¤Game¤ Dragon Tamers Battle Range v.24

[Lady Vulpix]

OK, now I am scared. And not precisely of the Numel who will face Wyrm in battle.

[Skye]

Thanks :3 I'll read over it again later and see what it has to say.

[DarkestLight]

Numel. That's different. And no worries. After I catch up and get back to Sector Alpha, the stories will be much shorter.

<.<..>.> Maybe. Teeheehee Numel

[lvl100mewtwo]

Finally finished ranking Skye's battles. Great work to all your pokemon and congratulations on the additions to your team. For the battles, you will receive a total of 27 stamps ¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢.

"In the meanwhile," Pardon me for being French, but isn't it supposed to be "In the meantime"? I'm pretty sure it is, but I am not 100% sure.

Great battles all around, quite gutsy taking on 2 Rhyhorn of that level. I did like the touch on the Earthquake move, quite interesting idea.

That's also quite a powerful attack on a Bronzong for that level, haha, but not illegitimate.

Keep up the great work!

[Skye]

Could be xD I'm still fixing my writing. And yeah. I figured if we can get our hands on any technique in the game, why can't the local NPC trainers? ;3

[Lady Vulpix]

They usually do, in my stories.

[classy_cat18]

FINALLY FINISHED! *cackles hysterically*

Destai’s POV

I sometimes judge my trainer’s choice in Pokemon. No, make that frequently. I have this thought four or five times a day. Every day I deal with bickering and general silliness, as well as Shonta’s inability to effectively correct their behavior. But I guess a human can do little when it comes to calming creatures more powerful than her, especially when they’re so adamant in arguing.

After the group left, some of the Pokemon heading downstairs to one room and others heading to the highest room, I decided to go practice myself. The “Blizzard Room” didn’t sound appealing to me. The cold wind would go right through my short coat of fur.

When Shonta asked me if I wanted to go to the Blizzard Room, I shook my head. “The Jungle Room is the only one left,” Shonta told me. “If you want to go up there, you won’t be able to use your Fire attacks.”

I suppose I could go up to the Blizzard Room. I’ll be running around, not standing still and shivering. I left her and went up the stairs to the Blizzard Room. The Ninetales was supposed to be up there to find a battle for herself.

The first familiar face wasn’t Trinity. Circe the Ralts was shivering but still managed to keep a smile. Katana the Zangoose was with her, barely showing signs of being cold, her face in the usual scowl. “Destai! How’s it hanging, dude?” Circe asked me cheerfully.

Although she couldn’t understand my language, her psychic nature allowed her to “read” me. “Oh, you want another battle,” she correctly predicted. “I found a Chinchou a few minutes ago but I think she’s hiding somewhere in here.”

A Chinchou would’ve been a good challenge since I’d be at a disadvantage. “Sorry, that one’s all mine,” Circe continued. I let out a growl, irritated that she wasn’t battling it already. “Chill, I’ll get her in a sec.”

“You should hurry up,” Katana finally spoke. Her stare was somewhere else, scanning the room. Her ears twitched to a sound that I could also pick up. “Destai isn’t one for patience.”

I ignored the cat ferret and watched Circe scoop up a pile of snow and shape it into a ball. “She’s been hopping around,” she told me before psychically lifting the snowball in the air and hurling it into the distance. A cry of surprise told us that she had hit her target. “Bullseye!”

The Chinchou hopped into view, shaking off the snow. “Nice shot! I was sure I was being quiet enough to avoid being spotted!”

“Dude, you kinda stand out.” I nodded in agreement. “Anyway, wanna battle or something?”

‘Or something’?

“I’m all for that! Loser gets made into a snowman!”

L10 Female Ralts (Circe) vs. L10 Female Chinchou

“I gotta warn you that my attacks are limited!” Circe told her opponent before glowing a light blue. However, her target wasn’t the Chinchou. Some of the snow on the ground rose and shaped themselves into little balls.

Snowballs? She was continuing her silly snowball fight?

“Let’s see you dodge!” She let them fly at Chinchou, who destroyed most of them with a single Thunderbolt. Circe jumped to the side to avoid the lightning and swung her arms. The remaining three snowballs swung around, sped up, and hit Chinchou in the back.

“Owwww!” Chinchou howled when the last one hit. “I think that one had a rock!”

Circe flinched and rubbed her hair. “Sorry dude, I honestly didn’t know. Really.”

Chinchou pouted and retaliated with a blast of water that hit Circe in the face, which made the Ralts cry out louder than I expected. “It’s hot! Darn it, that’s hot!”

“Hot?” I noticed that the snow was starting to melt where the water splashed onto it. “Hot water?”

“It’s Scald,” Katana explained. “I’ve read about it but this is my first time seeing it. A Water type attack that can burn.”

Circe uncovered her red face and moaned. “Now I’m burned. And soaked. Great.”

Chinchou laughed and blasted her with more water, making Circe cry out again. “Now it’s too cold!” I heard her say. This time she was knocked on her butt from the force. “Now everything’s spinning…”

“Take it easy!” Katana coached from beside me. “If you rush things, you’ll be more likely to have attacks backfire on you!”

Her opponent laughed even louder as Circe wobbled on her legs. “Ugh, gotta stay focused.” She spun to face Chinchou but it was too fast, and she ended up back on her butt.

She’s confused AND burned. I covered my face with a paw. Maybe I didn’t want to know the outcome of this battle.

“Okay, I got this,” Circe assured us. She got back to her feet and held out her arms. Both she and Chinchou were surrounded by a white aura. “Pain Split!”

Chinchou whimpered while Circe gave out a sigh of relief. “That should keep me in the battle for a little longer,” Circe said with a grin.

Chinchou pouted again, her antennae sparking furiously. Circe didn’t notice her look as she was back to wobbling around. “Thunderbolt!” she shouted as she shot Circe in the back. Circe squeaked in surprise…

…but didn’t appear to be in pain.

“No way! You should be KO’ed by now!” Chinchou said in protest.

Circe dusted herself off and turned to her. “Your ability is Volt Absorb, isn’t it?” She asked her.

“Why are you…ohhhhh.” She gulped.

“Yeah, you got it.” She glowed blue for another Psychic attack. A glowing orb formed in her hand and grew.

BOOM!

It exploded in Circe’s face! She yelped and shook her head.

“Confusion’s too much for you?” Chinchou joked. She swelled in size.

“Do-over!” She tried again and shot the orb of psychic energy at Chinchou. Chinchou tried to counter with another Scald, but the orb curved out of the way and slammed into Chinchou’s side. The Pokemon twitched, then got still.

Circe wins! She grew to level 11 and learned Double Team!

Circe sat next to the Chinchou and patted it. “It’s not good for a non-Ice type like you to faint in this cold room.”

A weak moan came from Chinchou. “Think you can help me downstairs? I just need to warm up a little.”

“Sure, dude.” She picked her up with psychic powers and carried her out the Blizzard Room. She winced with every step she took. I trotted after her. “Destai? No, I don’t need help. I can make it down a few stairs.”

I remained in the room with Katana, who probably didn’t even know the battle was over. She had been switching her attention from the battle to some spot in the distance. I barked to get her attention but she ignored me. What are you looking for?

“No need to use that language,” she finally said. “I can understand you just fine.”

I was still mildly surprised by her understanding. When it comes to my species, simpler sounds such as barks and growls are enough for communication among pack members most of the time. It’s easy in the case of simple commands during hunting, or for threatening or greeting. Putting more complex things in the language takes a while for us to learn. This was why it is hard for other Pokemon to understand me. “Why are you just staring off into the distance?” I asked her.

“You don’t see her, do you?”

My eyes obviously weren’t as sharp as hers. “No,” I admitted.

“Sorry, I forget that your eyesight isn’t as sharp as mine.” She started walking slowly in the direction where she was staring, then stopped and looked over her shoulder at me. “Come on.”

I followed her until she put up her paw. “Stop right there.” She pointed to a point in the snow. “See that spot? That mound? Watch it carefully.”

The bright snow made it hard for me to focus on it, but as soon as my eyes adjusted, the mound grew…and shrank. Then it did it again. It was like it was…

“Sleeping good-for-nothing,” Katana grumbled. “So much potential and she’s been wasting it.”

It only took me a second to realize what had happened. The good-for-nothing must be Trinity. She came up here and decided to hide in the snow while she took a nap.

Katana’s fur bristled with electricity. “It must be so nice to have all that warm fur, huh!” she yelled before giving the mound a Thundershock. The mound exploded as the big Pokemon burst out of it. “I swear, you are the laziest Pokemon on our team! And we have a freaking SLAKOTH!”

“It’s not my fault!” Trinity whined. “I was looking for a battle, I swear! But then something got the jump on me! Next thing I know, I’m asleep and buried in the snow!”

Katana’s scowl softened to a slight frown. “I can’t believe this. How can you let something get—“

“GET DOWN!” she interrupted before tackling her with the speed of a Quick Attack. Her tails slammed into me and knocked me back as well.

What was… I sat up and met the eyes of a Sneasel for a second before he turned to Katana and Trinity. He had landed on the same spot the two were a second ago.

Katana recovered and looked up at Trinity. “Th-thanks. How did you--?”

“He was coming up from behind you,” Trinity answered. “He tried to stay invisible with Faint Attack but I could hear the snow crunching from his footsteps.”

“Is that the guy who got the jump on you?”

“No, I don’t think so.”

“Ahem,” the Sneasel voiced. “I do not like being ignored, Katana.”

“You know him?” Trinity and I said together.

Katana stood and stared at him for a long moment, the tension breaking when a smirk appeared on the Sneasel’s lips. “Dagger!?” she exclaimed.

“Dagger?” Trinity echoed.

Dagger chuckled. “Yes,” he confirmed.

“Dagger was one of the Demons, on the same rank as me,” Katana explained. “So this is where you ended up after we split, huh?”

“Not the best place, but I get to battle until I drop.” He glanced at me again, then at Trinity. “Don’t tell me these two softies are your new teammates.”

She snarled at him. “Nothing has changed. You’re still an idiot.”

“And you’re defending them! Mushiness must be contagious!” He chuckled and waved a clawed paw at her. “Or maybe you were a cream puff from the very beginning.”

“Why you—“

“DAG!” a squeaky voice rang out. Over the snowbank next to us ran a Smoochum. She tripped and rolled to Dagger’s feet, lying there while panting heavily. “Dag…our position has been…con…com…com-prome…”

Even though his face was covered with short fur, he still seemed to go pale. He froze and slowly looked up from the Smoochum to Katana, whose face slowly gained Dagger’s smug look. “Friend of yours?” the Zangoose asked him with a smirk.

“Dag…” the Smoochum kept panting. “What’s…the word?”

A long silence followed before Dagger answered squeakily, “Compromised.”

“Yeah…compromised.” She got to her feet. “We must retreat and re…um…what’s the word?”

“Regroup.”

“Yes! Back to the chalkboard, Dag!” She tugged at his paw. Dagger hung his head, not correcting her this time.

“I’m the cream puff, huh?” Katana teased. She tapped her paw on her cheek. “Now that I think about it, you were always easier on the rookies than I was. Especially the young ones.”

“Not one more word!” Dagger snapped.

“Hey! You stop picking on Dag!” the Smoochum yelled at Katana. “We were on a special mission to spy on the enemy!”

Trinity sniggered before she jolted and yelped. “YOU! You were the one who jumped me!” she accused while poking the Smoochum with her paw.

Her cheeks puffed out. “You were a ‘spicious person! I had to deal with you swiftly and quietly!”

“You picked me at random, put me to sleep and ran like a chicken!”

“I’m no chicken! You’re the chicken! You’re a Torchic! Ain’t that right, Dag!”

“Not right now, Princess,” Dagger muttered while patting her head.

“You call her Princess?” Trinity questioned, sounding close to laughing again.

“That’s the name her trainer gave her.” Now he was blushing.

“Stop teasing him,” Katana scolded.

It was surprising that her tone would shift when she herself was teasing him in the beginning. Then again, she took care of two young Pokemon, so she probably just found it amusing that they ended up in similar situations. “You finally got to do something you like without having to be embarrassed,” she told Dagger.

The Sneasel let out a small growl that died down to a dull groan. “Speak for yourself. You found it funny.”

“Only because you tried to act like a jerk when Princess wasn’t around.” She put her hands on her hips. “So what are you teaching this kid? Your favorite way of getting battles?”

He let out a heavy sigh. “She thought that just going around and asking for battles was boring, so I started a little game.”

“I know you had good intentions in mind, but that’s not really a good strategy to teach her. She might get a Flamethower to the face from an irritated Pokemon.”

“Heeeeeeey! Was that supposed to be a jab at me?” Trinity whined.

“I’m still new to this,” Dagger grumbled.

Princess, who had tried her best to keep quiet and let the adults talked, couldn’t stay quiet anymore. “Who are these people!?” she demanded while hopping up and down. “Do you know them, Dag?”

“The Zangoose is an old friend.”

She narrowed her eyes at Katana. “Is she friends with the ‘spicious Ninetales?”

“She’s an ally.”

“An alley?”

“A…good guy.”

“I must test her wood!”

Another long silence before Dagger hung his head again. “Test her metal, Princess.”

“Oh! Yeah! I will test you, um…”

“Katana,” the challenged helped. “I don’t think you’ll be able to handle me, kid. Destai has been looking for a battle though. Try him.”

She pouted. “He looks too weak.”

I growled in response. It already stung to be insulted, but to be called weak by a child…

“I will not be overdecimated!” Princess cried out.

“Underestimated,” Dagger corrected.

“Yeah, that! You, the Ninetales! You will battle me!”

“Fine, fine,” Trinity groaned.

“You sure she’s fine battling an evolved Fire-type Pokemon?” Katana asked Dagger as the two Pokemon walked off.

“She’ll be okay. Hey, while we’re challenging others,” Dagger said, “How about the two of us battle?”

This will be interesting. I’d rather watch this battle than Trinity’s.

L12 Female Zangoose (Katana) vs. L15 Male Sneasel (Dagger)

The two Pokemon started circling each other slowly, then picking up speed until they were running at top speed, Katana on four legs and Dagger on two. “Come on, Katana! Is that the fastest you can run?” Dagger crowed.

“Of course not!” Katana panted.

“Good! So let’s knock it up a notch!” He charged for her at an even greater speed. Katana gasped and stood up on two legs a second before he slashed at her. She rolled in the snow and stopped face down. “You should know that I’d be faster than you!”

“Stop with the taunts,” Katana groaned as she pulled herself to her feet. “You threw off my strategy.”

“You actually thought I would take it easy on you?”

“Yes. You went with Slash. You could’ve finished me off with one Ice Punch.”

“Hm. Good point. Okay, I won’t make that mistake again!”

