¤Game¤ Dragon Tamers Battle Range version 21 (M.A. Pidgeot)

[Lady Vulpix]

Alright, Light. Kusa will battle a Slakoth. I guess it shouldn't be too hard for Kusa's first battle, but only time and you will tell.

Silver, we'll try to rate your story soon.

[The Blue Avenger]

I will be using Bobbery, my male Snorlax, and Mona, my female Smeargle. Both of them came from Pokezoo.

Name: Bobbery
Species: Snorlax
Gender: Male
Trait: Immunity
Level: 8
Moves: Tackle, Amnesia, Surf
Adopted or Captured: Adopted
Other: Sleeps a lot – personality not defined yet

Name: Mona
Species: Smeargle
Gender: Female
Trait: Own Tempo
Level: 5
Moves: Sketch, Sketch (had a Sketch TM)
Adopted or Captured: Adopted
Other: Likes bright colors

I will be entering as myself, a character named Blue.

***Blue’s POV***

I walked through the underbrush, pausing occasionally to make sure that Mona was still with me. Mona was my brand-new Smeargle – I had just adopted her and I couldn’t let her out of my sight. She was one big ball of energy; the woman at the adoption center had told me of her love of bright colors but I failed to realize that the love included the blue in the sky. Her tail was flying every which way, leaving assorted streaks of color on plants and other Pokemon, and of course, the bright colors made her even more excited. She often got sidetracked and because of this, frequently fell behind. This was one such occasion.

“Ooh! Blue! Help!” I heard her yell.

I turned sharply, my heart racing. “What? What is it?” A closer look revealed she was trying to grab a particularly large leaf. I sighed and began to wonder about my other newly adopted Pokemon, Bobbery the Snorlax. From the moment I had adopted him, he had not woken up. Not for food, not for fresh Beedrill honey, nothing. In addition, I had taught him Surf so I could get across lakes and the like, but I was beginning to question the usefulness of a sleeping surfboard. I took out Bobbery’s Pokeball and opened it. The massive Pokemon flew out, still snoring. I sighed again and recalled him.

I paused for a moment to take my bearings. I left the city three hours ago, I thought, looking at a map, and I’m in a forest now, so that means this is the forest… I trailed my finger along the map, here! According to the map, I was about halfway through the brush. I sat on a rock and pulled out a Thermos and a plastic bag from my backpack. “Hey Mona!” I called. She came bounding over.

“Yeah?” she replied excitedly.

“How’s about some lunch?” I grinned warmly and opened the plastic bag. Inside were some assorted Pokemon snacks. She snatched the bag away from me and began to almost inhale the treats. “Hold on there, girl.” I grabbed her arm. “Before you eat all of those, see if Bobbery wants some.” I released Bobbery again, who was, again, still snoring. She stared at him.

“But Blue, he’s asleep…”

“You have my permission to wake him up.”

Mona squealed with glee and bounded up Bobbery’s stomach. Once near his face, she proceeded to poke him on the forehead. While she did that, I contemplated the recent news.

Team Rocket is rumored to be causing all sorts of trouble… but that’s nothing new, I thought. But what’s this I hear about the Crimson Blades? Where did they come from? Whatever the reason, I hope we don’t run into them… Mona and Bobbery aren’t ready for that.

***Mona’s POV***
Poke. Poke. Poke. Poke. What is wrong with this guy? He’d probably sleep through a typhoon. Poke. Poke. Poke. This is getting boring. Maybe I should just eat these snacks myself. Oh, but then Blue’d be mad. I guess I better keep trying, then. Poke. Poke. Poke. Poke.

***Bobbery’s POV***
Gruh. Why have I been awoken…? There is something unpleasant poking my face. And again. And again. Argh! It just keeps going! Maybe if I keep faking sleep it’ll go away.

***Blue’s POV***
I opened my Thermos and began to drink the milk I had packed, while watching Mona continue to poke Bobbery. Bobbery certainly wasn’t budging, but I had a hunch he wasn’t fully asleep. I called Mona back. “Mona, that’s enough. He’s not getting up.”

“But the snacks…?”

“You can have them. I have some more for Bobbery anyway.” Mona squealed again and started devouring the treats.


Some time later, we had finished our respective lunches and once again set off through the forest. Bobbery still refused to wake up, so I had to recall him. I also had recalled Mona, who was pleading desperately for a chance to take an after-lunch nap. So it was with nobody beside me that I tromped through the thickets, growing ever tired myself. I started to name the wild Pokemon I saw to keep me awake. “Let’s see… that’s a Metapod… oh! There’s a Silcoon; I thought those were rare here…That’s a Gastly…That one’s a Venonat… Wait, a Gastly? Those don’t come out during the day…” I turned back to where I had seen the gaseous Pokemon, only to be greeted by nothing. “It must have been a trick of the light.” I kept walking, albeit a little more cautious of my surroundings.

***Omniscient Third-Party POV***

“Sir! Trainer approaching from the south!”

“Is that so? Good work.”

“Thank you, sir!”

“Now, don’t you think we ought to finish this up quickly, Rocket scum?”

“I will walk all over you before you can even touch me, Crimson Crybaby!”

***Once Again, Back to Blue's POV***

It’s too bad, really, that the Gastly wasn’t actually there… I thought to myself. I’ve been meaning to catch a Ghost-type Pokemon for some time. And a Psychic-type, but that’s beside the point. Maybe another Ghost will pop up at some point. A chill ran down my back, and an idea struck me. I turned around. Nope, no Gengars in my shadow. I suppose that’s a relief… Although I couldn’t do much about catching them with two Normal type Pokemon… Suddenly, I heard the noise of fighting breaking through the thickets. I ran forward and moved a bush aside so I could watch. A man in a red ninja getup was sending a Gastly to attack the opponent’s (who was a guy in a black shirt with a red R on it) Rattata. The Crimson Blade and Team Rocket! Suddenly, the Gastly disappeared. The two trainers and the Pokemon looked around in confusion.

“HAHAHA!” A loud laugh resonated behind me and the two trainers turned to look. The Gastly was floating behind my head, leering at me.

“It was you! You were spying on me!” I hissed at the Ghost.

The Gastly chuckled but didn’t say anything. Instead it hovered just over me and Teleported me to its trainer. The Crimson Blade glared at me.

“Hmm… a spy, eh?” The Crimson Blade snickered.

“You don’t look weak enough to be a Blade…” interjected the Rocket.

“Yeah? Well he’s not ugly enough to be a Rocket!” shot back the Blade. Meanwhile, I shuffled backwards and pulled out two Pokeballs. Bobbery and Mona sprung forth, Bobbery still asleep and Mona looking groggy. I pulled Mona aside.

“Mona, Bobbery isn’t going to help much, so I need to you to do this,” I whispered to her.

“Do what?” Mona asked.

“D’you see that Gastly?” I pointed over to where the Gastly was floating, watching his trainer duke it out with the Rocket. “I need you to defeat it.” Mona looked shocked but nodded her head.

“Sure, Blue.” She ran out into the field and started yelling at the Gastly.

“Hey! Gastly! I bet I can beat you! Um… Your mom wears army boots!”

I slapped my forehead and started trying to wake Bobbery up.

***Battle time! Mona the female Smeargle (level 5) versus the Crimson Blade Gastly (level 8 )!***

“You will pay for that cheap shot, insolent dog!” The Gastly hissed at Mona.

“You deserve it, you… umm… you airhead!” Mona stuck her tongue out at the ghost. Gastly, infuriated, dove down at Mona with his tongue stuck out.

“Mona! Get out of the way!” I yelled. Mona nodded and jumped out of the way at the last minute. Gastly sailed by harmlessly. “Now, Sketch!” Mona nodded again, and took her tail in her hand. She waved it around, leaving a trail of paint, until the paint on her tail turned dark purple. The Gastly flew by again, this time sinking his fangs into her skin. Mona howled in pain, and I knew the Mega Drain was steadily sucking the life out of her.

“Mona! Try your new move!” Mona stuck out her tongue and licked Gastly on the side of the head. It shuddered, and I realized that the Lick attack had struck home – Gastly was now paralyzed. Mona jumped at it again, making contact with another Lick. Gastly shuddered some more and floated to the ground, but it regained its composure and rushed at Mona. It made eye contact with her and began the Hypnosis, the sleep-inducing waves traveling between the two Pokemon.

“Snap out of it!” I called to Mona. She obviously heard me, as she broke eye contact with Gastly and charged at it again, Licking it once more. This time, though, Gastly had taken too much and sank to the ground, unconscious. The Blade recalled it.
***End Battle! Mona gains 1 level! Mona is now level 6!***

The Blade glared at me. “You just made the biggest mistake of your life, kid. Nobody crosses the Crimson Blades and lives…” He threw down a smoke ball and disappeared. The Rocket stepped up.

“You may have defeated that weakling of a Blade, but you’ll find me a far more formidable foe!” He snickered and yelled at his Rattata. “Rattata, now!” The rat leapt at Bobbery, sinking its large fangs into his stomach. Bobbery grumbled.

“Grr… who wakes me?!” Bobbery stood up and shook the Rattata off. He stomped, and the entire forest shook. The Rattata backed up out of sheer terror. Bobbery charged at the rodent, shaking the ground with each step, and Mona followed suit.

***Battle time! Bobbery the male Snorlax (level 8 ) and Mona the female Smeargle (level 6) versus the Rocket Rattata (level 15)!***

The Rattata regained some of its bravery and ran toward the weaker target, Mona. It jumped and launched a Hyper Fang attack, but Bobbery slid in at the last moment.

“Nobody, and I mean NOBODY, attacks my friend!” The Rattata backed down after bouncing off of Snorlax, obviously terrified by the one-ton Pokemon. Mona busied herself by Sketching the Rattata. She stopped after a moment and grinned, fangs glistening in the light.

“Now, Mona!” Bobbery yelled at Mona. I sat back – it was pretty cool that my Pokemon knew what to do. Mona dashed at the rodent and sank her teeth into it. The Hyper Fang attack hit home, causing the Rattata to flinch – and leaving it open to a Bobbery attack. Bobbery, too, rushed the Rattata, hitting it with a massive Tackle attack. Mona let go right before Bobbery slammed the rat into a tree.

“That’s enough, Bobbery,” I called to Bobbery, who backed off. The Rattata fell off the tree, dazed and confused. Its trainer recalled it and glared at me. “You’ll pay for this!” The Rocket pulled a gun and took a shot. Although poorly aimed, it landed in my shoulder… I started to feel delirious from the pain as the world drained away beneath my feet…

End Battle! Mona and Bobbery gain 1 level each! Mona and Bobbery grew to levels 7 and 9!



I awoke in a cushiony bed inside a small room. A woman approached me from the side.

“Where are my Pokemon?!” I demanded of her.

“Relax. They’re being healed.” She smiled. “You looked pretty impressive out there. Oh, we took care of the bullet too. Don’t worry.”

I looked at my shoulder and saw a bandage. “Um… thanks.”

“You’re quite welcome.” She paused and the expression on her face changed to a far more serious one. “I approach you with a proposition today. I belong to a clan known as the Dragon Tamers. We devote ourselves to protecting the region, and I think you did a good job with the Blades and Rockets today. What I am asking is… will you join the Tamers?”

I thought for a moment and grinned. “You bet!”

END STATS

Name: Bobbery
Species: Snorlax

Gender: Male
Trait: Immunity
Level: 9
Moves: Tackle, Amnesia, Surf
Adopted or Captured: Adopted
Other: Sleeps a lot. Fiercely defensive of Mona. Grumpy if woken up.

Name: Mona
Species: Smeargle
Gender: Female
Trait: Own Tempo
Level: 7
Moves: Lick, Hyper Fang
Adopted or Captured: Adopted
Other: Likes bright colors

[Cheesey]

I would like an RBG for Athena, please, in Caledor's Nature Protection Agency. *hands over 7 Stamps*

I'd also like an extension for the scenario, please. I don't know if I'll be able to finish the story I'm working on for it in time, and I want to use it to train Maria and let her personality shine through a bit.

EDIT: Athena's my level 9 Swablu. I don't know if you needed to know but I thought I may as well mention.

[Lady Vulpix]

Alright, Cheesey, you get the extension and Athena gets a Cyndaquil as her opponent for her random battle.

[classy_cat18]

Bandit’s POV

I didn’t get too far before I ran out of breath. I stopped and leaned on a garbage can for support. Darn it! Why am I so tired now? Then it hit me. It’s that Lily kid! She used that energy draining attack on me when I first met her! If I run into a fight I’m done for! I laid a hand over my heart and took deep breaths in a futile attempt to slow down my heartbeat.

I knew where that witch Dixie and her crony were headed. There were a ton of warehouses around this area, near the water. The only problem was finding which one they went to. I needed some help. I turned a corner and came to a Dumpster. “Hey, Scamper! Get yourself out of there! I need to talk to you!” I yelled.

A Rattata poked its head out of the Dumpster. “What’s all the hoo-hah about? Oh, it’s the rookie. How ya doin’, rookie?”

I narrowed my eyes. I hated being called that. All that time being in the gang and they still called me a rookie. Then again, I’ve been having a stroke of bad luck lately. “I’ll smack you later. Right now I have to ask you something.”

“Ask away.”

“Have you seen two humans run past here? A girl and a boy, the girl holding a briefcase?” I knew that his memory was bad, but I still had to give it a shot.

Scamper closed his eyes in thought. His nose wriggled. Finally his eyes snapped open. “I didn’t see them, but I’m sure I heard a couple of humans run past here. I even caught their scent.” I opened my mouth to tell him thanks, but that wasn’t the end of it. “Before I show you the way, answer my question. Why are you concerned about these humans?”

I tried to look natural. In the gang, it was believed that trained Pokemon were disgraceful and lowly. And don’t get me started with humans. “They stole something I found. Something valuable.”

His eyes brightened. “Valuable, eh? I guess you’ll need my help.” He climbed out of the Dumpster. “Follow me, buddy.” He started to walk, sniffing the air. Walking too slowly, in fact.

“You might want to go a little faster, Scamper.” I looked up at the sky. The sun was setting already. Pretty soon we were to report to the boss about what we’ve found to eat or pawn and share it. And I saw something to make me freeze. Skye and Blinky were hovering high above our heads. Skye the Pidgeotto and Blinky the Zubat. Don’t ask me why we call him Blinky when he had no eyes. “Uh oh.”

The two Flying types landed in front of us. They didn’t look too happy to see us. Skye was clutching something in his talons, someone’s wallet. In fact, it looked like Shonta’s wallet. “Where are you two going? It’s almost time to gather with the rest,” Skye said boldly.

I couldn’t lie to him, and there were two reasons why. Number one was that Skye was of a higher rank than me. Scamper and I were at the bottom of the ladder. Number two was that he had this ability to read people’s minds. He always knows when someone is lying. Everyone one thought that he was kind of creepy when he did that.

Scamper smiled his best smile. “We know that, but it’s urgent! Someone stole something valuable from the rookie!”

I felt relieved when Skye stared hard at Scamper and not me. See, that’s when he reads someone’s mind. You can’t lie if you don’t know you’re lying.

Skye’s expression softened. “You lied to your friend, Bandit.”

My jaw dropped. How did he know my new name? Did Scamper know that I was lying to him? “I-I don’t know what you’re t-talking about,” I stammered out of fear. Fear that I was going to be reported to the boss and the whole gang will be on my hide.

Skye circled me, his talons clacking on the concrete. “Blinky saw you earlier with an Oddish. A trained Oddish.” Blinky merely nodded, him not being what you call talkative. “Do you deny it?”

My fear quickly turned to anger. “No, I don’t deny it! In fact, I’m not ashamed of it! What’s wrong with helping out a lost Pokemon?”

“Diablo condones any kind of contact with trained Pokemon!”

“Then, for once, don’t tell them!”

He looked down at his talons. “I already did.” He pointed behind me. There stood a fearsome Houndoom, his eyes burning with anger. He was our boss, Diablo. “I’m sorry, rookie.”

“Yeah, you should be.” I walked over to him as bravely as I could, making sure not to show signs of fear. “What’s up, boss?”

“Come with me,” was all he said. I did what he said. I couldn’t argue with him. Diablo was the strongest member of the gang, and was well-known throughout the city.

He went to our hiding place, an abandoned warehouse that we use to come together during nighttime. There the rest of the team waited for me, Pokemon that were born in the city without a chance for survival. Some Pokemon, like Skye, even evolved under the care of Diablo. “We have come here for a reason. This is an emergency,” Diablo announced. “The Kecleon has turned on all our backs by fraternizing with a trained Pokemon.”

There were gasps from the crowd. I was frozen in place. Any minute now the Pokemon could gang up on me. Or worse, Diablo could attack me. But I wasn’t going to back down. “I wasn’t fraternizing! I was helping a lost Oddish!” I shouted to everyone.

“It is against the rules to make contact with trained Pokemon,” Diablo said, starting to lose his cool.

“Well, isn’t that easy to do,” I grumbled sarcastically.

Diablo stuck his nose in my face. “I can only protect you from so much, young Kecleon. Trained Pokemon are slaves of humans. You’ll only be used and abused by them if you agree to work with them.”

“It’s a lie,” I hissed. “It’s a lie!”

More gasps from the Peanut Gallery. Diablo didn’t look too pleased. “You know, Kecleon, I used to trust humans. I even used to be on a team. But I was betrayed. My trainer dumped me as soon as he found another Pokemon. I had to teach myself how to survive here.”

“Why did you just go back to the wild?” I turned to the rest of the Pokemon. “Why don’t all of you?”

“Because this is our home,” Skye said softly. “We live here. We’ll die here.”

“Well, not me. I’m leaving this dump.” Even more gasps from the Peanut Gallery. “I mean it! That Oddish gave me an offer I didn’t refuse. I’m joining her team!”

“Are you crazy? Why would you want to leave the gang? I thought you loved being here!” Scamper squeaked.

“You must be kidding. If you the Oddish, you would’ve seen the chaos that happened early today. Two buildings exploded, and a couple of humans made off with something important. We’re in the middle of a war. Do you want to get dragged into this?”

“No. Do you?”

“Now I do. I made a new friend and I’m sticking with her. Poor kid needs my help.” I turned around and noticed that Skye was blocking the way. The wallet was still clutched in his talons. I snatched it out of them and looked at the ID. It was Shonta’s, alright. “You ought to be ashamed of yourself.” I stormed out of the warehouse.

“Wait, Bandit! Don’t you want to find those humans?” Scamper asked me as he ran up to me.

“I thought you didn’t want to help out the humans and their slaves,” I spat.

“No, but I want to help you. You’re my best friend, Bandit, and I want to help you get what you want. Besides, a trainer isn’t too much to ask.”

“But won’t Diablo be angry?”

“Man, I’m not scared of that old dog. Now follow me.” He ran and I followed, rediscovering that I wasn’t as energetic because of the Giga Drain. We approached another warehouse. “This is where I leave you. I wish you the best of luck, Bandit. Heh, I rather like that name.” He walked off, leaving me to stare at the large front doors.

I hid Shonta’s wallet and searched for a way in. There was a large hole in the side of the warehouse that the gang lived in. There should’ve been one here as well, but I couldn’t find one. I heard footsteps. Panicking, I froze, hoping that they wouldn’t find me. The door opened and out came Dixie sans briefcase. Luckily, she left the door ajar. Even more luckily, she didn’t seem me. But why? I looked down at my hands and almost screamed. My hands weren’t there! None of my body was. I looked at my belly and saw that my zigzag was still there. “I guess that was my Faint Attack,” I mused to myself. I went through the door while Dixie stood outside it.

It was your typical warehouse: roomy, cold, full of crates. But this one was also full of cages, and things moved in those cages. I looked in one; a Sentret sat sadly in it. A Bellsprout stood in the one next to it. There were a couple of dozen cages with Pokemon in them. I turned visible again and went back to the Sentret. “What’s going on? Did Team Rocket put you in there?” I asked the Sentret.

“No. The Crimson Blades did,” it answered. “They’re stealing Pokemon just like Team Rocket did.”

I shook my head. Everyone seems to want to steal Pokemon. I mean, steal something else for once. Like the briefcase I’m supposed to get. I left the Sentret, went invisible, and went back to the door. All I have to do is to wait for her to get back in here and I’ll steal the briefcase and run like the wind. Just one problem. I took another look at the briefcase. [I]The stupid thing’s too big to carry! Oh well, time for Plan B.[/B]

I waited for Dixie to walk through, and I scrambled up her leg and up to her chest. I made myself visible so she could see me. She did, and screamed her lungs off. She tore me from her chest and held me in front of her with both hands. “You again! Why are you following me?” she demanded. I said nothing, but scratched her face and hands. She shrieked and let go of me. “I’ll show you! Go, Bill!” She opened a pokeball that revealed an Eevee. “Show that lizard what you’re made of!”

L5 Male Sentret (Bandit) vs. L5 Male Eevee (Bill)

“Bill, Tackle!” Dixie commanded.

I stood patient. Since half of my energy was gone thanks to Lily, I would have to reserve it. I waited until Bill was close enough, sidestepped, and stuck my foot out. Bill tripped over it and tumbled head first. He jumped back up and stuck out his bottom lip. “That wasn’t fair,” he pouted.

“Yeah? Well, neither is this!” I swiped at him with a clawed hand but he jumped back and lunged forward, plowing into me. He stared down at me while he sat on my stomach. I opened my mouth and stuck out my long tongue, aiming for his face. He jumped back again and laughed.

“Eww! Keep your tongue off of my Billy!” Dixie cried.

I ran after him, hand raised in the air and ready to scratch him. But he was too fast. To make matters worse, after chasing him for a while, he split into four Eevees. I was stumped. Wait! Faint Attack! It’s dark enough in here to work! I turned invisible and got out of the circle of Bills. All of them looked as stumped as I did earlier. I ran around the Eevees, scratching all of them until I finally hit the right one. He cried out in pain.

“My poor Bill!” Dixie screamed in that horrible voice of hers.

“My poor ears,” I whimpered.

I thought I had Bill. Faint Attack always hit as far as I knew. I turned invisible again and snuck up behind him, scratching him on the back grabbing him by the neck with my long tongue. His feet were dangling in the air. He looked petrified.

“Do something, Bill!” Dixie cried.

Bill nodded at her and bit down on my tongue. The pain was brief but sharp. It made me drop Bill. He turned around and kicked dust into my nose and eyes. Then he plowed into me and sent me into a mountain of crates. Meanwhile the Pokemon in the cages were muttering comments.

“…look at him…”

“…hope he wins…”

I slowly got up and sneezed from the dust in my nostrils. My vision was blurry from the Sand Attack (or Dust Attack, in this case). I saw that my trait had taken effect and that I was now a dusty brown. I almost didn’t see him gather up spit in his mouth.

“That’s it, Bill! Give him a Toxic attack!” Dixie cheered.

I stood in place. Time for my magic trick. I concentrated as hard as I could. My body was surrounded by a purple aura. The glob of poisonous saliva bounced off of me and landed right between Bill’s eyes. The Toxic attack was absorbed in Bill’s skin. Bill stared at me with unbelieving eyes. “Magic Coat, half pint. Bounces off me and sticks to you.”

Bill shook his head as if he thought he could still shake off the poison. He growled and rushed right for me. It was so surprising that I was caught off guard. He charged right into my stomach and sent me into the same crates as earlier.

“That’s the stuff, Bill!” Dixie cheered. “Now recharge yourself with Wish!”

Bill nodded again and put his paws together. He glowed for a second and returned to normal. In fact, better. His health was restored. “No…” I groaned, lying on the ground. I was my original green again. I was thrashed, and that little Eevee was going to beat me into the ground. I had to do something about it. I struggled to get up.

Bill smiled wickedly at me even though the poison was working through his body. If I could hold him off long enough the poison would drain that energy again. “Okay, Bill. Let’s play hide and seek.” I turned invisible again and started to climb the mountain of crates.

