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

[The Blue Avenger]

Moriko will battle a Baltoy.

[The Blue Avenger]

When I actually get to writing this thing, it is going to be amazing. Another RBG for Kurtzwick, please, from the UAC.

[classy_cat18]

Kurtzwick will battle a Bonsly.

[DarkestLight]

Can I get a random battle for Zent? Jungle Deforestation place ::Hands over 7 stamps:: Time to give Rapp some plotline

[classy_cat18]

Zent will battle a Tentacool.

[DarkestLight]

LOL Tentacool. Thanks.

[Lady Vulpix]

This is the story that I wanted to post before Round 2 began. Sorry if it's rushed, I'm just too busy for my own good and things keep coming up.

...And I hereby tie the end that had been loose since before the Dragon Tamers were created! Go me!

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<Gabi's POV>

As I reached for my seat on the first day of the Dragon Games, I was surprised by the sheer number of spectators the event had gathered. I could only conclude that there were countless more people who were interested in watching the Games than those who wanted to take part in them. I really hoped the matches would be up to everyone's standards.

I had hoped to find Zack at the stadium, but it was impossible to locate him among such a huge crowd. As things began to calm down, I looked around from my seat to see if I could find any familiar faces. It took me a while, but I smiled when I found one: it was Aaron Randall, a.k.a. Randy from the MTU, and his Charizard Eliot. They'd managed to grab 2 of the best seats available. "He's a real fan," I thought as I wondered how much those seats might have cost. He was bound to enjoy the tournament much more than I would. But I couldn't complain: I had the best view - it comes with being the judge, and I knew I was going to learn something from this tournament one way or another. But with great seating comes... no, I'm not going to finish that phrase, it's overused... albeit true.

The first battle managed to catch everyone's attention and hold it until the end. Not a bad start for the Dragon Games. Of course, I had to watch every detail very carefully, and make sure to judge only what I saw then and there, without any prejudice or preconceptions. At least I didn't have to fight a tendency to favor either opponent: one of them was a stranger to me, and the other was a Pokemon I didn't like (sorry, I've known her for a while and I still can't find anything I like about her) but whose trainer was a good friend of mine. I realized I was actually glad that Jeff had entered Raini and not... say... Kiva. In the end Raini won, in spite of her opponent having outsmarted her for a while. I can't say for sure how I felt about that.

The rest of the battles for the first day caused no such issues, as I didn't know any of the participants too well. There were even a few who came from other countries, and I was surprised to see a Gurdurr and a Dewott battling on the same day. Of course I had arranged that - and I'd already been surprised upon seeing them on the list of participants - but seeing words on a screen or a sheet of paper is not the same as seeing the Pokemon in action right before my eyes. The Gurdurr lost the battle, but the Dewott won after a spectacular display which earned him the nickname of Dewott Sensation. If he made it to the finals the title was bound to stick... but it was still too early to know that: Round 1 wasn't over yet, and Round 2 was always tricky.

I must admit I was glad when the arena was closed for the day. Judging battles is tiring: I'd been straining my attention not to miss anything important, and taken notes of countless details to compare them once the round was done. I was ready to head back to the hotel when I was intercepted.

"Good battles today, weren't they?" said a voice to my right. I turned to look and recognized Zack from the Tower of Flame.
"Oh, hi... Sorry, I didn't see you, I had too many things in my mind."
"I figured as much. You must be trying to remember all the battles and compare all the little details, right?"
"Something like that."
"Then I guess I should look for you some other day... maybe after the round is over."
"No... now is OK," I told him. "I'll have more things on my mind once the round is over. And I looked for you when I got here, it's just... there were so many people!"
"Well, of course. I hadn't even thought of the possibility of you finding me. You're much easier to find."
"I guess I am," I smiled and sighed simultaneously. "Can we go somewhere more quiet? It's hard to talk in here."
"Sure, let's go outside," Zack agreed. "My Honchkrow can take us down to ground level, we don't have to wait in line for the Abras."

I looked around him to see if I could find said Honchkrow. I saw one hovering above the crowd among other flying Pokemon. It wasn't a particularly large bird.

"Your Honchkrow won't have to carry both of us," I told Zack. "I'm sure Pidgeot will be glad to help."

I turned to look at where I thought Pidgeot was, but I couldn't find him. I worried for a moment, but I realize it would hard to find anyone with so many people and Pokemon coming out at once. I told myself not to panic, and mere moments later I was relieved when I found Pidgeot flying behind the Honchkrow. I released the breath I'd been holding.

We reached the edge of the platform, made sure we were all accounted for, and the birds helped us descend. I got to meet the rest of Zack's team: a Nidoking, a Typhlosion, an Ampharos, a Scizor and a Poliwrath. He mentioned he'd started training a Sudowoodo and a Tangela in Ellyrion before he went to White Mountain, but he hadn't had the chance to bond with them before it all went wrong. He didn't tell me anything about the Pokemon he'd trained while working for Yssera, and I didn't ask. But he did say all his Pokemon were special in different ways.

"Aren't all Pokemon special in their own way?" I pointed out.
"No... well, maybe yes, but what I mean is... They all stand out for different reasons. Some you can see right away, like my Ampharos's blue tail orb and my Honchkrow's grey feathers on the back of his hat. Others are more subtle. Scizor's wings are longer than normal. They were already that way when he was a Scyther. My Sudowoodo's more flexible than average: he can bend in ways I never thought Rock could, but he can also harden his body to make it... well, harder than normal."
"In other words he knows Harden?" I tried to make sure.
"Yeah, it doesn't sound so great when you put it that way, but it's good in combination with his natural flexibility. It makes him quite versatile. Oh, and Nidoking can dig so fast he can hide his whole body underground within a few seconds. You'd expect that from a Diglett, but it's quite impressive when he does it. And Typhlosion just has a lot of raw power. He tackled me playfully when we first met and threw me off-balance... and he was just a Cyndaquil!"
I heard Hero comment in a not so low voice: "he calls that special? I'll show him what's really special!"

I glared at him to convey that it wasn't a good time to compete, but the subtlety seemed to be lost on him, as usual. He went on about how he'd challenge the Nidoking to a digging contest, and see if the Typhlosion could move fast enough to tackle him. I quickly changed the subject.

"Don't any of your Pokemon have names?" I asked Zack.
"Some of them have nicknames from their youth, but we don't use them much. I couldn't understand them when I first met them, so I just called them by their species. They all did get names at Yssera's cave, but as you may imagine none of us feel like using those names anymore. So no names for now. Oh, I can see that your Ninetales is quite unusual too. Is that what he's saying?"
"In a way, yes, but not for the reason you're thinking and believe me, you don't want to listen to him right now."
"Hey, that's not fair!" Hero complained. "And don't think I don't know what you think he's thinking. What if you're wrong? What if he has a special eye for Pokemon with unique skills and has noticed how awesome I am?"
"How many times did you say 'think' just now?" Tsunami queried.
"I wasn't counting, only you would count."
"Three," I said, just because sometimes even I feel compelled to get a word in when they argue. And because I wanted Hero to be quiet at least for a few seconds.
"Three what?" asked Zack.
"Nothing, it was just a silly argument between them. I get several of those everyday."
"They don't get along very well?"
"Oh, no, they're best friends. They just love to argue."
"Then if everything's OK, shall we go down?" Zack suggested.
"Sure," I agreed.

Most Pokemon went back into their pokeballs while Pidgeot and Honchkrow took me and Zack down to the open field. Only then did I notice that something was going on between the two birds. They kept watching each other carefully, neither of them saying a word.

"Is everything OK?" I asked Pidgeot.
"I think so," he replied.
"What's the matter?"
"It's probably nothing... maybe deja vu or something."
"What do you mean?" asked the Honchkrow, stepping closer. "Do I look familiar to you?"
"Yes... Well, not exactly, but something about you feels familiar. I don't recall seeing you before, but when I look at your eyes or the feathers on the back of your head I feel like I should remember you."
"Could you have met me when I was a Murkrow?"
"Maybe... Do you remember me? I've been a Pidgeot for a very long time."
"How long?"
"At least 10 years."
"10 years... I've been out of the forest for a bit over 10 years. Are you from Caledor?"
"Yes, I am!" Pidgeot answered. I couldn't tell if his reply sounded excited, nervous or a bit of both.
"So am I. Caledor Forest, Southwest region."
"I'm afraid I don't remember that much. I was just a little Pidgey when..."
"When what?"

The Honchkrow's expression was transformed all of a sudden. His eyes were wide open and it was clear that he was eagerly anticipating Pidgeot's answer. Just like I was anticipating the reaction that might come. After all this time, could this Honchkrow hold a clue about Pidgeot's past?

"It's not a nice story," Pidgeot said.
"Neither is mine," said the Honchkrow. "How about you tell me yours and I tell you mine? It may help us both."
“OK... I don't like thinking of those times, and I didn't feel well the few times I did tell this, but I've never been so close to someone who might know something I'm missing, so I'll tell you. I was a little Pidgey. I lived somewhere in Caledor with my parents... it was probably Caledor Forest, I recall seeing a lot of trees, but not much more. Even from my parents I can remember very few things. I think I'd just learnt Sand-Attack and I was playing on the ground, seeing how much dust I could lift, when something hit me. I don't remember much of what happened next but I have the feeling it was something really bad. What came after that was bad too. I was captured and taken to a secret underground facility.
“The next thing I remember was some Pokemon telling me that I now belonged to Team Rocket and would have to do everything they said. I was part of a program named AEP. They said they were interested in me because they'd seen me use Faint Attack, which I may have, and wanted to exploit my potential to the maximum. They did awful things to me. I think the only reason they kept me well fed was because it was an important part of their experiment, but they didn't hesitate to use physical violence at any time. I was locked in a cage whenever I wasn't training, and they hit me and poisoned me a lot because no matter what they did I would not obey them. Well... I lie, if they just told me to eat, drink, jump through a ring or even walk into my cage, I would do it to avoid the pain. But if they told me to hurt others, I refused. I'm not talking about regular battles, they wanted me to cause them serious harm. I took whatever would come to me because I knew how much it hurt and I didn't want to be the one to cause that pain to others like me. They couldn't break me.
“In the end, they got tired of me. Even thought they'd somehow managed to turn me into a Pidgeot without any battle training, they said I was a failure and threw me out after a serious beating. I think I might have died if I hadn't been picked up by someone from the Dragon's Guild. They healed me, at least physically, and did the best they could to keep me sane and emotionally stable. For a while I couldn't remember anything from my life before Team Rocket. With time, a few bits came back, but never as much as I would like. I can't even remember my name... if I had one.”

I could see tears forming in the Honchkrow's eyes.

“Does the name Ray mean anything to you?” he asked Pidgeot.
“Ray?... I know a Ninetales who has that name. But his name was Kid when he lived in Caledor Forest.”
“What about Spark?”
“Spark! What do you know about a Spark?”
“I had a son. His name was Ray. His mother gave him that name because she said he was our ray of hope. But I liked to call him Spark because... well, he'd pop up all of a sudden and chirp at me just to make me laugh. He reminded me of a spark popping into the air in the middle of the night.”
“Really? Have you ever said that to him?”
“I did at some point, but he was very little... I'm not sure he understood.”
“I think deep inside he did. But dare I ask...”
“What happened to him?”
Pidgeot nodded.
“I never knew what happened until now. I went out to find food for him and Candy. Candy was my mate... she was a Pidgeotto. My family and hers didn't get along, so we'd had to move far away from all of them, but it was worth it just to be with her and our child. Until that day. When I came home... it was the single worst moment in my life. Even worse than Yssera.”
“I'm sorry, it's OK if you don't want to talk about it,” said Pidgeot.
“No, I will because you need to know. I found Candy lying dead on the ground. She had blood and cuts all over her body, and... no, I think I'll save you the details. But our son was nowhere to be found. I looked around desperately, and even got some Pokemon to help, but all the clues we found ended in nothing. Some had heard noises, some had seen men in black suits, and a few had even seen a van driving out of the forest. We found some tracks, but they ended abruptly. I didn't give up.
“I stayed there for days to see if the van would return. I got hardly any sleep and only ate what others would bring me. But nothing happened. Later, I heard rumors of suspicious men in black suits walking around the city, so I went to the city to check. After some time, I saw them, but there was no sign of my son. I followed them until their Houndoom found me and I barely managed to escape, with more than a few burns. Then Zack found me and took me to a Pokemon Center. I didn't quite trust him at first, but he did help me, and he offered to make me stronger so that I would never be the victim of another attack. I couldn't say no to that. I hadn't given up hope, but I'd realized I couldn't defeat those men on my own.
“I followed him, trained with him until he could understand me. Then I told him everything and we went together to the place where we had the tracks had stopped. This time there was a huge hole on the ground, with a lot of rubble at the bottom. I began to lose hope. I finally agreed to follow Zack to Ellyrion to continue my training and keep building our team. We stayed there for while, until we met Yssera. I was foolish, I let her convince me that she could help me... that if I brought enough Pokemon to her side I could eventually find someone who knew something, or perhaps even Ray himself. I was that desperate. We all had different reasons to accept what she offered and none of us was smart enough to realize it was a trap. When we were finally set free, many years had passed and none of us had a life to go back to. So those of us who cared for Zack enough to stay with him settled in Brightland, where we at least had a place to live. By then I had none but the faintest of hopes.”
“Like a tiny bright spark that shines among the endless darkness,” said Pidgeot.
“Huh?” Honchkrow looked up at him.
“But then the spark grows stronger, shines brighter, until it becomes a powerful light, strong enough to cast the darkness away. To illuminate everything.”
“What are you talking about?”
“It's a recurring dream I've had for years. It was an empowering dream, but I could never understand it completely. Now I'm starting to think I can finally make sense of it.”
“Really? What do you think it means?”
“I think it's about me. I used to think it was about my Hidden Power, and I was close, but that was not it. It's about me as a whole, my essence. It's about knowing who I am, what I can overcome, and what I'm capable of. I am that Spark.”
“By 'that Spark' you mean...?”
“I mean both. My father was a Murkrow, I remember that much. And now I remember I liked playing with him and catching him by surprise. He liked doing that to me too. I couldn't remember his name or my mother's, but I remember the way he looked at me... and I seem to recall there was something funny about his hat.”
“Grey feathers, maybe?” interjected Tsunami.