The two of them stood still before they charged each other. Katana caught Dagger’s next swipe with a sparking paw and gave him a weak Thundershock. Dagger winced and jumped back from her. “If I can’t dodge, I’ll just block!” Katana said with a smirk.

It was a match of two close-range pros. Either of them could do special attacks from a distance but that wasn’t their specialty. Plus, judging by their friendly mid-battle banter, neither of them was taking this very seriously anyway.

Katana interrupted my thoughts when she charged a glowing ball of brownish-red light. Dagger glared at her and shot an Ice Beam as she threw her Hidden Power, the orb of light colliding with the beam, the two attacks cancelling each other and kicking up a wall of snow. I was caught in the crossfire, my eyes blinded by a spray of snow.

How could that Hidden Power be as powerful as that Ice Beam?

There was a battle cry, and I cleared my eyes to see the two combatants inches away from each other. Dagger with his claws outstretched while in mid-pounce. Katana leaning back and her paws raised, another Hidden Power charged and ready to be released.

It caught Dagger right in the face! Point-blank! He was blasted back into a snow drift! My short fur bristled with excitement. I felt glad that I chose to watch the battle. The Zangoose was a fierce battler.

Katana immediately prepared for her next attack with a raised paw. A breeze started to flow across the room. It was strangely quiet, even with other Pokemon around us.

Then Dagger burst out of the snow bank, just like Trinity did before the battle. As little more than a blur, he slammed into Katana. The surprised opponent stumbled back but stayed on her hind legs. Silently, Dagger surrounded his paw in blue mist and punched Katana in the jaw.

Ice Punch! She’s done for! But the wind was still blowing.

She fell back from the punch. At the same time she hit the snow, the wind turned into a quick gust. Dagger gasped and attempted to shield himself from the scythes of wind that barraged him. His fur and skin was cut shallowly.

I stood and felt a whine rise in my throat. Katana wasn’t moving. Was she unconscious? My anxiety turned into relief when she stirred and finally sat up. “Owwww,” she groaned.

Dagger mirrored her actions. “Owwww,” he echoed.

Both Pokemon got to their feet. They wobbled and swayed as they struggled to stay standing. Dagger got stable and licked the scratches that Katana’s Razor Wind had created. “I’m up for more dancing. What about you?” he teased.

I narrowed his eyes. He wasn’t as damaged as I thought. But Katana will only be able to last one or two attacks. She was still wobbling. Her breath was coming out in steady puffs of smoke.

“Yeah,” she said breathlessly. “But unfortunately we’re close to the end.”

He grinned and charged with her with another incredible burst of speed. Katana’s eyes gleamed before she smoothly sidestepped Dagger’s attack.

Detect! His back was now exposed to her!

Dagger tried to stop and turn to defend but Katana was quicker, raising both arms and bringing her claws down on him in an X shape. He grunted and fell face first into the snow. After a long moment of tense silence, Katana sighed. “Guess he’s had enough.”

Katana grew to level 14! She learned Fury Cutter!

Katana pulled the unconscious Sneasel to a sitting position and lightly slapped his cheek. “Come on, get up. I am not carrying you.” I could hear a weak moan come from Dagger but he still didn’t wake up. “Great, and I needed to ask you some questions.”

I walked up to her. “Do you need help taking him to the Pokemon Center?”

She smiled a little. “I guess it can’t be helped. I wish it wasn’t at the other tower though. Let’s get the Smoochum and that insufferable Ninetales while we’re at it.”

Trinity’s POV

Why did I have to get stuck with the little kid? The so-called battle was a complete waste of my time.

Minutes ago…

L10 Female Ninetales (Trinity) vs. L8 Female Smoochum (Princess)

“Maybe a little Ember will get her to back off,” I muttered to myself while Princess was still standing still like her brain was turned off. It’d be too much of a bother to have everyone yelling at me for torching a little kid…

“PSYCHIC!” Princess screamed as she caught me off guard with a fast blast of psychic energy. It was powerful enough to make me see spots.

“You…little…” I shook my head to clear my vision. My body temperature was skyrocketing. I could no longer keep my patience.

“Another—“

I teleported behind her before she could prepare another attack. “FLAMETHROWER!” I roared. My hot flames engulfed the pint-sized brat. The only thing that came out of her mouth after that was a tiny squeak before she fell. And that was it. End of battle.

Trinity won and grew to level 11!

Such an annoying kid! I thought about just leaving her there and going somewhere else but then I had a terrifying thought. “What if Katana sees? She’ll go off on me. It’ll be worse than what she does with Bandit!”

I glanced at the knocked-out Smoochum. I couldn’t let Katana find out. “I could take you to the Pokemon Center, but then I might bump into someone else from the team. Bandit or Ali would definitely squeal on me.”

My fabulous ears picked up a dreaded voice. “Destai, can you find that Ninetales? I didn’t expect her to blend in so well.”

Ohhhh, my kingdom for a White Juice. Or better yet, a Transparent juice. I was dead, I was soooooo dead! “The body! I have to hide the body!” I told myself, already digging a hole in the snow I didn’t melt with my Flamethrower.

Princess was well-buried. No one would be able to find her. And she was an Ice-type; she wouldn’t freeze in the snow like other Pokemon. I was safe.

“Trinity?” I still stiffened at the sound of Katana’s voice even though there was no edge to it like usual. “We’re going. Where’s Princess?”

Calm down, she’s not accusing you of anything. Just smile and lie through your fangs.

“She wobbled on down to the Pokemon Center,” I lied with a smile.

She glared at me with her trademark glare. “And you didn’t help her? Who knows how bad you beat her.”

Just keep on lying!

“I tried to but she kept saying how she wouldn’t be underdecimated or some crap like that.”

“Underestimated,” I heard the Sneasel groan while he was slumped over Destai’s back. Geez, even when the kid wasn’t around he was correcting her!

Katana raised an eyebrow but didn’t seem to be questioning my white lies. “We should catch up to…Destai, what’s going on?”

The Houndour had his nose pointed up while he sniffed for something. Then he pointed his paw right…where…I had buried…Princess. My blood instantly froze. “Princess,” he barked.

Katana very slowly turned her head to where he was pointing, then to me, her glare getting even deadlier. “Trinity? Could you enlighten me as to why Dagger’s teammate is buried in the snow when you said she went to the Pokemon Center?” she questioned as if she was clueless.

She was onto me! KEEP LYING!

“She…must have…come back for Dagger,” I lied shakily. “While my back was turned.”

The Zangoose nodded twice. Good, she fell for it again. “Trinity, you have ten seconds to dig up that child and take her to the Pokemon Center.”

CRAP, SHE DIDN’T FALL FOR IT!

“Wait, ten seconds? I can’t run that fast!”

“Then I suggest you make good use of that Teleport before your seven seconds are over.”

“WAIT, SEVEN!?” I didn’t waste any more time digging out the brat. “I can’t teleport under pressure!”

“FOUR SECONDS!” she roared.

“EEP!” The next thing I saw was the Pokemon Center. Apparently, I actually could teleport under pressure. I tossed the Smoochum to the frightened nurse and curled up in the nearest corner.

[Wolfsong]

Shonta, take 27 stamps. Princess was cute. I found myself chuckling at her mispronunciation of words. I liked seeing things from Destai's POV. I enjoyed reading Circe's battle as well as Katana's. Trinity's was a little short but i found her response after the battle amusing as well as her beign able to teleport under pressure after all.

[Wolfsong]

I'd like a 2-2 rbg please from Caledor's Nature Protection Agency for Rick (glaceon) and Ebony (ponyta) please. *hands over 14 stamps*

[Lady Vulpix]

Are their levels 5 and 20 like your page says? Will they be able to battle together?

If so, they're going to battle a level 5 Deino and a level 20 Larvesta. Let's hope Rick can handle them.

[Wolfsong]

Thanks. Although actually rick is L.9 now although if ebony's level changes fromt eh bt battle i'll go from there but we'll see.. I've been updating more the database on the board here than my actual site... This should be interesting though. *goes to get started*.

[Skye]

I'm... going to ask for two more battles. A 2 on 2 for Shadow (11) and Darker (6), both from the Caledor's Nature Protection Agency. *pays 14 Stamps*

[Wolfsong]

*takes stamps* They will be battling a L.11 Darumaka and a L.6 Cyndaquil.

[DarkestLight]

7 more for ya. Need a RBG from the Jungle for May

[classy_cat18]

*looks up May's level* She'll be battling a Paras.

[DarkestLight]

Whoops. My fault, I know I forgot something. Ok Paras. Where can I fit you in...

[DarkestLight]

OK.

Book III: The truth is out there

Ch 1: Turnabout is fair play.

The group of 7 finally re-emerged out of the lighthouse basement. Rapp brought up the rear, eagerly jumping out to help Jake shut the door and set the metal plates on the top of it to keep anything from coming out. The 5 Pokemon all headed down the hallway in order to make space for each other. Once in the den, they were greeted by a trio of faces.

"Oh, you all are ok!" Mary stated as she knelt down to hug May. Sue walked over to May and nodded in approval of their success.

"What about the rockplants that were following us?" May asked.

"Nothing a few waves of water didn't stop. It was very weird. They seemed reluctant to come any closer when struck with water." Sue stated, floating over to Jake and Rapp. Both forms backed away to give her space, as the Pokemon all found their seats somewhere in the immediate area.

"I guess we need an explanation. Rockplants?" Rapp asked, positively curious.

May looked to Mossy, whom shrugged. It was not like he was going to tell it. May groaned and rubbed her head in frustration. "You REALLY need to learn how to talk. Anyway, to make a long story short, I was kidnapped and strapped to a rock. That water creature was controlling both the rockplants and that weird bug over here."

Everyone turned to look back at the bug, whom seemed to be paying dire attention to Mossy's backside. Mossy didn't move, and the bug seemed oblivious to the mass of eyes on her. Rapp nodded and turned to May, piecing the rest of the story together.

"You then found Mossy, and escaped, You were chased by them, and Sue held them off while you reached me. Pretty intense."

" 'Intense' is not exactly the word I would use, but a good descriptor, nonetheless." The voice that rang out forced everyone to turn to the door in elated excitement. In their view was Johnson, eagerly returned from his pilgrimage to the Tower of Hoeth. Without a moment's waste, Rapp moved aside so the older man could come over and sit down on the couch.

Johnson obliged the offer, and looked to each of them before rummaging in his bag. Zent licked her lips in anticipation, and the bug continued to stare at Mossy. “It seems you've confronted whatever was below this lighthouse. The mere fact that you all still live and breathe and this lighthouse still stands is a testament to how well you fared. For that I am grateful. But I fear I bring grave tidings.”

“Everything ok Johnson?” Jake asked, taking a deep series of breaths. His side was pretty sore and he was sure that after he went to sleep, he would feel it even more in the morning. Johnson shook his head and continued rummaging in his bag while speaking. “Well. As you know, I took off to reach the Tower. I was fortunate to be picked up by a traveler on a flier and we managed to cover the distance in a matter of hours. This greatly increased the amount of time I could spend researching you and your condition. We landed in that excellent city, and I bid my adieu to the person who gave me a lift. I made haste to the nearest inn in Saphery and rented a room for 4 days, just to ensure I had a place to sleep.”

“That's all well and good, but I don't see how this is bad for us.” Jake asked, wincing slightly. Mary got up and made a beeline for the bathroom.

“No objections Jake, I'm wrapping that torso of yours.”

“Patience.” Johnson warned, as he continued. “When I reached the room however, there was a message attached to my door. It stated that anyone that knows anything about any sightings of elves or strange happenings to commune in the courtyard the next afternoon. At first, I thought this was a benefit, I would be able to gather a plethora of information just from the commonfolk. But the second half of the note disturbed me. In short-there seems to be someone after you Rapp. Someone that went though great lengths to reach Saphery, try to flush you out of hiding, and possibly even follow me back here.”

Everyone turned to look at Rapp, but all Rapp could do was cross his arms and hang his head in thought. He had been-for the better part-off the grid for a while now. Who could possibly want him now? As he mused over those words, Johnson pulled an immense lollypop of out of his bag. He lowered it to Zent, and she instantly tried to snatch it. He grabbed those stubby arms, and helped her to hold the lolly's stick correctly so she didn't drop it. Zent roared in glee and began waddling in a circle, eating the lollypop. Glad she was satiated, Johnson turned to the others.

“Now listen carefully, as we have little time to act. The person whom is seeking you Rapp, wishes to see you use magic for their deeds. They have astounding reason to believe that you are an elf.”

“Well, it's not going to happen. I can't make it rain, or cause lightning to fall.” he said, looking toward the windowsill. “I can barely keep up with these 4, possibly 5 now. And now you say someone is out there waiting to see me? Can this get any better? Probably not.”

Johnson nodded and placed one hand on Rapp's back. “I'm sure that whomever has followed us is already making camp on the outskirts of the lighthouse. So I'll tell you what we're going to do.” Rapp huddled with everyone in a circle, and for the next 20 minutes, an indecipherable plan was concocted. Everyone threw in their two cents, and by the end of the meeting, everyone seemed satisfied by this account.

As Zent crunched on the last of the lollypop, Johnson stood away from the group, noting the progress made so far. “Well I guess we should rest. It's been a long night, and I'm sure we each have things to review with everyone." Johnson noted, already picking up his bag and heading for the stairwell. “I have much to tell, but it seems this week has been a trying time.”

Everyone agreed, and slowly but surely, the group began to disband for the night. Each began their own rituals for preparing to sleep, but it was evident that they were silently reviewing the last battle they just endured. Rapp watched them all before heading to the stairs. As everyone cleared out, Rapp called out for Mossy and Zent. Weary-eyed, the two Pokemon came back to him. He walked to the hallway where the cellar door was-still covered by those massive plates. Mossy and Zent didn't understand what was going on, until Sue materialized in swift fashion.

“As you asked, I cut off communication with everyone except you three and Jake. Jake's being bandaged up, but I don't understand the reasoning for secrecy.” Sue asked, concerned with what was happening. Mossy and Zent turned toward the hallway, making sure they weren’t being watched.

Rapp sneered and talked in hushed tones.“That's not Johnson.”

“What?” Sue replied, confused. “I-I'm sorry, but his mental imprint matches Johnson's.”

“I am not saying this lightly Sue. I know what I'm implying, but I'm telling you, that is not Johnson. I knew it from the moment Mossy and Zent laid eyes on him. The lollypop was used to deter Zent off of his scent, but Mossy wasn't fooled. Nor was I, I sensed he was different. I don't know how its working, but that person is not Johnson.”

Sue nodded, and looked behind her. “I don't want to say I don't believe you. So, I will observe his actions tomorrow. We are all tired and I'm sure I am missing some key nuances of his. I will have an answer for you tomorrow. I will keep the mental communications segmented as you asked.”