“You think I’m dumb? I see your zigzag pattern now!” Bill said, pointing out that I was now under a bright part of the warehouse (there was a hole in the roof). He winced, showing me that the poison was starting to work.

I climbed to the top of the crates and laughed. “Why don’t you try to follow me?” I asked him. Okay, so I’m a coward. But I’m a coward who doesn’t want to lose to a member of the Crimson Blades. But I finally saw the flaw in my plan: I didn’t want to be a coward. I made my way back down and faced Bill again. “Okay, so I shouldn’t do that to you. But you shouldn’t cheat me with that Wish attack of yours.”

Bill shrugged and winced again. That’s when it hit me. It took me so long to get back down that the Toxic had enough time to take down at least half of his energy. It was time to finish it. I rushed forward, making it look like that I was about to punch him. I stopped right in front of him and slapped him with my tongue. I quickly brought my claws across his face, leaving scratches on his face. I took a few steps backward, turned invisible, and rushed into him, sending him flying. He landed on the hard concrete and he didn’t get back up.

I won! I grew to level 6!

I collapsed on the floor, depleted of all energy. I was proud that I had somehow found the strength to beat Bill. It must’ve been Lily’s luck rubbing off on me. I glared at Dixie. “Give me the briefcase,” I said to her. I didn’t care that she couldn’t understand me.

But her grip on the briefcase merely tightened. She returned Bill to his pokeball and glared back at me. “Another time, lizard,” she growled. She turned to exit the warehouse but froze in her tracks. There, standing in the doorway, was Diablo. “Oh my…” She backed up, but Diablo wasn’t interested in her.

The Houndoom stealthily moved across the floor and stopped in front of me. He sniffed over me, checking out my injuries. “What, are you here to rub it in my face? To say ‘I told you so’?”

“Maybe. But I’m here to emphasize the most important rule of the gang.”

“And what’s that?”

“No one defies me.” He looked towards the door. There stood a Machop holding a still Scamper in his hands. He threw him on the floor. Even then Scamper didn’t move. “He needed to be taught a lesson.”

Oh god, he’s dead. I couldn’t stop his tears from flowing.

“As do you, young Kecleon.” He bared his teeth. I could only close my eyes as he loomed over me, wondering what to tear out first.

[AntiAsh Superstar]

Hehe, just been catching up with everyone's battles and I gotta say I'm rather impressed with what's being written for this scenario (and as a side note for those of you who agreed to let me archive their battles, I will be doing a mass update this weekend). Is it really THAT obvious that Armand's favourite hobby aside from making a fuss over Reaper is blowing up large buildings, tho? There's been at the very least two buildings totally wasted that had nothing to do with my storylines, and I gotta give you all credit for recognizing how psychotic the Blades really are. :O I think Reaper's only just flexing her muscles a bit so far, tho...

Just random comment for continuity's sake, tho, I can't stress enough how little the Crimson Blades actually care about pokémon theft even if they ARE a branch-off from Team Rocket. They're more terrorists than thieves, in fact Armand DiAnnio's pretty much on record as saying it's a waste of time trying to steal pokémon that have already been trained and that the money spent on brainwashing captees is better spent on high quality explosives.

[Lady Vulpix]

I'm sure people can use that information, Ade. By the way, how's the next scenario coming along?

Silver gets 16 stamps. It was a good and original story, but I have some questions. How did the pokemon communicate with Team Rocket, and over the phone? Why didn't Seung Mina keep her end of the deal? And what did Anion mean by "Last one there hatched from an egg without special moves"? ¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢
Blue gets 9 stamps. Not bad for a first story, but why did the Gastly try to use Lick against Mona? And this is just an unimportant detail, but I don't think a chunk of dialogue with no narration counts as omniscient POV; it doesn't matter, anyway. ¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢
Shonta, I hope your battle's rated soon. Sorry I've been taking so long to rate battles, my thesis and my last university project are driving me crazy. I could definitely use some help from my co-workers right now.

[classy_cat18]

Hehe, just been catching up with everyone's battles and I gotta say I'm rather impressed with what's being written for this scenario (and as a side note for those of you who agreed to let me archive their battles, I will be doing a mass update this weekend). Is it really THAT obvious that Armand's favourite hobby aside from making a fuss over Reaper is blowing up large buildings, tho? There's been at the very least two buildings totally wasted that had nothing to do with my storylines, and I gotta give you all credit for recognizing how psychotic the Blades really are. :O I think Reaper's only just flexing her muscles a bit so far, tho...

Just random comment for continuity's sake, tho, I can't stress enough how little the Crimson Blades actually care about pokémon theft even if they ARE a branch-off from Team Rocket. They're more terrorists than thieves, in fact Armand DiAnnio's pretty much on record as saying it's a waste of time trying to steal pokémon that have already been trained and that the money spent on brainwashing captees is better spent on high quality explosives.

Sorry 'bout that. I don't really read your battles (too long for my attention span). Just to let you know, Dixie doesn't really like to listen to her boss. Stealing cute Pokemon for herself is her specialty.

Gabi, don't worry about it. This gives me plenty of time to work on my other stories.

EDIT: Who's Reaper?

[Lady Vulpix]

Reaper is the most vicious Salamence you'll ever find. She's also very powerful, and has a scarily close relationship with Armand DiAnnio, the leader of the Crimson Blades. If you can't find the time to read our stories, maybe checking the Dragon Tamers Plans thread on TL could help you get a better idea of what's going on.

[SilverMachop]

Silver gets 16 stamps. It was a good and original story, but I have some questions. How did the pokemon communicate with Team Rocket, and over the phone?

1.) All of the Pokémon in my story speak English, like Meowth does. It makes them more independent (so they don't need a translator), and it saves the time of having to translate everything they say. That may be because I'm lazy , but it's also so I can keep telling the jokes without awkward pauses.

Why didn't Seung Mina keep her end of the deal?

2.) Seung Mina decided to chop the Rocket's hair off for two reaons. One, and most importantly, is that you don't treat someone who was going to casually blow up several blocks of an innocent city with respect. Two, Seung Mina does not like material girls and she doesn't like Rockets either, so she doesn't feel like being considerate. (My reason is that you've seen the movies where villians go back on their word and then try to take advantage of the hero's generosity, so it's time for a little payback. After all, Silver's gone because of the Rockets.)

And what did Anion mean by "Last one there hatched from an egg without special moves"?

3.) Well, you know the old expression, "Last one there is a rotten egg." Since all Pokémon hatch from eggs, and bred-on moves are always great to have on Pokémon, Pokémon that hatch without any special moves are kind of a let-down. It's just a stupid play-on the old phrase, but I guess not a very good one.

---

And now that that's taken care of, I'd like to pay 7 stamps to have a Random Battle for Kung Pow Meditite (he's level 9 now). I'd like the random opponent to come from Universal Adoption Center, because I like surprises.

[Lady Vulpix]

Alright. Though Hero, Tsunami and Ventura could get mad about that comment. Neither of them was born with a bred-on move. Neither has Sylvan, but she's more lenient, so you're rather lucky.

Kung Pow is going to battle a Skarmory. Good luck!

[The Blue Avenger]

Blue gets 9 stamps. Not bad for a first story, but why did the Gastly try to use Lick against Mona? And this is just an unimportant detail, but I don't think a chunk of dialogue with no narration counts as omniscient POV; it doesn't matter, anyway. ¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢

Hehe, thanks. And nobody ever said the Gastly was terribly smart.

[SilverMachop]

*Mario-style* Here we gooooooo!

*Kung Pow Meditite’s POV*

“Alrighty everybody, the first meeting for the ‘Weird ALliance’ is now called to order. Now I’ll take roll-”
“But we know everyone’s here,” exclaimed Anion, who was beaming regardless of his words.
“Yes but I need to announce everyone’s full names so that we all know their full title.”
“Just wait until you hear Murray’s,” Seung Mina said to Anion. “It’s more than a mouthful.”
“Okay then,” I cleared my throat, then held up the paper that was almost filled to the last line with the full titles of all our members. “Kung Pow Meditite? Here. Anion ‘Curved Grade’ Minun?”
“Roger,” chimed Anion, raising his short hand.
“Seung Mina ‘Razor Slice’ Scyther?”
“That’s me,” the female mantis raised a scythe-like hand, and shook it a little for her wave.
“Sailor Mercury ‘Amy Anderson’ Psyduck?”
“Present,” the female Psyduck was not in costume yet like the animé girl she was modeled after. She said she would wait until she evolved, for a duck in a foku ‘would look ridiculous,’ in her opinion.
“Murray the ‘Evil Foolcrushing Battlehungry Pirate-Loving Skull’ Sableye?”
The diamond-eyed ghost grinned wickedly as he waved at me in sharp, sudden movements like Sableyes are known to do. “Right here, mortal Kung Pow! Are we going to battle today?”
“Later, Murray. Now, Jar Jar Binks ‘Gung-Ho Gungan’ Tyrogue?”
The young fighting Pokémon raised his hand and nodded, adding, “Mesa here.”
“Mario ‘Story-Jumping Torchic?”
With no arms or hands to raise yet, the male Torchic bounced up and down saying, “I’m-a here!”
“ ‘Weird Al’ Yankovic ‘27’ Magby?”
The male Magby raised his hand saying, “He’s not here, I’m his evil twin!”
“Nice to meet you, Magby’s twin. Now then, Druidess ‘Call of the Wild’ Treecko?”
“Elune bless us all today,” she said quietly, almost a whisper. She had her little hands clasped, as if praying to the Gods.
“Good, we’re all here,” I said out-loud, then placed the paper down. “We need to talk funding now, my fellow Pokémon. Jar Jar Binks needs to purchase Orange Juice to turn his skin Gungan-orange, and a special type of juice to turn his eyes yellow. They are both very expensive.”
“I’d also like an earring,” Druidess said, interrupting her prayer. “It would be suiting for me to have a cyan earring in honor of the night elves.”
Murray scoffed. “You are taking your name far too seriously, Treecko.”
“Oh, really?” she replied, glaring at the ghost. “This coming from the ghost with the mile-long title?”
“You’re just jealous of my title! And speaking of which,” he cackled menacingly, “I want to dye my eyes an EVIL red! I will terrify everyone!”
“We discussed this, Sableye,” I cut in. “We are not here to scare our fellow Dragon Tamers, and the Rockets are not going to be spooked by a Sableye.”
“What if I tell them I’m from the IRS?”
“The Rockets don’t obey the IRS, Murray,” grumbled Seung Mina.
“Poopie,” was the ghost/dark Pokémon’s reply.
“We are digressing, my friends,” I called to them. “The point is, we’re going to need more stamps for Jar Jar and Druidess.”
“How about a car wash?” suggested Murray, grinning again.
“I’m the only water Pokémon we have,” said Mercury.
“Plus, how many people around here have-a cars?” pointed out Mario.
“Shoot me down, why don’t you? No wonder I’m an evil skull, I get no love.”
“And so,” I continued, ignoring Murray’s ranting, “I propose we all go out around Dragon Tamers, seeing what work we can do for some extra stamps. We shall split up and go out our own quests to find the funds we need.”
“Sounds good!” Jar Jar cheered.
“Elune be praised,” added Druidess.
“ ‘Quests’? Man, have you been reading fantasy novels again?” Murray asked.
“That being said, go out and get the stamps we need, my friends. Meeting adjourned.”
My friends set out in their own separate ways, apart from two different groups. Anion was riding on Seung Mina’s back, which was no surprise since he is so close to her. The other pair was much more surprising, which was Murray and Mercury walking together. They were heading towards the Pokézoo Battle Tower, which led me to wonder if they were job-seeking or thinking of tag-team battling there. But why would sweet, friendly Sailor Mercury want to be with harsh, mischievous Murray? It was a mystery.
I decided to head over to the Dragon Tamers Adoption Center, where Pokémon can be adopted by trainers. For our guild, we just stop by to see who wants to help us find Silver, my missing trainer.
The team is really combined with a bunch of different cases. Mario, Murray, Seung Mina, Druidess, and Mercury are part of the team because they want to help us and are our friends. Jar Jar and I are Silver’s Pokémon, and were left at the Dragon Tamers when he went on the mission that made him a M.I.A. case. “Weird Al” was an unadopted friend to the team when Silver was still around, and joined when disappeared. Anion joined our team when a human friend of Silver wanted to aid us in finding him. It was fairly complicated, but most people understand when I just say, “We are a Pokémon-only team looking for my lost trainer.”
The funds we needed were to kill time until our next official mission. Silver always wanted to style Jar Jar to model the Star Wars character, and I wasn’t going to let him down. Stamps were fairly hard to come by, so this would be tricky.
Upon entering the very large doors to the very large park, I was greeted by a young lady who wore a traditional Dragon Tamer uniform. “Hey, how’d you get ou...,” she started to say, then blushed. “I’m sorry, Kung Pow, I thought you were a wild Meditite for a minute there.”
“No offense, my dear Hannah,” I replied. Hannah had been working at the Adoption Center for only a short time but had proved to be excellent at the job. She was the only human I know that could keep Mankeys from throwing fits, and could comb Mareeps without getting shocked.
“What brings you here?” she asked politely, smiling. She had on a touch of clear lip gloss, which would have gone well with her light blue eyes and pink hair that ran down to her shoulder blades. Unfortunately, her lip gloss was almost smudged off completely and her hair was sticking out of place. There were traces of dried sweat and dirt in her clothes and skin, and her hands looked worn from overuse. I also noticed a few scratches on her arm and a bandage on her leg, just above her ankle.
“Planning on adding an additional member to your guild?” she asked, breaking me from my chain of thought.
“What? Oh no, not today. I came looking for work, for I need some extra stamps. But first, I must ask you something.”
“Yes, what is that?”
“You look like you’ve been having a hard day here. Is something wrong with the Pokémon?”
Her smile faded into a sad look, and she touched the scratch marks on her arm. “We just received a shipment of ex-Rocket Pokémon,” she explained.
“Oh. That explains a lot,” I replied.
The best members of the Dragon Tamers are able to bring back the Pokémon that belong to Team Rocket on their missions. Most of the time they have to keep them in their Pokéballs, otherwise they ave to drag the majority of the villainous Pocket Monsters back by force.
Beforehand, the Pokémon that belonged to the Rockets would cast aside their seemingly-wicked personalities the moment freedom was theirs. Yet now that the Crimson Blades and Rockets have fought against each other, the Pokémon have been trained to become more cruel and vicious than ever. I’ve even heard rumors of them attacking humans; and there is one rumor of a Salamence that eagerly serves the leader of the Crimson Blades, doing what he requests no matter how sinister it is.
Hannah sighed, then smiled faintly. “The process of getting them to behave is brutal, but we’ve never failed yet. Would you like to help, Kung Pow?”
“Yes, very much.”
“We could pay you, you know.”
“Oh heavens no, this is part of my duty as a Dragon Tamer. I wouldn’t hear of being paid to help save the lives of others.”

***

I never imagined Pokémon being so violent.
The Dragon Tamers, who lived up to the second part of their names, were using the strongest of their Pokémon to place the ex-Rockets into their cages when they were released. Pokémon, no matter how big or small, would start lashing out at their captives with animal-like rage. The humans and Pokémon that were trying to shove them into cages for further taming were getting cut and bruised.
There were three humans and three Pokémon working there. The three Pocket Monsters were Machamp, Hitmonlee, and Sneasel. Machamp and Hitmonlee would wrestle with the ex-Rockets and shove them into cages, trying hard to ignore the pain their captives were bringing them. Sneasel would wrestle with the smaller Pokémon, and would chase after any Pokémon that tried to make an escape. The humans also did their share of muscling the captives into cages.
Hannah picked up a Pokéball, and held it close. “Ready, Kung Pow?”
I looked around at the Pokémon in cages, all glaring at us. They snarled, insulted us, made rude gestures, spat and howled with fury. It was like being in a disgruntled mosh pit after the police have made their arrests.
“I... I guess so,” I replied to her, feeling uneasy since a growling Houndoom was eyeing me.
“Get ready...,” Hannah started, preparing to press the button on the Pokéball. She was squinting, and I took that into consideration that they came out fighting.
“GO,” she shouted, pressing the button. With a bright flash, a Charmeleon appeared on the ground. He roared in fury, and came charging at me!
I put my fists up but it didn’t seem necessary. The Charmeleon suddenly stopped in mid-charge, as the Machamp grabbed it by its tail. With a quick flick of his wrist, the massive fighting Pokémon flung the lizard into a cage and slammed the door shut. The second-stage fire Pokémon grabbed the bars and roared in frustration, but the Sneasel hit it with a blast of icy wind. If the fire Pokémon had any ideas of breathing fire, it was too subdued to do so now.
< Gotta be fast, kid, > the Machamp said to me in Machampian, smiling proudly but rubbing his wrist, where the Charmeleon’s tail fire had slightly burned him.
“Why don’t you release them into the cage?” I asked.
< We tried that, > he said, < but they materialize outside of the cage, as if they know that’s what we were trying. We have to manhandle each and every one of them. >
“Okay, next,” spoke up Hannah, as she lifted another Pokéball. This one was a Skarmory, who let out a piercing shriek the moment she appeared. Everyone was prepared, but things went terribly wrong.
The Skarmory, already airborne, shot through the air at the Hitmonlee. She smashed into him beak-first, knocking the poor guy to the floor. When Sneasel leapt at her, she swatted him away with her wing. The Machamp came after her, but she managed to dodge his punches and retaliate with a series of pecks and talon scratches. The proud fighting-type fell to the ground, too much in pain to fight back.
Then the bird saw me. The hatred and fury in her eyes nearly petrified me, but when she flew towards me, I remembered to move as if by instinct. With a quick back flip, I dodged her attack and met her eyes with mine.
“You’re going down, you flying metal plate,” I cried out, raising both my fists into a combative position.

Level 9 Kung Pow Meditite

VS.
Level 9 Ex-Rocket Skarmory

The steel bird dove at me again, but I managed to dodge the attack with another back flip. She swung her razor-sharp wing at me, but this time, I wasn’t fast enough. The knife-like feathers struck my leg when I leapt back, and I landed on my stomach instead of my feet.
The Skarmory tried to stomp me with her talons, but I rolled to the side. Leaping upwards, I struck her under the chin with my fist. She took a few steps back but seemed unfazed otherwise.
The ex-Rocket then noticed something: a glass window. If she could fly through it, she would be able to escape and return to Team Rocket. What was glass to someone with metal plating such as herself?
She shot towards the window, beak ready to puncture through. This time, I was faster, and leapt for her legs. Grabbing them, she was thrown off-balance and crashed into the wall instead. We landed next to a cage, and the Vigoroth inside reached out at me. The ex-Rocket normal-type was trying to slash me, while the ex-Rocket steel/flying-type was lashing out at me with her wings and talons. I don’t know how many scratches and cuts I sustained during that moment, but it felt like I was being sliced open by deep paper cuts; needless to say, it hurt like hell.
One of the human tamers came through for me by recalling the Vigoroth into a Pokéball from the cage. The Skarmory was still thrashing but I zapped her with a blast of Confusion. Even though her steel armor kept out most of the damage, it still stopped her from whipping about. She stood on her legs, and spread her wings threateningly at me, screeching.
I concentrated hard. Plasma energy formed around my right hand, resulting in small explosions. The steel bird lunged at me with her cutting beak, but I was faster. Lashing out forward, I nailed her square in the face with my Dynamic Punch. The explosion shook the bars on the cages and blocked out all other sound for a few seconds as the Skarmory was sent flying backwards and crashed into the wall. She left a big indention in the wall.
She was up fairly quickly, faster than anyone else who’s felt the impact of my Dynamic Punch. Still, the powerful blow had rattled her brain, and she was confused, lashing out at invisible targets and babbling incoherently.
I took several steps back, but was thrown off by the sudden howl of a Mightyena, who was caged nearby. The loud, chilling bay made me close my eyes and clasp my hands over my ears. I could hear Hannah shouting, but what I couldn’t tell. Then I felt one of the Skarmory’s sharp wings hit me on the side, sending me across the room.
When I opened my eyes and stood up, a pair of arms grabbed me from behind and slammed me against iron bars. I heard the growl of a Charmeleon, and the heated breath of the lizard on my face. I struggled to get free, but the lizard had me in a tight headlock, and my Pure Power ability wasn’t helping out enough.
The ex-Rocket Skarmory had recovered from being confused, and headed straight for me. She delivered a hard, painful Peck to the top of my head. I heard Hannah scream, and then saw her run towards the bird and kick it aside. Skarmory recovered quickly, and leered at Hannah.
Finally able to overpower my captivator, I elbowed the fire Pokémon in the face. Then, with all my energy, I leapt towards Skarmory. Knocking her down and pinning her to the floor, I prepared another Dynamic Punch. She struggled, but I was more than ready for her. Nailing her in the face with my super-powerful punch, she let out a disoriented cry and collapsed to the ground.
Finally, this fight was over.
“Meditite, are you okay?” Hannah cried out, reaching for me. When she touched me, the pain from the cuts that the bird had given me caused me to flinch and cry out in pain.
“I’ll be fine!” I winced, as she backed away. Stepping off of the unconscious Skarmory, I took a deep breath as I tried to keep my focus off of the pain. “I cannot wait until I learn Recover,” I mumbled.
< The little guy did it, > exclaimed the Machamp, who had regained his strength by now. < I knew he had potential! Way to get ‘em, tiger! >
< Not bad at all, > agreed the Hitmonlee.
< I think this calls for an award, > replied the Sneasel. He darted off into another room, and then returned with a TM.
“Wait, are you giving this to me?” I asked. “TMs are very expensive, I believe.”
< Aw, keep it, don’t be modest, > replied the Sneasel. < It contains Shadow Ball, and I never really needed that. I’m working on my speed more than attack power. >
“Go on and take it, Kung Pow,” Hannah said, kneeling down next to me.
“Would his trainer mind?”
She smiled. “I’m his trainer, and I approve.”
I guess there was no arguing with her. After all, it is insulting to turn down someone’s offer. Turning on the device, there was a flash of dark purple and gray light, and then... illumination for me.
I felt better, but the stings from the cuts and the blow to the head were wearing me out. “I’d better go and lie down,” I told them, starting for the exit. “I don’t think I’ll be any more help here in my condition.”
“Kung Pow, do you want someone to go with you?” Hannah called to me. “You know, just in case?”
I turned around and smiled back at her. “Thanks, but I’ll be okay,” I replied. As I left I thought to myself, “I hope my teammates are doing better. I feel like a living cutting board...”

Level Advancement!
Kung Pow reaches Level 10!
Shadow Ball is added to arsenal!

[Skye]

Mas Apuntes(That means 'more notes', I doubt I'm right...)
-This is much shorter, but I do want to get the plot out of the way and done before time runs out.
-I think the characters are developing nicely. Darkfire certainly is changing a lot here.
-Again, Naois and Amaris are not battling.
-Darkfire's thoughts are in red.
-I need to pay more attention in Spanish class. xx
I really want to get this done before the new scenario is up. I'm actually hoping it takes a nice while fore the new scenario to be put up. I still have two more stories to write, then the current one, then the new one. xx *hurries to write more*
-I really like the scene where Darkfire and Cyndane are talking. I LOVE writing these things. ^_____________^
-I did very little revising. Don't expect perfection. xxU
-Yes, I did skip the little intro. Forgive me, but getting the stuff done first comes... first... Then maybe I'll add them in again.

******************

-Puzzles-



****************** ****************** ****************** ****************** ******************

Darkfire had recovered herself by the next morning. The sun rose to see her actively at work with her three Pokemon. She wasn’t training them without battles. It wasn't very easy to do. When a Pokemon battled, it was ready to fight as best and long as it can naturally. Training a creature like this out of battle isn't very easy. And Darkfire played off of this weakness. If you're the best at spying, you don't work in a tiny office. You go out and spy. But that doesn't mean that you can't learn anything from another job. She wouldn't make her fighters get better, but they could still learn some things.