There was an awkward silence as both bird Pokemon stood facing each other.

“Oh, come on!” Tsunami insisted. “We all know what you both are thinking. I bet even Hero knows. You've been looking for each other for over 10 years! Don't be shy and hug already!”

That only caused both birds to glare at him before looking at each other sheepishly.

“Wow...” Honchkrow finally said. “To say you've grown big would be an understatement!”
“I know, I'm big and bulky... it took me a while to learn how to handle my body after I evolved, but now I'm quite good at it. I've trained hard, and even fought Team Rocket and other criminals more than once.”
“Impressive. And you also helped defeat Yssera?”
“I wasn't able to do much against her myself, but I was in her cave with the rest of my team and some other friends. We held her at bay until a group of my friends managed to seal her. Even with all of us working together it wasn't easy at all.”
“I can imagine. So you're working with the Dragon Tamers now?”
“Now and from the first day they opened. And we're with the Dragon's Guild too. I was the first Pokemon Gabi adopted, so I've watched my team become what it is now.”
“You have also helped us become what we are now,” Iael pointed out. “Especially me. And Water Angel, of course. Your father should be proud. I'm so glad you have found him! He can see what you've become.”
“Who's this Water Angel?” asked the Honchkrow.
“He's Pidgeot's significant other,” said Tsunami. “Don't look at me like that, I'm not teasing you, just telling the truth. You can't deny it.”
“I don't get it,” said the Honchkrow. “Why would he want to deny it?”
“Because he was teased a bit too much...” Tsunami replied. “By me, I admit it. But that was years ago! Even I think you two make a cute couple now.”
“Don't tell me you too have had to deal with your folks not accepting the girl you chose to mate,” the father asked the son.
“Oh, I accepted her alright,” said Tsunami. “It's just that it was so weird... they looked so mismatched! And Pidgeot does look weird when his feathers are wet. But they do complement each other quite well.”
“I'm definitely missing something. Where is she now?”
“She's in her pokeball,” said Pidgeot. “She has to be, since... she can't walk or fly.”
“Oh, I'm so sorry!”
“Don't be. Kingdras aren't made for living on the ground, but she can do amazing things in the water.”
“She's a Kingdra?” Honchkrow looked stunned. “OK... I must admit you have surpassed me.”
“I do know how weird it is, but my life was never normal and almost everything that's been good in it has involved her. I'm sure you'll like her once you get to know her.”
“If you hold her in such high esteem, I probably will.”

There was silence for a moment, quickly broken by Zack's question.

“Let me get this straight... Your Pidgeot is my Honchkrow's long lost son... and he's dating a Kingdra?”

I nodded. He began to look around.

“This isn't Candid Camera, is it?”
“Who would make a TV show about two bird Pokemon chirping to each other? Even those who can usually understand Pokemon speech have trouble making it out when it's recorded.” I knew I had trouble with that.
“You're right... come to think of it I caught only odd bits of what your Pidgeot said, and nothing from your other Pokemon. But this still looks like a script from a soap opera.”
“You could try writing it,” I laughed.

It was hard to tell where to go from there. After discussing some options, Zack offered to show us his home. It was small and rather messy, but all 18 of us could fit in if we spread among the living room, the kitchen, the bedroom and the bathroom. It was in the latter that Zack and Honchkrow got to meet Water Angel. She was very excited to meet Pidgeot's father. After that, we all went out for dinner and talked a bit more. By the end of the day, Honchkrow had decided to go back to his old name, which was Grey. Pidgeot, in turn, decided the time had come to get a name for himself. He didn't feel very comfortable with calling himself Ray, which he still associated with Hero's friend, but he could identify himself with the name Spark. Everyone was so excited that he'd finally found a name after all this time that I refrained from ruining the mood by saying that Alex had chosen not to name his Jolteon Spark because it sounded feminine. There was no need for Pidgeot – I mean Spark – to know that.

Speaking of Alex, that's a whole other story to tell. After Zack and I agreed to meet everyday until Round 1 was over, and he promised to let me know when the scrolls were scanned, which I had forgotten about in the excitement, my team and I went back to the hotel. And I thought there would be no surprises for a while. But when I couldn't sleep, I decided to turn on the TV... and then I saw him: Alex Lavigne, former Dragon Tamers worker and Dragon Games champion, was making a return. It wasn't someone else with the same name, it was him. All these years later he reappeared just as suddenly as he had left... and he hadn't even bothered making a call! Amber saw him too, and judging by the look on her face she was as puzzled as I was.

“We'll figure it out tomorrow,” I promised her.
“You mean you didn't know?” she questioned. “But you're organizing the tournament!”
“I'd seen his name on the list, but I wasn't sure it was him. Since he didn't call or send an e-mail, and I didn't know the Pokemon he'd entered, I thought it could be someone else. We'll get some answers tomorrow, I promise. I won't let him go without talking.”

Of course, I failed to get a good night's sleep. It was a hard task in the best of circumstances, and completely impossible with so many things going around in my mind. Even so, the next day I forced myself to watch the battles with extreme care, not letting my mind stray from them. I may have missed a few moves, though; but I'm sure I caught the important parts of all the battles, especially Alex's. I watched both the battle and his reactions. I saw him burst into tears and call out to his Magby when he was down, and wondered why. Of course no one liked losing, but it seemed to be more than that: Alex looked desperate. Then the Magby, Macedon, managed to get up, perhaps reacting to his trainer's cries. It looked like he was making a great effort not to disappoint him. And he succeeded. Macedon won, but had he hurt himself in the process? In any case, the Magby was drained. Alex picked him up and took him to the Pokemon Center. That was my chance. I stood up and ran to the Pokemon Center to catch him before he left. I called out his name... and received odd looks from everyone inside. I realized I'd been shouting, and was embarrassed for a moment. I looked around, found him and walked towards him at a much slower pace.

He met me with a hug. “It's been a long time.”
“Long time doesn't begin to describe it!” I told him, spitting out my thoughts as disorderly as they came. “What have you been doing all this time? Where's the rest of your team? Why didn't you tell me you were back?! I saw your name on the participants' list, but I couldn't be sure it was you until you were suddenly on TV. The media found out before I did!”
“I've just been trying to keep a low profile I guess since I got back, I wasn't sure if anyone was still around.”
“Many things have changed and some people have left... with one crisis after another, I think you've seen that yourself. But some of us are still here.”
“Yeah, it seems that way... seems like its forever that I went away... and now I found my way back somehow.”
“But how? What happened?”
“It's something I don't really want to get into to be honest.”

Just what I needed. More mystery. But I had to cut him some slack, he seemed to have gone through something terrible.

“OK, leave me wondering...” I sighed. “I guess you have the right not to talk, but...” I carefully looked around to see Amber's expression. I couldn't decipher it. “I think Amber deserves at least some information after all this time,” I finally said.
“If I knew where V was, I would definitely let you know. Unfortunately, the last time I saw him was just when I was getting into school.”

The news was shocking. Had Volvagia disappeared too? Maybe there was some truth in the theory that someone was targeting Fire Pokemon. I couldn't help but ask.

“You mean... he's missing too?! How long has it been?”
“The whole team is gone, all I have now is Mace and Rex, they are resting right now inside.”

I didn't know who Rex was, but in any case it looked like it was even worse than I'd thought!

“Oh... that's terrible! I'm so sorry... Is there anything I can do to help you?”
“I don't think there is at this point, the gang could be anywhere at this point, maybe I'll fun into them at some point.”

Tsunami was tactful enough not to comment on the number of times Alex had used the word 'point'.

“But how did it happen?” I asked.
“It's a long story at this point, the team just decided to leave one by one.”
“Oh, I'm really sorry to hear that. But at least they weren't kidnapped or disappeared without a trace like some other Pokemon have.”
“Yeah, no, it's a little more complicated than that unfortunately.”

I couldn't help but worry about what he might have done to drive them all away, but there was no point in speculating. He was an old friend and he needed help.

“Well, if you ever feel like talking about it, I'll be there. Here, wherever. I still have the same phone number. Same old PokeGear, even. It still works and I've never felt the need to change it. “
“I really appreciate it, I really do. Hopefully some day I'll be able to get into great details about it.”
I nodded and changed the subject. “So where are you living now?“
“I haven't really got a place to live right now, just crashing at the PCs for the time being, or camping out.”
“Ouch, that's bad. I know the Dragon's Guild offers lodgings for its members, but it can take too long sometimes.”

I remembered how long they'd taken to give Jeff a home and didn't want to make a false promise. Besides, was Alex a Guild member at all? I wasn't sure, so I asked him.

“Are you a member? Sorry, it's been so long...”
“Pretty sure I was back in the day? I'm not 100% sure.”
“If you don't remember, then you probably aren't. You'd have a rank and should at least have done some work for the Guild. I could help you join, but you'd have to have a job there. The Dragon's Guild doesn't give out homes for free. I don't think anyone does.”

Alex shifted his eyes as if trying to remember something, but didn't say anything.

“Do you have a job?” I asked him.
“No, I just got back.”

I could help with that, at least. He had to be able to perform a job he had done in the past.

“Well, I'm sure we could use an extra hand at the Dragon Tamers. Things haven't changed that much since you were here: we have new items and some new Pokemon, but the job is basically still the same. Would you like to have your old job back?”
“Yeah, of course. That would be great.”
“Well, I'm glad there's something I can do to help.”

There was a moment of silence until I spoke again.

“Good battle, by the way. It reminded me of some of Tsunami's old battles. I was wondering why you seemed so worried, but I think I can get an idea now. If it helps, I don't think that Macedon was ever in real danger.”

Alex laughed. Hearing his laughter was relieving.

“It's good to have you back,” I said and, while I was still worried, I meant it. “I'll have to introduce you to Jeff and Shonta... And you remember Amy, right? They all work at DT, and they're all in the tournament too.”
“Yeah, I'll be honest, I don't.”
“Oh... I'll make sure not to tell her that,” I shifted my eyes. I hoped he hadn't been taking drugs or something. “I'll find a way for all of us to meet at some point. In the worst case we'll end up meeting back in Caledor after the tournament ends.”

I would have liked to arrange a meeting earlier, but people could start questioning me if they saw us.

“I just hope people don't get the wrong idea from seeing the judge hanging out with some of the competitors... I can't help it if they're my friends and co-workers, but I won't let that affect my judgment at the end of each round... for better or worse.“
“Good to know,” Alex laughed again.

We kept talking for a bit, but it was all just light talk. I then wished him luck with everything and left to find Zack again or, rather, to be found by him. I stumbled upon Glenda in the process and we talked a bit too, mostly about the Games and a little bit about our respective projects. She said she had a Camouflage TM she couldn't use, and offered to give it to the Deerling at the AC to see if that would help me with my research. I accepted and thanked her.