Sue floated away, down the hallway, before vanishing down a corridor. With their meeting adjourned, Mossy and Zent freely walked away, eager for rest. Rapp watched them walk away-noting Mossy stop and pilfer something from the floor. He didn't stop him this time, they were going to need all the help they could get.

The next morning could not come fast enough. As soon as the sun broke through the windows, Rapp's eyes sprang open. In one bound, he was out of the bed, and looked around the room. Mossy was nowhere to be found, but the scent of an herbal assortment invaded his nose. That was all he needed to know. Yawning, the woodland lad headed out of the room and down the stairs two at a time. Before he reached the ground floor, he could already see everyone else gathered in the den.

“You're right. That is not Johnson.” were the first words he heard in his head. Rapp stopped and sat on the steps, making sure no one could see that he was up yet. Keeping the conversation mental, he replied.
“What clued you in?”

“His morning routine. Johnson takes a walk every morning after checking the light. Today, he went up to check the light, but did not come down and talk his walk. His time up at the lamp also took a hour.”

“I...don't understand.” Rapp asked.

“Checking the light takes 3-5 minutes. All you do is make sure its still rotating, and then switch it off. If there was a problem, a tone would be emitted. No tone, no problem. No reason to be up there an hour, and definitely no reason to talk to yourself. I'm sure there is someone up top as well, but they haven't come down yet. Possibly waiting until the lighthouse is less occupied.”

“Thanks Sue. We'll keep the charade going until we figure out just who we are dealing with.” Rapp stated, before standing back up. He finished descending the stairwell, and stopped at the frame of the entrance-way into the den.

Sauntering into the room, he took the time to listen to the conversation before making his presence known. At the sink sat Mossy, quietly enjoying his tea. Next to him was that strange bug, quietly admiring him? Then there was May, whom was lying on the ground half awake, but determined to be a part of this gathering. Next to the couch, which was occupied by Jake and May was Wyrm, idly listening to Johnson, who was sitting in the armchair. Sue was sitting on the ground as well, her dress splayed in a perfect circle. Johnson seemed to be speaking about his journey, but Rapp's hidden perch was noted by the one little Pokemon he overlooked.

“Wapp up!”

Rapp turned, as did everyone else, to spy Zent stomping into the room, hands full of seashells. Eyes shifted to Rapp, whom quietly waved and turned back to Johnson. “Sorry for interrupting. Please continue!”

Johnson smirked and waved for him to come closer. He cleared his throat as Zent and Rapp came in and sat on the floor as well. He pulled Zent close and Zent quietly rolled on her back. Rapp made sure she was ok with it, before placing a hand on her belly. She growled a bit, but it was subdued, content even. Once they were situated, Johnson continued.

“As I was saying-the Tower of Hoeth would not just let me in. One does not just walk into the doors of the White Tower and find what they are looking for, not without the right keys. But I was able to acquire some literature on what is knows as the Awakening. It would seem that there was a time when young elves would come into their own, and fully understand the magic inherent in and around them. It would not be a toy anymore. But, as for you young man-that seems to be a problem. There is hardly any magic left in this world. So your awakening is ripe with inconsistencies. You went though a type of...connection with the world as it is now, and of the elements represented by Pokemon. However, it would seem that there are still small pockets of magic in the world, dark areas that are hidden from most of civilization. I believe you unearthed one of those things here over the week as well as communed a link to the scraps of magic left around this world. How this will affect you, I do not know.”

Everyone looked to Rapp, who nodded. “Well, maybe there is some truth to this. I think I can sense what Mossy senses. Over the past few days, I've noticed Zent being able to pick up Mossy's scent on me. I've noticed and seen things differently and I'm beginning to wonder...”

“Wonder what?” Mary asked, as Jake slid forward on the couch, looking around the room as he listened.

“I'm beginning to wonder if I am actually an elf? Nothing made sense when Mossy and I first started. We were almost forced out of the village-and throughout this journey, there has been more than my share of circumstances that could be classified as unexplainable. Especially in the mountains.”

“Well.” May asked, to help push the conversation in a more positive direction “Do you think that maybe we should head back? I understand we were told to head east, but we seem well, outclassed.”

Wyrm spoke up next, agreeing. “We did well last night, but it looks like this journey we are on gets greater and greater...and aside from Mossy-I don't think we quite are up to snuff with taking on what might be waiting for us later on this trip.”

“You both are right.” Rapp said, before Johnson stepped in.

“Yes, I can tell that your trip will push your limits of both physical and spiritual balance. I would daresay that you need training of an elevated kind. Or at least a home base that you can visit. But I note that your team lacks a Flying Pokemon that can easily help you traverse the distance that you may need to cover.”

Rapp looked around, and nodded. None of them could fly, or run very fast with Wyrm being the exception. Though the small bug that seemed to be part of the merry group had small wings, traveling via the bug was impractical and just downright silly. Looking toward it, Rapp snapped his fingers to try and garnish its attention.

Mossy looked up at the sound, and then turned to spy the bug, still staring at him. Mossy wriggled one vine and shot it forward, the bug turning to spy its path. She then squeaked when she saw everyone looking at her. Johnson took a heightened interest in the bug and leaned forward in his chair.

“Well, as I live and breathe. Never thought I'd see another one here.” Johnson exclaimed, as he stood up. The bug stepped back partially, and raised her pincers. Sue raised one arm and formed a small bubble of energy around the tip of her finger, ready to flick it offensively should she have a reason to. “I was wondering when we were going to note its presence...I would prefer if it were to stay outside.”

“Now Sue, stop being rude. We don't even know what its doing here. It just seems to follow Mossy around.” Mary stated, looking back at the Nincada, who was now being held by Johnson. In the hands of the elderly fellow, the Nincada seemed very nervous. But unlike the icy cold grip of the water nymph, this was a much warmer feeling. There was no malice in his intention. Johnson turned to Jake and Sue and headed back to his seat, speaking again.

“Do you remember when you both first told me about there being a bug around the area that Sue could not psychically grasp?” Jake and Sue nodded, and Sue kept pointing that energy ball at the bug. “Yes, but that's not it. I can pin that down immediately.”

“Ohyeah?Tryityou!” she replied in her hyperactive voice.

“Oh man, that's as annoying as Zent, only its 6 times as fast.” Wyrm replied, lowering his head. His head picked back up at the bug's reply.

“What's as annoying as Zent?”

“Whoa, you slowed down?” Wyrm noted, confused by the change in tone and speed. Rapp was too, and listened carefully as the bug began to speak.

“I didn't slow down-thisishowIalwaystalk. It just sounds strange because you listen slow.” Wyrm shook his head, confused by that analogy, and turned back to Rapp.

“Well, what are we going to do?”

“I suggest heading back to Caledor. I'm sure that from there you can find someone with the means to help you on your personal journey.” Johnson stated, heading outside with the Nincada. As he walked, everyone got up and followed, realizing something was on Johnson' s mind. Rapp followed first, curious as to two things that sprung into his head.

“Wait, Johnson. Why did you ask Sue and Jake about the bug they couldn't catch?” Jake and Sue nodded and walked to the right of Johnson, eager for an answer.

“Because, I'm pretty sure that this bug is related to that bug. A long time ago, there was a colony of Nincada here. They breeded awfully fast, creating a bit of a bug problem here. Then, all of a sudden, they began to vanish, until there were a few sole eggs left and a few Nincada to guard them. But the land around here did not seem to recover. The vegetation here showed no signs of recovery from the amount of food they would eat. It was as if they would just vanish into thin air. There was also a humming that grew with every day. But I could never spy the culprits. No roosting spots. No tracks. No sign of them at all. So, imagine my surprise when one day, I noticed a Nincada, just like this one, sitting on the edge of a rock. I didn't approach it, because I was not sure about its intention. But sure enough, I watched...and the little bug jumped off the rock and into the sand without a hitch. This is probably why Sue was never able to see them. They were excellent burrowers. But something about them still eludes me to this day.”

“What's that?” Jake stated, confused as to where this tale was going.

“The Nincada would all screech really fast, and then slow down, like this one's manner of speech. But the ones that dove underground-they wouldn't talk anymore. As if they buried themselves. However, when I would go and visit the spots where they were buried, I would see mounds, as if they dug themselves out! There would be no signs of them though-as if they vanished into thin air! To this day, I can't figure it out. But I'm hoping that with your care Rapp, she doesn't just bury herself away.”

“Underground?” Sue stated looking down at her feet with an air of disgust. “I now may resolve to only float.”

“At least you have that option, I'm still stuck down here! Eww, what if one pops up!” May stated, now nervous about where she stepped. But Jake and May turned to Rapp, who now carefully removed the Nincada from Johnson's grip. Rapp lifted the bug up, and looked at her, even taking a moment to smell her.

“I smell dirt. Earth even. Kind of like Zent. So...does that make her a Ground/Bug type?” he asked? Jake nodded, thinking back a bit. “Y-yeah. But how did you garnish that from merely smelling the creature?”

“I don't know! But I did. And I think that's what Zent was referring to a few nights ago. That I can garnish some information from smelling a Pokemon, and also exude a fragrance like a specific Pokemon when I think about them. I do not see the use for such an ...ability if you would call it as such.”

“On the contrary Rapp. That should help you in battling. Mind if we put your hypothesis, as well as mine, to the test?” Johnson stated. He slowly reached in his pocket, and revealed a small sphere of sorts. It was red and white- a familiar pairing of colors to Jake. At that moment, Rapp and Johnson seemed to share a glance. Both figures kept their poses, but looked up toward the sky. A swift shadow passed overhead, almost unnoticeable.

“He's here.”

“Then let's get on with it.” Rapp nodded and looked around for a moment. Feeling that the area was good enough, he set the Nincada down and looked toward her. She had been quiet the whole time, but she did seem more comfortable with everyone so far.

“Well, this is the time where I would tell you to get ready for battle, but I'm not even sure of your name, let alone what you can accomplish. But...if you want, as I said before, you can join us in this journey. I have a funny feeling about you, and yet I cannot place it.”

The Nincada took a moment to think this over. Sure, she'd be near that hunk of viney love Mossy-but she'd have to deal with that pink mass of ugly as well. The small dinosaur and the worm were of no concern to her. So the pros's did outweigh the cons, and she would also be glad to get off of this sandtrap. She squealed in excitement and replied in kind.
“Well,IremembermyfatherusedtocallmeSkitzo,and I really like that name.”

“Really now, I wonder why?” Wyrm added, slithering over so he could have an unrestricted view of the battle about to take place. As all parties in attendance watched, the older fellow dropped the sphere, and watched it open in a flash of light. In its place rose up a sharp point, draped in brown. Zent immediately snarled at it and went toward the shaking beast, but Rapp was quick to walk over and scoop her up, with a larger effort than usual.

“Whoa! You need to lay off the snacks little lady, and no, this is Skitzo's fight.” As he pulled Zent back, he made sure to watch Jake's face. The expression of confusion was all the confirmation Rapp needed, and Sue nodded in kind.

[Skitzo lv 9 vs Snorunt lv 9]

“Well now Henry. We got another bug. Start with a Powder Snow.” Johnson said, as a wry smile crept on his face. The bug skittered like a crab back and forth, ready for the inevitable blast coming its way, when suddenly Rapp spoke.

“I have a funny feeling. Kick some sand in its eyes.” Rapp noted, barely remembering that tactic from the previous night. In eager fashion, Skitzo began to scurry around the area. The sand that flew up cascaded over the Snorunt, just as a light dusting of chilling snow covered the bug. Instantly, Skitzo skittered backwards and shivered. Rapp noted the reaction, and glared. This wasn't going to be easy. Not to mention the strange feeling he was getting from above. He looked up again, and this time Mossy caught the glance. Mossy took a few steps back and kept his eyes open. There was nothing for a moment, and then over to the east. Miniscule in shape for now, but definitively stationary. Something watching. Mossy turned back to Rapp and Johnson. He knew they both knew....but they both were willing to have a Pokemon battle instead of enacting the plan they talked about last night?

Rapp was right. Mossy kept his eyes peeled-watching for Sue to make a move.

“I got a bit of an Ice weakness here. Never mind that. Skitzo, can you run over and Scratch it?” Rapp asked as he continued the battle. Skitzo sighed. Going closer to that chilling beast was the last thing she wanted to do. But she was now listening to this fellow, and he had come all this way with the others, so he had to know what he was doing...right? She ran over and slashed the Snorunt, whom stood there, and glared at her. Unsure if it had froze itself or what, Skitzo went for another scratch. Henry then jumped to life and slammed the bug with a series of water Pulses.

Skitzo squeaked and dashed backwards, shaking off the water as fast as possible.
“Waaaaaaaa!IThurts!!!Itfeelslikeevillady!” she noted as she half collapsed on the sand. Johnson nodded and looked to Rapp. “Instead of just trying to see what they can do, look inside yourself, Rapp.”

Rapp looked to Johnson and then back to Skitzo. There was no reason to NOT try it, so against all rational thought he did so. The others watched as Rapp took in five deep breaths and exhaled each one silently. On his sixth breath, a strange wind began to blow. Zent looked around, and started to snarl, but ceased when she noted the wind billow around Rapp and head back out to sea. The lad opened his eyes, and instead of the carefree gaze of a lost wanderer, there was a new sense of purpose filling his gaze.

“We don't have much to work with here Skitzo, but we'll change that. Start with a Leech life. Start gaining that health back.” Skitzo looked back and then to the ice creature, which was shaking its hands in triumph prematurely. The icy foe then let go of its small project, a sphere of light that suddenly ignited in flame! The ball-seemingly ignited by the sunny weather of Eataine's coast at this time-seared down toward Skitzo. Rapp spied the ball and quickly pointed to its maker.

“Quickly now, or this match ends. Get over there and Leech it while you still have the chance and get behind it!”

Skitzo noted the urgency in his voice, and took off-her legs causing her to run sideways for a moment before attacking. She knocked the icy foe down and managed to grab some health from it, before kicking off it and pushing it back up. The Snorunt was confused, and whirled around, ready to give Skitzo another present. But the Weather Ball came swooping in from the east, and Snorunt was directly in its path. Unrelenting flame took over the Snorunt's back and it began to steam and cry in anguish. Skitzo backed away, surprised at the power of that hit.

“Brilliant. But now you need to finish the battle Rapp. No more second guessing yourself.” Johnson noted as the others watched with bated breath. Although still smoking, the Snorunt stood back up and gave Skitzo an evil glare. In one spin, a new wind blew by, and rechilled the hyperactive bug. But Skitzo charged through the chill and went for a second Leech life. It was meager but it was more than she had before.

“Ok, now make the loudest sound you can make.” Rapp stated, looking over to Johnson. “I can ...see the move in my head, but I don't know what it's called.”

“The fact that you can see what moves the beast possesses is already a great step toward understanding just what it is you can actually do. Henry, Shadowball.”