Rayne rested off on the side. They still had a lot of battling to finish, and the time on the use of the training grounds was running short. She had been planning on giving him a day off between his second to last and last battles, but unfortunately, the grounds would be closed before they could finish their battles. That was something Darkfire could not allow to happen. She trained her attention back on those she was schooling. Naois' Embers were accurate as could be, but then again he was standing still, as was his target. Amaris was training to be able to control her Water Pulse attack without hitting anyone else. Young and untrained as she was, she wasn't doing half bad. Darkfire returned her attention to Naois who needed more challenges to train under.
"Naois, use a Dragon Dance combining into a Defense Curl." She instructed. Naois stopped his Embers and spun a tight and precise circle, eyes emotionless and concentrated. He then curled up on the grass into a tight circle with his tail flame showing in the middle. His skin momentarily took on a gray tint as his defenses rose. His attack was completed swifter than normal, an indication of the use of his Dragon Dance. Darkfire nodded approval when he uncurled at looked at her. Rayne paid no attention to Darkfire's other up-and-coming creatures. But for Darkfire, this was exactly what she needed. A fighter as sharp and obedient as Naois wasn't a common find. She looked at Amaris, who was trying her best to keep up, but her attacks were coming out weaker and weaker as her exhaustion took away her strength.

"Amaris, take a break." Darkfire ordered. Amaris was still young. Yet she tried no less harder than her teammates to get better. She would practice her attacks until she dropped. That made Darkfire both proud and concerned. Amaris stopped her attacks and plopped down into the grass, relaxing. Darkfire nodded again to Naois, who did the same. She then joined Rayne in the shade, thinking over battle tactics they could use that didn't force Rayne to make his opponents bleed out.

They would go to the Desert Room also that day. Darkfire had decided on that earlier. Though Amaris and Naois would be resting just as Rayne had been resting while they trained. Darkfire let out a lazy yawn, not wanting to show how tense she was. She had sent out letters to her organization, but no return orders had come. That meant either someone had found and destroyed her letters, meaning they knew someone was a spy, or something else was happening. Her skin prickled at the idea. She knew rebellion was coming. It was obvious with how distanced some were getting. Two groups would form. She knew it. Her instincts rarely lied. The new questions were when, where, and how? She had to get there to see the breaking...

Her line of thought was broken as a familiar figure came over. Cyndane was dressed rather casually today in a pale green shirt and black pants. He sat by her, uninvited. Rayne barely gave the human male a glance, silently commanding Naois and Amaris to follow his example. As expected, Naois, who held an unspoken respect for the Kabuto, ignored Cyndane. Amaris, who didn't care for Rayne, but cared greatly about Naois, followed her friend's example, pretending it was a game. Cyndane seemed unconcerned about them and faced Darkfire, who practiced looking ahead of herself, rather than acknowledging the intruder.

"You're ignoring me." Cyndane stated.

"No I'm not." Darkfire argued, looking at him in innocent, wide-eyed shock. Cyndane chuckled.

"Your acting needs improvement." He informed her.

"So I've been told. It's my weak point." She replied, feeding him more half-truths. It had been her weak point, but long ago.

"Somehow I doubt that. I'm sticking my neck out, but I think there's more to you than you tell us humans."

She looked at him calmly. "Why would you stick your neck out to say that?"

"Because I too know what may happen soon." His emerald eyes were hard with his seriousness.

"And you accuse me to see the future and what may happen? I'm sorry, but I'm no seer. Ask a Psychic trainer."

"I see." Instead of being relaxed, Darkfire felt him grow even tenser. "And you know what happens to your kind here, right?"

"'My kind'? Cyndane, I'm hurt. You accuse me of being untrue to the Dragon Tamers?"

"I know no member of Team Rocket will ever be true to these folk. And I know that when everything snaps, no one of us will have peace. The Tamers will only have more of a reason to interfere."

"I didn't know you were a member of 'my kind'." Darkfire responded to this information with a sickeningly sweet tone.

"But all Tamers know." He informed her.

"But does the Team?" She inquired innocently, making him go silent. "Honestly, I thought you had more brains then to tell a spy your life's story." She taunted, taking a bit of a risk. He had hinted at knowledge, but she was now revealing herself.

"But you won't tell." Cyndane wasn't at all sure now, and didn't seem to quite realize what Darkfire had done.

"Well... I pity you. I won't tell. Yet." She shrugged her shoulders lightly.

"Good." To change the subject, he quickly added, "How's your training coming?"

"Fair enough. Only three more rooms to compete in. Too bad we're lacking the proper time to compete in them."

"Shame. What's your schedule?" He asked, meaning what rooms she would battle in.

Darkfire stretched out lazily in response. She had been thinking about what she would do, and knew the answers, but to tell him where she would be in the next few days? 'Er, no...' Despite her thoughts, she found herself answering. "The Desert Room this afternoon, the Jungle Room tomorrow morning, the Lava Room the next day at night right before it closes down." 'Curious. I always answer him...'

Cyndane nodded. "I was planning on heading to the Jungle Room tomorrow as well. I've already competed in all of the other rooms except for that one. So, how about a little challenge? I'll meet you there, and we can have a friendly battle between Team mates."

"When you put it that way, how can I refuse?" Darkfire purred in response. Mentally, she was calculating. She would need all of the experience she could get before a fight with him. She would have to do something about that. "Tomorrow it is, then."

Cyndane watched her collect her Pokemon, recalling Amaris and Naois to their Pokeballs, and summoning Rayne to get ready. She then got up before he stood as well and came up behind her. Noticing passers by, he whispered sweetly in her ear, "What sort of trick attacks can I expect from you...?"

"Flirt." She teased. She ignored how oddly she thought she was acting for the moment. "Why would I tell you all of my little traps and tricks. I'm certain you'd love to get caught."

Cyndane chuckled softly, his nearness made her want to shiver. She caught herself and held still, waiting for him to move. He came around in front of her, an eyebrow arched gently as he looked at her. 'So he IS flirting.' Darkfire sighed and returned his gaze coldly. For a moment he looked surprised, but swiftly concealed it behind an emotionless mask.

“Try as you might, sweetling, you can’t fool me. I don’t go for Team mates that abandon and can’t hide their thoughts.” Darkfire crooned before moving passed him, purposefully brushing her shoulder against his. She nearly jumped when he grabbed her firmly, yet she noted his grip was placed so it didn’t harm her either.

“Think on this, dove.” He replied in a dangerous whisper in her ear. He pulled out a recorder and played back a bit of their conversation. “I can turn you in, in a heartbeat.” He tucked the recorder into a safe area. She paused in thought, not at all concerned. A man that flirted as carelessly as he did probably wasn’t going to throw her away so swiftly.

“Well, love, if you did, I’d take half of the Tamers with me and destroy them. What damage can I do? I know of a network of spies already in here. No matter what side of the divide they’re on, they’ll play my games. Especially in a suicide bonus round.” She whispered back, making him tense and eye her warily. Now he knew that he was playing with fire. “Darkfire isn’t a code or false name. It’s my name. And I have it for a very good reason. Don’t make me kill you.” She twisted expertly, escaping his touch and motioned for Rayne to follow. Her Kabuto turned to eye Cyndane, his eyes glowing in warning, before he followed Darkfire.

******************

Cyndane watched her go, turning the most recent events over in his mind. If Darkfire was threatening him so seriously back, she was a threat to be eliminated secretly, and his actions had to be described to the council. He turned off the second recorder he had going and rewound it a bit as Darkfire left hearing range. He replayed her words back, listening more carefully this time. Before his ears had been numbed by his tension, but now he was in control of himself again.

“Don’t make me kill you.” The recorder played. He stopped it and repeated that sentence, listening hard. There was a note of pleading in her voice. It was light, barely noticeable. It had taken Cyndane a minute to recognize it. She didn’t want to attack, or she didn’t want to kill, or she didn’t want her job ruined… The possibilities raced though his calm mind as he watched them all. But the one he decided that he liked best was the thought of her simply not wanting to kill Cyndane. Not wanting to kill a friend. Spies never had friends, but perhaps she would be an exception. He certainly favored the notion. It gave him a small window of hope that perhaps no one would have to die.

He followed Darkfire at a safe distance, snapping the recorder off.

******************

Darkfire entered the Desert Room and shivered slightly at the drastic change of temperature. It was hot with no humidity to help out. Rayne hissed slightly, reminding Darkfire of the warning posted outside of the door that Water Pokemon would dry up easily in here. She looked down at the half water creature and sighed. He wouldn’t give up, and neither would she. She looked herself over for a moment before trekking onward into the sands, Rayne at her heels.

The artificial heat beat down on them, making Darkfire glad for the water she had brought along. She opened her pack that she had brought in and sprinkled water over Rayne’s shell. He sighed softly, a strange noise to be heard from him, and looked around. She too glanced, looking for their opponent. Unlike in the Pond Room, they didn’t have time at their leisure. As if sensing their mood, a Phanpy charged up to them, spreading up a large cloud of dirt and dust along the way. Darkfire raised an eyebrow at the enthusiasm for the battle the almost childish looking creature had. As was normal, a screen dropped down, revealing the Pokemons' status to the challenger. She eyed it before nodding to Rayne to move forward.

Rayne’s fight! Rayne (15) Vs. Phanpy (15)

"The usual." Darkfire grinned. Soon enough they wouldn't need Darkfire to mindlessly blurt out attacks. That would be nice if her Pokemon ever fell into a place where she couldn't order them. She would need to work on that. It was a promising thought. Rayne, meanwhile, fired off a bright flash at his opponent. The Phanpy, who had made as if to charge again, stopped when a dazed look came into its beady eyes. Darkfire smirked. Even if she didn't need to look in on Rayne fighting, she still enjoyed it.

"Let's..." She paused. Cyndane would more than likely be watching this time. And she wanted to wait before showing off all of the pretty stunts she and Rayne could bring up. She shook her head. "Aurora Beam!" She sighed. It wasn't the attack she wanted, but it was a good start. Rayne paused, also wanting to execute the unannounced attack, before raising one foreclaw and firing off a beam of Ice energy at the dazed Phanpy. Darkfire sighed as Phanpy was hit, crying out at the power of the super effective attack before charging at Rayne, missing him widely.

"Aurora Beam, then Absorb." Darkfire decided. Super effective attacks would make this battle short. Rayne fired another Aurora Beam, causing the Phanpy to lunge back into battle. Though Darkfire tensed as she realized the confusion was off. Phanpy jumped out of the way of Rayne's attempt to grab it and slammed down onto Rayne in a Body Slam. Darkfire clenched her teeth, growling. Rayne, however, was not fazed. He continued the Absorb attack while Phanpy was on his shell. It cried out, seeming to be unable to move as Rayne drained it's energy. Darkfire noticed this and hoped that Rayne could also re-hydrate himself through an Absorb attack.

After a few minutes of torture, the Phanpy managed to escape, though its movements were slow and painful looking. Darkfire decided it must have harmed its soft underbelly when it landed on Rayne's hard shell. It eyed Rayne for a moment before charging him again. Without a word form Darkfire, Rayne's shell gleamed brightly for a moment in a Harden attack, boosting his already high defense. Phanpy slammed down again and cried out softly at the realization of just how much harder Rayne's shell was. Darkfire sighed, hoping Rayne wouldn't like this battling either. Rayne sent another Absorb attack up at Phanpy, draining it's energy.

It managed to scramble away, stumbling weakly. It was almost defeated. All three beings present knew that. Darkfire was surprised at just how easy this battle was. Although considering she and Rayne had spent most of their time competing against opponents stronger than the Kabuto, it almost seemed natural that defeating an opponent of equal level would be so easy. She shrugged it all off before giving Rayne the next order, "Finish with Aurora Beam."

Rayne charged the Ice attack calmly, facing the nearly defeated Phanpy with merciless eyes, and released the attack. It hit Phanpy and made it stumble back before it collapsed. Darkfire shook her head. This was too easy. She almost expected an attack form another creature, which would blast them all sky high. But that wasn't the Tamer's style. She sighed and nodded to Rayne, who looked equally suspicious.

Rayne is victorious! Rayne grows to Level 17, but learns no attacks

‘Easy enough… now to see what the catch is.’ Darkfire mentally sighed again, not liking this one bit. She gestured to Rayne and started back to the entrance to regroup themselves before another fight came. They didn’t get far before a creature spiraled up out of the sand in front of them, blocking escape. It stood of its hind legs, narrow black eyes surveyed them in an unfriendly manner. Powerful claws grew out for fingers and toes, spikes growing like skin out alone its back. The Sandslash hissed angrily and another screen came up.

She and Rayne exchanged glances, having expected this. She met his eyes, wondering what else can they do other than fight. She offered him her water bottle, letting him drink a bit before they accepted such a sudden challenge, even if they had no choice.

Rayne’s Fight! Rayne (17) Vs. Sandslash (25)

Rayne readied himself casually, not caring that his opponent was eight Levels higher than him, and evolved to top it off. Darkfire leaned forward slightly, intently studying the creature. A cold smirk crossed its face as it finished analyzing them. She grinned, knowing that this would be a better battle than against the Phanpy. Without a word, Rayne fired off the Confuse Ray. Sandslash looked away from the attack, eyes closed. Darkfire scowled then. It must have seen the last battle against Phanpy.

Sandslash then ran up to Rayne and spat a glob of thick purple goo at Rayne, hitting him on the face. Rayne backed up in pain, hissing furiously. Darkfire winced, suddenly recognizing what had happened. The opponent had fired a Toxic. Sandslash covered the distance between himself and his victim and lashed out with a brightly glowing tail, smashing Rayne away. Darkfire said a few very un-lady like terms before forcing her mind into battle mode to help out her failing partner.

Sandslash smirked and came again for another attack. Darkfire’s mind raced. Rayne couldn’t see, an attack like Iron Tail would block off the effects of Absorb as the attack prevented them from coming into true physical contact, other attacks would need his sight to use. Leer was disabled while the poison was still on his face, leaving Harden as their only option. Then another realization hit. The Harden would smooth his skin, stopping more toxins from entering his body, and getting what was stuck on to slide off.

“Harden!” She cried out, praying she was right. It had worked before with ice, but would it with the poisons? Rayne’s shell gleamed brightly a second before Sandslash smashed its tail again into Rayne. A crack was appearing on Rayne’s shell, making Darkfire feel sick to her stomach. There was no telling what would happen if his shell broke. Kabuto were so rare, very little studies could be done. Even if they were conducted, it would be an inhumane procedure to see what happened to such a creature whose shell was removed.

Rayne staggered to his feet, balanced unsteadily. He looked, if possible, about as sick as Darkfire felt. She wondered what to do then. The glob of poison was gone, his vision cleared. But she felt the same nagging doubt creep into her once again that she had felt too many times before. She needed Rayne, especially now that a war was on the verge of coming. What would she do if she lost him? What could she do. She was as good as dead, even if she did want to continue training Amaris and Naois, hope was lost. He was her, she was him. They were too much the same to survive alone. She forced her emotions and rampant thoughts down, concluding that she couldn’t lose Rayne, and he would never be lost.

“Ice Beam.” She spoke calmly. Who cared if Cyndane saw? That had been her problem. After all of her time with the Tamers, she had stopped looking at the big picture. She was looking at herself when her job was more important than her life. She needed to complete it, but first she had to get out alive, finish training, and see what happens.

Rayne fired off the powerful Ice attack, freezing Sandslash. Without a word, Rayne went to it and began to drain its energy. He recovered strength swiftly, and much to Darkfire's delight, the crack in his shell healed over. Sandslash was obviously struggling, but the Ice was melting too slow for it to be much of a threat. Rayne drained its energy swiftly and mercilessly, making the Sandslash pale swiftly over minutes. The Ice finally gave way, letting Sandslash launch out for another attack. It obviously was very weak, though. Darkfire smirked as Rayne fired another Aurora Beam, knocking Sandslash back and finishing the battle.

Rayne is victorious! Rayne grows to Level 19, but learns no attacks

Darkfire recalled Rayne without much protest on his part. She shook her head and left the room, new thoughts spinning trough her mind. Now that she was back on track, she would have to see what move Cyndane would make. If he tried to bring her in, she would have to attack. But if he left her alone, perhaps she would let him be for a time. A short time.

She looked up. Somewhere, the voices were circulating again. She remembered her dream at that moment and wondered what she would do. Perhaps it would be best to leave it alone... Puzzle pieces sometimes fit best when one didn’t force them into place.

[AntiAsh Superstar]

Reaper is the most vicious Salamence you'll ever find. She's also very powerful, and has a scarily close relationship with Armand DiAnnio, the leader of the Crimson Blades.

Gawd knows that's true, Reaper might be the sort who blows up entire settlements just to cause a scene but she acts like a playful kitten around her trainer. @.@ You forgot the bit about her being a test subject for a weird blend of surgical and magical enhancement, tho, Gabi. h: btw, check yer PMs. Next scenario all typed up, tho whether the Dragon Guild's resident Man in Black knows as little as he seems to is a matter for debate...

btw, I did like this quote off SilverMachop...

and there is one rumor of a Salamence that eagerly serves the leader of the Crimson Blades, doing what he requests no matter how sinister it is.

it kinda got me thinking as to who exactly wears the trousers in that particular relationship seeing as they both seem overly willing to bow to every little random whim of the other. h:

[Knight of Time]

Hi.

May I have a time extension for the current scenario please?

[Lady Vulpix]

Yes you may, Kyle. The next scenario's coming soon.
I didn't forget it, Ade. I just wasn't sure of whether it was appropriate to say it, and whether it would help clarify things or cause more confusion. But since you've said it, then I guess it was appropriate after all. Thanks for the PM! I like both the intro and the list. ^_^ And that 'man in black' thing explains the reference to neuralising in the text you sent me. I thought it was just a typo.
Darkfire, I haven't read your story yet, but I never expect perfection. Sorry if I've made it seem like I did in the past, I try to help but sometimes I fail to realize when I'm being annoying rather than helping. And "más apuntes" means "more notes", alright.

[The_Missing_Link]

<My POV>

After much thought, the group decided on going through the rest of the battle grounds in order. Since we already entered the fifth door, door one was next followed by two and so on. Opening the entrance, we entered a thick forest, most likely designed to look like the Amazon rainforest. The air was just as humid as the real place and soon we were all sweating, except Drake and Orion. Pushing ourselves through the brush, it didn’t take us long to make it to the center of the area, which had a shallow stream running through it. No one appeared to be in the epicenter, much less the whole area.
“Nightshade, can you detect if there are any trainers around?” I asked.
“Yeah, hold on a sec.”
Without even closing his eyes, he managed to do a thorough scan of the room and shook his head.
“Sorry, no one’s around.”
“Well, this was a worthless trip,” Drake grumbled. “Let’s just go to another room.”
“Wait! Don’t go!” I heard a low, deep voice call out.
A Sceptile and Scyther emerged from the other side of the stream, glaring at the group.
“I overheard the need of a Pokemon battle,” the Sceptile said. “We can battle you.”
“That sounds fine with me but where’s your trainer?”
“He’s in the pond room training up our teammates. He let the rest of us roam free for a while and gave us consent to participate in any battles.”
“Who’s your trainer?” I asked suspiciously.
“His name is Alan,” the Scyther spoke up. “Do you know him?”
I glanced back at Blade for a quick moment, who was glaring at the Scyther. I could tell he was nervous and agitated but nothing could be done about his problem. It was his thing to work out.
“Yeah, I know him,” I replied. “Lyra and Shade,” pointing at my Wartortle and Venusaur, “battled Dyna and Miroku. I noticed that you two don’t have Australian accents though. Did he capture you in America?”
“Yeah, most of us are from there but sometimes he vacations to Australia and ends up capturing a Pokemon. As you can see, he has two different species of the same type - well, Elie and I aren’t of the same type but he doesn’t favor many Pokemon of the grass and bug selection so we’re the only ones he has. Same with fighting and he hates ghosts so none of them are on the squad.”
“Interesting,” I replied. “I suppose he is a well rounded trainer. Alright, we’ll battle you but let’s make this interesting and declare a double battle. The only thing you can’t do is attack your opponent’s partner and vice versa. It looks like you two are at different levels and a higher level Pokemon attacking a weaker wrong wouldn’t be right. If an attack strays by accident, then that’s ok. Also, your partner can help you dodge or prevent attacks but like I said before, they can’t specifically attack your opponent. ”
“Agreed, but who’s going to battle who?” Elie asked.
“Lee will face Ryder and Orion will battle you,” I replied instantly.
“Cool!” Orion cried and ran towards the stream. With a look of satisfaction, Lee strolled up next to Orion and positioned himself for battle. I had no idea how Lee was going fare against Ryder as this was his first battle outside the Battle Tower but as always, he seemed confident. And Orion, well, he was throwing his bone back and forth like a spaz.
“I guess I’ll be the ref then,” Drake said and walked into the stream, facing the other four Pokemon.
“I want this to be a good, clean fight,” he rumbled. “No cheap tricks or foul language. You may begin.”

Lee (Lv. 39 Male Hitmonlee) vs. Ryder (Lv. 45 Male Sceptile) and Orion (Lv. 17 Male Cubone) vs. Elie (Lv. 25 Female Scyther)

<Lee’s POV>

I glanced with uncertainty at Orion, who was dodging the Scyther’s deadly scythes. This was my chance at a real battle, but now I had the guilty conscience of helping the runt escape danger if he was in trouble, which he probably would be.
“Hey buddy, get your head in the game here,” I heard the Sceptile say and slammed into the ground as he pushed me down with brute force.
Brilliant. I show concern and now I’m pinned by a lizard.
“It’s ok Lee, I got it.”
Hearing Orion’s voice, I had no idea as to what he was talking about until the most annoying, grating sound emitted from the little bugger. I groaned in pain but it was unbearable for Ryder, who lifted himself off of me enough to have stars bombard his face, which made him roll off into the stream. Meanwhile, the Scyther was down on the ground trying to cover her ears in vain as the blast continued. Luckily, we were battling in a dome-like arena, which amplified the din ten-fold.
“That’s enough, Orion,” I shouted above the clamor.
The noise abruptly stopped as Orion opened his eyes and looked at Elie and Ryder.
“Sorry about that,” he replied sheepishly.
“That’s all right,” I massaged the sides of my head. “In any rate, it helped the both of us.”
“That was dirty,” Ryder groaned.
“But legal,” I replied. “Orion didn’t attack you specifically, he attacked Elie. You just happened to be standing near him, that’s all.”
Pissed off, Ryder came charging at me, its leaves on both arms extending and glowing as he flew forward. Concentrating and breathing in slowly, I charged ahead before dipping low to the ground and swept my leg full circle, knocking Ryder off balance and fall right on his back. Pleased, I stole a glance at Orion, who was throwing his bone wildly at clones of Elie, who was zipping around and occasionally whipping sharp bits of wind at him, blowing him backwards across the stream.
Damn, I can’t do anything to aid – wait, I think I can.

Glaring at Elie, my eyes began to burn red when the most horrific pain pierced my left leg. Looking down, Ryder was gripping my leg between his teeth as hard as he could, which was definitely tough in its own right. Desperately, I tried pounding him with the glowing stars but the damn Sceptile wouldn’t budge. I didn’t think a day would come when I wished for some kind of punching attack but I guess today was my lucky day.
“Orion, I need your help!” I half screamed.
“I’m busy right now,” he yelled back, still trying to dodge his opponent’s blows.
“IF YOU DON’T DO SOMETHING, SOMETHING ELSE WILL BE SNAPPED IN HALF BESIDES MY DAMN LEG!” I shouted.

