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

[Ace64]

Well, if it doesn't bother anyone, I'd like to post my battle for the maze scenario even if I do lose the stamps. Seeing as how I have so few, it doesn't bother me too much, and I'd hate to have to re-do my character's introduction in a different setting once more. It took me long enough just to write the maze one. (Dunno why, it just seemed hard to write when I don't know all of the story.)

[AntiAsh Superstar]

Ace64, you had an extension for the maze anyways. The extention lasts until the end of the current scenario so you won't lose stamps.

Hannah, it has worked like that in the past I think in the sense that you can get levels but no stamps (somebody do correct me if I'm wrong). btw, if you can pinpoint what was up with the Blades scenario and PM me about it that'd be great, I confess in some ways the whole campaign was an egotistical 'I've come up with a good bad guy let's inflict it on EVERYONE' thing but I'm always up for some constructive critisism (as long as you break it to me gently-ish) and would love to know any flaws so I don't repeat them. ^^;;

Anyways, have my previous double RBG folks. => Oh and can I quickly get one for Scratchy and Brandy? I'd like to try getting tmy current plot out of the way before I write for the actual scenario. ^^;;
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The small town of Kala Bier would have been a most pleasant place to be passing through under any ordinary circumstances. It was the sort of untainted, cute little habitat that took one back to a more innocent age. Where shop owners were on first name terms with all their customers. Where one could go outside at night without worrying about being mugged. Sure, most of Ulthuan had mercifully escaped the distrust that now enveloped the rest of the world but... well, Kala Bier was something else even by those standards, a town that was almost unreal in its simplicity. It was, it had to be said, a most refreshing change from the hectic life living so close to a Dragons Guild base brought with it.
“Ade, is it me or have we stepped into the setting for a black and white movie here?” As ever, Milliardo was the first off the mark with a stupid yet scarily accurate quip about the whole situation.
“We can't have,” Beckham answered for me. “We're still in colour.”
“Yet again you totally miss the point, dummy.” My Umbreon rolled his eyes. “Anyway, is it me or does this place seem a little too perfect?”
“You have a point,” I conceded. For the closest inhabitation to the troubles I was supposed to be investigating the town was unusually peaceful! “Maybe the problems just haven't reached here yet. Or maybe there's a perfectly natural explanation for the behaviour Lady Ninetales was telling me about. Speaking of whom, I'd better give her a call the instant we find a local inn or something just to let her know we've arrived.”
“What is she, your mother or something?”
“No, but I really don't want to give her any more excuses for fixing me with a dirty look when I return to Sector Alpha than I absolutely have to. I'd say it's pretty much certain that we'll overstep our boundaries at some point during this investigation anyway.”
“Well I'm glad you've accepted that already,” Thunderblast beamed, joining in the conversation. “It'll make things a lot easier later on. Now do you think we ought to find that local inn or something instead of standing in the middle of the street like a bunch of idiots?” My Raichu had a pretty good point actually! First and foremost we had to secure ourselves a base of operations. Then, and only then, could we hope to settle down to business.

Eventually a base of operations presented itself in the form of The Roving Ranger, a quiet little family-run inn with comfortable beds, clean rooms and good meals. Plus, as an added bonus, a reasonably cheap bar that I had every intention of taking advantage of as soon as I could.
“I was rather under the impression that we had an official Guild assignment to undertake,” Marius had commented drily upon hearing that I fully intended on spending that evening with a glass of brandy or three. “Surely if something is amiss we should endeavour to reveal the truth as hastily as possible, don't you think?”
“A nice idea,” I nodded. “But I'm not as foolhardy as I once was and I think we're best off waiting until tomorrow morning to start the investigation proper. I for one don't intend on roaming around in a strange forest when the sun is setting. Besides which, who said I'm not making... hmm, what would be Guild-speak for what I'm planning on doing tonight? I know, 'initial enquiries' works well.”
“Meaning remaining in the bar whilst justifying it with the occasional question directed at the locals.” My Dratini rolled his eyes. “If procrastination was an official sport you could compete at an Olympian level.”
“Hey, don't knock pro-crasty-wotsit,” Beckham beamed from a bar stool next to me. “It hasn't done us any harm so far has it?”
“Nor has it done you any good”, Marius reminded.
“Oh, leave them be,” Pandora sighed. Most of my team were surrounding me as we commandeered a table in the corner of the bar normally reserved for private parties. Amazing, really, what flashing an official Dragons Guild ID could get you, especially when it bore as impressive a title as 'Lord Umbreon'. “I can see Ade's logic, you know, we only just got here an hour or two ago, it's silly launching straight into work. Just relax for once, dear.”
“I suppose.” Not for the first time the Dratini reluctantly conceded to his foster mother's advice. “I would feel better if I saw some actual investigations being carried out, however, if for no other reason that so far I really do feel like I'm the only one who hasn't forgotten that this isn't some kind of Guild-sanctioned vacation.”
“Relax,” I commented, noting that my glass was nearly empty. “I know what I'm here for, but right now I don't think it such a great idea to go storming out there so we might as well have a little fun while waiting for a better moment to start the investigation, no? Anyway, I'm going to head down and get another drink, and maybe see if the bartender knows anything. Anyone want anything bringing back?”
“Yeah, a Slow Comfortable Screw,” Thunderblast giggled.
“We can work on that later on,” Kasumi commented.
“I meant the cocktail,” my Raichu beamed.
“Ade, don't give her anything,” Milliardo commented. “Her tolerance for drink is as bad as her eyesight without the stupid shades, as in absolutely abysmal. I mean, last time she got drunk she started picking fights with everybody.”
“Did I?” Thunderblast seemed genuinely confused.
“She can't even remember that occasion. I rest my case. I recommend milk or water for everyone, except Becks who I guess would like a triple tequila slammer with added grapefruit.”
“You know, that would probably work quite well,” I mused. “Anyway, hold the fort for me for a second guys. I trust you can manage that without arguing, hm?” I looked rather pointedly at the usual troublemakers within my team... well, Scratchy and Milliardo, at any rate. And then I made my way over to the bar, to be greeted by a greying man who looked as if he had seen his fair share of trials.
“Everything okay, Lord Umbreon?” the man asked.
“Great, thanks. Er... one double Jack Daniels and coke, one pint of scrumpy cider, one coke... um, two orange juices, one with a straw...” One of these was for Katnip, the other for Thunderblast. No matter what my Raichu said I was inclined to side with Milliardo on the subject of her drinking! “...and a few more bowls of water, please.”
“Certainly,” the barman beamed. “I have to say I think it's sweet the way you handle your pokémon. Most trainers would just keep them in pokéballs when coming into this place, but you keep them out and let them join in. You must really care for them.”
“Well we've been through a lot together, sometimes I forget that they're my team and just think of them as friends.” I shrugged, grabbing the first pair of bowls of water and signalling for one of my pokémon to come help move them over; the role ended up being amusingly taken up by Thunderblast and Kasumi who both used their telekinetic powers to transfer the bowls to the table. Not without spilling water everywhere, of course. “By the way...” I began as the barman simultaneously worked on two large glasses of cola, “...speaking of pokémon I've been hearing that the wild ones around here have been acting oddly.”
“Oh it's not just the wild ones, you know,” the bartender commented, passing over the colas and beginning to pour the cider that was undoubtedly going to end up in Beckham's mouth. “All pokémon in the area are being kind of skittish, at least the bug ones. I'm surprised that Paras I see you have hasn't started acting oddly, actually.”
“Well to be honest he's always been too good at masking what he's really feeling for comfort,” I sighed. “I never can get much out of him unless I ask.”
“Well, that's pokémon for you,” the barman grinned. “They're as varied in personality as humans, and sometimes can be just as awkward.”
“Amen to that,” I chuckled, accepting the final drinks. “Anyway, put this all on my tab, okay?”
“Sure thing.” Carefully I made my way back to my table and sat back down.
“Well?” Marius asked.
“Gee, haven't you become the little slave-driver?” I rolled my eyes, rather bemused by my Dratini's almost annoying desire to push on. “As it happens the barman was telling me that it seems as if all Bug-types in the area have been acting rather strangely. Which leads me to ask... Scratchy, have you been sensing anything weird about this place?”
“It's hard to say,” the Paras scoffed. “I'm so used to feeling weirdness all around me...”
“Listen,” I seethed, having had about as much of my pokémon's attitude as I was going to take. “Just answer my question for once instead of turning everything that's said into a tirade about how you think everybody else is stupid, insane or both. I'm sick of it, Scratchy, and in case you were unaware you're not without flaws yourself. Now let's try again. Have you been sensing anything weird about this place or not?”
“I...” Scratchy was thrown completely by this outburst. He wasn't used to being told off like that! “There's nothing weird about the town but I'm feeling something from the forest. It's odd. It's like some sort of signal... it makes me uneasy, like something's in there we really ought to be staying away from.” The Paras shrugged. “That's about it, really, I couldn't say more without actually going in there.”
“See, Scratchy, you can really be quite an asset to the group when you put your mind to it,” I beamed before throwing the topic out to the rest of the group. “Anyone any ideas what this might be?”
“Some sort of unearthly signal?” Bolovayr offered.
“We hardly think so,” Rhiannon countered. “If it were that we would be able to detect it, but we can't. Besides which, if this happened to be a supernatural matter then the Guild would have referred it to Lord Absol's department rather than that of Lady Ninetales. More likely it's some kind of mechanical impulse.”
“What, like those transmitters Team Rocket uses to drive pokémon mad?”
“Precisely.”
“So how come only Bug types can sense this thing then?” Milliardo interrupted. “If it was one of those don't you think we'd all be getting a little deranged right about now? Well... more deranged than we all are already, at any rate.”
“Father has a point,” Marius added. “Here's my hypothesis. We know for a fact thanks to Guild research that many wild Bug pokémon have something of a hive mentality; that is to say they have some sort of mental connection which allows them to know the precise state of every other member of the colony. Supposing that one of the wild colonies, maybe even more, encountered such a problem that, out of sheer desperation, its collective hive mind managed to transcend the limitations of this mental bond? As in they send out a generic message to all those in the area to stay away and avoid falling into the same problem that particular colony has encountered?” He shrugged as best as a Dratini could. “I don't know. I'm only really speculating here but this theory does seem to fit in well with the facts that we currently have at our disposal.”
“It does make a sort of sense,” I mused, sipping at my drink. “I'll let you take a good long look at the data the Guild gave me when we get back to our room, Marius. I'm guessing that if anyone can make any sense out of it you can.”
“Certainly,” came the satisfied response.
“So what about the rest of us?” Katnip asked from across the table. “Anythin' we can be doin'?”
“Not until daylight,” I shrugged. “At which point we'll all be doing a lot, because I want to get in there as soon as possible. In the meantime... well, how does stay here and ask the innkeeper to fix us some food sound?”

Night soon fell and most of our group retired to a cozy, spacious room that quite comfortably accommodated everyone bar Brandy (sadly my Onix was having to stay in her pokéball for the time being on account of her size). There were exceptions, of course. Bolovayr had now quite happily fell into a routine of only needing about four hours sleep a night and hence usually stayed up until three in the morning amusing himself with his own overactive imagination. Rhiannon was currently possessed by her adult mind and hence had elected to spend the night on the rooftop underneath the stars. And, of course...
“So you're having trouble sleeping as well, hm?” After going through the Guild's data about a hundred times Marius couldn't switch off. His mind was racing with possibilities and theories. So after about half an hour of laying awake he ended up sneaking downstairs into the inn's courtyard, hoping that maybe a breath of fresh air would cure his insomnia. He didn't find his remedy, however. Instead what he found was Scratchy.
“It's rather hard to sleep when you're being constantly bombarded with what I'm sure is a 'get the hell out of here' message, you know,” the Paras replied grouchily as Marius approached. “What's your excuse?”
“I'm used to late nights,” the Dratini replied. “And I can't make any sense out of this entire situation no matter how hard I try.”
“Aren't they paying Ade to do that?”
“True enough.”
“So why are you worrying about it?”
“Because I enjoy putting my mind to the test, especially when doing so could actually benefit others. Every one of us has our own unique abilities and when we can actually make a difference by using them why should we just stand by because it's supposed to be somebody else's problem?”
“You're such an idealist, you know that?”
“I get told that a lot,” Marius commented. “I also get told that I'm annoyingly inquisitive, cynical, over-analytical and I preach far too much about morality. I also get told that I'm aloof and have a superiority complex but I rather feel those last two judgements are somewhat harsh.”
“So you know your own faults. Well done. I don't see what that has to do with anything, though.”
“Well you were the one who brought up being an idealist as if it were a terrible personality trait. I fail to see what's so bad about having ideals. Without ideals and morals we're practically feral and I'm quite convinced that not even you want that.” Marius frowned. “I'm afraid I've gone off on a tangent again. I actually wanted to ask you what you make of this entire situation.”
“It troubles me,” Scratchy replied. For all his faults Marius was one of the few of the Paras' teammates he felt comfortable talking to. At least you could count on him sticking through a conversation without talking nonsense! “You're probably right about it being a warning call, in fact I'm sure of it. It's eerily similar to something I saw before, back before I joined the team.”
“Go on. Something about this situation is familiar to you and it may help us all if you explain.”
“I don't think it will.” Scratchy paused. All this time everyone had been telling him that it would help to open up once in a while... did they have a point? There was really only one way to find out. “But... well, make of it what you will.”
“I'm listening.”

“Back before I ended up in an adoption centre I was part of a Paras colony near one of the Caladorian mountain ranges,” Scratchy began. “It was a dull but peaceful enough life, you know. In fact I rather enjoyed it. We all knew our place, we all knew what needed to be done. The entire group worked as one. How did you put it earlier? Ah, 'hive mentality' you called it. That's how it was, that how it always remained. I was happy that way, you know, we took care ouf our own business and our own business helped the whole of the group.” There was a rather wistful tone in Scratchy's voice but Marius decided it better not to comment on it. Already he was starting to understand his Paras companion a whole lot better. Was his irritable attitude simply because he had been thrust into a quite unruly team after so long in such a simplistic lifestyle? “Anyway, we didn't know it for ages but our colony wasn't too far away from a fuel processing plant. Oh, I know this is Ulthuan and the humans around here for the most part try their best to avoid messing with the environment but it's still not really what you want to have a few miles away from your home is it?”
“No, not at all,” Marius conceded, being one of the first to rally towards any environmental issues. Or any issues where injustices were being done to anything, really. “So what happened with this plant?”
“Ah, you can already see where this is going. Anyway, one day I'm out collecting food for our stores as usual – I'm not going to go into the details of that, I'm sure the almighty Guild has plenty of records on what makes a Paras act as it does – when all of a sudden I get this blinding pain in my head. It's like a short, sharp burst but I know exactly what it means. We all do. It tells us to run. As fast as we can. Something has happened and our territory isn't safe any longer.”
“It sounds a lot like Ventura's psychic pulses. But go on.”
“Of course we didn't know what the hell was going on but we did as it said anyway. You wouldn't know about this; you were born and raised in a team. But when you're a wild pokémon instinct overrides all logic or curiosity. So I started moving away, as did many of my fellows in the colony. And eventually I risk a look back and see the horrible truth. The lands we had lived on for so long had become an inferno. It turns out that some idiot in the fuel plant had decided to risk a sneaky cigarette and set the entire place ablaze. Before you know it up goes the entire area and if it weren't for the warning message from those nearest to the blaze none of us would have survived.”
“What happened to the rest of your colony?” Marius asked.
“Most died in the fire. We're not fast pokémon and we burn very easily thanks to the mushrooms on our backs. Those left were scattered, panicked. We just ran until we found some place to settle. In my case it was in the arms of an adoption centre worker and the rest is history. But... well, if I ever get a bee in my bonnet about nature getting ruined because of anything that thinks it's superior to everything else on the planet that's why. Humans just use and abuse resources without a thought for the consequences, and when it all goes wrong they just damn well shrug their shoulders and go 'oh dear'. And they're not the only ones. I mean, remember Templa Taure? I hear that used to be a beautiful place before the demons corrupted it. It's thoughtless actions like that...” Scratchy frowned. “I can't stand it, it gets me on edge and it's all around everywhere we go. Anyway, there's me going off on a tangent now. Anyway, my point is this feeling here is very similar to the warning call I got back then. Although that was strong and short, this is... weaker, and carries on. Whatever's sending it out is still alive and suffering because of what's happening to it.”
“I have to admit I've reached the same conclusion,” Marius nodded. “I appreciate your confiding in me, Scratchy.”
“It's okay. Don't breathe a word of this to the others, though.”
“It's your secret to impart, not mine,” the Dratini replied. “Although I would advise perhaps letting a few others know. It may make your time in the team easier, even if you only confide in... say, Pearl and Ade.” Marius had reached both for the one he considered ought to know and the one who was best at dealing with the issues of others. “Anyway, now we've had this discussion I was wondering whether you'd like to accompany me?”
“Where?” Scratchy asked.
“Well... let's just call it 'preliminary investigations', shall we?” Marius grinned broadly. He knew perfectly well that this was an offer the Paras wouldn't be able to resist. And if they could uncover something to help the others when they arose... well, all the better! It beat just hanging around without a purpose, after all.

A few moments later and the two pokémon were edging their way expertly into the forest, Scratchy leading on account of his being better equipped to find his way in the dark and his being able to sense the signal, Marius doing a remarkably good job of keeping up behind. It was a remarkably quiet place, this forest. Aside from the occasional hooting of a Noctowl it seemed practically deserted. And dark. And cold. Any pokémon less stubborn than my Paras and Dratini would have given up after a few seconds, in fact. But these were creatures with a cause and both had survived far worse than a slightly uncomfortable trek through a dark forest.
“I have to admit you're doing remarkably well at keeping up seeing as you're not a forest dweller,” Scratchy had been forced to comment on more than one occasion where Marius had somehow managed to navigate past obstacles that would have confounded others for hours.
“Dragons are well known for their versatility,” the Dratini had simply commented after the last instance of this. “Especially those that count as pokémon.”
“Good. You can use your versatility to help investigate that then.” The Paras gestured with a pincer, to where Marius could see some kind of abandoned warehouse in the middle of a clearing. Or, at least, it should have been. But the faint wisps of smoke coming from a small, stubby chimney towards the far end of the construction gave away the lie of it being abandoned. There was something eerie, something not quite right about the whole scene. And Marius' feelings of unease only seemed to double when Scratchy imparted one final piece of most unwelcome information. “The signals are coming from somewhere inside there.”
“Are you certain?”
“They're so loud they give me an even bigger headache than your father does,” Scratchy snapped. “Of course I'm certain.”
“There's no need to be so abrupt you know,” Marius scowled before slowly creeping over to one of the windows, cauiously scouting the surrounding areas for dangers as he did so. Mercifully there was no need for the caution that he had so quickly had to learn against the Crimson Blades this time, and the Dratini made it over to his destination without interruption. “Okay. As far as I can ascertain it is a remarkably imbecilic idea to just burst in through the door so... Scratchy, you can be of a little further use here, actually.”
“How?” the Paras asked as he scuttled over to where Marius was sat.
“Pretend to be a stepladder for a few seconds.” Marius knew full well that Scratchy was never going to agree to such a demeaning request, at least not without a three hour name-calling session, so before the Paras could respond he slithered onto his back, giving him the extra few inches he needed to peer through the nearest window.
“Hey!” Scratchy yelled angrily. “Did I say you could step on me? Did I...” The rest of the tirade was completely lost on Marius. For he was peering through a dirty window into some kind of cell, a barren, filthy place with a single occupant chained to the wall.