The Snorunt, hurt from its own fiery attack, now switched up spheres. The sphere it created was purple in nature, a color that seemed to entrance Mossy and Zent equally. The pair watched the ball streaked across the sand, and swept left. Skitzo watched as the blast missed her form by mere inches, and she raised her tiny pincers in excitement. That Sand was actually working. In response to her order, she began to flap her wings as fast as possible. This allowed her a few sparse moments of lift and as a secondary effect, a strange set of soundwaves began to emanate from their irregular beating pattern. The sound was stronger than the Snorunt was expecting, and he fell over, dazed. Before Skitzo landed though, Johnson raised his hand-ending the match.

“There is no need for a finishing blow here. You have proven both our hypothesis right. It's no longer a burden, as far as I see. Now, as per what we discussed last night?”

“I'm ready when you are. Zent, Mossy-front and center!”

[Skitzo reached lvl 10!]

Rapp knelt down as Skitzo came over in excitement. She manged to win a battle! In front of Mossy no less. But as she climbed on Rapp's shoulder, she noted everyone slowly walking to surround Rapp. May and Jake also stepped back, as a strong wind began to blow. It picked up in intensity, becoming a gale force that started to take shape. Zent roared to the sky as Johnson stepped back from the gusty forces with Henry in tow.

“What is this, Johnson?” Jake yelled as Sue floated over to the forefront and began to erect a barrier. At the same time, Zent stepped up and tugged at Rapp's feet. Rapp knelt down, and saw Zent pointing at Sue.
“Oh that's right. Yes Zent. Use it now.”

The girl smiled and ran up aside Sue. The Gardevoir seemed a bit vexed at the current windstorm that suddenly began around them, and it was taking her toll to keep focusing energy in all these directions. But Zent raised her arms in a similar fashion, and forced an energy all her own to materialize. It flickered in intensity, but the shield she created stretched high enough that everyone could crouch behind it and be protected from the winds. Sue let her own shielding down-and pointed to the sky.

High above-the whirlwind's creator could be seen. It was a mere dot at first, but over time it began to descend. Winged beats could be heard, and instantly, Wyrm began to crackle with electricity. Rapp held his hand out, his eyes once again emitting that trance like gaze of attuned focus.

“I knew we would meet again, young Laster.” shouted the rider of the avian that now landed, ending the tumultuous storm with a single wingbeat. In one hop, the figure dismounted and took a few steps to the side, kicking sand around with each cocky step.“Did you REALLY think you were going to just leave me behind? I had no idea you made it this far, but this charade ends now.”

“What do you want from me?” Rapp asked as May and Mossy stood defensively. Mary and Jake were puzzled, unsure just what was going on. Rapp stepped forward to tap Zent. The little girl was more than eager to stop raising her shield, as she found out that it was incredibly draining. As she caught her breath, Rapp rubbed her horn and waited for the mercenary to speak.

“Rapp Laster. Dragon Games winner. A nobody from a small little boondock town in the middle of nowhere. No family history as far as one can tell. No skills in Pokemon, yet makes a grand entrance and exit. Takes me down in-of all place, the Forbidden Mountains! Crosses the sea during one of its more treacherous times with a potluck variety of Pokemon! Reaches the shores of Eataine, and is able to survive the onset of a magical being? No, not only that, but defeat it? Yes, that warrants my attention very much, as well as the attention of my...superiors. Johnson here tells me that you yourself might be the key we need to enter those blasted mountains.”

“Johnson...told you?” Rapp asked, acting confused. He turned to look at the old man. Johnson nodded and approached Melfice, placing a hand on his shoulder.

“Yes. I told him about our “dilemma” here at the Lighthouse, and your appearance. He was very interested in your condition, so I told him to come back with me once I was done acquiring some knowledge.” Johnson winked, and Mary seemed to finally understand there was something off about how Johnson was acting.

“What mounta-” Rapp stopped midsentence, already sensing where this was going. He shook his head and scoffed. “No. It was those mountains that started this whole set of problems in the first place! I'm not going back there until I have everything I need in order to learn all I need to know.”

“You must not know me. I don't take “no” for an answer, whelp!” Melfice sneered and strode toward the boy, only to have a warning whip stop his walk. He looked and saw that the plant had stepped up, and was spinning one vine an a high speed. Melfice chuckled and stood his ground, one hand on his hip. “Listen to me now boy. The Mercenaries Union needs a person with your...special abilities. You might be able to assist in what Caledor will call a turning point in history. I especially don't like the concept of helping out a potential enemy, but when its about having my name carved in history, I will not back down from a challenge. This means more to me than you, but its not like you weren't wanting to search those blasted cliffs.”

“It doesn't matter why I was there. Why are you hunting me down? What do you know about me?” Rapp shouted. It was then that Sue spoke, but only to Rapp's mind.

“He knows about your mother. He's hunting your mother, and he thinks you are acting as her agent outside the mountains. As for Johnson, I think there's another Psychic here controlling him. I can't read him-its as if he's not really there, even though we see him.”

Rapp looked at Johnson, garnishing an idea-and then back to Melfice, replying in kind. “Mossy, Zent and I assumed as much. But there's still something wrong. Johnson winked at me, as if he still knows something I don't.”

Rapp balled his hands up into fists and flared his nostrils. He could not run away, as his crew was now too large to carry. This mercenary had sought him out, halfway across the dang continent, and now he was faced with a choice. Stay and continue on his journey-or help this man and his cause.
A sly smile wrapped across his face, and he relaxed his hands. Sue turned, and glared daggers through Rapp. Mossy seemed to sense the same, but he was rather fine with the outcome.

“Fine. I'll come back with you. We'll both get what we want, that being the location of my mother. I'm sure she'd appreciate you bringing me back to her.”

May and Wyrm seemed shocked-not to mention disturbed by Rapp's choice. Melfice nodded and turned to Johnson, a smile on his face. Talking in a hushed tone, Melfice sneered and made sure no one could hear him aside from Johnson. “See. The boy is not as dense as he looks. I knew he knew.”

“Either that, or he's thought this out leagues ahead of you. I told you once-never trust an elf.”

“I know where you are going with that. Leave it alone, old man. You did your job. Once he gets on that boat, he'll be out of my hair forever.” Melfice stated, before turning around to face Rapp and the others.

“Obviously, I can't carry you all. But I do know of a boat that will be coming this way in the coming night. Board it and sail back to Caledor. I'll be seeing you in the coming days then?” Melfice smirked, and hopped back on his steed. In a few massive flaps, the Pidgeot was skybound, and heading back west. As he flew away, Rapp looked to Johnson. The old man had a smirk on his face, and Rapp shared the smirk.

“He did not know about Sue.” Johnson stated, as he walked back toward Rapp.”Nor the fact that his thoughts were transferred to everyone's mind in the area. Now that you know his agenda, what will you do?”

Rapp looked to Jake and Mary and then to his crew. “Well, I haven't traveled the world fully yet, but I will come back here and re assume my trek. But if I can fully check those mountains and find my mother, then that would make my task a lot easier. I can't thank you enough for your traitorous talk though.”

“Wait wait wait. Are you telling me you KNEW this was going to happen?” May asked. Mary nodded as well, confused at the recent string of events.

“Not necessarily.” Johnson stated, as he gathered around everyone. “You see, I never got to finish my tale about the Tower. We made this plan last night to lure that fellow in, and get him to reveal what he needed Rapp for. What Rapp and I did not share were how we were going to coax it out of him. When I was leaving to head back, I ran into that man and he was walking around the town, asking if anyone saw Rapp. At first, I was eager to help this fellow, but it dawned on me that you did not say if anyone was searching for you. I didn't think you to have anyone seeking you, so I played it carefully, and learned that he was in effect, hunting you to exact his plan to find your mother-as per his assignment. He guised it as you being the villain in this case, but I was able to discern that as a lie. He then began to tell me about the strange happenings he was also tracking, and how it was connected with the Forbidden Mountains.”

“So, you led that man here Johnson? To take Rapp away? I thought he was just some bandit or something!” Mary shouted, irate.

“No. I didn't lead him here. I told him that there was a strange series of happenings here at the lighthouse as well, and he said that in the coming days he would come back here to see if he could help. I figured by now that you would have at least discovered the cause of your ills and at least done something about it. We staged that battle to lure him out of hiding, as he had been following me ever since I left. Before I came in yesterday, I made sure to tell Sue to close off his mind from knowing anything he didn't need to know-since he was in range of her telepathic blanket. That's why Sue's shield earlier was weakened, she was expending energy to ensure he was not in the know, so to speak. It also gave her time to read his mind and ascertain his orders, which are to kill a woman named Veronica Laster.”

“I do not get this!” Rapp shouted, crouching down and stuffing his face in his hands. “Who wants my mother dead? Why does my mother come up in the mouths of water nymphs, I feel like everyone but me knows what is going on!”

“My dear boy” Johnson calmly stated, kneeling to join Rapp “Go back to Sector Alpha. Go and help with their problem. I feel if you go there, you will be able to gain more answers and stop Melfice from finishing his job. You can always return here and regroup once you figure it all out, Rapp Laster.”

Rapp nodded, but stayed crouched as he looked to Mary and Jake. Jake walked away for a moment, thinking about what he learned today. Mary however, knelt down beside him and wrapped her arms around him.
“I already know what you are thinking. I'm sure you will find a way back here, and we'll be more than eager to hear about your adventures!”

Rapp smirked and patted her arms before she slinked off of him, and he stood up. His eyes landed on Jake, whom looked to Sue. Rapp, puzzled by the exchange, kept his gaze fixed on the both of them. Sue then nodded and pointed to Mossy. “If you give me just two hours, I can gather enough energy to Teleport everyone to Sector Alpha and then return myself. So, if you have any unfinished business here, or would like to rest up yourself, please do so. That is of course, if you are willing to go.”

“Anything else I should know, Rapp? You got anyone else that might look for you?” Jake responded, keeping his tone elevated to convey his mockery of the situation. Mossy didn't seem to take kindly to the tone, but Rapp extended his hand.

“Well, there are a few people here and there that are thorns in my side, but I'm sure that now I can take them with little difficulty.” Rapp nodded and watched as Skitzo skittered left and right, peering into the sand as if something was buried there. Rather than call her out, he beckoned everyone to turn and watch. Johnson crept up and the others turned to spy Skitzo still poking and stabbing at the ground. All at once, the stabbing motion became a scooping motion, and she almost instinctively began to dig herself a hole! She poked her head out and squeaked in surprise!

“IdiditIdidtiright!I always watched my family Dig around, but I never got it right, and now I just did!Awesomeyoureallyareagoodguyyouhelpedmelearnit!”

[Skitzo learned Dig!]

“I...guess I did?” Rapp stated, slightly confused as to how he helped. But it didn't matter. She had a new move at her disposal. Turning to Johnson, he continued his train of thought. “So, this ship that's coming here. If I'm not here when they show up, who knows what they'll do to you all.”

“Excellent point, Rapp. Excellent point. We have ourselves a bit of a conundrum here.” Johnson stated as he looked back to the tower behind him. “Our safety is still paramount to you, and I thank you for it, but maybe it is time for a vacation. Besides, there's barely anything here of value, and burning it down brings only ill will for everyone and they definitely don't want that. Plus, that being locked below would break free-and they would possibly have their hands full.”

“Yes. They would. But I don't think there will be a problem, correct Sue?”
Johnson turned around, as he felt something creeping up around his body. Before he could protest, his whole body was locked up, Disabled from movement by a invisible force. Sue had both her arms out in front of her, focused solely on him.

“Mary, May, Wyrm. This person is not Johnson. I'm sorry for not cluing you in earlier, but we had to be sure. I'm not sure if its someone in disguise, or if he's being mind controlled or both. In any event-we're going to do something a friend of mine taught me.” Rapp stated as Mossy took his place in front of Rapp.

Mary and May stood there, astounded. The man looked remarkably like Johnson. But Jake nodded, agreeing. “No. I'm for this. Johnson never had a Snorunt. I found that to be weird. Especially here. But if it's not Johnson, where is he?”

Mossy took the lead now, waving his vines at Sue. Sue looked warily at Mossy, but reluctantly let go of the imposter. Before the man could get his legs and make a break for it, Mossy hit him with a vine across the chest. The strike was more than enough. In a rippling of light the Illusion was broken, and in the space where Johnson stood was a small black hound with red tipped ears. It was stunned from the blow, and Sue hissed.
“I can't! It's a Dark Type. I can't mind control it!”

“You won't have to Sue. All you have to do is deceive it into thinking you’re Melfice.” Jake stated, looking to Rapp. “Since you are facing it, you have its Ability now. All you need to do is think, and you can fool anyone into thinking you are a specific person.”

“A most well laid out plan Rapp.” Sue nodded, forgetting about her own ability for a moment there. “So I'm to turn into Melfice, and tell it to create an illusion of you?”

“Precisely. I'll hide, so when it comes back to consciousness, it won't know what happened. You tell it to be me and for it to lay low til the boat comes. Then, when that boat comes, we can give them their own trickster and I'll be on my way back-because I'm positive they want me out of the way rather than have my help.”

May, Mary and Wyrm stood there, as the plan was formulated and played out. The illusionist came to, eager to please 'Melfice' once more. Sue's disguise worked perfectly and she gave a specific set of orders. In no time the Zorua was now a spitting image of Rapp, leading to a Dungrae comment from Wyrm. The imposter was then given its instructions by “Melfice”. Until the boat came, the Imposter kept its form and stayed in the Lighthouse.

The night came and during that time, the imposter was bound and gagged and helped outside. The sounds of motors could be heard in the distance, and in no time at all, a small boat beached itself. “Rapp” was loaded onto the boat and a bag was put over his head. In no time at all, the boat and its riders then set sail, headed back to who knows where. Jake and “Melfice” waved good bye, and then made sure to creep back into the lighthouse, just in case they had eyes still lurking around the shoreline. Once in the clear, Sue finally removed her disguise, returning to her pleasant form. May clapped. “Good. I was tired of seeing that hideous man.” she stated as she lied on her makeshift bed.

“I must say, that was quite a plan.” Wyrm followed, slithering over to Mossy. “You all have really good eyes. I could never tell the difference.”

Rapp nodded, and looked to Sue. “It was really Zent, Mossy and Sue. Without all of them, this would not have gone off so smoothly. But now we have to get out of here. So, if you have the energy to do so-I think a Teleport is in order. But we'll sleep first, and head out in the morning.” Sue nodded, agreeing with the plan. The others all quietly made their way to bed, and Rapp sat on the couch, visibly exhausted. Mary sat next to him, and Jake next to her.

“What about Johnson?” Mary asked, concerned. “Where is he?”