He looked at me and wide eyed, started to run over and screech at the same time. Unfortunately, the two were well prepared and put up separate barriers to deflect Orion’s voice. Screaming at absolutely nothing, he stopped and stooped to take a breath, seemingly angry at himself. Smirking, Ryder released me from his grip and pushed me to the ground before copying Orion’s move and released that cacophonous noise. I gripped my head again in pain as Orion collapsed to the ground, although unable to cover his ears since his hidden head was covered by the skull. Grinning evilly, Elie swooped down (sans the barrier) and slammed Orion towards me before we came together in a huddled mass, back to back. Ryder stopped his attack and came over to me to lay a tail on my good leg. Smiling ruefully, he started to glow green and proceeded to suck the life right out of me. Gasping for air, I had no way of knowing what was happening to Orion but I had a feeling that our hopes of winning were growing bleak. I guess I couldn’t help him after all.

<Orion’s POV>

Backed up against Lee, we didn’t have much room to fight back. Lee’s source of power was almost destroyed by Ryder and I had nothing to fight against Elie’s clones with.
“Lee,” I whispered, “I need you to use Foresight on Elie.”
“I’m in a bind right now, Orion,” he rasped.
“Just do it,” I pleaded.
Getting myself up, I started to run away from Elie and behind Ryder, who looked like one big tic-tac. Pursuing me, Elie flew over her partner and shot strips of razor thin air at me. Trying to dodge as best as possible, I threw my bone up to keep her occupied as much as possible.
“Do it, Lee!” I shouted.
From behind, a wave of red light passed through all of us and hit Elie, whose clones immediately disappeared and encased her in a red glow. Momentarily distracted, Ryder looked back at Elie, which gave me the chance to save Lee. Pushing between them, I dragged Lee’s leg away from Ryder’s tail and with a bit of grunt work, moved him about an inch or so.
“Have you sunk so low as to needing help from me?” I whispered fiercely. “We all know you’re strong, probably the strongest out of all of us. Don’t tell me a bum leg is preventing you from attacking!”
It was like chastising a little kid, and I knew he was embarrassed and mad at the same time, but I had no idea what was running through his head.
“I panicked, ok? In terms of battles like this, this is my first and despite what everyone says, I do get nervous. Besides, my leg has never been hurt like this before so I had no idea how to act. My move pool is very limited, you know.”
“Hey, be lucky that we’ve allowed you this much time to yap off or else we would’ve finished you two off long ago,” Ryder snapped.
“C’mon, let’s finish them off,” I murmured.
He nodded and using my head as a balancing spot, pushed himself onto his feet, while gingerly keeping most of his weight off his left leg.
“Now pick me up and throw me at Elie,” I whispered.
“What?! No!”
“Just do it. I’ll be fine.”
“If you die, don’t expect me to feel sorry,” he grumbled but hefted me onto one hand.
Placing his arm behind his shoulder, the other two stood bewildered at the odd sight. Gripping the bone tightly in my right hand, I breathed in and out before being launched into air right at Elie. As I predicted, she was too shocked to move away and cried out in pain as red flames soon licked her body.

As everyone knew though, gravity had to come into play but a quick burst of flamethrower into the stream slowed the descent considerably, not to mention raise a thin wall of steam. Landing somewhat gently into the water, I waved my bone at Lee, who was nodding in appreciation. Ryder stared at me, dumbfounded, while Elie shuddered violently from the scorching heat.
“I think it’s time to shut them down, Lee,” I called out.
“I couldn’t agree more,” he replied and trying not to grimace, started to run at Ryder.
I smiled under the skull but the moment was ruined by another round of air whipping at my body. In an obvious state of rage, Elie flew down and tried to dice me into bits and pieces, scythes coming dangerously close to my body and even nicking my skin a few times. I knew I had to stand my ground though and stopped to remain still. Lowering my head, I felt a few whacks glance off my skull before I jumped forward and crashed into her midsection. Falling to the ground, I tried to keep her pinned with a few electric punches to the face but she escaped and hovered slightly above me.
“Good, but not good enough,” she grinned.
“Wanna bet?”
Even before she fled from my grasp, I feel the currents run through and maintain a hold on her. Even now, I could see little sparks of yellow fly from her body.
“Oh no,” she said softly and slowly landed on the ground.
I felt sort of guilty, but not enough to deny myself of a victory.
“Sorry, but I have to do this,” I murmured and breathed out a cool burst of ice at Elie.
I was probably too naïve to notice, or just plain stupid, but I neglected to notice slight movement in her scythes and mouth, and as I thought the beam collided into her, it instead crashed into a translucent shield, only recognizable by a slight hint of gold shimmering around the edges.

Breaking off the attack, I panted quietly as she leered at me with the barrier in front of her. She was on the brink of losing, which I was sure she was aware of. She had only one wide ranged attack and any kind of physical movement could trigger the paralysis. I had to be fast or else I would burn myself out from trying to attack the screen. Starting towards the screen, I was met with a burst of wind, trying to push me back. Hurling my bone at the screen, it only struck the screen and dropped to the ground, having no effect whatsoever on the shield.
This is hopeless. That shield is not giving way to anything and I’m being cut away as each second passes by. There has to be some weakness to it.
Squinting against the lashing wind, I glared hard at her protection, searching for anything to give me some help.
Damn, there’s nothing wrong with that shield. It’s like a floating shield of doom…floating – wait! All that’s needed is a ground attack that will disrupt her concentration long enough for me to strike.
Trying to balance myself against the din, I brought a lone foot up and sent it slamming into the ground. Slightly rumbling, the ground shook in response and a line of dirt and rocks from below sprung up, heading straight at the shield and Elie. As it attacked the shield, it also went under and sprang up on Elie, who was knocked to the ground by a few good rocks. With freedom to move and no barrier to protect the blows, I rushed up to grab my bone and without thinking assaulted her with bursts of flames and a few whacks with the club until I was sure she was knocked out for good. Slightly gasping for air, I turned my attention towards Lee, who I had completely forgotten about since we separated.

<Lee’s POV>

Hobbling towards Ryder, I released a few stars to keep him occupied instead of attacking me outright. Getting as close as I could, I brought my right leg up midway and started kicking as fast as I could. As fast as a Hitmonchan was with its fists, I was quick with my legs and multiple blows to various parts of his body had Ryder crumbling to the ground.
It can’t be this easy. He was killing me before but now he’s like putty in my hands. It’s too good to be true.
Little did I know, I was completely right but I had no way of knowing what he was thinking. Continuing to kick, I failed to notice Ryder shifting his body into an attacking position, despite the fact that it looked like a crouch. As I paused a brief moment to rest, he sprung up and squeezed my body in a bear-hug type manner. Unable to move at all, I was helpless to his next attack, which I had a feeling of what it could be. Springing upwards like a well-trained Blaziken, I watched as we rose to the height of about fifteen feet before feeling myself being thrown down to the ground like a common napkin. Unlike Orion, I had no way to slow my fall and only a curled up position made the crash little better than landing on my feet. Pain shot throughout my whole body as I landed on the ground but there was nothing I could do to stop it. It was probably the only downside of being a Pokemon with hardly any defensive abilities.
“You’re still awake? That’s a surprise. Guess you’ll have to suffer some more.”
I didn’t see Ryder land but I could tell he was perfectly fine after falling from that height. Glancing weakly at the large Sceptile, I snorted in contempt as his tail touched my bum leg, encased in the familiar green glow. I tried not to show any emotion as he started to suck away my remaining health, but it was a trying task.
I have only one way out of this but I’ll have to execute this as quickly as possible.
Glaring at Ryder, a faint red ‘X’ appeared right below his heart, giving me a clear target. Picking my right leg up, I flexed it up and down. To Ryder, it looked like I was twitching, which gave him no reason to be concerned. With no mouth, I was unable to physically grin but it felt good when I thrusted a glowing leg at the red mark, knocking the air out of Ryder and sending him down. With almost every once of strength I had left, I picked myself up and walked over to the gasping Sceptile, who was glaring at me with mixed emotions of fear and anger. I brought my leg back to kick Ryder, but as I expected, he summoned the almost-transparent dome to repel any attacks. I knew it was a waste of energy and patiently waited for him to wear himself out. It took a while, but he finally succumbed to the useless of the attack and brought it down.
“Just make it quick,” he said wearily.
“As you wish.”
Bringing my foot back for real now, I aimed for under him and kicked him farther than I expected, twenty feet, before he slammed into a tree and broke in half. When he didn’t rise, I bowed low and looked at Orion, who was breathing hard but also stood victorious.

Orion wins and grows to Level 19! Lee wins and grows to Level 41! For his free TM, Lee will learn Metronome.

<My POV>

In all my life, I had never seen a battle like that. Granted, it was the first of that kind I’ve ever seen but it was spectacular in its own right.
“That was weird, but definitely cool,” Nightshade told them. “I didn’t think you two would be capable of helping each other out, especially you, Lee.”
“Then I guess you don’t know me that well then,” Lee replied quietly. “Just because I fight alone doesn’t mean I won’t accept help. A weak fighter is one who is too stubborn to allow others to aid him when he is in trouble.”
I covered my face with a hand and sighed. That was probably the stupidest thing Nightshade had ever said, and he’s said some pretty idiotic stuff.
“Nightshade, you’re a moron,” Drake conveyed everyone’s feelings aloud.
“Ok, let’s forget it,” I glared at Nightshade, “like everything else Nightshade has ever said.”
“Fine, but what do we do with Elie and Ryder?” Lyra asked. “We can’t leave them here.”
“Of course not,” I replied. “Drake and Shade will transport Ryder and Elie back to Alan. As for Orion, I’ll carry him and Blade will help Lee.”
“No, I’ll help Lee,” Nightshade said, staring at Lee.
I nodded and picked Orion up as the others loaded Ryder on Shade’s back and Drake threw Elie over his shoulder. As we walked out, Nightshade levitated Lee’s body slightly above the ground and walked with him back to the door.
“Sorry man,” he said. “It was wrong to say that.”
“I know,” Lee replied. “My favorite color is green.”
“Ok, I’ll try to remember that,” Nightshade nodded.

[Skye]

Stuffs:
-This is all short and the worst writing I've done in a long time.
-Not much I can like.
-Again, Naois and Amaris are not battling.
-Darkfire's thoughts are in red.
-I’m SICK! I’m rushed, I’m DONE. Xx Minus the other scenario I have to do. Not even expecting to get much from this. All I want in my plot and levels. And it’s DONE. *sneezes*
-Music by Switchfoot. Titled ‘On Fire’
-Thanks Lady Vulpix. ^^U I know yo don't expect perfection. I just wanted to warn you this stuff isn't as polished as the last. I'm stuggling with writing simple words right now, so a last minute battle or four is really hard. xx

******************

Last Chance

****************** ****************** ****************** ******************

Darkfire saw very little of Cyndane later that day or the next morning. She decided it was for the best. Though a small part of her still missed his company, she was still fully recovered from the spell that Tamers had cast on her.

Not it was time for the finally before she fought the one Tamer that had held her back, even if it had been for a short time. The dreams occurred again the night after she became her normal self again, and the Voices bothered her to no end. Things were changing. Even her Pokemon felt it. Amaris seemed to have begun to stray from Naois as dawn came. Either she was getting older, or her Dark part was making her more independent. Whatever it was, it made Darkfire uneasy.

It was the next morning that a headache began, sending Darkfire muttering around the house, using very foul terms that made even Rayne stare. She cursed and swore heavily as it got worse. Her Pokemon fled her presence, afraid a random object might suddenly be projected at them. No training got done that morning, but the headache did vanish.

Darkfire finally entered the Jungle Room with Rayne at her side and gasped at the moist, warm air. It stuck to her skin, making her feel irritated. She hated getting wet when she didn’t want to. Rayne seemed to snicker at her, liking this Room much better than the Desert Room. No wonder. He is still a Water Type. She sighed at the thought and lead them deep into the Jungle, wanting to get a battle done before she was to fight Cyndane. The more experience, the easier she could trounce him.

As if in answer to her thought, a Scyther came up to them, looking calm. A status board dropped down, producing a sigh from Darkfire. Was it just her, or was this day going by swifter than usual?

Rayne's fight! Rayne (19) Vs. Scyther (25)

Rayne, unasked, fired a Confuse Ray. Darkfire sat down to watch, not fit really to conduct a battle. She was feeling somewhat ill, weakened by her headache. She had informed Rayne that, and he didn’t seem to mind battling without orders. It would be a nice challenge. Plus, he’d already learned much from Darkfire. Scyther, caught unaware at a Pokemon attacking without command, stared in a daze. It shimmered before splitting into two more copies if itself, but at the sight of its mirror images, it attacked them rather than Rayne, confused and scared by the swarm of enemies around it.

Rayne would have smirked had he a face to do so. He fired a fierce Aurora Beam/Ice Beam cross at Scyther, freezing it. It struggled, but the ice wasn’t going to melt like it had for Sandslash. Darkfire shook her head at how easy this was. Rayne new better than to dawdle, knowing Cyndane would challenge them, if he still had the guts to. Rayne smirked and attacked with a full-powered Ice Beam, dealing a powerful amount of damage. Rayne never let up, attacking until the poor Scyther could hake no more.

The Ice melted as it was supposed to leaving the poor bug creature slumped on the ground.

Rayne is victorious! He grows to Level 21, and learns Surf(free Lv.20 TM)!

Darkfire shook her head and spat on the ground. This was getting old and FAST. There was no challenge left. She nodded to Rayne and lead him out to the Pokemon Center. She recalled him to his Pokeball and relaxed while his energy was being restored a bit. Rayne had taken no damage, but Darkfire wanted to be careful anyway. She didn’t know how his shell would hold out if she tried him too hard. That crack had vanished during his long Absorb attack, but she wasn’t going to risk it.

She had just retrieved Rayne when Cyndane, grim faced, came in. She simply nodded and followed him deep into the Jungle Room where they could battle in private. Cyndane released his Scyther, of whom had grown quite a bit, Darkfire observed. Not a word was exchanged as Darkfire gave Rayne a warning glance. The Kabuto paused before nodding. Cyndane took his place as if this were an official battle, while Darkfire sat to the side. He stared at her and received a very nasty and very evil smirk.

“Rayne the defending champion against...”

“His name is Blade.” He seemed uncertain about the name.

“Against Blade a Tamer.” Darkfire finished her mock-reffing.

Rayne’s fight! Rayne (21) Vs. Blade (25)

“Defend!” Cyndane shouted. Blade brought up his sword-like arms and braced himself. Such a move would deflect a move similar to Ice Beam or Confuse Ray, protecting the defender, and possibly back-firing the move onto the attacker. Darkfire was glad that Rayne had understood her warning. The sturdy Kabuto rolled his eyes slightly and didn’t hesitate in firing an Aurora Beam. The smaller attack hit the defending mantis’ legs, almost instantly numbing them. Blade winced while Cyndane looked accusingly at Darkfire before realizing something and turning back to the battle.

“Swords Dance!” He called, wanting to get his creature moving. The Scyther had just lowered his blades to preform the dancing ritual when his eyes me with Rayne’s. The Kabuto’s eyes were gleaming a red that burned like fire. Blade shuddered and stopped moving, watching the Kabuto warily for a sneak attack. Rayne smirked and there was a bright flash. Blade and Cyndane, caught unaware, were temporarily blinded. Darkfire had closed her eyes the moment she saw the triumph on her Pokemon’s face.

Rayne them fired an Ice Beam, slamming Blade away. Blade hovered into the air as the confusion and shock left him before coming at Rayne. Rayne didn’t even need to take a breather before freezing Scyther with another Ice Beam. Darkfire felt disappointed. At the full freezing, Cyndane was officially the loser. He looked shocked. As if reality had twisted into something impossible.

Rayne is victorious! He grows to Level 23, but learns no attacks.

Cyndane and Darkfire returned their creatures. Darkfire had one more room to deal with that day. The announcements had come that the rooms would close a day earlier than she had expected. But before she could leave, Cyndane grabbed her and dragged her back.

“Darkfire, you can’t do this.” He whispered.

“I can, and I am. I’m going where I belong.”

“You don’t belong there. You shouldn’t do this. Any of this. I don’t want you here of there. You’re in the cracks of an earthquake!”

“And you think I’ll fall? Sweet, I fly. I do NOT fall.”

“Get out of here then.” He seemed at a loss of what he was trying to do. Darkfire was certainly lost. “I told. Tomorrow, they’ll be all over you to find evidence.”

“Why are you telling me then?” She inquired, suspicious.

“... Go... Or stay... But do something.” He whispered. She looked into his eyes and she almost melted. She recognized that look from somewhere deep in her past.

“Cyndane, trust me. I’m gone after I play a trick. Then I’m going. I’ll never return. And you’ll have to be my confidant. I’ll find somewhere else to be.” She whispered. He still looked uncertain. He then wrapped his arms around Darkfire. She stiffened uneasily at his touch. But she forced herself to relax. If he truly cared about her, she ought to try to do something for him. He won’t even know if she’s alive for a long time as far as anyone was concerned. He held her for a long time, which seemed odd to Darkfire, but then ago she hadn’t been a hug-able person for very long. She submitted her Team Rocket half to her newest side and carefully hugged back, still uncertain.

He finally let her go, making her raise an eyebrow at him for the time being. He chuckled sadly and handed her something before leaving. She looked and saw his going-away present was a CD by a band she hadn’t heard much about. She shrugged as was normal for her and headed directly to the next Room, wanting to be as far away as she could travel.

****************** ****************** ****************** ******************

The Lava Room was worse than the Desert Room, but at least it was humid. Her skin burned as if a hot sun was beating down on her, yet no sun was in sight. She eyed Rayne, who hissed in turn, “Damn weather.”

.........

“What did you... Say?” Darkfire ventured.

“Damn weather...?” Rayne eyed her. “Why?”

“There is no weather... This is a room.” She stared then shrugged. So now she’s officially insane. She was certain somewhere those Voices were laughing. Rayne shrugged. How a Kabuto shrugged was beyond Darkfire. They traveled on, neither wanting to start asking questions. The life they knew was ending. And fast. No one wants to be caught between when the split came. Darkfire had already received a formal invitation to a nice little get together just that morning.

As if to help them finish up in the Rooms, two Combusken came forward, obviously wanting a fight. Rayne stepped forward, happy to comply.

Rayne's fight! Rayne (23) Vs. Combusken (25) x2

One began to focus it’s energy as the other pumped up attack and defense. Darkfire sighed. This would be a short battle. But what else was new? The one focusing on strength and defense attacked first, aiming to kick Rayne. Unfortunately, Rayne summoned a wave of hot water from the humidity in the air and smashed it into both creatures. They both cried out, but the focuser recovered first, Double Kicking at Rayne. It too was met with a wave of water, which smashed both of them back again.

Rayne swayed, unused to wielding so much power. Darkfire watched uneasily. Everything was too rushed. She hoped Rayne would reserve his strength. As if knowing her thoughts, Rayne sent a Confuse Ray at the attack and defense increased Combusken, confusing and blinding it while only blinding its companion. Risking a lot, Rayne fired out another Surf attack, smashing both creatures into each other. Enraged, the confused Pokemon attacked the unconfused one, who attacking it back, not knowing why they were fighting.

Rayne snickered and send out a strong Aurora Beam into the confused one, which was just barely enough to knock it out.

Rayne is victorious! He grows to Level 25, and learns Mudshot (Level up)!

The remaining Pokemon glared, and lunged at Rayne. Rayne shook himself in pity before sending a blast of Mudshot into the survivor, knocking it out of the air and rendering it unconscious.

Rayne is victorious! He grows to Level 27, but learns no attacks.

****************** ****************** ****************** ******************

Darkfire and Rayne left swiftly, and just as promised, Darkfire ducked into a rather official looking building. She sneaked around before coming across a room that held two eggs in it. She smirked and as her final crime, she tucked the two Eggs carefully into her backpack and left just as the guards changed. No one would notice the Eggs were gone until when the guards looked in at the end of their shift.

****************** ****************** ****************** ******************

Miles away from the Dragon Tamer HQ, Darkfire sat and listened to the CD Cyndane had given her. Rayne was on the floor of the train, asleep next to her full backpack. Naois and Amaris were curled up together on the seat opposite of her, also fast asleep. Darkfire had already gone through the music once and had loved it. It was the music that belonged to her new half. All of the songs struck her as nice, but she was listening to one she liked the most. It was a reminder to her, and that reminder would never haunt her.

They tell you where you need to go
They tell you when you'll need to leave
They tell you what you need to know
They tell you who you need to be

But everything inside you knows
There's more than what you've heard
There's so much more than empty conversations
Filled with empty words

And you're on fire
When He's near you
You're on fire
When He speaks
You're on fire
Burning at these mysteries

Give me one more time around
Give me one more chance to see
Give me everything You are
Give me one more chance to be... (near You)

Cause everything inside me looks like
Everything I hate
You are the hope I have for change
You are the only chance I'll take

When I'm on fire
When You're near me
I'm on fire
When You speak
And I'm on fire
Burning at these mysteries
These mysteries...