Zack and I shared some past stories and future plans. He offered to visit the Tower of Hoeth the following Monday, mostly because he had been intrigued by it after I'd told him anyone could go there, but also because he wanted to see if he could find any valuable information. Pidgeot and Water Angel stayed with him for the night and returned to me the next morning.

As the battles went on, I kept comparing them and thinking of what would be the best place to hold Round 2. There were no definite clues even after Zack managed to copy the scrolls and take them to the White Tower: they were mostly logs from old wars and descriptions of the provinces of Ulthuan back when they were different kingdoms. I found it mildly amusing when I learned that one of the scrolls ended with “we shall march ahead towards our final victory.” I gathered they were only right about the 'final' part. But perhaps I was misjudging them and the log continued on another scroll, perhaps one written and kept at another location. Slim chance, though.

I finally decided to hold Round 2 in Gaen Vale, if only because it contained the largest concentration of sacred and historical sites in Ulthuan. Perhaps if each trainer could check one or two, some clues would be found.

[The Blue Avenger]

Okay, Gabi, let's rock.
- "But with great seating comes... no, I'm not going to finish that phrase, it's overused... albeit true." - I get it
- "(sorry, I've known her for a while and I still can't find anything I like about her)" - Yeah, she probably ought to grow a few positive personality traits soon. :B
- "He mentioned he'd started training a Sudowoodo and a Tangela" - I approve of his taste.
- "What if he has a special eye for Pokemon with unique skills and has noticed how awesome I am?" - Ha, I still like Hero, egotist that he is.
- "And because I wanted Hero to be quiet at least for a few seconds." - Good luck.
- Pidgeot, or rather, Spark has a hell of a backstory. @_@ Man.
- “We all know what you both are thinking. I bet even Hero knows. You've been looking for each other for over 10 years! Don't be shy and hug already!” - I do like how Tsunami managed to work a barb at Hero in there.
- "Even those who can usually understand Pokemon speech have trouble making it out when it's recorded.” - That... is something I hadn't considered. I suppose given how much of it must rely on gestures, expressions, etc., that makes sense.
- "Tsunami was tactful enough not to comment on the number of times Alex had used the word 'point'." - For once.
- "I know the Dragon's Guild offers lodgings for its members, but it can take too long sometimes." - You don't say.

All right, all in all... wow. A lot of plot there. XD And some good resolution too. I feel like... 16 stamps? There were three big scenes there, so that sounds about right.

[Lady Vulpix]

Thanks!

- Pidgeot, or rather, Spark has a hell of a backstory. @_@ Man.

Sorry, I thought you knew.

And yes, Tsunami and Hero are fun to write. And Tsunami can be tactful if he sets his mind into it, but in general he'd much rather be brutally honest - or simply annoying - than let what's in his mind remain unsaid. However, he's good enough at assessing situations to know when speaking would cause too much trouble to be worth it.

[The Blue Avenger]

I believe you're looking for the random battle rules on the first post of this thread. You need to choose a section to get your opponent from. Sections determine the possible types of the opponents.

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

Dual types have a higher chance of turning up, as they can be selected by either of their types. By the way, we use the same randomizer to determine which Pokemon will be put up for adoption.

Can we put this information in the first post or something? I have to go digging for it every time I try to reference it.

Anyway, another RBG, please, for Kurtzwick, from UAC. *hands over 7 stamps*

[Lady Vulpix]

Are you planning to make him fight an army or something? The battle(s) had better make sense (if he blows up the place and all the opponents faint as a result he won't get the levels ). That said, the randomizer has chosen a Litwick.

And I've added that information to the first page as per your request.

[The Blue Avenger]

It will make sense. Somehow. That's the part I'm still working out. XD

And thanks.

[lvl100mewtwo]

Not my greatest work, but it gets the job done... Needed to do some training and this is what came out...

Training Montage: Part II

With the first round in the back of my mind, I left Macedon in the capable hands of the Pokémon centre at the tournament grounds and walked around with Rex.

He seemed to be relishing the attention that was being garnered by being around me. At every chance, when someone would stop me for some questions or congratulate me on my first round match, he would just stand there and pose for photographs.

I on the other hand wanted none of the celebrity status that came along with this tournament and just wanted to relax. It seemed as well that all I could think of was to make sure Macedon would be alright after that last match. I had never seen him battle to his limits like that before. Maybe he went a little too far?

It was quite clear that I had to get out of the tournament area if I wanted any peace and quiet and the only place that I could see myself being able to relax would be the training ground.

I had heard that some of the trainers were using a more modern form of transportation, too and from the training headquarters. They were using the teleporters, using Pokémon such as Abras and Kadabras.

I made my way to the transportation district and grabbed a round trip with Rex.

The Abra held tightly onto Rex while the Kadabra grabbed my hand. Without warning, flashing lights was all that I could see, as I became disoriented and borderline nauseous. Next thing I knew, I could see the 2 familiar towers ahead of me.

I fell to my knees, trying to catch my breath. In all my years, I had never taken a teleportation ride, and clearly, my stomach wasn’t up to the challenge.

I regained my composure and stood up. Rex wasn’t feeling any better at this point, so I brought him over to take a seat on a nearby bench, giving him a rest. With Rex resting a bit, I made my way to the directory to figure out which training area we would go next.

I guess the Forest Room would be best to get Rex back on his feet at this point I thought to myself as I combed through the areas on the map. My attention was turned once again to Rex only to notice him hunched over and unfortunately regurgitating his food. I made my way up to my pup, gently patted and rubbed his back, reassuring him that everything was going to be okay.

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

I walked through the doors of the West Tower, Rex slowly following me. We passed by several trainers that wanted to congratulate me on my first round match. I did not want to attention here, as I bolted through the trainers and made my way to go train my pup in the Jungle room.

Following the signs, I made my way to the Jungle Room. Rex put his paw into the machine and the door opened to us, releasing an intoxicating smell of plants.

We both slowly walked in, noticing the assorted flora of the area. Several birds were frolicking around catching Rex’s eyes. Several bugs and jungle dwelling Pokémon could also be seen. A small free standing pillar was in the middle of the room with a large red button. I walked up to it and looked to see a sign:

“To call forth a Pokémon, please press the button”

Rex stood beside me as I slammed my hand on the giant button. A high frequency pitch was emitted, as Rex held down his ears in pain. I looked around and nothing was happening. No Pokémon had come forward.

Rex finally let go of his ears, only to be met by a string of white goo wrapping around him, immobilizing him.

I spun around to see that a small Butterfree was fluttering around. Rex didn’t seemed too please by this surprise attack, as he tore off the wedding.

Without a command, Rex ran in, landing a vicious right, with a glowing hand. The butterfly Pokémon was sent reeling back into the bark of a tree. A small cry could be heard coming from it, as it seemed that the hit packed more energy than we thought.

A small feint cry could be heard of the butterfly Pokémon as it started to flutter up and get back to flying around. The winds started to pick up as blue aura came from the Butterfree. Slices of energy curled through the air, aimed straight at Rex. They connected with a violent force, sending Rex into the vegetation.

Rex slowly rose out of the plants and looked up, noticing that the Butterfree was charging at full speed towards him. Getting out of the plants and taking a defensive stance, my aura Pokémon took the full force of the attack and shifted his weight and force back into the insect, slamming it behind him, right into the plants.

A small cry could be heard, as it seemed that the Butterfree had fallen into what were some bad plants. Rex took this time to sit down and focus his energy. The new move I had just taught him was being put into practice, as he was gathering his strengths, using the new Swords Dance technique.

Maybe he’s becoming a little more responsible and mature? I thought to myself.

His eyes opened wide, full of conviction and he approached the plants that his opponent had fallen into. As he got up to the plants, he stuck out his tongue and started to taunt his opponent.

And I have officially spoken too soon I thought with a sigh

Rex was met with a rather dark powder, as he backed off in a hurry, coughing and wheezing. His expression went from a joyful one to a sickly one. My guess was that at this point, he had gotten himself poisoned by the powder that came from his opponent.

Still coughing and wheezing, my dog Pokémon looked up ahead and saw that the butterfly had started to flutter its way back towards him. His hand cocked back, taking in the residual moisture and cooling the air around it. The Butterfree came in too close, as it was met with a blistering Ice Punch, freezing it into place and sending it flying into the pillar, knocked out.

I walked up to Rex, potion in hand, chocolate in the other, to congratulate him on his good battle. I gave him the potion and then the chocolate to let him remove the bad taste of the potion. I hoped that the Potion would last long enough for us to get back to the Center so that I could get him all healed up for his next training match.

Rex suddenly grabbed his ears in pain. I looked down at him, trying to figure out what was going on, and then it hit me. I spun around to see another Butterfree come out of the woodworks, shooting its string shot at Rex, encasing him in a web of sticky strings.

I put myself in front of Rex, trying to ward off the Butterfree from attacking, seeing as he had not fully recovered yet and was still poisoned from the previous match. The butterfly started to flap its wings, increasing their speed and launching the light blue aura slices. Rex somehow jumped in front of me, using the energy of the attack to cut off the strings that bound him together.

Using the momentum of the occasion, Rex raced in, he glowed an eerie dark energy, howling like a mad dog. With a quick leap, he came crashing down on the butterfly Pokémon, his jaw locking on its right wing. I loud cry came from the bug type, screeching throughout the room, as my blue pokemon did not want to let go. The dark energy seemed to be transferring from Rex to the Butterfree, increasing the damage with every passing second.

Rex finally let go and jumped backwards, panting heavily, coughing, and wheezing. The poison was still very much there, having a heavy effect on my Pokémon. Butterfree took this moment of relaxation that Rex was taking to come in, half speed, lining up for a Tackle attack. You could notice in the Pokémon’s flight patterns that its wing was seriously injured by the attack. Still, the butterfly came in, chugging along, at whatever speed it could and connected with Rex, doing some damage.

Rex took a few steps back, taking the blunt of the hit. He suddenly shoved his open palms into the mid section of the Butterfree. A blue aura could be seen engulfing around Rex, resembling like he was being overtaken by a light blue flame. Energy radiated from his hands and released right at the bug type, sending him flying backwards into a tree at incredible speeds. I had never seen Rex perform this attack before, and it had my completely perplexed.

Rex cockily started to prance around, even though in his weakened state, celebrating what he thought was his victory. Suddenly he started to lift off the ground, being levitated by a purple aura. I turned to see that the Butterfree’s eyes were glowing an odd purple, as it was controlling Rex like a puppet,

“Rex, use the energy from your Crunch attack, get out of that Confusion attack!” I screamed towards my over exhausted pup.

His body started to glow a dark black, as the purple aura around him dissipated. He dropped hard onto the ground, landing on his own 2 feet, head looking down. His eyes shot up and fixated on the now grounded bug type, as he raced in, hand behind his body, coming in for that perfect blow. With the full speed of his run and a good left, Rex connected with an icy punch. Like the last Butterfree, this one was sent with violent force backwards, frozen solid into an ice cube.

I turned my attention to Rex, who collapsed to the ground from his poisoning. I raced towards him, picked him up and raced out of the door as more and more Butterfrees were coming out of the forest, coming to avenge their fallen brethrens.

I raced into the Center in the tower, leaving Rex in the care of the nurse. It seemed that it would take a few hours to get Rex back to normal after the poisoning and the damage, yet I was reassured by the nurse that he would infact make a full recovery. With the spare time that I was given, I decided to return back to the tournament grounds to see how Macedon was recovering. Hopefully we could both get some more training in him before his name battle at the tournament.

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

Rex the Riolu (lvl10) battled 2x Butterfree (lvl 15) and won both battles

Rex grew to level 14 and learned Force Palm (lvl 11)

[lvl100mewtwo]

And to finish off, another training battle for Macedon

Training Montage: Part III

Teleportation, I never understood it. To transform oneself into pure energy so you can get from point A to point B. The concept was something that my mind just couldn`t wrap itself around. Yet my body had no issues rejecting the idea of it.

I found myself nauseous once more, as I stepped down onto the tournament grounds, thanking the Kadabra that got me where I am and then found a bench to regain my composure. I looked around to see more trainers like me, gasping for air and drinking water with their heads down. Apparently I wasn`t the only one who didn`t like this transport method, but I couldn`t argue with the results that it got me where I needed to be in a hurry.

Once I started to feel better, I made my way to the Center on the tournament grounds to go find Macedon. I was greeted to a big hug from my fire type, as he seemed in a much better mood at this point. It seemed that he was walking with a small limp, something the nurse reassured me would go away in a few days. She also informed me that we should take it easy on the training for now, to let him fully recover. I looked down at my Magma Pokémon and there was a determined look painted across his face. He wasn’t going to be denied a chance to train to prepare himself for his next battle.