The sad eyes looked up... if you could even call them eyes. Just two huge white bulges set into a human-like head, a head that was expressing the utmost agony through these eyes and a mouth stretched wide by tusks so big they were practically mandibles. And the body... oh! The body! This wasn't right! This defied every legal, ethical and quite possible physical law Marius knew!

All of a sudden the sight became too much for the poor Dratini and he toppled backwards in a combination of fear and anxiety.
“Hey! Are you alright?” Scratchy seemed to forget about being a grouch for a moment and scuttled over to his teammate's side. “What the hell was in there????”
“It... oh god. This shouldn't be. This is a corruption of everything we know. I suspect I know what they're doing in there and it makes me sick to the very core of my being just to think about it.”
“Well what is going on in there?” For a second Marius didn't speak, seemingly too much in shock to comprehend the question. And then he turned to stare at Scratchy with possibly the most serious expression he had ever sported in his life. And Marius could sport some very serious expressions when he liked.
“I don't know how or why it's happened. But somebody is keeping a very specific breed of mutant in that building. Namely, a creature that is a fusion of a human and a Parasect. And... it's quite evidently in pain because of its condition.”
“You what?” Scratchy couldn't quite believe what he was hearing!
“You heard me. You say you can't abide nature being corrupted? Well, somebody has gone and taken that to totally unheard of levels. I think we ought to return as quickly as possible and inform the others.” With this Marius returned to a steady position and turned to leave as quickly as possible. Sadly this didn't quite go to plan.
“Not so fast,” a sneering voice chuckled. “Visitors here don't get past without paying the toll.” The two pokémon turned to find their way back being blocked by a most unlikely pair, a Gligar and a Misdreavus. Both sported expressions of utter contempt.
“The toll?” Scratchy's tone was even more acidic than the gazes of the newcomers. It was quite obvious that the Paras was more than happy to provide a fight if these pokémon were after one. Marius, on the other hand, decided to at the very least try and gain some information out of the guards of sorts if not prevent a conflict altogether.
“You're part of this establishment?” the Dratini asked.
“Quite right,” came the reply. “Our mistress looks after us well if we keep this place guarded. It's in our interests to deal with intruders.”
“In your interests?” Marius spluttered. “Have you seen what's in there?”
“Yeah. But who cares? It's none of our business,” the Gligar shrugged.
“None of your...?” For once the Dratini was totally at a loss for words! “Well,” he finally seethed, “I'm most certainly glad that the world isn't totally filled with creatures who share your attitude. This planet would be in ruins within days.”
“Whatever,” the Gligar sighed. “It's worked for me so far. Anyway, are you guys going to put up a fight or not?”
“Exactly what I was going to say,” Scratchy commented with a glare in the direction of his teammate.
“Oh very well, if you won't listen to reason then I suppose we have no alternative. Prepare to lose. Just don't say I never at least tried to offer an alternative.”

FIGHT!!! L17 Paras & L10 Dratini v L17 Misdreavus & L10 Gligar!

Scratchy could have thought of many better opponents to be facing off against than a Misdreavus that looked mischievous; especially one that eclipsed the usual stereotypes of its species. But apparently it was his lot to challenge such a creature. And he wasn't about to let the Ghost type get even the slightest advantage over him no matter what.
“Take this!” the Paras cried, releasing a cloud of harmful dust from his mushrooms just as his opponent used its quite remarkable supernatural powers to attack him with a Psywave. Mercifully Scratchy's mind wasn't the sort that allowed itself to be influenced easily and he hardly even felt the attack. Whereas his opponent inhaled a good deal of his Stun Spore and hence felt more than a little worse for wear afterwards.
“Heh. I have you now.” There was something within Scratchy, something buried deep within him, that was actually rather enjoying this. Already his opponent was suffering through paralysis. Already he had the advantage. And already the desire to prove his superiority to all was starting to burn through his reason. “Take this!” Almost on impulse he attempted to swipe at his opponent; a grave mistake as his pincer just passed straight through the pokémon's immaterial body.
“What an idiot,” the Misdreavus smirked.
“What did you call me???” Scratchy snarled angrily.
“I called you an idiot, you idiot.” Before the conversation could carry on any longer Scratchy attacked again with his pincers, rage evidently having made him forget how ineffectual his slashing attacks were against Ghost types. Before he could hope to realise his foolish mistake the Paras suddenly found himself in the grip of a terrible crushing sensation, one that applied pressure to every single part of his body and made it feel as if he were going to be turned into mush, every fibre of his being smashed.
“What is this???” he cried out.
“Just another application of Psychic,” the Misdreavus smirked. “My trainer was kind enough to give me quite phenomenal powers, far beyond that which I'd normally acquire.” The was something about that line that sounded worryingly familiar to Scratchy, although he couldn't quite place why... yet. “So, why don't you just give up? I'm sure that my mistress would be happy to welcome you to the fold. Just give up on this futile snooping and join us.”
“You think I'm going to join those responsible for this travesty?” The mere thought of it was more than enough to send a fresh wave of anger coursing through Scratchy. An offended anger, an almost righteous anger. An anger that he could actually use. Suddenly he felt the power building up within him, building up until it could no longer be contained within his body. At which point a pitch black shadow seemed to whip out from the mushrooms upon his back, lashing around and around him like a tornado of pure darkness and instantly freeing him from the terrible effects of his opponent's Psychic attack. Moreover, the shadows caught the Misdreavus a glancing blow and sent it reeling backwards, giving Scratchy ample time to take advantage of its abrupt lack of focus. Now he had summoned the darkness, it was his to control. And control it he did, sending it driving hard into his opponent with such force that it drove the gaseous creature straight through a tree. “You make me sick!” Again and again the Paras used his Hidden Power to drive spikes of darkness into his already battered opponent, in some ways rather relishing its cries of agony. The Misdreavus should know suffering for siding with such evil!

Evil... isn't that what I'm becoming now?

Abruptly the Paras stopped his assault, his opponent already well and truly beaten into submission. But that wasn't what had caused him to stop. No, his reason was fear. Fear of the strange sensation that had seemingly been trying to take over his mind, forcing him into acts of greater and greater spite. Oh, it had been there for a while but he had always shrugged it off, ignoring the whispered pleas for vengeance every time he was wronged. But now... now the feeling was practically alien, as if there were something else inside his brain trying to take it over completely. It scared him. And, he realised, if he wasn't careful then it would be his undoing.

Scratchy wins!
Scratchy grew to L18!

Meanwhile Marius was having a far calmer time of things. His opponent, he had come to realise, was mostly show, a creature who seemed to enjoy using weaker attacks in rapid succession in the hope of simply bullying its opponents into retreat. Unfortunately for the Gligar Marius simply wasn't the type to be bothered by mind games. He just found the entire thing rather boring, not to mention easy to avoid.
“Can we please bring an end to all these totally unnecessary acts of machismo and get down to actually battling?” the Dratini eventually snapped after what seemed like the millionth Quick Attack that had been Detected before his opponent had even started it. “I refuse to believe that this is all you have to offer on the battlefield.”
“Oh the kid wants to take it up a notch does he? Sure you can handle it?” the Gligar sneered.
“First of all you can hardly any longer consider me a 'kid' – certainly I may be young for my species but I think you'll find me at the very least your equal... secondly I rather suspect I could handle this battle's intensity being amplified, in fact if I may actually take the offensive for once...” Marius inhaled deeply, allowing the highly adaptable glands within his body to create the required type of energy, and then breathed out a huge torrent of flame in the direction of his opponent. The Gligar made a very impressive attempt to dodge but didn't quite make it; the Flamethrower just clipped the edge of its wing causing it to cry out in pain and surprise. This was the least of the creature's worries, however. For the instant Marius had notcied his opponent was moving he ceased his fire attack and instead threw himself upwards with unnatural speed, becoming just a blur in the air. A blur that collided squarely with the Gligar as it moved to its new location, knocking it to the ground. “So yes, please do 'take things up a notch'. This will become very tedious otherwise.” Marius reappeared almost in the exact spot from which he had launched his Extremespeed attack and fixed his opponent with a look of disdain. He really couldn't stand this sort of creature. One who was all talk and no action. Having been raised by Milliardo he knew the difference between an empty, bullying threat, a tongue-in-cheek or tactical bluff and seeming overly confident because you actually had a reason to be. And he had been taught that whilst the latter two were okay anyone using the former should be treated with contempt.
“Grah... damn, you dragons are even tougher than you're rumoured to be!” The Gligar seemed very worried even though it was butting on a show of seeming unafraid. Marius could sense its fear. And had been any other pokémon he would have acted upon it. But no, the Dratini might have been overly analytical and possessed of a manner that most couldn't even hope to comprehend but he wasn't the sort who enjoyed a quick victory. Better to drag it out a little so that the encounter would have at least some value. “What else can you do?”
“Do you really desire a demonstration?”
“Er... no, actually. I think I'd better just do as you said actually.” All of a sudden the Gligar seemed to concentrate very hard then began to splutter.
“Hey, what's... oh.” Marius realised what was happening too late. By the time his brain had realised what was going on his opponent had already launched the attack, coughing up a huge ball of deep purple bile that struck him in the side, its contaminated substance seeping deep into his flesh. “Ah!”
“Heh. I'm a lot stronger than I let on,” the Gligar sneered. “Fact is, though, most of the creatures I end up having to fight just get creeped out by me flying in at them at speed. This is actually the first time I've had to use the extra strength my mistress gave me. So... hey, I guess thanks are in order. You proved it was all worth it. Well, anyways... bye, my friend.” The Gligar raised a pincer to strike. But Marius had other ideas.
“Like hell.” Marius had lost track of the time when Katnip and his adoptive father had used their Quick Attacks to race... or get out of trouble... or avoid an attack. So if Quick Attack could work why not Extremespeed, which was basically just the upgraded version of the move? Marius decided to chance it. He threw himself to one side, putting every ounce of his draconic power into his escape. It worked admirably. To all intents and purposes the trick looked like a Teleport. But instead of disappearing and reappearing elsewhere Marius had just moved too fast for the eye to see. Still, it managed to creep his opponent out.
“How?” the Gligar asked.
“Oh, it gets better,” Marius chuckled. The effects of the Sludge Bomb earlier were already wearing off, and not for the first time the Dratini was thankful of his heritage as a Dragon-type. “Look. No poison.”
“How????”
“Oh, actually it's a fairly simple concept,” Marius commented. “The cellular structure of some pokémon is far more adept at throwing off foreign objects than that of others. As a Dratini I possess a train humans call 'Shed Skin' although it actually has very little to do with the shedding of actual skin, more the removal of tainted cells. The contamination is passed from cell to cell until it reaches the stage where it can be discarded into the atmosphere. Quite an ingenious trick, eh? Should I be poisoned, paralysed or whatever I merely have to hold on to consciousness for about five minutes and then I'll be fine.” The Dratini grinned as he noticed the incomprehension on his opponent's face. “Don't give yourself a migraine over the concept. To put it simply my biological makeup is even more ingenious than you anticipated. And now if you'll excuse me... I have a battle to win.” Once again Marius inhaled deeply, thankful for his draconic powers. Whereas most pokémon had dedicated glands to the creation of fire or ice or electricity, his could turn themselves to anything. So breathing fire was no problem for him. So a second Flamethrower was easy to create and his opponent was far too stunned to escape, the Gligar being struck full on by the attack and falling to the floor unconscious. The battle was his. Finally.

Marius wins!
Marius grew to L11!

“Are you okay?” The first thing that Marius realised when he had the opportunity to examine his surroundings post-battle was that Scratchy seemed to... well, if Marius was any judge of these matters the Paras seemed to be in something of a state of shock, his focus directly in front of him, seeing and feeling nothing of the outside world. What on earth had happened during his battle? “Scratchy? Listen to me. We have seen quite enough to condemn whatever this institution happens to be. Now we must leave here and tell our companions what we've seen. You understand?” Nothing. “Listen, just follow me, okay?” Marius rather quickly led his friend in the direction he was sure they had just come from. If those two pokémon had been guards then somebody would notice their absence eventually and... well, he didn't really want to be around for that. Not without more allies, at least. All he could do was to get himself and Scratchy out of the area. At least for now.

To be continued...

[The Blue Avenger]

Wait, so if we can still fight 2 Pokemon from the list, could I potentially fight two Pokemon that give +2 levels? Like Beedrill and Pikachu? Or (say for different level groups) Pikachu and Houndoom?

[Ace64]

A few notes:
First, I hope no one minds if I write in the third-person. It's just that I hate writing in first person, and all those changes in POV can get confusing, especially if someone else isn't familiar with all your characters. My adopted Pokemon can be found in my sig, all legal, in case anyone wants to know.
I'll probably do the new scenario as well. Should be a bit easier to write, know that I'm formally introduced.
Last, if there's any problems, lemme know and I'll edit it. I took a few liberties, using a mix of what I know about the setting, but I don't think there's too many major changes.

He wasn’t sure of how it all had happened. There were so many blanks in the story, dead ends and hidden paths twisting around the road, intersecting at some points, but more often trailing off into paths of their own. All he knew was that he wanted to help, he wanted to fight.

Armand Diannio, leader of the Crimson Blades, had issued a challenge to the Dragon Tamers and Team Rocket. The Crimson Blades had split from Team Rocket, and they were holding their leader, Giovanni captive. He had challenged them from his headquarters in the Shifting Sands, determined to put an end to it all.

Trey didn’t all of that, and he didn’t care. Truthfully, he had had no reason to. As one of the average citizens in the land of Ulthuan, his feelings towards the Crimson Blades had always been one of disgust, contempt. But the last straw had been when Diannio had mentioned his Salamence, Reaper. He would use a Pokemon to destroy all those lives. Reaper was innocent, corrupted by the main evil, Diannio.

He had lost no family to the Crimson Blades. His home had not been devastated, they hadn’t even harmed him. All that drove him was a feeling that he had to stop what was “wrong”, that the idea of Diannio taking control over so many lives with no mention of the consequences was “wrong.” The fact that Trey- that anyone- could stand by and watch him do it on a live broadcast was worst of all.

So, he had promptly packed up his things and gone off to the Dragon Tamers HQ, caught up in the desire to fight. And, was just as promptly turned away from the premises. There was nothing he could do, he was told. The Blades were using Pokemon, and against them, he wouldn’t last three seconds. He had six adopted Pokemon of his own, but they had never received any proper training. Regretfully, his only course of action was to go home and listen to the action unfold on the radio. When he wasn’t busy with that, he spent his time trying to get his Pokemon into shape. He had exactly six.

The first Pokemon he adopted had been Squirtle, whom he nicknamed Cooler. Cooler had been energetic, always running from place to place. But since his first visit to the Eevee House, Cooler had changed somehow. He had grown more serious, less prone to jokes and more involved with his training… with growing strong.

The only other Pokemon who rivaled Cooler in that desire was Prophecy. Prophecy was a Bagon Trey had adopted a few days later, and upon meeting, the tiny turtle and the dragon Pokemon had immediately developed a dislike for each other. He wasn’t sure of the details, but from what Troit had told him, Cooler had insulted Prophecy’s hard head, who in turn knocked Cooler on his shell, leaving him struggling on the floor. Prophecy trained just as much as Cooler, and was civil with everyone else but him.

Troit was a Grimer, whom Trey had adopted the same day as Cooler. At first, the Grimer had been sullen and reclusive, afraid to reach out and make a connection with anyone else. It all stemmed from a fear of rejection, which had been developed during his time with other Pokemon at the Adoption Center. However, the visit to the Eevee House had cheered him up some, somehow changed his attitude. I might never know what happened to the two of them there, Trey thought. Both Cooler and Troit seemed completely different after that trip.

Zake, a young Machop, was quite different from what he expected. Most Machop are constantly training in an effort to grow stronger, and develop huge egos because of it. Zake did train a lot, but he also had a habit of taking long naps in the afternoon, to restore his stamina. When he wasn’t training or sleeping, he usually spent his time mediating some slight dispute between Prophecy and Cooler.

Destai, his adopted Houndour, was one of the stranger members of the group. Houndour communicate in barks and yips among their pack, that only they can understand. Being one of the more recent adoptees, no one could understand dog-like Pokemon, because none of them were considered to be in his pack. No one except Deo, that is.

Deo was his extremely short-tempered Voltorb. Deo naturally had a rather explosive nature, and would go off at the slightest thing. A frequent habit of the house was to provoke the Voltorb as much as possible, but just short of actual battle. Despite his temper, though Deo was quick to forget such slights and never held a grudge.

Destai had attacked a few of the other Pokemon in an attempt to establish dominance. At first, Trey had been worried when he had seen the behavior, and quickly called the Adoption Center.

“It’s just what they do,” the kind woman on the line had told him. “All Houndour and Houndoom establish a pecking order among their group. Sparring is a part of it, but it shouldn’t be anymore than nipping. There’s nothing to worry about.”

Destai had gone after Cooler, Prophecy, Zale, and even Trey, circling them and nipping at their heels. Only Troit was excused from Destai’s behavior, who still hadn’t grown used to the Grimer’s smell. One day, though, Destai took a snap at Deo, almost engulfing the orb Pokemon in his mouth. The Voltorb responded with a slight shock that caused the dog to whine in pain and drop the ball, tail between his legs.

“That’ll teach ya a lesson!” Deo had cried, still trembling with withheld electrical energy. He rolled forward, causing the hound to take a few uncertain steps backward. “Wanna try me again, mutt?!”

“By dongue id dumb!”

“Huh?” Deo asked, confused. The dog spat, shook his head quickly, and sneezed once. He looked up at the Voltorb, his eyes blinking rapidly, a hurt expression on his face.

“What did you do that for? I was just playing…” Destai had said in a hurt tone.

