of filling a room with lava seem like they must have taken some serious plotting out.
    I'm always surprised by Houndour's large movepool. They're pretty sharp with status effects.
    That was a solid battle! I like how you kept it neck to neck for the entire match.

    Now, for stamps... I like the sound of 13. Take 13 stamps.
    Quote Originally Posted by Heald View Post
    Maybe he figured he 'sold out' when he accepted a modding position and hanged himself. At least, that's what I would do.

  32. #592
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    Default Re: ¤Game¤ Dragon Tamers Battle Range v.23 {MA Pidgeot}

    Finished 3 days later than expected due to puppies, buthere it is! My Pond Room battle!

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

    <Water Angel's POV>

    Freedom. It's a hard concept to explain and I shall not attempt to do it here. I have, myself, found that word to mean different things at different times. But that's not really relevant. The purpose of freedom is not to be defined, but to be experienced... and enjoyed. I have always pitied those who enjoyed some forms of freedom which were denied to me and were not even aware of what they had. Throughout my life, I'd made it a point to recognize every kind of freedom I had and make the best of it. It was one of the drivers which had marked my way in life; it permeated every aspect of my days, every decision I made, everything I created, everything I learned... And life had slowly rewarded me by showing me different ways to extend my freedom. And I had grown used to the way things were. But there, in the Pond Room, Freedom took a new meaning; or rather, its old, original meaning, which I had almost forgotten. Neither the swimming pool at home nor the ones at the Eevee House and the DTHQ, nor even the fountain at the Dragon's Guild headquarters with its secret passage could compete with the vastness and the majesty of this aquatic environment. Not any more than the Pond Room could compete with the open sea. That thought brought with it some nostalgia, but I had long since made my choice to leave the immensity of the ocean for a completely different life and, while I still missed some of the best things from my childhood, I didn't regret my choice. What I had found was much more valuable than anything I'd seen before. So, all things considered, it was a blessing to enjoy the water room in the company of the one I loved. I just hoped it wouldn't have to end too soon.

    I swam around for a while, just enjoying myself, going back and forth, diving underwater to play among the seaweed and then returning to tickle Pidgeot's feathers and let him splash me with his wings in return. We had thankfully arrived at a moment when most Pokemon were resting from previous battles. Ours would be our team's last battle for the day, which meant we didn't have to hurry. After swimming for a while I asked if I had missed anything interesting, and I was told that Lagi had somehow managed to reverse the direction of the water flow in a part of the Desert Room for long enough to allow some raindrops to fall, as well as some other details about the battles, even though many of them were repetitions of the comments I'd heard at lunch. Then the calm ended as a trainer knocked on the door and asked how much longer it would take us to finish. Gabi had to tell him that we were just getting started, which was true if you assumed she was referring to the battle rather than our stay in the room. Frustrated, the trainer left saying he would return a few minutes later. I realized that playtime was over and dived into the water in search for two Pokemon we could challenge.

    I came across Lavy along the way. The Lapras and I had spent many afternoons together at the Guild's fountains (the plural was intentional), and had become good friends. She had been having a good time at the Pond Room so far, although she hadn't had a chance to battle yet. I asked her if she knew where I could find opponents for Pidgeot and myself, and she guided me to a spot by the far wall where a group of Sealeo and Walrein were having a conversation. She asked if any of the Walreins would be willing to battle a Kingdra and a Pidgeot.

    "The Kingdra, sure, but a Pidgeot would be too easy," said one of them. "Where's the fun in that?"
    "Type advantage isn't all, you know," another one reminded him. "You should know that. Didn't you defeat a Machoke once?"
    "Yeah, but it was a stupid one. Anyway, I wasn't talking just about the type, but you're right in that I should check before judging. What's this Pidgeot like? Is it Strong? Smart? Anything interesting?"
    "He's good," I told him. "And that's all I'm going to tell you."
    "Can he fly with wet feathers?" he insisted.
    "Listen, if you want to know more about him, you'll have to battle him," I said. "I'm not going to tell you what he can or can't do. Not unless you're willing to share the same information about yourself. And even then, how can each of us be sure that what the other said is true? Let's make it easier and find out as we battle."
    "Just one random fact about each of us?" said the Walrein who seemed to be intent on playing games.
    "OK, but you go first so I can see what kind of facts you're talking about."
    "Hmm... That's not what I wanted. Why don't I tell you something about him, then you tell me something about yourself and this Pidgeot, and then I say something about myself?"
    "Alright, let's go with that," I accepted.
    "OK then... Icicle here is very observant."
    "My name is not Icicle, it's Iceberg!" the other complained.
    "OK, there you have two facts."
    "Why don't we all say our names?" I suggested. "I don't think they should count as facts and I think it's best to know each other's names if we're going to battle."
    "Oh, sure," said the Walrein whose name I still ignored. "But it's your turn."
    "My name is Water Angel," I said, "And I was born in the North Sea."

    At that moment, Pidgeot arrived and asked me what was going on.

    "It appears to be some kind of game," I informed him. "We have to provide one fact about each of us before we battle. So far it's been said that Iceberg is very observant and that I was born in the North Sea."
    "We're also saying our names," Iceberg added.
    "And it's your turn now," said the other Walrein.
    "Mine? Oh..." Pidgeot paused for a second. "Can I take a moment to think, please? I didn't know about this game and I'm not used to sharing random bits of information about myself."
    "I think that counts as a fact," I told him.
    "Not being used to this game?" The gamer complained. "That's hardly a fact, it's the negation of a fact! And he hasn't even said his name yet."
    "Then I'll give you two in one," offered Pidgeot. "I'm still looking for my name."
    "How do you look for a name?" asked Iceberg.
    "I could either try to find one that suits me or try to remember my old one, but so far neither way has worked. So there you have your fact."
    "You don't remember your name?!" exclaimed the first Walrein. "That's some fact you gave us! Do you have amnesia or something? And you've been going for how long without a name?"
    "Just one fact," I reminded him. "And it's your turn."
    "Oh, sure. That's OK. My name is Gamble, and I like to call Iceberg Icicle. And that's a fact."

    I didn't like him. Iceberg seemed alright, but Gamble seemed to be the kind of individual who enjoyed bending the rules and annoying everyone. And what he'd done to Pidgeot was close to verbal abuse. Of course, he didn't know what Pidgeot had gone through, and I'd have to make sure he didn't find out anymore than he already knew. It wasn't that Pidgeot couldn't take it, it just wasn't fair for someone like Gamble to get his way.