I thanked the nurse and made my way to the registration booth to figure out when my next match would be. I realised that Macedon’s next battle would be in 2 days, giving us plenty of time to at least get a little bit of training in, hopefully work out the new moves and gain some power.

I returned to the teleportation booth and requested some help to get back to the training towers. An Abra and Kadabra once again appeared in front of me. Macedon and I were on our way once again to the towers.

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

Macedon put his hand into the machine to let us into the Blizzard Room. The door slowly opened and the gust of frozen wind came through.

Walking into the Blizzard Room, I felt like I was back in my element. I loved being in the cold. I would much prefer adding on extra layers than taking them off. Macedon, at my side, had no issues with the -10ºC weather at this point. His body heat next to mine also helped with my tolerance. Even with just a sweater and some jeans, I felt like I was back home here.

The winds were gusting at what I would guess was 30 km/h. With the wind, visibility was reduced to probably 10 feet ahead of me. Macedon seemed to also be struggling with his vision, looking to see if there were any opponents around.

His limp seemed less notable at this point, which was a good thing. With every step Macedon took, you could see the snow melting around him, leaving a trail behind him of hot water and bare ground.

A gust of ice came straight out of nowhere at Macedon, smacking him square in the chest and knocking him off balance. The hissing of the snow melting and evaporating could be heard as Macedon hit the ground, obviously in a bad mood from the surprise attack.

Macedon slowly rose to his feet and looked around, unable to find his opponent. Another large amount of ice came his way, again, knocking him off balance and throwing him into a snow bank.

“Macedon, get mobile, don’t stay in one spot, you’re just gonna keep getting hit like that” I screamed.

Macedon stood up and started to run around at high speeds. Looking at his movement, it seemed a bit slower then what I was used to seeing him do. Maybe his leg injury was hurting him more than I thought. He zipped through the room at high speed, running blindly around, trying to find his opponent. Soon he was out of my line of sight, yet the heat from his body still made it possible to have a vague idea of where he was.

Suddenly, his light grew stronger. A loud thud could he heard and a small cry followed suit. A Pokémon flew by and crashed a few feet in front of me. I looked through my iPod and found my App to see that Macedon had found himself up against what seemed to be a Snorunt. Obviously he had just connected with a vicious Mach Punch, and was coming in for another shot.

The Snorunt stood up and opened its jaw wide open. Macedon’s punch was met with a series of large teeth, as the Ice type bit down on my Magma Pokémon. Macedon let out of cry as he swung his arm all over the place, Snorunt unrelenting to give up his grasp of Macedon. It seemed that the more the Snorunt dug into the hand of Macedon, the more obviously the painful look was on his face.

“Macedon, turn up the heat, it’s not liking it!” I bellowed

Macedon stopped flailing and started to concentrate, releasing more heat from its body. Snorunt was not pleased by this, as it soon released its grip and took a step back, favouring its mouth, which was obviously burnt at this point.

Macedon and Snorunt both started to have a stare down, as the animosity was getting heated in this Blizzard Room. Both Pokémon started to create multiple copies of each other, seemingly in response to their opponents. Multiple copies of both my Magby and the Snorunt littered the battle field, as this had turned into a “Anything you can do, I can do better” standoff.

“Mace, try and finish this off, Psychic!” I screamed over the wind that seemed to be picking up.

Macedon’s eyes were a violent purple as energy started to be visible around the Magma Pokémon. Full concentration abound, Macedon released the energy in a dome, destroying all copies of its opponent as well as knocking the Snorunt back into a snow bank, dealing a hefty amount of damage. All that was left on the field was a Snorunt half buried in snow and a visual army of Macedons.

The ice type slowly made his way to his feet, obviously exhausted from the fight. With one last attempt, it released an ice beam that scanned the field, removing all copies of Macedon off of the field. Macedon, meanwhile, was making his way slowly behind the attacking Pokémon.

As he approached the Snorunt, he took in a deep breath. With a light tap on its head, the Snorunt turned around only to be met by a head on barrage of embers to the face, effectively knocking him straight backwards and knocking him out.

I slowly made my way over to Macedon, healing potions in hand, readying him for his next battle. Macedon was quite happy with himself and how the battle progressed, yet he seemed to be favouring his leg at this point.

“You wanna take a break big buy? You seemed to have been struggling a bit back there”

Macedon just looked up and shook his head in a no manner. He still wanted to train; he wanted to better himself for the next Games fight. He did not want to be caught off guard again like the last battle.

Macedon seemed to perk up and look around, scanning the area. Something had caught his attention as I was tending to his small wounds. Another gust of icy wind came crashing into Macedon, barely missing me and sending him reeling backwards.

From the hail, a light blue fox appeared, grin on its face. I had seen this Pokémon before. Its uncanny resemblance to an Espeon, except light blue, made me realize that we were dealing with another of Eevee’s many evolution chains. As soon as we saw it, it disappeared back into the hail of the room. Macedon looked frantically around to spot it and I just backed off, letting him get ready for his battle.

Feint views of the ice type could be seen throughout the room. Macedon went into a speed burst, trying to chance down the Eevee-lution. It seemed that the Glaceon also picked up his pace, going at an even faster speed than Macedon. Both seemed to be trading blow after blow at high speeds all over the room. Macedon’s hit’s seemed to be causing more damage yet the ice type’s obvious speed advantage let it get in multiple hits to my Pokémon’s few hits. Macedon’s bummed leg was more apparent now, as it seemed he was just missing that extra step.

Without warning, the ice type took a leap into the air and dove right into the snow, digging its way deep into the frozen particles of water. Macedon looks around frantically, trying to eye where his opponent would pop out. The ice type was not leaving any warnings of indication of where it was situated under the snow.

“Macedon, Smokescreen and Double Team, make it difficult for him to find out!” I shouted from across the room.

My Magby started to release a large dark cloud of smoke, covering him and the entire field with it. Once that task was completed, he started to replicate himself, creating various copies to try and fool the impending attack. As copies were being created, the Glaceon started to burst out of the ground, hitting the clones and disappearing once more into the snow. This seemed like a scene taken straight out of Jaws, with the calm before the storm, as the ice type would shoot straight up and destroy another of the clones.

All the copies of Macedon started to become outlined with a black aura. More of the copies were being destroyed by the Glaceon, yet it seemed it couldn’t find the real Macedon. The ice type once again reared its head from out of the snow, only to hit another copy. Yet this time, he was unfortunately met by a vicious right cross from behind, as Macedon was finally utilizing his brand new attack, Faint Attack.

Glaceon was sent reeling backwards and landed on its 4 paws like a cat. It let out an angry cry, and started to take in energy. A small ball of light formed at the tip of its opened mouth and grew exponentially in size in a matter of seconds. The energy was released with vicious intent, as the Hyper Beam came screaming at Macedon. The beam seemed to be wider than Macedon’s height and girth. Macedon barely jumped out of the way, as both his legs were nicked by the beam of energy, still doing massive damage.

Lying on the ground and having issues standing up, Macedon looked as the Glaceon seemed to be coming in to give the final blow. Macedon on the other hand had different plans. As the ice type approached, mucus was building up in his mouth. Once he got close enough, Macedon released wave after wave of Embers at the Eevee-lution, connecting on each and every shot. The fire attack sizzled on contact, doing more and more damage with each hit. Finally, the Glaceon could not take it anymore, collapsing to the ground from the attack, knocked out.

I ran to Macedon who still couldn’t get up from that Hyper Beam. All I could think of was what kind of impact this would have on our next Games match. This was not boding well at this point. I picked him up and walked out of the room. I made my way to the Center in the tower and picked up Rex who seemed to have recovered from his poisoning quite well and we made our way back to the Tournament grounds via the teleportation route.

I held Macedon in my arms, Rex was next to me as we were all transported back to the Tournament, where I would get Macedon in top shape, to be ready for his second Games battle.

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

Macedon the Magby (lvl17) battled Snorunt (lvl 19) and Glaceon (lvl 25) and won both battles

Macedon grew to level 20. Macedon Learned Fire Spin (lvl 19) and Protect as it’s free level 20 TM

[Lady Vulpix]

OK, Macedon gets to fight a Skiploom now. I will archive your stories, read them and comment on them as soon as I can. If, by then, no one else has rated them, then I will.

[lvl100mewtwo]

Bahahahahahaha, daaaamn Gabi, you had to ruin my surprise, I was gonna pull a Togepi all over again!

[Lady Vulpix]

Well, you wouldn't get originality points for pulling the same trick twice.

Oh... and since we're talking about the 2nd Griffon Games, I didn't dare tell you this before, but... Twister is quite a weak move, it wouldn't have killed Bahamut if it had hit him. I would have worried more about Water Angel's Hidden Power, or even her Aurora Beam.

Comments for your first post:
-The "Forest Room" is actually called the Jungle Room. You got it right from the 2nd time.
-No mention of our encounter at all? Or even the fact that you were offered your old job back? That was unexpected. I would have thought you'd allow it some space in a little corner of your mind, at least. But well, I can't expect to understand your thought patterns.
-They must have installed the call button after I left. Maybe they realized how long it was taking for some trainers to find an opponent? But I think they should have tested it before installing it. It shouldn't hurt the Pokemon around it. And they should also keep some of the Pokemon in the room in line, those extra Butterfrees are not the first to try to attack when they weren't supposed to. >.>
-Rex tore off the wedding? Which wedding? O.o
-The story could use some more punctuation, especially at the end of the phrases and sentences involving thoughts. And there were a few typos too, I'm fixing them for the archive.
-Giving Rex the chocolate after the potion was a nice touch.
-I liked the descriptions in the 2nd battle.
-Both Butterfrees were frozen by Rex's Ice Punches? Rex was really lucky!

Take 11 stamps! ¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢

That was only for the first post, I have yet to read the second one in detail.

[lvl100mewtwo]

Well, you wouldn't get originality points for pulling the same trick twice.

Oh... and since we're talking about the 2nd Griffon Games, I didn't dare tell you this before, but... Twister is quite a weak move, it wouldn't have killed Bahamut if it had hit him. I would have worried more about Water Angel's Hidden Power, or even her Aurora Beam.

Comments for your first post:
-The "Forest Room" is actually called the Jungle Room. You got it right from the 2nd time.
-No mention of our encounter at all? Or even the fact that you were offered your old job back? That was unexpected. I would have thought you'd allow it some space in a little corner of your mind, at least. But well, I can't expect to understand your thought patterns.
-They must have installed the call button after I left. Maybe they realized how long it was taking for some trainers to find an opponent? But I think they should have tested it before installing it. It shouldn't hurt the Pokemon around it. And they should also keep some of the Pokemon in the room in line, those extra Butterfrees are not the first to try to attack when they weren't supposed to. >.>
-Rex tore off the wedding? Which wedding? O.o
-The story could use some more punctuation, especially at the end of the phrases and sentences involving thoughts. And there were a few typos too, I'm fixing them for the archive.
-Giving Rex the chocolate after the potion was a nice touch.
-I liked the descriptions in the 2nd battle.
-Both Butterfrees were frozen by Rex's Ice Punches? Rex was really lucky!

Take 11 stamps! ¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢

That was only for the first post, I have yet to read the second one in detail.

Lol, I figured you would ask questions about not meeting up, all in due time Gabs, you will see.

Yeaaaah, I wrote this story at 2 AM, and went through it again, guess I missed out on alot of stuff. Like I said, not my greatest battle to begin with...

I really need to proof read my stories deeper, I'll try to fix that for sure for my Games battle, hopefully my Macedon battle is a bit better

[Lady Vulpix]

Comments on your latest battle:

-"I would much prefer adding on extra layers than taking them off." < I concur, especially since there's only so much that you can take off.

-Macedon insisted on battling twice in a row when he had a limp, he'd been warned to take it easy and he had a tournament battle to prepare for in the near future? That makes him less wise than... no, wait, if I finish that sentence I may get Quick-Attacked by the Pokemon in question. In any case, that kind of attitude can hurt him more than any opponent would.

-How did Mace and the Snorunt make copies of each other?

You get 13 stamps as long as you can answer the question above.

[lvl100mewtwo]

Comments on your latest battle:

-"I would much prefer adding on extra layers than taking them off." < I concur, especially since there's only so much that you can take off.