“Saphery still. I have a feeling he doesn't even know this transpired. That, or he's been kidnapped. Would make sense, since that script that Pokemon was given seemed to be partially based off of knowledge that Johnson would have.” Rapp replied, looking to Jake. “But, when I'm done over in the Forbidden Mountains, I'll come right back. If he's not back by then, then I'll search for him.”

“No need. Sue, Mary and I will head out and look for him once she gets back. I'm sure we'll find him. Probably would be good to get out for a while as well.” Jake replied, leaning back carefully to not upset his torso.

The three stayed up a few moments longer, discussing possible future plans, before they all went their separate ways to sleep.

Next day

Rapp sat silently on the edge of the bed, quietly looking at the floor. Between his feet was Mossy, sleeping soundly. With the threat of Melfice gone for the moment, Rapp took the following hours to think about his reappearance, and the actions he needed to take. As he sat on the bed, he turned to look around the room. The small bag of belongings he had with him before he set sail was on the dresser, untouched. Standing up, he leaned forward and grabbed the drawstring strap, pulling the bag to him.
Sitting back on the bed, he opened the bag, dumping the belongings.
“Let's see. Tent for camping out under the stars, tarp, a knife, few cans of food and a notepad. Funny, most people would have so much more.” He sighed, and ran his fingers through his muss of hair. The notion of lying down for one more moment ran through his mind, but a knock on the door disrupted that thought.

“I'm up. Enter” Rapp called out. The door opened, and Mary walked in. She was holding a box in front of her. Her eyes were as bright as stars on a moonlit night, and she seemed nervous. He looked over to Mossy, then back to her. “With all that's happened, I'm just happy that you have a heading again. We won't see each other for a while-and I wanted you to have this. Its a dress that I had made a long time ago. I want you to give it to May sometime. Not now-you've got a lot on your plate.”

Rapp smiled, and Mossy grabbed the box with a vine. Somehow-as they both watched, that box vanished in that grove of vines...and he didn't change shape!

“I forget. That's why my bag is so empty. Everything is in those vines.” he chuckled. Mary stared, astonished. But she then shifted her train of thought. "Rapp. I hate to bring this up, but this was bothering me. When you were sick you said something about not touching a dais. When you were first going through that Awakening seizure. Was that you?”

“I...don't recall.” Rapp said, as he looked down to Mossy. Mossy looked back up to him, and for the first time, Mossy slit his eyes at him-as if to cover up something. Rapp kept his features locked with Mossy, but he turned away after a moment to reply to Mary. “It may have been my interpretation of events, I may have been seeing what was going on through the eyes of everyone down there...”

“What a strange way to see things. Must have been a powerful feeling.” Mary continued, as she sauntered back to the door. Rapp nodded and looked at Mossy, who seemed ready to go. Rapp sat up and closed the bag. “Well. This is goodbye for now. I'll head out with you and we'll say our goodbyes as a group.”

Mary agreed as the three of them left the room. They descended the stairs and met up with everyone else downstairs. Goodbyes were exchanged and promises were made. When all was said and done, Rapp knelt down and picked up May. Mossy wrapped one vine around Zent, the other on Rapp's leg. Wyrm wrapped himself around Rapp's right leg, leaving Skitzo to scuttle up and rest on Rapp's head. Mary and Jake stepped back as Sue grabbed Rapp's hand and began to focus. In a brilliant show of power, the Gardevoir created a massive field of light that enveloped everyone. Slowly, they began to fade out of view, and then in a split second, they were gone. As the energy used spiraled off in all directions, Mary and Jake headed for the door. They exited the lighthouse and locked the door.

“Well, we better get our own adventure started. Can't let Rapp have all the fun!” Jake said. Mary smiled and wiped a tendril of hair from her face, and then pointed ahead. Jake turned around, and noted the pink sphere of light start to reform. In no time at all, Sue had returned. Mary and Jake walked over to her, and quickly gave her a concoction to keep her energy up after such a taxing effort.

“Thank you. It was not as tiring as I thought. But, I suppose we are leaving now?”

“You got it. Let's go, Johnson needs us.”

Materializing into Sector Alpha was-for lack of better words- a trip. Sue had did well in getting the group there. They reappeared in a side area, loosely populated. No one was too startled, as the Pokemon all spread off of Rapp and took a moment to look at their surroundings. It was how they remembered it. Cobblestone streets. No fair this time, but still a city.

“Well, maybe we should take the time to find that lady?” May said.

“What lady?” Wyrm asked.

“The lady from the mountains! With the fat dragon?”

“Hey, shouldn't you NOT throw that word around?” Wyrm retorted.

“I'm not fat, I'm pleasantly plump!” May sneered, raspberrying Wyrm.

“Zent hungwy.” shouted the little girl, stomping her feet. She apparently was trying to pull up a cobblestone, but it was not coming out of the ground.

“Easy girl. We'll get food. As for you two, you're referring to Gabi. Yes, that did cross my mind. She might be able to help up if we can acquire a phone. Mossy, you still have her number?”

Mossy nodded, pulling out his own notepad. Rapp grabbed it and opened it, noting the number scribbled in there in a handwriting he did not immediately recognize. “Good. This is a start. Now, where does one buy a phone?”

4 hours later

“I still can't believe this tiny electronic device can do so much! Cost quite a lot as well.” Rapp noted as he closed the door of the shop. After finding a cellphone store and being taught the in's and outs of cellphone usage and etiquette (a world he was sure he would never fully understand) he now brandished a brown fliphone. Opening it up with a flick of his wrist, he eagerly looked through the contact list, and saw the sole number he had been able to input. He closed it again and glared at Zent.

“And I can't believe you ate a smartphone! Whole!” he exclaimed. Zent giggled and burped in response, eliciting responses from everyone.

“I wonder if we'll see it again?” Wyrm asked.

“How in t—eww Wrym. That's so disgusting. Only a boy would think about that.” May commented, holding her head up and turning her back to the slithering serpent. Skitzo chimed in as well.

“Wellatleastwewillknowtheyare durable-if it makes it through that body.”

Slinging his bag over his shoulder so it did not slide around too much on his back, Rapp turned to the other 4 Pokemon. “Mossy, did you get the number of that phone from the salesman? On the off chance she regurgitates it?” The plant nodded in agreement, and held up his book as proof. The book found itself shoved into the black hole of vines as Rapp turned to May. “And you. Did yo--”

Rapp stopped midsentence, realizing something phenomenal. His demeanor changed from slightly upset to ecstatic. In one bound, he grabbed May and hugged her immensely. Wyrm instantly received the same treatment, and Skitzo backed behind Mossy, terrified.

“What's wrong with him?” she asked, nervous about being squeezed too hard. Rapp however, answered her with a reply that everyone seemed to forget.

“I can understand you all! Without SUE!” The implication of such a fact shot through everyone's mind, and a collective group hug ensued. Skitzo wasn't sure why that was such a big deal, but she joined in the merryment because no one wants to be left out of a group hug session. The odd behavior and mini-celebration did garnish strange looks from passerbys, and Rapp was quick to recover from his gleeful state.

“This is great. But now, we should probably call that lady and see what they need me for.”

TBC

...

[Lady Vulpix]

Interesting developments! So... all Nincadas in that area speak that way? That's a bit strange, but it may explain the similarities between Skitzo and CMM's Nincada. I wonder if that changes after they evolve, but apparently no one at the Lighthouse knows the answer to that question. I chuckled when she said everyone else was listening slow.

I agree with Wyrm, the Zorua reminded me of Dungrae too. But Dungrae was smarter.

Sue's abilities are really impressive, and she could compete with Maza for the title of the most powerful teleporter. That was quite a distance she covered!

I wonder if there's any connection between the Mercenaries Union and the Mercenary Trainers Union, or whether it's just a coincidence that their names are so similar.

Zent should learn not to eat expensive things. >.> That habit may cause the whole group a lot of trouble.

I may as well stop mentioning the 'its' and the 'whom's, because it feels like talking to a wall.

I have a question, though: when exactly did Rapp and Gabi meet? You never mentioned it in your stories, and now you've brought it up as something that happened in the past... but when?

I may have to edit my old story to fit your continuity.

Take 19 stamps! ¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢

[lvl100mewtwo]

Feels good to finally be able to get a battle done and over with. I know its the desert room, but I asked for an extension I believe on the tagboard (much to Gabi's dismay, haha). Onto the next scenario for me I believe!

Reflection

I emerged from my tent, looking around at the wooded area that I had made camp in. Steam vapours emerged from my mouth as I exhaled. The cold air breeze was now hitting me, snow and frost was still visible on this bright and sunny morning. I looked back at the tent and saw Macedon and Rex were still quietly asleep. Macedon’s body heat proved to be a very effective warmer at night with temperatures like this, yet sometimes, one would say that it may even be too effective.

I looked at both my pokemon with a contempt smile across my face. We had taken a year off since our last battles, the Dragon Games and training grounds. Macedon had needed the rest and relaxation. His injuries took some time to heal and it seemed that it was time was well spent on letting him get back to 100% full health.
Rex, who was out cold at this moment, was still as lively. He, luckily enough, seemed to have gotten a lot more mature in the year that had passed. Rex had become really dedicated to his craft, his battling aura and skills one would say. You could see that the heart of a warrior was starting to come out from him. He had become a much more reliable pokemon in the last 365 days.

I took in one more breath of cold winter air and snuck back into the tent to lie down next to my companions. Although it had been a good year since our last competitive battle, I felt that I had grown closer to both of them, through rigorous one on one training. There was still a bit of animosity between Rex and Macedon, yet a mutual respect underlined their little rivalry. Both were vying to be the strongest combatant possible, which would lead to some head-butting at times.

Looking back at it, the last time I had even come around to some competitive battling for both was during the times of the last Dragon Games. Back in those days, I wasn’t as strong enough a trainer that I thought I was. This had lead me on what I would consider a spiritual quest. This quest had a goal to find myself, to find the trainer that I had once been, back in my earlier battling days. Over the last year, I had been able to bond with my pokemon to a new level, something I had barely been able to acheive with my old team.

I gazed at the reflection of myself in my metal water canister. A visible beard had over taken my face, due to the little grooming I had done on this journey. A definite haircut was also needed at this point, yet I didn’t feel that I was ready to head back into civilization just yet for this. My food rations were still good at this point, that I could survive out in the wilderness for some time still.

I gave Rex another quick look, his giant body enjoying the heat of the much smaller Macedon helping on keeping him warm with the cold morning air. I had no idea that Luracio’s could grow so big in over a year. Granted, I had no idea that Magby’s could also take on so much size as well. I kept thinking that at this point, he must have been getting closer to evolving.

This serene moment brought back the memories of the last few days we had at the Dragon Games, where I was able to get one last training session with Rex in. It was there that everything changed, with the chocolate, the battling and the Genetic Accelerator Gene. Now all I could think about was the last few days at the training grounds.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Eliminated. Those were the words that kept flashing over my photograph on the jumbotron in the middle of the Dragon Games square.

Devastation. This was the only feeling that had taken over me. All I could think about was how I had failed my pokemon, Macedon.

Butterflies. Those were all that was swirling around in my stomach, with Macedon in the Pokemon Centre, dealing with the injuries of his last match. He had been taken in by the attending nurse and there was nothing I could do. I couldn’t even go see him while he was recovering. Recovering from a severe concussion meant that he had to be in a dark room with little to no noise until the headaches subsided.

I decided that it was time for me to get my mind off things, as I looked down at Rex. He seemed to be worried as I was at this point and we both needed to get out of the Center.

“How you feel about doing a little bit of training bud?”

Rex shot a look at me; a faint smile crept on his face. He jumped on my shoulder and sat down, as we both exited the center and made our way to the transportation district. Rex and I looked at each other and both non-verbally agreed to stay away from the Teleportation booth this time and opt for the longer, yet easier on the stomach, flight to the training grounds.

Hopping onto the back of a Pidgeot, Rex and I held on tight to the saddle as the bird took flight. The initial dive took us to amazing speeds, as the pokemon started to reach its cruising altitude. Somehow, I was starting to regret not using the teleportation pokemon to get to the training grounds. After achieving Mach 1, it seemed like the Pidgeot was honing in on landmarks to make its way to our destination. Within an hour, we had arrived to our destination.

We waved our transportation goodbye and parted ways. Rex and I slowly made our way towards the East Tower, as it contained the only room that we had not explored yet, the Desert Room. Walking into the twin doors, we bolted straight for the room in question. It seemed like the training grounds were less occupied at this point, probably due to the competition still on its way.

Once we arrived at the giant doors to the Desert Room, I noticed that it was currently occupied. I scanned in Rex and waited patiently for the current trainer to exit. In this brief moment of waiting, Rex and I started to go over possible strategies we could use to aid us against whatever would be launched our way.

During our time of conversation, I could notice that people around us were talking. Although not many, I could hear the whispers coming from all directions.

”Did you see the match he just lost?”

”They say his Magby is in critical condition, what’s he doing here?”

”Shouldn’t he be next to his own Pokemon right now?”

The whispers and murmurs kept going on and on. This trainer was taking too much his time. I started to think. This was beginning to be very aggravating!

Finally, the light atop the door lit up, indicating that the trainer and his pokemon were finally ready to emerge and let the next in. As the doors opened, I raced in with Rex, grabbing complimentary bottle of ice cold water. I zoomed past the exiting woman who was walking out with her Sandslash and raced onto the sandy confines of the Desert Room.

Immediately, the heat hit me like a ton of bricks. I started to sweat profusely from the sudden impact of the dry, warm air. I didn’t understand how I couldn’t manage this, when I clearly managed the Lava Room with Macedon. I chugged back one of the bottles I had grabbed on my way in, and gave a portion of another to my Riolu, who seemed to be affected in the same manner as I with this heat.

A lone pedestal stood in the middle of the room with a big red button. Rex looked at it with anticipation, slowly walking towards it. While he was fixated on the shiny button, I looked around to see the terrain, with rocks and sand all over the place. I could see that we could gain some ground advantage if Rex could get on one of the taller rocks and perch himself there until his opponent came out. The sand would clearly be a disadvantage for Rex, as he would not be able to get good grip for fast running in this terrain. My strategies had to be tweeked a bit.

I took one more swig of my bottle of water and saw that Rex had finally approached the pedestal. He slapped the big red button and took a few steps back.

“Rex, get on top of that rock over there, make sure you have the high ground against whoever is gonna come out!” I yelled.

Rex acknowledged and raced to the top of the highest rock. Taking a defesnsive stance, he scanned the surrounding areas to see what could be coming his way. A small tremor was felt, confusing the aura pokemon, as he could not pinpoint where it originated from.

Slowly, rocks started to rise behind Rex. “Rex! Behind you! It’s an Onix!” I bellowed from the top of my lungs, just in time as the giant rock snake burst right through the rock that my Riolu was standing on, shattering it to pieces.