Ever since then, Deo had been the only one to understand Destai’s speech. He insisted that it was more of an annoyance than a convenience, because Destai usually said nothing of consequence. Of course, the Voltorb was always knocked across the room from a swipe of Destai’s paw after he said that.

One sunny day, a few weeks after the attack on the Shifting Isles, Trey heard about a training mission for the Dragon Tamers, sponsored by the Mercenary Trainer Union, more specifically Lady Banette. The mission, was actually a large maze that had been quickly constructed in Alpha Square. The objective was simply to reach the end of the maze, on whichever floor one chose. It was supposed to be a way for the warriors to cool off after the battle. There were rumors that DiAnnio had died on his island, finally falling to the might of the Dragon Tamers, but Trey didn’t know for sure.

It didn’t change things, anyway. His desire to train his Pokemon was resolute.

“Who’s Lady Banette?” Cooler asked, as Trey locked the house door behind him and set off at a quick pace towards Alpha Square. Behind him was Cooler, Zale, and Destai, who trailed behind, sniffing the ground carefully. the Pokemon least likely to wander off when outside of the Pokeball.

Prophecy had run off and headbutted the wall of a Pokecenter for no apparent reason when Trey had released him, causing him to pay an extensive fine. Troit trailed poisonous muck as he moved, which led to another fine; Deo had threatened to self-destruct when a passerby looked at him funny, even though he didn’t know the move. Never before had he lost so much money so quickly.

“I don’t know.”

“What’s the Mercenary Trainer Union?”

“Obviously a collection of trainers who perform various jobs.”

“Ah,” said Cooler, satisfied with the answer. Then the gears began grinding. “Heeeyyy, wait a minute!”

Zale chuckled, shaking his head. “Did you know that gullible isn’t in the dictionary?”

“Yeah, right! You can’t fool me that easily!” Cooler cried, glaring at the Machop. He crossed his arms, a knowing smile on his face. “ Everyone knows there’s no such thing as a dictionary.”

Zale blanched, torn between breaking into a fit of laughter or determining if Cooler was serious. Luckily, he was saved from making that difficult decision when Trey spoke up.

“Ah-ha… there it is. How could I have missed it?”

“It” was a large, grey building standing in the center of Alpha Square. Outwardly, it was nondescript, akin to a government complex with its lack of windows and two men standing guard just outside the double doors. Six pokeballs hung from the belt of each, probably more for intimidation purposes than for actual use. It was obvious that they were there to make sure that just anybody could walk on in.

Hesitantly, Trey approached them. One of them stepped forward as he did, scrutinizing him, and he felt suddenly self-conscious about his attire, his dress, and Cooler, Destai and Zake trailing behind him. After an uncomfortable moment of this inspection, the guard spoke.

“Are you with the Dragon Tamers?”

“Ah, no,” Trey replied lamely, already envisioning the inevitable rejection. Just how hard was it to join up with these guys anyway? Probably much easier than he thought.

“Are you with the Mercenary Trainer Union?”

“Er, nope. Not with that either,” Trey answered, and now the feeling of despair in his chest grew a little bigger.

“Ah. Well, that’s fine. You can make that decision later,” the guard said, and the bubble abruptly burst. He wouldn’t be turned away after all! “I trust that you’re here for the maze that the MTU is sponsoring. Go right in, take your first left, and sign in with the receptionist first.”

Trey nodded and started to open the door, but the guard stopped him once more, “You’ll need to recall your Pokemon once you go inside. Don’t worry, there will be plenty of time to see them again once you enter the maze.” He grinned and flashed him a thumbs-up sign. Reluctantly, Trey called back his Pokemon and entered the building.

The interior of the building was tastefully decorated, but not too fancy. Soft carpets were laid down along the corridors, and helpful signs were posted in large letters on the walls. In no time at all, he had found the reception room, where a few other people were waiting. They didn’t look like trainers, though. Many were older people, who looked either bored or annoyed by their surroundings, and none of them bothered to greet him when he entered the room.

“I’m here to enter the maze?” Trey said hesitantly to a bored looking secretary who was chewing gum rapidly. She didn’t bother to respond, only handed him a form and a pencil, and pointed to one of the chairs along the wall. Apparently, speaking wasn’t in her job description.

“Thanks,” he muttered as he walked over to his seat, several unkind insults floating in his head. The form asked the usual questions (name, address, telephone number, list of Pokemon), and he answered them quickly. The secretary looked a trifle surprised when he returned with the forms a few minutes after he had sat done.

“You’re a little late, aren’t you?” the secretary said irritably. “Most of the trainers have already entered the maze. I know most of you trainers”here her voice took on a mocking edge, “are never too punctual as a rule, but really.”

“Um… well… I…”he stuttered, a little confused by the secretary’s attitude.

“Indeed,” she said, neatly cutting off his blabber. “I can’t really expect much more, can I? In any case, you can go ahead in. The purpose of the maze is to reach the exit doors at the end. Along the way, there will be obstacles in your path. The use of Pokemon is permitted to overcome them.”

“Thank you!” Trey cried as he quickly left the room, anxious to escape the wrath of a disgruntled secretary. He wondered why a secretary who seemed to hate trainers would work in such a place. Maybe this was the only job she could keep? War had left its marks on the Ulthuan economy, and that was certainly possible. A large door at the end of a hallway loomed, with a sign helpfully labeled “Maze” over it.

“Good thing everything here is labeled so clearly,” Trey said to himself sarcastically. “Otherwise, who knows how I would get anywhere?”

“Is that why your mailbox has your name on it?” a voice inquired behind him. Surprised, Trey turned around to find Zake standing there matter-of-factly. Somewhere between the secretary and the hall, Zake must have slipped out of his Pokeball, Trey thought.

“What are you doing here?” He asked.

Zake pointed at the sign. “The maze, right? Sounds like fun.” He walked past his trainer, pushing open the double doors and stepping inside without another look back. Trey quickly followed after him, cursing silently. Maybe Zake is a little too independent for his own good… ah well. No harm can come of it.

The first room was surprisingly open, non-descript, utterly non-threatening in every way. Three doors, one straight ahead, one to the right and left stood invitingly. Besides the doors, the room was empty and devoid of any color. This is supposed to be a maze? Trey thought.

“Seems kind of eerie,” Zake commented, standing in the middle of the room and looking around. Mentally, Trey agreed. From what he had heard, the maze was supposed to be quite difficult to navigate. If all he had to do was take random doors… how hard could that be?

“Let’s try the right door,” Trey said, going with his dominant hand. The door looked no different from any of the others. Zake stood behind him as the young man gave the doorknob an experimental tug. It didn’t move, didn’t shake- it was like the doorknob was made of stone!

“It’s stuck!” Trey grunted, applying a little more force and twisting the know from the right to the left quickly. The doorknob remained stubbornly still.

“Let me try,” Zake offered, and when Trey moved out of the way, the Machop grasped the knob with both hands and twisted hard. The knob moved a fraction to the left, then a bit more. Zake grit his teeth and twisted harder, and that was when two things happened.

The first was that the doorknob popped off with a brittle SNAP!, twisted out of shape in the Machop’s hands. Zake fell backward from his own momentum, falling into Trey. Machop aren’t lightweights (muscle weighs more than fat, after all) and Trey was knocked off his feet. Despite the fact that the door had no knob, it did not budge.

The second was that not even a second after hitting the ground, both trainer and Pokemon could feel the floor giving away. The ground opened up, and the darkness swallowed them.

“Aaaaaaaaaahhhh!”

For a long, breathless moment, it felt as if Trey were falling in nothingness. Then, his back touched cold steel, and he was sliding sideways. He reached out, his finger scrambling for purchase, trying to slow his descent, but it was no good. He was moving too fast and the metal was flawless, without a single dent or bump. Why wouldn’t it be? It had been constructed for that purpose.

“Oooogh!”

The slide abruptly ended, unceremoniously dumping both trainer and Pokemon onto a cold stone floor.

“Zake… get off my leg before you break it…”

“Sorry,” Zake apologized, getting up quickly and brushing himself off. “What just happened, Trey?”

“We fell down a trapdoor,” Trey said, kneeling to look up the slide, trying to see how far they had dropped. All he could see was darkness, the trapdoor had closed behind them. “I guess this must be the entrance of the real maze.”

We need some light, he thought as they looked around. The first room had been brightly lit, but the only light down here came from torches along the walls. Creeping moss grew along the walls and in between the cracks of tile. Trey released Deo, who materialized on the ground in front of him.

“Yo,” Deo said, his usual greeting. He looked around, taking in his surroundings. Trey had told all of his Pokemon about the maze, but Deo obviously wasn’t expecting such a dank environment. He narrowed his eyes in distaste but chose to say nothing, which was an uncharacteristic display of self-control for him. Could it be that he was actually being serious for once?

Better not push my luck.

“Could you brighten things up a bit, Deo? As you can tell… it’s a little dark in here.”

“No problem,” Deo grunted, his eyes slit as he concentrated, charging the air around him with a mixture of protons and electrons, before expending a burst of light in all directions. Trey shielded his eyes just in time (once he had been too late and had walked around in the dark for an hour) and found he could see there was a path further along.

“Thanks, Deo,” Trey said, taking the path cautiously. Zake followed close behind, with Deo rolling along in the back, providing illumination. Now that they were in the maze proper, they had to be careful. He would like to avoid any more trapdoors, if possible.

They proceeded in silence for a time, until the path split in two. Both paths looked inviting, but Trey, remembering the disastrous consequence of going with his dominant hand, quickly took the left path. Before long, the path split again. Not willing to break the streak, Trey took the left road once more.

The three finally came to a stop at a three-way junction. All corridors led on into darkness, and each seemed identical to another. Trey grunted, Deo cursed, and Zake kicked a wall in his frustration.

“It’ll take us forever to get out of here. We could be wandering for a long time!” Zake cried, his eyes scanning each corridor slowly.

“Yeah,” Trey agreed. Then, inspiration struck. The secretary had said that all use of Pokemon was allowed. He already had the perfect Pokemon for the job!

“Dourrrr!” Destai barked as he formed out of the crimson energy contained in the Pokeball. Hesitantly, he looked around at his surroundings, sniffing the air uncertainly. “Hodour?”

“Destai, we need to find a way out of this maze. If anyone can do it, it’s you.” Destai puffed up with pride, his eyes bright with happiness, glad to have Trey’s trust “There’s a lot of moss around, so try and find the scent of either a grass or water Pokemon. If we can find them, we should be getting close to an exit.”

Destai barked his agreement, and immediately began sniffing the ground. He sniffed the right path tentatively, before snorting and moving to the left. This path he checked a bit more delicately. When he reached the path lead ahead, though, his nose began working over time, and he took off. Trey, Zake, and Deo hurried to catch up with him.

The path seemed to break up into a dizzying array of lefts and right, yet Destai was an experienced tracker. He changed directions seemingly at random, leading the three quickly through the maze. At some points, he slowed down, taking more time to make his decision, and Trey noticed that the ground was wetter in those places. The water must have erased some of the scent, he figured. Yet, unerringly, Destai would always find the trail.

At several points, he swore he would see two round, glowing orbs in the darkness, high above them. The orbs would flicker, sometimes moving closer, sometimes further away, before blinking out entirely. Whenever he tried to point this out, though, the orbs always seemed to disappear.

Finally, the four stopped. A deep pool was in the way, one of the obstacles Trey had been warned of. Destai sniffed the edge of the pool, whining uneasily whenever a drop of water would splash against his nose.

“C’mere Deo,” Trey instructed, and the Voltorb allowed himself to be lifted up. Trey, his eyes straining, held Deo aloft over his head, and found that he could make out the maze once more on the other side. He would have to find a way to cross the pool before he could continue.

“Put me down, you tryin’ to be a lighthouse or somethin’?” Deo asked, irritated, and Trey obeyed, setting the Voltorb back down.

“Thanks for your help, guys, I appreciate it,” Trey said gratefully, before returning the three to their Pokeballs. Then, he released Cooler, who looked around, rather unimpressed. Without a word from Trey, he leapt into the pool, disappearing from sight for a few seconds before popping up to the surface, bobbing like a cork. He looked rather happy to be in the water.

“You need to get across, right?” Cooler asked, floating on his back. “Then, let’s go, c’mon?”

“Don’t be so impatient,” Trey muttered, grumbling, kicking off his shoes and socks and tying them around his wrist. No one ever said anything about getting wet… then again, if I can’t take a little water, then no way am I ready to be a trainer, right? He jumped into the pool and rose to the surface immediately, teeth chattering.

“Brisk, right?” Cooler said with a smile on his face. Once again, Trey muttered, but said nothing. Swimming in front of the young man, the Squirtle offered his hard tail, and the trainer gratefully took it. Cooler began to make away across the pool with Trey in tow, who kicked at the icy water and hoped he wouldn’t feel anything brush his foot.

They reached the opposite side without incident. Cooler got out of the pool reluctantly, and Trey tried to hide his pleasure. The maze might have been moldy and chilly, but compared to the water, it was downright warm. It was just as he was thinking to himself how easy that was when a voice spoke out from the darkness.

“Did you really need your Pokemon to swim across that gap?”

Both Pokemon and trainer turned to see another young woman emerge from the darkness, her face innocent, but her eyes mocking. She had long brown hair and sparkling green eyes, with six Pokeballs around her waist. Obviously another trainer navigating the maze. Trey hastily put on his shoes and stood, before realizing that they were on the wrong feet.

“It’s just… I really don’t like water,” Trey explained, trying to ignore the stabbing pain in his toes. The girl was looking at him with rather bemused eyes, and he was determined not to give her another excuse to laugh at him. “And Cooler really likes the water, so…”

The girl didn’t say anything, only kept staring at him with those laughing eyes. Trey’s discomfort increased. It was like the secretary all over again. Quickly, he tried to end the awkward silence.

“Guess you haven’t found the exit yet?” he said weakly, realizing how stupid his words sounded. Of course she hadn’t found it- would she be walking the maze for fun?

The girl scowled. “Not yet. But I’m having Double O look for it. It won’t be long before I get out of here. Ah!” she cried, looking over his head. “There he is now!”

Trey turned, and found that those glowing orbs he had seen floating high above the maze were steadily moving toward him. Out of the gloom came a large Hoothoot, his head tilting strangely in time to his own inner clock. The owl Pokemon fluttered past him over to the girl’s shoulder, perching adroitly on her outstretched arm.

“What’s up, Double O?” She asked, and the Hoothoot chirped and hooted, speaking to her. Trey didn’t understand a single word, but the girl’s face lit up when the owl’s hooting had stopped. “Perfect! You’ve already found it!”

“What a cuckoo,” Cooler muttered under his breath.

“Double O’s already found the exit,” she explained, seeing their puzzled faces. So the glow in the dark was actually Hoothoot’s eyes, scanning the dark, Trey thought. It was a clever way to find the exit, and perfectly legal, even if it did seem… cheap. The girl’s eyes narrowed as she glanced at Cooler. “Since I’m on my way out, how about a battle for the road?”

“Er…” Trey stuttered, a little put off by the girl’s aggressive attitude. Without waiting for an answer, the girl made her move.

“Go, Double O!”

“Might as well, I guess. Go get’m, Cooler!”

FIGHT! L5 Squirtle vs. L8 Hoothoot

The owl Pokemon leapt of the girl’s arm in one agile move, landing in the middle of the corridor. Unperturbed, Cooler stepped forward.

“Your Squirtle’s a little underpowered for this kind of fight, isn’t he?” the girl remarked. “Double O, strike from the shadows!” Flapping his stubby wings, the owl rose into the air and flew up into the darkness, out of sight. With no way to light up in the dark like before, the bird was effectively invisible. Cooler glared up into the dark, his eyes straining to see.

“Strength doesn’t always decide a fight,” Trey pointed out. “Hoothoot’s physically weaker than Cooler.”

“It makes no difference,” came the cool reply, seconds before a brown blur shot out of nowhere, ramming the turtle hard in the back. Cooler flew onto his face, letting out a cry of surprise. Despite the owl’s stubby wings and round body, it could divebomb very quickly, and its wings made no sound gliding through the air. The girl was right. As long as the owl stayed out of reach, Cooler wouldn’t have a chance.

“Pretty fast, huh?” the girl gloated. “Such is the fruits of my labor. See what good training can do? No… I suppose you don’t.”

“Don’t you ever get tired of hearing yourself speak?” Trey asked, exasperated, as the girl shot him yet another mocking smile. Where did she get off, making fun of him like that? It was only a Hoothoot after all… not a Dragonite.

Cooler pushed himself onto his feet quickly, but by then, the owl had just disappeared, flying into the dark again. He could see a glimmer of orange in the dark, the bird’s eyes looking back at him, but that was all. But if he could just keep his attention on those…

Suddenly, the orbs disappeared, and Cooler could already sense the incoming attack. Quickly, he withdrew into his shell, just a second before the Hoothoot impacted into his side, sending him skidding into the wall. Cooler popped out of his shell, his eyes narrowed, eager to return the favor, but the Hoothoot had retreated once more.

“Coward! Come down here and fight like an owl!”

“Fool,” Double O chuckled. “This is how an owl fights.”

“Cooler, forget him,” Trey advised. “Use the environment to your advantage, and take away his!” The Squirtle turned and locked eyes with him, searching them for some hidden meaning. “Work to your strengths!”

My strength is the water, Cooler thought, edging closer to the pool. But how can I take away his strength?

“I won’t let you get away!” cried a voice to his upper right, and Cooler threw himself backward as the Hoothoot divebombed yet again, missing him by inches, before soaring upwards again. Every time the Squirtle approached the pool, the owl would cut him off. When he tried to return the punishment though, the Hoothoot would retreat once more.

I’ve gotta take a gamble. I’m getting tired, he thought, as he fell to the ground, clipped by one the owl’s divebombs. Hurriedly, he climbed to his feet and ran for the water as fast as he could.

“Oh no you don’t!” A glow in the sky, just above him. Cooler took a running leap and withdrew into his shell, sliding along the ground using the moss to gain speed. Then, his forward movement was abruptly stopped. He poked his head out gingerly. He was inches away from the water- but the Hoothoot had taken hold of his shell, and was trying to lift him into the air!

“NO!” Cooler cried, scrambling for purchase. He could hear the frenzied breathing of the bird as it struggled to lift him skyward, inch by inch. Flailing about, one of his paws struck Double O’s talons, causing his grip to loosen, and Cooler hit the ground with a thump. Wasting no time, Squirtle dipped a paw into the water and turned, flicking water droplets into the owl’s large, luminous eyes.

“Ah!” Double O cried, blinking rapidly in an attempt to clear his eyes. Distracted, he forgot to maintain his attempts to stay aloft, and landed on the ground, standing on one leg. Quickly, Cooler lunged, grabbing hold of his talon, and before it could counterattack- turned and tossed the squawking bird into the water.