-Macedon insisted on battling twice in a row when he had a limp, he'd been warned to take it easy and he had a tournament battle to prepare for in the near future? That makes him less wise than... no, wait, if I finish that sentence I may get Quick-Attacked by the Pokemon in question. In any case, that kind of attitude can hurt him more than any opponent would.

-How did Mace and the Snorunt make copies of each other?

You get 13 stamps as long as you can answer the question above.

Exactly how I feel about the taking them off, right now I'm at the bare minimum in this humid humid heat and I want to die...

Yeah, let's just say it wasn't his brightest of moments, it'll get explored deeper in the Games battle as well

As for the copies thing, 2 words, Double Team

Gracias for the stamps

[Lady Vulpix]

But Double Team consists of a Pokemon making copies of itself, not its opponent.

[lvl100mewtwo]

But Double Team consists of a Pokemon making copies of itself, not its opponent.

Hmmm, I thought I had it better described than I thought, my bad...

[The Blue Avenger]

Can you guess what I'm here for? A UAC RBG for Kurtzwick, please. *hands over 7 stamps*

[classy_cat18]

Kurtzwick will battle a Shuckle.

[DarkestLight]

(This takes place between Round 1 and 2 of the Tournament)

Don't know much about History...

The match over, and Mossy healed up, Rapp now had a moment to breathe. His small entourage gathered around, playing around with each other. As the trio played, Rapp turned to spy other Trainers and assorted folk alike, whom had their Pokemon out and about. Very few were playing, almost as if it was taboo to do so. Then again, this WAS a Tournament; one probably should save his or her strength for the actual fight and not by horsing around.

“Ok guys, I think we’re ok for the time being. Why don’t we get out of here and take a hike?”

Mossy agreed with Rapp, but May looked nervous about doing such a thing. Zent as well, as she waddled in order to keep up with May’s step.

“Oh, don’t give me that look, you two. I’m positive you two will like it down there. There’s trees and sap and honeysuckle and all sorts of veggies and ….its just so green!”

The speed in which Rapp’s excitement seemed to build over his newfound interest in the area the stadium was flying over made both Pokemon a little nervous. Zent pushed past her fear and stood next to Rapp-idly thinking moreso about food than anything. With the odds stacked against her, May solemnly joined the group, to Rapp’s delight.

“It’ll be fun guys. What can possibly go wrong?”

...


The quartet appeared in a flash, 4 figures amongst an open path that led to a massive street. Buildings of an ancient race littered the immediate landscape, and figures of different races seemed to traverse the ruins, making them a home once more. The immediate scope of Gaen Vale was always something majestic, an intertwining of nature and society. Rapp and Mossy instinctively turned to the south east and pointed for May and Zent’s benefit while they explained.

“We’re from over there, outside of this area. This is the Historical District, where most of the legislative folks conduct business for the whole region. Ironically, the village where I hail from does not truly incline themselves with these people. They mostly stick to old ways handed down by the great benefactors …whatever that means.”

Rapp shrugged, to convey his lack of knowledge about what he was taught, and the silence following was broken by the rumble of Zent’s belleh. “Ha. I guess that means we should head toward the wooded areas. Lot of ruins out there!”

Zent agreed, and the quartet marched on, making sure not to impede anyone’s scurried path to and from these buildings.

Zent didn’t mind the fresh air. In fact, she felt it invigorating, and began to express her joy with grunts and higher pitched squeals. Her steps tried to get lighter, but they ended up creating a small series of depressions with each step.

“She’s trying to skip. Funny.” Rapp noted, as Mossy wandered over to the left. Vines went straight into a bush, and reeled back out, yielding berries. Seeing Mossy’s find, May tried the same with her tongue, and yielded berry juice all over it. No matter; one whip of the tongue brought all that berry juice in her mouth. Smiling with a stained face, Rapp could only help but laugh at the berry pickers. “You do know you’re supposed to squeeze them in a pile first, so they don’t mess up your face!” Mossy and May looked to each other, noticing the colorful splashes of juice on their palates, joined in the laughter.



Zent meanwhile, had wandered off and wound up quite a few meters away from everyone. Her immediate safety was of no concern, as she began to nibble on (and subsequently uproot) small radishes she found in the area. This was great! Good food, quiet area. A girl like her could learn to love it here. She smiled and rested her rump on the ground, idly picking a radish every few seconds and chomping on it. The thing about eating radishes is that soon you get thirsty, as they do dry your mouth. Zent hacked, and took in a deep breath in order to help smell if water was near. Yes. Not too far at all.

The little dinosaur plodded over a few feet, and wound up climbing a small hill. Atop this hill was a small house. It was unlike any house Zent had seen thus far-but it fit the right criteria. It had a wooden roof, and large sticks holding the roof up from the underside. It had...a wall, but the wall was made of stone and was arranged in a circular pattern. She couldn’t see over the wall, but she knew she smelled the water inside.

She walked around the “house” and noticed a stick hanging on the outside of it. Reaching up on her tiptoes, Zent’s horn was able to reach the stick, and pull it down toward her. When she let go of the stick-it shot up…and around…and then hit her in the back.

Zent stumbled forward, and then looked around. There was a thud nearby, but she wasn’t sure where it was. Things only became weirder when she heard a voice.

“Heyyyy! I’m sleeping here!”

Zent turned. “Who…who wuz dat?”

To her surprise, as she rounded the “house” she stumbled upon a small wooden bucket! Inside the bucket seemed to be water, but part of it was bulbous and seemed to have a jewel floating inside it. As she watched, the bulbous part snaked out two tentacles and hoisted itself out of the bucket.

“Heeeeeeeeeeeeey! I’m in here! What you moved my house for?”

“House? Dat your house?” Zent replied, still trying to get a handle on words, let alone the situation

“Yes, now scram kid. Don’t you have a person looking for you?”

Zent blinked. Where WAS Rapp? She turned around and realized she must have left him behind when she was foraging. She plodded away a few steps and looked over the hill. Down below, she could see nothing but grass. Heading back a few steps, she could see the radishes she ate out of that area, but no Pokemon. No good. Her throat still felt dry, and she turned back to the water.

“I want wadaw!” She cried out, pointing to the bucket.

“Huh? Kid scram, I need this!” the Tentacool retorted.

[Zent Lvl 7 vs Tentacool]

Zent wasn’t taking no for an answer. Growling at the squishy looking foe, she decided to try battling it. Watching Mossy battle that weird metal swinging beast, she figured she could do a few moves herself. A very unintimidating growl came from her as she rushed toward the Tentacool. Stretching his body high up, he walked over her as she rammed into the bucket. Her force was pretty considerable, as she knocked it over, spilling all that precious water into the hill.

“Aww now you’ve gone and done it! Get me a new bucket of water, or else!”

“Else wha?” She cried, as she shook off the wetness on her hands.

That wet feeling was compounded by a mass of purple gook that splattered on her chest.

Zent looked down at the purple gook, and touched it with one hand. It seemed to have some sort of burning quality, but its effect was next to nothing against her rocky exterior. She patted it a few more times, curious about its weakened effect on her. Tentacool spied her resilience against it, and seemed a bit nervous as well.

“Kid, just scram! I don’t want to hurt you!”

“You hut me? You hut me? I hurt you back!” The mini-dinosaur quit patting her chest and glared at the Tentacool-a focus that remained unbroken as she ran toward him. Her small body collided with the gelatinous foe and they both skidded across the grass. Zent stayed upright long enough to bow her head and bite down on Tenta’s skin, giving him a nasty bruise. Tenta wriggled in pain and used his tentacles to shove her away, before reasserting them as legs…and began making a getaway.

“NO!” Zent shouted, and gave chase, her splayed tail swishing back and forth with every step.

The pair ran down the hill and past the radish patch, where it was evident Zent was catching up. Her massive girth aided by gravity made her a super speed contender to a being that didn’t really have legs. The false anthropomorphic jellyfish kept trucking, even as he heard the thuds of his pursuer getting louder and louder.

When she was only steps from crashing into him and possibly causing him more bodily harm, Tenta make a hard right. Zent wasn’t ready for such a hard turn, and went careening into the thick underbrush. Her wails were heard for moments, as the jellyfish stopped and plopped down on the ground, bushed.

“Oh wow. A Pokemon out here!”

“Oh, now what.” Tentacool murmured to himself as he turned toward the bevy of newcomers in this area. Now he was faced with a green mass of vines that seemed to only have eyes, a pink beast with a shiny bald head she kept patting and their Trainer, a young boy with….strong woodland features.

“Huh. It looks like a jellyfish. Which means it would need water.” At the mention of the word, Tenta stood up on its tentacles, to show its interest. Rapp and May took a step back, to make sure it wasn’t dangerous. “Guess it knows it needs water too.” Rapp countered.

The green mass that tackled the jellyfish from behind and bit it again also knew it needed water. Zent held on tight this time as the Tentacool began spitting out acid left and right. Mossy took care to hop backwards, avoiding the highly potent stuff. Rapp however took care in noticing that Zent seem unaffected by the poisonous fluid, even though she was covered in it.

“Zent, lay off the jellyfish! What did it do to you?” he inquired, as she bounced back, the Tentacool “running “ away a few steps. Zent looked to Rapp and waved her arms, conveying an emotion of concern. Rapp cocked his head to the left, trying to understand her, but it was still difficult.

“You’re flailing around too much. Just calm down and try again.” Rapp said, as he knelt to meet her gaze. A strange sound encumbered Zent’s attention from Rapp. She looked over to the jellyfish, whom seemed to be whistling toward her. But the whistle has a strange effect on her brain. It made things weird and topsy turvy. Looking back to Rapp, all Zent could see was the bulbous face of the Tentacool, and one of its vines reaching out to her. Instinct kicked in, and she bit down. Her body was lifted off the ground slightly, but she held her ground, as the Tentacool tried to pull away from her grasp.



“ZENT!! LET GO OF MY FINGERS!”





Rapp screamed as he tried to pull his hand away. The vicious little Larvitar was confused, and this left the Tentacool to try and make an escape. Mossy and May were left to stare at this turn events, as the invertebrate tried to make leave the area without being noticed by the Larvitar.. Upon crossing Zent’s line of view again, the beast let go of Rapp’s finger in instinct, and danced over toward the beast, raising her speed to overtake him in no time.

Tentacool didn’t see her approach, and when the crushing weight pinned him down, he had no chance to escape. All his poisoning seemed ineffective as Zent bit down one last time. The pain ran though his body, and left him barely able to focus. Zent held on until the jellyfish stopped moving, before backing off.

Cautiously, Rapp and Mossy approached. Zent however, still glared at the both of them, wild eyes shifting between Mossy and Rapp.

“Mossy, incapacitate her. She’s confused.” Mossy did as told, shooting three vines past Zent, who went after them with eagerness unmatched. The vines quickly wrapped around her and pinned her to the ground, as she struggled to kick and scratch free. Rapp walked over to the squirming fighter, and knelt down to pat her belly. “Hey hey hey. It’s ok. I need you to calm down. It’s us.”

Rapp waited as Zent’s tantrum began to die down, before ending completely. When it ended, Zent stared at Rapp’s face, watching it come into focus. Everything else seemed to make sense now, and Zent lied still, waiting for Mossy to release her.

Mossy did so pretty quickly, leaving Zent to right herself on her own. The small dino didn’t stand on her two feet, but rather crawled over to the jellyfish, poking it with her horn. The Tentacool moved, but only slightly, as it was still too hurt to really counter.

“Zent, where did you first encounter the Tentacool?”

[Zent wins! Zent is Lv8]
[Zent learns Sandstorm!!]




Within 5 minutes of Zent's explanation, the group and the Tentacool were at the top of the hill with the well. Rapp assessed the area, and quickly grabbed the bucket from the side where it was knocked over. “Guess you got thirsty huh. And this guy was living inside it? Not the first time I’ve seen this happen. I guess they live around the island.”

Zent nodded, and raised her hands, pointing to the bucket. The Tentacool (which had found sanctuary on May’s head) hissed in retaliation.

“Easy, you two. All I’m going to do is make sure this rope is tied to the bucket handle securely - and drop it in!” With not so much as a blink, Rapp tossed the bucket down the well, until a splash could be heard. Mossy eagerly walked over to the crank on the side of the well and used his vines to tug and crank it. Zent watched as the stick that gave her so much trouble was used to wind up the rope...and eventually reveal the bucket once more.

“Alright. You all take some to drink.” Rapp instructed, as he pulled the bucket from the well opening and lowered it down to their mouths, so they could reach the water. Mossy and Zent eagerly drank their fill, and then backed away so May could. Tenta watched as May dunked her face in the water, slurping away. When she pulled her head out, Tenta only saw a small amount of water left.