    "Oh, one more thing," Gamble added. "Each of us gets to set a requirement for the battle before we begin."
    "What kind of requirement?" I queried.
    "Whatever you want. Just to set the rules for the battle. Each of us makes a rule and we all have to follow them. For example, my requirement is that no items are used during the battle."
    "Was that an example or a real requirement?" asked Pidgeot.
    "Smart boy! OK, that's my requirement. No items, so your Kingdra friend can drop the ball she has there, and you can leave that bag of whatever you're carrying."
    "We'll have to go all the way back to where our trainer is to give her the items," I pointed out.
    "I can hold your ball," Lavy offered. "I'll give it back to you after the battle."
    "My bag has Sacred Ashes in it," said Pidgeot. "I don't have to take it off, I'll just refrain from using them."
    "If you cheat, you'll lose the battle automatically," Gamble warned him.
    "I don't cheat," Pidgeot glared at him angrily. "And my requirement is that no poisoning moves are used."
    "Poisoning?" asked Iceberg. "That's a strange request. Easy to follow, too. I don't even know any poisoning moves."
    "I know Toxic," said Gamble. "But that's OK, I won't need it anyway. May I ask why, though?"
    "Personal reasons," said Pidgeot.
    "OK, whatever floats your boat. Icicle?"
    Iceberg thought for a moment. "No Rain Dance or Sunny Day."
    That request was strange too. I wondered what he had in mind and didn't want to find out the hard way. "Rain Dance and Sunny Day specifically? Not weather altering moves in general?"
    "We can make it that way if that's your request," said Iceberg.
    "I see," said Pidgeot. "He wants to use Hail. It's your call, Angel."
    "Um... no, I'd rather do without Hail, but that alone is not enough. Can we make it 'no Ice-type' moves?"
    "That would be unfair," said Gamble. "You'd be cutting out our best resources while you wouldn't be losing much at all."
    "Duly noted," I concurred. "Why don't we make it 'no Super Effective moves' instead? That's a common request in friendly matches."
    "Do you have any moves that are Super Effective against us?" asked Iceberg.

    Before I could answer, Pidgeot rose to get away from the water and released a bolt of electricity into the air.

    "I see," said Iceberg. "That's his Hidden Power, isn't it? It can't be nearly as strong as a Blizzard, but I wouldn't want our battle to be over in a single move. No offense meant."
    "I chose to battle here," Pidgeot replied. "If I turn out to be out of my league and lose quickly, so be it. But if each of us is entitled to a request, and all the requests are reasonable, we must abide by them."
    "That's OK," Iceberg agreed. "I think is her request is fair, but note that it doesn't rule out Hail. Shall we begin, then?"
    "What?" complained his partner. "No betting? No reward for the winning team?"
    "I think we've all had enough with the preparations," replied Iceberg. "We're here to train, not to gamble, no pun intended."
    "But we can have some fun while we're at it," Gamble tried to look sad.
    I got an idea. "Let's do the following: after the battle, the winning team gets to ask a question and the losing team has to answer truthfully."
    Gamble took a moment to think about it. "OK, it's better than nothing. And I get to find out more about your weird friend."

    I didn't like that last comment.

    "Or we get to learn about anything we choose," Pidgeot corrected him.
    "As long as it's something we know," Iceberg noted.
    "Right... OK, Angel, this appears to be a game, so set the stage and we'll start playing."

    Level 64 Pidgeot and Kingdra vs. 2× Level 70 Walrein

    I'd be lying if I said I knew exactly what he'd meant by 'set the stage'. Usually I would have taken it to mean 'use Smokescreen', but this was a 2-on-2 battle at the biggest swimming pool I'd ever seen; Smokescreen wouldn't be very useful. Then I saw him take off and realized he wanted me to help him make his move more effective. It wasn't hard for me to mold my face into an intimidating Leer: all I had to do was look at Gamble and think of how irritating he was. Iceberg hadn't done anything to anger me, but he was also looking at me and became as uneasy as his partner. I almost felt sorry for him, but I wasn't going to let them win so easily; not only because Gamble was getting on my nerves, but also because I'd never met either of them before and that meant they'd probably been to places where we hadn't been and seen things we didn't know about. I didn't want to miss a chance to learn something useful.

    Gamble responded to my Leer with a loud Growl, which was, however, not loud enough to reach Pidgeot. Iceberg shot a piercingly cold Ice Beam at me. I realized I had to do something to stop them quickly. As Pidgeot hit Gamble with a Fly attack that was still nowhere near as strong as that Ice Beam, I let out a loud yawn as close to Iceberg as I could. That was what got the round of tricks started. Gamble put an Encore on Pidgeot, while Iceberg summoned a Hail storm. Then Iceberg fell asleep and, as the Hail hit us, Pidgeot was forced to rise into the air again. I hit Gamble with a Dragon Pulse, but it was useless. He decided to take a nap and healed himself. Now both our opponents were asleep, but nothing we could do would be enough to ensure they both stayed down.

    Pidgeot hit Gamble again, and I did the same since we had no time to waste. The Hail hit us again, but fortunately our opponents were unable to attack us. Then Pidgeot soared again, and I was left alone with the two sleeping walruses. Dragon Pulse was still the best weapon I had, so I used it to hit Gamble again before he had a chance to wake up. I was lucky, my pulse produced a strong impact and caused Gamble to sink into the water. But my luck ended there, as at that moment Iceberg began to stir. I turned to look at him at the exact moment he began toopen his mouth for a big Yawn... or perhaps he'd been waiting for me to look at him. In that way, he accomplished his revenge on me. I managed to stay awake long enough to see Gamble reach the surface, only to fall again from the force of Pidgeot's attack. I yawned back at Iceberg in an attempt to help my partner, and I saw through the thin gap between my eyelids how Iceberg jumped into the air and landed on top of Pidgeot. That was the last thing I could see before I began to drift among the waves of dream. I was vaguely aware of the last ice stones touching my scales. Then the last of my senses left the Pond Room.


    <Pidgeot's POV>

    Things weren't looking good for us. Gamble was down, but Iceberg was still unharmed and Water Angel could no longer keep up her struggle to stay awake. To make things worse, I had taken into the air against my will once more. I hated having no control over my body. Admittedly, it was below a number of other things in my hate list, like evil and abusive individuals, poison and cages. Or perhaps it was on par with cages. But I was an adult and knew I had to make an effort to get over those things. I tried to take advantage of the height and the distance to assess the situation. Instead of attacking Water Angel, which would have been easy, Iceberg had decided to bring back the Hail. I wondered why. Sure, it would allow him to hit both of us at the same time, but it wasn't strong enough to be worth it. There had to be another reason why he wanted the Hail so much. After all, he'd not only used the move twice, but he had made sure we wouldn't stop it with Sunny Day or Rain Dance. He had to be getting something out of it. And that's when I remembered hearing that some Pokemon could be healed by Hail, and realized it wouldn't be easy to bring Iceberg down. At least he fell asleep once the ice began to fall. I was grateful for Water Angel's last action; it would buy me some time.

    I plunged into the Walrein and then, as I suspected, the Hail removed the marks I'd left on his skin. The good news was that I was now free from the Encore and could move at my leisure. I attacked my opponent with the most powerful Aeroblast I could muster. The wind was fast and strong, and sent Iceberg crashing against a wall. The ice couldn't do much to heal that, I knew I'd be lucky if I could keep attacking like that. I took a look at Water Angel and saw she was beginning to move, but she looked badly hurt. The Ice Beam and the successive Hail impacts had taken their toll on her. I needed to act fast.