SPLOOSH! Water splashed over the rim of the pool, as the Hoothoot struggled to stay above the surface of the water, its wings flapping uselessly. It was no good- with his feathers wet, there was no way the owl was getting out. Cooler, breathing hard, didn’t waste an opportunity. He dived into the water, swimming down deep, then came up quickly, like a torpedo. With his round body, the Hoothoot was the perfect target, and Cooler rammed the owl out of the pool. The disheveled owl landed in a heap in front of his trainer, too exhausted to move.

“That was a dirty trick,” the girl muttered, recalling her fallen Pokemon reluctantly. “Double O could have drowned, and your Squirtle barely did any damage to him.”

“But he didn’t,” Trey said, trying to hide his good cheer. “Besides,” he pointed out, “it was just as fair as your Hoothoot staying out of sight. That’s strategy, not tricks. Cooler didn’t need to hurt him.”

“Whatever,” she said, her eyes downcast, and quickly went down another path out of sight. The trainer and his Pokemon were alone once more.

“Good fight, Cooler,” Trey congratulated. “That worked out even better than I thought. I gotta admit: even I was surprised when you threw the poor owl into the pool.”

“Don’t…underestimate me,” the Squirtle said with a weary grin, going into his Pokeball without a fight.

Cooler wins!
Cooler grew to L6!

His first battle, no- Cooler’s first battle, Trey amended, was a success!

“Maybe training won’t be so bad after all,” he said to himself, releasing Destai once again. This time, he instructed the dog to follow the female trainer’s scent, and the Houndour agreed, leading him off at a more leisurely pace.

After a few minutes of Destai leading him down desolate corridors and lonely passageways, they came to another obstacle- a thick wall of vines preventing them from going any further. Destai whimpered, sniffing the wall gingerly. Trey saw that the vines were tipped with thorns, cruelly sharp looking things.

“It looks like that girl realized we were following her,” Trey mused aloud. These definitely aren’t normal plants- no vine I’ve seen has ever had thorns. She must have used a grass Pokemon to create a barrier… Luckily, there was always a way around. He released Troit, who appeared next to him.

“Troit, could you use Sludge on these vines? Then, Destai, try to light them on fire with Ember,” Trey instructed, playing out the scenario in his mind. The two agreed, and Troit smeared his gooey hands along the plants, unmindful of the thorns. Within minutes, the vines were covered in a viscous, nasty-smelling goo. Destai spat out a few tongue of flames, which instantly caught fire with the poison acting as a type of gasoline.

“Great job!” Trey said, pulling out another Pokeball as the flickering light of the fire danced over his face. “Now Cooler, put out the fire!”

Cooler, still looking a little tired from his previous battle, sprayed a jet of cold water from his mouth aimed at the center of the wall. The vines, already weakened by the fire and poison, gave way easily under the torrential assault. The fire was soon reduced to smoldering ashes, and a large hole gaped in the middle of the plant-wall. Destai leapt through the hole and barked at Trey loudly, eager to follow the trail. Trey returned Troit and Cooler and followed the hound, with a bit more difficulty.

They didn’t have much farther to go. The maze opened up at the end of the corridor, into a room similar to the first one Trey had entered, before the trapdoor. A pool, larger than the one they had crossed, was in the middle of the room. Alongside the pool was a smaller dirt arena, where non-aquatic Pokemon could fight. There were also people here… Trey returned Destai and stepped forward to get a better look.

There were two trainers here. One, an older man, stood on the far side of the pool, a Pokeball in hand. An ID card hanging from his belt identified him as a senior member of the MTU. Behind him was a doorway marked with a red X, obviously the exit door. Facing the MTU trainer, closer to Trey, was the female trainer he had just defeated. From her expression, and the Pokeball in her hand, she had just lost. As he stepped into the room, she turned.

“Oh, it’s you again,” the girl said, too depressed to sneer at him. It was an improvement. “I couldn’t beat this guy with my best Pokemon. Do the smart thing, and head back.”

Before Trey could answer her, she had departed back into the maze, presumably looking for another trainer to fight with. The MTU trainer waved at him, beckoning him to step forward.

“My name’s Justin. If you want to get out of this maze, you’ll have to beat me first,” he said by way of introduction. Trey nodded, relieved that this trainer didn’t seem as arrogant as the girl. That would have been too much.

“One on one okay with you?”

“That’s fine with me,” Trey said, already thinking up a strategy.

“Alright, prepare yourself!” Justin cried, removing a Pokeball from his belt. “Go, Squirtle!”

A Squirtle, much larger and more formidable than his own, materialized in the pool. He floated back on his shell lazily, staring at Trey with interest. Was he expecting another easy fight? Well, he wasn’t going to get it…

“Go, Deo!”

FIGHT!
L11 Voltorb vs. L15 Squirtle

“You’ve got the type advantage, but don’t expect it to be so easy!” Justin cried. “Squirt, you know what to do!”

The Squirtle nodded to his trainer and popped beneath the waves, disappearing from sight. Trey groaned, already having flashbacks of his last battle. Was it a common strategy to make a Pokemon hide from attacks?

“Alright Deo, Thunderbolt!”

“Turtle stew, coming up!” Deo cackled, electricity crackling around his body as he gathered energy. Before he got close to finished, though, Squirtle poked his head up out of the pool, near the rim, and fired a blast of water, striking Deo in the face. The Voltorb grunted, the electrical energy surrounding him disappearing in seconds.

“What’s wrong, Deo?” Trey asked, worried. Deo’s face had contorted with pain, and stray sparks flew from his circular body.

“Short-circuited me,” Deo grunted. “It’s no good- I can’t use electric attacks without harming myself, now that I’m wet!”

“Now you see what I mean about type advantages, kid?” Justin said with a laugh. “An important lesson, and one you shouldn’t forget!”

He’s got a point, Trey thought feverishly. The Squirtle’s a much higher level and Deo’s one advantage has just been taken away! There’s gotta be a way to turn the tables here… “Deo, roll around! Try to dry off!”

“Stop him, Squirtle!”

“It’s worth a shot,” the Voltorb muttered, and began to roll back and forth quickly, trying to shake off the droplets of water covering him. A quick blast of water collided with the round Pokemon though, interrupting him and sending him skidding across the arena. Deo glared angrily at the Squirtle, soaking wet. The turtle only winked at him and dived again.

Trying a new tactic, Deo began to roll around and around as quick as he can, drying off and presenting a moving target. The Squirtle responded by filling the air full of large Bubbles, which popped loudly and covered the Voltorb in water once more.

“We don’t need to hit you to get you wet,” Justin pointed out. “Keep it up, Squirtle!”

Suddenly, inspiration struck. Deo had two non-offensive moves- maybe they could be of some use! “Deo, go to the water’s edge and use Screech!”

The Voltorb, catching on, rolled over to the edge of the pool, ignoring the bubbles surrounding it. With the water lapping against him gently, he concentrated a fire a volley of high-frequency sound waves into the water. Neither trainer could hear anything- but inside the pool, the sound waves’ speed was increased, bouncing off of the walls and rebounding once more.

“Squir!” Unable to take any more, the Squirtle surfaced, holding her throbbing ears with both hands, only a few feet away from Deo. Acting on his own accord, Deo smartly tackled her between the eyes, sending her back into the pool with a splash. Then quickly, he resumed his Screech attack.

“How much more of that noise do you think she can take?” Trey asked with a grin. Justin shot him a furious look.

“Squirt, stop that Voltorb! Take him into the pool with you!”

Swiftly, the Squirtle poked her head in front of the Deo, glaring at him with pained eyes. She grabbed the large ball with both hands, preparing to dive again and submerge the Voltorb.

“I can’t help but notice that yer hands are wet,” Deo remarked with an evil grin.

“What do you me-” the Squirtle began, before realizing her mistake a second too slow.

“Too bad!” Deo cried, concentrating again and allowing the internal charges inside of him to flow outward. There was a sharp SNAP sound as the Charge came to bear on the turtle, hitting it with several volts of electricity. The Squirtle floated backwards, twitching and convulsing, clearly knocked out.

“That wasn’t a bad strategy,” Justin remarked as he recalled his fallen Pokemon. “What do you call that one?”

“The echolocation move?” Trey said with a laugh. “Good work Deo. Return!”

Deo wins!
Deo grew to L13!

“The exit will lead you back to the reception area,” Justin instructed, as Trey made his way to the other side of the pool. To his surprise, the older man smiled and offered his hand. “That was a very good battle. With moves like that, I hope you will consider becoming one of the MTU.”

“I just may,” Trey said with a smile of his own, shaking his hand. He walked over to the door and opened it, looking back to wave. “Thanks for the battle!”

“Good luck!” Justin called, before the exit door closed with a slam. Now, Trey had to face an even greater challenge: the challenge of speaking with that secretary again. Steeling himself, he began the long walk back to the front of the building.

[*Murkrow]

Wait, so if we can still fight 2 Pokemon from the list, could I potentially fight two Pokemon that give +2 levels? Like Beedrill and Pikachu? Or (say for different level groups) Pikachu and Houndoom?

You've always been able to do that.

Edit: Oh, and thanks Ade. I'll get back to you about the scenario after my exams are over (next Monday at the very latest).

[The Blue Avenger]

Oh... really? Shows how much I know. ^^; Thanks.

[Lady Vulpix]

Hannah gets a stamp for helping Jeff.

And Ade gets a sign.

I'll try to rate the battles soon, at least Ade's.

[AntiAsh Superstar]

Er...whoops! The Universal adoption centre is always a good bet for double RBGs with two different types so let's go with that.

Ace64, will get your battle rated in the next day or so, bear with me while I try balancing comic art, work and random responsibilities. ^^;;

[Lady Vulpix]

[color=hotpink]Yes, and I'm busy too. I'm already enjoying your story, Ade, but I'm afraid I won't have the rating done today. Hopefully tomorrow.

Ok, so Scratchy and Brandy are going to battle a Misdreavus and a Duskull. Apparently the randomizer was in a ghostly mood this time.

[Edit: comments below.]

Ade, I really enjoyed reading your story. I'll make assorted comments, as usual, but in list format.[*] It was nice to learn more about Scratchy, his life and the way he feels.[*] Where is Kala Bier located? I think it would be good to have it in the queries topic.[*] This is the 2nd time I've heard of the drink Thunderblast requested.[*] I was surprised to see Scratchy make a joke, even if it was a sarcastic one.[*] You introduced quite an interesting concept with the whole bug-type dynamics (sorry if that sentence was messed up, it's late and I'm a morning person).[*] Doesn't the money the Guild gave you pay for Scratchy's and Marius's meals and accomodation too? Or did they just forget that?[*] Marius did seem to have a superiority complex some time ago, but not lately.[*] That strange feeling Scratchy had was scary... does it have anything to do with the mushrooms?[*] Milliardo should write a taxonomy of boasting forms.[*] Marius wasn't the first pokemon to fake aTeleport, though the first one resorted to W.R.P. to pull it out, or so she said.[*] Marius possesses a train? (Ignore that, I know it was a typo, I just say odd things at night).[*] Interesting explanation of the Shed Skin trait![*] Take 27 stamps! ¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢

[Lady Vulpix]

Not a battle, just an introduction before we get to round up our plans.

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

<Pidgeot's POV>

There was darkness. The kind of darkness that gives you the feeling that nothing has ever been there, nor ever will be. I couldn't even see myself, but I knew I was there, which made me feel out of place. Still, it was familiar. I knew I'd been there countless times before, and I would go back again many times more. And I knew, with a certainty reserved for the few most important things in my life, that the darkness would never last; it would be overcome again and again, till the end of times. As if on cue, a small spark of light made its presence felt in the middle of the otherwise empty space. It was tiny, barely visible, but it was there. And the more I thought about it, the more I focused on it, the stronger it became. It grew larger and brighter, until it shone like a sun, filling the whole space with a warm, comforting light.

I woke up. The first rays of the sun were coming through the window. I remembered my dream. I'd had the same dream too many times to count. Not every night, of course, but about 4 or 5 times every year for as far as I could remember. I wonder if I'd been having it since the day I was born. Not that I'd ever find the answer, no one remembers the day they were born; probably not even the now legendary Elwing Starspray. It must have been really hard for her, I thought. Having to face the coldness and vastness of an unknown world, and defend herself from an attacker at the same time. At least I'd had some time to prepare for the hardships I'd have to endure. At least I'd known the warmth of my mother's wings... though Elwing had been surrounded by others who loved her all her life, and I'd had to go through that awful period which felt like it would never end and, in a way, it never had... it came back to me from the corners of my mind whenever I lowered my guard. If only the memories of my childhood could be that clear! But with it also came the confidence that, if I'd managed to make it through that and move on with my life -and I knew I had-, I could endure anything. I wasn't eager to put that statement to a test, but it gave me confidence. It gave me the certainty, just like in my dream, just as it had been proven by all my past experiences, that whatever darkness arose would always be overcome. And then I remembered... I wasn't sure about my squabhood, but back in the worst period of my life, when Team Rocket had me, the dream had already been with me.

I heard noises in the kitchen. I went to check, and found Gabi and Lagi having breakfast. Lagi had a large and varied morning meal, consisting of a bit of every sweet thing she could find in the house. For Gabi, it was juice and tea, and then she'd take some crackers to work, since her stomach always woke up a couple of hours after she did. When they saw me, they gave me my serving of water and assorted seeds. I'd heard that other Pidgeots would have fish for breakfast, but in our home no one would have any kind of meat before noon; it was an old habit, and as such no one could remember exactly how it had started. Gabi, Sylvan, Lagi and Iael ate no meat at all, and Ventura hardly ever touched it. An outsider would have found it weird for Lagi, a Dragonite, to be vegetarian, but for those who knew her, it made sense. I loved fish, but I doubted I could eat it if I knew what being a fish felt like.

I couldn't help noticing the gloomy look in the girls' faces.
"What's wrong?," I asked them.
"I'm meeting Lady Ninetales today," Gabi answered.
"Is that all? I know she's no good at making others feel comfortable, but there are far worse things that could happen."
"And they will," Gabi assured. "I've been postponing it for too long, but we'll have to get on with it before it's too late. I'm going to give her my pre-mission report, gather any Guild members who want to come and then broadcast a message to the Dragon Tamers."
"Ah..." I understood. "So it's like the old times. Well, if we managed to free Templa Taure from the Black Dragon..."
"Don't remind me," said Gabi. "The Black Dragon's still on the loose somewhere. If he and Yssera are working together... Which I don't know if they are. What worries me the most is that we don't know what we're up against."
"That's why we're going on a massive reconnaissance mission," Lagi reminded her. "And no one will be alone, and the most famous glory-hogs the DT have known are long gone, so there'll be a lower chance of Yssera getting to any of us. At least the highest-ranked Guild members aren't coming, I don't want to think of what could happen if she got them. Ade will have to be very careful. And maybe Amy, but I don't think she's the type Yssera likes."
"And you?," I asked Gabi.
"Yssera took away my boyfriend, my sanctuary, some of my friends, Lagi's daughter and the respect the Pegasus clan had for me. She can't possibly think I'm going to listen to anything she says. All I have to watch out for is hate preventing me from thinking clearly, but luckily I have friends who can help me with that. Right?"
"Absolutely," I promised. "You can both count on me for this. It won't even begin to make up for all the help you've given me."
"A friend's help doesn't have to be made up for," Lagi told me. "I would tell you why, but it would sound cliché'd and I believe you already know that anyway."
"Hm," I chuckled. "Right, that's friendship for you. A good thing, too. A spark of light."
I doubted either of them understood me, but they didn't ask. Maybe they got the gist of it.

"The odd thing," Gabi decided to say after a few moments of silence, "Is that we arranged the meeting yesterday, and last night I had a weird dream of someone asking me about our plans."
"A weird dream?," I asked, surprised that we'd both had the kind of dreams that left you thinking.
"Well, most of my dreams are weird, but this was one of the unusual ones... which if I know myself enough probably means something."
"How was it unusual?"
"There was this boy... he looked human, but he had membranes between his fingers and toes. And he had deep blue eyes. He was the one who asked me what we were going to do, and said his friends and him were coming with us."
"How much did you tell him?"
"Not much, I think... I said everything would be decided in today's meeting. Then I asked him who he was, and why this was so important to him, and he said he wanted to go home. I think he said something else, but it was a bit fuzzy, and then I woke up."
"Ah, so that was it!," the shadow under the door suddenly revealed the shape of a grinning Espeon. "Score one for Caledor!"
"Caledor, what are you doing here?," asked Gabi. "Isn't it a bit early for you?"
"It's never too early for a magic Espeon with magic news."
"Alright," Gabi half sighed, half laughed. "Let's hear you out. What's your magic news?"
"That dream you had was no ordinary dream."
"And I suppose you know what it was?"
"As a matter of fact, I do."
If the Espeon's grin had been any wider, his mouth would have reached his ears.
"Will you tell us what you know once and for all?," I told him. "I have enough with your two buddies flattering themselves."
"Hey, you'd be like this too if you had spent years trying to put your psychic abilities to any decent use and finally managed to prove that you're good at detecting telepathic links. It was a subtle one, too."
"So someone was talking to me!," Gabi exclaimed. "I knew it felt strange! Well done, Caledor! Any idea who it was?"
"Don't ask me that much! But you said he told you he was coming with us; maybe we'll find out."
"Did you notice anything else about him?," Lagi asked Gabi.
"I don't know... I think he looked a bit sad... or nostalgic. He had blond hair... straight, I think, but a bit messy. And... he seemed to be a teenager."
"What was he dressed like?," I tried to help.
"Sorry, I didn't pay attention to that."
"Did he seem trustworthy?," asked Lagi.
"He seemed so, in my dream. But then again, I'm not you. He could have been hiding something and I wouldn't have noticed."
"It's hard to hide something in a dream," Lagi said. "As soon as you think of it, it shows."
Gabi's expression changed for a moment.
"There was something else... I now remember. Just a scene that seemed out of context and lasted only a moment."
"What was it?," I asked.
"Seals swimming in the water. Not pokemon, seals with an A."
"Now you'd be the second one in our team to dream about seals with an A," Caledor commented.
"Who else did?," asked Gabi.
"Iael. Back at the last Training Grounds, but in his case that was just a prelude to a horrible nightmare. He told me about it when we came back."
"Do you think the dreams may be connected?"
"I don't know. But now I think I know who to ask."
"Iael?"
"I was thinking of the pokemon Iael was battling when he had that dream."

<Caledor's POV>

We all went to the Guild's meeting, but I left the group before they entered LN's office. I wasn't in the mood for a long, boring and gloomy conversation; I was more interested in finding a certain Dewgong. I made my way to the library; my instinct told me I might find him there, and I wouldn't miss a chance to listen to my instinct when it decided to speak out.