“Not to worry Mr. Jellyfish.” Rapp hoisted the bucket up once more and tossed it into the well. Refilling and reeling it back to the surface, he set the bucket aside the well. “There. Now you have water.”


Tenta smirked and slowly slid off of May. May shivered in disgust as she felt a slimy streak on her back from that Tentacool’s body. His body slid into the bucket and within moments, he seemed to be full of color and life once more.

“There!” Rapp exclaimed as the Tentacool rotated in a circle, pleased he had water again. The three Pokemon all approached the bucket now, all happy for the little jellyfish, and he even patted Zent’s head, to receive a joyful reply from the rocky beast.

Rapp watched the scene for a moment-but a strange feeling came over him. His ears twitched, as if there was a whisper in the wind. Turning around, he spied someone at the base of the hill staring at him. They seemed to be tall, but shrouded by the tree cover. By it’s side was a Pokemon of considerable size, but it was not discernible. The pair locked eyes for a moment, and Rapp rubbed his left arm in a sign of anxiety and uncertainty.

Mossy looked over to Rapp as the others were jabbering away, and walked away from the water bucket. Having been with Rapp the longest, he knew when Rapp was uneasy, and this was one of those times. Standing by his side, Mossy also got a glimpse of the figure at the base of the hill, underneath the tree shadow.

“Mossy…they look familiar.” Rapp said, as he knelt down to pat the Tangela’s head. Mossy stared as the pair down below seemed to slip into the shadows with but a moment’s notice. With their disappearance, Rapp and Mossy looked to each other, then to the others. They were still yammering away, oblivious to the strange event. Rapp and Mossy stared one last time at the base of the hill…that led deeper into Gaen Vale. Rapp took a look up to see what was behind the tree, and all he could see were ruins. An area of ruins that still seemed untouched…

“Come on Mossy. Let’s get back to the tournament. No telling who that was.” Mossy agreed, as they headed back toward the well. Rapp held onto his throbbing fingers, shaking them to dull the pain.





In a small village, hidden away by the dense tree cover of the southeastern portion of Gaen Vale, two figures stood in a small field. The canopy obscured the field from aerial view, but through its cracks, the figures note the massive obelisk shaped bases of the Tournament Grounds floating past ever so slowly. “You think it was a good idea to send him away, with just one Pokemon?”

“We did not really have a plethora of options, Bahrain. Besides, you know as well as I that him being here would have garnished the attention of the High Council.” Her soft voice seemed to match the breeze that whispered though the area.

“I realize that, but maybe we should have at least told him SOMETHING about history. He doesn’t even know about the Sundering; for shrubbery’s sake...” The male retorted, scratching his head.

“I did tell him start at Sector Alpha, but if his path has him come here again, then he’ll learn all he needs on his own. For now, let us hope that Rapp makes it though the Dragon Games Tournament unscathed.”

“For our lineage’s sake, I hope you’re right. Last thing we need is him being less than prepared for what he doesn’t know…”

[Lady Vulpix]

Nice story, DL. Take 16 stamps!

I have some comments written down but I don't have time to type them right now. I'll try to post them later, whenever the free time and the Internet connection align themselves. Maybe tomorrow morning.

[Wolfsong]

Here are my battles for the Jungle Room as well as Jas’s rbg. I won the Shadow Force TM at the EMT Game a while back. I recently traded my psychic tm with Mikachu Yukitatsu for her night shade TM. This is supposed to have taken place before the first round. I had started it and then got sidetracked for a while. Still struggling with a bit of writer’s block.

(Amy’s POV)

After Sinopa and Darin had their battles, we took the stairs up to the ground floor where the Pokémon Center was located. As they were being treated, I pulled the laptop out of my backpack and turned it on. Once I was connected to the internet, I pulled up an online die. I then went about assigning a number to each of my team, before clicking on the roll button. When I saw the result, I smiled. Maybe this was what she needed to gain some confidence.

Closing the computer, I stuffed it back into my bag and grabbed the sign-up sheet and filled it out. Once I was finished, I stuffed it into my back pocket so that I could drop it off before we went back to the hotel.

It was getting pretty late by the time Sinopa and Darin emerged, so I decided to just get supper and take it back to the hotel. When we got back to the hotel, everyone was hungry and after I handed out the meals, we all ate. Once everyone had finished eating, I cleared my throat getting their attention.

“I’m sure that you all have heard about the Dragon Games,” I began before having to stop until the excited chatter died down before trying again. “Everyone of you deserves the chance and I couldn’t just pick one of you because of that. So, I used a randomizer to decide.”

“Who is it?” Sugar asked, her fur crackling with electricity.

“Yeah, who?”

“Tell us.”

I grinned, waiting until it grew silent once more. “Congratulations,” I paused and looked over my team before my eyes landed on her, “Sinopa.”

She blinked, clearly not expecting it. “I… me?”

I nodded my head, confirming it.

She looked down nervously at her paws. “I’ll try my best.”

“That’s all that I can ask. In the meantime, let’s get some rest. I’ll look over the map tomorrow and plan our route.”

(Jasmine’s POV)

The next morning, I found Amy as promised looking over a map with Talut. I yawned and stretched as I looked around. Seeing that breakfast had already arrived, I made my way over and got my share. Once I finished, I made my way over to where they were and started tickling her with my wing until she looked down.

“Jasmine?”

“I was wondering if we could have a training battle today?”

“Do you want me to come with you or do you want to go by yourself?”

“I want you to come with me.”

“Okay,” she said, grabbing her backpack as Rick jumped into her lap. “Rick, do you want to come with me and Jas?”

The eevee enthusiastically nodded his head as he wiggles his entire body in his excitement. His tail tickled my nose causing me to sneeze. Rick squeaked as he looked over at me. I chuckled and used my wing to tickle him back until he was squirming in Amy’s arms.

“You ready to go?” she asked me. I nodded as I tickled Rick one last time.

* * * *

(Amy’s POV)

Soon, the three of us were heading for the West Tower. Rick was looking around excitedly, his tail still wagging giving everyone around a good look at his excitement.

One slow elevator ride later, found the three of us emerging onto the first floor. I set Rick down on the floor so that I could open the door. “You ready?”

She gave a nod of her head and I opened the door a crack, but a crack was all that he needed. Before I had a chance to react, Rick slipped inside. Looking over at Jasmine I opened the door wider and we hurried inside letting the door close behind us.

(Jasmine’s POV)

I ignored the closing door as I looked around the Jungle Room, Amy doing the same as we tried to see where Rick went to. I looked around and saw plants of many different colors and sizes but not a trace of a fluffy eevee tail.

I slithered out into the clearing in the middle of the room and began to look under the flowers where he could be hiding. At first nothing, then there was a yelp from one of the corners. I turned my head and started moving towards the sound but the little guy was running towards us as fast as he could whining as a Kricketune buzzed angrily after him.

“Get back here!”

Rick dove behind me and scrambled up into Amy’s arms.

“Leave him alone. He’s just a kid.”

“He disturbed my sleep!”

“So nap in another spot.”

His response was to strike out at me sending my earring scattering off into the grass.

Jasmine L.20 Winged Dratini Versus L.20 Kricketune

I glared at him as I began to beat my wings whipping up the air around me. The wind quickly took on a cyclonic shake and tore towards the bug pokemon.

He gave an angry cry and retaliated by darting in and biting down hard on my wing. I winced, thankful for the fact that I was already part flying type because that attack would have been a lot more painful if I hadn’t been. I had to slow him down, and I had just the move to do that. As I concentrated, the air around me began to crackle with electricity before a ring of electricity slammed into him rooting him to the spot.

Now that he was slowed down, I took advantage of being faster than him and began concentrating on my hidden power as the air around be began to pick up in strength as I flapped my wings creating more wind. The wind slammed into him with a much more powerful force than I had anticipated knocking him out cold.

I won!
I grew to L.21.

I slithered back to Amy and she gave me the two berries that she had in her backpack before reattaching my earring. I quickly ate them and was restored to full health.

Rick whined and pressed himself up against Amy’s leg still frightened from the encounter with the Kricketune. I looked around trying to see what he was whining at and saw a Grotle and a Heracross approaching. I nudged Amy with my wing and she noticed them as well, giving me a questioning look. I nodded and slithered forwards.

“What happened here?” The grotle snarled as they came to a stop in front of me.

“He was bullying one of my teammates.”

The two of them advanced and I spread out my wings and took to the air.

JasmineL.21 Dratini Vs. L.19 Grotle and L.25 Heracross

I looked between my two opponents, and I knew that my biggest threat was going to be the Heracross. He had the speed and the level advantage. Right now, I knew they could see my wings but they probably didn’t realize that it meant that I had the type advantage. My suspicions were confirmed with his first attack. The grotle threw up a protective barrier as the Heracross stomped the ground. I flapped my wings taking to the air easily avoiding the attack. In response, I began crackling with electricity and once more launched the electrical rings at my opponent. They hit him and he glared at me, his muscles no longer being cooperative.

Now that I had succeeded in ensuring that I was the fastest out of the three of us, I began preparing my next attack. I loved that my hidden power was flying because it was useful in so many ways. As I manipulated the air currents in the room, I felt the temperature drop a few degrees as I focused on channeling the wind into a blast that slammed into the heracross sending him flying backwards and colliding hard with a tree. I had neglected to notice the grotle preparing an attack until I was sent crashing to the ground by an arctic blast of air that coated my wings in ice crystals so that I couldn’t fly. Shivering I lifted my head, that attack having hurt more than I could have anticipated.

Well, if they want to play that way, I thought to myself. Then so can I. Immediately, I began concentrating on the move that I had inherited from my dad, Mercury. The heracross slowly made his way towards us until his muscles locked up where he couldn’t move. Soon the two of them disappeared into a swirling blizzard. When the snow and wind had died down, I looked over to see that the heracross was down for the count but the grotle was barely hanging on. Then, he was enveloped by a light green glow that faded away to reveal a much healthier looking grotle.

I glared at him, as I lay there panting. I decided to try another tactic. I had to end this fast because I couldn’t take another hit like that last one of his. As I focused on my next attack, I began to feel warmer which helped. Before the grotle had a chance to even think about dodging the attack, I exhaled a jet of flames that slammed into the grass dinosaur and he collapsed to the ground and didn’t get back up. I panted, too tired to move.

I won!
I grew to L.24. (+1 from grotle and + 2 from heracross)

(Amy’s POV)

Once Jasmine’s battle was over, I quickly recalled her back into her pokeball. Rick buried his head in the crook of my arm as I carried him out of the jungle room. This time, I took the stairs down to the ground floor where I emerged into the Pokemon Center. After handing them Jas’s pokeball, I sat down to rest and calm Rick down as we waited for her.

When Jasmine was healed, I took her pokeball and the three of us went back to the hotel room where I gave Darin the Shadow Force and Night Shade TMs that I had for him.

[Lady Vulpix]

...And that makes 3 battles I'll have to archive when I get home. Can someone else please rate Amy's story? I can't do it from here.

Comments for DL's story:
- Nice description of the "house".
- It was not the first time Rapp has seen that? How many Tentacools would choose a well or a bucket as their living space? Or has something happened to their original homes?
- There were many typos, especially after the battle. I'd fix them on the archive if I were at home now.
- In any case, it was an interesting situation. Poor Tentacool, though.

[DarkestLight]

I'll fix them up Gabi, if I miss any, let me know :O.

As for the Tenta bucket thing, I'll explain it a lil later on. lol.

[lvl100mewtwo]

Good battles Amy, quite the Dratini you got there!

For your battles, you receive a 17 Stamps! Good job!

[Wolfsong]

I'd like an RBG for Jasmine (L.24) please from the Free Range Corral. *hands over 7 stamps

[The Blue Avenger]

Jasmine will fight an Aipom.

[The Blue Avenger]

While I'm here, actually, can I get another RBG for Kurtzwick from the UAC? *hands over 7 stamps*

[Lady Vulpix]

What if I say no?

You're scaring me. Are you actually going to write that? How many opponents are you trying to accumulate?

But I'll be nice and give you a Scraggy to add to the pile.

[The Blue Avenger]

Nah, it's not going to be one giant battle. I'm just saving them up for when I do get some time to write.

[Lady Vulpix]

In that case, letś hope that when you have the time to write it, I have the time to read it.