    I shot another Aeroblast. It wasn't as strong as the first one, but it was something. Then Water Angel woke up and a stream of draconic flames found its way to our opponent. It wasn't her strongest move, but her Hidden Power had a history of seeing her through tough situations and this wasn't the exception. I wasn't surprised when, later that night, she told me she'd been searching for her inner strength in her sleep, and that the teal flame had come to her encounter and allowed her to wake up. However, it didn't save her from the ice that kept cutting her scales. I could swear I felt her pain more than my own. I tried to focus on my opponent and saw that he was opening his eyes. We had to finish the battle before he could react. I couldn't take the chance of missing, so instead of using my strongest move, I went for accuracy and relied on Water Angel to deal the final blow. At the shout of "End it now" I launched a volley of star-shaped projectiles while Angel finished the battle with a Dragon Pulse. Fortunately for us, that was enough, and neither Iceberg nor his Hail could hurt us again.


    We grew to level 66!

    The ice became thinner and soon stopped falling. I descended to the surface of the water and approached Water Angel. She looked like she could barely stay afloat, but she was smiling.

    "We did it again," she said.
    "Yes, we did," I answered. "But it was tougher than most friendly battles. If you hadn't put Iceberg to sleep twice we wouldn't have made it. I hope the question you want to ask is worth the trouble we went through."
    "My question?" she fixed her eyes on me. "You mean there's nothing you want to ask?"
    "Nothing they could possibly know," I told her. "Unless they've heard anything about the Black Dragon or the snag machines."
    "OK," she sighed. "We can ask them that. I'd thought about that too, but I was thinking that maybe there was something else you'd like to know."
    "As I said, I have no other questions they can answer. They're not from Caledor. There's no way they could know anything about my family."
    "Then business it is," she agreed, a second before the pain made her wince.
    "Hold on," I told her. "The battle's over. Use this."

    I offered her my Sacred Ashes and was relieved to see their effect on her. She soon began to feel better. I didn't need them for myself, since I hadn't taken so much damage and I could use Roost to heal my wounds. Then Lavy returned the Beach Ball she'd been holding.

    We waited until the Walreins had finished their refreshing nap and were ready to talk to us. We asked her our question, but we couldn't get much information out of them. They'd never heard of the Black Dragon before, and they'd only heard a few rumors about humans using some device to capture trained Pokemon but didn't know who had been doing it, nor where it had happened. Then we said goodbye to everyone, but Gamble stopped us as we were about to leave.

    "Wait," he said. "Before you go, I'd like to know your story. What's the deal with you?"
    "You know..." I replied. "I would have told you, but you chose to make a bet out of it, and asking your question now that you've lost is cheating. I don't like cheaters."
    "Hey, it's only a game," he complained. "And it's over now."
    "You never know when to stop, do you?" Iceberg scolded him. "Let them go. He has no obligation to tell us anything."
    "Thanks," I told him. "You're much nicer than him, you know. But I don't think you'd like to hear my story any more than I'd like to tell it. But most of it's in the past. Just a few loose ends to tie, then I'm sure it'll end better than it started."

    I felt a tickle as Water Angel's nose shook some of my feathers. I liked it, but I think it added to the Walreins' confusion. I could live without solving that particular problem. We headed for the door and noticed Gabi wasn't there anymore. In her place was a familiar-looking young man.

    "Hey, you two!" he called out to us. "Hold on a moment, I'll get your trainer. Sorry about that, it's just that it was getting late and my stars needed some exercise."
    "Stars?" I looked around until I spotted a pair of Starmie battling some fish Pokemon.

    I took another look at the trainer and finally recognized him. It was Eric, one of the founding members of the MTU, and the only one I knew who was dedicated to training just one kind of Pokemon. I have to admit I couldn't tell which of his many star Pokemon were battling at that moment. He opened the door and called Gabi, who was waiting on the other side. She recalled Water Angel, and both trainers made room for me to pass through the door.

    "It was nice seeing you again," Eric told Gabi.
    "You too," she replied. "Good luck with the training!"

    We waved goodbye and left the last training room we'd visit on that day. Then, as we hit the Pokemon Center to pick up our friends, Gabi got a call from Kristy saying that the shipment of new TMs and items had arrived. Kristy had kindly offered her help to look after the Reward Center while we were away. She didn't ask for anything in return, she said she was trying to return a favor. She never explained what that favor was, but Lagi said she was sincere and, considering the timing of her reappearance and how long it had been since we'd last heard of her, I had a feeling I knew what exactly we had done for her. Well... not me particularly but the Dragon Tamers as a whole, and a part of the Dragon's Guild. In any case, that wasn't what Gabi thought about when she hung up her phone.

    "I can't believe we've already been doing this for 10 years!" she exclaimed, looking at us all.
    "Doing what for 10 years?" asked Hero.
    "The Dragon Tamers. This Tuesday it'll be 10 years since we began to operate. So many things have happened since then! It seems like a lifetime ago, and still... also like a moment! I remember the argument I had with Scott on that day like it was just a few days ago."
    "You should have nicer things to remember that day by," said Caledor. "Not that I can help you with that, I'm not that old."
    "How old are you? Nine?" Tsunami retorted. "Stop pretending to be a little kid, no one's buying it."
    "I'm not pretending, I'm honest! It's just the way I am. And I wouldn't have it any other way."
    "10 years!" I could hardly believe it myself. "Yes, I remember... in December it was 10 years since I was adopted. That's when my life really began. I wonder how old I was back then."
    "I wonder how old Hero is," Caledor changed the subject before I could get lost in my thoughts. "He must be really old."
    "I'm not old, just experienced," Hero shot back. "Some of us like to use our time to learn and improve ourselves rather than pretending to be Peter Pan."
    "Yeah, too bad things like tact, empathy and modesty can take a whole life to learn," Tsunami teased him.
    "And there are things some individuals can never learn, like how to keep their mouths shut," Hero snapped.
    "Oh, please, don't start now," Sylvan pleaded. "We're at a Pokemon Center."
    "She's right," Caledor said. "We need to resolve this at the hotel... with a Pillow Fight!"
    "You're not having another pillow fight," Gabi said in her most serious tone. "I had to pay a lot of money to repair the damage you guys caused the first time, not to mention how embarrassing it was to tell the hotel staff what you'd done."
    "Oh, this won't be the same, I promise," Caledor assured. "We'll have a regular pillow fight, no attacks involved. Only hitting each other with a pillow is allowed, and if anyone breaks a pillow or anything else, the perpetrator will have to taste the weight of a thousand wormholes."
    "That made no sense whatsoever," Gabi told him.
    "I know. I'm getting better at this," Caledor grinned.
    "If you ask me, you've always been good at not making sense," Hero told him. "It's not an ability you should try to improve. You should instead try to focus on honing your psychic abilities, improving your accuracy and learning some good physical attacks."
    "All at once?" Caledor raised an eyebrow.
    "At your own time, in whatever way works for you, but you do need some improvement in those areas. You can't keep relying on your opponent not knowing what to expect from you, because sooner or later you'll find someone who will. Lightness was a good match for you because she could plan ahead and adapt to the unexpected, and also because she found your weak spot from the start. In a battle with higher stakes, that die of yours may not be enough to turn the tables."
    "You had to get all serious, didn't you? I will try to train harder, but only after I've stuffed you with pillows and made you pay for treating me like a newbie during my battle, since apparently calling you a cheerleader wasn't enough."
    "That was your idea of revenge?!" Hero looked stunned. "Sorry, but that's another thing you'll have to improve. Your payback methods can't be distinguished from your regular silliness."
    "Now he'll be trying to come up with an even sillier revenge," Tsunami warned him.
    "Oh, Tsu, you know me too well," Caledor shook his head. "I'll have to pillow you for that."
    "I thought I was already going to participate in the pillow fight," said Tsunami.
    "I warn you all," Gabi insisted. "If you break anything with your pillow fight, I'm not only not giving any of you any gifts when we get back home, I'm also not taking you to the Training Grounds ever again."
    "Now that's a good threat," Hero pointed out. "Don't worry, ma'am. I'll make sure everything stays in one piece."
    "Ma'am?" now it was Gabi's turn to raise an eyebrow.