As I stepped into the library, a little Smoochum came running and hugged my face. It wasn't that I didn't see her coming, it was that what she was doing was so unusual that she had me before I could react.
"Linyi, come back here!," I heard her trainer said. "Glomping your friends' faces is not a proper greeting."
"Right," another familiar voice agreed, "and besides I think the golden one needs to breathe."
The Smoochum released me and blushed as she apologized.
"Sorry."
"It's ok," I told her. "It's nice to see you too." Then I turned to her Espeon friend. "What's with the 'golden one' thing again?"
"You know what I'm talking about," he replied. "A golden griffin's not a sight you get to see everyday. It's hard to forget."
"If you're trying to freak me out, it's not gonna work. I can be freakier than you. Come to think of it, I think I am freakier than you are."
"I'm not arguing against that," Glyph smiled, walking towards me. "But rather than freaky, I'd say you're impressive."
"Wow, thanks! Just... Wait a minute. Did you see me when I was in Bei?"
"I saw you, yes. I was just passing by, and stopped to take a look at you. I hope you're not offended, it was just an unusual view."
"Nah, I don't mind, but you could have told me earlier."
"Sorry, I didn't know how to tell you, and there was always something more urgent to do. Have you heard from your friends at the lab, by the way?"
"Not for a while, but they must be ok. If it weren't such a long way to Unicorn's Gate I'd pay them a visit... maybe lend a paw. Should I have stayed to help them rebuild? Back then I could only think of coming back home, but it was only out of luck that I had a home to come back to. I am one of them, after all."
"I don't think anyone can blame you for having wanted to go home. And you did help them while you were there. Maybe you'll meet them again and things will be different... better."
"I hope so. Hey, have you seen your friend... err... the one with the weird name?"
Glyph chuckled.
"Glice? Orknye? Lavy?"
"Orknye. Who's Lavy?"
"Our local Lapras, in your terms. Not quite local, and not quite a Lapras either, but you get what I mean."
"Don't try me, I can be puzzling too. Where's Orknye?"
"In the garden with Glice and Lavy."
"Then you could have answered my question without asking which of the 3 I was referring to. Gah, I'll look for him. Mean indirect instinct."
"What do you mean?"
"I told you I could be puzzling," I grinned, and left for the garden.

I did find the three pokemon in the garden. For all his mysteriousness, Glyph didn't lie. I thought he could make a good oracle with some practice. The Dewgong and the Lapras were swimming in the small pond, and the Glalie was watching them. I walked to the border of the pond. I could swim quite well, but some of my friends found my style funny and I didn't want to start a serious conversation by making Orknye laugh. Given the choice, I wouldn't have wanted to start a serious conversation at all, but sometimes it's necessary.
"Hey, Orknye!," I called out.
The Dewgong looked at me, dived into the water and reappeared before me.
"Hi," he said. "Aren't you going to the meeting?"
"Nah, it's boring. Whatever important things they have to say, they'll let me know later. What about you?"
"We're not invited," the Dewgong replied. "We're not exactly getting the best treatment. Especially after Lord Absol talked to Eshree. Someone must have said something about their meeting, and now everyone wants to know what he wanted him for, and it seems whatever chances we may have had of moving up in the Guild have vanished. I wonder if our presence here serves any purpose anymore."
"Isn't that your call? All of you, I mean."
"I guess we could go home if we wanted to, but I still don't know what Harims wanted of us. She asked us to come and help the Dragon Tamers, you know. I don't know what she wanted us to help with, she's worse than Glyph. You know where you stand with Glyph, he likes sounding mysterious but he always ends up telling you what you need to know."
"And you?"
"And me what?"
"Do you normally end up telling others what they need to know?"
"Whatever others need to know, they generally know it before I do."
"You wouldn't know anything about strange dreams, then? With water and seals?"
Orknye's eyes opened widely. If you looked deep inside them, like I did, there was a sort of blue reflection at the bottom.
"Sorry, I was just uneasy. I needed to know more. I mean to help you guys, I really do."
"So it was you, then. That was easier than I expected."
"Is Lady Vulpix mad at me?"
"Not mad, just a little confused. Next time you should talk to her directly."
"It's not exactly easy. Whenever she's here, she's busy with about a million things. And besides, what would people think if they saw her talking to me about the evil things in White Mountain?"
"They'd think you're more than just a low-ranked researcher's pokemon, but I bet some of them already do. How do you do that, anyway?"
"Do what, talk to others in dreams?"
"Yes."
"I've always been able to do that... even my family said it was weird. When I came here they said I had a Psychic type Hidden Power, but I think that may be just flattening it into something they can name."
"Maybe you're a mutant. My friend Lagi's a mutant. She knows what others are feeling, and she could fly even as a Dratini."
"Nice. So, no hard feelings?"
"Nah, you scared us for a moment, but now that I know it was you and not some enemy looking for information, it's alright. So, you're coming with us to White Mountain?"
"Well, Lady Ninetales did tell Lady Vulpix she could take anyone with her, so if she doesn't mind, we'd like to go. It will feel good to do something useful for a change. And this just might be what Harims sent us here for."
"I don't get her... Sending someone to help and not telling them what to help with... Isn't that a bit... self-defeating?"
"My thoughts exactly. But that's Harims for you, she's probably thinking we'll all gain immense wisdom and spiritual growth by figuring it out on our own."
"Now that you put it that way, she doesn't sound all that different from Yssera."
"What?! No way! Harims would never do anything to harm us. Not intentionally, anyway. Doesn't Yssera eat souls or something? My soul is as whole as it ever was, and I'm still the same... the same spirit, anyway, as I was before I met her."
"But not the same species."
"Species changes aren't unnatural to me. I used to change to and from twice a year back home. It was not changing in the last solstice that's made me a bit uneasy."
"So that's normal for you?"
"For me and all selkies, yes. My connection with dreams is the only thing that's not normal about me, but the fact I still have it reminds me that I'm still myself. So much for your conspiracy theory."
"It wasn't a theory, just a comment. I'm not saying Harims eats souls, I'm just saying she may not be exactly an angel."
"In fact she is, but it seems you have a different concept of angels here. Nobody's perfect, but I'm sure she means well."
"Maybe she does... you've been helping us so far. But don't go about doing things without a reason just because she says so. Not unless you feel they're right."
"Of course not. You know what? It's been nice to talk to you. I think I had misjudged you, just like most others had. Everyone except Glyph, I think."
"Misjudged me? How?"
"Well, we... How can I say it without sounding like an idiot? We thought you were... We thought you couldn't really... We thought you were a bit childish, actually. Don't get me wrong."
"I am childish."
He looked surprised at my response. I explained myself.
"I enjoy the same things children do, like playing games and being loud and cheerful and having fun whenever I can. If that's being childish, then yes, I am. And proud of it. It doesn't mean I'm daft."
"Sorry, I think I get the difference now."
"How many times are you going to apologize?"
"As many as it takes."
"It doesn't take more than one with me... and that's if I'm really offended, which I'm not. Relax!"
"Alright... I guess I can do that. Can you swim?"
"Can I? I completed the water course at the Winter Games. I played underwater games at the Eevee House. I swam in the hot springs at Glacier Peak. I even battled at the Pond Room once! And I got Tsunami to rush out of the sea to avoid... You know what? Scratch the last one."
"Alright. Then you won't mind joining in or a dip. Glice?"

I couldn't believe I hadn't foreseen that. The next thing I knew the Glalie had pushed me into the water and Orknye and Lavy were laughing at how I kept shaking my legs.
"You've just declared a war, my friend!," I announced with a grin, and caught Orknye's tail in my teeth.
Then we had a small friendly brawl that consisted mostly of throwing water at each other and finally evolved into a game of tag. All in all, it was much better than a boring Guild meeting.

[Skye]

A Trapinch, walking carefully over the stony ground, headed a strange group. Right behind the Trapinch, a Bagon traveled, working his way over the volcanic stones with effort. Behind the two Pokémon, a human woman stepped easily over the stones they had so much trouble with. Around her neck, a Dratini was wrapped, one of the rarest Pokémon in Ulthuan. In her arms, a Charmander, just a baby, slept. His long tail was draped over one of her arms, limp. Last but not least, another Dratini followed behind the woman, gliding on feathery wings.

Sige looked back at his new trainer, still doubting his choice. Darkfire Storm, aiming to be a member of Sector Alpha’s finest in the Dragon’s Guild, he still didn’t know anything about her skills as a trainer. The Charmander in her arms wouldn’t be able to begin fighting for many months yet, if then. If Darkfire was as good of a trainer as she was a woman, she wouldn’t force the baby, born just the other day, into battle until much out of battle training and tense supervision over his battles as a youth. But as he saw the Pokémon he had nearly killed safely in her arms, her steps placed carefully, he found himself thinking that even if she was a bad trainer, people change. Pokémon certainly do.

In one battle, Darkfire had defeated him in one strike and his partner, Growlithe, in three, using the year-old Dratini twins. But still, it had been one-sided from the moment Growlithe burned Menos’s beautiful wings to a near crisp. Radek, the wingless devil, had a terrible temper that flared when the one he loved most, Menos, had seemed grievously wounded. After a few minutes of soothing icy breath, his Shed Skin ability cured his burns.

He turned away from them and found Radek suddenly in front of him. Sige gave a shocked cry and backed away from Radek’s stare. Most people thought Dratini were angelic, cute dragons. Radek was a devil and it could show when he wanted it. In a low voice, he growled, “What are you up to? Plotting to eat Matt?”

“N-No,” Sige became flustered at how guilty he sounded. He tried to move away from the Dratini, but he kept pace easily, using his long body to slither where Sige had to scramble for footing. He panicked when Radek resumed glaring at him and looked back at him. “H-Honestly.”

“Yeah, I don’t trust killers,” Radek growled back. “Darkfire assigned me to keep an eye on you.”

“D-Darkfire…? Why?” Sige looked back at the woman and tripped. She turned her dark blue eyes on him in concern, but he guiltily got back up and turned his gaze form her. She didn’t trust him? The thought hurt.

“Oh, you know why,” Radek replied and fell back. Sige resumed on silently, leading them slowly from the inactive mountains.

Darkfire wondered what the two Pokémon had been talking about. Radek had a habit of pulling rather cruel jokes, but most of them were harmless in the long run. However, he had been acting rather cold and distrusting toward the young Pokémon she had personally invited to be a member of her team. She stepped up and pulled the Dratini off to the side, letting Menos, Sige, and Drystan keep going. The Dratini looked at the group then at her.

“What?”

“What did you say to Sige?” she replied

“I told him how things were is all,” he said, drawing himself up boldly. “We’re not going to trust him right off the bat, after all, right?”

“Yes, we are.”

The Dratini blinked, but didn’t respond. Instead, he turned away from her and returned to the group. Sige didn’t look at any of them for a long time, keeping to himself and leading them silently. Darkfire left him alone, but didn’t allow Radek too near the obviously distressed Trapinch.

At the base of the mountains, just as they found a clearing that lead into the forest, Darkfire found an unusual sight awaiting them. A pack of Vulpix, red fox Pokémon with six curled tails and dark amber eyes, were talking silently. At the end of the clearing, two more Pokémon were playing. One was another Vulpix, a kit from the round belly and short snout, and the other made Darkfire’s heart leap into her throat. A Ponyta.

Darkfire had come from the remote Idaho, in the United States of America. It had cost an arm and a leg to move to Ulthuan, but it was worth it. She had been an up and coming horse trainer, but her dram had been to catch and train a Rapidash to be a jumper. They were competitive racers, but banned from horse races and competitions. Unlike normal animals, Pokémon were built with stronger bones and had immunities to poisons, burns, and a rapid healing ability that allowed them to recover from wounds that would kill normal animals that inhabited the other continents.

Then something else came to Darkfire’s attention. The Vulpix kit had crystalline colored blue eyes. When it turned its head to look at her, noticing the hush that had fallen over the Vulpix clan, she also noticed the rainbow topknot and the gray fur covering its chest and six tails instead of the normal white and dark amber fur that occupied their respective areas.

Then she looked at the Ponyta. Maybe black and white Ponyta were common, but she was willing to bet all of her chemistry books that lavender eyes and flames that faded into pastel blue were not common at all. She looked at the Ponyta and decided it was also young, a filly or colt. It had long, awkward legs and a large forehead it had not grown into. Fuzzy baby fur covered its body instead of the sleek fur Darkfire had come to associate its kind with.

“Hi,” Darkfire said, turning her eyes from the rare babies in order to face the adults. They watched her with untrusting eyes. “We’re just passing through, heading to Sector Alpha.”

Murmurs rippled through the Pokémon before one Vulpix stepped forward. “Greetings, human… You are on the correct path to the large human city… But how… How do you speak our language?”

Sige raised his head. For a while he had been wondering himself, and he looked at the dark blue-eyed girl with a curious tilt to his head, eager to learn the answer for himself. He would have asked, but since Darkfire obviously didn’t have any trust for him, he was afraid asking the question would make her kick him out of the group. He wanted to see if she was a truly good trainer before being willing to leave. In his youth and innocence, he did not know to associate kindness and strength and recognize that one could be both.

“Oh,” Darkfire chuckled. She then held up a small crystal that was around her neck. Sige had never noticed it before, but now that he did, he thought it was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen in his life. “This was a small gift from an old fried who was once a trainer. He said there were many legends behind it, and they all started in Ulthuan. I came here to test my skills at training and to discover the legends of this thing.”

“It… it is beautiful…” The male Vulpix agreed. The kit and Ponyta came back to the group, coming close enough Darkfire could tell the Ponyta was a filly, but she couldn’t tell the gender of the crystal eyed Vulpix. “But, I request you would not tell anyone about us. Our clan is small and we have just come to the area. To lose any of our members now would be a grave blow.”

“Sure,” Darkfire replied. Matthias yawned and squirmed in Darkfire’s arms. He began to bat at the crystal around her neck and gnawed on it when he caught it. Menos, who had been hanging back with his twin, now came forward with Drystan. The three dragons had stayed behind so Darkfire had enough time to convince the Pokémon they weren’t under attack.

The Vulpix clan stiffened at the sight, but they didn’t flee. The Ponyta filly and Vulpix kit, however, want to Menos and marveled at his wings. The Dratini humbly spread his wings and the kit squeaked with appreciation at his wingspan while the filly nosed hid feathers and gave a delighted squeal at their softness. The clan looked among each other for a few moments before the leader gave a nod.

“The kit once belonged to two members of our clan, but they were taken from us long ago. We have been trying to provide for him and his friend, who is also an orphan we took in. Perhaps… if you wish, you could take our challenge. If you win, you can take care of them. We are having enough troubles as it is providing for them when they still are in need of milk, and none of our clan is able to provide what they need.”

Darkfire looked at the rest of the clan and saw them nodding their approval. Hesitantly, she replied, “I would be honored to take your challenge, but we are still a while away from Sector Alpha, and I’m low on Pokémon formula as it is,” she confided, looking at Matthias. The Charmander had grown much in his day on the planet, but she still worried. She had a general mix for babies, but she knew he would need a mix of meat to come into his diet soon, but she didn’t know what kind of meat and how much it would need to be cooked, if it needed to be cooked at all.

“We know a path through the forest that will get you to your city by sundown,” the Vulpix said proudly. Darkfire looked at Sige, who shrugged. He only knew the paths through the mountains, he knew little about the forests surrounding Sector Alpha. Darkfire nodded to his and faced the Vulpix again, assuming he was their leader.

“I will take your challenge, if you take us down this path,” Darkfire replied.

“We’ll take you there regardless in return for you keeping our clan a secret,” the leader informed her and stepped closer. His eyes went back to the crystal around her neck that the young Charmander was finally finding boring. Darkfire set him down and Radek went to his side immediately to amuse the young Pokémon while Darkfire dealt with the clan’s challenge.

“Alright, name your challenge,” Darkfire responded, confident.

“You have two quests. The first is to defeat me in battle,” the Vulpix said, getting in a fighting stance. Darkfire blinked, and nodded. She was about to ask Sige to battle for her when Drystan stepped forward, confident in his abilities. Sige didn’t look like he was up to the battle anyway, his eyes were downcast and not looking at either her or her Pokémon.

Drystan Level 6 Vs. Vulpix Level 6

Vulpix rapidly began with a Tail Whip, making Darkfire wonder what kind of attacks he had in his arsenal. He slapped his tails across Drystan’s face and darted away, waiting for Drystan’s reaction. The Bagon gave a soft laugh and fired a volley of flames at the Vulpix. Darkfire blinked when the flames did no damage, but instead seemed to make the Pokémon grin.

“Flash Fire. Watch out for his attacks, Drystan!” Darkfire realized. The Bagon just shrugged, and Darkfire had a feeling the Bagon had done that on purpose.

“Arrogance will get you nothing but defeat!” the Vulpix laughed and fired a blast of fire that vaguely resembled an Ember, but larger and hotter. Drystan evaded the attack with difficulty.

“Perhaps I underestimated your Flash Fire,” he admitted and sent out a volley of stars, large and sharp. The Vulpix attempted to dodge, and was reduced to racing away from the Swift attack. However, nothing he did let him escape a single heat-seeking attack. He cried out as the stars impacted him and tore at his fur and skin. When the sharp stars hit him, they vanished, leaving a panting, cut up Vulpix. He snarled at the smug looking Bagon.

“No swift is that strong, what did you do to me?” he growled.

Drystan grinned innocently and pulled at his Pokémon Collar. “This,” he explained, “Is a Collar. It increases my attacking power.” Sige looked at Drystan curiously. Darkfire had given him a Pokémon Collar as well, but he hadn’t known what it was for until now. Did this mean Darkfire was a good trainer… or did it mean she thought he was weak? For once, he filed the thought away instead of brooding on it and looked back at the battle.

Angry, the Vulpix fired another barrage of super flames. Drystan tried to evade again, but the Vulpix kept firing them until Drystan was struck with fire. He grimaced and returned the attack with another volley of stars. By the time the attack had hit, Drystan had sustained a decent amount of damage from what would otherwise have been a useless attack. Vulpix growled angrily, but didn’t attack again. He needed to catch his breath.

Drystan leapt forward to attack when Vulpix began to glow pure white. Shocked, Drystan’s body seized up, unable to move under the Disable attack. Darkfire cursed, knowing there was no way Drystan would be able to move until the attack’s effect wore off on its own. The Vulpix took a deep breath and resumed his attacks, pummeling the frozen Bagon mercilessly with Ember attacks until his flesh began to char and the scent of burned flesh began to hang in the air.