Rex was sent flying in the air, trying to find his bearings. He soon found the ground, debris falling all around him. The sand helped with breaking the fall, as Rex found himself on his feet, looking around frantically.

“Rex! Try to avoid the rocks and use your Bullet Punch!”

The tiny Aura Pokemon raced through the falling debris, narrowly being missed by the giant rocks falling down. Using a stationary rock on the ground, Rex spring shot himself towards the Onix, fist leading and glowing a silver hue. The little Riolu connected with a couple of body shots. The large rock snake groaned in pain loudly.

The load groan turned to a rather loud screech, as Rex grabbed his ears in pain. I too found myself blocking the auditory hell from reaching my ear drums.

In the moment of exposure, the Onix took this chance to circle around Rex, binding himself to Rex, squeezing tightly. A quick yelp could be heard from my pokemon, as he tried to wiggle himself out of the tight situation.

“Rex, concentrate, use Swords Dance!”

A sudden calm came over the dog like Pokemon. It seemed a moment of intense meditation came over him, as the Onix tried to tighten his grip.

“Now release that power, Ice Punch!”

You could see the Onix start to wince in pain, slightly loosening his grip. This slack was enough for Rex to free his arm and start flailing at the body of the giant pokemon. More pain groans could be heard, as Rex completely freed his body and started to run down the long of the Onix’s back, his freezing hands running along the rock like skin.

The aura pokemon made its back back onto the sand, finding some distance between himself and his opponent. He darted a look across the battle field and started to charge towards the rock type, fists cocked back. The rock snake pokemon saw his opportunity and slammed it’s tails end into the ground. Tombs of gigantic rocks popped in front of Rex, then on his side, and finally behind him. The rocks suddenly collapsed on the fighting type.

A small faint cry could be heard from the rocks. Cracks started to form within the rock tomb. One of the sides suddenly blew up as Rex raced out of the enclosed area, panting slightly.

“Rex, let’s end this right now, Force Palm!”

The fighting type stopped and closed his eyes, a blue aura starting to engulf his body. His eyes opened wide, with conviction in them. He started to race towards the Onix, his little legs churning as fast as they could. His opponent decided to counter by slamming his tail into the ground, giving off a violent shaking that could be felt throughout the training area. A small fault line could be seen forming.

Rex raced forward, leaping above the now opening field. He jumped onto the tail of the rock snake, racing up, this time, the body of his opponent. The Onix could only turn his head in time to see the little Riolu make his way to the top, fist clenched and behind his body. With a loud crack, the fish found itself underneath the jaw of the giant Pokemon, delivered with such force and severity that it sent the rock type’s head backwards.

Rex back flipped off his opponent, landing on his 2 feet, one hand grabbing the ground to stabilize himself. Ahead, the Onix slammed backwards, knocked out from the cheer force of the attack. My Aura Pokemon turned around and walked slowly and calmly towards me, pointing to the water bottle. I unscrewed the lid and gave him as much as he needed.

“That was a great fight bud, you wanna give another one a shot?” I asked

“Ri… Rio!” He said, shaking his head that he felt ready enough to get into the fight once more.

“Alright, well go press the button when you are ready. Start up on the rock again. If it’s another Onix, at least we will know what to expect!” I instructed

Rex slowly walked up to the pedestal and pressed the button. He quickly raced to another large rock where he perched himself and observed the training grounds.

We waited for a minute, 2 minutes, 5 minutes… Nothing was coming out at this point. My pokemon was becoming restless; he seemed to want to get this fight going right away. His eyes kept scanning the grounds, yet nothing seemed to be moving, not even a grain of sand.

“Rex, use your Swords Dance, maybe that’ll calm you down a bit.”

The fighting type slowly sat himself down, closed his eyes and started to concentrate. While in meditation to harness his power, a small head popped out of the ground. A small Sandshrew could be seen breaking through the sand and coming out, both feet now firmly on the sand. Rex’s eyes shot open as he looked at his opponent. With one swift movement, he lunged himself full speed at the small mouse pokemon, hand firmly behind his body.

The small shrew curled himself quickly into a ball, getting ready for the impact of the shot that was coming towards him. A force field surrounded the small mouse, as it protected itself from the oncoming attack. The force of the blow sent the ground type flying backwards, still in his ball form, crashing into one of the rocks. It uncurled itself and shook itself off, as if there was little to no damage done on it.

Its focus immediately changed to Rex, as its small hand started to have a dark purple aura engulfing it. The Sandshrew dug its back leg deep into the sand and thrust himself in the direction of my pokemon, hand still glowing. Without warning, it stopped a few meters away from Rex, and lunged its fist forward. The dark purple energy came off its hand, forming a large claw that followed the ground. Rex braced himself, both arms crossed in front of his body, attempting to block the attack. The attack passed underneath the Riolu, popped up into the air and slashed at its back. Not expecting this maneuver, Rex was sent flying face first into the sand.

Spitting out some of the grains of sand, Rex stood up once more to look at the Sandshrew. It seemed to be conveying a look of innocence on his face, yet Rex knew better than to fall for such a trick. He raced in once more, arm behind his back, ready and looking to whale on his opponent once more. The small mouse once again curled up into a ball and protected itself from the impeding attack, sent backwards again yet sustaining little to no damage. This little mouse was getting quite tiresome with its Protect attack.

As the ground type stood up once more, it let go an array of small dark needles in Rex’s general direction. Rex tried as best as he could to avoid the onslaught of needles but was unfortunately hit with a few. Rex started to sway back and forth, seemingly under, from what I could deduce as, poisonous effects.

Angered, he launched himself once more towards the small rodent.

“Rex, that isn’t working, you gotta stop doing that attack!” I bellowed.

Like clockwork, the Sandshrew curled itself in a ball and protected itself from the oncoming attack. Rex closed in on his target, this time, his hand glowing an odd white. The punch connected with the protective barrier around the Sandshrew and shattered it. I was taken aback by the whole situation. It seemed as though the small mouse Pokemon as well could not understand what had just happened. It flew in the air, uncurled and slammed hard into the rocks behind.

It was visible now that the hit had taken its toll on the small ground type as Rex raced in once more, this time, with his hand having a light blue aura. The hit connected and slammed the Sandshrew once again into the rock behind it, this time though, freezing him to the rock itself. The giant chunk of ice started to melt rapidly and the small shrew fell to the ground, unconscious from the last attack.

Rex spun around, looked at me with the biggest grin. I had not seen that look in a long time, and it brought a smile to my face.

I really needed this match. We both really needed this match. I thought to myself

I grabbed Rex off the ground and I carried him out of the training room on my shoulders. He was as giddy as a kid in a candy store. Once out of the infernal heat of the Desert Room, I proceeded to give him as much water as he could take and let him rest for a bit.

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

Rex battled an Onix (lvl15) and Sandshrew (lvl19) and won!

Rex grew 3 levels to level 17, learned the move Feint.

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

<Rex>

That felt great to be out fighting again against such weak opponents! I knew I wasn’t going to be stopped!

My stomach started to growl and I couldn’t hold out much longer. Alex was sitting down on a bench, his backpack open, and I needed some food! While he wasn’t looking, I slipped my hand into the bag, trying to find some of that delicious chocalat. The first thing I found was a small yet incredibly warm red box. After that, I found a small yellow box that seemed to have a little electricity on it. The hair on my arm was rising up, it was kinda cool!

Finally I brought out a small package with some writing on it. I gave it a quick look and I knew right off the bat that it was gonna be chocalat. I had to make sure that Alex did not see me eating this, so I had to be fast.

I opened the package as fast as I could and found what seemed to be a small brown eatable cube in the middle of the box. CHOCALAT! I placed it in my mouth as Alex turned around. He took a quick glance at the box and tried to stop me from eating my precious precious chocalat!

“REX! What are you doing! That’s not something you want to eat right now!” he screamed at me.

I didn’t care! I swallowed the chocalat as fast as I could. It did taste kind of funny though, almost like it wasn’t chocalat.

“Rex! That was for later, not right now! That was the Gene Accelerator!” He was looking at me funny now.

My stomach started to rumble and this time, it wasn’t because I was hungry. I doubled over. I could feel energy going throughout my body at this point, something wasn’t right. Alex picked me up and took me outside into the sunlight. I could feel the sun’s rays hitting my body, I liked the warmth all of a sudden.

“Here you go bud, have some chocolate. You are gonna need that, you’re gonna grow real fast, real big in little time.” He said with a smile.

He gently put me down and I could feel myself getting bigger. We decided to take a stroll into the forest not too far from the training grounds. He said that my growth spurt, although quick, would probably take a day or 2 to fully finish.

And he was right. After eating what I would think is about 4 times my body weight in the span of a day, my body seemed to have stopped growing.

I felt stronger! I felt faster! I felt smarter!

Alex seemed to be happy that this event had occurred. He looked at me and said:

“Well, I guess you have finally evolved into a Lucario there bud! Congrats Rex!”

And with that, he gave me a big chocolate bar, for me to gorge on.

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

At lvl17, Rex has evolved from Riolu to Lucario

[DarkestLight]

LV:
Heh, Mary and Sue needed to pull something overpowered lol

Umm how many whom's and it's? I went through that story like 5 times and rewrote most all the past/present mixed tenses. I seriously dedicated a day to removing whom and either putting who or rewriting it to not have to use it. So there's something Im obviously missing.

As for when they met..well they met via the RP, then at the end of the RP, IT was written that she gave rapp her number, and that they would meet at the fountain. This story puts Rapp en route to the fountain. Which means I need to rp with you again, to get rapp up to speed with the whole black dragon stuff!

[classy_cat18]

Alex, take eleven Stamps. I think there's a bit of a continuity problem, since we've shortened the gap between this scenario and the previous one. Only a few months at most should've passed. It's a bit troublesome given that some of us also stopped mid-training.

Someone could correct me if I'm wrong.

[lvl100mewtwo]

Thanks Shonta, only reason I went with a year was cause it actually has been a little over a year that I have written a story. I was going more for real time, but I guess yes, that it has been only a few months in between the games and this new scenario.

[classy_cat18]

Trust me, you're not the only one having problem with the time skip. I did like the battle, as Riolu is one of my favorite Pokemon (along with its evolution). It's interesting to read a battle between two Pokemon of totally different sizes. Kinda like a David-Goliath sort of thing.

[Lady Vulpix]

LV:
Heh, Mary and Sue needed to pull something overpowered lol

Umm how many whom's and it's? I went through that story like 5 times and rewrote most all the past/present mixed tenses. I seriously dedicated a day to removing whom and either putting who or rewriting it to not have to use it. So there's something Im obviously missing.

As for when they met..well they met via the RP, then at the end of the RP, IT was written that she gave rapp her number, and that they would meet at the fountain. This story puts Rapp en route to the fountain. Which means I need to rp with you again, to get rapp up to speed with the whole black dragon stuff!

And yet, as overpowered as Sue is, she's afraid of a little Nincada? That doesn't make much sense.

I was asking at which point in your story our characters had met, since the whole story went on as if it had never happened, until it suddenly had. My story said both groups met back in Sector Alpha on that same day (Spark didn't stop surveying the area until he saw Rapp's group return), Rapp got a cellphone and numbers were exchanged. Yours says Rapp decided to leave the mountains - for his own reasons, related to his encounters and completely unrelated to my group since there was no mention of them - and went on a journey that took several days before returning to Sector Alpha, buying a cellphone and registering the umber Gabi had given him at some unknown point in history. How shall we make the story consistent? What exactly happened? I'm willing to edit my story as long as we agree on something that makes sense. Note that if Rapp did promise to meet Gabi at the park on that same day and didn't, then I'll have a lot more to edit since Gabi and her team will have got worried and organized a rescue mission, and all the subsequent Guild/DT meetings will have involved making plans to search for him.

And I believe I replaced 9 instances of "whom", and at least 3 of "its".

Edit: I have fixed my story in the archive.

[Wolfsong]

Before story notes: The baby vulpix went to charlesthough it'll be my next story or the one after before she officially leaves.. Now for the moves, which are being given out off screen... First of all, Kiara is getting the emt Superpower move. Sand Tomb, which is one of the moves that hannah gave me is going to Tierra. Meditate and crunch, another pair of moves that came from Hannah is going to Darin. Sky Uppercut is going to Talut. Yawn, which was an emt move, is going to darin. Psyshock, also emt, is going to Sinopa. Stone edge (Emt) is going to tierra. Ice shard (Emt) is going to rick. A while back, I made a huge purchase from the reward center. I got something for eveyone and recently I also bought some moves for Ziva and Tierra, but ziva’s are on hold until she is properly introduced (as are the moves I have holding for flame). Here are those moves: Mimic for blazer, odor slueth for kiara, odor sleuth for Kovu, rain dance for Sugar, air cutter for Talut, rain dance for Jasmine, slash for Yana, Flame wheel for sinopa, signal beam for Darin, signal beam for Colby, charm for Ebony, powder snow for Rick, odor sleuth tm (for rick[was originally for vixey]), as well as focus energy tm and Hidden power ice for Tierra. Speaking of, Ziva came from the pocket monsters breeding center and is the daughter of Mikachu’s mienfoo and Skye’s espeon fade who was an eevee at the tim of the breeding. Ziva is a L.5 female mienfoo that knows Pound, Meditate, and Hidden Power (Ice). Her ability is inner focus. Anyways, here is darin’s rbgs and setting up for blazer’s. Having a case of writer’s block so tryign to get over it by writing….

(Amy’s POV)

We took our time getting home after finishing up at the training grounds, since we didn’t have to hurry. We set a nice, lesiurly pace and we took our time getting home. Jasmine and Talut were fully rested as we made our way back and Kovu was resting in his pokeball.

(Darin’s POV)

I was resting with Sinopa and our daughter, while Blazer and Yana made the rounds. The others were resting inside. I was spending as much time with my family because I knew our little girl was going to a new home soon. I nuzzled her before stiffening.

”Darin? What is it?”

“I heard something.”

Sinopa crouched over our little girl as I stood up and looked around. I took a couple steps forward before coming to a dead stop and narrowly missing a gunk shot.

“Way to go birdbrain. You can’t hit the broad side of a barn.”

As I watched a delibird landed, ignoring the jabs from the wooper.

“What do you two want?” I snarled.

“You.”

”What for?”

”None of your business.”

”And none of us is going with you.”

“We’ll get you one way of the other.”

Darin L.20 Male Espeon Vs. L.20 Male Delibird and L.20 Male Wooper.

Taking a deep breath, I took a running leap and disappeared into a shadow. As I hid there, I avoided an ice punch from the bird and a mud bomb from the wooper. I smirked and listed to the confused whispers of the delibird and the wooper asking where I went after their attacks missed.