    Hero's only response was a big grin. There was silence for a moment, which was broken by Tsunami as we walked out of the Pokemon Center and headed for the hotel.

    "You know..." he began. "I think Caledor's battle was quite good after all."
    "You say that just because you like long battles," said Hero.
    "That's not why and you know it," Tsunami told him. "You don't show so much interest in a battle that you find boring."
    "Well, I guess it had its moments, but I liked my battle best."
    "I'm sure you did. To be honest I would have liked to watch it but, you know... Desert Room... not good for Water Pokemon."
    "Don't worry, you'll get to watch and admire my battling style at the Lava Room tomorrow. I was thinking I might use the die Caledor used. I liked the randomness Lagi's die introduced into our battle, but Caledor's is better."
    "Who said you can borrow my die?" Caledor glared at him.
    "I don't have to borrow it," said Hero. "I can just use it. The die belongs to you and you belong to me, so by transitivity, the die is mine."
    "What?!" Caledor shouted. "You don't own me, where did you get that stupid idea from?"
    "Easy. You were my prize for winning the first Griffon Games. You've been mine for as long as you've been in the team."
    "OK, now that's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard, and that's saying a lot considering I've heard lots of ridiculous things and uttered most of them."
    "Does that mean I own Bolovayr?" Tsunami wondered.
    "No!" Caledor yelled. "What side are you on?"
    "Mine, as always. Two against one wouldn't be fair now, would it?"

    I stopped listening. I'd go crazy if I had to pay attention to everything those three say. My thoughts were then split among my battle, the 10 years I'd spent with Gabi, and the still unresolved mystery of my early days. I intentionally avoided thinking of the bad times, even though I had the creeping feeling I might have to revisit them if I wanted to remember what came before. It just wasn't the right time for that. We'd spent a decade together, and we'd made many lives better in the process, including our own. We had a lot to celebrate.
    Last edited by Lady Vulpix; 3rd March 2011 at 08:15 AM.

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  33. #593
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    Default Re: ¤Game¤ Dragon Tamers Battle Range v.23 {MA Pidgeot}

    Twenty stamps for your story, Gabi.

    -The opening was pretty deep.
    -Yay, ten years! I've only been here about six years but it's still relevant!
    -The scene at the Pokemon Center was funny and touching.
    -Your battle did well on showing how annoying things like weather effects can really affect a battle.
    Random Quote:
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  34. #594
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    Default Re: ¤Game¤ Dragon Tamers Battle Range v.23 {MA Pidgeot}

    Thanks, Shonta! I'm glad you liked it.

    And yay, ten years!

    Annual Unown Awards: Kind (2007), Friendly, Queen (2008), Dedicated (2009), She found Kevin! (2009),
    Everyone wins (2011), Tea, World traveler (2012), Busy, Patient (2013),
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    Active, Discord, Letter, Unown Awards 2019 (2019).

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  35. #595
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    Default Re: ¤Game¤ Dragon Tamers Battle Range v.23 {MA Pidgeot}

    New post! I'm glad I made it before my friends came. By the way, I'd like to know if Jeff has read my previous post. In any case, here's the new one!

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

    <Tsunami's POV>

    We met Amber and Ventura at the hotel lobby. They'd caught some interesting sights during the day, but they'd found no hints of the Black Dragon's whereabouts. They had come across Glyph in the afternoon, but he hadn't found anything relevant either, although he'd heard some interesting stories about the elves who used to live in the forest. That was too bad, but at least there was a bright side to look at: the hotel was amazing! The lobby had a large chandelier and the walls were painted gold and decorated with arabesques and leaf-like motives. It also had a huge, cozy couch where we could sit while we waited for Gabi finish to checking in. We'd left our luggage at the storeroom when we arrived, but I hadn't had the chance to fully appreciate the place until we got back from the Training Grounds. And when we got to our room, with its bouncy bed, its thick blankets and its array of colorful pillows of different shapes and sizes, I almost wished we could spend a whole day inside. Almost. I was also looking forward to my battle the following day. But first things first: I had a score to settle with Hero and Caledor, and the varied selection of pillows was perfect for that purpose.

    I tried to get to the pillows first, but Hero Quick-Attacked the pile before I could reach it. I accepted it as it came: the fight hadn't really started yet. I reminded my friends that we'd have to be careful not to break anything and four eyes were rolled at me in return, but at least Gabi nodded approvingly. As she and Amber went to prepare our dinner, I picked a square blue pillow and hit Hero with it. He complained that we hadn't hit the rules yet, so I lay them out for him.

    "We play until we get tired or something interrupts us. Each player's score is the sum of the times he manages to hit another player, minus the number of hits he receives. Negative scores are allowed. Anything else?"
    "What happens if someone gets hit with 2 pillows at the same time?" asked Hero.
    "It counts as two hits, as long as both pillows touch the player."
    "I think it may be hard to tell who was hit by whom and how many times," Hero said.
    "We'll see," I told him.
    "Why do we even need rules?" asked Caledor. "It's a pillow fight, we hit each other with pillows until someone gives up. That's more fun than counting hits."
    "OK, if that's what you want, we can do it that way. Hero?"
    "It's the same for me, I'll win either way."
    "I think I'm beginning to like Caledor's idea," I decided. "Let's do it his way."
    "Yay!" Caledor cheered.