Slowly, Drystan began to recover the feeling in his body, and screamed in pain. The Vulpix held up on his attacks, startled by the scream of pain. Drystan’s body gave a shudder and relaxed so he fell forward, panting and blood spilling down his body from the wounds.

“Not so strong, are you?” the Vulpix gloated, panting from the multiple Ember attacks. Drystan looked up at him, angry. “Try to move, I dare you. I’ll pin you with my Disable again.”

“Then… I won’t move,” the Bagon replied and closed his eyes. The Vulpix began to advance on him, not noticing a dark cloud materialize in the sky behind him. The winds began to pick up slowly until a funnel began to come from the cloud. The Vulpix looked behind himself and saw only too late the Twister attack as it slammed into him. He was sucked up into the funnel and thrown around before being flung back to the ground. The winds eased as the Twister disappeared and Drystan laid on his side, looking at the fallen form of his opponent.

“I’m not arrogant,” he murmured to his opponent, knowing he was the only one who unable to hear him. “I just believe in fair fights.”

Drystan grew to Level 7!

Darkfire tended to Drystan’s wounds while the Vulpix clan took the body of their fallen friend and moved him into a hidden den while he recovered consciousness. A second Vulpix gathered the children and brought them to Darkfire while Sige watched. She easily gained their trust and taught them to accept their Pokéballs. He found himself smiling slightly. She definitely had a way with the young ones. After they had been in their Pokéballs for a bit, she let them out and let Matthias play with them. All Fire Pokémon, they got along swiftly. The young Charmander waddled after the others as they went to examine an interesting looking stone.

A few hours later, the leader came too and asked the Vulpix who had introduced Darkfire to her new charges to lead her to Sector Alpha. Darkfire recalled Drystan so he could rest as well from his burns and gathered the babies. After some small issues, she had to recall all of them to their Pokéballs as it was going to be a long journey and she couldn’t’ carry all of them.

When they started off, Menos wrapped himself around Darkfire’s neck and relaxed while she followed the guide on foot. Sige fell in behind her, feeling useless in this new arrangement. Suddenly, Radek slithered up to him and looked him over. Sige looked away form the Dratini, knowing the Pokémon would have nothing but criticism for him.

“Hey, Sige,” he said. “I’ve been talking with Darkfire. She thinks I should tone it down a little. You know I was only joking, right?” Sige looked at the Dratini and blinked slowly. “Well, apparently not. Anyway, welcome to the team and have fun. Never take life too seriously, you know,”

That was the day Sige learned that Radek was probably just out of his mind, but also not too bad of a guy when it came right down to things.

Edit: I hate the color system >.>;

[Ace64]

I'd like to request a two-on-two RBG for Charmene(Charmander) and Troit(Grimer) please. *pays stamps*

Also, hate to nag, but is my battle going to be rated soon?

Jungle Deforestation Recovery Agency sounds good.

EDIT: Oops. Chose a location.

[Lady Vulpix]

I hope so, Trey. I wonder what's up with the other workers. You need to choose a location, by the way.

[AntiAsh Superstar]

Sorry 'bout that, Trey, call it work-related issues. ^^;; Take 15 stamps, that was a really good first battle and I look forward to reading more of your stuff. Your pokémon will be battling a Beedrill and a Numel.

Gabi, I'll get yours soon... as in actually soon as opposed to within a few weeks. Darkfire I'll also try and rate yours as well but if anyone else gets it beforehand that's fine with me. ^^;;

[Lady Vulpix]

Welcome back, Ade! ^_^ Did you get my e-mail from a few days ago?

I've rated Darkfire's battle, and I've also rated Trey's, though you were faster than me at providing a rating because for a while I waited for someone else to do it. Sorry, I shouldn't have waited so long.

Darkfire, take 11 stamps! Your comparison between pokemon and animals was quite creative. Your stone reminded me of mine... is there any connection? And if the battle was the first quest, what was the second? ¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢

Trey, Ade's already rated your battle, but I'd like to make some comments. You had some original ideas, I liked it. And I liked the beginning, where you described the events that led to your present situation. I'd just like to know that while Reaper may have been innocent once, she was far from innocent by the time the challenge took place. And the way Screech affected the Squirtle was weird, it normally wouldn't have left a pokemon more vulnerable to electric attacks. And why did you say "strength doesn't always decide a fight" just before "Hoothoot's physically weaker than Cooler"? Doesn't the first statement null the second one? Why did you ask Destai to search for grass or water pokemon in particular? And I would have liked to know why Justin asked for just a 1 on 1 when they normally have 2 battles. He could have been out of pokemon, or he could have known you'd already battled the girl, or he could be evading his responsibilities, but it would have been nice to know. I found the exchange about fighting like an owl quite funny. Now, are you planning to join the MTU?

[Ace64]

Trey, Ade's already rated your battle, but I'd like to make some comments. You had some original ideas, I liked it. And I liked the beginning, where you described the events that led to your present situation. I'd just like to know that while Reaper may have been innocent once, she was far from innocent by the time the challenge took place. And the way Screech affected the Squirtle was weird, it normally wouldn't have left a pokemon more vulnerable to electric attacks. And why did you say "strength doesn't always decide a fight" just before "Hoothoot's physically weaker than Cooler"? Doesn't the first statement null the second one? Why did you ask Destai to search for grass or water pokemon in particular? And I would have liked to know why Justin asked for just a 1 on 1 when they normally have 2 battles. He could have been out of pokemon, or he could have known you'd already battled the girl, or he could be evading his responsibilities, but it would have been nice to know. I found the exchange about fighting like an owl quite funny. Now, are you planning to join the MTU?

Since it might be a while before I actually post the new scenario, I figured I'd answer your questions now.
Screech affects a Pokemon's defense, true, and Deo's electric attack wasn't any more effective that it was before. I just used that as a tactic to distract the Squirtle, while Deo dried off. Creating an electric current while wet can affect the electrons' path, so while Screech didn't make Squirtle any more vulnerable, it divided his attention from keeping Deo soaked.

When I said, "strength doesn't always decide a battle,"I was referring to Hoothoot's actual level, which was three higher than Cooler's. Physical strength referred to muscle mass, weight, whatever you wanna judge by. Sorry- I overlooked that that sentence might be confusing.

Moss is a plant that grows best in moisture and low light, so Destai was told to search for grass or water Pokemon because their presence could have created the moss. And in the end, they did find a water Pokemon, right?

I thought you could only fight with two Pokemon in a scenario? At first I planned to keep a 2 on 2 battle, but I added the girl to add a little conflict into the story, and it seemed to fit. If I had kept her, I would have had three battles, which would be over the line, right? I guess I could have edited the girl out, but...idk.

Trey does plan to join the MTU, but he hasn't officially joined the Dragon Tamers yet. Not sure how I plan to do that...any ideas?

[Lady Vulpix]

Thanks for the detailed answer. ^_^

Well, you could have requested an RBG if you wanted to have 3 battles. It's just because of continuity that I asked that question, the maze workers were supposed to have 2 battles.

The MTU and the Dragon Tamers are separate entities. So far no one has joined both (I guess it would be hard to keep up) and no real TPMers have joined the MTU, though some Dragon Tamers have joined the Dragon's Guild, but another section of it. You'll get different kinds of work depending on which one you join.

By the way, there's nothing wrong with the 3rd person, many use it. And you can ask as many questionsas you want about the characters and the setting. I don't mind answering, and I don't think others will mind either. And you can get some more information at the Dragon's Guild Site, and the Writer's Grounds at Tsuyoi's Lair.

[AntiAsh Superstar]

Gyah I actually meant to comment on the Reaper thing but in my defence I was tired when I actually wrote my post... now I see why you make notes, Gabi! Tho Trey's actually got a point with what he says; in a way Armand DID corrupt Reaper as he was the one who went and actively encouraged her to give in to her lust for chaos.

Hehe, the MTU is very easy to join if you happen to be... uh, a mercenary trainer, in fact they're prolly the easiest way to get a job if you can battle IMO as they're prolly always on the lookout for any trainers who can be added to their rosters for training battles, public displays and random fantasy-style quests that people ask for their help with.

Gabi... eight stamps for yer intro, it has me bleedin' intrigued. If I may talk in-character for a moment, tho... relaaax, wouldya? I suspect my soul, body and every action is forfeit to Tsuyoi by this point anyways and I think I know him well enough by now to know that a)he's freakily possessive about what he considers 'his' and b)he wasn't trying as hard as he could back at Templa Taure. And out of character... boy am I so going to screw things up once I've finished in Kala Bier. :O

[Lady Vulpix]

Wow, Ade, there's 2 of you now and you're both talking to me! I hope Rhiannon's problem is not contagious. I wouldn't put it past Yssera to try to get you... or me, for that matter. I'm just urging you to be careful, and everyone else as well. Now this could be a good time for a discussion at the planning thread, wouldn't it?

[Ace64]

Yeah, by corruption, that's sort of what I meant. I wasn't sure whether Reaper was always a monster or just became that way, and I went with the latter. My scenario will be finished either today or tommorow, but I'd thought I'd ask: what's the difference between fighting a trainer part of the MTU, and one who's not?Is there any dis/advantages, or anything?

[Lady Vulpix]

I'm not sure if I understand your question, but mercenary trainers normally battle for money, since that is their job. They work at the MTU building, and often participate in events like the maze, the Training Grounds or some parties... any events that require trained pokemon, and especially battling.

Other trainers need to find some other way to make a living. They might make a bet and then get some money if they win a battle, but not enough to live on. Trainers who are neither MTU members nor Dragon Tamers may have different amounts and kinds of experience, while MTU members are generally professional (or at least intending to become so).

[Ace64]

Ok, that's fine. Even in not understanding the question, you still answered it for me. Thanks Gabi.

[Lady Vulpix]

I'm glad I helped... if only I knew how.

Shonta and I are both online now.

[Ace64]

[color=blue]A/N: Er...not too many.Trey's part of the MTU now, so any DT-related missions I will NOT be doing. Instead,I'll be sticking to RBG's and whatever other random thing I can get involved in. RBG's cost stamps! So...I'm off to sell my soul for fictional currency...

Now, for my other RBG...Bye.
-------------------------------------------------------

“Baldy!”

“Helmet head!”

“Coward!”

“Ugly!”

Cooler and Prophecy stood a few feet apart from each other, locked in a silent glare. Zake, Destai, Deo and Troit watched with mingled amusement and trepidation. After insults came shoving, and from shoving came a fight. It was never anything serious; the two were still too young to do any serious damage to each other. But in the process of battling, they sometimes got careless. Furniture got broken, lamps smashed, floors scratched.

All in all, it was the start of another typical day in Trey’s small home. It had been a few days since his first battles in the maze, and he was still no closer to joining the Dragon Tamers. The MTU was completely separate from the Tamers’ organization, and there were few trainers who joined with both factions. In the end, Trey had followed Justin’s advice and became a card-carrying member of the MTU.

As part of the MTU, most of his responsibilities were focused more on training and Pokemon battles, which suited him just fine. Some members worked as Pokemon coordinators, others as bodyguards for politicians, and still others training instructors. Being a part of the MTU gave one access to their highly specialized training facilities, as well as the option of being placed on a contact list which allowed for one to notified via Pokegear of job opportunities. However, the MTU was technically not part of the Dragon Tamers.

So he had not joined the DT. Was that really so bad? He was still in a position to help people if needed, he was still “in the know.” DiAnnio and Reaper had been decisively defeated on their island, though the exact details of their loss had yet been made clear. The Crimson Blades were finished. Right?

From what Trey had heard, the Dragon Tamers were currently undergoing some kind of recon mission in another region… searching for an elusive dragon. Yessera, was it? Yssira? he thought, racking his brain for the hard-to-pronounce name. Gah… whatever it was. What happened to simple Pokemon names, like Sparky or Ratty, or Bruce?

In any case, the missions of the DT had nothing do with him. The MTU was not part of their division, and he was not subject to their rules. That was fine. If some problem did rise- with that dragon or the Blades- something told him that they would not refuse a willing trainer in a time of need. In the meantime, he…

THUMP.

There was a hard bang coming from the next room, and Trey got out of bed, annoyed. It seemed that Cooler (or Prophecy, he could never tell which) had picked another fight, and was now settling it the old fashioned way. Each of his Pokemon was unique in their own way, and interacted differently with each other, but only Cooler and Prophecy seemed to have problems with each other. Both of them were fine as long as the other wasn’t in view.

Troublesome, he thought. How can we work as a team if a few are divided? There’s got to be some way for them to get along… He left his room and walked into his living room, the volume rising as he approached. Cooler and Prophecy were rolling around on the floor, squabbling. At the moment, the Squirtle was too preoccupied by keeping the dragon’s large jaws away from his face to notice the trainer.

Zake had taken a seat upon his small but comfortable couch, his arms crossed and a wry grin on his face. Destai had retreated to his den, a small mound of old blankets and sheets, next to an armchair. He watched the fighters closely, his head between his paws. Troit was hovering near the two wrestlers, looking on anxiously, while Deo laughed raucously, energized and shouting encouragement.

“Aaah!” Cooler’s grip on the Bagon’s jaw slipped, and Prophecy darted her head forward, mouth opened wide. As her jaws snapped shut with a CLICK!, Cooler withdrew, pulling his body into his shell in time to avoid her teeth. Frustrated, Prophecy stood and seized the shell with her teeth, worrying it the way a dog worries a bone.

“Don’t break him in two, Prophecy,” Troit cautioned, watching her nervously. Prophecy grunted but did not reply, her mouth full of shell.

“Nawwww…” Deo said loudly, overpowering the Grimer’s voice in sheer volume. He rocked back and forth quickly, obviously excited. “Don’t break ‘im, toss ‘im!”

Prophecy grunted again, twisting her powerful neck muscles to the right in a wind-up, taking the Voltorb’s suggestion. But just as she released the turtle, she squealed in shock and began to gag. A small blue paw had poked out of the shell far enough to grab a hold of Prophecy’s tongue. Unable to bite the hand that seized her, Prophecy shook her head from side to side quickly, trying to break the turtle’s grasp.

“GUYS! KNOCK IT OFF!”

KRASH!

Surprised by Trey’s cry, Cooler abruptly released Prophecy’s slippery tongue and went flying through the air, bouncing off the floor- finally slamming into one of the legs of a table- which snapped, sending the lamp atop it sliding to the floor. At the second, duller CRASH! of breaking pottery, Destai flinched and barked loudly. Prophecy and Deo turned, guilty expressions on their faces as they looked into Trey’s fuming face.

“Ooogh..” Cooler groaned, woozily emerging from his shell. Slowly, he climbed to his feet, rocking from side to side. He seemed unfazed by the destruction around him, though that may have been because of his dizziness more than anything else. “That hurt just a LITTLE more than it should’ve…”

“Cooler…” Troit said, his voice lowered to a whisper. When the Squirtle glanced at him, he poked a formless finger in Trey’s direction.

“GWAH!” Cooler cried, shocked. Quickly, he positioned himself between the human and the remains of the table and struck a nonchalant pose. An overly-large smile appeared on his face. “Oh, uh… hey, Trey. What’s going on?”

Trey’s face was blank as he stared Cooler down. “Sorry, pal, but you’re not quite big enough to block the ruins of my good table from view. Now you and Prophecy, front and center!”

Cooler blanched, quickly assuming a military pose in front of his trainer. Usually, Trey was an easy-going guy, but for some reason, he seemed a little more upset… what had he done? Prophecy sidled up next to him, their argument forgotten. Trey’s voice softened, and he knelt down, to eye-level. The two Pokemon dropped their gaze.

“Hey, c’mon… look at me. I’m not mad, okay? Forget the table.”

Slowly, the two raised their eyes, meeting his.

“That’s better. Now, listen up. You two are a part of a team, and a team works together. Everyone works together, because individual actions affect the entire team, right?”

“But he-”

“I didn’t-”

“Shh!” Trey said, bringing a finger to his lips as the two began talking at the same time. They quickly quieted down, and he continued. “You know, your arguing could really have a negative effect on your training. You both seek strength, but…” he paused, allowing his face to take on a thoughtful expression, “I don’t know if that’s possible if you can’t be trusted to work together. What can I do?”

“Get rid of him!” Prophecy cried, jerking her head towards Cooler.

“Get rid of her!” Cooler shouted at the same time, stabbing a finger at the dragon.

Trey shook his head, exasperated. “I won’t ‘get rid’ of anybody. I chose you for a reason, and I won’t go back on the choice. I guess your only option is to learn to get along with each other. Any ideas?”

Both Pokemon were silent, their fondest dreams of seeing each other disappear, shattered. Then Cooler spoke up, “Well, maybe when one of us is in a battle, the other should be nowhere near. We could just stay away from each other, all the time!” Cooler smiled, thinking he had found the solution. Even Prophecy nodded in agreement.

“Well, that sounds like a good idea… which is exactly why I’m going to do the opposite.”

Cooler’s grin disappeared off his face so fast it seemed like an optical illusion. “Huh? Opposite?”

“That’s right,” Trey said, straightening. “From now on, whenever we have a two-on-two battle, you and Prophecy will always fight together. Furthermore,” he added, watching their surprised faces with some amusement, “whenever one of you is in a single battle, the other will be there to spectate.”

“I don’t understand, Trey.” Prophecy growled, her eyes narrowing in distaste at the idea of fighting alongside the Squirtle. “This doesn’t seem like a good idea to me at all.”

“Of course it is! You both want to be strong, so what better way to achieve that then by fighting as a team?”

“I could think of twenty other ways…” Prophecy muttered. Trey chose to ignore her, and went on.

“So if you want to make your dream come true, you will have to come to some sort of an arrangement and work together. Otherwise, you’ll lose battle after battle,” Trey reasoned.

“C’mon Trey, you’re not serious…right?” Cooler asked, his voice bleak.

“Like a heart attack. In fact, why don’t we put it to the test? The Dragon Tamers aren’t up to anything so far as I know, so I’m sure we have time to find someone interested in a two-on-two today.”

“Forget about it. I refuse to work with him,” Prophecy said stiffly, her eyes hard.

“Realllly?” Trey asked, stretching out the word as he looked up at the ceiling. “Oh. Then I guess I’ll have time to train you some other day… let’s go, Destai, Troit…” He turned his back on them, going to the door, counting off the seconds until…

“Wait!”

Until the indomitable pride of a dragon broke.
XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

Ten minutes later, Trey was walking down a random street in Sector Alpha. Prophecy and Cooler were a few feet ahead of him, walking as far away from each other as possible without leaving his sight. Next to Trey was Troit, who had come for lack of anything else to do. Zake had chosen not to come, deciding to train instead. Destai had gone back to sleep, relieved as quiet in the house was restored once more. On Trey’s other side rolled a smirking Deo, who had come along to watch any of the duo’s battles. Partly because he loved seeing a good argument just as much as being in one.