Letting out the breath I was holding, I leapt from the shadows bringing their force to my attack asi slammed into the Wooper from directly underneath him. He was sent flying through the air. When he landed, I could tell that he was weakened. However, it didn’t deter him from his next attack. Inhaling deeply, the wooper exhaled a powerful stream of water that slammed into me that was extremly hot. I thanked my lucky stars that the Scald didn’t burn me. The next thing that I knew, the delibird reached into his sack and pulled out a trash back that he threw at me. When it hit, it busted open and gunk splashed all over me. I wrinkled my nose because it smelled hidieous.

“Stop ganging up on me,” I growled as I used my psychic powers to hurl the wooper as hard as I could into the far side of the house where he slid to the ground. I breathed a sigh of releif. One of my opponents was knocked out cold.

I didn’t get to enjoy my victory for very long. The next thing that I knew, I felt bugs crawling all over, and it felt like they were all biting me. However, when I looked I didn’t see anything but a faint yellow-greenish glow. I closed my eyes and wished hard on the star’s that I knew were up there even though I couldn’t see them right now. Although I did know deep down that my wish would come true. It was just a matter of surviving until it did.

Taking a deep breath, I turned around and faced my remaining opponent. Then, with a narrowing of my eyes, I sent him hurtlign thorugh the air where he landed on top of the wooper. Unfortuantely, he wasn’t kncoked out by the attack. Instead, he opened his bag and out flew a yellow greenish beam of bug typed enery. I bit my jaw to keep from crying out in pain, as I struggled to keep from blacking out.

Thankfully, I felt my wish come true as my health was restored a little. I had just enough energy to launch my strongest attack. I knew it was going to wipe me out but it had to be done. I began to channel all my psychic energys. As I did so, I could feel the power building insdie until I could no longer hold it back. The Psycho Boost knocked him back so hard that the ice bird left a small dent in the side of the house as I collapsed to the ground completley exhaused.

I won!
I grew to L.22.
I learned Quick Attack

”What happened here?”

I looked up to see Talut and Jasmine landing with Amy on Talut’s back. “We were attacked I said warily.” Before Amy could go over and look at my attackers, munna appeared and teleported them away.

”By who?”

The new voice, coming from Amy’s pack, caused all of us to startle. I watches as she slowly slid the bag from off of her back and cautiously open it to reveal a young sandile.

”Hi!”

”Where did you come from?” Amy asked her.

“The Desert Room. I watched your battle, and was impressed so I cuaght myself. I wanted to be trained by you and that’s why I caught myself. The umbreon was amazing to watch in battle. My name is Tierra.”

”Amy?” I asked, because I could tell that she was caught completely off guard.

”are you sure?”

The little gator just nodded her head.

”Is this the whole team?”She asked?

I shook my head, still nto used to this new member. Amy was watching her curiously. “Most of them are in the house. Blazer and Yana are patrolling and…” Taking a deep breath, I looked up at Amy. “And tehre is still no word from Flame.

“Okay, Darin, call everyone back. We’ll make the introductions and go from there.”

I nodded. “Okay,” I agreed as I set to work.”

Amy smiled and I followed her line of sight and I stood up proudly. “Congratulations. She’s beautiful. And since I know that you were wondering about it, I did find her a good home for when she’s old enough to leave.”

My eyes widened briefly before I cleared my throat. She doesn’t have t0 leave yet does she?

“Not for a few more weeks, but she’ll like her new trainer.” I watches as Amy gently petted her and Sinopa nuzzled her.

One by one the rest of the team appeared. Blazer and Yana were the last to arrive, and Blazer looked as worn out as I didn.

[lvl100mewtwo]

Great little battle Wolfsong, really enjoyed it. A few small grammar errors here and there, but all in all, it was very easy to follow. Congrats on the new addition to your team as well! Take these 12 Stamps to commemorate you recent battle! ¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢

[Skye]

Remember to Ask…

"Things are going on, you know," Skye commented casually to the dark Meowth at her side. Shadow sighed at that, thinking it was quite an obvious statement, considering that, only a couple of hours ago, they had caught wind of whispers and rumors. Something about dragons and darkness and magic. It was all over Skye's head, of course, imagining such things and anything related to magic. To her, elves and witchcraft were as real as legendary Pokémon. They were just legends. And Shadow, naturally, shared this view point. But the fact that people seemed so riled up about it didn't sit well with him. Perhaps there was someone pulling the strings on this smoke and mirrors case, he wasn't certain.

"It's not any of our business," Shadow purred confidently. Either way, it wasn't as if they would be more than pawns in the hands of the Dragon Tamers. If they got involved at all. But, from what he had been listening to, the Dragon Tamers might be on the frontlines of any counter attack involving this mystical nonsense. His tail swayed behind himself casually with each step, golden eyes glancing to his trainer's belt where multiple Pokéballs latched magnetically to her belt. She had a complete team. Well, almost. Five out of six wasn't bad, even if the latest pair were only temporary.

"You're right. We should try to help out in any way we can!" once again, Skye didn't seem to understand a single thing about the Pokémon she had been traveling with for some time, leading him to sigh heavily and look away from his trainer to observe the streets. Pokémon walked or were carried by their trainers, wandering this way and that. Probably heading to lunch, though that was something Shadow and Skye didn't have to worry about. As his trainer was a great believer in living in the moment, lunch was spoiled and full bellies were felt just as others were beginning to realize their hunger pangs. Still, he seemed to attract some attention, his fur black like night and eyes nearly as golden as the charm on his head.

"Oh!" one such passer by seemed to catch sight of Shadow, stepping in the Meowth's way and crouching down. "What a pretty kitty!" It was as if someone had delivered a second Skye into his life for a moment, horrifying the Meowth as he was given a few eager pets. Still, gentle fingers coaxed a purr or two before he righted himself, trying to look indifferent as the stranger and Skye began to talk like old friends over how odd Shadow's coloring was, for a Meowth. The usual questions came about as well. A naturally black coat? Why was his charm still golden, wouldn't that get affected too? Of course not, don't be silly. Meowth only wear charms for luck, they have nothing to do with fur coloration.

A conspiracy theory was soon weaved between too very eccentric personalities, though Shadow hardly listened, considering he had heard all of this once before. In fact, the exact same questions being asked had been asked by Skye long ago. For all his trainer had known, Shadow had been born with a black coin, but had lost it long ago. Or perhaps he, like many of his breed, enjoyed shiny things more, and so replaced it at the first opportunity. Still, the compliments and being the center of attention did wonders for his ego, as he soon began to groom his attractive coat and rubbed a paw over his shiny charm to make it glow.

His fur soon stood on end, however, as the subject of breeding came up. As well as a certain, soft-spoken Ponyta who was just as strange in coloring. And oh, what would the children look like? He huffed at that, shooting the women an impatient glance, if indignant. But the woman had no interest in fire types, and Skye had no interest in raising two Ponyta, so the discussion ended there. Good. Honestly, trainers these days. Not even giving a Pokémon some privacy and getting involved with things like breeding and eggs. Silly people.

At long last, the other woman bid her farewells to Skye, and the trainer and Pokémon were on their way to find some battles. They weren't hard to find, and in fact, Shadow and Eclipse were often used in practice battles with other trainers of late. If nothing else, the Meowth was pleased to be brought into battle, and often. They didn't win all of the time, but often enough that progress was being made. Hopefully today would be one of those days.

"Now, where were we…" Skye began her casual wandering once again, her ever faithful Shadow in tow, despite feeling somewhat objectified by the conversation.

His optimism would be short lived when they took a path out of town and headed back into the forest. And in that forest, they would find water. A nice deep lake off of the trail. At least, she had the intelligence to not release the monster known as Shandar. Not at first. The Houndour and Pidgey who had been staying in the Pokémon Center over the past few days were let out, as well as Eclipse.

"There we go!" Skye looked rather pleased. "Back home and good as new."

"Ah!" the Pidgey stretched his wings to the sky before tucking them neatly back against himself. His head tilted as he glanced among the group. "Thank you, thank you very much!"

"You're not going to use us as training fodder now, are you?" the Houndour eyed Skye's duo up, and the Meowth couldn't help at wonder if Eclipse was so far more experienced that she couldn't trounce the three of them without any problem. Eclipse might have been wondering this, too, as she turned her head to eye them before looking away and deciding to not speak at all.

"I don't believe so," Shadow couldn't say that his words were very reassuring, but it wasn't as if he could predict Skye's whims at every turn.

"That's reassuring," the Pidgey spoke up first, his delighted tone dropping a few octaves to fully express his sarcasm. Shadow let out a soft, disinterested snort at his comment before noticing Skye dropping down to the ground to pull out a few more… TMs. Of course she had those. And collars. One of them was thin, and once set on Eclipse, looked more like a dark necklace around the mare's neck.

"Now. That is fire proof, completely! It took a while to find one pretty enough for you," the silver buckle did seem to shine and catch the occasional reflection of her violet flames, complimenting her coloration well. Eclipse let out a sound of delight, or what one could assume was delight. On occasion, the mare simply made horse-like sounds that the Meowth could only assume upon.

"Thank you," she uttered properly, not that Skye could differentiate between the sounds, but at least Shadow could understand now, satisfying his momentary curiosity. Another collar, which looked more like a slender band, was brought out. But who could that be for? It might fit Shandar… if she put it on one of his teeth.

"Here you go, a gift!" she reached out to the Pidgey, who tried to flutter away.

"Hey, get off! Let go of me! Stop it!" his Houndour companion seemed torn, both amused and disturbed as a few feathers were ruffled during his capture and collaring. But a deep, natural brown coloring, a thin make which looked soft as could be, and a golden buckle made the fluttering and indignant Pidgey look quite sharp.

"Ow…" the talons and beak of a small bird weren't to be underestimated, and Skye was left with a few scrapes for her troubles. Though Shadow might have once tried to eat the Pidgey for being so ungrateful, his years had dulled overprotective instincts. Eclipse didn't seem so settled, however, and pawed the ground uncertainly.

"Okay, I deserved that," Skye's laughter was soon to follow, causing the dark mare to settle and, seeming to decide she was no longer necessary to the progression of things to come, began grazing lightly on the grass. How she could keep eating, Shadow couldn't begin to fathom. They had just had an early lunch, after all.

"That's a collar. It's not just for looking pretty, they give your physical attack a nice boost in combat. I don't have anything quite yet for you," she offered the Houndour a smile, but was met with only a harsh stare. "Mostly because I've only otherwise acquired a few little attacks…" of course she did. Where Skye came up with the money or luck to get these attacks from, Shadow was left clueless. But, judging from her bag remaining full even with collars and TMs produced and soon put into use, she had other things on her mind as well.

"What… What in the… What is this?" the Houndour seemed more than upset over the process of having her mind automatically recognize, analyze, and alter her muscle memory and nervous system to adapt to the physical demands of a brand new attack. The Pidgey started laughing about the entire process, however, now that he had come to realize that Skye's inane manner was harmless, and somewhat humorous.

"So, what's the point of all of this, anyway?" the Pidgey asked, finally, his ruffled feathers having settled.

"You'll see," Shadow promised.

"Alright! So… Uhm. I don't really know how to word it, but… would you two be willing to join our team? I mean, I said I was just trying to help, but… I just couldn't help at think about it," Skye managed to get her words out.

"Both of us?" she wondered as the pair looked at each other.

"I'll warn you now. Skye's a bit… special sometimes. And there is a Gyarados. But we manage to get by, somehow," Shadow kept an even, nearly uninterested tone.

"In other words, she can't talk to Pokémon like some people can," Eclipse lifted her head from the grass. "But she means what she says. I'm stronger than I've ever been thanks to her. And…" she looked over to Skye. "Sometimes… it feels like she understands. At least… the important things…" her courage failed her, however, and she went back to browsing over the ground, as if nothing had happened.

Skye looked as if she was on pins and needles as her Pokémon threw out their opinions. The good and the bad were in the air, not that she knew that much. The pair began to speak to each other in soft tones, trying to work things over. Until, quite quickly, they came to a conclusion. Heads bobbed in an obvious okay, though Shadow couldn't help at wonder what aspect of Skye they were drawn to, or what mixed messages the woman had sent out. At that moment, Shadow began to wonder if she had been bribing the pair, or was simply giving them more tools to survive in the world, with or without her help. In the end, it probably didn't matter, for Skye was truly delighted and wouldn't have forced them to stay against their will.

"Good! Great! Now… Let's see… Shandar, let's try…" Shadow hissed at where Skye was going with this. "Let's try at least!" she spoke over the feline's displeasured hissing. Unable to voice his reasons for disliking this, he simply settled down, fur bristling and crackling with static.

"Shandar?" the Houndour asked.

"The psycho Gyarados. It's always the same thing, it has been ever since he evolved. She lets him out…" a large splash was heard as Shandar's Pokéball erupted, setting the blue serpent free. "He tries to eat her…" screams were heard, slightly drowned out by Shandar swearing his revenge. "She manages to recall him… After some of the surrounding area gets destroyed…" loud crashing was heard as he put his Iron Head technique to good practice on a tree. Mildly stunned, Skye found an opportunity to recall Shandar, having only narrowly escaped death once again. "… I think she's an adrenaline junky, or very slow to catch on that he wants nothing to do with her or us now that he's achieved his goal."

"Why does he hate her so much?" the Pidgey wondered.

"Haven't a clue. Something about Pokéballs and vengeance. But, considering the alternative was to have him be dragged around outside of water most of the time, and she put him in aquariums often or let him free into ponds or streams, I just think he's… off in the head…"

"She's letting him back out," the Houndour sank onto her haunches, looking rather bemused by the entire ordeal.

"They're a perfect match," Shadow let the static in his fur fade as he relaxed, though he kept a careful eye on things, just in case he was needed. "I never introduced myself properly. My name's Shadow. Eclipse is over there, being shy," he flicked the tip of his tail towards the mare who seemed overly interested in the fallen stump, though Shandar's tantrums caused her to flinch occasionally. Even though he hadn't displayed a knack for Water-based techniques yet, he could still cause some damage with all of his flailing.

"Hello…" she glanced to the pair before returning to her own little world.

"I'm Darker," the Houndour speed demon introduced herself, sitting up a little as she spoke her own name.

"Duo," the Pidgey lifted a wing in a mocking salute. "Lighter than Darker."

"I think the question should be what Darker is darker than, instead," Shadow wondered over that, causing the Houndour to sniff in disdain at the pair making fun of her name.

"My full name is Darker Than the Dancing Midnight Shadows, I'll have you know," she looked away at that. "Pack names are just shortened in common Poke-tongue because it takes too long to say them when not coordinating with one's own kind."

"Hah!" Duo chirped in amusement. "I always wondered."

"And what're the meanings behind your names?" she lifted her nose, almost seeming to stare down at the pair.