    And so, it began. All the pillows were waved and thrown around the room countless times. In the end I was glad we weren't counting; it would have been tiresome and I have the feeling that Hero would have won after all. He was both fast and good at dodging, and he even used Double Team at one point. I tried to tell him we weren't supposed to do that, but he said he wasn't doing any damage and that was the only true restriction. At least I got to land a hit on him as he was speaking. Caledor used the chance to practice his telekinesis, but he couldn't focus enough to lift a pillow and throw it at one of us. He did, however, use his abilities to deviate some of the pillows that were about to hit him. I began to think that maybe his psychic abilities weren't meant to be used the way he and Hero wanted, and made a mental note to suggest that he trained the skills he'd already been able to use with some measure of success. Of course, while I was making that mental note, I was buried with pillows. But I had no trouble shooting them back at my rivals.

    We had to stop for dinner, but after that we were back in the game. Hero had had more to eat than myself and was already showing some signs of tiredness, but he was too stubborn to give up. As for Caledor, it was hard to know: he held his pillows by the center and used them as shields before throwing them, so I could rarely see his face. I managed to mimic his use of Detect once, and from then on I had the upper hand. Neither of my opponents would be the first to stop, but with time they both began to lose speed and shooting power. I focused on hitting Hero to avoid giving him a chance to catch his breath, and dodged Caledor's attacks as best as I could. It wasn't that hard, since he insisted on holding them by the center and they fell off his mouth a lot, but I couldn't stop him when he charged at me with a pillow on his mouth. Then Hero took the chance to pick a big one and land it on my back, and they both pushed until my chest touched the floor, but I waited until they stopped pushing and then wriggled away. They both ended up a lot more tired than I was. In the end we were forced to stop because the others wanted to sleep. Hero and Caledor decided to call it a draw, but they both collapsed on the pile of pillows as soon as the lights were out. I, on the other hand, wasn't very tired. In fact, I was restless.

    It took me a while before I could finally fall asleep. Perhaps I was nervous because I hadn't battled in a while and I'd be battling in the Lava Room in the morning. Hero and Caledor had already won a battle each, which put some pressure on me for my upcoming battle. I tried to tell myself that it was just for training and nothing was at stake, but my pride kept nagging at me. To make things worse, it was the Lava Room. Not as bad as the Desert Room, but my Water attacks wouldn't be so effective in there, and Ice attacks were out of the question. It was comforting to know that I was bound to be facing a Fire Pokemon, but it would be a trained one and was likely to know some tricks. After nearly an hour of turning around on my pillow, I ended up making a mental list of all the things I could do inside the Lava Room, or at least all those which came to my mind. I didn't try to memorize them. I just comforted myself with the thought that I wouldn't be out of options and that I could endure anything my opponents could throw at me. After all, that was what I did best. I fell asleep at some point during the list-building process and had dreams of battles among hot rocks and rivers of boiling lava.

    Is it any wonder that I was slightly disappointed when I faced the real thing? I mean... the place was terribly hot, and they'd done a good job with the lava and the black rock path, but the Lava Room from my dream had been like the inside of a real volcano, with huge caves and tunnels with red-hot walls, plus a few stalactites to make it look more impressive. Yes, I know volcanos have no stalactites, but everything can happen in a dream, and it had been a breathtaking sight. The real Lava Room was similar to the old ones... perhaps a bit bigger and the floor was hotter - Caledor had to put on special boots to go in and watch us and Gabi stayed outside again -, but not hot enough to burn me or my Fire-type friends. Yes, Amber came with us. She didn't think she'd find anything useful if she went flying around with Ventura again, and she wanted to try and find her old friend Eliot who had been a member of the Lava Room staff every time the Training Grounds were open. It wasn't much of a surprise when we did find him. We'd missed him the last time, but he was usually there. He was talking to another Charizard. The other one looked bigger, more muscular, and had a more serious look on his face. Amber and I approached them slowly, trying not to interrupt them, but the stranger turned to look at us.

    "It looks like we've got company," he said.

    Eliot turned and gasped.

    "Amber!" he exclaimed. "How long has it been? I was beginning to lose hope of seeing you here!"
    "You know..." said Amber with a smile, "I'm with both the Dragon Tamers and the PRTD. I'm not hard to locate if you want to find me."
    "Oh, I... can't believe I never thought of that. I guess I was just expecting you to come to the MTU building again, but you never did. And then I started thinking that, since you don't like friendly battles, maybe you wouldn't come looking for me at all."
    "We can do more than just battle," Amber pointed out. "If you're interested."
    "Uh? Oh, sure! Maybe when we're done here we can go out for lunch?"
    "Sounds like a plan," Amber smiled.
    "Excuse me," the other Charizard interrupted them, "but if you two don't stop you're going to give me diabetes. If you're not here to battle, then why don't you get the hell out of here? This is a training room, not a dating club."
    "Dude, you don't have to be so rude," Eliot told him. "I've heard they don't teach you any manners in Char Valley, but here at the MTU we like to show others some respect."
    "I only respect those who've earned it," the Charizard was unfazed.
    "Wait a second," said Amber. "You said Char Valley? Is that where he came from?"
    "Yes, that's what he said, sweety. Or do you also have trouble hearing?"
    "You know what? I'm getting tired of your attitude," said Amber. "But I'll let it pass because my mother came from Char Valley and she told me what it was like to live there. I wouldn't wish that kind of life upon anyone."
    "I don't know who your mother is, but she's probably a softie like you. Char Valley's a great place to grow up, it helped you build character and become strong. I only left because I wanted to test myself against other kinds of Pokemon. Charizards get boring after a while."
    "What about Vaporeons?" I burst into the conversation before he could make Amber any angrier.
    "Vaporeons? Now that would be a nice challenge. I haven't had a chance to battle a Vaporeon yet. One came in yesterday, but he was too weak for me."
    "Then I'll give you the chance, but if I win, you'll have to apologize for insulting Amber and her mother."
    "I haven't insulted them. I was just stating facts. Your friend was being so sweet it made me nauseous, and I hear she doesn't like friendly battles, so she's clearly too soft. And if her mother said Char Valley was a terrible place, then it must run in the family. Pure logic. You can't argue with that."
    "That's not logic, it's just your opinion," I told him. "I know Amber much better than you do and she has a lot of inner strength. And physical strength too, for that matter. The fact that she also has a kind soul and doesn't want to hurt her friends shouldn't be seen as a sign of weakness. But then again, you probably can't understand any of that. You don't strike me as the kind of individual who can comprehend someone else."
    "Are you calling me dumb?"
    "I'm not calling you anything, I'm just stating what I see."
    "And now you're mocking me!"
    "I was wondering if you'd notice. I have to give you credit for that."
    "Tsunami, that isn't necessary," Amber tried to stop me, but I was starting to have fun.
    "Oh, no one said anything about necessity," I replied. "I'm sure he didn't need to say anything offensive, but he enjoys making fun of others. Am I right? Well, it just so happens that I have spent most of my life engaging in comeback fights with my two best friends, so go ahead and give me your best shot."

    I must admit what I received wasn't exactly the kind of shot I'd been expecting. But it was OK, I was there to battle after all.