“Do you really think this will work out, Trey?” Troit whispered, as they walked along the streets, into one of the city’s many squares. Here, there was a large circular area free of vendors where a trainer could sit and relax, often releasing several of his Pokemon. It was a relaxed atmosphere, and one of the only places where inner-city battling was allowed, provided there were no high-level attacks flying around. Even early in the morning, there were quite a few trainers, milling about and talking in small group.

There was no real need to whisper- neither Cooler nor Prophecy’s hearing was particularly acute, and the conversation around them was loud enough to drown out his words. Trey didn’t bother to keep his voice down, as he scanned the area.

“No reason it shouldn’t, right? If they didn’t want to fight together, then they wouldn’t be here now. But like I thought, they can’t fight desire.”

“Well, if you ask me,” Deo interrupted loudly, “I think that however this battle thing turns out, it’s gonna be somethin’ to see. An’ by ‘somethin’ to see,’ I mean that it prob’ly involved Cooler and Prophecy smackin’ each other around in a battle.”

Troit shook his head, and Trey took a step back, avoiding several poisonous droplets from splattering across his sneakers. “I dunno. I think they’ll surprise you, Deo.”

Deo smirked, but said nothing, and Trey took the opportunity to look for another trainer. There was a group of three trainers by the fountain, who were staring curiously as Cooler as he leapt into the water without any self-consciousness at all. Prophecy watched him with barely hidden contempt, before turning her back on him and sitting down. Troit approached her.

“Something wrong, Prophecy?”

“Besides the obvious?” Prophecy said, with a scowl. She indicated Cooler with a jerk of her head. “I can’t believe you like that that guy.”

“Well, Cooler can be a little loud,” Troit replied uncertainly, hesitant to speak ill of his companions. “But, he’s good at heart, really.”

Prophecy snorted, but said nothing.

“Why do you dislike him so much, anyway?” Troit asked, curious.

Prophecy was silent, giving him a piercing look. Troit met her gaze steadily, a little confused. Finally, after a few moments, she answered.

“Did you know that I was also born at the same adoption center as you and Cooler?”

Troit scratched his head doubtfully, thinking hard. “I don’t remember ever seeing you there, and I think I would have…”

“I was there… I just… spent a lot of time on my own,” Prophecy said, her voice lowering and her eyes distant. It was a subtle change.

“I can relate,” Troit said, thinking of his own childhood. Rather than risk teasing and exclusion, he had spent most of his time away from the others, bitterly wishing he had joined in the fun.

Prophecy nodded, but from the look in her eyes, Troit guessed she had barely heard a word he had said. “The dream of every Bagon is a simple one: to fly, to soar high above the clouds, to feel the wind rushing beneath our wings. It is our deepest desire, our last thought before sleep and first upon waking. Often, we throw ourselves from high places to simulate the feelings of flight- even if it is only for a few seconds.”

“Sounds suicidal.”

“Our heads are rock hard…” Prophecy said dully.

“Ah. Sorry. So what does that have to do with Cooler?”

“Cooler….” Prophecy said, her countenance seeming to darken before his eyes. “He-”

“Yo!” Deo rolled up out of nowhere, interrupting Prophecy in mid sentence and snapping the two back into the present. An expression of sheer delight was on his face, which could only mean bad news. “Prophecy! Troit! Trey wants us! We need to move on- no trainers here.”

Prophecy got up without another word to Troit and walked over to where Trey and Cooler were standing, near the fountain. With a detached sense of loss, Troit wondered what Prophecy had been about to say. Who knows how long it would take until he found a moment of quiet time in the house to talk to her again?

ZZZZT!

A sharp jolt of grey lightning wound its way into the side of his body, hissing slightly, and Troit jumped out of his reverie. A small indentation had appeared where the attack struck, already being filled by the grime covering his body. Deo looked at him with an impatient expression on his face.

“Get the lead out, willya? Don’t make me wait…”

“I’m coming, no need for that,” Troit grumbled, following Deo back towards the fountain. Trey stood next to the fountain, with Prophecy and Cooler standing in front of them. The two Pokemon seemed to be arguing loudly, while their trainer watched with a half-exasperated, half-amused expression. As Troit came into earshot, he caught some of their conversation.

“Did not!”

“Did so!”

“Did not!”

“What’s going on?” Troit asked innocently. Prophecy and Cooler continued to stare daggers at each other, not breaking eye contact. Deo grunted and turned to the Grimer, an annoyed look in his eyes. Voltorbs had no shoulders, and therefore could not shrug, yet Troit knew that he was puzzled by the look in his eyes.

“I think it was one of their more common feuds- the water/dragon superiority issue,” Trey explained. In a lower voice, he added, “I would stop them but their reasons are so ridiculous, I do more laughing than scolding.” In a louder voice, he announced, “Let’s go, no takes around here.”

It began as an accident.

The five were making their way out of the square. A few more trainers were coming in from one of the side streets, and Trey diverted his Pokemon out of their path. Maybe the trainer didn’t like Voltorbs. Maybe it was a careless mistake. For whatever reason, one of the boys’ feet nudged Deo, who, being round, didn’t have total control over his own momentum.

With a grunt of pain, the Voltorb careened sideways, knocking into a nearby vendor’s cart. The cart rattled unsteadily from side to side, and a bottle filled with a golden substance toppled from the counter, crashing on top of Deo and covering him in the strange liquid.

“Deo!” Trey cried as he knelt in front of the Voltorb, a worried look on his face.

“What the hell?!” Deo yelped, rolling vigorously in place in an attempt to dry himself off. The liquid seemed to evaporate in steam, rising from Deo’s body before vanishing. But something had changed. The entire upper half of the orb Pokemon had changed from dark red to a brilliant gold color, the liquid binding itself to his cells almost instaneously. The merchant hurriedly stepped from behind his shop and glanced at the bottle’s label among the pieces of shattered glass.

“Gold juice, why did it have to be gold juice?!” the vendor cried, more concerned with his merchandise than the Voltorb. He quickly gathered the shards of glass into his palm, somehow avoiding cutting himself. “Luckily it was just one bottle…”

“What happened? Is Deo okay?” Trey asked urgently. The shopkeeper flapped a hand at him, unconcerned.

“Your Voltorb will be fine. The color change is permanent, but you could always purchase another bottle to go back to the original color. And speaking of purchase…” the vendor’s face suddenly became as purple as a plum in his anger. He stood and leveled a finger at Trey, then at the boy had kicked Deo, who stood with a slight smile on his face. “ONE of you is going to pay for that gold juice!!”

“Don’t look at me!” the boy protested, a smirk on his face. “It was his Pokemon that’s covered in that juice, remember?”

“Only because you kicked Deo,” Trey pointed out, getting angry. “And I’m still waiting for an apology, by the way.”

“Hey, it was an accident!”

“All I know is,” the merchant began, his tone icy, “that one of you better pay up, or I’m releasing my Ursaring and letting her slash out the difference.”

“Don’t you mean hash out the difference?” Troit asked, confused.

“No- I meant slash.”

“I have an idea,” the kid said, pulling a few Pokeballs loose from his waist. “I see you have Pokemon- why don’t we have a battle, two-on-two? Loser pays full price?”

“Sounds fine to me,” Trey said, turning to Cooler and Prophecy. He winked and gave them the thumbs-up. In a low voice, he muttered, “You two are up. Do your best- I didn’t bring any money today, and I don’t fancy meeting that vendor’s bear.”

“So, hey, no pressure!” Cooler muttered, stepping in front of his trainer. Trey ignored his comment, turning to Deo. The Voltorb seemed to be fine and was looking at his reflection in a puddle with an expression of awe. And, he had to admit, the gold against white didn’t look too bad.

“I kind of like the look, Deo. What do you think?”

“I’m not sure,” Deo said slowly. He turned to the human. “It’s not my natural color, but it’s easy on the eyes, isn’t it?”

“Fight ‘til faint?” The boy interrupted, as he threw two standard Pokeballs. A Bulbasaur and a Spearow appeared, both looking ready to fight. Deo rolled away from him, finding a good place to watch the battle. I guess he’s fine with it.

Trey turned around, studying his opponent’s Pokemon carefully. “Of course!” The Bulbasaur had the advantage over Cooler, but besides that, there were no other circumstances to be aware of. The Squirtle would have to stay away from the grass Pokemon and trust in Prophecy to take care of it. But would they be able to put aside their feelings for this fight?

“We’re champs when it comes to a two-on-two battle. You two are going down,” the Spearow boasted, a fierce look in her eyes. The bird flapped her short wings hard and took to the air, fluttering above her companion.

“Well, one of us is,” Cooler said with a smirk, shooting a sideways glance at the female Bagon. “The other’s gonna be CHAMP!”

Prophecy snorted. “Why don’t you worry about surviving the first round, hmm? Then you can talk.”

Bulbasaur slowly looked from one to the other, his eyes wide in disbelief. “Are you two supposed to be on the same team?!”

FIGHT!!!

L 8 Bulbasaur and Spearow
Vs.
L 6 Bagon and Squirtle

“Let’s strike hard, guys! Razor Leaf, Bulby! Spearow, act as air support!” The challenger ordered, and suddenly the two were all business.

The Bulbasaur bent low, his bulb seeming to grow before the duo’s eyes. The plant seemed to slowly expand, then, with a slight puff of air, what looked like hundreds of tiny petals burst from the opening. With a grunt, the grass Pokemon’s eyes narrowed, and the leaves shot forward. His partner followed in their wake, dive-bombing towards them.

“You two know what to do!” Trey called, a smile on his face.

“They do?” Deo asked blankly.

“We do?” Cooler said at the same time. But there was no time to think, and so he fell back on instinct. When in trouble, withdraw. Quickly, he shut his eyes and pulled back into his shell, hiding himself from view. Prophecy unfortunately had no shell and there was no time to leap out of the way. So she did the next best thing.

Quickly, she approached the withdrawn turtle and lifted him up into the air with her jaws, positioning him in front of her face like a visor. Her teeth had a tenuous hold on the slippery case, but constant training had improved her grip. Prophecy aimed herself in the direction of Bulbasaur, bent low and charged straight forward.

“Hey, what the? Leggo a’ me!” Cooler’s muffled voice cried from the hollows of the shell. Prophecy grinned and tightened her grip. The Squirtle’s shell was acting as a shield, protecting the sharper leaves from whipping into her face and vulnerable eyes. She could feel the stinging slaps and stings as several leaves nicked her legs, but they were superficial cuts at best. Under the weathering assault, there was nothing Cooler could do to stop her.

“Bulbasaur, Razor Leaf again! Knock her down!” the boy cried urgently, and with a grunt, the grass Pokemon hurriedly obeyed. A second wave of leaves followed, but they proved to be just as ineffective as the first wave. A few thudded painfully into Cooler’s shell, but the remainder bounced off easily, as if the surface was ice. Having seen Cooler perform the move many times before, she recognized it at once: Mirror Coat.

Out of the corner of her eye, she could see the Spearow gaining altitude, lining up with her. Then, the large bird dived, going into a dizzying array of spins which only increased its speed: Drill Peck. The local Fearow and Pidgeotto around Trey’s home had performed the technique differently, but the results were the same.

“Eeeeeeear!” the Spearow cawed loudly, a battle cry that needed no words of explanation. As the bird closed in, the Bagon expertly flicked her head toward him and opened her jaws, releasing the Squirtle’s shell. Like a guided missile, the shell spinned and twirled through the air, and the Spearow was moving much too fast to change its course.

CLONK! THUD! BUMP!

The Spearow fell to the ground in a heap of feathers, all the grace in her flight knocked out of it by Cooler’s shell, which hit the ground a few feet away. Cooler emerged from his shell slowly, a little woozy and scratched up by the Bulbasaur’s attack, but otherwise fine.

Bulbasaur’s Razor Leaf attack had ceased as he gaped in shock. The Bagon had used her teammate as a shield- then had thrown him away like loose garbage!

“What kind of heartless… You two are friends?” The Bulbasaur breathed, his mouth agape.

“Not exactly,” Prophecy said, before sinking her teeth deep into the small bulb on the grass Pokemon’s back. As the smaller creature cried out in pain, Prophecy lifted her head up and shook, worrying the plant like a dog with a bone. Lengthy, flexible vines sprouted from the base of the bulb and struck again and again at her hardened skull, to little effect.

“Don’t lose your cool, Bulbasaur! Use Sleep Powder!”

The struggling Pokemon suddenly let slack, ceasing his wild struggles, and for a moment, Prophecy thought that she had killed him in her shaking. Her grip loosened slightly, and that was all the Bulbasaur needed. There was a soft hiss from just below her nose, like the exhalation of air. A sudden bitter sensation assaulted her taste buds, and she abruptly released her hold on the Bulbasaur, beginning to cough and gag. A fine, light-blue powdery substance had coated the surface of her tongue, and no matter how many times she spat and hacked, the dust wouldn’t go away.



By the time Cooler had shaken off his dizziness, Prophecy had keeled over in a deep sleep. A few feet away, the Bulbasaur had taken a defensive stance, his bitten bulb facing the sky. Cooler observed that the bulb seemed to shining faintly with some inner light, before realizing that he was preparing for a Solarbeam attack- at point blank range!

“Don’t see why I should help, after what you did,” Cooler grumbled, reluctantly heading towards the sleeping dragon. But I guess I need some help to beat these guys, even if it is her. But before he could take more than three steps, he felt a sudden sharp pain on the back of his skull. He turned around, rubbing his head gingerly, to see the Spearow above him, recovered from her fall.

“Not so fast!” she squawked, wheeling about for another dive. Cooler ducked quickly, avoiding her sharp talons as she zoomed past him and back up into the sky. “You’re not getting away so easily. My partner will take care of that dragon, and he doesn’t need interference!”

“What is it with you birds anyway? So troublesome, and always getting in the way…” the Squirtle complained in an annoyed tone. Inwardly, his mind was a storm of activity, threatening to overwhelm him. Where the intellect failed, instinct had to kick in. (Prophecy, if she was awake, would probably say his intellect failed quite a good deal.) Cooler set off a quick run, while the Spearow flew and circled over his head, pecking at him in an attempt to hamper his progress.

“Solarbeam- now!” the boy cried, seeing the speeding Squirtle. The chance for a two-for-one attack was too good to miss. The Bulbasaur obeyed, letting out a roar as the energy built up inside its bulb reached a head. His paws dug furrows into the ground as the beam released all at once, rocketing towards the sleeping Bagon.

This is gonna hurt, Cooler thought, before throwing himself in the way of the attack. Not one to be considered suicidal, he quickly withdrew into his shell as he launched into the air. Moon. Moon is the opposite of sun. Lunar light. Almost in response to his thoughts, the Squirtle’s shell took on an extra gleam, just like before. The Bulbasaur’s Solarbeam attack connected squarely with the turtle, pushing him backwards through the air. Yet Cooler felt no pain, only a slight heat against the top of his shell. Angling his body sideways, he refracted the beam towards the Spearow flying above him.

“Wow, what a move,” Trey said softly, a little surprised in spite of himself. ZZAO! The solar energy slammed straight on into the Spearow, slamming her out of the air and scorching both of her wings. The momentum of the blast sent Cooler directly into Prophecy, striking her in the stomach with her shell and waking her in the process. Without skipping a beat, the two quickly became involved in an argument.

“What did you hit me for?!”

“It was an accident! Though, maybe if you weren’t sleeping in a fight, you wouldn’t worry about taking a hit!”

“This coming from a guy who hides in his shell during battle!”

“Eh, Trey?” Troit asked, and the trainer looked down at him. “Aren’t you going to give them any orders? Why are you letting Cooler and Prophecy fight using instinct?”

“Ah, well, remember what I said before?” Trey said, scratching his head a little sheepishly. “They need to battle together, and think of each other on their own. If I help them do that, then it’s worthless. Though, I’m starting to wonder how smart that was…”

“Spearow! Are you alright?” the boy asked, concern beginning to seep through his mask of calm. The bird cawed weakly, flapping her wings in a pitiful attempt to take flight, but most of her feathers had been burnt away in the reflected attack. What plumage was left was not enough to sustain her in flight. Angrily, the boy recalled his Spearow, leaving Bulbasaur on his own.

Meanwhile, Cooler had been trying- unsuccessfully- to damage the Bulbasaur. But whenever he got close enough to tackle him, the grass Pokemon would seize him with his vines and toss him away. After the third failed attempt, Prophecy spoke up.

“You know, Trey taught me a new attack the other day. It would be the perfect thing to beat this guy.”

“What?!” Cooler cocked his head sideways, disbelieving. “Why would Trey teach you a new attack and not me?”

“That’s not important right now,” Prophecy snapped, irritated. “Just get me airborne, and I’ll do the rest.”

“Fine,” Cooler grunted. “Follow my lead- I have an idea.”

Just like before, Cooler charged the Bulbasaur, shouting a war cry, and Prophecy followed close behind. The tiny turtle withdrew into his shell and threw himself forward, sliding along the ground like a hockey puck. Taking the cue, Prophecy leapt forward atop the shell, balancing precariously atop it.

“That won’t work,” the Bulbasaur cried, using one of his vines to slap the shell off course. The impact sent Cooler flying into the air, taking the Bagon with him. From her position, Prophecy leapt into the air, diving head first like a Pokemon missile. Before the grass Pokemon could move, the rock hard skull of the Bagon had connected with his much softer head. It was more than enough to knock Bulbasaur out cold.

Prophecy and Cooler win!
Prophecy grew to L 7!
Cooler grew to L 7
Cooler learned Bubble!

“Looks like you’re paying up, kid,” Trey said, trying to keep a grin from showing up on his face. He was proud of his Pokemon- even if they still had a long way to go with teamwork, he was glad to see that their dislike had not affected their strategy.

“Yes, you pay- now!” the vendor declared, his eyes hard. Reluctantly, the boy dumped a handful of stamps into the vendor’s hands (who counted the amount carefully before walking away) and sauntered off. A few of his friends shot Trey dirty looks. Well, it did seem bad for them to pay the debt of an item used for another trainer’s Pokemon, but… it had been his suggestion, right?

“That was a great job!” Troit congratulated as the fatigued pair returned to the group. Prophecy took the comment in stride, but Cooler couldn’t resist a bit of boasting.

“Didja see the way that I blocked that Solarbeam? Amazing, huh? Tell ya the truth: even I wasn’t sure my shell was that strong…”

“What do you think of your new colors, Deo?” Prophecy interrupted.

“Well, I could grow used to them,” the Voltorb remarked, showing off his golden sheen with a slight roll to either side. “and seeing as how Trey is too poor to even afford the juice to restore me to my true color, it seems as if I’ll have to be, for now.”