I'm standing on the edge of me [x3]
I'm standing on the edge of everything I've never been before.
And I’ve been standing on the edge of me
Standing on the edge

And I'm on fire
When You're near me
I'm on fire
When You speak
(Yea) I'm on fire
Burning at these mysteries... these mysteries... these mysteries
Ah you're the mystery
You're the mystery

[AntiAsh Superstar]

*whistles* Okay, what my last RBG was leading up to, a small epic complete with a very typically Ade grisly ending. I can only apologise to anyone who can actually speak Japanese, I'm sure the grammatical errors in Fushouka's speech are horrendous. :O btw, to conclude this random plotline I'd like one more RBG for Pandora, this time from the Universal Adoption Centre, please. *pays 7 stamps*

-----

Why do all the stupid things in life happen to me? This was roughly the only thought spinning around in Pandora's head at the moment. Life had never been very good at dealing her good cards; even so, the hand fate had given her this time was abysmal even by the usual standards. First off, she had almost been killed in a battle against a frenzied Crimson Blades Rattata. Secondly, she had encountered one of her depressions whilst recovering in the local Pokécenter. Thirdly, a power-hungry Lord of the Dragons Guild had used this as an excuse to bundle her off to a facility specifically designed for pokémon mental care, purely to keep her and her companions distracted whilst he went about his sinister business. And that wasn't all. Oh no, once here she ended up attacking herself again. And then ended up having to fight an oddball Plusle who hadn't slept for two weeks and whose behaviour was growing more and more erratic with every passing hour. And to top it all off she was currently being forced to sit on a black couch in a small, poky, yet surprisingly orderly office being stared at by a rather weather-beaten doctor with spectacles, blonde hair and the most soul-piercing eyes she had ever seen on a human being. No, this hadn't been Pandora's week at all.
"So then. Shall we begin?" the doctor asked, pulling out a small clipboard and studying it intently. "So let's see, then. Pandora, isn't it?" Pandora nodded dumbly. "Owned by a trainer named Ade who's made quite the name for himself over the last official tournament or two, correct?" Again, a silent nod. "Family... father missing and was last seen in the employ of the Dragon Games training grounds, mother dead. Siblings... none. One partner, an Umbreon named Milliardo who is also the Unicorn Games champion. One foster son, a Dratini named Marius who is actually the biological son of one of your teammates. Shall I go on?"
"How on earth do you know all this?" Pandora gasped, rather shell-shocked.
"Oh, it gets better, my dear," the doctor grinned, all of a sudden becoming more animated. "In the past you were in the employ of the Dark Cloak and served under the little bundle of strangeness they called Lady Rhiannon. You left after your best friend amongst them was killed by a psychotic and magically-enhanced Charizard."
"How...?" Tears began to well up in Pandora's eyes. The memories were still far too painful, too real. They were, after all, memories that she relived at least at one point every night, memories that tore and scratched at her psyche until she was ready to explode. The last thing she needed was to start thinking of the Dark Cloak, or the atrocities she was forced to perform as one of their soldiers. Or of Amon, the noble Umbreon she had loved as a brother. For he was dead now, and Pandora had moved on. Or at least tried to. "How do you know that?"
"Because I make it my business to know," the man grinned. "I wouldn't go so far as to say I know everything, or course, because even my knowledge has its limits. But I at least know enough that I can convince everybody else that I do, which serves my aims rather nicely. The past week has been something of an eye-opener for me, I have to admit."
"Wait." There was something familiar about the doctor's mannerisms. That cool, calm tone, that nonchalant ego... yet Pandora couldn't place it yet. "Who are you?"
"Haven't figured it out yet, Pandora? And there was me having you pegged as one of the brighter members of the group. So much for that theory, eh? Evidently there's so much chaos going on up there..." Here he poked the Houndour lightly on the head, causing shivers to shudder through her entire body. His touch was cold. "...that it's clouding your powers of deduction. Either that or spending time in the company Ade keeps really does halve your IQ. Ah well. Let me make it easier for you." All of a sudden the doctor's form began to twist and buckle, changing its very shape in from of Pandora's very eyes. He dropped to all fours, several bushy tails sprouting from his rear. His body grew more and more canine in shape, arms and legs turning into powerful, black, wolf-like limbs ending in cruel talons; the rest of the body, meanwhile, becoming coated in rich blue fur so pale in colour that it was almost white. His head elongated, showing a muzzle filled with sharp fangs and red eyes that would have given most creatures a coronary on the spot. His ears stretched upward, two points flanking a dark blue plume of hair that jutted upwards like the dorsal fin of a shark. And finally, that final little touch, an extra pair of limbs burst from his sides only to fold themselves in front of him impatiently. The metamorphosis, it seemed, was now complete. "Please tell me you can place me now."
"Unfortunately." Although Pandora didn't sound too happy, her eyes said otherwise. "How on earth did you pass security?"
"Pandora, I can learn anything by taking what I need from a creature's mind. Do you think it was hard to apply for a vacancy here, fake some certificates and then go out to scare a few actual doctors into giving me the knowledge I needed to pass an interview?" Tsuyoi – for that was who it was – chuckled. "I have to admit, it is rather satisfying to occasionally go out and get my paws dirty for once instead of relying on the greed of others."
"What are you doing here?"
"I thought that much would be rather obvious, Pandora. There is something potentially world-changing on the horizon, in fact the Crimson Blades have already set the wheels in motion for catastrophe on a scale Ulthuan hasn't seen since the Dark Cloak almost levelled Sector Alpha." Those had been dark days, alright! Their lord Resomegnis had personally led an assault on the capital of Caledor, leaving half of the city badly damaged and its centuries old perimeter walls reduced to rubble. Fortunately Pandora hadn't been around at the time to witness the carnage caused by her former colleagues, and Tsuyoi seemed to realise this in an instant. "I do apologize, that probably won't mean much to you, will it? Anyway, there is evil in the air, and I can't very well have Ade driven to distraction by your predicament whilst that is the case. Besides which, your boyfriend has been twice as irritating as usual without you around to trigger his softer side, he needs you back before I turn him into a statue for his repeated insolence."
"That I can believe," the Houndour chuckled mirthlessly. "He's probably been driving you all up the wall. But..." Here she looked more than a little uncomfortable. "What kind of plan do you have? I mean, I don't want anyone hurt or anything because of me...."
"Oh, that won't be necessary. I place great faith in the subtle approach." For a moment Tsuyoi paused; then his form shifted once again as if his earlier transformation had been rewound. Until once again the calm, straight-faced Dr. Ryoku was staring at her once again. "These will be the key to getting you out of here." The 'man' fished into the pocket of his brown trousers and fished out several silver pendants on thin chains, each a circular, flat piece of metal with a remarkably well-designed motif of Tsuyoi's true form emblazoned on it. In spite of the monstrous subject matter they were actually quite pretty pieces of jewellery. "Of course, the fact that I still use these things is strictly between you and me, you understand. Ade would be on my case for weeks if he knew. I'm afraid I used these to cause quite a lot of trouble when we first crossed paths. He wasn't exactly taken with me playing a little mind control with the local creatures, which is what these pendants facilitate."
"Is that regret I hear, Tsuyoi?"
"Not at all. It was most amusing at the time, and if I hadn't have done what I did back then would we even be stood here now?" The man who was actually Tsuyoi shot Pandora the thinnest of smiles. "All I do is present these to my new co-workers after work. Seems there's a little staff pub crawl going on to celebrate the birthday of somebody or other. After that, they'll all be my puppets until the pendants are removed. That's when you can leave. All you need to do is wait until tomorrow morning, whereby you'll be discharged in moments."
"Then?"
"Then my part is done. You know how I work, Pandora. I'm quite happy to open the door for you, but it's up to you to walk through it." So saying, Tsuyoi ticked off a several boxes on the clipboard he had been carrying before sitting down calmly upon the plush leather chair situated in his small office. "Thank you for your time, Miss Pandora. You'll be hearing from me again tomorrow morning. Could you tell... ah... Teiru to come in next, please?" Pandora took the hint quickly enough, nodding her thanks and pushing her way out of the room, her head now swimming with concerns and worries. Whenever Tsuyoi got directly involved with anything it was a bad sign. Not only that, but the semi-Ninetales had a remarkable knack for treading on people to get what he wanted. What kind of weirdness was going on now?

"So." Later on that day Pandora's new friends of sorts were all clustered round in a communal eating area, all chewing on the bland yet filling Pokéchow that appeared to be the staple meal in this place. Fushouka, Kakusei and the Teddiursa, Suneru, were all eating sat up at a small plastic table that suited Kakusei and Suneru perfectly but left the considerably larger Fushouka looking rather foolish. The rest ate from red bowls scatted on the floor. It was Kakusei, as ever, who had been the first one to speak up, being as he was slightly unnerved by the fact that Fushouka had already finished her food and was now absently gnawing on the tablecloth. "What did you guys make of that new doc, eh?"
"He... he was alright, I guess. No help whatsoever, though," Pandora lied.
"I'm not too sure about that, Pandora-chan," Fushouka commented, finally realising what she was doing and spitting the cloth out with great embarrassment. "He seemed rather perceptive. Not like most of the other heboisha around here."
"You know, Fush," Kakusei complained, "if you managed a full sentence without lapsing into another language for once maybe you wouldn't be locked up in here like this. What was that heb-whatsit thing?"
"Uhh.... what is the word... ah yes. Quacks. That's what you'd call them." The Tyranitar blushed. "I don't mean to confuse you. It's my late master's fault that I speak the way I do, although that is probably a story for some other time."
"Quite," grumbled Hanasu, the surly Houndoom who Pandora had quickly come to realise was in this strange place due to a complete removal from reality. "As to the doctor, I saw nothing special about him myself."
"You wouldn't, you don't notice us most of the time!" Kakusei suddenly shouted, evidently about to go into one of his more manic half hours. "Look, I say that doctor knows something! Something that could really help us!"
"W... what do you mean?" Pandora asked, dumbstruck. Had the little Plusle realised that the newest psychologist on the block wasn't quite what he seemed? Had he overheard them talking somehow?
"I mean that guy's on our side! I mean, sure he's creepy and a bit weird and... well, I gotta say it, totally tactless for a doctor, but for the first time, you know, here's someone who actually acts like they might want to get us out of here and back into the world!"
"Maybe." Hanasu shrugged. "I wouldn't trust him, though."
"Agreed wholly, my ekiyuu," Fushouka sighed. "Perceptive? Undoubtedly. But trustworthy? I'm not so sure about that." And that, it seemed, was the end of that particular conversation, the rest of the day being spent in a rather pleasant manner. First they attempted something called 'art therapy' that involved large amounts of paint and everyone getting ridiculously messy; Kakusei especially, who somehow managed to spill an entire pot of purple paint on himself. Then there was just free time, the pokémon lounging about, chatting amongst themselves and getting lost in their own particular quirks. Pandora even found herself rather enjoying this sheltered existence. There was nothing to worry about here. No dangers, no threats. Nobody judged, nobody asked questions if you didn't feel like your usual self. In fact, had she not her friends and family outside the confines of the ward Pandora wouldn't really have cared too much if she had to spend a great amount of time in this strange place; a place where everyone was weird, knew it and really didn't care. And so, when she was finally forced into a reasonably comfortable wicker basket by a rigorously enforced 10pm curfew, the Houndour curled up contentedly and found herself thinking how lucky she had actually been to have found this place, all thoughts of Tsuyoi having been banished to the back of her mind.

This wasn't to last, however.

At about midnight Pandora found herself awoken by a burning desire to go to the toilet. This wasn't uncommon. In fact she was usually lucky to sleep for more than two hours in a row lately. Either she was awoken by a terrible nightmare that she knew was trying to tell her something, or she would awaken for some other reason, usually accompanied by the shudders and cold sweats that always accompanied a dark dream.
"No wonder they all think I'm going mad," the Houndour grumbled, staggering over to the area reserved as a bathroom of sorts and relieving herself. This room wasn't much, in fact it was barely bigger than a storeroom, but it served its purpose well enough. "Hell, even I think I'm going mad. Although I guess I'm still sane enough to worry about little things like that, which is a start I guess." Shaking her head, the Houndour padded her way across cold tiles and back to where she had previously been slumbering, ready for the next time that nightmares shook her awake again.
"Can't sleep either, Pandora-chan?" A voice from a nearby hammock diverted Pandora's attention away from her own rest. Slowly she turned to see Fushouka peering at her with a worried expression upon her supposedly monstrous visage. "It doesn't seem to be the right time to sleep, really, does it? Not when tomorrow is going to be so momentous."
"What do you mean?" Pandora, as was her nature, went on the defensive the instant she was caught off guard. "Tomorrow's not going to be momentous. It's going to be a really boring day of therapy sessions and stupid conversations and wishing for a quick, painless death to be rid of it all."
"Not the impression I've been getting. As far as usotsuke – sorry; liars - go you're especially bad. It's the eyes, Pandora-chan, they give it away every time. I have a good idea as to what's going on, you know. Even though your friend was worryingly good at blocking me, you aren't."
"Eh?"
"Hidden Power Psychic. It gives me... what is the word for kanjouinyuu? I... I sense things in others, it happens even when I'm not trying. Like reading the mind, only I can only sense one's shikou... I mean... intentions is the word, right?" The Tyranitar was obviously having trouble explaining herself. She was obviously nervous about something, and Pandora couldn't help but notice that this seemed to make her twice as likely to lapse into her second language. Or it could have even been her primary one, given how much trouble Fushouka seemed to have with more complicated words. Eventually Pandora decided to spare her any more hassle.
"You're an empath, right?" she asked.
"Empath. That's the word, yes," Fushouka nodded. "Only it isn't that wholly. They feel emotion, do they not? I can't judge moods. I can only read one's greatest negai at the time, and yours seem to revolve around that doctor friend of yours. Please, Pandora-chan. Put my mind at ease. Tell me what's going on. I worry about you."
"You've only known me for about twenty four hours!" Pandora retorted.
"That's long enough for me. Please, grant me some trust." There was such a plaintive tone in the voice of the Tyranitar that Pandora couldn't help but feel sorry for her. She was genuine enough, she could see that much. And maybe it wouldn't hurt to have an ally in this scheme anyway. After all, hadn't Tsuyoi as good as said his part was over once he had engineered Pandora's release?
"Alright," Pandora finally sighed, deciding to at least explain the bare bones of her plan. The parts about shape-shifting wolves and magical pendants, however, would probably get left out for now. "That doctor... he's an old friend of my trainer's. And he's really well-connected. He knows very well that it was the stupid Dragons Guild that pulled the strings to get me put in here, so he's going to pull a few strings of his own to get me out. Simple. It's just me fortunately knowing the right people, nothing more."
"There is more, isn't there? But I won't push it for now. Whatever you aren't telling me is mahuri for a reason. I'm glad you could tell me that much. However..."
"However what?" Pandora snapped irritably.
"What after that? Do you know what to do from the point you leave?"
"Well... I..." Now that was a good point! The Pokécentre was practically the other side of Sector Alpha from where she wanted to be. What was she supposed to do to get back home?
"I thought as much. Relax, Pandora-chan. Maybe I can help you on that score. Just give me the night to consider the facts. In the meantime, get some sleep. If you are to find your master you will need to conserve your energy." The Tyranitar yawned. "Oyasumi, Pandora-chan." Within seconds Fushouka was snoring loudly, leaving Pandora to ponder exactly what was going to happen tomorrow. Whatever it was, her friend was right. It was going to be monumental, that was for sure.

"Well. I was going to come in and rouse you but I see you've done that already. I forget how early you tend to rise, Pandora." The Houndour had been awake for hours already when Tsuyoi entered the ward in the form of the nonchalant Dr. Ryoku, his broad face sporting the most smug, superior smile that Pandora had ever seen. "I don't suppose you've had time for breakfast, have you?"
"What do you think? The staff aren't even here yet to serve it," Pandora scowled.
"Not true. They're here, they just are keeping a rather low profile as it takes far too much effort to keep them all animated all of the time." Tsuyoi shrugged with his false arms before reaching into a pocket of his white coat and tossing a small package wrapped in white and red paper onto the floor. A cursory investigation by Pandora revealed it to be a breakfast bun of sorts, sausage meat and cheese sandwiched within two halves of a muffin. Greedily she wolfed it down, surprising herself with how hungry she had suddenly become. "I generally disapprove of fast food, but in some circumstances I suppose even a faceless chain like McDonald's has its uses. Now come on, Pandora. It's time you left this place."
"So it's true, Pandora-chan." Before Pandora could nod her assent a forlorn voice sounded from behind her. Cautiously she turned round to see Fushouka and Kakusei peering sadly over in her direction. "You really leave us. It is good for you, yet I have to admit I feel kanashii. You will be missed, Pandora-chan."
"Don't leave," Kakusei chipped in suddenly, looking about ready to cry. "We need you here. At the very least take us with you." Suddenly he addressed Tsuyoi. "You could do that, couldn't you, Dr. Ryoku? Let us go with her. I mean, she's gonna need some help getting back home, isn't she? We could help her. Neither of us is that bad, honest, I just go hyper every now and then and Fush here just eats things and talks gibberish when she's stressed. It's not like we're a threat to society or anything, is it?"
"You aren't my concern," Tsuyoi snorted, then paused for a second. "However, it's true enough that an escort would be rather helpful."
"You could just tell Ade to come collect me, you know," Pandora commented pointedly, glaring at this human body that contained the essence of possibly the most ruthless, most dangerous creature on the planet. "How hard could that possibly be?"
"But then there would have been no benefit to you whatsoever out of this little exercise," came the calm reply. "Come now, Pandora, you know as well as anybody that my assistance always comes with its little clauses. You need to be able to do this one little thing for yourself, to prove to me – and, more importantly, to yourself – that I haven't been wasting my time helping you." The man that wasn't actually a man smiled slightly, and it wasn't a nice smile. All of a sudden Pandora knew exactly why very few actually considered Tsuyoi a decent creature. "Anyway, consider this payment. There's so very little on television that I have to resort to drastic measures to see what I want to watch. A gripping tale about a Houndour and her friends struggling to find their way home fits the bill rather nicely, don't you think?"
"What would Ade think if he knew you were playing with us like this?"
"He wouldn't be able to do a damn thing about it," came the brutally honest response. "Remember who pays your bills, Pandora, lodgings for two large pokémon teams don't come cheap."
"You... you monsutaa!" Fushouka gasped. "You do all this for your own amusement?"
"Monster? Maybe, but I didn't ask to be born one. Be thankful that I satisfy my less savoury instincts with little games such as this. Believe me, sometimes every fibre of my being screams for me to do so much more. But that's as maybe." For a moment the guise of Dr. Ryoku seemed almost pitiful, but this changed just as rapidly as it had first arrived. "Anyway, none of you are in any position to be arguing. I'm offering you all the only chance of freedom you're going to be getting for quite some time. You and you..." Here he nodded at Fushouka and Kakusei. "I grant you the charge of escorting Pandora to 2 Windfall Crescent. You can't miss it, it's in the suburbs on the other side of Sector Alpha. Just look for the house that looks capable of housing two humans and at least twenty-five pokémon. Failing that, it's the only place in the neighbourhood with an Onix in the garden."
"And what then?" Kakusei asked impatiently.
"It's entirely up to you. Go live your lives as you both please. Personally I think they overreacted when sending you both here anyway." The doctor that was in fact Tsuyoi shrugged. "At any rate, you had best move soon. I can hold the staff here for as long as I please, but having to brainwash anyone who steps through the front doors is getting to be rather bothersome. Say your goodbyes and get moving. The longer you delay the harder it will be."
"As you want," Pandora snorted, eying Tsuyoi with distaste. "Thanks for nothing, though."
"My pleasure," came the cool reply.

And so it was that Pandora, Kakusei and Fushouka left the relative safety of the clinic in order to find those Pandora considered her family. The streets of Sector Alpha were far quieter than Pandora remembered them. As her little group walked around the usual crowds seemed to be only half their size. Although there was still sufficient hustle and bustle to set Kakusei off into one of his more excitable moods and leave Fushouka staring goggle-eyed at all the people and pokémon passing their group by.
"Oyaoya!" the Tyranitar muttered to herself. "Yuushuu! So many! Naze desu ka?" Pandora was getting the distinct impression that neither had seen the outside world for some time now. And hence one of the questions preying upon her mind was whether they would really be of any use to her at all. The other, of course, being why the streets were so comparatively deserted for a city centre in the middle of rush hour. Which there was a simple enough explanation for, even though the Houndour didn't realise this. The fact was that, during the last burst of hostilities between Team Rocket and the Crimson Blades, Armand DiAnnio and Reaper had gone on one of their random rampages and blown up at least two different tower blocks. There was no work to go to at all for half the workforce, at least until the damage had been repaired. Hell, there would be no anything ever again for half of them.
"Mind repeating that?" Pandora asked, shivering suddenly. There was something evil in the air, she could feel it. And it was sending sudden jarring vibrations of pure coldness through her veins. She looked at her companions, trying to judge whether either of them could feel this, too. But no. Fushouka was still too busy taking in the sights with the abject wonder of a tourist, whereas her Plusle friend was just looking very impatient.
"The people. It's very busy," Fushouka explained. "There's a lot to take in all at once."
"Oh, you'll get used to it eventually," Pandora sighed, only barely noticing as the group stepped into a large park, all grassy fields and the bare skeletons of trees that would, given a few months, be covered in pink blossom once again. And it was true that this was a winter's morning, and the dew underfoot had turned to frost. But why did the ground beneath her paws feel that much colder than normal? "Guys, are either of you cold?"
"Yeah! It's freezing!" Kakusei nodded energetically. "Then again, it's winter. Guess that's what happens when we go outside at this time of year, huh?"
"Not the answer I was looking for, but whatever," Pandora grumbled, all of a sudden wishing she had Pearl to hand. At least she would have understood what she was trying to get at! Silently the group trudged onwards, heading in what Pandora believed to roughly be the right direction. Until a sudden scream of terror stopped them in their tracks.

"AIEEE!" This was clearly not a good day for many people, for a good variety of reasons. Just a few metres ahead a young woman in an overly frilly red dress was in the process of being mugged by a shady character dressed entirely in black, his face gaunt and pallid, his eyes shot through with traces of insanity and a large scarlet R on his chest leaving no doubt as to where his loyalties lay. "Stay away from me!" The victim of this Rocket Grunt backed away as best she could from her position sat clumsily on the floor, but it was no use. The Rocket just kept advancing upon her.
"'Fraid I can't lady," he commented calmly. "See, I need pokémon. Now. And you're gonna give me some."
"Get your own!"
"I had my own." A look of anger cross the Rocket's face. "Until that scumbag of a Blades assassin turned up. I challenged him to a pokémon battle. And what does he do? He waits until I've called out my team, then he slits their throats. I've no time for games, lady, I've only got a Ditto to my name and if I'm to avenge my pokémon I'll be needing yours!" The story was a tragic one, certainly, but the Rocket's victim had no intention of letting her precious partners be used by another trainer!
"No! I won't let you do this!" she shrieked.
"You heard her, bud, lay off!" All of a sudden the Rocket found himself being kicked hard in the back of the head by a Plusle that had suddenly taken it upon himself to play the hero. "I won't let you try and take her pokémon!" Suddenly he whipped round and grinned at the woman, totally oblivious to the fact that she clearly couldn't understand a word he said. "By the way, what are your pokémon? I've just been locked away for a year and I'd like to meet some new friends, you know!"
"Eyes forward, you bloody dolt!" Up until this point Pandora had been finding the whole scene rather funny. Kakusei could certainly pack a punch when he liked!But now the Rocket was advancing once again. And she didn't much like the look in his eyes, the one of a man teetering on the edge. Smartly she inserted herself between the grunt and Kakusei. "Really, Kakusei, turning your back on a Rocket? Is there a brain in that little head of yours at all?"
"Unlikely," Fushouka commented, joining her friends as they huddled together. "He's always been a total moumou."
"Great. Well, looks like he's landed us in a spot we really don't need." Pandora rolled her eyes. Why did these things always happen to her? The Rocket was coming towards them, his eyes even more intense than before. Obviously, really. It wasn't every day that a handful of strong pokémon just ran up to you. "Seriously, Kakusei, why didn't you make a sign saying 'please try to capture me!' and wear it around your neck? It would have had the same effect."
"Hey, at least he's stopped tormenting that lady now!" the Plusle complained.
"So." The Rocket finally spoke. "A Plusle, a Houndour and a Tyranitar... yes, that'd be perfect! Maybe this Ditto of mine could come in handy after all. I could use creatures like you on my team, so prepare to be defeated!" The words were somewhat hammy, true, but the intent was no less dangerous for that. "Come out and teach these ones to respect their new master, Jordy!" Almost instantaneously a Pokéball appeared in the Rocket's hand, a Pokéball that was opened to reveal a small blob of pink jelly, a vacant expression sat upon what passed for its face.
"Great. Looks like we're battling," Pandora complained. "Either of you fancy taking this out?"
"Uhh... well, I would, Pandora babe, but seriously, I have this terrible cough that's making me feel really weak and I keep passing out and I've broken all my limbs in a train accident. Yeah." Kakusei looked sheepish. "'Sides which, you're both stronger than I am. Hey Fush, wanna give it a go?"
"Dame desu!" The Tyranitar was practically in tears at the situation. "Dame desu! I am too weak!"
"Guess that makes things a bit easier of me, then," Pandora snarled, feeling the anger build up within her as she eyed her opponent carefully. "Okay, guys. Wish me luck."

FIGHT!!! L14 Houndour v L14 Ditto!