    Level 64 Vaporeon vs. Level 70 Charizard

    His "best shot" was apparently an Air Slash. He turned the air itself into a blade and slashed my skin with it. It hurt, but I think it was mostly because of the surprise factor. I wouldn't let that happen again. I could see he was impatient, and reckoned it wouldn't be hard to tire him out.

    Even in the Lava Room there was some humidity in the air. I took advantage of it and conjured up an Aqua Ring to heal myself a bit. It wouldn't heal me as fast as the Charizard could hurt me, but it didn't matter. It would buy me some time; and time, as usual, was the key. Quick battles are no fun (I know most of my team disagrees with me on this point, but I'll stay firm in my position).

    My opponent slashed my other side with air, but this time I was prepared and didn't take so much damage. I stood still and took a moment to focus. The Charizard got angry.

    "Aren't you going to attack at all?" he demanded.
    "I was waiting to see if you could show some style," I answered. "But apparently the only thing you can do is slash the air like a maniac."
    "Insolent creature! I'll show you some style."
    "Wow, someone actually says things like 'insolent creature' in real life? I thought that phrase was only for TV shows."

    I could have continued, but I realized he was absorbing light. I'd seen Sylvan use the move too many times not to recognize it, so I decided to try a Hydro Pump and see how much of the water would make it to the Charizard without evaporating. And the answer was... a whole lot, thanks to my focused energy and my bottle of Mystic Water! My opponent even ended up swallowing some of it. I chuckled as he coughed and my Aqua Ring healed my wounds. But by then the Charizard had already absorbed enough light and was ready to shoot his Solarbeam.

    I couldn't dodge it. Avoiding blows had never been my forte; enduring them was. The Solarbeam hit me really hard, but I managed to collect myself and look at the Charizard. He looked just as battered as I was. I could have ended the battle then, but I wanted to take him down a peg and show him how powerless he really was. So I used Recover. It didn't heal all the damage I'd taken from the Solarbeam, but it did heal most of it. The Charizard was furious. He closed his fist and charged up electricity into it. I couldn't help but wince when his blow connected. It wasn't as bad as the Solarbeam, though. I could recover from it, but it wouldn't have been wise. I knew that if he was able to land a Critical Hit at any point, I'd be done for. So I used the move for which I was most famous to put an end to the battle.

    As I was gathering the water in the air to form a... fairly decent wave, I said a few final words.

    "You shouldn't put so much stock in battling prowess. There will always be someone who can beat you and that doesn't really say much about you nor about your opponent."

    There wasn't enough time for a longer speech. I wasn't even sure he could understand what I meant to say. If, as I suspected, winning battles meant anything to him, then he'd probably feel humiliated or get really mad at me for beating him. From the beginning of the battle I'd been determined to show him that I could take everything he could throw at me and still keep my cool. I'd done it, but what would that mean for him? I got a vague answer to my question when, as my wave hit him and he began to drift into unconsciousness, I heard him utter the words "I'll fight better next time".


    I grew to level 66!

    Poor guy. The lesson was lost on him, but at least he was at the right place to learn it, even if it was bound to take a while. MTU Pokemon spend a lot of time battling. Sometimes they win, sometimes they don't. No one can always win. Sooner or later, he would have to realize that there are more important things in life than the result of a battle.

    "Nice work," said Eliot. "But if you wanted to teach him something, I'm afraid he hasn't learnt it. I was trying to tell him that when you arrived, but he said I was a wuss. Now he'll be trying to become stronger in order to defeat Vaporeons."
    "I noticed," I replied. "But maybe life will show him over the years. At least he's not bothering Amber anymore."
    "Thanks, Tsu," said Amber, "but I've met too many like him. I've long since stopped being bothered by their insults. Even though insulting my mum was a low blow, I know there's no truth in his words, so they can't hurt me."
    "That must be the inner strength your friend was talking about," said Eliot. He looked at me, then at Amber and smiled.
    "He was right about one thing, though," claimed Hero. "You two are sappy. Get a room, I'm waiting for an opponent to battle. Kid here has been kind enough to end his battle faster than usual, I don't want to spend the time he earned me hearing corny phrases."
    "That was faster than usual?" Eliot looked puzzle.
    "Yes. He claims to be the king of waves, but he's really the king of slowness. Or not, maybe he didn't make king of slowness because someone else got to the throne first."
    "We both have our own styles," I told him. "Speed is your thing, endurance is mine."
    "Yes, I know, you like it when your opponents faint from boredom, the problem is that so does the audience."
    "Hey, my battle was longer!" Caledor reminded us.
    "That's not something to be proud of," Hero retorted.
    "What's going on here?" a human approached us. "I'm suddenly getting a feeling of deja vu. Haven't I met you guys before? Wait. Those tails..."
    "What tails? My tails?" asked Hero with a wary look on his face.

    I took a close look at him. His brown hair was partially obscuring his eyes and he was currently wearing a brown vest, but that didn't stop me from recognizing him as Eliot's trainer. Even if it had, the way Eliot greeted him was a dead giveaway.

    "Oh, hi, Randy! I was just talking to Amber, Tsunami and Hero."
    "And Caledor!" the Espeon glowed yellow to emphasize his presence.
    "And Caledor," Eliot corrected himself.
    "Of course! The winner and the first prize of the first Griffon Games, the runner up of the second Dragon Games, and the famous Amber."

    Amber blushed at his remark.

    "Wow, you have a good memory," said Hero.
    "Right," Caledor agreed, "I would have thought you'd remember us from the maze rather than the tournaments."
    "Randy's an avid follower of the tournaments," said Eliot. "He's already reserved seats for every event of the upcoming Dragon Games."
    "Wait, Randy?" I queried. "I thought his name was Aaron."
    "Aaron Randall," Eliot explained. "Everyone at the MTU calls him Randy or Randall, even though it's his last name. I think it sounds better than Aaron."
    "I guess it does," said his trainer. "I remember seeing you all at one of the mazes. I battled you there. I remember it was a really long battle, but it was worth it."
    "Yes, that was Tsunami alright," Hero chuckled. "I promise I won't do the same. Do you have a fast opponent for me?"
    "The fastest one here is Ares," said Eliot. "He's not a member of our team, but he's staying with us while his trainer is away. I can fetch him if you want."
    "I'll do that," said Randy, making a sing with his hand for us to wait while he went to look for his Ares guy.
    "What kind of Pokemon is he?" asked Hero.
    "He's a Blaziken," said Eliot.
    "Oh. Figures I wasn't going to find a Ghost or Psychic type here, but a Blaziken sounds good."
    "Why?" asked Eliot. "Do you have any Ghost type moves you wanted to use?"
    "You have a quick mind," Hero praised him.
    "That's good," I added. "Amber deserves someone who can keep up with her."
    "Hey, stop it!" demanded Amber as Eliot stayed back. "I asked him out to lunch, I haven't asked him to be my mate."
    "Yeah, right," I insisted. "Pidgeot and Water Angel started out with that kind of attitude and look at them now."
    "This isn't funny," said Amber. "I'm neither Hero nor Caledor, so don't try to have your kind of fun with me."
    "Wait, isn't Water Angel a Kingdra?" asked Eliot.
    "Yes, she is, and I assure you I've met stranger couples," Amber told him.
    I had to intervene. "Like Rhiannon and her ghost boyfriend for their sheer weirdness, or like Hero and Tracker for the years it took them to admit they liked each other?"
    "Mind your own business, fishstick," Hero snapped at me. "At least I have a girlfriend. Even Caledor has one! You're the only one in our trio who's still single."
    "Maybe I like being single," I told him. "It's hard enough to keep track of my daughter. A girlfriend would take up too much time."
    "Unlike your battles?" Hero laughed.