"Duo because I was part of a clutch. A simple name for a simple bird," Duo didn't seem all that interested in talking about his own name, and something in Darker's eyes told Shadow that there was more to this bird than he let on. Simple wasn't the right word for him, though now that things had settled down, he seemed relaxed enough about things, if not quite as sadistic as his friend.

"Skye named me, and she named Eclipse. Shandar… I don't know why she gave him that kind of name. I think she was off in her own little world and thought he didn't look like a Raindancer or Leviathan sort," he flicked his tail in dismissal. "So, if you're going to stay, I think you shouldn't remain too attached to your names."

"Never was," Duo commented in a carefree manner before observing Skye and the Gyarados. For a few seconds, or so Shadow thought, it looked as if the woman was getting through to the beast. Though they were too far away for him to catch their words, he seemed to have settled, his tail lashing slowly behind himself in the water as he hovered. Deep, vibrating growls rolled from him, however, tones which made his fur stand on end. That and the fact that with his constant trashing, the 'deep' lake seemed tinier, the shores washed over and the water muddy. Really, the monstrosity was a huge beast, but it would take someone as thick headed as Skye to out-stubborn a Gyarados, it seemed.

"Pack names are pack names. They always stay with us. Whatever I am called in the common language doesn't change that," Darker finally threw in her two coins after a silence of watching a human attempting to manage the large beast. Those enchanted moments weren't to last, however, for he was soon back to trying to eat her. And, once again, Skye was forced to remove him from the ruined lake.

"I wonder when she's going to give up," Shadow mumbled to himself.

"Think she should?" Duo wondered, causing Shadow and Darker to glance at him as if he was crazy. "What! Maybe he's had a dark past that even he doesn’t want to talk about it and required a patient, kind person who will stick through it until he lowers his defenses and finally lets someone into his world."

There was a long silence at that thought, causing Shadow to feel a moment of guilt for disliking the creature for so long, mistrusting his intentions and being blinded by instinctive unease. Only to remember exactly how Shandar had become overrun with his newly found power and had to be subdued by other Pokémon just to save his life, as well as Skye's. His fur crackled with pent up electricity once again at the memory.

"That," Duo added, his tone changing to a light-hearted chirping, "Or he's just here to kill all of us."

"And here I thought you had actually said something intelligent," Darker barked a laugh at Duo's easy going attitude towards the entire thing. Either way didn't seem to matter to the pair, who didn't seem to see any real threat when it came to Shandar. Though, they had only seen him up close. Shadow decided against pointing out that neither of them seemed battle ready to face the Pokémon if it came to a life or death struggle and simply forced himself to relax once again.

"So, what about Eclipse? Quiet girls can be crazy girls too," Duo wondered, seeming to shrug off Darker's comment about his thoughtless speech.

"Somewhat of both, I suppose," Shadow mused. "She prefers to listen and act instead of talk, I think. Sometimes she'll say quite a bit, but often makes up for it with a long silence afterward. She'll warm up to you two soon enough, I'm sure," golden yellow eyes glanced towards the mare who seemed quite interested in the ground, though one of her ears was turned to face the group of Pokémon, the other cocked towards Skye, who was just wandering back while looking at the ruined water with a sorrowful little sigh. At least that lake didn't seem to be home to any local Water-types.

"Hmph," the mare shook her mane out slightly, scattering flecks of lavender and blue flame as she went about her own business, turning around with her head lowered until she came face to face with something that startled her into jumping back. And when a Ponyta jumps, it flies. Even Skye, who had been some distance away at the lake, could see the mare take off and land rather suddenly, though the trainer ended up laughing at what was standing there. A small yellow bi-pedal creature that was baring its teeth while holding the skin of its lower body up like a pair of baggy jeans. Its tail also seemed to be encased with the same substance which stretched as he pulled at it while glaring at everyone in the surrounding area.

"Wh… What's going on here!? Where's the water?" he leaned to the side to looked at the flooded bank. What was left was so murky that he finally realized it wasn't mud, but water. "What happened to the water?"

"Skye's Gyarados kind of swam in it. And by kind of, I mean half swam, half thrashed, half tried to eat her," Duo offered. "It was quite a sight to see."

"But you ruined the water!" the creature, a Scraggy, complained quite loudly.

"The water will settle again soon," Shadow offered, but the Scraggy would have none of it. Obviously upset, and with reason. His focus settled upon the trainer who had made the mistake of letting her Gyarados out in someone else's watering hole and, head lowered, he began to rush her.

Eclipse Lv.21 vs. Scraggy Lv.21

Darker barked a warning, Duo's wings flapped as he prepared to move, and even Shadow tensed, but it was Eclipse who shot after the Scraggy, nearly trampling him in a blaze of fire. Spinning about, the quiet girl lowered her head before turning it this way and that, examining the opponent quite carefully. With her constant training, the idea that she needed to stall an opponent to stand a chance didn't seem like something she would have to do anymore, but without warning, she lifted her head, opened her mouth, and…

"Ew…" Duo settled down, beak agape as he mistook Eclipse's Toxic attack as something it most certainly wasn't. Darker snickered to herself, the pair relaxing as they watched Eclipse in an attempt to understand her, just as Shadow once did. Now he observed her combat with curiosity and a sense of wonder as she moved from a Flame Charge to a Toxic without thought or direction. The combination certainly caught the Scraggy off guard, as he had been cut off from his intended target and forced to retreat a few steps as he tried to rub the volatile sludge from his face and chest, causing the loose skin of his torso to slack to its natural state.

"Keep him moving with Stomp!" Skye called as she approached the battle field, closing the distance so she could keep an eye on the conflict. Just as she had called, Eclipse moved, rearing up before bringing her hooves down onto the Scraggy, knocking him onto his back. He didn't flinch from the sudden strike, however, instead lifting his lower body rather than attempting to stand, one leg outstretched as he stole Eclipse's balance by sweeping her front legs in a Low Kick. Falling down onto her knees, the mare came down fully. The Scraggy then demonstrated his level of experience by following the strike up by pressing up off of the ground with his arms to land on his feet, a short distance from the downed Ponyta, only to rush up and smash his head into her own.

"Use a Growl, then try a Double Kick," came their trainer's commands. Stunned, Eclipse's concentration lapsed for a moment as the Scraggy drew one fist up, his hand gleaming with raw energy before being brought down painfully against her forehead, causing her head to hit the ground. A terrible sound escaped the mare at that point, not unlike her usual battle roars, though this one was mixed with her own pain to create a terrible wailing sound. Even Shadow had to flatten his ears, grimacing even though it was the Scraggy who got the full blast, and thus, backed away from her head quickly. This gave Eclipse enough time to pull herself to her feet before spinning quickly and nailing her opponent squarely with powerful leg in a single, fluid strike.

The opponent flew back quite dramatically and went down once again, only to let out a pained groan from the extremely effective attack. Eclipse flicked her tail to and fro, her breathing a bit heavy from having been beaten into submission by a creature so much smaller than herself, no remorse to be seen in her as she watched the fighter struggling to his feet from the recent combination of her attacks and the toxins in his system which grew increasingly potent with each strike he made against her. Eclipse turned her head ever so slightly to the side to fix the opponent in her vision, leaving Shadow to wonder what exactly would come of this long pause. Finally, the creature seemed to turn away, deciding against fighting against a Ponyta who could attack with such effective moves, but the world didn't work that way.

"Ember," Skye gave the command without hesitation. And, without hesitation, the mare shot a blazing ball of fire at the Scraggy's back, sending him tumbling forward until he came to a rather pathetic stop up against a tree. Too tired to go on, he didn't even bother to get up, which Shadow found wise. Nothing about the battle surprised him, not even the ending. Darker and Duo had gone silent, however, observing the victorious trainer and Pokémon who seemed to have no problem attacking someone who had given up the fight.

Eclipse won and grew to level 22!

"Hm," Duo glanced at Darker, who had long since stopped snickering.

"Hm?" Shadow glanced back to the pair who looked rather taken aback by the show of brutality. "What did you expect? It was a battle."

"It was a bit violent for a battle," the Pidgey spoke slowly, though his attention shifted to the trainer who was now checking up on the Ponyta who had taken quite a few blows. "At the end."

"It's the same as in the wild, though. And when a trainer encounters a Pokémon, it's also the same. He would have fought until she had collapsed. Just because he wanted to stop doesn't mean that the battle stops."

"That's a bit cruel," Darker mused.

"Welcome to the Pokémon World," Shadow let out a soft sigh. "It's not always a nice world out there, and people who have seen it would appreciate that she only pushes to make the opponent faint under any circumstance. Eclipse is the same way, honestly… she's quiet and doesn't speak up for herself, but she fights and puts her heart into winning. Of course, I'm certain that you saw that for yourself."

Shadow looked at the two, who were weighing their options. Already, they had agreed to join the group, so what more could they do? It wasn't as if they could simply up and leave. The contract between a trainer and her Pokémon was something that the Meowth didn't take lightly and merely believed that these two would come to accept Skye's training style sooner or later. For now, it was time to head back into town to give Eclipse a quick check up and try to find a better lake on a map for Shandar.

… All of the Right Questions

[Wolfsong]

Skye, take 19 stamps. I really enjoyed reading your story. Duo seams intersting and i like Darker's personality. I chuckled after she introduced herself and Duo's reaction. Blinks at Shandar. Looking forward to seeing what you come up with next.

[Wolfsong]

Sorry for the double post but i finished blazer's rbgs. Still dealing with writer's blcok but not as bad as it was...

Before story notes: I gave Tierra the Earthquake TM that I won from the Goldenrod Tower. Here are Blazer’s two rbgs and they occur just about the same time as darin’s two battles. Again, still trying to get over writer’s block.

(Blazer’s POV)

With the increased occurance of missing pokemon, we had decided that we’d go out in pairs. When Amy took Talut, Jasmine, Colby and Kovu to finish up in the training rooms, those of us that remained behind decided to take a morning and evening patrol around the property. At least, until Amy got back. The we’d see if she wanted us to continue the daily patrols or hold off on them until things returned to normal.

So far, the patrols had proven unnecessary and that was a good thing. I looked over at Yana and smiled. She leaned agaisnt me and I nuzzled her. She smiled and nuzzled me back.

“Isn’t that sweet?”

“Actually, I find it sickening Thor. And I’m going to put a stop to it right now.”

I looked up and saw a smeargle and a raichu. However, before I could do anything, the smeargle sketched a garden hose with his tail and aimed it at Yana before blasting her with his hidden power water. He was so much stronger than she was, and the attack knocked her out.

I roared as loud as I could and leapt forward.

Blazer L.78.5 Male Black Arcanine with Silver Stripes Vs. L.78.5 Male Smeargle and Thor L.78.5 Male Raichu

The Raichu, Thor, just smirked. I watched him warily until I felt the vines wrapping themselves around my paws. Hmm, Hidden power grass, I thought to myself. I needed to make sure the smeargle was put out of comission as quick as he could. Not just because he had the hidden power water but also because he knocked Yana out. I snarled at them as I secreted a vile tasting, goo in my mouth before spitting it all over the smeargle who was busy tryign to paint a transparent shield in the air in front of them. The gold key around my neck glowed and the toxic sludge sailed through the transparent barier leaivng a shocked smeargle.

Thor’s electrical sacs began to crackle with electircity and I barely had enough time to throw up a safeguard of my own before the thunderbolt hit. The smeargle was busy sketching a powerful looking tornado that blasted towards me but luckily, his aim was off as I snapped the vines that were holding me in place.

The electric mouse growled loudly at that as I launched a flame at the smeargle that burst into several tiny ones upon contack and hit the raichu as well. The smeargle picked up the garden hose that he had sketched earlier and launched a stream of water at me.

Giving myself a full body shake, I rid myself of the water in my coat as I snarled at them. Thor split into three raichus. I smirked, glancing over at the Smeargle who was showing signs that the posion was taking its toll. Taking a deep breath, I exhaled a wave of flame that engulfed both the smeargle and all of the raichus. When the flames died down, the smeargle was sketchign a large, brown colored gemstone that glowed before slammign into me. I grunted as the breath was knocked out of me. Then, the painting beagle collapsed and I threw my head abck and howled.

Thor began dartign abck in forth in an erratic dance as I started tunneling my way underground. I felt the rain start to fall as I disappeared underground.

I could hear Thor cursing above me and I figured he was plotting out how he could extract his revenge. Howver when I erupted from the ground underneath him, I realized I was wrong as he staggered to his feet severally weakened but hanging on. The raichu had used endure and I snarled at that.

Darting forward with an impressive show of extreme speed, I slammed into the raichu finally knocking him out.

I won.
I grew to L.80.5.
I learned Outrage as my free TM.

I padded over to Yana and nuzzled her until she woke up. Before I could ask her if she was okay we were called back to the house. Taking a deep breath, I teleported us back.

[lvl100mewtwo]

Good job Amy, congrats to Blazer for reaching such a high level. Please take these 11 Stamps for the great battle that he has had!

[DarkestLight]

O.o Crap, forgot to buy my battle for Zent. Lvl 10 :O From the Free Range Corral. Labe dah ::Tosses 7::

[lvl100mewtwo]

Well things just got interesting. Zent will be battling a Ditto! Enjoy

[Skye]

Amagad. xD I forgot to buy my battles too. I'd like a battle for Eclipse my level 22 Ponyta from Electric Shutdown Retirement System. *pays 7 Stamps*

[Wolfsong]

*takes stamps* Eclipse will be battling a Voltorb

[DarkestLight]

Heyyooo! Ditto what what!

[Skye]

Ahh Dx Forgot again. Totally. Completely this time. *pays 7 Stamps* I'll take one for... I can ask for another one for Eclipse, right? Still a level 22 Ponyta xD Caledor's Nature Protection Agency.

[lvl100mewtwo]

Aaaand Skye, we have a nice little Growlithe Pup that is aching for battle against Eclispe!

[Lady Vulpix]

You don't have to buy a battle every week, you know. Especially if you have not yet posted the ones you've bought before.

[Skye]

Yeah, but still xD It's wasted experience otherwise :x I've just had a really, really rough time irl so I haven't had time to crank out stories.

[Charles Legend]

Uh just letting you know I'm working on the current scenario, I just need to finish writing up Bruno's battle then I'll post it but fist Amy were did you want Charles to meet your charter at at her place or his place also I just realized my Venonat dose not have any bug type moves which sucks because I was planing on having him battle a Musharna in the sewers well Sector Alpha.

Gabi glares at me what Sector Alpha most likely has a sewer system, given that it's a big city and big cities need a big sewer system, besides that can you blame me I'm itching to explore Castelia Sewers, and if you call I did mention in one of the Club Eevee houses that shortly after I adopted some pokémon I disappeared in which I said that Charles ended up in the basement of the club and that it was was a labyrinth full of Rattata, so it's likely that Charles found himself in the sewer system...

~Charles Legend