Pandora's eyes narrowed. Although she had never actually had cause to fight a Ditto before she knew perfectly well what to expect. If she gave it a chance the strange jelly-like creature would take advantage and shift into a much harder form to defeat. So it was time to utilize one of the few techniques her sometime general Rhiannon had taught her that she actually approved of. Never, ever, give your opponent the slightest opening.
"Take this!" the Houndour roared, quickly firing a sharp blast of fire in the direction of her opponent and arguably setting a new record for the fastest Ember ever in the process. The flame struck home with remarkable accuracy, although rather disappointingly all it seemed to do was make the Ditto flinch slightly. A slight expression of annoyance crossed the face of Pandora's opponent, and it looked as if it were about to do something. Until its trainer spoke up, at least.
"Don't be stupid!" the Rocket cackled. "There's much better pickings available than her!" His Ditto looked around the surrounding area before its tiny eyes finally settled upon Fushouka. And only then did Pandora realise what the Rocket had in mind.
"Don't you dare!" the Houndour cried, her eyes suddenly shot through with panic. Quickly she fired off another Ember, but by this point it was far too late. Already the Ditto's body was changing, seeming to swell in size as it took on a new, more deadly form. Spikes jutted from its back. The limbs it grew formed deadly talons at the end. A pair of cruel eyes replaced the blank ones of the Ditto. And eventually Pandora found herself facing off against an almost perfect copy of her friend. Almost perfect. For it was easy enough to tell which one was which. The real Fushouka was the sort who couldn't find it within herself to even swat at passing bugs. Whereas this Tyranitar was sporting a most murderous expression indeed as Pandora's Ember glanced off its rocky hide. "Great." Pandora's eyes wandered over to the real Fushouka, who by this point seemed so terrified all she was capable of doing was muttering 'Oni! Oni!' to herself again and again. "Fushouka, if you know any moves that might be able to cripple me now's the time to speak up before I die horribly..." No response. "Well, fine. I'm not going to do that anyway. At least not until I've had a chance to kiss Milliardo once more and hit Marius over the head again for staying up too late." Pandora carefully considered her options, dodging a sudden swipe from her opponent with ease. It was slow; the new form was going to take some getting used to. But that wouldn't be the case forever. Sooner or later it would get used to being a Tyranitar. And then Pandora would be in trouble.
"Hey! Pandora!" Kakusei shouted over, bouncing up and down agitatedly on the sidelines. "Fush is weak to water! Does that help?"
"Yeah, because I obviously look so much like a Goldeen, don't I?" Pandora snapped. "Mind keeping your mouth shut unless you've something helpful to say?" All of a sudden a sharp, burning pain engulfed Pandora's side. Evidently taking her eyes off her opponent for a second hadn't been the smartest move! It had left her wide open to a vicious Slash attack that had left a gaping wound in her flank. The Houndour buckled, crying out in pain. All of a sudden that same feeling of cold washed over her. "Why you..." Pandora wanted to fight, she wanted to protect her friends. But somehow the fight had been knocked out of her. Somehow her mind was filled with the certainty that she couldn't hope to win; that she was far too poor a battler to be able to come out on top in this particular battle. She couldn't hope to protect anyone. How could she, when she couldn't even manage to keep herself out of trouble?
"What's wrong?" For the first time the Ditto in Tyranitar's clothing spoke up, a cruel sneer upon its face. "Giving up already?"
"I don't see why not," Pandora whispered, a single tear trickling down her cheek. "It'll all go wrong for me anyway."
"At least you're honest about it." The Ditto smirked, clasping its forelimbs together and frowning hard, a bright light beginning to glow where its paws met. "Now prepare to lose!"
"As you want." Pandora bowed her head. It was only right, she supposed. From the very beginning her life had been one bad break after another. The nightmares night after night. Having to watch as her father deserted her. The subsequent descent of her mother into an almost coma-like state, and her eventual death. The cruel things the Dark Cloak used to make her do on an almost daily basis. Even the good times only seemed to be there to make the bad ones all the more unbearable. Befriending Amon... what had that got her, aside from heartbreak when the closest thing she ever had to a big brother was cruelly slain? Meeting Milliardo... all that had gotten her was one heart attack after another as the Umbreon ran head first into one sticky situation after another. Adopting Marius... again, just another to lose sleep over. Nothing seemed to go right. Nothing. And now was no exception. "Do it." The cold was stronger than ever now, it was as if any iota of heat within her body had been drained away, leaving the Houndour shivering violently as if in the grip of some awful illness.
"I..." The Ditto backed away slowly. For it could see what Pandora was too wrapped up in her misery to notice. The ground around the Houndour was freezing over. Not just any normal frost, either, but a thick layer of ice that came up to knee level on a human. A layer of ice that was branching ever outwards, threatening to engulf all in its chilling reach.
"Just do it!" Pandora yelled, the sudden spurt of emotion only serving to speed up her onset of this unnatural ice. Within seconds it had shot towards the Ditto, struck it hard and trapped it practically up to the neck. And only then did Pandora actually seem to notice what was going on. "What?"
"Wow, man, that was great!" Kakusei grinned broadly. "You sure can pack a punch!"
"I did that?"
"Well who else do you think did it? The tooth fairy?" The Plusle chuckled. "I dunno how you did that at all but I'd say that's one fake Fush out of action for a while." And indeed this was the case. For the attack had been so strong, so born of emotion, that it had seemingly caused the faux Tyranitar to pass out on the spot. A slow smile trickled across Pandora's muzzle as she surveyed the scene. For the first time in her life she was beginning to realise her own strength. And it was, she had to say, a good feeling indeed.

Pandora wins!
Pandora grew to L15!

"Nice battle!" Before anyone in the area could hope to do anything else – and it looked as if the Rocket, at least, wanted to do quite a lot – a voice suddenly rang out from behind. All turned. Only to see nothing at all. "Over here!" All of a sudden a small Eevee pup seemed to somersault into view, landing clumsily yet somehow managing to look as if it had meant to be less than graceful in its entrance. It grinned winsomely at Pandora. "You're not only amazingly pretty but amazingly strong. I..."
"I'm also amazingly taken and you're too amazingly young for my tastes anyway," Pandora commented, not sure whether she should have been rolling her eyes, laughing or feeling flattered. "Who are you, anyway?"
"Sorry. Mum and dad would kill me if they knew I hadn't introduced myself! My name..." Here the Eevee bowed politely. "...is Kay. I live here in this park, you know!"
"Uh... guys..." Kakusei suddenly spoke up. "Can I say something? We've still got that Rocket to deal with, you know." All eyes suddenly snapped towards the Team Rocket grunt, who had almost been forgotten in the heat of the battle. Only now the group realised that to have ignored a threat this desperate was a bad idea indeed. Especially seeing as this particular threat was pointing the business end of a large rifle in their general direction.
"You... you little..." The Rocket seemed so angry he was lost for words, his wide eyes shot through with madness. "You'll all pay for resisting me!"
"I doubt that." Evidently today was a day for unknown voices, for yet again the calm, confident voice of an as-yet unknown voice rang out in tones that only pokémon could hear. "This is my territory, and I won't stand for any violence upon it, do you hear me?" Suddenly a blur of darkness shot across the floor, something that Pandora recognised instantly as a Faint Attack. Only as it sped closer and closer this unknown shadow seemed to pull itself from the ground, becoming more and more tangible until it was clearly discernible as an Umbreon, racing ever closer towards the stunned Rocket. "Now, if you don't mind, leave this area at once or suffer the consequences!" By now it was far too late for the Rocket to even choose to leave. Already the Umbreon was upon him, ramming hard into his stomach and sending him crashing to the floor with a loud cry of pain. "I'm so sorry I didn't get here sooner," the Umbreon commented, turning to the bewildered group with a smile. "There's a lot of park to police, you know. Still, I should have known you'd be here, Pandora. You do seem to like to court trouble, don't you?" Here he tipped Pandora an almost cheeky wink. And all of a sudden it all seemed to slot into place.
"Tamotsu???" After a few attempts of simply opening and closing her mouth Pandora finally managed to splutter the new arrival's name. "What are you doing here?"
"I could well ask you the same question, gentle lady," the Umbreon responded smartly with a courteous bow. It had been years since Pandora had last seen this creature, the noble, gallant creature that was the lifetime mate of Kirei's older sister, Adreena. Yet it hardly seemed like a few days ago. Then again, they had shared so much together. He had been one of the few who were there to guide her through her defection from the cruel Dark Cloak. He had been a part of one of the most pivotal moments in her life. How could she not have realised that he was around sooner? "As it happens, this park is our home now. You see, it's perfect for us. On the one hand we have no ties aside from those to each other. We can roam and come and go as we please. Yet on the other hand, we're relatively sheltered from many of the threats of the true wilderness. Which is good as far as my dear Adreena is concerned."
"Yeah, I can imagine." As far as sisters went, Kirei and Adreena couldn't have been more different if they had tried. Whilst Kirei tended to be obscenely silly and given to random outbursts of emotion, Adreena was a remarkably dignified creature. Whilst Kirei was outspoken and made friends easily, Adreena was rather shy on the whole. And whilst Kirei possessed a remarkable knack for surviving against the odds, her sister possessed none of the street smarts that were required for a life in the wild. "How is Adreena, anyway?"
"She does very well, really," came the reply. "Oh, in case you hadn't noticed, we're parents now. We did mean to come over and show off, really we did, but time hasn't been on our side as of late. Still, better late than never. I'd like for you to meet my son, Kay."
"Charmed to meet you." Kay made a polite bow, even though he looked rather ridiculous as a result.
"Uh... same here. I think." Pandora blinked several times. "Oh, and by the way, this is Fushouka and Kakusei. They're friends of mine. I'd explain why they're with me but it's a long story and not really something I feel like talking about right now."
"That's fair enough. It's a pleasure to meet you both." Tamotsu bowed to Pandora's companions.
"Uh... yeah. Charmed, I think." Kakusei seemed more than a little bemused by the whole situation. "Look, can we just get out of here. That Rocket's gonna be waking up soon and that Ditto that's still Fush is gonna be thawing out, too. I don't know about you guys but I don't really want to be here when that happens, you know?"
"Quite right," Tamotsu nodded. "Come now, I'll take you all back to Adreena, then we can talk properly. She'll be so pleased to see you, Pandora."
"Yeah, right," the Houndour commented sulkily. "She's mad, then."
"On the contrary, Pandora, she's..."
"GUYS!" A sudden, panicked shout from Kakusei caught everyone's attention in a heartbeat. "What did I tell you about moving?" All heads turned towards where their opponents had been lain just mere seconds ago. Apparently a simple Faint Attack from Tamotsu hadn't been sufficient to put the Rocket out of action. For he was already upright, with a small pistol pointed directly at the little group of pokémon.
"You..." the Rocket snarled with the tones of a man who had been pushed far too close to the edge to ever truly recover. "You resist me? Fine. I'll just have to KILL YOU THEN WON'T I????"

The gun fired in Tamotsu's direction.

And Kakusei made his decision.

Pandora watched, dumbfounded, as the scene unveiled in front of her almost in slow motion. Watched as the bullet hurtled towards Tamotsu, the Umbreon caught totally unawares and without any hope to defend himself. Watched as her new Plusle friend, Kakusei, launched into the speediest Quick Attack she had seen from anyone other than Katnip or Hero. Watched as Kakusei barged Tamotsu roughly out of the way. And watched as the bullet pierced the Plusle's flesh, only to emerge almost instantaneously from the other side of his body, dragging with it a thick trail of crimson blood.
"Iie!!!! Kakusei!!!" Quickly the Tyranitar, Fushouka, rushed to her comrade's side, but it was already clearly too late. The wound was too deep, too close to vital organs. Kakusei had very little time left.
"Hey. Don't worry about me, Fush," the Plusle smiled weakly. "It's the only kind of sleep I'm happy about, you know? I couldn't do it, you know, because I was always worried I might miss my moment to shine. I wanted to do something great with my life and I just couldn't sleep until..." The Plusle coughed, spitting up blood as he did so. "Until I knew when that moment was. Well, here's my moment. Guess I can sleep after all now, huh?"
"Kakusei!" Fushouka sobbed. "Hitori ni shinai de!!!!!"
"Hey..." Kakusei smiled weakly. "No idea what you just said, Fush, but you know what? I got the gist of it. Don't be sad, okay? It was the only way I could end it, it was the only way it could have ended. Oh... and..." Here the Plusle turned to Tamotsu. "Get her home in one piece, okay? I'm coming back to haunt you if I find you've wasted your chances." The Plusle opened his mouth again, as if to say something else. Only, whatever his words were, they never made it from his tiny mouth. All of a sudden the eyes rolled back in their sockets. And Kakusei finally lay still, for what was possibly the first time in his life.
"Kakusei..." Pandora's mouth was dry. She had only known the Plusle for – what, twenty four hours? - but even so the feeling of despair couldn't help but grow deeper and deeper within her gut. Here was another that had fallen for her. What was she supposed to do now? With the knowledge that others seemed so happy to throw their lives away just for her? Some might have been flattered. But Pandora... Pandora just felt a deep sense of revulsion. Others died around her. Even when she hadn't even asked them to. What better reason could there be to justify the constant gnawing at her soul that told her to just put an end to it all? "Kakusei, I'm sorry..."
"No." Tamotsu cut Pandora off. "You have no need to be sorry. Please, Pandora, stop assuming everything bad that happens is somehow your fault. It really hurts those of us who care for you to see you assume responsibility for such things. There are creatures at fault here, true, but you aren't one of them." Suddenly the Umbreon's attention returned the the Rocket, who was quite obviously thinking that maybe tipping the sanity of a Tyranitar and incurring the wrath of an obviously irate Umbreon wasn't such a good idea. "As for you, however..." All of a sudden the wind began to pick up speed, travelling faster and faster in the direction of the Rocket until the strange little man was finding it almost impossible to stand up. "I will not have such pointless acts of violence upon my lands, do you hear me????" Almost in an instant Tamotsu jumped into the air, letting the near gale force winds carry him closer and closer towards his adversary until the two collided with a jarring impact. All of a sudden the Rocket found himself being catapulted backwards, the sudden winds picking up even more as he flew through the air, carrying him far away in spite of his cries of protest. One threat, at least, had been taken care of.
"Awesome, dad!" Kay grinned broadly, seemingly unaffected by the terrible tragedy of the scene that had unfolded in front of him. Then again, it was really very little wonder. The Eevee was blatantly too young to really understand the gravity of the situation. "Did you see him then?" Kay turned to Pandora, but the Houndour's attention was elsewhere. On the comatose body of the little Plusle, Kakusei. She hadn't known him that long. But she missed having him around already. And as for Fushouka... well, the Tyranitar was almost hysterical with grief.
"[i]Doushite??? Doushite, Kakusei?" she sobbed, bent tenderly over the fallen body of her companion, her hulking body almost comical compared to the Plusle's minute size. "Doushite?"
"These things have no whys or wherefores, sweet lady," Tamotsu said calmly, walking over to Fushouka with his head bowed. "These are dark times. I really must insist on escorting you both to someplace a little safer. Ideally, Pandora, you should be with your trainer."
"I know that," Pandora snapped, tiring of the Umbreon's excessive politeness. Did he never get fed up with acting the gentleman all the time? "It's not like I had a choice. Anyway..." Finally the Houndour moved over to her grief-stricken Tyranitar friend. "Come on, Fushouka. He's right, you know. We need to be somewhere safer what with all this civil war going on in Team Rocket and all."
"I can't leave him," Fushouka finally sniffled. "I won't."
"Fushouka, you have to! We have to move!"
"Then he comes too." Almost defiantly the Tyranitar picked up Kakusei's body with an almost tender care, his limp corpse a tiny rag doll in her huge paws. Pandora and Tamotsu exchanged glances.
"Okay, Fushouka. He can come, too." It wasn't an ideal situation. Fushouka was never exactly what one could call mentally stable in the first place. And letting her cling on to Kakusei like this was likely to do more harm than good. But right now they were really short of options. With a last, worried glance over at her friend Pandora returned her attentions back to Tamotsu. "Okay. Lead the way."

[Wolfsong]

classy_cat18: I enjoyed reading your story. *take 8 stamps* I did notice one mistake "L5 Male Sentret (Bandit) " instead of kecleon. I enjoyed reading it. Bandit seems like he is an interesting character. I look forward to seeing more of him.

goes to print out hte next story in line

[Knight of Time]

Man, it's been a long time since I last wrote a Battle Range story here. Anyway, I will be beginning each of my new stories from the same place as usual (Crossroads), but any of you who remember a couple of certain adopted Pokemon I once had may be in for a touching moment...

Also, I'm gonna split a story of mine into two parts for the first time, as this is going to be REALLY long.

Kyle's POV

It had been months since my life outside of my hometown, Crossroads had been nearly ruined. But today, I was ready to start anew, despite the fact that I would never see some of the old Pokemon I began to terribly miss. Among the ones I missed the most, were Sheldon my old Wartortle, and Chaos, my old Houndour, who I almost had a chance to help evolve. Thinking of them and the other adopted Pokemon that I no longer had with me made me silently shed a few tears, but I had to move on now without them, even though I had some new Pokemon now. As I walked out of my house, I witnessed something exciting. Not too far from my house, a new bike shop had been built and recently opened to the public! As I headed towards it, I came up to it, and knocked on the door. Within a second or two, I saw a man open up the door. Behind him were several bikes I never saw before, a few Mach Bikes and a few Acro Bikes, and each of them had a different colour to them.

"Hello, welcome to the Crossroads Bike Shop! Who might you be?" the man asked.

"My name is Kyle. Congratulations on the grand opening of your new store!" I said.

"Thank you very much, Kyle. By the way, my name is Mr. Gardiner. Nice to meet you!" Mr. Gardiner replied.

"Uh, about the bikes here, how much are they?" I asked curiously as I dug into my pocket for any cash I might have on hand.

"The bikes are free, but you can only borrow them, and you can only borrow one at a time. If you wish to exchange the bike of the kind you borrow, you're always welcome to try out the other kind of bike, but you must return the first one back, and make sure you don't let it get damaged! These bikes are expensive if they could be bought, and I can't afford to have one of them get in a bad condition!" Mr. Gardiner warned.

"Don't worry, I can take care of any bike. Say, what are the differences between the two kinds of bikes you have here?" I asked.

"Well, while riding a Mach Bike, you can speed across cracked spots, but be careful not to stay on any cracked area too long, because they can break, taking you with them, even if you are riding a Mach Bike. Also, with the Mach Bike, you can ride up steep, sandy slopes. In regards to the Acro Bike, you can do wheelies on it, but you can also ride across narrow areas." Mr. Gardiner said.

"Cool. Umm, with the Acro Bike, can you jump while riding it?" I asked Mr. Gardiner curiously.

"No, sorry. Besides, I wouldn't try doing that anyway. You might hurt yourself, or even worse, you could damage the bike." Mr. Gardiner said.

"Oh. That's just what I thought." I said.

Well, what kind of bike would you like to borrow, Kyle?" Mr. Gardiner asked.

"I'm not sure yet. It's been a while since I've done the usual thing of having Pokemon battles far away from here, but there are a couple of Pokemon I miss a lot." I said.

"You battle with Pokemon? I had no idea that Crossroads has Pokemon trainers." Mr. Gardiner said in awe.

"Yeah. There's a couple of other trainers here with Pokemon, but I have no idea what Pokemon they have. I however have a new team of Pokemon with me, but even with this new team, there are two Pokemon I'm never going to forget. I shared good times with both of them, and I also had hopes that I could evolve them both. One was very close to evolving as well, but unfortunately I never got the chance to evolve either of them, and now, they're nothing but a memory." I said as I looked up towards the sky.

"Oh, I feel really sorry for you Kyle. What were the two Pokemon you had hopes of evolving?" Mr. Gardiner asked curiously.

"One was a Wartortle, and the other was a Houndour. The Houndour was closer to evolving." I said.

"I see. Say, I need to ask you a question. Do you have a PC in your house?" Mr. Gardiner asked.

"Yes I do, why do you ask?" I asked back.

"Well, you can put either kind of bike in your PC, but if you want to withdraw either bike regardless of your location, I strongly recommend a laptop. Is that what kind of PC you have?" Mr. Gardiner asked curiously.

"Yes, it is. Do you also have a PC?" I asked the man.

"Yes I do. If you want, I can configure your PC so that you can get or exchange a bike from my shop anytime, regardless of your location. What do you say?" the man asked.

"Hmm, that sounds like a good idea. But how long will this process take?" I asked very curiously.

"Oh, probably a few minutes. Do you have your PC with you, Kyle?" the man asked.

"No I don't. I'll go get it for you." I said.

"Great, thank you." the man said.

Running back to my house, I was about to unlock the door when I noticed a male crook and a female crook robbing a house right next to mine. Determined to stop them, I dashed towards the two crooks, until I noticed them both turn around to face me.

"Hey you, what do you think you're doing here, putting your nose into our business?" the male crook shouted angrily.

"Excuse me, but do you know whose house you are robbing?" I shouted back.

"Hah, I hope it is your home." the female crook said, flashing a twisted grin on her face towards me.

"Luckily for me it isn't my home, but those people you just robbed are my neighbours!" I shouted angrily at both crooks.

"Your neighbours? All we were doing is looking for Pokemon to plunder. Why don't you hand over your Pokemon to us!" the female crook threatened.

"Never! Besides, I have a Pokemon you don't want to mess with."

"No Pokemon we have seen will scare us that easily." the male crook said.

"That's right. Any Pokemon that loses to one of our Pokemon in battle becomes ours, permanently." the female crook said, sneering at me.

"I may not have battled for a long time, but I don't hold back in battle." I said with a firm look on my face.

Quickly taking a Pokeball out of my backpack, I enlarged it and opened it up to reveal Brash, my Tauros.

"Eeeeek! A Tauros! Of all the Pokemon we have met that we are not afraid of, this one is an exception. Let's get outta here!" the female crook shouted to her partner.

"We'll be back!" the male crook shouted to me as both he and his partner fled until they were out of sight.

"Whew, thank goodness I had you with me to get rid of the crooks, Brash." I said with a smile at my bull-like Pokemon.

"Yeah. Are you going to go after the crooks?" Brash asked curiously.

"Yes, definitely. But first, I have to go see my neighbour, and then I'm going to go see Mr. Gardiner before I leave to pursue the crooks. Anyway, thanks for helping me out Brash. Return." I said, as I recalled Brash back into my Pokeball.

Whistling in relief, I walked over to my neighbour's house and knocked on the door. A few seconds later, a young woman walked out.

"Are you okay?" I asked her.

"I am now, thanks to you. If it weren't for your heroic actions, I would have lost Abbi, my Delcatty. She's afraid of bad people, ever since a shady looking guy with his Seviper almost knocked her out in my own house." the woman said.

"What happened to this guy?" I asked.

"Fortunately for me, the Crossroads Police Department arrested him. He's behind bars right now." the woman said.

"That's good to hear. About those two crooks that I encountered near your house a few minutes ago, do you know if they belong to some evil organization?" I asked curiously.

"I hope not. But I saw them get away from you. You going after them?" the woman asked.

"Yeah, I think I should. If they are looking for fainted Pokemon to steal, they will take a big fall if I find them." I said.

"Oh, be careful! I just hope you won't have any of your Pokemon stolen!" the woman replied.

"Don't worry, I'll be very careful. Anyway, I have to retrieve something from my house, so I have to go now. Bye!" I said to the woman.

"Bye! Thanks a lot for helping me!" the woman replied.

"You're welcome." I said as I slowly walked towards the door.

Going in the direction of my house again, I unlocked the door, retrieved my laptop and walked out before locking the door shut again. As I headed back towards the Crossroads Bike Shop with my laptop in my hands, I made it back to Mr. Gardiner.

"Ah, you brought your laptop. Excellent!" Mr. Gardiner said.

"Yeah. I had to get by a couple of crooks that were trying to rob one of my neighbours of her Delcatty, but I stopped them. I have a funny feeling I'm bound to see them again." I said.

"Okay, but please be careful around the crooks. If they have Pokemon, you may be in for trouble." Mr. Gardiner said.

"I know they do have Pokemon. They said that they steal any Pokemon that their Pokemon defeat in battle. However, there is no way they will steal mine!" I said with a determined look on my face.

"Good. Now, if you'll come inside with me, I'll do some work on your laptop so that you can deposit and withdraw either kind of bike I have." Mr. Gardiner said.

Walking into Mr. Gardiner's shop with my laptop still in my hands, I calmly handed the computer to Mr. Gardiner.

"Thank you Kyle. Now, what I am going to do with your laptop is enable you to log onto my PC anytime you wish. Whenever you get on, just select the withdraw option, and I'll transfer the bike of your choice to you. By the way, if you are in another area, you can always log onto my PC using any computer you find, and withdraw or deposit either kind of bike, regardless of your location. It's that simple!" Mr. Gardiner said with a smile.