    Luckily, Randy and Ares arrived before Hero could realize I didn't have a quick comeback for him.

    "Hi there," the Blaziken raised a hand. "I hear one of you wants a battle?"
    "Yes. Me," Hero stepped forward before anyone else could say anything.
    "Oh. Randy didn't say who I was going to battle, but he did mention I'd get to meet some of the stars from old tournaments. Are you one of them? Sorry, I wasn't in Ulthuan back then."
    "I won the first Griffon Games," Hero told him. "But that was a long time ago. My general strategy remains the same, but my tactics have changed. For the better, I'd like to think."
    "Hero's being humble?" I stared at him in awe.
    "Hero's being polite," the Ninetales shot back. "I know for a fact my tactics have improved. There's no need to brag about that."
    "So you only brag about things that aren't facts?" I questioned him.
    "As do you, 'King of Waves'. It's not bragging if there isn't some exaggeration involved. And it's not wise to brag before a battle."
    "Politeness and wisdom!" I gasped. "Who are you and what have you done to Hero?"
    "I've said it countless times and I'll say it again," Hero wanred me. "Shut your big mouth. You'll swallow a fly or something."
    "Are they always like that?" Randy asked, looking at the Charizards.
    Amber nodded. Of course we were!

    She then turned to Ares. "Before you begin, I'd like to ask you something. Are you named after the Greek God of War?"
    "I'm afraid so," Ares replied. "My name was given to me by my trainer's father, Lord Scizor. Ian knew better than to try to change it."
    "Lord Scizor?" Amber tried to recall.
    "He's Lord Skarmory's right hand," Ares told her.
    "Of course!" Amber exclaimed. "I knew I'd heard that name before. And his son Ian, your trainer... could he be the same Ian from the MTU we have met before? The Fire Pokemon trainer?"
    "He's the only Ian I know from the MTU," Ares told her. "Quite thin, medium height, bright orange hair?"
    "That's him!" Amber confirmed. "How is he doing? Why isn't he here with you?"
    "I'm afraid he's not doing so well," Ares replied. "He's still in Caledor, looking for Selene and Helios. They've been missing for a week. I already had a spot reserved at the Lava Room, so he had Randy bring me here while he searched for them."
    "Oh, that's terrible!" said Amber. "I'm so sorry. How did they go missing?"
    "They left home on Sunday morning saying they were going to train, but they never reached the MTU building. No one has seen them since then."
    "Have you gone to the police?" asked Amber.
    "Not yet. Ian wants to try to find him by himself first, and then talk to his family if he fails. You know how they are."

    As a matter of fact, we didn't. All I knew was that they were all proud Soldiers of the Griffin or politicians or military men, and they had some elven blood, and they seemed to look down on Ian because he'd chosen to join the Mercenary Trainers Union instead of following their footsteps. Come to think of it, I didn't really know what they were like, but I could get a general idea. I gathered that going to the police wouldn't be among the first choices for that kind of people.

    "I just hope he can find them soon," I told Ares. "Our friend Flame the Charizard has also been missing for some time. We should check to see if any other Fire Pokemon have disappeared. There may be a connection."
    "Maybe," said Ares. "I'll let Ian know. Thanks for your help."
    "Now this has completely ruined the mood for our battle," Hero interjected.
    "Not at all," Ares assured. "I didn't come all this way from Caledor just to brood about my missing teammates. I came here to battle, and battle I will."
    "Your friends will be found," Caledor assured. "Trust me. I'm an Espeon and have Future Sight."

    Hero gave him an odd look and I guessed that, just like me, he was consciously refraining to mention that Caledor's psychic powers left a lot to be desired and that his Future Sight only allowed him to know where his opponent would be standing at one particular point during a battle. After all, Caledor was doing the one thing he did best (aside from speaking nonsense): lift someone else's mood.

    "Thanks," Ares nodded. "I trust that they'll come home safely. If they're not back by the time I return to Caledor, I'll join the search."
    "In that case, our battle can help us both train to face the mysterious kidnapper," said Hero. "We're both Fire Pokemon. We could be the next targets. Better be prepared."
    "You're jumping to conclusions," I pointed out a split second before Amber said just about the same thing.
    "Better be prepared regardless," Hero shrugged us off. "When you don't know the threat you're facing, you have to be prepared for anything."

    Ares acknowledged Hero's words with a nod and signaled the rest of us to make room for the battle. Both Pokemon assumed their battle stances.

    Level 75 Ninetales vs. Level 85 Blaziken

    Ares started the battle with a fierce claw attack. Crush Claw, if I identified it correctly. I saw something glint in the Blaziken's hand while he attacked, but he moved too fast for me to see what it was. It was actually impressive to see a Pokemon who could move faster than Hero. He must have taken notice of his speed too, because he stopped running as soon as he was hit and tried to shoot a Will-o-wisp at Ares. The Blaziken evaded it. He was good. He used the time granted to him by Hero's missed attack to Bulk Up. Hero was forced to change his strategy and started running around and leaving 3 clones behind... or perhaps letting some run ahead. That was probably what he'd been trying to do before Ares first hit him.

    Ares managed to findthe real Hero and chop him with a Brick Break. Hero hit the floor hard, but he rolled over while one of his clones jumped at the Blaziken's face. Ares ignored it, knowing the real Hero was elsewhere, but the clone did... something. It suddenly turned dark purple and exploded on Ares's face. I wondered if that was the Spooky trick he'd been announcing for so long. If so, it wasn't particularly powerful, but it was just like Hero to exaggerate the importance of his achievements. It did, however, help him divert the Blaziken's attention. When Ares was able to see again, he had to look around for Hero, who was no longer lying on the hot rocks ahead of him (I'm glad Hero's immune to fire, I know that would have hurt me a bit).

    Ares tried to use Brick Break again, but he targeted the wrong Ninetales: the one on the middle. While he was doing this, he was hit from the right by Hero's Confuse Ray. He tried to turn around and attack, but that caused him to trip and fall on his knees. Hero took the chance to hit him with what I can only assume was Extrasensory, since I couldn't see the attack but I saw the Blaziken hold his head in pain. Ares tried to stand up, but only managed to stay upright for a moment before he fell on his back and that gave Hero the chance to use his Psychic-type attack again. Ares was having the worst case of confusion I'd seen in years, and Hero and his clones kept spinning around him and moving in odd patterns. He tried to attack one of them and fell for a third time. Yes, that really happened! And what was even more unexpected... Hero got his way and did his thing - that silly thing he'd liked so much ever since I knew him but he hadn't had a chance to do in a while. He crouched for a moment and launched himself at his opponent in a flash. A split-second later, Ares was lying on the floor and Hero was standing victorious.