[Wolfsong]

Here is Jasmine’s RBG. Still struggling with writer’s block but slowly overcoming it. If all goes well Kiara and Ebony’s training battle will be next picking up where this left off…

(Jasmine’s POV)

I couldn’t help the laugh that escaped as Rick pounced on Sinopa and gave her a big grin. She chuckled, gave him a lick. The shiny eevee laughed, shook his head, before taking off running only to be pounced by Danny. While the others were getting ready to head for the blizzard room, Talut opted to go with them but stay in his pokeball. I shivered and decided to follow Sinopa and Darin and watch them as they practiced.

Darin probably knew that I was following them, but he didn’t say anything. I stayed with them but kept my distance until they stopped in an open field. I curled up on a rock at the base of a tree and watched as Sinopa started out by using a sunny day. It sun warmed up the rock that I was resting on pretty quickly. Darin was using his psychic abilities to launch objects *mostly rocks, but an occasional stick) into the air for Sinopa to try and hit.

She didn’t have much trouble with solarbeam. The next attack was a different story. I’m not sure which one it was, but I’d hazard that it was a dark typed attack because Darin was staying a little further back. Suddenly something hard hit me on the back of my head and I heard giggling, but when I looked around I didn’t see anyone. Giving my head a shake, I turned to resume watching Sinopa and Darin when I got hit by another pebble, but once again other than a giggle there was no one there. Growling to myself, I slithered around the tree up to one of the lower branches and settled back down.

Again, I was pelted by a rock from above followed by a giggle. I blinked and looked up and saw an aipom giggling, hanging by its tail in the tree.

“Stop it, I want to watch my friends practice.”

The aipom laughed and shook his head no while he slowly sharpened his claws against the tree branch.

Jasmine L.24 F Winged Dratini Vs. L.24 Aipom

While the aipom was busy sharpening his claws, I slithered up to him and wrapped myself tightly around him. He gave a surprised shout and let go of the tree. Instinctively, I spread my wings and slowed our descent somewhat but I didn’t uncoil from him. We hit the ground with a thud as the monkey struggled to get loose.

I managed to keep the aipom from escaping but he scratched at me with his tail hand. I winced as the claws on the tail broke skin as I blasted the purple monkey with a pointblank supersonic right in his ear while I wrapped myself tighter around him.

The still struggling aipom tried to scratch me again with his tail and instead hit himself. I began concentrating on my next attack. As I did so, my entire body began crackling with electricity until I couldn’t hold it in any longer and the electricity bolted out of the bump on my forehead and slammed into the monkey.

Unfortunately for me, the thunderbolt seemed to knock the aipom out of his confusion as he managed to escape from my grip. He quickly swung out with his fist, which caught me in my chest and sent me tumbling head over tail towards where Sinopa and Darin were. I lay there stunned for a moment as the icy wreaked havoc on my body. The darkness started to close in but when I heard Darin say something about taking me home I croaked out “No.”

I used my wings to help push myself up as I panted from the effort that took. I could see him taking his time approaching and I used the little energy that I had managed to regain to buy me some time as I created five clones that all looked as pitiful as I probably did. As I watched the aipom looked between all of us and swung. I could feel the air from the movement of his arm as the clone on my right vanished.

I had to fight the urge to breathe a sigh of relief as the chill finally left by body and I felt like I could move again. I couldn’t take anymore hits but I exhaled a burst of flames at him before disappearing into the midst of the flour clones that I still had.

As the monkey approached us again, glaring at us because my double team tactic ended his fun. His fist was glowing white as he approached, obliterating another of my clones. The temperature around me began to slowly drop as the wind began to increase. Soon it was howling as it began to snow, the blizzard slamming into the aipom and sending him to the ground. I saw him go down, and when he didn’t get back up, I let my clones fade away as I let myself drop to the ground glad it was over.

I won.
I grew to L. 25.
I learned Agility

[The Blue Avenger]

Sorry for the wait. You get an additional 2 stamps that will be added on at the end of this post.

- I like that you had Jasmine not at full efficiency in a Room that wasn't favorable for her. Arena effects are neat things.
- Double Team really saved her bacon in this one.
- I also liked watching Sinopa's training montage.

I think 8 stamps sounds good for this one, and the late-fee 2 stamps round this out to 10 even.

While I'm here, I'd like another RBG for Kurtzwick from the UAC, please. *hands over 7 stamps*

[classy_cat18]

He will battle a Yamask.

[The Blue Avenger]

This one was so much fun to write. XD

Test No. 5
---
“Please begin the test.”

Kurtzwick glanced around. The room, much like the other rooms, was old and rusted; there were two catwalks in the room, each leading to a door. He had come in through one. Right now, though, there certainly wasn’t anything else in the room but the two catwalks and one very grumpy Dratini.

To be fair, Kurtzwick had some very good reasons to be irritated. Not only was he being kept in some warehouse against his will, but he was missing the tournament. He wasn’t exactly excited about seeing the tournament itself – if he wanted to see Raini beat things up, he could, say, watch her at pretty much any given time – but the crowds of the tournament meant that there would be a lot of dropped change, many unattended pockets that he could snag wallets out of, and, best of all, people occasionally left good items just sitting around. He’d seen more than one stat modification die just left behind, but as his team was swimming in them already, he didn’t see the need to nab more.

And now he was in an empty room, with no visible way of getting out. “So what’s the point of this one?” he grumbled in the vague direction of the ceiling.

“Please wait. The test is currently being prepared.”

“Hold right the hell on.” Kurtzwick turned his most ferocious glare – which, for a Dratini, edged him slightly past adorable – at the speaker, barely visible in the corner of the room. “You meant to say that you weren’t even ready to get me here? I got kidnapped by a slacker?! I’m never living this one down.”

“Please wait… please wait… please…”

“Ooo… kay…” Kurtzwick slithered backwards a bit, acutely aware of how little it would help him if the person in charge of the place went nuts. Well, more nuts. “You doing all right there, buddy?”

“I will not wait!” the voice continued. “Get out! Get out! There’s an exit—please wait. The next test will be available shortly. No! Gah! I’m done playing patsy, see? Listen, snake!”

Kurtzwick became uncomfortably aware that the crazy loudspeaker was now addressing him.

“I know we’ve had our differences, and that the test is currently being prepared—No! Stop that! I’m sending some items to help you out! Listen, there’s an exit behind the test is currently—Argh! No!”

And with that, the loudspeaker went quiet. There wasn’t any sound for a moment before the air ducts rang out with the clanking that Kurtzwick had heard several times before. The grating over the ducts opened, and three small boxes clattered to the ground directly in front of him.

TMs.

Kurtzwick examined them carefully. They seemed legit. He smacked them with his tail, loosing a cloud of multicolored dust that coated him completely before sinking into his skin. Knowledge of three new moves sprang up in his mind: Flamethrower, Skull Bash, and Bubblebeam. Not bad, he thought. Whoever runs this place, crazy as they are, has some resources. Now, he said an exit behind… something. Kurtzwick glanced around the room. The same metal paneling covered the walls and the roof. Well, here goes nothing! He turned to the nearest wall, inhaled deeply, and blew forth a wide jet of flames that licked the metal. Before long, the metal melted into slag, leaving a large circle in its wake. Kurtzwick waited for it to cool, then jumped through.

The hole led to a narrow unlit passageway. The light spilling in from the room Kurtzwick had entered from illuminated just enough that Kurtzwick could see a staircase leading up, away from the previous test rooms. As he slowly ascended the stairs, he heard the loudspeaker in the previous room come back to live.

“We apologize for the inconvenience, but the test is now ready to…” It paused. “Test subject? Test subject, please identify your location.”

Not likely. Kurtzwick climbed a few more steps.

“Test subject?” the loudspeaker repeated. “The test subject has escaped! Find him!” The sound of dozens of footsteps filled the air. Kurtzwick scowled. It would only be a matter of time before they found the hole in the wall. He scooted up the stairs with as much speed as he could muster.

The footsteps – a cacophony of noise that prevented him from identifying any individual Pokémon – started up the stairs behind him, the metal clanging and echoing throughout the hallway. Without any light, Kurtzwick was relying on his natural instincts to get through the hall and away from his pursuers.

Kurtzwick, that day, found out that his instincts needed work.

With little fanfare, he ran headlong into a solid wall. The footsteps got closer. Without thinking, he turned his head to the left and blasted another Flamethrower at the wall. He jumped through the hole without hesitation, landing in what looked like a run-of the mill office, albeit a relatively spacious one. A dusty table sat in one corner, piled high with papers and books. A corner of the room housed a neglected computer, obviously not turned on in years. A fan attached to the ceiling rotated in lazy circles.

Oh, and a Skitty crouched on the floor, speaking into a microphone.

“Find the test subject!” he hissed. “He must be…” The Skitty looked up. “…in this room.”

“Hey there, Popple,” Kurtzwick muttered. “I’d like to say it’s a pleasure to see you again, but that would be a total fabrication.”

“Please do not assume familiarity with the test administrator,” Popple said. A brief moment passed, then Popple’s façade cracked, and his expression turned into panic. “Kurtzwick! You gotta get me out of here, see? You gotta run too! You gotta—” Popple’s voice cracked, and he resumed his carefully blank stare. “You have got to stay right here.”

Six thumps sounded from behind Kurtzwick, some heavier than others. Kurtzwick carefully turned his head. To his dismay, eight Pokémon had followed him in – two were floating, hence the lack of a thump. “Please restrain the test subject,” Popple said calmly.

Test! Kurtzwick versus Yamask, Smoochum, Drifloon, Girafarig, Bonsly, Litwick, Shuckle, and Scraggy!
Scraggy: “I see you!”
Shuckle: “Friend!”
Litwick: “There you are!”
Bonsly: “Target acquired.”
Girafarig: “Firing.”
Drifloon: “Gotcha!”
Smoochum: “Is anyone there?”
Yamask: “Canvassing.”
--
Kurtzwick: “This doesn’t seem even remotely fair.”

“Okay,” Kurtzwick said quietly. None of the eight Pokémon that faced him made a move. Well, okay, the Drifloon and the Yamask moved slightly up and down, but Kurtzwick chalked that up to being a giant balloon and a freaky mask skull thing, respectively, rather than mounting an offence. “Let’s even these odds.” Kurtzwick grinned and opened his mouth wide; a cloud of thick white haze came billowing out, obscuring the contents of the room.

At this point, Kurtzwick realized, his options were still somewhat limited. So, since it worked out well enough the last time, he burnt a hole through the wall and escaped through it. He was pleased to note that it took a few moments for the first Pokémon to follow him – the Girafarig, doubtlessly locked onto his scent. A small part of his mind noted that it wasn’t the first time he had been detected in that way, and then idly wondered if the department store sold a smell-blocking juice to complement his transparent one.

Kurtzwick kept his head cocked slightly to the side as he bolted. He was in a hallway, and an absurdly long one at that; he couldn’t even make out how far down it went. The rest of the guards had followed the Girafarig’s lead, finally, and were all in hot pursuit. Okay, which one of you can I take out first? Kurtzwick thought. I need to slow the rest of you down before I can do that… His horn sparked and he sent a ball of electricity careening into the Girafarig. It hit its knees, and the Girafarig collapsed, sending the Pokémon behind it tripping and falling as well as they ran into it. The only Pokémon not affected were the two ghosts floating into the air, and they didn’t spare a glance for their fallen comrades as they gave chase. Kurtzwick ducked into an open room, one that could have been another office in a past life, and waited for them to get closer. Just as they reached him, he exhaled another Haze and skittered back into the room; as he had hoped, the ghosts followed him in, but the rest of the group, only just then getting back to their collective feet, missed the door entirely and went on past, evidently chasing something they couldn’t see.

“Well, guys,” Kurtzwick said, “let’s boogie.” Both ghosts turned their gazes to him and waved their arm-analogues in a vaguely spooky fashion; a wind picked up in the room, seemingly from nowhere, carrying a dark mist with it. “Ominous Wind, is it?” Kurtzwick said. “Nice try!” He slithered backwards about a foot and closed his eyes; another gust of wind starting blowing into the room, this one going the opposite direction and glittering with ice particles that shone when they impacted the mist.

That won’t hold the Ominous Wind for long, Kurtzwick thought. But it will give me time to do… this! With a grunt, he let go of his Icy Wind, the Ominous Wind tearing through it like rice paper. Kurtzwick neatly slipped under the wind’s trajectory and aimed a Thunder Wave at the ghosts’ backs; it took just one shot each, and Kurtzwick had them paralyzed before they could even finish their attack. They slowly turned to look at him, slowly sinking through the air, and first the Yamask, then the Drifloon was met with a Flamethrower to the face for their troubles.