“Hey! I’m not that poor…” Trey replied in a wounded voice. Then suddenly, he brightened. “Of course, I could save more money by buying less of that insanely over-priced Poke-chow and just leave it to you to forage.”

“Hey, let’s not go nuts here.”

[The Blue Avenger]

I'd like a double RBG for Kiva and Anzu, from the general adoption center. *hands over last 14 stamps* Thank you.

[Lady Vulpix]

Kiva and Anzu? That's bound to be fun. They're goingto battle a Rhyhorn and an Onix... I hope they're not intimidated by the size of their opponents.

Trey, you have a lot of imagination! I enjoyed reading your story. I'm just surprised that you told Prophecy and Cooler to forget the table; especially if you're low on money, I would assume it wouldn't be easy toreplace. And what's that about the moon being the opposite of the sun? But I liked your story. It was very creative. Take 21 stamps. ¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢

[*Murkrow]

Ah, screw it. I had an idea for the maze scenario and I'll just go from there, I think. *Gives 7 Stamps* That's for Latino, my L9 Murkrow to fight an opponent from the Electric Shutdown Retirement System.

First time in nearly three years that he will have fought here. I should write more o_O

[Lady Vulpix]

I won't complain if you write more... Well, maybe if you post a 20+ page story I will, but I'll enjoy reading it anyway. Latino will battle a Mareep. Have fun!

[Ace64]

Thanks for the compliments! Glad you liked it...it took long enough. Heh, the whole moon/sun thing was just my explanation of how Mirror Coat might work, for Squirtle anyway. In order to reflect an attack, he has to think of the opposing element. Solarbeam is solar energy, and the moon/lunar light/... lol. It made more sense in my head.As for the table...it was cheap?

[Lady Vulpix]

Ok, I guess. Lunar light is reflected solar light, but as long as it works, we don't have to tell Cooler. And if there's a place that sells cheap furniture I'd like to see it... I guess most of us could benefit from it. But then again, we haven't met in-story. Not yet, at least.

[The Blue Avenger]

Mm hm, here's my RBG for Kiva and Anzu, called "Memories Past." Enjoy.

---

“Easy… easy…” Jeff muttered while gently squeezing a sickly green liquid from an eyedropper into a vial filled with a viscous red substance. With the recent events in his life, not the least of which included going to the Shifting Isles to help take down a terrorist organization, he had not had a lot of time to fulfill his duties to the Dragon’s Guild. So, Jeff began to more and more often find himself in the Guild’s laboratory, analyzing chemical reactions and performing myriad experiments for use in other departments of the Guild.

A small droplet of the green liquid fell from the dropper and into the vial, where it bubbled viciously for a moment before turning the concoction an eerie purple. Jeff sighed and gave a relieved grin.

Suddenly, a voice rang out from nowhere. “Whatcha working on?” Jeff gasped sharply and dropped the vial in his hand. It fell to the floor and shattered, but the purple mixture retained its shape and merely jiggled a bit.

Jeff bent down and scowled before starting to pick up the shards. Glancing around the room, he caught sight of a familiar Smeargle: Mona. He shook his head slightly and stood back up, throwing away the broken vial.

“Mona…” he said quietly, “ah, please be careful in here. Don’t just sneak up on people like that when they’re working.” He rubbed his chin. “But since you asked… I’m working on a top-secret experiment for the Guild. Apparently there’s no such thing as an artificial sweetener with no aftertaste, and they want to rectify that. So the job fell on my shoulders.”

Mona frowned. “That doesn’t sound terribly important.”

“Well, I can’t hope to fathom the minds of the Guild’s higher-ups anytime soon,” Jeff said, punctuating his sentence with a shrug. He picked up the gelatinous purple blob and held it out. “This is what I’ve got so far. Want to try?”

Mona nodded eagerly and stuffed the brew into her mouth. She chewed a few times experimentally before a look of panic crossed her face, which was also rapidly turning green. She ran out of the room, yelling “BATHROOM!” at the top of her lungs.

Jeff watched her leave and turned back to the lab table. “Hm. I guess it still needs work.” He picked up another vial, this one filled with a nasty grey substance, and carefully held the eyedropper over it. Just as he was about to squeeze it, though…

RING! RING!

BOOOOM!

The first noise was that of Jeff’s pager going off, as he found out when he reached for his pocket. The second noise was that of too much of the green liquid reacting with the grey liquid.

The door to the lab slammed open, once again revealing Mona. She scanned the room, her eyes falling on Jeff, whose upper torso then more closely resembled a charcoal briquette. He coughed, expelling a small cloud of soot.

“Jeff!” Mona yelled. “Are you okay?!” To her surprise, however, in lieu of an answer, Jeff merely grinned broadly.

“Mona…” he said, smiling from ear to ear, “we now have a house.”

***

Minutes later, the trainer found himself standing on what a street sign proclaimed to be the corner of Tycho Avenue and Kepler Way. The house at said corner was a squat, small, average-looking place, but that didn’t stop Jeff from tearing inside and laughing triumphantly.

Peeking inside each of the rooms, Jeff noted a den, a bedroom, a bathroom, a large kitchen – Bobbery will love that, he thought – and a room that seemed to serve no particular purpose, but, Jeff thought, could be easily converted into an exercise room or something like it. Glancing out the back door, Jeff looked out over the massive backyard. Apparently, word had reached whoever chose the house for him that he had a wide variety of Pokemon, some of which would eventually grow to huge proportions, because the backyard was almost excessively large. Large trees growing at the edge of the property provided plenty of shade, and there was a small pool close to the door, presumably for Kiva.

The sound of something landing softly behind him alerted Jeff to someone’s presence. Turning around, he saw Maza, who had seemingly appeared out of nowhere.

“These our new digs, Jeff?” Maza asked rhetorically. “Mona said we had a house, but she didn’t say anything else about it.” He gazed over the yard, whistling appreciatively. “Yeah, I could get used to this.”

“Good,” Jeff replied. “Can you Teleport us back to the barracks? The movers are showing up there soon, and I want to get things packed away before then.” Maza nodded, and the pair soon felt the familiar world-bending effects of teleportation.

The scene back at the barracks could only be described as chaos; fairly well-organized chaos, in all honesty, but still chaos. Bobbery rushed back and forth, carrying a huge box that he occasionally dropped something in. Previsiona had Kurtzwick cornered, and was making him empty a giant burlap sack. Groviglio was fending off Raini, who was attacking him for no adequately explained reason. Jeff could hear noise from outside and assumed that the rest of his team was playing outdoors.

“Oh! Hi, Jeff!” Bobbery exclaimed, screeching to a halt. “Look, I’ve starting packing things up. Anything to help..” He placed the box gently on the ground. Upon looking inside, Jeff could see that most of his belongings had been neatly packed inside.

“Hey, thanks, man,” Jeff said. “I’ll take care of the rest.” He walked over to his bed and threw down his backpack. “Why don’t you go outside… and take everybody with you. I think I might be able to clean things up better without so much commotion.” Bobbery nodded, grabbed the squabbling Pokemon, and left.

“Man…” Jeff said quietly, sitting down. “I can’t believe we’re finally going to move into our own house.” He reached into the box Bobbery had dropped near the bed and pulled out a small photograph and a notebook. The picture was a familiar one: a father, son, and mother, standing in front of a modest one-story house. Jeff smiled and opened the notebook. It was lined with several old newspaper articles, and the one Jeff flipped open to had the headline “Local couple catches conman.” The picture accompanying it depicted the same mother and father, as well as a scowling man with flaming-red hair and piercing red eyes being led into a police cruiser. The next page’s article was entitled “Scam artist found guilty of insurance fraud, assault,” and the one after that labeled “Local heroes receive key to city.”

After that, the headlines began to turn progressively grimmer: “Back on the streets: famous swindler out on parole.” “Judge in fraud and assault case found dead.” “Mysterious fire kills local defense attorney.” “Northern Eagleland in state of emergency: the Twoson killings continue.”

The last page read “Showdown results in deaths of couple, terrorist: survivor in critical condition.”

Jeff silently closed the notebook, placing it and the picture back in the box. He lay down on his bed, staring at the ceiling. Mother… father… I will make you proud…

A few hours later, a sharp rap on the door to the barracks shook Jeff from his thoughts. He opened the door, revealing two Pokemon: an Onix and a Rhyhorn. The Rhyhorn gestured to a note stuck to one of its scales with tape; which read, “These Pokemon should be more than adequate to help you move. No charge.” Across the bottom, an incomprehensible signature was scrawled.

Jeff shrugged. “Okay. Lemme go grab the boxes.” He dragged the big box out the door first, followed by two or three smaller ones. The Onix grabbed the big one gently in its mouth, and the Jeff strapped the smaller ones onto the Rhyhorn’s back.

As the Pokemon ambled in the direction of the house, Jeff assembled his team. “Okay guys, it’s time to go. Say goodbye to the barracks for now.” As Jeff turned away to follow the movers, he failed to notice Kurtzwick sweeping across the room, swiping a few loose items, nor did he see Maza and Groviglio glaring daggers at each other. Some things don’t change.

The house was not a long walk away, and before Jeff knew it, he found himself inside it again, setting down the boxes in the middle of the den. His team immediately gravitated toward the yard, and, upon hearing a loud splash, Jeff realized that they had found the pool. As he sat down tiredly on the couch graciously provided by the Guild, a loud scream permeated the room. Jeff rushed out the back door…

…and saw the Onix and Rhyhorn tackling his teammates, left and right. From what he could see, they were all unconscious.

“HEY!” Jeff yelled, “What the hell are you doing?!” The Rhyhorn and Onix turned, and for the first time, Jeff got a good look at their eyes: totally white, completely pupil-less. They charged at him, but stopped in their tracks when a Kadabra appeared from the air in front of them. “Maza!” Jeff called, “We need to stop this now! Try this!” Jeff produced from his pocket a small, grey, metal box. He tossed it at Maza, who gripped it tightly in his hand. The box disintegrated, and suddenly, Maza began to glow. His body, cloaked by the white light began to change shape: when it finished, the Pokemon standing there was instead an Alakazam.

Battle time! Maza versus the bizarre moving Pokemon!
Maza – “Henshin a-go-go, baby!”
~
Onix – “…”
Rhyhorn – “…”

“Maza, let’s end this fast!” Jeff said. “Try your new Psycho Boost!” Maza nodded and closed his eyes, crossing his spoons in front of him. Suddenly, however, his eyes burst open, glowing a brilliant white. Maza let loose an eerie scream and dropped to the ground, unmoving.

“Maza…?” Jeff asked tentatively. “Are you -” But before he could answer that question, he, too, fell to his knees and then to the ground, motionless.

Battle over!

The two rock Pokemon roared triumphantly. However, they stopped when a rustling in the bushes alerted them to someone’s presence. The Rhyhorn nudged the bush with his nose, and was greeted with a blast of water. The Rhyhorn flew back and impacted with the Onix, knocking both of them to the ground.

“Nice shot, Kiva!”

“Thanks. Maybe that’ll teach them to mess with our friends!”

Battle time! Kiva and Anzu versus the bizarre moving Pokemon!
Kiva – “You need to cool down.”
Anzu – “Let’s heat things up!”
~
Onix – “…”
Rhyhorn – “…”

The Rhyhorn and the Onix angrily got to their feet. The Rhyhorn fumed and pawed the ground, glaring at the pair in front of him. Anzu grinned in response and wagged her tail at him. Rhyhorn howled and charged at the Flareon.

“Anzu! Are you insane?!” Kiva hissed.

“Don’t worry…” Anzu replied. “Just follow my lead. Move to the left on 3.” As the Rhyhorn reached them, Anzu yelled “3!” and sprung to the side. Kiva followed suit. The Rhyhorn glanced to both sides, but found itself unable to turn in either direction due to its short legs. It barreled across the yard and plowed into a tree. Anzu turned and grinned at Kiva, who smiled back.

However, their confidence was short-lived: just as the Rhyhorn began to slowly climb back to its feet, an ear piercing shriek threatened to shred Kiva and Anzu’s eardrums. Clasping their paws against their ears, the pair saw that the source of the noise was the Onix, looking very smug. It continued the aural assault, forcing Kiva and Anzu down to the ground, wincing in pain. The Onix closed its mouth, and, while its foes slowly got to their feet, it dove at them, its head glowing a pearly white. The Double-Edge attack hit, sending Kiva flying back, hitting the same tree that the Rhyhorn was trying to dislodge its horn from. The Vaporeon landed limply on the Rhyhorn, who barely noticed.

“Kiva! Are you okay?” Anzu called.

“Urgh… I’m fine…” Kiva replied, stretching and standing back up. “But we need to watch out for that. If I hadn’t had my Mermaid Curse, that attack would have almost finished me.” She nimbly jumped off of the Rhyhorn’s back. “Let’s try maneuver alpha.” Without waiting for confirmation, Kiva opened her mouth and launched a blast of water towards the Onix. Anzu nodded and closed her eyes, focusing on charging her attack. Electric sparks began to fly across her fur, and eventually they condensed into one big bolt. Anzu opened her eyes and mentally manipulated the electricity to fly at the Onix. The water and the electricity converged and hit the Onix, the water not only dealing damage but also conducting the electricity across Onix’s body, eventually reaching its mouth and shocking the Onix internally. The rocky snake roared and fell back as Kiva and Anzu exchanged victorious glances. However, they quickly turned around as they heard another roar: the Rhyhorn, having finally dislodged itself from the tree, charged at the pair again, but before it reached them, it halted and opened its mouth wide.

“I don’t like they way this looks, Kiva…” Anzu muttered, but before she could finish her statement, a barrage of rocks blasted forward from the Rhyhorn and slammed into her. Anzu skidded back, panting heavily. “Ugh… that wasn’t cool.”

“Don’t worry; we can win this,” Kiva replied.

Anzu nodded. “Right.” She reared up on her hind legs and began to clap her paws together wildly. The applause seemed to invigorate Kiva, who took on a slight blue glow as she blasted another Water Gun at the Rhyhorn. With the added boost from Anzu’s Helping Hand, the attack was more than enough to send the Rhyhorn flying. It landed hard on the ground, bounced, and landed again in the pool, where it sank. Fortunately for it, the water level wasn’t high enough to drown it, but regardless, the Rhyhorn was out cold.

The pair turned back to the Onix. It was back up, and it roared loudly as it regarded Kiva and Anzu. Inhaling deeply, the Onix seemed to glow an eerie turquoise as it charged up. It leaned over and exhaled a stream of green fire, surrounding Kiva and obscuring her from view. As the nasty breath attack cleared, Kiva came back into view, also breathing heavily.

“Anzu…” Kiva said quietly, “we need to finish this now. That thing will overpower us if we drag things out too much…”

“Agreed,” Anzu replied. “Let’s try the feint combination.” Kiva nodded and remained in her position as Anzu charged at her foe.

All the Onix saw was a small Flareon getting ready to Tackle it. Knowing that a Tackle wouldn’t do much, it held its location. However, it didn’t expect the jet of water that the Flareon was obscuring, and it subsequently got hit with it. The Onix flew back for the final time, knocked out.

Battle over! Kiva and Anzu win! They both grow to level 6!

Kiva and Anzu both sat down, both of them tired. However, before they could rest to any significant degree, two red beams of light snaked down from the sky, hitting the two rock Pokemon and making them disappear. Kiva and Anzu stood back up and stared at the sky, watching as a figure slowly lowered itself to the ground. It was a slightly tall young man, wearing a black jacket and dull red pants, with a shock of bright red hair and piercing red eyes. He was also apparently wearing a jetpack on his back.

“Well, well,” the man said snidely, “you two are better than I thought. I honestly thought the only threat that Mr. Azure had was his Abra, but here you two prove me wrong.”

“Who… who are you?” Anzu asked slowly.

“Now, now, my dear Flareon, all will be revealed in time. If your trainer were still conscious, I’m sure he or his Alakazam over there would recognize me… but they aren’t. Ah well. That only serves my purposes better.”

“What are you going to do to our friends?” Kiva hissed savagely.

“Relax. I just want to take Mr. Azure back to my place for a little… meeting. He and I have some unfinished business to attend to,” the man smirked.

“We won’t let you take him!” both Kiva and Anzu yelled simultaneously.

“Oh, really?” the man said. He snapped his fingers, and to Kiva and Anzu’s surprise, Maza slowly picked himself up off the ground and walked over to them. “Are you prepared to fight me,” the man asked of Kiva and Anzu, “if it means hurting your friend?”

The pair was silent.

“That’s what I thought. Now, if you would,” the man continued, then talking to Maza, “please Teleport us away.”

“Yes… master…” Maza replied dully. He grabbed the arms of Jeff and the mysterious man, and in a flash of light, all three disappeared.

[Lady Vulpix]

Jeff, I have read your story but, beforeI can rate it, I have some questions. You said the water conducted electricity across Onix's body. How is that possible? Onix's body does not conduct electricity. And why were you and Maza affected by whatever controlled the Onix and Rhyhorn, but not Kiva and Anzu?

[The Blue Avenger]

In regards to your first question, it's happened in the anime - in the battle versus Brock, a sprinkler system making Onix wet allowed him to be shocked by a Thundershock. I figured it was valid.

And what affected me and Maza was something unrelated to what controlled Rhyhorn and Onix. Neither of those effects had their origins on that specific day, so Kiva and Anzu would not have been affected by them.

[Lady Vulpix]

Oh, I see. In that case, you can have 12 stamps. Congratulationson Maza's evolution, by the way, and it's good to see you finally got a house, even if you didn't get to spend much time on it. So, the corner of Tycho Avenue and Kepler Way... should we add it to the list of locations on Sector Alpha? And does this mean you're not going to White Mountain? ¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢

[The Blue Avenger]

Sure, go ahead and add it. That house isn't going anywhere. I suppose you could mark it down as just a little ways from the barracks... even if that is incredibly vague.

And no, White Mountain probably won't be happening for me. Sorry. I have other plans.

Finally, I'd like an RBG for Trezzatura, from the general adoption center. *hands over 7 stamps*

[Lady Vulpix]

Heh, everyone gives that section a different name. Trezzatura will battle a Mr. Mime. Mmm... that could be interesting.

[The Blue Avenger]

Oh wow. This works out far more perfectly than you could ever imagine. Thanks.

[The Blue Avenger]

And with my last 7 stamps, I'd like a second RBG for Trezzatura, from the general adoption center again.

[Lady Vulpix]

Hm? Are you going to post 2 battles at once? Ok, here we go. Trezz is going to battle a Kabuto. Sorry for the delay.

[The Blue Avenger]

Not a problem. But yeah, I'll end up posting both of those matches around the same time.