    Hero grew to level 77!

    "I did it!" Hero cried out, holding his head up to the roof like he was about to Howl.
    "I can't believe you finished your battle with a Quick Attack," I told him.
    "You finished yours with Surf, didn't you? I couldn't do any less than end my battle with my own signature."
    "But Surf is a useful move!" I tried to show him the truth.
    "So's Quick Attack," he insisted. "I won, didn't I? And I won the final match of the Griffon Games that way too. I haven't seen you do that with Surf. Besides, I couldn't let another Pokemon move faster than me for so long."
    "If you're so obsessed with speed, get a box of matches," I suggested.
    "I don't want external help, thank-you-very-much. I want to become the fastest Pokemon in Ulthuan by my own means. I'm already the fastest among the Dragon Tamers. Probably the fastest Ninetales in Ulthuan too."
    "You know what? I don't care! There will always be someone who's faster. You should focus on the things that really matter."
    "Right. Like being the only Ninetales who can finish a fight against a high level Blaziken or a Poliwhirl with a Quick Attack."
    "You're not going to drop it, are you?"
    "Never," Hero grinned.

    "I can't believe it," said Randy. "What happened? Why did the tables turn so abruptly when he became confused?"
    "Maybe he was too worried about his missing friends to focus properly," Eliot suggested.
    "Or maybe I'm just too awesome," said Hero.
    "Cut it, Hero," I stopped him. "Can't you see they're not in the mood for that?"
    "Sorry, I'm not the one who sees everything."
    "I don't see everything either," I told him. "I just pay attention to what I see. After all these years I'm beginning to wonder if you have some kind of neurological problem that makes you completely oblivious of everyone else's emotions."
    "Now that's downright offensive," said Hero. "Not everyone who's not as perceptive as you has brain problems. How would you feel if I told you I thought you were given an overdose of truth serum at birth."
    I chuckled.
    "Oh. Like that," he noted. "Well, you're laughing because that was obviously a joke, but neurological problems exist and it's not funny to hear you think I have one. I wouldn't have come all this way if I wasn't right in the head."
    "I wasn't saying you were insane or anything," I explained. "We all have our own difficulties."
    "Difficulties are one thing, brain problems are another."
    "OK, OK, I take it back, sorry. But you'd be surprised by how far individuals who have what you call brain problems can go."
    "Whatever," said Hero.
    "Hey, guys, don't fight," Caledor intervened. "Not without me. And not in this room, this place is just too hot for comfort! I'm sure I'll be able to come up with some good jokes outside."
    "Now I definitely don't want to leave this room," Hero retorted.
    "Aren't you feeling any pain after that battle?" I asked him.
    "Not much if I don't move," he replied.
    "Oh, come on!" I told him. "Let's go to the Pokemon Center. Maybe we'll get out in time to see Lagi and Sylvan battle."
    "Maybe you will," said Hero. "The moment I touch a bed, I'm going to collapse."
    "But you still have enough energy to word-fight with me. That's odd."
    "It's not, I'm just that good."

    I rolled my eyes, but I'm not sure he noticed. We all went to the Pokemon Center together. Randy had to take Ares and the nasty Charizard who neglected to give me his name. He was one of the "commons", which is the designation the MTU uses for Pokemon who have no assigned trainer and train either on their own or under the supervision of any MTU member. I had lunch at the Pokemon Center and kept an eye on Hero and Ares while everyone else went to the restaurant. I wanted to be ready to visit the Jungle Room with my team. I couldn't help but feel sorry for Ares, though. I hoped his missing teammates, as well as Flame, would return home safe and sound.
    Last edited by Lady Vulpix; 8th March 2011 at 08:23 AM.

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  36. #596
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    Default Re: ¤Game¤ Dragon Tamers Battle Range v.23 {MA Pidgeot}

    Read both your stories, Gabi, just haven't gotten around to posting comments yet. Will do so as soon as I can. P:
    Quote Originally Posted by Heald View Post
    Maybe he figured he 'sold out' when he accepted a modding position and hanged himself. At least, that's what I would do.

  37. #597
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    Default Re: ¤Game¤ Dragon Tamers Battle Range v.23 {MA Pidgeot}

    Thanks. I will appreciate it.

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  38. #598
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    Default Re: ¤Game¤ Dragon Tamers Battle Range v.23 {MA Pidgeot}

    So this week was basically "Let's Give Jeff All The Paperwork" week. Sorry about the wait. @_@

    Re: Water Angel's story:
    - I like Gamble as a character, but if I ever met someone like him, I'm pretty sure I'd have to punch him in the face.
    - "I think we've all had enough with the preparations." No kidding. XD
    - Seeing Gamble get the tar kicked out of him was, as probably indicated above, satisfying.
    - Rockin'. Ten years. Not that I've been here for any more than half of that, but still. DT must have been something in its heydey.

    Re: Tsunami and Hero's story:
    - I do like that Caledor is the only one to come up with the idea of not having rules for a pillowfight. Pillowfights are serious business, apparently. XD
    - I also like that after every scenario post so far, where everyone is amazed at how ridiculous the Lava Room is, Tsunami isn't fazed. Of course, he wouldn't be.
    - Gamble and that Charizard should fight each other. It'd be the most annoying banter.
    - "Or not, maybe he didn't make king of slowness because someone else got to the throne first." <- I laughed.
    - "It's hard enough to keep track of my daughter. A girlfriend would take up too much time." <- Good to know that Kiva is providing Tsunami's excuse for keeping the bachelor life.

    So, that said, I think 24 stamps sounds good.
    Quote Originally Posted by Heald View Post
    Maybe he figured he 'sold out' when he accepted a modding position and hanged himself. At least, that's what I would do.

  39. #599
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    Default Re: ¤Game¤ Dragon Tamers Battle Range v.23 {MA Pidgeot}

    Yay, thanks!

    And yes, Kiva is very important and useful.

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  40. #600
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    Default Re: ¤Game¤ Dragon Tamers Battle Range v.23 {MA Pidgeot}

    Speaking of, I'd like a 2 v 2 RBG from the UAC for Kiva and Anzu, please. *hands over 14 stamps*

    Edit: Actually, let me ask a question. Would a 3 v 3 be possible? I'd like to get one for Groviglio, Kiva, and Anzu. If not, no big deal.
    Last edited by The Blue Avenger; 20th March 2011 at 01:59 PM.
    Quote Originally Posted by Heald View Post
    Maybe he figured he 'sold out' when he accepted a modding position and hanged himself. At least, that's what I would do.

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