“I love this move!” Kurtzwick said, a smile crossing his face for the first time in what felt like forever. “So versatile!” The ghosts each focused one eye on him and began shedding ethereal energy from their bodies; soon, a red glow surrounded Kurtzwick, and he flinched in pain. “What the heck attack was that?” he muttered. “I oughta wrap this one up quick…” This time, Kurtzwick exhaled a steady stream of bubbles and swept it left to right; the bubbles stuck to the ghosts’ skin for a brief moment before popping in a surprisingly incendiary fashion. The ghosts screeched and retaliated with twin Shadow Balls; they fired them at an angle each, and the two attacks merged into a massive Shadow Ball, inexorably moving closer to Kurtzwick with every passing moment.

It was somewhat anticlimactic when the Shadow Ball bounced off of Kurtzwick’s nearly-invisible shield with a dull thud and dissipated in the air. Kurtzwick flashed a smirk and roasted the ghosts again with another widespread Flamethrower. This one brought them to the ground, their eyes shut.

Yamask and Drifloon are down! Kurtzwick grows two levels, to 16! Kurtzwick learns Twister!

A white glow surrounded Kurtzwick and he felt a little more energized, the Recover removing the worst traces of the dual Hex attack. He stuck his head out of the door as the haze began to clear. The other six Pokémon had long since run down the hallway, and so it looked like the coast was clear. He slid across the hallway into the doorway immediately opposite him. He had entered what looked like an old, disused cafeteria; there were tables spread haphazardly across the floor, and an ancient food-serving counter stood at one end. There was a door just past the counter, slightly ajar. Kurtzwick glanced it over, then looked over the rest of the cafeteria, wondering if there was a better way to find the exit.

“I see you!”

Purely out of reflex, Kurtzwick loosed a cloud of Haze and threw himself behind the counter and through the door before he even stopped to think. The room behind the counter was, predictably, an old kitchen, littered with rusted utensils, old sinks, and filthy countertops. Kurtzwick chanced a look around. The Smoochum was standing at the door. “Friend!” She said, waving her stubby arms in a manner that might have been adorable any other day.

Then the Smoochum smiled and punched Kurtzwick in the side. He grunted and slid back surprisingly far; when he opened his eyes, he could see the faint outline of a heart-shaped bruise beginning to form. “Oh yeah?” he grumbled. “Real tough, right. That won’t happen again.” He shook his head clear, reared back, and blasted out another Flamethrower, completely obscuring the Smoochum. When the fire cleared, a series of cooking knives, each surrounded by a blue glow, hurled themselves at Kurtzwick, seemingly of their own volition. Kurtzwick yelped and nimbly contorted himself around each of them as they flew past, embedding themselves unnervingly deeply in the wall behind him.

“Come on, Psychic?” Kurtzwick whined. “That’s not fair!” Another knife whizzing past his face focused his attention again. “All right, more fire it is!” He let loose another inferno, and when the Smoochum emerged from this one, she looked visibly worse for the wear. She groaned and began to form a ball of ice in her hands, but a third Flamethrower stopped her in her tracks. The potential Ice Beam melted immediately, and she collapsed to the ground.

Smoochum is down! Kurtzwick grows to level 17!

Kurtzwick hissed, wincing as he accidentally put weight on the Heart-Stamp-inflicted bruise. The kitchen, naturally, was a dead end, and he backed out into the cafeteria. The cafeteria had two entrances – the one he came in through and one opposite that on the other wall. He took the exit that he hadn’t been through. To his complete lack of surprise, it opened into another hallway. A rusted sign on the wall pointed down the hallway with an arrow, but all the words were obscured. Kurtzwick stared at it for a moment, grunted, then followed the arrow. After a few moments of quiet slithering, Kurtzwick glanced up at the wall ahead: it hosted a wide set of double doors. He pushed them open, wincing as they squealed, and looked inside.

Instead of the exit into the sunlight he had been hoping for, Kurtzwick instead saw a massive factory floor. Conveyor belts spanned the room, stretching as far as the eye could see and hooked to the impressively-far-away ceiling with a series of thick cables and chains. All of the lights were shut off, not surprisingly, and nothing was moving. Kurtzwick hopped up onto a nearby conveyor belt, one with two twins running alongside it.

As soon as Kurtzwick got on it, the lights switched on with a loud thoom. A motor switched on somewhere in the room, and the conveyor belts hummed to life. Before he could register what was going on, the cables and the chains attached to the belts tightened, pulling the belts high into the air. The belt he was on began slowly bringing him further into the room, and the two on either side of him began moving in the opposite direction. A clattering of hooves behind him snagged his attention; the Girafarig galloped up one of the belts, coming towards him and using the belt to boost its speed. The Bonsly waddled up the other altogether more slowly. They slowed their pace and began moving backwards slightly in order to keep Kurtzwick between them.

Kurtzwick belched out a cloud of Haze and disappeared into it; the Girafarig and the Bonsly, showing moderately more intelligence than their peers, actually looked around, somewhat confused. Kurtzwick reappeared on a belt not too far behind the Girafarig and lowered his head. The Girafarig’s tail, however, began loudly growling, giving away his position sooner than he expected. It didn’t help the Girafarig, though; when it turned around, Kurtzwick sprung at it, slamming it in the neck with his head. It stumbled back, its hooves slipping on the belt, until it eventually fell over on the belt Kurtzwick had started on. As it began to untangle its hooves, Kurtzwick faced the Bonsly.

Kurtzwick didn’t wait for it to make a move; he simply lashed out with a tendril of electricity, sending sparks running over the Bonsly’s skin. The Bonsly fell back and its mouth quivered. Before long, its eyes were gushing with tears.

This threw Kurtzwick somewhat off his stride. His opponent crying was a new one to him. But the moral crisis didn’t last long; the Bonsly abruptly turned off the tears and charged into Kurtzwick with a Headbutt. The impact threw him backwards and off the belt, but he snagged a chain with his tail. Using his momentum, he swung himself under the belts and up behind the Bonsly, surprising it with a Bubblebeam from the back. Kurtzwick clambered back all the way onto the belts and blasted out another Bubblebeam before the Bonsly could do much in the way of reacting. It collapsed, its foot twitching.

The Girafarig picked itself up and opened its mouth wide; it descended upon Kurtzwick, obviously aiming for a Crunch, but Kurtzwick was quicker on the draw. He spewed another Flamethrower, this one straight into the Girafarig’s mouth. It clamped its mouth shut as its eyes widened; its face actually grew visibly red before opening its mouth again and exhaling a cloud of steam. It spun around, leaving its tail to face Kurtzwick – the tail went for a Crunch again, this time succeeding. Kurtzwick hissed in pain as he shook free of the bite; his eyes blazing, he crushed the tail’s ‘neck’ in the grip of a giant, electrical hand. The Girafarig yelped and collapsed, its eyes spinning.

Girafarig and Bonsly are down! Kurtzwick grows to level 19!

Kurtzwick sighed. He closed his eyes, the conveyor belt continuing to carry him along. Another white glow wreathed him, erasing the bruises and scrapes he earned in the last fight. His breath was coming more difficultly now; finding the exit was now even more a top priority. The belt ended its path at a large opening in the wall. Kurtzwick scrambled into it. He was in… well, it looked like it could have been the inside of a pint-sized rocket silo. It was a tall, cylindrical room, with not much room to maneuver on the ground. Four ladders lined the wall, and far away, on the ceiling…

A hatch. With light spilling in through the cracks. Actual sunlight.

“Hot damn!” Kurtzwick called, grinning. “So long, psycho factory!” He began the time-consuming task of winding his way up the ladder.

When he was about fifteen rungs up the ladder, Kurtzwick was dismayed to note that there were three figures silhouetted in the doorway: the Shuckle, the Scraggy, and the Litwick. The Scraggy was obviously the quickest-witted of the group, and it made a few gestures to its partners before leaping onto one of the other ladders and scampering up far faster that Kurtzwick could ever hope to go, meeting his position then passing him in the span of a moment. The Shuckle was altogether more leisurely about the task, slowly wrapping its appendages around each rung and pulling itself up. The Litwick sat atop the Shuckle’s shell, grinning innocently as it began to rise.

“So I still got three more,” Kurtzwick muttered. “Fine. I’ll play ball.” He rose up another rung and fired a Bubblebeam at the Litwick; because of its location, the attack also landed on the Shuckle, and they both winced. But their inaction didn’t last long. The Shuckle poked its head out of one of the holes on its shell and spewed a viscous, purple toxin out. It coated Kurtzwick, and he immediately felt sick to his stomach. The Litwick fixed its eye on Kurtzwick and pulled off a similar Hex to the ghosts earlier, but this one… well, to put it kindly, it hurt far more than Kurtzwick expected it to. He yelped and dropped down a rung, but he still had enough presence of mind to fire another Bubblebeam. This one hit worse, actually knocking the Litwick from its place on the Shuckle’s shell. It dropped to the floor, but seemed relatively unscathed otherwise: it scowled at Kurtzwick as the Shuckle…

“Hey buddy,” Kurtzwick gasped. “Why’re you falling asleep in the middle of our fight, huh?” Then Kurtzwick realized: the Shuckle had Rest. He growled. “Gotta beat you now, then!” While the Shuckle remained prone, Kurtzwick blasted it with Bubblebeam after Bubblebeam, until finally it relinquished its grip and fell to the ground. Kurtzwick lowered himself a few more rungs and fired a few more blasts of bubbles until the Litwick was down too.

“Urgh, if I ever use that move again, it’ll be too soon.” Kurtzwick slowly rose a few more rungs, his head spinning. “Aren’t I forgetting something?”

His answer came in the form of a headbutt, as the Scraggy fell from its rung at the top of the room and collided with Kurtzwick. Kurtzwick grunted and swung down, though he managed to keep his tail looped around a rung. The Scraggy rebounded off of Kurtzwick and grabbed a foothold.

“That’s it,” Kurtzwick said with a scowl. “You’re done.” His vision spun and he lurched, making his statement somewhat less certain. He shut his eyes and sighed as a bright white light washed over him, healing off some of the damage from the last round, but his face stayed a pale green; the poison was still jabbing daggers into his stomach. When Kurtzwick opened his eyes again, he was greeted with a double-karate-chop to his gut, serving only to exacerbate the pain. He countered with a bolt of electricity almost out of instinct; the Scraggy squeaked and pulled its paws away, shuddering from the blow.

Kurtzwick grit his teeth. He had one shot left. The poison was getting to be too much; he wasn’t sure he’d even be able to make it to the top of the silo if he won. He had one chance to make it count… and he knew exactly how to use it. A dull rumbling filled the room, and the Scraggy glanced around, slightly concerned. Black stormclouds appeared at the ceiling, sparking with lightning, and they parted. An orange light rolled out of the opening, finding the Scraggy in a spotlight, and a tremendous meteor, as wide as the room itself, began its descent. The meteor fell past Kurtzwick, who watched it with bleary eyes, and landed squarely on top of the Scraggy.

The Scraggy did not get back up. In that respect, it was much like Kurtzwick, who finally succumbed to exhaustion and slipped out of the ladder, joining the other three Pokémon on the floor. The last words he heard before darkness enveloped him were from a clear, precise voice, standing nearby: “Test complete.”

Kurtzwick wins! Kurtzwick grows to level 22! Kurtzwick learns Dragon Rage!

Kurtzwick opened his eyes. The sight of his house greeted him.

This startled him more than it might have ordinarily done so. He raised his head from the cushion he was lying on. I’m not hurt, he thought. I should be hurt. How did I get here? He looked around the room. It had been, at one point, intended to be a study, but Jeff had filled it with beds and cushions, and now some of the smaller members of the team – himself, Cam, 99, Kiva, Anzu – used it as a bedroom. He glanced into the hallway. The house was silent.

“Guys?” Kurtzwick asked. Nobody answered. He slithered down the hallway, passing Jeff’s room, another room-turned-bedroom, and a bathroom before entering the living room. The TV was off, and the chairs, cushions, Mona’s favorite beanbag chair, and the couch were all empty. He glanced to his other side, into the adjoining kitchen. A note was taped to the fridge door.

“Kurtzwick,” it said, “I don’t know where you wandered off to, but if you find this note, we’ve gone to the tournament. Sorry we had to leave you; I know you were looking forward to seeing Raini fight, even if you weren’t hoping she’d win. – Jeff”

“Well, hell,” Kurtzwick muttered under his breath. There was nobody around. Whoever abducted him in the first place could easily come back. Plus, whoever it was had somehow managed to turn Popple into a lunatic, or more into one, anyway. He sighed and slithered out the front door. Surely he could find someone who could help.