"Okay, thank you very much Mr. Gardiner." I said with a smile of my own.

"You're very welcome." was the reply.

As I patiently waited for the new adjustment to be made to my computer, I suddenly heard what I thought was a woman's scream.

"What was that?" Mr. Gardiner asked.

"It sounds like someone's in trouble. I'll be right back." I said.

"Okay, I'll likely have you computer done by the time you return." Mr. Gardiner said.

Leaving the shop for the second time, I saw a couple of Officer Jennies near the house belonging to the neighbour I was visiting not too long ago. They were standing to either side of the same woman I met earlier , but this time, the woman looked really sad, as if she lost something very valuable to her.

"Hello. Do you know anything about the theft of a Delcatty belonging to this woman?" one asked.

"Hmmm, I remember meeting this woman's Delcatty. Her name is Abbi." I said.

"Yeah, we know. The woman told us her name. You didn't steal her, did you?" the other Jenny said.

"No! I'd never do such a thing." I said.

"That's good to hear. You may want to track down the thief." the first Jenny said.

"I'm afraid I have other problems beside this. Two other crooks were at the house of the person who owns the Delcatty, but I managed to get them away- for now. But, they're probably waiting for my return." I said.

"Oh, please be careful. If you find the three crooks, can you call us please?" the second Jenny said.

"I'm afraid I don't have a cellphone." I said, shaking my head.

"Oh, in that case you can borrow mine. Just be sure to return it to me afterwards, okay?" the first Jenny said.

"I will, thanks. Goodbye!" I said.

"Goodbye, and good luck finding the trio of crooks!" the first Jenny said.

Going back to Mr. Gardiner's shop, I walked back in through the open door.

"Ah, you're back. Excellent. Kyle, I upgraded your PC. From here on in you can log onto it, and from there, look for the command "Mr. Gardiner's PC". After that, just select the bike you want, and then select whether you want it right away or if you want it in your PC. If you put a bike into your PC, you can withdraw it as long as you are at a PC. Just log onto your PC from whatever computer you use, but make sure you put in your username and password, or else you won't be able to access your PC from any other computet." Mr. Gardiner said.

"Okay, thanks a lot, Mr. Gardiner." I said with a big smile.

"You're very welcome, Kyle. Now, have you decided what kind of bike you want to try out first?" Mr. Gardiner asked.

"Yes. May I try a Mach Bike please?" I asked.

"Sure. Go ahead and take your pick." Mr. Gardiner said.

"Okay, I think I'll try a red Mach Bike." I said.

"Alright. Just remember to be careful with it, okay?" Mr. Gardiner said.

"I will. Can I have my laptop back?" I asked.

"Yes, I don't need to use it anymore. Here." Mr. Gardiner said as he handed my laptop back to me.

"Thanks. Well, I better go now. I have not two, but three crooks to find now. Goodbye."

"You're welcome. Again, please be careful. Goodybe for now!" Mr. Gardiner said as he waved to me.

Storing my new Mach Bike into my laptop after figuring it wouldn't be safe for me to carry it if I was riding the bike, I headed back towards my neighbour's home with the laptop in tow. The Officer Jennies were gone, but my neighbour was still there.

"It's you! Can you help me find Abbi, please?" the woman asked frantically.

"Yes, I'll be glad to help you find her, but did you see what the thief looked like?" I asked curiously.

"Yes. It was a very mean looking guy who brought in a Rattata into my house. They are one of my least favourite Pokemon, and this one terrorized poor Abbi in such a way that she got scared, and went right into a cage set outside by this man. The man just took her and ran off, and now, I have absolutely no idea where he went." the woman said, as she slowly began to shed some tears.

"Hey, please don't cry. I'm already on the lookout for the two other crooks that were here earlier today, and I just hope this third one isn't in cahoots with the other two." I said.

"I hope not either." the woman said.

"Well, I better be going now. I'll see you again." I said.

"Bye! Good luck finding the crooks!" the woman said.

Going back in the direction of my house, I unlocked the door, and entered once again. Deciding to withdraw the Mach Bike now that my laptop was back home, I took out the bike, picked it up, and carefully walked over to the closed door. Opening it once again, I carried the bike through the open door, and upon being outside again, I carefully dropped the bike, and locked the door. Jumping on the bike, I rode out of Crossroads, determined to find the three crooks.

As I headed for Ulthuan, I was about to cross a bridge, until I noticed a person standing near it, blocking my path. He looked like he was dressed as a crossing guard.

"Hold it!" he shouted.

"What's going on here? Why won't you let me pass?" I asked.

"I'm sorry, but the bridge here recently was damaged by some suspicious characters who crossed over to the other side a while ago. They had their Pokemon cut the bridge supports on the other side, and now, nobody can cross it." the man said as he shook his head.

"Ouch, I just hope those aren't the evil crooks I ran into earlier. I'm on two missions here, I have a Delcatty to rescue that was stolen by a crook I never saw, and I also have two more crooks to find. I have a bad feeling they are tied together in some way." I said.

"You may be right there. But, as long as the bridge is in this condition, I'm afraid you'll need to take an alternate way. I know of a Pokemon Center on the other side, but I have no idea how to reach it myself." the man said.

"Oh. Will the bridge be repaired again soon?" I asked curiously.

"Yes, but it won't be fixed for a few days. Just be patient." the man said.

"Okay. Well, I better go. Those crooks are probably waiting for me, so they're going to be in for it if I find them!" I said.

"Oh, be careful then. Bye." the man said.

Declaring I had no choice but to find a way to the other side, I took a right, and I continued biking around until I saw a cliff, with a very long drop right in front of it, as well as another cliff on the other side that I realized was much too wide for me to get across. As I groaned in utter disappointment regarding how I was going to get past this nasty obstacle, I looked across for the Pokemon Center the man told me about, and I was fortunate enough to see it on the other side of the cliff, but it looked hard to reach. I wasn't about to give up so easily, so I took out the cellphone one of the Officer Jennies I met earlier lent me. Looking for the number of a Pokemon Center, I soon found one, and I dialed it. Within seconds, it rang.

"Hello, Nurse Joy speaking. Who is this?" the voice asked.

"My name is Kyle. I'm standing near a cliff, with a Pokemon Center on the other side, but from where I am, I can't reach it. What do I do?" I asked.

"I'm afraid I don't work at that Pokemon Center. I work at the one in Crossroads, but a cousin of mine works at the one you just mentioned. You want me to reach her for you?" the nurse asked.

"Yes, please." I said.

"Okay. Please wait a few moments as I call her. And don't worry, I've got your number." the nurse said.

Patiently waiting, I was thinking about the possibility of only one way to cross the gorge- flying on a Pokemon's back. But because I only adopted one winged Pokemon, namely Vector my Skarmory, I figured it wouldn't be a good idea for me to hold onto the bike while riding on his back. Within several seconds later, another voice came up on the cellphone.

"Hello? Are you there?" the second Nurse Joy said.

"Yes, I'm here. How do I get to the Pokemon Center on the other side of the cliff? I assume you work there, right?" I asked.

"Uh huh, I do work there. In regards to your question, there's only one way across, but first, I have to check to see if Allen is here." she said.

"Allen? Who is he?" I asked in curiousity.

"Allen is a Pokemon trainer living around here. With his Alakazam, he can transport people across to the side I am on. Ah, here he is."

"Great. May I speak to him please?" I asked.

"Sure. Allen, telephone!" Nurse Joy said.

"Hello?" said a male voice.

"Hi, are you Allen?" I asked.

"Yes, that's me. What is your name?" Allen asked.

"My name is Kyle." I replied.

"Oh, okay. Where are you? Kyle?" Allen asked.

"I'm near the cliff with the Pokemon Center on the opposite side, but I can't get across on my own right now. Can you help me, please?" I asked.

"All right. I'll be on the opposite side in about a minute." Allen said.

"Thanks, and goodbye." I said.

"Goodbye." Allen said.

Within a minute after I hung up, I saw Allen move to the other side.

"There you are. Hang on, I'll get you across in a jiffy, but you better hold onto or get onto your bike. Alakazam, come on out!" Allen said.

On the other side, I saw Allen take out a Pokeball. Watching him enlarge it, I saw him open it up, revealing an Alakazam.

"Alakazam? Do you see that guy on the other side? He needs to get across to the side we're on. Use a Psychic to carry him across." Allen ordered.

Just a few seconds after I picked up the Mach Bike, I was enveloped in a purplish glow as the Alakazam carried me and the bike across the gorge to the other side just a short distance from the Pokemon Center, I turned to face Allen.

"Hey, thanks a lot for helping me across the gorge, Allen. Good thing you have a great Psychic type with you here." I said with a smile.

"Heh, thanks. Where are you headed, Kyle?" Allen asked.

"I'm headed for Ulthuan. I have three crooks to find." I said.

"Oh, what is going on with them?" Allen asked.

"I'm thinking they were the ones that stole a Delcatty belonging to one of my neighbours in Crossroads." I replied.

"Crossroads? Where's that place located?" Allen asked curiously.

"It's on the other side of the cliffs here, and not too far from the side I was on just before you and your Alakazam helped me." I said.

"Oh. Maybe I should go there someday. Can you tell me your address?" Allen asked.

"Yeah, it's 21 Knight Street. Just look for the Crossroads Bike Shop which just opened up today, and you should be able to find my place easily." I said.

"Okay. Well, I better be going now. See you later, Kyle!" Allen said.

"Goodbye, and thanks a lot Allen!" I replied.

Continuing my trek towards Ulthuan, I got there within an hour later, when I thought I saw something far away in the distance. Getting my new binoculars out of my backpack, I saw a building a ways away from where I was standing, but due to the members of a very familiar organization blocking the entrance, it looked like it would be impossible for me to get in.

"So, you're the one that we were told would be heading our way." a mysterious male voice said.

"What the heck? Who are you?" I demanded to the person who I could tell was lurking here somewheres.

Within a few seconds later, I noticed a man jump out of a bush he was hiding in. By the look of his clothes, and the red R on his chest, I could tell what group he was from.

"You're one of those no good members of Team Rocket. Are you the one who stole my neighbour's Delcatty?" I angrily demanded.

"Yes, I am from Team Rocket. I was assigned to keep an eye out for any intruders heading for our base just ahead, and I can tell by that determined look on your face, you're here to rescue the Delcatty that I stole to give to my boss, Giovanni. Well, you are not going to rescue it, ever!" the man threatened.

"You have no right to steal any Pokemon, especially one that is a part of the town I live in. You better hand the Delcatty back, before I send for the police." I warned.

"I'm not afraid of any puny police officer, and I'm not afraid of you, either. Rattata, go!" the Rocket said.

Within a second or two, I saw the Rocket pull a Pokeball out of his pocket. Enlarging it, he opened it up to reveal a fierce looking Rattata.

"Just as I thought, that must be the same Rattata that terrorized the poor Delcatty. Well, is it?" I wanted to know.

"That's none of your business. If you still want to rescue that Delcatty, you'll have defeat me in a Pokemon battle first!" the Rocket shouted.

"Alright, you asked for it. Prepare to get shocked." I said.

Taking out a Pokeball of my own, I enlarged it, and opened it up to reveal my Pichu.

"Hey, what's up?" my Pichu asked.

"Pichu, we got a Rattata to get by. You up for battling it?" I asked.

"Yeah, I might as well." he said.

"Thanks. After this battle, I'll be ready to evolve you someday." I said.

"Wow, great!" my Pichu said as he jumped up and down in happiness.

"Enough already. Let's battle." the Rocket said.

"Fine, but even though I haven't battled for ages, I am ready for you." I said.

"We'll see about that." the Rocket said.

[Lady Vulpix]

Silver gets 10 stamps. It was an original story, though I don't see much hope for those pokemon. I mean, the ones with the Crimson Blades actually believe in what they're doing.¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢

I've printed Darkfire's battles and I'm working on printing Ade's (I'll have to install FinePrint on my dad's computer). Will someone else please get Becca's and Kyle's?
Thanks in advance.

As for Ade's final RBG, Pandora's opponent will be a Beldum. O_o Good luck writing that battle!

[The Blue Avenger]

Can I have a random battle for my Abra, Maza? He's level 6, and I would like the battle to come from the Universal Adoption Center. Thanks.

[SilverMachop]

I'd also like to have a random battle, as it has been a week since I have last requested one.

My Pokémon will be my Tyrogue, who is level 8. I'd like my opponent to be from the Professional Sports Breeding System.

[Lady Vulpix]

That will be 7 stamps, each of you. Maza will battle a Numel; and Jar Jar (that's his name, right?), will battle a Machop.

Darkfire gets 31 stamps for her 2 posts. The last post was noticeably rushed (sorry about that), but the story was interesting. And the song was nice and very fitting. I'm glad you made it. ¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢
By the way, can you take humid heat better than dry heat? For me it's the other way around.

Ade gets 23 stamps for his sad but still great story. I could make some comments about Tsuyoi, but they'd be nothing I haven't already said. ¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢¢

The scenario will change on Monday, so get ready, everyone.

[classy_cat18]

This is only the first part of the conclusion of the introduction of Bandit and the mysterious briefcase.

Bandit’s POV

I watched fearfully as Diablo circled me. He had broken both of my arms and legs. Blood was seeping out of cuts that he had caused. I silently prayed that he was done with me.

“You will rejoin us, yes?” Diablo asked me sweetly. “Your friends need you. I need you.”

I wasn’t buying his act. His sweet lies and almost soothing voice was what drew me into the gang in the first place and what kept those other Pokemon in there. No way was I being forced to stay in there…at first. Lily changed all that.

“I would rather die,” I said as bravely as I could, although my voice was still shaking. I lied there, sure that he would finish the job. I could picture it now. He would slowly lower his head, clench his jaws around my neck, and slowly suffocate me. Maybe he’ll even break my neck. “Go ahead. Sentence me to death.”

He chuckled. “My dear Kecleon, why would I want to destroy such a useful life?”

“Useful? What do you mean?”

He sat beside me like he was Forrest Gump about to start his story. “Kecleon are such versatile Pokemon, as most Normal-types are. Under my care we could rule this city. No human will ever try to capture us! Do you see it, Bandit? Do you see yourself sitting by me, co-ruling this city?”

I gulped, seeing that he was talking to me like I was his partner. But ever since I was little, I knew that I was one of his “favorites”. The rules still applied to me, but he was less severe on me. I knew that if I was anyone else in the gang that I would’ve been dead. Like Scamper.

“Bandit? Are you okay?” Diablo asked me. He lied down next to me and rested his head on his paws.

“Are you crazy? You must be, because you were the one who hurt me,” I said.

He chuckled again, a laugh that froze me. “It seemed that the Oddish actually gave you a gift. Your new name suits you. You stole my heart the moment I met you.”

He’s crazy. There’s no other way to put it. He tears me apart and then he tells me that he cares for me. He’s insane, but I don’t want to tell him that. He may kill me. “Go to hell, demon dog.” I flinched, expecting pain. Instead I felt his warm tongue run over me. As wrong as it felt to me, it made me feel a little better physically.

Diablo stood up and started to walk off. “When I come back, I will suspect that you decided that you want to live and rejoin the team. Because your precious Oddish friend won’t find you in time should you decide otherwise.” He walked, not into the light of the outside world, but into the darkness of the other side of the warehouse.

I felt tears coming. I was trapped in the gang. I failed Lily and her trainer, Shonta. And I was in intense pain. God, help me.

Shonta’s POV

My heart pounded as I raced through the alleys. I hoped that Bandit was alright, that Dixie hadn’t defeated and captured him yet. Lily already was attached to the little lizard. But my legs weren’t as strong as her heart, and I finally stopped to catch my breath. “Great! Not only can’t I find that Kecleon friend of yours, but I can’t seem to find my wallet!”

“I wish Trinity felt well enough to sniff her way to him,” Lily said.

I nodded in agreement. True, Trinity knew Bandit’s scent and could track him. But she was devastated by that Gastly’s Thunderbolt and I couldn’t risk getting her into any danger. I leaned against the brick wall and sighed heavily. I could give my Odor Sleuth TM to Beacon to help us sniff him out, but she doesn’t know his scent.

Lily looked up at me with watery eyes. “Please! We gotta help him!”

I felt my eyes water as well. “Lily, I don’t know where he is. He could be anywhere!”

“He’s in trouble, I know it! I have a feeling!” She hopped in my lap. “Get up!”

“I know, but I’m so tired. If I run anymore, I’ll collapse!”

“HE’S IN TROUBLE, STUPID! I HAVE A FEELING!” She hopped up and down in frustration.

My mind reeled. Did she just call me stupid? Wait a second! She had a feeling! If a physical search doesn’t work, a psychic search will! I brightened up. “Lily, you’re a genius!”

She blinked. “I am? I mean, I am!” She grinned.

I opened up a pokeball. Jewel materialized. <What do you need from me?> she asked grumpily.

I narrowed my eyes. She was back to her annoying self. “I need you to search for someone psychically. It’s a Kecleon, male, probably in trouble.”

<And what’s in it for me?>

I crossed my arms. “How about you don’t end up back at the adoption center?”

She bowed and stood silent. Lily and I stood in silence as well. My heart went back to pounding in my chest. The silence was overwhelming and the suspense was almost too much to bear!

Lily slowly walked up to Jewel, shaking. “Um, have you found anyone?”

Jewel shot up. <Yes. It’s a Kecleon, just as you said. He’s hurt badly.>

Lily gasped. “Do you know where he is?”

<He’s in one of the warehouses, but he doesn’t know where. All he knows is that there are a lot of stolen Pokemon in there.>

Lily’s leaves drooped, and a sorrowful expression reappeared on her face. “I knew it. I shouldn’t have let him go alone. Dixie must’ve been too much for him. What am I going to do?”

I grinned. I wasn’t beat yet. “We’re going to sniff him out. There’s a lot of Pokemon where he is, right? They’re bound to be leaving a strong scent being together, right?” Lily nodded. “Well, it’s worth a shot. Come on out, Beacon!” I let her out.

Beacon yawned. “What’s going on?” she asked me.

I gave Beacon the Odor Sleuth TM. “Beacon, I need for you to sniff a Pokemon out. Well, a whole lot of Pokemon. Think you can handle it?”

She nodded and started sniffing the ground. “I smell…Rattata and Pidgeotto,” she began.

“A Pidgeotto took my wallet. We can start with him. Start tracking.”

She walked to the end of the alley and took a left. We followed her around garbage cans and Dumpsters. She eventually stopped and told us to hush. We hid behind a Dumpster to see what she had seen.

It was Dixie, holding the briefcase and talking on a cell phone. “Yes, I have it. Thank your dear Reaper for the distraction, sir.”

“Reaper? Who’s Reaper?” Lily whispered.

Dixie’s eyes wandered to the Dumpster. I froze, thinking that we were discovered. Dixie’s eyes went back to where they were before. “Hobbies? What hobbies? What? I’m not stealing Pokemon, sir. I know it’s a waste of time.”

“Liar,” I found myself muttering.

Dixie’s eyes wandered back to the Dumpster. “Nothing’s wrong, sir. Just now recovering from a near loss of the information. A stupid Kecleon tried to take it but he failed. No, he’s not dead! Killing him would’ve been a waste of time!”

I sighed. Good, he’s not dead.

“No, I’m not telling you what a waste of time is. Yes sir. Yes sir. Be there in a couple of hours.”

I turned to Jewel. “This is it, girl. As soon as her back is turned, Water Gun her back. I’ll snatch that briefcase and we’ll run like hell.”

<I think that plan is shot. Turn around.>

I did. Dixie was bent down, wearing the biggest grin possible. “What were you planning on doing, darlin’?” she asked me.

“Um, nothing. Just hanging out,” I answered innocently. “Actually I wanted to ask you something.” I instinctively grabbed Dixie’s collar and slammed her into a brick wall. “Where is that Kecleon you were talking about?”

“Like I would tell you!” She knocked my hands away and pulled something from her belt. It was a gun!

“She’s got a gun!” Lily cried.

“Well, duh. She’s a Crimson Blade. I’m surprised that she’s not packing a bazooka.” I turned back to Dixie. “Now let’s not do anything hasty.”

“Like shoot you?” she asked.

<Exactly,> Jewel said. A column of water shot out of her spout and blasted the wall beside Dixie and me. This caught Dixie by surprise and gave me an opportunity to snatch her briefcase. She stood there dumbfounded for a few seconds. Finally she got it together and raised her gun. I leaped out of the way, giving Jewel a good shot at Dixie. Fortunately the pressure was low, so Dixie’s head wasn’t blown off. It was just enough to make her drop the gun.

Dixie bent down to pick up the gun but I knocked her aside and snatched it up and, with a little bit of luck, threw it into the open Dumpster. “I don’t like needless violence,” I told her before once more slamming her into the brick wall. “Now where’s that Kecleon?”

“I left him in the warehouse once his Houndoom friend came. I had no time for another battle.”

“I heard. You had to take this briefcase to your boss. But guess what? You’re going to have to make up an excuse for why you lost it.” I let go of her and let out Moriko and Athena. “My friends will take good care of it. Your job now is to take me to that Kecleon.”

She chuckled. “I wouldn’t help you if your Kecleon was lying on the floor and bleeding to death.” She whipped out a pokeball. “Go Chipper! Get my gun from that nasty Dumpster!”

The light that burst from the pokeball immediately jumped into the Dumpster. It popped out, revealing itself as a Rattata. It ran back to Dixie with the gun in its mouth. “Thank you, Chipper,” Dixie told it. She once more held the gun on me. “Give me the briefcase. And don’t try blasting me again, Starmie. You do as much as point that spout on me and your friend is toast.”

I gave her the briefcase. “Stand your ground, Jewel,” I said.

“Stand down, Jewel!” Dixie ordered.

I narrowed my eyes. “Why get your hands dirty, Dixie? Why not let your Rattata do it for you?”

“Because killing you should be my pleasure and mine alone.” Her eyes dotted from me to Jewel. They quickly widened. “Where’s the Oddish? And your Mareep and Mankey?” Lily was gone, and so was Beacon. But Athena…

“I’m right here!” Athena shouted from behind Dixie. She jumped up and snatched the gun from her.

“Don’t forget me!” Moriko said excitedly from above. She swooped down, grabbed the briefcase, and flew off.

Chipper lunged for Athena but Jewel stepped in between them. <Your fight is with me,> Jewel told Chipper.

“I guess it’s time for a Pokemon battle,” I said cheerfully to Dixie.

L11 Genderless Starmie (Jewel) vs. L15 Rattata

“Kill that Pokemon now, Chipper! Combine Quick Attack with Hyper Fang!” Dixie screamed. Chipper raced for Jewel with his jaws wide open.

But Jewel was not impressed. <You dare attack me head-on? Poor choice.> She fired a Water Gun for Rattata, who was actually waiting for the attack veered to the left at the last second.

I was going to shout out an attack, but I remembered that Jewel always wanted to take control of her battles. Jewel tried a Thunderbolt, but Chipper just dodged again. He just kept on coming. Jewel flashed with her Harden attack in order to brace for the upcoming Quick Attack.

“It seems that Chipper is zigzagging to avoid Jewel’s attacks,” Athena said softly.

Chipper pounced on her and positioned his fangs above Jewel’s central gem. Too bad he was standing on her, giving Jewel the perfect opportunity to give him a Thunderbolt. Chipper flew back and plowed into Dixie.

Dixie shoved her Rattata off of her. “Get back in there and use your Flame Wheel!” she shrieked.

Chipper once more raced for Jewel, this time surrounded by a fiery shield. Jewel fired a Water Gun, which Chipper obviously avoided. But this time Jewel shifted while still firing her Water Gun, making Chipper run closer to the brick wall. Finally she caught him, fizzled out the Flame Wheel, and sent him to the wall.

“Good job, Jewel!” I cheered since I had nothing else to do.

“Get up, Chipper!” Dixie cried out.

Jewel followed quickly with a Psychic attack that threatened to punch a hole in the wall. Chipper screamed and scrambled under the Dumpster, narrowly missing the attack. I stared at the wall. “Wow,” I said in awe.

Chipper poked his head out of the Dumpster. He chattered something I couldn’t understand. “What did he say, Athena?” I asked her.

“He said ‘You’re going to pay for that, no-face’,” she answered.

“Oh boy.” I watched him spring out from under the Dumpster, swing his now glowing tail, and pound Jewel with it. Jewel skidded a few feet and stopped. Whether she was hurt too badly to continue or not I couldn’t tell. “Sometimes I wish she had a face.”

I didn’t need a face to tell that Jewel was mad, though. Her central gem was blinking rapidly, and she only did that when she was angry. She stood up. <Let’s finish this,> she told Chipper. Her central gem glowed an ice blue. Suddenly the temperature around us dropped, and heavy snowflakes spun around Jewel. They blew up towards the sky, drifted back down, and scattered.

“Chipper!” Dixie yelled.

“No way is Chipper going to dodge this,” I said through chattering teeth.

It got colder by the second. Finally the snow concentrated in front of Jewel and blasted Chipper. First his whiskers froze, and then his paws. The ice slowly traveled up his legs and down his back. The tail was the last thing to freeze.

There was a long length of silence before I spoke. “Looks like Jewel wins,” I said.

Jewel won! She grew to level 13 and learned Rapid Spin!

Dixie walked up and poked her icy Pokemon. “Chipper?” She looked at me with intense hatred. “How dare you do that to my Chipper!”

“Well, you pulled a gun on me!” I retorted.

“Two wrongs don’t make a right,” Athena scolded.

She stood up. “I’ll show you not to fool with me.” She pulled out another pokeball and was ready to throw it when she heard a roar. She froze in place. “I’ll deal with you later.” She ran off.

“Is it just me or was she afraid of whatever made that roar?” Athena asked me as she let go of my legs.

“I know. I wonder if it had anything to do with that Reaper guy,” I said.

<Enough chit-chat,> Jewel interrupted. <Lily and Beacon went to find that Kecleon. We should find out where they went.>

[Kerel]

4:35 am inside a garbage container.

Bruce: this is disgusting, could you tell me again how we ended up in here?

Kerel: yeah sure... we were in Theresa's car and it was about 1 am, we had lost the kidnappers of Big Fat but had their licence number. Then we arrived her appartment (wich by the way was way bigger that I expected) and then I used the phone to call jimmy at the police station, so he could tell me about the licence. then we waited for about an hour and he told me that it was a rented car, so we decided to go to the place where it was rented.
That was when Theresa tried to get info by flirting with the guy at the desk...
Bruce: wait you know I didn-t mean it litterally, cause I do remember what happened...

Kerel -shut up and let me go on with the story

Bruce -ok...

Back to 2:15 am:
Outside a Z-cars rent shop:

Theresa: Hold on here guys, I'll be right out with the info we need.

K: Yeah, yeah... sure you will....

As you can see, even as Theresa could be very persuasive, WE were the ones who got the clue, While waiting out there, we saw a guy returning the very same limo that took BFD and leaving the place in a green Lamborghini.
So we decided to take Theresa's car borrowed, and follow the suspect.

We followed him for a long time, but he didn't notice us.
-Or he just didn't care.
-whatever... we followed him till he got inside the Gamma night club, a place whe hookers and gangsters, and many wealthy or famous people go. And since we are neither of them, well, we couldn't get in by normal means.

Bruce -Well you should have tried going in as a hooker.
-No, forget it Bruce, I ain't doing that again.

So after trying to bribe the guards, and failing at that, we decided to try sneaking in. We went to the alley nearby, there were some guards, but we waited until the place was clear and got closer and closer to the backdoor. Then we saw more guards and we were forced to hide, and that's how we got here.

Bruce-Oh.... that is enlightening.

Kerel: I know you know it, but I like to chronicle things, all detectives do.

Bruce: That's what you see in the movies, not in real life...

Kerel: Well, it's my life and I like it that way, besides we're spending some time till the guards and that giant guy in the banana custome go away, right?

Bruce: yeah right, you ommited what happened with the banana guy...

Kerel: yeah, I I'd rather forget it.

Bruce: agreed.

-Well so here we ghast...

Bruce: you mean "are" right?

-No it can't be... YOU AGAIN!!!!!

Gastly: Gaaaaaastly!

So then we were in front of our ghostly enemy, who came back from the ashes... of the house probably.

K-Well if you want a rematch, you'll have it.

-Bruce, Sneak attack!

Bruce hit him from behind, but that didn't affect the Gastly.

Gastly turned back and licked Bruce who got paralized, or at least spent the following 3 minutes saying "yuck".

Then I had no choice but to send Caroline.

But I remembered we were on top of a lot of garbage and it could get on fire, besides a ponyta wouldn't fit in the container so I decided to throw the gastly stuff.

Battle 2:

Level 2 Kerel VS level 8 Gastly:

Bruce: Ok kerel, Tomato can attack now!!!

I threw a half finished tomato can to the gastly but he dodged it.

The Gastly tried his psychic attack on me but it didn't affect any of we are for powerfull we are too much.

-well he was a little dazed but he seemed almost inmune to the attack, I wonder if a brain is needed...

-hey...!

Bruce: I can joke sometimes.

-No you can't, let's go on.

Seccond round:

Bruce: Kerel, Karate Punch!!!

-He's inmune to that, I'd need a special attack, maybe if I used my lighter or something while punching. Nah... let's go back to throwing stuff...

Seccond thrown thing: Random Dirt Bag.

Gastly seemed inmune until somehow a bolt of lightning came out of the dirt bag and hit him. None of us could ever explain that.

The gastly was stunned or at least surprised, so I grabbed the first thing close to me and threw it at him.

-Take this, you, SmokeBall!!!

Bruce: Kerel wait!!! ain't that a poke...

And I threw it.

Object 3: Pokeball vs Gastly

The Gastly tried to... GET IN???? it seemed like he wanted to get caught so well that happened.

-Kerel: ahhh... What happened!?

Bruce: Congrats, you got yourself an annoying Gastly...

Kerel: Really, but I don't want it, he is after Caroline (and what is worse seems to be in a romantic way)!!

Bruce: Well you can give it up at an adoption center for 5 stamps.

Kerel: No way!!! I don't even have 5 stamps!

Bruce: Then he's yours.

Kerel: Sh*t...oh well...I guess we'll get used to him.

Bruce: So what will his name be?

Kerel: How about Gastly?

Bruce: Aint original.

Kerel: I could call it Wayne... you see.... like Bruce....Wayne.....

Bruce: I figured out that much, I don't like the idea of being compared to a man who haunts criminals dressed like a bat.

Kerel: Smokeball is too friendly, I guess it will be Wayne, then...or "Wayne Smokeball Gastly"!

Bruce: Whatever...Hey! ant that Theresa!

Then we saw her leaving the club from the back door and heading straight to us.

Theresa: Hey guys! you there?

Kerel: How did you see us, we were hiding!

Theresa: There were some fight noises and a ligthingbolt coming out of a strange bag of dirt, besides I thought you'd be here, it seems like a place where you two could be found.

Bruce/Kerel: Hey!!! what do you mean?

Theresa: Nevermind, I met this guy in there who may have some important info wich could lead us to the location of Big Fat Dumbledore, so I arranged a Dinner Date with him for tomorrow, where probably he'll give the info away.

Kerel: Great, so you go out flirting with guys while we do all the dirty work right?

Theresa: I can tell from the smell.

Kerel: Yeah, and what if I don't like you Dating this guy tomorrow.

Theresa: Oh, don't worry, oops, havent I told you, he isn't straight, the date is for you.

Kerel: WHAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

End of chapter 3.

[Lady Vulpix]

Ok, there are still 4 unrated battles, but they will be rated soon. Amy, Karin and I are all busy, but now we have a 4th member among us*, and things will hopefully start going smoother now.

Ladies and gentlemen, and everybody else, let's welcome the new DT worker, Ade! (AKA Adrian, AKA AntiAsh Superstar AKA Manachu Boy).

Sorry to dump so much work on you on your first day, Ade, but I only do that because I know I can trust you with it, and because I'm worn out and I've been rating a lot of battles in addition to doing a lot of other things... well, you know. Thanks a lot for offering your help, and welcome to the team!

[The_Missing_Link]

Actually, Karin's rating my battle when she can so it's only 3 stories for Ade to do

[The Blue Avenger]

Okay, here's my random battle. This one took me a while, but I had a good time writing it. EDIT: And this one makes four stories for Ade.

***

Beginning Stats

Name: Maza
Species: Abra
Gender: Male
Trait: Synchronize
Level: 6
Moves: Teleport, Fire Punch
Adoption Location: Dragon Tamers

***Blue***

“Aaaaiiii! That burns!” Mona dashed ahead of me, screaming. Maza ran after her, apologizing profusely. He halted for a second, looked at his still-flaming fist, and screamed, shaking the fire out.

I held my head and wondered why almost every Pokemon I adopted was spastic. The only exceptions were Previsiona and Trezzatura, my newly adopted Beldum. I suppose you could count Bobbery as calm, but that was only because he spent most of his time asleep. In fact, I’m fairly certain that he had only woken up once or twice since the affair with the Crimson Blade and the Rocket. I didn’t have him or Groviglio with me – they had opted to remain at the Dragon Tamers’ local battle tower and train by themselves a bit. Truth be told, I was a little wary of leaving them there, but Bobbery (in a rare moment of consciousness) assured me he would keep an eye on Groviglio. Of course, immediately after, Groviglio picked a fight with a Sableye.

Previsiona, on the other hand, had just completed a battle at the tower, and I had picked her and Mona up from the local Pokemon clubhouse, Eevee House. I let Trezzatura and Cambiamente, a Ditto, stay at the Battle Tower to learn from Bobbery and Groviglio. So, I currently only had Previsiona, Mona, and Maza with me.

We had long since left the Dragon Tamers compound and were heading back to the town I called home for a visit– a small valley town named Happy-Happy Village. Nobody really liked the name, but since it had been founded during the maniacal reign of Mr. Carpainter and the Happy-Happy religion, the name seemed fitting at the time. That was why I was named Blue – the main tenet of Happy-Happyism was that the color blue led to happiness. So, my parents (now unfortunately deceased) had named me Blue so that I would grow up happy. Granted, another main tenet of Happy-Happyism was brainwashing, so I don’t think my parents knew what they were doing. At any rate, I was the only person in several years that had left the valley for any reason – the person prior was a young boy about 15 years ago, who defeated Carpainter once and for all. I was definitely looking forward to seeing everyone again.

To get to the village, one must cross the treacherous Peaceful Rest Valley – a bit of a misnomer. There were wild beasts everywhere, and not just Pokemon. This was a place where the oak trees would animate themselves and chase you down. If you defeated them, they exploded violently. It was not hard to see why nobody left the valley. Then there were the UFOs – small metal discs that zipped through the air, firing beams that caused night-time stuffiness when you least expected it. The Spinning Robos weren’t pleasant either. These tall, skinny robots would spin at several rotations per second, making it incredibly dangerous to get anywhere near them. The other enemy you had to look out for was the Ramblin’ Evil Mushroom. If they scattered their spores onto you or your Pokemon, a mushroom would pop up onto your or their head. It would leave you feeling incredibly dazed and disoriented, unable to even walk straight - decidedly more dangerous than a Parasect’s Spore. The other enemies in the Valley were more annoying than dangerous, just some random assorted Grass and Bug Pokemon and the occasional Mobile Sprout.

However, there were dangers and obstacles in the valley besides the animals. Every so often, these metal statues of pencils would suddenly appear, leaving me and my party in a dead end, completely at the mercy of whatever plant happened to be menacing us at the time. Luckily, Maza knew Fire Punch – not only was it useful for keeping the Territorial Oaks and the Ramblin’ Evil Mushrooms away, it got rid of the statues. One flame-powered punch, and the statue was knocked into the river.

“Maza! Mona!” I yelled. “Come back here!” They had dashed out too far in front, and because of the way the cliffs curved around on themselves, I could not see them. I failed to here a response… I strained my ears. I could just barely hear something…

“Blue! Help!”

That was Mona! I dashed quickly ahead.

***Mona***

I stood in front of Maza, shivering. A tall, skinny, silver robot was hovering in front of us, spinning like mad. Its arms extended another foot, and the rotation essentially made them robotic razor blades. The robot was flanked by a floating disc on one side and an angry oak tree on the other. The tree glared at us, while the disc stared blankly off into space. I didn’t know where we were, but I was beginning to feel an intense dislike of the area.

“You’re the one with the Fire attack!” I hissed at Maza. “Do something!”

“And what?” he replied. “Shred my hands on that whirling dervish? Or would you rather I hit the oak tree and blow us to kingdom come?! I saw two of those trees a while ago; they were blowing each other up FOR FUN! Imagine what they’ll do if I actually attack them!”

I growled. “Well, what do you propose I do about it? Do you think I should try LICKING the stupid thing?”

“Body Slam!”

“I don’t know Body Slam!” I hissed at Maza.

“That wasn’t me…” Maza replied.

Suddenly, a white blur swooped down from the sky. It slammed into the disc, knocking it spinning into the whirling robot. There was a ghastly shredding noise as Maza and I covered our eyes. When we opened them again, the robot had stopped spinning, the disc was gone, and there were metal shavings scattered all over the ground. The oak tree and the robot glanced at each other and, after a moment of thought, rushed off.

Maza and I looked at the mysterious white blur. It grinned at us as we gaped in shock – it was Previsiona!

“When did you get a Body Slam that powerful?” I asked.

She giggled. “I was training at the Battle Tower with Groviglio, remember?” Blue came running up behind her. He panted a little and greeted us.

“Hi guys… I’m glad to see you’re safe… Don’t run off like that again!” He grimaced. “I really don’t like running…”

***Blue***

Mona and Maza ran over to me, and I recalled them and Previsiona into their Pokeballs. We were close enough to Happy-Happy Village that I needn’t worry about any more oak trees attacking me, and I didn’t want them getting lost again..

“GRAAAAAAAR!”

I looked sharply upward. A humongous, dark shape flew over my head far in the sky. It roared as it went along, heading quickly toward the village…

…Or at least it was going east. It disappeared from my view far too quickly for me to identify it. I strapped the three Pokeballs to my belt and picked up my pace. A few Coil Snakes scattered from in front of me, scared by the sudden roar from the sky, while a Spiteful Crow cawed from its perch in a non-animate tree.

I made my way to the cave that marked the entrance of the village – it was ominously dark inside. That puzzled me – people always kept that cave lit up in case some weary traveler managed to find his way through the valley (even though no one ever did). I inched my way into the gloomy cave…

…And promptly tripped over a rock. The ground rushed up at me and I received a nasty crack on the chin. I pulled myself back up and dusted myself off – at that point, I felt my belt. The Pokeballs weren’t there.

Oh crap.

In the distance, a burst of light momentarily lit up the interior of the cave, revealing the rocky contours of the walls and floor, as well as gleaming off of the surfaces of the Pokeballs. I quickly picked up the two Pokeballs I could remember seeing and ran off towards where the burst of light came from.

***Maza***

I felt myself be released from my Pokeball, but I didn’t see anything. I stood myself up carefully, examining my surroundings with my hands. It felt like I was in a cave of some sort. I paused. Something was moving. Very quickly. Towards me. I thought for a moment, considering my possibilities. One was that it was Blue. But would Blue be running toward me without even saying hello? Another option was that it was some malevolent force, bent on eradicating me from the face of the earth… but would a Territorial Oak have followed me into a cave? I continued to ponder these options, until something picked me up.

Oh crap.

Then I heard Blue’s voice in my ear, and was reassured. “It’s okay, Maza, I’ve gotcha. Look…” Blue pointed my head toward a small point of light. “That’s the exit. We’re almost there.” Blue put me down. “Can you use Fire Punch and light up the cave?” I nodded and light up my fist. Immediately, the cave was bathed in an orange light. Blue opened the Pokeballs for Previsiona and Mona, and we made our way to the exit.

***Blue***

We stood at the exit of the cave. What awaited us in the village was complete and utter chaos. Flames licked at the air, and smoke clogged the vision. Two or three houses were split in half; the upper halves lying, crushed, in a pile on the ground. People were scattering and running into the Lilliput Steps cave. My Pokemon and I looked upwards toward the source of this destruction. A massive flying figure hovered in the sky, aiming Fire Blasts at unfortunate people. It stopped breathing fire for a moment and I could see a figure standing on top of it. It laughed.

“Go, Reaper! They shall feel the pure terror of the Crimson Blades!”

I gasped. Not the Blades again! When I last saw them, they appeared to be pretty weak, but the man I fought was likely only a foot soldier. I called to my Pokemon. “Guys! Surround him and try to lure him down!”

Previsiona floated up to the figure (which I could identify as a Salamence) while Mona grabbed Maza’s hand and they Teleported towards the dragon. The figure standing on top of Salamence laughed again.

“Not today! Reaper! Rock Tomb, now!” The Salamence opened its mouth and shot dozens of rocks at my Pokemon. Maza Teleported back to the ground, but Previsiona got nailed with a boulder…

***Maza***

I Teleported back to the ground with Mona in tow. A massive rock crashed to the ground in front of us, blocking our view of Blue and Previsiona. I turned around, only to find another rock blocking our path. Two more rocks crashed down on either side of us, blocking any way out.

“What are you waiting for? Teleport!” Mona growled at me.

I blushed. “I can’t… I’m not strong enough. Right now, I need to be able to see where I’m Teleporting to… Maybe once I evolve…”

Mona put her paw to her head. “Great! What are we going to do?” As if to answer her question, a burst of red light shot down from above, revealing a very angry-looking Numel. The volcano Pokemon glared at me before charging at Mona with a Tackle. It slammed her into a boulder. It backed off, and I saw Mona’s limp form fall onto the ground.

I ignited my fists and glared at the Numel. “You will pay…”

***Battle time! Maza (lv. 6 male Abra) versus Crimson Blade Numel (lv. 6 male Numel)!***

Numel curled into a ball and began to roll slowly at me. I stepped back and Teleported behind it, out of harm’s way. The Numel growled and began to spin faster, chasing after me at an even quicker pace. I Teleported again, but this time, I grabbed onto its back. I lit up my fist and smacked it, but it barely seemed to flinch. Crud! Numel is a Fire Pokemon! I thought. Fire Punch won’t work! I let go of the Numel and dropped to the ground.

Numel stopped spinning and began to paw at the ground. It kicked up a splash of mud, which hit its mark directly on my eyes. I was blinded. As I tried to dry the mud off with a Fire Punch, I felt something slam into me and pin me into the ground. I got the last of the mud off and looked up into Numel’s face. It was inhaling, preparing a Fire attack at point-blank range. I closed my eyes and focused, Teleporting a few feet away. The Numel looked visibly startled as it breathed fire onto the ground and it rebounded into his face. It locked its eyes onto me and fumed. Literally. Smoke was rising from the hole on its back. Suddenly, the Numel lit itself on fire and charged, hitting me in the stomach. As I fell to the ground, dazed, I thought Overheat? Flamethrower? Rollout? The trainer doesn’t spare any expense…

However, the Overheat didn’t just have a toll on me. As I got up, nursing the scorch marks on my chest, I noticed the Numel was panting heavily as well. I charged at it, but froze it my tracks as it began to howl loudly. You could almost see energy flowing into it – even though it still had all the battle damage, the Numel looked angrier than ever and ready to battle. I Teleported back a few steps, but noticed the Numel staring at me strangely. All of a sudden, sparks began to fly from me to it. When the sparks subsided, the Numel was no longer there. It was behind me. I tuned around to face it, but it suddenly shifted from behind me, now standing to my right. It took me a few seconds to realize what had happened. It Mimicked my Teleport… I thought weakly.

The Numel Teleported just above me and fell down with a crash. I tried to roll out of the way in time, but it had my arm pinned underneath it. It snickered. However, at the same time, an idea struck me. I lit my fist on fire. The Numel screamed and jumped up, its underbelly badly singed. It backed up a few steps and hissed at me. I stepped back as well and fell into a fighting stance. Numel did nothing except curl up in a Defense Curl position. I watched, warily – I knew all too well what could happen if I charged it. However, Numel just continued to beef its Defense. I took a step forward, but the Numel remained curled. Finally, I bit the bullet and charged it. It failed to do anything. I jumped on top of it and started wailing on it with Fire Punch after Fire Punch… and still it failed to do anything. As I hit it with one more punch, the Numel suddenly popped in a burst of stuffing. This, as I’m sure it would many other Pokemon, confused me. I looked around and saw another Numel, still rolled up, across the way from me, leering. I realized, then, what I had done. I fell into its trap… I wasted all that energy on a stupid Substitute… The Numel charged with a lethal Rollout attack.

I sighed and fell into a fighting stance again, my fists ablaze. If I was going to go out, I was going to go out fighting. I held my fists out as the Numel barreled toward me…

But just before it hit me, it halted. A puzzled look ran across my face, but it quickly turned to fear as the Numel began to glow. I Teleported over to Mona, grabbed her, and took shelter near a rock. The Numel glowed brighter as streams of light spilled from it. Light engulfed it, and suddenly, a massive Explosion rocked the ground.

I looked up to see debris falling from the sky. In the center of the four rocks, the Numel was on its back, completely unconscious. I lifted Mona up and started to look for a way out.

***Battle Over! Maza gains 1 level! Maza is now level 7!***

I kneeled near one of the giant rocks, and peeked under it. I could see a sliver of light, and that was good enough for me. I grabbed Mona’s arm and Teleported just outside of the rocks. What awaited me, though, was scarcely better. The Salamence was still hovering in the air, nary a scratch on it. The man on top of it was laughing maniacally. In the shadow cast by the massive dragon, I saw two prone, unmoving figures… They were lacerated all over and covered in giant burns. I ran over to the smaller one – a Castform. I immediately knew who the larger figure was.

“BLUUUUUE!!”

***

End Stats

Name: Maza
Species: Abra
Gender: Male
Trait: Synchronize
Level: 7
Moves: Teleport, Fire Punch

[Charizard04621]

Becca - I disagree completely. I loved the battle! ^_^ It was really cool how they improvised on stuff, and it's a treat to see some of the less-known battlers come out for a while. I like seeing all their personalities painted out on the page. 23 Stamps!

[AntiAsh Superstar]

Whee! 'tis quite alright, I got Kyle and TheBlueAvenger's stories Gabi. I'll try and do as good a job as I can, even if I am just the rating n00b. :O

Kyle: Heh, I'm not exactly denying I'm not fond of tie-ins with the video game features, but you do a credible job of incorporating them. At points your dialogue seems a touch forced, but other than that you've done purty well. One question, tho, where is Crossroads supposed to be? I've read some of your stuff before and to be honest I'm having difficulty placing it, sometimes it's seemed like a different plane of existence but in this occasion it seemed an actual place in the same universe as Ulthuan. Anyways, four stamps for you for a purty cool intro, look forward to reading the battles.

TheBlueAvenger – well, the Earthbound references put a smile on my face if nothing else! X) There is a bit of a continuity problem insomuch as the Earthbound lands don't exist in Ulthuan tho, although aside from that your writing is rather impressive. And as a personal note I do like the fact you've identified Reaper as the main threat here. You've got Armand and Reaper in a destructive mood almost spot on there, except I think Armand would gloat WAAAAY more than that. He is, basically, an attention whore. Also, I gotta say you really have potential with your battle segments. Seven stamps.

[The Blue Avenger]

Awesome. Thanks.

And whenever you notice any continuity problems like that, a wizard did it.

EDIT: And he was gloating. He was just doing it during the Numel battle, where Maza couldn't hear it.